State of the Writer/Reviewer, November 2014 (Please read, important stuff!) · 6:20pm Nov 30th, 2014
Straight up, I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately. Two reasons for this:
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. I loved the original, and this is more or less an across-the-board improvement. I've been steadily chugging my way through (after a surprising initial learning curve), and that means lots of time I could have spent writing being wasted. :V You can blame NinesTempest for being a good friend, because he is.
Reviewing. Lately, and I don't really know why, I've felt compelled to do more reading than anything. It's not a guilt thing, either, surprisingly. I do have a lot of reading projects, however. Right now, my notes document looks like this:
-READING ORDER
-List of stuff I want to do dramatic readings of
-List of collections to read stuff from
-Main area, currently full of links to 20k stories I was tracking that have finished up recently. Also, I'm starting to collect links to older stories I read but never reviewed, when I come across them. Eventually, I'll go through everyone's galleries to make sure I've reviewed everything I've read of the people I'm following, but that's way down the line.
-Two stories I want to do vs. posts on
-"Writeoff edition". I'm currently using this as a staging area for Project Writeoff, where I'm finding all the writeoff fics published on Fimfiction and adding them to the writeoff group.
-Skywriter edition. I've got 9 fics left, but only two are over 10k, so it's not much to read.
-Project Get! Four to go! Which is weird, because I thought I had ten. <.< Oh well. When I get to #7, I'll grab the ten least-viewed stories currently in my RIL to make another, and we'll keep that cycle up. This seems to be a good way to have a steady supply of short fics to read (since certain collections are of half-finished stories, some of which are upwards of 12k, Benman.)
-List of follower gets, currently 2. There are also 9 people who haven't taken me up on the offer, for whatever reason.
-Antipodes
-"Old Favorites"
-List of people I follow who don't have any completed stories (or any stories at all) for me to review.
-Something I might do later
-List of fic readers I need to add later
-Notes on my viewing of G3. (Spoilers: It burns.)
That's a lot of stuff! :D Consider I'm also doing EQD pre-reading and RCL on top of that. I'm a busy bee! :B But yeah, I've been enjoying reading stuff off that list lately, so I've been spending less free time writing.
On that note, here's how November shaped up in terms of writing:
Button Goulash made a nice little splash on my page, not to mention became my 19th story published on Equestria Daily. I'm starting to think I might be good at writing kids, but let's not be too hasty here. (On that note, Laugh, Laugh did not get onto EQD, but I'm not too surprised, because it's like half the minimum word count.)
I added writeoff entries A Blackout in Ponyville and Vinyl Scratch Drops the Title to my speedfic compilation. Not much to say about those, as they're both fairly silly.
I've been doing a little here and there on Whisperlite's Wonderful Day, the next installment of The Elements of Awesomery. No joke, I feel super bad about dragging my feet on this. D: It's been over a year now since the last update. I don't know why this one has been so hard to write, since I don't expect it to go over 2.5k. Anyway, I kind of want to get it out by the end of the year, and I figured out a way to move it forward, so hopefully that'll happen.
Which brings me to the big one: Epic Unicorn History chapter 4 is literally as I write this undergoing its first round of edits. :D (Chris has been having some real-life issues, so I don't blame him in the least.) I'm hoping to get that out by the end of the year as well, but it remains to be seen just how much work needs done with it.
Which brings me, at last, to the important stuff.
Simply put, I need to make money. I've been unemployed for over a year, I'm not eligible for any kind of financial assistance that I know of, and my savings have dwindled to the point where I am no longer comfortable using them to buy things. The editing gig I'm currently doing pays well, but is sporadic. I have no delusions that I will be able to make a living off of either of these things, but I want feedback on these two ideas, as far as how much anyone would be willing to contribute:
-Editing commissions. I try not to be conceited as a general rule, but if there's anything I'm conceited about, it's my ability to edit other people's work. I'm damn good at it. I make the occasional mistake, but I don't know anyone else who's as good with grammar as I am. I've gotten quite a lot better at deep-story issues during my tenure in this fandom. It's time I started putting these skills to use. I'm thinking $1 per 1k, rounded down (i.e., you pay the amount to the left of the comma in Fimfic word count, so 6,001 words costs the same as 6,999 words), minimum $5 per job with a caveat that you can give me up to 6k words over multiple stories and have that $5 cover the whole thing. One story at a time so I don't get overwhelmed, right to refuse to edit, etc. (I expect people to come to me when they need a final polish, not with a first draft.) Turnaround would likely be a day for stories under 10k, a couple days for under 20k, and "we'll discuss it" for anything over 30k.
-Sponsored Fics. I feel like I'm really sticking my neck out here. That link points to a document listing every story I have in my Dropbox (except EUH, EoA and my next big project, since I'm actively working on those), both unfinished and in need of rewriting/polishing. Fact is, I've sat on these 70 stories for years without touching a lot of them. Some need major work; some are so ambitious that I feel overwhelmed by them. All the instructions are in the document itself, but the skinny is, you can pay me money to work on a story right the fuck now until I get it done, minus time needed for editing. I figure that will light a fire under my ass and get me to be more productive overall. Also, doing it this way will give people a view of what I could be writing (and eventually, if this catches on, I'll add in unwritten story ideas at the bottom) so that I'm producing stories people actually want to read. This should not be taken as "Present is holding his fics hostage for money", because there's every chance that I will write some of these (especially Transgender Dysphoria Blues) once I'm done with my current projects, money or not. This is an opportunity to point me in the right direction, as far as producing writing. And since it's totally an experiment, at this point I'll only do one story off the list if I get any takers.
-Singularity Dream just reminded me in the comments that the other possibility is a Patreon. However, I didn't bring it up because, frankly, I have no idea what I'd do with it. What kinds of level rewards would there be? What could I give back? Not just for writing, but for my Youtube account too. I've kicked it around in my head for a while, but I just can't figure out how to work it, so I'll take suggestions.
And just for the record, what I won't ever ask for money for? Fic reviews. Because that's some corrupt fucking shit right there and I won't stand for it from anyone, myself included. Reviews will always be free, which is of course why I make no guarantees about them. :V
Okay. I think that's everything I had to say this time around. Do please leave feedback on both all three of those ideas up there. I want to know if I'm doing anything wrong/badly/etc., or if there's anyway I could do it better. That's it for this month! (Here's to 1000 fics reviewed by the end of the year! I'm close!)
I know that feel with Binding of Isaac Rebirth. I sank about 400 hours into the first and I'm steadily approaching that number with this one.
I might actually take you up on the pay for editing thingy. I am terrible at finding trustworthy editors, so I'm pretty sure you'll be the best for the money.
I like the idea of commissioning edit work, even if I edit my own work :B
Or you could sell your golden voice for readings :D
Pretty tempted to toss you five bucks for that first story on the list, it looks like it could be hilarious.
Unfortunately I'm walking out the door to the doctor's office, so it'll be a few hours till I can leave a comment on the Google doc. Maybe sooner if I can figure out how to do so on my phone.
Ah, the old video game trap. I know the sting well myself.
Just out of curiosity, would you be willing to do editing for non-pony stuff? I've got a story or two that I probably could use some non-technical help with. Like does it make sense, did I mess up details between story 1 and story 2, that sort of thing.
Just a suggestion, I'd be willing to toss in money if you set up a paetron. Especially if you set it up for 'per story' instead of 'per month'. Even if you wanted to do it for reviews. I mean, paying for specific reviews would be kinda crummy, but I don't see any trouble in supporting you continuing to do reviews in general. I mean, they do take time and effort on your part. Something like giving you 0.50 (per person) for each review post might work out pretty good if enough people chip in. Anyway, you should at least think about doing something like that for your writing for sure.
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When I got this one, I had just beaten the Chest for the first time on the original. :B
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Y'know, that's a possibility, but I'd have to figure out what to charge, since it takes both recording and editing time. Also, I'm not too confident on my turnaround for readings, they're a very flaky thing for me to do. :B
2625158
I'll get notifications when it happens, and I'm probably going to wait at least 24 hours before I make any decisions. (So note that you're just bidding, not actually sending me money yet.)
2625163
Would I be willing to edit non-pony stuff? Yes, I think I would be. The caveat is, I haven't read anything non-pony in months outside the SCP Foundation. c.c It makes a difference.
As for Patreon, well, I'd love to, because it's nice and structured, but I have no fucking idea what I'd do with it. ._. You need to offer levels and rewards and stuff, and I just don't know what I could give back to people. And that's for both the writing end of what I do and the video end. (Since you can have, I believe, two Patreons max for different things.)
2625145
*stabs in the back*
2625131
Jeez. That's a lot!
First round of editing is done! That means that every moment between now and the release of the next chapter of EUH is entirely Present's fault. Ball's in your court, PP!
I don't have much of an opinion about the money stuff. You're definitely worth more than a dollar per thousand words, but people don't always want to pay for quality. I hope that works well for you, because there are lots of folks who really ought to be lining up to give you money to edit for them.
100% with you on the problems with commissioned reviews, though. Though maybe you could start a side-site, "Present Perfect's Shameless Cash Plugs," which would be nothing but a thousand words of effusive, criticism-less gushing about the high bidder of an auction every week. Heck, I'd read it!
2625173
But TD you're free.
Yay, new VS blogs! Those are always fun. Are you tearing down a fandom darling, or highlighting something obscure?
Considering how much of an editing backlog I have, that offer is mighty tempting...
I think $1/1k words is incredibly reasonable. I've seen some people ask for $10/1k words and I'm like dayum, son!
Perhaps I'll have to keep that in mind...
Frankly, I don't think you're charging enough. $1/1k alone sounds a bit low, but it's the $5 maximum that really throws me off. I mean what if someone asks you to edit a 75k story? Assuming it takes you four days to edit it, you're talking about working for $1.25 a day! I think a tiered system for lengthy stories might be more apropos.
Then again, we are dealing with writers who are generally not rolling in greenbacks.
I might consider your services. As it stands I already have a significant number of pre-readers and editors, most of whom I trust well enough, but having a more nitpicky one look over final drafts couldn't hurt. I'll keep it in mind.
$1/1k I'm not sure even pays for the electricity to run your computer.
How long does it actually take you to edit a thousand words? I beg you, make sure you're at least paying yourself minimum wage for your time; trading work for cash is going to take you away from your own writing and reviews and the things you want to do, as surely as any other job would, and if your time is going to disappear down the black hole of paid contract work, you need to do it at a rate that puts food on the table.
Talk to bookplayer about what's been working for her via the patreon/sponsor route. I'm lukewarm on patreon as a general concept, but you are one of the few people I would sponsor just to keep doing what you're doing right now. If the alternative is "welp, gotta go get a job, I'll be posting around the edges of that" (and it kinda is), not losing your current work is an incentive all on its own.
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I'm not sure how exciting grass plugs would be. :B
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Most likely praising a fandom darling. :B
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Given that I read at around 20k/hr even when editing, I consider that a decent base wage.
2625415
Nono, dude, that's a minimum. c.c
2625604
Wuh?
*goes back to reread carefully*
OH. Totally missed that 'up to 6k' part. Silly me.
2625604
Wh-Wha?! You... actually liking one of the most beloved! But... I-I thought that all popular fics were crap!!
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:V
2625610
Everything I know is a lie!!!
*flings self from couch*
Is it possible to throw money at you, no strings attached?
WAT
Oh. *grumble grumble*
I got about halfway through "Antipodes." I really don't see the appeal. I'm positively baffled the fandom sometimes.
Glad to see you sticking to your convictions. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd think less of you if you didn't in this case.
Patreon's not a bad idea, but Paypal donations might be more straightforward.
Good luck with stuff, guy. I'm rootin' for ya.
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Sure, but I might suffer guilt. :B Maybe you should wait until I do a Patreon.
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Well, half the minimum word count and my pre-reader wanted major changes that I felt would not benefit the story. :B
I'm like, morally opposed to any system where the person with the most money wins.
As others have said, That's an extremely reasonable/cheap/enticing editing rate, and if/when I actually write something long and serious enough to merit outside help, I would definitely be down to throw money at you.
My Steam timesink is Rogue Legacy. I never really got into Binding of Isaac that much. It seems alright.
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I really dig roguelikes. I just haven't played Rogue Legacy yet. I want to!
I know a way you can earn some money. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
2626936
You're right, beard wax would be huge right now!
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The Extra Credits episode on Roguelikes basically outlines why I love Rogue Legacy so much and yet haven't really gotten into roguelikes in the past: because of all the convoluted hardcore rules and memorization inherent in older roguelikes like Nethack. Rogue Legacy is just a Metroidvania games that sometimes resembles a bullet hell game what with all the enemy projectiles spamming the screen, and finds other ways to be balls hard, but never in a way that sorely tempts you to look up the hidden path or whatever online.
I would certainly by interested in the paid readings thing. Maybe even the editing, too. I like to travel from editor to editor to learn new things.
Just for you, I'mma write my first clop. A Sonata/xjuggernaughtx self-insert wish-fulfillment where I'm mysteriously transported to Equestria for no adequately explored reason. I immediately run into Sonata, who is also there for no reason, and she instantly falls in love with me. I'm too cool, though. I just blow her off, but she follows me around, puppy dog-style. Then I meet all the rest of the cast, and they want me, too! Yeah, yeah! Even Celestia, and especially Luna, who is drawn to my stand-offish magnetism. Sombra ends up coming back, but I just use my martial prowess to beat the snot out of him, and all the cast agrees that a harem is really the best solution. My hair then turns red and black.
So... when can you start?
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I will hurt you.