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Written a book?

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  • 20-07-2020 10:20am
    #1
    king_of_mayo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 127 ✭✭


    Talking to a work lad, and he mentions that he's written a book. I was just like "You what?" but sure enough it's there, on Amazon. Digital only and free. He even got some cover art and stuff for it.

    What an achievement, a testimony to future generations. Imagine doing some family research and you find a book written by your great great grandfather. Fascinating. It's apparently a series of essays on his beliefs, experiences and hopes. I shan't be reading it but it got me thinking that I should get in on this.

    Have you written a book? What's it about? What would you write about?


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    #2
    JasonStatham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 548 ✭✭✭JasonStatham


    I've written a sci fi. It's about alien abduction. I've given it to a professional editor to look at it. I'll probably try to get it on Amazon KDP and audible if I can whip it into shape.

    It took me two years just to get to this stage.


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    #3
    HalloweenJack
    Registered Users Posts: 7,074 ✭✭✭HalloweenJack


    I have written a novel. Sent it to a few publishers and all but never heard back from them. That was a few years ago.

    Since then, I've done a few writing courses and got passionate about writing again during lockdown. I've written a few short stories and novellas since. I reckon I could go back and tidy them up and make more of an effort to get published or go the self-publishing route. It'd be nice to have it out there.


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    #4
    biko
    Registered Users Posts: 81,223 ✭✭✭✭biko


    Just business literature no-one else will ever read :D


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    #5
    radiotrickster
    Registered Users Posts: 865 ✭✭✭radiotrickster


    I’m finished the first draft of my first book. In the middle of editing it now. It’s about 45-50k words so a bit short, but I’ve a lot to add in the edits so should reach 60-70k.


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    #6
    B.A._Baracus
    Registered Users Posts: 11,179 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    Writing a book is an achievement. Not taking anything away from that but aren't books on Amazon (digital only) really easy to do?

    I remember there was a thing going around a few years ago where people were copying actual published books and putting them on amazon for ebooks for a quick buck.


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    #7
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 16,789 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    My late father-in-law has a book on Repair and Maintenance of Cross-cut Saws and another on building Earth Roads - both published.
    Fascinating stuff!


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    #8
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users Posts: 14,714 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    B.A._Baracus wrote: »
    I remember there was a thing going around a few years ago where people were copying actual published books and putting them on amazon for ebooks for a quick buck.

    Don't you mean a quick book? :cool:


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    #9
    B.A._Baracus
    Registered Users Posts: 11,179 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    Earthhorse wrote: »
    Don't you mean a quick book? :cool:

    :pac:


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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    There's a lot of muck out there these days too though..


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    #11
    Aongus Von Bismarck
    Registered Users Posts: 1,794 ✭✭✭Aongus Von Bismarck


    Yes, I’ve just finished writing a book of short stories. They really are excellent, and one of them is hilariously funny.


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    #12
    The Mighty Quinn
    Registered Users Posts: 1,228 ✭✭✭The Mighty Quinn


    Deleted User wrote: »
    There's a lot of muck out there these days too though..

    It was ever thus!


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    #13
    JupiterKid
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 12,618 Mod ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    Yes, I have authored and co-authored a number of peer-reviewed academic publications in my area of teaching and research. Co-author of three book chapters.

    Also wrote a number of creative writing short stories that were published as part of an anthology at the beginning of this year.

    Currently I am in the process of writing two papers, as co-author. I have also made a tenuous start on my long-term project of a book in my academic area of interest, but this is under wraps in terms of specific content at this stage. ;)


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    #14
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Yes, Random House will be releasing it in a few months. Entitled "Lament from a halfway in Knocknacarra", chronicles that dream I had where I was working for a reputable investment firm in Frankfurt. Instead of being a slovenly wreck subsisting on stale pizza crust and Yop, suddenly I was an impeccably groomed man of the world. Gliding down the Autobahn in sleek BMW 4-Series, occasionally muttering to myself about unkempt IT workers with poor hygiene. And then the dream suddenly veers off on a tangent by virtue of a mindful retreat to Alaska and cabin building in a brazen attempt at manhood. All the while sneering at the small town folk back on the auld sod, trapped by their small minds. Alas, the fantasy is shattered upon waking and the ending consists of a bout of terminal flatulence outside Tesco whereupon my pigeon friends feast upon the corpse.


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    #15
    ohnonotgmail
    Registered Users Posts: 40,187 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    Every day


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    #16
    The Tetrarch
    Registered Users Posts: 2,092 ✭✭✭The Tetrarch


    Not yet.
    To self-publish what I want is about 25k.


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    #17
    EmmetSpiceland
    Registered Users Posts: 10,561 ✭✭✭✭EmmetSpiceland


    Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »
    Yes, I’ve just finished writing a book of short stories. They really are excellent, and one of them is hilariously funny.

    What are these short stories about? A rough idea of “genre”, or subject, is fine. Not looking for a synopsis of them all!

    “It is not blood that makes you Irish but a willingness to be part of the Irish nation” - Thomas Davis



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    #18
    Feisar
    Registered Users Posts: 6,608 ✭✭✭Feisar


    I've stacks of short stories loosely based on my twenties. Turning it into something with a start, middle and end is the kicker though.

    First they came for the socialists...



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    #19
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,156 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    Had my first book published last year. Only sold a couple of hundred copies - selling books is hard, and it's something that writers are almost predisposed to being bad at!

    But Dubray took it on, and it was great to walk in and see it in the football section next to the books on Neymar, Fowler and Shankly. :)

    Got great reviews overall, though it was a little disconcerting to hear people say they couldn't put it down and read it in three days, when it took me three years from clicking "New" in Word to opening the box when it arrived!

    Didn't make any money, it was a hell of a lot of work, and I only learned as I went along that I should have promoted it different ways (but by then it was too late).

    Don't care though. Box ticked, and the effort was worth it.

    Would recommend.


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    #20
    touts
    Registered Users Posts: 6,438 ✭✭✭touts


    king_of_mayo wrote: »
    Talking to a work lad, and he mentions that he's written a book. I was just like "You what?" but sure enough it's there, on Amazon. Digital only and free. He even got some cover art and stuff for it.

    What an achievement, a testimony to future generations. Imagine doing some family research and you find a book written by your great great grandfather. Fascinating. It's apparently a series of essays on his beliefs, experiences and hopes. I shan't be reading it but it got me thinking that I should get in on this.

    Have you written a book? What's it about? What would you write about?

    Found out a few years ago I had written a book. But I didn't publish it. Someone else did.

    I had created a website for a work related thing and had posted up a lot of training materials etc. It was freely available and I never charged for it. Then I got a mail from a colleague who told me to check out a book he had found on line on Amazon Kindle. Turned out some little scroat in China had taken my work copied it and published an e-book (all 40 odd pages of it) under his name. I lodged a complaint with Amazon and they took it down after a few weeks. Half of Kindle is made up of copyright infringements.

    Ask your mate what happens in "his" book.


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    #21
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,494 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    My 17YO daughter is writing a book at the moment, think it’s planned as part of a series.

    She’s been working on it steady for about six months now, she’s doing sketches of artwork too.


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    #22
    .anon.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,094 ✭✭✭.anon.


    It was a dark and stormy night...

    No, I have never written a book. I've written loads of short stories and essays, but very few have been seen by anyone other than me. I'm not that fond of the sound sight of my own voice words, and I don't like the thought of millions hundreds of other people having that kind of access to what goes on in here. Can you stop reading this post now, please?


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    #23
    Hammer89
    Registered Users Posts: 3,003 ✭✭✭Hammer89


    I wrote a short story some years ago about an escort. She takes on this client who's into humiliation, and she's there going, 'State of your knob pal' and all this, but it was all a bit too personal for his liking, so he shopped her to the revenue for tax avoidance.


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    #24
    s1ippy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,980 ✭✭✭s1ippy


    Hammer89 wrote: »
    I wrote a short story some years ago about an escort. She takes on this client who's into humiliation, and she's there going, 'State of your knob pal' and all this, but it was all a bit too personal for his liking, so he shopped her to the revenue for tax avoidance.
    I could write the book on that.


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    #25
    Aongus Von Bismarck
    Registered Users Posts: 1,794 ✭✭✭Aongus Von Bismarck


    EmmetSpiceland wrote: »
    What are these short stories about? A rough idea of “genre”, or subject, is fine. Not looking for a synopsis of them all!

    Thanks for asking. They are a collection of short stories that relate to a plot to escape from East Berlin in the 60’s. So there’s an overarching theme and construct there, and they are even set on the same day. I just felt the book worked better as a series of related short stories rather than trying to weave them all together. The book is written in German.


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    #26
    Eduard Khil
    Registered Users Posts: 796 ✭✭✭Eduard Khil


    Yes I've written a book about Rasputin hunting trolls in the forests of Yekaterinburg with Czar Nicholas II.


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    #27
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,859 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I've a poetry book coming out in the autumn. That'll be my debut.

    I wrote a second one during lockdown, but that's all in Irish so I doubt many of ye will be too interested. :P


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    #28
    The Crazy Cat Lady
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,997 ✭✭✭The Crazy Cat Lady


    Am currently writing a book, which is about autism/aspergers, the dream is to publish it so hopefully that'll happen


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    #29
    IK09
    Registered Users Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭IK09


    king_of_mayo wrote: »
    It's apparently a series of essays on his beliefs, experiences and hopes.

    So...its a manifesto.

    Keep an eye on that lad :pac:


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    #30
    Necro
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 51,132 Mod ✭✭✭✭Necro


    Haven't published a book but had a completed manuscript stolen by my English teacher in third year.

    She took all 6 full A4 refill pads to 'read and review' (her words) and never saw it again.
    Asked for it back a couple of times and never heard about it again. As a young fella I was easily distracted and forgot about it but now I'm older it irks me greatly.

    Not that it was great or anything just that she didn't have the manners to return my property. Haven't really finished one since though I've tried a couple of times.


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    #31
    bnt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,962 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    I've written chunks of a novel and enough other material to fill several. The problem is that you can pour the proverbial blood, sweat and tears in to a work, and have it land with an almighty thud. Publishers get far more books than they can handle, and the marketplace isn't exactly kind to new authors. So if I ever finish a book, it will be with zero expectation that anyone else will read it without me paying them to.

    From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

    — Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut



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