Janice Hardy wrote a fantastic short book on this, titled Understanding Show, Don't Tell. She provides clear explanations and tons of varying examples to really drive home the core concepts. I loved it so much after I bought it on kindle that I bought a physical copy to keep handy at my writing desk. If you're not sure yet, /r/PubTips has a great review of it:

• Part One
  
• Part Two
  
• Part Three
  
• Part Four

Try out the 10% editing technique. The idea is to cut out 10% of your word count--to tighten up the prose. Search one-by-one for each of these and question their usage; delete if possible; be sure to turn them from passive voice to active voice if you must keep them.

• ly
  
• of
  
• that
  
• was
  
• were
  
• by
  
• very
  
• about
  
• ing
  
• And or But (at the beginning of a sentence)
  
• like
  
• ion
  
• felt
  
• hear
  
• smell
  
• saw
  
• taste
  
• touch
  
  For more explanation on what to do with these troublesome words, see Ken Rand's The 10% Solution. He got the idea of trimming 10% from Stephen King and made it actionable.
  
  Best part about this approach: it can be done non-linearly. There's no need to load up the whole plot into memory just to tighten up this sentence. In tightening up sentences the thought behind them usually becomes keen.
  
  What other words or word fragments do you guys search for?

I actually wrote a couple publishing handbooks for Amazon and Smashwords... if you are new, you should check them out! It's free on the Amazon. They are basic and will get you publishing right away! When you are publishing, try to go with the biggest vendors such as Amazon, Smashwords, and Direct2Digital. If you can get your book/story in all of them, you'll be much better off!


Smashwords and Direct2Digital are both distributors. They distribute your book to many other vendors, which saves you time. Doing just a bit of research will save you a rediculous amount of time! Try checking out other guides on Amazon and join in Kindle Unlimited right away. You will find a wealth of knowledge from already successful authors!

​

I'm excited for you! Self publishing is an amazing career.

Just ordered this off Amazon...

It's being so inside the character's head that the author or narrator disappears. Deep POV can be in either first or third person. Generally, to get deep POV, an author would remove tags and all references to the narrator, even in first person. There tends to be a lot of tagless inner dialogue, and it's more fragmented in style. In third person, the dialogue isn't italicized, has no tags, and feels first person. Many authors will pull in and out of deep POV, depending on how they want their readers to feel about the situation at the time. It's extremely popular with current readers and many publishers.

The go to book for this is Rivet Your Readers With Deep POV by Jill Nelson.

These are a bit oversimplified, but here are some examples:

I saw the sun. (First person, distant/narrator POV)

Pinpricks of heat clawed. What is this explosion of light? (First person, deep POV)

"Is it morning?" she said. (Third person, distant/narrator POV)

The shutters bounced against the vinyl siding. Heat wrapped her face in a fleece blanket. Hello sun, old friend. (Third person, deep POV)

The only one I've read so far is 100 Successful College Application Essays by The Harvard Independent. It's pretty much what the title says it is - a collection of essays from kids who got accepted into Ivy colleges. There was some commentary from counselors and such. I learned a lot from the book and would recommend it.


Here's an Amazon link.

The Planet Construction Kit is a great resource for worldbuilding, covering almost all aspects of society and general setting from cosmology to biology, history, culture, religion, technology, map making...

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/0984470034/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286906911&sr=1-2

Its companion book, the Language Construction Kit, is an invaluable resource for creating conlangs if that was of any interest to you as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/098447000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268637297&sr=1-1

There really isn't much difference between third person/first person except the use of I/She/He and how much you're allowed to reveal to readers. One thing you want to avoid (I find it easier to look for this in editing so that I'm not slowing down on my first draft) is to keep an I out for the words -I think/thought, I feel/felt, I see/saw, ect. Anytime you have these words are similar, it's telling.
Ex. I felt a shiver run up my spine vs. A shiver ran up my spine. Those words tend to draw the reader out of the book, disconnecting them.

I found the book Rivet You Readers with Deep POV to be helpful. The last book in the chapter is dedicated to first person, though, like I said, most of third person show vs tell applies.

https://www.amazon.com/Rivet-Your-Readers-Deep-Point-ebook/dp/B007PUMQ1O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494940914&sr=8-2&keywords=deep+pov

I have the Planet Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder and I thought it was pretty good. It deals with a ton of aspects; planet making, geology, religions, cultures, biology. There's even a section on how to draw your sentient beings.

Bless your heart, darling. That's it.

I was going through the comments and didn't see much about where to find an editor or how to edit.

Here are my offerings:

http://www.the-efa.org/dir/search.php Type in a genre or place and see what the search finds you.

Self-editing how-to books:

[Savvy Self Editing](http://www.amazon.com/Savvy-Self-Editing-Developing-Editing-Process/dp/1418437964
/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2Y6K8TCM225QI&coliid=I557WJNM4C04M) This is the one my own developmental editor (who cost me $1500.00 on a 100,000 word story, BTW) recommended. You absolutely can get a less-expensive editor, but I chose to work with someone who's been editing since 1988.


Wired for Story

Edit Yourself

Revising and Self-editing

And something quick, short, and cheap, but very useful (Kindle only):

$3.00 Little book of Self-Edit

Whatever saves to Word format is fine. Doesn't matter what you use, really. Remember that both mobi and epub are very stripped down - you can't have a lot of formatting in there.

So don't worry about what you're writing in (honestly, just use whatever's most comfortable - I've used Evernote, Google Docs, Word, and others, depending on where I am working).

Things like text justification and hyphenation don't matter much. In ebooks, the reader decides things like font size and font formatting. What you DO have to worry about are:

• Headings and other styles
  
  
• Page breaks
  
  
• Non-breaking spaces, hyphens, etc.
  
  
• Centering
  
  If you want to get serious about getting your formatting right, let me recommend the book I refer to most often for these questions: Zen of Ebook Formatting by Guido Henkel. His blog is worth checking out too.
  
  Or wait till I give another webinar on the subject. :)

There's always Mark Rosenfelder's The Planet Construction Kit

Hmmm... depends on exactly what you are looking for... (you may also want to pose this question in /r/writing).

Start with these if you're looking for fiction writing help: The 10% Solution by Ken Rand

The Elements of Fiction series (I personally liked Nancy Kress's: Beginnings, middles & ends.

Immediate Fiction I haven't read it yet, but it looks pretty good.

There are a hundreds of other books out there, and a couple that focus more specifically on style, but Elements covers the majority of the subject fairly well. This one might be a little closer to what you're wanting.

Hope this helped.

How about something like this:

If you're looking for more control over what your book will look like when published (i.e. page breaks before chapters, special chapter headings, etc.) you will want to look into hand-formatting. Here are a couple of books that go into further detail: Here and here!

Always follow the gut. :D If the trope is dominant male focused or more appealing to women, then you want the guy on the cover. If the trope has crossover male appeal or is a body-oriented fetish (hucow, fetish clothing such as corsets/stockings etc, feet) as well as lesbian, PI or MILF, you want the scantily clad woman.

Suave, gorgeous Latin lover seems to be stuck in-between BUT if you follow the romance tropes -- Meet Cute, Instant Attraction with Sexiness, Issue Arises, Pining Happens, Issue Resolved, Super Sexy Happily Ever After, you can use the Latin lover aspect as a nice twist, even for a 25K novella.

I highly recommend How to Write a Brilliant Romance for a great quick recipe of how to write romance novels/novellete.

This isn't specific to romance, but Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View has been immensely helpful in shifting my writing from shorter "tell" style of smutty shorts to more immersive "show" style of better written novellas/novels.

As a bonus, "showing" instead of "telling" will also explode your word count!

Let me just provide an ‘antithesis’ -

• by the data, spending public money on education for at-risk kids yields little to no return.
  
  
• by the data, 40% of California kids are ready for college.
  
  
• by the data, 35% of bachelors seekers drop out of college
  
  
• women are more likely to choose a degree that pays less than other degrees:
  
  http://www.aei.org/publication/highest-paying-college-majors-gender-composition-of-students-earning-degrees-in-those-fields-and-the-gender-pay-gap/
  
  
• college has become a place for job training - or at least that’s the expectation
  
  http://www.theedadvocate.org/poll-many-americans-no-longer-view-college-as-very-important/
  
  
• degrees only serve as signals. Referencing the above, if 40% of kids are ready for college (as per a test of 11th grade mastery) but grad rates are 92%- 95%, a diploma is not about proficiency.
  
  Why tax and spend money when the return is so low? A liberal knee-jerk would be Whitney Houston’s The Greatest Love.
  
  As teachers we confuse good feelings with productive members of society. Here’s a book written 22 years ago:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Why-Johnny-Cant-Read-about/dp/0060913401
  
  Our kids can’t read. They can’t engage in our democracy and we have been trying the same tactics for close to 100 years. Put them in a brick and mortar building. Keep them there, in a single room, 99% of the time. Separate by age. Separate by subject. Pre-digest information we think is important. Listen to 1 source for 180 days. 1 source becomes the expert as to whether a kid learned something. Assign them a meaningless (from their perspective) letter. Then set the standard that they must work a majority of their waking day performing activities that may pay off.
  
  I’m not putting this squarely on teachers: but there is an irony, we’re so used to taking blame that we end up feeling responsible.
  
  And, as a society, we’ve yet to solve poverty.
  
  So what do we expect? Conservatives and corporate interests look at the caliber of employee they get and want to squeeze as much productivity out for as cheaply as possible.
  
  But just like the Democrat/liberals, there is a paralysis. We’ve shifted so far to the right that the actual conservative stance, status quo/ moderation, has become the liberal stance.
  
  Yes, college should be the new high school.
  
  Yes, we should specialize children starting in 6th
  
  Yes, we need actual people from the fields we teach in schools.
  
  Yes, subjects should be cored
  
  Yes, we should board at-risk kids. The parent to prison pipeline would become moot.
  
  Yes, get rid of grades and in place assess skill sets.
  
  We defend a broken system and get pissed when people try to put it out of its misery. Education has stage 2 cancer. Either we treat it or let it die.
  
  

Depends on what was said. If it's the same thing, not enough depth, not connecting with the characters, poor prose then read some books on craft not just your typical craft books. This book is awesome, simple and FREE right now, https://www.amazon.com/Show-Dont-Tell-descriptions-characters/dp/3955337502/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=show+don%27t+tell&qid=1567056908&s=gateway&sr=8-1

This guy is great https://www.amazon.com/Verbalize-bring-stories-writer-guides-ebook/dp/B07B63CTKX/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=damon+suede&qid=1567056792&s=gateway&sr=8-2

​

There are youtube videos galore on writing, watch a few maybe pay for the Masterclass and watch everyone from David Baldacci to Judy Blume, even David Mamet looks good playwrite is even better to watch for a writer.

I would also read, read, read, read. Do you want to be the next Stephen King binge Stephen King, or is John Le Carre, then binge him. Read then kind of pick it apart, what is it about the author and their writing most appeals to you and how can you mimic that in your own way?

​

Then maybe join a critique group in your area or even on Facebook there are dozens out there.

Good luck

If you’re trying to write to trend, then you may want to consider the “accepted” standard for the genre you’re writing in. For example, paranormal romance tends to be third person and generally two alternating POVs (the h/H...and potentially the villain as the third). Urban fantasy, on the other hand, although similar to PNR, tends to be mostly first person (it appears to be shifting to 3rd person, 1 POV).

The biggest error I see with third person POV is making the POV too omniscient or all knowing. You should strive to write in deep POV and stay in your character’s head, regardless of whether you’re writing 1st or 3rd.

Of course, at the end of the day, you can do what you want. Writing is an art, after all.

Good luck

ETA: when I refer to 3rd person, I’m referring to 3rd person limited

ETA: i forgot you asked for resources/link. Rivet your reader with deep POV - https://www.amazon.com/Rivet-Your-Readers-Deep-Point-ebook/dp/B007PUMQ1O

You can read the author going over the basics in the preview

Your library should have or can order any of these for you:

Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays
Gen Tanabe

100 Successful College Application Essays
The Harvard Independent

I just bought and read This book. Short, concise, and really practical advice. It also includes a checklist you can flip to (and a link to a printable version) for each step the book goes over.

The book doesn't claim to be 12 years of English classes. It claims to allow you to deliver a manuscript that has been ironed out a bit more. Waging a step by step war on a lot of the common, mechanical issues. It has helped me right away and I pull my printed checklist out before I allow the editor in the room. While it's just a basic coat of polish, I was surprised to see how many things can be cut and how stories become a little more lean and powerful in a few minutes. At 4.99 not a huge investment but I needed to improve on every little thing the book covered. I have been edited before and this system allows me to produce changes similar to those I've gotten back from editors, but were never really explained to me all that well.

I highly recommend the book "Violence: A Writer's Guide" by Rory Miller. Rory was, among other things, a correctional officer in Oregon for 17 years and a civilian advisor to the Department of Justice in Iraq. Needless to say, he knows his stuff.

You may want to read the Planet Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder.

Publishing Erotica Complete Collection: Includes Six Publishing Guides

This is a Smutwriting and Publishing Guide for All Skill Levels

​

These six publishing guides will take you from writer to author to successful entrepreneur.


There is a lifetime of publishing knowledge packed into these six books! On Smashwords, you can set your own price when you read. If you are an author, give this series a shot. Why not? I absolutely guarantee you will learn something new that will impact your sales in a positive way!

​

Includes
-Publishing Erotica
-Breaking Your Sales Cap
-24 Hours to 5k
-Road to Retirement
-Creating Your First Author Website
-How to Turn Your Author Website into a Passive Income Stream

These author handbooks may be purchased on Amazon or Smashwords!

​

The complete collection can be found on Amazon for $9.99 or you may Set your own price on Smashwords!

Screenwriter's Bible is a must read. Super informative and also just fun to read. Lots of humor that helps you get through some of the text about formatting and script nuances.

This blog post has a pretty good rundown of some of the better ones: 5 Books on Screenwriting

This one also isn't specifically for pilots, but is fundamental reading for any storyteller.
The Art of Dramatic Writing

> Anyone have tips for formatting?

Oh boy do I! Honestly, for the first few months of shorts, I just did things on Google docs then uploaded a docx file to Amazon. That worked fine and looked okay and let me focus on what was important: writing more shorts.

If you want to get fancy there's a bunch of way to go: you can use Scrivener, apparently, as you're doing. If you have a Mac and want them to look really pretty you can get a program called Vellum (there are ways to get it on your PC, too, by simulating a Mac, if you really want Vellum). The two programs I've heard mentioned for Windows (or Mac) are Jutoh and Sigil.

Finally, if you want to invest a fair amount of time learning stuff, don't get frustrated very easily, and want complete control over your books, you can do something called hand formatting. That's where you go in and use HTML to make your manuscript look nice. I just learned how to do this and find it quiet satisfying. Check out A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress by Cooper Kegel and Zen of eBook Formatting by Guido Henkel. Henkel also has a series of blog posts if you want a quick overview of what you're getting into. Both of the books are free to read with Kindle Unlimited though, I believe, and you can get a free month of KU if you're not already signed up. It's quite useful for doing market research anyway.

But, anyway, if your just getting started I'd say: just make it look nice in a Word doc and upload that.

P.S. I don't really know what I'm talking about. Just repeating what I've learned so far.

I'd suggest an easy graded reader, as the language will be carefully adapted to a beginner's level, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/German-Easy-Reader-Super-500-ebook/dp/B01CAS0DQU/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

I don't recommend children's books for beginners because you'll probably spend a long time looking up words, tenses, and expressions that won't be immediately helpful for an adult learner. You won't be living that language, won't be expanding the stories into songs, images, oddities, symbols etc. that are part of the children's universe in a given culture.

You'd ideally want to focus on input you can build on.

I try to think about what state I want my characters to end up, then think of their current state-of-mind and develop an arc that can dramatically get them from current to future state and throw in both internal obstacles (like self-doubt) and external obstacles (like an event that causes a set back).

For example I was working on a story where a character becomes a henchmen (think stormtrooper or Cobra Viper from G.I. Joe) because his life was aimless. He realizes his organization is evil and has to rise up and bring them down. I knew the end of the journey was him finding his voice and inner strength and I had to start him at a point where he didn't value his own beliefs and he faced challenges that forced him to make moral choices, those challenges defined his character arc.

I recommend getting an old copy of The Art of Dramatic Writing to thumb through. And as you consume fiction, like movies, TV and books, think about where the character landed at the end and how different were they from the beginning. Examples from couple of well-known movies:

Black Panther

Beginning: As a new king, T'Challa was concerned with being worthy enough to honor the tradition of the Wakandan kings that came before him.

End: T'Challa learned to forge a his own, different path as king by opening up Wakanda to benefit the entire world.

Arc: He faced internal obstacles such as self-doubt, conflict from of B'aku who thought the status quo needed changing, Nakia who thought Wakanda can do more to help the world, and Killmonger who took his throne with a plan to abuse its power. He had to win these people and through that learned that keeping his power secret serves no one.

The Empire Strikes Back

Beginning: Lando Calrissian sees himself as a neutral party that just wants to do what's best for his city.

End: He joins the Rebel Alliance

Arc: Being neutral meant betraying an old friend and making a deal with the Empire, along the way they kept changing the terms of the deal, which further imperiled his friends and Cloud City's autonomy. Once he realized Vader couldn't be trusted, he picked a side at great risk to his city and personal fortune.

Language building and world building go hand in hand in my opinion. The world, its geography, history, politics, culture, flora and fauna, all and more inspire uniqueness in languages.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984470034/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_op7Pub04GQYCT

This is a book I got for christmas. It's a fantastic read for conworlding.

The 10% Solution is amazing. I started selling stories right after I started using the Solution to crunch my prose down, and even now it's the final step in my process.

And a lot of other writers have told me the same thing.

I guess it depends on whether or not you want the program to do the formatting for you.

For example I plot and write in Scrivener but then I strip the story out into a plain text file and format it manually. (It really doesn't take long once you've learnt the basics of html etc.) Once the formatting is done, I shove the html file into Calibre and convert it to epub and mobi.

It sounds like a crazy way to do it, but I don't get any weird formatting issues in my files at all. Check this page out if you think this is the route for you. That guy also has a book - Zen of eBook Formatting which is just a clean version of his blog posts.

HTH :)

Hi dan

Facebook ads have only kept getting more expensive since I've made that post, and I hardly ever use them anymore.

I get my best results from amazon ads and ad stacking with book promotion websites now.

This book is one of the best resources for amazon ads.

This article is a great resource for book promotions. Also if you sign up to his email list you'll get another file with the top ROI websites.

The basic idea is to stack as many ads on consecutive days as you can during a launch or kindle countdown deal for a ranking spike, then using optimized keywords and product page to continue selling organically.

I also run a facebook group with about 200 horror/supernatural authors trying to help each other improve and market their work. Publishers are always popular, and it's a great place to swap ideas and promotions.

Cheers,

While not completely on topic, I feel that I can't miss the opportunity to warmly recommend this insightful guide to violence in general.

>Write to market but keep your voice. So so so many people start out in romance writing split POV with snarky/sarcastic protagonists because that's what's popular. I'm always telling people to go with the market, not against it, but if your voice doesn't fit that and you struggle to write in that style then DON'T. I promise you people will still read your books even if your FMC isn't pulling out whitty remarks fast enough to give a reader whiplash. Romance can be fluffy, angsty, saccharine sweet, or a thousand other things. Figure out what your style is and own it.

If you can't find your voice or don't know what yours is, I strongly recommend Finding Your Voice to help you. It's in KU for 90 days (and probably 20 or so days into those 90 days). Definitely worth a grab. Plus it pairs well with Romancing the Beat. (Both authors write Romance and I would categorize them as contemporaries of Gwen Hayes.)

I recommend these highly.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CWGH46I/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o04_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U5GIGGY/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o03_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Go and buy these three books: The Language Construction Kit, Advanced Language Construction (don't worry, it's not that advanced), and The Conlanger's Lexipedia. And if your conlangs are designed for made-up worlds, then get [The Planet Construction Kit] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/0984470034/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W79ND56BKPK8EKXT2VQZ) too. If you want to make cultures that are not European then I'd also suggest The China Construction Kit!

Of all of these I'd suggest that you definitely buy The Language Construction Kit and see how you get on. I'd also suggest buying some grammar books of languages you're interested in, and even go so far as to learn a second language if you don't speak one. Having knowledge of at least one other language will help you a great deal.

Absolute best book I’ve found on the topic. Show, Don't Tell: How to write vivid descriptions, handle backstory, and describe your characters’ emotions (Writers’ Guide Series) (Volume 3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/3955337502/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_iWRQCb4XW2BHT

Henkel has a book that describes his tutorial + more. https://www.amazon.com/Zen-eBook-Formatting-Step-step-ebook/dp/B00KJAH4HS

Have yet to get it but I use his online tutorial every time.

Here is the mobile version of your link

Speech to text has been mentioned. Here's a short book about how to become effective at it. It's on my list of books to read.



Good luck with the surgery and recovery.




https://www.amazon.com/15-Minute-Dictation-Frustration-Tablet-Singles-ebook/dp/B07WV5X42D

/r/conlangs !!!

Here's a good podcast.

Book from the guy that created Dothraki (he's also on the podcast every now and then) about constructing languages

The language construction kit. Gives you a general overview of how languages do things and how you construct languages

Second part of the LCK. Highly optional

After you're done with either the podcast or the fist LCK, you might as well get into the grammar of other languages instead of using language construction things.

Don't do auxlangs, though.

Edit: There's also a planet construction kit in case you want to get straight into world building as well

https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/0984470034/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286906911&sr=1-2

I have some but depends on what you want

About planets:
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/0984470034/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286906911&sr=1-2

About languages:
http://www.amazon.com/Language-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/098447000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268637297&sr=1-1

i dont know about it too much but heard its good:
http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Imagination-The-Writer-Cartographer/dp/1595340416

This is THE deal:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

Another helpfull thingy:

http://www.amazon.com/Strata-Terry-Pratchett-ebook/dp/B003NX6Y6U/

Amazon (AMS) ads are a great place to start. If you haven't already, check out Brian Meeks book on AMS ads (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072SNXYMY)

Start with a small daily budget, monitor your ads daily and see how they convert. Ignore the current suggested bids as they can really be out to lunch.

The problem may not be your ads at all, they could be with your blurb, your cover, your price or your look inside.

Use AMS ads to set a baseline, then if they aren't converting as well as you would like (1 in 10) then consider tweaking each of the above, one at a time, leaving enough time between changes to monitor the impacts. That way you can see if the changes are having a positive impact. It takes a while, but it is worth it to have measurable results.

I'd recommend you pick up two books to read that will go much further in depth than anything here:

https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guide-Weapons-Practical-Reference-ebook/dp/B0108VCP9E/ref=as_li_ss_tl

and

https://www.amazon.com/Violence-Writers-Second-Rory-Miller-ebook/dp/B00CWGH46I/ref=pd_sim_351_1

So far, this is the best ebook example of an adult CYOA I've seen: https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Whatley-Tupper-Choose-Your-Path-Novel-ebook/dp/B00408ASO6/

There are several online sites for collaborative CYOAs, but this is the best known one. http://editthis.info/create_your_own_story/Main_Page I'll admit though: I don't love them.

The original series is a lot better than people give them credit for. Even though they're geared for kids, they're sophisticated enough for adults to enjoy too. (I think I have located a copy of every single title so far).

By the way, Karen Woodward has written a good kindle short about the CYOA genre.

I'm writing one such book at the moment...

​

​

For me coding is less hard than forcing myself to do a boring thing lots of times! The process goes like this:

1.) Google something like what I want to do. (Hope someone already did something similar.)

2.) Copy it. Make the changes to apply to my particular situation.

3.) It does something. Not what I wanted it to do. Cry. Swear.

4.) Google something slightly different and splice in the new information.

5.) Does it work? If so, yay! If not, go to 3. Repeat until forever.

Here's the little bit I stared at for 30 minutes until I figured out what I was doing wrong (and therefore what was right):

line = re.sub(r'<p>','<p class=first>',line)
line = line.replace('</span>','')
splitstring = line.partition('<span>')
line = splitstring[0] + '<span class=fletter>' + splitstring[2][0] + '</span>' + splitstring[2][1:]

which basically takes a line of the document which is encased in <p><span>[words]</span></p> tags and moves the span with my first letter class around the first letter.

It is simple and silly and dumb and I yelled at it and I sent my partner angry unicorn .gifs about it and when it worked at last I got up out of my chair and did a small dance in the middle of the room.

Hat tip to "Zen of Ebook Formatting" and "A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress", the latter of which I can never ever search for ("A Naughty Book in a Pretty Dress"? "A Dirty Book in a Classy Dress"? "A Slutty Book in a Lovely Dress"?) and end up searching for BOOK DRESS FORMATTING DAMMIT until I find it.

https://www.amazon.com/Filthy-Book-Fancy-Dress-Formatting-ebook/dp/B00WIPMMEC

https://www.amazon.com/Zen-eBook-Formatting-Step-step-ebook/dp/B00KJAH4HS/

EDIT: to add a closed paren. you might think I would be on the lookout for that stuff after coding all day but APPARENTLY NOT

Well, first you must learn to edit yourself.


I'm the prose guy in my writing group, mostly due to the fact I write short stories, while my friends write longer works. You can't use "I'll edit it when I finish it" excuse when your story is 20 pages.

What helped me was listening to a few courses of Brandon Sanderson's lectures as well as Writing Excuses podcast, but while both are worthwhile, they aren't time-efficient (although free!).

What is time efficient, though, is the Little Book of Editing for Writers. I like this book a lot, because it's so concise. Not only it gives you advice, but also offers examples, allowing you to decide whether you agree with the reasoning or not on your own. And for the most part you'll end up agreeing, because the advice really is on point.

When you make the book as good as you can (which often takes several drafts and even rewrites), well, at that point you'll need to find a real editor, but maybe that's something someone else can help you with.

As a general advice, though, think about every word and what function it performs in the story.

That being said, you might like "Zen of eBook Formatting" by Guido Henkel.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-eBook-Formatting-Step-step-ebook/dp/B00KJAH4HS

Hi there! Don't get downhearted! I was in a similar position but noticed a jump in sales once I made my first bundle. This was helped by improving my keywords (which I then went back and re-did all my books and saw a difference). The advice in this guide really helped me:

https://www.amazon.com/Publishing-Erotica-Complete-Collection-Guides-ebook/dp/B07H6N6158

It's also available as smaller books depending on what bit of knowledge you need to know-I bought the set 'cos I like to plan ahead!

Also! Don't spend too long editing and promoting too much and concentrate on getting more stories written (I'm my own worst enemy for this one, mind you...)

Good luck!