Struggling Writers discussion
Your Writing (J-R)
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Because it's hard
Thank you so much for that piece of encouragement. Also, sleep helped me refresh my cluttered brain. Cheers to all the artists out there who never give up no matter what :)
You'll get where you need to be, it just takes time.
It'll take time to get where you're headed. But as for the lack of moral support, that's what we're all here for! *enthusiastically jumps around and shakes pom-poms*
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You are all very inspiring. I wish that I hear that from my own family but yeah, so what. It's nice to have people like you guys around. Thanks for the extra push. :)
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Jessica wrote: "It'll take time to get where you're headed. But as for the lack of moral support, that's what we're all here for! *enthusiastically jumps around and shakes pom-poms*"Lol. If I jump around and shake pom-poms, Jessica, they aren't the only things that will bounce...there could also be an earthquake warning!
Boy oh boy, Nonong, you really do have problems, but as they say, 'a problem shared, is a problem halved.' Do you not have a library near you with computer access?
All you really need is to open a Dropbox account and you can store all your work from your tablet out in cyber space and download it directly onto a pen drive or cd afterwards. It is 100% safe too! You can access your dropbox account from any computer, anywhere in the world!
Hi Sarah. Thank you for the advice but I already have a Dropbox account. My main problem's related to digital publishers. I am currently using MS Publisher as a platform in typesetting manuscripts. Unfortunately, the print industry uses Adobe InDesign (or something on that level) as a standard. I was supposed to have a test book printing yesterday with the press (or probably 2 days ago) but since I brought the wrong format, well you already know the whole story. I'm currently importing the whole material using InDesign right now. I have no choice but to push this, with or without added help from any better performing laptop or desktop. I have a deadline to meet. I just hope my workhorse netbook don't crash on me. If you were here, you'll see how my nb is having a hard time processing the data lol. (the 'saving' process is making me cringe all the time haha).
P.S. I have 15 tabs running on my browser now -- all related to Adobe How Tos lol
It all sounds very complicated, Nonong, I publish with Createspace over on Amazon. It's a relatively painfree process once you master the margins. You choose your font, your cover, your artwork, you submit your text for scrutiny and once it has been passed by Amazon your book is put online and made available for people to buy it. It costs nothing except a little time and patience and turning it into an e-book is simple too!Good luck with your quest, I hope everything works out for you!
I also publish through Createspace and will confirm Sarah's comments. However you will have to market your book yourself which is more important than anything you've done up to now and a damn sight harder.
Sybil wrote: "I also publish through Createspace and will confirm Sarah's comments. However you will have to market your book yourself which is more important than anything you've done up to now and a damn sight..."So very true, Sybil. I think it all boils down to patience and attitude...and how much spare time you are prepared to give in order to promote yourself, and your books. Even with a traditional publisher you the author will be expected to do your share, book signings, exhibitions and so on. The days of being just an author are long gone, add to your list of tasks, editor, publisher, publicist, salesperson! I'm bound to have missed some!
Apart from CreateSpace, there's Lulu, and a couple of others where all you upload is a formatted .doc or .pdf file.I'm not sure how CreateSpace does it, but with Lulu you can get a free ISBN.
There's still some work involved but there are ways to lower your initial cost.
R.F.G. wrote: "Apart from CreateSpace, there's Lulu, and a couple of others where all you upload is a formatted .doc or .pdf file.I'm not sure how CreateSpace does it, but with Lulu you can get a free ISBN.
Th..." Createspace is free so is the ISBN and that makes for a low initial cost. My point was that writing the book is the easy part and it's not that easy but compared with marketing it, it's a breeze.
Hi guys. Thanks for the feedback. I tried CreateSpace before. I still have the MS Word format that I got from the site. I even got an ISBN and distribution plans that they offer (or something like that). Thing is I had to change my plans since in my country, books are not that popular especially the locally produced ones. Readers here tend to go for Western best sellers. I'm taking a blind shot (heck, just to contribute something to our literary map you see). So what more with e-books and digital publications. Not to mention problems related to piracy and illegal distribution through the net. I'm not exactly badmouthing but IMHO, everything's so messed up here. That's just the way things are right now. If things are going to change, it's probably not during my lifetime. But at least, I believe I'm contributing something beneficial for everyone. (Whether they appreciate it or not lol!) *sorry for my syntax and grammar, my mind's really cluttered today.
Nonong wrote: "Hi guys. Thanks for the feedback. I tried CreateSpace before. I still have the MS Word format that I got from the site. I even got an ISBN and distribution plans that they offer (or something l..."If I were you I would choose myself a western nom de plume, Nonong. Use an anagram of your given name if you can using all the letters of both your first name(s) and your surname. Then create your identity on Twitter, Facebook and of course here-your 'author image'.
I might try that but I'll have to learn how to use Twitter first. lol
Nonong wrote: "I might try that but I'll have to learn how to use Twitter first. lol"It's pretty straight forward, all you need to remember is you only have 140 characters with which tweet with at one time! I will help with the anagram if you're stumped - I'm pretty good at anagrams!
Kathleen wrote: "Wow what a tough blow. All I can say is that writers have it tough and the best ones usually have it tougher. Keep pressing forward and it'll be worth it in the end. and try not to let other people..."Odd how that particular parental attitude crosses generational boundaries. At my age what you've heard is probably not much different than what I heard.
"You need to find a good job in order to pay the bills..."
"You need to pull your head out of the clouds and plant your feet firmly on the ground and find a good job..."
"You're not famous, so who's going to read what you write...?"
Having done the "Write after work" thing, I'm now writing around my infant daughter and Wife's schedules.
One way or another it can be done.
@KathleenI write for two reasons.
First, because the characters keep pestering me to tell their stories. There's this one short alien who keeps glaring and jabbing me with her spear trying to hurry up the process.
Second, I write for my daughter -- she's four months old and I'm over a half century older. By the time she figures out I was young once and really starts to wonder who I was then, I'll probably be gone. Through my books my daughter will be able to enter some of the worlds I've envisioned.
When all is said and done, writing is about sharing an inner vision with others through the words we use, and even if we only reach one person we've accomplished something.
Wife tends to get upset that even when I'm not writing part of me is often wandering around in other worlds, and yes she's figured out what that slightly unfocused / distracted look means. Though as long as she and baby demon princess get the majority of my attention over the weekend she's okay with it.
Kathleen wrote: "Wow what a tough blow. All I can say is that writers have it tough and the best ones usually have it tougher. Keep pressing forward and it'll be worth it in the end. And try not to let other people..."My dad once said 'if I wrote a book he would eat his hat!' My grandmother's reply was 'and I'll be there with the salt and pepper to make sure you do!'
Sadly she died a month before my 12th birthday, so she wasn't around to hold him to his promise...but nor was my dad. So maybe, somewhere in another life my dad is working his way through his hat!
The man in my life isn't much help either, always complaining about me being on the computer.
R.F.G. wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "Wow what a tough blow. All I can say is that writers have it tough and the best ones usually have it tougher. Keep pressing forward and it'll be worth it in the end. and try not to..."Sticks and stones, RFG! I've hardened my outer coating and now sarcastic comments like that just bounce off, because if these narrow minded people had ever tried to write a book they would learn to keep schtumm!
I only publish to e-book format. Kindle makes it so easy and there's no cost. Then you don't have to worry about print formatting, so maybe just start with that?
Marc wrote: "I only publish to e-book format. Kindle makes it so easy and there's no cost. Then you don't have to worry about print formatting, so maybe just start with that?"If you publish in paperback first the Kindle is done for you all you have to do is click the button! You can find templates free on the web, and they are simple to use, Marc. Look online at 48hrbooks -they have templates in all sizes, all free!
Sarah wrote: "Sticks and stones, RFG! I've hardened my outer coating and now sarcastic comments like that just bounce off, because if these narrow minded people had ever tried to write a book they would learn to keep schtumm! "My mother looked at a partial rough draft one story I was working on back in the mid 1990s. Suffice it to say that my mother is / was an expert at tearing apart anything not done by one of her favorites.
I long ago decided that much negativity is not productive so I haven't spoken to my mother in almost twenty years. My mother is 83 now, and will never meet or even see a foto of her youngest granddaughter.
If my father were still above the daisies he'd be almost 96, and I can imagine what he'd say about my books since I don't write Westerns.
As a rule the people who offer the most discouragement for any endeavor are the ones with the least ability to do the task described, so they judge the worth of the discouraged project by how well their results would turn out.
Sarah wrote: "Marc wrote: "I only publish to e-book format. Kindle makes it so easy and there's no cost. Then you don't have to worry about print formatting, so maybe just start with that?"If you publish in pa..."
the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't afford them to do a back cover & spine design as well.
Kathleen wrote: "@ R.F.G.Wow! Congrats on the demon princess. What a great way to bring out your stories with reason. I do agree that if one person can appreciate it, that's enough for me. I'm lucky if I'm able t..."
I'm currently editing my third novel, entitled, The House of Death (currently, it may change) it's a paranormal romance/thriller. The other two, Cally's Secret-romantic comedy, and The Menorah Murders, no prizes for guessing what this one is about,as the title sort of gives it away, are available on Amazon, in paperback for dinosaurs, like myself, who prefer a book in hand, and on Kindle for the upwardly mobile. I bought myself a tablet but as yet I haven't been able to fathom out how to transfer my Kindle collect to it!
I have been a GR member since 2010, which was the year I finally finished my first novel!
I may write kindle-only novels, but like you as a reader I am a dinosaur - print only!
Marc wrote: "the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't afford them to do a back cover & spine design as well. "I used the same front cover for my print, Epub, and Kindle versions.
The cover wizard I used was fairly simple and the default templates can be overridden. I used a partial image from the front cover on the back, and added my blurb. The spine is a matter of using the eyedropper tool to match the spine color to the predominate color on the front cover, then adding the text.
Perhaps it's not quite as nice as having the back and spine done by a graphic artist, but it is very similar to what I've seen on a number of traditionally published books.
R.F.G. wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Sticks and stones, RFG! I've hardened my outer coating and now sarcastic comments like that just bounce off, because if these narrow minded people had ever tried to write a book they ..."That's sad, RFG, your daughter is missing out on so much. I only wish my mother and father were around for my daughter, my mum died before Sophie was born, my dad, when she was just 20 months old.
I would give an olive branch, even if it's only for the sake of the 'Demon Princess', I take it she has a name?
I have her other half, my grandson, Hugo, who should have been named, Damien, and had 666, the mark of Satan, tatooed somewhere...because according to my daughter, he's evil! And he looks so cute!
But you are absolutely right, the people who laugh behind your back, and critiscise are usually the people who have little or no talent. My man is a mathematical genius, and in his own words is rubbish at French...but he's French-how can that be?
I'm English and I describe myself as bilingual, I can even write in French...in a fashion. An editor would probably pull his hair out in an attempt to correct my grammatical errors, French isn't the easiest language to master, but being born French should give you some advantage, surely!
Marc wrote: "I may write kindle-only novels, but like you as a reader I am a dinosaur - print only!"Lol, we should be extinct by now, according to everyone you speak to, but for me, one of the pleasures of reading is holding the book in my hand, the smell of the ink, the texture of the paper...
Sarah wrote: "Marc wrote: "I may write kindle-only novels, but like you as a reader I am a dinosaur - print only!"Lol, we should be extinct by now, according to everyone you speak to, but for me, one of the pl..."
yep :-)
Wow, that was close! Low flying French fighter jet! It was that low I actually ducked down in my mastermind chair!
R.F.G. wrote: "Marc wrote: "the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't afford them to do a back cover & spine design as ..."Basically all the back cover is is the blurb, and a mug shot of the author (not compulsory) but, I have sold more books since I put my mug shot on the back...People like to know who it is hiding behind the name. I have had comments left on my website too, regarding the visibility, and author bio. People are just inquisitive I suppose!
Sarah wrote: "That's sad, RFG, your daughter is missing out on so much. I only wish my mother and father were around for my daughter, my mum died before Sophie was born, my dad, when she was just 20 months old.I would give an olive branch, even if it's only for the sake of the 'Demon Princess', I take it she has a name?
I have her other half, my grandson, Hugo, who should have been named, Damien, and had 666, the mark of Satan, tatooed somewhere...because according to my daughter, he's evil! And he looks so cute! "
In a way it's the nature of my line for young ones to miss out a bit on grandparents. My grandparents were born between 1875 and 1900, and I only knew the youngest well enough to know where my mother got her negativity from.
My mother is / was the type of person who could call the Suicide Prevention Hotline and have the person on the other end commit suicide in order to escape.
As for offering my mother an olive branch, I feel sure she hasn't forgotten how to use a switch as an instrument of discipline -- she used to be fairly expert at such usage.
My daughter has a name, which when translated from Welsh and Spanish means Well-loved Rains. At four months of age she's working at holding the bottle, grabbing the spoon to feed herself, rolling across the floor to get to the kat (who avoids her). Adults tend to give her homage to avoid her evile piercing gaze.
My granddaughter is five years old and full of the devil. She gives the ex-wife fits, such a sweet child. :)
In my family we skip a generation in the alliances we form. That is I preferred my late grandmother infinitely to my own father (her son) and in turn my father didn't get on with his mother at all. No doubt my kids when they grow up will shun me for my father!
R.F.G. wrote: "Sarah wrote: "That's sad, RFG, your daughter is missing out on so much. I only wish my mother and father were around for my daughter, my mum died before Sophie was born, my dad, when she was just 2..."Lol - We have a matching pair! I had a mother-in-law like your mother once, I tamed her, eventually. I used to call her the dragon! I was English, and to her that was a crime, and I bewitched her youngest son - the chou-chou.
Mind she hates one of her other daughter in law's more, the language is 'blue Breton' when she's mentioned, and she's French!
Not sure what my daughter's name means...bad mother, I never thought to look it up - it's French, even though she was born in England, Sophie-Anne!:o) Now I'm going to check it out...better late than never I suppose!
Sophie - French-meaning, wisdom and Anne - Hebrew-meaning, grace.http://www.themeaningofnames.org/ go take a look at this site to find out a bit about your past life! I apparently was born in Thailand, in 1557,female, and I was a sailor, shoemaker! and the other bits it revealed are scarily accurate to the me now!
Marc wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Marc wrote: "I only publish to e-book format. Kindle makes it so easy and there's no cost. Then you don't have to worry about print formatting, so maybe just start with that?"If you..."
You know the issue about e-readers and prints? I think you have a major point when you said that it's a LOT easier to start with e-books. Thing is sometimes, imho, having the published physical copy makes a difference. In my case, it really means a lot to me since I too am a dinosaur just like you and Sarah.
I can't post pictures here but I have the test print and a batch of proofreader's copy beside me. If you've read my whole article, you'll see how excruciating and frustrating the whole process is. After I got the copies, (and I'm only halfway through the process with all the copyright and ISBN work lying around) I really felt that everything I do is worth it.
I'm currently working on the blurbs. Just went to see my literature prof today to ask him if he could write something for my book -- only to get verbally whacked why I even considered going solo and independent for my first book. Well at least he agreed to write something for me. Sometimes, and I just realized this earlier this week, whether you accept it or not, blurbs and reviews printed on the back cover become selling points of the book for some odd reason. So I'm working my ass off to get the people I know who apparently are big in the literary industry to write a blurb for me.
Now about the typesetting and cover design job, you can actually ask some friends or search for people in artist groups and circles who would gladly help you out in the design. Some of my friends approached artists and asked around if they have unused artworks that can be used as cover arts. Fortunately, things fell into place for them and most of them got published late last year. I'm really lucky to have a visual artist friend to do the cover art and design for me all for free. In exchange, I'd give her a free copy of the book and rights to use my book as part of her professional folio. Regarding the typesetting, since you're not new to this tedious craft, you can learn how to master digital publication platforms through the internet. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but there were 20 tabs running on my browser while I was studying how to use InDesign, Scribus and other known softwares. Same thing happened when I tried to master MS Word and Publisher.
So there. I hope these insights that I learned for the past few weeks help you on your literary work ;)
Sarah wrote: "Sophie - French-meaning, wisdom and Anne - Hebrew-meaning, grace."Wisdom and Grace -- both good omens.
The humor behind my daughter's name of Well-loved Rains is due to the fact that whenever I have visited my in-laws (who live in an arid region) there has either been a freak thunderstorm or an unexpected snowfall. With luck the child will carry on the tradition.
I hear what you say but to be honest I would only ever look to pay fellow artists and that means paying my cover designers.
Sarah wrote: "R.F.G. wrote: "Marc wrote: "the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't afford them to do a back cover & s..."I've thought about this. Sometimes the blurbs, author profile and reviews printed inside and outside the book greatly affects my decision if I'm gonna purchase/read the book in question. I don't know if this has something to do with me looking for credibility and justification or me being fooled by commercial schemes. haha
Marc wrote: "I hear what you say but to be honest I would only ever look to pay fellow artists and that means paying my cover designers."That's what I'd do too if only I have enough money to give. Every single penny I have, personal loans included, all went straight to the printing press office.
R.F.G. wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Sophie - French-meaning, wisdom and Anne - Hebrew-meaning, grace."Wisdom and Grace -- both good omens.
The humor behind my daughter's name of Well-loved Rains is due to the fact th..."
Lol - You haven't been to Brittany, lately with your daughter, have you. Because we have had nothing but rain since before Christmas! And high tides with waves of 16 to 20 metres, and high winds of up to 150 kph!
Nonong wrote: "Sarah wrote: "R.F.G. wrote: "Marc wrote: "the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't afford them to do a ..."I would never pay people to give reviews - I will give them the book in whichever format they choose in return for a review, but that is were I draw the line. Try sending copies of your book to local newspapers or magazines or book clubs or other independant authors, Nonong.
Also, does your literature professor not realise just how hard it is to get a traditional publisher to take you on? He should try it sometime - I have published 2 books independantly, two of the three books I have written have been accepted by a traditional publisher, but as I am not a famous household name I was still expected to 'contribute' in order to have my books printed!
Had I written my book back in 2001 it might have been a different tale, as I appeared on 'A place in the Sun' with Amanda Lamb, and was also featured in the book accompanying the series!
Sarah wrote: "Lol - You haven't been to Brittany, lately with your daughter, have you. Because we have had nothing but rain since before Christmas! And high tides with waves of 16 to 20 metres, and high winds of up to 150 kph! "My ancestors were transported a while back so I'm Stateside, though one of my uncles went from Normandy to Belgium, where his 'walking tour' ended abruptly in December 1944 / January 1945.
I'm currently in South Central Texas (semiarid with some nasty storms and flash-floods at times), and my in-laws live not too far from the Grand Canyon (arid).
Trust me, you'd rather deal with the rains rather than the probability of drought and fires with minds of their own.
Marc wrote: "I hear what you say but to be honest I would only ever look to pay fellow artists and that means paying my cover designers."I paid my cover designer and I asked him if there was a problem with me using a partial on the back cover.
My cover designer was paid for his efforts.
Sarah wrote: "Nonong wrote: "Sarah wrote: "R.F.G. wrote: "Marc wrote: "the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't affor..."Yes. Marc and I were discussing about paying for your cover designs but that's just it. I agree that when it comes to asking for a book review or recommendation, a copy is enough.
I'll have to wait for the sales feedback of the first batch of prints. If it's not good, I might need to use the 'magazine and newspaper reviews' option. I'm just hoping that the academic community accepts my work so I can use academic recommendations to my advantage.
R.F.G. wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Lol - You haven't been to Brittany, lately with your daughter, have you. Because we have had nothing but rain since before Christmas! And high tides with waves of 16 to 20 metres, and..."Yes, I would imagine it can't be pleasant, apart from being life-threatening too! I don't do heat very well either, as soon as the temperature hits 25C I stay inside until the evening, if I am forced to go outside I sit under a parasol or find myself a tree! Being fair skinned I burn easily, unlike Wisdom and Grace, who turns golden brown!
Sarah wrote: "Nonong wrote: "Sarah wrote: "R.F.G. wrote: "Marc wrote: "the reason I haven't done print is that I don't like doing a cover from templates offered. I pay people do design my cover and I can't affor..."no I wouldn't pay for reviews either. With my limited budget the only things I pay for are cover design & trailer video or other literary related digital art (I got someone to turn one of my 250 word stories into a kinetic typography video).
I'm publishing my book as an independent artist. I'm really grateful that some people gave their support by letting me borrow a huge amount of money for this project but still, I'm having a tough time meeting ends just to see my book produced.
I edit my book alone, except for the first drafts of the manuscripts that I had proofread with my classmates. 2 days ago, I had an appointment with the owner of the printing press, gave a psd file of the book cover and ms publisher file of the content, though the press insisted that I use InDesign for typesetting instead. But what can I do. I'm only using a netbook that could hardly process ms publisher and ms word with a 5.5 x 8.5 calibration, keeping together an average of 340 digital pages from crumbling. Not to mention those heart-wrenching moments, holding your breath while your netbook sustains a temporary hang, 10-20 seconds long, each time you hit the save button.
Days later, the press calls just to tell you that they can not do any test printing until you give them the correct digital copy specifications that they ask because apparently, they really need that 'layered typeset' to run the printing smoothly and properly... aaaaaaand you messed up the paging in your ms publisher file (because you suck at using a digital publication program even after spending nights trying to master it).
I'm supposed to expect a test copy tomorrow but ended up with problems instead. I'm starting to get frustrated, looking for options how to get my hands on a laptop that can run whatever that is needed to process my material. I was asking people since last night if they have any laptop or know someone who can lend me one, or at least let me borrow money to buy a new one. Using desktop is better but it's not practical since I live in different houses.
So here I am, sitting on a sofa-bed
in a friend's room, on the verge of burning out, ranting on a thread thinking that this would give me a little relief, writing all this down for an hour now since I'm using a crappy but trusty tablet ( When you don't have much, you'll learn how to love the little things you have)... hours nlater I'll be hitting the road again because I left my netbook in my father's house. Not believing in god sure gives a major blow - no false hope and false sense of security to keep you comforted. No mechanism to keep you rooted, believing that these difficulties are just little jokes thrown at you by a random god or whatever, either giving a challenge or amusement when you least expect it. Maybe I'll just hold on to what a friend told me last time. "If it was easy, everyone else would be doing it."