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blue squares posted:how ocme every fantasy book has the word "of" in the title? I learned this from publishing romance, but basically you want to look at the best selling stuff in your genre and emulate its presentation as much as possible. Say you identify ten best-selling fantasy books that you think share the same audience as your book will, you want to take those ten books and figure out what they all have in common. I was doing some research and figuring out how I would want to make money in the fantasy genre with the least effort, and I found: http://www.amazon.com/Burned-Magic-Adult-Fantasy-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B016V9LOW6/ref=zg_bs_158576011_44 http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Games-Dragon-Born-Serafina-ebook/dp/B018T3TWEY/ref=zg_bs_158576011_58 http://www.amazon.com/Grave-Magic-S...EMFKK6XV1PZ0181 Three different authors, all these books are making over $300/day on Amazon, and they are only 50k words each. Say you wanted to cash in on this trend...what word do you think would be MANDATORY for the title? How stupid would it be to try to do one of these and NOT put "magic" into the title? How stupid would it be to write a book like this and not have a girl holding magic in her hand on the cover? Go view the "customers who bought this also bought..." thing when you scroll down a bit. You see these all in each other's also bought list. You know how in this thread you often see people coming in here saying something like, "I just finished House of Suns. Is there another book out there that has a human-civilized galaxy with humans branching into other species, but no aliens, and an AI civilization that has gone off on their own--also it would be good if the book had no FTL travel. Thanks!" When someone finishes one of these "girl holding magic in her hands" books, they are thinking this exact same thing, basically "I want to read this exact same book again!" If you have a book that looks exactly like it, the same people are going to buy your book, and it's going to eventually wind up in the "also bought list" of all these other books. Game of Thrones always has "NOUN of NOUN" (or sometimes NOUN other preposition NOUN) titles going on, which is probably the biggest reason. I think that kind of NOUN of NOUN naming scheme has been a lasting thing in epic fantasy, so it's generally smart to name your book something like that. If anyone wants to try to make money writing non-romance, btw, Try to pump out one of those "girl holding magic books" in ~2 weeks and release it ASAP before the trend dies off 
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Jan 15, 2016 03:45
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I'm so proud of you for trying to branch out from erotica! Good luck!!! (not sarcasm)
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Jan 15, 2016 03:51
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God damnit I clicked on one of those and now I'll be seeing nothing but in my Amazon recommendations for months.
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Jan 15, 2016 04:02
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blue squares posted:I'm so proud of you for trying to branch out from erotica! Good luck!!! I was doing the research for my brother...I'm not going to go out of romance until I'm like filthy rich and have time to spare on sci-fi. I'm doing romance now instead of erotica, and even though it's still not my ideal thing, I'm having a blast writing it. I'm trying to make my plots well crafted, and I'm getting all good reviews, and people are really loving the books. My erotica fans would email me really creepy stuff like, "I enjoy your books very much. My partner enjoys them too...sometimes I read them aloud to him." The romance fans are more like "Ahhhh x character was sooo sweet " And once I'm ready to write sci-fi, you can bet I'm going to have the best hardcore robot sex scenes of any sci-fi author
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Jan 15, 2016 04:41
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angel opportunity posted:"Ahhhh x character was sooo sweet 
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Jan 15, 2016 04:43
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angel opportunity posted:hardcore robot sex scenes You'd better deliver. I've read a lot of novels with hardcore robot sex. Some managed to even avoid detracting from the decent story too much!
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Jan 15, 2016 05:21
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oTHi posted:You'd better deliver. I've read a lot of novels with hardcore robot sex. Some managed to even avoid detracting from the decent story too much! Scott Westerfeldt, now a YA megastar, used to write some very adult science fiction. One day he's driving in his car with his parents, not at all sure if they've ever read his books, and suddenly his mom says, "There's just one thing I don't understand, Scott. When she does that thing to him with her per — her perhen — her prehensile clitoris, would that really feel good?" And his dad says, "yes, dear, it's called sounding." Scott instantly dies of mortification.
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Jan 15, 2016 07:02
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General Battuta posted:Scott Westerfeldt, now a YA megastar, used to write some very adult science fiction. One day he's driving in his car with his parents, not at all sure if they've ever read his books, and suddenly his mom says, "There's just one thing I don't understand, Scott. When she does that thing to him with her per — her perhen — her prehensile clitoris, would that really feel good?" And his dad says, "yes, dear, it's called sounding." Scott instantly dies of mortification. You know, I sometimes suspect that nine out of ten pen names aren't chosen because the author is actually ashamed of what he or she has written, but entirely out of a desire not to have to explain what they wrote to thier mom.
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Jan 15, 2016 07:23
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General Battuta posted:Scott Westerfeldt, now a YA megastar, used to write some very adult science fiction. One day he's driving in his car with his parents, not at all sure if they've ever read his books, and suddenly his mom says, "There's just one thing I don't understand, Scott. When she does that thing to him with her per — her perhen — her prehensile clitoris, would that really feel good?" And his dad says, "yes, dear, it's called sounding." Scott instantly dies of mortification. I really hope - for Scott's sake - that he actually made that story up.
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Jan 15, 2016 08:30
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Finished Leviathan Wakes about a week ago, still not sure if I'm interested in the sequels: what's the general opinion about those? Are there any actually interesting characters or is it going to be all Holden all the time?
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Jan 15, 2016 08:30
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anilEhilated posted:Finished Leviathan Wakes about a week ago, still not sure if I'm interested in the sequels: what's the general opinion about those? Are there any actually interesting characters or is it going to be all Holden all the time? Well, you have less of Miller and more of Dirty Grandma, so I would read the second book at least. From there it is all downhill. I read the third and fourth, and then gave up.
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Jan 15, 2016 08:42
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Is the Expanse TV series any good? I tried watching the first five minutes of it and bounced off it but the general reaction to it has been positive so I'm wondering whether I should try again.
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Jan 15, 2016 09:25
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Cardiac posted:Well, you have less of Miller and more of Dirty Grandma, so I would read the second book at least. This is not quite universal consensus, mind you. Well, just about everyone thinks Foul-Mouthed UN Grandma is the best, and rightly so, and book #2 has the most of her in it. A lot of people do seem to think books #3 and #4 dragged a bit, but that #5 was better again. I tend to agree but not to the same extent as some (I quite liked all of them, for example.)
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Jan 15, 2016 09:45
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Groke posted:This is not quite universal consensus, mind you. Well, just about everyone thinks Foul-Mouthed UN Grandma is the best, and rightly so, and book #2 has the most of her in it. Lol, universal consensus about a series. Book 3 and 4 killed my interest in the series, especially since I was also reading the Coin and the Dagger series, and I just got fed up with the author. Maybe book 5 is better, but I found Holden rather painful to read about. I have other things to read before even thinking about taking up that series again. First off, finish off the Southern Reach and then onto Dragon Never Sleeps, which I am sure I will enjoy based on what people in this thread dislike about it.
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Jan 15, 2016 10:01
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Another Expanse dropoff at book 3 here. Do read book 2 though it was a lot of fun.
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Jan 15, 2016 11:08
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Expanse TV Show is quite good but with the following caveats: -You have to watch it with subtitles on because the sound mixing is so awful. Without subtitles I find it almost impossible to catch much of the dialogue, and you'll miss key plot elements, especially in the earlier episodes with heavier worldbuilding. -The actor they got for Holden doesn't look like a main character to me. i know that's a stupid comment, but he just DOES NOT look like a main character. All the other crew on his ship look like they could be a main character, but Holden doesn't. -Miller's fedora is dumb. -It could easily fall apart. It's interesting so far, has characters you care about, and the plot is intriguing, but it could all fall apart easily if they lose sight of what is making this season good.  Left: Guy who looks like a main character. Right: Extra who is going to die repairing the damaged reactor 12 minutes into episode two.
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Jan 15, 2016 14:58
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quote:Another Expanse dropoff at book 3 here. Do read book 2 though it was a lot of fun. Yeah Abbadon's Gate was really loving hard to finish and I decided to take a break for awhile. The problem with that being I will probably need to re-read everything later after forgetting most of the plot arcs and characters. Working my way through Acceptance by VanderMeer. It's more enjoyable than Authority but I'm still waiting for a payoff after tolerating descriptive detail overload for 3 books.
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Jan 15, 2016 15:00
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Holden isn't handsome enough for me 
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Jan 15, 2016 15:02
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Yeah, that guy really doesn't look like a main character, which is weird and kind of creepy how that works. Holden is kind of bland on the page as it is and this at least won't help with that.
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Jan 15, 2016 15:08
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angel opportunity posted:Expanse TV Show is quite good but with the following caveats: Oh thank God, I thought I was going deaf. Thanks to whoever wrote that blog post recommending The first fifteen lives of Harry August, it's a great mix of genres. Hopefully polish that off over the weekend so I can finally start City of Blades.
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Jan 15, 2016 15:08
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Junkenstein posted:Oh thank God, I thought I was going deaf. Really? Is it the broadcast/lovely webcast maybe? I have the season pass on iTunes and it sounds really good to me on the Apple TV.
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Jan 15, 2016 15:10
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I'm not sure, but I watched it first during christmas on my parents' TV which has a pretty good sound system through ondemand. At home I watch it with a decent soundbar that never really gives me issues. When I tried to watch at my parents' house (where I couldn't figure out which of their ten remotes to turn subtitles on with) I could only pick up like 60-70% of the dialogue, less in some scenes. It just felt like everyone was mumbling and whispering while a bunch of machinery or loud background noises drowned out their voices. It still sounds like that to me, but I have the subtitles on now so it doesn't hurt my comprehension of the show.
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Jan 15, 2016 15:22
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anilEhilated posted:Finished Leviathan Wakes about a week ago, still not sure if I'm interested in the sequels: what's the general opinion about those? Are there any actually interesting characters or is it going to be all Holden all the time? Read at least the next one (Caliban's war). There are two new characters that you will probably like. Antti posted:Yeah, that guy really doesn't look like a main character, which is weird and kind of creepy how that works. Holden is kind of bland on the page as it is and this at least won't help with that. The narrative in the books and in the series has some slight differences. In the book, Holden is the XO from the beginning, while in the series he is kinda an acting XO. The chain of command is not so clear, and they look more like some persons who ended up together in that brutal adventure by coincidence. They are not a team, but five headless chickens just trying to keep themselves alive. After watching chapter 6 I think this is going to be "fixed" and the relationships and hyerarchy between the crew of the Roci will become more evident; and I hope that will get reflected in the acting and the body language of the actors. It is a little bit like Amos. He looks bland until chapter 3 (IIRC). Then he behaves as THE Amos. Amberskin fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Jan 15, 2016 |
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Jan 15, 2016 15:30
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The sound in the Expanse pilot was atrocious. I'd like to thank this thread for recommending Planetfall, which was good and fairly hard to read in parts. I went straight from that into Children of Time, which is full of spiders. It's interesting so far! The bit where Portia (a giant spider) breaks into an ant colony, steals the crystal it's built a giant crystal radio out of, and paraglides away like Indiana Spider Jones? That was great. Now let's see how humans can gently caress it all up. 
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Jan 15, 2016 15:30
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I finished up Ubik last night. Ubik owns. PKD owns.
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Jan 15, 2016 15:30
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holocaust bloopers posted:I finished up Ubik last night. Ubik owns. PKD owns. Try A Maze of Death next if you can find it.
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Jan 15, 2016 17:09
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Antti posted:Yeah, that guy really doesn't look like a main character, which is weird and kind of creepy how that works. Holden is kind of bland on the page as it is and this at least won't help with that.  angel opportunity posted:I learned this from publishing romance, but basically you want to look at the best selling stuff in your genre and emulate its presentation as much as possible. Say you identify ten best-selling fantasy books that you think share the same audience as your book will, you want to take those ten books and figure out what they all have in common. And I'd totally write romance in a heartbeat if I thought I would be any good at it. I used to be a caregiver and one old lady listened to Louis L'Amour, WEB Griffith, and romance novels every day all day, and nothing else.. I could whiteboard a romance novel in my sleep, and then mad libs the color of each character's hair/eyes/nipples and the setting and just go from there. Maybe start simple by just flat-out cloning Long, Hot Summer or something.. hmm..  jng2058 posted:You know, I sometimes suspect that nine out of ten pen names aren't chosen because the author is actually ashamed of what he or she has written, but entirely out of a desire not to have to explain what they wrote to thier mom. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jan 15, 2016 |
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Jan 15, 2016 18:22
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coyo7e posted:I think scooch/skooch is kind of a cultural signifier of a certain kind of gentrified northeasterner, they use it all the time. I heard it last week and I live on the west coast, I hear new york liberals use it a lot. So inn the Magicians "scooch over!" is apropos. It's a general Old North thing, you hear older people here in the Upper Midwest say it too.
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Jan 15, 2016 19:14
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the_homemaster posted:You can't judge a book by what you wanted it to do. Aurora is basically perfect, screw the naysayers. Aurora basically made the reader realize that they where no better than the initial planners and voyagers that condemed the future generations to a fate they didn't choose for themselves. gently caress them and gently caress you if you don't agree that they deserve to enjoy the planet from which they came.
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Jan 15, 2016 22:06
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I rather suspect Holden is supposed be bland as gently caress, I mean that's his whole deal. He really only gets likeable when other characters comment on his incompetence - I just read a pretty nice scene with Avasarala (who is awesome) snickering at him growing a beard for disguise. Really not sure if having a main character whose defining trait is being bland is a good idea for a series, though. I guess he's supposed to play the straight man to rest of the universe?
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Jan 15, 2016 22:08
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In theory Holden's defining trait is that he always does the Morally Right thing even when it's tactically irresponsible. He believes people in general will make the right decision if given the truth, so he always shares information, causing havoc. Unfortunately the series is (so far) unable to pin Holden down and hold him to account for the devastation he's caused, because he has to make it to the next book in a position to continue being protagonist. Even though the authors clearly want conflict around his choices, the story's not quite delivering. I don't think Holden is going to end up facing down a The Shield/Breaking Bad situation where he has to reckon with the consequences of all his choices.
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Jan 15, 2016 22:17
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anilEhilated posted:Finished Leviathan Wakes about a week ago, still not sure if I'm interested in the sequels: what's the general opinion about those? Are there any actually interesting characters or is it going to be all Holden all the time? Two was my favorite, mainly because of Avalsarala (and if you can definitely get the audiobook for it, the guy reading it does a fantastic job voicing her character). 3 and 4 had interesting ideas that were dragged down by pointless filler in my opinion. Although 3 definitely has some real holy poo poo moments 5 seems to be much better, in that they are really fleshing out the characters of Holden and his team. Not much so far though in the way of overall massive narrative events like the first three book.
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Jan 15, 2016 22:21
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angel opportunity posted:all these books are making over $300/day on Amazon, and they are only 50k words each. Jesus Christ, maybe I should try writing smut
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Jan 15, 2016 22:46
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WarLocke posted:Jesus Christ, maybe I should try writing smut
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Jan 15, 2016 22:54
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Forgall posted:"Pounded in the butt by my desire to make easy money on amazon". "How I learned to like getting pounded to make more than minimum wage, an erotic tale"
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Jan 15, 2016 23:29
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General Battuta posted:In theory Holden's defining trait is that he always does the Morally Right thing even when it's tactically irresponsible. He believes people in general will make the right decision if given the truth, so he always shares information, causing havoc. Unfortunately the series is (so far) unable to pin Holden down and hold him to account for the devastation he's caused, because he has to make it to the next book in a position to continue being protagonist. Even though the authors clearly want conflict around his choices, the story's not quite delivering.
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Jan 16, 2016 00:14
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Yes, that's clearly the way the writers want to portray him, but unfortunately the story hasn't been able to hold him to interesting account for it yet. The story did (book 5 sp) hold Avasarala's realpolitik to account in book 5, which was great.
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Jan 16, 2016 00:18
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Forgall posted:"Pounded in the butt by my desire to make easy money on amazon". The erotic adventures of a struggling writer who decides to trade sexual favors for positive amazon reviews. It culminates with Bezos jerking off on our protagonist's feet while crying. So postmodern. So meta.
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Jan 16, 2016 00:23
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angel opportunity posted:-Miller's fedora is dumb. Isn't it supposed to be though? It's been awhile since I've read the first book, but I recall people giving him poo poo over it or thinking how silly it is.
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Jan 16, 2016 01:28
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"Why do you wear that hat?" "To keep the rain off my head." Book 1 / S1E1
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Jan 16, 2016 01:39
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