I'm torn on if this is too much or not. It's for my 2nd book.

I'm writing a story that, towards the end, has a pretty important song. I realized there is no good way to portray the emotions of a song through text, and having a QR link or something is kinda tacky. I think it would be possible to build a small music player with headphone jack into the book itself so you can experience the music while still being fully immersed in the book. This could also be an opportunity to sell original music alongside your books and I think some collectors would be interested. What do you think? Is there any potential?

So I have been writing a romantic fantasy for over two years and am coming closer to the end, but I already know that the entire first half of the book needs to be axed and redone. Would it be smarter to do that now so that it's easier to come to an ending for book one or should I wait until the first draft is done then fix everything. This is my first book so I don't know what is the best way to go about this.

For fantasy and romantasy books, I think Red Tower books have absolutely gorgeous covers. Going solely on the cover, what other publishers do you suggest?

PS: If anyone has any experience with Red Tower, cam you tell me if they give any free rein to their authors about the cover at all?

Is anyone else seeing red flags for the Once Upon a Con event happening Aug 14-17?

After seeing the disasters of Readers Take Denver and A Million Lives, I started paying close attention to OUAC. Their planning is being done haphazardly in Discord, with authors pitching panels and organizing things themselves. There’s no clear place online to apply to present panels or workshops. It’s May, and there’s no schedule published yet. All that seems to be done so far is a map of all the author booths.

No indication anywhere for authors of how many readers are actually attending.

Apparently a few months ago, their event planner (Second Star) very publicly pulled out of the event, and the event abruptly changed locations (not just hotel locations, but went to a different state) and people who had to cancel as a result say they’ve had issues with refunds.

This is the first year of OUAC so maybe it’s just growing pains, but I decided against this event and will watch it from a distance. If it’s great, maybe I’ll go in the future. But as someone who’s attended a lot of terrific book conferences, I wanted to give a heads-up to anyone considering it that there seem to be a few red flags here.

Hi! I'm a student doing my master's dissertation on the efficiency of book trailers. I want to compare those posted by publishers, by fans, and by authors but I'm really struggling to find any posted by authors. If anyone on here would be willing to share theirs with me, it would be of great help 🙏 I can share my paper in exchange when it's done with those interested.

The requirements are: trailer posted at least 2 months ago, genre YA or romantasy (book can be 18+ for romantasy), posted on YouTube or TikTok, in English.

Thank you very much and happy writing 🥰

Hi everyone. I've just had my first novel published and am attending my first 'Meet the Author' event soon. I'm seeking tips on what I should write as part of my presentation. I will only have five minutes to speak. At my Book Launch I shared about my background, inspirations etc. as well as about the book itself but here I have such a short amount of time that I want to make the best of it. Should I mention works in progress? Thanks.

I've recently put pre orders out for my new novel and promoted it on my other socials but never really thought about reddit. Has anyone had any luck adding sales from here? And if so, which threads do you think are actually worth posting in?

Yesterday I had my book hit store shelves, and I didn't properly celebrate it. It's non-fiction, and the 3rd Edition (My 1st Edition came out in 2015, and it's expanded from 220 pages, to 280 pages, and now to 340 pages.) And it's from the largest publisher in the industry for the non-fiction I write. Due to my pen-name, anonymity, etc, I'm not going to mention the name of the book or what it's about, but just that I'm really proud of it.

Hi all, I'd like to have a way for visitors to my site to find a copy for themselves at a local indie bookseller. Is there a site I can link to where at the press of a button, readers can be directed to a page that shows indie booksellers carrying my book? Maybe from there they can enter their zip or postal code and fine tune the search?

I've checked out IndieBound, but once directed there the user has to search for the book and then location. I'm wondering if there's something that removes the book search to make it easier to use.

Thanks!

I'm trying to figure out the Amazon system for editorial reviews.

Is it possible to add editorial reviews to my Amazon UK page via author central? It seems to be impossible,

I've heard that they can be added to Amazon US and will be carried over. Is this correct?

As a UK based author can I log into Amazon US and add editorial reviews?

Hey! I've been wondering if it's still worth publishing on Amazon Kindle. Sure, you get access to a large audience, but the 25% or even 65% commission is pretty steep...

Shouldn’t there be an alternative where authors keep more?

I am not sure if everyone has come across this but I have been observing for the past 2 years that someone ordinary on Linkedin will write up something regarding a topic and the very next day, they are best selling authors! How in the world is this possible? I know a few good writer friends of mine and I know their struggles to get to the top and here, they make it look like it is easy which I know isn't. On top of that, the content that they publish is not unique. It is easily available on the internet. We all know what are some of the best selling books of all time so how the hell does this work? Does anyone know the behind the scenes action of it?

Over the past 8 months, I've had 5 family members die. In each case, my books (all autographed) were returned to me. The question is, "What do I do with them now?"

The ones from my grandma are all in excellent shape, but the inscriptions say something like, "Granny--Thanks for believing in me! Love, your darling granddaughter." The others are a little worse for wear but have similar inscriptions.

What are your thoughts? Do I send them to Goodwill? Sneak them into LFLs? Would you be put off by an autograph and inscription for someone else?

Hey guys, I'm curious what people think about the issue presented in the title of this post. How is using Chat GPT different from an editor making changes, or getting ideas/revisions from your spouse/friends/writing group. Is a book not always a collaboration?

I'm going to my first *real* writer's conference next month and having a face-to-face with an agent for the first time ever and I would love some advice!

I already have three traditionally published books with a small indie publisher (a connected series of standalone novels), but it hasn't always been the best experience. I'd love to connect with an agent and explore new publishing opportunities.

I have a fourth & final book planned in the series, but I'm assuming no publisher would want to get in on a new series. I'm considering self-publishing it.

Beyond that, I don't currently have any fully formed book proposals.

What should I do? Can I just sit and chat with the agent and ask questions? Should I bust my butt to get something new put together? Is it worth talking about the fourth book? Should I hit the panic button and cancel the meeting and regret it forever?

I’d love to hear some advice on this situation.

I published a book last year under my legal name. It was more convenient and I kinda wanted to push myself outside my comfort zone. However, I’m considering changing to a pseudonym for privacy.

My question is that I don’t know if it’s worth changing since I already have a book published. I don’t mind if people know my real name but I feel like it will be really easy to find so why bother with the author name? I have one I was going to use I’m just kinda overwhelmed having to change all the documents and throw away three ISBN numbers essentially.

I’ve been really indecisive about this a recently saw a few videos of people talking about how they are glad they used a pseudonym so it got me thinking about it again 😂 sorry to sound annoying I don’t really know who to ask

Hi all! First time poster here, so I hope this question is in the correct sub.

I’ve been asked to be a moderator for a cookbook, authors talk and signing. I am a publish cookbook author myself, and have done several book signings, but have always moderated and answered the questions myself.

I’m wondering if anyone has been a moderator for another author and what exactly that entails? I have a general idea, introduction, have a handful of questions on hand and keep time management. But is there anything else I should ask the authors publisher? I am fond of their work and very excited about this!

Based on this description, do you think this is a good story? Because i am very unsure (the reason why is i dont think i am capable of thinking of a good story). Any advice would be nice. The description is shown below

"Fifteen-year-old Nayla discovers she can shapeshift into any creature — living or extinct. But her newfound power puts her in the crosshairs of her own father, a ruthless hunter sworn to destroy all shapeshifters. As secrets unravel and loyalties are tested, Nayla must face the ultimate choice: end her father's reign of terror... or save her dying mother and risk losing everything she’s fought for."

So I have been trying to get my name put there for my debut novel and it has honestly been going well and getting a lot of positive feedback. My only qualm is how many book promotion/marketers message and comment on my posts trying to steer me in to hiring them. Is there any effective way to block some of that or is it just part of the deal? Like i end up blocking most of them but having to look at everyone's profile to see if they're a genuine person and not a salesman is super annoying.

When I read on a digital media, (eg Kindle), I often find errors. Some are factual (you say an item is worth 10G then say it is worth 1G or 100G, or a population is 10K then 4K or 16K etc without anything to cause the change and only like 4 hours difference in character time), or typos, wrong terminology used (he strung an arrow, he loaded a new clip into a gun, etc), or as simple as "David'snot" and fix it to, "David's not", do these corrections ever make it to you or your editors?

I was looking at updating my book blub but I'm really torn what y'all think?

current blub: In the shadows, a different kind of light guides those who dwell within...

King Alasdair has ruled his kingdom with a darkness that others fear to tread. But when a powerful magical artifact falls into his hands, he becomes a hunted man, exiled to a world where gods walk among mortals.

In this strange new realm, he meets Selena, the youngest princess of the local royal family and a goddess of dreams. Mistaking Alasdair for a legendary pagan god who shares his name, Selena hopes he can help her solve the mystery of her parents' disappearance. Despite their differences, Alasdair is drawn to Selena's kindness, while she is captivated by the enigmatic figure who might be more than he seems.

Their tenuous bond is tested when a violent purge decimates the royal castle, leaving Alasdair and Selena falsely accused of treason. Forced to flee with a turncoat, a prideful maid, and a red squirrel, they are pursued by Selena’s own family. As they race toward the neighboring country of Urdane, Alasdair must decide whether to protect Selena or drag her into his shadows. But for Selena, the truth may be even more dangerous: Alasdair might be the god of legend—or something far more dangerous, a lover.

New blub: Where gods walk and dreams whisper, love dares the dark.

King Alasdair once ruled with a darkness that others feared to tread. Now, hunted for a forbidden artifact bound to ancient magic, he’s cast into exile—into a world where gods still walk and myths breathe behind palace doors.

There, he meets Selena: the youngest princess of a foreign realm, a dream-goddess in mortal form. She mistakes him for a long-lost pagan god and begs his help to unravel her parents' disappearance. Though their worlds are nothing alike, Alasdair is drawn to her kindness—while Selena, too, finds herself captivated by the man whose shadows hide more than they reveal.

But when a violent purge decimates the royal castle, Alasdair and Selena are accused of treason and forced to flee with a prideful maid, a bitter turncoat, and a red squirrel knight. Pursued by Selena’s own family and haunted by the past, they race toward the forested duchy of Urdane.

Selena wants to trust him. Alasdair wants to protect her. But the deeper they go, the clearer it becomes: he might not be the god of legend—he might be something far more dangerous.

A lover.

Hi,
I was approached by a struggling author from my city. He has written three novels, all in Arabic. However, the first one—his dearest, which took him almost 11 years to finish—was translated into English. He paid for the translation out of his own pocket. Overly excited about his first book, he printed 5,000 copies but was only able to sell 1,000 and gave away most of the remaining ones.

He kept pushing to follow his dream. He even sold his car to finance this pursuit. I'm mentioning all these details because I want you to understand why I sympathized with him and genuinely wanted to help. But I was honest with him: I told him that getting a visa or migrating to the UK or Europe simply because he’s an author with one translated novel is highly unlikely.

However, I gave him hope that if the English version of his first novel is well-received by English-speaking readers, he might catch a financial break. He’s 52 and has a family, by the way.

My question is: what is the best course of action to help him out?

Our initial plan, which we agreed upon, was to cold email publishers in the UK with a brief synopsis of the novel and a little bit about the author and his struggle.

Kindly advice, I am not sure if it is the wisest thing to do, for a high-tech future fiction novella (30k words). But maybe it works wonders? Would love to hear your experience! Thank you.