What Services Do Original Web fiction Authors Need to Succeed
- Thread starter MsSquirtle
- Start date
- #19
I'm an amateur author who has over 100 chapters online. I'm not very popular but I'm hella persistent! I have no HTML or CSS knowledge, but I know what I dream about in a website for writers!
1) The inability to upload documents is so annoying! Seriously, this is the most obvious thing but I've never seen a website that allows for it. Would it kill someone to make it possible to at least upload RTF? Do I really need to copy/paste all my text into an "custom text editor" and lose all my formatting? It's not that the custom text editor thing shouldn't be there, but it being the ONLY way to upload text is time consuming.
2) Scheduling chapters from the same window you see unpublished files. Instead of having to go all the way into the "custom text editor" to schedule an update, I'd like to right-click or have a little button on the list of chapters (where ever that may be) that lets me insta-schedule my chapters.
3) "Suggestion" feature that allow readers to identify spelling errors and grammar mistakes, even plot holes, without leaving a comment with a list of them at the bottom. The suggestion feature could be by paragraph, though by sentence would be better.
4) "Editor mode" feature for readers. It turns the text editable. Reader edited texts wouldn't "go live" without the author's approval. Once edits were accepted, the editor who helped would have their username added to the bottom of the chapter automatically.
5) Reward people who finished their novels, who are consistently updating, or those who have a high word count by giving their works preference on the front page. Getting on the front page is guaranteed views. If the story is half-way decent, that translates into views and reviews and more popularity. Even if that story never becomes the super-star of the website, it will encourage the author to keep going when they get a spike in views, likes, favorites or whatever.
6) Easy monetization... a lot of websites have this already, but you know what... in the real world, the biggest money is always in the merchandise. It'd be nice if there was a way to monetize through merch rather ko-fi or patreon and what not. That way the author gets money and the reader gets a physical object to keep.
7) If you want to encourage new writers and help them improve their craft, give them a one-stop-shop to improve their craft. Links to different programs they can use (preferably for free) and articles to help them with writing. Stuff like that.
I can't think of anything else. I'm not sure how practical any of this would be to implement. Maybe not at all. But I can dream.
1) The inability to upload documents is so annoying! Seriously, this is the most obvious thing but I've never seen a website that allows for it. Would it kill someone to make it possible to at least upload RTF? Do I really need to copy/paste all my text into an "custom text editor" and lose all my formatting? It's not that the custom text editor thing shouldn't be there, but it being the ONLY way to upload text is time consuming.
2) Scheduling chapters from the same window you see unpublished files. Instead of having to go all the way into the "custom text editor" to schedule an update, I'd like to right-click or have a little button on the list of chapters (where ever that may be) that lets me insta-schedule my chapters.
3) "Suggestion" feature that allow readers to identify spelling errors and grammar mistakes, even plot holes, without leaving a comment with a list of them at the bottom. The suggestion feature could be by paragraph, though by sentence would be better.
4) "Editor mode" feature for readers. It turns the text editable. Reader edited texts wouldn't "go live" without the author's approval. Once edits were accepted, the editor who helped would have their username added to the bottom of the chapter automatically.
5) Reward people who finished their novels, who are consistently updating, or those who have a high word count by giving their works preference on the front page. Getting on the front page is guaranteed views. If the story is half-way decent, that translates into views and reviews and more popularity. Even if that story never becomes the super-star of the website, it will encourage the author to keep going when they get a spike in views, likes, favorites or whatever.
6) Easy monetization... a lot of websites have this already, but you know what... in the real world, the biggest money is always in the merchandise. It'd be nice if there was a way to monetize through merch rather ko-fi or patreon and what not. That way the author gets money and the reader gets a physical object to keep.
7) If you want to encourage new writers and help them improve their craft, give them a one-stop-shop to improve their craft. Links to different programs they can use (preferably for free) and articles to help them with writing. Stuff like that.
I can't think of anything else. I'm not sure how practical any of this would be to implement. Maybe not at all. But I can dream.
- #20
It does, but that requires a production pipeline that is daunting and difficult to put together for someone just starting out (if you're trying to address the concern for more practiced hands, of course this is less of an issue). Picking up people just to proof an in-progress work can be futzy, having a full-fledged actual editor onboard is so much more. It also requires a more deliberate pace, and when you're worried about "are people even going to like this?", getting that all squared away early very much feels like putting a cart before the horse.
Also, the most important thing for writing support staff isn't even necessarily how good they are, but how well they fit together with you and your story. I've heard tales of people brought in to help edit xianxia/xuanhuan-style stories in preparation for Amazon release, and while their resumes were impressive their fit with the culture was atrocious. There's a difference between "dial down the pathetic on X character" (probably some good advice had I been given it early on for a certain first arc faux protagonist) and "omg cut this entirely, it's a problematic exploitation of Y group" (which, for me, is useless garbage because the audience for X&X stories doesn't care about that stuff; they eat up massacres and lewdness and punching both up and down). Forming a rapport to avoid that kind of screw-up takes time and requires something to be there to begin with, too.
If you are a meticulous writer with a long tail on your work, having a bona fide editor is the thing. Totally. Absolutely. Although even they can misread and misstep; it's a form of protection but it isn't absolute. Also, you can finagle it a bit by having something like a Patreon and using them as a beta audience (I never did this because (a) impostor syndrome (b) wanting that big ABORT button available that I eventually did use). Guys just starting out will have none of that, though, and you can't very well strap it to a newbie either (that would be cruel and unusual to do to would-be editors, for one). A lot of the worst stuff can and will get tempered by just writing, failing, and writing some more (and then deciding to do better or to hang up your hat and go into something less stressful like forming your own superhero squad).
Some promising people will wash out entirely, no doubt about it, but writing isn't just about the quality of the prose or anything else. The barrier to being a writer versus an "aspiring writer" is to sit down and do actual writing; the rest is an improvement from there, but people have to take that step and then stay the course in the first place.
Also, the most important thing for writing support staff isn't even necessarily how good they are, but how well they fit together with you and your story. I've heard tales of people brought in to help edit xianxia/xuanhuan-style stories in preparation for Amazon release, and while their resumes were impressive their fit with the culture was atrocious. There's a difference between "dial down the pathetic on X character" (probably some good advice had I been given it early on for a certain first arc faux protagonist) and "omg cut this entirely, it's a problematic exploitation of Y group" (which, for me, is useless garbage because the audience for X&X stories doesn't care about that stuff; they eat up massacres and lewdness and punching both up and down). Forming a rapport to avoid that kind of screw-up takes time and requires something to be there to begin with, too.
If you are a meticulous writer with a long tail on your work, having a bona fide editor is the thing. Totally. Absolutely. Although even they can misread and misstep; it's a form of protection but it isn't absolute. Also, you can finagle it a bit by having something like a Patreon and using them as a beta audience (I never did this because (a) impostor syndrome (b) wanting that big ABORT button available that I eventually did use). Guys just starting out will have none of that, though, and you can't very well strap it to a newbie either (that would be cruel and unusual to do to would-be editors, for one). A lot of the worst stuff can and will get tempered by just writing, failing, and writing some more (and then deciding to do better or to hang up your hat and go into something less stressful like forming your own superhero squad).
Some promising people will wash out entirely, no doubt about it, but writing isn't just about the quality of the prose or anything else. The barrier to being a writer versus an "aspiring writer" is to sit down and do actual writing; the rest is an improvement from there, but people have to take that step and then stay the course in the first place.
- #21
I will speak with the idea that you want the author wants to suceed in writing something good and having better stories,that should also bring money with time sometimes
I have some dyslexic problems if something doesnt seem to make sense you can just ask i will try to answer better
If anything i think people should try to rewarding the authors that seem to bring a better story,it doestn need to be inovative but something that you know they are trying to build a good story, like get people that could have a constructive cristicism and with it be able to select this kind of work, even to the point of selecting readers to do it by doing some sort of selection, that would sure bring both reader and author closer one would be able to understand points that could make the history better and readers would have the chance to voice the things that such authors could do better,its easy for people to complain but how many comments do you actually read that have something constructive and that tries to help the author? You can point all the errors but do you help with the solution ? If the author are left in the dark on how he could get better he would also have less chance to get better not mention if the people that try to critic his work dont point where he is good at he might change what is good on his work
I think it would be a risky move but i also believe that people that have passion for the hobby of reading and dont want to keep reading fast-food tier works to have this kind of chance of interaction together with the author having the chance of feeling rewarded to not copying the work from everyone else, i don't think it would be easy but i still believe that would be something to try, not to mention when you bring reader and author closer you have a better chance of having people coming back to chek his works since they know that there is the chance of trying to help the author getting better or just to try having this kind of contact i think it does bring more people into the community and therefore more people to try the work out
Some sort of punishment of works that try to milk chapters or to make their work endless and have no future insight to where the story is going, you cant expect writers to be motivated into bringing better works if this kind of authors are getting the best from them, they write with the idea of miling to get more money and to fill word count instead of developing a better story
When you are able to have the community be more interactive with the author works, and you also have the authors being more incetived to write better stories while the ones that try to go the easy route of copying,only filling word count,not having insight of what they want with the work i believe that you would attract much more interest in the people that desire to get something of better quality or at least people that can read and have the chance of voicing something constructive and since you would end be ending trying to bring the best for both writer and reader i think people would surely be motivated to try to support this kind of thing, it might fail but at least you could try
I have some dyslexic problems if something doesnt seem to make sense you can just ask i will try to answer better
If anything i think people should try to rewarding the authors that seem to bring a better story,it doestn need to be inovative but something that you know they are trying to build a good story, like get people that could have a constructive cristicism and with it be able to select this kind of work, even to the point of selecting readers to do it by doing some sort of selection, that would sure bring both reader and author closer one would be able to understand points that could make the history better and readers would have the chance to voice the things that such authors could do better,its easy for people to complain but how many comments do you actually read that have something constructive and that tries to help the author? You can point all the errors but do you help with the solution ? If the author are left in the dark on how he could get better he would also have less chance to get better not mention if the people that try to critic his work dont point where he is good at he might change what is good on his work
I think it would be a risky move but i also believe that people that have passion for the hobby of reading and dont want to keep reading fast-food tier works to have this kind of chance of interaction together with the author having the chance of feeling rewarded to not copying the work from everyone else, i don't think it would be easy but i still believe that would be something to try, not to mention when you bring reader and author closer you have a better chance of having people coming back to chek his works since they know that there is the chance of trying to help the author getting better or just to try having this kind of contact i think it does bring more people into the community and therefore more people to try the work out
Some sort of punishment of works that try to milk chapters or to make their work endless and have no future insight to where the story is going, you cant expect writers to be motivated into bringing better works if this kind of authors are getting the best from them, they write with the idea of miling to get more money and to fill word count instead of developing a better story
When you are able to have the community be more interactive with the author works, and you also have the authors being more incetived to write better stories while the ones that try to go the easy route of copying,only filling word count,not having insight of what they want with the work i believe that you would attract much more interest in the people that desire to get something of better quality or at least people that can read and have the chance of voicing something constructive and since you would end be ending trying to bring the best for both writer and reader i think people would surely be motivated to try to support this kind of thing, it might fail but at least you could try
- #23
luck?
Really my guess would be needing some tool or database that they can put the entire plot and character information into, which can provide a quick simplified or detailed view of things like the timeline, major character traits, item abilities, etc. as desired.
I think allot of issues come from organizational issues, and properly using (or making) tools to help with that would make a large difference.
That and a trusted proofreaer who can read the stuff before it is posted to try and spot any glaring errors.
Really my guess would be needing some tool or database that they can put the entire plot and character information into, which can provide a quick simplified or detailed view of things like the timeline, major character traits, item abilities, etc. as desired.
I think allot of issues come from organizational issues, and properly using (or making) tools to help with that would make a large difference.
That and a trusted proofreaer who can read the stuff before it is posted to try and spot any glaring errors.
