/lit/ - Literature

>>22139203
Just add another LGBT character in your novel bro

>>22139210
Yes, perhaps another minion of Dildonicus or The Fiddler.

>>22139203
I was told I needed 20k followers first to get an agent so I haven't even looked for one yet

>>22139210
Also, make sure the character doesn't stick for more than 1 chapter. Just an in-and-out character. It'll please the troons and at the same time it won't turn off normal readers.

>>22139217
This isnt true

Sorry to state the obvious, but almost nobody today actually reads books. Those that do aren't interested in your writing, they would rather read one of the thousands of established authors across human history. How do you compare with the Greeks, Dante, and Shakespeare? In order to "make it" in the gatekept modern publishing industry you need to appeal to modern sensibilities, your chance of getting published increases in conjunction with how "woke" your work is. To make these kinds of concessions just to get "published" is an obvious violation of your integrity as a writer, and should basically be off the table. You're not a hack are you?

You are chasing a dream of an age past, there is an overabundance of garbage to wade through, and no demand for it. It's simply not going to happen. You must align your talents with the reality of the present, or happily write for enjoyment alone...you do enjoy it right?

>>22139388
I self published a shitty translation of an obscure collection of wartime letters about three or four years ago and consistently earn 10-20 USD a month.

It's not a lot, but added up over 90 years (minimum length of modern copyrights), that comes out to a little under 10k. It's also adjustable for inflation and spread over a basket of global currencies.

I think people underestimate just how profitable being a writer can be. If you can identify books that will have consistent appeal, and are consistent, it's entirely possible to earn a decent income from it. The only problem is that the income is doled out over your entire life and the life of your children. So even publishing a book which might, big picture, earn an easy 100k doesn't mean you'll escape from living in abject poverty. Which I do. If I was a rich flannuer it would be a much more fruitful life but this is what I was born with.

>>22139388
It’s unfortunately true. The main value proposition of literature today is as subtle social/regime propaganda. I realize a lot of novelists don’t realize they’re doing that when they receive an advance, but that’s indeed what they are doing and the publisher understands. Unless you have a giant profit proposition, which, in general, books don’t anymore, that is what they want.

>>22139698
I think surprisingly there can be more of a market for ultra-niche topical stuff than for general fiction or poetry. It’s really not about demand so much as crowding out. Let’s be real here. If you read fiction, you probably read almost exclusively pre-21st century fiction. But if you read a non-fiction topic, you might buy a book written yesterday.

>>22139698
A grocery bill for a single person can easily be $200 per week in North America. $20 per month is basically nothing. It’s not remotely profitable.

>>22140012
>Publish ten books
>Free groceries for life

>have written lots of material in a very big story
>multiple people who have read it say it's very good/great
>can't get an agent or any small press interested in it

I've gotten a few bites of the apple with small, niche presses, mostly Christian (it's a rather Catholic story). But I can't get anyone to take the plunge.

I'm not sure what to do. I've thought about self-publishing it, maybe in serialized format on my Substack. But while I have a decent-sized social media presence it's not HUGE.

I don't really know what to do.

>>22139698
Retard.

>>22140819
if the option is between dying without it ever being published and just uploading it on some fucking blog, the latter is still the better option. In korea and Japan web novels actually do frequently get picked up for physical publishing, but I don't really know many western cases other than shit like 50th shades of grey.

>>22139203
>What was publishing like decades ago compared to now?
stop thinking about how it was faggot

>>22140907
>the latter is still the better option

That's a really good point, Anon. I do have the capacity to publicize it a LITTLE. As I mentioned I do have at least some presence on social media.

And, frankly, shouldn't I believe in the story? It's the great work of my life. It's the thing that all my learning and all my craft as a writer and a poet has built to. It is to me what the Comedy was to Dante, what Ulysses was to Joyce. If I think it's even remotely close to being on the level of those two masterpieces--if I really think it's pretty good--I shouldn't be afraid to set it out into the world, should I?

>>22140819
>>22141938
Just take the plunge and publish however you can anon. Anything is possible for someone who tries.