Gonna set a date for my rough draft

[Bobtheduck]

I'm gonna set a date for the rough draft of "Diamond Spearhead", my main writing project right now. I'll be working every day on it as soon as this semester is over, and doing at least 1 if not 2 pages a day until the first volume is done. I will be publishing it myself on Cafépress! That means it will be a bit more expensive to buy than a normal book, but I don't have to pay any setup fees and no one gets to change my book.

I'm gonna go back to sleep (only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep) but I thought I'd say... I'll set the date today: September 30! That's the rough draft release date.

I will need proofreaders. I'll need some really, pardon my term if it bothers people [button="that word"]anal[/button] grammer and spelling checkers, and I will need some people that can fact check (by that, I mean facts within my story... It's science fantasy, so it won't be scientifically accurate.) and check for plot holes and problems in narration. I need every one of my proofreaders to tell me what they think:

• What did you like
• What did you dislike?
• What is your prediction for the next story?
• What could you not figure out?

1. This will be PG-13 content... I will use "questionable" words in dialogue (and only in dialogue) Don't agree to proofread if this is going to bother you too much.
2. I may not use all the changes you suggest... I may use none of them. I will most likely fix all bad spelling, and I will fix some of the grammer (where it doesn't violate my style) and I will fix plotholes, or at least explain some things better, but I may disagree with you on a correction...
3. You will be credited in my book... I can either credit your screenname or your real name, whichever you please... I'll even credit your Pen name if you would like.
4. Finally, this is my book. You are just quality control. Keep that in mind.

With that said, do I have anyone interested in proofreading my book come release time? If so, leave a message in here, and you'll have it by the 30th of september. Thanks!

BTW, if someone wants to give me some royalty free cover art, be my guest... I don't expect that, though, and will probably be doing it myself in Illustrator *shiver* I know I suck at illustrator, but it's better than MS Paint...

[Taslin_Jewel]

Hey, Bobtheduck, I'd be willing to help. I've read so much in my life that I have excellent spelling, grammer, and I can tell when a passage has some mechanical issues. If this is the case in some spots, I won't change anything; I'll just send it back to you with some suggestions and let you do it. If I changed it, it would be my writing, not yours. But I'd love to help you out. ^_^

[Bobtheduck]

Nice! One on Board!

Anyone else?

[AZheng]

I'll do it. I actually rather enjoy reading and proofreading, and I have a decent grasp of grammar and mechanics. You have no reason to pick me (I'm still introducing myself to people here :-P), but if you do I'm here.

[Bobtheduck]

Cool... I just hope the realization that I won't sell very many doesn't keep me from reaching my goal... But, perhaps I won't go through Cafépress... If I can find a way of selling them for cheaper than 13.50, I'll be very happy. However, if there is no way, I'll still release them, even if I'm the only one who buys them...

I should just not expect to make any money off my book... I'm going to order them in bulk, and hopefully be able to sell them myself or even give them away to get people hooked...

Man, that depressed me... I really thought things were moving forward...

Well, I'm going to try to reach my 200 page goal by September 30th, and I'll have you proofread it, but I may forget about the Cafépress thing... I know I want to get this book out for people to read. If this isn't the way I get it out, oh well! That doesn't mean I shouldn't try... I need to try so that I can at least have a chance, I suppose. But, this sort of defeat at the hands of pure logic is hard to get over...

[Bobtheduck]

News! Well, I'm going to start working half-time on my book once I finish my janitorial work tomorrow. I plan on doing 28 pages a week, if possible, so my first run should be done in about a month, not taking into account writer's block and other special circumstances. I will do my own editing once, and then I'll release the "beta" as it were to my proofreaders. I am going to use Cafépress to get 3 copies of the book to give to people nearby, so if any of my proofreaders want a copy of the rough draft in book form (at base price) you can buy it from my private store (though I will also give it to you in PDF format for free)

After that's over with, I only need to figure out how to advertise my book. I'll be ordering them in bulk so I can sell them for cheaper than people would be buying them on Cafépress, so I may try to get them sold at some local bookstores in addition to my selling them myself at the college... If any of you live in the LA area, we can always work out a local sale to avoid the high price of cafépress' individual sales...

Anyhow, I need more than 2 proofreaders... I should find at least 3 locally, but would like some more help.

[c-girl]

GO BOBBYDUCKY! >^^<

[Bobtheduck]

Besides the problems mentioned in another thread, I have been discouraged thinking about the fact that my book will be a mere 200 pages, while books like Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix are closer to 1000 pages (for a CHILDREN's book, mind you) Does anyone think that 200 pages is way too short? I don't know if I could keep the story going for a full 1000 pages... At least not this branch of it, anyhow... So, it 200 pages an ok length for a book, particularly that I don't want to target to kids?

My Mom has suggested a publisher that isn't hard to get a book through, so I may extend the book if I am not going through Cafepress, but not much more, though... I mean, I'm not career author... I just have a story I want published. Maybe if I make a good deal of money on Diamond Spearhead, then I will push the envelope with The Ili , and perhaps it will be 800-1000 pages... I'd have to work day in and day out for practically a year to get that much done... Well, I have some work ahead of me... I will be back on when I've made some significant progress, and not before that... If I come back without a good progress report, the mods have my permission to ban me, hehehehe.

[SwordSkill]

Erm, I particularly don't think it's advisable to extend a book just because you got intimidated by the length of another (incidentally, I'm curious: why did you choose The Order of the Phoenix as comparison? I mean, that's well-known to be longer than average ^^;; And think about it this way: J.K. Rowling's got enough money to give her the luxury and time to write 1000 pages...that's not something we all have.) Sure, there still are standards in writing (thank goodness), but page number is certainly the least of them (particularly because I've never heard of page number standards before, lol). 200 pages is definitely OK...see Coehlo's The Alchemist; it's under 200 pages but look at the hit it made.

Besides, if you extend the size of the book not for the sake of the plot itself but just as a space-filler, it might show quite unprofessionally, just as filler episodes in anime do, and publishers are less forgiving than anime fans. ^^;; You have to think of the literary weight your added scenes might impose to the original plotline - they might be merely distracting if they don't have a significant enough connection to the story. I for one keep pruning and paring down my chapters most of the time to get rid of the irrelevances I might have written. And if it's any comfort for you, the seeming trend in literature now is pretty minimalist, where you get praised for the greatest amount of meaning you convey through the sparest, shortest lines. It's quite difficult to achieve that, actually, but good practice.

Of course, it's your book and you da boss, but I think if you were to extend the book, this isn't one of the right reasons. MHO anyway.

[antefurem]

::looks around::

Hey, I'll do some proofreading!

Beware: I may have other things to do, such as my own writing and such, but I'll try my hardest to help you out!

I'm a grammar, spelling, all-linguistic-mechanics freak when it comes to editing. And I've been told I have a good sense of what is good material and what isn't (according to my lit. magazine adviser).

Anyhow, I'd be glad to help in whatever way possible.

[Bobtheduck]

Erm, I particularly don't think it's advisable to extend a book just because you got intimidated by the length of another (incidentally, I'm curious: why did you choose The Order of the Phoenix as comparison?

It was just what my mind happened to be on at the time... I was in the process of listening to the HP books.

I mean, that's well-known to be longer than average ^^]The Alchemist[/I]; it's under 200 pages but look at the hit it made.

Hmm... I wasn't just thinking about HP, though. I had asked about the length, particularly compared to the price, and the girl in front of me in Japanese said "This book is over 1000 pages, and I got it for under 9 dollars." It seems that the days in which tolkien released Lord of the Rings are long gone... Fantasy writers and science fiction writers are extremely long winded and the publishers seem very happy to accomodate them... Maybe I'm wrong in the assertion.

Besides, if you extend the size of the book not for the sake of the plot itself but just as a space-filler, it might show quite unprofessionally, just as filler episodes in anime do, and publishers are less forgiving than anime fans. ^^]

Well, I've realized this before, I read far too little for someone with aspirations of becoming a published author... Something I plan on changing. I will be setting aside time every day to read some sort of Novel, particularly looking for an interesting Science Fantasy novel, and plan on reading as I also read over my own work (that shouldn't take too long, but the distraction previously mentioned stopped me until I decided to listen to the last 3 HP books)

I am going back to my original plan of about 200 pages. I'll make it longer if I must, even if that means raising the price (3 cents a page, or rather 2 after the discount), but I don't think it will be much longer. I'm going to ignore how long it is as much as possible until I'm done.

Of course, it's your book and you da boss, but I think if you were to extend the book, this isn't one of the right reasons. MHO anyway.

No, you were right... It was stupid for me to be upset about it... I must admit, numbers do something to me... Make my head spin... It just reminds me of stats on an RPG, and thinking that 20 hour reads is expected on a novel like i'm working on really does make me feel completely inadequate... I know there are more important things to be worrying about, even in the context of my books, but thoughts like that affect me...

As for more proofreaders? Great! Glad to have you on board.

[Bobtheduck]

Sorry, everyone... I would love to work on my book four hours a day (and I would have enough free time in Chico) and have it finished by the end of September, but I have the beginnings of CTS and I cannot type for more than a few minutes without severe pain... It doesn't look like my book will be done anytime soon, so until my wrists and hands are better and I have the CTS under control or completely gone, I really can't work on my book... Though to be honest, it didn't seem like that many people here were interested... I guess y'all have to read what I write almost every day, hehehe... I don't know... In any case, for those who were waiting (particularly those wanting to proofread) no go... If September 30th comes and I'm not finished, I'll give my proofreaders an incomplete draft. That way, at least, you'll know what to expect and you can start your proofreading and continuity checking, and telling me what you think based on what I have.

My right wrist (my clicker, of course, and my dominant hand for everything I do) is allready starting to burn and a dull pain shoots through my arm everytime I type a letter with that hand, so I'm gonna have to say that's that...

[Bobtheduck]

My wrist pain is under control, I am going to see about starting up my writing when I get to chico, but probably not before then. That means that it will probably be pushed back. Also, I was really worried about the price. Cafépress' prices didn't really allow me to logically sell these books for profit. I decided I was going to look at other options.

For a considerably larger starting investment, I can get 150 books, 300 pages a piece at 1003 dollars, bringing the total to 6.69 a book. 250 pages would be 5.71 a piece, and the original 200 pages could be 5.17 a book. Using this site I found, I could also produce Hardcover books.

I'm not so sure I want to wait until I have 1000 bucks to publish, so I may use cafepress copies to hook a distributer and get some guaranteed buyers before I shell out the 1000 bucks... Or not... I mean, it's just a new option for me to look at (since cafepress' prices are really hard for me to deal with)

Um... BTW, since I'm bringing this thread up again, I still want proofreaders. Any new interest?