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

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

I'm going to lock this thread. I've been deleting a number of inappropriate posts over the past few weeks. If you want to let me know about an actual free promotion website, send me a PM and I'll take a look at it. If it seems legit, I'll add it. Thanks.

Virginia wrote: "If there is a more appropriate place..."

Clearly you don't want to bother getting to know the rules or how this group functions. There is no appropriate place for you to promote your group. Thanks.

Alexa wrote: "Hi everyone! Hope it's ok to post this here :)"

We already have one thread like this going and we don't allow links.

Virginia wrote: "Hi. "

You're whacking a goodreads group and not a promo site. Deleted.

No, I don't mind. And that's a great point, Tomas. Most of my work would be R rated and contain things that might bother some readers, be it harsh language, a mass murder, a rape, what have you. Not only can a negative review warn some readers that they might not like the "objectionable material", it could also help draw in readers who like books that have a bit of grit to them.

Leah wrote: "Dwayne, that’s something that gets under my skin. When authors with poorly written books have a million reviews from obvious friends and family. It makes them feel they’re the greatest authors and ..."

I sort of agree with you, but I'd put it differently. Even writers who study the craft and put a lot of hard work into a book can and will get negative reviews. Often times a negative review indicates this book isn't to the liking of this one particular reader. That's why you'll see even highly respected and famous authors getting a lot of negative reviews. I spend a lot of time reading classics. I love Twain, Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and so on. But, their books do not appeal to everyone.

Authors need to try to understand that reviews are not there for us and they are nothing but an opinion. So, if someone leaves you a negative review, let it go. Don't let it make you crazy. And attempting to pad your reviews with positive reviews from your friends and relatives does nothing but hurt you and your reputation.

Roxanna wrote: "Why not? I am curious. "

It's nearly always obvious when you're browsing reviews and most of the reviews of someone's book came from friends or relatives. The reviews are always five stars with a few words like, "This is the best book ever" or "I can't wait to read the next in this series" or something along those lines. Often times you'll see authors with an uncommon name and two or three reviews by people with the same last name.

Many readers avoid books when they can tell the reviews are stuffed with reviews from friends and family. They're only interested in genuine reviews. A stranger will give you an honest review. You're great aunt Bessie will write a review saying, "I could not put this book down." She's your great aunt. She loves you. Of course she loves your book. Readers don't care about that. They only want to know what other readers really think about your book.

Let your great aunt tell you how marvelous your book is over a cup of coffee and leave the reviews to readers who don't know you.

I got nothin' here, Sam. I don't understand what you're needing forgiveness for. There's no requirement to check in here frequently. Most of our members rarely post, if ever. Did you know out of the thousands of members we have here, you're number eight on the list of number of comments? EIGHT! You're in the top ten out of thousands! You're always very welcome here, but never feel you have to apologize when you're gone for a while.

I'm sorry you're having so many struggles. As always, I wish and pray for some relief for you. We care about you! *hugs*

Everything I write works as a stand-alone, yet it's all connected in some way. So, I guess I get the best of both worlds.

I do have a few series of stories going, but they're only called series because they are set in the same "world" and often times characters from one story may show up in another. For instance, there's a heavyset woman that plays a small important part in the first Noah City story I wrote. She makes a short appearance in the second one, too. She vanished for a while, then became the star of the sixth story.

Xanxa wrote: "I thought we weren't supposed to post links on here, but never mind."

We aren't. Some people don't care and do it anyway.

Amelia wrote: "I like my stories to develop slowly (it prevents me from burning out too quick). But since the typical urban fantasy is fast paced due the urgency nature of the genre, I make it up by putting some action between slower scenes. "

I like stories that develop slowly, too, whether as a reader or writer. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about what "typical" writers are doing. Write your story the way it wants to be written.

Putting action scenes between the slower scenes might work, if the action scenes carry the plot, or subplot, develop characters, reveal some important information, etc. If the scenes feel like stand-alone moments and if the book would read well without them, I'd say cut them out, otherwise they're actually going to have the opposite effect that you're trying to achieve.

Bare bones, urban fantasy is fantasy in which the setting is a city. That's it. Yours fits.

And if your book ignores all the typical tropes, I say it's a good thing. One thing I see time and again with Indies is we feel we have to follow the tropes set by other authors. This is fine, if that's how you want to write. What I worry about is, if I do this, will my books just sort of blend in with everyone else's, making them average and unmemorable? I'd rather do something different and write something that will stick in peoples' memories.

I know you're not, M.L. The comment was more about the general direction the conversation was turning.

Hey. Wow. Let's stop blaming betas for "failing" and for "misunderstanding" their roles. If they don't know what we want from them, we've failed, not them.

B.A. wrote: "Maybe the definition of a beta reader would help. They are the ones who read your book before it goes to a proofreader or copy editor. Their job is to point out the problems in the book They aren't there to act as your editor. They are to give feedback on the story, the characters, the setting, and plot."

I'd add to that that beta readers are readers. It's fine to use other authors or whatnot, but keep in mind the main function of a beta is to give you a reaction as a reader would give. It's nice if they can go into detail about why they didn't like a character or a scene in the book, but don't expect too much. Thus, as B.A. points out, it's a great idea to give them a copy you feel is readable.

M.L. wrote: "As for someone beta reading to grab a free book. Why would they? There are tons of free books already."

Especially when most of us use betas to flesh out problems we may have missed. Why grab a free book that is likely still problematic when you can go on Amazon and get as many free books as you can handle, all (allegedly) finished?

Elliot wrote: "My feeling is someone that offers to beta-read your book and doesn't finish it is not a beta reader, they're just someone looking for free books."

I have to strongly disagree. I tried beta reading for someone who handed me a book that read like a rough draft, at best. I got through about ten pages and didn't bother to go further. I let them know all the problems up to that point. It's safe to say that if the author didn't put any real effort into the first ten pages, it wasn't going to get any better in the next five hundred. Why bother continuing?

New wrote: "We are all about breaking your rules and blah blah blah..."

Deleted due to the link and self promotion. Nice try.

Robert wrote: "***This comment is for moderator Dwayne. This is for a new book please don't archive it. This is not the same one I was working on before. If we are limited to one blurb thread for all of works, it..."

It starts pretty much the same as the other blurb, and you didn't put the title of the book in the subject line as per Ann's instructions and with the talk of the Almwat virus and the Second Alliance, I had no way of knowing this is a different book.

Instead of starting a new thread, why not build onto the thread you already have going?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...