Dwayne’s Comments (group member since Apr 01, 2017)

Dwayne’s comments from the Support for Indie Authors group.

R.J. wrote: "I'm seeing a lot of assumptions in the comments that I have not had anybody else read my work. "

I don't think anyone is making that assumption. I said I hoped you have done that, but I don't know if you have or not. If you have, fantastic.

Again, any advice I give (or really anyone else gives) is just that. Advice. Take it or leave it.

As for the advice of asking readers vs. asking writers for their opinions, why not ask both? Readers, yes, will tell you if they liked it or not. Writers might get more detailed and might suggest other ways of writing, but you don't have to follow the advice. Besides, if anyone says they are a writer, but they are not also a reader, they aren't much of a writer. So, by all means, ask only readers, but don't be afraid to ask readers who are also writers.

It's always good to have a few people read your work before you publish. I hope you've done that, R.J. If they reported no issues, you may be good with the general public. I read over a bit of your prologue and first chapter. Again, my two bits, but I found it exhausting flipping back and forth between the characters so rapidly. It might have been better to decide who the main protagonist was, at least for that section, and told the whole thing from their point of view, rather than the flip-flopping every couple of paragraphs. Just an opinion.

Anyway. Do whatever you need to do. I was merely tossing my two coppers in the kitty. As with all advice, take it or leave it.

Lucas' audience, for the most part, accepted Jar Jar Binks. So, there's that.

R.J. wrote: "Considering how Lucas actually sent out different versions to different theaters back in 1977, I think it's safe for me to put out a different version at this point."

Aside from different sound mixes to match different needs of theaters, I hadn't heard this before. What were the differences?

E.M. wrote: "Authors publish revised editions of books all the time."

That's true. I have read books and then later the author put out a "better" version. I felt ripped off that I bought the less-than-great version. It's a sign that the author rushed the original version too much, then later went back and fixed all the stuff they should have fixed in the first place. It reminds me of the way Lucas re-released the Star Wars films with extra crap added in. I lost a lot of respect for him over that. Just because someone does something "all the time" doesn't mean I have to like it.

I didn't read the entire post as what I have to say doesn't require me to.

You are the author. You should know what best serves your book. You should know how to start it way before you publish. It's published. I would urge you to keep it as it is, only because I have little respect for authors who publish, then decide to figure out what is the best way to write the book.

If you are not happy with the book, unpublish and work on it until you are happy with it.

As for what readers want or will be drawn into - it's a game we can't win. Some will like one opening, some will like the other. Only you can decide what best serves your story.

I dug a bit further and found that what's going on here is they're grouping our books with books that have been reviewed by the same people. In other words, I found at least two reviews on the book about diversity and love written by people who also reviewed your book. I guess if this is still bothering you, you could ask people not to review your books anymore.

Are you paying for this? I'm not. Goodreads doesn't exist to help you sell your books. They're out to help people find books to read, yes, but they're not concerned with helping out specific authors.

Deleted a comment for links.

I'm going to close this thread. It served its purpose and it seems the only comments that are coming in now are people bragging that their book was a best seller on Amazon.

I believe what you're looking it is a list of books that were bought by people who have bought your book and not an accurate "this book is like this book" thingy. All it really means is some people who bought your book also bought a kids book about diversity. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Some readers like to read a variety of books.

Mark wrote: "Hi, not sure if I'm allowed to ask this but here goes - I'm launching my first kindle countdown offer tomorrow and wanted to know how, or even if, I may let people on Goodreads know, in case they w..."

This thread reeks of self-promotion and is posted in a "mods only" area.

Gail wrote: "Oh, you can also do what you did here...start a new thread with book title, genre, info and link."

No. No you can't.

Lesson one, then. When you join a group, it's good to get to know how the group functions. Read over the rules and the code of conduct, etc. before posting. For example, we already have an introduction thread. There was no need for you to start a new one.

Irene wrote: "I wish people reading our books would review them. They get confused as to how to do so. Some don't want to go through the hassle of learning how to leave a review."

Or they just don't care about reviews. Let readers do what readers do. If they want to review, they will. If not, don't sweat it.

Ross wrote: "The name... Henry... can't be shortened..."

Hank.

Valerie wrote: "There's no such thing as ghosts, so despite the rumours, the house Anastasia Addams just inherited from her grandmother cannot possibly be haunted... can it?

That doesn't mean Annie isn't entirely ready to cross the pond from the good old U. S. of A. to start afresh in Bennington, England.

Now she will start over in a whole new country, with more money than she’s ever had in her life, new friends she never expected, and sharing her new home with the most unlikely of house-mates, not that he’s exactly living there...

With a decades-old mystery to unravel and unexpected romance in the air, life certainly isn't going be dull!"

I can't really tell the difference. It's pretty much the same blurb, somewhat reworded. I don't know what she's left behind, other than New York, so there's not much for me to anticipate in her new life. I am lacking the context there. To me, it pretty much all reads like "She's going to live happily ever after..." So, why bother?

Is there a conflict in this story? Any stakes? Yes, there's a mystery, but what does that mean? Thousands of books promise a ghost, and a mystery, and romance. What makes yours unique?

I think you're overthinking it, Tomas. I don't recall ever having an issue reading a book in which the characters had nicknames or shortened names, etc. When writing, I don't really think about whether the reader will be able to follow if I use shortened names, nicknames, etc. If they're into the story, it shouldn't be an issue.

In my first novel, the main character is called Del by most everyone. His dad, who suffers from dementia, calls him Rupert. When he's not having an episode, he calls him Delbert. In my second novel, I have two characters who rarely refer to anyone by their real names and often call them by nicknames of their own personal choosing. (Example, there's a character named Tom, but one guy calls him Almanzo and there's no reason given as to why).

The only times as I get confused is when I'm reading a book with a lot of drab characters with bland names. I don't know why, but almost every time I try to read a book with a lot of scientists or soldiers or whatever, they always have the same dry personality and always have boring names like John Carlson or James Benson or Carl Johnson and it gets really confusing. Bring the characters to life and people will keep track of who they are, no matter what their name.

Well...

I'm getting no sense of story or stakes here. Annie moves into a house that might be (right, we know it is) haunted and she has money and there are two guys that like her... and... what? Secrets? Everyone tosses that word into a blurb hoping it's enough to pique interest. It's not a bad thing to put in, but what else does the book have going for it?