I am interested in going into serious book publishing(ebooks for now) and I am curious about what aspiring authors need. The one thing I have been certain off is editing and proofreading services. Thanks to authors like @lnv . Any iinput is welcome. Thanks in advance. Peace! https://www.megcabot.com/about-meg-cabot/frequently-asked-questions-getting-published/
Tbh if you are going to publish a book before anything you have to make sure to have a certain base of readers which will buy your work at least cover all the expenses so yeah a lil following is very important.
unless you rich , make shitty music, work on youtube, or are someone with too many "rights" therefore at some point breathing becomes copyrighted desu~
Your question is vague, what do you mean by "what aspiring authors need"? What they need to turn their story into the ebook format? Or are you referring to the process of writing? Are you only willing to publish finished books, or publish per chapter? You're either talking about an author who's still writing his story (for most webnovels) or about an author who finished his book and needs to publish it.
When I said aspiring authors, I was talking about authors without completed books but giving what you said a second look, I believe that it is irrelevant. The point is to target unpublished authors or rather amateurs. A too narrow demographic will be counterproductive, so on second thought, I say all of the above.
Money. Until you publish your first book you will have 0 income from that, and until you have a decent readerbase your books most likely won't generate a steady livable income either.
I definitely agree with that. You cannot write on an empty stomach. Time spent writing is time that could be spent earning money at a stable job. So any ideas on how to build a reader base or earn from writing?
So if you're gonna publish amateur authors without a finished book, will you accept anyone (RRL style) , or will have requirements (creative novel style)? Cause, you mentioned editing and proofreading, but will you accept to publish stories with crappy english?
The point of editing and proofreading is to fix the crappy english if the novel has a good enough story, following, reader base, etc to get published. Basically, I want to do what Japanese publishers who find works on Syosetu to publish do. You have some publishers who focus solely on turning Syosetu novels into published works "Futabasha's light novel label Monster Bunko was established on July 30, 2014, which exclusively publishes series that originated on Shōsetsuka ni Narō."
In any business that you open you will suffer losses for a period of time as a businessman myself I can relate to that so let me put it in context to an upcoming author ( purely my opinion as I am not an author myself ) , first you have to build a readerbase and naturally you will be building with your 1st book , don't make the 1st book too long but make sure it's a good one , publish it on free platforms but ones that are famous so people know it's YOUR WORK , then if you jave gained enough fan base from the 1st book you can look out for paid platforms or open a patreon for extra chapters , slow down the release on free ones and have decent stock for paid ones so people think it's a worthwhile investment , but it totally depends on how do you prefer to do it basically take it a step at a time don't try to jump on moon on you 2nd book. 3rd if you have gained a descent base from your 1st two books you can try to publish them on fully paid platforms ( Google play , etc , authors will know more ) , these are under ideal circumstances and purely my opinion if you find it helpful great!! . Nowadays there is also a genre of playable books like choices of games or delight games so you can gain some following from there too.
Can you expand on the playable books? I read somewhere that an author should not expect to make money on their first 10 books. Certainly makes platforms like munpia and Qidian to be better than our community tries to paint them since unlike traditional publishing, they can make authors successful on their first book.
Playable books so to say well they are like reading a book but you get to make some critical choices in them , so they are books where the reader can take some measure of control to the story making them more immersed in the environment and tbh the community is willing to pay for your very 1st work if it's good on demo , unlike you know here. And it can also improve the quality of author by trying something different and also gain a certain base for their furture works wherever they may be published. As for expanding it further it's better if you can take a look yourself , look for some famous works in progress in the forum. https://forum.choiceofgames.com/
I was thinking along the lines of otome games and interactive story telling but I didn't want to get ahead of myself. Thanks a lot
Np , hope this helps. Btw choices of games code is pretty easy to work with so you can give it a try. Good luck !!
Honestly, you've pretty much touched upon the core of the subject which is having an editor and proofreading services. Something to keep in mind is to also have an appealing novel cover that will attract the right audience! Obviously it should fit the theme of the novel; i.e. a dramatic story would probably have solid dark colors and detailed images if they're portraying a scene or if the novel is on the humorous side, it'd include lighter and fun colors or something people would find funny to look at. If you're going to pursue serious book publishing, you'll probably want to have a professional website in which you can advertise your own novels, but also provide a way for people who enjoy your novels to follow you (if you choose to include an author's blog which some of the authors I follow do). It'll also help with garnering a more professional reputation as an official author rather than just a hobbyist. Another thing to have ready as well is a donation link that can be put on the professional website I mentioned above. While it's unlikely that people will start donating right away, it's important to keep in mind that people are willing to pay for good content and may be able to tip one or two dollars to support an aspiring author, especially if they enjoy your works! Okay, another thing you don't have to have but would be good to have is: accounts on book review/suggestion sites such as Goodreads! I know that by creating an account and adding your books to the review site can be a bit of a double-edged sword (depending on whether people like your stories or not), but it can also be a really good way to get some exposure for yourself! A lot of these websites have novels grouped together in categories other than the generic sci-fi, horror, etc; in Goodreads, there's a lot of novels tagged with other descriptors such as "high school romance, Western historical, sci-fi, 2019 January releases". Honestly, you'll also need dedication, a strong will, caffeine, and some good bg music too. And cake. Cake wouldn't hurt.