So. I finished writing my book.

Jacco

New member
May 1, 2011
1,738
0
0
Karma168 said:
As Glass Joe said you could look at Amazon for self publishing; put it up for a couple of dollars (even free if you're more fussed about getting followers than an income) and if it's any good it should do quite well as people like the kindle for how cheap some books are. If you go that route maybe stick a link in a thread (if that's not frowned on by the mods) and you might get some customers from here.
I worked for a small dance studio for a couple of years and one of the things I learned there was never to offer things for free if you are confident in them. If you want many people to know about you, you need to make them think they are getting a deal. So in this case, I would offer it for 1 or 2 dollars as opposed to free because in the e-publishing community, if you offer something for free people think you suck enough that no one will buy it. Which is generally the case. lol. But if they pay 1 or 2 dollars for a professional-level work, then they'll feel smart and content because they know it's worth 20 but only paid 2.
Advertising is frowned on, but if you're interested, and when/if I get it up onto Amazon, I'll definitely get you a link somehow. =D

Korten12 said:
Gratz! I too myself am writing a Novel. I have many unfinished stories and decided that I actually wanted to try and publish this one. I think it would be cool, even if the money is low, the experience of getting my own creation published is too much to give up. :)
I agree. My dream is to be able to walk into King Soopers (my local grocery store chain) and see my book sitting on the shelves next to the check stand. lol. And of course to see it in movie form.

Karma168 said:
Just out of curiosity what type of book is it?
Korten12 said:
Also like Karma168 asked, What type of book is it? What genre, can you give a quick synopsis?
It's about a girl who finds out she's a kind of super-magic wielder and she gets caught up in this plot to stop someone from taking over the world via magic while she's trying to figure out her power and adjust to the world. So it's your standard urban fantasy vampire bullshit. Nothing you haven't seen before. But I like think what makes it unique is that it's kind of a deconstruction of the entire fantasy/action genre. I use a device I call "meta-humor" in which the characters realize and comment on the absurdity of their predicament without ever actually breaking the fourth wall. It's been fun to experiment with.

scarfacetehstag said:
I walked across Spain, the way of st.James and expected that great feeling of accomplishment to hit me in waves after twenty-six days of non-stop walking. I didn't feel anything different when I finally got where I was going, the only time I felt anything was when I got home and looked at my feet. The only mark of my pain and hardship the scars on my feet, not the best thing to feel.
The sense of self-accomplishment is something not felt by everyone, but it ahsn't really stopped me from doing stuff like that.
I've always wanted to do something like that to be able to really appreciate how people traveled and lived before cars and planes and stuff. I'm a history major so I find that kind of thing absolutely fascinating.

carlsberg export said:
I plan to get this collection down and do some illustrations for it, my dream is to put on kindle for free and watch the hate comments roll in.
ha ha no it would be nice if I made a few people happy, if not through my stories then maybe my drawing skills (which I am much better at)
If you have any confidence in the quality at all, put it up for a dollar. I just explained the reasoning behind that above. Trust me. It works.
 

Jacco

New member
May 1, 2011
1,738
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
Have you proofed and edited it? Have other people looked it over?
I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you might want to consider these things before looking for a literary agent if you haven't done so already.
Yes. I've proofed and edited more times than I care to count. lol. Other people haven't really looked at it though. It's nearly impossible to find readers when you are not published. Either people tell you they will read it and then never do or they are other writers who are only interested in having you read their stuff so it's impossible to reciprocate as many people as you need to unless its your full time job. Sad but true. =\

LarenzoAOG said:
Thanks, that all seems pretty sound. Officially finished my freshman year of college today, really looking forward to writing this summer, and while I'm usually apprehensive about sharing my work I think I may take you up on offer.
I'd like to take a look at your book if you wouldn't mind sharing with internet strangers. Thanks for being righteous.
EDIT: Finished half of my freshman year. My bad.
Yeah, I understand about sharing. But if you need someone to look it over keep me in mind.

Also, don't ever throw anything away. Whenever I make major changes to something I'm working on, I save it as a new version and put the old one in an archived folder. That way if it ever comes up that you need to prove authorship, you have the dozens of versions to prove it. You can also print it out and put it in a sealed envelope and get it notarized and dated. Then you can take it to court and prove that you had a dated and notarized copy from long before the issue came up.
 

LarenzoAOG

New member
Apr 28, 2010
1,683
0
0
Jacco said:
LarenzoAOG said:
Thanks, that all seems pretty sound. Officially finished my freshman year of college today, really looking forward to writing this summer, and while I'm usually apprehensive about sharing my work I think I may take you up on offer.
I'd like to take a look at your book if you wouldn't mind sharing with internet strangers. Thanks for being righteous.
EDIT: Finished half of my freshman year. My bad.
Yeah, I understand about sharing. But if you need someone to look it over keep me in mind.

Also, don't ever throw anything away. Whenever I make major changes to something I'm working on, I save it as a new version and put the old one in an archived folder. That way if it ever comes up that you need to prove authorship, you have the dozens of versions to prove it. You can also print it out and put it in a sealed envelope and get it notarized and dated. Then you can take it to court and prove that you had a dated and notarized copy from long before the issue came up.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'm still looking over what I have now and working on about 4 billion different things that just pop up in my head. I'll email you some time I'm sure. Thanks for the advice.
 

Tiger King

Senior Member
Legacy
Oct 23, 2010
837
0
21
Country
USA
Jacco said:
that's good advice thanks.
I have to say I have been put off by free books on kindle before. Other times I've found some little gems!
I'd feel bad taking peoples money though and I'm not looking to become a writer, just learn how to write better. Mostly so people on the Internet stop getting upset with me when I spell something wrong :p
 

SckizoBoy

Ineptly Chaotic
Legacy
Jan 6, 2011
8,681
199
68
A Hermit's Cave
Jacco said:
26,000 is a damn good start. Mine clocks in at 107,000 for the whole thing and that is a bit longer than publishers generally like to see but whatever. If they're gonna be assholes over 7,000 words fuck em.
A hundred thousand is the publisher's ideal?! Good grief, I'd have to review my position then... fucking hell, my first effort came in at 210,000, inclusive of extensive appendices (and depressingly, it's part one of three, with the other two set to be even longer). :/

As for tips, I'd just say keep working. Find things to get you re-excited about it. My thing was to make myself a little Wikipedia kind of website using Google Sites for my universe to keep track of details and stuff. Writing all the articles for it and finding pictures that approximated what I was seeing in my head was a lot of fun and very motivating.
I've toyed with that idea, and I've written a shitload of 'encyclopaedia' entries. The only thing being that I've got five hundred years of history to plan out, including technological as well as biological evolution. Couldn't think of anything else while I was at work today.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
Jacco said:
Yes. I've proofed and edited more times than I care to count. lol. Other people haven't really looked at it though. It's nearly impossible to find readers when you are not published. Either people tell you they will read it and then never do or they are other writers who are only interested in having you read their stuff so it's impossible to reciprocate as many people as you need to unless its your full time job. Sad but true. =\
I don't know, I've had an easy enough time getting people to read my stuff. Nobody professional, mind, but fans of the genre.

Most of the writers I know are so paranoid about plagiarism that they keep their stuff close to the vest, so I've never really had to worry about reading someone else's.

LarenzoAOG said:
Also, don't ever throw anything away. Whenever I make major changes to something I'm working on, I save it as a new version and put the old one in an archived folder. That way if it ever comes up that you need to prove authorship, you have the dozens of versions to prove it. You can also print it out and put it in a sealed envelope and get it notarized and dated. Then you can take it to court and prove that you had a dated and notarized copy from long before the issue came up.
To be honest, theft seems to be relatively rare. However, precautions aren't a BAD idea. I have tons of backups myself, though my file system needs better organisation (lol).

26,000 is a damn good start. Mine clocks in at 107,000 for the whole thing and that is a bit longer than publishers generally like to see but whatever. If they're gonna be assholes over 7,000 words fuck em.
107,000 is quite long for a first novel in the Urban Fantasy genre. Granted, I'm saying this with limited experience, but I did quite a bit of research before I attempted to find an agent. And my search is still ongoing, in no small part because I tend to over think things. In other words, I'm not exactly the greatest authority, but I've done my homework. 110K is starting in on epic fantasy territory.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
SckizoBoy said:
A hundred thousand is the publisher's ideal?! Good grief, I'd have to review my position then... fucking hell, my first effort came in at 210,000, inclusive of extensive appendices (and depressingly, it's part one of three, with the other two set to be even longer). :/
Depends on the genre, though I think even epic fantasy publishers might balk at 210K.
 

SckizoBoy

Ineptly Chaotic
Legacy
Jan 6, 2011
8,681
199
68
A Hermit's Cave
Zachary Amaranth said:
Depends on the genre, though I think even epic fantasy publishers might balk at 210K.
Historical fiction, but doesn't make much of a difference, I guess.

Thing is, though I do view writing as a hobby (it sure as hell won't pay the bills unless I'm really lucky as I tend to write stuff that is excessively academia-motivated in nature, which generally doesn't appeal), I'd describe my first effort as 'very well researched, very badly written'... or words to that effect.

Yes, I'm doing my own publicity a world of good posting that... -.-
 

fish iron4

New member
Dec 6, 2010
83
0
0
One of these days I will start writing my book about an alternate world where fruits are used as drugs, and bananas being just as powerful as cocaine, and it will follow the tale of Toby Larone as he attempts to fight other gangs and the police in a 1920's Chicago type city as he becomes overlord of the underworld.

Although considering my ultimate lazyness, terrible writing skills and upcoming exams I doubt I will ever get around to starting it, let alone writing a full book.
 

ninjaRiv

New member
Aug 25, 2010
986
0
0
Well, congratulation, for a start. I can't tell you how many novels I've started but never finished because I can't count that high (more than 10 hur hur)

But I've finished comic book scripts and I always feel good when I do that. I think, though, when you tend not to want to finish a story. It's something you put a lot into but you just don't want to stop.
 

Panorama

Carry on Jeeves
Dec 7, 2010
509
0
0
Congratulations, is very impressive. The closest i have come is the finishing my dissertation for University i spent about 1.5-2 years on it, research and writing, but that is about it.
 

Gameguy20100

New member
Sep 6, 2012
374
0
0
Well done man .

Whats it called?

I'm writing a book myself its taken over a year and I'm not even halfway done writers blocks a ***** hu?
 

Jacco

New member
May 1, 2011
1,738
0
0
SckizoBoy said:
A hundred thousand is the publisher's ideal?! Good grief, I'd have to review my position then... fucking hell, my first effort came in at 210,000, inclusive of extensive appendices (and depressingly, it's part one of three, with the other two set to be even longer). :/
70-100, yes. But that's okay! Don't get discouraged. Mine was 215,000 when I finished the first draft. That just tells you that you need to edit and cut. You'd be surprised how much bullshit you can take out that doesn't change the story at all. Truly. When you edit, look for scenes that don't contribute to the plot or that can be summarized in a short exchange of dialogue. Look for excessively wordy sentences that describe every detail ever and cut them so that the only the bare action comes across. People will fill in the blanks.

I've toyed with that idea, and I've written a shitload of 'encyclopaedia' entries. The only thing being that I've got five hundred years of history to plan out, including technological as well as biological evolution. Couldn't think of anything else while I was at work today.
I took the Tolkien road for mine and planned out an entire backstory that would make its own series. In universe, there's 10,000 years of world history that applies to the story. Not all of it applies to the plot, of course so it gets left out, buts its always good to know for yourself.

Zachary Amaranth said:
I don't know, I've had an easy enough time getting people to read my stuff. Nobody professional, mind, but fans of the genre.
Most of the writers I know are so paranoid about plagiarism that they keep their stuff close to the vest, so I've never really had to worry about reading someone else's.
Well, here's the thing about that. No one gives a shit about you (not you specifically, you meaning writers like that) or what you wrote unless it is popular. Authors that don't let people read their work are not authors. No one is going to steal your story because they don't care about it. Until you sign that big deal that nets you millions of dollars, there is nothing special about you or your book. People don't seem to understand that.

Zachary Amaranth said:
To be honest, theft seems to be relatively rare. However, precautions aren't a BAD idea. I have tons of backups myself, though my file system needs better organisation (lol).
Theft of non-published works and of unknown writers is a myth. As I said, no one actually cares until it's popular. Then you have to worry about it.


107,000 is quite long for a first novel in the Urban Fantasy genre. Granted, I'm saying this with limited experience, but I did quite a bit of research before I attempted to find an agent. And my search is still ongoing, in no small part because I tend to over think things. In other words, I'm not exactly the greatest authority, but I've done my homework. 110K is starting in on epic fantasy territory.
I've been told that fantasy is given a wider berth by publishers; 90-110 usually with 110 being "it better be damn good to be that long." So you definitely want to stick to the lower recommendation if you're a first timer.

Zachary Amaranth said:
Depends on the genre, though I think even epic fantasy publishers might balk at 210K.
Yeah. 210 is LONG. Even guys like Stephen King would have to fight to get something that long published. Order of the Phoenix is the only book I've seen that could get away with it and that clocks in at about 250. But it was also the 5th book in a highly lucrative and successful franchise and you'll notice that the 6th and 7th books are far shorter. Rowling likely had to fight with them over it even if it was Harry Potter.
 

maninahat

New member
Nov 8, 2007
4,397
0
0
Glass Joe said:
You could publish it on Amazon as an E-book. I've heard E-books sell pretty well even without a whole lot of promotion, just because people want stuff to read on their ipads. Not saying that's what you should do, just a thought. It's cool you wrote a book. Way to not be super lazy.
Sadly, that isn't true for most writers. I've known a lot of writers to have e-published, only to have next to no book sales. Even the highly talented writers would only make a few dozen sales or so. This is the case for the vast, vast majority of writers on the internet. The occasional massive successes are enough to encourage thousands of enterprising writers to piss into the wind though.

Bypassing agents and a publishers also means bypassing their help in the invaluable promotion necessary to get your book noticed by the populace. As Yahtzee once put it, it's "like tossing a message in a bottle, into a sea made up of messages in bottles": with millions of similarly unpromoted, unverified, unedited e-books floating around, it usually takes a substantial talent for self-promotion and a great deal of luck to stand out.
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
18,467
3,006
118
rhizhim said:
Johnny Novgorod said:
Jacco said:
Johnny Novgorod said:
Yep, I wrote a book, got it published when I was 16 and moved on some weeks later. Nowadays I go months at a time without even thinking about it. It had very little impact in my life, beyond a couple of presentations, some radio talk an one signing. It's all self-promoting, doesn't mean anything. The one thing that stuck with me was the warm feeling of knowing I "got it over with" for what it's worth. And I gained the one fan, with whom I've been mailing back and forth for the past five years. I think that's my own private celebration.
Damn! 16? You must've been quite the prodigy. I'm impressed.
Thank you, but I don't like the book myself and I'm always discouraging people from reading it.
because its called "how to stab people the right way"?

why? tell us the title so we might judge it and you. /NOPRESSUREWHATSOEVER
I like my anonymity here but I'll PM you the title and ISBN thing if you want. Regarding why I don't like it, I was 16 and it's mostly a work of hatred and resentment towards certain people. I was also desperately trying to be every author I admired at that age and just as desperately plagiarizing them to forge a style that would read just as good. Writing it and publishing it was very cathartic but reading it nearly 8 years later I can't stand the self-righteousness of the thing.
 

The

New member
Jan 24, 2012
494
0
0
Tanakh said:
Gratz!

Also, I find everything that i accomplish underwhelming... a psychological issue.
I have that same thing. After I finish something, I usually measure its importance, difficulty of accomplishment, and how good of a job I did, so I prevent myself from satisfaction.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
SckizoBoy said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
Depends on the genre, though I think even epic fantasy publishers might balk at 210K.
Historical fiction, but doesn't make much of a difference, I guess.
I'm betting there's a lot more leeway, but I'd err to the side of "edit."

Yes, I'm doing my own publicity a world of good posting that... -.-
I call mine "shitty dime novels."