Rachel Neumeier's Blog, page 3

NaNoWriMo

I never really participated in NaNoWriMo and did not follow the official organization. In fact, I honestly didn’t know there was an actual official organization until the thing about AI use blew up last year. But apparently there was, and apparently NaNoWritMo shut down this past April in a burst of scandals. AND, evidently quite a few participants weren’t happy about that, quite reasonably, and therefore there are now a bunch of official alternatives, which are listed at this post at Reedsy.

Reedsy’s got their own Novel Sprint, exactly like NaNoWriMo, 50,000 words in November, but with prizes (!). Not sure how the prizes are awarded. To the judge’s favorite entry where someone completed a 50,000-word story? Does it have to be complete? I don’t think it’s especially wise to focus on writing a COMPLETE 50,000-word novella, because you can call it a novel all you want, but it isn’t. Unless it’s MG, maybe.

The recent post about rules and advice makes this version look interesting:

2. ProWritingAid: Novel November

ProWritingAid’s Novel November combines the classic NaNoWriMo structure with expert-led workshops and a robust support system.

How it works: Register for a free ProWritingAid account and commit to writing 1,667 words per day throughout November. You can use any writing tool you prefer (Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, etc.) while tracking your progress via the Novel November dashboard.

During both October and November, you’ll get planning workshops to develop your story structure, as well as expert advice from top authors (Madeline Miller, Rufi Thorpe, and many more). 

Throughout November, in the Novel November forum, you can enjoy daily writing sprints, join a writer circle (e.g. Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, etc.), and receive badges as you progress through the challenge. 

I could care less about badges — I think I was born indifferent to participation trophies, to be honest, because I can’t remember ever caring about things like progress badges or whatever. But here is a place that might, maybe, offer potentially useful advice to people who are serious about writing something? Because they have to be serious or they would not be taking a stab at writing 50,000 words in November.

There’s a different organization, The Order of the Written Word, which is flexible — 30,000 words of a new draft, revision and polishing of an existing draft, or a collection of stories or shorter works.

There’s a three-month version, AutoCrit Novel, for people who are serious about finishing something, but not keen on the 50,000-words-in-a-month thing. That seems VERY SENSIBLE. I think three months is a very doable period in which to write a full-length novel. With, I see, different options for outliners vs discovery writers. That’s also sensible. Each “team” is “led’ by a well-known author, apparently, who is supposed to offer “coaching.” That sort of thing would push me personally away. I’m just a very “hands off, don’t look over my shoulder” type of author.

WorldAnvil offers all sorts of options and custom goals, basically whatever you want to do is fine with them.

Anyway, multiple options, laid out at the linked post — so if you’re interested or know people who are, there you go! Lots of possibilities!

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Update: Please Leave a Review

As you know, the Kindle version of Sekaran went live yesterday and also the book dropped into KU. Plus, the paperback and hardcover editions went live in a mere 24 hours, which means they were actually live right at the tail end of October, even though in theory it’s supposed to take three days. So every Amazon edition is now available.

You can now leave a review, which I hope you will do. I expect you know this because I have mentioned it before, but not only do reviews offer reassurance to prospective readers who might not be sure about picking up Sekaran, reviews are also a trigger for an all-star bonus.

Amazon does not share its algorithms, so I’m not sure, but I think the keys for this kind of bonus include: Some number of preorders; some number of sales in the first month, some number of KU pages read in the first month, and some number of positive reviews and/or ratings in the first month. The reason I think reviews and/or ratings matter is that when Amazon sends an author a notification email that says, “Congratulations! You’ve received an All-Star Bonus!”, one of the things that email says is, “Because your book delights readers.” I don’t know how they would evaluate “delights readers” in any way except via reviews and ratings.

I do think that some readers are feeling a little cautious about Sekaran because preorders were 15% lower for Sekaran than for Hedesa. I expect Patreon is also eating some proportion of Amazon preorders, WHICH IS FINE, but I think this specific drop is probably mostly due to the “not a novel” note in the description. This is also fine. I’m just noting that the social proof offered by reviews and ratings are likely to be more important for this book than for a normal novel in this series.

***

What ELSE is going on, you may well ask.

A) I did finish the first scene, scene and a half of NFS #2, though not the full first chapter. I added fast notes about what happens next so I won’t forget. And I’m leaving this teensy beginning of a novel on the desktop of my computer, which is where anything I’m actively working on is always placed.

B) I finished polishing up Medical Emergency.

C) I discovered a minor technological annoyance, see below.

D) And yes, I started November by writing 4000 words per day, so far, for Tuyo #12.

***

Technology, phooey

So, you may recall that a few weeks ago, I noted that the letter o on my laptop was not behaving as it should, and that the problem had spread to the 9 and the 0, above the letter o. Sometimes I had to tap the key and hold it down for a while before an o would appear, and sometimes I’d get oooo instead of o, so there were tons ooof annying prblems where I wooooould have to back up and retype whatever woooord I was trying t type. This problem was intermittent, but obviously not great, so I got a new laptop, and on this new laptop, I put Word 2007, which I downloaded from the Internet Archive, and thank you very much, whoever pointed to that, because I’m glad to have that as an option. Especially as the new laptop’s current version of Word fails to recognize my normal account, which is working fine on my old laptop.

This is all getting complicated, so to sum up:

Old laptop, current Word works fine. And LibreOffice is on that laptop.

New laptop, current Word refuses to recognize my account, Word 2007 works fine, LibreOffice is not on this laptop.

Thus, I have moved files back and forth. So I can now tell you what is different in the new version of Word vs the 2007 version and what happens when you switch back and forth.

A) Word 2007 does not enable the “show headings” function in the navigation pane. There’s a document map instead, but you can’t move stuff up and down via the document map the way you can in the navigation pane.

B) For some reason, it didn’t occur to anybody in 2007 that when you Find a word, you might want to (a) know how many instances of that word occur in your document, and (b) be able to go up as well as down through your document. This makes whoever designed the 2007 version seem like an idiot, though no doubt this wasn’t as obvious as it seems to me now.

C) That’s all endurable, but also, when you switch a file back and forth, you lose about a fifth of all the italics and also some of the spaces between words vanish. Not a lot. But some. THIS may force me to switch to LibreOffice as my backup program, because the only thing that goes wrong with that when you switch back and forth that you lose chapter breaks, and that’s all right. I like the 2007 Word better than LibreOffice, but still.

D) And I guess I’ll spend part of the coming week sorting out whatever is going wrong with the current version of Word on my new laptop, uncheck the “you agree we can steal your stuff” box in the “trust center,” and most likely go back to using that version. Maybe not. But that’s the way I’m leaning right now.

But at least I have options if the letter o stops working completely.

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Building Inventory

A post that made me laugh (wryly, but sincerely) at Ann R Allen’s blog: You’re not Failing as a Writer. You’re Building Inventory! 

Ann says: A lot of us will realize, after we learn to write better, that the first novel was just a practice piece. But others write excellent beginning novels that don’t get picked up—mostly because they aren’t the high-concept, breakout, hits-the-current-trend-at-the-perfect-spot-in-the-curve material publishers require these days. So what you need to do after that first round of rejections is put the first novel in a drawer and write another. And another. 

A drawer full of manuscripts is a fine, fine thing to have, declares Ann R Allen, and she is absolutely right. She wrote the first part of that post about a million years ago, before self-publishing became a thing. She stands by this advice now with regard to self-publishing, and did I say she was absolutely right? I can’t think of any way to say that strongly enough. Let me allow a wide-eyed puppy to say it for me:

You can self-publish a series even if book #1 doesn’t rock the publishing world. You can build interest as you release more titles. But you’ll get much more traction if you publish them in quick succession, which will be a lot easier if you have already written several titles in that series.

That’s what Ann says. That’s basically it. It’s a short post. I had a strong reaction to it because I’m REALLY SORRY that I don’t have any more complete novels sitting around, ready to be revised with a relatively trivial amount of work. Instead, I have partial novels that probably won’t work as the basis for anything, and a complete long SF novel that would take a non-trivial amount of work to revise, and that’s it. I’m weeping, I tell you, and this is because Ann is totally one hundred percent right: unpublished finished novels that are in pretty decent shape are WONDERFUL to have in inventory.

When I self-published Tuyo, that’s when I decided to take self-publishing seriously. And what complete, basically fine novels did I have sitting around at that moment? I thinkI had these:

The Sphere of the Winds for sure; I’d had it polished and waiting for years by then.

The Tenai Trilogy (The Year’s Midnight; Of Absence, Darkness; As Shadow, A light). Again, I’d had that ready to go for years.

No Foreign Sky. Same thing. I had over-revised it and had to do more work than I should have to get it back to where it should have been, but it was finished and not in dire shape.

Eight Doors.

Some Black Dog novel or other, I forget which.

Maybe the Invictus duology, though maybe not, I can’t remember when I started it. Though it wasn’t finished, so maybe it doesn’t count.

Still, that’s six to nine novels that were finished at the time, and that’s one reason I could bring out a bunch of books every year. I regret very much that I don’t have another six to nine novels sitting around. I suppose I will concede that the giant SF thing could probably be revised into decent shape and would certainly be at least a duology, so I’m not totally out. But it would take a significant amount of time, and I have other things to do.

***

You will indeed get more traction if you can release books rather quickly. If I were going to begin self-publishing in 2026; if I intended to release my first book in January, then here is what I would want to do:

1) Have five books in this series finished, plus a couple books in a different series.

I’m serious. Having a good number of novels finished, with no more than final polishing left to do, would be so, so helpful. You wouldn’t need covers for all of them, and you wouldn’t really need all of them to be polished to a high gloss, but you would want them basically ready. Establishing yourself as an author would be so much faster and so much lower stress if you had six books lined up behind your debut novel.

Then you could —

2) Create a website with a blog and an associated newsletter.

3) Get or make decent covers for your debut novel and at least two more and put the debut book up for preorder.

4) Do some sort of promotion to get preorders, and this is hard to even think about. If it’s going to be your debut novel and you don’t have readers waiting for it, then how do you do this? I’ve never looked at this very much.

How about writing a long short story or short novella that is a direct prequel and giving that away on your blog, and doing as much as possible with social media to get readers to download that story and read it? We’ll specify that the story is great and your debut novel is great. Book Funnel is supposed to be good for giveaways.

5) Set up preorders for the next two books, a month or six weeks apart, even eight weeks, and this is why you want to have multiple books written at the time your first book goes live. I think this would be super useful in a lot of ways.

First, having multiple books up for preorder would reassure your prospective readers that you’re not going to end the first book on a cliffhanger and then stop. You’re not going to get them engaged with your characters and then stop.

Second, you would be able to actually bring out novels in quick succession without going crazy. You could schedule a promotion of the first book to occur simultaneously with the release of the third. Amazon would do some of the heavy lifting for you, as long as you had preorders.

Third, with those books already written, you would be able to focus on Newsletter content and maybe dip a toe into more serious promotion, such as figuring out Amazon ads, while also writing another book at a sane pace. By the time you ran low on “inventory” — the books that were ready to go at the time you published your first book — you would have several more books ready plus you would have had time to figure out some things that worked for you — promotion strategies, blogging schedule, newsletter — lots of things.

Fourth, by the time you’ve brought out the original seven novels plus three or so that you’ve written as you’ve moved ahead, you should have some sort of readership willing to follow you and keep an eye out for future books, and I think you would then be positioned to move forward with a secondary or even primary career as a novelist without going nuts. And the ability to do all this without going nuts owes a lot to having multiple books, mroe than a couple, basically finished before moving ahead.

MEANWHILE

I bet practically everyone who sticks with traditional publishing for a decade has multiple books that did not go anywhere, and this would be super helpful for transitioning from traditional to self-publishing. Or lots of people write multiple novels while querying the first (I mean the first they thought was good enough to query).

Just as Ann R Allen says, those books are wonderful to have in a drawer. You might not use all of them, or any of them. But maybe you will, so never, ever get disheartened and throw them away. I’m one hundred percent on board with Allen on that one.

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Poetry Thursday: Haiku and Tanka

Masaoka Shiki was a Japanese poet and literary critic who lived during his country’s Meiji period which ran from 1868 to 1912.  He was one of the earlier exponents of the modern version of haiku poetry and is considered, by some students of the art, to be one of the four great haiku masters.  He also specialised in the short-form version of the genre which is known as tanka poetry. … Shiki’s output of short-form poetry was considerable and critics generally credit him with single-handedly establishing this form of writing in the Meiji period. 

1.

A willow;
and two or three cows
waiting for the boat.

***

2.

After killing
a spider, how lonely I feel
in the cold of night!

***

3.

One canary escaped:
the spring day
is at its end.

***

Tanka

1.

on the pine needles,
each of the slender needles,
a dewdrop rests—
a thousand pearls lie
quivering, yet never fall

***

2.

I do not know the day
my pain will end yet
in the little garden
I had them plant
seeds of autumn flowers

***

3.

In the spring chill,
as I slept with sword by pillow,
deep at night
my little sister came to me
in dreams from home.

***

The tanka form is new to me. I think my personal preference is for poems longer than this, but much (much) shorter than real epic poetry. Perhaps poems in the general range of three hundred to a thousand words, arranged in shortish stanzas, with — now that I’m thinking about what I lean toward — strong rhythm or evocative word choice and imagery, or both. Eg, Swinburne, say, and Tennyson, and Emily Dickinson, and lots of poets, basically.

On the other hand, I rather like these — especially the tanka. There are dozens more at the link.

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12 Ways Not To Start a Novel

At Ann R Allen’s blog, a wonderful companion to this recent post about the top ten ways to begin a novel — 12 ways NOT to start a novel.

All that first draft scribbling usually doesn’t have much to do with the final product. When we first start a novel, we’re not thinking about our readers; we’re telling the story to ourselves. All kinds of information will come up, but be aware you’ll want to cut most of it or move it to another part of the book when you edit. … And when it comes to that editing — the first chapter presents your biggest challenge. I’ve often spent more time on a first chapter than the entire remainder of the book.

Gosh, I’m taking a moment to appreciate the fact that I generally do almost no revision of the first chapter.

On the opening page, we have only a few lines to grab the reader and keep her from putting the book back on the shelf. We have to present an exciting hook and fascinating characters that will suck readers in immediately — but not overwhelm them with too much information.

Then, as promised, twelve (brief) suggestions of things to avoid. It was a dark and stormy night.

Fine, this is the same-old-same-old, or a lot of it is. Don’t start with a character waking up. Yes, yes, we know, that’s normally boring, except when it isn’t. The book I linked to, without naming, in my post about Top Ten Ways to Open a Novel, was The Breach by Patrick Lee. The character wakes up in the morning and it’s quite hooky. I don’t know of a lot of thriller writers better than Lee.

Oh, here’s one that’s more interesting:

5) Funerals and Death

Slush readers say a huge number of manuscripts — especially memoirs — start with the protagonist in a state of bereavement. But most readers aren’t eager to embark on a literary journey with a miserable MC.

A huge number of manuscripts start with bereavement? I guess I can see that in memoir, but ugh. You know, if you’re a student in an English Comp class, don’t write and essay about the death of a child (or a pet). Yes, that incident has high emotional impact. No, your instructor does not want to read that.

I see Allen is advising against killing the initial pov character. Good. I really dislike that, though I tolerate it in murder mysteries.

6) “If I’d Known then What I Know Now…”

Starting with the conditional perfect may seem clever to you, but unfortunately it does to a lot of other writers, too. This is cliché territory — don’t go there.

Fine, but you know what, The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher pretty much starts this way, and it works fine. “I am going to try to start at the beginning, even though I know you won’t believe me. It’s okay. I wouldn’t believe me either. Everything I have to say sounds completely barking mad. I’ve run through it in my mind over and over, trying to find a way to turn it around so that it all sounds quite normal and sensible, and of course there isn’t one.”

The other thing Kingfisher does here that’s clever is — in the frame story, she promises the reader that the dog doesn’t die. That’s not just clever, it’s crucial.

Anyway, I do get tired of posts — even by Ann R Allen — saying don’t do this, don’t do that. I always wish they would say, “Unless you’re as good as Patrick Lee and then sure, do it, it’s fine.”

Oh, here’s one:

10) Group Activities

Don’t overwhelm your reader with too many characters right off the bat. It’s like meeting a bunch of people at a cocktail party: you don’t remember anybody’s name if you hear too many at once.

I have to reluctantly agree that I’m on board with this one. It’s just so hard to handle a crowd in the first place, and worse, EVEN IF YOU ARE A STELLAR writer and do an ASTOUNDINGLY good job with your crowd in the opening scene, a whole bunch of readers will get lost in the crowd and stop reading. I’m one of those readers. Every now and then, I’ve picked up a series novel where, I assume, most readers know the characters and therefore aren’t lost when twelve of them are on stage in the opening scene. But I am totally lost. I’m not that great with names anyway. Who is this again? Wait, is she part of a couple? Can you remind me who her significant other might be? Never mind, I have forgotten and also I don’t even care, bye.

I would add: Don’t name all the scenery in creation either. Don’t say, “Well, Ghestitak, here we are on the Tavan Cliffs on the border of Senestral, watching the Three Moons rise over the remnants of the Yatarian Fleet, and where is Panab? I thought he was supposed to be here at third moon rise.” Just mention the cliffs and the three moons and let the names of all the specific bits of scenery wait for later. That’s what I suggest.

Oh, I certainly like the way Allen winds up her post:

12) Too Much Action

Writing gurus keep telling us to start a novel with action, action, action, but this isn’t actually such good advice. There’s such a thing as too much action. Action isn’t the same as conflict. We need to be emotionally engaged with a character before we care how many dragoons of doom he slays. The fact that somebody stole his magic sword on the way to the battle may create more emotional conflict than the actual slaying.

What she said! Absolutely! I’m really starting to hate the advice to start in media res. No no! Do not start in media res! We have to have context!

Which isn’t to say: Don’t start with action. It’s fine to start with action, if you’re also providing context as you go. It’s just hard for the author to do that and hard for the reader to keep up. So I’m actually right with Ann R Allen on this one: Don’t start with TOO MUCH action to the detriment of character and context.

Click through if you like, and check out the rest of her post. I will say, and I think this is important, cliches bother agents more than they bother readers. Agents are the ones reading through thousands of iterations of badly done protagonist-wakes-up openings. Normal readers don’t get bored with stuff nearly as easily as agents, editors, and publishers think they do — that’s my opinion. I wouldn’t hesitate to start a novel with ANY of the types of openings that Allen calls cliched. I would plan to do it well and make it work, that’s all.

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Fifty Weird Facts

A couple of these, I doubt. For example, #16, sure, uh huh. But this is still a fun list. I saw the link at Kill Zone Blog, by the way. Some I’ve known forever, including the fact — this doesn’t strike me as weird — that flamingos are pink because of their diet. In zoos, flamingos are kept pink by adding carrot juice to their food, or they’d turn whitish.

I think my favorite is the short-lived pineapple burger McDonald’s once apparently offered.

For weird animals, you can’t do better than Gary Meaney’s book. Here’s his profile on Quora. He’s pretty amazing — he wrote tons of posts as a teenager and published that book when he was eighteen, I think, and it’s enormously fun. Here’s an especially fun post about little cat species that will give you an idea of his style, if you would care to click through.

For more weird stuff, have you ever had a chance to glance through Atlas Obscura?

Here are natural wonders, like the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can sit and drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M. C. Escher–like stepwells in India. Mind-boggling events, like the Baby-Jumping Festival in Spain—and no, it’s not the babies doing the jumping, but masked men dressed as devils who vault over rows of squirming infants.

Lots of weird stuff in the world. Here’s a baobab. You can imagine one being short, broad, hollow, and turned into a destination.

Image from Unsplash

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Update: Finished! For Real This Time

All right, so, this morning I will be making the final, the very final, corrections to Sekaran and then loading the file to Draft to Digital and making the epub file, which I have already confirmed looks fine, and then I will drop that at my Patreon.

Therefore, Sekaran should go live on my Patreon before ten this morning (Central)

And by “VERY FINAL,” I mean that if anybody spots any typos, I will of course fix those and drop the corrected version next week. BUT, as far as I know, this version is PERFECT and UTTERLY FREE OF TYPOS, and many thanks to everyone who read the later drafts, often more than once. Given requests last time, I’ll enable the “sell the post” feature this week, and add a note that if someone wants to ensure their version is as typo-free as possible, they should wait a week just in case.

Sekaran will go live on Amazon November 2, so I’ll leave it live at Patreon until the end of October and then delete it there.

MEANWHILE

Eight Doors is on sale for $0.99 today and tomorrow.

Thus, if you haven’t yet picked it up and would like to, now is a great time!

I set my newsletter to go out this morning as well, with all the above information and links PLUS the first part of the story featuring a much younger Dr. Thaniel Hale encountering Ubez for the first time. I thought this was going to be a two-chapter story of about 16,000 words, but unexpectedly added a line at the end of chapter two that strongly suggests a third chapter had better appear. Either I’ll delete that line or write another chapter. I guess I’ll know which by this time next week.

AND

Whew, I am finally tossing Sekaran out of the nest and that means abruptly I have time for other stuff. Not just a rather casual Dr. Hale story, but something intended to be a real novel. Not sure what, and I may take a few days off and READ BOOKS BY OTHER PEOPLE, but for a change I bet I will be ramping up to put lots of words in a row in November. I don’t usually think of myself as participating in NaNoWriMo. But if I sort of loaf around for a couple weeks, fiddling with this and that, then I guess I kind of will be about ready to dive into something around the beginning of November.

In fact, depending on a bunch of different factors, maybe I’ll wind up writing an actual novel in National Novel Writing Month. That would certainly be keen, not to mention I’d be set up to release something new in, say, February, which would also be keen.

MEANWHILE

The last of the summer flowers.

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ChatGPT: A Possible Use — Scam Detection

These new AI-generated scams look potentially dangerous to naive would-be authors. I do think the scammers are getting in their own way by targeting a single potential mark over and over in a short period of time. I’ve gotten three four five this morning (so far):

A) “Deborah”

I’m Deborah, and I specialize in helping authors spotlight emotionally complex, genre-blending stories that spark powerful conversations in book clubs. When I came across Invictus: Captive, I was immediately struck by its tension-filled dynamic between Sevastien and Nalyn Ila, and by the emotional and political depth woven into its thrilling science fiction setting.

Sevastien’s struggle to survive betrayal and suspicion, paired with Nalyn Ila’s careful calculation of whether he is a pawn or an ally, creates the kind of cat-and-mouse intrigue that readers can’t put down. … … …

B) “Pauline”

I recently came across Eight Doors from Dawn to Midnight and was struck by the quiet power in its premise  a tale of siblings bound by curse and gift, caught between love and the pursuit of immortality. Your writing carries that rare blend of mythic resonance and emotional intimacy, the kind that transforms dark fantasy into something enduringly human. … … …

C) “Paul” — second attempt

I wanted to reach out again because Eight Doors from Dawn to Midnight hasn’t left my mind since I read it. It’s rare to come across a story that feels both ancient and intimate one that hums with myth yet bleeds with emotion. What you’ve built isn’t just a fantasy; it’s a meditation on love, loss, and the spaces between light and shadow. That kind of writing doesn’t just entertain it transcends. And that’s why I can’t stop thinking about how it’s performing. A book this haunting, this beautifully composed, deserves to be discovered not left hidden in the digital corners of Amazon.

I completely understand if you’re feeling cautious or skeptical; plenty of authors do at first. If it helps, I can introduce you to our website so you can see how we work and what kind of books we champion. I can also invite you into our private Discord group, where you can meet readers and authors firsthand. And if you’d like, I can even connect you with a few authors I’ve already worked with people who were exactly where you are now and have seen their readership grow organically once reviews started to flow.

***

Bold is mine. I feel this sort of thing might well be persuasive to naive authors. But how often can these sorts of pitches be made before even the most naive author grows skeptical? Why four (or more) come-ons like this per day? I’ve gotten up to seven per day for the past week. Isn’t the sheer volume going to trigger “scammer radar” in almost anybody?

HOWEVER

Just as scammers can use ChatGPT to generate these scam emails, naive authors who are the least bit suspicious can drop emails into ChatGPT and ask what Chat thinks.

Good Morning, ChatGPT! Here’s the complete text of an email I received this morning. Is this person a scammer?

ChatGPT: Yes — this email is almost certainly a scam.

Let’s break down the red flags:

1. Overly flattering language“It’s rare to come across a story that feels both ancient and intimate…”“A meditation on love, loss, and the spaces between light and shadow…”
This kind of effusive, poetic praise is characteristic of scammer templates. It’s designed to flatter the author into lowering skepticism.
(They almost certainly haven’t read your book.)2. Manipulative emotional framing

The message mixes flattery (“you’re brilliant”) with mild alarm (“your book could vanish without reviews”).
This creates emotional pressure to accept help, a classic persuasion technique.

3. Vague “private community” of 3,000 readersNo verifiable company name, no link to a legitimate website, no business credentials.Phrases like “real readers who leave genuine, thoughtful reviews” are suspicious—Amazon strictly forbids any paid or incentivized review schemes.
If this “community” leaves reviews after being compensated in any way (money, free books, perks), it violates Amazon’s TOS and can get your book penalized or delisted.4. “No catch” language

When someone says “there’s no catch,” there’s always a catch.
They may later offer to “feature” your book for a “small administrative fee,” or direct you to a fake “reader network” website designed to harvest payment or author contact info.

5. No professional markers

No:

company addresslast name tied to a verifiable marketing agencywebsite domain email (they’re using Gmail or similar)social media or LinkedIn link

If you search “Paul Menorah book marketing” or similar, you’ll likely find no legitimate presence — or reports of scam emails using that name.

What to doDo not reply — that confirms your email is active.Mark it as spam or phishing in your mail client.If you’re curious, you can safely search the text (a unique phrase in quotes) — you’ll often find identical scam messages sent to other authors.

If you’d like, I can quickly check whether this specific “Paul Menorah” or his “private reader community” has been reported as a scam online. Would you like me to do that?

Me: Sure, Chat, please do.

ChatGPT:

I did some digging. I didn’t find any credible, verifiable evidence that a “Paul Menorah private reader community” is a legitimate organization — but I found plenty of evidence about scams extremely similar to exactly what you described. Based on what I found, your instincts are very likely correct: this is almost certainly a scam or a deceptive offer.

Here’s what turned up:

What I foundBook-review / “private reader community” scams
There’s a growing class of scams targeting authors, offering “access to a community of reviewers” in exchange for fees (sometimes upfront). These scams often promise that readers will leave Amazon/Goodreads reviews to boost algorithm visibility. Writer Beware calls this a “book club / book review scam.” Writer Beware+1These scams often use very flattering, personalized language to persuade. Writer Beware+1They often demand payment (or access to your Amazon / KDP / publisher dashboard) after initial contact. Writer Beware+1In some cases, after authors pay, the scammers request access to their KDP accounts. Writer BewareSometimes the promised “community” is entirely fictional (or populated by bots / AI). Patreon+1“Return of the Nigerian Prince Redux” pattern
A blog post on Writer Beware describes how many recent scams follow the pattern: “Personalized (AI-generated) solicitations … offering marketing services … not exorbitant fee … referred to a “publicist” or “assistant” … requests for KDP account access.” Writer Beware+1 That matches very closely with the email you received — flattering tone, offer of service, implied value to algorithm & visibility, and (in many reported cases) later demands for access or payment.No credible footprint for “Paul Menorah” in this spaceI found no record of a legitimate marketing agency, book-review network, or author-services company called “Paul Menorah” or “Menorah Readers / Menorah Marketing” in author-industry databases, forums, or scam alert lists.The lack of traceable history (reputation, testimonials, presence in known directories) is itself a red flag.Scammers often use fictitious names or aliases that don’t show up in searches.Warnings from author / publishing communitiesAuthor communities are actively discussing these “book club / review community” scams as a rising threat. Patreon+2Writer Beware+2These scams are flagged by watchdogs like Writer Beware, who warn that such solicitations are increasingly common and sophisticated. Writer Beware+2Writer Beware+2The “no catch” framing, and the way scammers gradually escalate demands (from free help → fee → account access) is part of the typical scam progression. Writer Beware+1Conclusion

While I can’t prove definitively (just from what’s publicly reported) this person is a scammer under the name “Paul Menorah,” everything about the email matches well-documented scam patterns used to exploit authors.

So it is extremely likely that the email is fraudulent (or at least highly suspect).

*** *** ***

I realize that ChatGPT is not reliable as a source of information. BUT, it searches the internet fast, and a lot of people are talking about this kind of scam, and ChatGPT finds those discussions quickly and summarizes them … accurately, I think? I am not checking all this myself, but one genuinely useful thing Chat did here was include a bunch of actual links to Writer Beware. I would certainly accept anything from Writer Beware as accurate.

I don’t know. If someone is reasonably skeptical, that should prevent them from falling for the more obvious scams. If someone is approached by ten thousand scammers all yammering about “A book this haunting, this beautifully composed, deserves to be discovered,” I just can’t believe anybody would fall for that. And yet, these emails also look to me like they would perhaps look persuasive to somebody who is, say, 7 out of 10 for skepticism rather than 9.5 out of 10.

“I completely understand if you’re feeling cautious or skeptical; plenty of authors do at first.” That looks like a good persuasive technique to me. I might not be able to assess this from the point of view of someone who just self-published their first book and thinks it’s really good and sees that it isn’t selling, but it seems plausible, even though to me it also seems as though “I can also invite you into our private Discord group,” ought to radiate nearly as much threat as “Come up to my apartment, little girl, and I’ll give you a piece of candy.”

Anyway, I’m not always blocking these people because who knows, I might want an email like this handy to refer to in the future. In the meantime, wow, the sheer number of scam emails has increased at least 20x practically overnight.

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Poetry Thursday, Plus A Great Photo

Today, poems about dogs.

Nothing sad, and let’s not be super strict about the topic either. That is, how about this one, by Emily Dickinson, one of my very favorite poets:

I started Early—Took my Dog—
And visited the Sea—
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me—

And Frigates—in the Upper Floor
Extended Hempen Hands—
Presuming Me to be a Mouse—
Aground—upon the Sands—

But no Man moved Me—till the Tide
Went past my simple Shoe—
And past my Apron—and my Belt
And past my Bodice—too—

And made as He would eat me up—
As wholly as a Dew
Upon a Dandelion’s Sleeve—
And then—I started—too—

And He—He followed—close behind—
I felt His Silver Heel
Upon my Ankle—Then my Shoes
Would overflow with Pearl—

Until We met the Solid Town—
No One He seemed to know—
And bowing—with a Mighty look—
At me—The Sea withdrew—

***

It’s not about a dog, I realize that, but the word is in the title, so good enough. This isn’t a poem I’ve seen previously, so that alone means it’s worth including here.

I mentioned a photo. This is the reason for today’s not-very-strict theme, because I meant to post this photo on Monday’s update post, except I forgot because I was struggling with the letter o, an issue that is sure obvious in that post, and fighting with the o distracted me and made me keep that post short. But here’s the photo now —

New Champion Anara Owain Lord of Moria At Your Service, call name Gimli, son of Ishmael and Morgan.

This does indeed give me a vision of years stretching out. I’m super, super happy that Ish’s son is carrying something of Ishmael forward into the future. He’s Morgan’s son too, of course, but she isn’t my old dog (yet). To extend the vision of years, Gimli may be expecting puppies. I hope puppies arrive right on time, and I hope they inherit a wonderful temperament, good health, and beauty from every parent and grandparent, and may any daughters inherit Morgan’s perfect, flawless ability to carry, whelp, and mother puppies.

Many enthusiastic congratulations to Gimli’s owner Camille! Gimli is her first show dog.

So … how about a few poems that are actually about dogs? NOT SAD POEMS. How about this one by TS Eliot —

A dog is A Dog

Now dogs pretend they like to fight;
They often bark, more seldom bite;
But yet a Dog is, on the whole,
What you would call a simple soul.
Of course I’m not including Pekes,
And such fantastic canine freaks.
The usual Dog about the Town
Is much inclined to play the clown
And far from showing too much pride
Is frequently undignified.
He’s very easily taken in-
Just chuck him underneath the chin
Or slap his back or shake his paw,
And he will gambol and guffaw.
He’s such an easy-going lout,
He’ll answer any hail or shout.

Again I must remind you that
A Dog’s a Dog – A CAT’S A CAT.

***

The Dog

by Ogden Nash

The truth I do not stretch or shove
When I state that the dog is full of love.
I’ve also found, by actual test,
A wet dog is the lovingest.

***

I’d like one that isn’t just cute, but is also not an epitaph. And in the public domain. It’s a tall order, apparently. Hmm. How about this one —

ISSA

Issa est passere nequior Catulli:
Issa est purior osculo columbae;
Issa est blandior omnibus puellis;
Issa est carior Indicis lapillis;
Issa est deliciae catella Publi.

Hanc tu, si queritur, loqui putabis.
Sentit tristitiamque gaudiumque.
…
Hanc ne lux rapiat suprema totam,
picta Publius exprimit tabella
in qua tam similem videbis Issam
ut sit tam similis sibi nec ipsa.
Issam denique pone cum tabella:
aut utramque putabis esse veram
aut utramque putabis esse pictam.
(Martial 1.109)

English translation

Issa is naughtier than Catullus’ sparrow;
Issa is purer than a dove’s kiss;
Issa is more flattering than all the girls;
Issa is dearer than Indian gems;
Issa is Publius’ darling little dog.

If she whimpers, you’d think she speaks.
She feels both sadness and joyfulness.
…
Lest death snatch her away entirely,
Publius has captured her likeness in a painting,
on which you’ll see Issa so exactly rendered
that even Issa herself is not so like Issa.
Set Issa beside the portrait:
you will think either both are real,
or both are painted.

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Cicero

An English teacher shared this with me, and it was funny enough to make me go track down some of Cicero’s sentences. I was trying to find them in Latin and English, and this turned out to be a little more difficult than I expected, but I found a couple. No promises about the accuracy of the translations.

***

From this brief thread, this request:

Cicero has produced quite a lot of Latin prose in what is considered excellent style. I would like to find ways to demonstrate briefly what Cicero’s style is all about. If you had to demonstrate Cicero’s prose style with one sentence from his works, what would it be and why? How does it reflect his style? Such examples with explanations could easily be given to students or the general public to give an idea of what makes Cicero special.

And this answer: The first example that comes to my mind is the beginning of the Second Catilinarian:

Tandem aliquando, Quirites, L. Catilinam furentem audacia, scelus anhelantem, pestem patriae nefarie molientem, vobis atque huic urbi ferrum flammamque minitantem, ex urbe vel eiecimus, vel emisimus, vel ipsum egredientem verbis prosecuti sumus. Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit.

C. D. Yonge’s translation:

At length, O Romans, we have dismissed from the city, or driven out, or, when he was departing of his own accord, we have pursued with words, Lucius Catiline, mad with audacity, breathing wickedness, impiously planning mischief to his country, threatening fire and sword to you and to this city. He is gone, he has departed, he has disappeared, he has rushed out.

Here’s another sentence, from this other post:

Inde Anaxagoras, qui acceptit ab Anaximene disciplinam, primus omnium rerum discriptionem et modum mentis infinitae vi ac ratione dissignari et confici voluit; in quo non vidit neque motum sensui iunctum et continentem in infinito ullum esse posse, neque sunsum omnino quo non ipsa natura pulsa sentiret.

Then Anaxagoras, taught by Anaximenes, was the first to consider that the disposition and manner of all things was laid out and constructed by the power and reason of an infinite mind; by which he imagined it inconceivable that any motion could be possible without a connection to a sensibility in, and dependence upon, the infinite, or any sensation be possible at all where its very nature should not feel itself [to be so] impelled [by the infinite].

***

What do you think? I think that does look like it would be hard to push your way through if you were translating from the Latin. The first sentence:

At length, O Romans, we have dismissed from the city, or driven out, or, when he was departing of his own accord, we have pursued with words, Lucius Catiline, mad with audacity, breathing wickedness, impiously planning mischief to his country, threatening fire and sword to you and to this city. He is gone, he has departed, he has disappeared, he has rushed out.

Is not especially difficult, but what is most noticeable is that the long first sentence is followed by a series of very short sentences. They’re connected by commas in this translation, but this is really a set of four very short and obviously very repetitive sentences. That’s very effective! it’s effective both because each of those sentences is so short and because of the repetition.

In the Latin, that was: Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit, a set of four single words, which exaggerates both the brevity of each of those four statements and the repetition.

Here’s an interesting post: Six basic principals Cicero taught me about writing. These are not about the nuts and bolts of writing craft, which I think they could have been. They’re big-picture principals: know your subject, for example. Fine.

Oh, I like this post: From Rick Riordan to Marcus Tullius Cicero- the writers that made me a classicist

Penelope is one of my favourite mythological characters for a reason: her and Odysseus’ relationship is something I aspire to. Make no mistake, Homer knew what he was doing when Odysseus’ only reaction to Penelope cheating all 108 of her suitors out of their gold was that’s my wife! And I’m not even exaggerating. 

Here’s De Officiis, “On Moral Duties,” in case you would like to read it. Here’s how it begins:

Although you, my son Marcus, having listened for a year to Cratippus, and that at Athens, ought to be well versed in the maxims and principles of philosophy, on account of the paramount authority both of the teacher and of the city — the former being able to enrich you with knowledge; the latter, with examples, — yet, as for my own benefit I have always connected Latin with Greek, and have done so, not only in philosophy, but also in my self-training as a public speaker, I think that you, too, ought to do the same, in order that you may be equally capable of either style of discourse.1 To this end I have, as it seems to me, been of no small service to my fellow-citizens, so that not only those ignorant of Greek literature, but highly educated men also, think that they have gained somewhat from me, both as to public speaking and as to philosophical discussion. Therefore, while you will be the pupil of the first philosopher of our time, and will continue so as long as you please, — and that ought to be as long as you can profit by his instruction, — yet by reading my writings, which dissent very little from the Peripatetics (for both they and I regard ourselves as disciples both of Socrates and of Plato), though on the subjects of discussion I would have you freely exercise your own judgment, you will certainly acquire a fuller command of the Latin tongue. 

Whoa. Those are SENTENCES. The first sentence in this paragraph is 108 words. The second is a mere 50 words. The third is a solid 91 words. Hey, Google, how long should sentences be? There’s no strict rule for sentence length, but a good general guideline is to keep sentences around 15-20 words for most writing, aiming for a readable average, says Google, and I bet we all saw that coming, didn’t we? Note that Cicero’s average sentence length does drop when he says, Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit.

Naturally, I feel there’s no reason to avoid long sentences — as long as they are clear, and preferably witty or beautiful.

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