Carole’s Comments (group member since Oct 19, 2016)

Carole’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

My brother plays Lotto. I buy him extra tickets when it's a big jackpot. I still prefer to put all my money on the hard eight!

As soon as I walk away from a slot machine- I hear it go off when the next guy goes on and wins all the money I put in it! I know that feeling!

Never say your a nobody, Amy!!! Maybe I'm your clone!!

Not a big deal- a common mistake. I loved The Martian, and I have Andy Weir's new book on order. Fifty Shades- I read it because everybody in the office read it, I wanted to see what they loved about it. It was so bad, it was addicting- like when you see road kill and you can't tear your eyes away.
I never read Twilight beyond the first chapter. For me, it was unreadable. But, others loved it. It's a matter of taste. Last weekend, I tried to read Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. So, here's a highly acclaimed traditionally published book that was a brilliant idea, but I couldn't get through the author's monotone delivery.

I bought it because of the hype- an indie writing it while he worked in a bookstore. I was excited- one of us- he made it. Ridley Scott is making the movie. I opened it prepared to be amazed. The first paragraph was poetically beautiful, I was impressed for a nano second, and then he went on...and on...this character was climbing a staircase and the minutia became redundant. I pressed on. It was so heavy-handed. By the end of the first chapter (or portion- i don't remember which) I was incensed with what he did with what I thought was the main character. Then it was onto the next person's head and more staircases. The story was tedious, the character banal. I was disappointed, more than that I was ...pissed it got picked up when I see so many more worthy people not getting picked up! It could have been a good story- if someone had reigned him in, maybe even showed him what he could do with one paragraph that took hims fourteen.
That being said, Matt, I didn't leave a review. This was my opinion and I will never leave a bad review that might influence someone not to buy a book. He had like a billion people who loved it, so who am I to say it was bad.

Matt wrote: "@ Dale: "It's just that before the indie revolution, that process mostly took place through long years of struggling to get one's work up to publishability, whereas now it gets shoved out into the ..."

That was an excellent post, Matt.

In response to Alex...

I was shocked when it happened to me the first time. I though I was having another heart attack. It was strange, because I've preformed, I've been on television, the radio, I've appeared on stage, danced on stage in front of tons of people and then after I turned 50, this happens and where...when I have to deal with clients. I never had fear or panic in my life and when it comes it's both crippling and uncontrollable.

Me neither. Hate the crowds- That's a new thing for me. I spend so many years doing stuff like that- Now I get anxiety attacks.

You'll get there, Amy. I know you will. You may start with a small press- do you have sci/fi conventions in the UK? Does it pay for you to go?

I agree with both of you- books, like food are subjective to someone's taste. I can only tell you of my own experience. I paid for three edits on Michael's books- One for plot holes, one for grammar and the last one was more of a proof read. The book took honors anywhere an indie book could. It was named Book of the Year on more than one site. It was no coincidence this was the book the publisher chose, but he put it through three edits as well. It is a different book today because of that. I may think my kid has raw talent, the editors put a polish he could have never achieved. I think that is the difference.

That being said, I have read traditional books that needed a lot more work. Why isn't someone telling Dan Brown his hero is tired, his plot line is beginning to fray around the edges, why hasn't anybody mentioned to Clive Cussler people don't talk that way anymore and we don't want to read about the same thing over and over. Why are those editors sleeping. Some people know how to reinvent themselves or take a bow and close the curtain. Some people surround themselves with sycophants who don't let them know their nether regions are exposed and they look like a fool.

Hope she recovers quickly.

Email me what you need and I'll ask Brit to do it.

I read a lot, Amy. I just love that book. Track is just...perfect as a hero. No pressure, though!!! lol

It will come back better than ever, Angel. Maybe it had to happen for something better to happen. I truly believe that.

I feel your frustration, Angel.

Just want to say- I put Monsterland on about five or six Blog Tours- Look it up and compare who did more. They ranged from 25 dollars to a couple hundred. Some of them had terrific questions, and the exposure was great- others- not so much. Google them and take a look at their followers, the number of people entering the contests- some were a couple thousand- others barely made it to 100. This is good research to any one who wants to explore using a blog tour. Shameless plug- please share anything you look at, as long as you are there. Make sure you are looking at the 2017 (Okon) tour and not 2013 (Cash) ).

Amy wrote: "OMG living off the proceeds. I’m sorry I must have fallen into different dimension lol

I agree with Anita if I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t do it. I would like to do it for money. Writing, I would l..."

I never think- I just do- I think Amy, you are going to build a following- it just takes patience. and getting it to the right audience. While I enjoyed the first two books you wrote, Remnants is fantastic. I actually sit and wait for you to add more chapters. That's special! It is not Sci/fi- it's a story that could take place anywhere- it's a story about people and struggles.

Going back to what I was saying---

I wrote the first book in a competition with my kids. It was thrilling to see it published, but the income from it was minuscule. It became our mission to find a way to make this productive. We studied successful books and tried to copy what they had done. Anita is right- an author has to decide what they want- it's all a big gamble. (and you know how I feel about gambling, lol- I always put it all on the hard-eight!).

We went through the process. I wrote the first book- and then figured we had to build a brand- Did that- Created Carole P. Roman and Michael Phillip Cash- and for a while the income was steady- it would have been enough for one person to live on- but we all had a nice talk and decided to go for something life-changing. Will it happen? I don't know- but we are realistic- we know like actresses, or directors, or whatever, there are millions of them and less than 1 percent actually make it big.

BUT- I work full-time and treat this as another full-time job- but this one is def more fun

Yup!

Anita wrote: "I just finished researching the top indie authors for kindle, nook and ibooks. I've decided that I'm definitely in the wrong genre. LOL

And, I can't disagree with Amy's comments. It's the pits no..."

I can't agree with you more. Both my son and I decided to set a goal and our goal was for one of us to get picked up by a studio, or television show. It was never just about the books- and while that's fun, I think we both realized early on- that if we wanted to get into the telephone numbers of publishing- it had to be as a brand. We both wanted to catch lightning in a bottle and that's what we set out to do. However, I think an author can make a living by getting enough books and print, find a following and market to them. Julie was telling me of one of her authors, sold his house- downsized and with five books is living off the proceeds. He's not living high, but he is living on it. He's a fantasy writer.

I don't know- I've read some real dogs put out by reputable publishing companies. I think Wool was Simon and Schuster.