/lit/ - Literature

>>22791073
If you were right, modern traditionally-published books would be better than self published ones. But they’re not. So fuck you fag

Middlemen are cringe

>>22791073
Nice thumbnail faggot

how would you find a respectable editor if you are a self-publishing pleb?

>>22791082
>>22791096
It is always the same kind of people in /lit/ that come to gainsay the obvious advantages of traditionally published books. They employ two kinds of arguments:
>1. All modern books are woke.
>2. All modern books are bad.
These are, of course, generalizations that do not even hold true. I will even admit that probably most new books published are woke, but this includes even (or especially?) self-published books. But this does not mean there are sensible books out there being traditionally published. The second point they make is even more laughable, and only only needs to read three random self-published books to recognize the sharp decline in quality in comparison to traditionally published books. All these things I have mentioned should be obvious to everyone involved.

>>22791128
I never said that modern books were all “woke” (you are the one generalizing, it seems). What you fail to accept is that our culture is moving/ has moved past literature, and the quality-assurance that getting “published” used to indicate is no longer a thing. The vast majority of people who still read are doing it for pleasure, and publicists are always at the whim of what readers want.
> The second point they make is even more laughable, and only only needs to read three random self-published books to recognize the sharp decline in quality in comparison to traditionally published books.
You could literally do the same for traditionally published books. Have you ever been in a Barnes and Noble? The decline in quality is ubiquitous.

>>22791155
>moving past literature
unlikely that after thousands of years of written word we suddenly drop it, even though all knowledge is in that form still
>quasi-assurance that getting "published used to indicate is no longer a thing
it still is a thing, if nothing else, the text will be edited by a professional editor
>The vast majority of people who still read are doing it for pleasure, and publicists are always at the whim of what readers want.
Okay, why is your book not traditionally published? Oh, yeah. Because who asked?
>You could literally do the same for traditionally published books. Have you ever been in a Barnes and Noble? The decline in quality is ubiquitous.
I'm talking probabilities. I'm more likely to find a quality book there than some Amazon kindle self-published smut.

>please pay us money to perfunctorily review your manuscript just to send you an automatic rejection latter 6 months later because there are no black queer characters of color or other marginalized BIPOC characters

>>22791171
With a real traditional publisher they ask you no money to review your manuscript. You have been dealing with fake publishers which makes you an idiot.
>because there are no black queer characters of color or other marginalized BIPOC characters
Yet, books are every year published that have no black queer characters of color

>>22791172
Most indie presses require a payment. No one is sending unsolicited manuscripts to major lit fic presses like New Directions, Pushkin Press, Dalkey, Archipelago, among others, you fucking retard.

>>22791174
>Indie press
not a real traditional publisher. If you want to go for the big boys you need a literary agent. Am I talking to complete newbies here?

>>22791073
You aren't being insightful you are just being a asshole.

>>22791180
>keeps moving the goalposts
Yeah, you’re a retard and absolutely a dyel.

>>22791096
68,000 copies isn't bad. The issue clearly was paying $3 million to Ellen Page, plus the Ghostwriters salary, plus marketing. Neither really is 3,500 copies. The issue again is the author advance.

>>22791128
>1. All modern books are woke.
>2. All modern books are bad.

What’s laughable is your straw man arguments. Nobody in this thread has made either of these claims.

>>22791189
5000 copies is enough to justify another book deal

What has OP published? Nothing? Oh, how unfortunate.

>You will never be a published author. You have no talent, you have no literary taste, you have no vocabulary. You are a self-published hack twisted by anime and litRPG into a crude mockery of a literary man.
>All the “validation” you get is two-faced and half-hearted. Behind your back people mock you. Your parents are disgusted and ashamed of you, your “friends” laugh at your abominable writing behind closed doors.
>Editors are utterly repulsed by you. Thousands of years of evolution have allowed people to sniff out hacks with incredible efficiency. Even the work of self-published authors who “make it” read awkward and unnatural to a reader. Your prose is a dead giveaway. And even if you manage to get an editor to come back to you, he’ll turn tail and bolt the second he gets a whiff of your real work unedited by ChatGPT.
>You will never be happy. You wrench out a fake smile every single morning and tell yourself it’s going to be ok, but deep inside you feel the reality creeping up like a weed, ready to crush your dreams under the unbearable weight.
>Eventually it’ll be too much to bear - you’ll buy a rope, tie a noose, put it around your neck, and plunge into the cold abyss. Your peers of /wg/ will find you, heartbroken but relieved that they no longer have to read the unbearable prompts. They’ll remove your work from their hard drives and delete everything connected to you online, and no one for the rest of eternity will know you wrote anything. Your work will be forgotten, and all that will remain of your legacy is few anonymous posts in /lit/.
>This is your fate. This is what you chose. There is no turning back.

>>22791253
Nice manifesto. Don’t forget your PHD on the way out!

>>22791073
>>22791073
>I was at a conference recently with a panel of authors, both self and trad published authors, and they all basically said that, if trying to get their first book out there today, they'd all self-pub it.

>>22791358
>I'm sure there's benefit to trad pub, but I think that's reserved for a very small percentage of people.
Yes, that's me. I actually think of you should self-publish, so there is less competition. Not that you would beat me, but mistakes are known to happen.

>>22791411
What have you written?

>>22791434
Nothing. I am simply stirring the pot.

>>22791073
someone out there said: 'This book is good, I'll take part of the profits for recognizing it'
Nobody asks executives for their opinions except insecure weaklings.
Reminder that harry potter got rejected multiple times because it was "too long for kids". Nowadays it would get rejected for fat shaming. Also listen to this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xP4wsURn3rw

The hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who have read my earlier stories kinda are asking thoughalbeitever.

>>22791128
cool, give me a good non-woke book that's been trad published in the last 5 years by a straight white male that isn't non-fiction, a rewriting of an old story, historical fiction or a biography. i.e. a completely original fictional work

>>22791073

People shouldn't drive their own cars, they should take taxis, because hey, who invited you to the roadway

>>22791585
The Kaiju Preservation Society

>>22791611
>he's 54
Good answer but I should have set an age limit. The guy has been writing since 2005 according to wikipedia, so he had a career before the culture war bullshit ramped up.
What about under 35 as well? Any debuts?

>>22791622
/lit/‘s one and only

>>22791622
35 is a tough limit to give its below the average age of debut authors

>>22791585
The Novelist

>>22791639
What about non-straight white male authors? How many of those debuts in the last 5 years have been from people under 35? I understand that it may not mean the books are high quality, but it happens.
>>22791640
Nice, I'll check this out.
>>22791633
is he trad published?

>>22791669
Yes, book is forthcoming through Tyrant Press and he is part of the dimes square intelligentsia

>>22791687
oh it's not out yet
still, it meets the requirements, nice

>>22791171
>Retard pays for someone to read his manuscript.

Considering the amount of mouth breathing mongoloids in here, this may be a solid business model.

>>22791718
Retard.

>>22791687
>dimes square

Stopped reading right there. Kys

>>22791253
>litRPG mentioned
my god i thought i hallucinated this genre
it's the most dystopian thing i've ever read

>>22791253
There is already a version of this which is much better:
You will never be a real writer. You have no talent, you have no insight, you have no focus. You are a delusional man twisted by vanity and self-deceit into a crude mockery of literary potential.

All the “validation” you get is two-faced and half-hearted. Behind your back people mock you. Your parents are disgusted and ashamed of you, your “friends” laugh at your awkward "wit" behind closed doors.

Audiences are utterly repulsed by you. Thousands of years of literary analysis have allowed readers to sniff out pseuds with incredible efficiency. Even hacks who “sell” seem uncanny and unnatural to a reader. Your sentence structure is a dead giveaway. And even if you manage to get a few people to open your KDP sample, they’ll turn tail and bolt the second they get a glimpse of your banal, droll prologue.

You will never be happy. You wrench out a fake smile every single morning and tell yourself it’s going to be ok, but deep inside you feel the depression creeping up like a weed, ready to crush you under the unbearable weight.

Eventually it’ll be too much to bear - you’ll buy a rope, tie a noose, put it around your neck, and pull a DFW, still hoping until the last second that your suicide will lend a sense of depth to your work. It won't. Your parents will find you, heartbroken but relieved that they no longer have to think up compliments for your latest short story. They’ll bury you with a headstone marked with your birth name, and no passerby for the rest of eternity will ever know that you used to refer to yourself with two first initials. Your body will decay and go back to the dust, and all that will remain of your legacy is a selfpub that is unmistakably mediocre.

This is your fate. This is what you chose. There is no turning back.

>>22791073
I self-published a book. I said 'This book is good' and it sold.

>>22792547
There's some parts that excel better, some that don't. I'll combine them.

>>22792547
Imagine how miserable the person who originally wrote this was. Pure projection.

>>22793968

>doesn't get troonpasta
lurk more

>>22794189
It's indistinguishable from the demoralisation that normally gets posted re: becoming an author around here.

>>22794192
You will never be a woman

If you write good book what do you do

>>22794224
I don't want to be a woman?

>>22791073
Ok woke tranny