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

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

Lewis, I think that part of the problem with a good blurb is to reach the balance between two things:
1) to show the story's main points (without spoilers, of course) - which should be what says what makes the book what it is
AND
2) to show what kind of story it is - so it interests the right people. The second part will probably be slightly more generic.
- - -
As for length - that varies as well. I've seen books with one-paragraph blurbs and I've seen books with blurb 50%-ish longer than my current attempts.
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To Andres: it sounds really nice. I'll probably use it (with some personal touches) in the next attempt (I'll probably again take 10-15 days of break before the next try).

Thank you both for the comments.

Thanks for the input, John. Majority of the characters are Elves (mentioned in the original post, I believe), for one question.
Choice of words, yep, that will be adjusted with time.
And yes, there are risks, of course - even if it's more about risks the characters face than anything else. Again, still trying to see how to put it all the best - I presume I'll probably do at least two or three more drafts of the blurb, see the feedback and then look on all the versions and how they worked (or not) for the final one.

I am back with a second shot at the blurb, with some modifications, squishing stuff that was pretty much said twice and trying to incorporate something of what was told me before.
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For generations, the Order of Eternal Defenders fought on the frontlines to defend their lands from the endless hordes of demons unhindered by the need to eat or sleep. The few Eternal Defenders, magi and warriors blessed by the Eternals, could turn the tide of battle. Yet, few as they are, they could not win a war when their army's leaders are used to stalemate and beset by personal grudges.

The legendary warrior Kraasian Darkwood lost friends and family to the demons. Now that he has become a father, he wishes his son to avoid the same. With his friend, Archmage Ereanel, he decides it's time to stop being on the defensive and show the demons the true extent of the Order's might.

Can the small group of Eternal Defenders defeat the demons? What might be the price for even a small victory? Can Kraasian persuade the Elven leaders to strike, or will he need to rely on his small group alone? (How much can a few heroes do against hundreds of demons? - not sure if to include that.)
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As before, I am most interested if it feels like too long/short, if it feels like something's missing or is not clear enough. I still expect it to go through a few more drafts based on feedback and my own thoughts.
Also, as hinted by someone before, to state that it's a beginning of a trilogy. I, so far, have no idea how to make it part of the blurb but not too disrupting (not even sure if I expressed myself clearly), so feedback/suggestions on that will be welcome.

Also, I would not try to bypass the conditions. I am sure that it's about the actual content and just different edition would not be enough. Cheating around KDP select could, in the worst case, lead to a full-scale ban from KDP. Not something I'd want to risk, personally.

As a reader: I agree with those that said it's about being in moderation or showing some subtle details about the setting and/or characters. Giving a moment of relief after higher-pace scene is nice as well.

Now, I've just recently started doing revision for my sixth draft of my to-be debut. I've cut much of the first five chapters and condensed the rest because I felt it too much "fluff" and made introducing the characters very slow while, as I realized, the impact on the characters was much lower than I thought. I originally planned to have the things that were at the beginning be a subtle background for showing how one of the characters made some choices but, eventually, the story gave me better tools for that and turned the longer beginning unnecessary. I've cut it, saved it to an extra file and decided to keep it aside should I decide to put it on my website (or somewhere) as an extra content or something.

Haru, if you plan to have it as perma-free bonus content...
If you have your own website, then maybe it'd be better to put up as a download there.

There is no limit to length technically as when it comes to file size but Amazon (or any other distributor) can put their own limitations.

Nat, it might be a problem caused by the length. There's a thread about the fact it seems problematic to sell short stories, in case you'd want to have a look on opinions gathered there.

Oh, the story about how I got to try writing could be a long one. From the early ideas of my 12-year-old self through the concept stages and to eventually starting writing in 2015, 13 years later, pretty much on a dare.

As for the writing process, I am taking it as another of my hobbies so it's extremely irregular. How I got to it shaped my process much - I had some parts of the story and some of the characters and I am building on both as it comes to me, improvising, learning on the go.

It's the same with editing - sometimes I need an external nudge, sometimes I'll see it needs work (but have no clue how), sometimes I'll get a random idea that feels better than what I currently have.

It's often just as random as what I actually do. After finishing the first draft of the first book, I originally thought o just go through the cycles of editing, yet I was switching between that and going on with the story, to the point I had the first draft of the second book written before the third draft of book one and at this point (working on sixth draft of book one), roughly 30% of book three is in first draft.

Something to note first: I am not an author -yet- as my debut is still being worked on but I want to add my own PoV as someone who is getting there. Plus, I know that compared to some other people, my 30 books/year is not that much.

I like reading them, especially if they end up good. It's like finding a lost treasure on a deserted island. Delving into the unknown and finding gold where many others would expect just sand.
There are books I found by a chance and enjoyed, hoping that the author will write more. A series I started two years ago, awaiting its conclusion coming in a few weeks - and I will gladly re-read the first two books.

In fact, I am more likely to write a review for an unknown book where it actually helps compared to something well-known or even classic where one more among thousands will change nothing.

I think it could be useful if you mentioned the genre in your post - there might be some 'preferences' for naming in a genre.
Like the others, I think that #5 and #8 are the best ones. It has a potential for a metaphor and if the blurb builds on that...

It's 0,15$/1MB if I am looking at it well.

My draft (with placeholder ~220kB 'cover' image) at ~230.000 words is something like 1,1MB after conversion to Kindle format, which means 0,9MB for the text itself. What can possibly bump it up is special formatting or using some kind of symbol when you separate scenes in a chapter or something. Then, images - as said.

I believe it's using JPG format and it'll depend on how well can your image be compressed (you can look up cosine transformation if you want the tech stuff behind it).

I believe that on GR, genres are based on how people shelve it and probably has some minimum threshold for a genre to appear. (It obviously skips the base "TBR", "read" and "currently reading" shelves.)

That's quite a practical approach, Erica. Thanks for your insight.
The 'barbarian bedroom' is just a side mention once through the book so definitely not something that would inflate the word count.

Thanks, Steven. It's likely that location naming will go through a pass or two for improvements during the coming drafts. As for sharing more... I hope I'll be able to do that soon, for now, I shared an early blurb in the blurb feedback folder. I hope I'll have a beta version soon and plan to share the prologue (or at least a part of it).

Thank you for your insight.

And about different points of view, there's a warrior family respected by the King, who have their own private room and the nobles who don't like said warrior call it "the barbarian bedroom".

Well, if it's "set and forget", then there's no harm to it, right?

In a way it makes sense. You can upload the book and set later date as for publication (and make edits on the way) - when it's uploaded, you could try again setting up an author page. It also gives the possibility for pre-orders while you make some last minute adjustments (metadata or setting up x-ray feature, for example)

That's how I understand it, no experience yet.

Just a blind shot, it might be a language matter. I am from central (or east, depending on how you see it) Europe but buy e-books from US Amazon even though Germany is the closest one. Reason: to be sure I get the book in English and not German (which I know only basics) and because I have a better idea how USD converts to my currency than GBP for that matter.

Maybe those who'd go to GER or FR Amazon would go there if they were looking specifically for these localizations? (Books translated to that language)
Again, just a shot in the dark.

To be more specific, you can't publish anywhere else for that format. If you have the e-book in kindle unlimited, you can't publish e-book version anywhere else but "dead tree editions" (paperback/hardcover) would not be limited by that if I got it correctly.