New lay-out FF-net

[panyasan]

When I go to FF-net to read a story, I have a new lay-out. It looks okay, I can read the story, I can review (the advice that you should click for a new code helped me a lot to find a code that I can read), however, I can't read the other reviews of the story. I kind of liked that. Does anyone knows how to fix that?

[putaro]

I have a little red "reviews" link next to the author's name on my screen. Is it missing from yours?

[panyasan]

Yes, it's missing. If I go to a writer's own FF-net site, I can see the reviews next to the story, but not in the story it self.

[putaro]

Dunno - have you tried different browsers? It works for me in Firefox.

[Alelou]

Are you trying to access from the front page listing (the one that lists how many are there)? I have no trouble reading other author's reviews there. It's true that the reviews link is no longer available on the actual chapter page.

I also don't understand why they have bookcovers now on the front page and the chapter page, but you don't see them on an author's profile page, which is where most "shopping" would occur. I've been having fun creating little bookcovers for the backlist, but most people will never see them unless they go to my profile page and click through. I can only hope that will change as this thing rolls out further.

[Cogito]

When I look at stories in the new format, the story has a header like this at the top of the page:

North Star Author: Alelou PM
What if the Illyrians had been better prepared to defend their warp coil? This AU saga is a TnT-heavy general ensemble WIP that takes us back to the planet in "North Star." T/T, R/S.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Drama/Romance - Tucker, C. & T'Pol - Reviews: 165 - Chapters: 16 - Words: 43,925 - Updated: 06-08-12 - Published: 02-01-12

On the original page, the number of reviews (165) is a hyperlink which takes you to the reviews.

[Distracted]

165 reviews?!!!!

Okay. Now I'm jealous!

[Alelou]

And a lot of those are actually yours, so thank you!

[WarpGirl]

I love the new layout, and since FF.net authors usually leave AN: They're going to put a new feature in them to seperate them from the stories. Which is good because I tend to dedicate things to people.

I understand why they don't put the "book covers" on the profile pages. Why bother? You see a cover on the main page. You click, like the author, go to their profile. If you're there to see what else they wrote, why do you need another image when clicking on the story will reveal it anyway? Besides, not many people are creating individual covers for individual stories yet.

Panysana sometimes hitting your refresh button will bring up the review link.

[Alelou]

It's exactly the same principle as browsing in the bookstore. If the cover looks interesting, you might click on THAT story. Presumably that's why they're bothering to do it on the first page -- otherwise, why bother?

I put a cover on every story already. I found it very addictive. Takes me back to the good old days in my publishing career, except that instead of having to fight with the cover designer and art director for a good one, I can just do it myself.

I'm not sure I follow what you mean about the author's notes. You mean for each chapter they're separate? Or for the whole story? (Aren't those pretty much separate already?)

[WarpGirl]

About the author's notes: They explain what they're going to do right on the main page where it says "coming soon" I expect the space will be in the new top box, but that's a guess. Also, the "store" at FF.net is not an author's profile. It's the stories page in a particular catagory, where the images are being posted. I don't see the problem?

[Alelou]

Thankfully you are not trying to make a living in marketing.

[WarpGirl]

Unfortunately with the constantly changing rules, I can't try to make any decent living without the prospect of losing my Medicade. It's all a matter of perspective. And who knows, they might add the cover feature to profiles in time. It's not like any of us get paid for doing this. You have 165 reviews for your fic, how many readers? Again perspective!

[Alelou]

I'm not exactly sobbing about it. I just don't see the logic of it. But I'm hopeful they will roll it out further with time. Obviously, I'm very pleased that they have the feature for covers at all. In the real world of publishing, a strong backlist is how an author goes from just being some dude who published a book to actually being able to imagine making a living as a writer. It's not at all the same here, obviously, but the same principles of gaining readers apply.

I'm with you on Medicaid eligibility rules ... ugh. But that gets into the realm of politics fast, so I'd better shut up now.

[WarpGirl]

Well I don't do politics period. So there's nothing to get into. I can't complain about my success with my ff.net stories. I don't even have my covers yet and I'm very satisfied with how I'm doing. But I guess I'm just not greedy. Who knows maybe with the covers I will get more readers but frankly I'm a skeptic. I love the idea because it's cool nothing more. I very much doubt a cover is going to stop the people who only like one of my stories, or don't bother to read all the chapters of my others, so my stats won't change. People who review usually review because they were going too anyway. Nobody askes me to write or post so I don't expect people to "buy" my work, I'm not a seller so it just isn't that important to me.

Now if I ever did publish a book I understand that it's the business of the publishing firm to make a profit. However, I would get paid a set fee regardless. I might not keep getting paid if the book doesn't sell but as you said it's an entirely different can of tuna.