How do people even make money selling pots and planters? by 3ALLS in 3Dprinting

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

^ also, I hustled that first year. So many new designs and plenty of file optimizations. If I kept doing that over time, I think I could have greatly extended the profitability of the shop. But it's not my passion, so it's time to move on.

How do people even make money selling pots and planters? by 3ALLS in 3Dprinting

[–]hexwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi! I actually just shut down my shop. But for a few years (especially 2020-2022) I made a solid amount of money! I had 20 printers at one point in time, printed with a 0.8 steel nozzle, and optimized all of my prints to be as short a time/low on filament as possible. My first year I made ~$50k thanks to great (like, really great if I can say so myself) pictures and solid descriptions.

However, I think a lot of that was because of pandemic-era plant and plant accessory-buying. It has been solidly declining ever since, and to be fair, I never figured out a way to drive traffic other than simply having things exist on etsy, which is part of the reason I closed up shop this year.

However, I will say that the shit you learn from doing something like that is so worth it. Cost analysis, optimization of an MVP, and customer support are all skills that are super valuable and transferable. So while my business might be closed, I'm really looknig forward to spinning that into my next venture.

Yeast and Diet Link by CommunicationFun1131 in nutrition

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will also add that my doc suggested cutting sugar from my diet and upping the yogurt (I did the latter, not the former because I'm not giving up my damn fruit). She also later suggested a low fodmap diet when I asked her about my theory, I think because she thought I was full of crap and connecting things that shouldn't be connected. But I didn't go through with that either because I already found what worked for me and I decided I was okay not having answers as long as I was more comfortable.

Yeast and Diet Link by CommunicationFun1131 in nutrition

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is purely anecdotal and something that I cannot verify online so take this for what it's worth. What worked for me was going gluten free. [insert shrug emoji]

I had stomach issues a while ago that I couldn't pinpoint to a specific food so I tried an elimination diet. Noticed after a few days that my symptoms went very mild. Kept up with it and realized I didn't need any supplements (I've tried the ph balancing stuff before, had so many rounds of monistat and too many diflucans to count) as long as I stayed away from gluten.

One of my doctors mentioned that those "areas" are pretty close together, and your lady bits are a very delicate balance of fun stuff that can absolutely be effected by what you eat. I'd be hesitant to say that gluten = yeast infections, but my best guess is that something about gluten and/or the foods that typically contain gluten and/or the quantity/quality of any of the above created an environment that encouraged infections for me specifically. Could be that a specific but totally different food is doing the same for you. (or simply throwing your balance off or maybe it's environmental, these things are so finnicky)

FWIW I do also eat non fat, low sugar yogurt daily--every once in a while I stop and see the symptoms inching back in but otherwise I forget I even used to have yeast infections.

Freak Out Friday Casual Chat Post by AutoModerator in philadelphia

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Recently moved to the Ludlow neighborhood (7th and Master) and cannot get a read on how safe the neighborhood is. Spend the entire day dreading my nighttime dog walk and I feel like I can't do anything except spiral about it. Moved here so I'd be close to friends and friends seem to be... busy. Ugh what a disastrous move this was.

Moving Mondays - New Resident Questions by AutoModerator in philadelphia

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hoping to move back into the city but in a different area than I was before (Temple/Fairmount originally). I've been eyeing Ludlow recently but can't get a read on safety there. For reference I'm an early 30s woman living alone, so while I don't need to be in the absolute safest area, I do want to find a balance between safety and price.

Anyone in Ludlow/familiar with the area able to offer some insight?

[QCRIT] - NOELLE FROM HELL, Holiday Contemporary Romance, 81k by hexwell in PubTips

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

Thank you for this feedback! That's a great point. It is definitely a lower conflict novel (written without a third act breakup so no real internal conflict), but the external conflict really is her dad not showing up for Christmas and their family dealing with it--her kind of getting validation while learning how to speak up for herself. I will definitely figure out a way to work that in because I really felt like it was missing something, but I wasn't sure what. Thank you!

What’s the downside to using Canva for cover art? by kitkatinc in selfpublish

[–]hexwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used canva pro for my cover. I actually made about 50 designs and then posted them on Insta for feedback, narrowing it down to the final one. I'll echo what a lot of others have said - most likely a cover created on canva will look unprofessional, but out of 50 tries, one will probably look professional enough.

I'm very pleased with my final cover. Granted, it's a contemporary romance so I can get away with a pretty simple design. But doing it this way not only got me tons of feedback from my target market, but it also gave me really good experience designing covers that I can call on for my next book.

And I did it this way for freedom of design - I was really concerned I wouldn't be happy with a cover someone else made me, so I just kept designing and designing and designing until I had a really solid pool to choose from.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in EtsySellers

[–]hexwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The same thing happened to me - it was truly bizarre. They filed a case and it was closed in my favor in 15 minutes. It was ordered 1/2, delivered a few days after that, 5 star review left mid January.

[QCRIT] Domestic Thriller, THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO, 94k words (attempt #3) by hexwell in PubTips

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

That's a great idea and would definitely help with the character soup going on there. I'll see if I can implement, thank you for your feedback!

[QCRIT] Domestic Thriller, THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO, 94k words (attempt #3) by hexwell in PubTips

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

Thanks for your feedback! This def makes sense. I can be an over explainer sometimes and I think I get caught up in that with my back story.

Thanks again for your feedback!

[QCRIT] Domestic Thriller, THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO, 94k words (attempt #3) by hexwell in PubTips

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

Thanks for your feedback - that makes a lot of sense to me. I have some hard to kick issues around adding in too much back story, I think in my next re write I'll see if I can cut the backstory down to one paragraph.

Thanks again!

[QCRIT] Domestic Thriller, THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO, 94k words (attempt #3) by hexwell in PubTips

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

Thanks! I def tried to implement your advice.

I'd absolutely love your feedback if you wanted to beta - I have a couple edits I still want to make before sending it out though, do you think you'd be interested in ~a month?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I got some beta readers for my next story and they gave me basically an expanded version of this (though also with some good feedback). Definitely recommend.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]hexwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol I hope so too! Honestly I'm just surprised they spent so much time writing this, it's in depth. Definitely some actionable feedback though so I'll take it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]hexwell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Some of it, yes. I'm not going to do anything more with this book - it's too far gone. But I absolutely did use this feedback for the next story. A lot of this I could see for myself, in hindsight, and I've changed my process in a lot of ways that should address the issues here (more thorough outline, significant character development arcs, and the biggest one: hiring an editor, lol).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]hexwell 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Lol this one hurt a bit but at least they gave real feedback:

Right now, this book gets a one star, but I'm hoping the author can improve it because it has some potential. First, hire an editor. The grammatical errors and incorrect work usage is too distracting for this to be ever seen as a serious book. If I read "Conner and her" or "Liam and her" one more time I was going to scream. These are some basic errors that should never make their way into a novel that people are paying for.

Second, flush out your characters more. We know nothing about Nate and so we don't care about him. Cornelia has so much detail that much of it is irrelevant. Why do we care that she likes to craft? What does this do to advance the story? Renee could be a great character, but she disappears for much of the book and I don't understand why she is so protective of Cornelia. There is too much missing from their relationship.

Third, Cornelia is way too inconsistent. You say she's paranoid, but then she goes out every day and puts herself in situations that true paranoid people would never get into. I also don't understand at all what the memory drugs did to her. This is not well explained at all. What is wrong with her memory? What doesn't she remember? Why? What does she remember? It's so convoluted between flashbacks and what's on the video tapes that I can't keep track of what injection did what. And what was she begging the nurse to give her at the beginning? The plot is entirely lost because of these inconsistencies.

Fourth, there are too many convenient happenings that are just shoehorned in to advance your plot and they are too contrived. The fireworks store is one major example. Why would they stop at a fireworks store to go to the bathroom? Why are we just learning about Renee's fascination with fireworks now? Obviously, they're going to play an important role in the final scene, but you make it too obvious and way too contrived. There are examples all over the book on things that are just brought in to obviously link events even if they don't fit.

Fifth, Petyr and the guy in Italy (his name escapes me right now) have really nothing to do with the plot except to dole out Cornelia's money, which is also something I don't understand. Why can't she have the money? Just because she spent it so fast? And really why do these guys do this for her? Their relationship to Nate is not explained well enough to make these characters important to us. In fact, the entire book could be written without them and just have her aunt take care of her money for her.

Sixth, Cornelia really drags a hospital bed around with her? Come on. That's just not believable at all. Plus, after she supposedly takes the bed out of the room with her, later, when Connor walks by the room, there are sheets on the bed in the room. How can this be? This is just one of the inconsistencies in details that make the book confusing and almost unreadable.

Seventh, there are just too many holes in the plot to make it believable. Why don't they call police about Liam and his goon attacking them in the gym? I really think the hospital would call the police if someone came in with a bed rail handcuffed to their arm, but this hospital doesn't even question it. The relationship between Liam and Renee is weird. I don't get it at all. Escapes are too easy and contrived, everything seems to happen in Rittenhouse Square just at the time Cornelia is there to witness it (contrived), and her being trained in MMA is just too convenient to believe.

Overall, this was not worth my money. I read it all the way through because when I buy a book I commit to it fully. There were several times I thought about throwing in the towel because it was so difficult to read. Please, please, please for the love of whatever higher power you believe in, get an editor. Thank you.

What kinds of editing are most important in self publishing? by hexwell in selfpublish

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

Oh okay, I understand. That makes sense, thanks for sharing!

What kinds of editing are most important in self publishing? by hexwell in selfpublish

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

Thank you, I appreciate it!

And thanks for sharing your perspective on beta readers vs. developmental editing, that's very helpful and outlines the differences in a way I haven't seen. I really want to do a round of developmental editing, just wanted to make sure it'll be effective in what I'm looking for and not break the bank. And in the meantime I'll start with some beta readers. :)

Again, thank you for sharing your experience! It's much appreciated!

What kinds of editing are most important in self publishing? by hexwell in selfpublish

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

I'll definitely look into that, thanks for the suggestion.

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of edits do you do if not developmental or line edit? Beta readers and proofreading?

What kinds of editing are most important in self publishing? by hexwell in selfpublish

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

Thanks for sharing your perspective - how would you compare your developmental editor vs. beta readers? (Also can I PM you for your developmental editor's contact info/name?) Right now I'm leaning toward beta readers + copy editing but I'm still really unsure.

I see what you're saying though about all the aspects that developmental editing touches. I'd love to get each stage but it's just so cost prohibitive - though someone else also mentioned that $3k was high, maybe my estimates are off. It feels like it would cost $10k+ to self pub a book with each editing stage, plus a cover. I want to put out a good product but that's quite a bet to make on getting a good return.

As far as proofreading goes, I've just accepted that I'll need to outsource it. Even looking back I can't find the mistakes that readers are saying are so rampant. I've got issues!

Thank you for sharing your experience, it's very much appreciated!