BronxWench

Eh, they might bash us from time to time, but that’s usually when we ask them to play by the rules, or fail to notice their sparkly specialness. We’re big enough to take a little bashing. I consider it a badge of honor, because it means we’re doing our job. I’ve posted elsewhere in the past, and still have accounts open in some places (as BronxWench because I’m creative that way) but AFF is where I feel the most comfortable posting my work.

I second this! You MUST do it… ::makes pleading eyes::

I will admit to loving a bit of twincest (Elladan/Elrohir) and the threesome of Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir. Positively delicious, those three…

Great Wall of...

We don’t mind stories being posted on multiple sites, but we’d rather not have those other sites mentioned on this thread. We have the “Great Wall of...” threads where it’s absolutely fine, and you can mention in your profile that you post on other sites. You can give the name of the site and your pen name there, but linking to other sites is not really encouraged. If that makes sense…

Last minute entry! Title: The Price of the Land Tags: AFFO Complete Minor2 MiCD NoSex Preg Tort Violence Summary: Connor grew up on stories about the Sidhe, but meeting them on Halloween was not what he expected. As his Gran warned him, never expect the Sidhe to be kind...

TAFKAB

Story Profile The first chapter is unrelated to the rest of the story, and it appears from the review board that the author lost access to the account back in 2004.

That was completely brilliant, actually.

I think M/F writers run the biggest chance of having characters labeled as Sues. It’s far too easy to fall into the tropes.

Our tech admin has been swamped with RL work, but I have it posted for her. Please be patient with us, since this requires database access, and that is strictly limited to ensure the database’s integrity.

Yes, you do have two accounts registered for your email account, and the system is rejecting the login. You have: trueshot and dxslayer Let us know which account you want to have as the surviving account, and we can merge them for you.

Hi, We do exist, but you’d need to PM this author directly to see if the story is still up for adoption. If she agrees to turn the story over to you, she can post that here, and then we can work on transferring ownership.

Hi! Is this your account? Athlantis Since you last logged in, the archive code has been updated a couple of times. What we need is for you to re-validate the account as described here. (The images are not available, but the text is pretty clear, and the links work.) I strongly recommend making sure you clear all old AFF cookies first, however, since we’ve also had a domain name change. You also need to use the email address which was used to create the account. If you can’t access that account, let us know, please, so we can update that first. You should be able to reset your password as part of the re-validation process, since the new requirement is for 8 letters/characters. It’s still case sensitive as well. If you have any problems with the re-validation process, let us know so we can help you resolve those issues. And welcome back!

I fell in love with words when I was small. My parents told me I loved to use big words, and I actually can’t remember learning to read. It just happened, I think. The symbols made sense. So, because I love words, I decided to try writing, and I was gods-awful. I mean, really, truly dreadful. But I loved it. Real life kicked into gear, there was work and being an adult, and then… I played a CRPG, and I hated the plot holes. I’d played earlier games in the same ‘verse, loved them, but this one? Craters in the plot. So I started to read fan fiction which tried to fix those holes, and fill in the blanks, and one day, I decided to write a fan fiction of my own. It was dreadful, really, but one reader asked, “What happened next?” and that was it. I still love fan fiction. I do. I always will. I write original works now, but there are those fandoms that will always feel like home for me, and I will never be ashamed of writing fan fiction. There is a distinct art, a skill in taking someone else’s world and asking “What if…?”

There are also authors in the small press venue who’d be considered established, and by that, we would mean submissions get accepted quickly, senior editors handle those manuscripts, the author has a large number of books and/or stories in publication, and has an active fanbase. But by and large, the term has come to mean the authors whose books are labeled “Bestseller” on the shelves of brick and mortar stores.

Large house/traditional publishing can be harder if you don’t have an agent as well. They tend to not accept unsolicited manuscripts, although certain houses in the SF/Fantasy genre will accept manuscripts from authors without an agent. Generally, ebook sales are more profitable all around. Most small publishers will pay anywhere from 30-45% of the royalties to the author for ebook sales, depending on whether or not the ebook was purchased from their website or from a third-party seller like Amazon. Third-party sellers charge a small fee to the publisher, and that’s passed along to the author in the form of a slight dip in the royalty, but many people prefer buying via those third party sellers. Physical books generally pay a percentage of the net royalties, after the cost of printing the book, and that number is much smaller.The press I’m working with now pays 12% of the cover price, less returns. My prior publisher paid 25% of net royalties. It will vary by publisher, but ebooks tend to bring in more money for the author. That’s been my experience, anyway.

Eh, I suppose not. But as a female, the notion of naked play in snow doesn’t strike me as all that arousing. I guess that’s why my headwaiter’s little joke came to mind, and why I did say it was entirely unhelpful.

This is entirely unhelpful, but I was reminded of my college days when I was waiting tables in a bistro. We had a cat (in utter violation of the regs, but the rats were a bigger violation, and the cat kept those away) and she had a habit of wandering into the walk-in refrigerators. The headwaiter posted signs for us: “Don’t lock the cat in the walk-in. Cold pussy doesn’t do anyone any good.”

I can only speak to my own experience, which was being published via a small press with a targeted readership (LGBTQ). The original owners of the press are tremendous people, authors themselves, and I absolutely adore them. They sold the press, though, and the new owners were not as dedicated to readers or authors. The press is gone now, and I’m the process of having my stories republished with another press. I have never self-published, so I’ll let those with more experience speak to that, but I can tell you why I went the small press route. First, identify the publishers in your genre. Don’t pitch a slash romance to a het-oriented publisher. Keep in mind most publishers won’t touch pedophilia, incest, rape for titillation, necrophilia, bestiality, or stories that discriminate against a particular group. Some won’t want graphic sex. Most want happy-ever-after or happy-for-now endings. One of the keys to being successfully published is a polished, edited, proofread manuscript. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they can self-edit, or that their dear friend who beta-reads their fan fiction is going to make a terrific editor. What you need is a professional editor, especially when you’re new to publishing, and it can get expensive out of pocket. A good editor makes sure you don’t leave loose ends, that your chronology makes sense, and characters don’t change names mid-scene. Same thing with the proofreader, who looks for the technical stuff like punctuation, verb tense agreement, and all that good grammar stuff. They aren’t as expensive as editors only because they don’t spend as much time with your manuscript. There’s cover art, and the ISBN numbers, which aren’t very expensive if you buy them in bulk, but most of us aren’t going to purchase them that way. Ten ISBNs can cost $125, and you need a separate ISBN for ebook and paperback editions. Many publishers will send books out for review, and maintain relationships with review sites and blogs for their genre, and some even take out banner ads. But most small presses expect you to help market your book actively. Publishers provide those services for you, and in return, they keep a portion of the royalties from each sale. Given that the publisher’s just spent good money on the gamble my book will sell and return their investment, I’m very happy to share royalties, and tweet my ass off, blog, and even buy a banner ad myself. Just read your contract carefully, and don’t be afraid to ask about anything that isn’t clear to you. Are you contracting for ebook rights only, or print rights? For how long with the contract run? Most are two to three years. Make sure you understand how to have your rights revert to you, if necessary. Investigate how royalties are paid, and how often. Third party sellers pay the publisher, who pays you, and that means those monies lag compared to a direct publisher website sale. How often do you get royalty reports? How are you paid: by check or Paypal or other means? Get in touch with other authors who publish with that small press, and ask how they like the publisher.

I bow before the Bobness…

Oh, my goodness! Let’s hope it’s nothing dreadfully serious, no surgery is involved, and we have you back feeling much better.