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I am thinking about dabbling in self-publishing. The biggest issue I'm running into is how to advertise or market the book. Alternatively, what to sell it as. Right now, I'm thinking of doing a collection of short stories (4, but well over 5k words in length per). The crux is that it kind of goes against the grain. The hero doesn't win in the end, so I'm trying to focus more on plot and character progression. I read the OP, and have a few questions concerning that stuff. Such as editors for hire, covers (I'm assuming if I use a creative commons picture I'm ok if I make money off of it being my cover legally?), and an average word count I should shoot for. The real big thing for me though, is getting the word out there and actually having people wanting to read my book. I have one story more or less completed, as it was submitted for a contest, but I'm going to add on to it to make it longer and more thought out. There are two genres intermixed between the two, two sci-fi and two straight fiction. The concept is, that regardless how hard someone tries and preservers through the adversities given to them, that it's not always enough. This with a little bit of addiction, and the darker sides of our human self. I guess the big thing is, what should the first step be besides finishing the book? Is my lack of a hero figure in the end going to damage my sales?
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Oct 14, 2014 20:22
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:51 |
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neongrey posted:Being a non-porn short story collection is what will hurt you. If they are related stories, you would do better to do the connecting you need to make them chapters instead. Even if they're long, titled chapters. What about connecting it with like a narrative thing? I won't use this example, but the closest thing I can think of is possibly a story thing around a camp fire. And yeah, not porn.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:10
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Well that's unfortunate  . I am doing it mainly to get stories out there, but some fun money would be great too.
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Oct 14, 2014 23:31
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I've been chewing on the idea of writing a book or two for the past few years. The one that sticks in my head is based off of my experienced events in regards to this girl that I met in high school. It was as if we had this magnetic bond that had us find each other in times of trouble and despair. Multiple times this happened, where we would be doing something and BAM! We run into each other, rekindle the tryst and then continue on with our lives. Id modify it so that it has a happy ending, but I was curious on the amount I would have to focus on the set up to those moments as opposed to actually living in that moment. I did read that blog in the OP so I have little questions answered already. How well do a collection of stories, aka toilet reading, do? I have an idea that grabs experiences from a large and varied group of people and it would be a collaboration of those. Non-fiction experiences. Kind of like "I hope they serve beer in hell." But a little more family friendly.
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Nov 30, 2015 08:55
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EngineerSean posted:I think it's possible that something like this could do well if you embellish details. Look up "second chance romance" or just some similar romantic comedies. Thanks everyone. I'm just quoting you because you're the last one. Making money is always nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not a huge drive at it. MY main satisfaction would be from people actually reading it. The cliffsnotes version is this girl and I fell in love in high school. She dissappeared and came back one night to shove me against a wall, and tell me that if I thought of hurting myself she would kill me. Gone. Few years later I see her at a friend's family reunion, and we actually start dating. She has a kid, already divorced once. I run the gauntlet of going from friend of the family to now a person of interest and the third degree. I survive, our relationship does not (as I come to understand later, but was given the reasoning of I moved too fast.). I joined the military, come back to my town to see friends before I deploy. Went to a strip club and there she is. She's got another kid, off another failed marriage, and working two jobs while taking care of her mother in between. We spend the night together, I deploy, I disappear. Deployement to Haiti, I finally get on facebook. See her, talk to her, and I buy a plane ticket out to see her. Third kid, engaged to someone she is questionable about (later went on to try to kill her daughter) and we do it again. She works at a strip club still because she's hot and it's easy money, but whatever. I can sub something different. I'm there every day for my week vacation just so I can spend time with her within reason at her job. To the point where the other girls know I'm not a creep and come around me to bullshit or play pool. The "false failed ending" would be the text I got when we got found out by her fiancee and was told that we couldn't talk anymore. Que downward spiral. As fate would have it, I've been married for almost five years now. My wife knows the story, and I just got an email from the high school sweetheart with an update on her life. I'd tweak the end so that it has a happy ending with "us" or the characters, but the basis of the story is largely off of my experience. We still talk occasionally, she filled in a lot of the gaps of that time, and basically it boiled down to anger. She was blinded by the anger that she had for the ways that she felt she was treated by other guys that she didn't see me, where I was willing to drop everything just to make her happy. If it doesn't sound feasible, like someone wouldn't read it, gently caress it. It's not worth the time writing. Again, not so much money as a motivator as it is wanting to tell the story. The actual book would be weird experiences in the workplace. My 'autobiography' thing I know is niche, and probably better as small short articles written for companies or whatever. My dick has gotten me in some weird positions and situations and netted me my first avatar here on the forums. I like to make people laugh, the people I tell my weird stories to laugh, and it feels good. I know Tucker Max had a following before hand, and I'm not trying to compete with it by any means. I just thought a book of people talking about how they were a doctor and the list of things they had to pull out of rectums, or the time an cop I know had to chase a naked man in February through snow for almost no reason other than the guy was drunk and afraid, and trying to go to the bathroom outside would be humorous for others to read. My military experience could be an option, but to be honest, there are some things that are either difficult to talk about or just flat out not interesting. It's a very routine based thing. I'm not married to any type of form. The second book would be for dough, the first would be for show. I don't think this would be something I could see myself doing long term.
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Nov 30, 2015 16:31
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:51 |
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Thanks guys. Guess it's just a venture not worth pursuing then.
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Nov 30, 2015 17:50
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