Long Tale Press

There is a fairly recent excerpt that has climbed the charts at break-neck speeds. I think you all know to which I'm referring. It wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't amazing enough to receive all the five-star ratings that it did. For me, this is one of the drawbacks in Long Tale's review process--that so many of the reviews are by friends and family of the writer and therefore lack objectivity. Because of this, a very mediocre excerpt can earn 100 points quite quickly and easily.

I think your idea is a good one. Yes, reaching 100 points even for a submission that has received very positive reviews seems impossible. I've had YOU'RE SO VAIN...on the site for well over six months and even though most of the reviews have been encouraging, only 19 people have reviewed it so far. So actually, your getting 13 in such a short time is quite good. I'm the typical writer who lives a rather solitary life. I don't have tons of friends, so I have to depend on the members of this site. Usually, what happens is that friends of a particular writer will join just to review that writer's submission. Once they've done that, they rarely return. Anyway, good luck to you, Christinec. You are definitely talented.

First, I would like to express that I am in no way related to, a member of, or someone conjoined to the staff here. I'm just trying to provide an answer from the best of my own knowledge. With that said, I'll help as best I can. :)

Only the points count towards publishing. The star rating is meant to give an author a feel of how a person reacted to their story. If you have a 4.5 average in the premise category, then your story idea is really good. If however you have a 1.0 average in your writing category, then your writing might need some work.

Unfortunately, the 0.0 grades can mess with your averages, distorting this self-view, but if you're like me, you look at each individual grade and would see a string of 0 stars as someone who didn't understand the review system.

The problem is exactly as Jan expresses it. Few writers stick around long. They come in with a full head of steam, review the recent works, then drop off the planet when they realize the process takes forever.

Is 100 too high of a bar? The recent debacle says no, as Long Tale would have been stuck publishing a novel because someone had a lot of friends willing to log in - and my eyes detected that there might have been multiple logins from the same person.

The problem lies in the fact that no one is doing any serious reviewing of each others work. I admit, I hung in for quite a while, reviewing everyone, before finally giving up. There just aren't enough living souls around here to keep the pot stirred, which means we are in need of an incentive program to keep people reviewing.

The old ... you got to give reviews to receive them ploy probably wouldn't work well, as then members would feel compelled to give flowery reviews with the hope of receiving the same in return, and this would lead to inflated scores.

However, I do have an idea ... The front page shows the last couple of stories posted. As a rule, these get the reviews from each new member. So ... Why not pepper into that list the stories of the top three reviewers? No one would be forced to perform reviews, but there would be an incentive for doing so. As it stands, the current list directs the focus to new authors, taking it away from them as others join. I think this is the biggest reason why many authors are stuck around 10 points, as by then they become part of the forgotten.

Those who want to provide reviews would get more visibility, but that improved visibility would not guarantee them more points - just a better chance at more reviews.

The biggest problem with the current system is that it depends on independent readers to come in, read the beginning of a story, and then vote on it. Consider the reader's point of view. If they have no invested interest in any of the authors, then what's in it for them? Say they are just curious and read a really good book ... do they get to read on? Afraid not, and that's a good thing, as none of us would want more than an excerpt in public domain.

Therefore, it's left for the authors to decide who inevitably gets published, and lately, the authors are finding little reason to stick around. Me? I check in here and there hoping to see more activity, but I am inevitably disappointed. A shame, as I have revised my work several times and I think it's shaping up to be a great work. Many of the revisions came from responses I received here, but all in vain, as no one knew is left to review those changes. I'm certain others are in the same boat.

Fact is, I would love to see the greatest novel hit this site, then dare the excerpt to go it all the way. Even the won that did make it, did so because of support from a previous readership base. Not to say it wasn't justified to win - it was - but without that readership base, would it have had a chance? Only with more readers ...

I still do an eye for an eye - reviewing anyone who reviews me. If we all did the same, then things would flow much better. However, I can't ask others to come back knowing the discontent they left here with. It's left to the few remaining to find a way to path in the life needed to morph this exercise in futility to the possible testimony to a new way of authorship - and I fear there already might be too few candles to light the spark needed.

I feel awful for being the pessimist, but I was one of those authors who dove headfirst into this jello. The statement made was 'bring in your family and friends', but I would have none of that. Why? I want to be judged by my peers and my readers, so I know where I truly stand. I know grammy loves me and my friends think I write the best stuff. They love me, but I question how much of that is a testimony to any actual skill. Among my peers and readers I get the turth, and that's what I seek - for if I am ever to sell my book, I want it to be the one people are waiting for and not the one grammy and my friends look forward to so as to feed my shattered ego.

Jan, I have known you here for awhile, and I always knew you would remain on, as does Cloister, in the shadows. We're survivors, perhaps not knowledgeable enough to realize we languish in the belly of a beast. Still, I have a hope, and I know you do too. Perhaps our perseverance will pay off in the end. Until then, hope is all that remains...

The spoken lasts but a moment; the written lasts forever.

An eye for an eye - I always read those who read mine. :)

The spoken lasts but a moment; the written lasts forever.

Does anyone from admin ever check these discussion boards? Or look at the reviews or keep tabs on what's going on on the site? I put up a question in another board, no answer on that yet...

Tiktaalik