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Why to Not Write a Book

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Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#81

Post by smikhanov »

mewse wrote: post #55

I can't stop thinking about this throwaway parenthetical at the start of the blog post: > [...] for many writers, writing a book is about the last thing they should do (unless they feel a book bursting out of them, much like a facehugger). Now, as we all know, the aliens that burst out of people in the Aliens franchise are called 'chestbursters'. "Facehuggers", by comparison, are hatched from alien eggs. So in this m…

Considering how tooth-achingly boring the original post is, this is the best kind of feedback for it.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#82

Post by gizajob »

hug wrote: post #78
physicsguy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HHTG was an odd one since he was adapting existing material (the radio series) to a novel form.

I have nothing to add to the conversation but love the continual degrading of coherency with the acronym used. Next comment someone please call it HGGHT.

Using Vogon poetry

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#83

Post by Cthulhu_ »

hengheng wrote: post #52

I've once talked to a semi-successful author. His day job was Mechanical Engineering at the local university. He eventually quit once he had his formula worked out. He writes crime novels. Doesn't even like them, but if you want to sell, you either write smut (big gamble) or crime novels (less crowded). Anything you actually want to write about, you have to shoehorn into the crime novel. You also have to keep your pr…

> He writes crime novels. Doesn't even like them, but if you want to sell, you either write smut (big gamble) or crime novels (less crowded).

Reminds me of Chuck Tingle, who is an author but also a troll, writing books like "Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides".

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#84

Post by bregma »

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #23

>I suspect that if many writers took seriously writing a book as a real project, rather than an aspirational cultural ideal of ‘being an author’ along the lines of ‘being a foreign language speaker’ or ‘being a PhD’, they would realize that it is a serious risk which can backfire. Ha, I feel called out. I'm in the latter camp, I was always terrible at languages as a kid and it was part of the reason I decided to move…

Sounds like you had a difficult beginning but a wonderful Finnish. Like many books.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#85

Post by coolThingsFirst »

OvidNaso wrote: post #72
coolThingsFirst wrote: post #34

I always find it very interesting when smart people mistakenly exaggerate how difficult it is to achieve something. Pro bodybuilder is hard to become but it's very likely that with once to once every 10 days in the gym is going to transform the average person into a monster. Funny how we can make assumptions about life which are totally wrong. I did this as well by believing. 1) Making money is hard 2) Your startup n…

It's very likely that the average person will become pro bodybuilder level monster with hitting the gym oncee every 10 days?!!!

i said the average person will become a monster

in the sense that he will be unrecognisable to his old self

working out has probably one of the greatest ROI in life, it takes surprisingly little time.

i did this, the amount of workouts it took was so much less than i thought before i have basically no belly fat defined deltoids and biceps. the level of confidence is immesurable.

things just don't intimidate me anymore, girl says no. No worries. Anyone trying to intimidate me, well good luck won't work.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#86

Post by dayjaby »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83
hengheng wrote: post #52

I've once talked to a semi-successful author. His day job was Mechanical Engineering at the local university. He eventually quit once he had his formula worked out. He writes crime novels. Doesn't even like them, but if you want to sell, you either write smut (big gamble) or crime novels (less crowded). Anything you actually want to write about, you have to shoehorn into the crime novel. You also have to keep your pr…

> He writes crime novels. Doesn't even like them, but if you want to sell, you either write smut (big gamble) or crime novels (less crowded). Reminds me of Chuck Tingle, who is an author but also a troll, writing books like "Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides".

Reminds me of about every single Japanese web novel...

"I've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level"

"I'm a behemoth, an S-ranked monster, but mistaken for a cat, I live as an elf girl's pet"

The list goes on with even longer titles.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#87

Post by tempfile »

beacon294 wrote: post #71
plewd wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So 0.1% of people who don't have a burning desire for it should still write a book, which seems like a large amount of people to me. And there's not really a way to know if you're gifted and talented at writing, so just go for it anyways. Your appeal to exception falls flat because there's no reason why there can't be another one.

That's like 3 million missed books in the US alone. I agree with the argument, though. And the number may be reasonable.

0.1% of the US is 300k (and less than 100% of people have considered writing a book).

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#88

Post by grecy »

I’ve self published three books now, with another in the works. Amazon print on demand makes it incredibly easy. They’re about my adventures around the world, with some lessons I learned and observations about whatever part of the world I’m in sprinkled throughout.

The process was immensely satisfying, and I’ll never forget the feeling the first time I held the printed book in my hands. “Holy shit, I wrote a book!” My name was on the spine and everything.

I write them in LaTeX to have ultimate control over the layout and formatting, then run it through Pandoc to get a compliant epub file. Details here [1].

I have them for sale on Amazon printed and book, and kobo and apple as ebooks. I’ll never get rich, but ~$500 a month forever is really nice when I’m on the road in a foreign country where costs are not high.

If you have the desire, I highly recommend it. The learning and immense satisfaction are great. It doesn’t cost a cent, and you will have it forever.

[1] http://theroadchoseme.com/how-i-self-published-a-professiona...

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#89

Post by genghisjahn »

rusticpenn wrote: post #80
beacon294 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? All I read was foundation, some non fiction, and robot short story collections.

Are you being sarcastic? The Robot novels are basically crime novels with robots...

Aye, the main character is a detective.

Re: Why to Not Write a Book

#90

Post by itsoktocry »

a_bonobo wrote: post #43
gizajob wrote: post #20

If you’re not completely driven to write a book, and there isn’t a book inside you that you just have to get out, then do not bother writing a book. Agents and publishers have nothing to do with it - you don’t need to ask for permission to write your book, it’s a piece of art. Agents and publishing come afterwards - and nobody is going to be interested really anyway, at least in the early stages. So if that is enough…

I've heard this many times before (I think Charles Bukowski used to preach this?), and I have to say I disagree. Famously Douglas Adams had to be forced to write every sentence in the Hitchhiker's Guide. He certainly didn't have a book inside him that had to get out, he had external deadlines and rent to pay. Can you imagine a world without HGTTG?

>Famously Douglas Adams had to be forced to write every sentence in the Hitchhiker's Guide. He certainly didn't have a book inside him that had to get out, he had external deadlines and rent to pay.

The book was written 45 years ago, an entirely different media market, was based of a story he had already developed for radio, and we have no idea if this anecdote is apocryphal.

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