Writing Journey
Viewing comments for Chapter 12 "YouTube Shorts"Help with writing, mine and yours.
25 total reviews
Comment from Gypsy Blue Rose
Hello, Barbara, thank you for sharing your personal experience with your publisher and editors.
I would be furious too. Why are you pain them for? Perhaps you should pay the AI. LoL
I'm not an expert, but to me a short is a summary of your novels.
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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Hello, Barbara, thank you for sharing your personal experience with your publisher and editors.
I would be furious too. Why are you pain them for? Perhaps you should pay the AI. LoL
I'm not an expert, but to me a short is a summary of your novels.
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I'm trying to come up with ideas that can resolve this issue. They attempted to do the entire story, though it was wrong, in a couple of minutes. I'm wondering if maybe a scene from the story wouldn't be better.
Comment from estory
I haven't gotten into marketing much yet, my book is released for just about a month. When I had my book edited, they gave the job to an anonymous editor I knew only at the end by first name. She did stick in notes along with her suggestions, wrote me her opinion on the book overall when she was done. But of course I don't really know if it was an AI job or not. I haven't been asked to do a script of the book, Westbow is supposed to have a marketing company named Lavinge call me about a press release, a Kirkus book review, an ad campaign and a publicist. They have asked me to attend various book events around the country, but it is too expensive for me to consider. estory
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I haven't gotten into marketing much yet, my book is released for just about a month. When I had my book edited, they gave the job to an anonymous editor I knew only at the end by first name. She did stick in notes along with her suggestions, wrote me her opinion on the book overall when she was done. But of course I don't really know if it was an AI job or not. I haven't been asked to do a script of the book, Westbow is supposed to have a marketing company named Lavinge call me about a press release, a Kirkus book review, an ad campaign and a publicist. They have asked me to attend various book events around the country, but it is too expensive for me to consider. estory
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I have my own editor who I hire independently because I don't like the editing my publisher's team does. In many cases they are completely wrong. But they still do it. Publishing the easy part, marketing is the hard part.
Comment from Terry Broxson
Barbara, I have several shorts on YouTube that supported Christmas books I was involved in publishing for the last two years. The publisher I used did not have anything to do the shorts. I know the editor read the book, but I doubt anyone else involved with the publisher did.
For the last book, an anthology comprised of FS members' stories, we had the expertise of Lee Hill (aka Humpwhistle), whose professional experience included a long tenure as a creative ad director for an advertising agency.
The bottom line for us was not so much that the videos reflected the book's contents but instead focused on a "Hook" that might get the viewer interested in the book. The hook might be something humorous or unique to the book or the writers, in our case.
In short, we didn't try to describe the ingredients that went into making the meal, but we tried to tempt the reader with a promise of how wonderful the meal would be.
We also used our authors in our videos. It was fun for the authors and added a personal touch to the video.
Good luck and much success! Terry.
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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Barbara, I have several shorts on YouTube that supported Christmas books I was involved in publishing for the last two years. The publisher I used did not have anything to do the shorts. I know the editor read the book, but I doubt anyone else involved with the publisher did.
For the last book, an anthology comprised of FS members' stories, we had the expertise of Lee Hill (aka Humpwhistle), whose professional experience included a long tenure as a creative ad director for an advertising agency.
The bottom line for us was not so much that the videos reflected the book's contents but instead focused on a "Hook" that might get the viewer interested in the book. The hook might be something humorous or unique to the book or the writers, in our case.
In short, we didn't try to describe the ingredients that went into making the meal, but we tried to tempt the reader with a promise of how wonderful the meal would be.
We also used our authors in our videos. It was fun for the authors and added a personal touch to the video.
Good luck and much success! Terry.
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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Thank you for the detailed response. As I read the script if there was a hook, it was misleading. But now when my publisher calls, after my heated response in an e-mail, I understand better which direction I need to guide him.
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Barbara if you look at our website, www.12newchristmasstories.com, you can see all of our videos including the shorts. It might give you an idea.
I would also add that during our social media campaign on Amazon, YouTube, FB, and others, we had almost 2 million views or impressions from seeing the videos. But, and it's a big but, I cannot tell you if any of those videos, views, or impressions sold one book. We just don't know.
The effort is that one of the shorts or videos will go viral and catch the imagination of the book buying public. It's fickle and hard to do.
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I went over and watched the videos. You've given me some great ideas. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm feeling but more confident in what I expect.
Comment from Karen Cherry
They need to read the whole novel and then edit chapter by chapter. And people not A. I. A. I. can check spelling, and certain grammar mistakes, but any editing for form or content must only be done by humans. And, you should have direct access to whomever is editing your work and deal with them one on one. Karen
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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They need to read the whole novel and then edit chapter by chapter. And people not A. I. A. I. can check spelling, and certain grammar mistakes, but any editing for form or content must only be done by humans. And, you should have direct access to whomever is editing your work and deal with them one on one. Karen
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I do have direct access. This is also why I hire a private editor. I want my novels to be as clean as possible.
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I have never read a story that did not have an error. :-)
Comment from Wendy G
I think you either need to change your publisher, or write your own shorts. Their service is in fact not a service at all. I doubt they have taken the time to read your work, and I feel you are simply being used as a source of income. I hope you can get some changes happening.
Best wishes.
Wendy
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I think you either need to change your publisher, or write your own shorts. Their service is in fact not a service at all. I doubt they have taken the time to read your work, and I feel you are simply being used as a source of income. I hope you can get some changes happening.
Best wishes.
Wendy
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I will fight for my novels. The last contact I told him was about to forget this project.
Comment from lyenochka
Good for you, Barbara! It sounds like they are not being honest with you or that they are being paid a lot more than your Fanstory fans for reading your novels! You have a right to ask that question and hold them accountable to represent your novels accurately!
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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Good for you, Barbara! It sounds like they are not being honest with you or that they are being paid a lot more than your Fanstory fans for reading your novels! You have a right to ask that question and hold them accountable to represent your novels accurately!
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I do have direct access. This is also why I hire a private editor. I want my novels to be as clean as possible. The last contact I told him was about to forget this project. I appreciate the support.
Comment from Carol Hillebrenner
I have no clue. I wish I was far enough along in my career as you, but I may never get that far. If the shorts are only rather like your stories when read, maybe they are just clickbait. I thought they were supposed to be something like the blurb on the back of paperbacks. I would be interested in the answers to this question if anyone really knows.
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I have no clue. I wish I was far enough along in my career as you, but I may never get that far. If the shorts are only rather like your stories when read, maybe they are just clickbait. I thought they were supposed to be something like the blurb on the back of paperbacks. I would be interested in the answers to this question if anyone really knows.
Comment Written 06-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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That's an interesting idea. I haven't heard it put that way before. I will just that.
Comment from judiverse
I had to read up about shorts. That they are usually under 1000 words would be a problem, I think. Hard to get in the essentials in that limited number of words. Still, they should accurately represent the content of your novel. Reminds me of an episode of Murder She Wrote. A movie was being made of Jessica's novel, the screenwriter wanted to change everything about it. I notice you mentioned editors reading your work. If there are too many mice running across your pages, no wonder there's a problem. They may even have conflicting ideas about your content. If there an editor, maybe you could express your concerns to that person. Maybe it's an indication they want you to make changes. I've never been through this process, but it sounds like quite a hassle. Best of luck getting things straightened out. judi
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I had to read up about shorts. That they are usually under 1000 words would be a problem, I think. Hard to get in the essentials in that limited number of words. Still, they should accurately represent the content of your novel. Reminds me of an episode of Murder She Wrote. A movie was being made of Jessica's novel, the screenwriter wanted to change everything about it. I notice you mentioned editors reading your work. If there are too many mice running across your pages, no wonder there's a problem. They may even have conflicting ideas about your content. If there an editor, maybe you could express your concerns to that person. Maybe it's an indication they want you to make changes. I've never been through this process, but it sounds like quite a hassle. Best of luck getting things straightened out. judi
Comment Written 05-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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This is also why I hire a private editor. I want my novels to be as clean as possible. The last contact I told my publisher was about to forget this project. I appreciate the support.
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You already have gained recognition. Maybe you could think of self-publishing. judi
Comment from Iza Deleanu
I think what they are doing with your shorts are indeed click bites, they take a word, a moment, and create a new story around it to create traffic and ignite interest, which we can admit in a way is a deceiving politic for the reader/customer. Thank you for sharing and good luck.
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I think what they are doing with your shorts are indeed click bites, they take a word, a moment, and create a new story around it to create traffic and ignite interest, which we can admit in a way is a deceiving politic for the reader/customer. Thank you for sharing and good luck.
Comment Written 05-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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Thank you for your ideas. I appreciate them.
Comment from Debbie D'Arcy
I wish I could help or advise, Barbara, but this is one of the reasons I would never want to get into the rigmarole of publishing. I wouldn't feel able to trust any of them doing their job properly, I'm afraid. Best of luck. I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice here though. Take care Debbie
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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I wish I could help or advise, Barbara, but this is one of the reasons I would never want to get into the rigmarole of publishing. I wouldn't feel able to trust any of them doing their job properly, I'm afraid. Best of luck. I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice here though. Take care Debbie
Comment Written 05-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 06-Feb-2025
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One definitely needs to stand up for themselves. That's for sure. Thank you for the support.
