Re: Madeleine McCann Books

**Freedom** Tue 09 Aug 2016, 6:08 pm

From reading the comments for one of her novels, that appears to be self-published too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B00HOHMIVQ/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=recent

Antonia Tue 09 Aug 2016, 6:19 pm

Followed the link to find 6 reviews of one of her other books - 4 very good, and 2 one star reviews saying the same things I did in my review re lack of editing etc.

probably if we followed up the reviews of her other books we'd get the same kind of comments. Why does she not respond to these reasonable comments for her current work? An editor needn't cost a lot and most people would have a friend who could help.

Guest Tue 09 Aug 2016, 6:32 pm

Many writers - unfortunately, the majority of them self-published - don't know what they don't know. In other words, they've never done a writing workshop or submitted their work to someone who can give them constructive criticism. Or they've only ever submitted their work to people who praise them, rather than helping them. Or they've submitted their work to constructive criticism but have rejected it, believing that the critic doesn't know what they're talking about. A lot of writers don't react well to criticism believing that they're the best thing since sliced bread and that other people just can't see it. The writers who get somewhere, who improve with each written work and who actually care about their craft and who are willing to learn to improve will take the time to work with workshops, editors and anyone who can help them become better writers. The rest just clatter along, oblivious.

Andrew Wed 10 Aug 2016, 10:20 am

Will this book be hitting the shelves at Waterstones or WHSmiths anytime soon then?

**Freedom** Wed 10 Aug 2016, 10:23 am

Somehow I think not - and not just because of the content matter!

It appears that all her books are self-published.

It might still be possible to order it though - that's what I did with the book (Fateful Decisions) that Enid O'Dowd wrote; I ordered it from Waterstones.

Antonia Wed 10 Aug 2016, 10:38 am

Sometimes self published books are only available as ebooks.

Sometimes self published books are much better in every way than ones that go through a publisher. Publishing companies can be risk adverse and go for what they think will sell which is why we get so many celebrity memoirs and cook books. But some self published books are clearly very very bad and you can understand why a publisher didn't want them.

A friend of mine, a journalist and editor, was asked by a publisher to ghost write a sporting celebrity memoir. It bombed sales wise. While it was perfect in terms of grammar and style, as my friend said it was BORING and she was so glad her name wasn't mentioned and it appeared that the celebrity had written it herself. She says many such memoirs are ghost written.

Andrew Wed 10 Aug 2016, 10:40 am

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disappearance-Madeleine-McCann-really-happened-ebook/dp/B01JVLAYP4/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470561547&sr=1-5&keywords=The+disappearance+of+Madeleine+McCann

I lost my kindle sometime ago so can't download the free version but you can 'look inside' and read a small bit on it from this link.

I really don't know much about CH to comment on her. I just thought she was a self-styled 'profiler' who was like an American student or something and just had a keen interest in true crime etc.

Didn't realise she has wrote other books as well.

Noticed she is accredited for this recent article:

http://www.inquisitr.com/3398341/police-madeleine-mccann-investigation-may-end-by-autumn/

But I suppose grammar and spelling aside, if it gets more people waking up and questioning the force-fed 'abduction' narrative, then that surely is a good thing...

Andrew Wed 10 Aug 2016, 11:01 am

Another article about the book here from the other day:

http://us.blastingnews.com/news/2016/08/new-madeleine-mccann-book-reveals-possible-location-of-child-s-body-001053835.html

Guest Wed 10 Aug 2016, 5:55 pm

Andrew wrote:

I lost my kindle sometime ago so can't download the free version....

You can download a free kindle app to your regular old computer and phone and it will allow you to read kindle books :-) You don't need a kindle device :-)

Guest Wed 10 Aug 2016, 6:00 pm

If a self-published book is available as a paperback on amazon then you can in theory order it from any brick and mortar bookstore and they will get it for you :-) Self published paperbacks are print-on-demand, which means they're stored digitally until someone orders a copy and then they're printed up for that customer. That way there's no unsold inventory. But it's true, many self-pubbed books are ebook only. They don't have to be - it costs nothing to format and sell the ebook or the paperback. But paperbacks usually cost the reader more, so it's easier to sell ebooks to readers :-)

Andrew Wed 10 Aug 2016, 7:07 pm

canada12 wrote:
Andrew wrote:

I lost my kindle sometime ago so can't download the free version....

You can download a free kindle app to your regular old computer and phone and it will allow you to read kindle books :-) You don't need a kindle device :-)

Thanks C.

I think the only time I used my Kindle was when I took it somewhere and lost it. Might as well download this free app then anyway. Cheers.

dogs don't lie Wed 10 Aug 2016, 10:37 pm

I checked on kindle earlier and its £3 something, is it worth it? Don't mean money btw, just not much storage left!

Andrew Thu 11 Aug 2016, 8:54 am

Judging by some earlier comments left, then probably not, DDL.

But in fairness and by the sounds of it, it does sound a half-decent book for people who have very little or zero knowledge on the case.

I noticed that CH tweeted a while back it was the #1 bestseller in the 'True Crime' section. Couldn't see it anywhere in the bestseller list myself but rarely go on Amazon so perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place. Was just intrigued as to where it is in the rankings now...

dogs don't lie Thu 11 Aug 2016, 10:31 am

Reading the sample it sounds really good as she doesn't promote the mcs at all, but then there's SB,
I think I might actually, just incase lol

Andrew Thu 11 Aug 2016, 3:56 pm

... So is her conclusion the same as Stephen Birchs' then and Madeleine is under Robert Murats' driveway does anyone know?

**Freedom** Thu 11 Aug 2016, 9:39 pm

From CH's Facebook page:

To those of you who have purchased the KINDLE version of my latest book on the Madeleine ‪#‎McCann‬ case:

For some reason, KDP (Kindle publishing) has started removing italics and words with dashes (-) from their formatting, which makes for some pretty irritating reading. Apparently this has affected my book (again, just the KINDLE version), and dashes/italics did not show up in the final product. That means words such as "three-years-old" showed up in the KINDLE version as "threeyearsold," which is absolutely infuriating to me.

This has attracted less-than-stellar (see what I did there) reviews, from readers who (for some silly reason) believe that I am stupid enough to smash three words together without dashes. I do apologize for the formatting errors in the KINDLE version, but they are beyond my control.

HOWEVER, the paperback version of the book has absolutely NO errors of this kind. (see photo) Again, I apologize for the formatting errors that were found in the KINDLE version, which are thanks to Amazon KDP's formatting for KINDLE. The only remedy I see for this is to revise the entire manuscript to have spaces, instead of dashes, (which still doesn't look good), so that these words aren't smashed together thanks to the removal of my dashes. This will take quite some time, but those of you who bought it on Amazon for KINDLE, won't be affected. It will refresh to the updated copy automatically without you having to repurchase, or feeling like you wasted money on something with formatting errors.

Antonia Thu 11 Aug 2016, 9:51 pm

Chelsea's reply does not mention her actual factual errors or inconsistent sloppy style. The problem with dashes does not explain running together of words that would not have had dashes between them anyway. As she has published before, she would have been aware of the systems quirks.

froggy Thu 11 Aug 2016, 10:21 pm

Kindle has all sorts of little quirks. You get used to them in time Very Happy

Andrew Mon 22 Aug 2016, 4:39 pm

I know there are various threads discussing various books about Madeleine McCann but thought it would be easier and simpler to have them all under the same section. For reference purposes really.

Has anyone come across or read this book before....

http://fakedabduction.com/2009/09/the-book/

**Freedom** Mon 22 Aug 2016, 5:47 pm

I don't know why the name is different. This is Steve Marsden's book.

http://fakedabduction.com/

I haven't read it myself.

There is a topic about Steve Marsden.

https://maddiemccannmystery.forumotion.co.uk/t829-split-from-wayback-thread-steve-marsden-posts-on-facebook-etc?highlight=steve+marsden

Andrew Mon 22 Aug 2016, 7:39 pm

Ah yes, so it is. Got myself a bit confused there... Didn't realise Steve is Brian.... Or Brian is Steve.

Andrew Mon 22 Aug 2016, 8:28 pm

**Admin** Mon 22 Aug 2016, 8:56 pm

Thanks Andrew for compiling that useful reference list of books. Will put it in Research and Reference section and make it a sticky!

Antonia Mon 22 Aug 2016, 9:04 pm

Maybe a table showing all the books, who wrote them and the book's conclusion.

Andrew, you seem to have time on your hands........

Antonia Mon 22 Aug 2016, 9:05 pm

Is the Petermac ebook included in the list?

PS could we also have a comparison of the prices?

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