Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted May 30, 2017 ... published last week. This seemed the most appropriate part of the forum to do this, I hope no-one minds. I think it's an amazing achievement and am doing what I can in my own small way to help her out .https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taint-Jude-Nicholas/dp/1999716604/ref=la_B0717517BG_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495653031&sr=1-1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naïve Old Fart 4092 Report post Posted May 31, 2017 Sounds interesting. Any reviews, yet? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted May 31, 2017 It's self-published, she hasn't got an agent and her publicising of it is entirely Twitter and Instagram-based. Add that to it only having come out 10 days ago, and I think we can expect it to be a while before reviews start to appear. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naïve Old Fart 4092 Report post Posted June 1, 2017 Ok. I'll watch out for them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted June 12, 2017 Richard my friend, Lord alone knows how long you'll wait for reviews. So I offer my own thoughts (granted, they are based on being only 70 pages into a 354 page novel) about 2 niggles with it which might well bug you too. First of all, although the lead character is an American teenage girl who is narrating in the first person and therefore talks about cherry soda, cell phones etc ... she also uses the non-US spellings of words like color, center and gray. Once I noticed this, it became a 'cannot be unseen' thing and I found it pretty jarring. Raised this with my friend, she said that it was a case of 'not wanting to argue with the computer'. I thought of saying 'But ... don't word processors have an American dictionary setting?', but held my tongue. Also (and I haven't had the heart/nerve to mention this yet) ... I guess self-publishing also means self-proofreading, because in those 70 pages I've noticed about 13 typos so far. Some small (like missing/misplaced punctuation), some pretty major (missing words). The combo of these 2 things does have the effect of 'throwing me out' of the story, unfortunately. I will persevere, but I really don't know if I'll finish it :/ . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted June 17, 2017 100 pages in, and the typos had went up to 18 ... having had my reading 'flow' interrupted once too often I gave up and told friend so, apologising for having done so and admitting to feeling guilty about it. She told me not to feel sorry or guilty, saying that there was no way now for her to fix the issues with any ease and therefore it didn't bother her. Curious attitude for someone who is clearly hoping that this book will be the start of an authorial career and their route out of 'office-drone' work. Of course, maybe she's putting on a brave face. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naïve Old Fart 4092 Report post Posted June 19, 2017 "Not wanting to argue with the computer"?! Who's writing this novel?! Your friend should throw the fucking computer out the fucking window, grab herself a good writing pen, and a shedload of A4, and let her imagination take flight! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted June 20, 2017 Handwriting 'prep' of some sort definitely takes place before its conversion to the word processor. The more I think about the excuse given, the more it sounds like authorial laziness. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted June 25, 2017 If you care to click on the link now Richard, there's a review by a friend who DID finish it. It ain't good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naïve Old Fart 4092 Report post Posted June 29, 2017 Sorry, Sweep; no link Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted June 30, 2017 If you click on the link, there are now 3 reviews. One 5-star, two 2-star. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jurassic Shark 4937 Report post Posted March 6, 2018 On 7/1/2017 at 12:56 AM, Sweeping Strings said: If you click on the link, there are now 3 reviews. One 5-star, two 2-star. I just stumbled over this thread. Self-published books can indeed seem unprofessional if the author doesn't have an eye for details (errors) or support from others who have. Just out of curiosity, did your friend sell many copies? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted March 12, 2018 Current Amazon 'bestseller ranking' of the paperback edition - 1,741,866 And of the Kindle edition - 984,594 I'm guessing she didn't. We're no longer friends ... long story short, turns out my giving up on the book after 100 pages wasn't OK with her after all. 1 Jurassic Shark reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jurassic Shark 4937 Report post Posted March 12, 2018 Some people can't handle constructive criticism. 1 Sweeping Strings reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweeping Strings 674 Report post Posted March 13, 2018 Turns out that the author still has access to their manuscript after they've submitted it to Amazon, so mistakes can be rectified if needs be ... if the author can be bothered, which in this case it appears they can't. 1 Jurassic Shark reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dtw42 51 Report post Posted March 14, 2018 Takes about five mouse clicks to do Select all > Review > Language > English (US). Hey ho; friends, eh? Who'd have 'em... 2 Jurassic Shark and Sweeping Strings reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
