#For Information purposes

[wishingicouldfly]

How Books are Published - Some Personal Insight

I have a bit of experience with how the publishing industry works, and I thought some of you might be interested in taking a peek behind the curtain. For the record, I don’t know anything about the veracity of Maya Henry’s novel (Looking Forward) or what she drew from her own life experiences, the quality of her writing, or her individual path to publication. The following is based on my personal knowledge of the industry.

Under the cut for more.

When someone (celeb or otherwise) has a manuscript, generally speaking, they are going to look for the best deal. One of the “Big 5” publishers (or their subsidiaries) are going to be able to offer the biggest advance, the best PR support, etc. While there are reputable publishers that aren’t considered “Big 5” – those smaller entities aren’t going to be able to afford a big advance on royalties. Sometimes publishers will engage in bidding wars to win the opportunity to publish a book that has wide commercial appeal. This would be known publicly, and the deal would be announced with a flourish and a press release.

Even a smaller deal without a bidding war would be announced through Publisher’s Weekly with information about the book, author, and who made the deal (agent), not announced via the authors Instagram account with no information about the publisher or a link on how to pre-order. See examples: Anne Twist’s book announcement on Publisher’s Weekly: Betty and the Mysterious Visitor (publishersweekly.com) and Lottie Tomlinson’s press release for her 7-way bidding war: The Bookseller - Rights - Blink Publishing wins Lottie Tomlinson's 'inspirational' memoir in seven-way auction

For me, it’s telling that Henry’s book appears to be published by a small press (MARS Book Publishing (marsbookspublishing.com) with little to no platform. This is not inherently bad. However, as of May 17, 2024, the website has typos, does not have links to its staff or published works, and both the Instagram and TikTok links on the website lead to accounts with no posts. If you’re a writer, this would be very concerning to say the least. Huge red flag. Even a small press should be able to promote your product. My advice to someone looking to publish a book would be to stay away from this press, as it doesn’t look to be reputable.

That said, if one was going to self-publish, they’d need to have a publisher listed for the business side of things – that’s the way Amazon publishing works. Most self-published authors create a business name for their own published works. Again, this is not inherently bad or wrong, just pulling the curtain back. If you don’t have a book deal with a reputable publisher, then this is the way you can publish your book. From the outside, it appears that there is a publisher attached to the book.

For both traditional and self-published books, authors should have readers prepared with reviews. Currently (as of 5/17/24) there are no reviews on Goodreads, which again, for me, is a flaw if the goal is a longer shelf life and a wider audience.

Ultimately, the quality of the book will be the determining factor. People who read the book will talk about it, recommend it, or not recommend it. Relying on word of mouth, a salacious story, some entertainment magazines interested in a click, and a big-name singer (albeit allegedly fictionalized) attached to the story is certainly helpful to garner interest in a novel. But even on the third day of release (5/17/24) the book isn’t hitting the top marks on Amazon in its selected categories. (Screen shot taken by me on 5/17/24 at 12:06 p.m. ET).

Note: these ratings update and change constantly, this is simply one snapshot in time.

If I were to make an educated guess, the book was shopped around and declined by reputable publishers, leading the author to decide to self-publish. The author created a publishing company name and published via Amazon KDP. In my opinion, it appears to have been done quickly and sloppily, without the amount of professional input it should have had.

Again, I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of this book’s path to publication, so these are educated guesses from personal experience, not personal knowledge of the author’s process.

Not having a deal announced in PW, not having a legitimate publisher website with links to staff and other published works, and not having an author website are all clues to someone wanting to capitalize on something quickly, not someone wanting to take the time to publish with precision.

I don’t have anything against self-publishing, I’ve done it myself. It’s a great way to get a book out if an author doesn't have a book deal and/or the book doesn’t hit traditional niches. However, I think it’s odd for a pseudo-celebrity, with a seemingly compelling story based on life events, to not have a bigger publishing deal with a wider reach.

The reliance on entertainment news outlets for publicity can temporarily raise the interest level; but, not having a book tour, not having books available in bookstores, not having any sort of commercial push for sales will have a detrimental effect on how this book does in the long run, regardless of how many print interviews the author does about her former relationship. Of course, the author could do all of these things at their own expense, so perhaps this is on the horizon.

One last thing to add, a self-published author, with no publishing contract or commitment to a company, has the absolute final decision about everything to do with the book from the content, the packaging, and edits, and the PR.

Self-published books can do quite well in the market, when well written and promoted. I'll be curious to see how this one does.

(For reference, I have professional insight into publishing with Big 5 publishers, smaller independent publishers, educational publishers, and with self-publishing through an independent press).

[nmotypdfsfg]

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 331

Demon twins? Demon twins. 

Damian? Good at the assassin side of things, at least for a four year old, but Danyal? He’s okay, but he’s far better at things like poisons and bookkeeping. Which is honestly? Okay. They’re the League of Shadows, and sure a majority of the members are assassins, but it’s definitely not all there are. So? Danyal starts getting medical training. 

Not to say that either of the boys don’t know their fair share of violence and healing- it’s just better to let them play to their strengths. One doesn’t keep a league over centuries if they just have one type of warrior, or even just warriors. A variety is needed. 

So one gets trained more towards the business side of things. Damian may be better at wielding the weapons and killing- even if neither have had their first kill quite yet- but Danyal shows far more proficiency at acting, at masking who he is and gathering information. 

Damian, when he’s first sent to their Father, doesn’t mention his twin. Not because he’s jealous or hates him or anything like that. You just don’t talk about someone in an undercover mission in the League, and it’s not something he realizes isn’t a rule everywhere. 

Needless to say, the Bats have more than a mild freakout the first time Damian mentions a twin who will be coming to the manor now that his mission is over. 

[eeriethacus]

A second part with Aaron to match next to the Andrew piece

Been listening to July by Noah Cyrus

[skylie-spiderlillis]

I haven't seen anyone talking about this so this is my time to shine and finally find a use for my autism. Molly is a (very old) slang word for homosexual. It's from the same origins of "Mary-Ann", sort of (Moll was a pet form of Mary).

When Edwin says "perhaps we should follow up with this Molly character." He literally just means a homosexual person, that's what he thinks he is saying.

Yeah there is no point just enjoy this information.

[imagines-by-cleo]

Just a little idea I wanted to share with the girlies: Roy Mustang's flame alchemy works by manipulating the oxygen density in the air then igniting it and meaning that since he has complete control over the oxygen in a room he could hypothetically choke someone without even touching them.

[qsmpbutwithsignlanguage]

I don't know how to phrase this any better, but I seriously think that Léa needs to get a lawyer or legal advisor and step away from Twitter for a moment. I get that she feels a moral obligation to provide fans and former fans with a constant flow of all the information that she has available (which is an important thing, and she has been the main source of inside information since this all happened), and I know that she likely cannot pay for a lawyer herself on account of the fact that this whole issue arose because she (alongside others) were not getting paid.

However, regardless of whether or not leaking Quackity's personal information was a purely human mistake rendered lesser on account of the labor laws broken by him and his studio (in her own tweets, as her own argument), it should not have happened. Bottom line is that she rushed to provide the internet with information about the situation, and she made her argument, her voice, and her credibility lesser as a result of that.

Not only did she do what could be argued as a crime in more than one nation (though I am a bit iffy here; I am not a law graduate or student of any sort), but she directly harmed Quackity, and possibly his family, who had no part in this situation.

Her need to get information out as quickly as she can as the inside force led to this massive mistake, and no matter how you want to frame it (because it is still a mistake), it really should not have happened. It harmed both Léa and Quackity (though I would stand to argue one more than the other), and it could have been avoided if there was someone else working behind the scenes, or if Léa had simply checked the screenshot over a few times before posting it.

I'm not certain how to end this post, but I've thought this for a long time. This is a legal situation in which she is one of the primary witnesses. With such a large part of this playing out on Twitter, in a borderline trial of public appeal (not sure how much better I can phrase this, because such a massive part is involving the opinion of fans) she needs to understand how important and influential her words are, and how catastrophic it can be to both her cause and Quackity's if she messes up.

[maeamian]

Weird to me that Save and Quit has become less and less of a video game industry standard, replaced with "Are you sure? All unsaved progress will be lost."

My cynical assumption for this phenomenon is that it makes the psychological barrier of quitting a bit higher thereby increasing playtime which leads to etc etc etc.

I want to be clear I have no particular insight beyond I miss save and quit, but I'm sick of going 'did I save?' to myself after having just saved and I feel like at minimum tacking on a system that suppresses that warning if there's no unsaved progress isn't an unreasonable ask.

[like-icarus-burns]

sometimes during buck’s deep dives, he ends up calling eddie and ranting about whatever he’s learning about and eddie will just sit there and listen, content to hear about whatever buck was currently learning about.

after the third or fourth time that buck did this, eddie decided to take notes about what buck was saying just to make sure he remembered everything, and so that he could mention it later and if buck practically bloomed with happiness, then that’s just a happy coincidence.

[metanarrates]

orv's usage of symbolism is interesting because it rarely has symbols As Simply Symbols. a good 95% of the time, its symbols are often primarily plot-related mechanical stuff, like the fourth wall, or unbroken faith. they are things that move the plot along and are used as tools in-universe to solve problems. one of the genius elements of the skills/stigmata system is that those abilities do INCREDIBLE heavy lifting for characterization, by both being talents the characters can apply in ways that reveal who they are as people, and by being symbols that reveal aspects of a character by the mere fact of the character possessing them.

this is very unlike a lot of other stories! most of the time, if something exists in a work to be a symbol, the symbolism is its primary narrative function, and any other plot-moving functions are secondary or nonexistent. and most of the time, that's totally fine. orv has symbols that work that way too: the white and black coats (and by extension white page/black letters) and the squared circle. they're images that serve to inform the reader about integral ideas to the story.

but it's brilliant for a story that is primarily fantasy-action-adventure to take its mechanical plot items or skills, which are incredibly necessary to the progression most fantasy action stories, and then have them be incredibly symbolic. it's not new ground to break, either. this is something a lot of fantasy stories do. but it feels very unique because of how symbolically charged nearly EVERYTHING is, and how in-depth the symbolism often is! especially for the really major plot mechanics (fourth wall as ultimate example) they often serve as metaphor for a number of things simultaneously. it makes for a reading experience that is very engaging because there's always so much going on, and it often makes the reader feel clever for noticing it!

[nmotypdfsfg]

[annt-i]

@ihopemymumdoesntseethis Recommended Alex training at Brecon Beacons with K-Unit. I decided to go with the scene where he pickpockets matches from... one of his superiors idk, and he gives them to K-unit.

[autisticlalna]

"GUYS I THINK VIKING REALLY LIKES HIS SWORD." -solar betweenlands

sigh. and, speaking of spacetime siblings being worrying...

Viking uploaded an uncut version of his perspective of the trial. neat! i was there for it live, and also have been watching everyone's edited versions as they come out, so i wasn't planning to watch it. plus, before the video dropped, he posted a preview with some blurred text that people in the SBK Discord were speculating on, and said this:

i really should stop taking him at face value.

because @amberstormblade discovered, yes, Viking did hide something in the uncut vod.

specifically: there is a bit brushed over in edited perspectives so far where Viking tries to give Avid his sword and Cloneby picks it up instead. Viking corners them and demands for her to give his sword back, and she shoots him down saying she'll give it back after the trial. Viking keeps pressuring him, Cloneby refuses to back down, and Viking finally snaps and kills him.

and then, in the video, this happens.

It's mine. No one else's. Sword, mine. Give it back. My sword. It's special. Don't touch it.

there is something special about Viking's sword, it's just... not something i thought would be relevant to Skyblock Kingdoms.

back when Viking was naming his sword, Solar suggested something specific. back during Dominion SMP, Viking's sword in season 1 was Pointy Object, and his sword in season 2 was the ominously-named Sword of Forgetting.

Summertime Viking's sword is named Pointy Stick of Forgetting.

uh oh.

[phoenixyfriend]

I try not to make a lot of original posts on topics I don't actually have any expertise on, but I haven't seen a whole lot of posts going around that actually... explain what happened and why? Like, the actual order of events, the history, and so on. I want to reblog reference posts and explanations by people who actually know what they're talking about, but I haven't seen anything that hits the buttons I need to actually get a political situation... but I have seen some stuff on other platforms.

So here are some videos I've personally found useful in understanding Israel-Palestine, because that's the format I've found most useful in processing information of this nature:

Why Israel was Originally Attacked from RealLifeLore (explains the decades of political dynamics, internal demographic tensions, and power shifts leading up to the current conflict; notably the best I've seen at actually explaining what 'Israeli Occupation' actually means)

Israel-Hamas War: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (commentary on the actual current situation in terms of who's getting attacked, why, and what the international ramifications so far are)

What's Happening in Israel and Why with Nathan Thrall from Adam Conover, series Factually (a discussion with an on-the-ground journalist about what life was like on the ground for Palestinian people in the areas under Israeli control during the last few years, just up to the attacks themselves)

I'm not going to claim these are comprehensive or completely unbiased (there are a few moments where I'm not entirely sure of the bias levels myself), but for people like myself who came into all this unsure of what the actual situation even is, I think these are a solid set to build up an basic understanding from which to put together opinions on future information.

I can't tell anyone what to think about how or why any of this is happening. I can only really tell you that what's going on right now is a crime on the level of attempted genocide, and that the years leading up to that have been an absolute mess on almost all fronts.

Again, I have no expertise on this subject. I just know what kind of video essay, political commentary, and interview style makes things understandable to me, personally, and might work for others. Please be courteous and kind in the comments and tags, as I am only sharing this because I haven't seen such a resource making the rounds yet, not actually trying to sway anyone in a particular direction beyond "the mass death needs to stop."

If you know of similar, relatively unbiased* resources, feel free to share.

* By 'relatively unbaised,' I don't mean taking or not taking a side; I just mean that it doesn't try to hide some information or other in favor of pushing a narrative, doesn't try to generalize a population, or doesn't seem to be trying to use emotional gut reactions to get readers or viewers to jump past reason or compassion.

[stergeon]

"I was laughing but at the same time I really wanted to give El a hug, I felt so bad for her"

Edelgard: Thank you for your concern but I am quite alright now.

Um, what's going on with this?

Byleth: Hey, I'm not complaining. Ever since we got together my squat game has been insane. My ass has never looked so good.

[gayofthefae]

Putting Mike in Will's plotline in season 2 is one thing, continuing to single them out in group settings is another.

Why did Mike need to be the one to bring Will back inside from the arcade?

It could have been all of them. It could have been all of them. And maybe the other two were still too distracted with the idea of MadMax to notice too much but Mike did and that's how you get their same plot the rest of the time, who knows.

But that was their "it was a seven" moment of the season. That was their season opener "reminder, they're gonna get together" little hint, because nobody really cares if you know who's gonna end up together. They know you care more how. They did yet another by having them sit separately at the movie theatre in season 3.

Byler not just because of their obvious romantic moments or unexplained actions. Byler not just because of their maximized one-on-one screentime in plotlines. Byler because in large group settings where they are and continue after-the-fact to be all together, they make sure to have one of them part from the group to be joined only by the other before going back together. There is no reason for this. The other boys could have noticed Will was gone with Mike. Will could have told Mike it was a seven quietly while the other boys were busy talking about Steve and Nancy. All four of them could have sat together at the movie theatre.

But they didn't. But they didn't.