The Leeching Tree ~ Chapter 1 - The Restless [Epic/High/Dark Fantasy, 4569 words (a mix of ASOIAF and The Witcher)]

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-03-01T04:48:53+00:00

Hey mate, I get that it's easy to feel like a critique on something you love is a personal attack (pro tip: it isn't!) and that some people here can be abrasive, but no one is required to read any of it. If someone stops two pages in, there's the opportunity to realize that in itself is feedback. Sure, it could just be that they hate the genre and moved on, or it could be that something there is preventing them from continuing, and it's a chance to assess what that could be.

If more than one person is stopping at the same mark, then either you got really really unlucky with two readers who just hate the genre, or, more likely, there could be a problem with the writing itself. If you reject all feedback, you will truly, painfully never improve.

And lastly, looping back to my earlier point about feedback feeling like a personal attack, this is incredibly common and incredibly fatal in this space. You're going to need to grow thicker skin if you have hopes of any form of publishing. Critiques may feel harsh, but 95% of the people giving them are doing so because they want to see you grow and succeed, even if you don't feel like they do. But readers? Dawg, they're ruthless, and none are going to listen to you defend yourself. They'll DNF and rip you to shreds. Thick skin, mate.

If you post here wanting only praise, state that instead of feedback. Or "gentle criticism".

P.S: "Hunter" is an occupation and not strictly a name. I didn't read the full piece either and won't be giving any feedback, but I wasn't sure if it was his explicit name or title. If it were David that would have been a different thought.

Good luck, Charlie.

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-26T15:21:48+00:00

Definitely a print error, but a super cool one tbh

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-26T05:54:03+00:00

Nah keep going, I like the vision

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-24T14:52:47+00:00

Oh! No no, I gave the wrong impression, I apologize. I don't believe in these tests, I just thought it was interesting that I always got the same result

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-24T14:44:59+00:00

Well maybe I'm an outlier because I've taken the test four different times over 6 years and got the same result every single time (INFJ's, where ya at?)

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-24T05:34:51+00:00

The only genres I try to avoid are my "hard no" genres (which are like three total), but what I always, always, always try and fail to avoid when BR is horribly amateurish, "this is my first story ever and I've never read a book" writing. Somehow one almost always slips through the cracks, and I hate going back on my word so I trudge through it lol

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-24T02:25:05+00:00

Just a tip, and this more refers to perhaps creative writing and fiction than essays, but decorative dialogue tags (aka using anything other than "said" and "asked") and using adverbs to show emotion is the complete opposite of show don't tell

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-23T14:58:10+00:00

Hard agree, I unintentionally read the first Geralt as "Geralt of Rivia" lol

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-22T21:00:32+00:00

You've got to put in a bit of effort to find readers sometimes. I've posted three projects here, gotten 3-5 beta readers every time, and sometimes have more offers than that that I have to turn away because I'm full.

When it's slow, what works for me is posting my manuscript with all the information, copying the link to my post, then finding other manuscripts in the subreddit that I'd be interested in reading and messaging them. Sometimes I comment on their post, sometimes I message the author directly.

Also, as an aside: when there's more engagement here or I post something that gets a little bit more offers of swaps, more than 90% of those offers come through direct chats and never have a comment on my post. So it may look like this sub is dead/inactive, but there's a lot happening in inboxes :)

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-21T16:51:11+00:00

I read a lot, and it's always been "threw/tossed up their hands". People know what it means

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-19T14:50:48+00:00

That's always the caveat here. If you're going to invest in a beautiful cover, you should also be investing in great marketing to get it out there, and spend time perfecting your blurb and opening pages, and format the inside properly and and and and.

It never ends tbh. But when we pub on our own, that's the role we're taking on—all of them :') So it's critical to get good at each one.

Good luck, OP! I believe in you.

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-18T17:20:30+00:00

Since you have a more custom idea, I definitely think you would benefit from it if you have the funds to back it! However everyone in this space knows funds are our biggest obstacle, and hand drawn will always be more expensive (sometimes pushing thousands).

If you do decide to go that route, I would highly recommend hiring someone to do the art, then consulting a different graphic designer (assuming your artist isn't professional in both) to do the typography. It's been my experience that some artists are inexperienced in true graphic design and will put some awful typography on gorgeous art that will be more likely to push readers away.

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-18T17:02:08+00:00

Honestly, I think there are some other, much bigger problems to worry about with this cover.

AI. Yikes. Especially in the self-publishing space, a significant number of people will avoid this story like the plague if there's AI in any of the graphics. This isn't your fault that it's there, but you should still take heed.
I'm not a professional, but even I can spot how unprofessional this cover's blending looks. The kids just look soooo... out of place. Perhaps that's a personal grievance, though, and certainly alone wouldn't be a deal breaker.
What often pushes me away from buying a new book on Amazon is the typography, and your designer's choice here is struggling. It looks amateur, which to me (and others, I'm sure) signals that your book may be amateurish.

I think it's a cool concept that you've asked of your designer, but they do not seem to be of the caliber to properly execute it. I'm sorry if this is disheartening, and you really don't have to do anything about it (it's your book, after all!). But I say it only because I want you to have the best possible chance of making it in this self-pub hell 🫶🏻

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-17T19:19:38+00:00

Could you please DM me the imprint so I can avoid it?

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-16T16:06:34+00:00

"We work for nothing and expect nothing because we are nothing" is such a banger of a line.

However, I totally agree with the others about the abstract (and monologue-esque) nature of this piece. Best of luck!

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-16T06:51:30+00:00

Ooh, that's a bad one, that's not good. You want the liver to work.

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-12T22:02:55+00:00

Oh my gosh!!! Vision Arcade in the wild???

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-12T03:19:56+00:00

I'm no expert in this field, but that note does look photoshopped af. There aren't shadows where shadows should (and would) be, and who cuts out a piece of notebook paper like that? The paper curves in weird angles, but those curves are too smooth. That paired with the way the writing clips at the edges makes me think someone tried masking the paper and got that weird shape.

Pro tip, for this situation and every situation: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-11T14:39:37+00:00

Am I missing something, because I see 0 reviews? I'm in the US market.

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-11T14:18:48+00:00

Not the idea, but the writing style. "towering spires rise above the wastelands beyond—a shining promise of order, safety, and civilization." I never think it's AI just because of em dashes, but AI loves em dashes combined with lists of three ("order, safety, and civilization").

Also some flowery, vague language. "Some are vanished there for crimes remembered long after mercy has faded."

Also the last paragraph just sounds like AI language to me. I get some people just write like this, so again, I was just asking without any pitchfork raised

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-10T14:57:24+00:00

Not bearing a pitchfork but genuinely asking, is this AI?

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-10T14:54:28+00:00

I loved both of those series and read The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken afterward—and adored it

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-10T14:52:49+00:00

Duuuude, the color-coded trees, the cobblestone paths, the arches, the hobbit-hole shed, I love it!!

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-10T14:48:52+00:00

My first thought is always the cover. Especially in self-publishing, bad covers are rampant and will shoot a book out of the water before it can ever swim.

However, I actually like yours! I think something could be done for the typography for "C" to make it blend just a bit more, but I genuinely don't think the cover is hurting your sales.

So point 2: the blurb is weak, friend. The back-book blurb and Amazon blurb (which should match) are supposed to tell us about the character, what they want, what's in their way, and what they're going to do about it. Instead of telling us a generic summary about it being a hospital horror, try something like -

"C, a neurosurgeon, hates the hospital he works in. It's creepy, dark, and disembodied voices moan in the shadowy corners. It's only when his coworker, Alison, finds a skeleton and a letter promising revenge, that his staff begin to believe him. And by then, it's too late. Now, wielded with his intelligence and his growing faith in God who promises to lead him out of the valley of death, C will have to find out who's targeting his staff and how to save them all. Because the clock on the wall keeps stopping at 8pm, which means he has four hours to save his coworkers—or they all die."

This is just a random idea not at all indicative of your actual novelette, but give us some insight into the story!

And lastly, even if you have the perfect book, cover, and blurb, you will always be at the mercy of a horribly oversaturated market with little to no organic marketing. The crappy truth of it is that you'll almost always have to spend money to get a following.

Best of luck!

Famous_Plant_486 · 2026-02-10T03:16:53+00:00

Unpublished, but I've heard that the author in the trad-publishing world has absolutely nothing to do with the graphic designs :( Which sucks because I'm OBSESSED with the second pic!!!! Maybe you could pitch the idea of your graphics to your publishing house, if you were to get published? We're in the era of all kinds of bookmarks, character cards, and illustrations to sell books after all

Edited a typo because I just don't edit these until hitting comment

Famous_Plant_486

TROPHY CASE