Ana’s Comments (group member since Jun 21, 2016)

Ana’s comments from the #ComedyBookWeek group.

Hi, everyone,

Thank you again for the input - I've drafted a post on comedybookweek.com which will come out tomorrow morning.

In terms of interest and traffic, as I've mentioned before, it's normal to get a splash and then a lull. It would be impossible for everyone involved to maintain the same feverish enthusiasm from now till forever. Cause yes, #CBW is forever!

Hi, guys!

Sorry, I've crushed after the week finished - got a cold and did a little lie-down-Internet-detox. Just quickly scanned through this - awesome! I will write a post on the website in a day or so, and will summarise what has already been discussed here, and will invite comments from others (that are not on Goodreads).

Thank you all for your interest, ideas, and your energy!

I have a huge whiteboard in my bedroom, on the wall. The only way to shut those characters up sometimes :-)

I sent Shizzle, Inc to 70 agents and publishers and the best I got was "it's funny, but we don't know if there's a market for it." Once I started giving it away for free and getting a lot of random readers, I also got a number of 1 and 2-star reviews where people just said that it's garbage. Luckily, I get a lot more 5-star reviews, and those readers are the ones that I keep in mind when I'm writing. The beautiful thing about the big huge world of the Internet, that no matter what you write, you will find people that like it, so just keep on writing - that's what makes you a better writer.

Hi, Vicki,

Don't stress! You will find your audience. When I gave the first Shizzle, Inc draft to my real-life friends, NONE of them liked it. So what - I found plenty of people with the same sense of humor on Internet...

I would be happy to beta-read your draft.

Hi, Vicki,

I'd be happy to read your book. Please email it to me.

C: you don't have to sign up to the mailing list, that's for any new guys. I want to promote book bloggers more, so I will ask you to submit your banner and maybe a one-sentence tag/pitch for the Participating Bloggers page.

With the new design, I plan to offer a prize for the winner, say $50 in exchange for the source files. That way I will be able to modify them and save them in multiple resolutions.

I definitely agree with using the same banner year after year, and it might just be that the current one reins supreme. Still, I thought it would be a good idea to run the contest and see if we can get something amazing done. Once we choose that "amazing", only the dates will change.

Haha! Anything is possible, but it will be up to voting by authors to decide :-)

Hi, everyone, just wanted to mention that donation is optional, and that everyone has two options for bumping up their books or blog (I will start a page featuring Participating Blogs). You can either contribute money, that will go towards ads, or contribute by posting reviews (I will make it a rule that only reviews or review/interview combos will count, as that's what authors need most of all).

I am thinking of another Saturday-to-Saturday inclusive, 8 days? Perhaps 14-21 January? There will also be a contest to design the new banner, so stay tuned for that!

Thanks again, Jackson :-)

Hahaha! I think them erotica writers have the whole year...no, just thinking of directing some attention away from the bare-chested male book covers and towards the funny ones.

Thank you again guys - the event so far cost me $150 and about 200 hours, so your help is very much appreciated.

I've had several requests to hold the next event sooner than a year, so I'm thinking mid-January. I've also given some thought to how to reward those who have contributed either financially, or by posting a review, or both - I will post on the website once I have it figured out, but the main idea is such: if you have posted at least one book review, your own book gets bumped up to the top of the Participating Book List. The more reviews, the higher up you go. Those who have donated actual money, will be at the very top, and a donation of $25 or over will get you a side banner. If I get enough to cover the costs, I will invest the rest into Twitter and Google ads.

Wow, thank you, Portia, Lisa, and Vicki, for donating! I have bumped up Portia's and Lisa's books, and will bump up books of those who were super active in reviewing and interviewing. Thank you all again!

That's really cool and a bit unusual, not a static interview. I will be doing a podcast with Drae about the event in early August, looking forward to that.

Thank you all so much :-) Very exciting, all of it, and sky's the limit - it's all about comedy, so perhaps we can try out-of-the-box things. Wrangle some of the market share from erotica!!

Aww, thank you so much, Matthew! Means a lot - it has been a big investment in time and money for me, and it's awesome to know that it has made a difference :-)

So many great ideas, so little time...

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ana-s...

Blog: http://anaspoke.com/

https://twitter.com/spokeana?lang=en

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ana-Spoke/e/B01...

I would call mine Action and Adventure, although me thinks I might have invented "dude-lit". Must have something to do with all the guns and limo chases...

Haha, I'm awake now. I have contacted about 100 bloggers with the general announcement of the event, but I've learned that 1) they usually need 3+ months notice and 2) it helps to have an official-looking website, which I did not have at the time.

The plan for next year is to assemble a list of bloggers in the first 5-6 months, while collecting participating books, then blast bloggers in January-March.

I have posted on a couple of Goodreads groups and I think a couple of people came across that way - will be more of that.

Haha, Maggie! That would be a perfectly suited pic!!