Tomas’s Comments (group member since Aug 22, 2020)

Tomas’s comments from the Gathering Of Dedicated Scribblers group.

Well, on that matter, I feel more like a lurker the last few months... more so now that I'm in another editing pass for my book two with my second beta reader. She's actually going through the book way faster than I expected, so much that she'd send me feedback on 22 chapters so far while I managed to edit... 7.

But I always check the site on a daily basis - just not always reply. I usually only talk when I believe it'll be a contribution to the discussion...

And, Rachel, what's your book about? I would consider doing a beta read if it's something that matches my tastes...

I still haven't been eliminated, but this is probably more because of being assigned to a slower reviewer rather than any other reason.

I've read the first book. It didn't fit with me, felt like too much fluff and flashbacks, way too slow start, and the main cast seemed like a bunch of foul-mouthed kleptomaniacs with no real goal. To me, it only became enjoyable in the last ~30%, by which time it was too late for me to actually care for the characters, so I just watched the blood flow without caring for the result. I'm not saying the book is bad, but it's not for me, I guess.

Glad to see you back!

So, update: after the free period ended, it's back to two million and something, so I guess the free downloads don't affect sales rank and the rank 20k was probably a glitch where it should've said 20k in free (regardless of genre). I don't know if being (temporarily) in the top 300 free books in a genre means something. The total result is 12 downloads, including 4 beta readers, so I got 8 downloads from somewhere. Probably the two groups where I posted it, and I expected one or two at most... well, I'll see if any review comes from it, that'd be more valuable than the short-term jump in rank.

You can review a book you've purchased on a free day - it counts the same as a paid purchase. There may be a "product purchased for free" or something below the rating. I know Steam does it for games grabbed on free days, and I suspect Amazon may do the same or similar.
However, Amazon was, at some point, quite trigger-happy about removing reviews of people they deemed could be biased. Supposedly that included friends on other platforms if both the author and the reader were friends elsewhere (which could include GR).

Also, I noticed it's 14k-something on the free leaderboard, I'll have to wait after the promotion ends to see how it translates to the paid leaderboard. It will have an impact, but it'll probably be smaller (because the "free list" is way shorter).
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Just checked, it now says #20211 in paid store.

So, I used the free days provided by being in Kindle Unlimited. My intention was to let my betas download a legit copy as thanks, but I posted into two groups about it. So far, 8 downloads total, which moved me to rank #14297 from something around 2,2 million.
Not bad.
Amazon counts recent sales as worth more, so that's probably the reason, but I may just take a screenshot of being above 15k, even if it's for an hour only :)

As far as I know, I'm not among the 23 books that are already out. That's it.

I was one of the 200-ish people who submitted to the 2021 version in the first 5 minutes :) I have no major expectations from it, but there was no cost to trying, so why not?

No worries. Hopefully, you'll get good use of the time you'll have later.

Yeah, quite the heatwaves here as well. Storms between them. I've had a writing rush in the first half of the months, now taking a break to recharge.

No, I mean that forgetting a few ideas made me get up and just make a quick note - sometimes just 2-3 words are enough.

Never go sleep without a pen and paper in your reach. Or some other way to make notes.
Learned the hard way.

I guess that shady practice isn't going that well, otherwise Kindle Unlimited would be out of business...

Or maybe people actually want to support authors, especially when it's quite a small sum for an e-book.

From the contact form on my website:

Name: Frances Ivy
Email: easybook789@gmail.com
Website:
Text: I have been trying to reach you for an author interview (text and video). Please let me know of your availability (date and time) at the earliest.

I'm quite sure a reputable person would add a link to -anything- that could prove their value/credentials.

Well, after the last beta wave in Spring 2020, I knew the changes to books 2 and 3 will be mostly in pacing and flow rather than story, so I went with it before I'd overthink it. Not an easy decision, to be sure, but since I had paid for the cover, it'd do no well for it to gather dust a few more years.

So, one day, I just gobbled down a bar of chocolate to calm my nerves and uploaded.

Andres wrote: "By the way, I hadn't realized that you had officially launched your book. I added it to my currently reading page so that I can leave you a review. Reviews are by far the most difficult things to acquire in a community full of readers lol."

I thought I mentioned it when I sent you the thank-you copy?
Or maybe I thought it was obvious... lesson learned, anyway. I should mention it better the next time :)

Andres wrote: "I don't see why it would be a problem. The intention of the link is to better inform other scribblers."

Many groups have quite strict rules about links and self-promotion, so I try to be careful.

Andres wrote: "Now you just need to write a blog about the different self publishing companies. KDP, Ingramspark, Lulu etc."

For now, I only have experience with KDP, and that's laughably easy compared to what's needed to finish a book.

I hope it's okay to post the link (if not, I'll remove it) - I've made an overview of the + and - of each way on my weblog here.

To keep it short: the hardest part of self-publishing is EVERYTHING ELSE than actually self-publishing. Once you have the book ready, the upload process is laughably easy. The hard part is to write the book, edit it a couple of times to get it into a decent state, get a good cover (a major expense if you can't do it yourself), format, find out the proper keywords and categories... and, eventually, letting the world know about your book. My book is out for ~7 months, and I've gotten... 3 sales, I believe. People don't know my book exists, and I don't really know how to change it without blowing a hole through my wallet.

For more, I'm afraid you'll have to ask me specific questions - I was never good in broad, general answers (thank god many of my university professors were patient enough to pull the answers from me by sentences :D).

The big thing is to decide whether you'll self-publish or go traditional. There are pros and cons to both ways, and you'll need to make that decision when your book is a few drafts in, at the latest.

If you self-publish, I believe many people here will be willing to share what they know. I will gladly share my experience, though it not may be much to go on.