[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 1.72 MB, 1595x717, We Got That Summer Love by Malina Green.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4983785 No.4983785[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

>self publishing

>> No.4983816

>we passed the beautiful ocean.
>The sun shined off it so beautifully.
>All the houses down the road were so beautiful
>to a beautiful yellow house
>I was staying at a beautiful house
>in the beautiful California

>> No.4983848
File: 48 KB, 360x274, FROM MY POINT OF VIEW.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4983848

>>4983816
It's like poetry it's beautiful

>> No.4983913

>>4983785
Don't you english natives find repetions higlhy disgusting?

As a french, I can't bear it. We defintely avoid that, it sounds to us like a lack of vocabulary.

beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, ... at least 20 times
the road, the road
my dad, my dad
summer, summer
the thought, I thought
California, California
...

Just FEW examples from the first paragraph.

>> No.4983917

>>4983785
>My older brother's name is Mark, and he's 18... he wants to be a pro skater. What an idiot. He really sucks at it!

The book just became a text message.

>> No.4983931

>>4983913
Yes, we do. The point of this thread was to laugh at how incredibly poorly written it is.

>> No.4983954

>>4983931
Oh, ok. Because some of my english teachers told us it wasn't so serious.

>The point of this thread was to laugh at how incredibly poorly written it is.
Yes, same with vixra on /sci/ (self-publishing "papers").

>> No.4984134

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/27jq27/nine_years_five_novels_and_197_agent_rejections/

>People spend so much time trying to keep the waves of life from rocking their boats, that they forget the reason they set out in the first place. Whether your dreams are massive or miniscule, don't forget which direction to point your sails, and don't give up when the storm seems impossible to conquer.

>> No.4984192

>>4984134
>nine years
>five novels
>197 agent rejections

>Rather than breaking every law in the known universe by attending his own funeral, Damien hid behind a distant weeping willow and watched. His heavy heart ached at the sight of Joey clutching the Superman necklace that once found a home on Damien’s neck. It took every ounce of restraint to suppress the desire to run up and wrap Joey in a hug their dad would never give. He wanted to comfort his brother as he had in life. But he couldn’t. Cloaked in a new body, Damien looked like a complete stranger. And that hurt more than dying.

Eugh, I can see why he was rejected so many times. He needs to spend more time reading.

>> No.4984201

>>4984192

Passive voice, melodramatic, unoriginal idea. Wow. I should self-publish my shit and declare myself successful.

>> No.4984238

>>4984192
Well by that quote I got to say I'm interested in the story, but the writing could be better.

>> No.4984288

>>4984134
All those "have you ever wondered that maybe you were rejected 200 times for a good reason?".

>> No.4984487
File: 982 KB, 320x287, 1399523050978.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4984487

>>4983785
>an unfamiliar hand grabbed my One Direction shirt
>he had beautiful green eyes. And he wasn't wearing a shirt only swim trunks.
>His smile was perfect and his hair and his teeth and his body, just him in general.
>"You like One Direction aye? That's cool so do I"

I'm having My Immortal flashbacks.

>> No.4984500

>>4984134
>Is it good?
>Good and bad is subjective.

OH NO HE DIDN'T.

>> No.4984509

>>4983816
You know, I've realized recently that there are certain words I use too often, chief among them being "simply." I catch myself whipping that one out when trying to explain how something works.

>> No.4984538

>>4983785
"Here, we are kids!" Mom cried as her now too-large clothes swallowed her up. Dad was already naked and dancing around the sprinklers.

>> No.4984631

>>4983785
>"Okay well uh nice meeting you to!"
>you to

it might just be a typo, but still...

>> No.4984659
File: 393 KB, 640x360, lasagna.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4984659

>>4984134
>How much did it cost?
>All in all, I spent a little over $1000.

>> No.4984671

dont use beautiful just describe how the ocean looks the ready will assume its beautiful

you should listen to me im beautiful

>> No.4984886

>>4984631
There are a lot of errors like this in the story.

>than/then
>their/they're
>too/to
>accord/occured

I'm not even sure how you mix up the last two.

>> No.4984887

>>4983785
Take a shot every time you read "Beautiful".
If you survive the gods of /lit/ will make your next novel a best seller.

>> No.4984889 [DELETED] 

>Then I saw him, Paul.
>The sun shined off his well-built body and his hair was soaking wet and all over the place.
>I couldn't help but drool.
>I focused my camera on him and zoomed in a bit...

This is why Men's Rights Activism is so important. Women need to understand that we are more than a sum total of our abs, pecs, and baby oiled biceps. #yeseveryman #thefemalegaze

>> No.4985169

>>4984889
>his hair was soaking wet and all over the place.

chest hair, arm hair, thigh hair, nose hair, just all over the fucking place. It was hot as shit.

>> No.4985180

Mid-level self-published author here.

Ask me anything.

>> No.4985227

>>4983785
>it then accord to me

Honda viral marketing. Into the trash it goes.

>> No.4985261

>>4985180
why are you a faggot?

>> No.4985309 [DELETED] 

>>4985261

This being /lit/, I assumed I'd be called one at some point, and thought I'd better preempt it.

>> No.4985311 [DELETED] 

>>4985261

>> No.4985316

>>4985261

This being /lit/, I assumed I'd be called one at some point, and thought I'd better preempt it.

>> No.4985337

>>4985180
>Mid-level
What does that mean?

>> No.4985347

>>4985337

It means my single self-published book brings in about $200 a year, as opposed to nothing. Also it's helped me land a SHITLOAD of freelance ghostwriting work.

>> No.4985363

>>4985347
Well Faggot, what's it called? Get some free publicity here.
Also
>ghostwriting
>selling your soul for the almighty dollar
Some philosopher is disappointed in you right now, but I'm not well read enough to know which one.

>> No.4985395

>>4985363

> selling your soul for the almighty dollar

More like

> getting paid to write short, shitty niche fiction I would never write otherwise, and would be totally unable to sell even if I did

Anyway.

My book is called Deep Sounding. It's pleb-tier fantasy trash about dwarves and the spiritual implications of menial labor in a pre-industrial communist society.

You can buy it on Amazon for three bucks.

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Sounding-ebook/dp/B009XIRKEO

Or you can download it in a format of your choosing, in exchange for an e-mail address, via NoiseTrade.

http://books.noisetrade.com/bmcarbaugh/deep-sounding

>> No.4985512

>>4985395

I'm gonna check it out later Anon. Thanks!

>> No.4985531

>>4985512

Sure thing. Drop a review on Amazon if you dig it.

>> No.4985589

>>4985395
>Someone finally called out how communist dwarves are
>Spends a book studying those implications
>Pleb tier
I'm going to read the fuck out of this book, Anon. You would have to be pretty shit to somehow make this pleb-tier.
Just saying /tg/ would love this.

>> No.4985625

>>4985589

/tg/ went nuts over it. I posted a thread there shortly after the book came out and I had a free promotion day. They catapulted the book up to like #7 in all free epic fantasy on Amazon, for the space of about 12 hours. Had a few thousand downloads. It was pretty rad.

Funny story: tried to do the same on /lit/ and got nothing but bitter vitriol.

>> No.4985739

>>4985625
I can imagine how that went
>fantasy
>genre fiction
>self published
>Tolkien was a hack and you are too
I feel /tg/ and /lit/ would get along very well if /lit/ would stop being so fucking critical all the time, seeing as they both enjoy a good story well told usually through the medium of paper and cardboard.
/tg/ is the idealist younger brother with stars in his eyes who is in the happiest he can be whenever he gets a gumball and /lit/ is the older cynical sister chastising him for enjoying such trivialities and telling him to get his head out of the clouds.
How much do the two sites take from a sale?

>> No.4985780

>>4985739

NoiseTrade is like 15% or something I think. Not sure. Nobody actually buys via NoiseTrade; it's a tool for artists to use to distribute their shit for free in exchange for being able to build a mailing list. That is to say, the idea is I give my first book/album/whatever out for free, get a bunch of email addresses, and then I have a base to reach out to when I put out THE NEXT book/album/whatever.

As for Amazon: it depends how you price. Less than $2.99, they take 70% of the sale. But MORE than $2.99, YOU get 70% of the sale.

By way of comparison, a traditionally-published mid-lister gets maybe 5% in sales, if he's lucky and has a good agent. Somebody like Stephen King or GRRM gets 15-20.

>> No.4985791

>>4985739

That's about how it went.

>> No.4985795
File: 256 KB, 512x384, Dr Crane.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4985795

>>4983785
>I was hanging onto the rock for dear life.
>I looked down.
>it was kind of a long fall, Which caused me to get scared of falling.
>By the way I was holding onto the rock I could fall any time now.

>> No.4985830

>>4985780
I read the prologue and a little into part one and I think it's great so far, six dollars into Noisetrade. Or at least I hope so, the thing was glitching out a bit.
Do you play Dwarf Fortress by chance?

>> No.4985841

>>4985830

Hey, thanks man!

And yeah, I play a bit. By which I mean, every few months, I open up Dwarf Fortress, get two seasons in, and die in a fashion so horrible it leaves me psychically-scarred for months.

>> No.4985875

>>4984887
>Implying we aren't all alcoholics anyway

>> No.4985916

>>4985395
Hey Carbaugh, when is Crittertown coming out? Fuck.
love
guy from /tg/

>> No.4985922

>>4985916

Very, very soon.

First draft is done but for the epilogue.

Then it's in need of some serious rewrites.

>> No.4985928

>>4985922
Well get to it, I don't pay your bills just so you can fucking lollygag.
jk <3

>> No.4985934

>>4985625
teegee constantly amazes me with their boundless enthusiasm and good natured support whenever someone on their board attempts to get something done. /lit/ could use a little of that.

>> No.4986150

>>4985395
so, like, the sample is above average for sure. the idea for one, but the writing too. pleasantly surprised.

>> No.4986159

>>4986150

Thanks, man.

If you want to see the prose style I was aiming for in Deep Sounding done infinitely, masterfully better, check out Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. That shit will rock your socks. It's like if Dickens and Tolkien had a baby.

>> No.4986176

Yo dwarfbro, you have inspired me a bit.
One day I might take an interesting idea and write a book about it.
But I think I will just read for 6 hours a day until I feel like I have a good enough grasp to attempt writing any fiction.

>> No.4986183

>>4986176

Reading is important, but sooner or later you're going to have to just jump in and do it. The results will always be terrible. Ask me how many novels (to completion) as a teenager, that have never seen the light of day. Fuck dude, I have a folder on my desktop labeled "Ideas" that's almost 2G in TEXT FILES.

Just jump in and get cracking. Your skills cannot do anything but improve.

>> No.4986199

>>4985180
How do you promote your book?

>> No.4986224

>>4986199

Lots of ways.

When it came out, I did your basic Facebook, Twitter, blog, all that. Shortly after it came out, I did a few free promotion days, and had long sprawling threads about them on /tg/ and a few other forums (dwarf fortress, tabletop communities, etc). Basically you want to go where your audience is and just sort of nestle in among them without hawking your shit in their face. Giving something away for free helps. Everybody likes free shit.

I've done a couple interviews.

I've solicited bloggers, fellow indie authors, and particularly eloquent Amazon authors for reviews.

I've posted my book for free on more places than I can remember (that makes more sense if you read the "if you're reading this for free" bit in the frontmatter of the book).

I've even gone on sites pirating the book (and there are sites that pirate EVERY book which goes up on Amazon; they're like these datamining mass-aggregators) and posted comments thanking people for reading, etc.

Tl;dr. how do I promote my book? Any way I want or can think of. If it seems like a good idea in the spur of the moment, I'll do it. That's one of the nice perks of self-publishing: flexibility.

But frankly, I don't do much anymore. At a certain point there's not much value in promoting your book anymore; it's reached the audience it's going to reach, and your time is better spent just writing the next thing and getting it out there.

You need 5-15 books out before you hit that critical mass saturation point and start gaining some real steam, to the point where the money earned from sales can begin to serve as serious supplemental / sole income.

>> No.4986229

>>4986199
>>4986224

For more along that train of thought, check out http://authorearnings.com/ It's a HUGE yearly self-survey of self-published writers that aggregates a shitload of data corresponding with Amazon sales ranks, publication dates, etc, and then contextualizes all that and compares it to traditional publishing. It's fucking brilliant stuff, if you're into stats.

>> No.4986278

>>4985180
How much do you make a month purely from book sales?

>> No.4986295

>>4986278

A month?

Maybe twenty bucks. Forty or fifty in a good month, if someone has posted something about me somewhere.

Though I make a fair bit in ghostwriting assignments that my book was instrumental in landing. Not quit-your-dayjob money, but it constitutes about a third of my income.

>> No.4986296

>>4986199
good authors don't need to promote themselves

>> No.4986299

>>4986296

What experience do you base that on?

>> No.4986304

>>4986296

Of course they fucking do. Readers don't just magically find books from out of the aether. There's more fiction being published and read today than ever before in the history of mankind.

>> No.4986323

>>4986296
wut
>I've finished my book!
>What now?
>I'm going to take the manuscript and leave it in a fucking cave!
>W-what?
>Don't you know? If people want it, then the rainbow coming out of their head will lead them to it.
>Now let's go! We're late for the unicorn rides over at Fantasy Land.

>> No.4986331

>>4986224

Just a question, you said you solicited people to write reviews, this might be a stupid question, does that mean you paid people to give you good reviews? I noticed a lot of them only review your book, or give everything they reviewed 5 stars.

Second, you said 200 dollars a year, but also this book sold a thousand copies from the /tg. Did you mean a different book? And with so many good reviews how much revenue does it generate? Does it keep selling the next year?

I'm writing various works now, was going to submit to Kindle Singles because you can submit shorter works, but if it's not accepted will just self-publish. I was hoping to write a number of novellas/books in the hopes of generating enough to live off of.

Thanks for your time!

>> No.4986350

>>4986331

No. I've never done that; it's unethical.

When I say solicited, I mean I contacted reviewers whose reviews I liked on other books, and asked them to check out my own.

And I didn't say I sold thousands of copies from the /tg/ threads. That was during a free promotional period. I got thousands of DOWNLOADS of the free book.

Since the book was published (October 2012) I've made about $200 a year on it. It does decline over time; such is the nature of things. But if I had more material coming out on a regular basis, it would likely see a boost every time I released something.

>> No.4986366

>>4986331

Also: good onya, man! If you can do a bunch of Kindle singles back-to-back, like a monthly basis, I think that would be a GREAT strategy. Especially if they were a series of connected but standalone short stories. Stuff like that has this way of piling up in the sales lists until it reaches critical mass and starts REALLY selling. That was how Hugh Howey's "Wool" series took off.

>> No.4986460

>>4986323
That's actually how I feel about my work. I feel insulted and lowered by the idea of having to promote it.

>> No.4986494

>>4986460

That's a silly way to feel.

Don't think of promoting as shilling. You're not hawking bars of scented soap on the front stoop. It's more like hanging up a sign on the front of the internet that lets the world know you made a thing and it exists.

Because otherwise it WILL NOT be noticed. You could write the best fucking novel ever written that changes literature forever...and I promise you, if you publish it with no fanfare, no one will ever know it existed. You will drown in a sea of obscurity.

>> No.4987313

>>4985395

Downloaded.

I don't have any money to spare, but you should be congratulated. You can feel good about actually achieving something, reaching people halfway across the world with your talent (yes, talent), and knowing you'll have a few extra dollars whenever I can spare it.

Keep at it, bro

>> No.4987541

>>4985395
How much have you earned from the amazon selfpublishing thing so far, and did you do the KDP program?

>> No.4987592

>>4985934
nah

if /tg/ already fills that spot of boundless enthusiasm, /lit/ is required to fill the spot of endless critique

>> No.4987648

>>4987313

Thanks, man.

>>4987541

I've earned $400-500 from that book total. I did try the KDP program for a while, but I stopped. The promotional days tool (where you can set it up so your book is free to download during a set period of time) is pretty neat.

However, one of the terms of KDP is that you can't have your book on any other platform. If it's KDP, it's exclusive to Kindle.

That's a dealbreaker for me; I want the freedom to give my book away on Twitter or whatever whenever the fancy strikes me. But your mileage may vary.

>> No.4988329
File: 57 KB, 480x720, 1319171104933.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4988329

>not hitting the return key after a line of dialog is complete

>> No.4988918

>>4988329

What if additional actions follow it?

> "I'm not a murderer," said Mike. He holstered his gun.

>> No.4989771

>>4988918
>"I'm not a murderer," said Mike.
>He holstered his gun.

>> No.4989775

>>4989771
>being this pedantic

>> No.4989813

>>4989775
I was just showing what it would look like the other way.

>> No.4989995

>>4989775
Exactly how is >>4989771 being pedantic at all?

>> No.4990000

>>4989771
Guys, before you go any farther, you need to learn how to properly format dialogue; e.g., "I'm not a murderer," Mike said.

>> No.4990013

>>4986295
how did you land the ghostwriting job? Ever since I saw Young Adult (2011) I've been really interested in doing that. I like the idea of whoring myself out.

>> No.4990248

>>4983917
I feel like the author may have been channeling some annoyance at her own older brother.