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Post by markcbrown on Aug 19, 2020 21:46:08 GMT
Thank you and... Goodnight. With all that has gone on with lulu I have become very disappointed and discouraged. In the 12yrs I've been writing I've only sold a handful of books. Well it was fun while it lasted. After I finish my final in my latest series, I'll humble bow out. Tired of seeing and hearing the crickets.
I know that latter is on me, but since lulu has taken away all book reviews and changed the cover formatting (which I have to fix) I'm done.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Aug 19, 2020 22:23:42 GMT
But do you not write for pleasure? And, if you apply ISBNs they will be listed on many other sites, not just Lulu. You could even publish on Amazon.
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Post by markcbrown on Aug 19, 2020 22:31:35 GMT
Well it started off for pleasure, but the wind has gone out of my sales. I have none. Covid hasn't helped either. I enjoyed writing while I wrote, just had to get the darn sort out of me. I never really considered myself a writer, so that's half the battle. Like I said, it was a fun ride. Now it's time to me to step off.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Aug 19, 2020 23:26:20 GMT
Well, I never started to write fiction for money, I just had stories in my head, always have had, so I started to get them down on paper, then I found Lulu, and thought, well at least I for one will have them in book form, and for peanuts. Adding an ISBN was hopeful, and only did that because they were free. But I never held my breath. I do know what you mean though. I have phases of creativity where I can write many stories a year, then I get bored. I am currently trying to get back to finishing off part 7 of a series, which I have not bothered with for around two years. I have to admit my heart is not fully in it, but it was time it drew to a close.
The one thing you have to keep in mind is that very few writers make pots of money. If any at all. Even via publishing contracts.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Aug 19, 2020 23:34:20 GMT
Brown,
I remember a job I hated but went back to every day -- it was like hitting your hand with a hammer and when you stopped the relief was so great you went back the next day to feel that sense of relief all over again.
Writing, for me is like that job. I do it because I must, where the only true pleasure is finishing a character's story to shut off the flow, then soon enough there's another character proverbially yelling in my ear.
Am I a writer? Not really per some, I just have stories to write and move on from. I never truly thought I'd make money and so far I haven't really been disappointed. It's also kind of hard to write when you have to keep getting up to take care of things.
Yet every time I've thought and spoken about deleting the whole mess, the spouse tells me to stop and wait a week or two. Give it a couple weeks, or perhaps a couple months, then ask yourself if the time to dismount is now.
COVID-19 has changed a lot of perceptions, though mine not so much. If one person reads your work and looks at the world in a different way then you've made a difference. I may be an asshole, but a few people who considered suicide decided not to because I spoke or wrote the right words.
Sales are nice, but at the end of the day the difference you make in peoples' lives means more and you never know how you affect the lives of others if they don't tell you. Time for me to fall silent, as I need to get back to my main job these days and clean out a training potty.
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Post by markcbrown on Aug 19, 2020 23:38:06 GMT
I see the vote of confidence. Yes, I'm in a slump, it didn't help that amazon and b&n took all the commission leaving me with literally less then 50c for four books while they made over $14 each. Made me suck to my stomach. Oh well, guess I'll carry on writing.
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Post by markcbrown on Aug 19, 2020 23:45:48 GMT
To seeya, I forget the power behind a story, a sentence, or even a word whether fiction or non fiction. The inspiration, the fantastical, can and does bring relief and encouragement to those that read your words and turn them into pictures of hope and a smile. I write on.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Aug 20, 2020 0:19:18 GMT
To seeya, I forget the power behind a story, a sentence, or even a word whether fiction or non fiction. The inspiration, the fantastical, can and does bring relief and encouragement to those that read your words and turn them into pictures of hope and a smile. I write on. Brown,
Calling me Cameron works, as I do have a hook nose. My spouse calls me her Warrant Officer from Hell, but that's a different story for the kinder when they're old enough to understand always ready to serve isn't about our comfort.
A writer I'm not, I simply paint a picture with words that others take from what they will. At times bleak horrific scenes that inspire others to look beyond the fell drudgery of their daily existence, for reasons I can't fathom and odds are for good reason.
I do go through KDP myself for Kindle editions, and once Lulu Press takes down the print versions of my work I'll do them through the venues that make me a better percentage, if such exists for my work.
I've still got a story to finish my mother called crap nearly three decades ago, some updates needed as most younger people now won't have a clue what a 1972 Ford Pinto was or looked like. Yet the story still hangs in the back of my mind, waiting to be finished being told.
Take a break, and when you feel better about it dive into your next story. I've got close to 30 novels to finish, I haven't counted lately, as time and kinder permit...
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Aug 20, 2020 1:21:18 GMT
I see the vote of confidence. Yes, I'm in a slump, it didn't help that amazon and b&n took all the commission leaving me with literally less then 50c for four books while they made over $14 each. Made me suck to my stomach. Oh well, guess I'll carry on writing. That's is often unfortunately the case. Retailers almost always take the biggest cut, and Lulu take their share. But in reality you possibly still got more than you would in royalties if you had a contract with some traditional publishing house.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Aug 20, 2020 1:29:21 GMT
"I've still got a story to finish my mother called crap nearly three decades ago, some updates needed as most younger people now won't have a clue what a 1972 Ford Pinto was or looked like. Yet the story still hangs in the back of my mind, waiting to be finished being told."
One often gets such negative responses, and often they are meaningless.
A possibly famous story was a manuscript landing on a publisher's desk decades ago, and he had not just very little interest in it, he insisted that no one at all would be interested in the subject matter and the strange characters, and 'I do know what I am talking about!! I have been in this business years!!' But his son also read it and kept bugging him to publish it. In the end his dad gave him £300 and told him to bugger off and publish it, then. That book was the Hobbit.
That's not an unusual story with many top-selling books.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2020 3:30:54 GMT
Markbrown, I know exactly how you feel and I'm happy both Cameron and Kevin have persuaded you to continue writing. I too don't consider myself a writer and was going to give up writing. I said so in the old forum but Kevin managed to persuade me to continue writing. I never write for the money. I write because I want to send a message out there. It could be about the difficult life of women in Saudi Arabia (my Stolen series), animal welfare (Let's be Kind) or to break stereotypes in books for children, (Dr Wolf, Maggie the Witch) I make many of my books free and I have had hundreds of them downloaded. Hopefully some will be read and I will get my message across. So it's good to hear you are going to keep writing whether it's to entertain, get a message out there or just because you enjoy it. Good Luck.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Aug 20, 2020 12:07:26 GMT
There has been a little motto I have carried with me through most of my life: "If you aren't having fun, then you aren't doing it right." If you aren't having fun with your writing, then walk away for a time or start another project. I have found that the things I write when I'm inspired read much better than things I feel I'm plugging holes in. I also find that I can struggle through difficult parts when I take them as a challenge, and the victory upon completion is just that much sweeter. Carry on, markcbrown! Make it fun!
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Post by ronmiller on Aug 20, 2020 12:58:26 GMT
I see the vote of confidence. Yes, I'm in a slump, it didn't help that amazon and b&n took all the commission leaving me with literally less then 50c for four books while they made over $14 each. Made me suck to my stomach. Oh well, guess I'll carry on writing. You should write because you enjoy writing, first and foremost. And you should absolutely not let Lulu, Amazon or B&N put you off writing...if for no other reason than that they are not the only way to get your stories in front of people.
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Post by ronmiller on Aug 20, 2020 12:59:59 GMT
I see the vote of confidence. Yes, I'm in a slump, it didn't help that amazon and b&n took all the commission leaving me with literally less then 50c for four books while they made over $14 each. Made me suck to my stomach. Oh well, guess I'll carry on writing. That's is often unfortunately the case. Retailers almost always take the biggest cut, and Lulu take their share. But in reality you possibly still got more than you would in royalties if you had a contract with some traditional publishing house.Depending on the publisher, I get 12%-20% of the cover price of every book sold.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Aug 20, 2020 14:06:47 GMT
One problem I am facing right now, which does not help my enthusiasm or imagination, is while writing what will soon be a series of seven books, I kept a file of notes to refresh my memory (which gets worse each year!) I still have that file, but strangely it stops at part five, when I know full well it went to part six and started a section for part seven, ending the file in 2018 when I last worked on part seven. The file date actually says that! Bizarre! so what I am now forced to do is use Find (word or phrase) on each part's individual file. But it's never easy to know what to search for, being as I am doing it for reminders. Say I have forgotten a person's eye colour, I search for eyes and wade through all the mentions of it. Same for inn to find and inn's name, and so on.
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