ROBUST discussion

Got a review of The Storyteller from Big Al.

http://booksandpals.blogspot.ca/2012/...

I discovered it through a Google Alert in my inbox today. I usually skim these alerts, but luckily today I had a closer look. It was a year to the month that I sent the book for review.

He provided some great feedback, mostly personal tastes in writing style. But I am beyond mortified that he discovered I had a location faux pas. As a reader I find such errors inexcusable and both my editor and myself took great care in ensuring there were none. When I read the review I quickly went to my Kindle and searched and sure enough I had changed a location! I cannot even remember doing so, let alone that it slipped through 5+ rounds of editing/copyediting. Red faced!

The other stuff I will take into consideration when writing in the future.

But he also had some good things to say about it:

I’ve read a few other books like this, where multiple story lines were happening in different times in history, and found that I had a much stronger affinity for one of the story lines compared to the others. That wasn’t true of The Storyteller. Although it was much easier to identify with Suzy, the character living in contemporary times, I didn’t find myself wishing the other characters weren’t there or that I could read through their sections faster. I also thought Tillotson did a very good job in making the voices of the different characters unique in a way that was a positive in reinforcing their differences in time, place, and experience. It was a different kind of story, with a positive message.

Welcome to the club, Sharon. I haven't found some of my errors until they've appeared in published "paper" books -- too late to do anything about them. No mistakes are forever in Kindle books.

Patricia wrote: "Welcome to the club, Sharon. I haven't found some of my errors until they've appeared in published "paper" books -- too late to do anything about them. No mistakes are forever in Kindle books."

Yeah, if only I knew how to fix them. I had a pro do the formatting for me. This is when it's good to know how to do these things yourself, but I have no desire to learn.

If you have the file, you should be able to go in and delete what you don't want and type in what you do want. Formatting shouldn't be an issue. Then just upload the file to KDP and it'll overwrite the old file.

I believe I tried that, but could not edit the file.

Sorry, I have no idea how to edit the file if it's not the original file, but congratulations on the review! I've never been brave enough to submit to Big Al. Great to get detailed feedback.

I wonder if "Big Al" is the same "Big Al" who posts in the Kindle forum.

That's okay, Katie, I know I can get the bloke who did it for me to make changes for a very reasonable price. There are a couple other minor changes I would like to make anyway, I might have him do them as well.

I would definitely submit to Big Al, Katie, I'm almost certain he would enjoy your books. Mind you, you don't seem to have a problem getting reviews.

Patricia, I believe he is.

Haven't followed the forum for a while, but back when I did, I enjoyed his posts.

Ditto me, Patricia. I meant to check it out yesterday, guess I forgot, kench!