[Writers svcs] Now Novel

Price listing if anyone is interested: http://www.nownovel.com/payment/index


I can already tell you this is a total waste of money and there's a good chance any information and guidance will be lack-luster and filled with misinformation. The site is pretty much feeding off of fledgling writers trying to bite any possibility of help and support without exploring their options first.

Because, you don't have to pay a month subscription for such content. Paying $99 for 6 months of a basic "How to Write" book and a writing forum is bullshit. For $99, you can buy a stack of great writing books that helps you explore different theories and thoughts on how to write or how to be creative. For free, you can read very similar content in writer blogs. For free, you can stick around AW as we've got a pretty upstanding writing community (and a much larger one, with many wise writers who are only here to help out of good will).

To double that to $199 for "a mentor" sours the bullshit further. There is no point in just being handed some random mentor and there's no use in just grabbing some random nobody to teach you. A teacher should be someone whom you resonate with, whom you respect and appreciate their thoughts. And there's a good chance that mentor will not have their full attention on you at all times as acting as someone's mentor is a job that takes a lot of time and effort to do correctly.

To the $599... it's amazing how shitty this is. We magnify the mentor problem, but add on the editing. Paying $599 ($400 add on) for 3000 words editing a month is ridiculous--especially when you probably won't know the reputation and training of the editor you'll be paired with, if you even get human editor in the first place.

You want my advice? Take a good look around AW. Become an active member of the community, use the Google custom search bar to look up questions you have (like "books on writing") and if you don't find the answers ask us with a new thread. Visit the Share Your Work section to get your work critiqued. You can make friends, get to know people, and ask them to beta-read if they're interested in your type of work.

Read post number 2 above. Read it again. Then follow Osulagh's suggestions.

They lost me at 100$ per month to edit a puny 3000 words/month which is as little as 1 chapter. 6 months, 6 chapters, mine would be in their editing for years and never make a fraction of what I've paid them.

Nice web design tho.

Who are the mentors and what are their qualifications?? The fact that they don't seem to offer this information anywhere on their site baffles me, because it's the number one question I want to know. Would you sign up for an MFA program without knowing who the faculty are? Are they published novelists or are they broke college kids looking to pick up extra beer money? Could I get hired to do this? I could use the extra cash. In any case, they're asking for an awful lot of money to keep their customer in the dark about this.

Clairels said:

Would you sign up for an MFA program without knowing who the faculty are?

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Even though my Uni has award-winning, very well-respected writers with decades in the industry, I won't be taking the MFA program because I don't like the directors' writing. I don't see them as worthy mentors, but I respect them as writers.

Re: buying writing books - check your local library, see what they have, browse the books before making any purchase decisions. Sometimes a book sounds good, but doesn't really 'click' with you, in the same way that some people outline, and some people 'pants' it. If you really like a book, you can then buy it and really delve into it, use it for the rest of your writing life.

I don't know where you're located, but also check around for any local writing resources that might be able to provide the same guidance for cheaper or even free.

Osulagh said:

....To the $599... but add on the editing. Paying $599 ($400 add on) for 3000 words editing a month

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*going pale* Good grief! I need to relook at my fees! I'm going to be rich! Rich I tell you!

Princess Amps said:

@Milenio That's hilarious! Maybe we should all apply for a mentor job. Though I have a feeling, it's very exclusive. . .

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Me too! But for that kind of money, I can mentor anybody into or out of anything! I do have another very secretive club though, we can merge the two. We meet every Thursday evening, bring your own muffins and tea. I do provide cookies but people tend to laugh a lot after eating one of them, and they ask for food Venue changes every week due to complaints from neighbours.

I can imagine someone, who is in no great hurry, needing the psychological crutch of paying someone for a year of three to be 'mentored' about writing. The logic would be: "you pay a guy to tell you what to eat and how to exercise, you pay a guy to teach you a musical instrument, you pay a guy to tell you how to speak and dress, you pay a guy to teach you to write." Of course, for this to work out that way, the teacher really must know enough to fulfill the role of a good crutch.
In a sense, for some people 'learning to write' really is like learning to ride a horse, or to arrange cutlery correctly, or to play the piano--a skill which helps add polish to one's class position, not necessarily a skill which is an entry to a profession, or even an enthusiastic hobby. They don't become actual pianists or jockeys or wedding planners, just people who can do those things should the situation call for it. So, to repeat myself, I can imagine some sort of upmarket service that provides a mentor to turn one into a functional writer. It's just that I've never seen such a service yet, just downmarket bottom-feeders.

Re-modernist said:

It's just that I've never seen such a service yet, just downmarket bottom-feeders.

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Wait! Princess Amps and I are busy forming such a service. You just wait and see, we're going to be the talk of the town... AND we'll be rich

No need to feel silly. A large part of what AW is for is answering all the questions. And one guaranteed good thing to come out of your asking the question is that there's now a thread here about that place, making it easier for other people to find when they have the same questions you did.

Seconding some advice in this thread and adding specifics: Go to your local library. Find the 808 section. Read the introduction of every book that looks like it might be remotely useful. If the introduction convinces you, get the book out of the library. If after three chapters you've found something you want to keep referring back to, buy the book off Amazon or through B&N. Highlight the $#!+ out of it. When you run out of books in the 808 section, go to your local B&N and go to the reference section. There'll be a couple rows of books on writing. Pick up anything your library didn't have. Read the introduction. Put back anything that bores you. Read the first three chapters of what you have left. Buy anything that things you want to refer back to. Highlight the $#!+ out of it.

Also PM me if you want more specific stuff, I have a list of the sites and books that have helped me.

Do all that, and you'll learn more than Now Novel can teach you for a fraction of the cost.

Princess Amps, I think it was an excellent question because you never know how many other people you saved from going for that or something like it.