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This is more of a problem on Facebook and Twitter, but there are some fellow authors who get a tad... upset when you talk about money and royalty earnings.

Needless to say, my frankness about how royalties work and just how little many of us are earning from our labor has drawn the ire of a few people, even here on Tumblr.hell.

I'm not particularly bothered by this. In my view, they're the same people who won't discuss wages in the workplace because they don't want anyone else to earn what they do. They know the system is unfairly rigged, but they like it that way because they're scared if more people are educated about how things work, they'll lose whatever competitive edge they think they have, thus enforcing the status quo.

Needless to say, I don't care for this view.

I'm very much a "holy shit, two cakes" kind of creator. I also very firmly believe in pulling people up behind me and spreading the wealth of information that was shared freely with me by other like-minded individuals who also believe that the mysteries around publishing are gatekeeping bullshit and everyone deserves the chance to earn money from their creative endeavors, not just the people who can afford to.

Anyway, David Gaughran's 'Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish And Why You Should' is an invaluable resource for indie authors and provides great insight into how publishing and distribution work. It is available for free through the retailers listed on his website.

If you don't want to publish exclusively through Amazon, draft2digital.com does global ebook and also paperback distribution. (I've only used it for ebooks, but I'll be trying out their paperback options for my next book.) You can pair it up with a books2read account to create easy-to-post buy links. Draft2Digital also allows for distribution through library lending services like Overdrive. So that's neat. (NB: if you use d2d, you can't use Kindle Unlimited, so be aware of what links you have active and where if you decide to enroll in KU. You can always opt for wide distribution again once your KU time expires.)

D2D also recently partnered with FindawayVoices.com for audiobook distribution. You can find voice actors there, or you can upload your own files if you already have them. You can submit to Audible through them, too, but you'll earn a pittance more if you upload directly through Audible. Findaway also allows for library lending distribution through Libby and several other global equivalents.

If you need ISBNs, you can buy them cheaper in bulk from Bowker at myidentifiers.com

Individual storefront options like Payhip.com and Gumroad.com are also great ways to allow people to buy directly from you, though I soured on Gumroad after the whole NFT thing and their CEO harassing people on Twitter over it. Payhip is now my preferred storefront, and as an added bonus, they calculate VAT in European countries as well, so that's one less thing for me as an indie author to work out. As an added bonus, Payhip can be directly integrated into your author website if you have one. It's a feature I'll be implementing soon.

itch.io also allows for the sale and distribution of ebook files, though I haven't used it yet.

If you don't have the means to hire a cover designer or the means to do it yourself in photoshop, Canva.com has some decent-ish ebook templates. Just make sure the images and fonts you're using have the right licenses for commercial use.

Editing and formatting are also extremely important, though I know not everyone can afford them. If you can, I highly suggest doing so and shelling out extra to have them format your work across mediums. Ebook formatting is different from paperback formatting, and it can look very strange if you just try to format an ebook into a pdf. It is a skill you can teach yourself (plenty of youtube videos) if you really want to, but I prefer to throw money at my editors, who provide formatting as an additional service. Whatever you can afford to do to streamline the process is money well spent.

Also, do not be shy about using affiliate links to sell your work. Authors lose a solid chunk of money to places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc., in distribution fees. Whatever pennies you can scrape back through affiliate links for directing traffic to those sites is hard-earned--and it is literal pennies sometimes. You can also integrate any affiliate links you do have into draft2digital, so they auto-generate, which is handy.

When it comes to paperbacks, BookShop.org offers the best affiliate earnings, and a percentage of the sale goes toward supporting indie bookstores. They do not take that percentage from your earnings, they pay it themselves. Libro.FM is the audiobook equivalent of BookShop.org, and they also give a percentage of sales to supporting indie book stores.

Anyway, I hope that helps someone. Good luck out there.

Also, if you're the person who sent me the irate email about "giving away trade secrets," feel free to die mad about it. 😘

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  I re-blogged this (the first time) in 2014. Today, I tried half a dozen times to re-blog it, and it wouldn’t work. So, I saved the images and re-posted it. I hope it helps make life a little easier. :-)   The original post is by iraffiruse.

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Exits my Google Doc covered in blood not to imply I have been killing off or otherwise torturing my characters, but to convey that my WIP is currently lying on the operating table with its organs in the process of rearrangement

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Enriched uranium sword with a lead sheathe that is rumored to slowly kill its owner in exchange for god killing power.

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ask game !! send a 🎵and i’ll tell you three songs on loop at the time of writing a wip (if you don’t write with music, pick three that fit the vibes)

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stole this but hiii <3

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Please share this!!!!! As you resident vitiligan and fellow artist I am here to educate people on how to properly create a character with vitiligo and other things to keep in mind about the disorder.

Only 1% of the entire world’s population has vitiligo but I see so many artists making characters with it when they sometimes don’t even know what vitiligo is and pass it off as “skin pigmentation”. Like— what does that even mean??? XD

It’s not an aesthetic and it won’t get you “diversity points” so stop romanticizing vitiligo!

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Send me a ▶️ + an oc and I’ll share a plot element or scene from their story that I’m excited for

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you know what trope pisses me off the most? when the protag is pointing a gun at somebody and they’re like “you won’t do it. you’re too good” and the person holding the gun is like oh shit i am and they slowly lower the gun while the other person laughs. WHAT THE FUCK. if i were there, and somebody told me “you won’t do it” i would immediately shoot them dead without hesitating. who are you to tell me what i wont do. musty bitch

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A REINTRODUCTION —

[[ previous wip intro || spotify playlist || taglist ]]

genre → high fantasy market → young adult status → second draft et cetera → fairytale-inspired ; bonding through crisis ; mayfly-december romance ; trauma as far as the eye can see —

“I’m sorry, Father.” “You’re sorry?” A heavy footfall, next to her—she flinched and scrambled back, and Liev stayed where he was, staring down at her. His face was drawn up in a snarl that belonged to a wolf, not a man. “Do you know what you have done?”

Irina would give her heart and soul to hunt a snow bear. The massive, ancient creatures live near the edge of the world, far from where any mortal man may tread. When she finds evidence of one in the woods, she breaks from her family's hunt to chase after it—but spilling a cub's blood across the snow only makes her a murderer.

Then her brother Fedya is stolen from her by a shadow—a stranger in the dusk—and she can't go home without him.

“The price for a life is a life. You will make a fine replacement, I think.”

The palace at the end of the world has stood empty for hundreds of years. Its only living resident, the vindictive Prince of Always Night, plays host to a court of souls within its glowing walls. He's the farthest thing from an arbiter of justice, but when the scales of magic shift in his mother's favor, he must right them as quickly as possible.

The hunter's younger brother plays the part of the bear. The prince plays the part of the witch, offering Irina her solution: If she completes three tasks, he will return Fedya.

If she fails, she will lose him forever.

She was not the hero of this story; she was only Irina Lievna, and Irina Lievna had to find her brother and get home before they both were trapped in this cursed place for eternity.

cast →

irina lievna ; the hunter, desperate for glory malchik ; the faithful hound the prince of always night ; the god of small favors fedya lievsyn ; the witch's only son kseniya sychina ; the lover's ghost liev sun-wolf ; the champion the queen of always sun ; the god of grand ideals sonya green-witch ; the dead god's believer great-grandmother ; the blackcurrant's memory

taglist →

@veneritia @alternativeforensicscientist @starsfallings @quilloftheclouds @youareshauni @writingbyjillian @soul-write @josephinegerardywriter @write-the-stars-and-shadows @ladywithalamp @endymions @romantic-antics @judelilje @llesbianwrites @limpid-liar @magic-is-something-we-create @peepos-prose @maskedlady @berinswriting @jaimistoryteller @pen-of-roses @snowinks @yuriperhaps @socialmediasocrates @lord-fallen -- ask to be added or removed!

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10, 14 and 18 for the fan-tastic ask game :-)

Thank you for the ask!

10 (answer for hollow endings): Freysa's death scene would probably make for some really cool, and also sad fan art. I love stuff where characters are in water so the whole slowly sinking into the ocean would look cool to me.

14 (answered for Hollow Endings and Beware of the Mermaid):

For Hollow Endings: I feel like Freysa would be the fan favorite with the combination of being badass and emotionally damaged.

For Murder Girl Gang: defo the mermaid love interest, Kayonara. She's a soft pretty mermaid girl, what's not to love.

18: most of my wips have a romance plot, whether it's the main plot or a sub plot, so there could defo be some shippy stuff (I for one like thinking about modern au Vica/Freysa) Hollow Endings has looooots of angst potential.

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I may or may not be spending all my writing juices on fanfic rn that's why I haven't posted any updates ksksk

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FAN-TASTIC ASK GAME

The questions say WIP, but they can be answered for finished projects as well!

What kind of readers would be fans of your WIP?

What do you plan to do with this WIP when you finish it? If you HAVE finished, how long did it take?

Assign your WIP a color.

Assign your WIP a taste.

Assign your WIP an astrological sign.

Describe a trope present in your WIP.

You’ve published or shared your WIP and it develops rabid fandom. What’s the fandom known for?

Create an incorrect quote meme for one of your OCs.

You’re browsing the Internet and you find a weird piece of unlicensed fan merch for your WIP. What is it?

Which scene from your WIP would make good fanart fodder?

Write a 5 star review for your WIP.

Write a 1 star review for your WIP.

What line from your WIP would your fandom constantly quote?

Which character from your WIP becomes the fan favorite?

Someone creates a tumblr fan account for your WIP. What’s their username?

Make a meme for your WIP.

You should’ve expected it, but you’re still surprised when you find out people aggressively ship (which non-canon pairing of OCs?)

What kinds of fics could people write about your WIP?

You attend a convention and see someone cosplaying one of your OCs! How are they dressed?

Describe an interesting headcanon fans would create for your WIP or OCs.

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