A bloke we identified as making software which can churn shedloads of spam books on the Kindle has got his mate on the blower.
We named Mike Carraway's product, Autopilot Kindle Cash, as being used by spammers to stick books onto Amazon.
We got an email from fellow marketeer Caleb Spilchen saying that the article falsely showed Autopilot Kindle Cash as a product that taught people how to spam.
"You also called it a "DVD box set", which it is not."
Above is a snap from Mike's site - so you can see why we might have thought that. We also might have thought that a nice hardback book came with it.
For a marketer who claims that his product is only used for legit marketing porpoises we were surprised that he seemed to make statements about his product through his friend's site
So we had a look at his site and we could see why.
On a post on an interent marketing site he tells us his story. Apparently in 2008, he started posting a few books on Kindle. It took about an hour to post a new book. "But DANG - it took me days to write them - and even more time to format them and get everything perfect."
Ok, we can see how it can be annoying when you spend a few days constructing a literary masterpiece. Then you've got to waste time spending an hour uploading the book to Kindle, which can be pain. Especially after turning out 100,000 words in three days.
Mike goes on to tell us that it hit him like "a piano from the eighth floor", why was he doing the work when he could get someone else to do it for him?
Now, he claims to average $4/month per Kindle book he has published so if he publishes 100 books and earn about $400/month, 500 books a month he will earn $2,000/month.
"You just rake in the CASH," he said.
Now he insists that he is not talking about illegal books here. He claims to be talking about books which people have lying around, which they want to be published but can't be bothered to.
However, to make the sort of income he is talking about, you are dealing with huge numbers.
Stephen King is a fairly prolific writer and has written about 80 books, but he has been at it since the 1960s. Perhaps the only writer who would fit into Mike's business model is Barbara Cartland who managed 723 books in her lifetime.
So if it is not the authors who can use Mike's software, whose content is he selling?
Mike posted his advert on the Warrior Forum which happens to be just for that breed of people called "internet marketers" looking for ways to monetise Google's Panda.
Our story said that the same methods used to mass publish Kindle book, like the sort Mike flogs, are exactly the sort of technique which is stuffing Amazon's book shelf with rubbish.
Mike said his machine had put up 80 Kindle titles so far, and even if he is kosher, we are sure there are loads of those who are on Warrior who are likely to shove any content they can up to make the sorts of targets that Mike boasts about.
You call autopilot kindle cash, a software. Can I ask you something? Where in Mike's sales letter does he call it a software? Perhaps you, have NEVER Heard of PAYING people to do work, outsourcing. That is clearly what Mike suggests in his sales letter.
You then attempt to press the fact that I, as well as Mike use the Warrior Forum for sales, and that a few blokes on the forum (as you would call them), do things that are not great, and you seem to put blame on us.
TechEye, I would like you to contact me, and get the truth out.
Caleb
I have a question for you...
Did they not teach you in Journalism School and at the papers you worked at to...um...Check The Facts?
First off it isn't software! Yes, I know you looked at the pretty picture and assumed it was.
Well, we know what happens when you ASSume right?
Some more questions for you sir.
Did you bother to contact Mr. Carraway and ask him about his product?
Did you even bother to purchase the product to do well, investigative research on the product?
The reason I ask these questions is because I believe you and your readers should have all the facts and not some half-baked story that was posted because the ebooks (yes, that is what they are called) posted are not to your liking.
You quoted "Our story said that the same methods used to mass publish Kindle book, like the sort Mike flogs, are exactly the sort of technique which is stuffing Amazon's book shelf with rubbish."
While I agree that there is rubbish in the bookstores like Amazon these days. Could it not be said that there are rubbish news stories or rubbish television shows and movies?
It’s my hope that you further investigate and verify facts before putting out another post like this.
Regards,
George Patrick