Alexis’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

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

Alex wrote: "I wonder what will happen to those who don't have a KDP account. Amazon won't let me have an account with KDP based on what they told me last year, so my books won't be able to be moved from Create..."

Ooff, that’s a very legitimate concern Alex. I guess it’s a silver lining that a lot of people just buy ebooks off Amazn these days.

I didn’t know that authors had to pay to work with Ingram though? Or are the costs only related to ISBN?

Carole wrote: "DJ has the right of it- Books are subjective- Look at the different genres we all like!!

We worked with Julie for both Michael and myself.- she looked at a books marketability- plot holes, In othe..."

I’m not worried about the plot of this one too much, just worried about feedback of my betareaders and friends is actually helpful or not. I really am writing this for a specific group of readers..

D.J. wrote: "If you get 200,000 people or even five people telling you the same thing, worry about it then. One person is just one person. Actually if you get 200,000 people reading your book you’ve cracked it...."

True, but I’m not really worried about my friend’s opinion.
I am worried about whether or not I should really work with betareaders.

But now that i think about it, I think I just need to ask them what kind of books they enjoy reading and go from there

I send the first four chapters of my book to a friend, and she told me it was pretty good but that it wasn’t really suspenseful. She said that the book that she’s reading right now. Gone Again by Doug Johnstone, really makes her want to read the book while mine doesn’t.

I wasn’t upset by her reaction.. but I’m not sure whether to pay attention to it or not. I’m thinking she just might not be my target audience.

Some people like books with lots of twists and surprises, but a lot of people like other books too.

There’s this book I adore by Sarah Dessen called “Just Listen” it has about 200,000 ratings, and one reader basically describes it as:

“Catherine A. This is a good book, but not really one that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It had a slower plot line (don't worry, not in a bad way), and there wasn't a whole lot of action. It's more of a self-discovery book. It's one that leaves you thinking with a smile on your face. That is how Sarah Dessen's books are. Realistic fiction about real teenage problems that are actually- unlike a lot of books that I could list off- interesting. If you want an edge- of - your- seat book, I could recommend some… But this book would not be on that list. This is a book you read on spring break, not as a thriller.”

The above is basically what I’m going for; a cute, teenagey contemporary romance.

But my friend’s reaction now makes me wonder about the beta readers I hired.. what if their taste is JUST like my friend and I end up changing a book that others might love even though my beta readers/friends aren’t into it?


...
Oohh, this writing thing is not easy. Lol

Thank you! I really love it too. Now all I need is a good blurb to also make readers click-happy.

Yay, thanks jean! I designed it myself

Becky wrote: "Amy wrote: "Erica wrote: "WOW! Amy, that cover is awesome!"

I wish I could say it was all my own work lol. Thanks. I'm going to see if the designer can do what Alexis mentioned about making the sp..."

:D!!!!!!!!

Thank you ladies!!

Erica wrote: "American/English speakers have the same problem. ;) Like R.L. said, you can always edit later. Good luck!"

I’m going to listen to music and let Taylor Swift inspire me.

R.L. wrote: "Keep writing though. It’ll be easier to edit something than to have a blank page. You. Got. This."

Thanks R.L!

I’m in love with my cover for my new Young Adult romance novel.
It’s adorable.

https://writeralexiswills.files.wordp...

P.s. the author quote is a total fake lol.

R.L. wrote: "I’m sure you’re fine Alexis. Lol"

No. The words, they are not coming.
Some days, I wake up, and the English it just flowss.
And then other days, like today.. it’s just bleghhhhhh.

*Insert eternal scream painting here*

I wish I was American/English speaker. English why did you choose today of all days to desert me?

Kimberly wrote: "Today my publisher began the 5 day Free Book Download Promo for my 1st book(have 3 books). A few hours ago it became a best seller. It hit #1 in the UK and #9 in the US. And this is just the first ..."

Congratulations!

D.J. wrote: "Whoooooooa. OK. My issue is I'm just not pushy/self-confident enough to submit a request like that. I can send to agents and publishers and weather the rejections because ultimately they stand a ch..."

Which is why it’s nice to have someone to do it on our behalf LOL. I’m going to let a friend send them for me like a proper coward and tell her to just let me know in case there’s good news.
.

Theodore wrote: "Carole wrote: "My question is- does it date a book. Make it hard for the next generation to follow if they don't know who someone like Jerry Seinfeld is?"

By the way, I recently wrote an article f..."

Who wouldn’t get that! :D

Sighs. I love that show.

Carole wrote: "I used to read everything- then after the fourth year, I started hitting delete. I maybe read one in twenty that come in- Usually- it's the way they write the letter.

I used to write those letters..."

Lately I’ve just been obsessed with getting my books in the RIGHT hands. I mean, you can have 70 reviews but if all those reviewers only write a review and then move on to the next book then yeah, nothing happens.

I want to reach the reviewers who tell their friends about a book, who fangirl about books they love and who really have an influence.

Now I just have to find them lol.

J. wrote: "Dale wrote: "Let's try a different approach: [...]"

Thanks for your suggestion! However, not sure I like this one - it reads a bit monotonous since you took out most variation of sentence length. ..."

Company’s can’t have morals, so I’d amend that line to reflect that its run by immoral individuals.

I’ve been looking into doing takeovers on Facebook and stuff, but — and I might be wrong here — I don’t feel like the payoff matches my investment. Sure it’s “free” but my time is valuable too. I could be writing. Or working. Or relaxing. Or using another promotional tool. So nothing is REALLY free.

I mean, when you look at it from a pure economic perspective; Are those 10+ hours I will have to spend to connect with a group and to maybe engage with a dozen readers during a takeover really worth it?

I know tons of romantic authors who invest hours in takeovers and stuff but never really do the numbers I’d expect because:
A. They are marketing to the “wrong people”: for example a group has more authors in it than readers or
B. Readers have participated in so many takeovers that they are no longer as effective as they were.



Or maybe I have unrealistic expectations, I don’t know. But I’m not sure the payoffs I’ve observed from a far are worth my time.

Alex wrote: "I'm beginning to think I might have to abandon Twitter because the people on there are really beginning to piss me off.

So far today I have encountered people bitching about movies including white..."

The biggest movie audience is actually the Asian market.

And I don’t think that any movie needs a white character to be succesful. Ever. If it’s a good movie it will do well, as Black Panther has shown as it nears $1.3 billion gross worldwide.

People of color are vastly underrepresented in movies. It blows if the few roles that can go to POC go to whites because of a myth that only movies featuring whites do well. And if people don’t make noise about it, POC will have to continue to settle for secondary, useless characters. That’s not fair. (And it doesn’t make business sense. We have money too.)

I don’t care about the tampon thing.