How's the writing career coming, /lit/?

>>8520615
It doesn't.

I self-published a book, so I guess there's at least a spark

I quit and now it seems silly that everyone on /lit/ thinks everyone who reads should be a writer.

>>8520641
I don't think that. I do want to be a writer, but obviously I understand that people have to enjoy good reads and discussing books and such, or else who would read the books?

>>8520615
Great, I'm seriously considering writing a book one day.

>>8520615
Currently waiting for agents to answer emails.

They take too long.

Written two books, working on a third.

Over two years or so I've been working on writing query letters. At first I read somewhere that writing your first good query letter will be way more work that writing your first novel, and I thought it was bullshit, but it's definitely true. After two years or so, I'm still not good at it, probably never will be, but hoping I'm acceptable enough.

I don't feel that bad, as I read queries written by established authors and those are usually god awful.

But I've sent out about 40-50 queries for my first book so far, all rejects. Still trying though.

>>8520615
Any day now.

I'd like to write a book. If you wanna join me, send me you're gmail

>>8520817

Queries are weird because most everyone is bad at them, even good authors.

I'm suspicious if I read a good query, because it seems like the people who are good at them are the same people who would write a shitty book.

Sort of like most everyone is bad at job interviews, but those few weirdos who are great at them are generally the ones that it's a huge mistake to hire.

Most queries, from an agent's perspective kind of goes like this.

>Are they legitimately published?
Yes: Ok, I'll check it out.
No: Well....if it's a really good idea that just happens to fall into what I'm looking for, I'll check it out, but no promises. Probably will still pass even if I like it though.

That's why if you ask all successful authors how they broke into the industry, most have no idea, and basically say it was just luck. They happened to send the right query to the right agent, at the right time, after the 400th time being rejected.

>>8520615
Just starting. First I have to git gud at writing.

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It's coming along. Doing last minute edits on book 2 (of 11) and then sending cover and manuscript to contact on fiverr.com for a mobi file. Draft2digital will plug me into all the other worldwide markets with an EPub for free. Good times. It's nice to see results for all the work invested.

dont even know who to contact to get published kek i'm fuc

>>8521080
Produce a ton of work. Do your own thing and get it out into the world. If it's quality and tons of people are reading it, then agents will find you. Andy Weir signed the book and movie contracts on the same day because he did the work of getting The Martian out into the world in his own. Keep the faith, anon.

>>8520844
alright
>[email protected]

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>had epiphany that you don't always have to force and flay your ideas to fit a traditional novel format, and that you can be experimental with narrative styles, or with formats altogether
>been taking inspiration from a small set of authors who are doing the same kinds of thing I want to do, in various ways, and across various styles and formats
>still trying to find some means of expression that doesn't feel like I'm 10% getting my idea out, 90% accommodating the quirks of a style that doesn't fit me
>also trying to remind myself that some accommodation is still necessary
>still all I have are huge sets of notes I'm scared to look at after having first written them, because while they seemed like flashes of inspiration in the moment, I'm worried they will just make me cringe now

>>8521090
>Having a talentless hack who only got published because of reddit-tier amazon buyers for a role model
Kill you are self to be quite honest family.

>>8520639
Thats just admitting failure

>>8521123
Only if you're a pussy about it. Wilde, Joyce, and Whitman all self-published some of their early shit and they're considered to be some of the all-time greats now.

>>8521121
That's a piss poor response. Good thing you're not a writer, eh? Increase your bleach intake, it might improve your attitude

>>8521123
I was doing nothing of the sort actually, I'm happy I published it. It's an exercise in discipline and I hope to publish more.

>>8521138
Do that shit, dude. Stick with it. Bonelord McGee is just pissy that you're actually doing something while he rolls about in the sticks and gravel proclaiming his patrician-ness.

>>8521079
that font and word spacing...no thanks.

>>8521147
My point is simply that if it was worth self publishing it was worth getting actually published.

>>8521131
Yeah back when self-publishing was far harder and didn't mean tossing your work into an ocean of mediocrity

>>8521153
12pt courier new double spaced.
Industry standard.

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>>8520615

>>8521179
Embarrassing

>>8521191
Even more embarrassing

>>8521157
courier is standard for scripts. and double spaced is fine for editing purposes. but im pretty sure 12 pt times new roman single spacing is standard for novels.

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187 pages down. More to go

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>>8521185
>>8521193

>>8521225
Keep it up! It's late and I'm off to bed. Dont let up.

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>>8521185
>>8521193 >>8521193

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>>8521185
<3>>8521191

>>8521231
Tumblr
>>8521237
Facebook
>>8521240
Reddit

Wew the full gambit

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>>8521251

>>8521259
Much better

If you're writing to make it a career then you're doing it wrong.

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>>8521273
>If you're writing to make it a career then you're doing it wrong.

>>8521112

Overcoming cringe is an important step

>>8521179
What's up with his ears? Literally two slabs of flesh.

>>8521204
Seems more like 1.5 or 1.15 spacing, if you're talking about published books. I think double spacing is only used for raw manuscripts to make them more readable.

>>8521277
He's right though. Career writers are pretty much all hacks.

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I get high and I get urges to write short poems with stories about things happening around me at that exact moment.
I wrote this one a bit ago, read it now and it's full on cringe-normie fest which upsets me desu

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>>8522013

>>8520615
i have 10,000 word essay due tomorrow and iam fucking stuck, having a writers block right now

Was contacted by a major publisher about my work. They asked me for a story. Wrote it. Send it in. First review said "too pretentious, too full" - second version was received very well.

Went there yesterday.

Editor told me my story was well crafted. Gave me some notes on stuff to fix. Have to hand in the final version today.

They will publish this on their online platform for young writers. Left happy about that.

Yet, this is fucking me up: he didn't mention anything about a new story or a debut novel.

Feeling sort of weird about it all. How does this work? Do i approach him about new work? Does he ask me for a second story? Am i being dumped?

>>8522013
Judge me please.
(also high now)

>>8522042
sorry buddy, not good at all

>novel
terribly
>rap career
terribly
>personal blog
not bad, few thousand followers and about 10k readers per post
>copywriting career
making $100USD/hr which means I can work a couple hours per week and travel. Currently in Spain.

Lazy but comfy.

>>8522025
>1 day spent editing
lmao do you even bait brah

>>8520774


>they take too long
>he believes they will answer
>he waits
>SILLY TOM

>>8522071
the magazine thing comes out next week. There's only a few sentences that I need to look over. Told him I would look in to them today. It's just 3 pages long.

Sorry if this seems like bait, I'm actually rather insecure about the next step now.

I got a poem published last year by a kinda prestigious litmag (in my country), ever since only rejections. It's kinda weird, I always found that my prose is better and my poems are just kinda shitty.

I turned 25 last week. I've worked a tedious, full-time office job for almost three years and I've decided to quit and spend a year working as few hours as possible while focusing on my writing. Wish me luck.

I think amazon is scamming me. My self-published novel went from around 3500 to top 1000 in their rankings, yet they only reported 10 "sold" copies that month. Refunds don't affect the ranking and it was a free book anyway.