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Praveen J

Help validating and providing feedback for a writing app

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Hello guys! I am building an android app which serves as a platform for writers and readers. The idea is to gamify the app such that anyone can write anything interesting by collaborating with other users or write individually as well. I have an MVP built and I am planning to add features like conducting contests regularly to keep the both the readers and writers engaged. Need suggestions from both readers and writers perspective. Landing page for the app: https://www.talefry.com/ Google play store link: https://play.google.com/store/ap... Feel free to explore the app. It would be an honour to hear from you guys! :) Thanks in advance

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Raquel Winiarsky
Hi @yeah92x - I would love to download the app, however I don't have an android :( I really like the concept that I've understood via the homepage, having a nonjudgemental place to write and collaborate on creative stories is really enticing. The way that it's marketed to the public is super welcoming. Another component of the app concept that I like is the idea of a game, which allows for people or "players" to keep coming back, discover new stories, or feel as though they are part of this creative writing community. Question: I'm curious to understand how one would be able to discuss a topic with like-minded people. If users are creating/writing a story on a specific topic, is there a space for commenting and sharing other stories inside the app? Or are users going inside the story and writing/sharing their thoughts? Also, if people decide to collaborate, do the collaborators have to ask for the story owners' permission to add? Feel free to let me know when there is an iPhone app and I'll be happy to download it.
Praveen J
@raquel_winiarsky I'm sorry to hear that! We are developing a web application which I believe would help iPhone users as well. For your questions, like minded people can connect with one another using the community feature that we have in our app. Usually there's a host who would host a story with a title and description and others will join their room. Once that is done, the host will start the story and the turn will pass on from one person to another. Once the story is completed, it will be shared as public or their followers based on what is set by the host/main author. I hope I've answered your questions. Feel free to contact me anytime!
Matt Fisher
Hey there @yeah92x I'm not in a position to download the app right now, but I thought I could offer some feedback on the landing page: * Love the book heavy imagery - I found the child reading by torchlight bringing back a lot of memories. That kind of pathos is a great way of connecting with people, and a wonderful hook for a writing app * I'd love to know a little bit more about what TaleFry does from the landing page. At the minute you qualify your audience demographic ("Android application for readers & writers!") but don't really tell visitors what they can do/accomplish with your product * Coming in cold, there are some really intriguing snippets that I'd love to see expanded on a little bit - e.g. "create and start building a story for single or multiplayer". Is there some multiplayer writing functionality? That would be really cool if so, and you should be shouting it from the rooftops. Similarly - how does TaleFry help me as a lone author vs. just setting up a blog. Can I share my stories with others in an easy way? If so, how? * Somehow, without really knowing anything about what TaleFry does specifically and without looking at the app, I still got a little excited by the landing page - that's quite an achievement. I'd be tempted to keep the emotional connection that writing and books can bring to your audience front-and-center as you develop further Sorry for such a quick drive by set of comments; best of luck with it!
Praveen J
@mjfisher May I know why you are unable to download the app? Are you not having android or are you facing any technical issues? Please let me know how I can help you
Matt Fisher
@yeah92x No technical issues - I was just busy :) Downloaded it now, and while I think it's cool (and obviously early-stage), I'm interested to see what direction you're aiming to take it. I've only spent ten minutes playing around, but a few things as they come to my mind as as follows (all personal opinion, and feel free to take on board or ignore as you see fit): * There's the makings of a good interface here. As it stands, I think it's pushing people towards writing short twitter style snackable story bites - which is no bad thing, if that's what you're aiming for * As it stands, it looks like there's not much functionality beyond writing and sharing pieces of text (shocking, for a writing app, huh? :P ). I think for you to grab a good piece of market share from other writing communities (like reddit.com/r/writingprompts) you might need to lean in to the advantages you have in a custom app. * E.g. you could add some measure of gamification; streaks for writing a chapter x days in a row; prompt modes that give you a genre and a few topics to write around as a challenge, etc. Anything to vary the writing experience and * I suspect the ultimate aim for this has to be a social community of people trading very short stories - text composition on a mobile device is to awkward for much else. To that end, community features that help facilitate discussion, groups, and self improvement might be useful. Commenting, voting, feedback stickers or tags to help your audience get involved with each other etc. I'm going to leave it there, as I'm not your primary audience, and it's those people you should be listening to the most. I do wish you the very best of luck with it though! I'll follow your progress with interest.
Praveen J
@mjfisher Thank you so much for your feedback! We have collaborative writing when you choose the number of participants to be more than 1 which is hard for us to communicate without explaining. Please do try it with your friends if that is possible as well and provide us with feedback. Anyway thanks again for all your valuable inputs. Will consider all of them and work accordingly :)