Pimp your own Stuff Thread

[noobish hat]

I'd be interested in that too, as I was thinking of maybe doing a quarterly gaming fanzine.

[Sketcz]

Sketcz, what's the dilly-yo with releasing a book on Kindle? Can you just write one and submit it or does it have to come from a publisher?

Super easy. Write it in MS Word. Create a proper table of contents (tricky the first time iof you've not done it before). Save as HTML. Format this using Mobi creator to make a PRC file (and double check to make sure it looks correct). Upload on to your Amazon account, while providing them your details.

Creating a PRC file for Kindle is actually a pain in the ass, since although it works from a Word doc, you need to do a few tricks - no manual tabs for example, you need to reset the little arrow at the top to create automatic tabs. But you need to create page breaks. It's why I put fullstops in the line gaps between sections - when I just had an empty line it ignored it and ran the paragraphs on. Apologies FSW if you got dots everywhere.

I used Kindle Amazon because there was absolutely not barrier to entry, and after plenty of rejection letters from agents I thought why not? The book was already written and edited by me (I do editing as a living, so I'd hope there's only minimal mistakes present), so it was just a case of putting it up.

If you have a book, don't bother going direct to publishers. Unsolicited manuscripts go straight in their "slush pile" for summary combustion later returning. They only accept stuff through agents, but getting an agent's attention isn't easy. Some claim to receive as many as 2000 manuscripts per year (40 a week), and only take on a couple of new clients per year. Mainly they behave like an old boys club, and it's notoriously difficult to break into the inner circle. Especially niche genres which have even a hint of sci-fi.

I've got the Writers' Yearbook with every listed agent in the UK, and out of hundreds of agents, many specifically state "No sci-fi" or anything even remotely resembling it. No fantasy either. There's only one agent in the 2009 yearbook who specialises in sci-fi, and about a dozen who openly accept it. A few more who make no mention. Which is ****ing barmy, because you walk into any book store and they have entire sections creaking under the weight of the sci-fi and fantasy books. I don't know where they come from. Presumably long established authors.

The literary world is a confusing mess of contradictions I've discovered. For every book you physically hold in your hand, I can guarantee there were at least 1000 others left by the wayside. The sheer volume of books which is generated and later discarded by agents blows my mind.


Or at least that's how it was. Amazon Kindle and other eReaders have unlocked the gates and currently it's a free-for-all. If you can generate enough self-publicity that is. I'm hoping that once this goes up on the book review blogs it'll snowball. So if you have a blog or something similar, and you like this, pimp the heck out of it for me.


EDIT:
If you have even a mild inkling to write a book, or even if you simply like the idea but have no intention of doing so, I recommend THIS BOOK. Borrow it from a library if needs be or buy an older edition just to flick through it. Be stunned by the sheer volume of agents. Feel fear at the advice columns of established authors who describe how difficult it. Amaze yourself with tales and tips from the literary veterans. Or something.

[toythatkills]

Which is ****ing barmy, because you walk into any book store and they have entire sections creaking under the weight of the sci-fi and fantasy books.

That's the problem. Nobody's buying them.

[chopemon]

I didn't realise that it was such an open platform. Thanks for the info!

[Sketcz]

That's the problem. Nobody's buying them.

No one is buying any books, if you believe the headlines and statistics. Kindle books are now outselling paper books on Amazon by something like 104 to 100. Also, in a report I saw on the news regarding Christmas sales, you only need to sell about ??? copies (I think it was as low as this, might be a little higher) to be the number one best seller, whereas to make number 50 on the best seller list you only needed to sell I think it said ???.

MID-EDIT: I did a quick Google and I may be making these numbers up, so I've removed them until I can find the source. It was on a BBC TV report a week or so back. Good piece, but lacks the stats I'm talking about.

The entire publishing world is on the verge of a total meltdown/transformation. And it can only be good for both readers and writers - the old system served only the publishing houses. Vive la revolution.

[noobish hat]

I assume Amazon take a cut of the book price?

[Sketcz]

You can opt for either 70% or 35% royalties based on your chosen price. The royalty you choose affects the price you can start at and also things like Kindle lending. If you choose for the higher royalty you need to pay for bandwidth delivery on each copy sold (which is pence if it's text only - this only really affects books with images and therefore large file sizes). On top of this they then add VAT for ebooks.

[toythatkills]

No one is buying any books, if you believe the headlines and statistics. Kindle books are now outselling paper books on Amazon by something like 104 to 100. Also, in a report I saw on the news regarding Christmas sales, you only need to sell about ??? copies (I think it was as low as this, might be a little higher) to be the number one best seller, whereas to make number 50 on the best seller list you only needed to sell I think it said ???.

MID-EDIT: I did a quick Google and I may be making these numbers up, so I've removed them until I can find the source. It was on a BBC TV report a week or so back. Good piece, but lacks the stats I'm talking about.

The entire publishing world is on the verge of a total meltdown/transformation. And it can only be good for both readers and writers - the old system served only the publishing houses. Vive la revolution.

I'm doing a creative writing course at uni, I know full well the state of the industry.

Your revolution ain't gonna happen though. A hundred thousand books selling fifty copies each on the Kindle for two quid a time isn't sustainable for anyone involved.

[Fader209]

I saw that piece on the news too last week about the death of print but I will still go out and buy a paperback over a digital version.

I sort of lied there as I bulk buy my books online as it's cheaper but it's the same thing.

[noobish hat]

Thanks for the info, very interesting. I wonder if anybody would be up for a largely text only gaming magazine.

[Brad]

I make the majority of my game buying decisions based on text written by members here. No pics or photos needed in general so yeah, I'm in!

[noobish hat]

Lol, well it probably wouldn't be reviews, since people can get those anywhere for free. It'd be more interviews with designers of older games, with an emphasis on Japanese.

[Brad]

Still, no pics necessary. Usually those articles have a photo of the person being interviewed (usually taken at a jaunty angle) and some tiny screenshots. If I'm interested enough I can go look for the screenshots or maybe you could put some links at the end of the article?

[toythatkills]

Could draw screenshots in ASCII

[Nijo]

No one is buying any books, if you believe the headlines and statistics. Kindle books are now outselling paper books on Amazon by something like 104 to 100. Also, in a report I saw on the news regarding Christmas sales, you only need to sell about ??? copies (I think it was as low as this, might be a little higher) to be the number one best seller, whereas to make number 50 on the best seller list you only needed to sell I think it said ???.

So how many did you sell in the UK to make the top 100 sci-fi charts?
Does Amazon provide you with daily sales info like that?

I'd be interested to compare it to sales in the iPhone AppStore. Most apps make between $0 and $10 /day.
(chalk and cheese I know, but I'm curious about the numbers nonetheless)