Hello I've been lurking for a while (slightly before the latest trademark fiasco) and I really like the community spirit here so I thought it was time to join. I value honesty upfront, so I'll get this out. Some time ago I was hired to ghostwrite a LitRPG book. The premise was the publisher's, but I was free to do whatever I wanted. Confession: I had only read fantasy and sci-fi, and had never read a LitRPG book before in my life. But I used to play WoW, so I thought "Yeah, let's write a WoW-ish story!" and that's kinda what I did, plus some influence from shounen manga. I didn't think much about it, since I thought it would be a good chance to hone my writing skills and pick up some extra bit of cash. What happened was I had a tremendous amount of fun, and I tried really, really hard to tell a good story and I ended up falling in love with my characters. I've been writing fantasy drafts since junior high, but this was the first story I ever finished. At the time, I didn't realize that there were so many readers in the genre. I only needed to please the publisher. It turned out that the publisher wants more books, so apparently I'm writing more. I won't own my work, but I feel like I owe it to my characters now to tell their stories, so I have to see them through to the end. After finding the book out on Amazon and seeing that actual people have read it, I had a major episode of freaking out and only then did I start researching what the whole genre was about. My research led me here, and I only now realized that this might be my genre I'd like to write in in the future. Right now I'm writing book 2 of the story (whose title I'm not sure I'm allowed to disclose) and since I'm still rather inexperienced I'm putting off actually reading any real LitRPG titles until I finish this book for fear of being too influenced and unconsciously plagiarizing. P.S. I don't need access to the authors' section since I don't really consider myself a real one just yet. Thanks for having me here
Hey if you’ve written a book then you’re a writer, whether you ghostwrote it or published under your own name.
Thank you! Never thought it would start this way, really. Always thought writing was a pipe dream. BTW, just wanted to say I've always enjoyed your posts during my days in the lurk shadows.
Ta muchly - I try. Lemme know if you need an editor, I’m dirt cheap. ... wait. Ah forget it, I am a cheap bastard.
Greetings! "An Accidental Writer Stumbles In..." Sounds like the title of a cozy mystery novel. No. No. No. More like a Magnificent Bastard who is reasonably priced. Think Mycroft instead of Sherlock.
I will! The publisher seems to have an in-house who does a good job, but your rates will be amazing if I ever try to publish my own. (Seriously, you can charge way more than that)
I’m thinking of doubling them come January. I just can’t get over the idea that I could be wrecking someone’s shot at being a successful author by charging more than they can bear. If there’s one thing that I don’t want to do, it’s making an author lose money on publishing their book. That’s what prevented so many people from self publishing before the digital revolution - they’d have to find their own print run and distribution, which both had a HUGE cost and were still not guaranteed to even sell at all. That is, if they could even get shelf space at a bookstore at all.
Yeah, thank God for the digital revolution. Your rate for substantive editing is way too low, and I think substantive editing is what writers actually need. If you can provide detailed feedback on things like tone, pacing, and scene placement, dialogue flow -- that's extremely valuable. I believe indie writers who really care about their craft want their work to be the best possible. Making money is nice, but it's getting a positive review that really feeds the soul and keeps people writing -- like a simple "this was pretty well-written" and I'm ready to cry tears of joy, and if you can help writers get there, then charge away. (They will end up selling more books!)
Impostor syndrome (also spelled imposter syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome) is a term coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes referring to high-achieving individuals marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as "fraud". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome I mean, even Drew occasionally wonders what's going on, and he's about as high up there as an "indie" author can get. Good luck!
Thanks for pointing that one out Frust. I have had problems with that one my whole life (professionally). The reminder helped.
If you really want to you could charge normal but if the book sells well enough to be in the black have a thing that says your rates are doubled (although I dont know how that would work out contractualy)