#publishing as psa

[inqua]

Just asking if you’ve also opened an Etsy recently? I saw a shop under your name pop up with no sales but a few of your items and wanted to make sure it was you since I don’t see it mentioned anywhere on your blog

hi thanks for looking out! yes that would be me :)

i recently re-opened my shop on etsy (and a while back on storenvy as well) bc i find ko-fi lacks in its market(ing) functions so it's hard to attract customers outside my socials. so i essentially only use them to abuse those specific functions lol. but for people who go to my shop directly from my socials, ko-fi is the still the best option cause it saves money on both sides. so that's why i only link ko-fi on here :D

#hope that makes sense! #publishing as psa #also cute icon <3 #shop #ask #inquask

[thewhumpyprintingpress]

This is a friendly reminder to never, ever publish your book with a publishing company that charges you to publish with them. That is a vanity press, which makes money by preying on authors. They charge you for editing, formatting, cover art, and more. With most of these companies, you will never seen a cent of any royalties made from sale of your book. A legitimate publishing company only makes money when you make money, they will never charge you to publish with them. If a company approaches you and says "Hey, we'll publish your book, just pay us X amount of money," tell them to go fuck themself and block them.

#writeblr #writers of tumblr #psa #whumpblr #writing #publishing

[egelantier]

PSA: Winterfox/Requires Hate/Benjanun Sriduangkaew/Maria Ying

I'm starting to see recs for Benjanun Sriduangkaew crop up in fandom again, so here's your reminder that Benjanun Sriduangkaew, aka Maria Ying, is actually Winterfox/Requires_Hate, a well-known serial harasser, blackmailer and abuser who decided that the best thing to do with her multimillionaire heiress time and money is to do real and lasting harm to many communities and many writers (especially writers of color) that she saw as rivals.

with how fast things move online right now, I imagine she's banking on people just forgetting everything she pulled: please don't! But even if you won't deny her your attention, at least keep yourself safe and remember that her modus operandi used to be either love bombing people until they let slip something she then blackmailed them with, or literally decades of unhinged harassment.

feel free to share.

original sources:

Mixon report: https://feralsapient.com/?p=889

The letter to Apex editors: https://web.archive.org/web/20170216003240/http://awitin.likhain.net/2017/02/a-letter-to-apex-editors-re-the-intersectional-sff-roundtable/

Zen Cho's report (start here of you never heard of any of this): https://web.archive.org/web/20200808225250/https://zencho.org/being-an-itemised-list-of-disagreements/

*she had once upon a time deleted her blog, hence the Wayback link; but now it's re-uploaded by her here, as she explicitly still stands by her words: https://zencho.org/articles/being-an-itemised-list-of-disagreements/

Rachel Manija Brown's report: https://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/1288081.html

#winterfox #benjanun sriduangkaew #maria ying #psa #her being a multimillionaire just puts such a cherry on this shit sundae #imagine being able to write #publish #commission #anything you want #how much she could do #and she chose to be that

[zaruba-needslove]

Due to recent issue with some people arguing about how ‘AO3 should have algorithm’ and such... I feel like these tweets need to be shared out more. Saw this tweets thread by chance and I had to admit it's a great advice esp on fic writing or fanworks in general.

[Edit] Also since I noticed this post blowing up, if anyone ever tell you that AO3 doesn’t have a function to RECCOMMEND fics you like to others or read other people’s fic recs on the site point them to this post.

[Edit 2] Check source for the original tweet.

[Edit 3] Not OP, but usually when ppl talk about ‘rude or demanding comments’ it usually refers to those that tend to message fanwriters to write according to what they want to be either on the flow of the plot, shipping, etc to the point of harrassment/toxicity. And that would make writing not be fun anymore for some. 

#fandom #twitter #i mean #it's not that i can't relate cos I was young once too #and used to obsess about getting kudos and comments #but new kids need to understand that there's a reason why fic archives shouldn't work like socmed #ao3 #psa #self reminder when I get concerned abt kudos and comments again #also if you really want ppl to notice your fics... you can actually... promote it? #also in response to 'rude comments' it's more on situations where strangers demand writers to write according to what the readers want and n #or demands asking writers to create something when they didn't want to #which can be excessive #that aside I don't understand why ppl are relating this with published books etc #cos then that'll be a separate issue

[rebeccathenaturalist]

hey there! fellow naturalist (albeit less experienced!) here! in regards to the AI-generated ID guides, do you have any advice for helping the general public learn to recognize them? are there any giveaways other than incorrect information a layperson might not pick up on that we can tell people to watch out for?

Hi, @fischotterkunst! It's a messy topic, to be sure, but here's what I've been seeing of these AI-generated texts, at least on Amazon:

--If you sort your search for "foraging book" or "mushroom hunting" or whatever search string you use by "Newest Arrivals", you'll notice that there is a glut of books that have come out in the past few weeks. Yes, there are always new books, but this is at a higher than normal rate, which suggests AI is behind at least some of them. There ARE occasionally real authors' books that just happened to come out recently, so don't dismiss every single book that is a fresh release. Use the other criteria below.

--They will invariably be self-published or from some publisher with zero online presence. Not a problem by itself; my own chapbooks are self-published on Amazon KDP. But they come out every three months, not every three days, because I am researching, writing, and editing them all myself, rather than churning out content with AI.

--The titles and subtitles are often very long and stuffed with keywords. They are obviously optimized for search engines rather than being descriptive of the book and they have a rather clunky fashion.

--Look for obvious typos and other errors; for example, in the image above we have "WILD MUSHROOM COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNER: The complete guide on mushroom foraging and cooking with delicious recipes to enjoy your favorite". It should be "for beginners", and the subtitle just...ends prematurely. Favorite what? Favorite mushrooms? Favorite cartoon characters? Favorite color? Also, while there are lot of variations on name spellings, "Magaret" instead of "Margaret" stands out as a possible fake in combination with other clues. (All her other books also have this spelling, though.)

--This is a BIG one: Who's the author? Check their bio. In the above image you'll see that "Jason Cones", the author of "The Wild Edible Plants Forager's Handbook: A Beginner's Guide to Safe Foraging, Including How to Identify Edible Plants, Learn About Their Medicinal Properties, and Prepare Them for Cooking", has a very generic picture and bio that has pretty obviously been generated by AI. If you search for him online, the only page for an author named Jason Cones is the Amazon author page--no website, no social media, no interviews, nada. Even a brand new author will at least have something other than their Amazon page, and they'll mention experience, credentials, other biographical info.

--Look at the author's other books. Magaret seems to focus on cookbooks of very specific sorts, but again they've all come out in a very short time. They also tend to often be on really super-specific niche subjects--this, again, is not a red flag in and of itself, but it's a common pattern with AI "authors". Jason Cones, on the other hand, has written over two dozen books not just about foraging but anger management techniques, acupressure, and weed gummies, and all of his titles have come out since last December.

--If all the books have the same cover but slight differences in title, it's also a big red flag. There are reputable publishers of regional foraging guides like Timber Press, but their books are written by multiple authors and have come out over a long stretch of years (plus they're a well-known publisher with a solid track record, online presence, etc.) Also notice the typos in the title and subtitle; everyone says "Mushroom Foraging", not "Mushrooms Foraging", and "Keep Track Your Mushroom Sightings" is missing "of".

--Compare the descriptions of multiples of these new books and you start seeing patterns. If you look at the images above, you'll notice that both Lorna K. Thompson's "Foraging Recipe Cookbook" and Kevin Page's "The Ultimate Foraging Guide for Seniors" have a very similar formulaic description. They start with a brief story about a person in a town or village who discovers some foraging secrets and then transforms his life, and then a list of things you're supposedly going to find in this seemingly miraculous book. This basically reads like "Hey, ChatGPT, tell me a story of a person who improved their life with foraging in two hundred words or less!" Also, the ends got cut off of my screen shot, but they both end with "GET YOUR COPY TODAY!"

I have not purchased any of these books to verify how awful the content is, but what little content I can see in the previews is uniformly formulaic and, again, reads like someone asked an AI to write content on a topic with some specific keywords thrown in. Needless to say, I do NOT recommend any of these books.

Also, I feel really bad for any actual authors who released their books in the past few months. They're likely getting drowned out by this AI junk, though hopefully they're getting enough attention for their work through their publishers, social media, etc. to get some sales. Support your real-life authors, and boycott AI!

Finally, PLEASE reblog this! It's really, really important that people know what to look for, and the more posts we have floating around with this info, the less likely it is someone's going to get poisoned by following what these books have to say.

#fischotterkunst #AI #Ai sucks #chatgpt #foraging #mushroom foraging #mushroom hunting #wild foods #nature #mushrooms #plants #fungus #fungi #books #self publishing #Amazon #PSA #poisonous mushrooms #poisonous plants

[tgsparks]

SELF PUBLISHED AND SMALL PRESS AUTHORS: CHECK YOUR AMAZON PAGES

Recently I found out that my book was just gone. Completely wiped from Amazon. My author page said I never published anything. I got word from my publisher that this was a glitch with Amazon and they were working on fixing it. That was three days ago, and my book is not back up.

According to my publisher, small presses (between 200 to 1000 books) randomly had several titles “dropped” from Amazon.

My worry is that this may have also affected self published books that are only sold through Amazon. Please go check and make sure your work is still up. Even if just to make sure.

#writing #writeblr #writer #amazon #small press #small publishers #publishing #publishing industry #reading #bookblr #writers life #writers struggle #psa #online #online shopping

[aritany]

here’s the thing. i’ve known since the day i set out in earnest that i’d have a career in writing, and it’s not because of any inherent talent i think i might have.

it’s because i love it fiercely, and i am both stubborn and really, REALLY obnoxious.

publishing watch out. this is a threat

#alex talks #just thinking about this a lot recently #this is one thing i won’t give up on. and i have Soooo much time #i believe in this dream #(PSA: getting a book published does not make getting a second book published any easier) #publishing

[pistachiozombie]

Hot tip for receivers of anon hate:

Literally just ignore it.

The hater will waste their time waiting for your response, refreshing your blog to see if its posted... and if you were to post as usual without any sort of indicator that you recieved anon hate, they will get little to no satisfaction.

People who send anon hate use your noted strengths or weaknesses and try to harm you with that information, because that's they only way they know how on the internet.

They are jealous, envious, and hateful of your happiness, creativity, or place in life, so they lash out.

They are ONE SPECK of dust on the internet that sent you that nastiness. Don't let that speck gain any pleasure in succeeding to harm you by playing their game and letting them win. Eventually they will move on. They are NOTHING in your story.

Only spread positivity. 🌿

#anon hate #psa #advice #i get anon hate but only publish like 1% of it #anon #messaging

[pray4saint]

big big psa guys

tw // almost a call-out. talking about people romanticising mental health issues. swearing bc i'm pissed off. my own trauma is sectioned off to be easily skipped through; although it includes topics of self-harm, suicide, bad mental health, & loss.

holy shit i cannot believe i actually have to make this post. if you disagree with anything in this post, please get off my blog because you're not welcome here.

tldr; don't send in requests for weird shit.

some of my mutuals have received asks surrounding a ”mentally ill reader” & dating a cc inside of a mental hospital/psych ward and uhm. excuse me??? what the actual fuck??? why do you think this is okay and normal? 🤠 why did you think that would be a good idea?? (you know who you are & trust that your block button is looking quite wonderful to the entire publishing house)

i consider myself fortunate enough not to have received those bc i know how triggering they can be and for anyone viewing my blog, so to anyone and everyone who has seen those asks and been triggered by them, i'm sorry. that's not something that anyone should have to see from a stranger on the fucking internet, or at all really.

i feel like i shouldn't even have to say this, but uhm, don't romanticise issues you clearly have no business dealing with? is it really that hard?? if it really is that fucking hard to just not be creepy about real issues, then get offline. this kinda shit is the reason some of mine and my cousin's favourite writers have left tumblr, and it's unfortunate but i understand their frustration.

joking about your trauma with your close friends is one thing, but asking a stranger on the internet to talk about it? that's a big fat no.

– > trauma below

this shit makes me so fucking outraged, especially as someone who's had friends go in and out of wards, who's lost people to suicide, and dealt with horrible self-esteem, body image and self worth issues because of it since the ripe age of 12. it's so invalidating to see it used as a story arc. these are real issues, that real people go through every goddamned day.

i've done things i'm not proud of, things i'm reminded of every time i look at my body. gone through things i wish i didn't have to, and as judah said in her post, i have the right to deal with and cope with my trauma as i wish, i've earned it. but i'm not hurting others. that's the difference.

– > trauma ends here

before sending in asks on any blog, take a moment to think; 'how will this be received?', 'based on their rules, is this okay?', 'is this something i would want my younger sibling reading on the internet in a year?' think before you speak. please.

as i said at the start, if you disagree with anything in this post then get off my page because you're not welcome here. clearly, you're not mature enough to stick around here. i don't care if i sound like an asshole, it must be said.

#saint txt !! #updates n psas !!!! #im actually so pissed off wtf #got the whole publishing house rioting #screaming violently #i think it's time to pick up knife throwing for sport again

[essektheylyss]

I presume that if you follow me you probably like D&D-esque storytelling, amoral mages, and also treason, and if so you are in luck!

I wrote probably the most on brand piece for a very cool publication called Ballads of the Distant Reaches, in which all of the stories take place in (and build the lore of) the same fantasy world. Mine is the story of a former magical arms dealer turned priest of chaos on trial for treason following a siege of the capital by his former collaborator. (Like I said, very on brand.) I got to write some absolute bastards in some absolute shit situations, and also a very fun description of a realm of chaos. Check it out!

#I do in fact only know how to self-promote in [tacky middle school PSA voice] I'm so sorry #this is the last one for the time being lol. reminders for myself that I need to like. submit things again. and also WRITE #I do not in fact know ever when things are getting published. what is time. #genuinely loved pitching and writing this. @ the universe pls let me write more things on pitch. #truly this pitch got picked and I was like 'literally all of my favorite fucking things. god bless.' #advice for pitching stuff: only send pitches that you actually want to write. that seems obvious but like. #it's real easy to go 'what does this publication want' and that should ALSO be a consideration but #three rules of pitches: what does the publication want? what are you excited to write? what gaps can you identify that you can fill? #anyway as always I will stop chatting in the tags about business things again #i can't help it i'm a capricorn 😔

[basterbinkers]

one thing that i find fascinating about (re)reading the phantom of the opera after reading dracula is how, in a sense, they reflect each other. dracula begins with a man who we eventually discover to be a monster in the purest sense. the phantom of the opera begins with a myth, a legend of a monster, who, over the book, we find to be nothing but a man, but still sad, twisted, and depraved.

#i have. Many thoughts. about the phantom of the opera #given that the phantom was published 13ish? years after dracula #i wonder how (if at all) leroux may have been influenced by it #dracula #phantom of the opera #dracula daily #this has been a psa to read the phantom of the opera (the book) #bastertalks

[coccinelle-et-chaton]

Publishing a novel!

Hey guys! So. I'm on the road to publishing my debut novel, titled The Gifted, which takes place in post-apocalyptic Mexico and follows three bisexual slave soldiers who get caught in the middle of a conflict between the army they serve and a militia whose objective is to emancipate them. They stumble upon a terrible weapon while fleeing to safety which, if unleashed, could mean the end of what survived of humanity. Now, chased by absolutely everyone, they must make up their minds about whether they want to serve justice, revenge, or neither. I've been querying for an agent for half a year, but with the state of the entertainment industry as it is in this, the sag-afra strike era, I am keeping my options open by looking into self-publishing because let's be honest the publishing industry ain't that far off. I'm currently doing some market research and it would mean the world to me if you could help me out by answering this poll and/or sharing it with other likeminded readers. Also. I am holding a focus group with about 10 volunteer readers in December so I would be super excited to hear from you (in the poll or via DM) if you'd like to take part. I sadly cannot pay the readers because I am hella broke haha but I'll try my best to get some sort of gift card or something, as a symbolic thank you.

Tropes are:

found family

a real love triangle is when everybody holds hands and kisses on the mouth

dystopia but not told by white people

climate change core

the future may be dire but at least it's gay af

enemies to rivals to allies to friends to lovers

can we stop colonizing Latin America for like 3 seconds?

bastard meow meow meets sadboy babygirl meets angry dumbass

The Hunger Games, Iron Widow, and Mad Max had a lovechild.

so yea 😬😬 also, here is Them™

#this has been a psa #help. send help. #the process of publishing a book is absolutely vile 0/10 would not recommend #i mean it's fun but also 💀 soul crushing 💀 #anyway please boost this send sorrows and prayers #but hey started from the bottom now we're here #publishing #self publishing #traditional publishing #author #writer #am writing #am querying #original characters #original story #books #scifi #poly ship #poly relationship #poly representation #bisexual representation #bi representation #lgbtq books #dystopia #post apocalyptic #writing #the gifted #the gifted novel #fandom #fandom culture

[shmaptainwrites]

i was just going to ignore these at first, but i seem to keep getting them so i’m gonna say something about it

i don’t owe you ANYTHING

i write fics for free and i have a life outside of my hobbies

i will post the rest of the goddamn fic when i have fucking time which is something you guys don’t seem to respect since the ONLY comments i’ve gotten from you are one’s relating to your needs

you have to know how fucking selfish it is to ask/rush someone in the way you guys have it’s absolutely unbelievable

not everyone is an ao3 author who will go to hell and back to publish the next chapter of their fic. find a better way to say it or better yet just don’t fucking say anything at all

#mimi chats #writing #psa #this just absolutely pissed me off #like you wouldn’t ask an author of a published novel to hurry the fuck up #and if you did who the hell do you think you are??? #like i’m doing this for free #as a student #with more responsibilities than you know if #my life does not revolve around tumblr #and ao3 #just leave me the fuck alone

[rachelgeorge]

Hey. Publishers using AI covers are tacky and cheap.

Pass it on.

#Boost #Psa #Art #artistsontumblr #Publishing

[ravencromwell]

I've really enjoyed reading the notes you've added to my posts over the last couple of days. My manuscript, about those amazing young women, is due to my publisher in 12 days and I'm so wrapped up in the getting it done and the mechanics of the narrative that's it's easy to lose site of the "holy SHIT these women" aspect that drew me to this research in the first place. So thank you, for that.

You have no idea how profoundly enthused I am for your book. I am an equivalent human gadfly who flits from interest to interest and forgets to check even the blogs of people whose work I adore. And knowing! this about myself, I have an event on the first day of every month starting September of 2025 and goes through December on next year's calendar. And the memo note for it reads in full: Historicity's book! about Jewish female fighters in WWII especially Tema Schneiderman who told Nazis to fuck off every time she laughed. Harper Perennial look for it!!!!!!! To know that my overabundant enthusiasm could touch you as the author means more than I can say, and I wish you the very. very best in the last of the writing slog.

#I'm answering this publicly as a PSA to all my followers that someone who is seemingly an amazing human! is publishing a book on #ladies being magnificent #in #WWII #holocaust resistance and I think we should all spend a portion of next autumn reading it #possible future reading #history

[banrionceallach]

PSA: Sending me an ask and requesting that I don't answer publicly will result in me immediately blocking you.

If you're not comfortable with something being made public don't send it to a complete stranger.

#PSA #boundaries #'don't publish my message' will always always send my shoulders up around my ears