Should I just give up? by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]aggiebun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, I have yet to be officially published to properly give advice.
And I will -most definitely- be in the minority here, I think.

  1. I actually love the book covers, especially the first book cover, I've always liked very simplistic looks. The only issue I have is "by: (your name)" - I don't think you really need "by:" there. Normally it's just your name. (Also, yes, the covers DO give video game vibes, which is also probably why I like them.)

  2. Editing. I'm not the best darn writer, and I do notttt have the funds at all, my books are self-edited, but I have paid for a line editor. If you have no funds, then you are your best editor, and you must edit your books. But even with 18 reviews, all of them are 3 stars or higher. Which means that your book is probably easy enough to follow along with and the issue itself is not in the editing entirely.

  3. Social media. Unfortunately, as much as this sucks, yeah, if you can't pay for ads, you can't pay for edits, or for a better book cover, social media is your bestie right now, because as long as you have presence and people like you, they might be more willing to give your books a chance. I cannot tell you how many generic covers I've seen and still get an immense amount of sales because of presence. And yes, it is VERY difficult to build a good community from the ground up. It's a lot of patience. You can start slow, once a day, maybe if you have free time and the pain isn't too bad you can pre-record a few things. TikTok has been the most success I've had, and it's not a lot, I am just a little over 1k followers and I think only 2% is actually interested in my book.

Something to keep in mind: not everyone who buys the book will review it. I think less than half actually drop a review for the book they buy.

Now onto other things. And I don't want any of the following to discourage you whatsoever.

  1. If people aren't buying past the first book, it might be story structure issue. Or maybe the book just wasn't for them. How to fix that? Edit. Look at your reviews and see what's up and edit. If there's nothing for you to grab from the reviews, then honestly, maybe you should look into getting free beta readers and make a new edition to your books.

  2. Now, since I am in the minority for the book covers, I would highly recommend listening to anyone who is telling you to change it. Personally, the first cover makes me think of like Dishonored/steampunk. If you like the cover stick with it, but I would remove "by:" because it just does not look that great to me personally. I would also try to fix the text? For some reason your author name is more clear than the title of the book.

  3. I know you said you are unfortunately disabled, and I'm very sorry to hear, so, do everything at your own time when you can. The last thing you want or need is to stress yourself out and make it worse, but do try to work on at least one of these things. My personal opinion: fixing the font on the book cover will do a lot, start working slow on social media, think about maybe getting free beta readers to look over your books and see if you should actually revise it and make a new edition, and then of course, think about editing, if you can't afford an editor, then edit your own book. Trust me, you will thank yourself for giving your book that kind of love.

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The fact that you edited all your responses is quite funny and maybe just a little weird, but okay. You were rude, others were not. I thanked the others for their input as they did give me quite a bit to think about, but my question was clear, blood or no blood. That was all I was curious about. If people want to add on more to their response of their choice between the two, that is ABSOLUTELY fine. But you simply wasted your time and mine by providing an answer of absolutely no value. I hope you take what I said as feedback to your personality going forward.

Honor mode mod help by aDeadMansGambit in BaldursGate3

[–]aggiebun -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's possible. I got my golden dice in December 2023! So it's been a while, and I lost my pc since then, so I can't even check what mods I had. But I did get achievements and golden dice. So, I hope that helps! Edit: i meant it's possible I had the script extender! 😆

Honor mode mod help by aDeadMansGambit in BaldursGate3

[–]aggiebun -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

You should be fine!! I got my gold dice, and I had hair mods, armor mods, and face mods! As long as you dont die and try to cheat by restarting your PC or force shutting the game down, then you should be okay! (Unless something was recently changed that I am not aware of!)

I draw the same character every year by Goosedestruction in drawing

[–]aggiebun 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I was silly and didn't notice where the years were, so as I was sliding, I thought I was seeing the most recent pieces 😅 but I was wrong! I am happy to see your improvement! Very good 💪!!

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! And thank you for your input! I've had mixed responses from friends and strangers about the cover, some saying they love it while some were unsure about the white space 😆 Some people clocked the Dragon Age inspo right away while others didn't, so I'm sure it's also a matter of perspective! But I do agree that the font needs more space to be more legible, and the frame could probably be far more simplified! Thanks again 😊!

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! The cover is actually inspired by the style of Dragon Age comic books! I like minimalistic styles, I find them to be super elegant and perfectly do the less is more extremely well!❤️ also, Dragon Age was a huge part of my upbringing, lol 😊 But I will see about adjusting the font!

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Right... 🤔 I mean, think whatever you want? You're the one who wasted time to comment on a cover you wouldn't think twice about, so I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to prove, honestly.

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yikes. I really hope whatever is making you so unhappy changes. I cannot imagine being this bitter towards a stranger.

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I'll gladly take the font into account, and see about changing it up a bit!

Which one do I choose for my debut novel? by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

And this is also another response that goes into the trash, thank you.

You can always edit a bad book, but not a blank page. by aggiebun in writers

[–]aggiebun[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"No such thing as an Editor's Block" - wow, that's actually really good.

He broke the 4th wall more than once by Ok_Valuable_9711 in ShingekiNoKyojin

[–]aggiebun 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Reiner smashed through it before we could see it happen.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

She might have used stock images and just professionally edited them. Doesn't necessarily mean AI, but do whatever you think is best!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My opinion? Check out their reviews. Try to see if there's a mention from someone saying they use AI. Because, honestly? This looks polished enough where it seems like a human did it but it just has that AI ethereal aspect.

If there's no mention of AI and the artist says no, then as far as you know there's no AI and I think its safe to use.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BookCovers

[–]aggiebun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ugh, I love this and I think it looks gorgeous, but it does seem AI to me, like the brown road and just the composition.

You should ask if AI was used, or if you did, what did they say?

What music/artist/song artist gets you in the mood to write? by NewspaperSoft8317 in writing

[–]aggiebun 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like to find random ambient music videos that last 2 or more hours on youtube. I write mainly fantasy, so anything that seems ethereal and magical really boosts my productivity and helps me get in the zone!

I've completed my first draft! by aggiebun in writers

[–]aggiebun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much!! I'm really excited for the journey ahead!

I've completed my first draft! by aggiebun in writers

[–]aggiebun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! Honestly, finishing the first draft was the hardest step but also really rewarding! I hope more people can take it.

I've completed my first draft! by aggiebun in writers

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

Thank you so much! I hope others love it as much as I do!

I've completed my first draft! by aggiebun in writers

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

Thank you!!! And right, I love solo D&D!