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YAY! Way to go, Jack! Congratulations!

MJ

Yes, it works when I copy and paste each chapter individually, but when you go to the publish page, there is a button at the bottom that says "download your ebook." That's what gives me the boxes and strange critters.

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Nathan, it's been a couple of days since the big storm. Did you stay dry and avoid getting blown away? I hope you're doing okay. My granddaughter and her family came here to escape the chaos in Daytona Beach. They headed back home today, but I haven't heard if they've got their power back yet. My friend rode out the storm in Siesta Key for some reason, but she's all good, just dealing with a bit of debris in her yard.

Happy to hear all is well with you, Jack. We're still digging out here in NE Georgia. We've got trees down everywhere, the roof is torn off our barn, a monster tree is blocking our driveway, and our pond is overflowing. A tornado tore the tops off a swath of huge oak trees in my back yard and toppled more than fifty of them. These trees are anywhere from fifty to over a hundred years old. My power was off for ten hours. My daughter lives only 15 miles from me, and her power is still off today, four days later, with no idea when it will come back on.

We have one grocery store in the small town where I live, and their computers are down, they have no incoming food because their home office is located in Asheville, NC, and their offices and trucks are underwater. So shelves in my town are empty, and this dock workers strike is not going to help us one bit.

Has anyone heard from Vern? He's in the western part of North Carolina where a huge amount of damage was done.

MJ

I totally agree. If they spend their money for a membership, they will most likely hang around long enough to read their reviews and write another chapter. Thank you, Sol. This will help weed out the ones who don't give the site a chance to work for them because they post, expect instant responses, and then disappear into the night.

MJ

I personally loved the way the OLD site worked better than the way this one works. For those who weren't here when the old site was in its glory days, you could come in as a reviewer and make as many reviews as you wanted to. Sol, I can't remember if those reviews carried points in case the reviewer wanted to join later, or if they received nothing but the pleasure of seeing their review written. But what I also liked about the old site is that a paying member could not proceed with posting a chapter or reviewing a chapter until they answered the reviews they had received. If you recall, the recipient of the reviews had an opportunity to rate their reviewers on whether or not the review was helpful, yada yada.

To answer your question above, I think it would be wonderful to return to the requirement of being a premium member in order to post. We have so many who come on board, post a chapter, and then disappear without a trace after we reviewers have spent an hour doing an in-line review that will never go anywhere. I am almost skeptical today about doing a review of a newbie's work for that very reason. I don't need accolades for my review, and the writer doesn't even have to like it, but what I do need is at least an acknowledgment that my review has been seen. That makes me want to review their next chapter, if they happen to post one. Someone recently complained they were not receiving reviews on their chapters, but in looking back, I think it's because the reviews the writer received on the first chapter were not acknowledged, so no one felt the need to review the second chapter. I think this method filters those who are serious from those who are not.  I vote yes because I feel that if they pay to join,  they will be a serious addition to our team and will post more chapters.

I think we should not coddle contest entrants. This is a writing workshop site where people come to exchange ideas on writing techniques. If they are only dropping in for the contest with no intentions of staying, we will never grow and the contests are in vain. But making the requirement to review others more stringent isn't asking for much.. It's how we build relationships on here, which in turn encourages long-term memberships.

Thanks, Dirk. These two have been problems for quite a while now, especially the Quickee one. Good job with keeping tabs on all this!

MJ

I think you get the blue ribbon for remembering all the stuff you and I have discussed over the last week (even if I did accidentally call you brain-dead... LOL)! Good job, because you and I have burned up the New Message department here.

I think the main thing new members do not understand from the beginning is they will receive a bunch of blue marks on their work, but it's only to help them grow in their writing craft. In the other thread, Alan mentioned how the blue marks seemed to bother the writers he knew who looked at our site, but I think it's because they don't understand the purpose of it. Where else can you get a free line-edit?  We should also, maybe in a welcome letter of some kind, encourage them to respond to the reviews they receive here. Most of the other sites I've checked out don't require any acknowledgment, and they may not be expecting it here. But that's how to develop friendships on this site.

I like the contests, and I think it encourages new members. Whether they stay depends on how we, as older members, respond to them. Maybe we should have a welcoming committee. I will do my part to encourage the newbies to post more than just their contest entry.

Overall, Dirk, you nailed it with everything we have discussed. Now it's up to Sol to decide what our next steps should be. Let me know how I can help, and hopefully some of our current members will throw some suggestions our way.

Happy trails,
MJ

Harry Kevin
Have a look at that one. He appears to be an advertiser to me.