Ask the Author: No Sell Out Productions
Answered Questions (5)
No Sell Out Productions
It's said that art imitates life... and with crime (particularly murder rates) at record-breaking levels in the U.S. in the past few years there's plenty to imitate.
Seems a lot of the perps are gun-toting young people. So our idea was to combine all the Kids and crime into a single hellish city that was seemingly infinite in size and scope, and from which there was no apparent escape.
Of course, it's more complicated than that; and it's messy.
The Kids aren't just cardboard cutouts. They have their (misguided) reasons and motivations for doing what they do. You and I may not agree with them (or maybe you do).
Add into the mix the dichotomy of the Haves and Have Nots--the ever-widening gap of influence, power, and control in which a small privileged elite have over the majority (the truly privileged of this world; not based on skin color, but on money--on wealth... anything else is a lie); an elite that will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and keep themselves in power... and that is the recipe for The Hell Bound Kids where the idea for our authors comes from.
Seems a lot of the perps are gun-toting young people. So our idea was to combine all the Kids and crime into a single hellish city that was seemingly infinite in size and scope, and from which there was no apparent escape.
Of course, it's more complicated than that; and it's messy.
The Kids aren't just cardboard cutouts. They have their (misguided) reasons and motivations for doing what they do. You and I may not agree with them (or maybe you do).
Add into the mix the dichotomy of the Haves and Have Nots--the ever-widening gap of influence, power, and control in which a small privileged elite have over the majority (the truly privileged of this world; not based on skin color, but on money--on wealth... anything else is a lie); an elite that will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and keep themselves in power... and that is the recipe for The Hell Bound Kids where the idea for our authors comes from.
No Sell Out Productions
We're currently working on an Interactive Fiction crime and horror choice-based game called The Hell Bound Kids 2: The Architect which will allow the reader to actively participate and explore Punk City and the world of the Hell Bound Kids, then we will continue the HBK series with another ebook and paperback (technically the third in the series) tentatively titled “Beneath The Nightmare City” which picks up immediately where the first book leaves off.
No Sell Out Productions
Don't quit. Don't give up. Never give up. Like the Journey song, "Don't Stop Believin.'" That's the most important advice.
The second most important is to write, and learn everything you can about the craft.
The third most important is to learn everything you can about the business of writing, especially if you self-publish, i.e. the tools of marketing and selling your work, such as Goodreads. BookBub is another good one.
Be willing to invest money. Easier said than done (especially if you're a broke starving artist like most). Nonetheless, you gotta spend money to make money.
With so many thousands on thousands of self-published works every year, being piled onto already preexisting numbers, that's a whole lot of competition you're up against. If you can't get your message out and set your work apart, then from a business side, all you will do is toil and struggle.
Unless you're some major influencer on the likes of Twitter or Instagram, social media will only sell so many books, mainly to your (small) clique of most loyal friends; because how many of those 2,000-5,000 followers on Twitter do you really interact with, and of the ones you interact with, how many are buying your books?
I'd wager it's a tiny fraction.
Look to other tools, other methods, to market and sell, which will require money. You gotta spend money to make money. But be wise in how you spend it. Be wise like Solomon.
One more thought on the matter: the notion "cream rises to the top" is only partly true anymore. Unfortunately, author identity plays an increasingly more prominent role nowadays (so if you have that racket going for you--good for you!) Yet the mob is fickle. To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
The second most important is to write, and learn everything you can about the craft.
The third most important is to learn everything you can about the business of writing, especially if you self-publish, i.e. the tools of marketing and selling your work, such as Goodreads. BookBub is another good one.
Be willing to invest money. Easier said than done (especially if you're a broke starving artist like most). Nonetheless, you gotta spend money to make money.
With so many thousands on thousands of self-published works every year, being piled onto already preexisting numbers, that's a whole lot of competition you're up against. If you can't get your message out and set your work apart, then from a business side, all you will do is toil and struggle.
Unless you're some major influencer on the likes of Twitter or Instagram, social media will only sell so many books, mainly to your (small) clique of most loyal friends; because how many of those 2,000-5,000 followers on Twitter do you really interact with, and of the ones you interact with, how many are buying your books?
I'd wager it's a tiny fraction.
Look to other tools, other methods, to market and sell, which will require money. You gotta spend money to make money. But be wise in how you spend it. Be wise like Solomon.
One more thought on the matter: the notion "cream rises to the top" is only partly true anymore. Unfortunately, author identity plays an increasingly more prominent role nowadays (so if you have that racket going for you--good for you!) Yet the mob is fickle. To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
No Sell Out Productions
It's fun because you get to use your imagination; you get to create whatever you want only limited by your imagination.
No Sell Out Productions
I grab it by its short and curlies, spin it around, and give it a big kick in the ass... and when that inevitably doesn't work I drink more hard liquor.
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