Peer review websites for budding authors

Paradise?

Has anyone out there, or any budding novel writers in any case, ever tried the various peer review websites online?  I am finding the system absolutely exasperating!!  The two websites I know are;  'You Write On'  http://www.youwriteon.com/  (click here), and , 'Authonomy' http://www.authonomy.com/ (click here).  Both sites are sponsored by major publishers (Authonomy - Harper Collins, You Write On - various publishers Orion and Random House)

The idea is that you join the website, upload the opening chapters of your book, or the equivalent of around 6,000 words, then start exchanging reviews in order to gain credits for your book so that it can then get 'ranked' in relation to all of the others that have been uploaded by budding writers on the same site. 

The Authonomy system I discounted on the basis that it seems to be more of a popularity/marketing contest.  From what I understand (after reading quite a few forums on the topic), you have to campaign like crazy among all the other members who are signed up on the Authonomy site, plus all the friends and family that you can muster to join too, even the vaguest Facebook acquaintances - then get them all to review your story.  If you get lots of reviews, then you get to the top of the list.  I thought this was biased.  What if I don't have any friends?

I decided on signing up for http://www.youwriteon.com/ because it seemed like more of a fair system.  You review somebody else's work, rate their chapters for theme, dialogue, character, pace of story etc. from one to five, write a review of at least 100 words, then undertake to do a short comprehension test (just to make sure you haven't cheated).  This way you earn a 'reading credit'.  This credit is then allocated to a 'peer' who does the same for you.  Once you have 8 reviews, you wait in anticipation to see if you have made it into the coveted 'Top Ten' position.  If you have - then perhaps the holy grail beckons!  Your chapters will be reviewed by a professional publisher or agent.  No promises mind, but this could be a stepping stone to publication, wealth, fortune, adulation - okay - I admit that I'm getting carried away here!

In fact it's the second time that I've put myself through this most tortuous of  'You Write On' processes.  The first time I wrote a fiction book.  Some people loved it (heart leaps with joy) others - not so much (heart sinks...despair).  I wound up with a rating of 3.7 stars out of a maximum 5.  Not enough to get myself into the top ten, methinks.  So I gave up.  About 2 years later I return, (just picture an enthusiastic puppy with newspaper in mouth) - to upload my next attempt. 

A major reason for re-embarking on the You Write On site again, was because I sent out my sample chapters to a publisher (Harper Collins) and two agents (Conville & Walsh and Caroline Sheldon) recently and got rejections.

So - it went something like this; the first two You Write On reviews are pretty upbeat.  I'm encouraged.  3 and 4 were more 'so, so'.  But review number 5 was the ultimate in writer's dressing down.  A detailed analysis of what failed, what didn't work.  "you have a great story hidden somewhere here but...." then comes a hugely long list of problems.  My star rating this time was 3.9 - still significantly better than last time, however, I couldn't stop thinking about what 'Malcolm' had said, and decided to review my chapters - re-upload them and all over start again with the rating system - hopefully attaining something in the '4 point somethings' which might even get me into the top 10?!  (However, as far as I know, there's no way of telling how many 'stars' the current top ten book submissions were awarded - so am not sure how many you need to qualify).

Now don't forget, time is running out.  It was a gamble.  I'd have to start from scratch, reviewing other people's work like crazy in order to get enough credits to qualify for 'ranking' at the end of the month.  Undeterred I changed the chapters, keeping Malcolm's comments in mind - then started all over again - doing reviews of other people's work - banking credits, waiting for peer reviews (notifications are emailed through to you).  Plus I rated everyone else work pretty highly (the standard is pretty high), then I kick myself realising that perhaps by doing so, I'm scuppering my chances!  Is everyone else realising this too then marking others down?

By the way, the YouWriteOn reviewing system is both draining and time consuming.  From bitter experience, I can tell you that there's nothing worse than rating a book, writing a review, then failing the reading test because the questions set by the author are too obscure.  Zero credits banked, two hours wasted.  I now painstakingly copy all the manuscripts into Word on my computer, so that I can refer back to the chapters in question and therefore pass the reading test that might have asked;
"Was 'Sarah' Maggie's....great aunt, step aunt, aged aunt or granny?" 
Meanwhile, you're thinking, Sarah was just old, I forget what kind of relation she was to Maggie - I still think it's a good story though!! 
So you get the picture.

Again, the reviewed chapters were initially doing okay, and I was encouraged.  First two reviews - great!  second, not so enthusiastic 'there's a great story hidden in here' (I've been here before!), fourth - pretty bloody nit-picking if you don't mind me saying so.  To add insult to injury - after 4 reviews I find that my star rating for the revised manuscript has dropped to 3.6!!!!  Worst ever rating so far!!  I am actually dropping instead of climbing the charts.  Oh dear.  Disaster.

I've also hit on a problem.  I'm getting used to taking criticism on the nose and I hope I'm not being too egotistical here - but, through bitter experience, I've found that it's the men who are most critical of all and bring my ratings down - but my book is clearly targeted for women - so hang on a minute, what's happening here?!  What women readers might describe as 'atmospheric' or 'evocative' men will describe as 'a lot of unnecessary detail that detracts from the story.' 

It's all heartbreaking I can tell you.  Am close to giving up.  Who wants to write a silly old book anyway?! 

I love the quote: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  Then quit.  No use being a damn fool about it."  WC Fields, quoted in The Guardian.
If you want to have a look and see what you think, then you'll find my chapters here under 'Another Day in Paradise' by Africa Expat.  (click on the link below to read sample chapters).

http://youwriteon.com/books/samplechapters.aspx?bookguid=36fff27f-51b4-4eab-8bb3-d1914ab4aef3

Social Media - a veritable mine field!

A minefield

   

So – last week I went to a conference/training day on social media in attempt to drag myself into something resembling a 21st century engaged person.  But knowledge can be a dangerous thing; I emerged after 9 hours of intensive hotel conferencing, in the ballroom no less – wondering where the day had gone (it was dusk) and worse, having developed a strong craving for an expensive iphone 4.

It’s ironic because only the day before I’d been happy with my Nokia. I could read my emails on it, make calls, surf the internet (slowly) and access all my contact information. But then I learned that with an iphone 4 I could be doing so much more! Downloading zillions of apps, experiencing the impossibly cool new iphone barcodes that appear on brochures, menus and things, creating my own photo tours on ‘Trover’, filming then easily uploading funky video clips from the phone onto my blog – or Facebook page if I had one - (using iloader and imovie), enjoying ‘location based services’ city tours with 3d maps, ‘this way’ arrows, tags, restaurant reviews and information popping up on my screen as I go. Sigh.

The training was actually targeted really at those in the tourism business who need to make their online presence felt, who today are compelled to deal with sites like TripAdvisor –  the conference was organised by these guys: http://www.e-tourismfrontiers.com/ but I tooled along in my ‘private’ capacity because I thought it might be interesting. I hoped my cover wouldn't be blown, that the 150 other professional delegates wouldn’t identify me as a sad old interloper/gatecrasher with a highly spurious agenda, 'a blogger' in other words.

Uploading all that information into my brain was mind boggling, however, now that I’ve had a few days to let it all sink in I think I can convey a little of what I learned. Apologies if I’ve got some of it wrong... I’m still learning!

Shall I tell you all my secrets? Well, here we go, here's a little of what I learned:

Social networking - If you are selling anything, then you'd be nuts not to engage.

Facebook – join groups to do mass messaging and create ‘events’ to promote stuff.  Facebook currently has 500 million users.

Twitter – an online chatroom. –‘#fail’ means that you are not happy with something. To compress long web links to keep within your 140 character limit, use the website ‘Bit.ly’

Blogs – An extra tip I learned was to use Tumblr or Zapd to upload mini blogs from you mobile phone.

Viral media advertising – youtube clips that ‘go viral’ ie. they are so popular that they spread worldwide very quickly.

Funnies like this:

(this could be an advert for shampoo - got us all fooled?)

and this......

Flashmobs – People doing unusual things in public settings, hoping that passersby will record it on their mobile phones then upload it onto the internet.  It’s less crazy that you think.  Check out this, an ad for Beirut Airport's duty free shop:

UGC – User generated content is: online reviews, uploaded photos and video clips, blogs.  This is what anyone who is selling anything wants to inspire since it's free advertising, but it can also backfire.

 

This country and western singer had his guitar broken by United Airlines luggage handlers in the States.  After persuing a claim for more than a year for compensation and getting nowhere, he created this song. It been viewed online over 10.5 million times.

Creating a website

• Make sure you make usability a priority (ie the navigation is correct), then think about search engine visibility and only finally – design (this is the least important aspect).
• Put the most key information ‘above the fold’ on your webpage – ie, don’t make people scroll down.
• The average number of user clicks on a website is 3 – then you’ve lost them. Use Google Analytics to work out not just how they got to you, but when you lose them and where they are going next.
• Use hyper-links in your text to help navigate between pages. Make sure the longer title below your website name explains what it is all about in clearly defined search terms.
• Label photographs with a names/captions etc. To help search-ability of your site. (ie don’t just leave IMG-2543.jpg). Keep your photos on online sites like Picasa, Flickr, Photobox – this also helps with your web presence. Make sure your photos are reduced in size.
• I now know about the importance of inbound links since they drive 85% of search ranking.
• Make sure there is a ‘Like’ button visible so that people can respond by pressing this or commenting. Also, put a Facebook icon up there too.
• RSS feeds – people with RSS reader can be alerted when your page changes.
• Mange your own website, don't rely on techies to do it for you since you are the one with the interest.

Search engines – A virtual ‘spider’ searches for text match, relevance, recent updates, popularity and inbound links then ranks your site accordingly

• Avoid Splash pages – the spider cannot see past these.
• Avoid ‘Black hat’ strategies to optimise search results such as laying under your site a page of key search words in ‘invisible’ white, or paying for somebody in India to keep clicking on your site a zillion times a day in order for it to creep up search ranking results. (frowned upon and sometimes rumbled by Google who will then make your site obsolete).
• Use landing pages for promotions etc.

I'm ashamed to say that there was so much more but I have to admit, I'm running out of steam.

So now it seems that Africa expat should sign up for Facebook and Twitter at the very least, launch a new 'search optimised' Africa Expat Wives Club.com site (on it).  I should certainly use more multi-media in my blogs and fewer words/less bulky text and also update more often.  But are there enough hours in the day I ask you!!??

You might, like me, want to run and hide from the whole social media revolution but the bad news is that it's happening - and it's not going away!

Downton Abbey - in Kenya. House staff.

Downton Abbey - series one

I have been watching Downton Abbey with my husband - a very popular British period drama/tv series set just after the turn of the century, pre-first world war (1912 ish ), about a grand English country house.  My sister gave me the box set of Series 1.  Each episode is based on a story woven around the dynamic between 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' in a grand house, ie. the family and their army of staff, butlers, housemaids, cooks, footmen with sub plots involving strange house guests, inheritance issues, women's suffrage (okay, I've only watched a few episodes so far).  I love the buccaneer American wife who brought money to the family and the corridor creeping antics.

Part of the charm of the series is the fact that you know that living like this in such grand style was tottering on the edge of a precipice at that time, the whole of British society was about to be knocked sideways by the first World War and would never be the same again - probably a good thing.  But nonetheless Downton Abbey is all great escapism, especially for Sunday night viewing.

I love the costumes, the big house (filmed at Highclere Castle) - the fact that the camera allows you the viewer to roam all over it - up inside the the staff attics, across the gardens and into the lady of the house's bedroom.  The series recalls an age of when the very rich spent days with nothing much to do - meanwhile everybody else worked their fingers to the bone to ensure that they could retain their elevated lifestyle.

Harold Nicolson, a biographer of King George, said about his king:
'He is all right as a gay young midshipman. he may be all right as a wise old king.  But the intervening period when he was Duke of York is hard to swallow.... for 17 years he did nothing but kill animals and stick in stamps.'

Downton Abbey portrays a very sympathetic understanding between the Lord of the manor (Robert, Earl of Grantham) and his staff and tenants - whereby there is loyalty on both sides and they all look out for each other.  While it makes for unchallenging, feel good viewing, I fear that this may be an idealist's view.  I find it slightly hard to suspend my disbelief that the lord of the manor would be so nice, or that the whole family would interact with (talk to) their staff, on some occasions, almost as friends and equals - although of course this is how it should be - I'm not convinced that this was actually how it was in reality back then.

I'll probably be strung up for saying this but some themes resonate for expats living in Kenya.  For instance, overseas visitors arrive and see you have full-time staff working in your home, then they often draw some entirely independent conclusions - such as; you don't have to lift a finger in your own house - you are waited on hand and foot - you live in a bubble, removed from reality.  In fact the truth is far different. 

Most expats, foreigners or white kenyans who live in Kenya have a close relationship with those people they employ, cleaners, cooks, security guards, gardeners, that is on a par with Robert, Earl of Grantham, Lord of Downton Abbey, especially when they have been living here for a long time.  Quite honestly, (and you might think me deluded to say this) but if you haven't got that two way relationship going, then you probably should have.  For instance, I wouldn't expect someone to take my plate to the kitchen for me.  I make tea for my staff as much as they make tea for me and I would always give a tip for a job done well.

The Earl of Grantham is a great role model.  He too was painfully aware of the pitfalls of society, the disparity of wealth and the conditions many people live with day-to-day.  Today, you try to help employees and their families when they are in trouble due to the lack of a welfare system in Kenya, you appreciate one another for help provided (this runs both ways) and are sympathetic to one anothers' needs.  Occasionally, when things go wrong, you feel that it would be easier to have no employees, (in the West you could have a hassle free cleaner for a few hours a week, where you leave cash in an envelope and hardly even have to learn their name) but you reaslise that refusing to employ people in Kenya is currently no solution and not a help to anyone.  Though one day, there may come a time when this practise changes - God willing.

Robert, Earl of Grantham, makes the point in the Downton Abbey series succinctly.

When a young upstart arrives and wishes to dispense with the butler he has been allocated - because, as a modern, independent man, he feels he can do the job better himself - the Earl, Robert says something along the lines of (and I am para-phrasing here);

'Would you do a good man out of a job just because you perceive him to be superfluous?  He's been doing that job all his life.  How do you think that makes him feel?  How do you imagine his family would manage if you dispense with his services?'

Actor Hugh Bonneville - Robert, Earl of Grantham

The second series is currently being filmed with a backdrop of World War 1 this time.

P.s.  Last Wednesday our power lines got re-routed!!  Finally!  The KPLC truck came while I was out on a school run and apparently did the job in an hour.  Watch, as I fall down in a dead faint!  It's only taken 8 months since our original application.  Apparently we still have to make a complaint about the high price charged using their official complaints procedure.  I was worried that if they did the job then I wouldn't have a leg to stand on re cost, but they assured me that this was not the case.  I am sure it is all thanks to this blog that anything happened in the end!  Thanks Kevin!

Feeling rattled - children's school exams - that time of year again

It's the dreaded EXAM time of year again for our eldest.  She is eleven (today).  I can see this situation only steadily worsening since I have three children, the younger ones will soon have to do exams too, and as each year passes, the 'exams' (didn't they call them tests in my day?) get ever more serious.

The question is, how best for parents to tackle this thorny issue?  Camps are divided.

1.  Make sure they do the revision, offer incentives (TV, pizza, cinema, trip to the shops) but don't get involved in the actual work.
2.  Don't get remotely involved either in encouraging revision or your micro-managing child's workload.
3.  Hire a tutor. (the school protest that they hate it when parents do this... but do they?)
4.  Get heavily involved, revisit your own childhood and go step-by-step through all the books testing your child until you both emerge screaming wrecks.

I prefer the first option - but many covertly adopt the third which makes the playing field a little uneven don't you think?  We all are guilty of dabbling in number 4 when time allows - help!  Last January, mid year exams, were a case in point.  2 weekends of endless testing and shooting questions at our daughter (plus parental in fighting over what really was the answer to question number 5) nearly translated into catastrophic family meltdown.  It is panic attack inducing.

I wonder if our poor eldest will ever emerge a balanced human being?

For past weeks, all the parental playground talk is 'revision'.  Worse, when your child goes to school in Kenya, many parents tend to beef up their offspring's credentials, imagining they are all in line for top scholarships to UK Independent schools (after all, how could we ever afford it otherwise?).  It's nuts, but true.

Our eldest is not what you might call 'scholarship material' but she does okay bouncing along the middle, plenty of friends, no learning difficulties that we know of etc.  On balance, we are very lucky.  I imagine that if she was scholarship material we would have been summonsed into a huddle by some key teaching staff by now, who might have been ready to propose a plan of action - secret extra lessons etc.  If we had selected a UK private secondary school for the next stage and done organised things like 'put names down', we might already be talking 'tactics' to get through individual entrance exams.  But no, we continue to make like an ostrich and keep our heads in the sand.

Sigh.

Then there are the 'extras' designed to portray your small darling as a genuine 'all rounder' to the eyes of the world.  With extra curricular interests comes more competition.  Music exams, speech and drama exams, riding contests, dance grades.  Don't get me wrong, we are horribly guilty.  Because our eldest is not particularly sporty or musical and hates horses, she spends an hour or two on saturdays doing dance (she does actually enjoys this... I think...) and she is also about to take her third London School of Speech and Drama exam (still level one curiously) - which requires so much parental input that quite honestly, it seems like a total scam to me... though the teacher said last week LAMDA points can count toward university you know?!? (or something along those lines).

Parents this week have abandoned the school bus, preferring to drive their ten and eleven year olds into school in order to make doubly sure that they arrive at the school gates on time.  Our daughter was the only year 6 braving Nairobi traffic on the bus this morning... and it was her birthday - they joy was that she didn't mind very much - I am so proud of her!

Note to self: must go to bed every night repeating the mantra:

'I do not care what other people do, I have my child's best interests at heart.  Do not bow to peer pressure, do not buckle, do not fold...and by the way - you have your own life to live....or rather....just get a life!'


On a cheerier note -

KPLC turned up today, I think as a result of following up on the blog comment I received from Kevin at KPLC customer service!!  Wonders will never cease.  They are doing the work of re-routing our power lines tomorrow, but still the issue of us stupidly/ridiculously overpaying for the work is not resolved.  They said, 'file a complaint, there are channels you can follow - but let's just get the work done.'  We are all too weary to argue.  I felt a bit sorry for the 3 chaps that turned up because they looked a bit scruffy and down at heel.  It would seem that Samuel Gichuru took all the KPLC profits to Jersey leaving an impoverished work force - roll on his extradition to face money laundering charged in UK.


Continuing along the theme of sticking my nose into other people's lives: I also took my house help's daughter down to the new beauty salon to be interviewed as an intern today (..the one who is interested in following a career in hair and beauty).  She got quite a grilling from the owners' I can tell you! She was shy too which was a little awkward, but not surprising in the circumstances.  I had to stop myself from answering all the questions for her! Anyway, there's a job there if she wants it, let's hope she's willing to put in the hard work/long hours required to get her foot in the door.  At least they offered to pay her bus fare and possibly give her a 'bonus' if she works hard.  Watch this space.

Aid is not helping Africa

Thanks for the comments on the Daily Mail article.  I do not mean to offend, of course Aid in some forms can be a great help, however (promise I won't go on doing this), the following letter to the Times in UK, sent by someone who describes himself as 'a one-time adviser to the Government on aid to Africa' - makes the point well.  There is a difference between government aid and what he calls successful micro-projects - but I think that accountability across the board is still lacking, whether it be money raised from Live Aid or elsewhere.

Obviously the letter is very much written from a UK perspective where public spending cuts are really starting to bite.  Anyway, here it is.

Aid is not helping Africa

As a one-time adviser to the Government on aid to Africa, I much regret to say that the vast amounts of aid being given to corrupt and incompetent African governments in the form of unauditable annual grants is now doing more harm than good.

We are all familiar with the damage that centrally determined targets have done to our health services and police, yet we insist on meeting an aid target of 0.7% of GNP set decades ago when there were many countries needing aid and very few donors.  Africa is now flooded with unspent aid.  I know concientious NGO filed staff who have resigned in disgust at the pressure put on them to spend aid regardless of its use.  I have Department for International Development staff telling me that no one questions how well their aid is being used.  I came across this in the World Bank years ago when targets were set that staff had to meet if they wanted a promotion.

There is a confusion in many people's minds about aid as they see it helping successful micro projects, but they do not differentiate between these and the 330 million pound Government budget aid allocated this year to Ethiopia or the 70 million pounds allocated to Uganda.  Most of this direct Government aid never gets to the poor but just supposts military regimes and Swiss bank accounts.  For us to pour more aid into Africa when we are cutting back social services is unbelievable.

Gordon Bridger, Guildford.

Meanwhile, I read in 'The Week' that Bob Geldof, has now reincarnated himself as a private equity guru, swapping aid for investment in Africa.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/privateequity/7978634/Bob-Geldof-to-front-African-private-equity-fund.html

From The Week/UK Financial Times:

'Africa boasts 10% of global oil reserves and a treasure trove of base and precious metals.  But the story is no longer just about resources - with consumer spending rising at more than twice the rate of developed countries, a World Bank report suggests the continent is poised for economic take-off, much as China was 30 years ago.'

Let's hope so..

An interesting article - Live Aid failure...

Isn't it annoying when people do this.... just post up a link...however,

An interesting article....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1394154/Live-Aids-corrosive-legacy-David-Cameron-UKs-overseas-aid-budget.html

It seems the thumb screws are well and truly on public spending in England at the moment.  The above article talks about Live Aid's questionable legacy in Africa