While I don’t have the capital, maybe some of these are capital ideas!
I’ve come and gone on Vocal (great people, and I’m thankful for those I’ve met) and I’m clumsily navigating Medium. I began concocting a wish-list of a dream platform for writers. There are other platforms, of course, but I’ve not used them much or at all.
I don’t want to delve too much into what is already out there and their pros and cons. Instead, I propose to summon wonderful pipe dreams of a writer’s platform!
If someone with much more capital than I will ever generate would like to use these ideas (which may just be me regurgitating or expounding upon existing concepts), feel free!:
Where Did I Lose You?
Stats are great, but in Medium’s case (again, a newbie so I could be wrong here), it doesn’t tell me where I’m falling flat.
I’d like to see stats for each paragraph. That should be granular enough to see where the reader left the story: Did I use a cliché or a bunch of ten-dollar words that turned the reader off? Was it my use of the word “chuckle” (I’m not sure why, but I’ve really come to hate that word!) or when the main character revealed this was all a dream?
All Reads Count!
Whether the reader is a member, a friend from Facebook, Tom from MySpace, and/or Gleebertz from Planet Gort who just can’t get the app on his Klaatu Nikto (Model 1951) and must open a Smillew-Brad Quantum Bridge to access stories on the site — it should never matter. All reads should count and pay the writer!
What is a fair payment scale? I’ve come across rates from anywhere from two cents a word up to a dollar. All I know is that I’d like a concrete amount so I know that a full read will equal some set amount. If it’s too low, I might as well go looking for a ruby in a mountain of rocks!
Grammar, Formatting and Spelling Helpers
Lots of writers have great ideas, but may not be well versed in grammar, formatting and/or spelling. A toolset that helps them improve in formatting, tense shifts, spelling and general grammar would be nice to have!
Contests!
