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@monsterromance
My mind is blown. This gorgeous piece of Blizzek from Healing the Orc's Heart is by the incredibly talented @erika-xero.
When Blizzek is injured in the war between humans and trollkin, he's taken in by Nera, a healer woman with a kind heart. This novella is spicy, heartfelt, and even has a fight to the death 👀
Authors! Artists! Readers!
Lend me you insights! (please!)
I am collecting data to explore the viability of an ebook subscription box.
On this platform, I am envisioning tiers with indie romance stories accompanied by feature bonus content, digital art, and illustrated extras.
But it is important to me that if I get this going that we going in with an attractive and sustainable proposition for the major players. That’s YOU.
So, please share! The more voices, the better insights for the survey report!
🔗 Survey link: https://forms.gle/mEmX7ZdM5zYzvqv68
Welcome! Help Shape the Future of Indie Romance We're building a new digital subscription box for indie romance lovers, and we want your inp
Back at podcasting again!
Tales from the Orc Den Podcast
cats...?
Monster Meet-Cute: Q&A with Artist Rowan Woodcock
Queer, Weird, and Wonderfully Monstrous: An Artist’s Journey
@lyonnerileyauthor knew talent when she saw it. <3
I sincerely squealed when I saw Rowan’s interview answers 😆😅
fuck an "intended audience" how about we normalize engaging with new and unfamiliar art pieces on their own terms
ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the difference between pushing a product and creating a work of art
I can't be bothered to find the thread rn. But there were a bunch of people talking about it, and I agree, so I'm sharing the idea here:
We need a death of the audience; lots of media gets worse because authors are too worried about a hypothetical audience. As someone engaging with media, you need to understand that you simply might not understand all of it, and that's ok. But also I think more authors need to realize that it's ok if not everyone in the audience will fully understand everything they're doing.
I like this thought process. Your thoughts, @monsterromance ?
I would love to find a transcript or something on this conversation. A part of me wonders about the nuances of what these guys were saying.
I wonder because there’s two implied definitions of audience by the time media companies get to be as big as Ghibli and Pixar.
First, there’s the audience that about anyone who’s taken a composition or film or media class of sort is familiar with. It is the people who happen across your art. The success of any piece of art is rests on its connection with those who come into contact with it. *How* a creator gets into the right headspace to achieve this is myriad. Sometimes thinking about a hypothetical audience helps, but not always.
But! When you become a media powerhouse, you get a new definition of an audience and it is usually from business professionals who have no fucking clue about the first definition but think they do. They will say “audience” when they are really talking about market share.
So I really wonder what kind of audience they are talking about here.
If it is market share (which would be relevant to such notable people in this conversation), I suspect Miyazaki is sincerely incapable of giving a fuck. And cheers to that.
Bookish Wishlist for Publishing
Not that I expect any publishers to read or listen to these simple wishes. I just wanted to put these out into the universe on the off-chance something might come of it in the future. A lady can always hope, y'all.
Previous book recap chapter for longer over-arching series. This is what will often prevent me from continuing series that feature the same characters because too much time has passed between reading the first/second book and the next one.
Stop using AI to generate covers and pay an actual artist. I am looking at only a couple of publishers, but still, y'all can totally afford to pay an artist for book covers. Especially YOU, Bloomsbury, with your SJM nonsense.
First print-run unique editions rather than a dozen different special editions with one to two differences. Again, staring at YOU, Bloomsbury. Some publishers are also now doing 2 different first print editions, a standard and a "deluxe" which is usually a few dollars more. Not sure that's necessary either.
NO. MORE. PRINTED. ON. COVER. STICKERS. No one will care if a book was chosen for some celebrity's book club. See below alternatives.
Use actual removable stickers OR if you must do the printed on ones, print it on the inside of the dust jacket or on the back of the cover where it won't block any of the front cover.
Give authors more time with books by also having fewer releases. Readers, you have to admit the tidal wave of releases is out of hand (I know YA releases have gone up at least 400% since the renaissance back in 2007).
Do complete edits of ALL books. It's okay to not publish a tome.
Put more authors in the spotlight and do more marketing rather than just focusing all/most efforts on a handful of titles.
Illustrated books for SFF titles. Including characters, scenes, and maps is a great way to help some readers get immersed into the story.
More decorative covers under the dust jacket, namely art that's printed onto the actual hardcover. This can go hand in hand with the first print-run editions. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao is a perfect example of this. Just LOOK AT IT!
Anyway, these are just my personal preferences that I'd like to see in publishing. Y'all don't have to share my views, and if you've got any Bookish Wishes, let me know them! Always happy to talk about books.
Happy New Year, y'all, and happy reading for 2025.
Related
For those not in the know, this is one of the Amanita mushrooms referred to as a Destroying Angel. Never, ever, ever, ever forage with an app. Especially for mushrooms.
One day when AI is finally regulated, those regulations will be written in blood
We're currently in the "unregulated wild west cuz no one has died yet" era
The Amanita mushrooms, destroying angel included, are a horrible way to die. Particularly because, like rabies, when you first show symptoms you're already dead.
But that's not what makes Amanita Ocreata and it's relatives awful.
With rabies there is no reprieve: you are sick and get sicker until you die. With these mushrooms, though, you will be sick for a while, and then suddenly you will feel like it has passed, and you are on the mend.
This is a lie. You are about to return to groaning intestinal pain, slip into a coma, and die. Because during that "reprieve" period, as Kingfisher & Wombat note, the active toxin in the mushroom is destroying your liver.
Only forage with a reliable guide, never an app, and if you're not sure don't pick and eat it!
One more great example why AI is not the tool so many people seem to think it is.
Lately, I've been stumbling into some lovely lady dommes in monster romance and romance. I've Been loving it and want to find more. Full reviews are up in my newsletter, and excerpts are attached!
Lady Monsters Represent!
My podcast, Takes from the Orc Den, has a HEFTY episode out this weekend! AI is a heavy topic and we aren’t shying from that in this discussion. I have actually worked in data science and with AI so there’s some techie talk but Stacy and @ladyofparchments kept me away from switching podcast genres 😂 To keep things fun, we have a little scavenger hunt for those tuning in! How many references and shoutouts did you catch?
Tales from the Orc Den Podcast
My recent reading has been pretty much been revisiting series I’ve enjoyed with new book boyfriends and girl crushes. Full reviews to come on Instagram but they are already up on GoodReads and my newsletter 😏
Love it when a series I love gets a new installment. And, they are spicy!
Horns are classic in #monsterromance Need some extra grip? Horns? Need your MC to be a little more intimating? Exotic? Cool? Horns.
My reading list is hilariously just the tip of the iceberg. Glad to hear other people’s favorite horny reads 😈💜
Is this making you horny, baby?
Wowo comics gets it
Current opinion on AI is up on Substack 👀 Thesis statement: AI is not a threat to the arts, but those who control it are.
Put practically, I think technology is nifty. It has been why I have a career. AI? Also nifty. As a technology professional though I cannot support unquestionably embracing tools like MidJourney’s generative AI software. The ghost in the machine doesn’t worry me. We have a history actually as I’ve a history in machine learning! It is the questionable practices that have these companies under litigation that give me concern. If you cannot trust the data given to AI, you cannot trust the AI. As a lover of indie art spaces, I want others to be concerned, too.
So, like, do we just live in a cyberpunk world now?
Tales from the Orc Den has a new episode!! 🙌 We talk about getting into monster romance and the show notes have ALL the books, authors, and series we mention. No need to stop and google midway through your listen. We got you. We even have a Bi go card you are guaranteed to win 😂 Check out talesfromtheorcden.com or find us on your fav podcasting platform.
Tales from the Orc Den Podcast
My AI lecturing continues! 🤓 This installation is all about who I see as the power players. Who are they? What are they building? What are some of them allegedly stealing? 👀 (Litigation is still in process for almost all of this stuff so…it is what it is.) Not every AI product is quite the same. So it is useful figuring out who you’re dealing with. For the full stuff, check out the 🔗
Know who you are up against.
