Snag in Reader Interest

I thought R.J.'s Story was ready to upload to Smashwords. I had added illustrations to each chapter heading. I had added hyperlinks to connect the chapters to the table of contents. As I had learned new writing tips and tricks, I had revised the manuscript time and again. I had edited it to death. I had sent it to a copy editor for fine-tuning. I didn't know what more I could do to enhance the story.

I realized that Linda, my copy editor, was the only person who had read the story in a long time. My son Mark, who had been deeply involved in the editing process at one time, hadn't even seen the manuscript since it had undergone major overhauls. A couple of teenagers had read early drafts. A few of my "boomer" friends had done the same. I decided it might be useful to test the story on some people who were farther removed from my project and my family history.

I sent the manuscript to some friends of our sons. They were in their twenties/thirties and willing testers. When a few months passed without response, I asked them to return the manuscript. As I had discovered previously, people had busy schedules, and it was easy to put the manuscript aside in favor of more pressing issues. I no longer wanted to bother them with the testing process.

The friends returned the manuscript as asked, but not before one of them took the time to read the story. He passed along notes that gave me some new things to tweak. He said that it took him a while to get engaged in the story, but once he did, he needed to find out how it ended. The other friend, on the other hand, had picked up the manuscript several times, but simply couldn't get engaged in the story. She was a person who liked books that grabbed her in the first few pages.

The responses taught me two things. First of all, I needed to reexamine the beginning of the story and make it more engaging right from the start. Since the copy editor had written to me early on in her editing process to say she was already hooked on the story, I hadn't considered that there was an issue in that regard. I reworked the first couple of chapters in hopes of solving the problem and sent those pages back to the copy editor for a final run.

The second thing I learned was that my story was never going to satisfy all readers. Since R.J.'s Story was a fantasy tale of a light-hearted, inspirational nature, it was probably not going to appeal to readers who loved dark fantasy, vampires and lots of blood. Nor was it likely to attract history, non-fiction, or heavy crime readers. And I think we've all put aside books, even highly acclaimed ones, that, for some reason, didn't inspire us to keep reading or resonate with who we are. As I said previously, I am happy to leave the story to playful spirits of any age who will love R.J. and the quirky folks of Heaven's Wait.

I've heard many times throughout my journey that at some point, a writer has to let the story go, push it out the door, and move on. It was time to move on.

Looking for R.J's Story-Heaven's Wait! Tales from Vowella, Book 1? Here are some places you can find it in eBook format:

Smashwords.com: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/104130 * If you're a Kindle user, download the .mobi version of the story. If you read on your computer, download the .PDF version. If you use another eReader device, download the Epub version.

Apple's iPad or iPhone iBook: Buy in the iBookstore in iTunes or in the iBook apps for iPad or iPhone

Barnes & Noble Nook eBook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/barbara-mclaughlin?keyword=barbara+mclaughlin&store=book

Sony Reader Ebook: http://ebookstore.sony.com/search?keyword=Barbara+McLaughlin

Kobo eReader Ebook: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Barbara+McLaughlin

Diesel Ebooks for a variety eReaders: http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000104130/McLaughlin-Barbara-R.J.-s-Story-Heaven-s-Wait-Tales-from-Vowella-Series-Book-1/1.html

If you browse the home pages of the above sites, search for "Barbara McLaughlin".

*Special Note: Smashwords is having a special promotion next week on its eBooks. I will participate in this promotion and offer R.J.'s Story at a 50% discount during that time. I'll have more details for you on Monday.