Boarders writing a novel

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

Started working on the paperback manuscript but ran into a slight problem: When I justify the text (in terms of alignment) it creates these huge gaps between words (called "rivers") that really ruin the look and flow of the stories so now I'm wondering if I should just keep things right-ragged even if that isn't the industry standard?

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

Double post.

Edited December 27, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

[Lord Patrek]

Why are you even bothering with the paperback when you don't even know if the ebook will sell enough to warrant that?

Feels like you're all over the place with this project, in addition to investing way too much money out of your pocket while your contributors aren't doing squat.

Relax and enjoy the Holidays, my friend. And start thinking about your next project.

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

6 hours ago, Lord Patrek said:

Why are you even bothering with the paperback when you don't even know if the ebook will sell enough to warrant that?

Feels like you're all over the place with this project, in addition to investing way too much money out of your pocket while your contributors aren't doing squat.

Relax and enjoy the Holidays, my friend. And start thinking about your next project.

The majority of the work was done by me so that's why I'm doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing.

As for the paperback, a few people asked about having the option available and I have precious little time before I have to resume my studies, hence the urgency.

[Lord Patrek]

Maybe so, but is it even worth the effort? How many people have requested a paperback edition? How much are you guys are going to make with that edition? How many ebooks have you guys sold? Hard copies are usually way more expensive (especially in the print on demand format) than digital editions, so I don't figure there will be that many people willing to fork out that much dough for the paperback. If that's the case, then perhaps it's just not worth bothering all that much.

Enjoy the Holiday break instead.  

[Derfel Cadarn]

Congrats on the release. @The Grey Wolf Strikes Back !  Can't help you with the formatting question, my publisher dealt with that side of it with my three novels.

I finished the third draft of The Blood Hour (working title for now), and am now 3/5 through the revision, powering through it! Goes a lot quicker with it on my phone where I'm now only making very small amendments. Just under 140k words long.

It's shaped up pretty well, imho. I plan to send it off to my agent next week. A sample blurb:

Dreams of wealth and reclaiming his soul bring Garius the sellsword across the sea to the red city of Mask, ruled by priests and merchant princes. The wealth of kingdoms moves through the city, and Garius sees no reason why some of that can’t fall into his own hands.

Vengeance, not coin, motivates Tamira, a young but deadly assassin. Even her skills will be tested as she plans a spectacularly audacious kill that if successful will shake a city.

Roan the Red, gladiator and slave, seeks only to win his freedom and return to his homeland in the distant north. He too is driven by revenge, and no one will stand in his way.

Drawn together by chance or fate, the three of them must brave the intrigues of Mask, from temple, to palace, and finally to the Xarian Arena, where one of them will face the Blood Hour, forging a dark legend that will linger on for millennia.

A quest brings magicker Shukara to Mask. She seeks adventurers to accompany her across the vast Kavari Desert to the rainforests of Munin, where a temple lies hidden. Shukara knows that the tomb of feared necromancer, the Bone King, awaits within, and that she must confront this dread power, or the world may fall.

Even she cannot imagine the scale of the task that awaits, as past and future entwine.

Two thousand years in the future, diplomat and spy Karla Garison and her historian husband are assigned to their embassy in Mask, there to undertake a mission to bring down the shadowy organisation known as the Unbroken Circle. Karla believes the past is the past, but she will learn it can cast a long shadow as her family is ambushed on the streets of Mask by gunmen, forcing old secrets to be revealed.

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Derfel Cadarn

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

@Derfel Cadarn

Thanks and no worries about the formatting! Worst case, I'll just use right ragged but as @Lord Patrek said, I should focus on ensuring the ebook is a success first. If either of you end up giving it a shot mind posting a review? Also, @Lin Meili, @Starkess, do either of you have any advice about self-marketing with regards to Amazon specifically and ebooks/POD paperbacks more generally?

Oh, and nice blurb btw! Definitely grabs the reader's attention!

Edited December 29, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

[Lord Patrek]

How many copies have you guys sold thus far? Given the timing, what with the Holidays, I figure that all your friends and family members who were going to buy it have done so. 

Now, you guys need to work to raise awareness in the anthology and get people to give it a shot.

You should definitely create a Goodreads page for the book.

Google "Mark Lawrence Self-Published Blog-Off" to find out which SFF blogs reviewed indie titles over the last 7 years and get in touch with them to see if they're interested in yours. Try to promote it actively on Reddit and other SFF online venues. Maybe put it on sale for 0.99$ for a month or so to try to entice readers to give it a go?

Edited December 29, 2021 by Lord Patrek

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

@Lord Patrek

A number of acquitances I've reached out to (some of whom have expressed prior interest and one who said to hold off until New Year's) have yet to respond, probably because of the holidays, so I'm going to send out another round of direct messages in two or three days. That being said, so far I've sold thirteen copies.

When you say Goodreads do you mean a page specific for the book or an author profile like the following:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18390181.David_Craig

I'll look up the Mark Lawrence thing asap.

Can you give some examples of other SFF online venues and how exactly does one go about promoting oneself on Reddit?

KDP Select offers two types of promotions: A limited-time discount (I think it can be up to 5 days every 3 months and can go as low as $1.99 or $0.99) and a limited-time freebie (again 5 days every 3 months).

I was thinking of making the book free on New Year's (1/1/2022) and discounted for the remainder of that week as a way to both celebrate and entice readers but now I'm not so sure that's a good idea.

On the bright side, two of my friends who bought the book said they'd post reviews to Amazon once they've finished reading it and one of the artists I commissioned said they can try to lend a hand too.

Debating making a Facebook account just for my writing and uploading the artwork I'm posting to my Tumblr blog there too.

Edited December 30, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

Oh, and I uploaded some of the artwork to the product page* as well!

*US, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, and India if I'm not mistaken

[Lord Patrek]

Shit. . . 13 copies. Between 5 contributors, I would have expected something around 50 copies.

Given that you probably make around 60% of the cover price, depending on how you split the royalties with the others, I made some quick calculations. Since you almost wrote the whole thing and invested your own money, and your contributors appear to be fucking deadbeats, I'm hoping that you get most of the royalties,

If you make 50% of the royalties, you need to sell 420 copies just to break even.

If you make 66% of the royalties, you need to sell 320 copies.

If you make 75% of the royalties, you need to sell 280 copies.

Considering that 99% of the writers posting here weren't able to send more than 100-125 copies of the works, you need to understand that the odds of your recouping that 500$ investment are not in your favor. So maybe just chalk it up as a life lesson and consider it the price to pay to get your anthology published. If, down the line, you do manage to recoup it, then it's all good.

You need to create a Goodreads page for the anthology. You and your contributors are unknowns, so there's no point in creating pages for you. Speaking of Goodreads, if you are already a member, check out the reviews of the books you enjoyed and maybe get in touch with some reviewers there to ask them if they'd be interested in reading and reviewing your anthology. Offer a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Regarding Reddit, write a post on the Fantasy subReddit presenting the anthology and asking for people who would like a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Hopefully, between Goodreads and Reddit, you can get at least 20 people who might be interested. You could do that here on the self-promotion thread.

Meanwhile, you and those deadbeats contributors need to go on Reddit every day and reply on posts and comments. You need to maintain a busy activity log so that when the reviews start to come in, and hopefully they'll be positive, you can then write a post announcing that the anthology is on sale. If you guys are active on the subReddit, it won't be automatically deleted as spam. If you just show up with no or little prior activity, that post would go down in a matter of minutes.

Other online venues? Aren't you and your contributors part of other SFF message boards? If not, then it's going to be quite difficult to get the words out and get the ball rolling. All of you (not just you) need to become part of self-published/indie authors' communities. Not only will you find kindred spirits, but you will probably find people willing to help you by giving you advice. Some might even be willing to read you anthology.

Keep an eye on Lawrence's self-published blog-off and try to get your book part of the 2022 edition. This could pay huge dividends if people like it.

Finally, forget about the artwork. I know you paid for it and it didn't come cheap, but nobody cares about that stuff unless they're already invested in the anthology. All your energy, yours and that of the deadbeats, should be aimed at raising awareness in the anthology and its stories. Once people start buying the ebook in sufficient numbers to warrant it, then you can work on those extras. As things stand, you're just wasting time and energy on things that don't matter.

You need eyeballs on your anthology. The only way to do that, especially since it doesn't look as though you and the rest of the contributors are not very active on SFF online venues, is to find people willing to read and review it. If there is enough positive feedback, it could get the ball rolling and allow your ebook to truly take off.

Don't waste time looking for them. Lots of people are on vacation for a while yet and may have time to give your anthology a shot. Try to find between 20 and 50 people who are willing to review it. And don't make the mistake of thinking that you're losing 20-50 sales. Those are people who would NEVER have paid for the book. 

Good luck!

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

@Lord Patrek

All the profits (royalties included), go to me. Two of my co-authors did it for free on the condition that they keep the copyrights to their stories and the other two accepted a one-time fee in addition to that.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try my best to act on it.

[Starkess]

On 12/29/2021 at 11:08 AM, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

@Derfel Cadarn

Thanks and no worries about the formatting! Worst case, I'll just use right ragged but as @Lord Patrek said, I should focus on ensuring the ebook is a success first. If either of you end up giving it a shot mind posting a review? Also, @Lin Meili, @Starkess, do either of you have any advice about self-marketing with regards to Amazon specifically and ebooks/POD paperbacks more generally?

Oh, and nice blurb btw! Definitely grabs the reader's attention!

Unfortunately I'm pretty terrible at marketing, and it's really really tough given how many books are out there (and IIRC anthologies are even harder to move). I think Pat is right that your best bet is to use places you are already active or can become active, otherwise people will probably just consider it spam.

This is why I've avoided self-publishing, it's a hard job! Best of luck!!

[Lord Patrek]

11 hours ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

@Lord Patrek

All the profits (royalties included), go to me. Two of my co-authors did it for free on the condition that they keep the copyrights to their stories and the other two accepted a one-time fee in addition to that.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try my best to act on it.

Good for you! God knows you've been working hard enough to warrant getting everything!

From what you said (or not saying! ), it appears that you can't expect the other four contributors to put in any effort in marketing the anthology. If that's the case, then I'd say concentrate on Reddit and Goodreads to try to find reviewers. Then, if the feedback is positive enough and you've been active, you can put the ebook on sale and post about it there.

Keep an eye on Lawrence's contest so you can try to get on board for the 2022 edition.

Best of luck to you!

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

@Lord Patrek

Thanks for the well-wishes. I looked up Mark Lawrence's contest (which reminds me that I really need to read Emperor of Thorns) and unfortunately short stories/anthologies are not allowed. That being said, I looked up the individual judges' blogs and sent review requests to the ones that aren't closed to submissions. Made a Goodreads and Reddit account. Unfortunately, my book doesn't show up on the former when I type in the title, my name, or the ASIN so I'll have to wait 24 hours before adding it manually. As for the latter, I'm going to try (and honestly have to) build up some rep to avoid being banned or labeled a spammer. All that being said, I'm going to try to stay positive and keep whittling away at it, day by day. After all, with enough time waves can break down even the biggest of boulders.

(If you want to give the book a shot go ahead or, if you'd prefer, I can send you a free copy.)

Edited December 31, 2021 by The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

[Starkess]

Had a short story accepted earlier this year in a small magazine. Got the contract, got paid, and the issue was released, but I don't see my story. It said on the payment that it was for this issue. Tried emailing the publisher on Dec 1, no reply, so just tried again via the submission portal. Not sure if there was a technical issue or they opted to delay it or not publish it at all, very puzzling. It was a very token payment, so I'm not worried about that, but I would like to include it as a publishing credit going forward!

[Lord Patrek]

18 hours ago, Starkess said:

Had a short story accepted earlier this year in a small magazine. Got the contract, got paid, and the issue was released, but I don't see my story. It said on the payment that it was for this issue. Tried emailing the publisher on Dec 1, no reply, so just tried again via the submission portal. Not sure if there was a technical issue or they opted to delay it or not publish it at all, very puzzling. It was a very token payment, so I'm not worried about that, but I would like to include it as a publishing credit going forward!

Oh shit, that sucks.  Hope it's just a glitch.

[Lord Patrek]

On 12/31/2021 at 6:22 AM, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

@Lord Patrek

Thanks for the well-wishes. I looked up Mark Lawrence's contest (which reminds me that I really need to read Emperor of Thorns) and unfortunately short stories/anthologies are not allowed. That being said, I looked up the individual judges' blogs and sent review requests to the ones that aren't closed to submissions. Made a Goodreads and Reddit account. Unfortunately, my book doesn't show up on the former when I type in the title, my name, or the ASIN so I'll have to wait 24 hours before adding it manually. As for the latter, I'm going to try (and honestly have to) build up some rep to avoid being banned or labeled a spammer. All that being said, I'm going to try to stay positive and keep whittling away at it, day by day. After all, with enough time waves can break down even the biggest of boulders.

(If you want to give the book a shot go ahead or, if you'd prefer, I can send you a free copy.)

I could be wrong, but I believe that writing a post presenting the project and asking for reviewers on Reddit wouldn't be construed as spam. So I'd start with that, just to see if you can generate some interest.

[Lin Meili]

Well, I normally wouldn't post something like this, but since you asked:

The Amazon page needs a little bit of work.

When someone like me views the page and reads the blurb, it is not clear to me what genre the book is. That is very, very important.

• Is it a shared world? Do all the stories take place in Mistland?
• Is there a theme? What is the theme?
• In short, why are these stories compiled in one book?
• Is it steampunk fantasy? Gaslight? Detective noir fantasy? Is it even fantasy or is it scifi? I don't get it. IMO, you need to make that very clear.

So for your blurb I need to know those things, especially what world it's set in and what the common thread is among the stories. Here is the blurb for GRRM's first Wildcards volume:

Quote

There is a secret history of the world—a history in which an alien virus struck the Earth in the aftermath of World War II, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called Aces—those with superhuman mental and physical abilities. Others were termed Jokers—cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. Some turned their talents to the service of humanity. Others used their powers for evil. Wild Cards is their story.

For marketing, blogger outreach is good. Keep at it.

Edit: I hope my tone doesn't come off as too harsh. It's hard to fix when it's just text.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Lin Meili

[The Grey Wolf Strikes Back]

@Lin Meili

1) 3 of the short stories and all the vignettes are set in a shared comic book superhero-like setting known the Mistland Universe (so named after the fictitious Neo-Victorian country). A fourth short story is set in one of my co-authors' version of King Arthur, which we hope to expand with more stories in the future.

2) There honestly isn't really a theme beyond all the stories being different examples of fiction and the tone being generally somber. In fact, that's what I'm hoping will be one of the main draws. That there's something in it for everyone. To give a few examples, there's gritty war drama, alternate history gothic, tragic interspecies romance, and medieval skullduggery.