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How do you guys find people for ARC? I hit up my meager mailing list but got no takers. I'm sure once the mailing list grows it won't be an issue, but right now it's a pain.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:31
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EngineerSean posted:Good luck and remember not to dwell on it, just write more of it. But also post it here so we can tell you what to fix. Removing my link, forgot about the no-erotica rule. Jalumibnkrayal fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 01:40
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Just wanted to post a quick preview of the new thread OP before I post it tomorrow. I have a section from another author to add talking about self-pub finances, and I wanted to see if anyone else has something they'd like put in. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like added, and I'll add it in / fix it / whatever before posting.  ---  This is the SomethingAwful self-publishing thread. All ye who enter, beware! Let's get some groundwork out of the way... Click here for the old thread! Want to join the SA "GoonReads" site? Click here to join!  Erotica talk is NOT WELCOME in this thread by mod decree. Take it elsewhere, please. THIS IS WHY. CLICK THIS AND READ THE REPORTS. The TL;DR of the link above is that it's stupidly lucrative. An author in almost any genre that would ever be considered for traditional publication will make more money self-publishing than he will through a publisher contract. (This may be false if your name is Stephen King or Nora Roberts, but somehow, I doubt they're reading this thread.)  I can seriously link graphs like these from AuthorEarnings all day. Go read it and save me the trouble, okay? Self-publishing isn't the vanity pursuit it once was, no matter what people may tell you to the contrary. E-readers and smart phones are everywhere now. There are more people with them in America than without, and e-books make up a crazy (and per some sources, highly underreported) percentage of the market. Indie author access to readers (and vice versa) is high and relatively easy now. If you write something good in a popular genre and spend a little time to get to know the market and how to make your work visible, you can make some pretty snazzy cash on this. If you don't write a popular genre, nobody's going to publish your work anyway so why not self-publish?   1) People who just want to get their stories out there and don't really care one way or another. Hobbyist writers are welcome here, but remember that a whole bunch of us are market-oriented and will get all pissy at you if you complain about your story not selling while you're being dumb about it. If you're going to not care about [cover, blurb, title, page-count, promotion, reviews, etc], go all the way and don't care about your sales either. 2) Professional authors making a living off of their books. There were a whole bunch of this category lurking in the last thread, though they tend to be less vocal about releases. Some of the author incomes in this thread range from mid-five to low-six digit incomes. Unless there are other lurkers out there I don't know about, they're all romance writers. That does NOT make romance the only lucrative genre, though. Just look at Steven Campbell's "Hard Luck Hank" thread (goon sci-fi making hundreds of bucks per day in royalties for months straight at time of post). Want to talk business ideas? Great. Want to offer advice and criticisms? Go for it! Full-time self-pubbers are totally welcome here.  3) Short story writers in any given market Short stories are extremely hard to traditionally publish because of the costs associated and the general US market expectations. If you can get your story published, it's usually in some giant anthology / periodical that pays you a pittance for your work. Ebooks have no print costs associated with them, which both revitalizes the market for short stories AND brings back the serial as a storytelling approach. Short stories can, depending on your market and writing talent, be quite lucrative. Join in on the thread, writers!  1) ...post about self-publishing being a scam or start that bullshit about us all faking our sales. I swear to God, I will turn this van around...  .2) ...do an intentionally half-assed job on your story/blurb/cover/etc and then complain that it didn't sell.  3) ...write an experimental piece bridging five incompatible genres that also makes you read it backward while holding your Kindle up to a mirror and then get upset when nobody buys it. TARGET A MARKET, PEOPLE. (But seriously, if you find a way to make that Kindle thing work, I'd love to see the code for it. )4) ...talk about erotica. Just don't. The mods don't want it, the people posting from work don't want it, and it's a huge drama bomb. There are plenty of other places that talk about it already, including an off-site goon forum (no, don't ask me for a link because I don't post there). Take the talk over there, please.  The first thing you need to do is read your genre. Read it enough to know it inside and out. Learn why certain tropes work in your genre. Know the reader expectations in your genre. Read related genres. Hell, read and learn from unrelated genres! Read bestsellers that you're biased to think are complete poo poo (if I made it through Twilight and Fifty Shades, you can survive them too). Read everything. Don't even think about marketing stuff yet. Just don't. If you don't know what you're writing or how writing it works, sit your butt down and keep reading. It's the same thing as with any other product-based field. If you don't know what your customers want, who they are, and what defines a good product, you're doomed from the start. Dust off that library card of yours and go to town on the new releases section. Read!Now that you're a wonderfully well-read individual who knows what actual readers read, as opposed to what your old english lit teacher made you read while surreptitiously pouring whiskey into his coffee, you can start thinking about writing! The Painful Set of Pre-Marketing Questions posted:Ask yourself these questions... Take whatever your idea is, probably at outline stage, and see how it fits into those five questions above. The hardest part is throwing away an idea without a market, but it's better than spending a month or two writing only to have it not sell (assuming sales were your goal). Trust me - these questions are less painful at the beginning then they will be if you wait until 65,000 words into your novel. Answering these questions will also help you figure out other important factors about your book. Because it tells you who your audience is, it also helps tell you their expectations in plot, language, style, etc. You can now research cover designs and blurbs, too. If you're going to pay attention to any parts of this OP, pay attention to these questions and to the cover/blurb part below. The next thing you need to do is write. Duh. What do you write? Depends on your genre. How long does it need to be? Depends on your genre. What should your cover look like? Depends on your genre. See where I'm going with this? Write it until it's done. Next comes editing. Do a quick self-edit just because, but please please please get someone else to edit your book, too. I recommend author exchanges as a cheap way of getting good feedback. The more authors the better. You can also pay a competent editor, but depending on where you are in your writing career, the cost may still be prohibitive. Okay, you're done with your editing. Your manuscript is a perfect (whatever). Time to publish, right? Right? WRONG. You're still missing 50% of the project: your cover and blurb. These are what sell your book, not the content inside it. You will never be read by anyone but your grandmother without a good blurb and cover. She's going to tell you it was "a very nice book, dearie" and you won't believe her because she's your grandmother. Avoid this entire shameful mess by crafting a good blurb and designing (or paying for) a good cover. REPEAT AFTER ME...  Got that? Good. Now, those questions earlier in this thread -- the painful pre-marketing questions -- and look at the books and genres you've identified. Check out their covers and blurbs for books that sold. THAT is what you mimic. They are clearly doing it right, so learn from them and craft it for yourself. BLURBS 1) Active voice when possible. 2) Make things happen. No existential crises please! 3) Avoid leading questions. 4) Judicious use of limited word-count 5) GENRE APPROPRIATE 6) For the love of God, tell me something about your book. If your 250-word blurb sucks, why the gently caress would I suffer through the other 70,000 words you wrote? That's all I'm going to say on blurbs because styles are extremely varied and depend heavily on genre and style. Post in the thread for more criticisms, questions, etc. Cover tastes will be both subjective and genre-specific. I've included a few obvious examples below... This is a crappy sci-fi cover:  This is a better version of the same cover:  This is a loving phenomenal cover:  This is not:  This is bad:  This is good:  This cover is both terrible and a beautiful relic of the old thread:  Some decent sci-fi (there's some debate around the text, but it's a solid theme):  Some really successful Goon self-pubbed sci-fi that sells like loving hot cakes:  Here are some general cover rules to start. Once you're a better cover designer, these will become guidelines more than rules. The more experienced cover designers in this thread could rip this list apart with plenty of legit reasons, but remember: I'm not trying to tell you how to make a masterpiece of a cover. I'm just trying to stop you from creating another Ethereal Girls. 1) Obey your genre. 2) Do NOT create a scene from your book unless you have a damned good reason. Go for a feel instead. 3) Clean, crisp, clear. Thats your goal. Don't confuse things. Don't complicate covers. 4) Unless you are very clear on when it's okay not to, pick designs where your text is clear in Amazon-sized thumbnail. 5) Two font families, max, and don't mix fonts from the same family. Not sure what fonts to pick? Consult your genre's bestsellers for a good idea! (I tell you that a lot, and for good reason.) Here are a few recurring fonts and free-for-commercial substitutes where appropriate.  That's it for covers! Check your own genre and learn. Post draft covers in this thread for mockery. Hire cover designers from the list of designers in the RESOURCES section of this post.  Please note that the resources listed in this thread are only suggestions based on other goons and on past experience. I am not vouching for any of these services / people / places. PLACES TO PUBLISH: http://kdp.amazon.com - Kindle Direct Publishing. This is the biggest dog in town and you will make most of your money here. http://www.nookpress.com - B&N's Nook Store. #2 or #3 for most people. Apple Bookstore - I didn't link you to it because unless you have an Apple device, you can't publish there. They will be on par with B&N for most people on sales if you can get on them, which you can because... http://www.draft2digital.com - These guys! THEY WILL GET YOU ON APPLE. They are amazing, their tools are awesome, and they're a way to publish on B&N if you don't live in the USA. http://www.smashwords.com - Smashwords is a dinosaur with no real value as a publishing portal, a lovely site, a lovely meatgrinder, and their only value is the coupon generator. Once upon a time, they were the only way for non-Apple people to get into the iTunes store. This is not true anymore. Go with Draft2Digital and never look back. http://www.kobobooks.com - If you can actually make money here, you're a better marketer than I am. These guys have no metadata, a dysfunctional search engine and a long history of treating self-pubbers like poo poo. They will likely gently caress up your royalty checks even if you do manage to accumulate royalties. No reason not to publish with them if you don't have bad blood, but personally, I avoid them like the plague. http://www.oysterbooks.com - Keep an eye on these guys. They are a subscription book-purchasing service (think Netflix for books), and Simon & Schuster just agreed to put their books up there. A bunch of us are wary of their terms, thinking they're unsustainable and won't work, but if it succeeds they'll be worth it. http://play.google.com/books/publish/ - Google Play's bookstore. A bit of a mess, but some people report decent sales there. BEWARE THE PRICING... always price everything 25% higher than you expect, because they will auto-discount your stuff by that much without telling you. Amazon will then price match it, etc etc. I don't publish here and can't say much, but I hear good things from those who do. FREE RESOURCES: How to Self Publish Your Book in 30 Days - http://howtopubyourself.com/ - (Almost) 30 days of tips on how to self publish your book through Amazon. A real basic course but you still might learn something from it! Part of Pub Yourself Press, a goon run company. How to Write a Romance Novel - http://howtowritearomancenovel.com/ - Wondering how you can turn your non-lucrative career writing about elves or whatever nerdy poo poo you do into a lucrative career writing about angsty relationships? This should give you a real basic overview of what is expected. Part of Pub Yourself Press, a goon-run company. Pub Yourself Forums - Small for now but there are some knowledgeable people on there answering people's questions everyday. http://www.pubyourself.com/ PAID RESOURCES: FULL-SERVICE: Pub Yourself Press - Does it seem like no traditional publisher will accept your book, but self publishing seems to daunting? Do you know your writing is art, but your book is selling like fart? A good compromise solution might be Pub Yourself Press, a digital-first publisher run by a couple of goons. Flat rates for covers, formatting, but also a package for them to turn all their marketing and cover experience toward publishing your book for you. http://pubyourselfpress.com/ COVERS: Gábor Csigás -- Received a recommendation over PM from a fellow goon. "He is a fantastic cover designer. He might even be a genius. He's a genuinely lovely Hungarian guy who speaks excellent English. He's fast, reliable, and has a great eye. He's also very reasonable regarding prices. I can't recommend him strongly enough." http://gaborcsigas.daportfolio.com/gallery/384985 David Graham -- contact: wonkadreams@aol.com Contact for Pricing. Ravenkult -- http://www.ravenkult.com Contact for Pricing. Deisgn For Writers -- contact: designforwriters.com / hello@designforwriters.com. Specializes in "soft" fiction and non-fiction, but will accept all genres and will work on websites and other design needs too. Contact for Pricing. Holly Rothrock -- http://www.hrothrock.com ; Contact: hrothroc@gmail.com Specialty: Custom art/illustration, cover design. Contact for Pricing. Damon Za -- http://www.damonza.com Specialty: Damon is a high-end, professional cover artist for tens of NYT bestsellers and comes highly recommended from those who have used his services. With his quality comes expense, though -- his covers start at $345 and go up from there depending on extras. Also offers formatting and editing services, but I don't know anyone who has used those. Check out his portfolio for just how good this guy is. Go On, Write! -- http://www.goonwrite.com Specialty: Nope, that's not "Goon Write" but "Go On, Write!" You keep writing, he'll keep generating covers. His pre-made cover prices are extremely affordable, but you have to be quick before someone else buys up the good ones. (He takes advance buy-outs, meaning that you don't even need a book / title ready yet if you already know you'd like to use that design in three months, etc.) Cheap prices, acceptable covers if you know what you're doing. EDITING: Received a recommendation over PM from a fellow goon. "Salomé Jones at Flourish Editing -- http://www.flourishediting.com/editing.html -- is a damned good editor with two masters in creative writing (MFA & MA). Her current hit-rate for clients getting manuscripts sold to publishers after her edits is something like 87%. She does a lot of women's fiction & romance, but also YA, literary, and slipstream/fantasy. She's not keen on sci-fi or horror, though. Disclaimer: The Goon knows her IRL, and used to do stuff for Flourish. But she's still damned good." Sundae fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 03:11
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That's loving excellent. Once that's out of the way, I've got questions about my cover. Not that I'm 100% determined to self-pub yet. I've been sending out queries, and have a plan to hold out until November. If I don't have an agent/publisher by then, I'm self-pubbing. Or, it's quite possible, I'll be so sick of the story that I'll print it out and burn it in a fire.
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Jun 2, 2014 03:22
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Am I allowed to offer refunds to people who review my book on Amazon?
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Jun 2, 2014 04:10
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You're not supposed to offer any form of compensation for reviews. Except for free copies since, well, it's hardly paying them. Reviewers will usually mention they received the book for free to review.
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Jun 2, 2014 05:46
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You didn't put me down as a cover artist.
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Jun 2, 2014 06:27
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ravenkult posted:You didn't put me down as a cover artist. Fixed. Could you just write up a quick "Specializes in" thing for me? I was going to write 'Creepy things' but while true, that's not quite doing it justice.
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Jun 2, 2014 11:47
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My cover was redone and the disappearing text remedied. Great op too!
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Jun 2, 2014 12:13
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:Make me better at smutting please: There's a "no erotica" rule in this thread so I'll refrain from commenting except to say that you might be better off hiring your covers out instead of doing them yourself.
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Jun 2, 2014 12:44
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Sundae posted:Fixed. Could you just write up a quick "Specializes in" thing for me? I was going to write 'Creepy things' but while true, that's not quite doing it justice. Specializes in horror/dark fantasy perhaps?
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Jun 2, 2014 13:27
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That's a truly glorious OP, Sundae. Must have been a poo poo-load of work. Thank you.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:45
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Also you forgot the best part of that Vikings! Saxon Holocaust cover which is the back. Look at that fat smug looking seal.
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Jun 2, 2014 15:15
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Dave should've stayed in the Doghouse.
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Jun 2, 2014 15:53
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New OP is goddamn awesome. Thanks, Sundae.
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Jun 2, 2014 20:11
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3639693 There you go! I'll add any new developments as we go along to either the OP or the reserved second post.
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Jun 3, 2014 00:35
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ravenkult posted:Specializes in horror/dark fantasy perhaps?   
magnificent7 fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jun 5, 2014 |
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Jun 5, 2014 15:52
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I like the first one. Maybe lose the border and the photo in the middle and it'll look pretty good. I haven't really done any tutorials, no.
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Jun 5, 2014 15:57
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ravenkult posted:I like the first one. Maybe lose the border and the photo in the middle and it'll look pretty good.
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Jun 5, 2014 16:28
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Wait poo poo. We should close this thread, put a link to the new thread.
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Jun 5, 2014 16:30
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magnificent7 posted:Wait poo poo. We should close this thread, put a link to the new thread. Look at the post immediately above the one where you posted those covers.
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Jun 5, 2014 18:07
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Yes. We should close this thread. I spaced.
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Jun 6, 2014 00:15
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