I logged into Web Fiction Guide to post a review only to see a review from Donna Sirani for Unicorn Bait. Oh I was sorely tempted to put a hold on posting my review of The Next Generation by Wes Boyd and go read Donna's review, but I knew I wouldn't be able to just read Donna's review. I would then go to UB and look it over and consider what she said. So I forced myself to post my review and silently prayed it made sense and did someone somewhere some good, and then jumped back to Donna's review. She raises some very good points. I'm not willing to change how the story begins, but I probably should introduce some tiny little bit of exposition on what exactly is happening and introduce Naomi a little better.
I really appreciate and enjoyed the review, but what sucks is Donna asks a question I hadn't considered and don't address well in the story. It being: Where did Grandpa get the unicorn horn from? In my head, I figured it was just something he picked up in a yard sale and that's all, but Donna hints that it could've been an interesting avenue for the story to explore, but alas, I didn't explore it. I just let it be a plot construct. I can't make it a relevant story point now. The story is set. I'm not changing major plot points. I can't, not without rewriting the whole thing and that's something I'm determined not to do, but it's so tantalizing! No, will not be seduced.
I am rereading chapters though and grimacing at how raw they are. I was intent on just getting the action out. I need to go back and put more character stuff in.
Reviewing and Being Reviewed
When Web Novelists Disappear
There's an interesting article up at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about a "book [that] was originally put up online on the now defunct St. Rose Press (it was an AOL Hometown page, and those were all shut down in October), and was such a hit that NovelBooks Inc decided to publish it in ‘03." The book Greenwood by Sue Wilson is not available in print anymore, and the online content is only accessible through the WayBack Machine. Over at Novelr, the problem of what happens to web authors when they pass away has been mentioned, but now as far as I know, Ms. Wilson is hale and hearty; she has just disappeared. This is the first instance I've seen of an author's disappearance being mourned and access to her work an issue. Readers of SBTB have combed the WayBack Machine and posted a list of links to access, so others could read this book while others have sought out the author in an attempt to find out if she's written anything else and if she's going to publish Greenwood in print again. At the time of this posting, no one has been able to contact the author.
This is a sad thing. I have not read Greenwood, but the SBTB readers are discerning folk, and if they're raving about it, then it's probably damn good. Thank goodness for the WayBack Machine, but it does make me think about how ephemeral publishing on the web really is. They say putting a photo online is near impossible to completely delete off due to people grabbing the photo and posting elsewhere, but what about stories, especially original stories? Authors don't necessarily want our work grabbed and posted willynilly all over the internet, but if Google were to somehow implode tomorrow, all of my stuff would disappear. Sure, I have my stories on my computer and various thumb drives, but I would lose all the lovely comments and probably a bunch of edits as well and readers would be left high and drive until I figured out a new game plan. It's a serious problem that I should think about and other web authors should too.
And it should also be noted that publishing on the web shouldn't be a passing fling. Writers should be prepared to commit years to keeping their work online: Plan for hosting, check the story website, don't abandon it. If Ms. Wilson were to resurface, she would find a fan base ready to welcome her back. I hope she logs on sometime in the next day or two and discovers the love waiting for her because like the sea, the internet is an ever changing thing, and the love will have been buried by a tide of new posts and content.
Looky!
This is going up on all my sites. I like this much better than the Lulu button, though if items are bought through Lulu, I get a better commission, but I think this is a better quality button.
Amazoning Myself
Amazoning yourself: Similar to Googling yourself except the name/title search is done on Amazon. I bought a distribution deal from Lulu.com ages ago and finally used it with Scary Mary. It wasn't a bright move. When you sign-up for distribution through Lulu, you're book is set in stone. No changes are allowed without paying close to $80. But I'd paid over twice that for the distribution deal so felt I HAD to use it.
I peeked into Amazon tonight to see if it had showed up in their catalog yet, and was surprised to see that it had, but even more surprised by the cover image. They've somehow gotten a copy of an ancient cover. One of the early ones. Possibly the first. I don't know how that happened. I don't know why Lulu would even save that image after I uploaded a new one, but it's what's appearing on Amazon, and they're saying the book was published in 2006. Not sure why that is either. That was probably when I bought the distribution deal, but I never activated it until recently. I used a few feedback links on the Amazon page to try and get it corrected, but I don't think anything will happen. I guess I'll have to contact Lulu and ask them what's up. It's all very strange, but it is nice to see that the book is at least appearing. I checked Barnes and Noble, but it isn't there yet, though when it does appear, it will probably be the same as Amazon's, unless something's done. I'm definitely not buying a distribution deal for Unicorn Bait.
ETA 12/08/08: It's fixed! I got an email from Amazon saying they removed the wrong image and now the right one is there! Yippee! Now, if someone wants to go and write a review, I'll name my fictional first born after you.
I just noticed that they have the reading level set at ages 9-12. Where the heck did that come from? I don't neccessarily disagree, but I don't know if that's absolutely correct. Maybe 12&up. I'm just happy that the cover's right!
Gasp! Barnes and Noble has it now too! And they have the right cover!
Hmm, I'm curious by the 'in stock' text on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I somehow doubt they have copies in their warehouses, but I'm sure they'll be happy to get some if orders come in ;-)
Some Serial Love
In a sort of reverse to expectations that became an underdog win, a serial (Or at least, I'm calling it a serial. It's a fictional character blog too I suppose.) was listed on PC World's Top 11 Lamest Blogs, but people were so charmed by the odd-ball storytelling that an outpouring of support has occurred for the writer, and it makes me happy. The blog is The Adventure of Pat O'Neil.
The author seems to be allergic to the Enter key, but it suits the rambling fashion of his stories. I increased the font, so the text wouldn't be quite so cramped, but the lack of line breaks doesn't detract from how nicely loquacious the voice is. These entries are meant to be read aloud. I left a comment for the author asking if he'd ever considered doing podcasts. I think he could be a star.
I hope readers stay with Pat's story and keep coming back. It's nice when one of our own get noticed and appreciated.
Web Fiction Guide Reviews
I wrote a couple of reviews for Web Fiction Guide. I'm trying to be a good li'l editor again.
Unfortunately, they aren't very favorable reviews. I link to them because I got no current blog post.
Review of Moondust
Evangeline's Ride
OnlineNovels.net
I ran across something surprising today. I was researching a new avenue for attracting visitors and submitted my two sites to onlinenovels.net. I know I had looked at the site in the past, but I don't think I tried it because I thought it was dead, but I saw a recent author was getting some traffic from it so I thought I'd give it a try. After I'd submitted my site, they emailed me back to say, "Sure, we'll link to your site for $5 a month." Bwhuh? First of all, the site isn't some uber beautiful web page. It's a simple list of links with what looks like author submitted summaries. Their email to me said, "Due to huge amounts of traffic and the time it takes to run [the website], I will now be charging a $5 monthly fee per new author." Dude, seriously? I weep for anyone who has fallen for this.
It may be the number one search result in Google for "online novels", but it isn't the number one site as far as I can tell anywhere else. (I've tried mightily to get an Alexa widget to work, but can't force it.) Check out these stats--
Traffic Rank for Onlinenovels.net:
Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)
1 wk. Avg. 3 mos. Avg.
2,195,139 1,695,545
Traffic Rank for Free-online-novels.com:
Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)
1 wk. Avg. 3 mos. Avg.
282,774 236,790
Traffic Rank for Starry.com:
Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)
1 wk. Avg. 3 mos. Avg.
738,702 645,612
Traffic rank shows where a site ranks compared to the rest of the internet. What site is #1 for web surfers? Currently, it's yahoo.com, followed by google.com, and rounding out the top three is youtube.com. So free-online-novels.com is ranked 236,790 while online novels.net is 1,695,545, and I'm supposed to pay onlinenovels.net?
I am listed on both Free Online Novels and Starry.com . I haven't kept statistics, but I've gotten steady clicks from both these sites, and they're good clicks too. People have read my stories after coming to them from one of these sites, but I don't pay either of them to link to me. They do so generously on their own. I asked them to link to me, and they said sure. I wouldn't have any traffic if it weren't for these two sites. The fact that these two sites are able to host links for free and MORE links at that, (and Starry.com even posts pics for each story,) how the hell can onlinenovels.net feel they can charge $5 a month? I hope none of the authors I recognize are seriously paying this site for a link. A lot of the links on that site are old, one doesn't even exist anymore, and it's way too much damn money for just a link on a no-frills site.
If anyone does pay for a link, or even if they don't but are on the site, I'd like to know a rough average of clicks they get from this site.
(Slight disclaimer: I know Alexa information is flawed. It's extrapolating from a pool of users and is not a true survey of all the web (the same as Nielsen ratings for television), but there aren't any other well established tools to help me determine web site traffic for sites not my own, and the difference between the results of the three sites makes me think that Alexa isn't far off when used in a comparitive fashion.)
Stalking Shadows
I've been working on the blog for Stalking Shadows. You can find it here. I'm trying to decide which banner would be best for the site. I'm leaning towards the second which is what I have up now on the blog because the text is easier to read, but the first one is more like Scary Mary's banner with the central placement of the image, though that doesn't mean it has to be there.
I'm not sure which banner I want to use. They're not radically different, but I have to stare at these a lot and I want the best one. If you wish to chime in, go ahead.
