#How to Make Money with a Book

[thatfrenchacademic]

Got once again told that I was "good at making conversation" and had "people and communication skills"

and that is the biggest lie I ever heard

so a girl will end up writing some sort of "practical guide to making conversation, by a recovering agoraphobic".

But also. If you need a "how to people when no social skills" guide right now, my absolute no bullshit guide is The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook (2018, 3rd ed), esp chap 8 and 10. Includes: how long is appropriate to look at someone in the eyes? What are good conversation topics for your neighbors, your colleagues, your boss, your date? How to safely practice social skills/conversation? How to handle shaking/blushing/sweating/nervous stuttering? How is talking to a group different from talking to one person? How to gracefully end a conversation? How to ask for a change at your work schedule? How to start getting better at it *progressively* without being overwhelmed?

It's not a feel good self help/self improvement book, it is not a magic remedy with secret formula, it is more of a "let's learn a new language", with homework and notes to take. Give it a try, it is very easy to find it online

[duckprintspress]

Given how common it is for book posts that say "just give me the book blurb! stop with all the other things!" to get tens of thousands of notes, I feel the need to say, as a tiny micro-publisher: if only sharing the book blurb sold books, trust me, we wouldn't be wasting our time with all the other shenanigans.

But just sharing the blurb doesn't work. Most people scroll right by.

And so we try every single method we can think of, including sharing the blurb among them, to try to get whatever eyes we can on the book.

Of course the description of the story is the best way to sell the book and get people interested, but it only works if y'all actually read it. And getting most people to the point where they'll read anything that isn't already immediately and actively part of their existing interests is fucking hard, so we use splashy graphics and short hand to try to hook people, and then hope that when they read the blurb, that hook will go from "oh, that's worth a glance" to "oh, that's worth a buy."

Also: just because the exact post you saw promoting a book didn't include the blurb doesn't mean other posts about the book don't!

Sorry. I just have seen so much of that recently (and not just because of that poll about "what convinces you to buy," I actually found that whole poll extremely interesting and informative) that I'm kinda losing patience with it.

Just posting the blurb doesn't work.

Signed, someone who sells books for a living, or at least tries to.

[gastlygallows]

Making fun of Elon and celebrating Luigi are two things tumblr and 4chan are united on

I'm feeling a 4chumblr rekindled romance in 2025 mark your Bingo cards

[whatsupspaceman]

you know i truly never expected a series based on comics by gerard way of all people to decide to end on the note that “this ending is good because all the deeply traumatized queer fucked up freaks died and everyone who was ever meaningful in their lives was better off without them after all ♥️” HEARTWARMING ! but really what did i expect from people adapting comic books

[nenoname]

still love how the book starts out with stan beating up the statue and taking ford's discarded one dollar bills and then ends with stan completely destroying bill and ripping up money just to spite him

[icebluecyanide]

The annoying thing about continuity moving on and contradicting itself as it does in Alex Rider (book series) is that I'm sitting here feeling like a conspiracy theorist for being like 'I don't think the Cray job was in any way Scorpia related'.

Like, obviously Scorpia is the plot hook for the next book so maybe that's why it's not mentioned more in Eagle Strike itself, but in Scorpia there's still no mention of the Damian Cray thing being a Scorpia operation. Mrs Rothman says she 'heard about Yassen' and mentions Cray casually as one of the people Alex killed. There's every implication that this is the first they come into contact with Alex, barring the John Rider connection, and that Nile almost killed him simply for sneaking into the Widow's Palace and asking questions. Even at the end of Scorpia, Mrs Rothman wants him dead for what John did, not any of Alex's own previous interference. MI6 in the same book talk about how Scorpia hasn't been very active recently, and at no point link Yassen to Scorpia's recent actions.

In fact, it's not until Snakehead when the Sayle job gets retconned to have been linked to Scorpia with them supplying the virus. The implication in Stormbreaker itself seems to point towards the Chinese government in a 'we can't say this outright but' kind of way, although fair on Ahorz for trying to retcon that kind of xenophobic plot.

But basically, I don't think Yassen was actually working for Scorpia when he was helping Cray in the books, and I don't think there's anything to suggest he would need to worry about Scorpia when thinking about his retirement plans either. He certainly doesn't when we see his POV in the book itself, and he considers killing Cray multiple times and washing his hands off the job, with no indication that he would have to answer to someone else for his actions.

[charli3emily]

Guys I might tart an etsy and I'm making design ideas pins but I was wondering if anyone would actually be interested in this design

[youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal]

So monster high g1 put Clawdeen and Toralei together in time for a Pride comic… they got together off page… and now new stuff is released where they’ve broken up, again off page. Like 2 months after it was announced they were together at all.

[illegally-blind-and-deaf]

I don't think that Pippin Took is not intelligent, or smart.

I think he's an incredibly bright, young hobbit with the self-preservation of any 16-year-old human who just wants to know and understand everything.

Going by the books (because I love Pippin in the books), it's fairly clear that he quite clever, just reckless and very, very curious to the point that not knowing something is an irritating itch that he just has to scratch.

To me, Pippin seems like the kind of child who was told that he asked too many questions and needed to sit down and be quiet, which led to him seeking answers himself, regardless of how dangerous it might seem. Hence dropping the stone down the well (who doesn't want to see how deep a very dark pit goes?), touching the palantír (in his defense, he didn't really want to but he felt something pulling him towards it. Whether it was his curiosity or something ulterior in the palantír is up for interpretation in my mind), even joining the conspiracy to uncover what Frodo was really doing when he sold Bag End.

Pippin is just someone who craves knowledge and is unafraid to go and find answers himself, probably because everyone constantly tells him that he asks too many questions and that he can't possibly wish to know everything.

[asexualbookbird]

Okay, so, I didn't read a whole lot this month. Hear me out. I'm not mad about it. I got SO much crafting done across different mediums. Nothing to show for it, really, but I'm having so much fun being creative in a way I haven't felt in a very long time. I think I might actually be able to set up some type of tiny shop about it, too. Got my embroidery machine up and running in a way that allows me to create my own designs, and when I tell you the creative juices are flowing, boy howdy it's like a dam has broken. I also started pokemon Violet, and while that's slow going, I'm having a lot of fun with it. So, no I'm not mad at my reading habits this month.

In the Ravenous Dark by AM Strickland ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Phew. Okay. This was. A very bumpy ride. The first half was a slog, honestly, and the writing and pacing is not great, but the last third or so reminded me a lot of Beyond the Ruby Veil which was also not outstanding, but it was fun. Fucked up, feral lesbians. Poly family friendship going on. The plot is so basic, the magic neat, the worldbuilding lacking. I would not read it again, but at the end I'm not entirely mad I did.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch ⭐️ - I don't even know what to say. I didn't expect to be wowed, I went in expecting no more than a mediocre thriller. What I got was A Book Written By A Man™️. How many times can a guy fridge one wife? Infinitely, apparently! I was semi on board until he started fighting his other selves. That was dumb as shit.

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - *Gordon Ramsay voice* Finally, a good fucking book. This took me most of the month to read, but I'm not mad about it. It was nice to sit quietly with this book, and while it took it's time, I never felt bored with it. I can't really pinpoint what keeps it from five stars, and maybe my rating will change in the future, but I did really enjoy this. It has a wonderful cast, everyone felt very real and well rounded, it was bloody, but never felt gratuitously so. It was a good book and I very much want to continue the series.

Favorite of the month was most definitely Art of the Prophecy. Kind of unfair because Dark Matter was such a disaster, but Ravenous Dark had it's perks. Mainly being batshit crazy and ending in polyamory.

My friends, as always, have been incredibly kind to me. I could not have gotten through the last couple months without them. Would like to do a couple of buddy reads in the coming months. I really did like taking my time with a longer book, and I think I'm ready to tackle the final book in the Rook and Rose trilogy. My library also finally got a copy of The Bone Maker on audio and while I haven't listened to an audiobook since December, I'm excited to give that a listen. As always, be kind whenever possible.

[bbutterflies]

ninoir…..

[songofwizardry]

it’s actually such a difficult time to be someone who’s unironically and genuinely and wholeheartedly into space travel, and believes in space for everyone, and thinks it’s bonkers that we have had zero (0) people who aren’t white American men who have set foot on the moon, but also who hates Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. (but also tbh it’s been hard for us Elon Musk hating space nerds out here for a long time.)

like I’m 100% not a fan of this billionaire Katy Perry space tourism… thing, but also. you don’t gotta write off space travel as a concept entirely as always imperialist/the realm of billionaires/pointless/etc. it doesn’t have to be this way come with me and I can show you a better world.

[thestarfishface]

Hello!! I absolutely adore your content, especially castoff, which is why I wanted to ask: Will Castoff's printed version be available in bookstores?

Maybe sometime in the far future but I have no plans for that now, aside from ideally getting it into some local comic book stores. The book is self published and I'm not looking into traditional publishing right now (for several reasons) so I don't have a good way to get it into, say, Barnes and Noble or something.

For the forseeable future they will only be available in my online store, or in person at conventions. (C2E2 in Chicago and Momocon in Atlanta are both on my current schedule)

[charmfamily]

@smok3inm1rrors said he couldn't wait to see Damien in his full on hipster era when I posted scenery shots of The Watchtower so…  My contribution to Pride Month Edits! "Writer" boyfriend who doesn't actually write so much as he poses with typewriters and laptops in cafes for aesthetic Castergram photos and Photographer boyfriend who takes all the Castergram photos.

[deoidesign]

I've been... Busy 👀

Trying to get all 4 arcs from season 1 into books!

(not available for sale, these are print proofs. I'm planning a Kickstarter early next year!)

[asexualbookbird]

25 in 2025

Sigh. I've been bullied. I guess. I did a big swing and a miss on last years list, but I have a Plan this time. A Theme. A Goal. This will be mostly comprised of my Illumicrate books so I can decide if it is in fact worth it to keep my subscription going until the Alecto edition gets announced. If I don't actually enjoy the majority of the books in these boxes then what's the point, yknow?

So here's this years color key:

Green - Carry over from last year (not carrying over every missed book, which probably means I should just get rid of them huh)

Purple - Illumicrate books

Blue - I own these in physical form, but they're not from Illumicrate

Labyrinth's Heart by MA Carrick

The Faithless by CL Clark

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

City of Bones by Martha Wells

Witch King by Martha Wells

After the Forest by Kell Woods

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

The Phoenix Keeper by SA Maclean

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

Until We Shatter by Kate Dylan

Mistress of Lies by KM Enright

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher

The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker Chan

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault by James Alan Gardner

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

In the Ravenous Dark by AM Strickland

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

PHEW. Okay. A fw things to note. A Dark and Drowning Tide is an Illumicrate book, but I didn't pay for it. A friend gave it to me after I skipped that month because she wasn't interested. I always look up book spoilers and skip if I'm not interested and if I'm uninterested in any of the stuff I'll skip even if the book seems neat. That month the box was full of fandoms I didn't care about, so my friends said "here, take my copy" and I said "yay! Free book!"

Cutting in during the month of April to say Until We Shatter was also probably given to me by a friend because it's NOT in my order history and I don't have the stuff in that box but it IS on my shelf?? Wild. Where'd it come from.

The Last Hour Between Worlds I think was also an Illumicrate book? They do fanart for it so I assume it was at some point. I did not get it. This is not the IC edition. I was not thrilled about The Tethered Mage so I was going to get this out of the library. Then my mom bought it for me for the holidays. So yay! Free book!

I think I would also like to keep track of books I purchase this year. I'd like to cut down on buying books that I won't love. So I'd like to utilise my library more. Win win, I think! And that seems easier than a full out ban since yeah sometimes I do enjoy little treats! Books purchased for other people do not count, obviously.

There are also some books I'd like to reread this year, mainly The Bone Maker because I've been saying that since I read it the first time. And honestly, I've been chasing the same vibes and haven't been able to match it (Godkiller got close!).

As usual, I reserve the right to pretend this post doesn't exist, but I think I've set myself up for success here :)

I don't know who hasn't done this by now @logarithmicpanda ? Have you?? Consider yourself tagged >:3c

oh right I was bullied tagged by @bigcats-birds-and-books