Dale’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2017)

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

D.J. wrote: "Well I’m in if you pull it off."

Thanks, I'll let everyone here know if I do get anything going. Although I've run my own little publishing company, this is fairly new territory for me.

D.J. wrote: "Voted. Very nice ‘switch it off and look around you’ story."

Thank you!

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Angel.

I have a new flash fiction story in this week's Indies Unlimited contest. This one is about a possibly humorous (or not, depending on your point of view) altercation at a waterfall. I was originally thinking of doing a murder story, but several other contestants beat me to it, so I dug up this idea instead.

Voting is open today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday). I'd appreciate your support.

To read stories, go here. Stories are in the comments.

To vote, go here.

Thank you!

My next flash fiction story on Medium: Barking Mad.

I've also added some more cards to my series, The Realm of Tiny Giants.

Enjoy!

Alex wrote: "Keeping people healthy is probably the most important thing you could be doing."

Yep. And fortunately I have four daughters to remind me to keep myself healthy, too. ;-)

For purposes of the question, let's assume it's well-established and has a reasonable amount of traffic.

Obviously right now it isn't. I have some ideas I'm toying with, based on various things I've heard you folks and many others say about your Amazon experiences and whatnot (largely around reviews). I just want to get a sense of what people think they'd be willing to pay IF a solid platform existed along the lines I've mentioned.

I ask because if I decide to proceed, I'll need to develop a business plan and pitch the idea to investors. I can't build this on my own, partly because it's too big for one person to handle and partly because my "excess" money is mostly going to my wife's doctors right now. The service would require a certain amount of infrastructure and probably two or three software developers to build the platform, among other things, and thus investor funding to get it off the ground.

I can't offer too many details right now, but suffice it to say I have what I think is a framework for a book review system that would avoid some of the problems faced by Amazon and others, plus this would be an indie-friendly platform from the get-go. It wouldn't necessarily be closed to large publishers, but it would seek to provide as level a playing field as possible. (That would be a stated core value of the venture.)

The fees I'm thinking of are below the numbers so far tossed out, which is heartening. I'd want them to be broke-indie-author-friendly, since I'm a broke indie author myself. And yes, I would intend to keep a controlling interest, if the venture ever gets off the ground (which is meant to assure you it won't stray into avarice land and lose sight of its original principles).

Further input on the initial question would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have a number of books to read from the FB takeover. Haven't had time to read them. My plans mostly include keeping everyone as healthy as possible and trying to clear the weeds and unwanted trees from the homestead grounds. :-P But I'm still writing, too, still trying to find an agent for Space Operatic, and stuff like that.

I'd like your input for a very informal survey.

Suppose there were a place you could list books for sale, get book reviews from qualified reviewers as well as friends and average readers, leave reviews for authors you like without worrying about Amazon-like restrictions, sell your services or find services you need . . .

Would that be worth something to you? If so, how much? A certain annual membership fee? A certain per-book listing fee? A certain fee for listing your services?

Obviously we'd all like this for free, but assume for now that it has to be paid for to support infrastructure and professionals to build and maintain it.

Thank you!

A discussion of editing, originally from my blog, a bit extended and polished: The Umpteenth Draft

Lit Up has now published my new short story, Running Down the Track. Please enjoy and share!

My pleasure!

Theodore wrote: "Good luck. Trying to get ratings is like stirring up reviews, I'm sure."

Thanks, and yes, it can be. But I've attended a couple of chapter meetings now, so maybe more people will recognize my name and lend a hand. I hope . . .

Another repurpose of a blog post: Life Intrusions

I've also added a few more cards to my series, The Realm of Tiny Giants.

"For bound books 6"x 9" (15cm x 23cm) or smaller, use 0.5" (1.27cm) margins on the top, outside and bottom of books, and a 0.75" (1.91cm) inside margin."

From https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_B....

The inside margin needs to be larger to accommodate binding. I'd have to check with my wife, but I believe any headers and footers should be inside these margins, with extra space (maybe 0.25", but I'm not sure) between them and the page content.

You can use a 0.25" bleed if you want, but I don't believe it's necessary for pages with only text. Bleeds become important when you have graphics that run to the trim line (edge of the page). Images should extend beyond the trim to accommodate small errors in the cutting process; that's what the bleed is for.

Alex wrote: "It's a relief to hear that, but I still made sure to rewrite it, and basically every line in it so far because I've improved so much since I did the original draft."

At least you can see it and fix it. That's often at least half the battle.

D.J. wrote: "Clapped your latest article Dale. I agree with everything you said, although it’s been almost 20 years since I interviewed anyone and even longer sin..."

Thank you!

Alex wrote: "I started off with 'The sun beat down like a hammer on an anvil' YIKES! Cliched and awful."

I've read worse. ;-)

Thanks for the list, Ted. I'm not much pursuing awards right now, although I will be entering Ice on the Bay in the 2018 Maryland Writer's Association Novel Competition, which should start in a couple of months. I entered True Death in 2016 but didn't get enough ratings to qualify.

There is no fee for this, but you have to be a Maryland resident and MWA member to enter. Authors who enter have to read and rate a certain number of books by other authors in a category other than their own. (So I can't rate mysteries, for example.) A book must get a minimum number of ratings to qualify, which can be a bit of a problem. They've tried to rectify that with some rules changes, especially a longer reading period. We'll see how it goes this year . . .

I read an inspirational piece the other day from a young guy who presented a fictional job interview. It started some wheels turning, and I ended up with this, in case, any of you are looking at a real job interview in the future: How to Get a Job.

I also should have a new short story coming on Lit Up, but they haven't published it yet. I'll let you know when they do.