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

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

A. J. Deschene wrote: "As the day crawled slowly on..."

It's okay to share a quote from your book, as this is what the topic is for. There's no need for adding a blurb at the end. This is self-promotion and bookwhacking.

Tom wrote: "I would not dare share a link here, but ...."

No bookwhacking, Tom.

Newp. Bye.

Guys? I had to delete a few comments. We still have the no link rule in place.

Yes, Amazon owns Goodreads, but they are actually very different animals. Goodreads is for readers to discuss books and recommend them to one another, so they criteria for reviewing is a bit more lax. Your Uncle Bernie is free to write whatever he wants about your book here, but it won't fly on Amazon. You can even review your own book here. Amazon takes reviews seriously for their own site. Goodreads, not so much.

As for contacting your readers? There are some readers here on Goodreads that do not take kindly to authors contacting them, for any reason. I do not know what the chances are of running into one, but I know they exist. I've seen plenty of threads about it on less Indie-friendly forums. So, contact if you must, but be aware you may not always get a kind response.

Nope. Not here.

Thanks, M.L.! I added the "like". I wrote it up on the fly during a little downtime last night at work and just reread it. I think it's much closer to what I need for this book than the original blurb. Still could use a touch of tweaking, though...

Maybe...

We all love a good campfire yarn or a spooky old movie. Right? Well, as entertaining as those things are, I can tell you that the ghosts in horror flicks and scary stories seldom act like real spirits.

Through my life I have come in contact with a few dozen ghosts and other strange things. In these pages you will read about Ezra, a wise old ghost who shared with me the secrets of the afterlife, though no one has ever said ghosts must always tell the truth. You decide if you buy into his revelations or not. You'll also encounter a strange, orange orb that floated through a park, twice, frightening my ex-girlfriend and intriguing me. There's also Nick, for whom this book is named, who was quite happy to be a ghost and loved jumping out and shouting, "Boo!"

These and other tales await you. Come on in!

Yes. This is a non-fiction book about my encounters with the paranormal.

You gave me a couple of chuckles here, A.J.

First, no. You weren't harsh. I need to hear this so I can improve the blurb.

Second, if you're living in a world where goofy twin ghosts are "normal", I want to move there. Sounds fun.

I've been rereading the book (Hey, I wrote it three years ago and need to be refreshed), looking for what might be an interesting hook. One of the things I tried to accomplish with it was to explore the real nature of ghosts as opposed to what Hollywood and horror fiction say they are. I might focus on that a bit in the blurb.

It wouldn't be in their best interest.

Reviews happen and sometimes they don't.

We actually discourage discussion of reviews here and it has not been long since one thread spiraled into some grand conspiracy against the evil Amazon over reviews. I'm closing this before that happens again.

Also, removed the link to your book.

M.L. wrote: "In real life ghosts don't always act the way you think they will. Ask me, I know. Some personal true experiences with the often humorous, always unexplainable ghosts of a different nature."

I like this. Thank you. I'm going to reword it and use it in a revamped blurb in the next day or two.

Ian wrote: "Dwayne, whatever else it must be absolutely clear that it is non-fiction..."

You could be on to something, Ian. The book used to sell better when it first came out. I have it in the non-fiction section and have tried to make it clear in the blurb that it's non-fiction. One difference is - the original cover said something like "true stories of the paranormal". Maybe I need to get that back on there.

Jenna wrote: "I agree with M.L. - it sounds so friendly."

That's really what I'm going for.

The book you're talking about sounds cute, but not really what I'm going for. This is non-fiction and not meant to be for children, nor is it scary. Perhaps that's something I need to stress in the blurb.

No links. Thanks.

M.L. wrote: "It sounds friendly, which is fine, but if you want to have more of an edge you might think of taking out some of the conversational-type wording, such as 'I am putting them out there,' 'It's time to share my stories,' and the last sentence."

You could be right. One of the things that makes this one a hard sell, I think, is that it's not your typical ghost book. Most of my encounters were not scary, merely interesting. Maybe some of this wording does sound like I'm giving a slight warning that this is gonna be some scary, controversial stuff.

M.L. wrote: "Also, maybe some of the conflict in each story, such as: a woman who glares at everyone walking up and down stairs. Is she afraid they will track dirt on the floor, or is she warning them of rotted wood and a possible broken ankle."

Good idea. I could try to think of some conflict within the book. Generally, there was no real conflict with the ghosts. Although, yes, there was definitely a feeling that we were invading this lady's space.

M.L. wrote: "Nick, who sneaks up and says boo. Was he the class clown and now that he's dead no one pays attention to him, or did he have a mean side that he never got to express in real life."

Nick was happy to be a ghost and was making the most of it. Yes, I could focus on that a bit more.

What I'm thinking, after reading your suggestion, is maybe not bullet pointing six or seven of the stories, but focus on only two or three and give a little more detail. There definitely was some conflict over the orange glow, for example, I was fascinated by it, my girlfriend at the time was terrified of it and there was a bit of a struggle over my wanting to investigate it.

Frank wrote: "Hi Dwayne . . ."

Wow. Um... yeah. Nothing you wrote will remotely help me with my blurb. It seemed to be all about some project of your own, which we call hijacking and self-promotion.

Trying to spruce up my book of true ghost stories before Halloween, the time it generally performs well. I'm taking a look at all aspects of the book and seeing what needs to be fixed. I'm not crazy about the blurb, but would like some opinions. (And, yes, I see a typo in it):

Over the last forty years I've encountered dozens of ghosts, some I have spent a great deal of time with and talked with. It's time to share my stories with you.

I am putting them out there not to scare or convince, but just to entertain.

Among the many things you'll read are:
* An orange, glowing orb that travels in the tree tops of a park.
* A woman in brown who glares at anyone walking up or down the stairs.
* A pair of goofy twins who liked to slap one another.
* Ezra - an old man who shares the secrets of death and the afterlife... but is he lying?
* Michelle - a moody young lady.
* Nick - a silly ghost who likes to sneak up on folks and yell "boo!"

The stories are fast paced and laced with humor and some skepticism.

Tomas wrote: "I apologize if such a mention is against the rules (delete it if yes)..."

Nope. You're good. Personally, I do get a little edgy if a member is constantly trying to push the same "gurus", blogs, or books on most every post. An occasional mention is fine.

M.L. wrote: "What do you think about prologues, do you like to read them or include them in your own books or maybe go right to the main story?"

It depends. I did on my first book because I had a sweet vision of the main character as a child out camping with his dad. The scene takes place years before the main book, but helps to set up his relationship with his dad and helped to hint at a couple of plot lines.

I did not include one on Suckers & Rogues. But, my third novel will likely have one. S&R is about a group of teenagers in the eighties. In my work in progress, two of the teenagers have grown up, married, and had children. The two novels are different stories with different themes and even different tones. This is not a sequel, more like a spin-off. I may include a prologue so people who read S&R can see how these two characters were reunited, how they fell in love, etc.