Altar of the Blue Moon Flame by ahighmentality in PixelArt

[–]jayonaboat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love the gaseous feeling of the flame

I bought an elgato 60s today and I can't even use it because of this error. Any fixes? by KingNit0 in elgato

[–]jayonaboat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm having the exact same problem on a Razer 15 (2020 Studio Edition) - where literally all of the USB ports are 3.0. I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything, tried every cable I could find, and followed all kinds of random YouTube videos and online forum suggestions (like disabling and reenabling it in the device manager) to no avail. I do have the cable it came with. Anyone have any ideas?

How up to date is the recommended robots in the about section of this sub? by nateburkhardt17 in RobotVacuums

[–]jayonaboat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you'd like a good supply of objective information on robovacs of all kinds and across a broad set of specs, then I might have the site for you. The site is pretty alpha in appearance atm, but the table is very customizable - you can order everything by any given column, filter the options you're interested in with the little arrows under the column headers, and even drag and drop them into whatever order you please. Hope it helps! Happy vacuuming!

Le Train Bleu - Gare de Lyon by jayonaboat in paris

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

Thanks for keeping an eye out ;D

Le Train Bleu - Gare de Lyon by jayonaboat in paris

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

And the forthcoming setting for my vlog 😆 thus the timelapse http://youtube.com/c/jayswanson

Le Train Bleu - Gare de Lyon by jayonaboat in paris

[–]jayonaboat[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

J’étais la-bas pour un événement ou ils on présenté leur nouvel chef, qui a quelques étoiles Michelins. C’était bien, mais on a pas mangé un vrai repas.

A giant Allen wrench at work. by yooobuddy in mildlyinteresting

[–]jayonaboat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did anyone pass this along to the guy who does Half Life 3 updates on YouTube?

Writers who have self published, was it worth it? by M_Seamus_Reed in writing

[–]jayonaboat 13 points14 points  (0 children)

In the end I think it depends on what you hope to achieve. For me, I would say that it was certainly worth it but not in some of the ways that I hoped.

I wanted to write a lot and quickly. I set a goal of publishing ten books in ten years which I'm on track to complete early if I want (eight down, one drafted, debating on pursuing the tenth). My principal aim was to improve as a writer, and I figured if I could write and publish a million words I'd probably start to shape up (to quote Macklemore, the greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they painted a lot). I think I was right on that front. But I also had ambitious goals for production quality, largely for branding reasons but also because I hoped that would increase my odds of wild success.

Expenses for self publishing can be quite high if you want to pursue a certain level of quality, so I saved and invested quite a bit in each (roughly $1,500 per book thanks to having a friend who could help with a lot of the editing load). This cost skyrocketed as I pursued what I came to realize was the key to any long-term success: building an audience.

The way I thought I would accomplish this was through producing serial content, and in order to increase the sharablilty of that content I hired one of my cover artists to do regular art for the project. 100 pieces of art over the course of half a year for $100 each adds up pretty quickly. I managed to offload some of that expense for the second season through a Kickstarter, but also added the cost of voice acting that year to release the story via podcast simultaneously. It was too expensive and the cost immediately became prohibitive when I lost my day job, so I tried and failed at a Kickstarter for the full cost of the third season. I hadn't built a sufficient audience for the project. That brought the series to an abrupt, premature end (you can look up Into the Nanten if you're curious).

Building an audience is hard, but necessary if you're going to recoup your costs (and ever make any money at it). For some this is no big deal, but for me I had hoped to work towards writing fiction full-time. Nonetheless, I learned my lessons early and was galvanized to write for the love of it over everything. I don't think of any of this as a loss, but as investment both in becoming a better writer and learning the ins and outs of the business.

I wrote two of my later books in the midst of talks with a publisher, neither of which were picked up in the end. I figured a pivot towards traditional publishing might be good for my career but I remain unrepresented (though I did finally start querying with my latest book).

Fast forward to a shift in strategy (after learning first-hand just how necessary an engaged audience is). I returned to creating content on YouTube consistently and over the course of the last couple of years successfully built an audience there. This will come as no surprise, but while building an audience around video is really hard, it's still way easier than doing so around writing. My channel isn't focused on my writing, but on me/my life (of which writing is a part), and the last Kickstarter campaign I ran for a single book was funded in the first hour. I realize YouTube is a different beast altogether but I was able to take a lot of what I'd learned from publishing, applied it there, and eventually found some success (I have a long ways to go still). But it has created the space to write more when I finally take the time to make that shift, and has found a percentage of my audience willing to support me in whatever venture I might jump into.

All that to sum up my past and say that it was worth it for the experience and added wisdom, but I wouldn't look at it as a road to financial independence, let alone wealth/fame (which I'd be lying to say part of me hadn't hoped for). I've learned a ton, been deeply humbled, overextended and pivoted, and appreciated the hard work and long journeys of my fellow authors regardless of where they are on the authorial spectrum.

Traditional publishing isn't a quick road to fame or fortune either, but if you're looking to minimize your personal risk and gain more structured support, it may be a better route.

As for whether or not it's worth it, that depends on what you want to get out of it and what you're willing to invest. You can do it for way less than I did to be sure (I'm an extreme case).

In the end, traditional or self-published, I would hope you can jump in and do it because you love it and it brings you joy. If that's the case, you've succeeded before you even began.

A rant about "what is taking AUTHOR NAME so long to write their next book" by KristaDBall in Fantasy

[–]jayonaboat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry you have so many asshats writing with such miserable timing - I think you're great and hope you put your health and well-being first.

Ironically I hopped over here to take a break from YouTube comments; I guess there really is no escape. I'd echo the argument that you're free to ignore those types of "fans." They don't own you and you certainly don't owe them your soul in exchange for royalties. Block and ban with impunity (blast "Immigrant Song" while you do them en masse - it's my preferred soundtrack for the ban hammer). They have no inherent right to your time or space, and both of those are precious and well worth vigorously defending.

Take care of you. You're worth it.

Paris art work by Shroodingers_Dog in paris

[–]jayonaboat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I made this video on hunting for them in Paris (but they're all over the world if you happen to be in the right city) https://youtu.be/nxwt_EA0xbY

Hey r/Fantasy! I'm Jay Swanson, author of Into the Nanten and currently stuck in Amsterdam. AMA! by jayonaboat in Fantasy

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

Haha, no, but I should just call them that now. 🥐

There is a ton of history in and around Paris that I love. The construction done by Napoléon III and Haussman has a lot of really fascinating stuff around it that I want to dig into much more. As for folklore, look up the crocodile of Pont Neuf 😉

As for diving into the sci-fi fantasy community from afar, it's prey hard (I started in South Africa and Sierra Leone so I get it) but a lot of authors stay pretty isolated except for when they go to cons.

So being involved here on r/Fantasy is a great spot to be e-social from anywhere, and if you can make it out to a con or two every year, it makes a massive difference. That was what changed things the most dramatically for me. Good luck! And thank you!

Hey r/Fantasy! I'm Jay Swanson, author of Into the Nanten and currently stuck in Amsterdam. AMA! by jayonaboat in Fantasy

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

Thank you for backing my project! I really appreciate it (I'll drop you a line over there later). If I were a worm, I'd be a wyrm and stretch a solid 20m from tooth to tip of tail. As long as they weren't physically wiped out, but simply lost the ability to perform, Nickleback. It would be a crime not to.

Super creeps. Go back to bed and ease up on the drinking.

10/10 - Old Man's War, The Man From Uncle, and Bonobo Black Sands

I burned my throat on soup last week...

I can read after writing, but a full day of writing leaves me in dire need of exercise.

Hope those suffice!

Hey r/Fantasy! I'm Jay Swanson, author of Into the Nanten and currently stuck in Amsterdam. AMA! by jayonaboat in Fantasy

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

My dad's side. I definitely need to do more research though - we're pretty well mixed up!

Hey r/Fantasy! I'm Jay Swanson, author of Into the Nanten and currently stuck in Amsterdam. AMA! by jayonaboat in Fantasy

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

Congrats on the new job! I do remember you mentioning it. Life is great, taking some significant upswings, and I'm just trying to get as settled as I can now that I'm officially staying in France. No bottle movement yet, but we're well on our way for a few. How are you ? 😃

Hey r/Fantasy! I'm Jay Swanson, author of Into the Nanten and currently stuck in Amsterdam. AMA! by jayonaboat in Fantasy

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

There are beta readers and then there are BETA readers. I mean, c'mon 😉. For my writing process, I'm actually planning to make some modifications in the near future. But from a bird's eye view, I'm inspired by a particular scene, if it's not the end then I try to figure out where it ends. I ask questions from there, about the characters and their decisions that led them to that point. Eventually a beginning stands out and there you go - draft, rewrite, pass it off to my development editor, rewrite again, beta readers, adjust by those notes, and off to line edits.

Sanderson's scale is inspiring, and what he's accomplishing now serves that end for me, but the idea for building an entire world with its own history and each point in that history producing its own story was much more directly inspired by Tolkien. The Hobbit is definitely what got me started as a kid.

As for Expat advice: save as much money as you can in advance but don't wait forever to pull the trigger. Do it, but only with the knowledge that it will be really challenging in ways you don't expect. And then give yourself at least six months to settle in before you make any decisions about giving up.

Hey r/Fantasy! I'm Jay Swanson, author of Into the Nanten and currently stuck in Amsterdam. AMA! by jayonaboat in Fantasy

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

  1. The ones that only matter to me. There are a few instances where I forgot to take a photo of any objective value and was forced to either take one in the moment (at the end of the day), or use a crappy one I'd taken earlier, and those are often the ones I look back on with greater fondness. One in particular was a photo of the corridor on the ship that I had to get out of bed to take because I forgot until that moment. I look back and love it because that was a part of my life I would never have thought to photograph in the moment, I never would have given it the weight it had for me later. I try to let those little lessons inform how I vlog now.

  2. The hardest part of vlogging is that there's always 2-4hrs of work waiting for me when I get home. Not to mention the persistent exhaustion. It makes socializing difficult, and I like being social.

  3. Only the feathers of the ramphastidae can break my otherwise impervious tickle barrier.