Thread 24832900

>anon, the first sales_numbers of your book just came in
>3342 sold in total. 520 were prints, 2670 in audiobooks and 152 ebooks
>80% of consoomers *listened* to my writings.
>copyofacopyofacopy.wav

How will I cope with the fact that the numbers point out that the audience treated my work as slop? Obviously audiobooks are a lesser form of art than actually reading a book, right? Not that I would know because I do not consume either of those.

The irony here is that in my script I went on a rant calling the "reader" a consumer who "reads" and most likely 80% of the faggots *listened* how I call them out for *reading*. They are now to think of me as a fucking tool. It's over.

>>24832900 (OP)
There is one thing. You made away with their money.

Learn to write poetry.

>>24832904
As if being a legitimized thief is something to be proud of.

>>24832904
I have not seen a penny yet, and I do not expect the amount to be a life-changer.

>>24832900 (OP)
Humble bragger, congrats on selling anything in today's economy, I'm convinced half of LIT would be published if this was the 70's.

>>24832916
I admit of that. I crumble before all of you, but my subject is still open:

Does /lit/ think audiobooks are lesser than actual books?

The idea that reading is some kind of special achievement you have to suffer for and then get a reward is for people who don't actually like reading. So no I don't think audiobooks are inferior, people can do whatever the fuck they like.

>>24832920
I've listened to Nabokov and Jane Austen audiobooks before and those aren't sloppa. I wouldn't think too much about it.

>>24832944
I think of it more as the consumer working or doing chores while listening to the book, and so they are paying less attention to it. Paying less attention to the book leads them to thinking less of it, and so the text becomes slop no matter if its good or not.

>>24832949
As I mentioned, I have not really listened to ABs, so I have no reference to what makes one good.

>>24832920
Anything that gets the youth to stop gooning and vidya scrolling is nothing but positive in the world. Thinking and human creativity being honored is all that matters.

>>24832976
Thanks anon

>>24832979
Have a small, good thing.

https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/sgthing.html

>>24832920
Lesser nothing—different, but it just so happens that one of the big features of typography is that you can pace it exactly as you like at all times, with frictionless movement across each page. Audio is probably better for e.g. immersion or so. Depends on what you value, but I value highly the effort and focus required to read.

Ignoring technological development and production talent, video games are better than movies are better than books at projecting a fictional world. As if writing about the twitch of an eye and sort of ponderous look in some heavy moment of introspection is fundamentally more evocative or informative than expertly filming it and showing this inherently visual thing visually. Speech too, is obviously most accurately portrayed with... speech. But it depends on what you value. If you /want/ to externalize things and to not bother the audience with internal requirements.

>>24832965
I am never really doing any chores unless it is something extremely easy, driving a car for hours or working on something that is mechanically and mentally numbing. I listen to audiobooks all the time, probably 'read' much more and with much greater enthusiasm while doing so.

>>24832900 (OP)
>turn own book into audioslop for money
>"the audience treated my work as slop"

>>24833314
I had no say in that. It was a part of the contract, and was gonna be done anyway.

>>24832995
That was sad, my man

>>24833427
surely the contract was forced on you by a higher power and wasn't a conscious decision by you to agree to and sign
you've made slop, another self-publication in a sea of same stuff that's dime a dozen that doesn't distinguish itself against it, a grain of flour in a cake
instead of despairing over it, see how much more you've done than 99% of /lit/ by not only publishing, but getting people to pay for it, even if only to train their shitty LLMs

>>24833519
Ok man, I had my fun. The thing is, I came to /lit/ after my first publication, which is this one. I'm genuinely freakishly new to this board. I'm also planning on linking my 300+ page script on here free to read at some point. Would someone like you read it? It matters way more to me what imageboard users think about it than what the public has to say.

>>24833849
>>24832900 (OP)
All industries are heavily slop oriented. Since you'te thinking in numbers, sales, consoomers, just lean into the slop. The hordes are too retarded by industrial life to sit down and read. You should also forget about trying to write artistically

>>24832900 (OP)
For me
>anon, the first sales_numbers of your book just came in
>0 sold in total. 0 were prints, 0 in audiobooks and 0 ebooks
>0 consoomers *listened* to my writings.

that's just the way it is

>>24833465
Raymond Carver, the American GOAT of heavy drinking and sad stories of simple people.

>>24832913
Plenty of people do it regardless

>>24832900 (OP)
Don’t let your ambitions devalue what you have achieved, desu.
It’s ok to want more, but having hundreds of people read your work is huge.

>>24832900 (OP)
>>24832920
audiobooks are fine, truckers listen to them on the road because you can't read while driving. the oral tradition is long and rich. you should be proud.

>>24834188
>>24834310

Thanks for the important lessons. I have learned plenty from this thread

>>24832900 (OP)
just an opinion; if the medium matters more to you than the message you're writing for the wrong reasons.

>>24832900 (OP)
Not fair anon, you don't hit us with that prose, so we can see what sells 3342 units these days.

We gave you our best, now give us yours.

>>24832920
Audiobooks are fine, but they're also not books, and listening to them is not the same as reading. They're adaptations

I don't look down on someone who experienced LotR via the Peter Jackson films, but I'm also not going to take anything they say about the books seriously.

>>24832900 (OP)
Here is how I know you are lying: Unknown authors don't get audiobooks unless they self-publish and have AI read it. No publisher would invest money into an audiobook reading for an unknown work by an unproven author that they have no idea will sell well.

>>24834310
>implying that truckers don't zone out and let it just be background noise

Not only did they only listen to your book they did it while folding their laundry. You were background noise. But 500 people presumably read it, and there is no vindication in a number just because it's bigger. Maybe 500 people on this planet are walking around thinking about words you wrote that wouldn't have been. Would that sound better if it were 1,000, 5,000... The number is ultimately pointless unless you do in fact care about the money. Then take what little money there is and run.

>>24835652
My actual reason was far worse and I'm ashamed of telling it because I can not pinpoint exactly what it was. Lack of getting enough attention I think. Maybe it was validation. The medium is important, because I'm afraid the message will land wrong or not at all if it's adapted into a form as simple as "a guy reading". I didn't want that to be a part of the IP but wasn't gonna stop 'em if they were keen on doing so. In the end the audience liked the readers performance, but I didn't find it to be anything special. - Unlike my script, which was fire. Oh yeah the studio flat-out refused to read the N-word which was in there like 6 times
>>24835696
The books subjects were very trendy and that's why it sold, let alone was picked up by the publisher. Speaking of which:
>>24836147
>No publisher would invest money into an audiobook reading for an unknown work by an unproven author that they have no idea will sell well.
My publisher is 'a major one' and they themselves said doing an audiobook is standard practice in their field. Didn't matter was I known beforehand or not, albeit we began working with a /ghost rider/. After seeing the first draft look nothing like my vision, I took responsibility and started over. Like straight from 0-over. Publisher liked what I came up with, so it wasn't ever a problem.
>no idea will sell
There was also marketing, so technically they had an educated guess it was gonna sell at least something.
>>24836119
Good point.
>>24836391
>Would that sound better if it were 1,000, 5,000...
I'm a sucker for milestones, but I don't fundamentally write for money. You got me thinking how long I've come from being the sole reader of my own stuff. Guess you too caught me taking things for granted.
There's gonna be a single paycheck which I will go and invest poorly. Hoping to buy a gun out of that, but I might have to compromise and get a van instead so I can drive away from my problems. Shit, maybe I could write on the road for bread.

>>24834165
If you genuinely made something, why didn't you at least shill it on the internet or summin?

>>24836147
they are just having the authors read their own books. there's basically no investment in it at all

>>24837355
nah that's rarely the case. they pay a stable of B-listers actors and the math works best if they're reading constantly, even if it's authors or books people haven't heard of

as OP has seen the barrier for people to try a new audiobook - or at least buy it and maybe listen to it one day - is much lower than a real book.

>>24837252
>>24832900 (OP)
If you can perform the VA reading the audiobook, you should. Leaving money on the table.

>>24837285
i did.

>>24832920
Have you never listened to a loved one read to you?

>>24832900 (OP)
>>80% of consoomers *listened* to my writings.
based. I love piping my own writing into TTS it fills me with joy

>>24832900 (OP)
>Complaining that people consume your slop

Are all writers this retarded?

What's your book, OP? Let us decide if you're slop

>>24832920
I’m a tourist but I don’t think it’s a lesser form. It’s a different way to experience it. I would consider listening to an audiobook “reading,” though. If the purpose is leisure or genuine personal growth, I insist on physical copies. It’s more of a philosophical choice though. Digital books are too easy to alter. Either the ebooks themselves or the population of ebooks. At least with physical, propaganda through change is much slower.

If I had those kinds of sales numbers, I'd be ecstatic. All my novels put together have sold less than 50 copies over the 3 years they've been out.

How the fuck did you get a publisher?

>>24832900 (OP)
You justified the purpose of someone else. A guy who records himself reading books.
Or is it already all done by AI now?

>>24838076
as soon as i detect AI voiceover of anything i shut it off

>>24837436
I don't mind if you toss it here. Go on.

>>24837449
I prefer to answer 'no'.
>>24837739
It's not available in english, until I translate it. Maybe next month? In good faith I think it's far above slop. And yes I am very retarded. Like you have no idea.
>>24838006 check>>24837252
>>24837884
I was a bit tonedeaf the way I OP'd. Sorry for the 5th time

>>24832900 (OP)
How did you sell those numbers?

>>24837252
>My publisher is 'a major one'
>story has the "n word" in it 6 times
Yeah sure man, I believe you

Also why do you keep calling it a script?

>>24832920
I used to think so until I had kids and started reading to them. Someone listening to a book being read can be just as focused, interested, and hungry for more books. And similarly, someone reading the words on a page silently can be distracted, disinterested, and find reading to be a chore. I don't think we should care too much about the translation of symbols into meaning, but rather the transfer of information itself. Maybe I didn't explain it well, but there's a lot of parent-geared literature on the subject these days that probably does better.

>>24832900 (OP)
If the proportion is really that skewed in favor of audiobooks all the self-published guys not doing audio are at a real disadvantage.

>>24839982
Because that was the only truly original element in the book that I was responsible of. Editing happened, sure, but everything else about the book had many hands involved in it, or was stolen from someone elses idea, like the cover.
>>24840120
I appreciate your input. It made sense.
>>24840133
The genre might make a difference on the ratio but I'm merely speculating. Anyway I have to agree. Recording yourself read the book (script) is 100% up to deciding to do so and go through with some very, very basic audio editing. In the end it is more content which means more surface for "the audience" to get a hold of. You also skip having to share the royalties with a studio.

If I ever write poop again, I will also be more involved with the audio-side just to generally have more control over my IP
>audiocide

>>24837403
This guy said it better.

>>24839982
What I tried saying was I refer to it as a script, because if I would post the text/script on the internet it wouldn't be a book, right? Because the interface wouldn't be a book?

>>24836119
A big issue with audiobooks is books are a visual medium. The one the words morph on the page, the line breaks, paragraphs, or even the word itself. Meanwhile audio books strip all that nuance.

>>24832900 (OP)
haven't most books for basically all of human history been consumed as audio books?

If it makes you feel any better, it's because most people are either illiterate or have ADD.

>>24840999
Oral tradition does not produce the same type of discourse as the typographical.