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Of course, in this era of easy self-publishing, everyone does do it and is published. đ
I mean, I'm self published as well, but I like how Smashwords goes about submissions. They actually strive for some level of quality. Amazon only spellchecks, and the online platforms are just wild wests.
I never used them, but that sounds promising.
What a lot of people don't realize is that key terms are used by such platforms in a misleading way. They aren't publishers at all. A publisher is the one who pays to have a book produced. Publishers take on the financial risk of book production and thus bear responsibility for quality. In self-publishing, that's the author, not the production platform.
Another misused term is "royalty," but that's another story...
Smash will distribute for you to major markets as well, but marketing is still on you. Admittedly, I only really use their services to get price matching for free on Amazon.
Yeah, marketing tends to always be on the author, at least to some degree, unless maybe your name happens to be something like Stephen King.
"Marketing is on the author until your brand sells itself."
Lol life goals.
Craft is exactly the right word for it.
It is. Because everyone can dash off a text and read a novel, they think it's gonna be easy. I always say, you need to learn POV rules, and then characterization through action, then characterization the three other ways, and then realistic dialog, and then plotting (or in whatever order), pacing, scene structure, and on and on. And then somehow, you need to learn to weave it all together again into a seamless whole that makes non-writers sigh at the end and say "What a good book!"
It takes years of work to do all that.
Iâd also add that writing is an âexperienceâ. At least for me. Iâm writing a VERY emotionally driven story and it ⌠has made me feel things.
Yes. Itâs hard. And an art, like painting. Everyone can apply colors on a canvas, but not everyone will make something that speaks to an audience, even a small one. Sometimes⌠itâs just meh and it shows.
And for ordinary people (not geniuses, not âgiftedâ), it takes a lot of work to learn the writing craft and make something decent. And life is still unfair here, this might not be a popular opinion, but as for art in general, not everyone will reach the threshold for acknowledgment by peers.
I am also here to show respect to anyone who has made something finished. To actually be able to FINISH a work, whether thatâs a novel, a short story, an article, or a poem is a milestone regardless of whether you publish it or delete it.
I finished a novel but I wouldn't vomit it out on kindle. It's a 110,000 word fantasy that'll never see the light of day. I'm getting back into writing now though after a nearly 3 year break after finishing that, so I'm back to square one. Still, I kept breaking psychological barriers of what I thought I was capable of every time that word count grew, or I finished another draft or edit run. The biggest thing I learned is that there's no point putting pressure on yourself, just be consistent and steady and it'll happen.
Yes! 100% agree with you, also congratulations on finishing a novel! Thatâs no small feat.
yeah, but if that's depressing then there's another facet of this that's near devastating. That facet is called reading. There is nothing more soul sucking then reading your favorite authors new work and realizing - I have no idea what I'm doing. It takes some real resilience to bounce back from that , and I'll let you know when I do.
This is such a great observation to have. I find I give myself more compassion when I respect itâs a hard but worth craftÂ
Sometimes it's an art. Sometimes it's an exorcism.
Writing is like a box of chocolates. Ya never know wut your gonna get.
I've always told myself that writing is work in the form of art just as it is an art in the shape of work.
The final product is a piece of art. The process is a craft.
.
yep, it's difficult, and some people are convinced that they are god given talents when they have characters fighting with no description, barely any direction, and multiple fights simultaneously that aren't written that way, but instead play out each fight then the next and you get it. And then they yell at you when you give them actual feedback instead of just jerking them off. (real story)
It's mostly hard when people over-complicate it. Writing is neither as easy nor as hard as people make it out to be. It's a process.
Nowadays, I'm not so sure it's treated as a craft anymore. With the ease it takes to publish, there are more ideas told than stories written. IMHO.
WRITING IS AN ART YOU WANT TO MAKE A PR0FESSION. STAY SAFE! PEACE OUT!
No way, it can't be. All this time I thought I was pursuing a career in science. Of course it's an art, ffs.
I think he was just trying to express his admiration for the art bro relax.
Chill out
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17d
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It's hilarious that antagonistic behaviour is not allowed in a writing sub.
Writing is easy. Just make shit up for your own entertainment, what could be easier than that.
Farting random words on a page is easy.
Writing something that other people will not only want to read, but have a hard time putting down is the difficult task.
Itâs only difficult if you suck at writing, which sounds like you suck at writing
I just hope that what my mother tells me when I think I sing doesn't happen to you: âYou sing well but it sounds bad.â Easy Right?
If writing were easy, everyone would do it.
If writing well was also easy, everyone would be published.
But the feeling you get when you finally get to the end of the grind is well worth it. Keep chugging along!