Ideas, so Many Ideas

[kriadydragon]

1. Friendship Flashfic community, I'm still definitely thinking about that one and definitely want to make it a flashfic community since they're so much fun. But I'm kind of all over the place with how much to be a control freak about it. In other words, should I open it to pairings - canon and non-canon - so long as those pairings are not the focus of the story? Or keep it the usual gen definition of you can acknowledge canon pairings but that's it?

The more strict a community, the less popular it tends to be, and being a friendship community doesn't automatically mean it has to be a gen community. The only thing I would ask is that if there is a background pairing - whether canon or not - that the author needs to warn for it.

On the other hand, I really worry about this being abused, and people finding ways to work in romantic and sexual angles. For example, writing stories about the two friends helping each other with their relationship issues, or the whole friends with benefits thing, or one friend helping the other friend figure out their sexuality, or something. And the control freak in me who's been feeling rather bitter toward the prevalence of romance and the attitude that only romantic relationships mean anything, really doesn't want that to end up in a community meant to be celebrating friendship and as a result blurring a lot of lines (and this is probably the gen person in me but I also don't see the point of having a background pairing if it's not going to be the focus. But, again, that's just me).

In other words, how lenient do you all think I should be when it comes to pairings? Or should I play it safe and keep it gen?


2. I have been so torn between sticking with my search for a literary agent or caving in and self-publishing again. My brother and I came up with a self-publishing game plan that I would really like to try it just to see how it pans out. But I'm wary since my last self-publishing experience was a failure and I would really like the help to get published with an actual company.

But I've been wondering if it's possible to have my cake and eat it too. I have a story I'm working on that I feel might make a good guinea pig to try my hand at self-publishing again. But I still want to continue working at getting an agent for my other story, so I guess you could say I would be doing both at the same time (unless my other story gets excepted before the current story is ready). But... is that a good idea or would there be some kind of legal issues or agents/publishers finding out and getting all huffy that I'm publishing another book in another way? Or would it not matter? Because it's not like I'm taking one book, getting it published two ways and hoping for the best. It would be two separate books getting published in two separate ways. I've been told self-publishing is the way to go, I've been told sticking with an agent is better, so why not give both a try I say. Just... not if it's going to cause problems.

Does anyone know if doing it both ways (or trying to do it both ways) would end up being an issue? Would it be better to stick with one and try the other later? Or is there no real harm since it's two different stories being published?

Comments

[syble4.livejournal.com]

Regarding a Friendship community - if it upsets you that much to think that Romance might play a bigger role in the fics than you'd like, then I'd keep it Gen, or you'd ultimately be unhappy with the com. If you are setting it up, then it's okay to set it up as you'd like.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I guess my thing is that I don't want to be overly restrictive when it comes to people's creativity and what they like. But after giving it some thought, restrictions are kind of a given since it's going to be a friendship-only community. If I want to comm to be friendship-focused, then there's a lot I'm going to have to say no to, anyway.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Heh, it is so hard to figure out how strict to be on a friendship-based comm like that. On the one hand, you want to have a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere, not make people feel like they're going to be smacked down for the slightest mention of relationships that may be an integral part of canon, even. On the other, while there are plenty of stories with some romantic elements that I've still considered well within the boundaries of gen/friendship... you never know when you're going to get one of those people who'll insist on pushing boundaries, and get upset when you've let other minor, acceptable things slide. :S

As far as self-publishing one thing while simultaneously seeking to get another book published traditionally - I can't imagine a situation where that would be an issue. It's becoming more and more common, and if you're able to get a readership for a self-published book it may actually help your chances with a publisher. Having any kind of platform/established readership is a big draw. In fact, there've been a number of situations I know of where self-published books have been popular enough that publishers have approached the writers, wanting to work out a deal to publish the book traditionally. Not saying that happens often, but - just to illustrate the fact that it's not a turn-off or in any way likely to hamper your efforts. ^^

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that I won't technically make the comm gen but, maybe, keep any restrictions to the friendship portion (that is, say that the friendship itself can't involve anything sexual or romantic) and that way leave it open to allow the writer to have just about anything else they want on the side. Of course, this being me, people will have to warn for certain things. One thing I'm not going to put up with is readers being blindsided by content that there was no reason not to warn for.

I'm actually reaching the point where I'm thinking about self-publishing and trying for an agent later. Not because I'm getting impatient but because I'm really, really not liking what's involved in the process. You submit, you hope and that's all you can really do, and the control freak in me is not happy about that.

That said, I'm well aware that self-publishing is just as much hit or miss, especially if you don't know what you're doing, but I guess I really like the idea that it's still all in my control. I also want to try out the game plan my brother came up with, because part of the problem with my last self-publishing venture was that I only did so much to get the book out there, thought I had done enough and didn't do anymore. But what my brother came up with gives me hope that this time it might turn out a little better. I don't expect it to become a best-seller or anything, but at least to get sold a little more than my last book.

[sholio]

Regarding #2, I really don't think it'd be a problem. There are so many people these days who take variable paths to publication that I don't think it's unusual for people to do that. I've been shopping around short stories and novellas (so far without much success) and I'm also looking for an agent for my novel. And, personally, I think it's good to have a variety of stuff out there, through a variety of different means of publication.

You could use a different pseudonym for the novel if you're concerned, though -- not to hide it from agents, but just to separate the self-published stuff in the marketplace from the non-self-published.

As for #1, I just don't knowwwww. I'm starting to think that it's tough to prevent people from doing an end run around "gen" rules if they're going to -- and granted, half the problem is that the definition of gen is SO slippery and individual, and there IS a gray area, but a lot of the gen challenges tend to attract stuff that just ... isn't gen! And I'm not sure how successful rules are going to be in preventing that. On the other hand, having clear guidelines would give a basis for saying, "This community isn't the place for this kind of story" if people do write things that are clearly out of bounds. But I can see what you're saying about restrictive rules chasing people away. I am very much on the fence about it.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking I just might try the self-publishing route all together again, not so much because trying to find an agent hasn't gotten anywhere, but because I like the idea of being more in control of the process (seriously, I'm not kidding when I call myself a control freak, and having to wait on others before I can accomplish what I need to is a pet peeve of mine), then maybe try getting published using another story.

Heh, but it got me thinking of yet another community idea ;) Namely a place where people who have self-published anything - art, music, books, etc - can come and advertise, both by offering up a sample of their work and a link where it can be bought.

As for the friendship comm... *headdesk* Yes, that sums it up. I've never had a community in the works give me so much trouble. What I'm thinking is this - I don't say it's a gen community, I emphasize that the focus needs to be on friendship, that the friendship itself can't include anything romantic or sexual, and leave it at that.

[sholio]

*nods* That makes sense. I think it would probably work well to specify "no romance or sexual situations" and just leave it up to the community from there. If you end up having a problem with people posting stories that are really not at all in the spirit of the community, you could get more specific in the rules.

And, ooh! I really like the idea of a self-publishing community - as an active self-publisher, I would love to participate in something like that! It's really hard to keep original writing communities going, I think, when they're focused on the actual process of writing; people are so close-to-the-vest about what they're working on (goodness knows I am!) that they just don't want to talk about it in public. But something like that sounds like a topic that a lot of writers would be interested in!

Having said that -- and based on my general experience with comics self-publishing -- a lot of people self-publish because they're publishing edgy stuff that mainstream publishers don't want to carry. So you would probably get a range from all-ages stuff to some that's really ... really ... not. You could totally restrict samples and artwork to all-ages rated, but I can pretty much guarantee that you'd get people who wrote everything all over the map (including, at times, me ... heh). It's something to consider in thinking about it, whether you would be comfortable modding it or not.

If you weren't comfortable with that, there's also the possibility of a community that's specifically aimed at self-publishers of all-ages and YA material, which is kind of an unusual niche. I don't think there are very many people doing that. It would give you a very interesting "hook" for the community, but might make it a great deal less active.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'll just keep the emphasis and rules on the friendship aspect and go from there. As well as stress the need for warnings.

I'm kind of excited about the idea of starting an advertising comm for independent artists :D I think it would not only help those looking to sell but also those looking to buy since it would make it a little easier to sift through everything that's out there.

I don't think I would be strict about what is advertised, just how it's advertised. You know, ask people to keep things work safe (putting things under the cut, warnings, age restriction notices or ratings, maybe providing work-safe snippets or links-only to websites for the work, that kind of thing). I guess you could say it would be like an original works news letter :D I'm even thinking about making it so that if you've had an ad up for a certain number of months, you can delete that ad and repost it so that it has a better chance of getting noticed.

I'll probably do a post about this later since I'll want so input, but I need to plan it out a little more, first.

[sholio]

I think it's a really exciting idea! \o/ I would love to be part of it. One of the problems with self-published stuff is just finding it; it tends to be word-of-mouth, and you don't usually hear about things unless you know someone who knows someone.

And I like the idea of keeping the ads worksafe/warned-for but allowing any sort of self-published books, CDs, etc. to be advertised. That seems like a very fair compromise.

Could we maybe expand it to also allow recommendations of self-published books and other works that we've enjoyed? This seems like it might also be a good way to bring attention to lesser-known independent stuff.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Could we maybe expand it to also allow recommendations of self-published books and other works that we've enjoyed?

Oh, yes, I like that idea a lot :D I'd also like to do something that encourages people to do reviews of the products, preferably in their own journals or blogs in order to help spread the word about said product. But obviously I'm wary since a review could do just as much harm as good. Maybe there could be a post on how to do productive reviews of a work that neither flame a product nor try to oversell it, but instead allows people to make up their own minds about it.

I think I'll do that separate post now because I would love some more suggestions and I think I have a pretty good idea about how I'm going to put it together.

And since you know quite a bit about independent works, would you like to be co-mod? Not a must, of course, but help is always appreciated :D

[sholio]

Sure, I'd be happy to co-mod! :)

Yeah, I know what you mean about a review being a mixed blessing sometimes. :D But I think it's worth it even if it's not necessarily all positive; there have actually been times when negative or mixed reviews have intrigued me enough to check something out, too. I like the idea of having a sort of a "how to recommend a product" workshop, though!