[gmw]

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

[text-to-speech...] do you have any recommendations?

I purchased Text Aloud from NextUp software, along with a selection of voices. I like chopping and changing the voice - and I like having a selection of Australian voices to read to me (sorry, but American just sounds wrong ).

The interface is not that pretty, but it is quite flexible. I generally use a slower read-back speed so that I can more easily follow it. I work on small chunks at a time to avoid getting zoned out and missing things.

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

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.

Yes, I saw it was part one already - but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't some logical shorter division at the start that might work stand alone ... only you can tell that.

It is not uncommon for fantasy to be epic in proportion, but it is one thing that will keep some readers away: even just the first book is a big commitment in time (and not insignificant in monetary terms - at $5.99 could buy six 0.99 books); being part 1 of an indeterminate series makes that potential commitment much larger; the fact that it is only part 1 means that some readers won't even give it a serious look until the series is complete.

Of course, once you do have a fan base then the more long fantasy books you produce the happier everyone will be. But you have to get that fan base first, so you need to consider their reservations in looking at new authors.

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

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.

My experience is that there is a big difference between the many that are happy say "gee, wow, aren't you great for writing a book", versus the few that will actually buy and read. I can only hope your experience is better.

Most of us hit some embarrassment along the line. The first edition of my first book had an error at the bottom of the first page that escaped everyone, and had to be fixed up later. I tell those that got printed copies that these will be collectors items in some distant future when I'm famous (ETA: This is not to suggest it was the only error that escaped, just that it seemed, in retrospect, such an obvious one that I could not believe so many people had missed it - and on the first page.)

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

[Ok you said you proofread it...]...

You attributed that to me, it was Cinisajoy. Easy to do when dealing with long posts.

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

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.

One of the reasons why I went on so long about different types of editing is that I found it very helpful to look at my work from those deliberately different perspectives; it helps me to keep focus on what I am trying to achieve at a given point in time.


Bear in mind that the advice I offer tends to be: don't do what I do, do what I say. Yes, I did eventually reduce my first novel by 10% (it took a few goes and some rather harsh criticism from a paid professional reviewer of an early draft); the book was definitely much better for it. Even so, the main criticism I have received for both my first and second novels is that the first half moves too slowly - thus I should, perhaps, have taken to heart the advice to drop the first three chapters (or at least cut more heavily). Never mind, I shall keep trying. Eventually I may get it right - or close enough that I won't feel so embarrassed about offering advice (I believe most of my advice is sound, but it's hard to justify that when I've not managed to gain much attention for my own books).

P.S. I do like the manner in which you have received the various criticisms. Not everyone copes so well; after all the time we put into this work such criticism can hit pretty hard.