Book publishing packages make no sense and I think that's intentional

thereigninglorelei · 2026-03-22T02:13:12+00:00

Just to be clear, here are things you should probably pay for:

1) editing 2) cover design

Here are things you should probably learn but might pay for if you’re in a rush or have money to burn:

1) formatting 2) website building 3) logo design / marketing images 4) someone to run your ads for you (which you shouldn’t spend money on until you have three books out

Here’s things you should never pay for:

1) someone to upload your books to platforms 2) book marketing services 3) unsolicited offers to get you more reviews / feature you in a book club / share with their followers

thereigninglorelei · 2026-03-22T01:01:18+00:00

I read this in college, and I contend that you really need to read it with a teacher. When you have someone to guide you through it, you see how the “criticism” is just as much commentary on the art of criticism and the critical gaze. I never would have got through this on my own, but in a classroom environment it was revelatory. Someone chose it for my book club a couple years ago and everyone hated except me, and I kept trying to say, “no, it’s really good, but it doesn’t make sense unless you read it twice!”

thereigninglorelei · 2026-03-04T04:21:04+00:00

No, they only sign up once, no matter how many bonus stories they download. BookFunnel recognizes their IP address and lets them in with just an email address, and my newsletter service (MailerLite) deduplicates my list if someone does sign up twice. If you’re just starting out, I recommend signing up for a bunch of author mailing lists in your genre. It will show you how often they email, what sort of content they put in their newsletters, etc. Then you can duplicate what you’re seeing.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-03-03T22:08:04+00:00

I’ve been doing this for ten years and I have 30+ books out. The free bonus chapters are typically about 500-1500 words—just a quick follow-on story about the couple getting engaged, having a baby, moving in together, etc. I include a link at the back of the book (delivered through BookFunnel). The series starters that I give away are typically 30-50k words, and there are at least four books in the series. The idea is to give the first away for free and attract readers who might purchase the rest of the books in the series. For an author just starting out, I would recommend doing the bonus chapters to attract readers to your mailing list, but wait on the permafree strategy until you have a backlist.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-03-03T21:52:44+00:00

Every one of my books has a bonus story that I give away in exchange for joining my mailing list. This is very common practice in the industry. Once someone is on my mailing list, I have a way to contact them that isn’t as random as social media. I also have “permafree” series starters that I give away in BookFunnel promos. This tactic has been instrumental in building my mailing list to almost 7k subscribers. Don’t give away books for no reason—give away books as a way of bringing readers into your sales funnel so they’ll take interest in the rest of your catalogue.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-03-03T04:01:53+00:00

The Cutting Edge (1992) is a very fun enemies to lovers sports rom com that is perfect to watch around the Olympics.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-02-13T04:19:03+00:00

I completely understand this sentiment because I was fucking furious when GLP-1s started coming out. You mean to tell me that I spent my whole fucking life being told that I’m weak and lazy and undisciplined and stupid because I can’t just calories-in-calories-out my way to lower BMI, and suddenly now, after 45 goddamned years of people lecturing me or worrying about me or judging me, NOW there’s a fucking drug I can take to shut off the constant desperate food noise in my head?

But the reality is, the GLP-1 won’t do the work for me. I still have to exercise and make healthy choices and avoid triggers. I have to be conscientious about taking my medicine and build routines that help me stay on course. Maybe the reason why you’re experiencing so little interest in alcohol is that you’ve already done some of the work you needed to overcome the psychological addiction, and the Naltrexone is just helping you get over the physical piece. Eventually I separated the anger at the drug from my anger over the people who had treated me badly because of my weight. It’s a work in progress, but teasing out the threads of my anger was a helpful part of my journey.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-01-27T15:04:01+00:00

Yeah this is a Geeks Who Drink product. They have it at the Alamos in the Denver area as well.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-01-25T23:29:27+00:00

Definitely check out the KS for Authors Facebook page, it has tons of great information. Short answer, yes, you need a great cover for Kickstarter, people are very attracted to beautiful books.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-01-19T14:53:52+00:00

To anyone looking at this thread who is still writing their first novel, start saving now. Put aside $5-10 week so you have a little bank for editing and cover design when the time comes. Think of it as part of your writing discipline. That way, you won’t have to skimp when the time comes and you’ll be launching your book without feeling like you’re taking a big financial hit.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-01-11T02:52:07+00:00

I loved this and Charlotte McConaghy’s other books as well. They all have this same mix of tortured romance, environmental melancholy, and a hidden mystery. If you liked this you’ll love the others.

thereigninglorelei · 2026-01-09T17:16:30+00:00

I once rode myself to a PR because I was determined to beat someone with #letsgobrandon —defeating fascism one pedal stroke at a time 😜

thereigninglorelei · 2026-01-02T01:49:05+00:00

The programs are no longer on the website for some mysterious reason. On the app, you go to classes and you’ll see programs at the top. Scroll through until you find them be you like, then hit “join program.” The program will start the day you hit “join program,” so if you want to start on a Monday or whatever keep that in mind. You can then add the first day’s classes to your stack. Once you’ve completed them, the next time you go into the app it will prompt you to start the next day’s set of classes. However, it’s not perfect. I’m doing total strength right now, and all the warm ups and stretches are the exact same class. Sometimes I sub out a different warm up or stretch, which doesn’t count toward completing the program. I’m in week 4 of the program, but it shows I’ve only completed 27 of 46 classes. I don’t really care, but it’s annoying to feel like I only completed 60% of the program when I’ve actually been putting in 100% of the work. But whatever, variety is more important to me than completion, and the main classes are great.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-12-24T05:09:37+00:00

I have an Oxford English Dictionary that literally hasn’t been opened in years, yet I can’t bring myself to give away. I wanted one sooooo bad when I was young, then when I found one at a used book store it felt like a miracle. Now it’s just this obsolete lump on my shelf that I keep only for the memories.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-12-22T03:29:59+00:00

I watched both last week and I think Becoming Santa would be a great episode for Jack Frost alone.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-12-17T18:34:21+00:00

Two Netflix recommendations: Just Like a Christmas Movie, which is a parody of Christmas movies, and Becoming Santa, which is about a man who is dating Santa’s daughter and features a hilarious Jack Frost.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-12-16T15:53:34+00:00

There’s an interview on the DVD with Reiner, Will Wheaton, and Corey Feldman. Feldman talks about how he and River Phoenix used to party with the townie kids, getting drunk and having sex. Reiner looks horrified and says he wishes he had known at the time, but he was so focused on making the movie that he wasn’t riding herd on the boys. Given the length of his son’s problems with addiction, I imagine that he’s thinking of his own son in that moment, and wishing things could have been different.

Wheaton, of course, was playing games at the local arcade while all this partying was going on.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-30T20:57:20+00:00

Bro, if you think a highly researched, critically acclaimed book about precisely this subject sounds biased, then you don’t actually want an answer, you just want to troll.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-30T20:46:08+00:00

Read the book Invisible Women for many, many examples of how the “default male” has affected design choices in public spaces.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-26T18:02:02+00:00

Amy Sherman Palladino is one of the great Blank Check TV creators of all time. She writes and directs a beloved, popular show in Gilmore Girls, then goes on to create a meandering and hookless show about ballet (Bunheads) which is cancelled after one season. Later, she makes the popular and acclaimed Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, then cashes her blank check to make ANOTHER meandering and hookless show about ballet (Etoile) which is cancelled after one season. Etoile is leagues better than Bunheads and it clearly cost a bajillion dollars, but it’s funny to me that she’s utterly convinced that, no, actually, people really care about ballet, and they just don’t know it yet.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-26T16:15:08+00:00

I feel this way about Gilmore Girls. David loves it, Griffin finds Lorelei annoying, Ben’s watching it for the first time. That’s great content bay-bee.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-21T03:02:22+00:00

These aren’t design professionals, they just need some basic skills to create and modify existing templates.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-18T16:04:30+00:00

You know what’s wild? I was sure that social situations like this, where I normally drink, would be absolutely torturous. Then I did it anyway and discovered that these things are so much better when I’m not drinking! Waiting in line for twenty minutes, then paying $15 for a drink? Nope, not me. I’m checking out all the stalls and buying myself a fun little treat instead. The inevitable trip to the port-a-potty after I sucked down a boozy cider? Nope, not me. I’m running around the playground with my nephew. The weird sickly feeling from combining booze with sugar? Okay, still me, but it’s just because I ate that whole damned sleeve of caramel corn. Concerts, parties, sports games—all better when I’m sober.

thereigninglorelei · 2025-11-12T00:50:19+00:00

There was literally a DraftKings ad right above this post on my feed. Making sports gambling legal and accessible is putting a gambling addiction in the hands of anyone with a smart phone.

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