Hi all,

We rebuilt the published shelf over the past two weeks. The process now removes Amazon's code from the mix so that we don't need to rely upon it anymore. I think you'll find some advantages and dis-advantages. First, the cons. You must now enter some additional information in order to get your book to show on your shelf. This includes adding the url to the page where the book is sold on Amazon, or B&N, or your own site. You also need to upload a photo cover and add a blurb.

The Pros include:

- Once you add a book to your shelf, it automatically appears in the bookstore.
- You can link to books sold on other sites besides Amazon.
- You can put in a 60 word blurb to accompany the book.

This new code gives us more flexibilty. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you'll start adding your published books soon. Let me know if you have any questions.

Sol

You can actually link to your books in your profile but it requires a little knowledge of html. You have to click the Source button on the editor, find the section of the page where you want to add the link, and then put in this code:

<a href="https://www.amazon.com/wharever the url is">The Name of Your Book</a>

We're working on some alternate solutions.

Thanks. It can't hurt.

Yes, Amazon changed their protocol. For now, you may want to link to any books you have published via your profile. It's unclear if Amazon is going to allow us to show the bookshelf anymore. We're looking into some alternatives.

130

(8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Can you let me know where you have experienced this problem? Thanks.

That'snot the only problem--we're having trouble with font size.  See Vern's post.  JP

That's strange. We didn't change anything with font size. Can someone send me a screenshot. I'm not able to recreate the problem. Thanks!

We are having a problem with Amazon. We are looking into other solutions. More to come.

133

(12 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Congratulations!

134

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

HI Amitav,

Welcome to the site! You've posted your content so that only people connected to you can read it. To get feedback you might want to open it up by allowing anyone in TheNextBigWriter Premium group to also access it. You can change it by going to the Publish tab when you access your content from your portfolio.

Best,
Sol

Hi all,

We are ready to announce the winners of the 2018 Strongest Start Competition. As always, the judging was very difficult. The winners are:

Grand prize:

Maiden SS2018 by Seabrass

Runner-ups:

Swan for Contest by Ann Everett
Death Rights (Contest Edition) by Don Chambers

Congratulations! I'll be in touch with each of the winners to discuss the receipt of your awards.

Sol

I downloaded it. I'll give it a read and a review.

137

(16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Yes, thanks for bringing it up. We'll fix these problems. They are annoying.

After much deliberation, we're pleased to announce the finalists in the 2018 Strongest Start Competition. They are, in no particular order:

For the Love of Mellie by Marilyn Johnson

Half by Deckland Oz

Death Rights (Contest Edition) by Don Chambers

Maiden SS2018 by Seabrass

Swan for Contest by Ann Everett

The Family Secrets by Suin

Congratulations to all of the finalists! And, as we say every year, congratulations to everyone who entered. Hopefully, whether you made the finals or not, the process has helped you create a better start to your book.

We'll be announcing the winners next week, Saturday, December 15.

Update. We need one more day. Finalists announced tomorrow, Sunday, December 9.

Sorry, December 8!

Hi, this should be fixed now.

Hi all,

We haven't forgotten about the contest. We'll be posting the finalists next Saturday, December 3 and the winners one week after that. Thanks for your patience.

Sol

Yes, that page is loading slowly. We'll take a look. We made some changes to the site to increase security and it might have caused a loading issue. Thanks for letting me know.

144

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

This should be fixed now.

145

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

It's definitely a glitch. We removed features stories for now until we have the problem straightened out.

146

(19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

The problem is not from hackers but from a bug. We made some updates and it seems to have caused a few problems. We're working through them and should have them resolves shortly.

147

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I don't think this is a hack. It's probably a technical glitch. We're looking into it.

Hi Seabrass,

The judges are a bit behind but are working through the entries. We hope to have the finalists announced after Thanksgiving.

Sol

This article provides a bit more info about Groups. The moderator can update the group's visibility any time. If you are in a public group, anyone can join and the forum threads are visible. The opposite is true of private groups.

https://www.thenextbigwriter.com/postin … nual-20504

Hi Dirk,

The forum you are posting in has to be set to private. Private forums aren't indexed by Google.

Sol