It's about 25k.
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Writing-GAF: Writing, Publishing, Selling |OT|
- Thread starter AngmarsKing701
- Start date
It's about 25k.
I munch 25k for breakfast. Last week's creative short story entries were probably around 25k.
You best have thick skin cause 99% of my goodread reviews are 1*.
Haha. I feel like I should just direct you to the Amazon page so I can at least make $2 before I'm eviscerated.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Hubba Hubba Challenge peeps:
Sorry I've been out for a bit. One of my projects is being a problem child, and I've been neglecting the more fun things in life like the Writing thread.
Update-wise, it's great to see those next books go up, and people getting their stuff out there. I know that the sales end of the project has not bought anyone much more than a stubbie yet, but don't lose sight of the real goal of the exercise, which was to 1) try something ridiculous and out of your writing comfort zone, 2) complete and publish your work, and 3) make terribly (and terrible) suggestive puns in your blurbs.
While money would also be welcome, don't let it discourage you. This particular genre is incredibly oversaturated, and those that are turning a dime are pumping these things out like clockwork, with very specific themes and strategies. We're just dabbling at the moment, so don't weigh down your progress and follow-through with disappointment for not catching a very elusive and fickle prize. Just have fun exploring a very niche and unusual side of writing, and I know I can't be the only one enjoying making these dumb covers.
If anyone wants any help tweaking or some further ideas on how to push your werewolf\plumber romance onto a bigger audience, let me know. I've learned a few tricks during all this that I'd be happy to share.
I can't imagine having the energy to write a new one every week, but there's so much flexibility in the genre that it has been pretty entertaining coming up with ideas and seeing what people think of them.
How's the FB ad thing going? I'm not even sure how those work. Would love to hear the details when you get a chance.
Cover are the fun part! I recommend Canva because it's easy, cheap as all get out, and they have some truly questionable stopckphotos to choose from.
Nooooooo, Angmars! Don't give in! It's a writing exercise to flex your creative muscles, and you've been far more successful than most of us in not just completing, but also publishing all of them. Don't fixate on the sales part. You've smashed a challenge and it was a pretty weird challenge to take up. Did you ever imagine you'd be a published erotica author? I doubt it. The very idea should amuse you, not depress. Also especially for you, this challenge is essentially a strings free a dry run of something you were mulling over before, right? Namely, publishing shorts in a genre you were actually interested in. I'm sure this experience has given you some insight on how best to tackle that now, so don't feel like it's been time or energy wasted. There's a lot to get out of it and you're far more accomplished in this now than anyone here except maybe that crazy guy, cosmic.
Congrats! And more money = more covers to play with! Seasonals should be a breeze after all this.
Sorry I've been out for a bit. One of my projects is being a problem child, and I've been neglecting the more fun things in life like the Writing thread.
Update-wise, it's great to see those next books go up, and people getting their stuff out there. I know that the sales end of the project has not bought anyone much more than a stubbie yet, but don't lose sight of the real goal of the exercise, which was to 1) try something ridiculous and out of your writing comfort zone, 2) complete and publish your work, and 3) make terribly (and terrible) suggestive puns in your blurbs.
While money would also be welcome, don't let it discourage you. This particular genre is incredibly oversaturated, and those that are turning a dime are pumping these things out like clockwork, with very specific themes and strategies. We're just dabbling at the moment, so don't weigh down your progress and follow-through with disappointment for not catching a very elusive and fickle prize. Just have fun exploring a very niche and unusual side of writing, and I know I can't be the only one enjoying making these dumb covers.
If anyone wants any help tweaking or some further ideas on how to push your werewolf\plumber romance onto a bigger audience, let me know. I've learned a few tricks during all this that I'd be happy to share.
I can't imagine having the energy to write a new one every week, but there's so much flexibility in the genre that it has been pretty entertaining coming up with ideas and seeing what people think of them.
How's the FB ad thing going? I'm not even sure how those work. Would love to hear the details when you get a chance.
Cover are the fun part! I recommend Canva because it's easy, cheap as all get out, and they have some truly questionable stopckphotos to choose from.
Nooooooo, Angmars! Don't give in! It's a writing exercise to flex your creative muscles, and you've been far more successful than most of us in not just completing, but also publishing all of them. Don't fixate on the sales part. You've smashed a challenge and it was a pretty weird challenge to take up. Did you ever imagine you'd be a published erotica author? I doubt it. The very idea should amuse you, not depress. Also especially for you, this challenge is essentially a strings free a dry run of something you were mulling over before, right? Namely, publishing shorts in a genre you were actually interested in. I'm sure this experience has given you some insight on how best to tackle that now, so don't feel like it's been time or energy wasted. There's a lot to get out of it and you're far more accomplished in this now than anyone here except maybe that crazy guy, cosmic.
Congrats! And more money = more covers to play with! Seasonals should be a breeze after all this.
toddhunter
Member
The Facebook ad has been going for a few days. It is easy enough to setup, you just point it at a url and set your payment limit.
There are two main options, pay per click for the duration and setting a maximum spend. I choose the maximum spend option, in this case $20 over 5 days.
The ad can start pretty much straight away after a short approval and will start appearing in people's facebook. If you want it to appear in the news feed directly, you also need to setup a facebook page. I didn't do this because I hate news feed ads, but it is probably effective (and costs more per click).
What do you get for $20? Well in three days so far:
~6500 people have viewed the ad.
This generated 28 clicks to my amazon page, costing about 0.34 each.
This resulted in 0 sales.
Previous ads I have done have resulted in about 60 clicks and ~50k reach, but that was non-erotic.
So is it worth it? In this case no, but it is all in good fun. For something real like Dead Endings I would think it is a very effective way of directing clicks to your page. There isn't much risk either due to the maximum spending limit so it is worth a try.
And you never know for the challenge. Oprah might be feeling horny as she is browsing her facebook one night and you wake up a millionaire.
In other marketing talk, I set up a fake twitter and made some strategic erotic follows. I now have over a hundred followers in a day or two, which is fun. Not many of those would be real, but it still makes you look semi-legit.
Tweeting about my book has resulted in... 0 sales. Tweeting about the free first chapter has got about 40 downloads, which is nice (#erotica #free #ebook).
I think that is about as far as I will take it, but I might write some more shorts one day because it is fun and I have a lot more room to explore. Heck, my characters haven't even had a threesome yet.
There are two main options, pay per click for the duration and setting a maximum spend. I choose the maximum spend option, in this case $20 over 5 days.
The ad can start pretty much straight away after a short approval and will start appearing in people's facebook. If you want it to appear in the news feed directly, you also need to setup a facebook page. I didn't do this because I hate news feed ads, but it is probably effective (and costs more per click).
What do you get for $20? Well in three days so far:
~6500 people have viewed the ad.
This generated 28 clicks to my amazon page, costing about 0.34 each.
This resulted in 0 sales.
Previous ads I have done have resulted in about 60 clicks and ~50k reach, but that was non-erotic.
So is it worth it? In this case no, but it is all in good fun. For something real like Dead Endings I would think it is a very effective way of directing clicks to your page. There isn't much risk either due to the maximum spending limit so it is worth a try.
And you never know for the challenge. Oprah might be feeling horny as she is browsing her facebook one night and you wake up a millionaire.
In other marketing talk, I set up a fake twitter and made some strategic erotic follows. I now have over a hundred followers in a day or two, which is fun. Not many of those would be real, but it still makes you look semi-legit.
Tweeting about my book has resulted in... 0 sales. Tweeting about the free first chapter has got about 40 downloads, which is nice (#erotica #free #ebook).
I think that is about as far as I will take it, but I might write some more shorts one day because it is fun and I have a lot more room to explore. Heck, my characters haven't even had a threesome yet.
Man, i have some weird dreams. But so many of them make such good stories, with some tweaking. Gotta fill in those leaps of logic etc. after all.
...
Perhaps i should start selling my dreams, not sure i ever get around writing them really... Not that ideas are a problem really for writers, i guess.
...
Perhaps i should start selling my dreams, not sure i ever get around writing them really... Not that ideas are a problem really for writers, i guess.
Thanks!
Anyway, here it is. Albatross In Flames
It's a story about codependency, shattered dreams, and meth.
http://www.pagespineficshowcase.com/258/category/brian anthony thornton/1.html
Thanks!
Anyway, here it is. Albatross In Flames
It's a story about codependency, shattered dreams, and meth.
http://www.pagespineficshowcase.com/the-reading-lamp.html
Cool! Some good lunchtime reading.
Rock! Hope you enjoy it, aidan. I've never been read by a Hugo winner before. Day keeps getting better and better
NipplesAndToes23
Member
I finally got through my rut in my book. I was caught in a situation before on how to get these two vital characters out of prison, got that figured out then, that stuck in another place trying to figure out how to keep another character alive in a situation I only see her ending up dead in. I can finally continue with this story and probably won't run into another problem like this for a while if at all.
toddhunter
Member
I'm not sure why, but I've never actually read a Stephen King book
No time like the present to make it right.
I've had the Dark Tower series for years and never read it
toddhunter
Member
No time like the present to make it right.
I've had the Dark Tower series for years and never read it
Good point, I have read one of his books... although that isn't quite the same.
I purchased all the Dark Tower books... but yeah, I've never read them either. Every time I mention them, everybody insists quite strongly that this would be a bad idea.
I know shaming is not nice but look at this fucking site:
http://www.dylansaccoccio.com/#!__home
http://www.dylansaccoccio.com/#!__home
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
yep, that looks like a DnD insipired fantasy book. Also, wow what an asshole. His comments are hilarious. I can't believe his first response to a negative review is "are you trying to destroy me financially? I can understand that. If not, why the 1 star if you're not trying to destroy me?"
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I don't think I've ever seen someone project onto others quite like him.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Sounds about right. King, Gaiman, and Lovecraft are three writers that I really lean towards. Brian Jacques is a big one for me though too. He got me addicted to fantasy.
timetokill
Banned
Women like Gaiman over Bradbury? smh
Wiktor
Member
Have you tried writing in the morning? As in waking up an hour earlier to squeeze some writing time.
You're honestly not missing much. Man is the master of failing to deliver on promising premises and can't stick an ending to save his life.
Oh, and everyone has psychic powers.
You're not missing much either. It is the manifestation of the worst of King's tropes and bad habits. Talk about not sticking the ending, holy fucking shit.
It's mostly self-contained, but its central premise is that a lot of his stories take place in a connected multiverse that don't intersect that much beyond the machinations of the Big Bad and his underlings.
And in King's tradition, once the this multiversal threat that has been alluded to for decades is revealed, it's nothing but disappointment.
Have the grace and temerity to accept poor reviews. If you can't, and you're not Toni Morrison, don't respond to critics.
Then again, people who give one star reviews tend to be dicks. I speak from experience.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Shit, I disagree with all of you about The Dark Tower. That series is fantastic from start to ending. The very end is a bit shaky, but it works within the context of everything all seven books build up to. I guess my only complaint is that most of the "big bad" badguys that show up are defeated pretty quickly.
Easily my favorite series of books. Easily.
Easily my favorite series of books. Easily.
The ending is more than shaky, it ruins everything that came before and has a ripple effect that undermines the tangential stories that take place in the Dark Tower multiverse. It's decades and hundreds of thousands of words of buildup, mystery, sacrifice, and emotional investment with absolutely no catharsis whatsoever. King even prefaced the ending with a warning that maybe the reader better stop reading where they're at, for Christ's sake. Awful awful awful awful ending that made the seven books that preceded it fucking pointless. Fuck it. Fuck it right in the ass.
And the fact that the great and cosmological force of evil in the multiverse that is the shadowy puppet master behind god only knows how many King stories prior to the climax of the seventh book is done in with the FF6 Realm Sketch glitch? For real? What? What?
I had largely been enjoying the books up until the wheels started to come off in the sixth book with the self-insertion nonsense and the forward momentum stalling out, but I can't enjoy anything that came before it any longer that knowing that none of it matters in the larger plot.
And the fact that the great and cosmological force of evil in the multiverse that is the shadowy puppet master behind god only knows how many King stories prior to the climax of the seventh book is done in with the FF6 Realm Sketch glitch? For real? What? What?
I had largely been enjoying the books up until the wheels started to come off in the sixth book with the self-insertion nonsense and the forward momentum stalling out, but I can't enjoy anything that came before it any longer that knowing that none of it matters in the larger plot.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Yeah, the way the final antagonist was handled was pretty bad. The same can be said for all of the little antagonists that show up along the way.
I'm pretty much fine with everything else though. The Dark Tower isn't something i look at in terms of multiverse, even if that's part of the point. It's the story of Roland, and even though the ending stung at first, I no longer hate it.
I certainly don't feel like it invalidated my time with the series as a whole.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I know nothing about that book, but that is a fun looking cover. Minimalism for the win. Just ask Albert Camus
Conkersbadfurday
Member
So I'm a bit over 50 pages into that next novel, and now that I'm firmly calling it a novel, I dunno if I like it. I didn't mean to write YA fiction (I don't really like it), but this is feeling like YA fiction. The style is lean, less on description and more on doing, and I've always found that a bit lazy. It was working when it was a novella due to page constraints, but now it just doesn't strike me much.
Oh well.
More than that though, it's just constantly hard to write. My first foray into novel writing was so god damn fun and rewarding. Four pages a night. BAM! Easy. Could do that in an hour. Wasn't always quality writing, but editing fixed it pretty well. This though. Shit, this I'm happy to do two pages, but mostly I'm hitting a bit over one a night.
I dunno what it is. Lots of second guessing, probably. Main character is depressed, and I've never written something like that before. Not sure I'm doing it right. Also not sure exactly where it's going. There's no strict A => B here. It's kind of a quazi horror/mystery, with the main character learning magic in a strange way, but so far it's less about that and more about the place he learns it in, if that makes sense.
Eh, i'm rambling. I guess I always feared I'd never has as much fun writing as I did THe Ninth Life, and this is proving that to be true. That hundred days it took to churn out like 460 pages man! God damn those were the best.
Oh well.
More than that though, it's just constantly hard to write. My first foray into novel writing was so god damn fun and rewarding. Four pages a night. BAM! Easy. Could do that in an hour. Wasn't always quality writing, but editing fixed it pretty well. This though. Shit, this I'm happy to do two pages, but mostly I'm hitting a bit over one a night.
I dunno what it is. Lots of second guessing, probably. Main character is depressed, and I've never written something like that before. Not sure I'm doing it right. Also not sure exactly where it's going. There's no strict A => B here. It's kind of a quazi horror/mystery, with the main character learning magic in a strange way, but so far it's less about that and more about the place he learns it in, if that makes sense.
Eh, i'm rambling. I guess I always feared I'd never has as much fun writing as I did THe Ninth Life, and this is proving that to be true. That hundred days it took to churn out like 460 pages man! God damn those were the best.
There's a bunch of stuff out there (I think Windows has had a descent utility since 7 or so), but you get what you pay for, essentially.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I've been a writer all my life, but it's always been curative writing (articles, essays, analysis, etc.) or text roleplays as a teenager. I finally sat down and started a novel. Finished the prologue and have about seven pages of notes so far. I always, ALWAYS give up on my work, but this time I'm feeling it. Wish me luck.
Also, that Dylan Saccoccio guy seems like a huge asshole, but some of those reviews are absolutely scathing and even a bit mean spirited. I mean, I didn't read the book, but still.
Also, that Dylan Saccoccio guy seems like a huge asshole, but some of those reviews are absolutely scathing and even a bit mean spirited. I mean, I didn't read the book, but still.
toddhunter
Member
Good luck, make a plan and just stick with it.
I know both Android and iOS have voice-to-text features built in to their keyboards.
They work alright, just don't throw acronyms at them.
toddhunter
Member
For the record, final Facebook ad stats.
Probably best not to think about some of them.
Overall no sales, but around 50 downloads of the free first chapter which is something.
Probably best not to think about some of them.
Overall no sales, but around 50 downloads of the free first chapter which is something.
AngmarsKing701
Member
I had a borrow yesterday and I was like "oh I wonder which of these erotica shorts it was" and it turned out to be Ahvarra.
So lol maybe I should just keep writing what I like writing.
So lol maybe I should just keep writing what I like writing.
Crash Station
Member
Got 6 sales all at once today and they were spread across the three bundles as well as the single shorts. Weird. I'll take it though!
Anyway, 2.5k words into the 7th short. I think starting tomorrow when I get home from work, I'm just going to buckle down and crank out as many words as I can, hopefully covering more than 1 short.
Well, I say that now, but no telling how my motivation is going to be tomorrow. Still, I feel like I'm close to making this work, though that could just be some unjustified optimism speaking.
Anyway, 2.5k words into the 7th short. I think starting tomorrow when I get home from work, I'm just going to buckle down and crank out as many words as I can, hopefully covering more than 1 short.
Well, I say that now, but no telling how my motivation is going to be tomorrow. Still, I feel like I'm close to making this work, though that could just be some unjustified optimism speaking.
AngmarsKing701
Member
I need to bundle the three that are out there. I'm completely unmotivated to write the final three that finish the series though.
I know that feel.
I started my novel thinking about sci-fi, and now I feel that it is weak on that area, while sometimes leaning to the terror genre, with some gore and such.
139 pages and (slowly) counting! :3
What do you mean?
Crash Station
Member
Haven't bundled 3 together yet, but I imagine that'll do something. What I've seen on twitter and a few sites tells me there are some readers that will ONLY buy erotica in a bundle.
Maybe you'll get something out of that, which could get you motivated again. Hell, you could always put writing this stuff on hold until you see some kind of activity. I mean, it does seem to be pretty sporadic to an extent. I didn't get any sales or borrows for 3 days, and then bam, 6 out of nowhere!
But yeah, don't let it distract you from what you really want to write. I'm actually getting a bit worried that writing too much of this trash is going to lower my ability to write the stuff I actually want when I start again in (hopefully) a few months
Conkersbadfurday
Member
My biggest complaint with the YA novels I've read and didn't like was their writing style. They feel too "telly" with not enough show. It's all just the plot and not enough time stopping to really get to see what things look like, feel like, etc.
Easy example that comes to mind is THe Hunger Games. When Katness first sees a hovercraft, we aren't told what it looks like at all. I'ts just a hovercraft. The series is very void of description unless food is nearbye.
I feel like I'm edging towards that route.