Writing • Page 46

Sold books, drank beers! First event was a success and a good time!

 

I forgot to write when I'd finished! Really enjoyed it - definitely was longing for the second part when I reached the end.

 

woohoo, glad you liked it!

and yeaahhh it really was supposed to be longer but it got cut in half. working on that right now lol

 

wth your name isn't Charlie

jk looks fun!

 

work in progress: dear ellie

work in progress: through these aging eyes

 

Began writing the sequel to my first novel last week and just finished the first chapter + prologue. It’s crazy how the weight of writing has kind of lifted off my shoulders after completing the first book. While writing that one I was thinking this was impossible to finish (despite how fun it was to write it). Now while writing the 2nd book it feels much more within arm’s reach from the get go.

 

-Catacombs-

-The Bombs Before the War-

 

almost finished: too many luthors, not enough kents

almost finished: irrational anthem

 

started chapter 2 of book 2 today

 

Had great success with a BookBub promotion if any of you have thought about trying them out.
$89 discount promotion for UK, Australia, and Canada. Ran for one day in a mailing I believe. Sold approx 400 copies of my book at 99 cents and tons of page reads
This was late June.


made $400 since then and I’ve made 1-5 sales every day since things slowed down too.

 

Not sure I’ve heard of that before. Will check that out

 

crazy, I was just looking at BookBub and a bunch of other services the other day. You've inspired me to take a second look!

 

I did a fair amount of research and this tends to come out as the best bang for your buck as far as advertising.

if you get rejected just try again the week after. I mean $400 for something I do for fun is rad and I’ll take it any day haha

 

Was it a package for the amount you paid or is that the budget you set? Looking at their site now

 

Yes. I did a horror package in the featured deals for $89

 

Has anyone in this thread everything paid to get help from a professional editor? A friend of mine who went to school for creative writing helped me sort of fine tune the grammatical side of my first book and a little on the pacing. I’ve since submitted my manuscript to a dozen literary agents. The ones who have reached back have said they like the ideas of my story and the themes, characters, yada yada, but they have also mentioned I need more developmental work, mostly on “showing” rather than “telling”.

I’ve contacted a few professional editors to help with that side of it, but they’ve ranged from $700 per 10k words to $4,000 for the whole manuscript. Not sure if that’s worth the price.

 

I was incredibly fortunate to find an editor that was just starting out. She did an initial read through, a dev edit, line edit, and proof edit all for $400. She was merely trying to build up her portfolio/client list. I'll probably use her again and pay her a real wage for this next book. @OwainGlyndwr also did some additional editing which really helped.

He can speak more to the price per word aspect of it, but yeah it can get pretty $$ depending on word count. Had I hired a traditional editor it would have been substantially more expensive, like thousands more.

 

Appreciate the tag dude.

@oakhurst for what it’s worth I *am* a professional editor, and I’d be happy to give more info about the whole thing!

It is pretty variable and definitely depends on the kind of edit and help you’re looking for. $10/1,000 words is going to be kind of a benchmark - lots of people charge more than that, especially for more intense editing, but that’s probably the figure I’d go with in a general sense when you’re planning how much something’s going to cost.

If you want to give me more info about the manuscript I’m happy to give you more specific information about what you should look for for specific types of edits? Things like length, genre, what your plans are for it, etc.

(Also, not to be all “that guy” about it, but… always looking for more editing work haha. I do all kinds of editing as well as writing coaching. And I’m not as cheap as @theagentcoma ’s once-in-a-lifetime find, but I’m still way more affordable than the average.)

 

Not gonna add much besides saying that, yes, a professional/freelance edit is certainly worth the money if you find the right fit. You want someone who can edit to your style, not someone who will dilute it.

I would also offer editing services myself, but life has been busy lately and I struggle to squeeze in my own writing.

 

Also, depending on what you’re looking for with your specific manuscript, might I suggest skipping the middle man, forgetting the agent, and try submitting to smaller / independent presses? This seems to be a path that’s less-than-often considered, but I’ve had genuine (relative) success. I’ve had four books traditionally published in the last five years without an agent, and I just hustled my own work through the pipelines. Maybe an agent could’ve found me a “bigger” publisher than what I got, but more than anything I just wanted my work to find a home.

 

I sent a DM with more information about the book

 

I haven’t researched the independent traditional publishing route. I did initially had talks with independent self publishing companies years ago when I first began to write, but they seemed like a bunch of scams. I’m look into the independent traditional publishers.

 

I’d recommend making yourself a Submittable or chillsubs account and searching through the different open calls for manuscript submissions. Those websites couldn’t make it easier, honestly.

Then, once you find small presses you like, you can follow them individually for their submission openings. I’d also suggest seeking out small presses in your city/state. Local publishers love a local author.

 

doing a title reveal for book 2 today