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

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

I like the top one the best, for its ominous appearance and the colors. I rather like the red ground in the second one, but not the white words. The old house in the first one is better than the barn in the third one; it looks more rickety. And I just don't like the green (although some people do, I guess).

One thing I don't like about any of them is the centered text for the cover blurb. I don't believe centered text works well for long passages; it makes the eyes do more work to read it, because the lines start and end all over the place, and that's the last thing you want in a cover blurb, which only has a few seconds to hook the reader. I would full justify it, if possible.

Alex wrote: "Brilliant. I've given it 50 claps, not that I know whether that is ..."

Works for me. ;-) Thanks!

Carole wrote: "I just read they are estimating the time people spend ion an article. My claps must be worthless- I read VERY fast!!!! I read a lot of articles on there and like as many people as I can- This is br..."

That's the plan I intended to follow, but in practice I can't read all that much because my day job isn't writing. I have other things I have to do. So I'm nowhere near as successful as you, but clapping and following a few new people from time to time does seem to garner me a few more reciprocal reads and likes. I've also received a reasonable number of followers from my publication stories, although not as many as I would have expected.

D.J. wrote: "I read somewhere that the amount of time someone spends reading the article affects the amount of money paid. I'm unconvinced by that. Why would someone who reads slowly lead to a bigger payment than someone who reads quickly? I must have got that wrong."

This component of the payment equation is based on the idea that people who spend more time on a page are more likely to have read the whole thing, whereas people who spend less time are more likely to have just read the first bit and then moved on. They have an estimate for each story, based on word count, on how long it will take an average reader to read the whole thing. I would guess that figures into the equation somehow.

e.g., if 100 people view a 5-minute story, you'd expect the total read time to be around 500 minutes if everyone read the whole thing. If the total read time was only 200 minutes, you're pretty safe in guessing that a lot of people didn't read the whole thing, even given that some people read faster than others.

But you're right that the payment formula is likely somewhat complicated as well as secret, so really trying to figure it all out is fairly pointless. What you want is to write good material that a lot of people read, respond to, and clap for, and probably that will earn you some money, regardless of the exact formula.

Alex wrote: "I want to clap that comment, Dale, lol"

Just for you, Alex: Two Kinds from All Kinds. Clap away! ;-)

"Unusual activity" could mean various things, but it looks to me like it's an attempt to prevent bots from using Twitter accounts to send spam. This has had some strange results. See this article from last September about a reporter who was apparently targeted by bots with the intent of tricking Twitter into shutting down his account.

Carmel wrote: "Sounds like it's a bit hard to know for sure where your five dollars is going!"

True, although if you tracked who you clapped for and how much, you could use his simple formula to figure it out. The main takeaway is that the more you clap, the less each clap is worth in money terms, so giving five articles one clap each is financially the same as giving five articles fifty claps each.

But claps may also have other effects, such as determining how likely others are to read an article or maybe even how likely Medium is to include an article in a newsletter. (I don't know about that; I'm just guessing.)

And there are other factors that go into the money equation, including views and estimated time readers spend on a story. So it's not entirely straightforward.

Alex wrote: "I want to clap that comment, Dale, lol"

Maybe I should write a Medium post about it so you can. ;-)

Well, you know, there are two kinds of people: those who divide people into two kinds, and those who don't. ;-)

This isn't from me, but I thought some of you Mediumites might find it interesting and helpful in terms of understanding claps and the Medium payment model: The Two Kinds of Clappers on Medium.

Anna Faversham wrote: "Very, very interesting interview and so well written - this deserves to be shared."

Thank you!

Got a bit behind, but I think I've got everyone friended and followed now . . .

I finally have a new review and author interview on my blog, featuring Christopher Walker and his excellent short story collection, The Amnesiac and Other Stories. He's an amazing writer and has some great comments about writing and publishing, so I hope you'll read it and share it around. Thank you!

My next flash fiction piece, a science fiction/western: Hideout

I added some new cards to my series, The Realm of Tiny Giants. So far, I've had one person applaud and nobody follow it. Hmm . . .

I posted this one to highlight what I'm doing with my series. I didn't set this up to earn money, as it's principally about Medium:

Experimenting with the Medium Series

D.J. wrote: "That's clever. I like the way it looks. And in linking the story in the background blurb, the story can then earn money. Is that right?"

Thank you! And yes, if people visit the story, it will count toward the Partnership Program stats.

Experiment time. I've been wanting to try a out a Medium series to see how it works, and now that I have over 35 flash fiction/short stories published there, I decided to collect them into one.

The Realm of Tiny Giants

It currently contains 6 cards--the cover, an intro, and 4 stories. I present links to the stories and add some background for each one. I hope you like it and will consider signing up for alerts so you'll be notified when I add new cards to the series. (To do that, click the bell icon . . . I think . . .)

Here's my theory on Medium series:

They were introduced as a way to "tell a more in-depth story over time" (quoted from my memory of Medium's explanation), but most of the series I've seen people create have simply been a collection of links to regular stories. The collection-of-links approach is, I suspect, motivated by the fact that the series itself cannot earn money, but the linked stories can. So people are using series as a way to drive traffic to their Partner Program stories.

But the collection-of-links approach is just plain ugly. It presents no new information, and usually isn't even decorated with images. I've altered the approach to add new information (background on my stories) and images (usually the prompts that inspired the stories) as well as links to the stories. This will, I hope, drive new traffic to my (paying) stories but will make the series look appealing in its own right. It might also, over time, unfold into the story of my involvement with flash fiction.

Feedback appreciated, and I'll try to keep you apprised of how it works out.

No time for anything today, so another recycled flash fiction piece: Horsing Around.

Today's Medium post: The Publishing Racket. Enjoy!