Purgatory's Pit of Doom

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Leigh.Lyons

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Leigh, I think the key phrase is, "if it does well." What are you going to be able to do to make sure it does well? It is not impossible, but it is difficult.
Something I noticed is that all of those guys who are able to make a living from publishing Ebooks have more than 7 books out. Something I can easily do. And I have social media to help push myself along.

Remember, it's not 70% returns -- it's 70% royalty. If you pay for an editor, cover and layout designer, website, marketing services, etc., you won't have any return on investment until your royalties have exceeded those costs.

(And remember, for all beginning authors, published by the big guys, the indies, or self, do NOT calculate your own hourly pay rate or you'll be too depressed to continue and decide it would be more profitable to grow and sell your hair)
The website and cover are not a concern since I do a lot of digital art as a hobby. Marketing service I don't really think will be an issue since I already know my plan of action for marketing and if I need marketing assistance, I do have some money set aside. I've been reading blog by editors and new authors at the Big 6 don't even get marketing assistance really.

The only thing making my cringe is the editor fees, but the editor who is taking a look at my other book said that its a 3-4 hour job for the length that I write and at that point is only $150-200. That's really reasonable from what I have seen.

All of those people have to be paid when you get a Big 6 contract too.... and if the book sells well then you only get I think it was roughly 17%. This way, I get more money for what I'm writing.

I'm not completely sold on this idea..... merely giving it more weight as an option.:poke:
 

K. Taylor

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That's not too bad for that editor at all. And honestly, some books are selling like mad with no editor assistance at all, and even a lot of obvious errors - because the story struck a chord. There's a world audience grateful for the ease of buying e-books because they can finally afford to read outside their country/language. You wouldn't believe how insane it is to import stuff to Brazil, for instance.
 

soulcascade

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Leigh maybe the Kindle route is for you then...I think if you sell on Kindle and people purchase your book that's just as much validation as having an agent want to read etc. Maybe it'll be the 'competition' with authors being able to hire an editor and go the Kindle route that will make eds/agents straighten up and start fixing this very faulty system. Seriously, if one would do just as well going the Kindle route, why would they keep trying to go down the broken road of traditional publishing?

Ack Kellion, I remember that happening to you :( (the bigwig ed taking your ms though they clearly weren't a fit). When my ms was on sub, a fairly big house had it and just never ever responded. Ex agent called and emailed several times, and was ignored. HIGHLY unprofessional.

"and decide it would be more profitable to grow and sell your hair" <- LOLOL!!

{{Cricket}} Okay I must say it...FU@K! I was rooting for you :( *hands Cricket butterfly ass-kicking stick*
 
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lkp

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I've had a LOT of non-replies from big houses, and from editors my agent has a close personal relationship with. My agent could have written the DG piece (and I think that is a great blog too --- one of the best).

Leigh, it sounds like your eyes are wide open and you are realistic about what it takes. Good luck, whatever you decide!

And... Hell actually did freeze over. My university is closed today. Mind you, they can't bring themselves to actually say the "c" word, but all classes are cancelled, and they are urging all non-essential people not to come in, though essential services, including parts of the library (and I truly love working somewhere where a library is considered an essential service) are functioning.

ETA: *Imagines butterflies with sore heinies. Giggles*
 

soulcascade

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ACK! LKP I love that you work somewhere where a library is considered an essential service, too (of course since I"m a librarian hehe), but, seriously? I'm not getting why they'd need to go in? It's like saying 'those people shouldn't risk their lives to come out in this nasty weather...but you guys should!'. Perhaps I'm missing something and those poor library staff do something that absolutely can not wait a day but I think that's a shitty deal for those library staff members....
 

kellion92

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Leigh, it totally might work for you! Hard to say -- if you are able to do your own design and marketing, self publishing is an especially viable alternative to choosing a smaller indie e-publisher.

From what I understand, K0nrath is a bit of a special case, coming as he did from print publishing with an established fan base. There are others on this board and elsewhere that launched themselves as self e-published authors, and those are more realistic models. Rhi@nnon launched herself successfully as an e-published author, and now is pursuing traditional channels, also successfully. She would be a good person to talk to as well.

Glad you're off today, lkp!
 

lkp

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I know, soul, it seems unnecessary to me too. I just checked ---all the library offices and departments are closed, but the main library is open with a skeleton staff (probably many students who live on campus). This is a library that is accessible to faculty at least 365 days a year 24/7. I often work there July 4. Odd.
 

mario_c

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LKP, sorry about that. Since the snowstorm last week was finishing in the morning, the bosses let us come in 15 minutes late. Wasn't that nice of them?! (I work in a call center.) This week they let us wear jeans. :rolleyes:
Yes, I bring a bit of the Pit to work with me, or is it the other way around?!
 

ink wench

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Mario, oy.

lkp and everyone, hope you all survived the snowpocalypse. The one nice thing about being stuck in the Pit is that it's always toasty warm in here. Of course, that's pretty brutal in the summer....
 

soulcascade

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Woot they closed work early yesterday! I was thrilled BUT before you all tell me to take my dancing outside of the pit, we shoveled THREE FREAKING TIMES! I'm so sore! *ouch* I did fall into a fit of laughter when we'd cleared the driveway and the plow came by and snowed us right back in though.

LKP AcK (again) to working July 4th ahha. That library is hard-core!

{{{{{{{Mario}}}}}}} <- such a big hug because I used to work in a call center...they NEVER closed. One time a guy went off the road and called work (from the ditch) to tell them he couldn't come in...they penalized him :( Yikes, I wonder if your work thought they were being super lenient by letting you guys come in 15 minutes late :rolleyes:
 

Red-Green

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Sometimes you come to the Pit because you suck. Today is such a day. I said it: I suck. I've been in such an all-consuming spiral of depression that I haven't really been doing my job for a few months. Oh, the bare minimum so everybody gets paid, but beyond that: NADA. Now I am confronted with a whole pile of shit that's overdue and it is all my fault.

Please let this year be better. I promise to try harder.
 

Vandal

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Sometimes you come to the Pit because you suck. Today is such a day. I said it: I suck. I've been in such an all-consuming spiral of depression that I haven't really been doing my job for a few months. Oh, the bare minimum so everybody gets paid, but beyond that: NADA. Now I am confronted with a whole pile of shit that's overdue and it is all my fault.

Please let this year be better. I promise to try harder.


At least you have your writing to fall back on.

Oh wait. I just remembered: There are no silver linings...

in The Pit
 

leahzero

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Got a form reject on a full from Dream Agent this morning.

Really, when you look at it from the outside, the querying process is kind of ridiculous. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Without a single qualifying word, I'm trying to interpret form requests and form rejections and make some sense of them. What do they mean? What's working? What isn't? Starting to feel a bit insane.
 

kellion92

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(((Red))) I totally know that feeling. That's the way I was at my last job -- I just did what I had to do to stop from getting into trouble. I wish I had wanted to work harder, but I couldn't. Luckily the person who had the job before me kind of sucked at it, so it seemed like I did a good job.

(((Leah)))

Oh wait. I just remembered: There are no silver linings...

in The Pit

Every cloud has a silver lining. That's why they go with everything.

(I wanted to make that my tagline, but I believe it's original to my friend T0dd Marr0ne and I don't want to steal it or put his name up here 10 times a day).
 

ink wench

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(((Red)))

Stupid people are driving me freaking nuts today. Not coworkers, but people I have to deal with for my job. Ugh.

(((Leah)))
 
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SteveCordero

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{{{Red}}}

{{{Leah}}}

Kell, every cloud does have a silver lining. It's mercury, and it will poison us to death.
 

soulcascade

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{{Red}}
{{Leahzero}}

LOL STEVE!!!

Leah, if you get stuck in this pit for a while, soon you'll give up on the notion of dream agents all together. Not only will the query process drive you mad (i'm still not sold that someone can tell a book is good/interesting from a query. I mean, writing a book and writing a query letter require two totally different set of skills) but agent blurbs or whatever you call them are also sort of like query letters--you may think 'oh so and so would be GREAT' and then if you get signed with them, discover that the two of you aren't compatible at all.

gah, querying/agent blurbs etc is like online dating. You hope you're getting a winner and may wind up with a stinker. You never really 'know' if this is the one until you interact with them for a while...
 

Red-Green

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That's why the maggotinis are so delicious. 28% more heavy metal contaminants than martinis.

Thanks, guys. I just feel like such a loser today. To realize how badly I've fucked off at work lately. It's an easy job and I'm just not pulling my weight. New year, new effort, I guess. Maybe I'll start a diet, too. ;)
 

SteveCordero

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That's why the maggotinis are so delicious. 28% more heavy metal contaminants than martinis.

Thanks, guys. I just feel like such a loser today. To realize how badly I've fucked off at work lately. It's an easy job and I'm just not pulling my weight. New year, new effort, I guess. Maybe I'll start a diet, too. ;)

The Pit is not a place for pick me ups, so I'll agree with you that you suck at your job. But at least you got back your mittens.
 

kellion92

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It's hard to care too much at boring jobs. I'm the same way -- the easier a task is, the worse I am at it.
 

Red-Green

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It's hard to care too much at boring jobs. I'm the same way -- the easier a task is, the worse I am at it.

When I was writing, I didn't have this problem. I'd put in the 2 hours a day it takes me to do my menial little job, and my reward was the rest of the day to write. When the writing withered, so did my will to put in those 2 hours doing anything productive.
 

Cricket18

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Kell, every cloud does have a silver lining. It's mercury, and it will poison us to death.

I was wondering what that metallic taste was in my maggotini.

Nothing to add today. Empty inbox. No SNI's. Just a whole lot of nothin'.
 

soulcascade

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{Cricket}
LOL Steve you are hard core ;)

I'm with you guys on menial jobs just making you want to slack all that much more. My last job was mind numbingly boring. I could've done it in my sleep...seriously.
 
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