Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

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How many books have you written?

1
0
No votes
2
1
25%
3+
3
75%
 
Total votes: 4

GORDON
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

I'm publishing in about a month.

About a year and a half ago I decided I was more than capable of writing something better than "50 Shades," which was all the rage back then. So I sat down and started writing. I wrote until the story was finished, and then I started hunting for publishers.

The rejections were all similar... "Your sample chapters look good, and your synopsis is intriguing, but it's way too damned long. No one is going to publish 330k words from a first time author. We want 100k."

So I looked at it, realized I'd written it in 3 parts anyway, and I broke it up. Spent another month turning "part 1" into a stand-alone book, and today I started putting out copies to people I know to review for me. It's all written, I plan on putting the second book out about 3 months after the first.

I decided to publish it myself to the Kindle... I get 70% royalties instead of 15% for a NYC publishing house. It's a good story and is going to be huge and I'll let you guys know in about a month when it is on Kindle so you can read an "advance copy" and give me good reviews before I officially hit the "Publish" button.

Ask me anything.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
TheCatt
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by TheCatt »

Wwuuuuutttt? No shit?

What's it about?
It's not me, it's someone else.
GORDON
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

As I said, it was going to be a 50-Shades-Killer, so it started out as smut that women would like. But about half-way through it changed, and I started liking the characters, and they had serious problems.

So I finished it all, and the last half of the story was completely different from the first half, so I rewrote it all and aged the characters down to make them child victims, instead of just young women making bad decisions....

It's about a group of young women who were trapped in a sex ring from an early age. But one day a new girl is introduced, and none of the men in the ring expected her to be brilliant, and she brings it all down... but at great personal cost. That's book 1. Books 2 and 3 are how these women pull themselves together, and it's amazing.

I ( a middle aged male ex Marine) had no business writing this book, and I haven't decided yet if I am going to publish under my own name, or a female pseudonym. I've asked around, and women say yes, they would have looked at "50 Shades" in a different light if it had been written by a man. So.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Leisher
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by Leisher »

This is awesome! You're the third person I personally know who has/is publishing a book in the past few months.

Let me know and I'll absolutely make time to read it immediately and review it for you.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

"It's a pretty good book.... for me to poop on."

Right this second I am 55% leaning toward publishing with a woman's name. I want to be a famous author, but I want to get the story out there even more. Publishing as a female may make that easier.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
GORDON
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

I'm having another lunch meeting today to get another opinion.... NO ONE has read this cover to cover yet, and I realize I may be deluding myself with how good I think it is. I'm obviously biased. But I am planning on 5 or so people doing a read of the "final" draft, and if the feedback is generally positive I will move toward getting a version of it on Kindle Direct Publishing, where I can share it with 30 or 40 people and get advanced "good" reviews for the day I actually go live with it, when I am marketing and paying for facebook ads, and stuff.

What has caused me to lose some sleep is the nature of the story... as I said, after rewriting the story, it now starts with a child sex ring. And I had to skirt a VERY fine line between realism in the abuse these girls suffer, and simply writing, "Trust me, it was really bad. You don't even want to know." My research tells me that amazon is very fickle, and if someone reports to them that it is child porn literature, they will pull the book and ban me and I will have no recourse because they don't care. So if I lost a year of work because of that... it would suck. But I DO NOT consider this erotica. It is abuse, and I rearranged the structure of the entire first book to reflect that... NOW the story starts on the last day, the ring is brought down, people are dead, and the girls are all being held in a mental hospital... and one of them can't stop screaming. The sex slavery story is now told in flashback, often through therapy sessions. So it ISN'T intended to titillate, it is intended to convince... the first book launches the rest of the story, and I need to establish these characters as, generally, really fucked up, so they can grow in books 2 and 3.
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

I'm also still not locked down on the title.

It was originally a 1,000 page book called "The Circle," but then sometime during the second draft that fucking Tom Hanks movie came out from a book I never heard of. So then I changed to "This Ancient Unseen Stream," which is a line of poetry I like. But then when it became a trilogy, I wondered if I could get away with "Book X of The Circle Trilogy."

But that isn't decided yet, officially.

"The Circle" was the name of the sex slavery ring, but then later on one girl decides that she and her friends have formed their own Circle, and it's really sweet and a powerful moment. So that's the significance, there.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Leisher
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote: Right this second I am 55% leaning toward publishing with a woman's name. I want to be a famous author, but I want to get the story out there even more. Publishing as a female may make that easier.
I won't even tease you for that. I've considered a similar thing for a book I always wanted to write, but wouldn't want to be associated with once it came out.

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

Just successfully transferred a Word file to a Kindle, for the test reader. So that's a thing that can happen.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

Leisher wrote: This is awesome! You're the third person I personally know who has/is publishing a book in the past few months.

Let me know and I'll absolutely make time to read it immediately and review it for you.
I may actually have you read this draft, before it goes on amazon. I'm getting feedback from women, and it's good feedback, but I am not sure what genre this is and maybe I should get a dude's perspective.

Isn't young adult, isn't erotica, isn't romance. Isn't really drama... though I guess maybe it is. It MAY be chick lit... but I don't know for sure, I haven't read any. So yeah. I'll let you know.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Leisher
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by Leisher »

Word.

FYI: I'll be honest with you. I'm not going to blow smoke. I want you to succeed, and you don't help someone do their best by lying to them when they're not.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by TheCatt »

Genres are hard. Getting published is hard. Making $ writing is hard. My wife wrote a book, finished it up several months ago, and has been going through the revising, and trying to get it published stuff. So far, she has a handful of rejections, but she also got some people who are willing to work with her to improve the book (published writers), work on her query, and use their contacts to help her contacts agents, so there's still a chance.
It's not me, it's someone else.
GORDON
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

Yep, when learning to write the query letter the advice you see is to expect 50 rejections before you get interest, so don't let it get you down. So in the 20 letters I sent out, 10 never responded, 5 gave back "no thanks" letters, and 5 offered actual feedback. The feedback let me know that it was way too fucking long, so I went back to work breaking it into a trilogy, and restructuring the first book so it had a beginning, middle, and end. It was during that process I decided to self-publish, more than 50% of readers now do so on an e-reader, and that number is growing, and the royalties are way higher. I figure once I'm on the Amazon best seller list for a while, publishers can contact ME at that point.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by TheCatt »

Royalties are higher, but getting noticed is much, much harder.
It's not me, it's someone else.
GORDON
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

You must spend money on marketing. Facebook (etc) ads, and even cheat a little and hire the company to DL your (free) book 500 times and get you on amazon's "most downloaded" list. Dude I was reading said he routinely spent $500 on facebook ads, but he would see an $800 jump in sales that week.

And other marketing, I'm sure.

I read that the 10 days after you publish you'll be working 20 hours a day, answering fan emails and getting the word out and keeping the buzz going.

++++

Also, I am taking a few days off to recharge the brain while I have a few people reading it and providing feedback, and last night I was sort of lamenting that I had 3 books to worry about right now and it would have been easier with a 1-and-done, self contained, 80k word romance about a woman who was wronged but finally finds real love with a man that needs to be fixed. Suddenly I had an entire storyline pop into my head and just now I wrote a 3-page synopsis. So I might actually sneak a 4th book in, in the next 6 months.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
TheCatt
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by TheCatt »

Best of luck. I'd help however I can, but I'm not a terribly critical reader/viewer. I either like things or I don't. Just check how short my media reviews are compared to Leisher's.

I read my wife's book, and had some feedback, but her other readers were much more useful than I was.
It's not me, it's someone else.
Leisher
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by Leisher »

I look forward to reading this, and depending on what it's about I could even get my wife to read it if you'd like. She's a big time reader.

My daughter actually just "beta read" my cousin's first book as her demographic was teenage girls. (She loved it.)
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by GORDON »

First review is in: "... I was up until 3 last night finishing it, because I didn't want to put it down."

:D
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Leisher
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote: First review is in: "... I was up until 3 last night finishing it, because I didn't want to put it down."

:D
That's great! Now let someone other than your mom read it!
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
thibodeaux
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Book - "Saved - Book 1 of The Circle Trilogy" - by me

Post by thibodeaux »

Post pics plz
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