Random stuff - the something good happened thread Showing 1,701-1,750 of 3,973

[Carole]

Me too!! Exciting news- They are giving him some sort of thread on Reddit where he can answer questions to anyone who writes in- I'll have more information on that later. I HEART Radio interviewed him yesterday.

[Erica]

Nice!!

[Carole]

Thanks, Alex= can't wait to hear what you think about it.

[Christine]

Very exciting! Congratulations!

[Trishna]

Congratulations!!

[Carole]

Cute interview- Thought I'd share.

https://ramblinglisasbookreviews.com/...

[Carole]

BTW- I booked Michael on about six blog tours- If you Google his name (Michael Okon) you can look at the different tours. I found them affordable with interesting questions and a diverse reach. The fancy publicist I hired in New York was pretty amazed with the response.
You might want to look at the stops and see if one of these tours would be a good move for you. The book opened at 25 in Horror and 3 in Hot new releases. He's up to 11 or twelve reviews on Amazon and I think, 21 on GR. I have no idea how many books he's sold- I won't get a report from the publisher until next month.

[Carole]

IAN Awards to be announced- The new contest is starting and they give a cash prize to the big winners. My son won money last year from them

http://www.independentauthornetwork.c...

[Carole]

A few people from here won (as finalists- which means no moo-lah)- but the announcement isn't out yet. I won one big category- I don't think it pays anything because it's "children's"- and five of my books were finalists in different categories.

[Ben]

lol I missed out on submitting by days..... sad...

[Carole]

They are up now for next year- I don't think the published year of the book matters.

[Amy]

Carole wrote: "BTW- I booked Michael on about six blog tours- If you Google his name (Michael Okon) you can look at the different tours. I found them affordable with interesting questions and a diverse reach. The..."

I think I've bookmarked most of them for future reference. Thanks Carole, I hope Michael has great success.

(I am in limbo. Two books on the go on Radish, but incomplete therefore not able to receive reviews offered on some blog tours. I had hoped for more visibility on Radish. Despite putting my stories forward for their front page categories, they don't seem to be putting the collections up when they say they will or I'm misunderstanding something. Anyway, I'm still blundering around with my invisibility cloak on. Keep reading Carole, you seem to be all I've got lol.)

[Carole]

Check it out- From Bookworks- there may be some great information there.

https://realfast.clickfunnels.com/web...

[Anita]

The latest issue of Indie Authors Monthly is online and it is filled with great articles.

[Carole]

https://www.indieauthorsmonthly.com/r...

Love the cover, lol

[Carole]

Amy wrote: "Carole wrote: "BTW- I booked Michael on about six blog tours- If you Google his name (Michael Okon) you can look at the different tours. I found them affordable with interesting questions and a div..."

I feel the same way- After one week as an editor picks I can 't get beyond 430 views and something like 32 followers. They don't read past the third chapter and mine is finished. Still, the story got good reviews on both Foreword and Kirkus, so I am confident it's good enough. I think they are not advertising enough and I have read some of the books that have thousands of followers- two things-number one- I invested in the story and then discovered the chapters long and rambling- the writing was just okay. I didn't mind trying, until I took a look at the number of chapters NO WAY! 48 chapters meaning I'd have to invest 23 dollars in the book. Not going to happen. So, I have about four that I didn't finish and now in my abandoned pile. I will know to look and make sure the books are 20 chapters or thereabouts.
Number 2- I say this will all honesty- your books, Amy are light years ahead of theirs. The stories are engaging, your characters NOT cookie cutters and you know how I feel about your humor.
I am willing to leave my Brit Lunden stuff there, because frankly, I'm exhausted and can't promote another brand. I'll see if it takes off on it's own. You may build up a following there, but eventually you will publish it on Amazon, correct?

[Anita]

Carole wrote: "https://www.indieauthorsmonthly.com/r...

Love the cover, lol"

I can't imagine why---LOL

[Amy]

Carole wrote: "Number 2- I say this will all honesty- your books, Amy are light years ahead of theirs. The stories are engaging, your characters NOT cookie cutters and you know how I feel about your humor."

I can't tell you how much I needed to hear that today. Thank you Carole.

I agree, people don't read past the free chapters. Only you have. Missing Remnants and Iridessian Haunts only have 38 and 10 views respectively. The free ones, Modified and Nate and Day have 333 and 135. Only 9 people viewed the final chapter 20 of Modified, but that doesn't mean they finished it because there are only 5 views for chapter 18. Should I have put a naked male torso on the cover? Loads of those appear in collections. Remnants spent a week in a collection. But according to the email they sent recently with calls for entries to the collections-they've missed out a collection. There should have been one on 9th. It didn't happen.

And no I will not read a book that has 48 episodes that is premium- you've seriously started some and they are premium at that length? That is ridiculous. If a book is twenty episodes long (roughly what I'm planning) and you've bought enough coins to make each episode as cheap as possible, someone reading that book would pay £5.61 ish. That's OK. But I have seen books with 147 episodes, I assumed they were free. If not that book could cost £47.52 to read at the cheapest level.

And no, I don't believe they advertise enough, but they might think they don't have to because they will thrive on the followings brought to them by all the successful wattpad writers. I've known other companies who rely on their independent contractors to bring in the business. Well I don't have a following. I was hoping to build one up by appearing in a collection. All I got were the free reads and I'm not the pick of any of their editors.

And yes I will have to go very wide with Missing Remnants and Iridessian Haunts when I've finished them on Radish. I may look into wider paperback distribution than I did with the erotica. I will at least be able to utilise all of the promotional sites with the two new ones because there will be no erotica in the books.

I'd like to not have to give the other two away for free on Radish either but it was what was recommended.

[Amy]

Like anything, it was worth a try. But I suspect the ones who are successful are the ones who brought a following with them from wattpad. I like numbers and the ones I'd like to see are how many with no following managed to build one up using Radish alone.

[Amy]

It's so obvious to me, I almost _know_ I'm right.

[Amy]

And AND... despite them saying that the covers on Radish shouldn't have any words on them to feature on the front page because the cover words will conflict with the text added to the front page, there's one at the moment with words all over it, looking a mess on the front page with the bare male torso and it's got 11,887 views. So it's another sodding case of one rule for them and one rule for us. I. Hate. Double. Standards.

[Carole]

Amy wrote: "Carole wrote: "Number 2- I say this will all honesty- your books, Amy are light years ahead of theirs. The stories are engaging, your characters NOT cookie cutters and you know how I feel about you..."

It appears suspect too- most of the writers have odd "gamer " kinds of names. I wouldn't be surprised if they were "insiders" being promoted. I didn't look at the amount of chapters when I chose a book- a sorry habit of mine- but I didn't finish the book. None of them were good enough to finish anyway. The characters were nothing special- the plots were thin- I will admit I was kind of surprised at the content. I feel that had brought them far better authors, that understood to put of a 49 chapter book is nothing short of chicanery.

[Amy]

I can see why they don't want words on the covers, they can add their own in their own format for the front page and it won't clash. But if they've stipulated no words why then promote a book on the front page that has words on the cover? It annoys me that they're blatantly promoting the already successful ones with thousands of views and it doesn't matter that their cover breaks the rules.

Carole, I'm sure these people are the ones who wrote for free on Wattpad then went over to Radish. I haven't read any of their stuff. I'm still on yours and RLs (when I get a few minutes.) Really writing a number of chapters that means reading it will cost more than a standard paperback of that length is a scam in my mind. I am not a fan of that.

[Carole]

I know. I was so annoyed. I am an idiot and always am in a rush- so I never looked at the chapter count. I mean- who does that?

I understand if you are writing an epic- then publish the darn thing on Amazon- The idea behind Radish I thought I understood was to have quick sort of books that people who are on the go can read- not invest a lifetime in it.

I agree- they are transfers from Wattpad. I never went there- I think I looked into it once and I think the books are free? I don't remember, but I recall I didn't want to invest time for Michael's books with them.


BTW< I read Wool last night. I'm having post traumatic stress from it- You'll note there is no review. I had such high hopes- he was an indie!!!!

[Amy]

To be honest, having not dealt with the likes of Radish before I haven't looked closely at chapter counts other than to note that there are some in the hundreds. I agree with you, Radish was supposed to be for quick reads not stonking great epic things that would take me a year to read.

Wool- I've just searched, is that the one about living underground? Needless to say as usual I haven't a clue.

[Carole]

Yes. Ridley Scott bought it and is making a movie. He wrote it while working in a bookstore over three years. I wanted to love it.

[Amy]

What was wrong with it?

[Carole]

Funny story of the day. I got an email asking me to review a book that was a collection of reviews of dan browns book. They offer to remind what the plots and then this persons Amazon review.

[Carole]

Long rambling mess. Too many characters. I was crushed

[Amy]

There's a book of reviews? lol Now I haven't read Dan Brown, but I know it's either well received or not well written depending on who you ask, but review a collection of reviews? lol.

Shame about Wool, but it got published and if it's been picked up by Ridley Scott to make into a movie, I can only conclude that traditional publishers want long rambling messes now.

Radish have put out another email for collections for the end of the month. They haven't put up the ones for 9th October yet. Again they have stated to not have words on the covers. (I'm not fiddling around to remove the words from my erotic ones because they won't feature erotica anyway.) They've also said to not include mature themes as Apple doesn't allow them. I wish bare male torsos counted as mature themes, I'd stand more of a chance of being noticed.

BTW, Wattpad is the thing teenagers write on. Not just teenagers, anyone can, but I know teenagers do because my 17 year daughter does. They write for free with precious little rules like book length I believe. They just write (shrugs)

[Carole]

Now I understand. It’s the Kardashian’s answer to the book work

[Carole]

Book world I meant. On my phone always harder to post

[Amy]

Oh good grief Kardashian’s yes I’ve vaguely heard of them. (Raises eyebrows and retreats to... I mean what exactly are the Kardashian’s for?)

[Carole]

(Scratches head). I dunno. I haven’t figured it out yet

[Amy]

It’s a mystery. I’m sure they serve some useful purpose.

[Carole]

Hahaha

[Brittney]

#Monsterland made Book of the Week on @BookWorksNYC! #thehypeisreal Get Monsterland today! https://www.bookworks.com/book/monste...

[Carole]

;)

[Amy]

I’ve read books that left me feeling the same. I’ve been told off for voicing that opinion too. It had great reviews-all those people must be right. It had bad ones too btw.

Well done to Michael and everyone involved in getting Monsterland out there.

[Carole]

Did you see me curtsey?

[Carole]

Years at the ballet barre.

[Theodore]

Brittney wrote: "#Monsterland made Book of the Week on @BookWorksNYC! #thehypeisreal Get Monsterland today! https://www.bookworks.com/book/monste..."

Hooray! Congratulations to Michael!

[Amy]

Very well done Alex. Feedback like that is priceless.

[Carole]

Saw this and am sharing it.

With 36 hand-picked prizes worth over $2000, this giveaway is a must-enter for fiction writers like you. Go to https://giveaway.refiction.com and treat yourself to a chance to win!

[Erica]

That is really cool, Alex!

[Erica]

Maybe you posted this somewhere already, I have been very busy with my next book and haven't done a good job keeping up with all the threads, but have they taken care of your electrical situation yet?

[Erica]

I am sure that is very stressful. Their office was broken into?! Now that sounds like the kind of luck I would be having. Hope things go well from here on out and they get it taken care of soon.

[Carole]

You are going to love the LED- we redid that last year and it saves a bundle on electricity. The light is fantastic, too.

[Erica]

We switched to LED last year too and love it. We have had trouble with a couple light bulbs that needed replaced, I think because of power surges, but other than that, they have been great.

[Kimberly]

I've been going through hard times these last few weeks and haven't sold any books this month, but it was so nice to have my poem from my new book, "Soul Mates:Poems of Eternal Love" not only be read on Coffee With Uphill podcast this morning, but to be the first poem read. Nice hearing my poem and I hoped others enjoyed it and will purchase a copy.

https://soundcloud.com/user-557255780...