ROBUST discussion
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Trying out Wattpad
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Andre Jute wrote: "Even scarier is the thought that they may be tomorrow's indie writers."Very probably! It looks interesting. I seem to remember seeing your story before. I might try putting a poem up, see what reaction I get.
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Let's see if they're deserving before I expend new material on them,
Interesting experiment. But the moment we gave Giselle a card with a budget for books on her iPad, she was out of there and reading only good quality literature.
Now that Andre's work is there, Wattpad has quality literature!Okay, I've uploaded a poem. I have no idea how to draw attention to it on Wattpad itself. All the threads seem to be full of teenage angst and shorthand. But it's there anyway. We'll see if anything happens.
http://www.wattpad.com/7126581-portra...
Katie wrote: "Now that Andre's work is there, Wattpad has quality literature!"Definitely. But I just wonder if Andre, even at his broadest, and writing about pets, surely a subject of interest to teenagers, isn't a bit subtle. I'm merely judging by a quick sampling, so I could be wrong.
Katie wrote: "Okay, I've uploaded a poem."
An excellent, moving poem. I may be wrong, but I think it is way over the heads of most Wattpad readers.
We'll see.
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Okay, I've uploaded a poem."
Ha! Your poem is excellent, but neither of us is setting Wattpad alight. It may be that we're over their heads, or maybe just haven't got the right material.
The real question is, can Wattpad be useful as promotion for what either of us, or any other ROBUSTer, writes?
Thanks, Andre. I think this might answer your question...http://news.sky.com/story/982886/teen...
Personally I find it all rather depressing!
I have a couple of YA-writer friends who like Wattpad because they can get authentic feedback from teens. I've never messed with it much myself.
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http://news.sky.com/story/982886/teen...
Personally I find it all rather depressing!"
17 million reads for what is essentially fan fiction! Where's Keryl Raist? She's the one who knows about fan fiction.
"Depressing" is a polite way of putting it.
I don't know why it's depressing. She's writing, she's found a way to make some money at it, and she has a following. I hope she succeeds and has a long, prosperous career pleasing her readers.
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When even a writer's publisher can find nothing more flattering to say about her than that he adds a British slant to me-tooism, my first response is, "Oh, poop, then why bother with her?"
I haven't read her work so I don't know how original it is. If I were to read it, it'd be original to me because I've not read any vampire fiction.It's just a genre like any other. I'm glad people are wanting to read, regardless of what they're reading -- and I'm not ready to be depressed over someone's success even if I don't care for her area of focus. As for originality, how much is there anywhere? It's all about voice, not plot.
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Standards in indieland are low enough already. We can't afford any more complaisance among the small fringe of the talented.
See, that's the difference between us. I can't tell an author lacks the faintest spark of originality without having read her work. In the meantime, I will give her the benefit of the doubt and I will respect her six-figure advance.
Now stop it, the pair of you, or I'll have to get the cold water spray out!It's not so much the fact that this child has been given a contract for her book that upsets me. It's the fact that I'm 52 and trying to break into much the same market.Sometimes it feels like I'm just floundering about like a beached whale. Occasionally I strike lucky and a bit of water washes over me, but my chances of getting out to sea seem fairly remote. It's okay for you two. You've had your career firmly founded for quite some time, but I'm just starting out. Who's going to look at a beached whale, however majestic, when the rainbow fish is getting the attention?
Yes, I'm just feeling sorry for myself!
Hey Katie, you're not alone in this! I'm the same age with the same issues. So don't go feeling all "Lone Ranger" - or you can if I can be Tonto?
Ah, Katie, I sold my first story to a national publication with I was barely 17. I thought, gee, that was easy and kept writing, but then didn't sell anything else for decades, though I did get paid in contributor's copies when my work was published by small literary magazines. (Can't get rich that way.) I didn't get a six-figure deal till I'd already sold three earlier novels, and that was followed by nearly another decade of waiting between books. Another novel came after that, then nothing. I doubt I could ever sell another novel through a traditional publisher. I don't have it in me to even try, and not all that many decades ahead of me. For me, writing is what it's all about. If sales follow, that's just gravy.Enjoy the journey (that's the important part) -- and if you make it to your desired destination, rejoice. But then keep going.
(As for breaking up my fight with Andre, please don't don't. He's so cute when he's angry.)
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I know you're not angry. I'm just yanking your chain -- but you ARE cute.Publishers generally go with what's already selling; rarely is new ground broken. That's why I say that it's all about the voice. It's up to the author to own a genre through his or her talent.
7,012,610! That book on Wattpad written by the 18 year old has been read 7,012,610 times! Available now for preorder on Amazon and already ranked...uh...#4617 in the Kindle Store.Okay, I'm off to read the first chapter right now. Back in a minute.
My review: Umm...well. Sigh.
Well, maybe a rising tide lifts all boats? Halo effects, blah, blah? :)
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I like your review, Christopher.
A rising tide lifts only those boats already launched and passed through the surf. (I thought you were in the air force, Jeremy. When I was in the air force, back in the time of conscription -- sounds like a song you can hear at Kentucky roadhouse! -- at least 400 miles from the nearest substantial body of water, they spent months teaching us to ditch in big water... Typical.)
I spent the bulk of my AF career in dark little rooms behind big blast doors and firmly on the ground.If it wasn't for the fact that the end of the F-16 runway was right near my barracks, the only time I was close to planes was when I took a commercial plane to and from my various duty stations.
Besides, if I was in the Navy, I would have said, "A rising tide lifts all ships."
I remember once referring to some otherwise friendly sailor's new duty assignment (at least when I was in the US Armed Forces, the sailors, for the most part, always seem the most chill compared to the Soldiers, Marines, and Airmen) as a "boat" and he flipped the hell out on me, frothing about how a frigate isn't a "boat" and so on and so forth.
I joined wattpad, just to see what happens. I've got some flash fiction.
Correction, Andre. I said I respect her six-figure advance.
Browse a bit, by pulling down "Discover" and just clicking, and you soon discover writers with millions of readers... Their average age might well be 13, though.