Forum: Author Hangout

By the author of ...

helmut_meukel 🚫

I saw a new(?) tendency in the story descriptions on the Home page. "By the author of"(followed by a list of story titles), instead of a longer synopsis.
Do these authors think the potential readers are unable or too dumb to click onto the author's name to get this information if they are interested in previous works?
There are on today's home page two stories by different(?) authors with this "By the author of ...". [EroticScribbler, Beaverhunt].
I don't get it:
If the potential readers already know the author, then they have probably read some of the author's stories, so there's no need to provide the list to them.
If the potential readers don't know the author they quite certainly haven't read any of the listed stories and shortening the synopsis by providing the list won't help those readers in deciding if they should read the actual story.
The only small gain is the reader now knows the actual story isn't the author's first attempt. Is this worth it to provide less information about the actual story?

What do you think? Have I overlooked some valid reason to provide this "By the author of ..."?

HM.

Replies: Crumbly Writer jimq2 awnlee jawking

Crumbly Writer 🚫

@helmut_meukel

To me, it indicates they're unable to compose a decent story description, so they resort to bragging about their stories, rather than drawing readers in with words, as authors are expected to do.

It's not a good look, and I've never even glanced at their efforts. I tried conveying these thoughts to them, yet it mostly went in one ear and out the other, as they all start ranting about "I'm glad you're such a fan …"

The key is always to learn about the site, what SOL readers expect and what readers most respond to. Clearly, they have no idea how stories are composed. Sometimes, sitting back and quietly observing is more valuable than proving just how out of touch you are.

jimq2 🚫

@helmut_meukel

A similar item is when they put in that they are a "best selling author" or "award winning author." Or they advertise that it is available on Bookapy or Patreon. To me these are items that distract from the description and I tend to not read those stories.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫
Updated:

@jimq2

A similar item is when they put in that they are a "best selling author" or "award winning author."

In all fairness to the authors, the SOL description is equivalent to a traditionally published book's blurb. The blurb is a marketing tool to pique the reader's interest and often has things like that in it. Don't you think it would be good marketing to have something in an SOL description that says the story was a contest winner or a Clitorides winner?

As to "other books by", in a traditionally published book you will find that in the cover pages. There is no such thing on SOL other than author notes, but I can see it being at the end of an SOL description (not instead of a description). Again, the blurb is a marketing tool and on SOL the blurb is the description .

I suck at marketing, but that's what came to mind.

Replies: jimq2 Dominions Son Crumbly Writer

jimq2 🚫

@Switch Blayde

But it basically says to me that the author didn't want to spend any time on a decent description to get a prospective reader interested. Yes, they do it on books, but they have a lot more area on the cover of a book. That is where the puffery belongs, on the cover. You don't find it in the descriptive summary on the back of a paperback or the inside flap on a hardback.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@jimq2

it basically says to me that the author didn't want to spend any time on a decent description to get a prospective reader interested.

I checked one of the stories on the home page. The description is:

Two friends, a white Jew and a Black Christian, have forged a friendship despite racial attacks growing up. At 16, with both fathers away for long periods of time, a life-changing event happens that sends all on a sexual journey of illicit activities as one finds out about his best friend and best friend's Mom. Can they maintain their friendship while getting closer than either thought? By the author of The Awakening, Getting Caught, Changing Dynamics, Blackmailed Mom, My Desires and others.

Sounds like a good description to me.

Replies: awnlee jawking REP

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

Sounds like a good description to me.

Have you read those stories?

AJ

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Have you read those stories?

No. We were talking about the description so that's what I commented on.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

We were talking about the description so that's what I commented on.

Are you going to read the story based on that description?

AJ

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Are you going to read the story based on that description?

I would have but the story is not complete, so no.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

At the moment, only one of the stories referenced in the description is complete.

AJ

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@awnlee jawking

At the moment, only one of the stories referenced in the description is complete.

Yeah, "Blackmailed Mom." And the description for that story is horrendous.

I found another finished story of his — "The Haunting." It's complete and has a decent score and description. I read the beginning of it and it seems to be written well, although I don't like how he breaks chapters.

I can't find it now, but his editor (ahorsewithnoname) said the author was sick and unavailable for 3 years and the editor was posting the stories. The author's blog I found was actually written by the editor which talks about the stories being updated every 5 days with complete version available for purchase on Bookapy. So I don't know what's going on with the author or his stories. But maybe the reason stories were named in the description was because of Bookapy.

REP 🚫
Updated:

@Switch Blayde

Sounds like a good description to me.

Yes it is.

However, compare it with:

Version of the previous post of the same title with reduced street lingo.

I didn't read the prior story and have no idea what it is about. Therefore, the description is meaningless to me as to the topic and content of the new story.

I have seen many descriptions like the above. I recall one description that just said something like, "Read it. You'll like it."

Dominions Son 🚫

@Switch Blayde

As to "other books by", in a traditionally published book you will find that in the cover pages.

Many of the traditionally published books I read have that at the end, not in the cover pages.

Crumbly Writer 🚫

@Switch Blayde

Actually, that's not an accurate description of most books. They do include those marketing info., yet they put them on the cover, or early in the book, long before the actual story begins. In print books, the back cover contains the description, and scanning tag and the traditional information about the author, while the inside front cover (the 'fly-leaf' in hardcover books), displays those 'marketing, promotional nonsense.

Though even then, how many avid readers ever bother to read that crap? Instead, most ignore it entirely and immediately start reading the story. Again, the 'promotional' stuff is intended to draw the readers eyes on the shelf, yet once the reader knows what the book's about, no once cares one whit about it.

Again, most SOL authors are avid, regular readers, delving directly into the story. Those promotional items serve a purpose, yet once you have the slightest clue what the story is about, it serves NO purpose whatsoever. So, in that case, it's again a hallmark of someone SO insecure about their story, they try overly hard to promote the story as a 'Monumental' story. Whereas in most cases, most established authors prefer letting the story speak for itself.

Promotions are all well and good, yet there's a time and a place for them, and a secure, confident experienced authors wouldn't waste time overly promoting their reviews once the readers has already 'purchased' the work, or on SOL, has already selected it to read.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@helmut_meukel

When you look at the SOL scores of the stories by the authors who use this marketing strategy, they tend to be middling at best.

Even worse is when the authors claim to be award-winning but don't specify what awards.

I'm not a fan.

AJ

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