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

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

Carole wrote: "Hi- I just got this note in my email

Hi Carole,

We're reaching out because several of your recent comments were flagged by Goodreads members. To clarify, incentivized reviews of any kind are proh..."

I've never tried the "flag" functionality, so I don't know how it works, but I suspect this is an automated email. Probably a reason for flagging has to be selected.Emails could then be generated based on the number of flags for specified reasons.

If that's the case, GR staff should be able to investigate to see what messages were flagged and whether or not the flagging was valid. Whether or not they do that and how long it takes is another matter.

It sounds to me like someone is either being very careless (the "flag" link is right next to the "repy" link, which can lead to mistakes; I recently called 911 from an elevator because the emergency call button was right next to the close door button!), or more likely someone is entering bogus flags either out of meanness or because they get their kicks from playing stupid games.

Here's my next post on George Mayes and his novel Pen, Please.

I looked into them once or twice for my publishing company, but haven't yet joined. So I'd be interested in hearing about it, too, if anyone has.

Yeah, some of them haven't been too interesting. But I've found that with practice it's getting easier to tease something out of even a fairly uninteresting photo. I've also found that more and more of my first drafts are coming in under the 250 word limit without editing them down. That's an interesting development.

I found it interesting and a bit humorous that we both started with the same general idea, although we spun them in very different directions. That doesn't usually happen with these photos.

Me, too.

Theodore wrote: "It could work if you could "lay" the letters down on the water...give them the "right" perspective so that they appear to be floating on the water. But that's going to take a professional house, I think, to get that "look.""

Yeah, I only got an approximation of what we're after. But we're going to mess with it some more. Or Kathleen is, anyway. She's got a pretty good eye.

Theodore wrote: "Here are the plans...you can purchase 10 credits for $35 or 25 credits for $49."

Thanks!

Ted and I are going head-to-head in this week's flash fiction competition about a snowball fight. Curiously, we both had a similar idea, but we took it in different directions. I also had a bit of fun at the expense of the IU photographer, who with luck won't mind!

Stories are here, with voting on Wednesday and Thursday.

Here's a modified version of the same cover concept, with lettering a bit better (still not entirely right) and some blue shading added in the foreground water.

Got it, thanks. I'll have to poke around their site some more. You might have to actually create an account to be able to see full details. They don't list that kind of package on their pricing info page right now.

Carole wrote: "It is frustrating. We jog a mile and get pushed back five."

In my experience, that's called life. ;-)

Ted,

I took a look at Big Stock. The pricing plans seem to be monthly, starting at $79/month. Is that how you're doing it, or am I missing something?

That is definitely economical...

Theodore wrote: "Indie authors get no respect! That's the bottom line. "

That's one way of looking at it. ;-)

Then again, what are taxpaying library goers clamoring for? Indie authors? Or NY Times bestsellers?

My wife grumps that too many libraries are more about the computers these days than the books. And it is true, an awful lot of people in our area go to the library to use computers, not to check out books.

Amy wrote: "I only have 520 on my mailing list, but I've done the Mailchimp thing. (Actually I'm impressed I still have that many, all those people who haven't got around to unsubscribing!)"

Only?? I'd be happy to get up to a tenth of that. No matter how you got them. ;-)

Thanks again, I'll look into them. We generally use DreamsTime. It typically costs no more than $35 for a photo through them, and sometimes less. Sometimes we look at Shutterstock, but Kathleen feels it's a bit more expensive and doesn't have as good a selection.

Theodore wrote: "I walked into my local library branch a few months ago and offered to give them $100 worth of my novels and children's books. They refused them. Instead, they gave me a form to submit to "headquarters," on which I could provide a list of my books for them to consider. I never heard another word."

This is typical for U.S. libraries. My wife used to work in a library in Illinois, so I have some small inside knowledge of this (if I can dredge it up accurately). Due to limited shelf space, a library can't stock everything everybody wants to give them--and everybody with a book in print wants to give them copies. In addition, it costs time (time=money) for someone to process each book into the system and prepare it for circulation. In some cases a library may accept donations, but those donations may not end up on the shelves. They may end up in the annual book sale instead.

The Baltimore County Public Library accepted a copy of The Fibonacci Murders, but I learned afterward that it went into the "local authors collection," which is a non-circulating collection. I don't know how easy it is for people to discover it there. I didn't bother giving them True Death, although maybe I should have. I tried to place Fibonacci in the Howard County Public Library, since, hey, it's a Howard County Mystery. But I wasn't a "local author" since I didn't live in Howard County, so they declined to take it.

Ted,

Thanks for the comments.

Some additional background, in case it matters:

We had a few problems with finding an image. I originally wanted a Chesapeake scene with ice on the water, but that's a fairly rare occurrence and most of the available photos where either not well-suited to our purposes or were from media outlets charging $$$ for them.

The title, using the selected font and with appropriate skewing and rotating (which admittedly I didn't get quite right in the mockup) are meant to suggest pieces of ice floating downstream from Baltimore's harbor. Kathleen had a better arrangement of them, but being a technical guru I managed to lose her work. :-P

I wasn't too sure about the grayscale image myself, but Kathleen (who is much more into artistic symbolism than I am) maintains that the grayed out city in the background lends a cold, impersonal feel. It would be possible to colorize the photo in blue. We hadn't considered that idea. We did add a blue haze around the lettering, which may need some enhancement.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

We've created a cover concept for my forthcoming mystery Ice on the Bay.

The image is not the "real" image. It has copyright protection on it (the little swirls and whatnot). So ignore those. Also, the text is not exactly the way we'd place it in the final version, but I wanted to get a sense of how well the idea worked.


Comments appreciated. Thanks!