ROBUST discussion

Readers first. That is what we all were before taking up the pencil/pen/typewriter/word processor/publishing path.

It takes more than being a reader. A writer is a giving soul, deep down where everything matters. We share all we can, in the best way we know how. We use words. Others may use paint brushes or cameras. We don't need those shortcuts when writing anything.

Prose is a perishable skill. So is the creative aspect of our writing style. The more we use it, the better we get. Walk away for too long, old foibles and common errors we once conquered will come back to haunt us.

But this post isn't about me telling you something you already know. That was my effort to let you know that I understand the true depth of who we are as writers.

Then there are those of us with ethics and morals. If our wallets could talk, I think we would get the "Oh shit" complaint from the leathery thing.

You see, Hugh Hefner is also an Independent Publisher. He started his own thing, and he didn't make his millions by sticking to any form of ethics or morals.

I am constantly asking myself the ultimate question. What is it that writers like us can write, that would garner such a massive amount of sales?

We've all written not just good stories, but great stories. We have created complete novels from our own essence, experience and the will to share. It breaks my heart to say this, but today's readers don't want great stories. They want taboos. They demand anything that doesn't adhere to any moral or level of ethics.

It's getting difficult to keep one's soul in this new reality.

Daniel wrote: "It breaks my heart to say this, but today's readers don't want great stories..."

I'd qualify this statement. There are a lot of readers who want great stories, but not necessarily by contemporary or little-known writers. Or, even if they do, they don't have the time to go out and find them. In an era where the majority are time-poor and hence reading time is precious, sticking to books that have stood the test of time and become greats is one easy, and pretty reliable, way that people will try to ensure they don't end up wasting their book hours with a dud. Many others will get swept up by the marketing machine and steamrollered into reading the latest blockbuster in the belief that it will be great.

Only a small proportion of readers will take time to go out of their way to proactively discover books they might enjoy, rather than going with books they already recognise the names of, through cultural prominence, marketing or otherwise.

Normally Luke, I'd be right there with you. My heart remains broken.

EL James. Before 2011, nobody knew who she was. An unknown.

One book later, Fifty Shades of Grey. It's the worst smut via text that can be imagined. It became so popular, it's a movie. Now EL James has written more Fifty Shades novels. Two more, I think.

I recently did an experiment by writing a literary trap.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

That's a pen name, which is even further unknown than I am. That sick little freebie has more downloads in one month than all of my short story freebies have in one year.

Tons more people will read taboo before anything else, as opposed to those who don't. Next, I could do another sultry short and sell it for 99 cents, just to have another shock ending, and probably make more money than all of my novels combined... but I can't sell my soul like that.

Every author wants to make a living from their writing. I can't be Hugh Hefner, though I am quite capable of producing what the perverts want.

This is why my heart is broken. It's not just about me. It's about all of us who won't write smut for the almighty dollar. Where have all the good readers gone? I don't know.

At least, not anymore. We're still here, but it looks like we are now an endangered species.

Haha, nice experiment... Rapidé San Sculotte-Cafard is an inspired name!

I'd be interested to know - did that book sell more than your others across all outlets, or just a subset? The site itself must be a factor in determining the demographic of the readership. You've convinced me, though, that more people will download lowest-common-denominator dross than more edifying works. However, in a world of 7 billion individuals that still leaves a lot of people looking for the quality stuff. Probably enough to make a living from, if it was possible to connect with them all. GR is a case in point - find any book you consider great, even a relatively obscure one. I always find that they have heaps of ratings/reviews, and those are just the tip of the iceberg.

Those readers are out there... that's why I like sites like this - a good proportion of the folk who hang out here are going to be proactive readers that value quality in what they read.

Until the coming of Amazon's KDP, roughly 5500 novels were published every year in English between London and New York. After Amazon made operation of a keyboard the only skill required for being an "author", that number shot up to a million and some, most of it crap.

Here's an analysis I made in the early days of KDP, before the tide of pornography washed in. It's a four part article and it concludes that even at that point (where perhaps 50K volumes of "fiction" were annually published) 70% of it was crap. http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/ar...

It's the pure numbers, the huge flow of sewerage, that causes the discoverability problem.

Luke wrote: "Haha, nice experiment... Rapidé San Sculotte-Cafard is an inspired name!

I'd be interested to know - did that book sell more than your others across all outlets, or just a subset?"

It got more than a hundred downloads on Smashwords alone within the first 6 hours. I played with the BISAC codes, switching from Erotica to Short Story Literary. The downloads died rather quickly, but not before that 5 star review from another Erotica writer.

Some time later, I switched it back to Erotica on the BISAC. Barnes & Noble ate it up. Like some starving kids set loose inside a potato chip factory. Smashwords started to regain some more downloads, but the results were pretty clear.

And the pen name was suggested by Andre. I couldn't help but run with it. ^_^

If KOBO and the others pick up on it as hard as Barnes & Noble, the free download numbers will easily pass my 23K total downloads for my other freebies in 2012, my best year for such things.

@Andre - Thanks for the link, it's a form of validation that I'm not truly nuts.

^_^

I appreciate the concerns expressed here. I feel them myself, but then it's my own fault for writing poetry and non-fiction, philosophical essays. So how deep is my potential reader group?

Personally I have the luxury of not worrying about the financial aspect. I would like to see my work in broader circulation however. But I can't say I blame Amazon. If self publishing were not available, then we would all be at the mercy of publishing house screening, which is certainly neither objective nor quality oriented.

Daniel, please recommend what I should read as an introduction to your writing. I will buy a copy and we can take the dialogue forward.

David

David, I recommend Defenders of Valinthia. Here is a list of retailers for the novel on my website that carry it on one page. Txtr is the only link that's not working, and I'll be taking them off the page before the weekend is over. This is a series starter, so it's budget friendly on the pricing.

http://www.daniel-a-roberts.com/#!bla...

David, I'd like to return the sentiment. Please share a title of your work so I may get a copy and read it. Even though the one I suggested is budget friendly, don't let that hesitate on your choice. I have no problems with making a purchase. That way we can have a dialog on even ground, from our own perspectives.



^_^

It's a strange market. Never thought women would go screaming mad for porn. But they did.

Oops!

K.A. wrote: "It's a strange market. Never thought women would go screaming mad for porn. But they did.

Oops!"

+100!

As long as the couple on the cover is steaming hot, it can be written in Dyslexic 5th grade urban slang and still hit a serious slew of sales.

I need to buy new covers? Nah - can't afford them. (Sigh)

Daniel wrote: :"As long as the couple on the cover is steaming hot, it can be written in Dyslexic 5th grade urban slang and still hit a serious slew of sales. !"

I'm surprised that, even with a giveaway, you haven't received a slew of complaints that the cover of ZATYRICON 101 is misleading. (it isn't, of course, it is very precisely apt to the story, but one wonders if the consumers of porn would have the humour to appreciate that.)

K.A. wrote: "I need to buy new covers? Nah - can't afford them. (Sigh)"

See if you can't find some free stock that can be cropped to be suggestive, then add suggestive text. Of course, since you don't have any real porn, you run the risk of being outed, if not by the readers, by the porn-makers, who will feel your contempt for them deeply. If you think the "romance" crowd are nasty to those who step outside their formula, just wait until the porn crowd start on you!

Too true, there's nothing nastier than that crowd. Hornets are easier to get along with.

I've been looking into free stock for Mom's collection of short stories and have redone all the covers. Now that I've got a bit of time to work/think/breathe/plan instead of taking care of family matters 24/7, I might make some headway.

Someone here had a stock photo website they recommended. I think it was either Matt or Daniel.

K.A. - That was me. Here is the link.

https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/

They have two plans. A monthly and a yearly plan, but you can cancel at anytime. Any remaining downloads will be available until they run out.

I do have 5 invites that won't get turned down, as they limit their membership. But the end result is the same. Each image stock download is only 1 dollar. I go the monthly route, buying 10 downloads/$10 per month. Once I had 34 downloads saved up, I stopped the payments until I was down to 5. Turned it back on, now I'm up to 19.

I've been using the stock for other purposes as well, but for Indies like us, the value is hard to ignore. Plus, these are high quality. Browse their site as a guest and do some searches. You might be surprised.

If you or anyone else here decides they want the inexpensive membership, just Private Message me your email, and I'll use their system to send you one. You can't get turned down that way.

I used this site to make my Darya covers. You can check them out here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/byse...

Ignore the Paradise Project cover, I didn't do that one, but it was the last time I forked out big bucks for a cover.

Andre Jute wrote: I'm surprised that, even with a giveaway, you haven't received a slew of complaints that the cover of ZATYRICON 101 is misleading. (it isn't, of course, it is very precisely apt to the story, but one wonders if the consumers of porn would have the humour to appreciate that.)

I've wondered about that myself. Like any other title, reviews are slow, as I've only gotten one on Smashwords. They're eating it up though.

The mess on the floor and the woman's leg, with her slip showing just might be enough of a tease for them. Of course, once they reach the end of the book, the sting of reality of what they got probably makes them too embarrassed to say anything about it. You know, not wanting to give proof they read it, or something like that. That's just a guess.

I think it's a good guess.

I need a subscription. I have a dozen short stories that are in need of covers.

My email address is kjordan@bbtel.com

yuh mene like they aint like _i reed porn_ in yer faise u slutt

Daniel wrote: "It got more than a hundred downloads on Smashwords alone within the first 6 hours..."

That's nuts! Those numbers really bring it home.

K.A. wrote: "I think it's a good guess.

I need a subscription. I have a dozen short stories that are in need of covers.

My email address is kjordan@bbtel.com"

Done... and done. ^_^

Daniel Thank you!

Andre - I'm still trying to decipher that.

Luke - I know it's kind of icky.

You mean they don't say [defiantly], "I read porn. In your face you slut."

I saw that on Facebook, without the cleaned-up syntax. Of course, I have such street cred, you can count on me translating it into English correctly.

Andre Jute wrote: "You mean they don't say [defiantly], "I read porn. In your face you slut."

I saw that on Facebook, without the cleaned-up syntax. Of course, I have such street cred, you can count on me translating it into English correctly."

A few weeks ago I actually opened a free Erotica title - I forget which one - where the English, syntax and structure was so bad, I couldn't get beyond the first two pages.

As a Sci-Fi nut, my first reaction was to wonder if I accidentally wandered into a parallel dimension where everything was similar, but done differently. Once I ruled that out, I came to a much worse realization.

There is an army out there looking to butcher the English language. That one lone story was enough to make every deceased English teacher spin so fast in their graves, they could have been used to churn the Pacific into buttermilk.

I had to report some of these porn pushers to Facebook when ads started appearing on my newsfeed. It was BDSM.

I was livid.

Geeze, Daniel, that's a pretty mental picture.

Oh, Andre, did that happen in Indie International?

I've been telling some of my local writer buddies about Indie International, (but not all of them.) There is one gal who wrote a Western that I want to read.

I read maybe 3 books a year, when it used to be 3 a week. The internet really ruined my reading life. But since I had my surgery, I've read 3 in two weeks.

You can't run a group like Indie Authors International and then refuse membership to particular kinds of writers. The people I ban without warning are the ones selling fake Ray Ban sunglasses, handbags, and suchlike. I've banned a total of one (1) person for offensive covers, and that one was caught by another member who complained.

Members of ROBUST who aren't yet members of Indie Authors International are welcome to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/16021... The group welcomes both writers and readers.

Andre Jute wrote: "You can't run a group like Indie Authors International and then refuse membership to particular kinds of writers. The people I ban without warning are the ones selling fake Ray Ban sunglasses, hand..."

Thanks Andre! I'll go give them a peek. ^_^

Ah, um... you wouldn't want this set of Ray Ban sunglasses I got on the cheap?

LOL

^_^

Thanks, Daniel. My spectacle frames were custom-made in gold in the 1960s by my pet jeweller on Menrad fitments (ironically, Menrad now own Ray-Ban), fitted with modern photochromatic glass so that I do not need separate dark glasses. My flying/shooting/cycling glasses are modular items by Breitfeld & Schliekert.