Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

ravenkult posted:

How broke are you? Buy a premade or hire somebody.

I don't have 400 right now for a custom GOW and none of the premades really fit. =/

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

The Fuzzy Hulk
Nov 22, 2007

ASK ME ABOUT CROSSING THE STREAMS


I would like to agree that #3 will not make a good cover as well. Are you doing image searches for "dark angel" or similar? I assume it is because you need a guy with wings? Maybe just find a good cover guy first, then add the wings as a transparent, ghost like magic?

I didn't want to say anything about the pen name (in case it was your real name or something) but yeah, I would assume the writer was too exotic.

Isn't constructive criticism fun? Really tho, we are trying to help, do not take it personally at all. The people here are earning a lot of cash doing this and learned these lessons the hard way about what can instantly tank a book.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

The Fuzzy Hulk posted:

Isn't constructive criticism fun? Really tho, we are trying to help, do not take it personally at all. The people here are earning a lot of cash doing this and learned these lessons the hard way about what can instantly tank a book.

I am not the least bit offended. If I can't take criticism I've definitely chosen the wrong form of art. :v: It is hard, though, and somewhat discouraging at times. Also, these are the Something is Awful dot com forums so a certain amount of snark is expected.

I'm disappointed about the pen name though, I'm not gonna lie. Exotic isn't necessarily a bad thing in the genre I'm targeting; I mean, my favorite stuff is by Lilith Saintcrow. (Apparently Judy McPenname wasn't going to sell? Idk) But I will defer to conventional wisdom, because my arty sensibilities ain't gonna mean poo poo if no one reads it.

E: maybe if I spell it phonetically? Cletchi Capal? That looks dumb though so maybe not.

ee: Or I could just go with Chokington J. McGullicuty that will probably get it right

Chokes McGee fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jul 17, 2016

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
Lilith Saintcrow sounds biblical and dark as gently caress, and I know how to pronounce it.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

moana posted:

Lilith Saintcrow sounds biblical and dark as gently caress, and I know how to pronounce it.

Fair.

The Fuzzy Hulk
Nov 22, 2007

ASK ME ABOUT CROSSING THE STREAMS


You know how Airbnb got in trouble because people tended to not give rooms to people with ethnic sounding names? To appeal to the broadest audience you want a name that makes them feel a certain way. Not overly complicated.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

The Fuzzy Hulk posted:

You know how Airbnb got in trouble because people tended to not give rooms to people with ethnic sounding names? To appeal to the broadest audience you want a name that makes them feel a certain way. Not overly complicated.

I've got it

Neil Gaiman

I think this one could work you guys

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot

Chokes McGee posted:

I kind of am. The pen name means Horse Feathers in Irish :)

I'm okay with people mispronouncing it as long as it doesn't get in the way of sales. "It's a really good book named Tainted by this Capall guy I don't know how to pronounce it really" is good enough imo but if it's going to block people picking it up then I need to seriously rethink.

In this case it would probably be better to do "Plume de Cheval" or some derivative.

The Fuzzy Hulk
Nov 22, 2007

ASK ME ABOUT CROSSING THE STREAMS


Paige Turner

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

The Fuzzy Hulk posted:

Paige "PTO" Tapout

syscall girl
Nov 7, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
Fun Shoe

Chokes McGee posted:

I've got it

Neil Gaiman

I think this one could work you guys

A g-g-g-gay man?

Go with something more classical like Mercury.

Neil Mercury.

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Chokes McGee posted:

I've got it

Neil Gaiman

I think this one could work you guys

You might laugh, but if you chose a name like Neil Capall for a book in a related genre, readers would be more likely associate your pen name with the genre. Again, you don't want to steal, but you need to emulate. If I was writing a thriller, I'd be using a short, masculine name. When I start my Christian romance name, it's going to be with a name like Faith Rose or Grace James.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

moana posted:

You might laugh, but if you chose a name like Neil Capall for a book in a related genre, readers would be more likely associate your pen name with the genre. Again, you don't want to steal, but you need to emulate. If I was writing a thriller, I'd be using a short, masculine name. When I start my Christian romance name, it's going to be with a name like Faith Rose or Grace James.

Well gently caress. Sand took on Jules Sandeau's name as an homage, and I loves some George Sand. This isn't a bad idea at all.

e: it's extra funny because Níl Capall means "Not a horse"

Bobby Deluxe
May 9, 2004

syscall girl posted:

A g-g-g-gay man?

Go with something more classical like Mercury.

Neil Mercury.
Kneel Gayman

Is urban fantasy erotica a thing? It must be. Mustn't it?

syscall girl
Nov 7, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
Fun Shoe

Bobby Deluxe posted:

Kneel Gayman

Is urban fantasy erotica a thing? It must be. Mustn't it?

Look into your heart

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.
Try #63,941




Inspired somewhat by Neverwhere, as long as we're talking about Neil Gaiman.

Chokes McGee fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Jul 18, 2016

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.
Yeah okay I'm done trying not to suck. I'm just going to sit on it for a few months and save up the money for a commission.

Thanks for bearing with my horrible graphics design attempts, everyone. If/when I get my commission back I'll post it here so you can stare in horror see that I listened. :)

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

Chokes McGee posted:

Yeah okay I'm done trying not to suck. I'm just going to sit on it for a few months and save up the money for a commission.

Thanks for bearing with my horrible graphics design attempts, everyone. If/when I get my commission back I'll post it here so you can stare in horror see that I listened. :)

You could try and trade a service for it. See if you can proofread / edit / do a little ghostwriting or something in exchange. Lots of cover artists also publish their own stuff, so it's worth an ask.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

Bardeh posted:

You could try and trade a service for it. See if you can proofread / edit / do a little ghostwriting or something in exchange. Lots of cover artists also publish their own stuff, so it's worth an ask.

That's a fantastic idea. :)

In the meantime, I've found a perfect example of my genre, and it's made me realize I need to rewrite my blurb. Tainted actually has a lot of humorous elements to it---most of which comes from the fact that Astin's not a badass, at all, and he's actually pretty bad at fighting---and I don't emphasize the funny side enough.


Well she has seven books out so she must be selling something


I'll be back later with a blurb since I'm confident I can do one of those and not embarrass myself.

Jalumibnkrayal
Apr 16, 2008

Ramrod XTreme

Chokes McGee posted:

That's a fantastic idea. :)

In the meantime, I've found a perfect example of my genre, and it's made me realize I need to rewrite my blurb. Tainted actually has a lot of humorous elements to it---most of which comes from the fact that Astin's not a badass, at all, and he's actually pretty bad at fighting---and I don't emphasize the funny side enough.


Well she has seven books out so she must be selling something


I'll be back later with a blurb since I'm confident I can do one of those and not embarrass myself.

GoOnWrite really shouldn't be in the OP anymore. It makes it seem like his covers or prices are good, and neither is the case. He just makes two hundred covers at a time, with no rhyme or reason or attention to what the marketplace wants. When I first got started I bought a ten pack of cover credits based on this thread. I still have all ten cover credits.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

GoOnWrite really shouldn't be in the OP anymore. It makes it seem like his covers or prices are good, and neither is the case. He just makes two hundred covers at a time, with no rhyme or reason or attention to what the marketplace wants. When I first got started I bought a ten pack of cover credits based on this thread. I still have all ten cover credits.

:salt:

(seriously though anything that gets updates going on the OP is great)

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

GoOnWrite really shouldn't be in the OP anymore. It makes it seem like his covers or prices are good, and neither is the case. He just makes two hundred covers at a time, with no rhyme or reason or attention to what the marketplace wants. When I first got started I bought a ten pack of cover credits based on this thread. I still have all ten cover credits.

Are his prices poo poo these days? I haven't checked in ages. I'll quickly edit up that section.

quote:

(seriously though anything that gets updates going on the OP is great)

Anything else you want updated? I have a life again, so I can actually do things. :D


VVV $45.00 is 3X what he used to charge, in fairness. My first cover from him cost $15.00. :(


Updates to OP made:

1) Reworded GoOnWrite blurb
2) Removed PYP references
3) Removed some outdated services where people reported no-responses or bounces.
4) Removed OysterBooks since they've gone under
5) Removed AuthorEarnings now that Amazon fucks with ranks.
6) Reworded a few cover spots.
7) Forgot to fix that goddamned typo that I never fixed for like a loving year, GAAAH.
8) Removed IRC info since it's dead. Angel, can you please send me the slack info so that people can request an invite there?


Anything else people would like to see updated?

Sundae fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Jul 18, 2016

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

GoOnWrite really shouldn't be in the OP anymore. It makes it seem like his covers or prices are good, and neither is the case. He just makes two hundred covers at a time, with no rhyme or reason or attention to what the marketplace wants. When I first got started I bought a ten pack of cover credits based on this thread. I still have all ten cover credits.

$45 isn't bad for the quality of cover you get, assuming you find one that does actually work for you. It's just that I could spend a little more and get something customized, so I would never have a reason to sift through the massive piles of crap on there.

Popular Human
Jul 17, 2005

and if it's a lie, terrorists made me say it
I just wanted to say that I love how this thread, which routinely gets 2-3 new posts a week, gets 50+ new posts helping somebody out with their first attempt at self-pubbing. Never say we don't help out our own. :)

Also I know you're probably going to wait on a commission at this point, but don't forget: your cover doesn't need to be anywhere as literal as you think.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

Popular Human posted:

I just wanted to say that I love how this thread, which routinely gets 2-3 new posts a week, gets 50+ new posts helping somebody out with their first attempt at self-pubbing. Never say we don't help out our own. :)

Also I know you're probably going to wait on a commission at this point, but don't forget: your cover doesn't need to be anywhere as literal as you think.

Yeah, that's the big thing I've had drilled into my head the last few days. I don't necessarily need "dude with wings" on the cover. That being said, Astin's personality drives a lot of the book (it's first person voice), so I do think there's still value in him having some sort of presence.

Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal

Sundae posted:

Angel, can you please send me the slack info so that people can request an invite there?

Angel's is no longer an open (nor goon) group, btw. Ravenkult is the gatekeeper for the current self-pub goon Slack, so that's the one that should be listed in the OP.

Trustworthy fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jul 18, 2016

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot
Author Earnings is not useless information now, but naturally Hugh Howey and Data Guy have to make some pretty broad assumptions. I just met Data Guy the other day at RWA and it's pretty shocking to me how confident he is in some of his data.

ravenkult
Feb 3, 2011


Sundae posted:



Updates to OP made:

1) Reworded GoOnWrite blurb
2) Removed PYP references
3) Removed some outdated services where people reported no-responses or bounces.
4) Removed OysterBooks since they've gone under
5) Removed AuthorEarnings now that Amazon fucks with ranks.
6) Reworded a few cover spots.
7) Forgot to fix that goddamned typo that I never fixed for like a loving year, GAAAH.
8) Removed IRC info since it's dead. Angel, can you please send me the slack info so that people can request an invite there?


Anything else people would like to see updated?

Did you delete me from the cover services section?

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

ravenkult posted:

Did you delete me from the cover services section?

Can you e-mail me at [FGandhi at AOL dot com] please? I tried to PM you about this, but you don't seem to have them anymore.

quote:

Author Earnings is not useless information now, but naturally Hugh Howey and Data Guy have to make some pretty broad assumptions. I just met Data Guy the other day at RWA and it's pretty shocking to me how confident he is in some of his data.

How do you feel about it as a resource at this point? Worth putting back in, or just a link to it for curiosity's sake?


quote:

Also I know you're probably going to wait on a commission at this point, but don't forget: your cover doesn't need to be anywhere as literal as you think.

I'm going to change this a little bit: Your cover shouldn't be as literal as you think.

Sundae fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jul 18, 2016

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot

Sundae posted:

How do you feel about it as a resource at this point? Worth putting back in, or just a link to it for curiosity's sake?

There's nothing special about it. I think the first report or two was revolutionary for some in the industry but I think at this point you either believe that self publishers make money or you don't. They make broad assumptions and are overconfident in their results but they are probably worthwhile to look at for someone just wandering into this thread.

edit: You work with science and to me it kinda reminds me of one of those math problems where you're only confident with some measurement to three significant figures, but you multiply that by a dozen other numbers that you're only confident in to three significant figures and suddenly your accuracy is so low that you should just throw out the whole data set. I don't think they should throw out their data set but it's pretty clear that any accuracy they had pre-KU 2.0 has just melted away.

EngineerSean fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Jul 18, 2016

Hijinks Ensue
Jul 24, 2007

Bardeh posted:

$45 isn't bad for the quality of cover you get, assuming you find one that does actually work for you. It's just that I could spend a little more and get something customized, so I would never have a reason to sift through the massive piles of crap on there.

I've gotten both remade and custom covers from GoOnWrite and have been very happy with all of them.

Jalumibnkrayal
Apr 16, 2008

Ramrod XTreme
Kindle Unlimited publishers:
If you check your KDP Report -> Payments page and then click on the May01-May31 2016 links, each one you click will have a drop down detailing your money earned that month. What's new is that in some of these, for some of us, you might see a Multi Month Adjustment. This seems to be a little extra money they're paying us. I seem to recall Amazon saying they would remove pages from the Kindle Unlimited scammers and return them to the pool. I wondered how they would do that, and maybe this is it.

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

Kindle Unlimited publishers:
If you check your KDP Report -> Payments page and then click on the May01-May31 2016 links, each one you click will have a drop down detailing your money earned that month. What's new is that in some of these, for some of us, you might see a Multi Month Adjustment. This seems to be a little extra money they're paying us. I seem to recall Amazon saying they would remove pages from the Kindle Unlimited scammers and return them to the pool. I wondered how they would do that, and maybe this is it.

I figured that they just never would do it, so this is a very welcome surprise.

LionArcher
Mar 29, 2010


Okay group.
Here's the deal, long time reader of the thread and long time self published writer (of romance and you know what) but I'm finally branching out into my thriller/mystery series I've been working on for... a long rear end time. Book one just got sent to the editor, and I'm well on my way with book two (I'm going to launch one every month for the first four).

Basically the elevator pitch for the series is it's Veronica Mars in college meets Silence Of The Lambs meets Harry Potter (No magic, but each book covers a year of school).

Now here's where you come in... Here's the cover I've got so far.

http://imgur.com/a/WdVpo

When I get it back from my editor I'll also be posting the blurb for the book for thoughts here too.

LionArcher fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jul 22, 2016

ravenkult
Feb 3, 2011


It ain't great. The typography especially is garbage, but the image itself is just not interesting.

LionArcher
Mar 29, 2010


ravenkult posted:

It ain't great. The typography especially is garbage, but the image itself is just not interesting.

This is my concern. I can do romance covers easy. But this one I'm having an issue nailing.

grenada
Apr 20, 2013
Relax.
With GoOnWrite you have to check his site pretty much every day to get first dibs on the good ones. I bought one a few months ago, when he posted about 12 new covers. 4 of those covers were great and well worth the $45 and were sold by the next day.

So if you only check his site every so often, you will likely only see the crap that no one wants to buy, unless you get lucky and visit on a day that he posts a new batch.

MussoliniB
Aug 22, 2009
I am a long time lurker of this thread and, just last Sunday, I mustered up the courage to put my work out there. I just recently moved across the country, so at the time of publishing this I was broke (still am broke), so I had friends doing everything out of the kindness of their hearts. The cover and the editing were all done for free. I took all the notes I could from these threads and worked hard on creating my book.

I published on KDP and put the book up for sale for .99. I think the hardest thing about this whole thing is deciding on what your book is worth, honestly, but it's just a short read. The one sentence synopsis of this book would be business/management advice as told by Chad Kultgen. I want my next book to be something like this, but instead of taking on the business world, I want to try my hand at dating advice. Very similar book, just a different subject.

If anyone has any advice, any reviews, or anything they want to say I am absolutely all ears. One of my absolute biggest obstacles was getting someone to read this thing who I don't know personally, and all of my friends are way too nice.

Thank you everyone in this thread for all of the advice along the way.

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01IMHDJ1E&asin=B01IMHDJ1E&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_9CyKxbERQD65T

Edit: The first time I checked Amazon's pricing advice it told me to sell this book at .99 with the 35% royalty plan, and now it's telling me to sell it at $4.50 at 70%. I'm also very confused about the entire Amazon royalty thing, if anyone has any advice there, I would like to hear that too. Should I up the price in the middle of a release, or after the first week?

MussoliniB fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Jul 22, 2016

Jalumibnkrayal
Apr 16, 2008

Ramrod XTreme

MussoliniB posted:

I am a long time lurker of this thread and, just last Sunday, I mustered up the courage to put my work out there. I just recently moved across the country, so at the time of publishing this I was broke (still am broke), so I had friends doing everything out of the kindness of their hearts. The cover and the editing were all done for free. I took all the notes I could from these threads and worked hard on creating my book.

You have a misspelling on your cover and the title phrasing is in a different order than the listed title.

quote:

Edit: The first time I checked Amazon's pricing advice it told me to sell this book at .99 with the 35% royalty plan, and now it's telling me to sell it at $4.50 at 70%. I'm also very confused about the entire Amazon royalty thing, if anyone has any advice there, I would like to hear that too. Should I up the price in the middle of a release, or after the first week?

Royalties are pretty straightforward. If you want to earn 70% royalty on your book, price it between $2.99 and $9.99 (and select the 70% option). Any price outside that range, higher or lower, means you get the 30% royalty rate. So at 99c you need to sell 6 copies to match the royalty of one sale at $2.99.

Broader advice: I'd re-do the blurb. It's incredibly vague and doesn't give me any idea of what the content is actually like.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

MussoliniB
Aug 22, 2009

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

You have a misspelling on your cover and the title phrasing is in a different order than the listed title.


Royalties are pretty straightforward. If you want to earn 70% royalty on your book, price it between $2.99 and $9.99 (and select the 70% option). Any price outside that range, higher or lower, means you get the 30% royalty rate. So at 99c you need to sell 6 copies to match the royalty of one sale at $2.99.

Broader advice: I'd re-do the blurb. It's incredibly vague and doesn't give me any idea of what the content is actually like.

Oh my goodness! Well, in light of all this new evidence .99 seems like a good price point. Thank you so much for this, I don't know how it's gone through so many people without being noticed. All of these issues will be fixed tomorrow.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply