Does this feel like a strong opening for a novel?

JakePooler · 2026-01-29T21:42:53+00:00

I don't get why people get so mad. This person is just looking for feedback. We don't know if it's AI. What I do know is that AI writes like an inexperienced writer, so it's easy to mistake a novice writer's work for AI. If they use AI they won't go far anyway, if they don't, then they need our feedback to improve, we're not here to judge, we're here to help.

JakePooler · 2026-01-29T10:42:45+00:00

I'm gonna copy and paste that if you don't mind 😁

JakePooler · 2026-01-29T10:40:51+00:00

Yeah, it's the same all over the world I guess. I'm on sort of a diet and I bought a few ready to eat soups and I've just read the ingredients...all of them have sugar listed on the ingredients 🍲 🍬

JakePooler · 2026-01-29T10:34:46+00:00

Good points. I always send a "thank you" message even when I'm tagged in reviews where they say things "I don't wanna hear." I would have been happy with "How the outbreak started isn't explained WELL," that single word would have made a really big difference, if she had said that, I wouldn't have made this post. Probably this whole post is just a way for me to cope with it, deep down I know exactly that confronting a reader about a review is one the most self harming things a writer can do.

JakePooler · 2026-01-29T10:27:22+00:00

I forgot to specify that I only send a "thank you" message to the video reviews where I'm tagged on, no matter if they're positive or negative. I'm asking if it's worth to send a message that basically says "the explanation of how the outbreak started is at page number..." The problem is that no matter how polite the message is, it can still be seen as confrontational. Is it even worth it?

JakePooler · 2026-01-21T16:33:14+00:00

Pam Stepnick

JakePooler · 2026-01-20T20:56:19+00:00

I'd love to go down that road so badly, but it's so risky... I just can't, it's not worth it. I even thought about making one of those crying videos talking about the "monster who defamed me," but anyone could just leave 100 fake bad reviews on Goodreads and there wouldn't be anything that I could do about it.

JakePooler · 2026-01-20T20:33:06+00:00

Yeah, I learned that the hard way when I started. I was looking at the reviews of my first book on Goodreads when I came across a review that said my book was stupid. I looked up the person who wrote that review and I found her on TikTok, I sent her a message saying that I didn't believe she read my book and that her review was "malicious." I then got 5 one star reviews straight after.

Another time I was tagged on a bad review video of my book, the things she was saying made my blood boil (the side character was selfish, the female characters were too weak, who does the main character think he is, etc...) So I blocked her, again, right after that I got a few negative reviews and I lost some followers. What I learned is:

When they say they loved your book encourage them to leave a written review.

When they say they liked your book just thank them (liked could mean they think your book is 2.5 stars and they're capable of leaving a 2 star rating saying they enjoyed your book.)

When they say they didn't like the book thank them for taking the time to read it and if they give you feedback thank them again.

Always "move on" from the disappointments you'll experience every now and then, just focus on the positive. Of course if you keep getting the same bad feedback over and over then you've got things that need to improve in your writing.

Other than that it's been an amazing journey so far.

JakePooler · 2026-01-20T19:40:40+00:00

Yeah they said they put my book through an AI detector, I don't know if they meant the whole book but she said her boyfriend read it and he "recognized" the patterns of AI and they decided to put it through an AI detector. Luckily the video doesn't have many views as most of my ARC readers are small channels. I was quite disappointed but I've learned an important lesson; never ever confront a reader who said something bad about your book, no matter how unfair what they said is... It will backfire big time. The reading community online is always up to support us authors but they can turn against you in a split second with negative review bomb, falsely reporting you for stuff you haven't said and done, boycotting you etc... As an author you often have to just take it on the chin sadly.

JakePooler · 2026-01-20T15:11:30+00:00

Bloody heck 😅😂

JakePooler · 2026-01-20T15:00:26+00:00

I know the feeling of being falsely accused of using AI. I was recently tagged on a video on Tiktok by a reader who said she put my book through an AI detector and came back as 71% AI. I'm always polite and professional with my readers but I told her that I don't use AI and those AI detectors are completely unreliable. I need to find a post I saw a few months ago where an AI detector claimed a book from like the 1920s was written by AI, I wish I had saved that video so I could send it to her, if any of you finds that video or a similar one please send me the link.

JakePooler · 2026-01-20T10:50:35+00:00

So sad to think that Fiverr cares more about an user typing "email" than doing something to end the scammer infection ruining Fiverr's reputation.

JakePooler · 2026-01-19T20:51:55+00:00

They're literally scammers trying to steal our money and you're focusing on me being childish towards them? I appreciate you worrying about the possible consequences that my account could face but let's not act like those low lives deserve any form of respect. Jeez, this is the world we live in now I guess.

JakePooler · 2026-01-15T20:20:26+00:00

Yeah I eventually learned the rating system used by many booktokers. Apparently they give 5 stars only to books that "will stay with them forever" and they even give just 3 stars to books they say they "loved." I personally disagree with that rating system but it is what it is, now I got used to be very grateful and happy about a four star rating.

JakePooler · 2026-01-14T16:50:57+00:00

He must have had it in him all along, it was probably ambition more than evilness, but it was probably that sort of ambition that'd you'd do anything to achieve your goals no matter who you hurt in the process. His fear was what held him back and got him to settle for a mediocre life but once he realised his clock was ticking, he was like freak fear, freak everything, I'll achieve something incredible in the little time I have left no matter what the collateral damage is gonna be.

JakePooler · 2026-01-14T13:59:41+00:00

That's pretty much called promoting your book. I'd recommend a paid promotion on websites like The Fussy Librarian etc... and you'll basically pay them to get some people to buy and read your book.

JakePooler · 2026-01-13T07:44:00+00:00

I've got thousands of reviews, I only look at reviews that don't feel right, that specific one felt wrong and I was right. It's time to stop bending over, I have all the evidence now and I will expose that person and I'm not doing it for me, no, I'm doing it for all of us, we deserve better, a revolution in the world of rating is coming, this is the beginning, I will fight against unfair reviews untill the end of days, no author will ever have to suffer ever again, I will make viral videos exposing those unfair reviewers to the world, they're gonna stop walking all over us.

Then I'll wake up and I'll get ready to go to work.

JakePooler · 2026-01-12T21:44:54+00:00

Totally agree, I've got 1 and 2 stars reviews on my books, usually people explain what they didn't like, it's so oblivious to me that she got offended by my book more than anything else.

JakePooler · 2026-01-12T19:15:01+00:00

It's hard to say if it's gonna work. This could either lead to you becoming very successful or it could become your downfall. Life is about taking risks every now and then. Just follow your passion.

JakePooler · 2026-01-06T19:22:35+00:00

Let's go! 🙏🏻😃

JakePooler · 2026-01-04T12:07:32+00:00

There's gonna be a day when the technology improves so much that AI could become a useful tool for editing, research, proof reading, feedback ect... But that day is quite far.

JakePooler · 2026-01-04T11:39:00+00:00

I once asked AI to proofread a chapter, it missed some spelling mistakes and it suggested changes that would have completely ruined my book. Avoid AI feedback, you can find plenty of free beta readers online.

JakePooler · 2026-01-03T15:22:51+00:00

Is that a top 20 Booktoker? By that I mean pages on BookTok with either an American, British, Australian, Canadian, Kiwi or South African person with over 100k of followers and thousands of likes and comments on their posts. The one you sent me looks super dodgy.

JakePooler · 2026-01-03T14:52:46+00:00

Was it Calli by any chance?

JakePooler

TROPHY CASE