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Beta-Reader Update #5
So, my second beta-reader has given me some quick, general feedback. The most significant one being that I need to axe some adverbs. It appears that I’ve overused several and need to cut a bunch out. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. Adverbs like clearly, obviously, actually were frequent and numerous, and I’ve cut out…
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Beta-Reader Update #5
So, my second beta-reader has given me some quick, general feedback. The most significant one being that I need to axe some adverbs. It appears that I’ve overused several and need to cut a bunch out. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. Adverbs like clearly, obviously, actually were frequent and numerous, and I’ve cut out…
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Writing My Book Blurb…
My novel is now in the hands of my second beta-reader. While I’m taking another step away from the manuscript I’ve decided it’s time to start working on the book blurb/description. Which has been a lot harder than I thought. I started a couple weeks ago, and my first attempt was shared with a private…
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A Little Advice From Jon Rance
As readers of this blog know, I’ve been posting regular updates of the writing and editing process of my novel Not Famous. I’ve recently had a beta-reader give me her thoughts, and following her comments and input, I made some tweaks and trimmed out more than 10,000 words from the manuscript to tighten things up…
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Post-Beta-Reader Editing Part 2
A few days ago I reported that I was editing my novel with the goal of reducing the nearly 109,000 word manuscript down to less than 100,000. Today I can report that I succeeded in that goal. After two passes of edits, the manuscript went from 108,952 words to 98,727 — a reduction of 10,225…
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Post-Beta-Reader Editing Part 1
Well, I’ve been keeping busy since getting all the feedback from my beta-reader on my novel Not Famous. As I mentioned before, I got some great feedback, and I’ve already started going through the comments in the manuscript, making suggested changes. In addition to some editorial tweaks suggested by the beta-reader, I was advised to…
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Beta-Reader Update #4
Well, my beta-reader has finished her review of Not Famous. My beta-reader gave me a lot of insightful and useful criticism. I’d love to share it all with you, but some of it reveals some key plot points and I don’t want to share spoilers… but she did complimented the the “excellent story” and “strong…
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Beta-Reader Update #3
Well, my beta-reader is now about sixty percent through Not Famous. Today I got some useful critiques that I have to work on. All of them center around issues she has with the main character Nick. She says he’s “jealous and self-centered sometimes” but she’s noted areas where I can easily tone it down. His…
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Is My Novel Funny Enough To Be Lad-Lit?
This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a while. Now that the first draft of my novel Not Famous is complete, I’m choosing to revisit it. One common description of lad-lit is that is contain a lot of humor. Lots of lad-lit I’ve read is definitely meant to make you laugh-out-loud. If we go…
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Considering My Cover Design
Lately, I’ve been having second thoughts about my book’s cover design. I love it. Completely. One-hundred percent. But, as I’ve been considering how to market my book, I’ve been wondering if the approach I chose might hurt the book. The cover as it is now, is a photographic cover featuring the main character’s love interest…
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