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Hi cecila, and welcome to the site.

I haven't published yet, but hopefully someone else on the site can provide a few answers based on actual experience.

I assume this means you're going the self-publish route? Professional publishers, if you went that way, would normally handle the details for you at their expense. While there are smaller "publishers" that offer "packages" to help you deal with all the details of publishing, beware some of those companies run scams. If they're a true publisher, they ought to handle all that at no cost to you, although naturally you'd still have to be involved. The others should be thought of as service providers, not true publishers. Service providers would naturally charge fees for their efforts (editing, cover design, etc.). Whoever you engage to help you publish your work, be sure to read the fine print of any contract to ensure you still own your work at the end of the process. And google for complaints and reviews against these companies. Also, try to get copies of whatever they produce for you (e.g., cover design image files) in case the service provider ever goes under.

Also, check out Amazon's self-publishing capabilities. They may offer support to help you create audiobooks since they obviously do sell them.

The other place to ask those same questions these days is with one of the major AI implementations (e.g., Gemini, Copilot, ChatGPT). The caveat is that the AIs sometimes (too often) give wrong answers to questions, so you need to be careful to verify the information it gives you, either by asking more than one AI, by checking the reference sources that the AI used for the answers, and/or by drilling in with more detailed questions. If you haven't used an AI before, they allow you to have lengthy back-and-forth conversations with them, so you can ask the AI more specific questions based on whatever initial answer(s) it gives you.

Also, there are probably forums on Reddit that should be able to answer some of the same questions. Just be sure the person answering knows what they're talking about. Unlike me. :-)

Hope that helps.
Dirk

Bill I didn't get far with the story (chapter six) before most of last year got away from me, so some of these questions are no doubt due to not having read the next fifteen chapters yet. Where is the story headed? There's no "book blurb" in the content summary as a guide. Aside from being sci-fi, is it a feel good story, a humorous story, is it YA or adult, something dark at the end, a murder mystery vs a thriller, romance, a nasty space COVID awaiting everyone once they reboard from shore leave, and so on? Also, does it lean more toward hard sci-fi or space opera? I tend to think of my Archangel story as "grounded" space opera, meaning I make some effort to explain things without descending into Data-babble mode.

I'm working with Pam at present on her Crystal story and the usual influx of new posts from trial members, but I'll try to get back to your book (and mine, lol) soon.

One of the things to do with any of them is to google for complaints against them. Some are scams, usually the ones that charge you money for book production and marketing.

Also, use Google's Gemini AI or ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot and ask those very same questions you did here. You can probably even ask them about complaints against specific companies, genres they publish, whether they accept submissions from authors or agents only, bestselling or successful books they've published, royalties they pay for first-time authors (if known), and so on.

Although it doesn't hurt to ask which publishers the AI thinks would be best for your book, treat the recommendations with a big grain of salt; I use Gemini for a lot of different things and it tends to give lousy recommendations at times depending on the subject matter.

You can also get help from the AI for writing what it considers effective query letters, although check every publisher's website for additional submission requirements and follow those in particular. You can also post potential query letters here for feedback.

One way to deal with the errors AIs can make, is to use more than one of them, but you have to use your best judgement too. You can usually identify useless information by asking more/deeper questions.

Also why are you limiting yourself to Houston publishers only? Many times a great book may require approaching dozens of publishers before someone bites, which was true of the first Harry Potter book and Dune, two of the biggest-selling books of all time.

Have you run your book through a workshop site like this one? Not only can the writers (including published authors!) give you feedback, but it would eventually allow you to state in the query letter that your book has gone through the ringer of a professional workshop site.

If you're not sure if a site like this can help you, post your first chapter here and begin to review the posted work of other active writers. While you may get a free review or two as a new member, the best/fastest way to get feedback here and on any workshop site is to review the work of others. They need feedback too and usually reciprocate. Active writers are the ones who have works currently scrolling by on your home page; if they're posting, they're almost always ready to reciprocate.

Regardless of where you post, be sure the posted work is hidden behind a password-protected wall like this site, otherwise your work may get exposed to internet search engines, which could effect your ability to find a publisher (they won't take anything that's already available for free on the net). FYI, the sister site to this one, known as Booksie, is open to search engines and the works there can be accessed without being a member, so don't use it if you hope to find a professional publisher or agent as they may balk.

If you decide to post here, be sure to have a look at an article I posted in this forum (pinned near the top) with tips on how to get the most reviews on this site. The biggest are to post to the Premium group using points, keep the chapter sizes reasonably small, and review, review, review, but there is other advice there as well gleaned from long-term members here.

Welcome, Geithreke.

I'm one of the other writers on the site and do a little volunteer user support to help get new members up to speed quickly, so you can get the most out of the site during your trial.

Since you're evaluating multiple writers' sites (from reading your profile), here's a quick lowdown on this one:
- this is a small site at present in terms of active writers; we lost a lot of people in 2023 due to a major server crash, and then more trickled out until the site's operator decided to make a few important changes to simplify how the site works and encourage more new members to join
- one of the major simplifications was to reduce the number of reviews we have to give in order to gather enough points to post our own work; it used to be that you had to do about five reviews to gather enough points to post one of your own chapters, short stories, etc.; it's now three to one, which is the easiest ratio of any writer's site I'm aware of that uses points
- it means you only need to regularly trade reviews with 3 or 4 other writers to earn enough points to keep posting, although most people try to trade reviews with more members than that to get as much feedback as possible; the numbers above are averages since each posted work is a different length
- important: you only pay once to post your work here regardless of how many people review it; and you can leave your work up indefinitely (as long as you continue as a premium member) without having to worry about it locking, or the points it pays going down with time, or having to repay down the road for the same post; also, you can make minor edits to your work along the way (to keep up with ongoing minor feedback) and then put them back up without having to pay again
- the only time you would republish something using points is if you have something substantially different that you want re-reviewed; in that case, paying again ensures that your readers will be paid again for another review and that your work will end up on the home pages of other members again, so that it attracts the maximum number of eyeballs
- since most people here would reciprocate even if the site didn't use points, the reason the points system still exists is to keep out potential members who aren't serious about using a site like this; they may want feedback, but then not recip; if they're not willing to trade reviews with 3 or 4 (preferably more) other members, then there's no point in them being here
- be sure to read an article I posted in the Premium forum with tips on how to maximize the number of reviews you'll get; it's pinned near the top of the forum, so you can't miss it
- some members here have been around for a very long time (me, 13 years, some much longer than that), including quite a few published authors; since everyone needs feedback for their own work, you will hopefully get at least a few published authors and/or experienced writers as reviewers of your work in return; generally, the most experienced writers tend to also be the most experienced reviewers
- I strongly encourage you to consider reading/reviewing outside of your own genres on this site since many of the best reviewers here don't write fantasy/sci-fi; I can probably suggest potential reviewers once I see your first posted chapter
- key points for getting many reviews: always post to Premium along with any other groups you may consider relevant; Premium ensures everyone will see your post and be incentivized to do a review (it costs points to post there but also pays points to your reviewers); review as much as time permits especially when you're first coming up to speed on the site since no one knows you yet; generally, the more you review, the more you'll get reviewed; keep your posted chapters/short stories to a reasonable length (1000 to 2500 words is common); shorter posts allow more people to review it quickly (e.g., on a lunch break or while commuting); if it's longer, break it into multiple posted chapters (something I do a lot); many more tips in the Premium article I mentioned above
- since we get a lot of trial members, you need to take the initiative and start reviewing the work of others; if they're currently active on the site and not swamped with real life, you will usually get a review back in a few days to a few weeks; until you get to know more members and figure out who's active and reciprocating, choose the works you review from your home page (or from works that just disappeared off the home page, accessible via a button under each section of the home page); those folks are guaranteed to be active; you can also check their public profile; if they haven't been online for about two months, they may not be active at present, although we have quite a few people who come and go as life warrants; you'd still get points for reviewing their work, although they may not reply or reciprocate until they return
- once you start trading reviews with someone regularly, send them a connection request; you'll be able to trade private messages with them and be notified via email (unless you turn it off) whenever they post something new
- most members prefer giving/receiving inline reviews since you can get into the weeds with an inline, whereas a regular review might be for someone who may have high-level feedback to give that doesn't require the ability to select individual words, sentences, or paragraphs
- I'll send you a connection request; once you accept, we can exchange private messages; I myself have been rather inactive for the past six months due to demands on my time elsewhere; however, I've just resumed posting my apocalyptic thriller, "The Emissary", albeit at a sluggish pace; although it contains a lot of Catholic characters and settings, I did that to make the story more realistic, not because I'm trying to promote a particular religion
- the forums are rather quiet on this site at present; this group was one of the most active, and there are other members who would gladly weigh in if someone has questions or wants to do a little brainstorming; I use this group extensively (two of the longest threads in this group are mine), although there are only two or three people currently who may reply, time permitting; the more the merrier
- if you need support in a hurry, post your question or concern in the Premium forum; that's one of its main uses, so don't be shy; it will ensure you get the maximum number of eyeballs on your question/concern; my turnaround time to answer is usually 24 hours or less, although someone else may respond to a posted note in Premium (eg from a different time zone) before I even see it
- formal support is available from our site operator, Sol, at contact@thenextbigwriter.com or through the private message system with member SolN; his turnaround time for urgent stuff (site's down or your account has gone haywire) is usually good, especially if you light a fire by contacting me and/or posting about it in Premium too
- non-urgent stuff is best handled through a post to Premium or messaging me
- there is a known bug that bites us from time to time, which is that the site may log you out if you take too long to post in the forums; if you're simply responding in an existing thread, your response will get posted, but you may have to log in again after that; if you take too long creating/writing a new thread, the site may kick you out and NOT create the thread, which would cause your post to be lost; to avoid the latter until this bug is found/fixed (no ETA yet), the easiest thing to do is to either write the post offline first and then paste it here into a new thread, or create the thread here first, then respond to that thread with a follow-up post (even if you take too long, the follow-up post will be saved, although you may need to log in again after that)

That's all I can think of right now. Hope it helps. Don't forget to check out those posting tips pinned near the top of the Premium forum. Some are very important and may keep you from wasting points or time doing something that won't get you the feedback you're looking for.

Welcome aboard.
Dirk

As currently set up in the existing chapters, Augustine had no part in the Angelic Pope subplot. But if I get rid of the separate concept of the Emissary, then I would make the AP part of Augustine's vision. I'm leaning toward keeping the Emissary concept in the story since he will be far more powerful than anything in real-world revelations.

I could have Connor (with Angelo's/Satan's help) act as if he is the Angelic Pope, then reveal at the end of book one that he, of course, is not. That could be done without any setup by Satan in the year 430 and in the Middle Ages, but that makes it far less interesting. The setup in 430, which you'll read next, combined with the other private revelations that Satan could put out there over the centuries, make a far more interesting use of the Angelic Pope concept.

One way to think of all this is: Satan is incredibly intelligent and a schemer, and if Catholics/Other Christians aren't careful, these are fictional examples of how far he could go. If he can subvert the Angelic Pope concept (by initiating and perpetuating it on Connor's behalf), imagine what else he can do in real life?

I'm thinking about how best to introduce Connor to the reader. He did battle against the locusts in the prologue, but his real introduction comes in chapter 4, after the chapter in 430 AD. I've written several versions of this chapter already, although only the last two are relevant. In all cases, Connor is the POV character.

- In the short version, Connor is bullied by an older kid, Alessandro, and in order to fast-track yet another bullying session, he provokes the kid with insults. Alessandro belts him hard enough to knock him down. Connor seems barely able to get back up, but when he finally does, he quotes Christ about turning the other cheek, so Alessandro belts him there too. Connor plays dead, and Alessandro and his friends take off. Once they're gone, Connor sits up, and the reader realizes that he was faking death, which he's very good at. Just as he's sitting on the floor, a cranky priest find him and gives him hell for sitting on the floor and getting his clothes dirty. After giving Connor a silly lecture, the priest leaves. Connor shakes his head, walks away, glances at the ceiling, and says kill me now, Lord. In this version, Connor is completely non-violent, although the reader learns that there is more going on with Connor than you read in that chapter. A few chapters later, Connor will heal Alessandro's epilepsy with prayer despite the bullying and the two painful punches Connor endured earlier that evening. The two chapters combined will make a great intro to Connor and the role he pretends to play, but chapter 4, the first of the two, ends with that line about kill me now, which is funny but leans on the bullying to make the chapter at least somewhat interesting.
- The long version of this chapter treats a similar encounter as a flashback, but this second encounter is very different. Connor takes a similar hit to the face, but this time, he doesn't go down. When Alessandro tries to hit him again, he literally stops the bully's fist by grabbing it with a cupped hand and holding it fast. Connor eventually has to drive Alessandro to his knees and then flat on the floor. The second encounter takes place in front of many other kids. Connor insists Alessandro promise never to bully anyone again, otherwise he'll have Connor to deal with. Just then, two priests walk by. When they see that Connor has defeated Alessandro, they comment how team sports builds bonds of friendship. They're kidding of course but refuse to intervene, and just keep walking as if nothing is wrong (Alessandro's a known troublemaker). This version of the chapter shows Connor is incredibly strong but not vindictive or evil. In fact he ends up as a hero for the other boys.
- Given where this story is going, with Connor pretending to be the Emissary in "harmonious communion" with Christ, the pacifist Connor would choose option 1. If you don't mind a little violence committed by Connor, as he solves the bullying problem, he would choose option 2. The reader will see more of his mysterious strength in this version, and he's definitely not a pacifist in this case, and the chapter ending is much stronger.

The question: is it better to go with pacifist Connor to start, with a bland chapter ending, and then have Connor cure his bully in the next chapter involving the two boys (a few chapters further ahead)? Or go with the more powerful and heroic Connor from the get go?

Thanks
Dirk

Thank you, Pamela.

It's nice to see you on the site. Do you plan to resume posting?

Dirk

Welcome to the site, iscomb.

Though you may be new, you've already done two important things correctly:
- you said hello in this thread :-)
- you posted your first work with points in the Premium group, which is where you'll find the best reviewers (it's where the cool kids hang out, lol)

If you haven't already, check out an article I posted in this forum with tips on how to get the most number of reviews; it's pinned near the top of the forum, so you can't miss it.

Don't hesitate to ask questions. I'm one of the other writers on the site and do user support as time permits to try to help new members get up to speed quickly and get the most out of the site during their (your) trial period. Feel free to send me a connection request if you'd like the ability to exchange private messages (click on Dirk B next to this note to go to my profile page, hit the blue Connect button near the upper right, fill in the blank, and send; once I accept, we can exchange messages). Alternatively, feel free to post your questions here (that's one of this forum's main uses). Everyone on the site will see it, so someone else may answer before I do. It's a handy way to meet people with whom you may eventually decide to trade reviews.

Although it's a small site at present, some of its members have been here well over a decade (including a few closing in on two decades), including experienced critiquers, editors, and published authors. Once you're up to speed with the site and begin trading reviews with long-term critique partners, you'll probably be hooked. However, some of the best writers/critiquers on the site don't necessarily write SFF, so be sure to explore other genres to find the partners you like best.

Also, join the Fantasy, Magic, and Sci-fi group if you want to interact with folks most interested in SFF. They can be very helpful for brainstorming ideas and solutions to plot issues and other story concerns. I practically live there. :-)

I hope you enjoy the site.

I've taken to writing at night when Gandalf is asleep, but it has caused me to sleep in randomly in the morning, so he tends to get his first meal after I wake up. I turn over this morning upon waking, and discover him sitting at my face (an inch or two away) with a big goofy smile on his face. I check the time, and figure he must be hungry, so I say, "Okay, let's go." He jumps on my chest and walks across me (naturally), then plops down facing a drawer where I keep some of his toy springs (the ones he likes to hide during the day and pull out and smack around in the middle of the night when my neighbors and I are trying to sleep), and looks back at me expectantly. I don't know if it's a trend yet, but he's waited several times now to start breakfast until after I throw that first spring and it's in his possession. Part of me wants to throttle my contractor for showing Gandalf how much fun it is to play fetch with toy springs.

Welcome, Jon.

I haven't been posting for a while, but I still do volunteer user support here and check in regularly, so feel free to send me a connection request for private messaging, or post any questions or issues you may have to the Premium forum. Someone else may respond before I even see it.

If you haven't already, please check out an article I posted in the Premium forum on tips for getting the most reviews of your writing. It's pinned near the top of the forum, so you can't miss it.

It's a small site right now (we're rebuilding the membership after a major server crash and letting folks trickle out for too long), although a number of us have been writing and posting on the site for well over a decade. There are also writers here who have published repeatedly yet still give freely of their time.

I'm hoping to (finally) resume posting the second draft of my apocalyptic thriller, the Emissary, this month. It's part one of a trilogy that tells my fictional interpretation of the end of the world, hopefully in a way that readers will find interesting (it uses a Catholic setting and characters for authenticity much the way Dan Brown does, although he's a bit more successful - for now - lol).

Please check out the book's content summary and prologue to see if you'd like to trade reviews. The prologue is intentionally high octane, with an Indiana Jones-style opening that you may enjoy.

Regardless, I'm happy to answer any site/writing questions I can.

Sorry for the late welcome. Happy New Year!
Dirk

I think the word you're looking for, njc, is, "Wow!" You're amazing, Marilyn. Talk about stellar reviews.
Congratulations.