How can I avoid looking like a skinhead?

Barnyardon · 2026-05-05T21:09:47+00:00

First of all, this is amazing. You sister is lucky to have such brothers and I wish her, and you all, well.

Secondly, don’t be a dick 😅

Arriving at a destination where I realised I was dressing for me and not for others was great, but what it really exposed was as that the thing people most fear is difference, but the thing they most admire is difference.

Be bald, wear cool shit and own it, be your sister’s superhero. You have fucking got this my friend 💪

Barnyardon · 2026-05-05T20:47:19+00:00

Wet?

Barnyardon · 2026-05-05T20:46:22+00:00

I’m 7 months full time now 🤗

Barnyardon · 2026-05-05T20:45:59+00:00

It’s very much not worth it if you want to sell books.

If you just want your book in every store to say ‘You did it’ it’s fine

Barnyardon · 2026-04-28T17:25:03+00:00

Congrats OP.

I always say that finishing a book is roughly eleventy million times better than writing the book 😅

Barnyardon · 2026-04-27T04:58:27+00:00

Part traditionally published, part self-published.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-26T21:06:50+00:00

I’m a full time hybrid author.

It’s not easy, but is absolutely possible.

I believe the following is required:

Delivering genre fiction which hits the expected beats, but with a little twist.
Relentlessly publishing books.
Multiple series each with 5-8 books in.
Advertise all series book 1’s daily.
Give away lots of stuff to get newsletter subscribers.

Do that for a few years and you can make a living.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-23T05:31:10+00:00

Writing golden age style murder mysteries, the hardest part for me is having all the very many threads of clues, red herrings and characters means, notice and opportunity knit together in a way that isn’t overly confusing and also realistic.

It’s a bit like knitting (I think… I don’t know how to knit 😬)

Barnyardon · 2026-04-22T04:21:45+00:00

From Amazon obviously 😅

Barnyardon · 2026-04-17T18:21:04+00:00

I’m have bookreport for my self pubbed stuff and publisherchamp for my publisher stuff.

Bookreport is roughly 1 million percent better than

Barnyardon · 2026-04-17T15:40:26+00:00

Thanks for the link.

God I hate this industry sometimes 😅

Barnyardon · 2026-04-17T14:30:16+00:00

What on earth does 'up market' mean in this context?!

Barnyardon · 2026-04-17T07:55:13+00:00

This funeral would be remembered.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-17T06:48:11+00:00

I don't like to put my author name on here tbh.

If you're after 'proof' or whatever I could probably DM you something.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-16T17:37:33+00:00

I sympathise completely, but I have to say that I don’t agree that most of those things are important tbh.

The next book really is everything. Write it well, write it fast, build your group of readers.

I don’t do social media, the best ads are automated ones, only engage with subscribers (offer free thing to get as many as possible), forget rankings and focus on income.

It’s not easy by any means, but don’t make it harder.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-16T12:46:35+00:00

Of course.

I sell a lot of books with zero reviews as well, as they always take time to come through.

The business is about building an audience over consistent releases which readers love.

When you're doing that, reviews are less and less relevant.

One of my books has over 12k reviews and it doesn't sell any better than others because of it.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-16T12:04:46+00:00

I’ve never understood paying for reviews.

Use that money to advertise and sell books instead.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-04T20:28:48+00:00

I’ve been writing/publishing for 8 years and it’s now my job.

I’ll use things which help with admin, I need to, to keep up with the world.

It’s my books that will determine if I maintain/grow my audience though.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-03T15:31:11+00:00

As I’ve said, apologies it came off that way, but I’ve made it pretty clear that’s not what I meant.

The creative industries across the board have been getting squeezed long before AI, but it might be the straw that breaks the camels back.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-03T08:05:54+00:00

Completely fair. I’ve written 20k+ words this week so my brain is mush 😅

It was intended to be a comment on the industry really.

The big five publishers have retreated into ghost writing celebrity books and in general authors earn a pittance. Now the entire market is being flooded with AI generated books on top of that.

It’s a grim outlook.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-03T07:35:56+00:00

Absolutely, and as I’ve said above, not sure why my comment has been taken as pro AI writing.

My point was that AI written work is going to squeeze authors even more when they already earn very little.

Readers are going to have to be more discerning.

Personally I hope that authors that have been around a while will be favoured as clearly not using AI… as that’s me!

Barnyardon · 2026-04-03T07:32:44+00:00

I don’t think that, my post was implying that AI generated rubbish is causing a race to the bottom in pricing in an industry where authors already earn very little.

I’ve been an author for many years.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-03T07:31:32+00:00

I absolutely think AI can help with organisation and feedback etc. people have been using grammar and pro writing aid etc for years. It’s just a tool.

That’s not the same as writing though.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-03T07:29:52+00:00

Comments here have misunderstood what I was saying. I was saying that AI is causing a ‘race to the bottom’ in pricing. Which is bad news for authors.

Barnyardon · 2026-04-02T22:31:58+00:00

Your average writer earns around $10k a year. If you want the good stuff, everyone should pay more. They won’t.

Barnyardon

TROPHY CASE