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Writing-GAF: Writing, Publishing, Selling |OT|

M

Mike M

Nick N
mu cephei said:
This level of dedication for these shorts is really impressive. I like twitter, and I know it's useful, and necessary these days, but gosh.
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Twitter is a god awful "service" that contributes active harm to society's communication skills and is directly responsible for the rise of people fucking saying "hashtag" aloud when speaking like fucking idiot fucks. Therefore, they are indirectly responsible for the contents of what may or may not be unmarked shallow graves in the woods behind my house.

Twitter was the first time I realized I'm old and curmudgeonly. I simply don't see a use for it (outside of being obligated to do so to maintain some semblance of relevancy), and I'm both baffled and infuriated by the world's enthusiastic and unequivocal support of such a shitty, awful platform.

At least it's okay as an occasional spectator sport to watch people who somehow still don't understand how the internet works destroy their careers...
 
C

Conkersbadfurday

Member
Mike M said:
Twitter is a god awful "service" that contributes active harm to society's communication skills and is directly responsible for the rise of people fucking saying "hashtag" aloud when speaking like fucking idiot fucks. Therefore, they are indirectly responsible for the contents of what may or may not be unmarked shallow graves in the woods behind my house.

Twitter was the first time I realized I'm old and curmudgeonly. I simply don't see a use for it (outside of being obligated to do so to maintain some semblance of relevancy), and I'm both baffled and infuriated by the world's enthusiastic and unequivocal support of such a shitty, awful platform.

At least it's okay as an occasional spectator sport to watch people who somehow still don't understand how the internet works destroy their careers...
Click to expand...
I feel the exact same way, but since I'm trying to start up an indie game studio, I need to learn how it works :(

But god damn do I hate it.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
I actually kind of like Twitter. Facebook is too ... Facebook-y. It's gross.

I totally agree that people saying "hashtag" aloud is grating as fuck though.
 
C

Crash Station

Member
Twitter is pretty important for advertising these days, especially if you know how SEO works. Don't have to like it as a platform, but it can do wonders if you figure out how to use it.

My pen-name Twitter has 300 followers, so that's fun at least. If only those all translated into sales/borrows.
 
M

mu cephei

Member
Mike M said:
Twitter is a god awful "service" that contributes active harm to society's communication skills and is directly responsible for the rise of people fucking saying "hashtag" aloud when speaking like fucking idiot fucks. Therefore, they are indirectly responsible for the contents of what may or may not be unmarked shallow graves in the woods behind my house.

Twitter was the first time I realized I'm old and curmudgeonly. I simply don't see a use for it (outside of being obligated to do so to maintain some semblance of relevancy), and I'm both baffled and infuriated by the world's enthusiastic and unequivocal support of such a shitty, awful platform.

At least it's okay as an occasional spectator sport to watch people who somehow still don't understand how the internet works destroy their careers...
Click to expand...

Haha :D Well, I don't personally know anyone who uses twitter, in fact most people I talk to on a daily basis don't even use the internet frequently! So no hashtag irritations. And at first I used to think it was stupid beyond belief (the crap about eurovision I had to skim past....) I use it to follow publishers, scientific journals, a few websites and writers and agents, for the links to articles and stuff. I think people who've mastered the arcane skills of rss feeds or whatever they are might not need to do this...

As a tool for promotion or even conversation it seems bizarre. But I guess it works.

cosmicblizzard said:
Twitter is pretty important for advertising these days, especially if you know how SEO works. Don't have to like it as a platform, but it can do wonders if you figure out how to use it.

My pen-name Twitter has 300 followers, so that's fun at least. If only those all translated into sales/borrows.
Click to expand...

Wow.
I'm off to look up SEO!
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
I'll be working on these next week. Had two deaths in the family and a thesis to take care of. Glad to see some of you are picking up momentum!
 
F

Fidelis Hodie

Infidelis Cras
Almost 40k words into Derek Agons 2. No clue how long it will be, probably just a little longer than the first. Feels weird since most series seem to grow in length, though I guess the first 3 harry potter books didn't jump in size too much.
 
H

H.Protagonist

[-_-]/
Hubba-Hubba Challenge Update:

How's everyone's progress? Book 2 published? Book 1 trucking along? Hit me with your totals!

HP: 7 Borrows, 1 Sale (1 book - I'm being compressed to death by work. -_-;)


Also! Check Goodreads. Your book/books are probably there, so that's another avenue for you to start drumming up interest if you're inclined. At the least you can make an account for your persona and get the author section filled out. There's a big and active audience there, so take advantage of it.


timetokill said:
My erotica pen name twitter has more followers than real life me

I'm not sure how to feel about that
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Amused? :D


AngmarsKing701 said:
While I tweet something every day from my erotica pen name, I only have 3 followers. I must not be good at trying to be a mid 20s female.
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Just what kind of things are you tweeting...? *_*


Fiction said:
I have 84 followers on my erotic twitter. o_O Not sure how it happened. Just followed a few erotic accounts and they just came to me.
Click to expand...

They sort of just keep piling up, huh? Checked this morning and I'm at 91 now. I do try and make sure to Favorite things here and there or chat with the real people who follow me.


Mike M said:
Twitter is a god awful "service" that contributes active harm to society's communication skills and is directly responsible for the rise of people fucking saying "hashtag" aloud when speaking like fucking idiot fucks. Therefore, they are indirectly responsible for the contents of what may or may not be unmarked shallow graves in the woods behind my house.

Twitter was the first time I realized I'm old and curmudgeonly. I simply don't see a use for it (outside of being obligated to do so to maintain some semblance of relevancy), and I'm both baffled and infuriated by the world's enthusiastic and unequivocal support of such a shitty, awful platform.

At least it's okay as an occasional spectator sport to watch people who somehow still don't understand how the internet works destroy their careers...
Click to expand...

Haha. So old and cranky. :)

I still find my personal one pretty fun for work. It's the easiest way to update people about the project and a lot of industry news moves really fast through there. Dumb fun, but useful.


AngmarsKing701 said:
Hubba Hubba update!

Short #1 has pushed 45 free units, no sales, no borrows
Short #2 has 1 borrow! Success!
Click to expand...

Yay! We just need to beef up your twitter now.


cosmicblizzard said:
Twitter is pretty important for advertising these days, especially if you know how SEO works. Don't have to like it as a platform, but it can do wonders if you figure out how to use it.

My pen-name Twitter has 300 followers, so that's fun at least. If only those all translated into sales/borrows.
Click to expand...

I'm with ya. It's encouraging to see retweets and Favorites, but it would be nice to see the sales bumped a bit more there. Still, invaluable. Also, how the heck did you get 300 followers?! Haha.

Your sale chart looked pretty good, btw. Congrats on the moola!


Nappuccino said:
I'll be working on these next week. Had two deaths in the family and a thesis to take care of. Glad to see some of you are picking up momentum!
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, Nappuccino. I hope working on these will help distract/lighten things up a little for you. Let me know if you have any questions about it all.
 
R

ronito

Member
I had forgotten about this thread.
So my book on how to retail good was finally released.
A couple of hundred people have downloaded it.
Nothing great. But I'll take it.
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
Fiction said:
Very sorry for your loss :(
Click to expand...

H.Protagonist said:
Sorry to hear that, Nappuccino. I hope working on these will help distract/lighten things up a little for you. Let me know if you have any questions about it all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the sympathies! Both were a long time coming, which makes it a bit easier to deal with . . . but it's never fun.

I've been working on one of the stories tonight and I've been having fun fleshing out the character's past and doing the witty banter thing, which has been nice way to take the mind off things :)
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
What's the deal with bundles? Is there actually a way to handle them in Amazon or do I need to cut and paste them all into another Word file and release them as another book?
 
C

Crash Station

Member
Yo sirap, you know what the "in" kink is these days? Probably just going to write a few under a different pen name since I'm not writing anything at the moment. Also not seeing much activity over what I have out, but that may change when all 6 shorts have been released (doubt it though).

H.Protagonist said:
I'm with ya. It's encouraging to see retweets and Favorites, but it would be nice to see the sales bumped a bit more there. Still, invaluable. Also, how the heck did you get 300 followers?! Haha.

Your sale chart looked pretty good, btw. Congrats on the moola!
Click to expand...

Hah, the sales are going right back into paying living expenses instead of anything I actually want, so doesn't feel like a victory just yet. Thanks though :D

As for Twitter, I just followed a few erotica authors here and there, tweeted at them and fans of them and before long, I got up to 300. You could of course get to A LOT more if you follow a ton of people that follow other erotica authors, but those are pretty much just empty followers that probably won't even read your tweets, so no point (at least regarding book promotion).

AngmarsKing701 said:
What's the deal with bundles? Is there actually a way to handle them in Amazon or do I need to cut and paste them all into another Word file and release them as another book?
Click to expand...

Just cut and paste them into a new file. Then find a 3D bundle template for the cover and use one of the book covers as the top one. There's a bunch of tutorials out there for it.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Short 1: 2 sales, 7 borrows
Short 2: 1 sale, 3 borrows

I don't think my book titles are "spicy" enough. It's really hard to skirt around Amazon's filters and still be enticing with the kink I chose.

cosmicblizzard said:
Yo sirap, you know what the "in" kink is these days? Probably just going to write a few under a different pen name since I'm not writing anything at the moment. Also not seeing much activity over what I have out, but that may change when all 6 shorts have been released (doubt it though).
Click to expand...

Near as I can tell, it's girl meets billionaire shape-shifting (step)brothers.
 
C

Crash Station

Member
timetokill said:
Near as I can tell, it's girl meets billionaire shape-shifting (step)brothers.
Click to expand...

I can probably do shape-shifting. Just looking at the top 100 authors and a good chunk of what they do is just boring vanilla stuff that I don't think I could write, but every so often you'll see some that write pretty imaginative stuff like Natalie Deschain at 55 (alongside normal stuff).

I feel like gender-bender could also be fun to write. Hell, I could probably just change the names in that Ranma 1/2 fanfiction I wrote half my life ago, lol.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Fiction said:
I'm having this problem too. I can't just hop two characters into bed, there has to be development and plot and...we'll see if it's detrimental or not after this edit cause I added more plot :/
Click to expand...

Yeah, exactly. I think I am worrying too much about plot for what is essentially porn.


cosmicblizzard said:
I can probably do shape-shifting. Just looking at the top 100 authors and a good chunk of what they do is just boring vanilla stuff that I don't think I could write, but every so often you'll see some that write pretty imaginative stuff like Natalie Deschain at 55 (alongside normal stuff).

I feel like gender-bender could also be fun to write. Hell, I could probably just change the names in that Ranma 1/2 fanfiction I wrote half my life ago, lol.
Click to expand...

Haha, it's worth a shot! Your sales are looking pretty good already too.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Fiction said:
If you're talking about the kink list, 'intelligence' is on there. That counts right?
Click to expand...

Intelligence (quick wit; street smarts; Machiavellian cleverness; Sherlock Holmesian deductive powers; geniuses; experts; criminal masterminds; see also Special powers and skills; Geeks and nebbishes)
Click to expand...

Mindfuck, mindgames
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I guess. But it certainly paints a very different picture than general academia. Certainly, there is fetishization of the mind, but only in the context of dominance and submission rather than self-improvement and discovery.

(Not that I'm surprised, it was just a joke.)
 
A

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
Tide of Shadows and Other Stories Update time!

Things have slowed down considerably for me over the past week (just a handful of sales and borrows, none in the last three days), which, not coincidentally, occurred around the same time my 'blog' tour concluded. Reviews on Amazon/Goodreads have also dried up. So, time to start watering the garden again! At this point, I need to sell about 30 more copies of the book at $2.99 to break even on my costs for the project. I've got a r/fantasy giveaway coming up next week, and might down a Kindle Countdown deal the week following to try to drive exposure.

I wrote a post this week for Tor.com, which got a lot of traffic and comments, but resulted in exactly 0 sales and 0 borrows. So, even exposure on a huge genre site isn't enough to push books single-handedly.

Additionally, I'm appearing on Rocket Talk, the official Tor.com podcast, today to talk about the book, self-publishing, and SF/F stuff, so we'll see if that has greater effect on sales. Friday's not a great day, but I'll take what I can get.

On another note, I finished and submitted my first short story since becoming a parent last year, which felt tremendously good. "Fite and the Sea Glass Knife" is a Sword & Sorcery style story based in the same world as the novel I'm slowly chipping away at. It sort of works on its own, but it might not be conclusive enough to actually land in a magazine. I have two more stories in mind that will bookend it, featuring different characters to provide perspective on the events that lead up to and precede "Fite and the Sea Glass Blade." It's been a lot of fun.

I've also been revising another short story that I wrote over a year ago. It sat in a trunk, niggling at me because I knew what was wrong, but not how to fix it. Suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, a solution crystallized and I've been ripping through a revision and cut almost 2,000 words. Feels good.
 
D

DopeToast

Banned
I just made my first attempt at publishing yesterday. I sent out a short story of mine, "Love in the Stitches," to ten different literary journals, most of which I discovered through NewPages. I also submitted this one short work that is under 500 words to Hermeneutic Chaos because they were asking for that kind of work.

I'm prepared to hear "No" from everyone, but it was nice to use Submittable and get a feel for how to write the cover letter and whatnot. I made an excel sheet to track what I've submitted and where, and whether they've responded. I'm putting my newly received creative writing degree to good use. Got to do something with it.
 
C

Conkersbadfurday

Member
aidan said:
Tide of Shadows and Other Stories Update time!

Things have slowed down considerably for me over the past week (just a handful of sales and borrows, none in the last three days), which, not coincidentally, occurred around the same time my 'blog' tour concluded. Reviews on Amazon/Goodreads have also dried up. So, time to start watering the garden again! At this point, I need to sell about 30 more copies of the book at $2.99 to break even on my costs for the project. I've got a r/fantasy giveaway coming up next week, and might down a Kindle Countdown deal the week following to try to drive exposure.

I wrote a post this week for Tor.com, which got a lot of traffic and comments, but resulted in exactly 0 sales and 0 borrows. So, even exposure on a huge genre site isn't enough to push books single-handedly.

Additionally, I'm appearing on Rocket Talk, the official Tor.com podcast, today to talk about the book, self-publishing, and SF/F stuff, so we'll see if that has greater effect on sales. Friday's not a great day, but I'll take what I can get.
Click to expand...
God I am so boned if I have to self publish. The best I can do is appeal to furries who will buy pretty much anything, but even that's a stretch.

Also, on that TOR podcast, can you bring up how Terry Goodkind sucks? This would amuse the world greatly.

DopeToast said:
I just made my first attempt at publishing yesterday. I sent out a short story of mine, "Love in the Stitches," to ten different literary journals, most of which I discovered through NewPages. I also submitted this one short work that is under 500 words to Hermeneutic Chaos because they were asking for that kind of work.

I'm prepared to hear "No" from everyone, but it was nice to use Submittable and get a feel for how to write the cover letter and whatnot. I made an excel sheet to track what I've submitted and where, and whether they've responded. I'm putting my newly received creative writing degree to good use. Got to do something with it.
Click to expand...

Best of luck to you! The first "no" kinda hurts, but after that, you get pretty hardened to them real quickly. I hope it doens't come to that for ya though :p
 
A

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
Conkersbadfurday said:
God I am so boned if I have to self publish. The best I can do is appeal to furries who will buy pretty much anything, but even that's a stretch.

Also, on that TOR podcast, can you bring up how Terry Goodkind sucks? This would amuse the world greatly.
Click to expand...

There's history involving me, Tor.com, and Terry Goodkind. For realsies. I'll tell you the story one day if you buy me a beer.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Wizard's First Rule said:
“There is a magic,” he began, “an ancient and dangerous magic of immense power. It’s a magic spawned from the earth, from life itself. It is held in three vessels called the three boxes of Orden. The magic is dormant until the boxes are put into play, as it is called.
Click to expand...
Goodkind, ladies and gentleman.
 
C

Crash Station

Member
Started on a 7th short (1st for a new pen name). Once I go on vacation in a month, I'll try to knock out a bunch of them on the plane ride and maybe during down time. If I don't get any results after that, I'm done with erotica.
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
So short #3 is going hot n heavy with a threesome. I'm just about to proceed to where participant #3 gets completely naked and I've paused, because it struck me that rather than MFF this could go MFT.

Nothing like a little surprise.

But I need to think about that.
 
F

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
Zeitgeister said:
Foul temptress! Ye shall not tempt me to read this person's works!

I'm totally going to look it up. Also, I want to hear that story, badly.
Click to expand...

If Aiden ever tells the story, I demand it get added to the OP for all to see.

I also don't know who this guy is, but I like you all better, so he's a jerk or whatever
 
C

Conkersbadfurday

Member
FlowersisBritish said:
If Aiden ever tells the story, I demand it get added to the OP for all to see.

I also don't know who this guy is, but I like you all better, so he's a jerk or whatever
Click to expand...
He wrote a super shitty series of fantasy stories that he says aren't fantasy because his dumb politics are inserted in a super black/white way because DEMOCRATS ARE EVIL or some shit.

I only read the first book and it was offensively bad. Mostly because it was poorly written. LIke, really badly written. LIke, every cliche you could ever think of EVER was used without irony.
 
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