About a month ago, I posted on here crashing out about the delays I was experiencing with my book.

Today I am celebrating small wins and invite you to do the same!

1. I started a broadcast channel on my Instagram account. I thought I'd never get around to it.

2. My ARCs were mailed out and began reaching their destinations. One person read the novel in a day and a half and called me as soon as he finished to tell me he loved it.

3. I found an affordable proofreader who caught a few more errors and I fixed them.

What has made you happy about your journey recently?

Without giving it much thought so far, I've written many times in my WIP someone shaking their head in amusement. Suddenly I wonder, is that a natural gesture? I've seen many characters doing it in fiction, but never in real life. And dictionaries associate shaking head only with negative feelings. Should I take out that gesture and find other ways to convey amusement?

Hi. This is my first ever post here . I'll be publishing my book soon but I am having a hard time understanding how do writers trust agents, editors, and publications that they won't steal their work.

Sorry if I sound skeptical and inexperienced (because I am both when it comes to book publications).

Hey everyone! My memoir goes live today. Next to transitioning it was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. My industry is antiquated and vicious. It’s 98% male dominated. And the release of my story could be the doom of my career.

For many years I’ve watched countless brave trans people post their triumphs and their failures on Reddit as a light for those of us still wandering the abyss and the closet. Humbly I’d like to try to carry that light now for someone else.

My story can be at times triggering and intense. It is a mind wrestling with the choice to transition and those first hard years still closeted and living a double life. But if my story can stay the hand of someone else as desperate and lost as I was in those days, then in my mind it will be a colossal success.

I know these are hard days, my friends. Stay strong and thank you for your bravery. It meant a great deal to me in dark times.

Rae

What advice would you give a newbie writer?

I know everyone says just keep writing and don't try and publish the first thing you write. One issue for me is, I really like the concept of what I'm writing!

I'd love to know who you shared your drafts with for example.

Thanks in advance

Come on, I've been writing more to relax for about 30 years, mostly in a notebook (old times), but I want to put some work online... where do I put it?

Note: they are in Portuguese, I have some in English (but the doctor is average).

Grateful

My print book is released and my ebook is set to release in a week; I've heard that audio books can be a gold mine due to their limited availability, but I have a few reservations. I was thinking of narrating it myself, however:

1. Do readers find it jarring when a female voice attempts male voices?
2. Should my audio book include multiple voice actors, or is just myself fine?
3. for those who have done it themselves, approximately how long did it take?

Hey everyone!!! Great to be here and find so many great resources. Unfortunately, despite combing through the wiki as well as googling for several days, I couldn't find any applicable advice. This also has to do with web dev/coding I too, but it's mainly about having a solid author website as marketing. If I have violated any rules or even unspoken rules, please let me know and/or remove the post, and I will correct it accordingly.

So, I've been writing for more than eighteen years for fun, and thinking seriously about publishing as long as I've been an adult (which is like half that time.) I write speculative, sci-fi and fantasy in the New Adult category. While I mostly write what I love to write, I would still love to make a living doing this at some point or at least some extra cash on the side if that's not possible.

Now, last year I started doing some rudimentary website coding (html and css so far, with a glance ahead to JS in the future.) I've been working on my page for a couple of weeks, running into some hiccups as I learn, but I want to do this myself to learn and have that employable skill rather than paying someone else to do it or working from templates that (in my experience so far) are just kinda boring and uninspiring overall. I'm sure I could make something passable with templates, and that's not to knock anyone who uses them at all!!! It's just not what I want to do, because I want to learn, and I learn best by doing.

I'd ideally have a functional site where people can read about me, about my works, buy books, and read updates on a blog-type thing. And I already have content written for most of the pages I want to implement.

I realize this will be a LOT of work, and I may need to hire someone for help at some point, but making it myself is non-negotiable here. My main question is to do with domain hosting, and where to do it.

I was thinking of squarespace, but I've seen extremely mixed reviews, and I am VERY anti-Gen AI and they seem to use a lot of it from what I saw. I could definitely make this post way too long going on a raging tangent about how much I hate gen ai but that's not the point.

So I guess my question is twofold. The main question is, where do you think the best place to buy/host a domain is (I've heard GoDaddy is AWFUL), and on a secondary note, does anyone happen to know where VERY early beginners can ask for web design advice when stuff isn't working? The second part is less important, but hey, if anyone knows, I'd love the advice!!

Thanks so much in advance to anyone with advice, and I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful day/night!!!

I did it! I finished writing another full-length spicy book! But when I thought about starting another, I hit a serious slump. For a whole month, I didn’t write a single word. The ideas were there, swirling in my mind, but the motivation to tackle another full-length novel just wasn’t.

Then, I had a realization: who says I have to write long books? So, I sat down and started writing short ones instead. And just like that, the words flowed again. In no time, I had written five short, spicy romances and I felt so much better.

If you’re reading this, I just want you to know: there’s no rule that says you must write a full-length novel. Short stories are just as powerful, just as valid, and sometimes, they’re exactly what you need to find your spark again. Keep going, even when you hit a slump your creativity is still there, waiting for you. 💖

This has been something nagging me for a while, and I have never been able to put my finger on exactly why it happened, but after going through dozen of bad reviews on Goodreads, listening to reads with Rachel whine, and scouring the Internet for comments related to my book, I think I've finally figured it out....

You're just jealous.

I was a teenager back then and find it very fun to write about that time period. No cell phones, no internet.

So, I uploaded my book to Nielsen for pre-release and now it's on Amazon but it's not under the same listing as KDP and Goodreads is picking it up as two separate books even though it's only one. Please help!

Got done writing my first short story any advice on how I can promote it ?

I've done everything:

BookBub Ads

Amazon Ads

Free Book Promos

Keywords (tried)

Is there something wrong with the description or the hook? Or should I prioritise a fanbase more?

While attribution like “Billy said” is often shown through the picture, I feel it should be included here because this is not a main or well-known character in the book. If read aloud, it would help with understanding. Including it outside of the speech bubble would make it the only other text on the page, and I would rather not add unnecessary information just for that reason. Would it be better to include it inside the speech bubble, outside the bubble, or leave it out entirely? I’m not sure how strict the rules are regarding this or narrative text, but I would prefer to maintain clarity since this is a children’s picture book. Thoughts?

I’m ready to print a few (3-5) copies of my latest manuscript for my book. I made a B&N press account and it won’t let me print personal books without entering vendor information. I have no intent to sell or mass produce this version of my book, I only want a few personal copies.

Has anyone else had this issue with the platform as of late?

Does anyone have other recommendations for printing personal copies? I looked at Lulu and Mixam, but of course reviews range from “best ever” to “biggest scam I’ve ever seen”. The word count for this latest draft is a little over 54,000. But it is largely comprised of poetry so the structure of those will make the page count a bit longer.

I’m also tempted to just print it out at home and bind it on a spiral if I cannot sort out an online method.

After years of on-and-off writing, I finally published a fiction novella on Amazon Kindle. Felt really good as an accomplishment. You quickly realize how many other books are out there, though, when you see your sales rank so low. How do you stay motivated and positive to keep going with your next book?

I received an email from them this morning.

https://www.ingramspark.com/2025-price-change

Any thoughts or discussion? What's the bottom line change?

As I've experienced and seen in several posts recently, it's no secret that Atticus just ain't cutting it since the recent updates. It's been torture to use, but I'm just not sure what alternative I currently have. Any suggestions? I know that Word is a go-to for many, but I have little to no experience actually formatting in Word. What I loved about Atticus was how simple it made the process. If necessary, I'll do some brushing up on what Word can do, but figured I'd check with this community first. Thoughts?

I recently published my debut mid-grade novel, I have a landing page, but did not know when I was starting out how much marketing goes on before the launch so now I am having to backtrack. What are your favorite email platforms and why? In addition, what are your favorite lead magnets to offer readers or what would hook you?

Thanks

Hey I released my first book and I have shared with friends and family but want to get it out to a wider audience.

Anyone know of LGBTQ+ friendly book reviewers, email lists, websites or podcasts that would be interested in promoting a transgender coming of age YA story?

Context: I have a direction for the ending, just don't have it written out.

I’m nearing the end of my first rough draft (55,000 words) of a book—a collection of personal essays exploring self-discovery, identity, and how women are conditioned to be "good" at the expense of themselves.

While the beginning and middle have strong momentum, I’m realizing my book lacks a clear conclusion. Though it doesn’t follow a traditional arc, it's missing the upward momentum and exploration of the freedom that comes after shedding the need to conform. I know the direction of the conclusion (and even have about 10,000 words of it written), I just don't have it as fully written as I'd like to by the end of the book itself. I think this gap exists because I’m still living this part of the journey in real time.

So, my question is:

➡️ Should I finish the draft as is, set it aside, and revisit it in draft two when I have more clarity?
➡️ Or should I wait until I have a stronger, more developed conclusion before calling draft one complete?

I don’t want to force a weak ending just to finish, but I also don’t want to delay moving into revisions when I have solid momentum.

Any advice for a first-time writer?

Hey all,

I have multiple questions, but I want to start from scratch. I am about 40% through a book at the moment (Epic Fantasy, Military Fantasy, Light Magic, and a few more inter-genre ideas).

As any struggling artist will say, I don't have money to offer people to do things like cover art. I will pay for editing; at the moment, I have zero budget for that. But if the book is good enough and passes beta reading (later), then I will consider paying for editing if that's a thing that needs doing.

What I want to avoid is AI pictures and editing. I hope others are with me on this. But how do I do that when it is clear I have zero to offer an artist to help build my dream? I did get AI pictures to see what they looked like, and they're beyond awesome. But I would like something a little more organic at the least.

Any tips on getting through the market cheaply or free and building something respectable and publishable? I'm all ears.

I want to publish book in two very different genres. Can I used the same Amazon account without readers/customers connecting the two?

Obviously I would use a pen name. Can I use two publisher names on the same account?

PenNameA published by ABC House PenNameB published by XYX House

Other than Amazon employees, would there be any way to know these were listed by the same account?

I don’t know what I was thinking, but I didn’t even google the title of my WIP, and now I find out it’s the same as the name of a best seller series. Even though not the title of the book, google made a whole section for that series.

So now I am back to square one, and I don’t know what to do. It was a really good name. I tried synonyms but it doesn’t sound as catchy. Advice?

I set out to create accounts with B&N Press and Amazon KDP, but B&N threw me a curveball—it's saying my Social Security Number is already linked to another account. Since I’ve never published anything before, this was a total surprise.

Trying to reach their support is somehow harder than dealing with the IRS. No customer service line, just emails that show up whenever they feel like it—each one a copy-paste with no real answers.

Has anyone dealt with this before? What’s my next move? I do have an LLC (unrelated to publishing), so I’m considering using that just to brute-force my way through, but I’m not sure if that’s the best approach. Any advice?

I want to read more self-published books, especially as I prepare to debut my own, but haven’t found a streamlined platform to search through them.

I can Google ‘Goodreads self-published,’ and there are a few older lists, but I’m not sure how often those are updated.

I must be missing something, as this feels like an obvious gap to be filled. Any suggestions?

https://soundmap.gg/NoahMXC/2sOVu2