Anesor

Yes they are very upfront about that pool, and you get a monthly update for the size of the pool for that month. Now a couple of my chapbooks went up that way and over the span of time I made almost half via page reads as I made in sales. You can set your KU to have a timer or reset anytime. I think I will resist using it for future releases though. I’m using the publishing on the cheap class I took, but that had no substantiative help for editing. I just need to wean myself back off an all fanfic diet again.

Are you planning to make the price free permanently? Or just as a temp promotion? My downloads went really high when I made one free, but it did not help much with my other unrelated releases. Some authors make one free permanently, but that seems to work for multibook series to get readers into that universe.

The biggest character punch for me is the immediate visceral punch. Your lead is in pain, not just muscle aches and sore jaw but deep in the bones and more subtle pain of delayed hunger when they wake. Those physical pains are the background for the horrible news. (however it will be told) I think the horror must come before the denial, ‘cause you wont need to deny unless the character get the horror. The horror will bleed into the denial. (only you know which is true) Symptoms of shock I’d include: feeling cold, hollow ringing in the ears, nausea/retching, can’t breathe/dizzy/lightheaded/panic attack symptoms, covering eyes or ears to not hear anymore. strangely enough those symptoms also appear with really bad colds!

Apathy from readers isn’t exactly negative, though it makes me feel very negative about my writing. I live (writer-wise) for a thoughtful comments and chatter from readers, positive or even negative. (I admit some commenters are harder to understand from language usage) Next best are raw hits and likes, they just don’t give the same validation. Apathy is almost being gaslighted by your own work, leaving doubt and angst. I thought finishing a finale chapter this month would not be an issue, but RL+story block/angst+reader quiet makes it a struggle. If struggle with a story goes on too long, I start a new one, often humor or parody.

One of the hardest things is to take a time out when someone has completely misunderstood something. Bit rephrasing it when the upset is at its highest, I think is more likely to get the other even more upset. I’m not letting it go, as I’m upset they took something wrong, but I can’t really find out why they took it wrong. It’s so hard not to jump on the exchange, though...

… And MacGyver uses the dog’s striped suspenders to catch and throw away the grass green grenade...

That’s why I’m careful with my guns, I’ve seen too many in text and video where the hun was not only there but balloons and blinking lights were there. I prefer the stage magician where a detail is there but unimportant. with red herrings added sometimes.

I’ve got several idea files: original, one for each fandom, and a few for particular AU’s. the biggest issue iis never gettng back. A 30 day challenge is waiting for a chapter 16/16. If I start that one, one of the other two will be abandoned, I’ve learned how fickle my muse is. Showers?? and it’s gone.

I have a bunch on hiatus because I had too many cool ideas I could not resist starting. Sometimes i get a little cornered moving between two sections, and can’t go forward. right now my laptop keyboard needs replaced and it will be weeks until the part comes in. There just isn’t room for my storyor comment window AND an on screen keyboard. One stopped as no one read it. I’m toying with a summary postscript, as all that was left was lots of battle and onle a few small char things. jst don’t have the time to finish them, especially as I want to get back to original stuff.

I think like that too, it’s almost like internal marketing. I have to catch and keep the readers’ eyeballs. have to get their interest quickly with the immediate events like being locked up, a setting that is familiar, a feeling, a bit of sass… later they can discover the plot or true love. But my story has to intrigue them enough to read page two. But I have problems with external marketing, I posted a Star Wars/Gilligan’s Island mashup parody comedy but it’s sitting like a dead duck. (it was a plot bunny that would not go away) Checkov’s Gun is also a plot hook as the readers will wonder if and how the broad ax mentioned over the mantle might be used: heirloom, decoration, weapon, fireplace, or…?

Perhaps a little, but editors and publishers were harping on it in the 80’s, long before social media impacted attention span.

Very nice example, providing details and emotional weight without massive academic detail.

I try to make it a rule of thumb that things like background and descriptions can only be a few paragraphs at a time before something happens to move the focus away. Since that was the kind of thing that makes for big blocks of text, my average paragraph length is much shorter than when I started. Another rule is that one speaker, one idea is a paragraph. I know my eyes glaze when paragraphs hit 20+ lines and I start skipping to where shorter paragraphs say I’m past the too much detail. I know I probably miss a few guns but I want to get to the good stuff: dialog, tortured angst, or action of some kind. Maybe all three at once?

Ah, I’m a pantser not an outliner. If every word is planned and intentional in setting, theme, plot, character, etc, my muse withers and dies and I can’t write at all. My one attempt at planning ahead sent my one NaNo off the rail and never recovered. To me it feels like I’ve been written into a corner and there’s no joy as there’s nothing left to discover. Turn me loose with a sketchy idea or two and I’m fine, I fill in as I write. I have to make sure I don’t overthink it. Setting and mindset will often include extra stuff, as even freedom fighters need to do RL along with the good stuff. I used to read mainline romances and their outline/checklists became painfully clear because there was nothing that wasn’t significant to the story. Every object was a Checkov gun, so there were not surprises and little life. Not everyone in my life was part of the plot about my degree. Those cheesy books were good as negative examples.

Mine is unintentional as well, but it has happened multiple times. I’m just rolling along, telling the tale and reach an unexpected problem. I reread what I’ve already written and see something mentioned as scenery and color (and sometimes posted many chapters ago) and LO! there is a gun, sitting there, primed and all ready to be fired. You’d think I’d planned it. It doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. I figure if I’m surprised, the readers may be too. I think it’s because I have sketchy outlines more often.

Could you explain what you mean by ‘disingenuous paragraphs of encouragement?’ Sadly, a lot of reviews are short of meat to them, so all you get are feelings. Sometimes you get helpful details to improve problems or understand what works, but that is a minority for me. For me, any more detail than a like makes my week.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that you should find some way of indicating that you are crossposting. It would be very embarrassing to get a Hall of Shame warning when crossposting. (I used the same account name for each site, and they were the same day more or less...)

I cross posted a story on multiple sites at the same time, to get some idea as to which had an audience that liked my. As I do longer stories too, the crosspostiong became a real burden. It took me something like a dozen chapters before I got the process streamlined down to about 3 hours to do all the posting. Each site had strengths and weaknesses, but I reduced the number for the next story. I reduced it more after a period of block and blues at lack of reactions. I’ve done an occasional prompt here, but my stuff’s lack of steam doesn’t get much attention. Now, I collect my original prompt length stories for sale as collections… which I plan to resume in about August. (gotta kill off two fics first)

Like any good paradox, both are true. Erotic stories draw quicker attention, but less so can gather longer, thoughtful comments.

Yeah, my major characters used to be like ‘baseball caps’ I’d put on for their chapters. (I usually do rotating 1st person POV, and find 3rd/omniscient difficult) More recent characters are not as delimited and I hope to regain those voices. It was really weird when two fantasy characters were amicably bickering about a local historical church. One mocking and the other seeing the beauty. All my POV characters are part of me, their reactions are created or reveal by my thoughts, after all. I have a great difficulty doing villains that way as 1) I don’t want their plans revealed to readers before other characters, that’s just spoilign your own story. and 2) I find it hard to sustain the mindset of the villains, with whatever drives them: power, wealth, cruelty, destruction… I wouldn’t mind a but more wealth, but not enough to sacrifice morals, ethics, or the smallest fuzzy pet. All my characters are me to a degree and I don’t want to encourage that dead end mind set in myself. I haven’t gotten bad reviews much lately, but some have been helpful like where someone misunderstood a ‘them.’ I only wished the one who objected would have let me know if the fix helped. I will include a question about a char or confluct in my comments, along with any particularly bad typos. But I cut back as some people go ballistic even on typo and major grammar confusions, whether PM or public comment. Then of course are the occasional reviews, where you wonder if they read your story at all. Like when they beg in chapter three that you don’t kill the character who canon died in chapter one. And then are the comments that just plain do not make sense, like four sentences chopped apart, and three random pieces glued together. I end up picking a few key words and hope i answered to what interested them. A good review is like a breath of cool clean air.

Yeah, I got one recently where the reader thought my lead hated a group. They don’t, they’re just uncomfortable about slavery and free will issues that are to be addressed later in the storyline. But I had no idea where the dislike came from, which bled over into how another character was treated. I finally figured it out earlier, awaiting for confirmation, that the hating character used a pronoun when cursing the slavers and they thought it was cursing the slaves. I try to keep alert to pronouns like that, but it sneaks up on you. Comments like that confuse me, especially as the chapter I’m drafting is way later. But after confusion, annoyance, and quick to anger about what I hope is a good guy character, clarifying wasn’t an issue. I’ve found with some reviewers, addressing it is better in the long run. The mot trollish one wandered off to bother someone else, It could be they loved it because it was better than what they usually saw, even if you were dissatisfied. If any of their comments had substance, don’t worry too much. Over polishing a story makes it an orphan too, as stories don’t mean much if they aren’t shared.

Nah, I’ve written, selfpubbed, and submitted original stuff for the money. The writing group I’m on the edges of seems to have some evidence that it takes at least ten releases until you start getting momentum, shorts or novel length. But I’m only about a third there after getting derailed with two big health issues last year. The heat varies considerably depending on the genre out there, and there are a lot of published works and best sellers in my genre that are successful without much sex. I choose where I put it based on the response I want, and cash is very nice in lieu of reviews. My two active fanfics are a hurt/friendship post-disaster and a very slow build and I’m hoping to finish both by July so I can get at least a score original shorts out before the end of the year.

Now, can we influence the Luck? Is it phase of the moon? Giving the most annoying talk show host a finger on the fifth Tuesday of the month? Sacrificing chocolate bunnies? (a little harder this time of year) Marketing is hard, and few writers seem to manage to balance output and marketing in a balance that works for them. Me? I’m hoping to finish a couple projects I’m obsessing on and get back to original stuff. Still looking for an editing method I can live with, with two novels in my trunk.

I find it difficult to write too much to the audience. That is a very good way for my muse to take a powder. And my shorter stuff tends to get more approval, even if longer stuff gives me more elbow room. Try different lengths if you can.