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Reply Subj: Re: A Novel Problem Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 at 08:52:15 am EDT (Viewed 623 times) | |||||||
Quote: Quote: Sorry to bring up the issue of format again, but I've just had four months of my publisher talking about e-books to me. With the vast surge in Kindle sales and the like, the e-book market has suddenly become a more significant contributor to a literary work's income stream. I was a bit daunted when I found that my first book was on sale electronically for $3 or whatever it is but I have to admit it does somehow seem to have stimulated paper sales again too. Voodoo.Quote: There's nothing to be sorry about. I like getting critiques and feedback about format - if someone could tell me if there's anything about the way I write, format, tell stories, etc, that turns off the reader, it helps me. Quote: The only time I get a little annoyed about feedback is when I post a 4-part story, and I get to part 3, and someone tells me this tiny thing this one character did 3 chapters ago is wrong, and I should pull all of it down and re-write it to change that one thing.  It's a real peril of the shared universe thing. Quote: Quote: Anyhow, I wonder if this isn't the time for you to start writing or rewriting some of your First Class stuff with a view to e-publication once more. I think there's a dual market, with the episodic PVB chapters being like the monthly comics stand flimsies and an e-reader package being the TPB. The latter probably has added content and is a more edited and paced version, perhaps adjusted by episodic reader feedback.Quote: I don't believe the story format I use for weekly posting would work at all for an e-book - I made that mistake once already, trying to staple together weekly portions with a little re-formatting and re-configuring into an ebook. I think I'd prefer re-writing the whole thing preserving only the characters and story.I think you have to treat the episodic postings as a first draft for comment. It worked for Dickens and Stevenson. Quote: Quote: I encourage everybody to add their own personal casts. I find having characters I can use, abuse, change and kill off without qualm very useful, and I think others would too.Quote: I should correct myself there; we all need a personal non-poster-character cast we're willing to walk away from. Admittedly, as much as I like Lara Night as a character, adding her was probably the biggest mistake I made. Because she has other places to be, she's sort of tethered to me, and most writers would be afraid to use her at all, let alone in my absence. I'm not saying I'm removing her from the field,. just that I didn't think it through. I did think through the World Class characters, which is why they aren't here.I'd attribute the Lara issue to her really being designed as a star player in her own setting rather than a team player in a shared universe. It's the "superman" problem. Quote: From what I've seen with message boards in general, quite often it starts very subtly with someone taking a chunk out of leisure time for "family time", and then that balloons out a bit with things like playdates, days are the park, family vacations, etc. Then they get a job where reading the PVB is either frowned upon or not allowed due to firewall controls. Pretty soon they live in a world where the PVB is seen as the equivelent of sneaking a cigarette, and it's not worth the risk or the time to stop by anymore, and they've been gone so long anyway it's tough to get back in.Yes. That's why these kinds of online communities usually have a "lifespan". We've been fortunate in attracting occasional new posters and a few returning ones over the years. | |||||||
