David M. Baylis

My debut noir mystery, The Man with the Blue Suede Shoes, releases June 18th. Part mystery, part misadventure, and as dry as the desert air, this noir-soaked caper follows Cal Chance through the neon shadows of Las Vegas, where the King might be dead, his ghost is missing, and the truth could cost Cal everything. For previews, updates, and neon-soaked mysteries: davebaylis.com

@ibraminds It's comic noir (at least today it is 🧐)

@PenOfBaylis I’m interested As a beta reader, I’d be happy to help and provide feedback. What genre is your ARC for?

Had my first reviews from Beta readers. "Easy to read. Hard to put down" "Fresh new author who paints a great background story and plots the madness of Vegas, all with an ending that keeps you wanting more" Quite happy with that 😊 To get a copy before release and join my ARC team, see link in comments. #amreading #indieauthor #LasVegas

@ibraminds I'm looking for ARC readers if you're interested 👍 booksprout.co/reviewer/revie…

@PenOfBaylis Those are really strong early reactions Hard to put down” is exactly the kind of feedback every author hopes for. As a beta reader, I’ve seen how valuable this stage is for shaping the final story. Would love to read more of your work sometime if you’re open to sharing

@sarabushway I've never felt more English than when I wrote it 🤣

@PenOfBaylis Twee. Good word. I haven't encountered it in a long time. 🙂 And thanks for sharing!

Ebook authors, Would you rather have your readers buy the ebooks or read them on Kindle Unlimited? Or does it matter? #authors

@GuttCutter I've had someone pivot from 'cover design' to 'book trailer' to 'marketing' in space of three messages, which all said, 'I don't need any help'. It's like watching idiot gymnastics

I've come to the conclusion, that there is actually no way to market a book because the scammers will jump on you like bunch of flies.

@madison_cowsert Short. I think James Patterson (at least when he was doing the actual writing) did it perfectly. It was like a cliff hanger every few pages. Genre specific but brilliant.

Bookish debate 👀 Do you prefer short chapters that make you fly through a book or longer chapters that let you fully sink into the story?

@jsclark5768 Yeah, I'm going to be stealing that for my next book 😉

@PenOfBaylis Even if that alley doesn't get you closer to the goal, the detour can tell you something about the city.

How do you feel about writing dead ends and backtrack? I have a couple scenes where characters only go there to realize that won't be their solution. I'll need to improve the execution in revision, but that's the core.

@KarenMMcKellar I think most of them are bots. Some days I'm not even sure about myself 🤣

@PenOfBaylis I know. Maybe some are bots because it's hard to explain how so many can't even read basic English.

There are people on this platform who just keyword search for writers, hoping to offer beta reads, marketing and such like, and some of them are clearly not reading the profiles of the people they spam.

How do you keep going when you seem to have adopted the reverse Midas touch? No engagement on socials, no newsletter sign ups, no ARC readers, no money and no tolerance for DMs 🫩 Has anyone got a drawing board I can borrow? I need a revisit.

@Andrew_Baltasar Thanks. I'll get on it 👍

@PenOfBaylis Hi David, if you need ARC readers, you might want to check out our Facebook group. There are 1000+ authors who pick books for Amazon, Kobo, and ARC reviews in rounds, so books in the group's library get picked up and reviewed multiple times by different readers over time.

Someone mentioned earlier that I should put links in comments, rather than tweets. Something about algorithms. I still need ARC readers. I wonder if it actually works. #WritingCommunity #ARC #ARCReaders

@artvenske You definitely have a USP. I'll be following with interest.

@PenOfBaylis Thanks! I’m working on my debut novel. I hope readers who are open to fiction written by authors from outside the English speaking world will like it.

@artvenske Your header text might be the most interesting I've seen on Twitter 👍

@ick_real That I could read ten minutes later? That's a looooong time 😬

Be honest… when was the last time you wrote something with a pen on paper?

@kumxem Blind faith

People who get 0-5 likes at max and still tweet all the time... What's your secret ??

Is anyone planning to attend #AuthorNation this year? Have you been before? Be good to connect so I don't get lost 😉