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FingerbangMisfire posted:Soissons, I don't know if you've uploaded anything yet... I haven't, but thanks for thinking of me. Long story (kind of) short: I got pretty sick, stopped writing or thinking about writing, started getting better and decided I hated what I had written and wanted to start all over. Yay? Looking forward to reading the weblogs people linked in here. Arnold of Soissons fucked around with this message at 18:12 on May 20, 2014 |
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Apr 13, 2011 22:42
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Just gonna put this here (they review indie self-publishers): http://indiebooksblog.blogspot.com/ Check them out and submit your stuff. They're going to feature my short "The Dangers of Field Work" on the 15th. Buy my writing. It doesn't suck! INFECTED
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Apr 13, 2011 23:35
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FingerbangMisfire posted:For places paying $.01, I prefer the self-pub route, because I want to bolster my library of works. Those markets tend to be too small to really increase my exposure beyond what I can do myself. FingerbangMisfire posted:Best semi-pro place is Red Penny Papers It looks like they only give 1¢/word, though? Is it really widely read and that makes up for it, or?
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Apr 13, 2011 23:48
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I loves them (and the editor is phenomenal).
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Arnold of Soissons posted:It looks like they only give 1¢/word, though? Is it really widely read and that makes up for it, or? That's why I called them semi-pro. Semi-pro is $.01 to $.03. Not as good as pro, but better than token. I just really like the editor there and the product. She puts her all into making sure the end result is as good as can be (it helps that she serves as an editor for a small publisher), which is why I actually eschewed self-pub for one of my longer pieces and gave it to her. I still think that, in general, unless you love a certain publication (as I do with Red Penny Papers), you're better off going self-pub instead of semi-pro. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
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Apr 14, 2011 00:05
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I've thought about publishing in semi-pro markets, but the big thing is that rather than the money, I'd like guild-recognized credits.
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Apr 14, 2011 00:28
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Doesn't the publication HAVE to be pro-rate then? I don't think you can be semi-pro and guild-recognized.
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Apr 14, 2011 00:43
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Doesn't the publication HAVE to be pro-rate then? I don't think you can be semi-pro and guild-recognized. It's been a while since I looked, but I think I remember one or two exceptions for various reasons. Hardly enough to really count, though.
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Apr 14, 2011 00:51
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FingerbangMisfire posted:That's why I called them semi-pro. Semi-pro is $.01 to $.03. Not as good as pro, but better than token. I just really like the editor there and the product. Cool. I wasn't trying to call you to task, I just wondered.
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Apr 14, 2011 01:23
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Mr. Belding posted:I'm happy to give a read/review, but only for a novel. Any of you guys have an urban fantasy (not the romance kind, the Neil Gaiman kind) or something dark-humor/horror offering (something like John Dies at the End)? I have some dark-ishly humorous novels that just might, maybe, possibly, be sort of along the lines of what you're looking for. On the surface they're light and silly (to varying degrees) with a sort of comic-book-ish feel. But they have, in my view, distinctly dark undercurrents. My web site is here. You can click on the titles in the right-hand column to get info about each one and see if anything strikes your fancy. And, of course, I'm happy to write reviews as well.
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Apr 14, 2011 04:18
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Roger that. Just curious since there's a few short story writers in here (myself included). That's cool, and I'm not ruling out reading them. It would be hard for me to give them a fair shake. I'm not going to jump on amazon and slam people (unless your short stories are a veiled call for Sharia law in America, or a plea to end elections and name Mike Huckabee our new god-king), but I'd rather review stuff that I would read anyway. I read a lot of indie stuff as it is. I've read books by Amanda Hocking, JA Konrath, Black Crouch, and David Mcafee. Stay away from that last one, by the way. Hokey religious tripe veiled in a weak rear end vampire story. Short stories have more of a market on Kindle than they do in the real world, but I certainly feel like the novel will still be standard form for the consumption of fiction. Secret Agent X23 posted:I have some dark-ishly humorous novels that just might, maybe, possibly, be sort of along the lines of what you're looking for. On the surface they're light and silly (to varying degrees) with a sort of comic-book-ish feel. But they have, in my view, distinctly dark undercurrents. My web site is here. You can click on the titles in the right-hand column to get info about each one and see if anything strikes your fancy. And, of course, I'm happy to write reviews as well. Which is your best? Which is your scariest? Which is your funniest? Please tell me they're the same one! edit: Your PDF for Goliath fails to open under Chrome or Preview on Mac. Hermit works, so I'm guessing it's a corrupt upload. A corruptload. Mr. Belding fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Apr 14, 2011 |
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Apr 14, 2011 07:28
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Mr. Belding posted:That's cool, and I'm not ruling out reading them. It would be hard for me to give them a fair shake. I'm not going to jump on amazon and slam people (unless your short stories are a veiled call for Sharia law in America, or a plea to end elections and name Mike Huckabee our new god-king), but I'd rather review stuff that I would read anyway. Yeah, I realize I come off as an alcohol-swilling rear end most of the time (I totally am, by the way). On the plus side, I do have an absolutely fun-horrible dark humor novel ready to go. Just need a couple more rejections... (Ditto on Huckabee/Romney/Repub-megabeasts by the bye) Actually, this is a good segue: I've sent my novel to a LOT of agents, and I've given them all more than a month to respond. But they haven't. On my end, how much time should I give them before self-publishing a novel I've sent out? The quicker it gets on Amazon, the quicker I get it to the public. But I also don't want to break some unspoken rule. Buy my writing. It doesn't suck! INFECTED
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Apr 14, 2011 07:48
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Well, that depends quite a bit on who you talk to. There is a massive fear among unpublished authors of somehow becoming unpublishable by releasing first on Kindle. I honestly believe that the odds are better that you become a hit via epub and then leverage that into a publishing career than your stuff gets rejected because you previously had it available on Kindle, but that's just me. Either way, I would think of it like this. If you publish on Kindle and make $100 a month, that's $2400 in two years. That is about the time it would take for your book to be released if it were picked up by an agent at this exact moment, assuming they managed to shop it in six months to a year. What is the advance for a first time author these days? A lot of people are saying around five to six grand. You could make it up. Of course it will rely on you doing at least one hundred dollars per month in kindle sales, but even at $2.99, that's only fifty books. Not inconceivable by any means.
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Apr 14, 2011 08:39
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Mr. Belding posted:Short stories have more of a market on Kindle than they do in the real world, but I certainly feel like the novel will still be standard form for the consumption of fiction. Over the years I've become less interested in reading short stories. I can't say why, but generally, I'd rather read a novel. (As a side note, I'll take this opportunity to recommend a book of short stories, Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson. No personal connection; I was just mightily impressed.) But I've been thinking along the lines of writing some short stories to promote my books. Of course, the stories would stand on their own as well. The problem I have at Amazon is that I can't offer short stories for free. And with the books at $.99, I can't can't charge less for a short story. I understand--someone correct me if I'm wrong--that you can offer work for free through Smashwords. I've just recently started looking into that. I've gotten as far as setting up an account there and skimming through the book about formatting. Mr. Belding posted:Which is your best? Wish I could, but I can't. In my opinion, the overall best would be The Hookie-Pookie Man. The funniest in terms of the sheer volume and density of jokes/gags/ridiculousness would be Goliath. (Open Stage and HP Man are in a more "literary" voice, with touches of absurdity and light humor.) I don't have anything that goes all-out for scariness, but Soft White Underbelly might have a couple moments where it takes a step in that direction. Mr. Belding posted:edit: Your PDF for Goliath fails to open under Chrome or Preview on Mac. Hermit works, so I'm guessing it's a corrupt upload. A corruptload. Thanks for the heads-up on that, and it's fixed. Not sure what happened--I try to make it a habit to test all my uploads because I'm extremely paranoid about that very thing. Bad links look lame, especially when you're linking to something within your own site.
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Apr 14, 2011 13:01
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Yeah, I realize I come off as an alcohol-swilling rear end most of the time (I totally am, by the way). On the plus side, I do have an absolutely fun-horrible dark humor novel ready to go. Just need a couple more rejections... I'm ready to check out anything written by an alcohol-swilling rear end. My best friend for many years was just such a person. FingerbangMisfire posted:Actually, this is a good segue: I've sent my novel to a LOT of agents, and I've given them all more than a month to respond. But they haven't. Are you saying you haven't received any replies at all? I just took a look at the spreadsheet I used to track my queries to agents for The Hermit, my first novel. A lot of them replied within a month, and the majority was two months or less. On average, email queries tended to get a faster reply. Four never replied; two of those were email and two were postal. That's just what I can tell you at a quick glance. Make of it what you will.
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Apr 14, 2011 13:26
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Oh man, we get points for drinking on the job, now? drat, I have *got* to get something out!
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Apr 14, 2011 14:00
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Oh man, we get points for drinking on the job, now? This is new? Tortured alcoholic writers is a joke by now.
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Apr 14, 2011 15:23
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Secret Agent X23 posted:Are you saying you haven't received any replies at all? Oddly enough, just got 2 email rejections. But otherwise, it's been radio silence from the twenty or so I queried (little over a month ago). My concern was just with first-publish rights and breaking some unwritten contract like "If it's still in agent inbox, let them respond before self-publishing" or something. I'm gonna plan on a May Amazon release now, I think. Arnold of Soissons posted:Oh man, we get points for drinking on the job, now? Man, we've been doing this for several thousand years I think.
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Apr 14, 2011 17:02
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If I do a bunch of related short stories and use the same background art for the cover and change the text: Would that be visually unifying and a good idea, or just look lazy and like hell?
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Apr 14, 2011 18:54
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Arnold of Soissons posted:If I do a bunch of related short stories and use the same background art for the cover and change the text: Would that be visually unifying and a good idea, or just look lazy and like hell? A similar unifying design layout would be a good idea, but the same exact image with different text? Eh...
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Apr 14, 2011 19:34
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Just look lazy and like hell. Similar, sure. Exact same would be bad. The cover art for your stories is the first advertisement to readers. It's pretty drat important.
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Apr 14, 2011 20:15
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Longbaugh01 posted:A similar unifying design layout would be a good idea, but the same exact image with different text? Eh... Maybe change the colors with PS?
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Apr 14, 2011 20:16
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Maybe change the colors with PS? Just my opinion, but maybe yeah. If I were in your position though, I'd take a look at the covers of various book series that are out there and see how they keep a similar theme and/or layout to get some ideas.
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Apr 14, 2011 20:48
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Would anyone ever consider paying someone to format & promote their novel? I'm thinking particularly about http://ebookit.com/ (thinking as in: using them as my main example, not necessarily that I'd use them). Reviews for the site are really goddamn positive. And for $149, they format, distribute to every retailer that matters, and supposedly promote for another $50. So would any indie authors here consider them?
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Apr 14, 2011 21:20
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Sorry about not coming back earlier. I was using a docx file, one that worked just fine for Lulu, but as I said it became just one huge paragraph of smooshed text at amazon. I did later try the pdf version that Lulu makes out of the format they want for text/word documents, and that works just fine complete with proper font, indents, and symbols. I might try html just to get some further tweaks since I don't like how my title page turned out, but for now PDF does look pretty good. I've got my first two books ready for upload once I find someone to draw up covers. I've already got a website, twitter, and facebook group all ready to bring up live on the first day it goes up on Amazon, and I've decided for the first two weeks to offer the book at 99 cents to try and garner interest. FingerbangMisfire posted:Would anyone ever consider paying someone to format & promote their novel? I'm thinking particularly about http://ebookit.com/ (thinking as in: using them as my main example, not necessarily that I'd use them). I wouldn't but only because my previous education/expertise is on being able to handle my own marketing in regards to a business. For those who haven't had experience in a field where they've needed to do that I think those sites might be great if they can provide substantial proof of what they're doing. The $50 promotion fee seems weird because to properly promote you need to do research on your market demographic, what message boards and websites they frequent, what blogs might review a copy favorably in acceptable time, and what physical store fronts or locations the target market frequents. That seems like a lot of work for $50 which makes me skeptical. Personally I'm looking at investing around 120 man hours in the first 2 weeks for advertising and marketing (sci-fi/fantasy) making sure to hit all of the above, including about 18 local businesses/game groups at different times of the day.
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Apr 14, 2011 22:35
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If you've got any advice on marketing, I'd love to hear it. Being totally new at this, I don't have a loving clue what I'm doing, though I do have reviews coming up on a couple indie blogs.
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Apr 14, 2011 22:44
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Arnold of Soissons posted:If I do a bunch of related short stories and use the same background art for the cover and change the text: Would that be visually unifying and a good idea, or just look lazy and like hell? This is similar to what you're talking about, so it might get you some inspiration. (Not my books, just somebody I know of) http://stevewands.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-stay-dead-covers.html I you look at his covers, he has a distinct style for his name on all of the books to unify them with the other elements matching the story. Looks nice at a glance and doesn't look lazy.
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Apr 15, 2011 00:02
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Would anyone ever consider paying someone to format & promote their novel? I'm thinking particularly about http://ebookit.com/ (thinking as in: using them as my main example, not necessarily that I'd use them). This is pretty much what sparked my question above. If I can pay someone to do a really great cover and then only have to change it a little bit then that would be a great deal for me. FingerbangMisfire posted:If you've got any advice on marketing, I'd love to hear it. Being totally new at this, I don't have a loving clue what I'm doing, though I do have reviews coming up on a couple indie blogs. I'd also love advice on this. Poopinstein posted:This is similar to what you're talking about, so it might get you some inspiration. Those look fantastic. It's the exact opposite of what I was thinking, but it looks really good. Thanks for the link. Any other advice/examples of covers people want to give, I am all ears.
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Apr 15, 2011 00:08
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Would anyone ever consider paying someone to format & promote their novel? I'm thinking particularly about http://ebookit.com/ (thinking as in: using them as my main example, not necessarily that I'd use them). I wouldn't. Formatting/uploading I can do on my own time after reading the guidelines; I'm not going to pay $150 per book to have someone else do that, especially when I keep that knowledge forever and can continue to do it for free. I'm looking at paying someone else something like 30 bucks an hour to do it for me at that rate, and it's something a trained monkey could do. As far as 50 bucks of promotions, I really have to wonder about what you're paying for there and how people are measuring the effectiveness of their promotions. I'd rather pay for 50 bucks of facebook ads or something if I'm going to be paying money. It's not enough to convince me that I'm paying for someone who knows what they're doing, and it's too little to really be paying for anything like getting ads, so... it seems like it might be some random spammy comments on blogs/forums and some guy pocketing the money. The other thing to think of is that if you're paying $200 up front to publish your book, that's sucking out the first $200 of profits you make, which kind of negates the whole point of e-publishing: doing it all yourself and not having to pay for that kind of stuff. The only thing I could justify paying for is cover artwork. I can do that myself, though, so for me it's not an issue.
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Apr 15, 2011 00:22
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tarepanda posted:The other thing to think of is that if you're paying $200 up front to publish your book, that's sucking out the first $200 of profits you make, which kind of negates the whole point of e-publishing: doing it all yourself and not having to pay for that kind of stuff. Yeah, this is precisely why I wouldn't. And I have a friend who does my artwork (he's awesome).
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Apr 15, 2011 00:33
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FingerbangMisfire posted:If you've got any advice on marketing, I'd love to hear it. Being totally new at this, I don't have a loving clue what I'm doing, though I do have reviews coming up on a couple indie blogs. Well it depends a lot on your market demographic. Obviously the easiest way is through simple to update, clean looking social media outlets like a facebook page, a twitter account, and a blog or website. For my novels, I also have a lot of map drawings, very short stories, and some background/historical stuff that doesn't really belong in a pulp fantasy novel, but people who enjoy the setting may like it. The reverse may happen too, where someone goes to the site and likes the setting, background, etc and then decides to get the books. Either way, be open to communication and contact, update regularly, and show your own interest and enthusiasm in your work. In terms of marketing outside of social media, find out what market demographic you have and pinpoint their locations. With fantasy, a lot of fantasy and sci-fi sites, message boards, webrings and review blogs (who I've found will LOVE the chance to review something early on if you buy it for them) are a good source, as are roleplaying game websites that deal in fantasy since they're always looking for new inspiration and settings, and there's a pretty big bleed-over between people who read fantasy literature and those who at least might have a cursory interest in RPG's or at least know someone. Word of mouth is a big addition to all of these mentioned sites. Lastly, don't forget to market to those who may not be on the net, because that may just as well be your biggest asset. If you're a friendly, likeable people person you should have no problem going to places your market may be. For Fantasy, I know the bleed-over mentioned earlier is prevalent in hobby shops, local game stores, and local game clubs (of which there are about 5 big game clubs that meet weekly or monthly, spanning 800+ people in the Chicago area of about 20 miles). I've talked to event organizers and might even run some RPG's using the setting from my books to grab that market in too so they start talking. Luckily I know that my market is anywhere from 16 (grown up harry potter kids) to 50 (older fantasy grognards or grown up LotR/Robert E Howard kids), with the main demographic that I'll see at these events probably being 18-30. I understand not every genre has this kind of insular hang out spots and niche markets, but let's say you're writing a modern day horror story. Track down the websites, online communities, and blogs that deal with that, and then any local stores. Remember you're treating this as a business and money is money, especially when word of mouth can get rolling so if it's young adult oriented Hot Topic of Spencers could work, hell check out Vampire LARP groups and contact the heads of the organization (if you're really desperate). Another good general rule is to check craigslist for any book clubs that are also similar, and contact managers at your local book stores, whether local or chains because they usually love to have authors in. Most book stores I've talked to are happy to give you a table and let you put up a poster/info for like an hour or two near the genre section you write in, and it comes back again to being likeable, personable, and friendly so people give your ebook a chance. Libraries I've found are also a good outlet (at least here in Chicago) because they love to say "Hey a local person wrote a book and is using a new media outlet, and yes you can use our computers to get ebooks too PLEASE GOD COME TO THE LIBRARY!". Again, I have the fortunate aspect of having researched and dealt with the kinds of people that enjoy the genre I write in so I have a pretty good base. I'd have to do a lot of research on where to best market effectively to twilight kids or romance novels besides cat shelters. Edit: For anyone who wants to know specifically what my credentials are for speaking on stuff like this, I've spent 4 years working on finding market demographics (using market feasibility surveys) for recreation programming as the head of a park district. I used internal resources as well as external contractual services and figured out how to best communicate with the market and boost participation in the programs as a whole, as well as putting together and dispersing seasonal program brochures and creating an online presence. Fenarisk fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 00:58
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Fenarisk posted:Really excellent advice. Thank you so much. This is brilliant and very helpful.
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Apr 15, 2011 01:31
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tarepanda posted:
I have my own resources for art as well--a wife and two daughters who are particularly well-talented. The wife has done three book covers for me, the older daughter one, and I used a photograph I took myself for the other. The younger daughter is on deck to do the next. I think formatting would be worth paying something for if one isn't inclined, or doesn't have the technical aptitude, to deal with that part of it. There are a lot of details you have to pay attention to. I can do it, but sometimes it gets time-consuming. On an occasion or two it was only through sheer, ornery stubbornness that I was able to work through a weird problem and get what I wanted. It's easy to see someone who has a different temperament going off on a rampage and throwing the computer through a window. But then again, while I might consider paying, say, $25 to have someone else do the formatting, paying $150 to get it bundled up with distribution would be completely out of the question. What are they providing there that you can't get on your own? Having looked at the web site, I see that they take a fee of 15 percent of the net. Just by way of looking for the best-case scenario, it strikes me that this might provide them with an incentive to do some actual promotion. But I'm not convinced of it firmly enough to out the money for their services.
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Apr 15, 2011 01:51
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Hey all, I was wondering if I could get some opinions on this cover. I'm very close to publishing it, within one or two more editing sessions minimum, and I need some outside opinions. Edited in a link to a high-res, It's kinda Sci-Fi, kinda Horror, kinda dark fantasy. I'd just firmly place it as speculative fiction. Or just kind of weird fiction. Also a novelette at around 9000 words. HiddenGecko fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 06:15
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I rather like it, myself. I'm definitely a sucker for minimalism. And the cover has a solid Ed Gorey feel to it. Most importantly, I'm intrigued by it. It's a horror or suspense-thriller? (That's what I'm gleaning from the cover.) Edit: Do you have a hi-res link? I'm using chrome, so attached images show up sort of small. FingerbangMisfire fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 07:22
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Wee, got mine up and ready to go! I'm excited and a bit nervous at the same time!  And the accompanying blog post to kick off the marketing: http://www.cinemafromage.com/?p=1794
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Apr 15, 2011 14:07
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HiddenGecko posted:Hey all, I was wondering if I could get some opinions on this cover. I'm very close to publishing it, within one or two more editing sessions minimum, and I need some outside opinions. I think it's fantastic. I also think it's about cannibalism.
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Apr 15, 2011 14:31
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Arnold of Soissons posted:I think it's fantastic. I also think it's about cannibalism. Agreed, The Red Man cover looks good an cannibal-ish!
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Apr 15, 2011 15:32
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HiddenGecko posted:It's kinda Sci-Fi, kinda Horror, kinda dark fantasy. I'd just firmly place it as speculative fiction. Or just kind of weird fiction. Also a novelette at around 9000 words. Awesome in the face. Definitely put up a link when you have one so I can buyify it. And yay Poopinstein! Are you planning on putting those on Amazon as well?
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Apr 15, 2011 18:35
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FingerbangMisfire posted:Awesome in the face. Definitely put up a link when you have one so I can buyify it. That's the plan! Do I have to wait to see if i get in the 'Premium Catalog' with Smashwords, or do I just upload it myself through Createspace? All right, here they are on Amazon! Poopinstein fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Apr 16, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 19:04
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I think the "Red Man" cover is *fantastic*. Did you do that on your own, or did you have someone create the art for you?  Also, congrats Poopinstein!! I'm checking your stuff out now... As for me, I'm uploading one short story to Smashwords and Amazon, and working on a cover for the next  . A fellow goon is creating cover art for my novel, so..... there is more on the way!
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Apr 17, 2011 21:57
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