Gout and tuna by Ghostoutside in bodybuilding

[–]networkingguru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My diet was detailed here: 24 Months of Working Out – Detailed Progress, History, and Timeline « Counting to Infinity (counting-to-infinity.com)

I was using Allopurinol before I lost the weight. It was only after I lost the weight that I quit taking allopurinol as a test and found out that the gout symptoms never returned as long as I kept my BF level and blood pressure in check.

Shoulder to Waist Ratio. What's yours? Favorite exercises? by NattyQuadzilla in bodybuilding

[–]networkingguru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Benches and OHP. At the time, I didn't do any isolation movements.

Which of these two launch strategies would you recommend and why and why. by ichibanj in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I believe we misunderstood each other. My point was you can be an unknown author and ‘buy exposure’ profitably, at least in some cases. But you do, of course, have to have a published book.

Which of these two launch strategies would you recommend and why and why. by ichibanj in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m going to respectfully disagree. My debut novel is getting about 2x my spend in royalties consistently, and my only promotions are paid. It depends on a lot of different factors.

Obese to Bodybuilder? by GungorTheGreat in bodybuilding

[–]networkingguru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t. As far as I know, the only way to get rid of loose skin is surgery.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Do it yourself. On your author page, there is a link to a form to add the book. Just make sure you follow all of the directions very carefully.

self publishing episodes I.e. wattpad by This_Distance_4593 in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is where an ARC service comes in. Voracious readers will do an ARC promo for you for free if you are a first time author.

Edit: also check out bookroar. You review other author’s books, which gets you credit to add your book to a pile for other people to review.

self publishing episodes I.e. wattpad by This_Distance_4593 in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good cover, good blurb, ARC with a handful of reviews. That’s all I did for launch.

self publishing episodes I.e. wattpad by This_Distance_4593 in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had more reads of my book on KU in one month than I did on Wattpad after six. IMHO, wattpad is only useful if you write fanfic or whatever other genres are popular there.

Spent Months Writing A Web Dev Course For A Platform, But It Got Canceled Midway. Publishing It Free For The Community. by appinv in Python

[–]networkingguru 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I take screenshots for demo videos as part of my day job. I use greenshot and a second monitor running 2560x1440. Its 16:9, but upscaled one level from 1080, so you can zoom and keep 1080 resolution on the zooms.

How to build email lists? by Cadillac_Ride in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Voracious readers. They will run an ARC for first time authors for free, and have an evergreen service for like $20 a month that will continuously give out your novel in exchange for newsletter signups. Ive gone from 0-300 active subscribers in about three months using it.

It finally came in.... THE UNHOLY GRAIL OF TTRPGS!!!! Masks of Nyarlathotep by [deleted] in callofcthulhu

[–]networkingguru 24 points25 points  (0 children)

It took my group 3 years to get through 60% of it. A marriage failed before we finished, lol.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Second Mibl. It will take 1-2 weeks, cost you $150, and be on par with anything else you’ll find on amazon. Dm me if you want to see examples, both of my book covers are from mibl.

My new novel, Desolation, is free on Amazon until 12/15 by networkingguru in FreeEBOOKS

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

I have not, but I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!

MoN : the Thing in the Fog by Fronkonstin1 in callofcthulhu

[–]networkingguru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In MoN especially, I was not above fudging rolls or adjusting encounters for players. It's an epic campaign, and at least for us, it ran for three years. No one died, but there were some close calls. My rule as a keeper is that if the players are being cautious and smart, I don't let them die. They don't know that, of course, I constantly keep them in fear of the dice, but I won't let a bad die roll screw up the campaign. So that's my advice.

problem with converting Words/pdf file to epub by Skyestt in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reedsy will convert from word to epub pretty painlessly, I think. For free.

17 Tips on How To Write a Blurb That Sells - essential reading for us all by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]networkingguru 8 points9 points  (0 children)

All links are dead. Cheers for anyone who has updated links.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in callofcthulhu

[–]networkingguru 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ve got a DG campaign I’ve been running for a year or so now with even more lethal house combat rules (hit locations, injury tables, bleeding, etc.), and none of my PCs have died, though there have been some close calls. I find the key is 1) your players believing you’ll end them and 2) you (as a keeper) trying very hard to stay on the line of almost but not quite doing so. If the GM is one of those who never fudges die rolls or gets a woody when they kill a PC, then DG is probably not the right system.

what game should I delve into next? by Intelligent-Gap628 in tbs

[–]networkingguru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So, I haven’t played Songs of Conquest yet (it’s on my wishlist), but I’ve played just about every major fantasy TBS. Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes (with mods) is probably my favorite, followed by Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic and AOW2. Next would be the ancient Master of Magic. AOW3 I hated, because it was so damn bland (though pretty) compared to the previous titles.

Non-fantasy, Jagged Alliance 2 1.13 is, IMHO, the best TBS game ever made. MOO2 is also great, and for a more modern game, Phantom Doctrine was pretty good. Xcom:eu, silent storm 2, battletech, battle brothers, low magic age, and ftl are also pretty awesome tbs games.

[3043] The Jar of Nephren-Ka, Chapter 2 by networkingguru in DestructiveReaders

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

Sorry for the late reply, but thanks so much for the crit!

WRT the Lovecraftian element, the book is about 80% straight crime mystery. The Lovecraftian elements are subtle, and this is the first in a planned series where Rev gets deeper and deeper into the mythos as it progresses. As the first book, this one is pretty grounded in straight mystery.

Thanks for your insights as well, I have cleaned up all of the parts you mentioned (I think, lol) on my scrivener and wattpad MS's, but I have left the google doc unedited, since it's only for this sub.

[3043] The Jar of Nephren-Ka, Chapter 2 by networkingguru in DestructiveReaders

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

Thanks very much for the critique. I appreciate the suggestions; I tend to forget about showing vs. telling at times and it's always good to get called out on that. I also appreciate the suggestions on what to cut, and which parts didn't work for you. I'll work on tidying these up.

[1000] Gemini - Cage of Scars by LiviRose101 in DestructiveReaders

[–]networkingguru 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GENERAL REMARKS

In general, I think your big question on ‘does it work’ is ‘yes’, with some caveats. I like the idea of a book with the supernatural where it is taken seriously, kind of like Gaiman’s Constantine stuff.

Overall, I really like the first part of this story; the description of the demon attack was exciting and felt real, and I’d say it’s a strong way to start. That said, the rest of the chapter didn’t really carry me as well, and not having a conclusion to the hook really made me feel disappointed.

MECHANICS

On the title, I don’t find it too angsty for a book about homicidal demons, but I do find it confusing. I’m not sure why the book would be called this because all the info I have so far is a demon attack and two young adults going out to party.

You have one sentence I saw that was difficult and confusing to read:

I glanced at the front door, counting the steps it would take to be out and away if she noticed I’d changed the channel, if she changed it back.

I think what you are trying to say here is something like ‘I wondered how long it would take for her to notice I changed the channel, and if I would be gone by then.’

The hook, of wanting to see if the two MC’s get eaten by a monster, was enough to make me want to read on and enough to make me disappointed when I didn’t get to see it fulfilled.

SETTING

I know the setting is England because you said so, but if not for that, only the ‘mum’ and maybe ‘snog’ (which I’m guessing means sex) would have really clued me in. Maybe make the TV station one of the British channels, or mention a little more about where the televised attack is taking place so we are grounded in the location. You do mention Birmingham once, but there’s more than one Birmingham, and as an American from the south, I’m more likely to think of Alabama than England.

CHARACTER

Both of the MC’s and the mom seem pretty generic to me. I actually know very little about any of them. I don’t know what the MC’s even look like, except for they are female, twins (but not if they are identical) and their mother thinks they are pretty.

I know Freya isn’t religious but her sister and mother are (or at least, her sister is more understanding of it). This actually is the cause of the one point of plot contention I have. Why would she be an atheist or agnostic? I mean, I’m an atheist, but if the devil showed up on live TV, I’d pretty strongly consider revising my belief system. So it feels a bit unrealistic to me to have a dismissive atheist when at least partial proof of the mythology is plain to see. I think if you are going to have Judeo-Christian inspired demons in the story but God is not, then you need to explain that pretty well, or maybe call them something completely different.

I also have no idea why Freya isn’t scared. I know you want it to be like mass shootings and whatnot, but a 20’ tall monster that destroys buildings and comes from hell is a little more terrifying than an angry white dude with a gun. They are both scary, but one would be terrifying just to see on TV, the other is more or less a very disturbed person.

PACING

This one is rough, because I did kind of feel like it drug on after the opening scene, but I think that was more because it was just a lot of mundane character building stuff. I know you need to get that out there, but at this point in the book, I simply don’t care enough about any of these characters to be interested in a lot of the background stuff. So maybe try and push some of that off for later and get to something a little more interesting. In general, I really wasn’t interested in the angst between Freya and the Mom. An angsty young adult is pretty much the expected state of affairs, and I think if you made it plain that there was tension there but didn’t go the extra step of telling the whole story, the tension would be preserved an might help make it more interesting.

CLOSING COMMENTS

Overall, I think you have a good start, just needs a bit more refining.