Forum: Author Hangout

I consider myself new here at least as an author of a story. So far I can say I have written two, one recent and the other a few years ago. My whine is about the quality of the comments I have received so far. None have been about the story itself. There is nothing about the quality of the story line or issues with grammar or spelling. Most of what I see have been on what I chose to have a character drive or use as part of the story line. Am I being too thin skinned or expecting too much the comment a reader leaves?

Am I being too thin skinned or expecting too much the comment a reader leaves?

To start with, being thin-skinned generally means you cannot tolerate negative criticism. You will receive negative comments, so you need to learn to evaluate those comments. Some of the comments will be the valid opinion of the reader and it is given with constructive intent. Others will be the reader flaming you because they cannot accept that other people have opinions different from their opinions or you touched on something that they find offensive.

There are 3 ways to obtain feedback from SOL readers: messages sent to you personally by clicking the Contact Author button, enabling the Reader Comments feature, and Forum posts.

You sought advice from posters in the Forum, so that method is familiar to you. Although, the Forum is not a good source for constructive comments for improving a story. The Forum is a good source for information related to your reader's behavior, which is what my post attempts to address.

The comments feature will provide many comments about your reader's personal opinions about the story. Some of your reader's comments will be useful. In my author's profile, I disabled Reader Comments for my stories and the viewing of comments in other author's stories. I have several reasons for disabling comments from the readers who are reading my stories and the stories written by other authors. One of those reasons is, I believe a number of the people generating those comments do so because they want attention. To gain that attention, they create a post that may not represent their real feelings, but the post does create a controversy centered on their post. I don't need that type of feedback on my stories or on other author's stories – it is a waste of my time to read the comments.

To me, the best feedback is what I receive from a reader who clicks the "Contact Author" button and explains to me what they feel about the story and provides me with comments on errors and ambiguities in the story that I can correct to improve the story. The problem with this type of feedback is the majority of your readers do not click the "Contact Author" button. The advantage of this type of feedback is the reader is investing their time and effort in preparing the message, so what they say about your story is probably accurate in their opinion.

None have been about the story itself. … Most of what I see have been on what I chose to have a character drive or use as part of the story line.

To me, those comments are about the story.

To be up front, I have comments turned off on my stories. I don't comment on stories I read. I never read a comment. So I have no experience with comments.

But I believe comments are about the story, that is, the characters, plot, direction, etc. Feedback on spelling, grammar, etc., IMO, should come from the feedback to author (email).

Comments about what you use as part of the story line are comments on the story itself.

And any comments are good--it means there was a reader who was interested in your story enough to take the time to write something. Yeah, from time to time there are trolls, but the majority of readers are going to not say a thing which means you have no idea whether they liked it or just noped out of it.

My observation is that people who rate the story are between 2 and 10% of the people who read the story and people who comment are less than 1% of those who read it.

So enjoy what you get. It's rare.

I didn't have comments on for my first three (epic-length) books and finally turned them on for the fourth.

What I found was a mix of comments, but readers forming something of a community to discuss things. Sometimes grammar /spelling/etc wind up in the comments, but it's usually more about the story. Lots of guessing about happens next.

I very clearly note that I'll delete inappropriate comments (but have not had to do so), and nudge people away from 'bad' topics.

It's not for everyone, I'm sure. Waiting three books in tends to weed out anyone who's not in it for the long haul.