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Sunday, August 2, 2009

eBook Reviews-The Real Truth

Just a quick note, I have posted a few ebook reviews, I am currently working on more, in the spirit of honesty I wanted to let you know how I do these. First and foremost, I will never post a review of a product that I don't entirely endorse myself, even if it means losing revinue, I will never post a review of an ebook that I didn't personally and fully endorse.

What I do is I will find an ebook that I am interested in and would be of interest to my readers, I will contact the author and ask for a comp copy in return for a review. So far, with the exception of one, I have had good results from this approach. Most authors know that by losing one sale (giving me a free copy) has the potential to gain them many sales. The one that didn't work was really frustrating for me, the author agreed to the exchange but never sent the ebooks, they said they did, but I never got it. I even created a special filter on my email account so that the particular ebook would not be sent to my spam box, I don't know if the author never sent it, or something happened between them sending and me receiving. I finally gave up after several tries.

Some of the ebooks I will earn money on if you purchase through my link, some I will earn no money, I just like the ebook well enough to promote it with no financial gain. Just because I earn some money from some of them does not mean I would ever promote an ebook that I didn't personally like. In fact, I just sent an email out to an author of an ebook to let him know that I couldn't do the review on his ebook, the really sad thing is I really liked the ebook content, and would give it a good review, the problem was that while doing more research on the subject, I found a another site that offered the nearly identical information for free. Either my ebook author had borrowed from the free info or the site offering the free info borrowed from my author. I suspect I know the truth about who borrowed from whom based on the copyright dates, but I can't prove it so it's best to not make any accusations.

Either way, I know that if I could find the free info, then my readers could also find it, and quite frankly, if I had purchased that ebook, then found the free info, I would have wanted my money back. That was a lose-lose situation. I would have earned money from each sale of this ebook (through my link) but couldn't in all honestly promote it, it wouldn't have been fair to you, I cannot promote something in a review that I don't believe in.

I have gotten positive comments from some of you about my ebook reviews, (I have received no complaints about them), I will be on the lookout for more ebooks to review, I am nearly finished with a really good one, and should have it posted soon, I am also lining up other sites so that I can contact the author, I have quite a few that I want to review, I just don't like having too many to do at the same time, I like to get them out asap after the author sends me their ebook. I thorougly enjoy doing these and I hope you enjoy reading them.

If you are an author of an ebook, or even a hard copy (real-non-virtual) book, and would like to submit it to me for review, please contact me and let me know, I'll be more than happy to look over your material. Especially if it relates to off grid living, survivalists, homesteading, cooking, canning, preserving or anything else that might relate to this lifestyle.

If you know of an ebook that you would like to see a review on, send me the link, the more the merrier. :)

Click here to see the reviews I have done to date:
Click here to see my other book reviews

EDIT Aug 7, 09
As pointed out by a reader, I tweaked my DIY sponsors, I removed one of the advertisers that had an obnoxious popup, there is another sponsor with a popup but you can close the window with no problems. If you experience something negative, like an obnoxious popup or something else, please let me know so I can check it out. I always check out the sponsors before I post them here, I try my best to not put up problem sites, but they can always change after I approve them, if that happens, please let me know.

Each sponsor will open in a new window (or tab), when you are done just close the window or tab to return to this blog.

I clearly marked the sponsors, so you know you are clicking on a sponsor, not something I wrote.

I also denote the sponsors that I have personally reviewed.

All of my DIY sponsors will leave a cookie on your computer, that is the way Clickbank works, that's how they know to give me the proper credit when a sale is made.

All of my DIY sponsors have a full, 100% money back guarantee, that's another thing that Clickbank does, the sponsors have to agree to that and since payment goes through Clickbank, your purchase (and refund should you need it) is safe and guaranteed, so no worries about whether or not you will like your purchase.

I hope this helps clear some things up, I do not want to trick or deceive anyone, that's why I check out the sponsors, they have to pass my scrutiny first, and when possible, I try to get a copy so that I can give a review, if I don't like it, I will remove it.

I know that some people will not like advertisers or sponsors, to those who feel that way, I am sorry, my site and all the information here, I offer for free, this blog represents untold hours of work, research and personal experiences. This blog is 100% free, you can read everything I have written without having to pay a fee for access. I have added sponsors, Google ads, Amazon links and such, some I have removed because I didn't like them, I try to be as careful as possible to add only quality ads and sponsors, I have no problem pulling an ad or sponsor if need be.

These sponsors and ads help, in a small way to keep this site going, believe me, I'm not getting rich here, anyone who does this know what I'm talking about. I'm just trying to keep things going, there are costs (for me) involved with doing this, my time, internet access costs, my computer and other equipment... I'm not complaining or begging, I just want those who might be offended by the advertisements here to understand my point of view.


Wretha
email
wretha(at)gmail(dot)com

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5 comments:

  1. Hey I found Simple Solar Homesteading from your blog. Mailed in my $5 and proud recipient of his ebook. very informative. Will probably use some of his and John's ideas. I am not sure yet on Monster Bob's soilcrete. I'll keep watching to make sure your abode does not wash away. What am I saying you have to have lots of rain for that to happen!

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  2. Thanks TexasMan, I agree that LaMar has lots of good info, and you can't beat the price tag!

    Bob's soilcrete is just as strong as concrete, we will not wash away. :) Even if we got lots more rain. No worries...

    Wretha

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  3. I think I am in the same boat as you. What I did was I actually joined an affiliate program and I get the seller to send me a copy of their ebook. From their I review it and post a link to buy.

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  4. Could not find a suitable section so I written here, how to become a moderator for your forum, that need for this?

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  5. Thanks christian bobcat, that's pretty much what I do through Clickbank.
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    Anon, thanks for the offer, but at this time I do not need a moderator.

    ReplyDelete

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