Grimmcartel's recent activity

  1. Comment on Authors of Tildes: How well do you know your own book when you publish? in ~creative

    Grimmcartel
    Link
    I have a self published sci-fi novel, and one more in the editing phase currently. With both of them, I needed to give myself at least a month after completing a draft where I absolutely did not...

    I have a self published sci-fi novel, and one more in the editing phase currently. With both of them, I needed to give myself at least a month after completing a draft where I absolutely did not look at the text, otherwise I just wouldn't have seen the mistakes that were obvious. Even now, I'm still finding some issues in the first novel that somehow I missed in four different editing passes that took place over a couple of years.

    Each time I go back to the stories though, I do find myself sort of rediscovering parts of the story I'd forgotten I'd created. The human brain is weird 😁

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    This. Honestly, this is what I want. Both of the communities I started in the past were small, tight knit ones and I really enjoyed them. That's really all I'm looking for with my writing now,...

    This. Honestly, this is what I want. Both of the communities I started in the past were small, tight knit ones and I really enjoyed them. That's really all I'm looking for with my writing now, someone who will read it and think, "wow, that's pretty cool, I want to know more about this universe!"

    Thank you for offering to work with me, and yes, I'd appreciate any help that you care to offer!

    5 votes

  3. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    Thanks for that! I've messaged you as requested, and I'm looking forward to your thoughts 😊

    Thanks for that! I've messaged you as requested, and I'm looking forward to your thoughts 😊

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    That was a really good read, and opened my eyes to a few things I hadn't considered, so thank you for that! As I mentioned, I'm not looking to sell millions of copies, but I do want to get a...

    That was a really good read, and opened my eyes to a few things I hadn't considered, so thank you for that! As I mentioned, I'm not looking to sell millions of copies, but I do want to get a community going and this roadmap seems like a no nonsense approach that I probably needed to read.

    I've recently updated the cover art for the book, and I think that starting this Sunday I'm going to try and make posting an article a weekly thing. I also took the advice of another poster and started a free ebook promo for next week, so that's what my next post will be about.

    Thanks to the folks on this amazing little patch of the internet, I'm actually feeling inspired again 😁

    10 votes

  5. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    To be honest, my main goal in creating the book, and the next one's, was to hopefully build a small community of fans that actually like the stories. I've just run into the issue of trying to...

    To be honest, my main goal in creating the book, and the next one's, was to hopefully build a small community of fans that actually like the stories. I've just run into the issue of trying to start that community without looking like I'm trying to sell sell sell. I will look into the free sale, and if I can do it I will for sure.

    The funny thing is, that back in 98 or 99, then again in 2003 I managed to start communities that flourished for a while with 3d assets created for games. I seem to have lost the acumen to do that in today's landscape. I feel old lol.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    Thank-you for the super informative reply! I'm curious about the free sales you mention... Would those end up.costing me, or is there a special type of sale you've seen where it doesn't cost...

    Thank-you for the super informative reply!

    I'm curious about the free sales you mention... Would those end up.costing me, or is there a special type of sale you've seen where it doesn't cost anything as a promo?

    I'd like to be more active in the communities mentioned, but my real job has made free time to refocus my efforts much more rare. I suppose that if I really want to reach folks though, I should just buckle down and figure it out.

    2 votes

  7. Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success.

    ~creative Ask (advice)
    So, over the pandemic, I decided to follow a dream and write a novel. I followed all of the best practices I could find, had it beta read by folks so that the finished product would be as polished...

    So, over the pandemic, I decided to follow a dream and write a novel. I followed all of the best practices I could find, had it beta read by folks so that the finished product would be as polished as possible, posted it on Amazon's kdp site in ebook and paperback/hardcover, and then set out to get the word out, but nothing seems to be attracting any attention to it.

    To be fair, I know I'm not going to be the next Stephen king, but at the same time I feel like I should be able to find an audience somewhere. I've tried Facebook ads, i run a blog I post to semi regularly, as well as mirror posts on FB and insta, I've tried a couple of short videos on tiktok, but since its launch a couple years back, I've managed to amass just under 20 bucks Canadian in royalties.

    Now, money wasn't a motivator when I began this new trek, but it would be nice to feel like the world I created has reached a few people and given them at least a small amount of entertainment.

    If you're an author that's had success with some form of marketing, please share, and if you're someone who reads new stuff on the regular, where do you go to find new stories?

    35 votes

  8. Comment on X4: Foundations 7.00 trailer in ~games

    Grimmcartel
    Link
    Well this is something I hadn't expected to find here... Back in 1998 (I think), I picked up a copy of X Beyond the Frontier from the local game store, and got hooked. It was the first 4x game I...

    Well this is something I hadn't expected to find here...

    Back in 1998 (I think), I picked up a copy of X Beyond the Frontier from the local game store, and got hooked. It was the first 4x game I played, and I stuck with the series all the way through Albion Prelude. I created a fan site, learned how to model ships, and finally got inspired to create my own universe because.of the influence from this franchise and it's fans.

    Maybe X4 will stoke up the creative fires again for me so I can get started on another book 😊

  9. Comment on Unique things to do in Las Vegas? (and Los Angeles) in ~travel

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    While I may be inclined to take in that view, my fiancée has a serious problem with heights. Awesome suggestion though!

    While I may be inclined to take in that view, my fiancée has a serious problem with heights. Awesome suggestion though!

  10. Comment on Unique things to do in Las Vegas? (and Los Angeles) in ~travel

  11. Comment on Unique things to do in Las Vegas? (and Los Angeles) in ~travel

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    Thank you so much! And thank you for posting this topic on the perfect day! I will endeavour to catalog the trip with pics and post some reviews when we get home. Should make an awesome blog post lol!

    Thank you so much! And thank you for posting this topic on the perfect day!

    I will endeavour to catalog the trip with pics and post some reviews when we get home. Should make an awesome blog post lol!

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Unique things to do in Las Vegas? (and Los Angeles) in ~travel

    Grimmcartel
    Link
    We are leaving for Vegas this morning, and should be in town for about 5pm or so. I will be watching this thread like a hawk. We have decided to tie the knot while we are there, and managed to...

    We are leaving for Vegas this morning, and should be in town for about 5pm or so. I will be watching this thread like a hawk. We have decided to tie the knot while we are there, and managed to find a chapel that will do the whole thing for $150, but that's not til Thursday. Until then we will be throwing caution to the wind 😁

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Looking for a good, modern alternative for PHP nuke in ~comp

    Grimmcartel
    Link
    Re: Wordpress... While it's a great tool, out of the box it's really not anywhere close to the feel I'm looking for. I have a couple of different WP sites already that I use as a blog and to promo...

    Re: Wordpress...

    While it's a great tool, out of the box it's really not anywhere close to the feel I'm looking for. I have a couple of different WP sites already that I use as a blog and to promo my books, but it would take weeks of work and a not inconsiderable amount of money spent on plugins to match the feel of Nuke.

    For the sake of clarity, my aim here is to recreate that old school web 2.0 feeling from the early 2000's, so a PHP based CMS, if one exists that is still popular enough to have a good community behind it would be ideal.

    3 votes

  14. Looking for a good, modern alternative for PHP nuke

    ~comp Ask (recommendations)
    Way back in the day, I used to run a fan site for a game that ended up teaching me a lot about PHP, perl, databases and so on. Currently, I'm looking to rebuild that site, but PHP nuke is now...

    Way back in the day, I used to run a fan site for a game that ended up teaching me a lot about PHP, perl, databases and so on. Currently, I'm looking to rebuild that site, but PHP nuke is now hopelessly outdated and joomla/Drupal are not the direction I want to go in. So far, I've found php-fusion (from GoDaddys cpanel installer) which seems close, but I'm curious if there is a closer analog out there.

    The ideal for me is the old school blocks down the sides with content in the middle layout, with add-ons like forums, image gallery etc. Cheers for any help 😁

    15 votes

  15. Comment on Merry Christmas in ~talk

    Grimmcartel
    Link
    "p.s. Pouring one out to those scheduled on shifts today." You front or back of house? Either way, merry Christmas!

    "p.s. Pouring one out to those scheduled on shifts today."

    You front or back of house?

    Either way, merry Christmas!

    16 votes

  16. Comment on Light No Fires (from the makers of No Man's Sky) | Official reveal trailer in ~games

    Grimmcartel
    Link
    It kind of feels like most people have forgotten that Sean said early on that he wanted more time to develop the game, but Sony, who was providing a lot of funding to them, pushed the release date...

    It kind of feels like most people have forgotten that Sean said early on that he wanted more time to develop the game, but Sony, who was providing a lot of funding to them, pushed the release date way up in order to cash in on the holiday rush. I'd have done the same thing in his place if the entire project was threatened unless it was released unfinished. He has said on many occasions that the reason for all of the free updates and content was simply because he wanted to be able to finish the game, the way it was intended.

    The unfortunate reality of today's landscape is that investors, which are needed for projects like this, want to see returns far sooner than the proper development of a game like no man's sky would allow. Consider how much time it takes for a new Bethesda title to get released, and then finally patched, then consider how possible something like that would be without heavy investment.

    I think Sean and the crew at Hello did a hell of a good job, and I think it stands as an example of how games should be done.

    12 votes

  17. Comment on Any Star Citizen folks here? I'm a new player with a barely passable rig, looking for tips to make play bearable... in ~games

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    From what I can see, it looks to be the processor. It's constantly pinned.at.100% during play, with the exe itself responsible for 80 to 90 of that. The rest is left to system processes etc. I can...

    From what I can see, it looks to be the processor. It's constantly pinned.at.100% during play, with the exe itself responsible for 80 to 90 of that. The rest is left to system processes etc.

    I can see my video card through my case, and only one of the two fans is ever running on it, so I know it's doing fine. It might also be network traffic, but I know my home connection was clear, and I don't have lag with any other games or streaming.

    Do AMD processors suffer from the same thing mentioned earlier where disabling two of the cores could help?

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Any Star Citizen folks here? I'm a new player with a barely passable rig, looking for tips to make play bearable... in ~games

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    Awesome. If I can get out of the lobby of the tutorial building. Seriously, it's a slideshow, even after following all the suggestions in here lol

    Awesome.

    If I can get out of the lobby of the tutorial building. Seriously, it's a slideshow, even after following all the suggestions in here lol

  19. Comment on Any Star Citizen folks here? I'm a new player with a barely passable rig, looking for tips to make play bearable... in ~games

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    Ok, so can I do that after the tutorial? Apparently I've already set whatever the first option was as my home system...

    Ok, so can I do that after the tutorial? Apparently I've already set whatever the first option was as my home system...

  20. Comment on Any Star Citizen folks here? I'm a new player with a barely passable rig, looking for tips to make play bearable... in ~games

    Grimmcartel
    Link Parent
    Wow... Really? That's counter intuitive to everything I've learned in all my years of gaming, but your explanation sounds plausible. I will give that a shot in a few minutes, as the game is...

    Wow... Really?

    That's counter intuitive to everything I've learned in all my years of gaming, but your explanation sounds plausible.

    I will give that a shot in a few minutes, as the game is loading up right now

    4 votes