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IMyFone, PassFab, and Dr. Fone have almost the identical software. All three don't do what they advertise, which is to open you android Samsung S7 locked phone without deleting your data. It turns out that they don't support al Samsung phones. One tries to get around by saying they support EARLY Samsung phones. What does early mean? Well they don't define it. It's a free download but to make it work you have to buy a subscription. Cleaver con job. So when you open the bought software you discover it doesn't support your phone. The support teams don't respond well and don't try to help. After threatening iMyFone with a bad review on this site, they agreed to refund me. However PassFab hasn't responded to my emails to the support team. They still have my money.
Products used:
software of PassFab to unlock a Samsung S7 phone
Bookblaster.io is supposed to be a means of aiding book promotion and sales by using templates that you fill in and the AI does the rest. However, after almost two months of using their promotional materials I got zero sales. Their material is exactly the same for any book use put into the system. The answers are the same. I found I invested hours into providing information about my books and got nothing out of it.
Here is an URL of an example of their book funnelhttps://app.bookblaster.io/landing-page/spice-herb-production-in-greenhouses*******848/ Any sixth grade could design something so simple. I included a sample of their videos they generate. I had to add my own music, because the default track would make you vomit. I had four of these made. Every video is identical except for the book and the text which they take from your book summary.
Tip for consumers:
Don't waste your money or time with this site, Bookblasters
Products used:
Internet site to help promote books
I received the following letter from the support team of D2D.
Hello,
Our tax client has notified us that the KYC Information requested was not provided in the time allowed and the account has been terminated as a result. We will not be reconsidering the status of this account at this time.
Since your account has been terminated, our Terms of Service prohibit you from establishing a new account, using a false identity, impersonating any other person, or using a username or password you are not authorized to use.
Draft2Digital expends significant time and resources in providing the ebook conversion and distribution program to our users. Please note that termination of your account may merely be an initial step. Depending on our review of the activities associated with your account and your future actions and conduct, we may pursue legal claims against you or report your activities to the appropriate authorities.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter.
Draft2Digital
I was flabbergasted by their high handed, disgusting, and nasty manner in which they responded to me. It was just a technical problem. Why not just make a clarification and move on? They insinuate that I will try to cheat they system. So negative for company that works with the public. I had orginally written a positive review for them. That was before I had a run in with their customer support team. Amazon's support team is useless, but at least they are civil. Its not worthwhile to work with people who assume you will do something illegal.
Tip for consumers:
Don;t work with a company that assumes ahead of time that all its clients will do illegal activity.
Products used:
publishing and distribution.
Booksbutterfly is one of the many paid for promotion sites for independent authors.
I attempted to do two different promotions with them. The first one was for a guaranteed 100 books sold. After three attempts they sold only 33 books.
In the second time, I tried for their guaranteed 50 sales. They ran the promotion for one week and sold six books. They try to do the job, but are wholey incapable. Therefore, their claims are untrue. They can't guarentee you the sales they are selling you.
Tip for consumers:
Don't use bookbutterfly.com to promote your books.
Products used:
They guaranteed 50 sales of books and sold only 6.
Amazon Ads campaigns is another way for Amazon to rip Indie authors off. Depending on the price of your book, you make between 15-40% of the sales cost. Amazon ads seems to be attractive, but it cost so much that you need be be able to sell hundreds of books to break even. Amazon Sellers central costs money. You need to sell 15-30 books just to cover the monthly cost. Don't listen to all the youtube "experts" about how you can sell with low bids. You need 40,000 to 60,000 impressions a day to make a sale. To do that you need to start your bids at 1.70 USD. If you increase your budget to get more sales you also get more clicks which cost you money. The greater the price of your book the more money you have potential to make (like hardbacked books). It also reduces your market size. Most authors don't sell more than two hundred books. So take it from someone who lost lots of money and time in an Amazon rip off.
Tip for consumers:
For Indie authors, unless you have 1-200 reviews and have already sold two hundred books, Amazon Ads Campaigns will only make Amazon wealthier. They don't need your hard earned money.
Products used:
Amazon Ads Campaign
Is BookDoggy any legitimate?
The answer is yes? Good not perfect. The site is really easy to navigate, well laid out, and professionally run. It provides an extensive selection of ebooks! I recommend BookDoggy Free and Almost-Free Ebooks for readers on a budget. A good place to find new and exciting Indie authors. I ran a promotion with them. The problem was it was very short. I did sell 15 books in one day. That is good for an unknown Indie author. The service was good and efficient.
Tip for consumers:
Comparatively the promotional service is inexpensive, but very short.
Products used:
Their promotional servces
After investigating conversiobot, I decided that for $67 USD it might be worthwhile if half of their claims are true. I paid my money. Simon, the CEO, sent me an email directing me to register. However, when I went to the website, my ESET antivirus set off alarms. This isn't a secure website don't proceed. I sent them an email with a screenshot. After several days they said that they fixed it. Lo and held, the same warning came up. After three attempts, it was obvious that their website isn't secure. They have a money back guarantee. It took close to two more weeks till they paid me my money. In the meantime they tried to convince me to register. I finally got my money back.
A secure website is the ABC of any commercial website. I don't know if they fixed the problem or not. I won't attempt to try again and get invaded by some malware.
It behooves us to find out if their line of code really works. I have some doubts, especially after what I experienced.
Tip for consumers:
Have an up-to-date antivirus program before you attempt to register at their site.
Products used:
None
Facebook wants more business, yet they are very restrictive about how you go about it. They want everyone to fit into their concept of the world. If you don't they cut you off. Example you can send out 200 messages at one time to your "friends". However, if you want to make it more personal and send them out one at a time, they allow you only 50. People don't like impersonal messages. They get them and erase them. However, if you write something like Hi George, I would like to invite etc etc for two lines you get very good responses. With personal messages I get 20-30% of the people to come to my website. Promoters work on a basis of 1 out of 50-100,000 to visit and one out of a million to make a sell. Big difference. Unfortunately, Facebook is too big for individuals to request changes. Make up your own mind what you want to do.
Tip for consumers:
Beware, either you conform or you get kicked out.
The ability to get reviews is crucial for any independent author. Pubby provides a platform for authors to review other books and get snaps (points). With enough points you can put your book up for review. I have only one complaint, Pubby doesn't require a minimum number of words for a review. It is obvious that the public as a whole cheats. I submitted my 100,000 word book for review and the person doing the review submitted it to Amazon within a few hours. Some reviews are only 10-12 words long! I suggest that they make it a requirement to write at least 150 words so you can semi-believe the reviewer actually read the book. People where is your integrity?
Tip for consumers:
You can't trust the public.
Barry N.'s review of Facebook earned a Very Helpful vote
Barry N.'s review of Book Blaster earned a Very Helpful vote
Barry N.'s review of Draft2Digital earned 4 Very Helpful votes
Barry N.'s review of booksbutterfly.com earned a Very Helpful vote
Barry N.'s review of bookdoggy.com earned a Very Helpful vote
Barry N.'s review of Conversiobot earned a Very Helpful vote
Barry N.'s review of Pubby earned 3 Very Helpful votes
Barry hasn’t received any thanks yous.
Barry doesn’t have any fans yet.
Barry isn’t following anybody yet.
Empty.
I saw the ad saying 'sell more books with A.I.' and fell for it. I purchased the only had the...
Do not distribute through Draft2Digital if you write romance or erotica. Their content moderators...
Unfortunately, Dr. Nadel's first book did not do well. We ran it 4 times (the first time the author forgot to discount the book). For the $170 package, we did 4 runs costing us $120 each time to run for a total of $480.
We accommodated lots of challenges including - book not discounted for the first run, book ASIN changed later on without telling us (while still keeping the old book published), etc.
His book, unfortunately, was in the 8% of books that miss. 92% of books we run hit the target for $0.99 discounted deals
The guarantee is not - every single book will hit the target. The guarantee is - 92% of books hit the target. 8% of books miss and the guarantee says that we will rerun those 8% to get the remaining sales
Perhaps we need to figure out some way that authors realize Guarantee is - we will rerun the 8% of books that miss. Guarantee does not mean every single book will hit the target (which is impossible as readers have different tastes)
So Dr. Nadel has store credit to rerun the first book for the remaining 67 sales, which we will honor
*********************
For the second book, it is unfortunate that even after knowing our readers are not a good fit for his book, the author returned 6 months later and bought another package
The book was focused on a very specific region (Israel) and unfortunately most of our readers are in the US. So it did not interest them. It was a mistake to take that book. We are doing a full refund for that package (already done)
**********************
For future customers - please keep in mind that while we try our best to not take books that will miss, we cannot predict how books will do. 8% of the time we are wrong and a book we accept misses the guaranteed figure.
The guarantee means - If your book misses, we rerun it for no charge to get the remaining sales
Over 50% of authors whose first book misses, become repeat customers. So the guarantee works for most authors - definitely for the 92% whose books hit the target the first time. Also for most of the authors whose books miss
******************
Some authors get very frustrated that their book misses. We do understand this. Please think of it as promoting your book in a book store, to that book store's readers. It is about 'being a good fit' for those readers. It does not mean that your book is bad, and it does not mean the book store is bad, if your book misses. It is just that the book store's readers did not connect with the book
We have run a lot of book promotion packages (over 40,000 book promotion packages) for over 7,000 authors. We are still figuring out how to avoid taking the 8% of authors whose books end up not being a good match. To help ease the pain of their book not being a good fit for our readers (that's it, nothing else) we offer a guarantee that if their book misses, we will rerun. We rerun the book for the remaining sales (sometimes multiple reruns are required)