exobubz | More research about books + publishing! (because these are always fun)

Hello, guys!

First of all, thank you for those who answered the survey. It gave me an idea of what is okay with you guys and how many people are potentially interested (majority in the PH ofc). My beta and I bother agreed that 500 pesos ($10) is a good place to aim. Many of you were okay with higher prices as long as there were "freebies" (which aren't really free huuuu).

LET ME KNOW ABOUT ANY COMMENTS IN THE LINK I'LL GIVE OUT IN JUST A SECOND.

So, the plan is to publish using Lulu.com, a self-publishing website. I decided to go with 6x9 paperback because with 500 pesos (roughly $10-11 dollars), it's the most cost efficient.

BOOK: 6x9 book with 100 pages = $3.25 (152.55 pesos)

SHIPPING:

United States = Easy shipping ($3-5) That would be included in the $10 you pay. Easy peasy.

PH = Plan to ship with my mom (knocks out intl fee) so you'll only have to pay a domestic fee for when my beta (based in Manila) distributes the books.

France = I checked the United States Postal Service site. If I sent the 6x9 book (Does not even weigh a pound) in a large envelope, shipping is around $17 (but there was no specific "arrival time expectation")

I don't know much about other places. I checked places such as Mexico and the shipping $$ was really high?? I don't know if I was doing it wrong or I was looking at the wrong place...

If someone is experienced with shipping to various countries, please message/comment ^^;

AS FOR FREEBIES

I watched some videos on youtube and I found this really cool lady who made keychains using beads and an iron (here). Sounds lame, but when she finished, I was kind of like wow. So I did some research and the beads are kind of costly, but if I get enough buyers, it would balance out my gains and my loss, breaking me even. But anyways, I was looking into some cheap but high-quality DIY projects that I could do because you guys want it cheap and I can't do it cheap if I'm going to give expensive-ish freebies. Plus alot of you know I'm into art and I do a lot of projects.

My freebie ideas/options:

Perler bead chanbaek keychains: It is $9 for 4,000 neutral colors (this). It has all of the colors I need to make Baekhyun cute. The $9 is okay if I have alot of orders. It'd be just a few cents per person.

Photocards/pictures of fan art! I can do this cheaply. Plus, I'm an artist so I can draw some really ;'---) stuff that goes along with the stories. Yay for feels!

Buttons! It's Roughly $2 for a 2-inch button, but I think it'd be cool to have my art on there.

IN ALL HONESTY... The freebie cost is not something I'm worried about. I'm not entirely worried about "breaking even" meaning that what I gain from selling equals to the amount that I've spent. My main concern is really just the shipping cost. I don't care if I go into the negatives with production cost versus what I actually get from selling. I just want you guys to get the books safely and not have it lost in the mail (like the one time I sent Kei17 a letter--A LETTER OKAY-- and she never got it ugh).

My mom totally supports this. Of course breaking even would be nice. I'm not going into this with the mindset that I have to make alot of money or whatever. WHO AM I. I'm not J.K Rowling (YET!!!! huuuu). If I have to spend money buying buttons or beads or buttons, that's fine. I think it'd be cute to get a book + things that relate to the stories on the inside. I guess this is just part of being an "author" lol. You don't really write to make money, though, again, it'd be nice. A lot of people want to write for a living, but it's hard. Not everyone is a best-selling novelist. But the thing is, at the end of the day, it just makes me happy that people actually care / are interested that, yeah, if you want it, I'll try to make it happen. <___< I'm going to go broke with this type of passion for writing, I swear lol.

but just to make it clear tho BREAKING EVEN WOULD BE REALLY NICE ;;;;;

ANYWAYS, please, if you can, research shipping for your country (outside the US and PH). I'm not very familiar and it's kind of hard to understand. We can work on this together.

AS FOR THE STORIES THAT WILL BE PUBLISHED

I have thought about it... Most of you wanted a Mix, but I thought that it would be slightly boring and not very exciting.

I know a lot of you like/love The Letter. It was your first/fave/smuttiest/etc fic. I know that it's considered a Chanbaek classic, and I understand that, but I wrote that story wrong, and in my heart, I can't get myself to do anything with that story because there are too many mistakes in terms of what I wrote and how I wrote some characters and my blatant disregard for noncon/dubcon culture.

HOWEVER, I believe in 2nd chances. I'm always about redemption and being apologetic. So, I decided, if I can't publish The Letter, then I will publish The Invitation, the story that I wish TL would've been. It'll still be mature content (sex and mentions/events of domestic violence) but it'll still be romantic, funny, dirty pick up lines, everything TL was BUT WITHOUT THE NONCON/DUBCON and the bad things I wrote without knowing how wrong they were.

If you don't know what The Invitation is, it is the sequel to The Letter. The basic premises is that Chanyeol's cousin is getting married and he convinces Baekhyun to be his date, but the thing is, this wedding is also like a family vacation for a week and a half (family vacation for a week and a half and then they have the wedding and everyone goes home yey).

I plan on releasing it on AFF/LJ around fall/winter (similar to Following the Broken Road Back to You).

I'm also aiming for that story to be as LONG as FTBRBY so around 30-40k.

Aside from The Invitation, I also plan on publishing another story. It's another country story, but not like FTBRBTY. I just happen to like Chanyeol sweaty and riding tractors around. I also like the idea of Baekyun and Chanyeol walking in a vineyard, making eyes at one another, Chanyeol's being charming and Baekhyun's being hateful/annoyed (haha help me).

So for the stories, it'll be The Invitation and Walking on the Horizon (the country storyyy ♥)

OH AND BY THE WAY:

I WILL be publishing The Invitation on AFF/LJ because it's a gift for the 3 years of pure awesomeness you guys have given me and because TL was my first baby.

I WILL NOT PUBLISH Walking on the Horizon. That will be an exclusive story in book format for buyers for 6 months (or longer). I will eventually publish it online but the book will be out before the digital. This isn't to ha-ha anyone who doesn't buy. I just thought that if you're willing to spend money on a book, I thought you should have like a benefit. This would be the "new" that you all answered for. I thought that publishing and posting The Invitation would make it okay to make WOTH a LITTLE bit exclusive for a little while.

SPEAKING OF FTBRBTY, I'M GOING TO TEST LULU.COM AND PUBLISH A COPY OF IT. I'll let you know how it turns out. If it turns out good, I may open orders. May. To test run. ^^

Umm.... OH YEAH!

This is another survey! [HERE] Leave any additional comments at the bottom of it if you are shy :o Also! I answer questions on ask.fm

Again, thank you ;;; I'm excited. I just want my stories on my book shelf haha. Goodbye Julie Garwood, hello Exobubz ;♥;

IF YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TOO, JUST DROP THEM IN THE COMMENTS. Thank youuuuuuuuuuu

More research about books + publishing! (because these are always fun)

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