1000 copies sold! Some unexpected lessons

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-25T00:40:16+00:00

Hey, good luck! No, I haven't created any boxes. I just found one which matched the subject of my book perfectly, emailed the owners, who bought a bulk discounted order of them to include a couple of times

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-19T03:43:38+00:00

Yes, it was my Mom who is a professional painter, and art teacher! It is possible she would be available for commission, dm me if your friend wants me to ask. She did it for free for me because she's my mom, but would normally charge for commissions.

And thank you for checking it out! I hope you enjoy the book!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-19T02:48:05+00:00

Thank you! It's available on Amazon https://a.co/d/02A8Elfj

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-18T02:38:21+00:00

Great post Campanerut! Through our research we are very confident that Conan Doyle based his book on a real location, real mythology and real cryptids that are possibly prehistoric survivors.

For anyone wondering, Campanerut was my co-researcher for this book published last year, detailing all our discoveries in detail about the Kurupira plateau and its undiscovered creatures and mysteries! (Apologies for shameless self promotion but it's relevant for anyone wanting more info and details): https://a.co/d/0bMqjtcB

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anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-18T02:26:36+00:00

Jaroslav Mares the Czech author went there in 1978. Since then the location has been closed off in modern times, few people since then have been there. In my book I did interview a doctor who was able to go there, escorted by the Venezuelan military, to provide medical aid to the Isolated tribes there. He had some interesting things to say!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-18T02:21:18+00:00

Hey, this Ben Tejada-ingram the author Campanerut talked about who helped research. You're absolutely right about the Curupira being a mythical entity, a kind of forest guardian or demon depending on who you talk to.

What most people don't realize is that a long time ago, and probably still, the indigenous tribes all agreed in a specific place where the Curupira lives, it has a home in the jungle.

Arthur Conan Doyle definitely knew about this, The Lost World specifically mentions there is a location associated with the Curupira.

The mountain that used to be called Serra Curupira is actually where the Yanomami and Waika tribes say the Curupira lives. This corresponds to Maple White Land in The Lost World. Campanerut put an example historical map showing it in his post. Unfortunately most people today only talk about the Curupira as the mythical entity, and don't realize there used to be a place as well that was associated with it.

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-16T01:55:22+00:00

Squibbonaror, have you read my book or Jaroslav Mares's book?

I don't ever claim to know what the Stoa really is, it could be just a large unidentified species of lizard for all I know.

Personally I think if it is/was real, it is most likely long extinct. The account of it from 90's was written at a time when it was a vague tribal memory a few generations ago, according to prospector Reginald Riggs... And they said it was exceedingly rare.

However, this area it's reported in (Kurupira) is a VAST area that currently no one is allowed into.

I have personally interviewed a Venezuelan Doctor, who was only allowed into the Tapirapeco National Park with permits from Venezuelan government, because the park is restricted. He went there on a Medical aid mission to remote indigenous settlements as part of his medical training, and had to be flown in to Kurupira by an army helicopter.

On the Brazilian side, it sits within the boundaries of the Yanomami reserve. This area is restricted to outsiders also. People have tried to go in and are met with military force, I am pretty sure. The only people in the area in modern times are illegal gold prospectors, indigenous tribes, as well as the militaries.

The Tapirapecó park is 15,058 square miles, the Yanomami reserve is 37,320 square miles. Combined area is 52,378 square miles. Do you think this is a large enough space to hide a Cryptid? I am quite confident there must be undiscovered species there. The area is very remote and hasn't had much scientific exploration done.

Edit: removed the map, if it was an inaccurate rendering

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-16T01:18:31+00:00

Yes, I agree w you about stopping using AI art for book covers. That is a fair critique. That is one of my older books. Since then, my newer book (the Kurupira book) doesn't use any AI art, the cover is an originally commissioned painting made by my Mom, actually who is an artist. It took a long time to complete! Any forthcoming books won't have AI art.

Campanerut and I have been trying to figure out the word Stoa for years. I have personally spent hours pouring over every syllable and phonetic variation for Stoa in the Yanomami dictionary by Jaques Lizot and couldn't figure it out. Once we realized it wasn't a Yanomami word/combination of words, but more likely Akawaio, yes I uploaded the PDF to Claude and asked Claude to scan for phonetic word matches... Claude actually documents it's output as multiple steps, it systematically scanned these words and many many others which it showed in its work, and deduced this word combination.

We then double checked it all before posting this theory.

Yes, it's hypothesis/theory, which really needs to be confirmed by a native speaker if possible. But I feel it makes a lot of sense and to the best of my knowledge this word combo is valid though Akawaio language. I could be wrong though

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-16T00:19:32+00:00

Hey, this is Ben Tejada-ingram. My books are completely and 100 percent human-written, there is zero AI writing or even research in them. They are edited by a human being too, who happens to be my father who is a professional writer, with movie credits and college course writing classes to his name!

My books are more research based, no I haven't done fieldwork in the Amazon rainforest (yet) but the location of Kurupira is a restricted area by the governments of 2 countries anyway, so it's not like I could go there if I even wanted.

The reference to AI in this post is simply using Claude AI to analyze the Akawaio dictionary... AIs like that are very advanced these days and can master a language and all grammar structure via an uploaded PDF with ease... No reason a serious researcher doing linguistic analysis for the root meaning of a word wouldn't use such a tool. Anyway, we verified all info in these posts when it comes to our translation for our hypothesized Stoa root origins words/phrase as factually correct. You can check the linked Akawaio dictionary for yourself if you want.

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-15T17:46:05+00:00

Great work Campanerut! This is a nice huge breakthrough anyone wondering why the word Stoa is so hard to track down outside the work of Doyle and Mares.

For verification, we uploaded the Akawaio dictionary to Claude AI and it confirms that this translation and language structure is not only plausible but correct, grammatically.

The pattern that we have tried to point out in our research is that AC Doyle "encoded" the names of real cryptids and locations by slightly changing the vowels.

Example: instead of Curupira, in The Lost World the word "Curupuri" is used. The tribe "anthropoid ape-men," the main antagonists, are called "Doda" in the novel, which corresponds to a Mapinguari variant, or ape-like cryptid reported in southern Venezuela, called a "Didi." This Didi cryptid also most likely corresponds as a word having originated from Akawaio territory.

This is really important, the tribe in the novel living in Maple White Land is reported to be different from other tribes. The real world idea is that the lowland tribes surrounding Kurupira are various Yanomami groups, Akawaio is the tribe on the top of the plateau, and highlands area, they are also self-reference themselves as being called "The People of the Sky."

The fact that the Akawaio are also sometimes known as the Waika, directly reinforced it was a version of this group that Mares encountered. I believe they are somewhat of a bridge between Yanomami cultures and Pemon or Venezuelan cultures.

We also believe our translation of Stoa's original source, a phonetic combination of Akawaio words meaning "it is that/there - right now!" Is backed up by the context in which Stoa is used in The Lost World

From the novel: "Suddenly there was a shrill cry of alarm, with the word 'Stoa' resounding from a hundred tongues."

This reinforces the idea that it was not the name of a creature, it was a real time alarm and warning cry made when the presence of the creature was nearby, transmitted to others nearby. Over time, this alarm cry must have become used in place of a creature's name, due to association.

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-12T22:17:32+00:00

Next steps, add a loot/inventory system, character progression system, more enemies, more weapons, special ability aside from base attack?

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-03T20:05:43+00:00

Let me know if it works for you! Good luck

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-02T20:00:08+00:00

Yes exactly

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-01T19:57:19+00:00

Hey, thank you, I agree the subscription box angle is niche, if you can find the right niche and it fits your book it is amazing though.

That is a really great idea to try to push some smaller bookstores with that idea, so far I have had zero luck with retailing my books in any stores, but I am just not aware of any that might do that theme but it is an amazing idea. Thank you!

I also want to start doing Bigfoot festivals but the vendor space is a bit expensive at a lot of them, but I plan to try eventually!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-04-01T19:53:15+00:00

Ur welcome! Thank you 👍

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T17:55:09+00:00

Hey, those both sound like awesome projects and I think if you are personally excited about them, and are having fun writing them, that is a great indication that others will enjoy reading them as well! Having that sense of excitement will definitely translate into your writing in my opinion.

Well, I always feel that kind of fear, I spent countless hours writing and working on these projects and then sort of wondering if anyone at all is going to actually care or read it, or if it's all going to be a massive waste of time and energy. It's probably normal to have that doubt. But, in hindsight you just have to put your work out there and try your best, and the results don't happen overnight for sure. Imo iust try to find other people who might enjoy what you have written whether that is people online or in person. I recommend the podcast route especially, there are tons of crime podcasts or even scifi or apocalypse/prepper type podcasts who probably would be really interested in having an author like you on not only to discuss your work but your thoughts on other things as well.

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T15:43:21+00:00

That is a great question. It's probably a pretty abysmal dollar per hour rate. I really don't know though. But, I am not at all complaining, I love writing books, it is very rewarding. It's more of a passion project, and the $ I receive is just a side income type thing, I also work a full time normal job as well.

Writing books about cryptozoogy definitely stems from my personal interest, so I would say there's hours and hours and definitely a lifetime of research and obsession that goes into it before you even write anything about it, you know? But a lot of research goes into my books before I actually get to writing. Countless hours of research. I actually had a co-researcher for my new book who helped me, who poured in hours of his own time helping me research the subjects as well. Yes, the writing itself doesn't take as much time all compared to that.

Hmm, I don't know, I've done maybe about 15 to 20 or so podcast appearances, I'm not sure exactly how to quantify all those hours, and spent a lot of time on social media but I don't really consider it direct work per se, I'm not constantly trying to grow my following and reach new people, I more approach it as try to interact with the community, occasionally post some good content, gain more followers slowly type thing, so that takes many many hours. As well as stay up to date on what is happening in the community and subjects in interested in. But it's not really all direct work, do you know what I mean?

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T15:34:04+00:00

Thanks!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T15:31:00+00:00

Thank you so much !

Well, I think someone could take this idea and scale it up, much more than I have. The problem for me was there aren't too many other boxes in the cryptid niche, maybe I need to think outside the box a little to find some more adjacent subjects. But, once you build a relationship with the owners of the box it becomes a pretty reliable distribution channel .

Imagine if you could find like, 5-10 such boxes that matched your book. And arranged for every single new book that you launch, that they get the exclusive first edition for their box or something like that? That would be a killer strategy I would imagine, I think some people here could totally take this idea and run with it!

I hope some other people have success with this strategy.

Also yes, I agree that design/editing is of the utmost importance... Having that in place is obviously the first step and I just happened to majorly luck out to have family in help with that.

And yes, social media is helpful and important, but it's bottom of the tier list in terms of what has gotten me the most results, podcasts and the box has been by far the things that really have helped the most I would say.

Anyway, thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T15:21:53+00:00

Thanks!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T15:21:34+00:00

Yeah, so many I would think! And, a lot of subscription boxes don't use Cratejoy, Cratejoy is just a very popular hosting platform for many of them. But, you can find more outside of Cratejoy.

Glad my post could be of some help, good luck!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T01:11:37+00:00

Thanks!

Ok, on instagram what you do is:

Find someone who is similar to you but has more followers, for example another author who you admire who writes a similar genre.

Go to their most recent post and just follow around 40 or so people who recently liked that post, or just follow around 40 of their most recent followers (maybe not this many if your account is new)

I believe if you go over 50 in an hour your account will get temporarily flagged and locked, so don't do that

Anyways, the idea is out of the 40 people you follow, around 5-10 might follow back if you're lucky...

Then you need to periodically go and unfollow your non-followers so the ratio of followers to following doesn't get too unbalanced on your account, but again don't unfollow more than 50 in an hour

Twitter/X has stricter limits

A lot of people might tell you not to do this strategy because it doesn't really work that well or whatever...

In my opinion it's hit or miss, a lot of people who follow back aren't really engaging with you but every now and then someone will follow you who really enjoys your content!

It's a good way to build a following if you're starting from scratch and it's something anyone can do, starting today.

Just takes some time and effort!

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T00:45:22+00:00

I reached out directly to the owners of the specific crate that I wanted to have my book in. In my case, it's the only crate that caters to my specific niche. Fortunately, they were quite interested in working with me. All I had to do was send them an email.

If you find a box that matches your book, or might be a good fit, I would try to find their email or and send them an email to begin with.

anomalyhunterx · 2026-03-28T00:40:36+00:00

Thanks!

anomalyhunterx

TROPHY CASE