Lord Patrek Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 (edited) Call me crazy, but as things stand I have no plans to go down the self-publishing road if my agent doesn't want to rep The Evil That Men Do, or if he's unable to get a book deal for the novel. Who was it that said the trad publishing dream dies hard? Edited April 15, 2021 by Lord Patrek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Meili Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 I was wrong, Kindle Vella is US-based authors only for now. I guess it's a no for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 On 4/14/2021 at 9:25 PM, Lord Patrek said: Call me crazy, but as things stand I have no plans to go down the self-publishing road if my agent doesn't want to rep The Evil That Men Do, or if he's unable to get a book deal for the novel. Who was it that said the trad publishing dream dies hard? Me, I believe... Speaking of which, I got a rejection on a full I was feeling hopeful about from an agent. She actually provided some feedback that would be helpful for revising, but given that I've already tried 105 agents with this one, I don't think it's worth doing a big revision for the small handful I might still query. I have one full still out on this, but that's feeling like a long shot at this point! Sigh. This will be novel #7 to go into the trunk. Guess it's time to really get serious about the next draft of #8! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 7 hours ago, Starkess said: Me, I believe... Speaking of which, I got a rejection on a full I was feeling hopeful about from an agent. She actually provided some feedback that would be helpful for revising, but given that I've already tried 105 agents with this one, I don't think it's worth doing a big revision for the small handful I might still query. I have one full still out on this, but that's feeling like a long shot at this point! Sigh. This will be novel #7 to go into the trunk. Guess it's time to really get serious about the next draft of #8! If it makes you feel better (probably not), Brandon Sanderson's first 13 novels got rejected before he finally signed a book deal. So yes, getting serious about the next draft of number 8 sounds like the right thing to do. Have faith and keep fighting! The Grey Wolf Strikes Back and Starkess 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Received the final, editor-approved draft of Jim's story "Cold"! 2691 words, 7 pages Total page count: 89 pages Number of complete short stories: 8/13 I've also begun rewriting "Scotland's Heir" with Felix's approval. So far 3/26 pages have been rewritten. Oh, and I spontaneously wrote yesterday a 1.25 page vignette (370 words) in my Mistland Metaverse setting! Debating whether to include it in the anthology as further bonus content or to save it for a potential sequel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Just wondering how you'll market an anthology by new and (I believe) unpublished authors set in a universe no one knows about? You guys got your work cut out for you and that's putting it mildly. God knows it's hard enough for a novel-length project. For an anthology, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Curious about your strategy. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Meili Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 Okay, I see that everyone here is going for trad? At my age and state of health, waiting for trad to notice me will probably never happen. Since that's the case, I have published serial fiction in Scribblehub and RoyalRoad, two websites for fantasy web novels. I am not sure if the readers here are familiar with those two websites, but it's a good way to get noticed and the top writers earn a lot of money with it. For example, He Who Fights with Monsters has been very successful on Amazon and the Patreon has 2,660 patrons, making $19,959 each month. ...Though I'm sure everyone here knows that most writers don't earn enough to live solely on their fiction writing. I invite you to take a look at the websites. If you have manuscripts that have been rejected, you can publish them and get feedback from readers. Just don't release 100,000 words in one day. Serial fiction is a process - writers publish chapters over months and do proofreading, editing, and rewriting with input from readers. It's fun if you want to join a community of readers and writers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 (edited) @Lord Patrek I honestly doubt a traditional publisher would be interested in either the anthology or a new shared setting, especially when you throw in the artwork. (Pretty sure they'd change the cover to something banal at the very least.) Also, a few of my co-authors have been published before. Kyle has had poems and short stories published in magazines. Spoon has also been published in one or two magazines and Jim was one of the authors behind Tower of the Hand: A Hymn for Spring. All that is to say me and Felix are the only first-timers. Our marketing strategy is a bit more complicated. I've made a list of sites (such as this one and Tumblr) where I have a presence that I can use to drum up publicity. Beyond that there's also reaching out to all the people I've stayed in touch with over the years. Finally, my co-authors and editor can do the same where they live. I don't expect the book to be a meteoric success (though one can certainly hope) but for me its more about the sense of accomplishment and closure. All my life friends and teachers have told me not to waste my talent so that's what I'm doing and with my own two hands nonetheless. I hope that makes sense. Edited April 18, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 (edited) @Lord Patrek P.S. Only three of the thirteen stories are set in the Mistland Metaverse. Here's a (slightly outdated) overview our editor linked to: https://twitter.com/gbm_games/status/1370466787293298690?s=20 Edited April 18, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 Oh, and Spoon has finished editing his portion of the anthology so now we're 11/13 complete! In other news, I've been made co-author of "Scotland's Heir". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 It goes without saying that traditional publishers would steer clear of such a project. Given that the vast majority of anthologies fail to earn out and ultimately turn a profit, I can't really see any of them giving yours a shot. So yes, self-publishing appears to be the best way to go for you guys. I was just curious to know if you had some sort of game plan that might allow you to get the word out and hopefully raise awareness enough to move copies. That's always the biggest hurdle for indie projects. There a few of you, so that helps. Given that you work with an editor and you got some artwork done, how many copies do you guys need to sell just to break even? Hopefully you can all make a bit of money. Best of luck! The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 @Lord Patrek Total cost for everything was around $500, which includes paying the editor. Thanks for the well-wishes btw. If you'd like to read the book and possibly review it I can send you a copy once its finished. And if you have any tips for indie marketing I'd love to hear them. Best of luck with your own writing. (You're off to a great start with the title if you ask me!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 Always and frequently back up your files! My laptop deleted my 400 page novel after crashing (Windows updating means its grindong to a fuckong halt!). Whole file missing. Luckily I found the .tmp file, opened and, saved it as .docx, and backed it and The Blood Hour up! The previous version was from early March, so bullet dodged The Marquis de Leech, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back and HexMachina 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 @Derfel Cadarn Sorry to hear that. And yeah. Backup files are serious business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Meili Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Lord Patrek said: raise awareness enough to move copies. That's always the biggest hurdle for indie projects. There a few of you, so that helps. That's where the websites that I mentioned can help. There are quite a few serial/web fiction websites that authors can use nowadays. People don't have to put their book up on Amazon and pray it succeeds. Anyway, my first draft is complete and I have been editing it as I post it for my readers. It's going well and people seem to like it well enough. I've also attracted a few people to my Patreon, which is always a good sign. I expect to publish my first book on Amazon in two-three months. Edited April 18, 2021 by Lin Meili The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 1 hour ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said: @Derfel Cadarn Sorry to hear that. And yeah. Backup files are serious business. Thanks. Was lucky the .tmp file worked. I plan to submit Diabolic Immunity to a specific agent tonight, and would have been hard to do with the latest version gone. The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 5 hours ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said: @Lord Patrek Total cost for everything was around $500, which includes paying the editor. Thanks for the well-wishes btw. If you'd like to read the book and possibly review it I can send you a copy once its finished. And if you have any tips for indie marketing I'd love to hear them. Best of luck with your own writing. (You're off to a great start with the title if you ask me!) Unfortunately, I don't have any specific tips. Raising awareness in one's works has become more difficult with the enormous amount of self-published books these last few years. Perhaps give the websites Lin Meili suggested? And then pimp your stuff the way you guys are already planning. What are you planning to charge for the anthology? That will give you an idea of how many units you need to move to break even and then make money from the project. As for me, yeah I've got a good title that has a nice ring to it. But unless the rest of the ms is as good, having a nice title is meaningless! Personally, I back up my files every time I finish a writing session. Had a computer crash on me several years ago and learned my lesson then. I can't imagine losing a novel's worth of material. That would be awful. The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 @Lord Patrek I'm sure you're even better at writing than reviewing. Anyway, I think the website we're planning to use (Lulu) decides the price. (Kyle's used it before so he'll be guiding me through that part of the process.) I try to back up my files once a month because I have so much stuff on my laptop. (I'm a compulsive hoarder of video game music.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted April 20, 2021 Share Posted April 20, 2021 It sure is. Welcome aboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 Had a sword and sorcery piece accepted for the next issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. Yay. The Grey Wolf Strikes Back, Lord Patrek, Starkess and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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