Advice to New Fanstorians
Viewing comments for Chapter 1 "Reviewing for New Fanstorians"Tips and advice for the new members
50 total reviews
Comment from Rosemary Everson1
Good writing clues as to what we should review. It takes time to review the posts but it's necessary if you want to earn some credits in doing so. You need to do reviews unless you have lots of pocket money.
reply by the author on 05-Feb-2024
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Good writing clues as to what we should review. It takes time to review the posts but it's necessary if you want to earn some credits in doing so. You need to do reviews unless you have lots of pocket money.
Comment Written 04-Feb-2024
reply by the author on 05-Feb-2024
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I totally agree! And who has that kind of pocket money? Anyway, I think just reviewing helps us to learn more. Thank you for the review!
Blessings!
Comment from Lyle Nußbaum
Thank you, lyenochka. What you have written is clear and concise. Like you, I have found the suggested rating system is not used as prescribed in the guidelines.
However, unlike you, I choose not to review anything that i find mediocre or average because I do not want to reward such writing with more than it deserves. By doing so, unfortunately, though, people that could receive helpful advice honing their craft won't necessarily receive it because why would I need to improve when I am already writing at a five-star level? It, also, can inflate new members' opinions of their own writing before they realize that five-stars is just the normal rating and doesn't actual signify high quality.
Therefore, I only review items that would rightfully deserve a five or six star rating. This means that I earn very little from reviewing and, therefore, am for all intents and purposes a never promoter because I have less funds to promote with.
This, also, brings me to the second problem with promotion which is that through promotion inferior works can reach recognized status as long as they receive enough reviews, even negative reviews, while better contributions may have more views but not reviews and never reach that status. Recognized status should indicate high quality but that has not been the case in my experience.
I would rather have sincere reviews from readers than those that were written simply to be "paid" because it is promoted.
Finally, adding to my cynical understanding of promotion, the one time I truly tried to promote my novel with a Book Balloon and addition funding, it resulted in exactly zero additional reviews and was a complete waste of funds.
Hopefully, this can help you and others better understand how some of us "never promoters" feel and view the Fanstory rating system.
Please don't take this personally as I am not attacking your writing about the topic but, rather, the rating and promotion system themselves.
Lyle
reply by the author on 04-Feb-2024
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Thank you, lyenochka. What you have written is clear and concise. Like you, I have found the suggested rating system is not used as prescribed in the guidelines.
However, unlike you, I choose not to review anything that i find mediocre or average because I do not want to reward such writing with more than it deserves. By doing so, unfortunately, though, people that could receive helpful advice honing their craft won't necessarily receive it because why would I need to improve when I am already writing at a five-star level? It, also, can inflate new members' opinions of their own writing before they realize that five-stars is just the normal rating and doesn't actual signify high quality.
Therefore, I only review items that would rightfully deserve a five or six star rating. This means that I earn very little from reviewing and, therefore, am for all intents and purposes a never promoter because I have less funds to promote with.
This, also, brings me to the second problem with promotion which is that through promotion inferior works can reach recognized status as long as they receive enough reviews, even negative reviews, while better contributions may have more views but not reviews and never reach that status. Recognized status should indicate high quality but that has not been the case in my experience.
I would rather have sincere reviews from readers than those that were written simply to be "paid" because it is promoted.
Finally, adding to my cynical understanding of promotion, the one time I truly tried to promote my novel with a Book Balloon and addition funding, it resulted in exactly zero additional reviews and was a complete waste of funds.
Hopefully, this can help you and others better understand how some of us "never promoters" feel and view the Fanstory rating system.
Please don't take this personally as I am not attacking your writing about the topic but, rather, the rating and promotion system themselves.
Lyle
Comment Written 04-Feb-2024
reply by the author on 04-Feb-2024
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Hi Lyle! I appreciate your honesty and what you say is totally correct. And I applaud you for reviewing only the works that you like.
Of course, enjoyment of art is very personal, for example something that "soothes the beast" like music is such a dividing force as I don't like rap or heavy metal and others love it. So what one considers 5/6 stars, another may find mediocre.
I also look at the top selling books on the market, and I would say the same kinds of things happen in real life as some celebrity can write a mediocre book, but because of who it is (purported to be by) it will reach the best seller's list. So the same kind of unfairness in recognition occurs in the real publishing world, too.
Overall, I hope you have a good experience here whether you promote or not. Blessings,
Helen
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Thank you, Helen. I agree and personally don't put a whole lot of weight in the rating system, good or bad. In the end it is all subjective and what the majority of people find appealing.
Lyle
Comment from Michele Harber
It's very nice of you to offer guidelines to newcomers to the site. I made the "mistake" of reviewing honestly when I first began, and giving four stars where I felt something was good but not great, and I learned quickly (through some very obnoxious feedback) that honest star ratings were not appreciated. I do try to make my reviews honest, but honesty and kindness do not need to be mutually exclusive.
Your guidelines are very interesting and informative and, honestly, I never stopped to think about timing my reviews for when a writer might increase their monetary value.
The one point we should stress, though, is that while getting site money through the reviews we give is great, the main point of a review is to help a submitted work be the best it can be. In some cases it already is, and then it's helpful to let the writer know what about his or her submission works so well. I'll admit that I do review the highest valued posts (like this one) when I want to earn promotional dollars quickly. At the same time, though, if someone of whom I'm a fan posts something, and I haven't had the chance to review it sooner, I'll still review it even when it's down to paying only two cents. I fan someone because I like their work, and I don't want that to ever turn into their being my FanStory ATM and nothing more.
I was lucky enough, when I joined, to receive some very helpful pointers from fellow FanStorians. I suspect the newcomers will be very grateful for your guidance.
reply by the author on 03-Feb-2024
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It's very nice of you to offer guidelines to newcomers to the site. I made the "mistake" of reviewing honestly when I first began, and giving four stars where I felt something was good but not great, and I learned quickly (through some very obnoxious feedback) that honest star ratings were not appreciated. I do try to make my reviews honest, but honesty and kindness do not need to be mutually exclusive.
Your guidelines are very interesting and informative and, honestly, I never stopped to think about timing my reviews for when a writer might increase their monetary value.
The one point we should stress, though, is that while getting site money through the reviews we give is great, the main point of a review is to help a submitted work be the best it can be. In some cases it already is, and then it's helpful to let the writer know what about his or her submission works so well. I'll admit that I do review the highest valued posts (like this one) when I want to earn promotional dollars quickly. At the same time, though, if someone of whom I'm a fan posts something, and I haven't had the chance to review it sooner, I'll still review it even when it's down to paying only two cents. I fan someone because I like their work, and I don't want that to ever turn into their being my FanStory ATM and nothing more.
I was lucky enough, when I joined, to receive some very helpful pointers from fellow FanStorians. I suspect the newcomers will be very grateful for your guidance.
Comment Written 03-Feb-2024
reply by the author on 03-Feb-2024
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I also review the ones that are only two cents. But for those who are beginning, I was urging them to earn their FS money as efficiently as possible without having to use real money. This is a multi-author book for seasoned members like yourself to contribute to, so please consider adding your chapter. Thanks for reviewing, Michele. I didn't think this should have been an entry in the contest. I only created it as a group project for newbies so they would have the most positive experience. Blessings!
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Thank you for the offer to write my own chapter but, basically, whatever I might have said has been covered by you and Gloria. It's not that I don't want to help newcomers; I simply don't know what to add. I fully respect what you and the other veterans are doing, though, and if I do come up with anything that hasn't already been discussed, I'll be happy to add to the effort.
I do, on an individual basis, make suggestions to writers about adding an image, breaking poems into stanzas, posting as plain text to avoid the automatic double-spacing, not cutting and pasting titles or notes with an apostrophe (which turns into the dreaded question mark and other symbols), as well as other visual issues, but I think that might be a bit much to throw at beginners right at the start, when they're getting their feet wet. Of course, if you disagree, I'll be happy to do a chapter on visual suggestion at some point.
Have a lovely evening.
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Yes, a chapter on visual suggestions would be helpful. I know I am not visually gifted so I have taken clues from others to make the font and background colors more pleasing. Jim Wile gave some technical advice, too.
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Jim is giving me technical advice on meter, an issue with which I often have difficulty. I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into when I accepted his gracious offer of help, and it's a bit intimidating. However, it's also blatantly obvious that he knows way more about this than I do and, if I want to be a better poet (and I definitely do want to be a better poet), I need to put in the time and effort. One of the best things about this site is that it gives each of us access to so many talented and knowledgeable people who are willing to share what they know, and I'd be a fool not to take advantage of it.
I will be happy to draft an article for newcomers, at some point, on making submissions more visually appealing, but I do have a few writing projects ahead of it, including my work with Jim. I very much appreciate your faith in me and my ability to help those new to the site.
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There's absolutely no pressure! In fact, life happens and there's never enough time for all the projects we have. By the way Jim Bartlett (Pantygynt) taught a meter class:
https://www.fanstory.com/displaystory.jsp?hd=1&id=1071354
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Thanks for the info. I'll look into it as soon as I have time. Life and time are just so intrusive, aren't they?!
Comment from Lisasview
Excellent read... I had to decide which category I fell into???
I review nearly everything I read...even if it pays 2 cents...as I am doing now for your post... this is the only way I save up enough "Fun Money: so I can promote. I never pay... I only post for contests...although, I keep saying I will not post for Blind contests anymore. I use my hard earned "Funny money" to promote as high as possible... sometimes, before I can put in the "funny money"...my poem gets two reviews which Fan Story pays for... I always have felt badly that my Fans are getting so much less than what they would have gotten had they waited. And, I jump around from my messages to featured because on featured sometimes I find someone that is not a Fan..
Good luck in the contest,
Lisa
reply by the author on 03-Feb-2024
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Excellent read... I had to decide which category I fell into???
I review nearly everything I read...even if it pays 2 cents...as I am doing now for your post... this is the only way I save up enough "Fun Money: so I can promote. I never pay... I only post for contests...although, I keep saying I will not post for Blind contests anymore. I use my hard earned "Funny money" to promote as high as possible... sometimes, before I can put in the "funny money"...my poem gets two reviews which Fan Story pays for... I always have felt badly that my Fans are getting so much less than what they would have gotten had they waited. And, I jump around from my messages to featured because on featured sometimes I find someone that is not a Fan..
Good luck in the contest,
Lisa
Comment Written 03-Feb-2024
reply by the author on 03-Feb-2024
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Your strategy seems to work well for you so keep it up. I'm so glad you don't use real money because that way some have used up their savings. I appreciate you taking time to review this non-promoted piece and I hope you'll read the chapters by the other writers in this book as it was meant to help new members. Hugs and blessings!
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I will...
and you are so welcome,
Lisa
Comment from Teri7
Thank you so much Helen for giving us these great tips. I try to review ones I know I enjoy their work and then I try to check out the front-page ones when I have time. Lately I have not been able to review as much as I would like to. After stopping my MS meds I still feel tired, but I think it's because we go too much and don't get enough rest maybe! love and blessings, Teri
reply by the author on 13-Jan-2024
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Thank you so much Helen for giving us these great tips. I try to review ones I know I enjoy their work and then I try to check out the front-page ones when I have time. Lately I have not been able to review as much as I would like to. After stopping my MS meds I still feel tired, but I think it's because we go too much and don't get enough rest maybe! love and blessings, Teri
Comment Written 13-Jan-2024
reply by the author on 13-Jan-2024
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I was wondering if everything was okay. I guess you've been doing a lot more outside of FS! Good for you! Thanks for reviewing. I ou have some good advice, please add to the book. Hugs!
Comment from Jessica Wheeler
Helen, this is such a fantastic idea. I've been on the site for a little less than a year now, and every day I learn something new. This post is a great example. Your advice is invaluable as I strive to become a more active reviewer. Thank you for sharing this; it will undoubtedly offer much guidance to beginners and beyond!
Xo
Jess
reply by the author on 13-Jan-2024
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Helen, this is such a fantastic idea. I've been on the site for a little less than a year now, and every day I learn something new. This post is a great example. Your advice is invaluable as I strive to become a more active reviewer. Thank you for sharing this; it will undoubtedly offer much guidance to beginners and beyond!
Xo
Jess
Comment Written 13-Jan-2024
reply by the author on 13-Jan-2024
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Thank you so much, Jess! I'm happy to hear that it was helpful. Feel free to ask any of us questions. There are more chapters now. You probably learned some stuff we don't know so feel free to add to the book.
Hugs!
Comment from Mintybee
I think this is very helpful information for new people. I gave a few fours out, based on the recommended review structure, and I got some very angry responses. I wish I'd known when I started out that people get very offended by fours. I think the info you gave about how to follow posters to get member dollars was very helpful, too.
Mintybee
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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I think this is very helpful information for new people. I gave a few fours out, based on the recommended review structure, and I got some very angry responses. I wish I'd known when I started out that people get very offended by fours. I think the info you gave about how to follow posters to get member dollars was very helpful, too.
Mintybee
Comment Written 12-Jan-2024
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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I'm so glad you found it helpful. I had no idea that a four would be offensive either. I gave some out and people did seem to be put out. I hope this book would be referenced by the Help menu! Thanks for the review! Blessings!
Comment from Pearl Edwards
In Getting to know your writer's posting habits - you've made some good points Helen, even for me who just stumbles along at my own pace. I must look into the bonus Reviewing round. Well done on this, cheers
Valda
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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In Getting to know your writer's posting habits - you've made some good points Helen, even for me who just stumbles along at my own pace. I must look into the bonus Reviewing round. Well done on this, cheers
Valda
Comment Written 12-Jan-2024
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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I know I follow quite a few who don't promote so when I see them in my Inbox, I go straight for their posts first! Lol. Thanks so much, Valda! Hugs!
Comment from Spitfire
Interesting angle, Helen. I could make a list of those who never promote and I wonder at their reasoning. Thanks for clarifying Bonus Reviewing. I didn't know that. I suspect there are a lot of once-a-week promotors. Too bad member cents come into the picture as it can lead to fake position as to the quality.
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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Interesting angle, Helen. I could make a list of those who never promote and I wonder at their reasoning. Thanks for clarifying Bonus Reviewing. I didn't know that. I suspect there are a lot of once-a-week promotors. Too bad member cents come into the picture as it can lead to fake position as to the quality.
Comment Written 12-Jan-2024
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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Yes, it's too bad. But then, I have to say, it's not too different in the real world. A wealthy person or celebrity can get a book on the Bestseller's List even not having written the book (using a ghostwriter). Thanks for reviewing, Shari! I'm sure you could add some advice, too. Hugs!
Comment from Karen Cherry Threadgill
You pointed out some things I forgot. Some folks write really well, but not very often. And you are right about the character of who reviews. I know some of you by heart. I will think up some of my many mistakes and write a cautionary tale! Karen
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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You pointed out some things I forgot. Some folks write really well, but not very often. And you are right about the character of who reviews. I know some of you by heart. I will think up some of my many mistakes and write a cautionary tale! Karen
Comment Written 12-Jan-2024
reply by the author on 12-Jan-2024
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Great! I think the cautionary tale would be much appreciated! Thanks so much, Karen!
Blessings!
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Jim Vecchio wrote me that instaed of going in for his outpatient surgery relating to his infections, he came down with Covid again. he is miserable. Please pass along the info to others and give him your prayers and best wishes.
Karen
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Oh no!! Sorry to hear that. His immune system must be so low.
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I have been lucky mostly with my health. As an invalid, we are prone to illness, but the fact that I am not around people keeps me well. :-)
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Glad you see the bright side and you keep socializing digitally so that's good. I remember during lockdown during the pandemic, we had virtually no cases of flu that winter. Please take care!
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Yep, I feel that I have a real family here. I am lucky. Karen