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asylum years posted:I hate to break it to anyone who's in love with Hugh Howey—who, to be fair, has been really successful—but authorearnings.com is sort of an industry-wide joke for a variety of reasons. Resurrecting this quote to ask a question. Authorearnings.com is linked in the OP as the main source of information for why self-publishing is an awesome idea. So...which is it? What are the reasons the industry considers it a joke? I'm writing my first book and am completely new to both traditional and self-publishing. The whole process seems really confusing to me, and though I'm drawn to self-pub, quotes like those make me wonder what I'm getting myself into. Help!
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Jan 16, 2015 20:16
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Jeez, apparently all kinds of these services are popping up. I just got an email from Go On, Write promoting screwpulp.com. From their site: quote:How Screwpulp works From mashable: quote:Screwpulp launched last year to help independent authors get their books in front of readers and the site now has 70 books from 55 authors, and just raised its first round of funding. The site allows authors to list their books as a free download in all major ereader formats, and readers that download a free book must review it before downloading another free book. This engagement loop forces honest feedback to the author, which Screwpulp co-founder Richard Billings says not only helps curate books for readers but could inform writers. Curious to see what experienced self-pubbers here think of this model.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:33
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BookBub looks hella expensive, especially for genres like mystery and contemporary romance. I'm a long way off from being on their radar, but what kind of ROI have you guys seen on their promotions? Based on everyone's testimonials here it seems like it's definitely worth it, I'm just curious.
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Jan 30, 2015 20:27
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the brotherly phl posted:Hey guys, I'm working on book two, and I'm at the blurb stage. Any advice/help would be really appreciated. Maybe some other people have ideas about stuff you could add, but I struck out the stuff I thought you could take away.
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Feb 22, 2015 16:32
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the brotherly phl posted:had my best day of sales yesterday. broke even on my promotions and shot my rank up under 2k. still haven't made up any of my investment, but i'm starting to feel a lot more confident, like maybe this thing is possible. Congrats! If you don't mind my asking, what did you invest in? Covers, editing, formatting?
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Feb 26, 2015 22:59
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Apologies if this has already been answered. Lotta information in this thread and sometimes I can't keep up. How many words should a romance novel realistically be? I've currently got 81K with a lot of story left to go, so I'm wondering if it would make sense for me to find a logical place to end the book soonish (I know how I'd do it), and then follow up with a sequel. I don't really know how word counts translate into that Amazon Real Pages thing that readers seem to look for. I have, however, seen a lot of reviews complaining about a book being too short to justify the price. Especially if there is a sequel. ("I hate being manipulated into buying more books!!!") If I do break the book up at the point I'm thinking of, I think the final product will be between 85-90K words. I also don't know if the whole sequel thing is a stupid idea or not, but that might be a totally separate question? I've been reading in the genre, pinkie swear, but I still feel like I don't know all the permutations of what's acceptable and what's going to piss everybody off. The route I'm thinking of going--if I break up the book--is to give the characters a Happy Ending For Now, but with trouble clearly brewing on the horizon. Does that count as Not Really A Happy Ending, gently caress the Author I Can't Believe I Paid For This and I WON'T Be Buying the Sequel? If so, I guess I can keep going and put out one really long book. Thanks guys, you're all amazing!
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Mar 6, 2015 18:42
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EngineerSean posted:We use two acronyms in romance, HEA (Happily Ever After) and HFN (Happy For Now). Under all but the most suspensful books, you should end every book with at minimum a HFN even if you have a pretty solid cliffhanger. Once you've given a couple a HEA, never write another book about them again. Thanks! I know the acronyms, but I didn't want to confuse anybody who didn't, I swear I've been doing my homework  The book will end with HFN, no worries there. It's not meant to be a serial. I also think I'll keep writing before I break it up and try to publish, so I will have more of Book 2 ready by the time I publish Book 1 and it won't take me as long to post the sequel. Looks like new authors are encouraged to get sequels up ASAP. Edit: Sundae posted:This is important. You will never, ever write a convincing (or enjoyable) post-HEA story in contemporary romance. At best, it's boring. At worst, you piss off everyone. If you want to stick to a certain world, write stories for the other characters in it. Already in the works! Stories about the other characters, I mean. I've got an idea for one short story (maybe for Christmas) and another novel, but I'm trying not to get into the weeds there before I finish the first two books. It's fun to plan, though! Blue Scream fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Mar 6, 2015 |
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Mar 6, 2015 19:02
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psychopomp posted:A good editor can easily cost thousands. Proofreading, marketing, layout, cover design, interior illustrations... it adds up. Yeah  Depending on the editor, if I wanted to get professional copyediting help, I'd be looking at a layout between $1500-2000. I know that getting your work edited is super important, but I simply can't make that kind of money magically appear in my bank account. It isn't a question of not wanting to. I found one indie editor's site, recommended by a writer friend, where you can pay $15 to get a beta reader. That sounds better than nothing to me. There's also a romance forum on Goodreads where you can ask for betas who will (presumably) read your book without charging you for it, but you have to be careful to find one who might actually give you feedback instead of just grab at a free book. A friend who ran her own business said that you have to get used to the idea of spending money to make money. For a salaried minion, that's a scary idea.
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Mar 26, 2015 19:00
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angel opportunity posted:I feel like if you're going to self-publish, you have to eat the work and/or cost of the stuff the publisher usually does rather than just shrugging your shoulders and not worrying about it. "Typesetter" is like a full-time career that some people have, so if you just throw poo poo into Word and don't even think about it, it's going to look less professional. "Editor" is another full-time career, and probably gives you more bang for the buck than good typesetting. Unfortunately having a good cover seems to be almost as important as the contents of your book (see Hard Luck Hank.) I have zero design skills and I don't mind shelling out for a cover--even a couple hundred bucks. A couple thousand bucks (for any service) is different, and this is my first book. I'm okay with doing my own formatting, since I've done some trial runs on Scrivener and they've all come out looking good. And sure, I'll edit and proofread the poo poo out of my work before I'd dream of showing it to somebody else, but it's always easy to miss a couple little things that readers will inevitably find.
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Mar 26, 2015 19:28
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Hijinks Ensue posted:The most I've spent on a cover was $750, and that's because it was completely custom illustration. My other covers were done by designers using stock photos; they look great and the ebook versions cost less than $100 (print editions cost a bit more because of spine and back cover content). I'm shopping around for good, cost-effective cover designers (I know about goonwrite.com), is it cool to ask you for recommendations? I also have PM if you'd rather.
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Mar 27, 2015 18:10
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angel opportunity posted:I already know how to use photoshop, and Ravenkult gave me the crash course, so I think I'm good to do this. I've seen many covers with three people on them.
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Apr 27, 2015 20:04
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laxbro posted:Thanks for the tips and reality checks. I deleted my stories off my blog. So...I tried. I guess it's practice for me as much as you? quote:Everyone gets goosebumps from time to time. Horror author Yourname finds your personal creep-out zone in thirteen stories that take you from cannibalism, to monsters in the attic, to the gruesome pastime of New York's 1%. Hang out with a killer clown. Attempt to escape from a twisted cult with the [sympathetic description] [character name]. Meet [the surnames], a well-meaning young couple who literally adopt the kid from Hell. And that's only the beginning. I dunno, just an idea. Nice cover, though.
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Apr 28, 2015 06:18
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smallmouth posted:Is there a resource somewhere that outlines various romance genre conventions? From the OP: howtowritearomancenovel.com
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May 7, 2015 23:28
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laxbro posted:I'm having a tough time motivating myself to write when I come home from work, so I'm thinking that I might try writing in the morning before work. This is the only thing that works for me. I'm wrecked at the end of the day. Set the alarm to get up earlier, have coffee ready to brew, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes--especially because the first task of the day is now something you actually look forward to 
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May 8, 2015 00:48
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Cast_No_Shadow posted:a moana, a sean and a sundae Way to give away the title of my first self-published children's book
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May 25, 2015 19:03
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Mrenda posted:Is everyone in this thread purely working a writing assembly line to make money? This thread focuses on mainly the business side of writing (and as such I have found it very useful), but that doesn't mean people here don't care about telling a good story, or developing realistic and interesting characters. Writing is hard and monetary rewards are uncertain at best, so anyone who approaches it as a purely mercenary venture has bad ideas and should feel bad. I'm pretty sure most people here really enjoy writing (when it doesn't also make us all  ) and want to produce quality work. I've read some great stories by goons.The thread is about how self-publishing works, not the writing process itself.
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May 27, 2015 22:05
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Omi no Kami posted:1 100k novel a month Are you a wizard?
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Jun 15, 2015 20:07
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Good news, everyone! Amazon is now cracking down on reviews from people who "know" the author, even if it's from something like following them on Facebook or Twitter.
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Jul 3, 2015 04:31
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Deborah Bladon's priced all her stuff at 0.99 without ever being in KU (that I know of) and has made a killing, but I'm willing to bet she's more the exception than the rule. She's got great branding and a pretty frequent release schedule even though her works are decently long. Whether the "book" is 30 or 100 pages, 0.99 seems to be the price that readers have come to expect from serial romance
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Jul 5, 2015 19:50
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I'm in talks with a freelance editor, who says that she wants "editorial credit when the book is uploaded to any distributor." I checked to see what she meant, and it looks like her name shows up next to the author's name beneath the title of the works she's edited. Like so: TITLE By Jane Smith (Author), Jane Doe (Editor) And when you search the author's name, you get a listing for the book that just says "By Jane Smith and Jane Doe" with no differentiation between the two at all. That seems like such a weird requirement to me. I obviously understand giving co-credit to an artist or illustrator or something, but why put the editor's name right up next to yours, as if the book is "by" them as well? Am I being unreasonable in thinking that I would rather not do that, or is it becoming more common practice?
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Jul 7, 2015 23:39
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ravenkult posted:Sounds shady. Yeah, I already turned her down. Lots of other fish in the sea.
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Jul 8, 2015 00:25
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ravenkult posted:You should read more carefully. Editors get a line in the front matter and that's it. They don't get accreditation on the cover or on Amazon. Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't even mind putting a clickable link to her site in the front matter, but I don't want her name right next to mine as co-creator, because she's not. I get that editors provide an invaluable service (it's why I want one), but the book is not "by" them in the way that it would be also "by" a co-author, illustrator, or even a translator (who must effectively re-write the work).
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Jul 8, 2015 04:35
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Hijinks Ensue posted:The bad news (for me) is that I've had to cancel some August vacation plans. Throwing in yet another recommendation for Hijinks Ensue. I've used her copyediting service. She's quick, thorough, and professional.
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Aug 6, 2015 23:21
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If you have a spare $45, you might have a look at some of Go On, Write's premade sci-fi covers. Some of them might fit your premise pretty well, and they all look more polished than yours. If you don't have a spare $45 (I know not everybody does), then I do think your stock photo is pretty attention-getting, and IMO the typography is the biggest problem. Look at the bestsellers in your genre and see what the fonts look like. If you want to go with a simple sans-serif font, I think this one (linked by AO earlier) and this one are two good examples. (God I love that last cover. Not a bestseller, I just really like it.) Blue Scream fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 14:53
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:Bezos bringing back the halfpenny. See what other secrets you can seduce out of him. Report back.
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Aug 15, 2015 15:27
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Sundae posted:Honestly, they probably went up a bit. I haven't released a full-length novel in almost a year. I'd been doing serials for most of my full-length and shorts for the rest. I have three full-lengths intended to come out this fall, but I don't know what to do with them now. Mind if I ask how long your serial installments are apiece, roughly? I've seen serials with each installment anywhere between 10-35K. I'm wondering what the cutoff is for when KU just isn't worth it, and if longer serials might still fare okay vs. the shorter ones. Semi-related, I told a writer friend about the new per-page payout. Her response was, "So Amazon doesn't want authors publishing on Kindle Unlimited?" I think it might not have even been a rhetorical question.
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Aug 15, 2015 22:22
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People mention visibility a lot--what is the difference if you're in KU vs if you're not? You're less likely to turn up in search results, or on New & Notable, or what? Sorry if this has been answered, there's a lot of info in this thread and sometimes I have a hard time keeping up.
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Aug 16, 2015 14:53
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Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply, AO. It's been a learning experience watching you. I'm planning to launch my erotic romance serial in October, and each installment is definitely on the longer end of things, as serials go. KU is a total wildcard for me right now, so I'm really wondering if it's worth it.
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Aug 16, 2015 18:36
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ravenkult posted:If you think you're going to make some money with this book, go buy or commission a cover. I don't mean to sound like a shill for Go On, Write--because I'm not--but if this is the kind of feel you want for your cover, then his poo poo ain't that expensive, comparatively speaking. I mean, any of these would work better than your original idea?   
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Aug 18, 2015 22:51
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That looks awesome, Sundae. I'll be in touch too
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Aug 28, 2015 19:59
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Sundae posted:Of course BBC would cover this poo poo right now. They couldn't have waited another week? The safety of our twelve-year-old teenagers can wait for no one.
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Sep 17, 2015 01:06
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The Amazon page for Kindle romance currently has a huge promo banner advertising 100 romance books at $1.99 each. I know this price point has been considered dead in the past, so I wonder if that's going to change.
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Sep 19, 2015 18:42
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I know some goons have listed their own "publisher" for their books instead of going with Amazon Direct or whatever it's called. I always liked the way that looked, and thought I might build a website for my own "press" that would basically just house my pseuds and link to my books for sale. Maybe a Facebook page too, if that needs to be a thing. Are there any pitfalls or complications with this approach I'm not seeing? I'd rather know if it's more trouble than it's worth before I sink time into it. Blue Scream fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Dec 20, 2015 |
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Dec 20, 2015 15:38
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Kindle Unlimited page read question: I don't have as much time in the day as I'd like, but when I see a goon author putting a new book out on KU I try to borrow it and at least flip all the way to the end, if I can't read it outright. Fastest way to do that is Kindle Cloud Reader. Does Amazon notice and/or care if you just slide the location meter to the right until you've "read" all the pages in the book? Would they flag that as, I don't know, "cheating" or something, and not give the author the royalties?
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Feb 9, 2016 23:07
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Is anybody willing to talk more about the business aspect? Specifically, small business. My accountant told me it's best to make yourself look as much like a business as possible to claim all those sweet sweet tax deductions without getting boned by the IRS. So I set up a small "press" for a couple of pseudonyms (which I mentioned a few pages back), but I had no idea how much work lay ahead of me. DBA, EIN, business license, all that poo poo. I got a domain. I even got a new phone number through Google Voice that forwards to my cell. When I get my license I'll also sign up for a separate bank account to keep my personal and business expenses separated. I learned most of what I know from The Self-Publisher's Legal Handbook by Helen Sedwick. She focuses a lot on direct distribution and selling print books, though, which isn't something I plan to do much of. I've done a lot of what she advises (see above), but I want to know if anybody bothers with the following: 1. Actually buying your own ISBNs. $300 for ten of them? Ffffff 2. Getting a seller's or resale certificate. What even is that? How does it apply to self-publishing ebooks? 3. Getting a sales tax number if you're only selling on Amazon, B&N, etc. They take the sales tax out for you, iirc, so do you even need to bother with this if you're not selling your books directly to customers? 4. Setting up a P.O. box as your business mailing address. This seems sort of like a good idea to me (I don't know how easy it is for people to find you by looking up your business), but maybe it's not necessary? This stuff is hard
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Feb 13, 2016 23:37
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Mass frenzy from writers on my Facebook feed! Apparently Amazon is now adding "buy used" links for ebooks, though I haven't yet seen actual used ebooks for sale. Amazon got the patent for selling used ebooks in 2013 but so far nothing has come of it. Maybe that's about to change?
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Mar 6, 2016 01:36
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Roar posted:Google doesn't have anything worthwhile on that topic since some doomsday ebook prophecies from 2013, is there any new concrete basis for rumor? Yeah, I wasn't trying to start a panic or anything--this was exactly what I said on Facebook, actually. Then it kind of went like this: Author 1: It's a real thing! Here's a link to an article I haven't read yet [a/n: yes, really]. Me: That's from February 2015, is there anything more recent? Author 2: I didn't read Author 1's reply to you, but here's a link to an article! It's fairly recent. February 2015! Me: gently caress it, I'll ask on Something Awful. So I'm glad there haven't been any recent bombshells, though I agree it is possible it could happen, because obviously anything can. I wish there was a viable alternative to Amazon
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Mar 6, 2016 17:36
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Finally hit Publish on my first book. It's now been "in review" for about 5 hours or so. I can't remember if any of you guys said this is normal, but I can't stop refreshing the page every ten seconds
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Mar 12, 2016 04:13
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Aaronicon posted:5 hours is nothing. It's not impossible for it to get through in that sort of timeframe, but 90% of the time you're looking at between 12 and 36 hours. Oh, great. In that case, I have a question about preorders. I assume the best way to handle them is by putting a link to the next book in the back of the one you're publishing, but that means the next book already has to have a page on Amazon, correct? So I uploaded the draft for book 2, and the preorder book went live in less than 2 hours, and I put the link to the page at the end of book 1. Then I published book 1 and it's under review for 12-36 hours. So now I have a preorder page for the second book in my series when the first isn't even visible on the site. I guess it's not a problem right now because I don't have an audience yet, but that seems like it will be a real pain in the rear end in the future. Is there a way around it that I'm missing?
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Mar 12, 2016 06:31
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Both of those sound like much better options than what I was doing. Thanks guys! At least book 1 is live now, whew.
Blue Scream fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Mar 12, 2016 |
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Mar 12, 2016 17:07
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