History Of a Fallen Earth

Welcome to the site. I think authors have a lot to juggle. We are not (usually) professional editors, and website designers, and writers, and critics and, and, and. Unless there is a structure around us it is hard to be all things as it were.

I built my website using a method I could do repeatedly to create the amount of content I wanted, while not having to worry about it interfering with my day job, which of course I still have. When I set out to create the site, I had a few rules I wanted to follow to make it a generally positive site, as I do believe in the “read the change,” posts I put up. What we put into the world matters. I try not to denigrate people or their works.

On the other hand, I don’t think it means we have to like everything all the time. You are right that I have chosen to discuss several books that are considered wildly popular, that I don’t like, but the beauty of many authors in the ecosystem is that we don’t all have to like everything, and even the others who we do like will sometimes write things we disagree with or don’t care for. Peter V. Brett for example wrote the series The Demon Cycle. I LOVED the first four books. I cannot speak highly enough about them. I greatly disliked book five. The conclusion was thoroughly unsatisfactory to me. While I didn’t like it, the quality was nonetheless high. So, while I will say I didn’t like the results the skill remained undeniable. My opinion would be valid that I didn’t care for it, even though I certainly can’t myself achieve it.

I’ll therefore completely agree with your comment that I couldn’t do better. Probably not for most books which I comment on negatively. (Though I am curious which books you had in mind! I stand my ground; Twilight is a badly written.) Book critics are not themselves writers, and we validate that they have opinions, which is all my web site is; it is my opinion.

The stories I post are the best I could do when I wrote them. Every author needs to make a choice for the question, “When am I going step out and let people read my work?” Some people wait until it is more perfect than not. I have had beta readers and when my responses hit 50/50 or so, I started to try to do something with the pieces. This is where I have chosen to let the world read them, and comment, or not.

As for website traffic, and how to generate it, I certainly don’t really know the answer to that question. What is good traffic? I have said on the website before we have to understand, “what is a lot?” A small handful of people comment here, but my traffic is about 60-100 people a month. Is that a lot? It is certainly more people than I encounter randomly on the street. It is a larger voice than I would have had through bipedal locomotion and handshaking only. 😊 How to do better? I’ll learn as I go, like my writing, and like all things.

Good luck to you as well. The success of one author, is the success of all authors. The more people read the better. It is a world where the old adage of rising tides lift all ships.