What about you guys?
“Writing” in general is an unpredictable and somewhat risky career, so I think to limit yourself to only writing interactive fiction is going to be difficult, sure it might be fun, but will it pay the bills?
I’m curious as to how you intend to implement your plan? Do you intend to solely make a living from writing Choice of Games? Or is it just interactive fiction in general?
@CJW
I’m also gonna sell merchandise like the authors of Choice of Zombies. And I’m also gonna write conventional novels, but mostly Choicescript novels. I love it and I know it’s risky but all authors aren’t starving:P some are extremely successful.
@FairyGodfeather
Well I’m mainly gonna write CoGs but I’m also gonna write conventional style novels.
Also consider that I do this full time and I’m extremely dedicated and ambitious about it (I’ve been working on Trial of the Demon Hunter for almost a year now) whereas some of the authors here just write on their spare time.
For what it’s worth…
I’ve been writing Unnatural for 2 years, been writing stories for about 15. I’ve got a website and I have self-published two books (both now off the market by personal choice). I have sold roughly about 10-12 copies with very little advertising. I also have a 37.5 hour week job and I’m a dad. I would love to write full time but it isn’t consistent enough to live off of.
Either way I wish you luck with your dreams.
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@Nocturnal_Stillness
I’m sure your book is really good, but it’s just hard to get a publisher with real vision. In this case, Choice of Games takes care of the publishing and advertising so I think the sales of our choicescript books will be on a much larger scale (in the tens of thousands) each year. I can’t say how well my book will sell but I’ll be sure to post the numbers when it comes out.
A friend of mine, who is also looking to become a writer suggested a couple of blogs to me.
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=860
http://kriswrites.com/business-rusch-publishing-articles/
They’re both professional writers, they have some insights into the whole writing and publishing business though and some interesting articles. Dean Wesley Smith can somehow write a 75,000 word book in 10 days.
I think there is a lot of cross-over between writing novels and writing interactive fiction.
I’d also suggest start now in building a name for yourself and an internet presence. Get a blog, get a tumblr, post on reddit if you don’t already do so. Supposedly they’re good methods to start from. Marketting is going to be essential unless you get extremely lucky.
Hosted Games aren’t advertised as much as choice of games and you have to be published to get to submit to that brand. Luckily getting a Hosted Game release is considered being published I read that somewhere.
@FairyGodfeather
I post illustrations and ideas about my book on facebook, and I’m hopefully gonna post a 20% demo in a month or so. I’m also gonna make a facebook page for myself when my book comes out so I can advertise it more.
@Nocturnal_Stillness
It does count as published so I’m gonna try to get the sequel to Trial of the Demon Hunter into the CoG section of publishing.
Heroes Rise, which is one of the best selling Choice of Games sold 20,000 copies in a year.
20,000 copies sold is a huge number. Heroes Rise is currently selling for $3. (Heroes Rise was $1 for some of that time but for simplicity’s sake we’ll just deal with the $3 figure.) Authors generally get 17.5% of that, so 52cents per game multiplied by 20,000 is $10,500.
$10,500 in a year isn’t bad, however it’s not enough to live on. And that’s one of their best-selling games.
The hosted games sell far less than the choice of games do. They don’t have the same benefits of advertising and backing from Choice of Games as their official games do. You also need to source your own artwork, and editing. However, you do get to retain all of your IP rights, which you don’t if you have a Choice of Game.
Still if you can write multiple games a year you may be able to consider making a living out of just the games.
And a youtube channel, videos are incredibly easy to rank, unlike doing search engine optimization, hell I once put up a video and did no keyword optimization and I got 500 views on it without doing a thing. Get on social media. EDIT: ninja’d by Dj Cuty.
Otherwise I concur with FairyGodfeather and NS.
@FairyGodfeather
well I’m a teenager who’ll just be living with my girlfriend:P 10K isn’t enough for someone to live off of if they’re supporting a wife and multiple kids but I’ll also be selling merchandise and I’ll have my gf helping out with all the living expenses as well. And remember that when when my 2nd book is finished, I’ll be getting royalties off of the 1st and the 2nd at the same time. (this is just hypothetical, but you get the point). And I’ve got found a really good illustrator who’s only charging me $115 for 10 illustrations.
@DJ_Cuty Well I’m not in the US so I’m not even sure how much 10K is, other than it’s more than I get to live on in a year. I think that if you want to be a writer, then you can do it. Go into it with your eyes open though.
Oh, sorry:P 10k is 10,000 United States Dollars.
I hope I can work full time as an author, but if not I can always get my shitty part time job back xD
No I do know it’s USD. I just don’t have a clue what that could even buy you.
What’s your currency? I can translate it over to yours so you’d have an idea of what 10k looks like.
@FairyGodfeather
All major moneymakers are a risk at first. Go for it. And if it doesn’t work out, just have something to fall back on.
Oh no, I do know what it looks like. I ran it through an online currency exchange and it’s currently £6,605 but thanks for the offer. It’s just that items cost different prices on either side of the pond.
@DaveDPF
Thanks, man! I personally think my book will do really well. I can’t wait to post a demo but I need to make it perfect
@DJ_CUTY The only thing I can really say is: Don’t get your hopes up. Most stories go effectively unnoticed, and only really popular ones sell merchandise. The chances of this being a viable career are effectively zero.