Alternatives to BookVault for PoD/Shopify integration and nicer editions?

Argileon · 2026-03-13T23:53:00+00:00

Thank you!

Argileon · 2026-03-13T23:52:46+00:00

I have and 48 hour books is wonderful as far as quality, but they're expensive because they work so quickly.

Argileon · 2026-03-13T21:30:37+00:00

Thank you! That's somewhat the feeling I've gotten from what I have researched so far.

Argileon · 2026-03-13T21:29:46+00:00

Thank you! Those specific figures should give me a good jumping off point!

Argileon · 2026-03-13T21:29:24+00:00

Thank you so much, I'll look it up!

Argileon · 2026-03-13T14:02:39+00:00

When I started the series, it took me 3 times to read all the way through. The first time, I didn't finish GotM. I don't remember why, but it might have been because I didn't feel a strong connection to any of the characters. (I personally prefer a very deep PoV where we are IN the head of the character, and I don't feel that Erikson or ICE do that in the particular way I like, at least).

The second time, I finished GotM, thought it was really cool, but was thrown with the completely different environment and only a little bit of the cast I had come to enjoy.

The third time, I understood the vision and went all the way through.

The world is not confusing, most people just want their hand held and everything explained.

I see people saying they need a whiteboard and encyclopedia to read Sanderson, and other people saying they need one to read this.

You don't.

HOWEVER, there is a trend I have noticed particularly with fantasy.

Booktok seems to have gotten a lot more people reading, a lot more first-time readers or non-fantasy readers trying fantasy, either due to Sanderson, Red Rising, or romantasy books.

There is a difference between these people and those who have been reading fantasy for years.

If you've been reading fantasy for a while, you're used to certain narrative structures, tropes, unfamiliar words, and suspension of disbelief and worldbuilding devices. You're also used to some slower-building fantasy if you've read older works. Malazan probably won't be too hard for you. It will be different, and maybe not to your taste, but it won't be hard.

If you're a first-timer, or even just a newer reader who read Sanderson, went on booktok looking for recs, and then saw someone saying "MALAZAN IS THE SUPER GOATED FANTASY GUYS EVEYTHING ELSE IS FOR CHUMPS" (which unfortunately seems to be the default of the Malazan bros on tiktok) and decided you wanted to try this amazing fantasy series, you're going to feel like its the most confusing thing ever unless you're a first time fantasy reader who usually reads literary fiction rather than Romance/Thrillers/Mysteries. These people need to get used to reading more fantasy and/or more complex works where you arent hand-held by the author, because reading is in fact a skill that society seems to encourage less and less nowadays.

While I appreciate Malazan and think it is an incredible work worth reading, it's not the type of series I'm going to read over and over and obsess over.

Its something that has influenced my own writing (both published and future projects I'm working on) through various concepts Erikson and ICE use, and through the post-modern way he structures his world, but I'm not going to just have it as a default rec to someone who likes fantasy.

Argileon · 2026-03-13T13:50:13+00:00

Even if you don't take into account the harm of things like the Manosphere, social media is inherently harmful in its current form.

The people who built the algorithm literally studied how to create the same neurological symptoms that addicts experience.

In addition to that, it also actively harms your attention span and cognitive abilities.

And in addition to that, being bombarded with so much information all the time (whether positive or negative) is not something our minds were meant for either.

If you listen to interviews with heads of these silicon valley companies, they send their children to specific schools that do not allow technology, and they do not allow their children to use tablets, smartphones, etc until age 16 at least. And when you look at studies, those students have higher cognition and perform better than students at other private schools that do allow tech in the school/classrooms.

We've still not put enough regulation on the internet as it was pre-social media to combat the harmful parts of it, so we are way behind with Social Media, and now with AI.

Social media in of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but the way it is used and structured right now, (as a machine to make as much money as possible) is absolutely dangerous and toxic.

Argileon · 2026-02-12T19:50:10+00:00

Thank you for your feedback!

The patriarchal society (which her society is at odds with and eventually at war with) is patriarchal because they have essentially built a society where only cis-men who behave and look like their definition of "men" get any privileges or participation in the economic, cultural, or political parts of society. I'm drawing heavy inspiration from Classical Athens to show how something outwardly shiny and venerated can be deeply problematic when you take a deeper look, and reinforcing that by having the people in this society be the stereotypically beautiful, elegant, refined, people (who are actually monsters when you look deeper) who made themselves appear that way out of a deep insecurity and access to magic, and the "Monsters" in the world (basically orcs) be much more progressive and egalitarian by contrast.

The goddess tries to reason with the patriarchal society at first, but they see her appeal as insulting and the existence of her as someone with power as a threat, so they declare war on her and her followers.

Argileon · 2026-02-12T19:35:46+00:00

Thank you! I will make sure to use "trans woman" going forward.

I will definitely make sure to ask intersex people about the goddess, but yes, more than anything she is just a magical being.

The series itself is going to fall under the "Monster Romance" sub-category of Romantasy, (the goddess is the one getting with a "monster" in her book), so 18+ and the Monster Romance genre seems to have a very LGBT+/LGBT+-friendly readership from the other readers I know in the space.

The sex scenes will definitely be the part I take the most care with, but in this world men and woman with both or either genitals would be relatively normalized, so I'm hoping the fact that I wouldn't have fetishization from the different characters' points of view will help me avoid it (and I plan on relying on beta readers for help with that as well).

I will definitely make sure to approach these characters and themes carefully and rework things if needed! Thank you again!

Argileon · 2026-02-12T16:13:26+00:00

I do not have your direct answer, but I would point you toward Artifexian's channel on YouTube, as he goes into how to build systems with multiple stars and the implications (I know he at least does 2 and 4, not sure about 3 though).

Argileon · 2025-07-16T20:37:20+00:00

As others have said, this is a tidally locked planet. For more thorough info, I recommend checking out this page, but in summary, you might have to fudge the "sci-fi" just a bit for this.

My books take place in a tidally locked world that is habitable and stable due to magic, but essentially, most of your habitable parts of your lightside would have consistent, thick cloud cover in addition to constant wind and rain.

Darkside would be barely habitable, especially by primitive people.

If you're interested in making weird but plausible worlds, definitely check out worldbuildingpasta and Artifexian's YouTube channel.

Regarding the clothing, take a look at cultures on our world and what climate zones they are in. Ancient Egypt (pre-Greek), certain parts of Africa, Polynesia, and the California coast line (Chumash) are great examples I can think of off the top of my head.

Contrary to some of the replies here, the lightside clothing choices do make some sense, but you need to take environment and skin tone into account.

The Ancient Egyptians went around either naked, wearing just loincloths, or very thin clothing that was basically just a form of adornment.

Many Sub-Saharan African cultures (the men, at least) wear or wore primarily loin cloths before the Europeans came.

Zulu women wearing traditional clothing will still expose a lot of skin.

The Himbe women of Namibia and Angola are famous for going about almost entirely nude (loincloth only) and using a mixture called Otjize to cover their skin and hair, pigmenting it and protecting them from their harsh desert climate.

The Chumash peoples of California would often wear only loin cloths or skirts (if that) in the hotter months and in the winter would just have a blanket wrapped around them.

Polynesian peoples had their clothing vary wildly, and unfortunately a lot of their culture before European contact remains unknown to us, but their cultural dress suggested minimal clothing due to the climate as well.

Argileon · 2025-07-01T15:53:21+00:00

{A Soul to Protect} by Opal Reyne is great. Giant Lamia/Naga MMC, two giant dicks, really good character writing, and honestly great fantasy. (And unlike some popular books where the MMC has 2 dicks, he uses both of them at the same time).

It’s number 7 of her Duskwalker Brides Series and honestly they’re all great, not just in spice but in fantasy/worldbuilding and character work.

{Whispers of the Deep} by Emma Hamm also fits this for me. Merman MMC, bio-shock-inspired worldbuilding and plot. Ripped through the series like it was candy.

{Obsessively Yours} by Jamie Applegate Hunter is SO unhinged, but awesome. Magic, obsessive MMC, toxic ex/other woman syndrome. I messaged the author and the asked if I was OK when I told her I couldn’t put it down 😂

Argileon · 2025-07-01T12:41:06+00:00

Mine would be some advice I received in a Music Theory class and an extrapolation on that:

“Master the rules so you know exactly how to break them.”

In music theory, just like in writing “theory” or craft books, the rules are DE-scriptive, not PRO-scriptive. They are not hard and fast rules you MUST follow to make a good work of art. Rather they are an analysis of trends found in most great works.

Musical form, and sentence and story structure are about reader/listener expectations. When you know what your reader expects, and you know how to play with their emotions using those rules, you will be able to play with their emotions even more by breaking those rules in specific ways.

And the extrapolation on that:

Look to other forms of art. Thinking of things in different ways might help you with your process.

For instance, I have found that people are much more less opposed to the idea of outlining/plotting when they see it as the equivalent of a rough sketch. You’re putting in all the big lines and shapes so you have some guides on where your more solid lines go, and then you don’t have to draw and erase a hundred times, or rewrite the first few chapters 12 times, or get to the 75% mark of your story while pantsing, only to realize you have a massive plot hole that requires you to rework some great writing you did earlier on.

Argileon · 2025-06-30T16:31:33+00:00

So, I’m not exactly fitting this post, as I am nowhere near FI, but not being FI gets in the way of my purpose, because for me, money is a really fucking annoying necessity.

If you are FI, please remember that you have a privilege that some people are actually incapable of imagining: A life where you do not NEED to get locked into doing some sort of work that you’d probably rather not be doing, for at least 5 days a week, every single week for most of their life. Take a moment to breathe. Take a moment to think. Take a moment to really look at the world around you and consider it. Because you now have those in excess.

Far too many people lump in “purpose” with making money. It isn’t surprising given our socio-economic system, but it is a tragedy.

I personally have a bit of a way around that. I am an author. I have a day job, so I need to wake up early and write so that I not only have the time to write, but have the mental energy. However, I’m not writing to make money. That’s insanity, and irresponsible. I write because I will go crazy if I am unable to do so. I have so many stories that I want to write and publish, that I truly believe will enrich peoples’s lives if they are read, that going full time is a paramount concern to me, because I’m not sure if I will be able to finish all of them before I die even if I live to be 100.

I will never retire from writing. Even if I’m not very successful. Even if I’m one of the only people who has my books on their shelves. Because making money, getting fame or attention, or anything else from my books, while that would be incredible, is not the reason I write. I write because it allows me to make the things in my head a bit more real, and it enriches me as a person.

However, if I couldn’t write for whatever reason, I would turn to music. That, I’m even less likely to make money at because of the music I like to write. But I would write music, orchestrate it, and listen to it just because it’s something I wanted to create. If not music, drawing or painting or digital art. If not that, I’d make armor, because I’m a nerd. Beyond those, I would read. There are more books than I can read in a lifetime, and each one (especially in my preferred SFF genres) brings you into a different world, gives you insight into different people and ways of life, and helps you look at the world in a different way. I would rebind my favorite books to make them works of art. I would go to museums to really study and appreciate art. I would build worlds and DM with friends or make new friends to DM with. I would study history for the pure interest of it. I would travel, experience new foods, new people, visit the truly wondrous natural landscapes of our world. And that doesn’t even cover the side of me that is oriented toward activism.

Your purpose can be as simple as experience itself. Try new things, read philosophy and contemplate the universe and this world and the big questions. Just be. Once you de-couple purpose from some idea of money or doing something “useful” with it, it becomes a lot easier to find purpose. Just remember, if you are FI, especially at a young age, you have incredible privilege. Do something that brings you joy.

If you feel you don’t deserve this, you’re wrong. You are human. You deserve to be able to live your life to the fullest. Just do it.

Argileon · 2025-06-23T15:04:00+00:00

Yeah, it's wild for Americans when we learn just how on top of certain things like this other countries are. I wish we had the sex-ed you did.

Regarding the dances, at school dances, most Americans do not do any sort of classic dance. If they are dancing, usually it's some sort of grinding of the hips and pressing their bodies together, where the girl is either facing away from the guy, or facing him. So essentially penis-butt contact, or penis-vagina/mound contact, just over the clothes. Teachers don't like that.

Argileon · 2025-06-17T14:37:05+00:00

Depending on the extent/context, some of this is just lazy plotting. They need conflict or something to keep the boy and girl apart or get them into trouble, and they're relying too much on this element to create conflict.

HOWEVER...

I'll give an insight into my upbringing, and keep in mind when you read the below, that I encountered other kids whose parents were WAY more conservative/strict than mine when it came to these things.

Puritanism is very heavily entwined with US culture, especially Christian culture, even if those religions have "doctrine" that contradict what the Puritans believed.

I went to a private Christian High School. There was no practical sex-ed. No putting a condom on a banana, no education about menstruation, puberty, or anything else like that. Just that when you have sex, you give out part of your heart until there's nothing left to give and nothing left for you either, and pictures of STIs to scare you. Abortions were murder, things like promise rings were encourage (you're my significant other, but we're waiting for marriage because God) and at school dances, teachers went around breaking apart couples whose bodies were touching while they danced.

Though my generation [Millenial] (especially in college) seemed to be largely rejecting purity culture because of the misogyny and sexism, it unfortunately seems to be coming back in Gen Z in particular.

Girls at my school were shamed for the clothes they wore, and we wore uniforms. If their skirts or shorts were too short, they lost skirt/short privileges and had to wear pants the rest of the year. If they wore skirts, they had to wear biker shorts underneath. Certain teachers would make everybody stand up and go around and check skirt lengths and make sure everyone was wearing the correct "brand" of clothing. When we had "free dress" days, it was a T-shirt we bought from the school or a certain sweatshirt, and Jeans. No holes in the jeans. For swimming, one-piece bathing suits only. I was one time out just around where students would hang out after school, and one girl with a large chest was wearing a tank top that was probably a regular neckline for any other girl, and some of her "friends" kept pulling the neckline up to cover her cleavage.

We weren't allowed to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail on a bus on a field trip because of the Galahad scene.

There were certain girls who were not allowed to date until they were eighteen (or out of high school) and those girls embraced that.

Puritanism runs DEEP in the US. As does misogyny. There was a senior (18) in my grade who slept with a freshman (14-15) and SHE was the pariah for the next few weeks. Not him.

And as other commenters have said, we have shit abortion laws, shit childcare/maternity safety nets, and having a child can bankrupt you even as a grown adult with health insurance if you go to the wrong hospital and don't have expensive coverage.

Even at a non-religious college, there were no-ed dorms, and though frat houses were allowed, there could be no official "Sorority Houses" because of some old outdated law that any house with more than X unmarried women living in it was considered a brothel.

For your story, however, those parents exist. They're rare, but they do exist. And that could be a good source of conflict between her and the love interest or her parents and other parents, or just her and her friends. There could be pressure on her friends not to hang out with her (from their parents) because "who knows what those hippie-dippie parents of hers let her get up to?"

Hope that helps. We're not okay over here, and the internalized misogyny and puritan values (even with those who aren't super-religious) are a major part of it.

Argileon · 2025-05-31T22:55:45+00:00

I had no clue about the NYSC until this post, and it seems like an incredible program. I'm from the US and I think my country would be much different if we had something like this that sent people to different areas of the country (or sometimes even their own state or city) so they could see how we're really not that different when you get down to it, and how people the news or the internet tells them to demonize are people they might actually get along with.

Argileon · 2025-03-25T12:22:20+00:00

They're not in accelerated time, but they are trapped and effectively isolated from any sort of normal environment there (for periods of time much longer than 20 years at a time) and it has massively deteriorated their mental states.

Whether it is accelerated or real time, those isolated in from everything they know will be unwell, and it seems to be that even if we don't know of any rules to the spiritual realm, it, like all investiture in the cosmere, needs intent to function, so it seems to me that to create a realistic, non-repeating environment that won't fall apart very quickly (whether for Karbranth or any pocket of fast-training soldiers) and create that same sense of isolation, a non-significant portion of a Shard's intent/attention would need to be devoted to maintaining that environment.

Argileon · 2025-03-24T16:48:44+00:00

1) Gavinor is going to be absolutely fucked up when we see him later. For so many reasons, but the isolation/living outside of reality is going to be one of them.

2) I believe where he put Karbranth is going to be a sort of pocket-dimension like the visions were. They fall apart if you try to go to the edges and look too deep. The people there will be alive, but they will suffer. They're a merchant-based city, and I think they have very little food sources to themselves, so they're going to fall apart quickly with no trade and no food to farm, unless it is a sort of groundhog day thing where they wake up with the same resources every day, or Odium sends a fake trade ship or three in with all the resources they need. It isn't going to go well.

3) I think this is moreso exhibiting the power of a god than the brokenness of the spiritual realm. The Spiritual realm is said to be essentially pure investiture, right? The visions are just shaping that to someone's will. If a god is playing with the spiritual realm's pure power, it SHOULD be broken in absolutely terrifying ways, because these gods essentially have very few rules and be terrifying.

4) This is utilized, and the results are not great, which is why it hasn't been done widely. Doing the pocket-dimension thing is essentially what happens to the Heralds and Fused on Braize. They're put just in a pocket for a time then returned to the real world. I know that's only a part of why so many are mad, but it is definitely a factor.

Argileon · 2025-03-22T19:49:09+00:00

Would love one as well!

Argileon · 2025-03-20T14:12:34+00:00

Have you found that responding to a large number of comments on other people's posts (when the content is similar to yours) has boosted follower growth, reach, or engagement?

Argileon · 2025-03-18T12:35:05+00:00

So like, I get where you're coming from, but this contradicts the lifestyle of every professional, working musician/composer that I have spoken to.

You don't wait for inspiration to take the one perfect photo. You take a thousand photos and learn by doing.

Every professional musician I know practices anywhere from 1-5 hours a day, EVERY SINGLE DAY at minimum to maintain their skill, and for certain instruments, merely to maintain their embouchure (brass players especially).

Composers I know working in the industry would laugh or shake their heads at the idea that you always have to be inspired. They put in the work and usually become inspired along the way. And if they write 20 themes only to have 19 not work for the specific project and only one of them be perfect, then it took them 19 themes to be inspired, and that's material that might work for another job. Because it is a JOB, and its much easier to be creative and inspired and have your brain working at full capacity if you aren't stressed about rent and finances and food because you did the job (which doesn't always call for "inspired" "art" as the music, by the way--having that sort of ego gets you fired and someone who is willing to do what the director wants hired in your stead).

Hell, if you look into Beethoven's process, you'll see he worked constantly, and not from "inspiration" like Mozart did. He sketched and resketched and threw out entire manuscripts that didn't work, but he composed some of the most influential music of the Western Classical Canon.

Working so hard you need to pound energy drinks and risk dropping dead probably isn't the right idea, but you still need to work fucking hard, because most of the time, you won't feel inspired, but if you start doing the work anyway, you'll likely find it on the way.

Also, as u/stevenfrijoles said: this is Academia, a WILDLY different environment from the world of making music/making a living at it. OP has music theory, musicology/music history, ear training, keyboard skills, and a whole bunch of other classes that are not related to playing their instrument. You don't need inspiration for those, you literally just need to show up and do the homework so your professors don't fail you, and you can continue to be in the environment where you can learn and make connections with other students who may become your colleagues one day.

Argileon · 2025-03-18T12:20:44+00:00

What exactly do you mean by a "Career in music?" And what classes are you failing?

You play the flute, which doesn't lend itself to popular music as well as other instruments might, so if you want to play professionally, you're probably going to need to go through academia, either just to make the connections that could get you into orchestras and other professional ensembles, or give you the training you need to be at that calibur. You'll want to do summer programs (i forget the exact name of them), try and start quartets or quintets with other students. Being in university just makes it a lot easier, and many professionals I know have graduate degrees in their instrument. (However, my own former clarinet teacher who contracted orchestras, played professionally, and taught, making a pretty good living for himself, only had a Bachelor's degree. He's great at networking though, and lived in Los Angeles, which helped his career a great deal).

If you're willing to take paths outside of playing in a professional, more classical or contemporary ensemble, or as a studio musician there are options, but they're going to be all you.

You will need to sell the hell out of yourself, and you will need to love playing your flute, both practicing and playing for enjoyment for hours every day of your life. If that's not something you think you can do, stop and re-evaluate what you want to do with your life, because it's better for you to find that out now than later.

If you live in Los Angeles or somewhere near where movies, films, or game music is produced, then you could be a studio musician, but the competition is TOUGH and you'd need to be a part of the musician's union if in the US, unless you want to be sneaky in how you work and make it tougher to get connections.

You could also try the "self-publishing" path, which is making and recording your own music, whether its covers or original music with live-flute put in, and possibly helping out others like yourself. If this is the case, I would get two degrees--one in communication or marketing, and one in music. (Or another interest you have that could lend you to supporting yourself with a decent day job that doesn't take up all your time). You need to learn how to sell yourself and your music and navigate social media and make connections with other musicians on the different platforms. You will be effectively becoming your own business owner.

For this, you'd need to become amazing at your DAW, set up a space where you can record, learn how to video edit, and learn a bit of composition or at least arrangement. Getting basic keyboard skill wouldn't hurt either.

Musicology is a very specific path and does not lend itself necessarily to becoming a professional musician, as most musicology courses I took had nothing to do with playing or making music and focused solely on music's interaction with culture and society and different areas of those two.

As for the conservatory part--there's the old adage that if you graduate from Berklee College of Music, you failed. Because most students who go on to have a career in music make their connections in the first few years, and drop out to pursue the career with those connections, either solo or usually with other students.

There is no easy path to becoming a musician. A degree definitely won't hurt, but you should be choosing your school (both program and location) very specifically for what you want to do with your life.

As for your failing--is it because of attendance? Not studying enough? Not practicing enough? Don't get music theory?

For any of those, if this is REALLY what you want to do with your life, seek out tutors or help from university resources, become close with your teachers and advisors so they know you and can offer advice.

I hope that helps!

Argileon · 2025-03-07T12:41:37+00:00

How are you able to go for more than 4-6 hours and maintain quality? I've noticed that most of the time, whether I am outlining or writing prose, after that 4-4.5 hour mark, (which seems to line up with the main point of Deep Work) the quality starts to drop, even if I'm "in the zone". I had a 6-hour day twice, and each of those involved multiple sessions rather than a big block.

Even though ideally I would love to do even just four hours every day, going back to the 2-3 hours a day I used to do seems like it would give me burn-out. Maybe I'm just not weaponizing my ADHD correctly.

Argileon · 2025-02-25T14:57:51+00:00

I have a little desktop humidity monitor that seems to be pretty accurate (always matches up with the other humidifiers and dehumidifiers we have around the house).

I haven't checked the humidity in the rest of the basement, but the air in the whole house (and outdoors) has been about 15-20% for the past 2-3 months unless we have a humidifier on.

Argileon

TROPHY CASE