[E.M.DuBois]

Originally Posted by gmw

try using some text-to-speech software to read your story aloud

I can’t believe I didn’t remember that! Back when I was fifteen, my dad’s computer (a Mac that’s been fried now for almost a decade) had exactly that feature on it. I used to use it to read back my English assignments, including the short story that ended up turning into this novel. I can’t believe I haven’t looked into that since! I’ll have to look for it on Word (like I said, never thought of it, so I don’t know where the function is at the moment,) but if it’s not there, do you have any recommendations?

Originally Posted by gmw

There was a suggestion that you might consider splitting this long novel into two or three shorter ones - priced accordingly, perhaps even making the first book free. IF the story lends itself to this, then it is an excellent idea, but readers will get annoyed if your first book doesn't arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. (It can still be obvious that there is more to come, but a cliff-hanger at the end of your first novel will turn away many readers unless the story and writing so far has been truly exceptional.)

There’s another problem with that: There’s a reason the subtitle is “Part I of the Apocalypse Chronicles.” The story I wrote ended up being so long that it’s already been cut up into multiple pieces, all now rewritten to stand-alone at their own novels. Like this one.

Originally Posted by gmw

Finding readers is hard work. Marketing, and making sure your preview and presentation doesn't immediately put people off by it's lack of professionalism (lack of editing etc.), are critical. And whatever you try, it will remain an uphill battle just to get people to pick it up and start reading.

I’ve had some encouraging (I thought) results in the beginning. Just spreading around word on Twitter, I was generating up to 150-200 hits on my novel’s page. Like I said, at the time I found it encouraging to keep up the effort and put more in to grow that number in hope of finding my audience. Well, then it was pointed out how many errors are in my sample alone... so, that’s at least 1400 people who saw them, too. Needless to say, my cheeks were iron-hot when I realized that.

Originally Posted by gmw

Ok you said you proofread it, did you just proofread for misspelled and wrong words? If so you are probably good there.

No, I never just look for those. Along with them, I continuously look for better ways to describe what I imagined, and change my diction to fit it my vision. For example: I’ve gone through this novel four times, looking for typos, inconsistencies, and general ways to make readability better. Guess what? The manuscript I printed out last night to edit by hand (in a changed font completely different than I’m used to reading, as suggested) is already mark-up red on nearly every page I’ve read so far. I’m delving into Chapter Two, now. I’ve cut up and reorganized the order of descriptions for the dream, something I have not seen a problem with since I wrote it.

Also, I love to see how this thread has gone into multiple topics. GMW, I know you said you don’t like the term “resident pros,” but it’s exactly the words I’d use to describe you all. Reading over all this, I feel like I have a bunch of teachers, which is something I haven’t had in a few years. Looking at all this discussion and the subjects being covered, I don’t feel like the burden’s completely on me anymore.