Feeling a little lost, looking for advice/encouragement

[Kireizaki]

Hey everyone, I'm at a bit of a weird spot with my writing, and was hoping you all might have some advice. Some context on how I got here, though:

My wife and I used to post gender bender fanfiction on Deviantart, since that sort of content on that site had been an important part of me embracing my own identity as a transwoman. A lot of the content there can be pretty meanspirited, but the two of us tried writing more trans-affirming stories and we're pretty proud of a lot of what we did. A LOT of my early work is super rough, but there's clear growth from where I started to my later work on that site, and I'm happy for that. The two of us ended up getting a surprisingly big following too, and at times I even got messages from readers thanking us for our writing, saying it helped them come out to themselves. I'm still really chuffed, thinking back on that.

Eventually, the site got *pretty* bad for us, with stories being deleted with no explanation, me getting a lot of very uncomfortable messages, and it just becoming clear that the longer-form stuff we wanted to write wasn't gonna work there, so we moved to AO3 on recommendation from a friend. It was a much nicer place for our work, and while our audience was much smaller, we didn't get any harassment or any kind of weirdness there, which was nice. I'm really proud of our newer writing that's up there, and I was so happy to see it get the reception that it did. Sadly, the site has like no social features or any way to communicate really at all outside of comments, so any absences from our writing have gone totally unexplained and I really hate that.

Then life kept happening at us (too much to get into here, but deaths in my immediate family, me moving halfway across the world to be with my wife through a very, very stressful immigration process (and at one point, the risk of deportation over a technicality that's thankfully long behind us now), the two of us needing to find our own place, and a whole ton on top of all this) and my writing ultimately took a major backseat for a while. I was depressed and anxious and just couldn't manage a thing. It's been months since I was last able to put out a story of any kind.

But in amongst all that, my wife and I spoke about maybe starting to write books. We read a lot of light novels, and wanted to try do something similar to the best of our abilities. With all that was happening, it was slow going, but I've finished a first draft on a fantasy/slice-of-life novel that I'm really proud of. It's about 80k words and still needs some editing passes, but I cried so damn much when we wrapped things up, I was so so happy to have reached that point.

The only thing is now I don't really know what to do with it. English light novel publishing is a nightmare and a half, and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to adequately self-publish and promote a book on my own terms. I'm worried that the gender bender stuff might be a hard sell in that regard, and that the focus on monster girls might be offputting, but it's what I'm passionate about so I don't want to compromise on all that.

I had barely even heard of Scribblehub until very recently, but it seems like those things are a lot more warmly received here, which is really heartening.

So I guess I'm wondering what you all think I should do. Should I try find a publisher or a site that might pay for that kind of writing, should I self-publish, or should I try put it up somewhere like here and start a Patreon?

Honestly, with how much time I had to take off from writing, I'm worried I missed my big chance to succeed with it all. That's probably pessimistic, but god, was life an absolute mess for me over the past while. I'm only just now starting to feel like myself again, really.

Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling and I hope this isn't all weird to say. Whatever ultimately comes of this, thank you for giving me the time of day.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Dissecting Rude Comments On Wattpad Next Stories - What About Self-Publishing? - Wattpad

Read What About Self-Publishing? from the story Dissecting Rude Comments On Wattpad Next Stories by Cloud_Writer2theSky with 33 reads. wattpadnext, rudeness...

www.wattpad.com

Although this chapter was trying to explain something else (at that time, please forgive me if its completely off-topic), I think it could give some idea about what self-publishing is like? Its based on one person's experience though and what they had to go through to make their story success, so not too sure how the process is exactly. Sorry I don't know a whole lot about publishing stuff. Not to scare anyone about self-publishing. Its nice there's quite a bit of options for us authors nowadays. Good luck to you and your wife. I hope you guys find success with all the hard work you put into your story.

 

[CadmarLegend]

Hey everyone, I'm at a bit of a weird spot with my writing, and was hoping you all might have some advice. Some context on how I got here, though:

My wife and I used to post gender bender fanfiction on Deviantart, since that sort of content on that site had been an important part of me embracing my own identity as a transwoman. A lot of the content there can be pretty meanspirited, but the two of us tried writing more trans-affirming stories and we're pretty proud of a lot of what we did. A LOT of my early work is super rough, but there's clear growth from where I started to my later work on that site, and I'm happy for that. The two of us ended up getting a surprisingly big following too, and at times I even got messages from readers thanking us for our writing, saying it helped them come out to themselves. I'm still really chuffed, thinking back on that.

Eventually, the site got *pretty* bad for us, with stories being deleted with no explanation, me getting a lot of very uncomfortable messages, and it just becoming clear that the longer-form stuff we wanted to write wasn't gonna work there, so we moved to AO3 on recommendation from a friend. It was a much nicer place for our work, and while our audience was much smaller, we didn't get any harassment or any kind of weirdness there, which was nice. I'm really proud of our newer writing that's up there, and I was so happy to see it get the reception that it did. Sadly, the site has like no social features or any way to communicate really at all outside of comments, so any absences from our writing have gone totally unexplained and I really hate that.

Then life kept happening at us (too much to get into here, but deaths in my immediate family, me moving halfway across the world to be with my wife through a very, very stressful immigration process (and at one point, the risk of deportation over a technicality that's thankfully long behind us now), the two of us needing to find our own place, and a whole ton on top of all this) and my writing ultimately took a major backseat for a while. I was depressed and anxious and just couldn't manage a thing. It's been months since I was last able to put out a story of any kind.

But in amongst all that, my wife and I spoke about maybe starting to write books. We read a lot of light novels, and wanted to try do something similar to the best of our abilities. With all that was happening, it was slow going, but I've finished a first draft on a fantasy/slice-of-life novel that I'm really proud of. It's about 80k words and still needs some editing passes, but I cried so damn much when we wrapped things up, I was so so happy to have reached that point.

The only thing is now I don't really know what to do with it. English light novel publishing is a nightmare and a half, and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to adequately self-publish and promote a book on my own terms. I'm worried that the gender bender stuff might be a hard sell in that regard, and that the focus on monster girls might be offputting, but it's what I'm passionate about so I don't want to compromise on all that.

I had barely even heard of Scribblehub until very recently, but it seems like those things are a lot more warmly received here, which is really heartening.

So I guess I'm wondering what you all think I should do. Should I try find a publisher or a site that might pay for that kind of writing, should I self-publish, or should I try put it up somewhere like here and start a Patreon?

Honestly, with how much time I had to take off from writing, I'm worried I missed my big chance to succeed with it all. That's probably pessimistic, but god, was life an absolute mess for me over the past while. I'm only just now starting to feel like myself again, really.

Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling and I hope this isn't all weird to say. Whatever ultimately comes of this, thank you for giving me the time of day.

Maybe post your story here and start up Patreon/Ko-fi? If you want to make a living out of writing, this wouldn't be a sure-fire way, but if it is just to earn a bit of cash, it would be okay.

To make a living, most authors tend to go with what most readers like. The fantasy genre is very popular, so there are many books like that out there.

Things like "GL, BL, Harem" aren't largly accepted because of the thought perspective of how many viewed transgender people until a bit of time ago. They are not popular as of now, so they might not gain a lot of transaction is put into story format. In a few more years, they may become a good genre that is largly accepted. Not harem, though. All like monogamy... except for a few different countries.

If you want to start up a career as a writer, one of my writer friends told me that he went with the flow of readers' wishes but added his own uniqueness. The "readers' wishes" just means what was liked around that time.

He created a fiction, and put in his own ideas that turned out to be unique. He self-published, and got a bit of money.

The thing is, literature is always changing based on the people who are reading. You cannot expect the same genre to be "favorite" or the most "popular" forever. In a period of time, the genres may change... or new ones will be added.

It will be hard to completely give my opinion, because of those variables, but most likely there will be very little profit if you ask a publisher to publish it for you. Self-publishing... it may be better than having a publisher, but there is a chance that the profits will be very little, because of the genre your story will be.

Give it a shot. If it doesn't work, then try to post the stories on online writing platfroms with Ko-fi and Patreon.

 

[BenJepheneT]

Motivating One's Self

As authors, there would always come a time when--even if we really love what we do--we'll get lazy and procrastinate. It's perfectly normal, being an author myself. However, what if you're already done with being lazy and wanted to write your story, but procrastination just won't leave you...

forum.scribblehub.com

 

[Spica66]

Hey everyone, I'm at a bit of a weird spot with my writing, and was hoping you all might have some advice. Some context on how I got here, though:

My wife and I used to post gender bender fanfiction on Deviantart, since that sort of content on that site had been an important part of me embracing my own identity as a transwoman. A lot of the content there can be pretty meanspirited, but the two of us tried writing more trans-affirming stories and we're pretty proud of a lot of what we did. A LOT of my early work is super rough, but there's clear growth from where I started to my later work on that site, and I'm happy for that. The two of us ended up getting a surprisingly big following too, and at times I even got messages from readers thanking us for our writing, saying it helped them come out to themselves. I'm still really chuffed, thinking back on that.

Eventually, the site got *pretty* bad for us, with stories being deleted with no explanation, me getting a lot of very uncomfortable messages, and it just becoming clear that the longer-form stuff we wanted to write wasn't gonna work there, so we moved to AO3 on recommendation from a friend. It was a much nicer place for our work, and while our audience was much smaller, we didn't get any harassment or any kind of weirdness there, which was nice. I'm really proud of our newer writing that's up there, and I was so happy to see it get the reception that it did. Sadly, the site has like no social features or any way to communicate really at all outside of comments, so any absences from our writing have gone totally unexplained and I really hate that.

Then life kept happening at us (too much to get into here, but deaths in my immediate family, me moving halfway across the world to be with my wife through a very, very stressful immigration process (and at one point, the risk of deportation over a technicality that's thankfully long behind us now), the two of us needing to find our own place, and a whole ton on top of all this) and my writing ultimately took a major backseat for a while. I was depressed and anxious and just couldn't manage a thing. It's been months since I was last able to put out a story of any kind.

But in amongst all that, my wife and I spoke about maybe starting to write books. We read a lot of light novels, and wanted to try do something similar to the best of our abilities. With all that was happening, it was slow going, but I've finished a first draft on a fantasy/slice-of-life novel that I'm really proud of. It's about 80k words and still needs some editing passes, but I cried so damn much when we wrapped things up, I was so so happy to have reached that point.

The only thing is now I don't really know what to do with it. English light novel publishing is a nightmare and a half, and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to adequately self-publish and promote a book on my own terms. I'm worried that the gender bender stuff might be a hard sell in that regard, and that the focus on monster girls might be offputting, but it's what I'm passionate about so I don't want to compromise on all that.

I had barely even heard of Scribblehub until very recently, but it seems like those things are a lot more warmly received here, which is really heartening.

So I guess I'm wondering what you all think I should do. Should I try find a publisher or a site that might pay for that kind of writing, should I self-publish, or should I try put it up somewhere like here and start a Patreon?

Honestly, with how much time I had to take off from writing, I'm worried I missed my big chance to succeed with it all. That's probably pessimistic, but god, was life an absolute mess for me over the past while. I'm only just now starting to feel like myself again, really.

Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling and I hope this isn't all weird to say. Whatever ultimately comes of this, thank you for giving me the time of day.

I think Patreon is a good start. Self-publishing costs a lot.

Outside Japan (and maybe South Korea), they don't like this kinds of novel unless it's popular. For looking for LN publisher I need you need negotiation advances such as number of fanbase.

We all know life is a pain. Cheer up!

 

[RepresentingCaution]

A) I recommend posting on as many platforms as you can handle. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Personally, I got kicked off Wattpad for my story.
B) If you want to publish a paperback, try the publisher of this book:

Tree Black: Bruler, Connor de: 9780982280911: Amazon.com: Books

Tree Black [Bruler, Connor de] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Tree Black

www.amazon.com

 

[Ai-chan]

Hey everyone, I'm at a bit of a weird spot with my writing, and was hoping you all might have some advice. Some context on how I got here, though:

My wife and I used to post gender bender fanfiction on Deviantart, since that sort of content on that site had been an important part of me embracing my own identity as a transwoman. A lot of the content there can be pretty meanspirited, but the two of us tried writing more trans-affirming stories and we're pretty proud of a lot of what we did. A LOT of my early work is super rough, but there's clear growth from where I started to my later work on that site, and I'm happy for that. The two of us ended up getting a surprisingly big following too, and at times I even got messages from readers thanking us for our writing, saying it helped them come out to themselves. I'm still really chuffed, thinking back on that.

Eventually, the site got *pretty* bad for us, with stories being deleted with no explanation, me getting a lot of very uncomfortable messages, and it just becoming clear that the longer-form stuff we wanted to write wasn't gonna work there, so we moved to AO3 on recommendation from a friend. It was a much nicer place for our work, and while our audience was much smaller, we didn't get any harassment or any kind of weirdness there, which was nice. I'm really proud of our newer writing that's up there, and I was so happy to see it get the reception that it did. Sadly, the site has like no social features or any way to communicate really at all outside of comments, so any absences from our writing have gone totally unexplained and I really hate that.

Then life kept happening at us (too much to get into here, but deaths in my immediate family, me moving halfway across the world to be with my wife through a very, very stressful immigration process (and at one point, the risk of deportation over a technicality that's thankfully long behind us now), the two of us needing to find our own place, and a whole ton on top of all this) and my writing ultimately took a major backseat for a while. I was depressed and anxious and just couldn't manage a thing. It's been months since I was last able to put out a story of any kind.

But in amongst all that, my wife and I spoke about maybe starting to write books. We read a lot of light novels, and wanted to try do something similar to the best of our abilities. With all that was happening, it was slow going, but I've finished a first draft on a fantasy/slice-of-life novel that I'm really proud of. It's about 80k words and still needs some editing passes, but I cried so damn much when we wrapped things up, I was so so happy to have reached that point.

The only thing is now I don't really know what to do with it. English light novel publishing is a nightmare and a half, and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to adequately self-publish and promote a book on my own terms. I'm worried that the gender bender stuff might be a hard sell in that regard, and that the focus on monster girls might be offputting, but it's what I'm passionate about so I don't want to compromise on all that.

I had barely even heard of Scribblehub until very recently, but it seems like those things are a lot more warmly received here, which is really heartening.

So I guess I'm wondering what you all think I should do. Should I try find a publisher or a site that might pay for that kind of writing, should I self-publish, or should I try put it up somewhere like here and start a Patreon?

Honestly, with how much time I had to take off from writing, I'm worried I missed my big chance to succeed with it all. That's probably pessimistic, but god, was life an absolute mess for me over the past while. I'm only just now starting to feel like myself again, really.

Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling and I hope this isn't all weird to say. Whatever ultimately comes of this, thank you for giving me the time of day.

Yes, gender-bender stories are hard to sell. Ai-chan would know. See that story Felicia's Second Life in Ai-chan's signature? That's gender bender. If not because Ai-chan did extensive promotion on it, probably nobody would buy it. So when it came out, the sales were pretty good for the first few months as the fans of the story flocked to buy it, but not everyone got that kind of luck.

If you're looking to make money from it and nobody has seen it before, and therefore, you have no die-hard fan, Ai-chan is sorry to say that you will not make anything from it. Okay maybe you can make some money, but you'd be better off selling crepe on the streets of Venice Beach in Los Angeles. FYI, Venice Beach is where a lot of homeless people stay.

If you want to self-publish, you can use Amazon Kindle or Smashwords. Don't bother with Smashwords, nobody buys from Smashwords. Xinxii, that's fine. But nobody buys from Smashwords, it's a complete waste of time.

Now Ai-chan suggestions are to:
1) Release it for free.
2) Gather a following. It could take a year or two but there's no shortcut.
3) Improve it with your readers input.
4) Inform your readers that you're going to sell a published digital version
5) DO NOT take off your story from the net. Why? Because the majority of your readers won't buy your book.
6) Publish the improved copy, not the copy that you share for free. The copy you share for free, keep it free.

That's what Ai-chan did. And to this day Ai-chan still receive some income from it every month. Not much to live on, but enough as a passive income to support Ai-chan's coffee habits. Would've made a lot more if Ai-chan can finish the second book. Ai-chan already comissioned a cover illustration from the artist of Nusantara Droid War (Xilveroxas), the cover artist for the first book.

Scribblehub readers rarely support authors even on patreon, so don't expect to get money from it. Scribblehub audience comes from the pirate webnovel (not qidian) scene. And as you can guess, scribblehub readers do not have much disposable income to support you on patreon. You can still post your stories on scribblehub but don't keep your hopes up that people will give you money. Gender bender is a very niche genre in the first place.

As for other places you can share your story at, you can go to https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/ which is specialized for gender-bender stories. Though the terminology they use is transgender fiction. They follow the old-school rules of literature: you can post whatever you want, as long as it's LGBT themed but you take responsibility for your own stuff. They neither censor nor ask you quit, as long as you don't be an asshole. The general rule there is "If you don't have anything good to say, you don't need to say anything". Apart from that, they also run a transgender support group.

 

[Kireizaki]

Dissecting Rude Comments On Wattpad Next Stories - What About Self-Publishing? - Wattpad

Read What About Self-Publishing? from the story Dissecting Rude Comments On Wattpad Next Stories by Cloud_Writer2theSky with 33 reads. wattpadnext, rudeness...

www.wattpad.com

Although this chapter was trying to explain something else (at that time, please forgive me if its completely off-topic), I think it could give some idea about what self-publishing is like? Its based on one person's experience though and what they had to go through to make their story success, so not too sure how the process is exactly. Sorry I don't know a whole lot about publishing stuff. Not to scare anyone about self-publishing. Its nice there's quite a bit of options for us authors nowadays. Good luck to you and your wife. I hope you guys find success with all the hard work you put into your story.

I appreciate you sending it all the same! it's nice to see what other people went through even if they explored different avenues from what I ultimately might end up doing. And thank you so much for the well-wishes! Even if it takes time, we're gonna go all-out and do our best to make this go well for us!

 

[Kireizaki]

Maybe post your story here and start up Patreon/Ko-fi? If you want to make a living out of writing, this wouldn't be a sure-fire way, but if it is just to earn a bit of cash, it would be okay.

To make a living, most authors tend to go with what most readers like. The fantasy genre is very popular, so there are many books like that out there.

Things like "GL, BL, Harem" aren't largly accepted because of the thought perspective of how many viewed transgender people until a bit of time ago. They are not popular as of now, so they might not gain a lot of transaction is put into story format. In a few more years, they may become a good genre that is largly accepted. Not harem, though. All like monogamy... except for a few different countries.

If you want to start up a career as a writer, one of my writer friends told me that he went with the flow of readers' wishes but added his own uniqueness. The "readers' wishes" just means what was liked around that time.

He created a fiction, and put in his own ideas that turned out to be unique. He self-published, and got a bit of money.

The thing is, literature is always changing based on the people who are reading. You cannot expect the same genre to be "favorite" or the most "popular" forever. In a period of time, the genres may change... or new ones will be added.

It will be hard to completely give my opinion, because of those variables, but most likely there will be very little profit if you ask a publisher to publish it for you. Self-publishing... it may be better than having a publisher, but there is a chance that the profits will be very little, because of the genre your story will be.

Give it a shot. If it doesn't work, then try to post the stories on online writing platfroms with Ko-fi and Patreon.

Mmm, I'm currently thinking about posting some work up here and seeing if I can build even a small audience through Patreon. I feel like that'd be a better way to know that I'm writing for folks who are interested in the kinds of stories I want to tell. It's definitely going to be tough making things work, but I definitely think I feel more comfortable with that than a publisher right now.

 

[Kireizaki]

I think Patreon is a good start. Self-publishing costs a lot.

Outside Japan (and maybe South Korea), they don't like this kinds of novel unless it's popular. For looking for LN publisher I need you need negotiation advances such as number of fanbase.

We all know life is a pain. Cheer up!

Mmm, self-publishing and everything associated with it definitely sounds like the kind of thing I'll only really be able to comfortably do in cases where like, I know people are already interested in this book and would want to own it physically. Probably gonna look at posting my work on different places and going for Patreon and Ko-Fi and seeing how that goes. Definitely know that I'm playing to a very niche audience with a lot of my work, but I'm OK with a small audience even if it's only enough to say, fund an artist for future work.

And thank you! We're both in a better spot now! I just struggle every now and then, I'm feeling more optimistic about my work and its chances to succeed than I was!

 

[Kireizaki]

A) I recommend posting on as many platforms as you can handle. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Personally, I got kicked off Wattpad for my story.
B) If you want to publish a paperback, try the publisher of this book:

Tree Black: Bruler, Connor de: 9780982280911: Amazon.com: Books

Tree Black [Bruler, Connor de] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Tree Black

www.amazon.com

Mmm, that seems like a good call! Sorry Wattpad gave you a hard time, that sucks to hear!

Paperbacks are probably more of a distant "if I already know this is something people want to own physically" thing for me, but I really appreciate that all the same! Thank you so much!

 

[Kireizaki]

Yes, gender-bender stories are hard to sell. Ai-chan would know. See that story Felicia's Second Life in Ai-chan's signature? That's gender bender. If not because Ai-chan did extensive promotion on it, probably nobody would buy it. So when it came out, the sales were pretty good for the first few months as the fans of the story flocked to buy it, but not everyone got that kind of luck.

If you're looking to make money from it and nobody has seen it before, and therefore, you have no die-hard fan, Ai-chan is sorry to say that you will not make anything from it. Okay maybe you can make some money, but you'd be better off selling crepe on the streets of Venice Beach in Los Angeles. FYI, Venice Beach is where a lot of homeless people stay.

If you want to self-publish, you can use Amazon Kindle or Smashwords. Don't bother with Smashwords, nobody buys from Smashwords. Xinxii, that's fine. But nobody buys from Smashwords, it's a complete waste of time.

Now Ai-chan suggestions are to:
1) Release it for free.
2) Gather a following. It could take a year or two but there's no shortcut.
3) Improve it with your readers input.
4) Inform your readers that you're going to sell a published digital version
5) DO NOT take off your story from the net. Why? Because the majority of your readers won't buy your book.
6) Publish the improved copy, not the copy that you share for free. The copy you share for free, keep it free.

That's what Ai-chan did. And to this day Ai-chan still receive some income from it every month. Not much to live on, but enough as a passive income to support Ai-chan's coffee habits. Would've made a lot more if Ai-chan can finish the second book. Ai-chan already comissioned a cover illustration from the artist of Nusantara Droid War (Xilveroxas), the cover artist for the first book.

Scribblehub readers rarely support authors even on patreon, so don't expect to get money from it. Scribblehub audience comes from the pirate webnovel (not qidian) scene. And as you can guess, scribblehub readers do not have much disposable income to support you on patreon. You can still post your stories on scribblehub but don't keep your hopes up that people will give you money. Gender bender is a very niche genre in the first place.

As for other places you can share your story at, you can go to https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/ which is specialized for gender-bender stories. Though the terminology they use is transgender fiction. They follow the old-school rules of literature: you can post whatever you want, as long as it's LGBT themed but you take responsibility for your own stuff. They neither censor nor ask you quit, as long as you don't be an asshole. The general rule there is "If you don't have anything good to say, you don't need to say anything". Apart from that, they also run a transgender support group.

Admittedly, not everything I'm writing is gender bender stuff (the first book is, but the other ideas I want to get to afterwards are not), but I definitely know I'm playing to a very niche crowd on all this. I'm OK with that though, we're paying the bills well enough as is so while I do want to try and make money with my writing, it'd be more to allow myself to set more time aside to write and hire artists for cover illustrations and all that.

I do quite like the idea of selling a published version once you've already got readers checking out an online version. I feel like published versions are more for people who'd want to support me after already being fond of my work, so that might be a decent route. In the meanwhile, I'm thinking about putting stuff up online and starting a patreon and whatnot to see how that goes before I can properly publish something.

Thank you so much for all the advice!