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

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

G.G. wrote: "In my humble opinion, there is nothing wrong with a prologue as long as it is not an info dump. Make it interesting and people will read it."

That was a problem in the earlier drafts of my WIP. The prologue was 15k (or so) history dump that I eventually decided to put aside as eventual short story/novella material. Instead, since the fourth draft, I wrote something completely new that sets up the main characters in just over 1k words while giving a bit of backstory.

Maybe it might be like that for others - try a few different takes on the prologue and see what works (and what doesn't).

I have the feeling that publishers just want everything to stay in some norm so it's easier for them to go through. Fortunately, self-published authors have no reason to stay within those rules. Do what is best for your story, that is what matters.

As for KU: it's subscription-based offer for readers: they can read any number of books that are part of it for some monthly fee ($20 or something?), think of it like unlimited library pass (so nothing paid for a specific book but you never own any book).
Some money from it (not sure if percentage or fixed amount) is then split between authors of books that are part of it, possibly by pages read.

My first attempt at a prologue of the to-be book 1 of my to-be trilogy, the prologue was some 15k words long and I still failed to say all I wanted to say. Eventually, I cut it (it was happening several generations before the main story), put it aside to be turned into a prequel novella eventually (estimated at maybe 30-40k words) and created a new prologue at ~1,5k words that happens just two decades before the main story (birth of the youngest character of the main cast).

The former prologue and to-be prequel is put on hold for now and will likely be released either between the individual main books or after the trilogy.

I apologize if such a mention is against the rules (delete it if yes) but I found that David Gaughran has several helpful posts on his blog that touch self-publishing and dodgy services. If you want a short summary of self-publishing, his 'Let's get Digital' book is a good one and does not cost that much - I believe it's around 4$ - the typical price of a self-published book.

I'd say it depends on whether or not the story needs them. Think about something like Harry Potter and the scene that happens when Hagrid and Dumbledore leave him at Dursley's. I am not sure if it's labeled as a prologue but that's generally what one might be like. Something that sets up some characters or settings while happening a bit before the main story. I'd never skip one.

As a writer, my WIP has a prologue in the first book of the to-be trilogy but not in the second and third. It's a very short scene that happens roughly 18 years before chapter 1 and sets up the main characters, the setting and some bit of backstory.

I'd say that the second one does not get the post-apocalyptical feeling so up-front as the first one, which might be a factor for targetting the correct readers. If it's something aimed at people interested in post-apocalyptic stories, I think that should stay in the beginning. The second attempt might also seem like provoking an action without a visible cause so maybe it'd be better to hint a bit more what would possibly make Seth 'shake things up'. Is it about a corrupt system or some inside problems (fighting for something of importance, whatever it might be)? Maybe mention that in the blurb.

Personally, I'd probably keep the first two paragraphs of the first blurb and edit the rest to show more about what's the main problem that will drive the story and possibly to show more about what type of story it might be.

All of that is just my personal opinion. Good luck!

I am on the other side: my first draft peaked somewhere around 244k. The sixth draft I finished pretty much minutes ago is at 214k. Considering that I wrote new scenes during the passing drafts, it means I've cut 35-40k on the way.
In another way, you never know until the very last draft is complete.

Donna wrote: "Thanks! Interesting. My paperback was released on Amazon on 8/7. The E-Book is available by pre-order and won't be released until 8/21. Perhaps, Amazon doesn't populate the title until both are released."

Books are not added to Goodreads automatically, as far as I know. They need to be added - either by a user, the author, the librarians or the staff. Then, editions need to be added as well (though adding another edition to any existing book should be much easier).

As for joining the librarians' book, just find them in the group list, joining is auto-accepted. Then find the correct section in their discussion and request adding the book. List a link to Amazon, ASIN (for an e-book) or ISBN (if you have one) and possibly the other data you might want to have added like page count, release date, language. Series' name as well if it's (or will be) part of one.

At first, I was looking for something like "the blurb starts/ends here". I agree that this is too long. It sounds interesting but instead of giving me a short description that would leave me hungry for the actual story, it pretty much overloads me.

Side note: I was asking for a blurb feedback in this group as well. My blurb was three paragraphs and even that felt too long for some. 2-3 paragraphs are just okay for me. I'd also not go into the future releases in the blurb - that's something I'd look for at the author's page either on Amazon or Goodreads.

What I'd do is take the blurb you use until the "author's notes", cut the question-lines that feel a bit disrupting and compress it into 2-3 paragraphs the size as your 'generic logline'.

Dwayne wrote: "Yes. Proper nouns are always capitalized, unless there's a specific reason not to."
Well, I am not a native English speaker so it's sometimes unclear to me whether or not it serves as a proper noun - like in the cases I mentioned. Different languages have a different level of strictness in that and while I might have some idea from the books I've read, there are still cases where I end up being unsure - hence why I am asking for help.
Maybe what I said above could be a guideline? If I feel it makes it clearer capitalized, then there's a good chance for it to work as a proper noun?

Alex wrote: "In my opinion, it should be Halls of Command as the full thing is the name."

And it feels like being clearer, personally.

I am back once more - this time with a question when it comes to capitalizing location names. Some things seem to be clear to me but on some, I am not really sure.

One is what I talked about above, so let's take that as an example. If I decided to go with the practical naming (as a demonstration), should it be capitalized as I wrote it above - 'Halls of Command' for example, or 'Halls of command'? Or no capitalization at all?

With some different, I saw that the second part, if it's a common word, is usually not capitalized, so 'Crimson pass' would be first capital, second not. Yet, in some cases, I am not so sure. Two cases are 'Fields of Eternal rest' (not sure with the capital E) and 'X-th* Gate' (the capital G). I've been looking at some rules but still, I am not sure with the cases above.

The point is, in the mentioned cases, the 'stricter' capitalization feels like giving a more emphasis to it being a specific location (a specific gate vs. one of many mountain passes, to use the mentioned examples).

* - obviously, a number in written form there

If the book is not on Goodreads yet, then try to either add it manually (sorry, never did that myself so I have no specific advice on that but the FAQ should help) or contact GR staff for help.

For claiming the GR author profile/page, the book needs to be in the library already (hence the above) and then you can go to the book's page and claim the book. By what I was reading, there's a bit of wait time (2-3 working days or so). You need to have your name on GR spelled exactly the same as on the book. If that's all matching, it should be connected to you and you should be 'promoted' to author profile when it passes through.

I hope it helped at least somewhat.

First to say from me: I have no idea about romance and its subgenres - and thus no idea what 'MC' means. So my opinion will be in the form of general advice.
Anyway, if the worse reviews/ratings are from people that seem to be looking for something else, I see two possible things to do.
First is to have a better look at the subgenres and try looking if any of them would fit better to attract the right readers (and not attract those not seeking this kind of book).
The second option - but I guess that has no point if it's up for a while and as said above, doing well - would be to make changes to the blurb so it better points out what kind of book it is.

The thing is, the more reads you get, the more people might see your book for various reasons - for example, through Amazon's "readers also bought". It could mean that your readers are more diverse or that they have a wider reach in their choices and thus it might be recommended with less specificity. The more visibility, the more potential for less precise targetting, I'd say.

Closing thought, by what Wayne said... almost 400 ratings? Not bad at all! I'll celebrate if I get just a 100 when my book is done.

I've seen the 'work the keywords and (sub-)categories' tactic mentioned as well, even directly for indie writers. The problem I see in that is: if people keep spinning them like a wheel of fortune, how long will buyers trust them?

As a reader, I don't actually care for categories or bestseller lists or whatever is mentioned in all those marketing tactics, though I might be a black sheep. I go by recommendations both here on GR and on Amazon, look at the blurb and if it interests me, I go for it regardless of the book being first or last on some list.

It's probably about a personal approach.

Do we really want to force our friends/family to read - or even promote - something they know nothing about (in the case the genre is completely outside of what they read)? If they want to do so, okay. If they don't... I think forcing them would not be an extra kind way to do either. Plus, I think there were already words about how bad targetting can do more harm than good and this has the potential to do exactly that.

P.D. Workman (Pamela) wrote: "It has been my experience that the majority of small/midlist trad pubbed authors do not have a website at all."

While I have a website (again, I am not an author -YET-) and I have aversion to social networks (Facebook data leaks is something I expected to happen when FB was just starting), my personal plan is to be the most active here on Goodreads. Mostly because it's a site aimed at readers while social networks are just bloat of advertisement, selfies, pet pictures, and spam - with a seasoning of personal photo books. I'd probably never bother to find something author-related there when I think it should be easier on GR or Amazon author page.

It's a double-edged blade. I think that letting someone not into your genre promote your book can turn against you - especially if their 'word of mouth' reaches the wrong people.

Now, I am still not done with my work - and thus not published yet - but my family still does not know I am writing, apart from my sister. I have no clue how they might react to the truth but I already made peace with the fact it might not be a pleasant reception. I am considering that the only person I'll tell is my mother and that's only because she's an accountant and could tell me how a potential side income (because I don't plan to ever become a full-time writer) like that is factored into taxes.

I, personally, found Wordpress quite easy to grasp. Register, choose a theme, fiddle with it a bit if you want - in quite an intuitive manner - and that's it.
Of course, if you want something more complex, it might need more work. For basic needs, it's quite easy (+ all the themes have live previews you can look through).