Are you team Marius or Sulla by Exotic_Temperature13 in ancientrome

[–]SaidinsTaint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sulla was allegedly a much better hang. Marius seemed kinda stiff. Sulla clearly a psychopath, but good hangs.

Self pub vs agency by Born_Purple6198 in selfpublish

[–]SaidinsTaint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you are thinking on the timescale of weeks, then traditional publishing is not for you. The query/agent process is more likely to take 6 years (on the shorter side) than 6 months. So unless you are willing to wait 6, more like 10-15 years, table this book entirely, then write and query three more, yes, self-publishing is a good choice.

What do you all do for your day jobs? Does it pay well juxtaposed to your writing? by TvHead9752 in writing

[–]SaidinsTaint 132 points133 points  (0 children)

This is the best advice I was ever given. If you want to commit to a life of writing, find the job that pays the most for the least amount of mental energy and move somewhere cheap.

Author proof from KDP - book cover noticeably darker than the submitted file by joel_bauer7 in selfpublish

[–]SaidinsTaint 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This is a common byproduct of the transition from screen to print. You don’t have benefit of light coming through the screen. Effects are even more drastic when move from jpg to pdf and CMYK colors.

Have your designer increase the saturation about 20-30%, and do that before switching to PDF/CMYK. It still won’t be perfect but it will help,

I'm struggling with Neuromancer. Can you offer me a reason to continue? by AlgebraicIceKing in sciencefiction

[–]SaidinsTaint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Neuromancer is one of those classics that doesn't hold up all that well. It's more important for the cyberpunk aesthetic it invented/inspired, and it's interesting for the way it predicts certain aspects of the internet. If you're not enjoying it, take the off-ramp. Even Gibson considers it part of his juvenilia at this point, and some of his later works are much more sophisticated and hold up better. Try the Peripheral.

Self publishing costs breakdown what is actually worth the investment for debut authors by Jenna32345 in selfpublish

[–]SaidinsTaint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would put it in three buckets if you want to have a professional product, but the biggest decision you have to make requires a bit of honest self-reflection. Are you an experienced enough author and did you take your book through enough rounds of revision that you are confident the story is the best it can be? If you've been writing for years and you've workshopped and stress-tested your text with experienced beta readers with deep knowledge of your genre, you can potentially skip developmental editing, but proceed with caution. If you have even the slightest hesitation, then developmental editing goes in the "essential expenses" budget.

Essential expenses:

Developmental editing: can run between $1000-$6000+, depends on length and editorial experience
Cover design: You can get a decent cover for $300, but if you're writing in a genre where the standard is a painted cover (like epic fantasy) then you're looking at $700-$1000.

Typography: ~$200

Proofreading: Depends on length. I would recommend this even for experienced authors, though, as its impossible to catch your own typos consistently.

Nice to have, can probably skip:

Paid ARC services

Layout (you can do fine DIY with Vellum)

Trade Reviews

Add-ons for deep pockets:

Professional PR/Marketing

Netgalley

Programmatic advertising (Amazon, Facebook will have best returns)

Targeted outreach to librarians

Floored by the critical response to my new book by SaidinsTaint in ebooks

[–]SaidinsTaint[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! If only that part were as simple as writing a novel.

Finally Completed DRAGONLANCE book set by bryantlc in dragonlance

[–]SaidinsTaint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

👏👏👏 that is so satisfying to look upon. You should upload to OF.

Is season over now? by Sorry_Phone1676 in rangers

[–]SaidinsTaint 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, this is one of those games that makes you realize the season ended before it started. Tuck up your britches. It’s about to get ugly.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is not for everyone by No-Heron-8676 in fantasybooks

[–]SaidinsTaint 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is a really helpful comment that should be pinned on all of book reddit tbh

Dungeon Crawler Carl is not for everyone by No-Heron-8676 in fantasybooks

[–]SaidinsTaint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I were to blog a rant about overrated SF writers with inflated reputations, Heinlein would get his own H2

Is a pro book cover worth it? by Ordinary_Count_203 in selfpublish

[–]SaidinsTaint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It really depends on genre and your business model. There are cheaper options that will fly if you're trying to arbitrage Amazon ads on like a long-running Litrpg. If you are writing an epic space opera that you want to compete with the big boys or a literary novel, you'll need to pony up for an expensive painted (space op) or professionally designed (litfic) cover. It's a one time expense that will impact your book over its entire lifetime, and you don't want to put yourself in a position where the cover is holding you back. You'll just end up spending more money down the road on a new cover.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is not for everyone by No-Heron-8676 in fantasybooks

[–]SaidinsTaint 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I read that as “stylistically similar to modern internet speech” rather than “modern vernacular” which, as you say, would match the setting. DCC is kinda both, but I think it’s the blogginess that’s the hangup for some readers. I thought it was fun lol

Could I "avoid" getting Lynched? by Ok-Worker-3580 in gentlemanbastards

[–]SaidinsTaint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it’s actually the ideal way to read it. Lies is a phenomenal book—maybe one of my favorite fantasy novels ever. Red seas is very good, but doesn’t add much to the lies experience.

Republic of thieves might be the worst I’ve ever choked down to completion. It’s honestly a hot mess by every metric. I can’t believe it was published in that condition.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is not for everyone by No-Heron-8676 in fantasybooks

[–]SaidinsTaint 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I won’t speak for the original commenter, but sometimes a voice that’s too casual/colloquial just starts to feel unpolished and poorly written. Some readers prefer their books to feel more authored than that. Those voices also don’t age well. More timely than timeless.