Forum: Author Hangout

I think it might be informative to know the number of self-published books in each genre.

If eg 60% of the books are romance but they only achieve 40% of the sales (by volume), then perhaps romance shouldn't be considered a winner after all.

AJ

The statistics quoted don't tell me anything about self-published books. They seem indicative only of the most popular genres of books written, or of book sales.
A list, be genre, of percentages of all sales which are self-published may show trends which are significant.

The figures quotes are consistent with the last bunch I put up from SOL (which typically has the best stats on Indie Author sales, since they're the largest Indie Author only site (not counting Amazon, which sells everything!).

Romance wins every category, by far, while non-fiction isn't great and literary fiction is almost non-existent.

How about a literary, young adult, coming of age, erotic romance?

Already done. "Romeo and Juliet."

bb

Already done. "Romeo and Juliet."

Banned in Canada because Juliet's only twelve?

AJ

Banned in Canada because Juliet's only twelve?

No explicit sex, so it's covered. Plus, it falls under the 'pre-existing story' clause. (It's almost impossible to pass 'retroactive laws', because almost everyone would be automatically guilty if they never knew the act was against the law in the first place (no 'willful intent')).

(It's almost impossible to pass 'retroactive laws', because almost everyone would be automatically guilty if they never knew the act was against the law in the first place (no 'willful intent')).

I wish that were true.

I honestly believe it's a lot easier to show underage sex, even explicitly, on TV than in printed word.

A large part of that is the fact the TV networks can afford to pay for high priced lawyers to fight the cases in courts, while you and I can't.

My current go around with the Gestapo is due to a change in the law that made any image of a person who looked like they may, in the mind of the prosecutor, be under 16 y/o where her breasts, anus, or genitals may be exposed. Thus those old family photos of the naked baby on a rug were legal one day and illegal the next. Yet certain companies are still airing advertisements for child care products showing pre-pubescent girls sitting in a bath with water up to their waste so their tops are on display - yet the TV companies and bath product companies aren't even being asked to take the ads off the air, let alone charged, while I'm facing charges for having electronic copies of nudist family images of magazines being sold in the shops. They were legal when I hot them, some 25 years ago, but not now, and the government never made a media announcement about it when they changed the laws - so there was no way to know of the change. It all comes down to how good a lawyer you can hire.

There is a censorship/ratings Board for film and TV.

Except those operate on shows and movies, not on advertisements, and they don't review ads unless people complain. The main point is the law was changed without anyone being told or given a chance to comply, and the cops aren't going for the companies with the big pockets at all, because they know that would result in the law being changed back after a few cases are lost, so they go for those who can't afford the lawyers.

See, I knew they could get published. How steamy did Shakespeare write the intimate scenes?

My fast read of the original text seems to indicate they didn't even spend the night together, Hollywood to the contrary, but then I never could read the original very well.

I don't know how explicit he wrote other stuff, the "Sonnets" aside, but in Promise I used a couple of lines from "Venus and Adonis":

"Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry,

Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."

It may not be graphic but it's pretty clear what he's talking about.

bb

I'm not going to read the original text to check. Unless spoken by a good actor, I find Shakespeare's language confusing and impossible to read quickly.

Exactly. Read quickly I miss most of it. Read slowly and carefully, I come to a dead stop. I blame my 8th grade teacher who "led" us through "Julius Caesar" by giving her own rendition of key scenes. Argh.

There seems to be some question about whether they actually had sex but the Internet overall says they did, so that's that. It's all in the interpretation [of the nurse's remarks as you point out, among others], as one source put it.

It's always in the interpretation, of course. My money is on the sex. I like Hollywood movies.

bb

How can they meet at a dance and then profess their eternal love for each other

West Side Story — Tony and Maria (of course it's Romeo & Juliet with singing and dancing).

I'll tell you a real life story. My daughter-in-law's grandmother is Hawaiian. During WWII, her grandfather was stationed there and saw her and his heart went pitta-patta so he asked to take her out. Her parents wouldn't allow it because he wasn't Hawaiian. So he left, learned to speak Hawaiian, returned after the war, and asked her parents if he could take her out — in Hawaiian. They said yes and the two got married and remained married until their deaths. Definitely love at first sight.

I confess that the first time I heard my wife's voice and then saw her in person I was captivated.

When I was 17, some friends and I picked up some girls ice skating. They asked if we wanted to go to a party. We said yes. We went to a girl's house where they were having a sleepover or something. Her parents weren't home and boys weren't allowed so one of the girls told us we couldn't come in. That 14-yo girl eventually became my wife. Next month, we'll be married 45 yrs.

one of the girls told us we couldn't come in.

What complicated lives vampires lead!

AJ

How about a literary, young adult, coming of age, erotic romance?

I didn't read the novel so I don't know if it's literary, but how about "The Blue Lagoon?"

The quote implies romance is the best choice for authors who want sales. Perhaps they make up 50% of both sales and works offered for sale. Literary fiction may be a better choice if it has 1% of sales but only one-tenth of a percent of works offered.
That's why AJ and I both think these "statistics" provide no information about what's the best choice of genre for an author, naively, hoping for significant sales.

Actually, the SW reference looked at that (sales vs. numbers of books, this was just a summary, rather than an analysis (The SW was a PowerPoint talk at a large writers' conference).

Actually, I suspect more than 1% of books written by aspiring authors are 'literary fiction', because it's prestigious to have one published, but they're not popular in the Indie marketplace, even though they (the famous ones) get a lot of attention (even though they're not been sellers, even when made into classic movies).

However, if "winners" in the OP actually meant a high proportion of sales compared to number of books offered for sale in that genre, then others could reasonably use that information as they see fit.

The big takeaway, is that Romance is the #1 selling book because Romance readers typically read a book a day, while most people are lucky to read a single book a month (a certain President reported never even read his own books (book's supposed written by him)).

Like he never asked Cheney and Rumsfeld, "What have I let you start?"

Wrong president. I was referring to the semi-illiterate one who never reads anything, and can't make it through a single page of a security briefing if his name isn't repeated twenty times.

I love the visualization of the woman laying-back and giving-up her Christian innocence to the guy she will spend the night with and get emotionally closer to as he repeatedly thrusts deep into her "innocent" Christian pussy, which so wants to be fucked.

Ah, my "The Preacher's Wife" on SOL and "Sexual Awakening" on Bookapy.

Two quite different stories, but both with a naive wife of a minister.

Check out my story "Photographs" about how the older guy who takes pics of the teen girls he goes to church with.

'lust at first sight' only ends in enduring love for each other in the movies. Most are content if it ends in endured like of each other, rather than the eternal ...

Problem conveniently and perhaps kind of messily resolved in R&J.

bb

Is anyone making more than a tank of gas off Bookapy?

Yes. Significantly more. I've sold 250+ books and 8 collections just this quarter. And there are still two weeks to go.

It's not six figures, but it far more than a tank (or ten) of gas.