On-line writers don't get a lot of feedback on how they're doing. If you're selling stuff, you can see: last month we sold x thousand copies, say. But the best on-line writers can do is guess how popular their writings are by seeing how many 'visitors' or 'hits' there are to a site. But you don't know whether they got there by accident or are genuinely interested, or what. So it's awfully nice to get the occasional praise, like this one:
1/2 way thru reading the footy story..... loving it. loving it! teared up on the train reading it......
Oh that's balm to my soul! Inside every artist, every writer, there exists THE CRITIC. And he says: your writing's crap; jeez, call that a plot; no real person would do that, you idiot; just give up now, why doncha? And you don't know any different until someone tells you.
Anyway, thank you buddy. I appreciate your comments.
For all those who liked Footy, I remind you that I'm busy uploading chapters of I Get No Kick From Champagne, which you can read here. And, you'll be glad to hear, I'm writing up a storm.
Here's what I decided to do to solve my writer's block. I type horribly slowly, and when the muse has you in her grip, the words and ideas flow so fast you can't keep up. I make so many mistakes typing, I have to stop and correct. Net result: I lose the muse. So.... I decided to write my stories by hand in a notebook, and then type them up afterwards. So the muse flows as I write, and then when I type it up, the internal editor works (different sides of the brain are at work, I think). It's going well. This is the method Ozzie fantasy author Garth Nix uses, which is what gave me the idea. By the way, his stuff is very, very good. Try Sabriel. A very entertaining read, even if there are no gay or bi characters in it.
Moral of all this? You write encomia to me, I write racy tales--and everybody's happy.
4 comments:
LOL nigel....
im the teary guy on the 5:21 frankston train...
glad i wrote to show my appreciation.
just confirming how i have made the connection b/w writer and blog! see i read both!!
just up to the fiona, marc jasper storyline. dont know where it is going....
I was just thinking on something similar myself. But I think that your assertion that sales represent reader satisfaction is erroneous. Sales happen before someone reads the book, not after.
Feedback, on the other hand, happens after the reader has actually experienced your writing. Therefore, I would say feedback is a more honest indicator of reader satisfaction.
Honestly, there are plenty of digital books (especially m/m original fiction) that I wish I could "unbuy". Sadly, most ebook sellers don't allow returns, for obvious reasons, and insist that I pay before I read for some strange reason. Perhaps that's why writing quality in that area rarely improves: the authors falsely believe that their customers are satisfied and that therefore no improvement is necessary.
I agree. It feels weird sometimes that you are sort of writing into thin air :-) Not knowing for sure how many read and what they think.
Visitor stats are great! Over on Live Journal where I post my writing there are now such stats if you have a paid account. Since I got that I now know there are around 300 - 400 unique visitors when I post a chapter, and usually around 10 people comment.
I'm a small writer :-) And it's not the main reason for writing, it sure is a reward in itself, bit it's a great joy and encouragement to have at least a notion of how many people might be reading. And nice comments really makes your day like nothing else! :-)
Fran
Good points, BookwormDragon. The trouble about feedback is that most ppl don't bother. In pre-internet and pre-email days, it was a general rule-of-thumb that each letter to the editor, or each complaint to a company represented 10,000 others who didn't bother to write but felt the same way. When Footy was down for maintenance, I got many, many emails complaining about the missing chapters, yet prior to that weeks would go buy before someone would write telling me what they thought. And maybe e-books can be inferior because there's less of a risk buying them: they cost so much less than paper books.
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