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MaxFlorschutzAMA OP t1_iy59o3u wrote

Reply to comment by im_not_a_gay_fish in I am Max Florschutz, author of Science-Fiction and Fantasy, back again to celebrate the launch of my latest book, Starforge! by MaxFlorschutzAMA

Thanks for swinging by! In answer to your questions:

  1. I actually don't worry myself with "What if someone else has written something similar" because every story is going to be very different in the execution. For example, a story about an orphaned boy being grabbed away from his aunt and uncle to learn magic and discover that he's a VIP ... is that Star Wars or Harry Potter? Or is it both, but each executed very differently?

I've actually written a whole post about this concept on my site, but the crux of it is "Don't worry, just write your story. Now, if you reach the end and you realize you've rewritten your favorite story, then you may need to exercise your creative muscles and imagination a bit and actively work to try and do things that are outside your wheelhouse.

As for me though, one thing my readers have made most clear is that my stuff is quite unique, since I tend to run outside the box looking for fun ideas like "Dragon decides to become a banker instead of kidnapping princesses."

The short of it is not to worry about it. The moment your characters take over, your story will be its own thing.

  1. Publishing is a serious gamble. It's literally, unless you have an industry inside contact—and even then that might not help—the equivalent of buying a powerball ticket.

Between that and the rapidly dropping royalties publishers pay these days is why so many authors choose to go indie or adopt the hybrid model. I myself went indie. I like the greater royalty cut and the control to write what I want instead of being stuck under a contract to "Marketing says this book will sell this year, so that's what you're writing."

There are still good publishers out there, but I like the indie side of things.

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BlueHatBrit t1_iy5ix3d wrote

Sorry to extend this with another question, but how much of the publishing process do you do yourself? I assume not printing, but how much distribution and such do you do?

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MaxFlorschutzAMA OP t1_iy5jv62 wrote

No worries. Publishing has changed rapidly in the last two decades, so much of the "traditional" publishing methods are being upended right now. Even two decades ago, I'd have needed a garage to store Axtara paperbacks in ... now the bookstore just says "Hey, I want that," and places an order, which is then printed on demand and shipped to them without any involvement from me (at least, in that end of the process).

As far as what I do manage, I handle the writing, editing, and marketing entirely on my own. I oversee the whole editing process, with an extended team of other people, and I manage all the marketing. If I go to a con or a signing, it's on my own dime (though this is now true for "classic" trad-pub authors as well).

The downside is I have to know how to run everything. The upside is I'm not losing 90+% of the profit to a publisher.

But as an immediate example, editing on Starforge started in February of this year and only finished literally last week. It took ten months of work to edit, which was about how long it took to write.

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BlueHatBrit t1_iy5lut6 wrote

Thanks so much for the detailed answer! My father in law has just self published a novel, but gone about it very old school (garage of books and all). That made me very curious as I've always fancied the idea of finally pushing one of my drafts to completion one day.

Ten months of editing is mad, but your books are huge so I suppose I'm not so surprised. Massive congratulations on the completion of the book and it's trilogy, you must be both proud and relieved!

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MaxFlorschutzAMA OP t1_iy5mk41 wrote

Thanks! It has been a journey. Six years from the reader's perspective, and eight years from mine. 1.3 million words all together. My next projects will be a bit more sensible. But it does feel good to finally have the trilogy be complete.

Good luck to your father in law with his first novel too! I know exactly how good that feels to hold the first one in your hands!

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