Amanda Hough's Blog: Writing and Editing Fiction - Posts Tagged "writers"

Number one…Never Respond to Reviews

If you are satisfied with the product you have put in the marketplace, reviews shouldn’t matter (sales matter). Reviews can be very exciting. Seeing the stars, reading the accolades. But, what if you get a bad review? What if you get a lot of bad reviews? What if the reviewer didn’t even read the book? Who cares! If you truly did the best you could, move on with the next book. When writers say, my book isn’t selling because of the bad reviews, I shake my head. Maybe the manuscript simply wasn’t ready for publication. Just because you can publish on Amazon or Smashwords in minutes, it doesn’t mean you should.
The bad reviews could be….just hear me out, because the novel isn’t that good. Yet!
Readers don’t care that you worked hard on it. That you stayed up late at night to finish it. It doesn’t matter that you read all the most successful authors of the genre. It doesn’t necessarily follow that you can write a bestseller. Yet! They want to be entertained (in popular fiction-generally speaking). The reader wants a few hours of escape. Readers don’t owe you anything. You owe them. If you didn’t give it to them, they have a right to share their opinion. You have the right to keep writing!

Next week’s topic…
Number two of the Five Things Writers Should Never Do!

Not read books

A lot of writers, both the traditional and the independents offer newsletters to readership. However once they get a mailing list, they do not know what to do with the newsletter.

First let’s state one thing for the record — If you are an author and you don’t have a mailing list— GET ONE! You need a means to communicate with readers, bloggers, editors, publishers etc. Don’t pay for a list. Just start building one immediately—if you haven’t.

Now, what do you put in the newsletter? It doesn’t have to be complicated. One page is good. It will highlight your writing and offer updates through photos and text, plus links to sites that are relevant to you. So, you have a list. What can you include?
What more? Visit my blog at https://www.progressivedits.com/Blog/...

Difference between less and fewer

I recently had an author reject my correction of the word less. I explained the correct usage, but she was adamant that she’d heard it used her way.
Writers often use the words fewer and less interchangeably, but each word has its own place in language. Consider this: Less is for objects that can’t be tallied. Fewer is for objects that can be tallied.

After we’ve worked with one another on a project, I will find fewer grammatical errors in your writing.
After we’ve worked with one another on a project, I will find less grammatical errors in your writing.

Which one is correct?

Whose and Who’s

This is really easy. Just say it in your head as you write it.
Who’s is the contraction for “who is.” Period. That is all it is.
Whose is the possessive of “who.”
Writers get confused is because they think all possessives need an apostrophe. Not true. Possessive pronouns don’t have apostrophes (mine, its, theirs, whose for example). So just learn it. Who’s zooming whom? (Yes, I know that’s not the title but has always irritated me. Whose Diet Coke is on my desk? (Mine! So back off!.)

http://www.progressivedits.com