Considering Publishing

[Lazerus]

I have been writing for as long as I can remember. It started as a hobby but evolved into something I love. When I first met Wyte back in the day on here and we began talking about our projects, we both realized we were working with similar themes. After awhile we began combining our ideas and the result we ended up with was this shared universe of stories and characters. This universe is comprised of three different series of novels, various stand alone stories and four major crossover novels. It's really crazy what we have created here. Now most of the material is in rough draft or outline form but we are very proud of it and would love to introduce it to the world. However, I have some concerns.

Naturally there is a risk with anything. My concern specifically is will the audience stay engaged? While the stories and characters all exist within the same universe they are not all directly connected. Now, there are "threads" planted, indicating to the reader that it shares the same universe. Some of those threads are more clear than others. Then we have the big crossover novels where characters from all sides of the universe are involved (some more than others) and what if the reader only follows a specific character and not others? Would these bigger stories confuse or frustrate the readers?

I am proud of what Wyte and I have created here but sometimes I feel it might be too big

I have been following other writers I know who have published in recent years just to get a sense of what struggles they have faced, successes etc.
First is an associate of mine back home in Dallas. He published his first short story in 2022 and wasn't pleased with the results. He has become so upset over it that he is refusing to publish the second one. I have been encouraging him to try again because the first one was really good imo. Next up is Darren, his novels Graveslinger and Wraith of the Worm Wraith were great stories, I really enjoyed reading for the lead character and I feel he's got something special here. I hope the third one is released at some point. Lastly is Dream, now I have not read any of her works but I did come across a podcast that she and a friend of hers have been doing. I liked it and I have thought of Wyte and I possibly doing something similar to help promote our works. That of course all depends on if he would even be willing to do something like that.

So i would like to get some feedback from those of you who are readers. Does this sound like something we should try? Or do you guys feel this wouldn't work? Do you feel this sounds too big? Too complex?

[zombie]

i think the best chance of getting and keeping readers is to write every book as if it could be self contained. if characters crosssover from somewhere else, then just give out enough information in any single book, so that the readers of that certain book or the one series that it is a part of can keep up and not feel like they have to go and find all of the other books just to be able to follow along, and not because of genuine interest in the other stuff. but i haven't published so i could be the wrong person to take advice from.

[Reign in Blood]

Well as far as too big or complex, are you thinking releasing everything out the gate or summat? I would assume you would roll this stuff out. And I was originally envisioning more Stephen King than Superhero stuff, where he has splashes of references and stuff and some things meet up. I don't know how much upfront costs ding you guys but my initial reaction is of course to say go for it. Doesn't have to be the next big thing, Hunger Games or whatever is popping now, but you could have a hit on your hands. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, as long as the shot ain't gonna bury you, swing away Merrill.

[zombie]

also on the podcast front, do it! any promotion that you can keep up with is good promotion.

[Lazerus]

i think the best chance of getting and keeping readers is to write every book as if it could be self contained. if characters crosssover from somewhere else, then just give out enough information in any single book, so that the readers of that certain book or the one series that it is a part of can keep up and not feel like they have to go and find all of the other books just to be able to follow along, and not because of genuine interest in the other stuff. but i haven't published so i could be the wrong person to take advice from.

Majority of the works in this shared universe are self contained individual stories. But there are a few exceptions where some of the stories do interconnect with one another either through an overreaching story arc or with certain characters involved. There is one case where two of our novels directly overlap because the events in those stories are happening at the exact same time with certain characters involved. But that is a one off situation that I don't see happening again.

[Lazerus]

Well as far as too big or complex, are you thinking releasing everything out the gate or summat? I would assume you would roll this stuff out. And I was originally envisioning more Stephen King than Superhero stuff, where he has splashes of references and stuff and some things meet up. I don't know how much upfront costs ding you guys but my initial reaction is of course to say go for it. Doesn't have to be the next big thing, Hunger Games or whatever is popping now, but you could have a hit on your hands. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, as long as the shot ain't gonna bury you, swing away Merrill.

Definity won't be releasing everything out the gate lol. Considering everything we have already done and are planning this would be on going releases for the next 20 years, give or take. I would say this universe is more connected than King's but not overly obvious like Marvel. The biggest thread is an organization called the Time Corp, it deals (as the name suggest) with time travel, non-human and enhanced human threats, any and all things supernatural. So they and another smaller organization show up in various ways and provide a connecting thread. But we also have the lead characters who sometimes make cameo's or guest appearances outside their respective novels.

[zombie]

i think the best chance of getting and keeping readers is to write every book as if it could be self contained. if characters crosssover from somewhere else, then just give out enough information in any single book, so that the readers of that certain book or the one series that it is a part of can keep up and not feel like they have to go and find all of the other books just to be able to follow along, and not because of genuine interest in the other stuff. but i haven't published so i could be the wrong person to take advice from.

Majority of the works in this shared universe are self contained individual stories. But there are a few exceptions where some of the stories do interconnect with one another either through an overreaching story arc or with certain characters involved. There is one case where two of our novels directly overlap because the events in those stories are happening at the exact same time with certain characters involved. But that is a one off situation that I don't see happening again.

just be clear with the characterization and pertinent information within one book all contained within that one book., don't go around like. "well this thing happened in a previous story so the reader can just go back and dig it up in that book" it could be frustrating like an in crowd kind of a thing that they are left out of in a big way. there is always going to be benefii to read through all of the books if you're doing your job well, but it still shouldn't be a chore or a sore spot to read any single book or series of books.

[zombie]

do you have a good editor? did you do your own covers? i'm curious about that part of it, as much as the actual writing a good story that people could want to read.

[Reign in Blood]

do you have a good editor?

Give them to me, I'll edit the fuck out of em! Be all like Jack Nicholson in Wolf. And yes, that includes pissing on your shoes.

[Lazerus]

do you have a good editor? did you do your own covers? i'm curious about that part of it, as much as the actual writing a good story that people could want to read.

I had an editor I was working with but he just wouldn't communicate regularly and had consistent excuses to why he couldn't finish the project in the agreed upon time so I had to let him go. We're both looking for a better option atm. As for covers I cannot draw worth a shit so I had Darren design the cover art for book one of my series called Vargas Files. He also did a piece with both my lead characters, I tried adding them on here but it said the files were too large , so I will have to figure that out and add them later.

also on the podcast front, do it! any promotion that you can keep up with is good promotion.

I plan on having conversations with Wyte about this. I'm not sure if he will agree to it or not but I feel it would be a great opportunity for him and I to not only discuss our works on a live set but potentially talk directly with some of our readers in the future. Stuff like that.

[Lazerus]

Here is the cover art Darren did for one of my manuscripts.

I had to down size the image, it was too big at first.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

The good thing with publishing directly to Amazon Kindle is that it doesn't cost you up front, they just take a cut with each copy sold. Same with Barnes & Noble Press. I think Amazon has more reach though.

It's marketing that's awful. I spent way more on marketing and still buried in that debt. Word of mouth never caught on even in a small-scale sense, I'm just ignored.

The 3rd and 4th (and probably 5th) will come out eventually, I'm just taking a year off from even looking at the stuff.

[Lazerus]

The good thing with publishing directly to Amazon Kindle is that it doesn't cost you up front, they just take a cut with each copy sold. Same with Barnes & Noble Press. I think Amazon has more reach though.

It's marketing that's awful. I spent way more on marketing and still buried in that debt. Word of mouth never caught on even in a small-scale sense, I'm just ignored.

The 3rd and 4th (and probably 5th) will come out eventually, I'm just taking a year off from even looking at the stuff.

I feel that inflation issues was part of the problem for you and the other person I mentioned. Everyone has been tightening their budgets the past few years. Marketing is tough, without the right budget it's hard to get the right exposure. But, glad to hear the other entries in your series will be released in the future.

My hurdle right now is trying to decide which manuscript to publish first. I have three that only need final drafts and they will be good to go. As for Amazon Kindle I will probably go that route.