towriteandwander - Tumblr blog

[towriteandwander]

“ I huff a laugh and roll my eyes. You’re the worst. “You’ll love me someday.” One of my steps falters. Today is that day. Maybe yesterday too. And the day before that. Maybe for a while, in fact. I can’t tell exactly when it started, but I don’t think it will ever stop. ― Brynne Weaver, Butcher & Blackbird so so good

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“You might be psycho,” I say with a grin as her eyes narrow, “but you’re my psycho, and I’m yours. Got it?”

[towriteandwander]

I got an ask over the weekend, which I now can't find (sorry), but it related to this post talking about book comps in mainstream publishing and how I think trad-pub would describe Phangs.

Fortunately, I didn't have to think about it too hard because I already talked about this with one of my editors when that post went around. Gently rolling our eyes at trad-pub as we concluded that I'd most likely be marketed as "Twilight meets Fifty Shades" at worst and "Gail Carriger meets... probably Fifty Shades" at a hopeful best.

(Which... I mean. Yeah, I could see the Carriger association. Fifty Shades, however, nope, nope. Absolutely not.)

And I think we can all agree if I got marketed as Twilight meets Fifty Shades, you'd have a lot of disappointed people.

Not to mention the people who would enjoy Phangs wouldn't pick it up because Phangs, as it has been described by the actual fans, is the queer goth love child of Terry Pratchett meets Jane Austen, replete with vampires, werewolves, [REDACTED BEINGS], tongue-in-cheek social observations, multiple depictions of disability representation and a burgeoning dom/sub dynamic that expands into a happy open throuple in the second book after several bouts of vigorous communication.

Yet the industry would latch on to the vampire-werewolf dynamics, try to sell the polyamory as a love triangle, then lump the dom/sub elements into the horrific kink rep that is 50 Shades of Yikes because that's all it knows.

It knows "these are the things that made a profit; therefore, we must find ways to compare them, or we cannot market them," because they will not take a risk.

It's sad.

And also why, unless I'm offered obscene amounts of money, I'll be staying in my indie-self-pub lane. Trad-pub wouldn't know what to do with my disabled queer monsters.

They already demonstrated that when I did shop the novel around and I was asked to "tone down" the disability and also to turn the polyamory into a love triangle. So just, y'know, the core essence of the entire series 🙃.

[towriteandwander]

Hey Natalie, I was wondering if you had any guides you used for self publishing? I've written like..... 2 and a half kissing books and I'm considering publishing them for fun and profit 😳 if not nbd, I am proficient in google, I just have trouble figuring out how much of that grind mentality is actually important.

I'm mostly blundering my way through this myself, but I'll give it a shot.

No matter what anybody tells you: Once you've written the book and cleaned it up for publication, the hard part's over. My sales as a self-pub author of extremely niche fiction are already way higher than I expected, and none of the work I've put into marketing has been half as much time or effort as actually creating the thang dings.

If you have the money, hire an editor. The Last Girl Scout was a self-edit (on account of I didn't and don't have the money), and while I am still very happy with it, it's nowhere near the book it could've been as a consequence--as many Goodreads reviewers will tell you.

I also recommend hiring a formatter. You can do your own formatting if you're like a nerd who knows about computers and stuff, but it's a lot of work and not everybody has that skill set. Also, like with editing, it is very very easy to overlook mistakes when it's your own work your dealing with. Here I'm gonna plug @kodyboye, who's formatted all the stuff I've sent to print and does excellent work (also fast as hell; iirc he had like 24-hour turnaround on the typescript of TLGS, which is a 600-page leviathan).

Once you've got your formatted files and cover art (which is a whole 'nother kettle of worms that I do not feel qualified to get into, I have An Associate who handles that for me), self-pub is as easy as hitting a button if you use Amazon KDP or as easy as hitting 3 or 4 more buttons if you use another service. Then you'll have a book and you'll be like "Wtf I'm an author."

(note on the above: Do not fuck w/ any service that asks you for money. Pay-to-play publishing services are 100% a scam; a publisher or publishing service asking an author to pay them is literally the same thing as your boss making you pay to come to work)

As for marketing: If you don't have the budget for paid promotions (which I don't and I'm assuming most ppl reading this don't), the best thing you can do is to Be A Person On The Internet. I'm lucky b/c I'd already developed a not-insignificant following from being a weird nerd Tumblr shitposter before I had to make a book happen, but you can speedrun that by just being generally active on your blog. In addition to whatever your regular blog content is, post samples of your work, talk about your creative process, be ready to talk about your books A Lot even on those days when it feels like nobody else is, and follow tags like #writeblr and #bookblr. (I'm also gonna tag in @thebibliosphere who is an A+ Tumblr follow and way better at this game than me)

I also very recommend joining a trade organization; I've been a member of the Horror Writers Association for a little over a year now and it's pretty great being automatically plugged into a network of other ppl in the industry.

And for broader-scope industry networking w/ people who are also very very invested in Writers Getting Paid For Their Work, I encourage (that is: beg) everybody who's even thinking about putting pen to paper to join the Freelance Journalists Union:

Hope this helps <3

[towriteandwander]

#scriveremisalverá #sosoloscrivere #scriverefabene #calligrafiaitaliana

[towriteandwander]

Warm. Content. Safe in his arms. Him safe in hers. She hugged him tighter. He was bigger and stronger, but she would protect him with everything she had.

@axwalker (thank you for my new obsession and for your help! love youuu!)

@burnsoslow @drakexwillow

[towriteandwander]

My new writing nook! 🥰📝

Cloffice. Yup! 😄 It’s an awkward mash of words but I noticed the trend of “closet turned office” and decided (with help) to create my own working space. I’ve downsized A LOT the past year and during my last move, I donated my desk and chair. I don’t regret it because I didn’t have space but I now find it a little more challenging to be productive from bed. 😂 I saw some brackets online and ordered them, my awesome dad built the desktop and put it up, and voila! Mini office. The desk can be dropped down against the wall, if desired. The chair is temporary but works for now. I’m working hard on a project that I hope to share soon. 🙏🏻 As for my clothes, I bought the fabric baskets up on the shelf and rolled my shirts and tops, folded my leggings, and left just a few things hanging to the left. My few shoes on the rack is to the right. I don’t need much and I’m grateful for it all. 😊❤️ #homeproject #cloffice #office #minimalism #lifeupdate #mac #amwriting

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(Source)

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This made me tear up.

The Infinity War cast singing Happy Birthday to Chadwick Boseman!

https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/1333109445010853891

[towriteandwander]

Handy advice by writers. As part of their “Shared Worlds 2013”, Wofford college asked Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Lev Grossman,Joe Haldeman, and more artists, editors, and writers for a photo of their writing advice written on their hands. Check out the rest.

[towriteandwander]

I’m all over this.

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#myfavs

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read in 2019 📓 The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

“I’m now unmistakeably attracted to the yeti.”

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Just working on some writing a little bit aimlessly, thinking a lot about time, about edges, about art and form. Do you ever feel like a few things on your mind might be connected but can’t yet see how?

[towriteandwander]

listen I ended up regretting saying anything about this on my old blog because people will interpret literally any and every statement maliciously on this hellsite but I want to start like. a helpline for people who are like “hey I pretty much only read YA but I’m like 22 now and don’t relate to teenagers as much, it’s such a shame that there are no fun books written for adults :(” because boy HOWDY are there some fun books for adults