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aMoose posted:Here's another example from a few posts back. It looks like something that would've been given away free with a magazine in the early 90s. Too many elements and no sense of composition. Gee, thanks. Where were you when I was work-shopping this cover in this thread? No, wait ... never mind. I lost interest in what you had to say about three sentences ago.
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Dec 13, 2011 03:10
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in my post - that means I'm right no matter what.
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All right, all right, all right. aMoose got to voice his opinion and you are totally free to ignore it. You like your cover. That's fine (I don't have a problem with it, myself). Every criticism is an opinion and so on and so forth. No personal bickering in the thread. We had that a few months ago and it was not fun. For anybody. Post a cover in the thread, it will be critiqued (probably). We're all just sharing ideas and thoughts. There's no need for anybody to be upset or snippy or needlessly dickish. And I'm not addressing any one person in particular. I think we're all working hard enough as it is to write and put out something amazing to get sidetracked by drama. FingerbangMisfire fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Dec 13, 2011 |
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Dec 13, 2011 08:37
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I just jumped on the self-publishing wagon, and I'm hoping the results aren't thoroughly embarrassing even if they aren't fantastic. If you're a bored writer and hurting for cash, don't turn to the person nearest you and ask them if you should try writing a schlocky werewolf romance novel. They will say yes, and you'll be stuck with your shame. I'm a lesbian, but for some reason the schlocky lesbian werewolf romance genre just isn't a booming industry. I had to have my (bi) partner read over my male character and my 'erotica' to make sure the guy was attractive. Then my mother, kindle romance devourer, insisted on editing it. Once your mother has circled tense mistakes in your sex scenes, there's really no going back. I use a pen name with extreme prejudice, because I don't want my real life reputation going near this with a ten foot pole. On the flip side, I tried my damndest. This was not my 'thing' in the least, but I wasn't going to make it an exercise in pain and suffering for anybody involved. In a way it forced me to grow as a writer. I don't know how much of an SA audience there is for PARANORMAL ROMANCE NOVELLAS, but, hey, a friend of mine did the cover and that's worth taking a look-see. She's hellaciously talented. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006IL1TVY
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Dec 13, 2011 09:08
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I think the SA audience is down for anything, so long as it's good. Hell, we've got people here working on erotica.
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Dec 13, 2011 10:34
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Thanks to everyone who critiqued my cover, I think I'll continue tweaking it and learning PS until it's all perfect-shiny like. 
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Dec 13, 2011 14:36
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ladyofshallnot posted:I just jumped on the self-publishing wagon, and I'm hoping the results aren't thoroughly embarrassing even if they aren't fantastic. If you're a bored writer and hurting for cash, don't turn to the person nearest you and ask them if you should try writing a schlocky werewolf romance novel. They will say yes, and you'll be stuck with your shame. Purchased, and I feel your pain. There's also not a HUGE audience for the Lesbian Dark/Urban Fantasy/Angel Book, either...I mean, my book is doing okay, but lesbian fiction in general tends not to sell super-well. At least, it didn't take much for my book to get into the Top 100 in its first few days of release. Maybe it's an issue of marketing. I don't know. Maybe you made the right decision going straight in your fiction. I also just read an article that books with a "woman of color" as the protagonist don't tend to sell, and WELP guess the protagonist of my next book. workingdogv1 fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Dec 13, 2011 |
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Dec 13, 2011 14:59
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I dig the cover, ladyofshallnot. I've published two shorts so far, both of which have covers so abysmal that I'm not even going to bother propping them up for critique. Just grabbed a stock photo from morguefile, ran it through a filter, and dropped some text down on it. I've got literally two dollars in the bank, though, so there's not a lot more I can do for them. I've had them up for about a week; I've sold one copy. I'll go back and fix the covers when I have money to either commission something or pay for some halfway decent stock art. The story I'm procrastinating on now has a better cover; an artist friend of mine gave me a piece to write a story about, and I'll be using his work as a cover and putting a link back to his portfolio site in the front matter. Hopefully it'll get him some work because he's a pretty cool dude and a great artist.
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Dec 13, 2011 16:37
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workingdogv1 posted:Purchased, and I feel your pain. There's also not a HUGE audience for the Lesbian Dark/Urban Fantasy/Angel Book, either...I mean, my book is doing okay, but lesbian fiction in general tends not to sell super-well. At least, it didn't take much for my book to get into the Top 100 in its first few days of release. Maybe it's an issue of marketing. I don't know. Maybe you made the right decision going straight in your fiction. Thank you! I hope it's not awful. Is there a title/link to your book? I love the ideas behind urban fantasy and I devour LGBTQ fiction. I mostly decided on a straight romance because I first pitched it to Harlequin's ebook division. No dice! Unless it sells like hotcakes I think it's back to writing what I know. I have a lesbian romance/urban fantasy on the back burner that I've been poking at. Writing "Witch," it was kind of this glorious disconnect. It really was writing some weird fantasy world where couples are free to make out in public. I'm more invested in queer fiction. You're probably better off self publishing any sort of fantasy book with a main character of color, since in the 'real' publishing world they have this hilarious tendency to complete white wash covers and descriptions. psychopomp posted:The story I'm procrastinating on now has a better cover; an artist friend of mine gave me a piece to write a story about, and I'll be using his work as a cover and putting a link back to his portfolio site in the front matter. Hopefully it'll get him some work because he's a pretty cool dude and a great artist. That sounds like an awesome plan. To be honest, I'm lucky I got the cover I did. The artist is a great friend of mine, and allowed me to pay most of what it's worth in baked goods, editing, and an IOU. Writers really are bums.
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Dec 13, 2011 19:58
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Just post here saying you want to be included in the contest and I'll throw your name in the hat! I'll be drawing the winner on December 16th @ 11:59pm. MattDaddy fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2011 20:26
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Did you go for the Pro option with CreateSpace? If so, based on my experiences with CreateSpace, you're probably making over 6$ a book (through CS. Amazon is a lot lower), which isn't half bad. It took me three tries to get my cover looking good, which was a bit pricey at 10$ a pop (plus 39$ for the Pro) - I'll never actually make that money back, but it's bloody nice holding a physical copy in hand.
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Dec 13, 2011 20:52
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Mortanis posted:Did you go for the Pro option with CreateSpace? If so, based on my experiences with CreateSpace, you're probably making over 6$ a book (through CS. Amazon is a lot lower), which isn't half bad. It took me three tries to get my cover looking good, which was a bit pricey at 10$ a pop (plus 39$ for the Pro) - I'll never actually make that money back, but it's bloody nice holding a physical copy in hand. Yes, I went with the Pro option. Having the ability to donate to libraries and sell at places like B&N appealed to me, plus the royalty rate was much better. I'll make about $4 off purchases from Amazon and like $6 through CS. Expanded purchases will net me about a buck fitty. I may drop the price later next year to the bone so I can make it less expensive for the readers. Profit is fun and a worthwhile pursuit, but if I can use this medium as a way to motivate myself to write more and maybe donate some earnings to charity I am all for it. I felt like it was worth the experience. I had quite a few people asking for a print version, so I guess you could say I did it for them. But really, just getting my own copy and holding it in my hands made it all worth it. It's one thing to say you are an author with an ebook and another to have an actual book you can hold in your hand. Perhaps this is because ebooks are a new phenomenon and I have pretty much always read regular, paperback books.
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Dec 13, 2011 21:25
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I was lucky and my brother offered to do the cover of my book for free, and he had the decades of artistic and computer design ability to make it aesthetically pleasing. Also, another opportunity to pimp it out in this thread: http://www.amazon.com/Anchored-Flesh-Silas-ebook/dp/B0057SMG5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317959534&sr=8-1
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Dec 13, 2011 21:41
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MattDaddy posted:Just post here saying you want to be included in the contest and I'll throw your name in the hat! I'll roll the dice. Does anyone have a rough list of the steps required to get an ebook selling on Amazon? I'd like to know what info is required and how complicated it is so I don't hit any sudden roadblocks.
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Dec 13, 2011 22:14
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1. Write your piece. 2. Make or commission a cover. Honestly, 50% of your success comes from your title, cover, and blurb. 3. Convert the book into a format that works with kindle. This is how they recommend you go about it. 4. Open a Kindle Direct Publishing account if you don't have one yet. 5. Upload. They'll ask for the title, contributors (you count as the author), a description (again: super important), language, publisher (if any), ISBN (if any), and two categories. This is sort of important, because the categories you pick determine who you're sharing shelf-space with, and how easy it is for people who like what you're writing to find it. You also get 7 keywords/tags. Finally, it'll ask you about pricing, commission, etc. So, basically, before you're good to go you need: - manuscript, formatted for the Kindle - Bitchin' cover - Awesome description/blurb - Know which two categories you want to pick for your book. - Know which 7 keywords you want to use. - Know how much you want to charge. After it's up you might want to get your own Amazon author page, too. The next step is marketing. Get an author webpage (or just a page for the book), maybe a facebook page for it (or you as an author), twitter. Hit the review-blog circuit.
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Dec 13, 2011 23:15
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Capntastic posted:I'll roll the dice. 1)Write amazing book. 2)Edit book for errors. 3)Have friends review your work. 4)Design your cover art. (max. length 2000 on longest side, jpg of tiff format) 5)Sign up @ kdp.amazon.com. You'll need real person info and your SSN. Pretend like the same stuff you would need to get paid for a regular job. 6)Upload your .doc, .pdf, or .docx file and cover art. 7)Look over the preview to find formatting errors. Go back and fix them, re-upload until you are happy with the results/frustrated beyond recognition. 8)Set up your pricing, sharing, and agree to the terms. 9)Wait for 24-48 hours. 10)Tell everyone on the planet about your awesome book. *11)Become a multi-millionaire. These are the most basic steps to publishing an ebook @ Amazon. I probably left out something, but this is off the top of my head. There are many tricks and tips you will pick up along the way. If you haven't already, I suggest reading through this whole entire thread. It is filled with valuable info. *This is decidedly the hardest step. Proceed with caution.
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Dec 13, 2011 23:23
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It's always that last step that I trip over.
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Dec 14, 2011 00:59
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Here's an interesting tidbit from Amazon: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1638619 Two of the top ten best-selling books of the year (I assume in terms of number of copies sold) are Kindle self-published books: [/i]The Mill River Recluse[/i] by Darcie Chan, which is $0.99, and The Abbey by Chris Culver, which is $2.99. In terms of being right up there with Tina Fey, George R.R. Martin, and Steve Jobs, well, that's no small accomplishment. Anybody ever heard of these guys? What are they doing right?
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Dec 14, 2011 03:46
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Ladyofshallnot, I love your writing style and bought your book. If you ever want to do a guest post on my blog, you're more than welcome to.Romper Billson posted:Here's an interesting tidbit from Amazon: I just read an article about Darcie Chan, which said she spent about $1,000 on targeted advertising, on goodreads and such. That plus a low price point and a novel with a wide appeal probably launched it to the top.
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Dec 14, 2011 08:27
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leb388 posted:Ladyofshallnot, I love your writing style and bought your book. If you ever want to do a guest post on my blog, you're more than welcome to. Thank you! I think part of the reason the book was rejected from Harlequin is that I struggle to take the subject matter really seriously. I want to have fun writing, and I'd prefer anyone reading it have fun too. Some people want their werewolves to have gravitas or something, who knows. I'd be delighted to do a guest post on your blog.  I don't have PMs here, but you can catch me at my username @gmail.comETA: Really like the description for Flyday, I'll probably pick up a copy once the Christmas giftcards come in. ladyofshallnot fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Dec 14, 2011 |
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Dec 14, 2011 08:46
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ladyofshallnot posted:Thank you! I think part of the reason the book was rejected from Harlequin is that I struggle to take the subject matter really seriously. I want to have fun writing, and I'd prefer anyone reading it have fun too. Some people want their werewolves to have gravitas or something, who knows. I'd be delighted to do a guest post on your blog. E-mail sent. I can't believe your book was rejected! I love the voice/humor. Thanks! Also: MattDaddy, I want to win your book.
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Dec 14, 2011 10:12
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MattDaddy posted:6)Upload your .doc, .pdf, or .docx file and cover art. The formatting stuff like this is what I know I'm gonna have issues with. Does Amazon reformat all of those into their Kindle format? I'm worried about making a decent looking layout and then it turning to dogshit through some formatting screwjob.
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Dec 14, 2011 10:58
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If you upload a vanilla .doc, without tab indents (set up a paragraph rule), that is pretty much the easiest way. As for formatting particulars, there is a preview function that will let you scan through your manuscript. However, there's a certain level of unpredictability here, because the Kindle automatically (so many loving adverbs) readjusts text depending on font size/magnification. But, again, the preview helps a lot.
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Dec 14, 2011 11:08
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It's completely intrinsic to my writing process to be absolutely paranoid of any detail I am not wholly confident in my ability to handle perfectly. I'm currently collaborating on a children's book with an art friend of mine and the idea of formatting both text and images is a daunting leap we're going to have to make.
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Dec 14, 2011 11:12
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Went to a photographers' co-op gallery show last night. Made a bunch of contacts willing to give me a piece or two to use for covers in exchange for a cover art byline with a link back to their portfolio pages. Everybody loves exposure.
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Dec 14, 2011 17:15
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Capntastic posted:It's completely intrinsic to my writing process to be absolutely paranoid of any detail I am not wholly confident in my ability to handle perfectly. I'm currently collaborating on a children's book with an art friend of mine and the idea of formatting both text and images is a daunting leap we're going to have to make. Be prepared to really look hard at the company doing your printing if you are thinking of making your book available in print. You want it to look good and be of a size that accommodates the age bracket you are writing it for. Little kids like big books. Parents (trust me here) like short "bedtime" stories for their kids. I love 'em to death, but I don't want to be in there for half an hour every night reading to them. Maybe that's why "Go the *uck to Sleep" was so popular when it came out! Children's books filled with colorful art can be expensive to produce if aren't careful. I think Ross (clockworkjoe) probably knows a lot more about this than I, though.
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Dec 14, 2011 17:47
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Capntastic posted:The formatting stuff like this is what I know I'm gonna have issues with. Does Amazon reformat all of those into their Kindle format? I'm worried about making a decent looking layout and then it turning to dogshit through some formatting screwjob. Essentially, you format it yourself to the ePub format using MobiPocket creator. You *will* screw your formatting up but you'll also have a lot of chances to re-do it and get it right. Once it's been created, you can upload it to Kindle and re-review the formatting and make whatever changes are needed. Big note: because this is something I wasn't aware of. They want your photos to be above 150dpi for good formatting and clarity. The picture I originally went with was in 72dpi because it was an older digital snap and it made for some interesting work to get formatted correctly.
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Dec 14, 2011 18:10
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What do you folks think about publishing poetry this way? Has anyone here done it? If so how did you go about it?
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Dec 14, 2011 18:30
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Big Hairy Wah posted:What do you folks think about publishing poetry this way? Has anyone here done it? If so how did you go about it? From what I've read, it's pretty simple to do. Just check out some of the more popular choices and follow the same formatting. The rest of the steps are the same as regular publishing. Of course, if your aim is to make any money poetry is probably not the route. That's not saying it is impossible, but it is a tough row to hoe.
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Dec 14, 2011 19:17
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MattDaddy posted:From what I've read, it's pretty simple to do. Just check out some of the more popular choices and follow the same formatting. The rest of the steps are the same as regular publishing. Of course, if your aim is to make any money poetry is probably not the route. That's not saying it is impossible, but it is a tough row to hoe. Oh God no I've no delusions about making any money. Even good poets don't make any money. I just kind of want to get it out there so it doesn't feel like a wasted effort if that makes any sense. I just noticed there's a poetry section on Smashwords  I'll have a look around, thanks.
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Dec 14, 2011 19:34
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ladyofshallnot posted:Thank you! I hope it's not awful. Sorry about the delay; crazy week. My book is The Corridors of the Dead. I actually just dropped the price to 99 cents until the end of the year: http://www.amazon.com/Corridors-Dead-Among-ebook/dp/B006G3NJM6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323907048&sr=8-2. That's interesting about the weird fantasy world; as a straight male, I grappled with the opposite problem. I wanted to be able to show them as "just another" loving couple, and I think - or at least hoped- that I succeeded in this for the most part. I also kept overt sex off the table, as I felt it would come across as exploitative from a male writer. The trick was showing them as loving and sexual but also having to be careful about when and where they could show it. Thankfully, the world situation deteriorates quite rapidly in the book so it's not as large an issue as it could have been, but I can certainly see the challenge in balancing that. Hah, that's funny about romance....my next book started off as a thriller and ended up a romance...technically an interracial romance, I guess. I can only imagine how a traditional publisher would handle that, so yeah, going to stick with my self-publishing plan for now. I'm intrigued by your urban fantasy too - will keep an eye out for when you release it. Definitely post it here.
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Dec 15, 2011 01:05
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workingdogv1 posted:Sorry about the delay; crazy week. My book is The Corridors of the Dead. I actually just dropped the price to 99 cents until the end of the year: http://www.amazon.com/Corridors-Dead-Among-ebook/dp/B006G3NJM6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323907048&sr=8-2. That's interesting about the weird fantasy world; as a straight male, I grappled with the opposite problem. I wanted to be able to show them as "just another" loving couple, and I think - or at least hoped- that I succeeded in this for the most part. I also kept overt sex off the table, as I felt it would come across as exploitative from a male writer. The trick was showing them as loving and sexual but also having to be careful about when and where they could show it. Score! It's going on the post Christmas buy list. There's definitely a political element to a straight man writing about gay women, or straight women writing gay men, but I think the fact that you acknowledge that is a huge step in the right direction. I'll tell you now that I've read some stuff by straight women, usually about gay men, that felt really creepy and exploitative. A lot of them don't even seem to notice what they're doing. It's the same level of care that I try to take with character of color, as a white woman. My own partner is hapa/biracial, so I'm hyper-aware of the lack of interracial romance in popular fiction and I think self-publishing is a great place to take strides to change that.
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Dec 15, 2011 01:26
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ladyofshallnot posted:Score! It's going on the post Christmas buy list. Excellent! Thank you. Totally agreed, and both that creepy element you describe, along with the whole frat-boy-esque element of "loving lesbians" made me want to go in a totally opposite direction and just depict a heroine who happened to be gay. I received a lot of winks and nudges from other guys upfront when I explained the premise, but shut that down pretty quickly. I've had the good fortune to have many black female friends, including a few who have been inspirations to me, so I can both bounce ideas off of them and have heard them complain about what's available (or not). Self-publishing is definitely a great place to start correcting some of those inequities, it's just a matter of getting the word out.
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Dec 15, 2011 01:51
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Thanks to Bookrooster.com's services, I received the first review for my novel. I find it odd that he thinks the beginning was the best part since the beginning was the stuff I mostly wanted to get out of the way to proceed to the action. In fact, I think the final battle sequence is by far the best part of the entire novel. But it's hard to disagree with his conclusions. I must improve.
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Dec 15, 2011 12:44
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Oooh, look what came in the mail today! More copies! So far I have: capntastic leb388 FingerBangMisfire In the contest for me to send them a free paperback copy of my book. Did I miss anyone? MattDaddy fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Dec 16, 2011 04:43
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Holy poo poo. I want one if you've got it to spare. But I am an idiot, what contest? Depressing side note: Goodbye Christopher Hitchens. I loved that bastard.
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Dec 16, 2011 08:32
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Hello all, thought I'd introduce myself while I catch up on the discussion. Not really much to introduce. Canadian sci-fi/fantasy writer newb. I've got two short stories out. One in here (The Star-Eater): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WT7OSQ This anthology came together as a method of promotion for indie authors who wanted to get their names out. All the royalties go to Reading is Fundamental, so no one makes money off of it, but it was a great learning experience for me. And the one I just released:  Check it out on Smashwords with a fancy coupon code (TY53U): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108993 I've recently been looking into podcasting as promotion. It's probably been covered somewhere in here, but I thought I'd mention it just in case. I'll go read the rest of the thread now. EDIT: Forgot to add my website because I'm a dumbass: http://kgorman.ca/
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Dec 16, 2011 14:32
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la_fausse_tortue posted:Hello all, thought I'd introduce myself while I catch up on the discussion. Not really much to introduce. Canadian sci-fi/fantasy writer newb. That cover is gorgeous. And that anthology looks awesome--how was it organized? Is everyone still interested in doing a goon anthology and donating the proceeds to charity? I'd be willing to toss in a short story.
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Dec 16, 2011 15:02
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leb388 posted:That cover is gorgeous. And that anthology looks awesome--how was it organized? Thanks! I had the cover commissioned. I got lucky--found an artist at the local anime con that actually knew how to work colours properly. The anthology started as an idea on this guy's blog: http://derekjcanyon.blogspot.com/2010/12/authors-trading-short-stories-in-ebook.html It got a lot bigger than originally intended. http://derekjcanyon.blogspot.com/2011/01/indie-author-short-story-project.html What ended up happening was that we edited each other's pieces. Saved cash. Each piece got a minimum of three edits by different people. Stories ranged in size from 2000 words to nearly 20,000. I'd definitely be interested in another project like this.
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Dec 16, 2011 15:14
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And the winner of their very own paperback copy is....drumroll... FingerbangMisfire! Congrats, buddy! OM me your mailing address info and I'll get a copy out to you hopefully before Xmas! MattDaddy fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Dec 17, 2011 06:05
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So, fun fact. Raising the price of one of my short stories from $.99 to $1.99 two days ago has had literally no effect on the sales - I'm still selling about 2-5 copies a day. Not best-seller list by any means, but doubling the royalty is a nice bonus. Gonna keep it at that price until Monday to see what happens.
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Dec 17, 2011 08:28
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