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

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

Huh. I always thought the most creative part was the rewrites and the edits. That's where you're taking a big pile of shit (your rough draft) and making it into something spectacular. It's where the characters come to life and where you find fun ways to add in a little humor. Rough drafts are okay, but for me, the real fun comes later.

L.K. wrote: "...and finding it hard not to become overwhelmed by trying to second-guess what readers will think about the story..."

That's a narrow and rocky road to go down. I know many "experts" say you need to find a target audience and write for them, but I believe that only really works when you're writing formulaic fiction. And there are people who want and expect that kind of thing.

If you're trying to be even a little original and trying not to follow a formula, don't second guess what readers want or expect or what they're going to like or what they're going to hate. This guy will love a chapter that that woman hated. This guy will hate a character that that lady disliked. This lady will like a joke that fell flat for that man. And so on.

Too much second guessing tends to take you down one of two paths. Either you're going to end up with a story that's so bland no one will really love it or you won't be able to finish it at all. So, write it the way you want to write it and don't look back.

Williamehasan wrote: "..."

That was an awful lot of text. I hope you spent a lot of time typing that out. It's gone, now.

Kelly wrote: "Frank, I'm sorry..."

Our rule against self-promotion doesn't stop at authors. If we aren't going to allow authors to self-promote, then we won't allow editors or anyone else. And the no links rule applies for everyone, too.

Thanks.

I've heard that, too, Leah, but have never noticed it happening with any of the books I've bought. Also, if you make changes to a book that's already out there, isn't that unfair to those who already read it? Either they have to go back and reread it or they'll be confused by the changes when they run across them in the sequel.

The sequel won't get written if you don't write it. I wouldn't even recommend putting it off for a little while, or it increases the chances you'll never get back to it. Market when you can find the time. Write when you can make the time.

Deborah wrote: "I often wonder if "Mario Puzzo [sic]" was the real name of the author of "The Godfather"...."

Yes, Mario Puzo's real name was Mario Puzo. His pen name was Mario Cleri.

James wrote: "I was happily writing a thank you comment to [a review of my novel]...

Earlier this year I was inexplicably banned for life from leaving reviews on Amazon..."

Two rules of thumb... be cautious when reviewing other works, if you feel the need to do so at all. Don't interact with those reviewing your work.

I deleted most of your message as it had nothing to do with this group. We're not here to post movie reviews or talk about them.

Tomas,

Since the evil moderators will be upset if I post a link, I'll type out some of the info I'm getting from the Washington Post in June of last year. In 2003, 29.2% of women read on a daily basis, 23.1% of men and 26.3% combined. In 2017 that had dropped to 22% for women, 15% for men, and 19% combined. The age group with the largest number of readers was 65+ with roughly 57% in 2003 and about 38% in 2017. And it fits in a pattern that the younger the age group, the less they read. The lowest age group was 15 to 24 with roughly 12% in 2003 and about 9% in 2017.

We can hope that as people age they become more interested in reading, otherwise leisure reading may become an antiquated pastime. I doubt it will ever completely die off, but I wonder how much more it will decline before it at least levels off.

Sam wrote: "And so it is with books. There are too many of them."

It saddens me when authors say things like this. There can never be "too many books". If we must blame the decline on reading on anything, let's not turn on our own medium. How about there's too much television? Too many movies? Too much Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, video games, memes...

If there is too much of anything, literary wise, we Indies need - really need - to become more aware that there are too many Indie books being published that are sub-par. I read a lot of Indie books and frankly, many are disappointing. Instead of blaming other authors for putting out "too many books", let's focus the blame on ourselves for putting out books that no one wants to buy because we were in too great a rush to publish and didn't want to edit.

NOTE: This is a blanket statement and in no way am I targeting any individuals. Please don't respond to this with examples of poorly done books you've read. This is meant to encourage all of us to be our best and not knock any individual down.

Tomas wrote: "I don't think reading is on the decline."

Google it sometime. Leisure reading has been on a decline for decades. People still read, sure, but not like they did some years ago.

Blue wrote: "I so understand how you feel. After some years of chasing after agents, I gave up and went self-publishing. I published by first science fiction novella nearly three months ago, sold nine books, got a review and two five-star ratings, one here and one on Amazon. And then nothing. I have over 1000 followers on twitter, which is small but not too small, and I advertise my book there. All my followers know about it and tweet about it but no one is buying it. I have two more novels coming up next year but I think if things don't improve I might quit writing after that. But yes, it sucks doing it. I don't know what to do. I always say that writers don't write for themselves. They write for people. And people aren't reading. Maybe reading has become too much for people."

If no one told you before that overnight success is extremely rare in the self-publishing game, let me be the first. Overnight success is extremely rare in the self-publishing game. You have one book out and it's only been out two months and you're ready to quit? It can take years to find success at this, if it ever comes to you.

At least, that is, the kind of success you seem to be striving for - sales and reviews. It could happen, but probably not this year. Probably not next year. In five years? Maybe. Ten? Maybe.

If you're only in this for the money, there's millions of ways to make more money much faster.

There may be writers who don't write for themselves. I only write for myself, though, and I know many other writers do the same. I wouldn't have a clue how to write for people I haven't met and probably never will.

Yes, reading is on the decline and it seems that there are more and more people writing these days. It takes a lot of time to get noticed and if your only passion is to get reviews and sales, you're going to be disappointed.

M.L. wrote: "Also, I think the look inside is available after seven days or so. "

Free tip: If your "Look Inside" isn't active in few days (I usually give it about four) upload your manuscript again and it will be active within a couple of hours. (Usually)

Yes.

Well... before you add more content, here's a few things to consider. I could be wrong. It might sell at the price you have it. I have my doubts, but I am wrong, sometimes. Also, I would encourage you not to pad it out to bulk up the number of pages. In other words, don't add things that will end up taking away from the work you have already done. More pages sometimes means a weaker book. See if it sells at 2.99. If not, reduce the price or add your content, if you truly have something of value to add to it.

M.L. wrote: "Amazon has it at 29 pages, that's pretty short. Yes, the number of pages does matter with price."

Agreed. The "Look Inside" feature isn't working on it, yet, but I'm assuming there's a title page, a page for copyright info, etc. Not a lot of substance for three dollars.

Stephen wrote: "If it is any help the subject matter is more important than the size.As a yardstick 400 pages is a minimal novel sized book..."

Novel length is determined by word count, not pages. 50,000 words is the general figure given, though I know of plenty of novels that are much shorter.

I have to agree with some of the others. I like the image of the man and I like the face made of red smoke, The dove seems out of place and doesn't stand out very well. Try it without the dove and see if it looks better.

I believe this is the cover Darrick is asking about:

Rick wrote: "...Over 1000 Kindle Select copies downloaded... only 7 pages read... and 5 pages read..."

Roughly half your post read like a bookwhack, so I'm deleting it. I salvaged this much, as it seems you're also trying to ask a question.

A thousand copies out is really good. Really, really good. And, so, someone read a few pages one day and a few on the next... so what? When you have a book out for free, you're probably not getting a lot of people taking it via KDP Select. And if they are, there's no reason they have to read the whole thing the day they download it.