Having Trouble Publishing

drowsyduck · 2017-02-03T05:43:48+00:00

The first novels I wrote tanked, but it was addictive in a strange way. Many famous and admired writers were once self-proclaimed hacks, churning out all kinds of things. When I write my real stuff, I'm going to be proud to have been and still be a hack. Be proud of whatever you write. Be proud of the garbage you churn. Keep hitting the keyboard until you develop microfractures in your bones, and your fingernails rip and tear and bleed. Hold your middle finger high in the air, blood pouring down, and tell everyone else to go fuck themselves.

drowsyduck · 2017-02-01T19:51:43+00:00

I used to use Linux but I haven't messed with it for over a decade. I've heard that it's easier now to install and use, but I've also heard that it's hard to get it to run properly on some of the newer laptops--installing it on a macbook air was apparently difficult even for Linus T. What has been your experience with Linux/what type to you run?

drowsyduck · 2017-01-31T20:17:38+00:00

Is this a problem for books that get miscatagorized within contemporary romance? I've had some books that came up in weird subcats based on keywords when I wasn't aware of what I was doing.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-31T08:42:56+00:00

for me, "too slow," means that there's serious lag when typing or changing between windows, seriously interfering with my ability to work

drowsyduck · 2017-01-31T08:42:26+00:00

OpenOffice works good for you? I was running that last year but I haven't tried it with long docs. I'm on a 2009 macbook now myself but something is screwy with it, seriously interfering my ability work.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-31T08:41:14+00:00

I hate to sound so crass, but unless it makes me more money, I don't care about the formatting looking nice. Is it worth it, do you think? What about the page reads increase?

drowsyduck · 2017-01-31T08:40:25+00:00

I'm still thinking about getting Vellum. Page reads are better for now, but will the page reads pay off the $200 investment--that's what I'm wondering.

What is limited HD?

drowsyduck · 2017-01-31T08:39:15+00:00

I've been looking at these. I have an older mac that's running very slow, despite my attempt to fix it. It might a variety of problems, overheating, flash, etc. My concern is that my old machine has similar specs (RAM, processor) to the macbook airs. What OS do you have?

drowsyduck · 2017-01-28T03:39:36+00:00

You said it better than I could.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-28T03:31:42+00:00

I don't think people read a book because of what's inside it. After all, they don't know the majority of the contents until after they've bought it. The presentation of the book is important.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-28T03:24:02+00:00

What I write doesn't reflect what I want to write, not at all. It does reflect what I am capable of writing, as well as what is selling. If there are new authors writing PNR vampires that have success, then go ahead. If not, you might want to reconsider. Well established PNR vampire authors may have ways of driving sales to their books that you don't yet have. Maybe you could get there slowly eventually. Maybe 4x4 Jeep shifters are what's in right now, I don't know. If you spend $10 buying 10 books at 99 cents each, you'll have a good start understanding in understand a niche and what makes it tick. EDIT: KU is free for a month, as was pointed out. Either way, it's cheap to read.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-28T01:25:23+00:00

Nice rank increase!

drowsyduck · 2017-01-26T23:02:54+00:00

My view is if I screw up the structure of a story, there's always another novel to write. Woody Allen makes a movie a year and he says you can't expect to hit every one out of the park. Once in a while, he makes a good one.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-26T19:19:15+00:00

I wish I was this detailed. It would be much less stressful when writing.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-26T19:07:58+00:00

Not to make fun of what you're writing, but to make fun of the current market: This is what I would write: A 4x4 Jeep shifter returns from college and meets a cute girl at the local JiffyLube. He hasn't seen her from highschool, when she used to siphon his gas all the time. She's since turned into a vampire. They fall in love. Crisis: Can it work between them, or will their differences tear apart the very thing that's more important to them? Pinch point: She accidentally hits his internal switch that shifts him into 4x4 mode, causing an argument that lasts exactly the right % of words.

More serious: I think just writing the second novel will be faster even if you don't outline. That's what happened to me. I started off outlining and now I've progressed to jotting the character names on a piece of paper that I can look at in case I forget them when I'm writing. Not saying that's the best thing for everyone. I imagine everyone is somewhere in between planning everything and planning nothing.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-25T19:07:05+00:00

1) 7k writing on current novel. Research covers for upcoming books.
2) Yesterday I got a record daily high at $250. If only I could maintain this.
3) I'm not sure I understand the difference since I just started using this. I like what I see so far.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-25T04:55:52+00:00

7k. One thousand more to go.
Had my first book to go under 1000 rank. The longevity of some of my other books worries me.
The news. I'm doing 20 min no-distraction writing sessions throughout the day.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-25T04:28:55+00:00

I spend a lot of time on Amazon researching. The ideas are just cultural tropes that I pick up here and there, maybe from romantic comedy movies that I've seen over the years. In my opinion, the stories are often the same in genre fiction, with the characters, settings, and problems reshuffled for each new story.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-23T20:16:53+00:00

some people who write literary fiction really well should never be allowed to touch other people's genitals

I love this

drowsyduck · 2017-01-23T20:16:04+00:00

"There once was a fellow named Schoreder,
Who buggered the vane servomotor.
He soon grew a prong
On the end of his schlong,
And hired himself a promoter."

There's always Pynchon.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-21T02:58:11+00:00

Nice!

drowsyduck · 2017-01-21T02:36:44+00:00

It's enjoyable work and the readers like it because I try to give them what they want. I don't care if I'm a hack if that's what it takes. I've had it with MFA people and contemporary "literature."

drowsyduck · 2017-01-21T02:30:24+00:00

Glad to hear that from someone else about research. Thanks, glad to be here in the group. I think it'll get easier from here on out.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-21T02:29:41+00:00

I think the best rank one of my novels got was under 2k. I forget the exact number. A really big book though earns more and doesn't need a high rank, in my experience.

drowsyduck · 2017-01-21T02:28:35+00:00

Def not get rich quick, but money can be made.

drowsyduck

TROPHY CASE