Mandy Harbin | Reading, writing, and huh? ~ Grab a FREE book

Math. It’s an evil topic that pops up in way too many forms. As writers, we have word counts, algorithms, and rankings. As readers, we have to control our one-click obsession, and if you’re like me, you’re sometimes one click away from needing an intervention. I’ve discussed some of the things we should know about to my local RWA chapter—where I’m now the treasurer…Yay! More numbers!—and it’s just so educational, I figured I’d share it. If you’re good and read through to the end, I’ll throw you some surprises. Ready?

Amazon uses algorithms to determine your rankings…store, category, author, bestselling, most relevant, and on and on and on. As a writer, I think, ummmmm, how hard is it to rank something? But an evil mathematician wants to throw variables and unknowns in there and make equations and shh…um stuff. It’s not as simple as it could be, and to make matters even worse, no one really knows the key to Amazon’s algorithms. They’re locked up as tight as the Coca-Cola recipe.

But it’s not just Amazon. What about when you want to do a blog tour? There are companies out there that set these up for you that have relationships with bloggers. How do you know these bloggers are worth your time? Or what if you skip hiring the company and set up the tour yourself…how do you know which ones to approach? Or what if you just want to advertise on a blog…how do you know you’re getting the most bang for your buck? More Algorithms. Unless you have a crystal ball, then use that, and share it with me. For now, I have to stick with the numbers.

Alexa Ranking (which technically is a division of Amazon, so we shouldn’t be too surprised here…they are kings of mind-numbing mathematics) and Google PageRank both use algorithms to rank websites (i.e. book blogs). Of course, they are not the same. With Alexa, the lower the number, the higher the ranking. With Google PageRank, the higher the number the higher the ranking. But you should familiarize yourself with what the ranks mean (not how they determine them…unless you want your brain to hurt). You wouldn’t want to spend twice as much to advertise on a site with half the ranking of another site, or do a blog post for someone who has two visitors a day when you can get booked somewhere on that day with thousands of visitors.

Still with me? Good. Enough with the numbers. I have FREE stuff to share! It is, after all, the season of giving. My number one bestselling in teen romance novel, GODDESS LEGACY (written under M.W. Muse), is FREE everywhere right now. This is the one that had Hollywood come knocking. If teen isn’t your thing, you can grab the first book in my paranormal erotic romance, SURROUNDED BY WOODS, for FREE thanks to my publisher! And for those of you who like some hot man on man action, my newest release, STRAIGHT ROOMMATE, is a short story with an extended bonus expert of SLICK COMPETITION that you can’t get anywhere else.

Happy Holidays and happy reading!