YABookgate

[Kari Kamiya]

Nah but seriously, why do all these authors hate virgins so much?

Virgin sex isn't sexy. They want their readers to get sopping wet and want that feeling of getting fucked against the wall like the self-insert MC, not to relive their awkward first time.

 

[TapewormSalesman]

in contemporary romance the female main characters tend to be around 30 these days

In YA romantasy they're rarely that old, usually it's early to mid 20s, which shouldn't be that weird.

they degrade the idea of purity or saving yourself for the right man

Funnily enough, only the physical aspect it seems, since there's always heavy emphasis on how loveless the mandatory smash is. They very rarely have an MC that comes out of a genuine heartbreak of a love lost for some reason, that's the man's job.

Or the idea the right man might want a pure woman.

Oh I know a better one, in one that I read the cartoonishly bad guy that has been grooming the MC since she was a child finds out she fucks someone and is relieved that someone else "broke her in"

 

[Gnillik Yot]

In YA romantasy they're rarely that old, usually it's early to mid 20s, which shouldn't be that weird.

Some of you are using YA when what you're really thinking of is NA. Those raunchy sex scenes in SJM's novels & Fourth Wing are not YA. SJM writes YA too, yes, but the sex scenes come from ACOTAR, her adult fantasy series. And Fourth Wing is also adult Romantasy, not YA.

Most YA romantasy has the main girl start off as a virgin. Even when they don't, sex is rarely described in detail. It's only in the adult romance section that being a virgin is more unusual and that there is a strong emphasis on sexual technique. Sex in YA Romantasy is vanilla at most, and ofte. it's not even there. For a high profile example, there's not a single sex scene described in the entire Shadow & Bone trilogy. The Defy the Night trilogy MIGHT have sex in the third book, but in the first two books the most we get is a kiss. And maybe it's not even in the third book, I never finished those books. The last YA book I read with hardcore sex was Breaking Down more than a decade ago.

In general, readers of YA don't actually want sex scenes in YA unless it's fade to black style. YA authors who insert hard-core sex are usually self-published & are "canceled" by the YA community.

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Some of you are using YA when what you're really thinking of is NA. Those raunchy sex scenes in SJM's novels & Fourth Wing are not YA. SJM writes YA too, yes, but the sex scenes come from ACOTAR, her adult fantasy series. And Fourth Wing is also adult Romantasy, not YA.

In general, readers of YA don't actually want sex scenes in YA unless it's fade to black style. YA authors who insert hard-core sex are usually self-published & are "canceled" by the YA community.

Is there any real difference in the readership between SJM and proper YA? Wasn't ACOTAR originally published under the YA label?

 

[Gnillik Yot]

Is there any real difference in the readership between SJM and proper YA? Wasn't ACOTAR originally published under the YA label?

Yes, there is lots of crossover. Not the least of which is due to SJM becoming big with the YA fantasy series Throne of Glass, and ACOTAR was originally seen as the inheritor of Throne of Glass. As you point out, the first book of ACOTAR was published as YA despite SJM wanting to classify it as an adult novel. Her publisher insisted on calling it YA. Most of the readers understand that you can't do that stuff in YA, so the differences are still enforced even though it's understood that a lot of Throne of Glass fans will read ACOTAR too.

 

[TapewormSalesman]

Some of you are using YA when what you're really thinking of is NA.

This is true, they all just kinda muddle together as YA in my head, but you're right, it's NA.
Though the protag age thing still stays, I think in both Fourth Wing and ACOTAR they're like 20. However, Fourth Wing actually did not have the that sort of forced non-virgin mention as far as I recall.

Wasn't ACOTAR originally published under the YA label?

The first book can definitely pass as YA under the "fade to black" criteria, there's like one proper sex scene and it's very vague.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

NA was only made in attempt to keep the sex scenes out of YA, right? Don't want angry soccer moms sending strongly-worded letters to publishers about their kids reading smut.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

I have what is possibly a retarded question. I pretty much only read "romantasy" and scifi from Kindle Unlimited. I have basic bitch tastes, no money, don't like library ebooks, and so far have been able to steer clear of woke shit.

A lot of the books I read say "USA today bestseller/bestselling author" on them. Does USA today focus on indie/self-published works or something? I never see NYT bestselling on KU, the NYT is trad, right? And trad books don't end up on KU.

So far (four years) my experience with authors on KU has been largely fantastic. I found one series where a new plot thread was picked up and mostly resolved in every book, but the finale tied off every single plot thread - even ones you thought were resolved already - in it's entire six book run in a neat and tidy bow. I've been reading for decades and I've rarely seen such deftness from any author. I know you all know this, but indie doesn't mean the quality isn't there.

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Does USA today focus on indie/self-published works or something? I never see NYT bestselling on KU, the NYT is trad, right?

NYT is a curated list. They've had lawsuits in the past about which books do and don't make it on their list. I don't know if USA today is as well. I'd assume so because the likes of Tolkien are still very large sellers and I can't see Larry Correia types making any list no matter how well they sell.

Both the NYT list and the USA today list both have Daydream, It ends with us, It starts with us, and A court of thorns and roses on it. So I don't know there really is a difference between the lists besides NYT has more oversight.

I don't use Kindle so I have no idea what books make it there or not. Looking online it seems the payouts for authors might have something to do with it. Kindle pays by the page read, so an author might simply make more money selling the full book instead of half-read ones.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I found one series where a new plot thread was picked up and mostly resolved in every book, but the finale tied off every single plot thread - even ones you thought were resolved already - in it's entire six book run in a neat and tidy bow. I've been reading for decades and I've rarely seen such deftness from any author.

Name the author and series if you feel this is something that needs to be praised.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Name the author and series if you feel this is something that needs to be praised.

Bo Blackman: The Complete Series
https://a.co/d/gG26tjG

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Bo Blackman: The Complete Series
https://a.co/d/gG26tjG

Was this just an advertisement for a series you like? I mean if you wanna plug a book or series you like, go ahead. Nothing shameful about good works of art.

Unfortunately I have some bad news to share via Fandom Pulse

Spoiler: Tragedy Rocks The Fantasy Book World with Howard Andrew Jones, Lori Janeski, and Holly Lisle

Howard Andrew Jones, Lori Janeski, and Holly Lisle each had terrible updates yesterday. Pray for these fantasy writers and their families.​

Yesterday, fans and friends were hit with a myriad of tragic news in the fantasy books world, from Baen author Howard Andrew Jones to independent author Lori Janeski and fantasy writer and teacher Holly Lisle.

Howard Andrew Jones has been lighting sword & sorcery on fire with his Hanuvar series from Baen Books in the last couple of years, delighting readers with classic-style storytelling in his incredible writing. Unfortunately, one of his friends posted this sad news yesterday:



Second, Lori Janeski, best known for her independent work on The Carter Files, was involved in a bad car crash. Her husband has posted updates and urged fans to pray for them.



Finally, Holly Lisle, author of dozens of fantasy and paranormal romance books, passed away at the age of 64. She was best known for her online author’s courses “How To Think Sideways” and “How To Revise Your Novel,” which taught thousands of authors systems for completing novels and honing their craft.

Fandom Pulse urges our audience to pray for Howard Andrew Jones, Lori Janeski, and Holly Lisle as well as their families in these difficult times. Yesterday was a rough day for fantasy fans, readers, and authors.

Lori Janeski might sound familiar to some, as she and my namesake, got into an argument and pat, being the disgusting person he is, accused her of plagiarism.

I wish and pray for a speedy recovery for both Howard and Lori; and my condolences to the family of Holly.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Was this just an advertisement for a series you like? I mean if you wanna plug a book or series you like, go ahead. Nothing shameful about good works of art

Yeah, this is the series I talked about above where each book introduces a new plot point, which is pretty common. What isn't so common is how she picks back up every plot thread from every single book, even the things you thought she'd resolved, and ties them in to the finale.

I read about 200-300 of these types (paranormal romance/romantasy) of books a year, they're quick, half decent, but ultimately forgettable. I leave a star rating because Amazon prompts me to, and move on to the next series. I was so impressed by this series that I left an actual review and I came back a year or so later to reread it. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

I wish and pray for a speedy recovery for both Howard and Lori; and my condolences to the family of Holly.

Oh no, that's awful. I took Holly's how to write a 500 word story a number of years ago. It was very well done as a course, she taught us how to create and execute a plot arc in only 500 words. It was challenging but a lot of fun. I'm sad to hear she's passed.

 

[Flexo]

Written sex is already bad enough as it is, AI-generated sex scenes are going to sound stilted and clinical as fuck.

Of course. How dare you ask us to write such filth! It serves you right to have your degeneracy ruined!

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

In other news, conservative and former battletech author Blaine L. Pardo has filed a lawsuit against the Topps corporation for failure to pay him royalties. Blog Post Archive

Blaine was canceled and let go from battletech after a mentally ill man pretending to be a woman raised a stink about him and his conservative views.

Spoiler: I’ve Filed Legal Action Against Topps Corporation

On August 5, I filed a lawsuit against Topps Corporation for violation of our contract regarding my legacy BattleTech and MechWarrior titles. This isn’t the first time I have had to bring a suit against them, more on that at a later date. Suffice it to say I was successful the last time I did this and believe I will be this time.

For the last two years, Topps has failed to pay me royalties on the original BattleTech and MechWarrior titles I wrote. The last time I was paid was when CGL severed our future relationship. This lawsuit covers my books prior to those printed by Catalyst from the FASA and WizKids era which are royalty based. Before filing this suit I reached out to Topps General Counsel via email, voice mail, and my lawyer sent them a certified letter outlining the terms and conditions they violated in our contract. They declined to respond, forcing me down this path.

I was willing to grant them the assumption this was a simple clerical oversight on their part. When they did not respond to my attempts to resolve this, I could only assume this was a purposeful act. I guess it wasn’t enough for my exile from BattleTech. Now they are collecting money on my books and not giving me my legal share of those proceeds.

It doesn’t take a lot of creativity to see what the root cause of this is. While parties in this process may despise me and my conservative political leanings, that does not give them the right to not adhere to the legal contracts we have between us. It is one of the reasons I never called for a boycott of BattleTech. I still am quite fond of BattleTech as intellectual property. I am not fond of people making money off my work and not paying me.

This opens a number of questions that I am sure many people have. Is it possible that Catalyst simply refused to provide royalty reports to Topps? Does CGL have a role in this? Is there a problem with the calculations of author royalties from the Humble Bundle sales? Have I been singled out for non-payment, or does this affect other legacy authors? Is this a corporation being petty? Is this a poorly conceived public relations stunt on someone’s part? Is this yet another insult inflicted on someone whose politics they are intolerant of?

No doubt, there will be some that say I deserve this…that my speaking out about how I was treated brought this about. Self-proclaimed legal experts on the internet will offer their idiotic opinions with no insight whatsoever to what is in my contracts. Let me be clear: We have a legal agreement that they are in violation of. If, at any time, CGL, Topps, or Fanatics, desired me to be silent about my cancelation, they could and should have reached out to me to negotiate that. I’m not saying that I would have agreed to such an arrangement, but I would have discussed it. If they wanted to change our contractual arrangement, I would have been more than willing to enter into such discussions in good faith.

They brought this on themselves.

It is my sincere hope that this can be resolved amicably. This could be taken care of in a matter of hours and have been avoided with a phone call. Let’s see if the parties involved take the high road, or if they opt to play legal shenanigans that will trigger subpoenas, discovery, etc.

In the meantime, you should feel free to support my other franchises where my publishers honor their debts.

This isn't the first time they've done this

This isn’t the first time I have had to bring a suit against them, more on that at a later date. Suffice it to say I was successful the last time I did this and believe I will be this time.

I have absolutely no idea why they would do this if they've done it once and already lost, other than to be cheating spiteful assholes.

 

[Wodanaz]

Just made the mistake of reading and offering feedback on some random piece in a random discord (first mistake). At first he said thank you, probably because I pointed out that the weird six tiered thing he described just skipped over 2 and went straight to 3, along with other advice. Then the next day he said, look you're just trashing everything I write, it's not constructive criticism it's just criticism, so I'm ending this here. I basically told him that if he didn't want rough feedback then he shouldn't post rough drafts (this shit was really amateur, obviously since it was posted in a random discord.) I was being positively nice compared to what I could have said about the work. Suggesting study of tolkien when describing lands while traveling, offering alternative, more elegant turns of phrase to use when describing things.

"There's no encouragement in this feedback so I'm just going to end it here"
>Type of feedback you are looking for: Anything! Let me know what you think.
?

Then I realized that this is probably a big part of the reason for the absolute state of publishing now. Soy reddit-type culture lends itself naturally to the lowest common denominator, and artificially rewards participation over merit. I know this isn't some staggering and insightful revelation or anything, but I was personally shocked at how quickly this aspiring author shut down at the first sign of any serious pushback to his masterful creation. God help him if a real editor ever tells him to tighten up his fucking story, and stop exposition dumping instead of having his characters actually do things in the plot to justify the reader's time.

 

[Three Gorillion Dollars]

A shockingly large number of people who seemingly want to be writers and ask for people to go over their work haven't even prepared for basic questions like, what is the goal of this work, who is the audience, what is the character's arc and how does this scene express it, and how does this scene drive the plot or character/s forward? It's why I learned very quickly not to bother giving feedback, because amateur writers don't want feedback, they just want sloppy blowjob praise.

 

[Flexo]

Suddenly I appreciate @WelperHelper99 just a tiny bit more.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Suddenly I appreciate @WelperHelper99 just a tiny bit more.

I actually like hard feedback, it makes the wheels in my head turn. A lot of that came from solid English and creative writing teachers in high school, and the rest came from failing I'm the publishing part of my initial- now banished to the graveyard- books. If you're just looking for praise, you won't improve ever.

 

[Wodanaz]

A shockingly large number of people who seemingly want to be writers and ask for people to go over their work haven't even prepared for basic questions like, what is the goal of this work, who is the audience, what is the character's arc and how does this scene express it, and how does this scene drive the plot or character/s forward? It's why I learned very quickly not to bother giving feedback, because amateur writers don't want feedback, they just want sloppy blowjob praise.

Seriously, there is so much competition for attention these days, you really cannot afford to waste time in the opening of the book.