Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

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PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

moana posted:

Tough but worth it! I'm no longer wearing pants to work. It's basically the awesomest.

Oh yeah I'm definitely keeping at it. It's good to work towards dreams. Maybe one day!

Are there any genres that are too dominated by trad publisher authors to bother going at them self-pub?

I might just look into one of those self-pub'ing half way houses where they market you for a percentage. I actually work in marketing, for a (video game) publisher, and I used to intern for a literary agent. But for some reason when I try and market myself it's a whole other ball game and I fall apart.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2014 22:26

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 05:19

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

ravenkult posted:

Yeah, go buy my poo poo.

I just finished this card game project and now it's finally back to writing and editing. Pretty soon I'll have enough stories for a collection, but self publishing a horror collection feels like the most futile of endeavors.

You think so? I don't know much about the short story market but horror short stories is probably the short story genre I buy the most of. Something about it just fits that format I think.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2014 23:06

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

ravenkult posted:

They are notorious for selling badly, except maybe if your audience is used to it (Lovecraftian stuff is usually short form so Laird Barron for example, does okay). It's not easy to market a single author collection because the reader doesn't know what he's buying. Unless you're well known (Barron, again) and people know what to expect, nobody has any idea what your themes are, what kind of stories you're writing.

That's my take anyway.

It's true that most anthologies I buy are not single author collections.

But I'll check yours out!

# ¿ Nov 23, 2014 23:24

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

moana posted:

Oh god, I try so hard, so hard to make these hands write, but they won't stop playing this video game! To each according to his--gasp--ability!

Don't compare your laziness to Sundae's legitimate medical issues. You're a lazy bum and you're finally seeing how hard it is to actually write instead of writing posts about how great your writing is. gently caress off until you have something finished, you're not anywhere close to self-publishing if you can't even write a smut short.

A smut short is, what? 10k?

If this is your first moana my friendly advice would be to commit to doing 1k a day to get a story done in 10 days, use one of those softwares with the little metre thingies so you can feel that sweet, sweet gamified progress. Then take a couple of days, edit it with fresh eyes, and you've got it done in like two weeks tops.

Then work on the next one, and once you're done with that one go back to the first one and give it a final go-over before hitting it out.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 21:58

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

PoshAlligator posted:

A smut short is, what? 10k?

If this is your first All Else Failed my friendly advice would be to commit to doing 1k a day to get a story done in 10 days, use one of those softwares with the little metre thingies so you can feel that sweet, sweet gamified progress. Then take a couple of days, edit it with fresh eyes, and you've got it done in like two weeks tops.

Then work on the next one, and once you're done with that one go back to the first one and give it a final go-over before hitting it out.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 22:41

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

EngineerSean posted:

I dunno if this is a typo but Moana is a New York Times bestselling author.

Oh I know, quotin' got me all confused.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 22:41

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

The ultimate feedback is always play less video games.

And it's always right.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 23:52

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

Shark Tower posted:

When you guys do your research, do you only consider books on the bestsellers lists, or do you include free books as well? I feel like free books might be a waste of time, at least strictly from a research perspective, but what do you guys think?

Please keep in mind I'm not a successful self-published author but when I'm looking just for research sake I don't look at free books, unless they're by an author I find through the bestsellers, but even then not so much.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 09:41

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

I just got offered the production of a few short non-fiction audiobooks on ACX, my first offers ever. It's almost certainly because nobody else ever offered on these products, but it makes me feel a little bit nice anyway. It's something I wouldn't mind getting into.

If anyone in this thread has things up on there let me know I guess.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 12:54

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

EngineerSean posted:

As the voice actor or as the rights holder?

As in me, I am the voice actor.

My own ebook isn't up on there. Not sure how well ACX does really.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 15:27

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

EngineerSean posted:

As the voice actor, if you can get paid per finished hour, it's fine. The standard rate is $225 per finished hour, though if you're new at it it can be a lot less. I would NOT take the 50/50 split of sales. As Jalum points out, the rights holder has no control over price, promotions, and the people at Audible and Amazon basically use it as promotional material to pimp their service more than anything.

I don't mind doing just some lovely smaller stuff now to build up some portfolio I guess.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 21:42

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

ravenkult posted:

Are Kindle children's books selling at all? Is that even a thing?

I don't know if they sell but they're on Kindle and generally the format makes them pretty unenticing for picture books and the like, though I still pick them up in sales sometimes.

Unless by "children" you mean "young teen" in which case there are tonnes of huge series with pretty standard stock photo covers that look like they do well.

e: I know I don't need to say it but I buy the children's books because I am interested in looking into basically every genre, especially as ebooks. I recommend finding some and checking out the previews to see how they look currently.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2015 03:08

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

It's all about that Leap Frog.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2015 22:06

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

Blue Scream posted:

Resurrecting this quote to ask a question. Authorearnings.com is linked in the OP as the main source of information for why self-publishing is an awesome idea. So...which is it? What are the reasons the industry considers it a joke? I'm writing my first book and am completely new to both traditional and self-publishing. The whole process seems really confusing to me, and though I'm drawn to self-pub, quotes like those make me wonder what I'm getting myself into. Help!

The main people who think it's a joke are probably trade publishers who retired into teaching courses at university. Anyone in the industry who themselves isn't considered a joke doesn't think self-pub is a joke.

There's room for both sectors to beneficially coexist, but not work the attitude of thinking it's a joke. And, most don't.

With that said some stuff out there is laugh out loud funny bad. But he same can be said for both trad and self pub, though perhaps with a difference in volume.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2015 00:27

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

Railing Kill posted:

Just found the thread and I'm about to get into self-publishing via Amazon. I usually write sci fi, but none of it is published (yet). I have a major confidence problem that I would guess is common with yet-to-be-published authors, so I haven't taken the dive with any of my sci fi.

What I am going to publish is non fiction. Specifically, humorous essays. I've been teaching composition for seven years now, and I've been writing essays as well as teaching them all along. I was chatting with a couple friends from college who have since been published, and we got to talking about what kind of writers we are. One suggested that I would make a good essayist, but I dismissed the idea. They both said, "you've been teaching and writing essays for seven years. Maybe you're an essayist." I do find them easier to write than fiction only in that there's a lot less planning that goes into them. So, I'm going to give it a shot. It sounds weird from someone with a confidence problem to publish personal essays rather than fiction, but I am comfortable in the genre.

I have a few questions for the thread, though:

Has anyone had success publishing humor and/or personal essays? I don't know if Amazon or similar avenues have a developed readership for this kind of thing, or if most of the readers are looking for genre stuff. I've poked around Amazon enough to notice they have sections for it, but I just don't know if anyone buys it.

I'm down to editing now, so I'm also researching some of the technical details of publishing this kind of thing. Specifically, is there a good resource for checking attributions for real world stuff? This doesn't come up in the kind of sci fi I write, but in personal essays I'll reference names of real world stuff all over the place. I just want to make sure all my bases are covered and if there's any sort of hoops I have to jump through that will make this more trouble than it's worth.

I'm looking at designing my own cover. I know, I know. But I'm pretty good with photoshop, and I want to keep my cover somewhat minimalist. What I have in mind isn't beyond my Photoshop skills, or my eye for design. I was planning on doing the photography myself to avoid a legal or financial headache, but I just want to know if anyone has had success with this. I know the horror stories described in the OP, but I'm curious if any authors can actually pull this off, or if I'm deluding myself. Bear in mind, I'm not looking for a genre-ish cover (that is way beyond my skills and eye for design). I'm looking for something minimalist but strange, like a David Sedaris book cover.

Nobody seems to buy humour from unknowns. The best bet would seem to be writing something similar to another successful humour writer and really going at marketing to their audience.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2015 18:51

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

Dig the covers but it does annoy me that "Part X of Y" is in the same place for the first three and completely different for the fourth one.

But for reals ExtraNoise you could charge for those easy.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2015 00:08

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

EngineerSean posted:

25% of your book's revenue for some guaranteed reviews? Or not even really guaranteed, just encouraged? Me and my mother will both review your book and I'll only take 20%. Race to the bottom here.

Please PM me your mother's contact details.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 21:34

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

ExtraNoise posted:

I think I've got my latest short's cover ready to go. What do you guys think of this and the blurb (it's a little different than the direction I normally take)?

What drives the madness behind plotting murder? What lengths would a person go to gain the success they believed robbed from them in their youth? And what if it meant traveling backward through time and murdering an innocent man to do it?

In the latest chapter of The Chronology Division, we follow the path of a woman seeking revenge while battling an internal moral struggle. And with her as a partner-in-crime, an artificial intelligence who may not be all that they seem.

Your poo poo is Attractive with a capital "A" man. Love that cover. Good minimalism and eyecatching. I'd buy it based on the cover.

First paragraph of the blurb I like a lot -- the questions work well I think.

The second paragraph is less good... I don't know... a bit passive maybe? A bit bland. Doesn't feel like it fits with the first.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2015 13:23

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

Bobby Deluxe posted:

It'll be a smash, we'll have a year of cheap porn ripoffs, the genre that shall not be named will do well off the back of it and meanwhile we will all seethe on the inside at how terrible writing has yet again managed to outsell the combined incomes of everyone in this thread.

My Facebook feed seems to be all about how it's about abuse and rape, but that's probably more of a reflection on my Facebook friends rather than the film.

The BDSM community hate it because it's basically a BDSM book written by someone without an understanding of it giving a false and dangerous impression of the community.

I guess it's either a lesson to do good research, or maybe a lesson that it doesn't always matter.

I guess I really like The Three Musketeers a lot but I'm pretty sure the history is wrong in several places but I love it anyway. However with that one it seems to be Dumas was likely aware and it was just necessary for story. Grey arguably could have been pretty much the same with more informed writing I guess.

I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make.

I suppose in either case readers seem to like confidence, informed or otherwise. Don't beat around the bush of you're not sure about something, commit to your words, story, and atmosphere - it's the only way to make a refer feel secure. Self pub books debatably need that for the fell of professionalism more than trade pub.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 01:58

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

ArchangeI posted:

Imagine if the only people who wrote sci-fi were rocket engineers.

But if you were writing a book about rocket engineers engineering a rocket then I personally think it would be a good idea to at least research rocket engineering somewhat.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 14:36

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 05:19

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

Mortley posted:

Do any of y'all write comedy?

Yes. Don't expect it to sell. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18271747-a-dark-hand

Blog more.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2015 19:05

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

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