The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Started working on actually publishing the anthology. Stumped as to what categories and keywords to select. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 After working so long on this, the process should be straightforward, no? Just go with what you think is best. Not sure it's important, in any case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 @Lord Patrek All the stories being so very different from each other is what's making me scratch my head. Worst case, I'll go with my instincts. (Apparently, the categories and keywords determine how people find your book while browsing.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Then use as many as you can! Not sure how many random books people buy while browsing on Amazon. Most titles are now part of so many categories that searching for related works on Amazon has become almost impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 23 hours ago, Lord Patrek said: An extra 30,000 words is a pretty big edit! If it's total trash, why put more effort into trying to find an agent to rep it? Maybe just be happy that your manuscript is complete and begin something new? Why not? Might as well send some queries as I start the next project. Doesn't cost me anything but some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Fair enough. But a query letter requires that you pimp yourself and your work in the hope of enticing potential agents to check out your ms. It's a process that I find quite difficult and believe I kind of suck at. Imagine trying to put a positive spin on something you consider total trash! If you manage, please let me know and I might copy your query letter for future submissions! Either way, best of luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) Out of curiosity, would anyone be interested in reading the manuscript and giving me an honest review? Also, Amazon Author Central seems to be down for whatever reason. Edited October 27, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Those who qualify: https://commonwealthfoundation.com/commonwealth-short-story-prize/ the deadline is 01 November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 19 hours ago, Lord Patrek said: Fair enough. But a query letter requires that you pimp yourself and your work in the hope of enticing potential agents to check out your ms. It's a process that I find quite difficult and believe I kind of suck at. Imagine trying to put a positive spin on something you consider total trash! If you manage, please let me know and I might copy your query letter for future submissions! Either way, best of luck to you! Yeah, well, that's the hard part isn't it! Could be why I haven't had any luck with any of my previous querying projects. But while querying is a frustrating and demoralizing process, I'd rather give it a shot than stuff something back into a drawer. I keep telling myself with every project that if it doesn't get picked up, then next time I'll try self publishing, but I still keep plugging away at trad pub. I just know how hard it is to self pub and I figure if I'm gonna fail, at least this way I fail quietly and no one but a few agents have to know how bad it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Starkess said: Yeah, well, that's the hard part isn't it! Could be why I haven't had any luck with any of my previous querying projects. But while querying is a frustrating and demoralizing process, I'd rather give it a shot than stuff something back into a drawer. Good luck! You have nothing to lose! Starkess 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 On 10/27/2021 at 5:30 AM, Lord Patrek said: After working so long on this, the process should be straightforward, no? Just go with what you think is best. Not sure it's important, in any case. It's very important! Discoverability will be greatly affected if you were to, for example, accidentally put a romance book in the nonfiction-history category. On 10/27/2021 at 5:49 AM, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said: @Lord Patrek All the stories being so very different from each other is what's making me scratch my head. Worst case, I'll go with my instincts. (Apparently, the categories and keywords determine how people find your book while browsing.) Look at similar books and check what categories they are under. The important thing is to be as specific as possible since it's easier to rank higher in search the more niche your category is. Do not, under any circumstances, chose something like "Fiction - General." For example: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Horror-Year-Ellen-Datlow-ebook/dp/B08JH56KVR/ This book is under Horror Anthologies (Kindle Store) Science Fiction Short Stories Horror Anthologies (Books) You can also use https://www.bklnk.com/categories5.php to check a book's categories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 @Gigei I might need to change one of my categories in that case so thanks. (Think I went with "Fiction > Fantasy > Collections & Anthologies" and "Fiction > Fantasy > General" because I wasn't sure if "Fiction > Short Stories" was fitting and didn't see a "Fiction > Fantasy > Short Stories" option. As for keywords, I decided to go with "bittersweet", "political intrigue", "family drama", "romance", "superpowers", "trust", and "forgiveness".) Realized this morning that most of the stories are not written in the "default paragraph" style so now I need to reformat almost everything. Ugh. Anyone want to read it and give me a review in advance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Since most of the pieces are rather short, if I were you I'd start a thread here in the Literature forum where I'd post what you consider the best story. You could then get feedback from a larger audience and maybe/hopefully held generate interest in your anthology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 @Lord Patrek Do you know if there is a limit for word/character count per post? The story my editor and one co-author liked the most is 4 pages. (My personal favorite is 9 pages though I am also very proud of the one I co-wrote, which is a whooping 36 pages.) Also, are we allowed to make threads about our own stuff? I thought that was what the self-promotion thread was for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) Thr last few chapters of draft 2 have gone slow, but finally on the last chapter of the Blood Hour! Then time for draft 3. I really need to get some sensitivity readers, if I can. Edited October 28, 2021 by Derfel Cadarn williamjm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 11 minutes ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said: @Lord Patrek Do you know if there is a limit for word/character count per post? The story my editor and one co-author liked the most is 4 pages. (My personal favorite is 9 pages though I am also very proud of the one I co-wrote, which is a whooping 36 pages.) Also, are we allowed to make threads about our own stuff? I thought that was what the self-promotion thread was for? Check with the mods, if you want to be sure. And yes, post the story in the self-promotion thread if you must. The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 50 minutes ago, Lord Patrek said: Check with the mods, if you want to be sure. And yes, post the story in the self-promotion thread if you must. Maybe /spoiler it sonit doesnt require lots of scrilling to get past for those whove read it/dont want to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 26 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said: Maybe /spoiler it sonit doesnt require lots of scrilling to get past for those whove read it/dont want to? If it can fit. How do you spoiler tag btw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Lord Patrek said: Since most of the pieces are rather short, if I were you I'd start a thread here in the Literature forum where I'd post what you consider the best story. You could then get feedback from a larger audience and maybe/hopefully held generate interest in your anthology. No. If you do that, the Amazon bot will pick it up and you'll have problems publishing on KDP since it's already been published online for free. I did the same thing and got an email from KDP content review team: Quote During our review, we found that the following book(s) contains content for which you may not hold the necessary rights. Some or all of the content within your book(s) is freely available on the web. We need you to confirm your publishing rights before the book is made available on Amazon. Then you will need to spend days going back and forth with what is probably another bot until you finally get through to a real human. The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Could he post an extract at least? Otherwise, unless he lets the book go for free for a while, I don't see how he can raise awareness and generate interest in a shared world anthology written by unknown authors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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