Tomas’s Comments (group member since May 15, 2018)

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

L.K. wrote: "My understanding of head-hopping was that the reader gets the internal thoughts of more than one character within a sentence or paragraph, and it is potentially confusing. However, as some of the comments mentioned, I think it would be normal to read the internal thoughts of more than one character in omniscient third person, though perhaps not in the same sentence or paragraph."

I believe that's the point. While I keep most scenes to one character, there are moments when I want to show the thoughts of more - and in those, I use scene breaks for the shift to avoid confusion.
There's one scene I still have to figure out where I wanted to continuously shift it from one character to another - and beta readers will be a factor on how exactly the scene might change.

If I was to answer based on what my betas told me, it's not an issue changing PoV within a chapter if it's clear (section break, most of the time).
It is a problem if it's unclear or if you go straight from the internal thoughts of one character to internal thoughts of another character.

To add something to what L.K. said... Goodreads won't change the cover unless the old cover was never-published placeholder. Using the mentioned steps, you can add another edition with the new cover - and if you set it as the primary edition, that's the cover people will see when they find your book (unless they have a link to a specific edition).

I think it might be passable for pre-school kids.

Scott wrote: "Hey guys..."

No elf-promotion and no links allowed. Post removed.

I've received a response from the GR team and they're aware of the issue and looking into a way to prevent this (I've definitely not heard that phrase before).
If it happens, you can flag the user if you manage to find that button to do so (it's only visible on the PC and when you go to their profile picture section).

Wanjiru wrote: "This may be off the topic, but I always wonder what differentiates a friend from a follower."

Being friends is a two-sided relationship (you both see each other's updates). GR also has some limited ability to show something to friends only, as far as I know.
A follower is passive - the follower sees what the followed person shares and not the other way around (unless you both follow each other).

There's a major risk you'd be seen as pushy. Let the readers take the first step - if they want to get closer, they will.
Liking a review is okay but liking every single 'status' would likely be overkill.

I've used the contact form to send the Goodreads team a message describing the issue. I guess it'll take a few days before they reply but I'll post here if they give me any specific information about how to report this kind of activity.

I had this happen to me over the past maybe 5-7 weeks and I admit I am not sure how exactly to approach this. Since they're not posting messages, it's not the typical spam.
The only idea I have at this point would be to report those users to GR staff and see if there's anything they can do about them - I think banning them for promoting 18+ services could happen.
Some have only a few books on their shelves so they might be fresh accounts made for this purpose (which could probably be seen as a possibility they just make accounts and have bots send out random likes), others have hundreds or thousands which makes me wonder if they also randomly add books to their shelves in hopes of some authors clicking their profile (and thus link).

For now, it's best to just ignore it.

I admit I give this a lot of attention in my drafts - there are times when I remove a passage but use some part of it elsewhere - often during a different season which means I have to be careful checking things like that - even if it's small mention of leaves turning red which suddenly doesn't make sense if the scene was moved to the spring of another year.

In the draft I just finished, there were many scenes shuffled around as collateral damage from the cuts and changes I made so I'll need to check and re-draw my timeline pretty soon.

By the way, is there anyone else who considers reading an e-book in the middle of nowhere a good relaxation?

(The photo, despite looking almost summer-like, was taken a few days ago. 15°C in the hills in late August in the mild climate zone, #globalwarming)

Anna Faversham wrote: "Sorry Tomas - I'll kick myself for you."

Bah, we're here to share advice and experience, not to fight over who said something first.

Dwayne wrote: "Anna Faversham wrote: "It's as Dwayne says, 'it's down to self-published authors to create something fresh and to write out of boundaries'."

It was Tomas that said that. I agree with him, though."

Quite sure I've heard it somewhere before so the original thought isn't probably mine either.
----
Another thing in favor of self-publishing: I have enough rejections from looking for a job, I don't need more from agents who are roughly 33% successful determining if a book will be successful (and agents, just as the HR people, often don't even bother with pre-written copy-paste rejection, let alone some decent feedback).

A snippet from my WIP (both characters are elves in their 20s, hence centuries).

"What about your lessons in diplomacy?" Tyr'eshal asked her [Princess Nadyenne].
"It's boring at times but I understand why it's important." She grinned. "At least I have a few centuries to understand."
"What a luxury," Tyr'eshal said. "We warriors need to master the blade fast or die trying."

B.A. wrote: "I don't believe there is a one of us who write who wouldn't love to be traditionally published with a decent contract."

I am back from my weekend in the hills and I'll go right to being a black sheep.

Given that I started writing for my pleasure and I want to tell my story my way, what I know about present-day publishing doesn't make traditional way appealing to me (again, hinting back to what I said about priorities). If they did ALL the marketing for me and did not want me to have a specific type of presence online... then, maybe.

Another issue with traditional publishing is that the way things work, publishers often don't have any other chance than going safe for what they have tested and tried to sell - because the investment into a book is major and the risk of losing a few thousands of $ is way too much to take.
Thus, while it might be a bit exaggerated, it's down to self-published authors to create something fresh and to write out of boundaries - because we don't bear the investment of printing piles of copies which are a money-sink and a burden at once.

Catherine wrote: "I'm just as surprised by authors who totally abandon traditional publishing opportunities in favour of self-publishing, if they haven't 'made it' in self-publishing, as I am by authors who endlessly and fruitlessly pursue traditional publishing, without trying to self-publish, when the opportunity is open to try that route these days."

Nat wrote: "I find some people dissing on trad publishing, but I still think it gives you some 'I passed the gate keeper' cred."

Which is why the trad. vs self-pub might not always be as simple a decision as some would like it to be.
There are many aspects to consider and different writers have different priorities. It's about more than royalty percentage from e-books (which is the largest difference) or the ebook vs. print dilemma (in which trad favors print and self-pub favors e-books). For some, external validation means a lot. For others, creative freedom means a lot. It's why, if someone asked me, I'd suggest they write down what their priorities are and focus on the route that can satisfy most of them.

Depending on one's priorities, disqualifying one of the routes can make complete sense.

Eldon wrote: "You're going to work hard either way you go so the crux of the issue is this. Do you want to be paid 10% or 70%?"

While it can be simplified to this in case of e-books (and there's no doubt that self-pub wins by a lot in e-book market not only by price but also by user-friendliness), there are still people who want to have a decent print sales - for which the traditional route is better. And, for a book they trust a lot in, a traditional publisher might be way more willing to invest in an audio narration as well, which is a major investment if the author is the one to bear it.

Anna Faversham wrote: "I like the last paragraph in your profile. Writing what you want to write and enjoy is how I see things too - though I know that from a sales and marketing point of view, I have not chosen the best path. "

As I said in some other thread, it's a choice whether you're a bard (someone who tells stories because they enjoy it and maybe get a coin or two for it) or a businessman (someone who goes for profit first and foremost).
Only a very lucky minority - probably a small fraction of a percent - will get the benefit of both.

From what I've heard, Amazon ads are said to be good if you can get really detailed on targetting (keywords, sub-genres down to the last level) but, for that reason, they gained in popularity and the price for a click grew a lot in the largest genres (the price is determined by demand, separately for every single keyword, if I understood what I've read correctly).

The risk with free runs is that many people may grab something because it's free - but then forget it. There's a lower attachment to free stuff so the turnover from free purchases to ratings/reviews is lower than from paid users - and many free purchases may not even read the book, ever.