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Marilyn Johnson wrote:jack the knife wrote:So is this person you were a ghostwriter for a celebrity? Ghostwriters for them usually get some credit as in, “My Mission Impossible Life” by Tom Cruise (with Marilyn Johnson). Is the supposed author a real person? Do you get royalties or a one-time fee? I’m intrigued.
Hey, Jack... no, they're not celebrities, just publishing companies. They each have their niche, and kids growing up and the problems they go through is this particular publisher's thing. The good news is just today they sent me a message asking if I would write another one for them.
They pay an up-front fee, which I figure is more than I'd make if I published it myself. This particular publisher is in Romania. I'm getting lots of requests from publishers out of this country. I'm currently working on one from a publisher in Greece... a Western Historical Romance (I hate romance novels, but the pay is good). These folks have over 500 titles out and that's all they publish... they pay writers, then they publish the books with names other than the writers' names.
I just finished one today for a publisher in Spain. It's titled "How Not to Kill My Kids," a collection of funny stories about mothers and how their kids drive them to the brink of distraction at times. All the writing comes from me... no outline from this guy, just 110 pages is all he wanted.
At the same time I'm working on a memoir for a publisher in the country of Georgia. She did give me an outline to work from, but most of them don't.
Well, congratulations, MJ, for making a name for yourself with these companies. Naive me, I didn’t know such publishers existed.
Happy trails!
Jack
Marilyn Johnson wrote:Some of you already know I'm doing some ghostwriting gigs for some publishers. Though my name doesn't go on the book, I get updated by the publishers when the book is released. In August I wrote a book from scratch about the problems teenage girls encounter growing up. This morning I got a notice that the book was on Amazon and was already in the top new seller list. I am proud of ME!! Yay! Though the author is listed as Rachel Claire, I am still excited about the way it has been reviewed since its publication date of December 20th!
https://www.amazon.com/Turns-Out-Actual … B0G9X6887B
So is this person you were a ghostwriter for a celebrity? Ghostwriters for them usually get some credit as in, “My Mission Impossible Life” by Tom Cruise (with Marilyn Johnson). Is the supposed author a real person? Do you get royalties or a one-time fee? I’m intrigued.
I’m sorry, Whatta, that you’ve decided TNBW is no longer a proper venue to post your craft. You have not reviewed me, and I haven’t reviewed you—-most likely for genre reasons that you pointed out—-so I have no axe to grind. But I must take issue with your complaint of authors posting as they go in their WIPs, rather than posting - quickly - chapters from books they’ve finished. I think most of us do the former. We want to know what is working and what is not, so we can change our approach to the story if critiques suggest it’s necessary. When I finish a book, I’m satisfied, thanks to feedback from TNBW readers, that I haven’t completely lost the boat.
Anyway, I wish you well in your writing and will welcome you back if you so decide to return.
So sorry for your loss, Alan. I know the last few years have been terrible for you, and I welcome you back to our community. Writers have to write, and you’re a good one.
Tamsin Liddell wrote:Just putting this put there. When you're on the homepage, and you see that there's new messages posted in a forum, and you click on the message, it takes you to the first page of the thread, and not the most recent.
It's not a need-to-do-this-now thing, but it might be nice if it took us to the end of the thread instead of the beginning?
Thanks.
All you have to do is click on the last page to see the most recent post on the subject. Often, the later posts have gone astray from the original, so starting at the beginning, and who started it, can ground you in the issue.
vern wrote:SolN wrote:So, I think we have two separate questions.
1. Can AI reviews be helpful? I think the answer is yes. As I've seen on Booksie, AI is good at spotting grammatical problems and can also provide feedback on plot, character development, setting, etc. It has "read" all of the best-selling work out there so knows the formula of what works and what doesn't.
2. Should reviewers use AI to leave reviews on TNBW? I believe the answer is no. When you leave a review, you are representing that you have read the work and are providing "your" opinion, not the opinion and feedback of someone else or a machine.
I've also thought about whether AI will replace human writers. I believe the answer is yes for technical work and potentially some non-fiction. For fiction, I think it might become its own genre - AI Written. I like to use clothing as an analogy. Much of the clothing we wear is made by machines in modern times. But the really valuable clothing is still hand made. Why? Because there is something human in the creation, the stitching, the fabrication and people who wear it find appealing. It's original and unique in a way machine created clothing is not.
This all leads me to two thoughts.
1. Perhaps we need to add some AI feedback to TNBW like what we have with Booksie. I think authors might find it helpful.
2. Reviewers should be be substituting AI for their own feedback. I believe a site where everyone simply pasts AI feedback is a diminished one that one that has no more reason to exist.
Happy to hear all of your thoughts.
Sol
I see nothing wrong or right about AI checking grammar/punctuation since it is simply based on preestablished "rules" and if you use Word, it pretty much does that automatically as you type, but as far as getting into plot, etc., it may have "read" all the bestselling works but I doubt it knows what will be a best seller and simply mimicking best sellers of the past is only giving the reader a regurgitation of what someone else has produced. Creativity, at least for now, is in the realm of humans, not machines. Any use of AI for reviews on this site should be banned in my humble opinion along with the person who submitted it as their own. My opinion outside the machine looking for a wrench to toss in the gears. Take care. Vern
How would such banning work? Would we need an AI program to detect AI? And then what? Have it eliminate one of its “own”? AI programs have shown remarkable abilities in self-preservation, including one instance where a program blackmailed its engineer to prevent him from dismantling it. An advantage of advanced AI is its ability to “learn.” Scary stuff.
Not you, Randy. I’m talking almost two months, not a little behind as we all fall prey to on occasion. Anyway, I’ve said my piece. The scofflaws know who they are, and I hope they’ll mend their ways. My only intention in this post subject was to remind authors of their responsibilities if they want to be active participants on this site. I thank Sol for creating it, a valuable resource for authors wanting to present their creations to the critiques of their peers. I’ve workshopped all my books here and plan to continue.
I won’t name names, Dirk, but it’s definitely not you.
All reviewers should receive the courtesy of a reply from authors they’ve reviewed. I thought that was a given on this site, but recently I’ve been disappointed. Almost two months have elapsed since I published reviews for two postings, and I’m still waiting for replies from the authors. If you have issues with the review, fine, communicate that. But no response at all means I’ve no idea how my reviews were received, making me think I’ve wasted my time - time better spent reviewing other works on the site instead. For sure, a truant author will not receive any further reviews from me. I don’t think I’m alone here in this respect. If it was a simple oversight, okay, stuff happens. But I urge everyone to periodically check your reviews list to make sure you’ve kept current.
Welcome, Ironwolf. I look forward to your postings.
Jack
George FLC wrote:I don't really know you much at all, but I know good news when I hear it. Congratulations!
Thanks, George!
Thanks, Vern. Appreciate it!
Randall Krzak wrote:jack the knife wrote:Nathan B. Childs wrote:Congratulations, Jack. How many published books does this make?
Thanks, Nathan! This will be my sixteenth, including three co-authored novels.
Way to go, Jack! Hope you can do another 16!
I should live so long! 
Nathan B. Childs wrote:Congratulations, Jack. How many published books does this make?
Thanks, Nathan! This will be my sixteenth, including three co-authored novels.
I’ve just been informed by the publisher that “Revival” has been accepted for publication! The timeline is unknown at this point, with the editing process about to begin. The publisher wants a different title, though, so I’ll let you know when we decide on it. Thanks to all TNBW readers who helped me bring this novel to fruition. Your valuable suggestions for improving the manuscript is why TNBW will always be my writing workshop site.
Marilyn Johnson wrote:jack the knife wrote:Thanks, Dags. Helene didn’t affect us, but the week before we got torrential rain from a tropical storm that wiped out many roads and bridges in my area. We thought we had it bad until Helene destroyed Asheville, in the western part of the state.
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
So sorry to hear that, MJ. Mother Nature’s devastation, augmented by climate change. And we have another month - or more! - of potential severe storms. The threat is real, and all of us should have plans to escape if need be.
dagny wrote:Natfoot--
I just remembered you live in Florida. Are you okay? Let us know.
dagfoot
My brother-in-law lives in Panama City Beach. He dodged the bullet, and I hope you did too.
Jack
Thanks, Dags. Helene didn’t affect us, but the week before we got torrential rain from a tropical storm that wiped out many roads and bridges in my area. We thought we had it bad until Helene destroyed Asheville, in the western part of the state.
If we’re in a character’s POV, I would use frown, since the character would be unlikely to think of his brow furrowing, but he is likely to voluntarily “frown.” For an observing character, both would be acceptable and avoid overdoing an action description by using alternatives. Your second example would be used only for an observing character, since it would be an involuntary action by the POV character. Hope I interpreted your question correctly.
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