[ Closed ] Migrating from TNBW to Booksie - closed for now; see inside (Page 1 of 3)

One thing about the TNBW group in Booksie is that we are down to a small number of active users who might join that group. Over time, as members of the TNBW group fall away through natural attrition, we would need to add new members to that group in order for the group to remain useable to us.

Booksie, as far as I remember, only allows you to post your writing to one group. If we decide to post to the TNBW group, then that's the only place we can post our work unless we duplicate the written work in two places (i.e., as if we were writing two distinct books). Technically doable, but it stinks as a workflow.

In order to find/encourage advanced writers to join a group with us, it probably makes more sense to create another group for advanced writers (who do quality reviews, or at least try). Call it Advanced Writers and perhaps require permission to join. I suspect every TNBW member would also become a member of an Advanced Writers group and then we post our writing to Advanced Writers only. Keeps out the younglings until they can handle a lightsaber. :-) The TNBW group then becomes a place to find each other on Booksie, not a place where you would post writing. Advanced Writers is more aptly named than TNBW in order to attract other serious writers to us.

Bill, please let me know if my understanding of Booksie as described above correct. Is an Advanced Writers group with a need to request permission to join a good way to go? Thanks

Think of it as TNBW 1.6. :-)
I can't recall if it's possible to create groups on Booksie as easily as is done on TNBW. The latter always requires a purge of abandoned groups from time to time. It might be better to reserve that functionality to an admin.
As for what groups to create, it depends on whether there are enough people interested in technical discussions. As you know, TNBW forums are barely used (you have to join a group before you see whether there are useful/regular discussions happening there. The Booksie group user interface is the same as TNBW, although groups are called (publishing) houses. From what I've seen, they're not used much.

Thanks Bill. Good point re elitism. I'm not sure how to set up an advanced writers group without at least someone weeding out unqualified writers/reviewers, though. Of course, the criteria would inevitably be part "art", which is hard to quantify.

That being said, my writing improved on TNBW because I had access to experienced writers to trade reviews with, even though my reviewing and writing skills sucked at the beginning.

A good bio seems reasonable. Samples would probably be easy (we go check their account for their writings, or they can tell us which piece(s) of writing to consider).

I joined a Facebook writer's group in Calgary recently, where I had to give reasons why I wanted to be part of that group. I rattled off a list of 8-10 reasons why I'd be a good fit/contributor and how I hope to benefit. I don't know how many people reviewed it, but I got in. Clearly they have low standards.

To avoid having to deal with elitism complaints, I suggest the Advanced Writers group be open to anyone to join but that we document expectations of group members in the group's description and forum. We may get people who join without regard for the expectations, but we can always remind them on a case-by-case basis. That's a lot easier than having to review applications and applicants' writings. The honor system.

Bill, what do you think?

Well, I'm not Bill, but I'll add my two cents worth to that, if you don't mind. Many writers consider themselves Advanced Writers, though their writing doesn't show it. I remember the first time I posted on TNBW back in 2008. I thought I knew everything about writing a book! It only took one chapter for me to discover I knew nothing because some REALLY advanced writers on TNBW tore my work apart and spit it out. I had thin skin then about my writing, and my first thoughts were, "Well, hell, I just won't post anything else on this stupid site." But that was 16 years ago when I was young and dumb! After I slept on it for a few days, I went back and read the remarks (this was on the old TNBW site when we could only give regular reviews, not in-lines, but the members who commented copied my writing, then showed what I should consider to make my writing better. I decided I'd stick around a few more weeks, and here I am still today. I learned to write on this site, and I'm still learning from all of you great people.

But, back to today... if a person joins Advanced Writers, and it turns out they're greenhorns in writing, do we kick them out, keep them there in hopes they will re-write their work using some of the suggestions we offer, or what? People love their own words, as we all know. So it's something to think about when we finally morph over to Booksie. Maybe we could consider "by invitation only" for that group and keep it "private" as well. If we find someone willing to exchange reviews and offer worthwhile feedback, we could send them an invitation to join. Whadaya think about that?

Oh... Bill... what is your log-in on Booksie?  I couldn't find you there.  So far, I've only found Dirk, Lynn, and Terry.

I didn’t know TNBW was in danger of folding until Dirk posted his warnings. I started out in Booksie and quickly saw that the site was strictly for beginners - that if you were serious as a writer, you needed something more advanced. I did learn some things there, but knew this was the “ minor leagues.” Maybe it’s changed in the interim, I don’t know. But I’ve been happy at TNBW and have run all my books through here. But if the site goes down, I’ll labor on without it. I’ve seen bestselling authors commit errors I naively considered disqualifying, based on what I’ve learned here, and lord knows I have my own recurring faults. But I’ve been in the business long enough to realize that these miscues don’t matter all that much if you’ve got a good story to tell and are reasonably competent enough to have it engage a reader. I know of several good writers who have left the site, presumably because they felt it couldn’t make them any better in ways that actually counted.

Basically, I use TNBW now as a Beta-reader audience, and I plan to continue as long as it’s possible to do so. I’ve made some good friends here over the years, and I’d like those relationships to continue, regardless of what happens to TNBW.

Jack, you and I joined within a month of each other, and I can relate. We've weathered the transition from the old site to this newer one, and despite its ups and downs, it's become a warm haven to share our writing among like-minded souls. I noticed the site's traffic dwindling since the Crash of '23, but it hit me only recently that the message board has grown stagnant without any fresh posts coming in. I initially joined because of the Strongest Start contest, and I've remained loyal ever since.

I've been advocating for a new writing contest here for months now—something more substantial and inviting to new writers, much like how I was drawn in. The newcomers use their free points and then disappear, but perhaps a longer contest would encourage them to stay beyond the initial excitement of free points.

However, I admit I'm not familiar with the inner workings of this site, so my suggestions may be off base. I've never been a fan of the other site; it lacked the depth I found here. I value constructive feedback more than mere praises like "Good job!" or "Keep writing." Here, I've accumulated over 2000 points over the years, tokens of the laughs, conversations, camaraderie, and friendships forged here. If this site were to close, those points—though of no value to anyone but me—would be lost, sort of like kicking old friends out the door.

For now, I'll observe how things unfold and reluctantly migrate to the other site if necessary, but not without a sense of loss for the community we've built here.

MJ

Hello,
I put two stories on Booksie to see how things worked. I got seven reads right off the bat on the classic site, but didn't like that the stories are exposed to the internet, so I'm sticking strictly to the TNBW private que.
One thing that Booksie has is an AI named Bob which does critiques. It flat out gives you a good overall look at your story. It notes your strengths and gives you an idea of your weak points. I was stunned how fast the AI did it, too.
I like Booksie. I like it here, too. But if we have to move, no problem. It all looks and works the same.
Terry :}

Hey,
There were two places to check where you want your story to go: TNBW or the Classic. TNBW is private, the classic lets everyone read it. As far as the internet, I know only that it said internet. I see Booksie on my FB page, but not anyone's script. Only ads about this or that story or blah blah blah. I'm sticking to the TNBW site. No problem. It's private.  :}

My old English teacher always had a cup of "coffee" too. So much became clear once we realized what else was in it. Apparently he liked to mix in a little sauce. Must have had a large supply left over from Thanksgiving dinner. :-)

I'll talk to Sol; see if I can get some clarity on Facebook integration. The member agreement is very clear that they do not share anyone's writing, except for things like title and, if I remember correctly, snippets to promote our work. Common sense says he's not going to grab working titles and random text from incomplete novels. If he did, just put a curse word in the working title.

Booksie has a number of ways to promote our work; even so, no AI (or person) is going to be smart enough to grab the right snippet from our work without us in the loop. There has to be a step in there where we declare something ready to be advertised and what to advertise. If we never complete that step, then Booksie wouldn't be able to grab anything.

Sorry, I can't help... it's all Greek to me. I tried to leave a review for someone over there, and their chapter was quite long, so I wanted to copy and paste it into a Word document so I could make the type larger (bad vision and old age go together, but since I'm neither...), but the system wouldn't let me copy it. What gives with that?  I mean, it wasn't like I wanted to steal the wording or anything because, goodness knows, the poor writer needed some help... but nobody was willing to offer anything except "I enjoyed it very much" or "You've improved it since I last read it." Maybe if they had to write a minimum of 50 words like we do here, and they worked on a point system like we do here... well, you get the idea. Anyway, maybe one day I will understand why THIS site is not working like it used to, but... in the meantime... uh, what was that question again? Oh, yes, about the disappearing house under construction. I.Don't.Know.

Unhappy trails,
MJ :-(