We are glad to have you here. You do seems like a lively lot. Which is what we have been missing of late. Some people have dropped out for personal reasons. Some have self-published and are busy promoting. (I am in touch with them on another site.) Maybe some have lost heart. Understandable, right? I'm still here, slugging away. My mantra is, Publish or die trying. (I'm sixty-nine in another week.)

.

If I engage less than I did, it's because I am trying to create art for my Sly Poem (no title yet). It's harrowing, I can tell you. My stylistic impulses go in opposite directions. I just bought Sketchbook Pro (haven't received it yet) and now I'm thinking I'd better get a watercolor-style app also. My idea is to morph foliage into a map of the far east, above a kitten's head. He's dreaming of where he'd like to visit one day. I have a fabulous book of old maps, and they have a lovely mottled look. 

.

I'm undertaking to acquire the art school education I finessed my way through fifty years ago on my drawing ability. I kept to my safe strengths and never tried to solve my problems with color and style. But I've got a short verse-story finished that needs images. So I'm trying to come to grips with my visual point of view versus my linear comfort-zone style. 

--edited by Mimi Speike on 8/21/2015, 2:55 PM--

Whew! I made it.

This isn't what I remember seeing back in early 2014 - much improved so who knows.

Has anyone figured out how to upload a book? I started and then tripped, stumbled and fell backward.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to exploring and commenting and all that stuff.

Philippa

Welcome ashore (or is it welcome to the camp?)

Uploading's a bit finicky from what I've seen. You do have to review at least one other book first (I know Marina's got Emerged up, mine's up as well, and I think someone else said that they had one (but don't quote me on that).

If you go to your dashboard (under Read and Review), you'll find an option to workshop a book, that's how you upload. I recommend copy-pasting from your document and then saving. Make sure your cover (if you have one) meets the minimum requirements for an image, and be patient. Save at every step. Hope that helps!

Thanks! I did spend enough time last time I was on to comment on a couple of books - and just did another while I was hanging around today (chapter one, only, but it's a start).

What happened with my upload was that I tried to upload and ended up, somehow, with a document of over 7mb! Seriously have no idea how that happened, but the system choked on it and kicked it out. Managed to get the file size down to less than 300kb, but it doesn't like my font, my formatting, didn't recognize my TOC, etc.

I finally gave up but I'll try again at the weekend.

I'd like to offer blankets and coffee to anyone who's pitched up on these shores.  And biscuits of course.  Lovely to see so many familiar names (and avatars).

Hey, Mimi.  Only just realised that there were two pages to this discussion.  Publish or die trying!  That's the mantra for me too.  Keep going!  I'm going to have a read of your poetry when I've (ahem) recovered from my evening beverage.  Hot chocolate really does upset the brain patterns.

--edited by Mandy Lee on 8/21/2015, 3:46 PM--

Mandy! I see you say biscuits. Are you English/British? My poem and screwball adventure are set in late sixteenth century England/Europe. I'm having lots of fun with Robert Dudley and John Dee. And, of course, my wise-guy talking cat. (Sly, Sylvester Boots.) 

.

Why am I on here all day? I'm sixty-nine, ought to be retired. Can't afford it. Not enough in the 401K. I work at night, for a compositor, building print files for publishers all over the country. And the pickings there are choice. Pdfs of the latest and greatest, including scholarly work. My husband, a nut for math and physics (I'll be calling on him for help when it comes time for Sly to invent his own theory of gravity fifty years before Newton), my husband is in heaven.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 8/21/2015, 3:56 PM--

Welcome, Former Authonomites! I'm a veteran from Autho from years ago, but I moved over here fully when they were beta testing. I'm not super active in the forums like I was on Autho back in the day (circa 2009-2012, long before the site redesign), but I pop in now and then. The one big difference here is that the community manager, Lucy, is active here and I see little to no trolling-type behavior, which is the main reason I left the other site. I hope you guys love this place like I do...it's so much more laid back when you're not in the Editor's Desk popularity race. 

x♥x

Noelle

(on Autho as 'selestiele' back in the day)

Found yours okay.   

I'm probably invisible because I haven't done anything here yet. I plan to have a good look around next week when I have a bit more time. By then I expect the rest of you to have completed the invasion and set up a new junta.

I think it's just the private messaging - I can't see anything else. I hope they fix the faceless wonder problem here on the forums.

i know. totally on my cons list. it seems like a small thing  but it's part of how we make connections and remember people.

--edited by katie78 on 8/21/2015, 8:38 PM--

Kali - I think you have to press Quote button, not reply. Add reply adds the post to the bottom of the thread only.

And i didn't know you were an Aussie!

--edited by Kali N on 8/22/2015, 5:40 AM--

(I'm replying to Eric and lilmerlin. Quote doesn't seem to work for me.)

Katie asked about Avatars in the forum when she first joined on Thursday. Apparently it's a feature that's going to be introduced soon.

I'm entirely responsible for the downfall of Autonomy. I first joined years ago, got to the Editors' Desk - all that work for a few kind words and a mountain of platitudes - went away and took the DIY route. I sold a lot of books and after deciding to risk a leap into a different genre thought I'd pop back to Autho for some useful critique, (from members, not HC, I did say USEFUL critique) 

The day I rejoined, despite having a new name, new avatar and new book, Harper Collins took one look at me and pulled the plug. As a renowned sulker, I moved over here and also to writeon. I'm expecting imminent closure on both sites. While it's still here, I'm hoping for some of the enlightenment I first experienced on Autonomy: the site that for all its myriad faults taught me so much about how to present my work and retain a modicum of sanity when attempting to connect with traditional publishers

Thomasina aka Jonah 

--edited by Thomtom on 8/23/2015, 10:23 AM--

You posted early-morning my time (U.S. Mountain time) and it's now 3:56 pm.  I have no way of knowing who's online at this moment, and I find this really irritating.  I am, no doubt, talking to myself.

--edited by RobRow on 8/23/2015, 5:59 PM--

Hi, all

I've been with Book Country for over a year now, and I enjoy this community. It's not very active lately, but I'd be happy to answer any questions I can.

I've scrolled through your conversations, and here's my answers to some of the questions:

1. To go to a member's profile, you need to search it in the search box at the top of the web page when you're in a forum's post. Simply clicking on the person's name, unfortunately, brings you to their 'forum profile', where you can see what they last posted. It also shows you when the last time they logged in was.

2. Muinn, are you uploading in a .doc format? If not, that might be the reason for the error.

3. To PM other members, you have to send them a Connection Request from their Profile first. Once they accept, you can then message each other.

4. If you're looking for a place to talk to all your friends, try creating a Forum thread, just like you did here. Then you can talk to each other all at the same time, instead of individually.

5. To get updates from forum threads, click the little subscribe button at the top of the forum post. From there, you can subscribe to all comments left on the thread. You'll be updated whenever someone posts via email.

6. You can see 'new posts' by searching Discussions, then clicking on 'Date Posted'. That will show you the newest threads that are active.

7. Book Country sometimes doesn't inform you when your manuscript is reviewed, so you'll have to check it yourself periodically. Email doesn't notify you either, for some reason.

Book Country is a simple yet complex site. I'd love to see you stay and liven up the place, but if you decide to move on, we won't hold it against you. Though I'd love to make some new friends.

Good luck with your writing endeavors!

Amber

Thank you, Amber for your time and answers - it's helpful because I struggled with my uploads, too. (I tried two different stories with the same result.)

I'll 'dumb down' my Word files and see if that works.

Hi again, folks--

Thanks, Amber, for jumping in with advice about the upload troubles some folks are having.

I just want to let everyone know that Book Country works best on Firefox and Chrome on a computer, so that's my first recommendation if you are having trouble with your upload.

Anyone who can't get it to work, please email me your document at support@BookCountry.com, and I will take a closer look at the issue.

I'm tracking this thread, but just to make sure that I help everyone who needs it, please email us at the support email above or post your question on this discussion board.

i am getting very lost in the forums with no watched threads list or easy way to reorganize the list to find active posts. there are too many subjects to sort through. this is the only thread i know how to find because i remember where it is. i can't do that if i'm active in multiple threads.

and how do i change my book cover?

katie78 wrote:

amber, thanks so much i will try that now. i tried to reply last night but was unable to post on the site- it was read only for some reason.

i have figured out how to find recent posts, but it is the most convoluted process. i'm wondering if you've noticed the site go through any tech updates since you joined

@katie78:

Book Country has gone through about 2 updates since I've joined a year ago, if my memory serves. They recently updated to make the 'info feed' on our home page include connections uploading new manuscripts and such.

I'd like to see Book Country become more user friendly. I was pretty lost when I first started out, too. Took me about a month or so to finally get the hang of it.

@lilmerlin:

To subscribe to a forum thread, click on the little icon that looks like an envelope at the top of the thread. It's at the left-hand corner, beside the 'reply' button.

Once you've clicked on it, it'll ask whether you want to be notified of all future posts, or only posts to you--I'd choose the prior.

Click 'okay' and you'll be subscribed--You'll receive notifications by email only, so remember that.

Hope that helps!

--edited by Amber J. Wolfe on 8/25/2015, 2:31 PM--

GCleare:

To unsubscribe, click on the envelope icon and check mark the box that says, Unsubscribe.

That's all there is to it!

Thank you, Amber, for all your help!

One thing to add: you can watch the discussions you are subscribed to from your logged in homepage, to the right of the newsfeed.