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I also have been using that book report (I was a tester) and it works great. Also, the app dev. Is doing it on his own and is also an author, totally worth checking out.
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Apr 14, 2015 04:05
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:It's pretty shocking how helpful this thread is. I mean, rags-to-riches helpful if you can hammer away at it for a while. I like never post here, but this is totally true. About two years ago I saw this thread and started to quietly publish super romance because of it. I also learned a lot from some of the more... selective groups over on reddit. I've made thousands from it. Since the changes in KU.2.0, I've gone from working on super romances to working full time on regular romances and a mystery/thriller series I look forward to showing you guys (and gals) the cover and blurb of very soon. This is my full time gig, and that all started from the very free advice I've received in this thread. 
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Oct 26, 2015 01:05
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Sundae posted:Book trailers never made much sense to me. You still have to find a way to get them in front of your customer, so why not just get the book itself in front of your customer. Also, they appeal to... what audience, exactly? The people who like to read but would rather learn about their word-based entertainment in video format? People who watch youtube for entertainment but will suddenly decide to read your book instead of catching their usual show? I don't think the media formats overlap quite that much. I could be wrong, of course. I often am. Totally Agree. That's a lot of time and money that could go towards writing another book, editing, and paying for regular old promos.
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Nov 22, 2015 23:07
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Aferisan posted:Does anyone here write Mystery/Thriller? I do!
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Dec 12, 2015 20:21
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angel opportunity posted:This will have to be a good year for me. It feels like if I can't do it this year, I won't be able to do it at all. This is true. However there is a private Reddit thread (several in fact, though I'm only in one at the Moment) that deals with the romance side of things that has great advice. (A lot of the same advice that's here btw).
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Jan 3, 2016 21:56
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Roar posted:Pssh, look at this casual. Some of us professional fatties have been in the big leagues for years. Hehe big leagues. Remember it's not crumbs of old food in the ratty beards, it's crumbs of success on the hairy romance gravy train.
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Jan 5, 2016 16:28
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All of this "quality checking" concerns me with my romance pen names. However my thriller mystery pen name, I'm in the middle of going through final edits on book 1 with an editor, and it should pass muster no problem.
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Jan 21, 2016 19:18
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:It begins. You're talking about Throwie aren't you. That dude is awesome.
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Feb 2, 2016 02:51
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angel opportunity posted:Just an IRC update: Okay, I'll join tomorrow. I write both romance (I consider it my day job so around 5 hours a day) and mystery thrillers (I haven't published yet but will be doing cover drops for the first four books in a series here soon! )
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Feb 26, 2016 21:17
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Okay, I said awhile ago I wanted to join that slack... And then slacked (that pun had to happen). But I wanna join for sure! Who do I email to get in?
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Apr 1, 2016 19:42
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Popular Human posted:I'd argue that you could call Chuck Tingle an author working in 'absurdist fiction', but yeah. There's money to be made in self-publishing, but something insane like 80% of the market is romance/erotica, thrillers or sci-fi/fantasy. If you're not writing one of those three things, you're peddling to an almost impossible to profit off of segment of the market. Agree on Tingle. Also, thank god I picked romance novels as my day job, and thrillers as my second job. (I don't mind writing romance, but I like writing thrillers).
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Jul 13, 2016 16:37
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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 |
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Jul 22, 2016 00:25
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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.
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Jul 22, 2016 00:35
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ravenkult posted:Feel free to post some stock images you like here and we'll give you an opinion. Or join the Slack, why don't you. Slack's easier. It's not in the OP right?
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Jul 25, 2016 21:34
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Okay gang, just posted this on the slack chat as well. This is my former cover for my mystery/thriller. http://imgur.com/a/gAZb5 Something about it wasn't working for me, and others agreed. Not great. Which lead me to these. http://imgur.com/a/fyHen http://imgur.com/a/aiOL0 http://imgur.com/a/2Agr8 Thoughts? Preferences between these three? LionArcher fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Jul 30, 2016 |
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Jul 30, 2016 06:37
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Szmitten posted:I think it would be better to go for the orange gradient text for the title but ditch the transparency. White (non-transparent) series/author names is good, and either ditch the box around "Katie Bell Mystery" or find a way to taper the sides to make it less boxy. Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.
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Jul 30, 2016 17:44
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Chokes McGee posted:Advice from someone who literally just went through this process. I'm fresh off the boat so take this with a huge grain of I really appreciate the work you put into this post. I'm already doing fine as a romance author, but I wanted to have eggs in more than one basket. I'll go back to work on this thing and go for a round two. As for people suggesting looking at covers of other books in the genre (thriller/mystery) I have done that. My biggest issue is that unlike a genre like Romance/sci-fi/fantasy, Thriller mystery's have a wide range of okay to good covers, but it's not nearly as coherent. That isn't meant to be defensive, just my impression of what I've seen. Hence why I've been struggling. As for my elevator pitch, great point about Harry Potter. It isn't like that at all. I'll scrap that from the pitch. Book is split narratively between a college freshman (Katie) solving one murder at college (and all the college shenanigans that she would normally go through) and her famous FBI profiler father chasing after a serial killer who's the disciple of the serial killer who murdered his wife (Katie's mother).
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Jul 30, 2016 23:45
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I'm back, this time with a blurb. (I'm still reworking the cover, thanks everyone). Okay, here it goes... Fireflies (A Katie Bell Mystery) Katie Bell is a survivor. Haunted by the demons of her past, she hopes she can finally have a fresh start at college. Fate however, has other ideas. At the first big party of the year, Katie witnesses a murder. The police dismiss the case as an act of jealousy, but Katie's investigative instincts tell her otherwise. With the help of an eccentric hacker and a mysterious journalist, Katie begins to unearth a dark conspiracy at the university. But even armed with sharp wit, red hair and pepper spray, does she have what it takes to catch the real murderer? Or is the amateur detective about to become the real killer's next target? With his daughter Katie in college, Arthur Bell can finally admit to himself horrors of his job have taken their toll. The FBI's most famous profiler doesn't believe he still has what it takes to catch any more psychopaths. Until the latest case lands on his desk. This time, he's hunting the disciple of the serial killer who murdered his wife. As the body count rises, Arthur realizes that the disciple isn't just planning on copying his teacher, but something far more insidious. Does Arthur still have what it takes to stop a madman? Or is he too broken to stop a monster, one last time?
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Aug 7, 2016 02:42
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RedTonic posted:I'm ready to shank someone for 2 4-stars. Or just have Book report running in a window on your browser at all times. Motivates you when hear the sweet sweet sound of "Chi-Chang"
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Sep 1, 2016 23:49
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On writing program chat, remember that JK Rowling wrote her first two harry potter novels by hand and then typed them up on a type writer. Point being, we can all get very into our tech, but it really doesn't matter that much. That being said... Scrivener all the way. The IOS app is also rock solid. If you time it right with NW, you can get the main computer program and the app for $45 bucks. Once bought, that's it. syncs between the main computer program and IOS with dropbox like a charm. And yes, if you're using a windows computer, it still works with IOS syncing.
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Sep 17, 2016 06:03
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Toaster Beef posted:Sooo here's a question. One of the biggest romance writers I know did just that. He said it went well. If you've already got the mailing list, go for it!
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Sep 22, 2016 19:07
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Just a heads up everyone, apparently it is a known issue that KU reads are not working properly. There's a thread now on K boards, and in more... knowledgeable forms. people have been complaining about it for a few weeks. Romance writers seem to notice it more than others, since page reads is such a huge part of their (and my) income. Amazon has been silent when people have emailed about it, other than saying it was a server issue. Thought I'd mention it in case others have had a rough couple of weeks. Who knows if it's actually just a server issue or if they are actually planning on putting out K.U.3.0 or something. This in no way is meant to be a panic post, just something people have been grumbling about. Also, the best theory I've seen is that they may have changed it to pages actually read, over pages you've skipped past. I know I've always borrowed my own works, and then skipped to the thank you in a way to quickly get more pages. Until now that's worked fine.
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Oct 3, 2016 20:15
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Be aware everyone due to an orange STD being our next president.... our sales this month won't look great. At least that's a main theory from a lot of pretty big romance authors. Judging by the way the markets are looking, id say that's a good hunch.
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Nov 9, 2016 14:44
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Benson Cunningham posted:You're saying that a predominantly female audience isn't going to be interested in escapism right now? I think they will be, but it will take till December. Either way, good luck with us paying for healthcare! Gotta adjust my budget to include how much more I'll have to pay.
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Nov 9, 2016 20:51
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angel opportunity posted:Shifters and vampires aren't the same thing. I make a lot of money doing romance; I know the market. If you want to do romance to make money, do the romance that makes money. Show me three demon romance novels by three different authors that are sub-1k rank right now and aren't Bella Forest What are your favorite sub genres of romance these days? Bad boy bikers have been my thing for awhile, but I'm needing a break for at least a book or three
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Nov 20, 2016 20:11
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angel opportunity posted:I just stoped doing sci-fi because while you CAN get top 200, it's wildly variable. The chances of getting like...top 50...in sci-fi is also way lower. However, the chance that a shorty book where you duck some stuff up randomly spiking to top 200 is also higher than in badboy. Wait, top 100 in whole store or sub cat? Also, what size mailing list and how much money are you throwing at FB ads?
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Nov 20, 2016 21:32
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If anybody is thinking of updating the OP, can I recommend Chris Fox's books? They are short, most are available in KU, and they offer good advice that can be applied to most genre's. he just released a new guide that I haven't read yet, but will be doing this holiday weekend.
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Nov 21, 2016 22:53
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Sundae posted:Honestly, I think Mailerlite is better than Mailchimp now. The only reason I'm still on Mailchimp is that I don't want to rebuild all my templates (can't directly import them) and deal with importing all the names again. So if I'm staring a new list or too (yay romance mirrors!) I should probably start with Mailer?
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Dec 1, 2016 19:38
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Sundae posted:I would, based on the pricing benefits as you scale up. That's just my opinion though. Good to know. There's also nothing stopping me from having multiple mailing lists (like four or five) for different pen names that would all be free from them right? As long as I have under 1,000 subs. The joys of different romance kinks and also writing Mystery/Thrillers.
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Dec 2, 2016 01:02
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angel opportunity posted:Yeah, someone I know is beta testing it I think and said the same. Pretty awesome Omg that would be amazing. I need to go talk to my beta guy.
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Feb 6, 2017 21:50
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The Fuzzy Hulk posted:HOLY poo poo, Book Report is even better now. I've been in the beta since last week, and it's basically flawless. Logged in on four devices too (laptop, IMac, phone and iPad) and it just works. Just like macs really.
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Feb 16, 2017 22:36
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freebooter posted:Released the second book in my series a few days ago and somebody on Goodreads who didn't even rate the first has given it one star, which somehow breaks the space-time continuum and gives you a -2 rating.... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34447188-end-times?ac=1&from_search=true Thank you for posting this. I never looked up my mystery on Goodreads, and even with my lovely cover I have a 4 star rating.  My romance series (different name) has 2 stars 
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Mar 5, 2017 22:35
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Bardeh posted:Are any other romance authors struggling to get decent traction these days? It seems like the market is so ridiculously saturated right now that I'm really finding it difficult to get my new releases to stick. I am writing in probably the most competitive genre (Bad Boy) so maybe it's time to switch things up a little and try another niche. Try M/M.
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Mar 13, 2017 09:18
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Fuschia tude posted:Those of you who are Americans working at this part- or full-time, how do you have things set up tax-wise? Any incorporation? General rule is if you make $30,000 or more you should have an LLC and an S corp. until then, usually the benefits aren't worth it. Depends on the state though. Talk to a tax person.
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Mar 23, 2017 04:06
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angel opportunity posted:Someone is trying to doxx me I'm never posting in this thread again, bye! Just came in to say the post earlier you wrote was great... and then I see this poo poo. Come on folks. Be better than this!
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Mar 24, 2017 20:40
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Bardeh posted:Most likely someone attempting to guess AO's pen name. This forum (SA in general) and this thread in its various incarnations has managed to chase off every single successful author who ever posts in them and dares to reveal that they're making (good) money off their work. It's loving ridiculous. Yeah, I think I'm out of this thread too. It's what got me going, and I've made a career out of it.. thanks thread. There are safer communities out there now. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way.
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Mar 25, 2017 07:49
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Eyeneedle posted:It sucks that goons are still doxing self-pubbed writers. I was hoping to re-read this thread for all the pre-pub advice, now that my book is near completion. How do I find another community like this one? Reddit self-pub seems like it gives bad advice. The official Kindle forums? Kboards has an okay hub. A good first thing to look at in the morning place. Erotic authors (Reddit) has terrible advice at times, but also great authors in there too that help out. If you read the big threads there , you'll find the right redditors to follow. I won't really post here due to what I just saw with dox, but this thread Will always hold a special place in my heart for getting me started on my self publishing career. That was three years ago, and it's changed my life. It's not a get rich quick scheme like it used to be, but if you're willing to work hard you can still make plenty of money.
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Apr 8, 2017 23:57
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Aferisan posted:Could anyone kind of provide insight on to what the current climate of genres or self pubbing in general is like right now? General impressions, anecdotes etc. Treat it like a real job and get paid real money. I think there was a gold rush of easy money that has gone away. That being said, the market is still growing. We are at the beginning of a new normal, and now is a fine time to jump in. That being said, there are genres that sell better than others. Romance, mystery thriller, cozy mystery, urban Fantasy, military sci-fi, all have solid numbers if you put in a lot of work and can write a solid yarn. If you want to write poetry, have fun. You most likely won't get paid, but sure. Same with "fiction," and they sort of jazz. Make a mailing list. Read the OP. Read the thread. There's several good to great posts in here. Also, read. Read your genre. Read out of it. Pay for KU, read more. Go over to Kboards. Read more. Don't post. Just read. You'll quickly see who's actually giving good advice. I got Kinda crapped on for mentioning this earlier in the thread, but Chris Fox has a bunch of books on self publishing. I think they are great basic how to guides. Most of what he writes can be found here and on Kboards, but his books are short and are an easy source for a lot of solid info. Another classic book is 2 k To 10 k. Lastly. Write. A lot. How much is a lot? 3 to 5 k a day, 5 days a week.
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Jul 7, 2017 19:12
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POOL IS CLOSED posted:This happens to me sometimes. Not sure why! They just announced KU 3.0 so that might be why.
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Aug 2, 2017 01:28
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The Fuzzy Hulk posted:Young adult. And mystery thrillers
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Sep 22, 2017 23:26
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