Ask the Author: Ralph E. Vaughan
Answered Questions (7)
Ralph E. Vaughan
I apologize for not having answered this earlier, but I did not know the question had been asked. I saw it after GoodReads notified me another question had been posted. Thanks for the offer, but I don't "read" audio books. I gave them a try in the past and did not find it an enjoyable experience. As to who might take a listen, surely there are audio book (or H.G. Wells) interest groups on Facebook...there seem to be interest groups about everything. I have found such groups helpful with my own books, but you always have to proceed with caution, as most groups have rules about self-promotion. Good luck.
Ralph E. Vaughan
In general, no. It would involve re-reading the book. While there are a few favorites that eventually find their way back into my reading queue, I don't have the time (or inclination) to give writers second chances.
Except for a few shorter works, I tend to read a few chapters from a book, then move on to the next book in line. Currently, I have 120 e-books being actively read and about a dozen print editions. Each book comes up for another few chapters about three times a week. I usually finish some book every day or two, sometimes two the same day.
From time to time, changes are pushed to re-published e-books and they reappear on my Kindle screen (or I see a notice of a print edition re-issued), but I have found that such changes rarely make a book better (or worse) than it was the first time around. What a writer perceives as an earth shattering change for the better usually isn't.
I used to write book reviews professionally for newspapers and magazines (50+ years ago it was my first paid job as a writer), but I now write reviews simply for the enjoyment of it. Increasingly, though, I have started simply leaving ratings without comments, perhaps twice as many rating-only reviews than reviews with comments since the start of the year. It's much less taxing.
Unfortunately, the old adage about first impressions is still true, perhaps more so today than in years past. Traditional publishers have occasionally published clunkers that put me off a writer's work (I refused to read any more Stephen King after his idiotic "Tommyknockers" or J.K. Rowling at all after the first few paragraphs of "Potter") but publishing before a book is ready for public consumption seems endemic in the self-publishing community.
If writers did not publish so rashly, letting the impulse to publish overwhelm critical judgment, there would be fewer books re-published and writers could spend more time writing better, new books. And getting better reviews of what is published.
Except for a few shorter works, I tend to read a few chapters from a book, then move on to the next book in line. Currently, I have 120 e-books being actively read and about a dozen print editions. Each book comes up for another few chapters about three times a week. I usually finish some book every day or two, sometimes two the same day.
From time to time, changes are pushed to re-published e-books and they reappear on my Kindle screen (or I see a notice of a print edition re-issued), but I have found that such changes rarely make a book better (or worse) than it was the first time around. What a writer perceives as an earth shattering change for the better usually isn't.
I used to write book reviews professionally for newspapers and magazines (50+ years ago it was my first paid job as a writer), but I now write reviews simply for the enjoyment of it. Increasingly, though, I have started simply leaving ratings without comments, perhaps twice as many rating-only reviews than reviews with comments since the start of the year. It's much less taxing.
Unfortunately, the old adage about first impressions is still true, perhaps more so today than in years past. Traditional publishers have occasionally published clunkers that put me off a writer's work (I refused to read any more Stephen King after his idiotic "Tommyknockers" or J.K. Rowling at all after the first few paragraphs of "Potter") but publishing before a book is ready for public consumption seems endemic in the self-publishing community.
If writers did not publish so rashly, letting the impulse to publish overwhelm critical judgment, there would be fewer books re-published and writers could spend more time writing better, new books. And getting better reviews of what is published.
Ralph E. Vaughan
I hope to have "Murder Amidst the Rushes" (DCI Ravyn #5) in both e-book and print by the end of summer. It was scheduled for much earlier, but, as is often the case, life interfered. The usual matters of life and death and health. What keeps me going on all my books, but especially with Ravyn and Stark, is the feeling that I can't leave my characters in dire straits. So, by summer's end, hopefully. Thank you for your question. I am grateful you like the series.
Ralph E. Vaughan
It's a good question, especially if you read mysteries, as do I. Despite the fact that being a detective is often a lonely profession (see Marlowe, Spade and Bosch), a great many couples inhabit mystery novels. If you define couple as married, then I'd have to opt for Nick and Nora Charles and Mr & Mrs North. If you extend it out to couples who should be married, I'd include Hildegard Withers and Inspector Oscar Piper in the mix as well. Loosely defining a "couple" as two people working together, one thinks of Holmes and Watson, Poirot and Hastings and Goodwin & Wolfe. Looking at a modern series, I cannot not leave out Christopher Fowler's detectives Bryant & May, London's oldest detectives who began their career during WW2 and are still at it.
Ralph E. Vaughan
I'm sorry, but I must decline. The best person for what you want is a professional editor, not another writer. Though I have been employed as an editor in the past, both full-time and freelance, and was good at it, I did not enjoy it as much as I did writing. I write every day, several hours each day, and, so, have no time for anything else. Since you've published through KDP, you have access to the Community Forum. Many professional editors, formatters and publishers post there every day. If you ask under General Questions, I don't think you'll have any trouble finding someone willing and able to work with you. The only thing I can add is, make sure you get samples, credentials and testimonials before committing yourself to an editor. Not all editors are equal, or, often, as good as they think they are. Best of luck in your writing.
Ralph E. Vaughan
Write something every day, and always keep a notebook handy so you can jot down your ideas. If you don't write regularly, you will not develop the discipline every writer must have, and if you fail to record your thoughts, they will slip away, like dreams upon awakening.
Ralph E. Vaughan
I have a few projects in the works, the most advanced being a second interplanetary steampunk novel featuring Captain Robert Folkestone and Sergeant Felix Hand, human and Martian, again working to save the Empire from its enemies. As with the first book, the setting is the late Nineteenth Century, and takes place on several planets of the Solar System. Also underway are a second collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, the fifth volume in the Paws and Claws series, a crime novel with a Lovecraftian milieu, and a concordance to the Doc Savage novels.
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