I would assume they're keeping track via the progress bar that tells you what percentage of any given ebook you've read.
Ha! I didn't know there was such a peeping device. Shows how old I am!
I would assume they're keeping track via the progress bar that tells you what percentage of any given ebook you've read.
Ha! I didn't know there was such a peeping device. Shows how old I am!
You're right about there being a fine line between a "Prologue" and a "Chapter 1." I used Clive Cussler as an example above. The Chapter 1s in his books are prologues, in my understanding of the term, though I can't remember if he calls them such. But they usually are about something that happens in the past that will play a role in his story, but not be a part of it, if I'm making any sense. It sets up the adventure which will start sometime in the future. It happens, it's over, and then we go to the present day. To me, that's a prologue, regardless of the nomenclature. But I have no problem naming such a setup Chapter 1. And what difference does it really make? The reader knows it's a prologue as soon as he starts to read the next chapter. So this is much ado about not much, in my opinion. If your agent/editor/publisher frowns on prologues, for whatever reason, make them Chapter 1s instead.
Where would Clive Cussler's novels be without prologues?
1. Social media. Show folks who you are and what you write. Tweet a lot and get followers. Avoid the constant "Buy my book" tweets, but get your name out there in other ways by retweeting others and tweeting on non-book-related topics. Get an author page on Amazon, then post a link to it and your website on your Facebook page.
2. Reviews. Solicit book bloggers to review your book. Some bloggers do interviews and offer guest posts in addition to reviews. There are websites that will solicit reviewers for you for a fee, like Choosy Bookworm and Net Galley. Review swaps are tricky, now that Amazon is looking hard at reviews between writers with a professional relationship or know each other personally, but possible if done right.
3. Creativity in tagging your book on Amazon. If you can make the genre of yoor book narrow enough, wherein there aren't thousands of books competing with it, you would have a shot of being in the top 100 of books sold on Amazon in that category. And that would make you an "Amazon Bestseller" which you can use to promote it. Amazon has recently changed its book classification descriptions, making it easier to carve out subgenres. Say you have written a historical novel. Is there crime, adventure, or romance in it? Does it take place in an exotic location? Adding these tags can help your book stand out. Take a look at some books for sale on Amazon, and you'll see what I mean.
I'm certainly not an expert in marketing, but the above are things I've done and am doing for promotion. Good luck!
I'm obviously missing something. I thought you downloaded an entire book, not page by page of a book. So how would Amazon know the number of pages actually read after the download?
Here's a link to an examination of the omniscient POV: www.scribophile.com/academy/using-third-person-omniscient-pov.
In most books I read: Fantasy, Thriller, Sci-fi, general fiction, there is very little head-hopping in chapters. Usually the POV is consistent within the chapter.
My editors will not allow me to use omniscient even if I wanted to. Very strict on establishing whose POV we're in at the start of each chapter. And a change in POV would entail a break in the scene. No head-hopping allowed!
You can still do that, Ann. Either in the forums or reviews. That hasn't changed. Only the forums have become segregated into groups - except for the main (Premium) group. Get back in there and post to your heart's content!
Mike, thanks for taking the time to check out the interview. I've done a few of these interviews, and I've noticed a trend toward personal questions, rather than the usual writing-process stuff. Bloggers like to generate publicity for their sites, too!
I'm right-handed, Janet. And you know what they say about shoe size, so that would be TMI. ![]()
Dags, maybe we could get together on a book about fictional femme fatales. My Laura and your Mariah would certainly be included.
I forgot to comment on your collector's item, Dags.
Maybe someday, when future archaelogogists are sifting through the rubble in Lubbock, they will stumble upon your rodent-eaten book of mine and wonder why it meant something to its owner. Perhaps the author's name would still be legible, and they would scratch their heads in puzzlement, not recognizing it. But they'd be foolish to cast it aside, because it would definitely be a collectible, by definition. Ah, what dreams are made of. And then, in what they deem to be a storage room of some sort, they come upon numerous volumes of a book whose title and author they do recognize, since it was required reading in the Ancient Texts part of their high school English class. It would be like coming upon copies of The Catcher in the Rye, if they had known about that book. But a selkie murderess - yes, they would know that story!
Sometimes that's what you have to do - make it up as you go. I had to establish my goal pretty early in life - high school - because of the nature of the prerequisites for the career I chose. Incidentally, Rand Paul didn't have to finish undergrad school to get into med school and then an ophthalmology residency, because there are so few of them that you have to get your place early. A classmate of mine had his ophtalmology residency slot sewn up after his first year in med school. Anyway, that's what I'm doing now - making it up as I go in the brave new world of book writing and promotion. Another thread in the forums concerns predesination. There's no way I would ever have thought I would be writing novels now. Was it fate? Nah! I needed something to do in my retirement, and house chores aren't fulfilling!
You're a dear, Janet.
Interesting is in the eye of the beholder. From what you've revealed in your posts over the years, I think your life has certainly not been bland, by any means!
BTW, I shared some more personal stuff in my guest post for Big Al's Books and Pals today: http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/
Thanks, guys! Yeah, Dags, it was a little personal, but I stayed away from having it get too personal, didn't I? ![]()
There's an old story about the interpretation of preordination. Two soldiers are using a brief respite during combat to wax philosophically. One of them comments that surviving a war is purely chance; one can't control it. The other says he's not worried, because he believes in predestiny - that his fate has already been decided. Suddenly, shells starty exploding around them and they both dive into a fox hole. The first soldier turns to the other and says, I thought you believed that your fate was preordained. So why did you jump into this fox hole with me?" The other replies, "I believe that fox hole was preordained to be there to save me."
New interview and review of Skeleton Run today at www.thereadingcafe.com. Events like this are what's kept me AWOL from this site lately. But I'll be back soon to catch up on my reviews - and post another chapter of my WIP!
Explore away, Max! All the best to you, my friend.
Thanks for posting the comment, Janet! It did finish "moderating" in time for me to see it this morning. ![]()
To keep you up to date on my blog tour for Skeleton Run, today I had an interview with Sam Ramirez on his blog, www.samthefriedmanblog.com. You might be interested in some of his questions. He'll post a review of the book on 6/21. BTW, for those of you who have published books, getting a blogger involved is a good way to showcase your books and get Amazon reviews. Of course, if you have your own blog (I don't), you already have a built-in platform for publicizing the novel. More on this later.
Thanks for the encouragement, Max!
Jeez, $42K a month? Yikes! You must have good insurance! I don't know that much about CIDP, but I do know it's a bitch! Some afflicted with the condition do have significant improvement with treatment, so I dearly hope you are among that number, because you're an asset to this community.
John
Thanks, Dags! And thank you, Janet - Looking forward to reading your comment when it's posted!
Forgot to mention - once on the website, click on Guest Authors, then click on Mystery/Suspense. My post will then come up.
I had a guest post today on a blog as part of my virtual book tour for Skeleton Run that kicks off today. In the post I discuss my preference for my online writing community (you guys) over paid editors to whip a novel into shape. Have a look at www.longandshortreviews.com.
JP - It's nice to see written down what I've always heard through the grapevine. Thanks for that link. I write in the Thriller/mystery/suspense genre and all my novels are in the 80-90K range. I don't make a conscious effort to find that range, but they all end up in it for some reason.
1. George Clooney - From Dusk Till Dawn - Ocean's Eleven ( OE is his best crime movie, caper-wise, but Out of Sight, with its great supporting cast, is worth watching)
2. Denzel Washington - A Soldier's Story - Training Day (He did a number of crime movies, including the remake of Walter Matthau's Taking of Pelham 123)
3. Jeff Bridges - The Last Picture Show - The Big Lebowski, of course! (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is probably my favorite crime movie he did)
4. Sean Penn - Fast Times at Ridgemont High - Mystic River (also his best crime movie, IMO)
5. John Travolta - Saturday Night Fever - Get Shorty ( The General's Daughter was probably his most straight crime movie, but both Get Shorty and Pulp Fiction were great)
6. Clint Eastwood - Fistful of Dollars - Dirty Harry (All the Dirty Harry movies were his best cop movies, though The Gauntlet and Absolute Power were good crime flicks)
7. Jack Nicholson - Easy Rider - Chinatown, of course (Chinatown is not only his best movie, but his best crime movie, bar none)
8. Bradd Pitt - Thelma and Louise - Ocean's Eleven (Toss-up for his best crime movie between OE and Sleepers)
9. Leonardo Dicaprio - This Boy's Life - Titanic (Catch Me If You Can I'd rate as his best crime movie)
10 Tommy Lee Jones - Coal Miner'sa Daughter - U.S. Marshals (I'd give the nod to Natural Born Killers, No Country for Old Men, and U.S. Marshals for his best crime films)
11. John Cusack - Stand by Me - Runaway Jury (Grosse Pointe Blank is my favorite crime movie of his)