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

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

Carole wrote: "I just published a new article on Medium. Check it out at the link below...

https://medium.com/@caroleproman/decl..."

Read and fell a little bit in love with you.
Stalkerish?
I don’t care.
You had me at: “Last night I built a bonfire and burned all my credit cards, except for the one that stood by me.”

Lol.
Shame on those companies though! That’s NO way to treat you customers.

Amy wrote: "Thirty years in the writing. I finally got this one off my chest. I guess for all you normal humans out there it's not an easy read. Clap anyway, I need the money! Thanks.

https://medium.com/@debz..."

Whew, hell of an article Amy. I guess the only positive is that you’ve been able to be better for your kids and for your husband. Some people who go through what you go through, become abusive towards their own kids as well. I am incredibly happy that you managed to find and follow the light.

Amy wrote: "I have enough hobbies that take money to sustain-I don’t do many of them anymore because of lack of finances or as my dad put it the “waste of money”. I’d rather not publish a thing than spend mone..."

We haven’t read the book.
Most of us don’t know the market or what readers want.
Only you can decide whether you have written something worth going through the hassle for.

Alexis wrote: "R.L. wrote: "The new Amazon debacle. Apparently reviews aren’t literal anymore. They are based on an algorithm and when questioned about it from an author, they wouldn’t explain. Oy. My head is spi..."

Oh, they’ve been doing this since 2015. Maybe they just changed the formula a bit.

Excerpt:
Based on machine learning technology it has developed, the ecommerce giant will weigh more heavily newer reviews and reviews from verified Amazon purchases.

Additionally, it will take into consideration upvotes on reviews from other Amazon customers.

https://econsultancy.com/blog/66613-n...

R.L. wrote: "The new Amazon debacle. Apparently reviews aren’t literal anymore. They are based on an algorithm and when questioned about it from an author, they wouldn’t explain. Oy. My head is spinning"

Huh? I don’t understand. Got a source link?

18

Needed this article today. Maybe someone else does too.

Excerpt:
The older we get, the more culturally invisible we become, as writers, as people. But you have your words. Writing and publishing are two very different things. Other writers are not your measure. Try not to worry about what other people your age or younger have already accomplished because it will only make you sick with envy or grief. The only thing you can control is how you write and how hard you work. The literary flavor of the week did not get your book deal. All the other writers in the world are not having more fun than you, no matter what it might seem like on social media, where everyone is showing you only what they want you to see.

Write as well as you can, with as much heart as you can, whenever you can. Make sure there are people in your life who will have faith in your promise when you can’t. Get your writing in the world, ideally for the money you deserve because writing is work that deserves compensation. But do not worry about being closer to 50 or 65 or 83. Artistic success, in all its forms, is not merely the purview of the young. You are not a late bloomer. You are already blooming.


Full thing:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/op...

Amy wrote: "Having a rubbish week for no other reason than I'm working my way through another edit of Missing Remnants (which is good) and starting to believe the voices in my head that keep telling me I'm was..."

“What if I fall?”
“Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?”
-E.H.

You should be really proud of yourself!

Alex wrote: "Got a lovely delivery from Amazon today and in it were these



I got the interiors from Draft2Digital and they look gorgeous, I'll take some pictures later."

Awesomeeeeee!!!

Facebook is ending its brief experiment to show more posts from friends and family members in newsfeeds.

In January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media service would show less posts from businesses and publishers while ramping up personal contacts. The stated goal was to encourage more interaction among friends and family.

The unstated goal was to lessen reliance on organic (i.e. unpaid) traffic for businesses and publishers that use the service as a tool to drive traffic. The longer game was audience retention and growth, which would drive revenue.

But in a company blog post from Adam Mosseri, head of news feed, Facebook now says it is ending its “test” of the Explore Feed.


Long article: http://deadline.com/2018/03/facebook-...
Thank goodness.

“Clearly there is a big difference in pricing between the two countries and it is making me wonder whether I should adapt my current pricing strategy to reflect this.”

Yes. Definitely. You should offer your book at hghest price that the consumer is willing to pay for it. The trick is finding out what that price is of course.

In the end, like everything else, this is about trial and error.

Adapt, change, hustle until you reach that sweet spot of equilibrium.

Amy wrote: "I’ve written two books that aren’t erotica. They are perfectly viable books. My fear is I’ll put them out there and I still won’t sell books."

If you don’t put them out there, you will DEFINITELY not sell any books.


Go for it.

Carole wrote: "Thank you, all. It's been a terrible month but your kind thoughts and prayers are a great comfort to me. He suffered so much and while his passing is painful, I know he is finally at peace. Dear fr..."

You guys even during that terrible month Carole was having, she was still there for me, getting me through the worst of heartbreaks. She is an amazing human being and a selfless, wonderful friend!!

I wish you strength Carole, and you and your family have my heartfelt condolences. 💔

Matt wrote: "Alex wrote: "Thanks for the kind words, Sam. I suspect the main reason I haven't written a romance yet, other than being busy with other projects, is that the right idea hasn't popped into my head...."

Writing is hard period, regardless of what genre someone writes in. You don’t just need “a billionaire hero and a woman with a heart of gold” to write a good romance novel. Suggesting ad much is dismissive.

Theodore wrote: "Alex wrote: "Not to be a naysayer, but could romance writers be earning more because it's the most popular genre and romance writers, based on anecdotal evidence, publish more books and quicker.
I'..."

Its not as much about the sex as you would think. Fifty Shades of Grey is an outlier, most bestselling romance writers don’t have the hero giving the heroine oral sex every ten pages.

Women look to connect with the characters. The smut is a bonus.

Yes, it is.
But you first need that One. Great. Book! :D

Thanks for the info, Alex.
I think that it’d be great to get ad but the whole auction thing makes me think it will be expensive/hard to land an ad..

What are the prices like?

I’ve been hesitant about approaching people who might be able to help me become succesful at this writing thing. Influential bloggers, succesful writers, etc..

And then I read these quotes by Will.i.am and Sir Tom. Sure, they’re talking about singers but the same thing applies for writers right? :D

The quotes:

Speaking at a launch event for the show, the 42-year-old said: “I’ve tried to keep in contact with the people that were on my team, but they are really polite.

“They say ‘I don’t want to bug you, I know you’re busy’, but if I was them I wouldn’t be that polite.
“Part of the reason why there’s no star is because people are just really polite.

“Folks that have careers have been really aggressive and they make sure they fight for the right songs… to do that you have to be a predator, and predators aren’t polite.

“They have to want this more than anything else. More so now than years ago because the competition is greater, and they have to be able to say ‘I’m going to make it and I’m going to do everything I possibly can to do it’.


Are you aggressive in the way you’re trying to become a succesful indie? Or do you think the above only works singers? :)