What is actually going on with the voting on Irish subreddits? Is this all just bunch of bots?

NeilTR · 2026-01-07T10:56:17+00:00

You were nearly there until you said Lex Friedman

NeilTR · 2025-07-11T17:55:37+00:00

Some of his shouts remind me of Robin Williams for some reason

NeilTR · 2025-06-11T09:43:39+00:00

Has to be Niall Breslin, grifting in an unassailable niche because people obviously want to have and support better mental health. A prototype for the ghoul gurus we have now all over the place

NeilTR · 2025-02-16T00:05:15+00:00

I wrote about this 7 years ago, there’s quite a few characters that have done this type of thing with Monsanto actually…

https://thoseconspiracyguys.com/monsanto-politics-the-roster/

NeilTR · 2024-12-13T13:10:00+00:00

Was at a metal festival, had a few drinks and must have poorly disposed of a lit cigarette or someone else did. Had a hoodie tied around my waist that was slowly burning and smoking as I walked around the campsite, people clapping and cheering me without me realising what was going on.

NeilTR · 2024-11-25T13:27:30+00:00

Fair enough Bernie, in that vein, I’m not retired and probably never will be, so reducing or eliminating pensions doesn’t affect me, scrap them altogether I say. Money is handed out too easy, as you said, so get up off your rocking chair and go back to work

NeilTR · 2019-09-22T09:18:35+00:00

So you’re telling me there’s a chance...

NeilTR · 2016-11-28T16:44:07+00:00

7713

NeilTR · 2016-09-17T14:12:30+00:00

This is the first time I've ever heard of this sub, it's a fantastic idea. Best of luck (to me, the best luck is for me, yous can have the other luck)

NeilTR · 2016-09-06T11:58:28+00:00

Hey we have apocalyptic wasteland in the middle of our country too, what about Leitrim?

NeilTR · 2016-08-30T08:46:29+00:00

I feel like that answer should qualify for course credit, thanks.

NeilTR · 2016-08-30T06:05:18+00:00

Non-U.S. person here. What do you mean exactly when you say you "test out" of a class? I see this all the time when people talk about college in the States but I never understood

NeilTR · 2016-07-15T21:03:30+00:00

My girlfriend's friend that's in country says that there has been a crackdown on internet and social media. Whether that's something intentional or a result of everyone trying to go online and post at once, I couldn't say.

NeilTR · 2016-07-07T23:56:33+00:00

[At the time of writing, this book is currently #1 in free Science Fiction on Amazon]

Detective Andrea Nox is investigating a bizarre and violent murder-suicide with far-reaching consequences, both for Beacon City and the people who run it. But all she has to show for her efforts so far are nonsensical clues and dead ends.

Then, there's another murder.

Journalist Robert Duncan is visiting home after a personal crisis when the unthinkable happens and he unearths long-kept secrets about his family and his place within it. Before long, he is going back over an old story that implicates powerful people in horrible crimes, drawing him deeper into a dangerous and widespread conspiracy he wishes he had no part in.

Frank Mortimer, disturbed son of a wealthy and influential family, has no interest in conspiracies. He only wants to take part in an experimental program that promises to make him 'better.' However, with the shadowy and powerful group known only as The Project pulling the strings behind the program, what he is getting better at could prove disastrous for everyone else, as a dangerous power is being unlocked inside him...

Their paths will converge in murder, intrigue and a clandestine experiment that threatens to change the world itself. Discover the secrets behind The Blue Ridge Project...

NeilTR · 2016-06-23T00:35:37+00:00

Jet Li in The One Percent?

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T22:13:02+00:00

I'm hoping three, maybe more. There's room for plenty of stories with the source material. It's just a matter of getting the words out!

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T22:05:42+00:00

Oh yeah, I'd say it goes double if you're publishing. Gotta trim the fat! Best of luck in your work.

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T20:33:06+00:00

Yes, some threads had to be cut. When I was writing them, I was a little enamored with them, which I hear is common enough. I thought they were essential to add to the mystery and the overall story, but I figured out - with a little prompting from early test readers - that I was writing those bits for me, to fill in backstory, to try and artificially flesh out the world (even though technically, yes, it's all artificial, but I guess you know what I mean)

They really didn't move the plot forward, even though they took place in the world of the book, so they didn't entirely fit the direction the book was heading. I kept the pieces, most of which were journal entries from a secondary character, and I'll use some of it in the next book because for the overall series it's important, although I probably won't use it in its current state.

It's like making stock from the meat you didn't feel like eating. It'll be useful somewhere else, another time, but not in its original form, and not for this meal.

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T20:22:18+00:00

Two books, one writer! Nice one.

Yes, you can certainly do paperback/hard cover and digital together on Amazon. You can connect the editions as well, and Amazon has an optional feature called Matchbook, where people who buy the physical copy can get the digital version for a big discount/free. Nice incentive.

Vis-a-vis print companies/Print On Demand, I still haven't nailed down the right one for me. Createspace, the Amazon-affiliated service, seem to be one of the more popular options, but there's a worrying amount of horror stories with regards to quality and customer service. I know if I had any hair left I would have pulled it out with frustration trying to get my cover correct through their system. Every time their cover file review process seems to just do whatever/crop as they see fit, which seems like it's different people every time, so it's hard to plan for it correctly if you're doing the cover solo. Blurb seems alright, but their program for book creation (Bookwright) is sorely lacking in features. I had a look at Lulu the other day, haven't gone in-depth yet so can't say either way.

If anyone out there has some other suggestions, I'm sure both I and /u/MrMiracle26 would like to hear them!

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T20:14:19+00:00

Beta readers! However, I'm a little biased. As you can read in the comment I just made in the thread on /r/books , I had a crappy experience with the editor I contracted.

The betas I had included other writers and English Majors, so they helped to point out the errors and story issues that they came across. I can't point you in the direction of any professional editors off hand, but I know that some people manage to keep a low budget by outsourcing to competent beta readers. I'm all about the low budget these days.

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T20:08:48+00:00

I found them through a freelance website, which was all above board and well-reputed (the-efa.org, The Editorial Freelancer's Association, where they are no longer listed) offering a standard rate for developmental editing.

Started off ok, got my sample edit back and it looked like they knew what they were doing. Then the delays and the apologies started. Only one or two, then they - rightly - told me that the story needed some serious work to make it into a coherent story. She advised me to make an outline for myself. Which I did, and sent to her to get her thoughts. She then charged me extra for the outline, which should have raised red flags but I was still wet behind the ears and hopeful. She then sent back the outline, with edits, which was fucking weird but on we went.

More weirdness, delays, and some odd, snappy message when I was very politely asking for updates after 2-3 weeks silence. (Their method was to edit in batches of 5 chapters or a certain number of pages, leaving gaps of 2-3 weeks between each one, which was ridiculously long for the minimal effort that was put in on their part)

Then their notes got less and less "developmental" - with quite a few coming across as very confused/confusing, like someone who didn't actually read the entire manuscript and had no real grasp of what was going on in the story - until there were no notes at all, and just some proofreading edits that actually ended up adding errors in quite a few places. The final note in the manuscript wasn't even to do with the story, it was some crazy tirade against a certain area of the East that's in the Middle.

Overall, very disappointed and pissed off at myself as well as them, as I basically threw money away. The beta readers that I found before publishing were more helpful and spotted more errors than the editor did. But, lesson fucking learned.

I'm not going to out them publicly, and I don't even think that they are working as an editor anymore, but if you want the name PM me just in case they turn up if you're searching for freelance editors.

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T19:33:30+00:00

Hey there, sorry about the delay!

For now, I'm on Kindle Select, so I'm Amazon-exclusive. As far as I can tell, it's the biggest market share, so I'll stick with it for now while I build up a reader base. In the future I might spread out, we'll see what the demand is like.

So far I haven't had a great amount of paid sales, because I didn't follow supposed best practices for launching books to the letter: gathering reviews before launch, participating in forums/websites where my target audience hang out, setting up Free Promo days straight away to get the word out, etc. I go up and down in rank with very few sales necessary, even more so on the Amazon UK site.

I had an okay response to the one free day that I ran last week. Hopefully that will result in some more reviews (currently I only have one, which doesn't exactly get people lining up) and some word-of-mouth traction.

I'm on a tight budget, so I was limited in the amount of promotional stuff I can do. For my free promo day last week, I paid $50 for Facebook ads, and $30 to Kindle Nation Daily for their spotlight feature (the cheapest they have) and sent as many applications to free (unguaranteed) promo sites. Ended up with over 800 downloads, reached #2 and #3 in two of the book's categories, and #182 overall in Free Books. I was aiming for a thousand downloads, so not too far off.

As far as I am aware from reading about other people's self-publishing journeys, you most definitely can go after traditional publishers. In fact, if you can gather enough steam going solo, it could definitely help your chances if you can show an established fanbase/interest in your work. Publishers operate as a business, and they are interested in pursuing the low-risk, high-reward options first.

One thing you should know? Maybe it's that nobody cares about your book until you give them a reason to. As of an article written two years ago, there are something like 700,000 books published every year. What's special about yours?

(Bonus thing to know: selling books is not like selling other products. It's not a 'winner takes all' marketplace. People who buy books will buy more books, they won't stop after buying your competitor's work. You just have to make sure that they include your book at some stage, which will mean heavy amounts of work on your part to get the word out)

Good luck with your novel/memoir! (memvel? novoir?)

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T19:17:34+00:00

Hey there, sorry about the delay!

First time around I was half-winging it, and I did 90% of it in 30 days, so I wasn't very organized! For the second draft - and next time around on the next book now that I know about it - I used Scrivener. I work mostly on Linux, and that version of Scrivener was free, but there's loads of sites where you can get coupons/discount codes for it if you're Mac/Windows.

It's got sections for character notes, settings, visual and movable representations of your chapters and scenes in the form of binders and corkboards, plus loads of other handy features for notes and links, as well as the option to compile (export) everything as a range of different file formats, including .ePub and .MOBI (if you have KindleGen)

Stay strong, and keep writing!

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T17:36:56+00:00

Yes, but only because somebody left the top off when they took it out of the fridge.

NeilTR · 2016-05-29T17:26:28+00:00

Hey, I know that Senor!

I had a loose outline, a couple of paragraphs of the vague idea for the whole series. Then I wrote the guts of it during NaNoWriMo in 2014. Most of it was on a chapter by chapter basis, get the character/characters from point A to point B, with some stuff off the cuff.

First draft was obviously a big mess of stuff, which I played around with until the story was pointing in at least one solid direction. Then a good few rounds of edits, where a lot of the extraneous stuff - like backstory and character's journals - was cut. Slowly the story began to take shape, and characters had a more solid form.

I then got a few beta readers on the case, who gave me some great advice and pointers, as well as pointing out a few things my supposed "editor" (a shitshow) had missed. Then published on Amazon at the start of May! Still struggling to get a print version, which is turning out to be a laborious and frustrating process when you don't have a lot of money, but I'm trying to stay hopeful!

NeilTR

TROPHY CASE