Forum: Author Hangout

I've seen stories up for archive with the 'not enough votes for a score' dot.

It's possible the author had voting switched off and not enough readers have voted since voting became always switched on.

AJ

Sure, but if a story is targeted at a niche audience then the chance that any given browser is a member of that audience is low

And that is often the case it seems. There are a ton of stories that I simply will not read, no interest. And the more like a "kitchen sink" story it is, the less likely I will read it.

The Nymphomaniac and High School Massacre

Some have said the cover of "High School Massacre" turns them off (my wife included). It looks like a horror story. The funny thing, the story isn't even about the high school shooting (only the first chapter which is the inciting incident), but about finding out who actually did it and get justice.

With "The Nymphomaniac," I was afraid the title made it sound like a porn story rather than a coming of age story for someone with the medical condition. I tried several subtitles for the cover, but was never happy with them. I thought just having the two words was bold. I guess I was wrong.

I hadn't even seen the cover so I checked it on Bookapy. That changed my 'reluctance to start reading' to 'no way'.

Then the cover actually does its job. The novel is not for you.

It's not a horror genre, but it is a thriller genre with graphic violence. The bad guys are really bad and the hero can be violent to seek vigilante justice. There's a scene where the drug boss strings a naked man up by his arms and two of his men beat the guy with baseball bats, shattering his bones. Then they lower the still alive man into a vat of acid very slowly.

Obviously, there's a reason for that scene, but it's not for everyone.

they attract the 'right' readers and discourage others

Could be. It's my highest rated story on SOL. And even though it's available for free, it's my 3rd best selling novel (on Bookapy and Amazon). The #1 and #2 best selling novels are not available anywhere for free which makes the high sales more impressive.

I have the "violent" tag. The man wasn't being tortured, per se. He was being punished for going against the gang. And it was done to send a message to someone who they made watch. So to some degree it is torture, but not like pulling someone's fingernails out to get them to talk. There are gray areas with the story codes.

There are gray areas with the story codes.

I agree. Not to get into that discussion, but every author assigns the codes they feel are appropriate. The rest of us often disagree with their decisions.

I do believe the official term for this is 'localisation'.

My understanding, is that writers get to chose their titles in their home country and that they are 'encouraged' to take the advice of the publisher who employ a 'localisation' 'expert' who makes 'recommendations' on how a story should be changed to fit in with the sensibilities of the target audience/reader within that foreign country.

The trade off with having their story being changed, is the extra fiscal remuneration of having sales within that region.

My understanding, is that writers get to chose their titles in their home country

Not necessarily. My partner twice had titles changed by the publisher for books that were not work-for-hire.

(Work for hire, where the publisher owns the copyright, you get no control whatsoever, of course.)

That makes sense, as I would see that type of work as being the same as factory work. A factory worker does not get to choose who gets to buy the finished product.

So I agree the Description on SOL is the most important thing in deciding whether or not to read it.

In a bizarre coincidence, a new story with a very succinct description has just appeared on the home page, and I bet it gets a lot of downloads ;-)

AJ

And for readers looking for a particular tag, having it there before that content is posted can be just as off putting.

That can't be helped. I finish a story before posting any of it so I list all the tags right from the first posting. If someone expects all those tags to be in the first chapter, too bad.

Thanks for the reminder on voting. I'm guilty of doing this with multi-chapter stories because I typically wait for them to be completed then just download them, reading them offline from then on. I need to remember to go back and vote after I (finally) read the story and reminders like this help.

I need to remember to go back and vote after I (finally) read the story

What about waiting for the story to complete, then reading the first chapter online and voting. Usually, the first chapter provides a good indication of the story's rating. If the first chapter is interesting, download the story, read it and adjust your vote if necessary.

What about waiting for the story to complete, then reading the first chapter online and voting. Usually, the first chapter provides a good indication of the story's rating.

That would still require setting up a different routine. Besides, unless a story really pisses me off I only vote on stories I finish and there have been plenty I didn't finish after they had a good start.

I sort of wish we still had the 'you voted x' in the story list as it made it easier to go back and cast votes I'd forgotten. I'd see a story I knew I read in the list and no vote, so I'd go put in my vote.

Usually, the first chapter provides a good indication of the story's rating. If the first chapter is interesting, download the story, read it and adjust your vote if necessary.

Not sure I agree with the first chapter being indicative of the final score.

As to your second point, if he currently forgets to go back to vote, he probably wouldn't remember to go back to adjust his score.

Another time a story might not get voted on is when it's available on both SOL for free and Bookapy. After the person reads it on Bookapy, they don't go back and score it on SOL.

Not sure I agree with the first chapter being indicative of the final score.

Agreed. There are plenty of exceptions. Look where 'Arlene and Jeff' ended up ;-)

AJ

Not sure I agree with the first chapter being indicative of the final score.

Especially in a long form story.

Most of my longer stories meander a bit, and can end up very differently than they start. Like my current one, where I admit the main character is a bit of an asshole, and that is by design. But ultimately it is about him getting the shit smacked out of him a few times by life in general, and learning to adjust how he thinks about things.

And this is not the first time I have done such a story. It is not unlike one I had where essentially a cheating slut eventually learned some damned hard lessons in life, and in the end changed her life for the better.

I actually chuckled when some wrote me messages saying they did not like my current MC. And all I could do was chuckle, as that was actually a lot of the idea when I created him. He is supposed to be largely unlikeable at the start, because he is a judgmental and arrogant prick.
And because the story is ultimately about his improvement as a person.

And if they hate George, they had better never read the "Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" series by Stephen Donaldson. The protagonist in that series is actually one of the most foul characters I have ever read in print. Where in the first book after a woman saves his life and heals not only a fatal disease he has but his injuries, he repays her by raping her.

I actually chuckled when some wrote me messages saying they did not like my current MC. And all I could do was chuckle, as that was actually a lot of the idea when I created him. He is supposed to be largely unlikeable at the start

I didn't chuckle when the Submission Editor of a traditional publisher told me that when I submitted "Sexual Awakening." It was a publisher of romance and she said the main character was manipulative and a few other adjectives I don't remember.

He was everything the editor claimed (in the beginning). On purpose. He was seeking revenge for something the woman's husband had done to him in the past. To him, the woman was collateral damage — that is, until he got to know her and fell in love with her. But the editor didn't give it a chance to play out.

The same could be the same for the MC in a Tom Holt (KJ Parker) series where the MC goes round making implements out of people. In fact, that was the title of one of them, I think. The belly of the bow.

Usually, the first chapter provides a good indication of the story's rating.

When I stated the above, it was not intended to imply that the rest of the story would be of the same quality and interest or that the reader could assign an accurate rating.

What I meant was, the reader could make a reasonably accurate judgement in regard to the author'[s spelling and grammar, and the reader could get a reasonable indication of the story's plot.

What the reader could not do was determine if the rest of the story went downhill, measured up to, or exceeded the expectations the first chapter created.

I've read stories that started out great and I gave them an interim score of 7. In some cases, the final score was a 9, and in others the score was 5, or less. When I felt the story wasn't worth reading, I gave it an appropriate rating and deleted the story from my library.