# Konrath's lastest blog post is a HOOT!!!



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

I. LOVE. IT.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/08/guest-post-by-tim-myers.html

I am _*SO*_ taking the challenge!


----------



## S.A. Mulraney (May 20, 2011)

Some of the reviews are pretty funny. But, I'm not sure this does anything positive for self-publishing to be honest.


----------



## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

I'm in!

One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


ROTFL!!!

Female: Steamy Daniels
Male: Rock Samson


----------



## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Huge Howey


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Or, if you want an allusion to your other work:

Holston Wooly


----------



## Ryan Sullivan (Jul 9, 2011)

Damn! I'd love to do this, but it's 2:20am. Do we have a deadline? Or just a time limit?


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Vivi_Anna said:


> Huge Howey


_Niiiceeee..._


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Ryan Sullivan said:


> d*mn! I'd love to do this, but it's 2:20am. Do we have a deadline? Or just a time limit?


Looks like - just a time limit.


----------



## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Huge Howey

Vivi - you beat me to it!


----------



## John H. Carroll (Nov 26, 2010)

I wrote a short story in 3 days once, but this is more of a challenge.  The easiest part is the formatting.  My document is already formatted before I even start writing.  The hardest part is sacrificing my normal month long editing process for a short story.

Hmmmm . . . I may have to give it a shot.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

I am going to think about this. Starting now.


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

What if I don't drink beer? Is iced tea (unsweetened) okay?


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I'm definitely doing this, as I can make a pretty good cover in 10 minutes. It's the writing part that's going to get me. Now I wonder if I should do this under my active pen name or create a new one.


----------



## D.L. Shutter (Jul 9, 2011)

> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name


Hmmm, give us something to work with; m/f, m/m, mffmfmmmmfmf? What else is involved, leather, rubber, mayo?

You could always go with the tried and true first street name and pet.


----------



## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

Hugh Howey said:


> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Hugh Horney.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I just got a pretty cool idea. I'm going to roll with it for the next 6 or so hours and see what happens.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> I'm definitely doing this, as I can make a pretty good cover in 10 minutes. It's the writing part that's going to get me. Now I wonder if I should do this under my active pen name or create a new one.


I'm your exact opposite. The writing will take far less time than creating the cover...


----------



## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

Ashy said:


> I'm your exact opposite. The writing will take far less time than creating the cover...


That's what I've found lately with short stories. It's why I'm leaning toward finding a good cover image and writing a short story around it rather than writing a story and hunting for the cover image.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Edward M. Grant said:


> That's what I've found lately with short stories. It's why I'm leaning toward finding a good cover image and writing a short story around it rather than writing a story and hunting for the cover image.


If you do that, I don't think you can USE the image as your cover. Everything has to be done by the author, from what I'm reading.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I've got a good start, so far. I'm about 200 words in. Now I just have to keep it under 10,000 words so it can be finished today and well, I can actually finish it.

My idea? Literary with a touch of horror. 

A pastor who's losing faith in God finds out that he can heal people after he witnesses a murder. Is his new power divinely inspired or does it come from a much darker place? Once he discovers the answer, will he continue helping others at risk of losing his own soul or will he forsake those around him for his own good?


----------



## Pearson Moore (Mar 14, 2011)

Sorry, Joe Konrath, I'm not taking the challenge. I could do it, and the result of a one- or two-hour period of writing would probably not be all that bad. But, you know, after you've read one blank book that promises to tell you what men think about besides sex, you've pretty much read them all. If Konrath wishes to make a mockery of self-publishing that's certainly his prerogative. But there's enough garbage out there already. There are far too many 'authors' selling five-page 'novels' who wonder why, oh why am I receiving one-star reviews. I write the best books I can. I give those books to critiquers to have them torn apart. Then I rewrite, resubmit, finish the rough draft, have it proofread, give it to a no-nonsense editor, and only then do I publish the volume. It means I deliver a single 90,000-word volume no faster than once every 90 days, but it also means I deliver quality material. Konrath can do whatever he wants. As for me, I'm going to write the best books I can.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> I've got a good start, so far. I'm about 200 words in. Now I just have to keep it under 10,000 words so it can be finished today and well, actually finish it.
> 
> My idea? Literary with a touch of horror.
> 
> A pastor who's losing faith in God finds out that he can heal people after he witnesses a murder. Is his new power divinely inspired or does it come from a much darker place? Once he discovers the answer, will he continue helping others at risk of losing his own soul or will he forsake those around him for his own good?


OOO!!!! Please PM me a link when it's done!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Ashy said:


> OOO!!!! Please PM me a link when it's done!


I sure will!

Here's the cover. Just finished it.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> I sure will!
> 
> Here's the cover. Just finished it.


Feel free to email it to me. I can't see if from work - the GOV blocks photobucket.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I'm headed out to write this thing. It's already looking to be a pretty fun story. I've got a healthy dose of Black Sabbath playing to set the mood. I'll need to finish it as soon as I can so my wife can do a quick proofread and edit. I'll probably have it on Amazon tonight and when it publishes, I'll set it to go free and send you a link.  

EDIT: Problem. I used a stock photo of a blood spatter as the cover image. I wonder if that's allowed? Maybe one of us should contact Joe and find out. If not, I'm sure my wife could show me how to create something similar myself.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Best of luck! One day I'll be able to do mine!


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

David Scroggins said:


> I sure will!
> 
> Here's the cover. Just finished it.


Now there's a cover that suits the genre. No guessing with that one.


----------



## MGalloway (Jun 21, 2011)

Pearson Moore said:


> If Konrath wishes to make a mockery of self-publishing that's certainly his prerogative. But there's enough garbage out there already.


I guess I don't see it as making a mockery of self-publishing, but more about having fun (maybe I'm wrong, I don't know). Sort of like a jam session between musicians. Also, what's to stop someone from going back later on and editing/updating/improving on their work?


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

MGalloway said:


> I guess I don't see it as making a mockery of self-publishing, but more about having fun (maybe I'm wrong, I don't know). Sort of like a jam session between musicians. Also, what's to stop someone from going back later on and editing/updating/improving on their work?


+1 THIS


----------



## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

I wrote some silly erotica under a joke pen name and I really had fun writing the stories. They do not sell at all, however. So ... YMMV. They probably aren't crazy/terrible enough. I should probably drink more. In general. And also while writing.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

MGalloway said:


> I guess I don't see it as making a mockery of self-publishing, but more about having fun (maybe I'm wrong, I don't know). Sort of like a jam session between musicians. Also, what's to stop someone from going back later on and editing/updating/improving on their work?


Exactly. And I don't plan on writing something silly. My story is pretty serious so far. Heck, I'm already finished with chapter 1 and having the time of my life.


----------



## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

It took me less than an hour to write The Snarls, and to have my daughter draw the cover illustration for it. What took the longest time was driving down to FedEx/Kinkos to have the art scanned in decently so I could create the cover. I even sold a couple of copies at 0.99 before it went perma-free. Call it maybe 2 hours of work, all told, what with formatting and everything, and counting the driving time.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> Exactly. And I don't plan on writing something silly. My story is pretty serious so far. Heck, I'm already finished with chapter 1 and having the time of my life.


+1000 THIS


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

The thought of publishing without sending it to an editor scares the crap out of me. 

But I think I'm going to take the challenge. Or hide under a rock.
I will definitely need lots and lots of wine.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Do it! It's fun. I'm already about to start on chapter 3. Just keep em short. My chapters are about 600 - 700 words each. I'll probably have 10 of them. The only issue I'm having right now is that I feel like I'm being more "to the point" and less descriptive than I like. It's going to be the Jefferson Bible of horror stories.


----------



## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

Well, since Trapped was one of the coolest stories I've read, I'm guessing David will come up with something good.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

JeanneM said:


> Well, since Trapped was one of the coolest stories I've read, I'm guessing David will come up with something good.


Thanks! And I hope I don't end up disappointing anyone. As of right now, Healed is turning out to be so dark, it's making me a bit uncomfortable. This is totally new territory for me. I had a whole weekend to write Trapped.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> Do it! It's fun. I'm already about to start on chapter 3. Just keep em short. My chapters are about 600 - 700 words each. I'll probably have 10 of them. The only issue I'm having right now is that I feel like I'm being more "to the point" and less descriptive than I like. It's going to be the Jefferson Bible of horror stories.


Ok I am now giggling. David do you realize that both you and Joe have books titled Trapped?


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Wow. I did it.  

I hit publish on a short motivational piece twenty minutes ago and it's in review. 

I am still working on my novels, but this seemed like a fun challenge. (and, you know, procrastination.) So in four hours I managed to write something, set up an account at Amazon, make a cover, upload it all, format it, and hit publish. 

And I am sure I did it all wrong.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

cinisajoy said:


> Ok I am now giggling. David do you realize that both you and Joe have books titled Trapped?


Haha. I actually realized that about a week ago. It's a great title. I need to go read his.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> Haha. I actually realized that about a week ago. It's a great title. I need to go read his.


And in other news, your wife makes a great cake.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

cinisajoy said:


> And in other news, your wife makes a great cake.


I loves loves LOVES her cooking!


----------



## Meowsers (Jun 23, 2013)

I've decided to try my hand at this 8-hour story challenge. Let's hope I can tell a tale half as well as I can bake a cake.  I started at 5pm Eastern... let's see what happens!

*Edited because I thought it was 10 hours instead of 8. I had better hurry up!


----------



## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Howzy Hanging


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

I've used up 49 minutes on a cover.

Oh my. Pretty sure I'm going to fail this experiment.


----------



## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Dwool McPopolips, of course.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

MY. GOD. I'm almost 3000 words into this thing and I have no idea how I'll finish in the next two or three hours. I might have to simplify my plot pretty significantly and finish this thing up. Also, I think I'll be using a pen name. 

Oh, and new cover. Meet Allen Raithe, short story author.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Kwalker said:


> I've used up 49 minutes on a cover.
> 
> Oh my. Pretty sure I'm going to fail this experiment.


Doesn't matter if it took 49 minutes, it's awesome!

You can do it!
Go go go go go!


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

MGalloway said:


> I guess I don't see it as making a mockery of self-publishing, but more about having fun (maybe I'm wrong, I don't know). Sort of like a jam session between musicians. Also, what's to stop someone from going back later on and editing/updating/improving on their work?


+3 or +4 or how ever many it is now.  I will not be taking part... but gonna be fun to watch.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> +3 or +4 or how ever many it is now.  I will not be taking part... but gonna be fun to watch.


I can't wait to read the results.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Mine is up on Amazon already. It's absolutely ridiculous. *blushes 

But I could not figure out how to set it to free? I don't want people to pay money for it, at all.


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

SBright said:


> Mine is up on Amazon already. It's absolutely ridiculous. *blushes
> 
> But I could not figure out how to set it to free? I don't want people to pay money for it, at all.


Have to list it else where for free, then get a price match. Check the "Make it free" thread for details.

Also... link it here!


----------



## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Ashy said:


> I. LOVE. IT.
> 
> http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/08/guest-post-by-tim-myers.html
> 
> I am _*SO*_ taking the challenge!


I actually have something I could finish in a few hours. It's already about 10k. Add a few thousand more, read it through, get a quick cover and upload it. I even have a pen name ready to go on Twitter. Heh.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

7 hours and 4k-ish words later, I'm about to hit publish on a super weird short story that's nothing like I imagined. I did it, though! I just hope it's not super horrible. I borrowed a bit from my short story, Trapped.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Ugh, it took me all afternoon to do it on Amazon. I am not ready for battling B+N or anywhere else tonight. I'll figure it out tomorrow. And why the hell is it saying I published it yesterday? Lies.

*more blushing*

http://www.amazon.com/How-be-Force-Nature-ebook/dp/B00EPPOE30/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1377220466&sr=8-10&keywords=how+to+be+a+force+of+nature

I don't know how long I'll keep it up. But it was a fun experiment.

There's a story behind the cover. I made something on Paint and my husband mocked it and did that cover for me instead. I told him I wanted a simple line drawing of a hurricane. That's what I got. Moral of this story: don't hire my husband as your cover artist. His words, "I thought a fire hurricane would be cooler."


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

SBright said:
 

> Ugh, it took me all afternoon to do it on Amazon. I am not ready for battling B+N or anywhere else tonight. I'll figure it out tomorrow. And why the hell is it saying I published it yesterday? Lies.
> 
> *more blushing*
> 
> ...


Oops, you need to fix your blurb.

"This won't book can't teach you any of that. "


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Crud. I thought I fixed that before, and it says it's still publishing and won't let me edit anything right now.

Is this normal for KDP to be really glitchy? I had a lot of trouble signing up for the account, and then it did some other weird things when I was uploading.


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

SBright said:


> Crud. I thought I fixed that before, and it says it's still publishing and won't let me edit anything right now.
> 
> Is this normal for KDP to be really glitchy? I had a lot of trouble signing up for the account, and then it did some other weird things when I was uploading.


Nah, it's just you. 

Kidding. Sometimes it can be glitchy and it seems like they've been overly glitchy lately.

The last time I had a problem, I had posted the blurb for a totally different book. It seemed like forever until it came out of publishing and then I had to wait another forever for the correct blurb to appear.


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

SBright said:


> There's a story behind the cover. I made something on Paint and my husband mocked it and did that cover for me instead. I told him I wanted a simple line drawing of a hurricane. That's what I got. Moral of this story: don't hire my husband as your cover artist. His words, "I thought a fire hurricane would be cooler."


He is right.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Ah, to heck with it. I'm publishing my 4300-word story under David Scroggins. I'll just be prepared for folks to read it, read some of my other stuff and REALLY think I'm nuts.


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

David Scroggins said:


> Ah, to heck with it. I'm publishing my 4300-word story under David Scroggins. I'll just be prepared for folks to read it, read some of my other stuff and REALLY think I'm nuts.


Go for it, David!


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> Ah, to heck with it. I'm publishing my 4300-word story under David Scroggins. I'll just be prepared for folks to read it, read some of my other stuff and REALLY think I'm nuts.


Be sure and link here.

David is it the writer or the reader that is nuts?


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> Ah, to heck with it. I'm publishing my 4300-word story under David Scroggins. I'll just be prepared for folks to read it, read some of my other stuff and REALLY think I'm nuts.


DO IT!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

All right. I went ahead and published it under a pen name, but for a good reason. This has really inspired me to have a pen name for short stories under 10k words. I think it's a cool idea!

As soon as the book is finished publishing, I'll post up the link and send an e-mail to Mr. Konrath. I have to warn everyone who might want to read it, this story is VERY VERY dark and way outside my comfort zone. It's got everything from demon possession to super crazy people. I really wish I had more time to flesh it out, but this was a massive undertaking and I worked until the last minute.

It was fun, though!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Mine just went live. It didn't quite reach novelette length, so I may have to change the cover to reflect that, but here it is! I'll shoot out an e-mail tonight. I had the WORST time writing the blurb, by the way.

*Healed*
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EPVSW8W

Pastor Jonas Weir has always been known among his people as a man of God, so why does he no longer believe in what he teaches?

One evening, while walking home, Jonas witnesses a brutal murder. When he tries to intervene, the attacker screams "The red petals wither" before turning the knife on himself.

Now faced with self-doubt and horrible memories from a murder he was unable to stop, Jonas begins to see references to "the red petals" everywhere he looks. What are they and why do they seem to show up everywhere?

Healed is a horror story with elements of a psychological thriller. It is approximately 4500 words in length.


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Amusing and even a bit sad.
But it provoked a question: I notice one of his four books is published by Gassy Press.
Is it okay to mention a non-existent publisher on your KDP account (assuming there's no real entity called Gassy Press)? 
Have others used fictional names in the "Published by" column?


----------



## Meowsers (Jun 23, 2013)

Alright, 7.5 hours later, my work is publishing under the pen name Margaret English. I know, Maggie Ingles and Margaret English are technically the same, but my creativity was all burned up by the story writing.


----------



## Ryan Sullivan (Jul 9, 2011)

People, people! Your covers look too good! People will think you're serious!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Ryan Sullivan said:


> People, people! Your covers look too good! People will think you're serious!


But I did writes a for serious story. I couldn't bring myself to parody anything. I'm also not funny enough.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

This is the sort of motivation I need.
Get something out there hard and fast.
Although I'm someone who sits on an idea for a long time, mull it over, plot, plan and eventually down the track wrote.


----------



## AmberDa1 (Jul 23, 2012)

I think it's a great idea. Congrats to all of you who have already published! I'm not good at humor, so it will be a current short/serious, etc. Cover will be my biggest challenge. Good luck!


----------



## Ryan Sullivan (Jul 9, 2011)

Haha, just kidding.

If I do ever take the challenge on, it will most likely be serious.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

I'm not very good at the funny, so mind would be serious as well.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

I didn't see this post or the Konrath blog until a little while ago. Not sure if there is a hard time like '10PM Thursday night' or just 'eight hours is all you are allowed to work on it but some of you might not see this until later so just use the honor system and only spend eight hours or less on it and publish as soon as you can'. 

Anyway, I thought about it for about twelve minutes, then wrote a 3,050 word short story (funny-ish sci-fi) about a 'worthless' alien trying to find his career calling among humans after his ship crashes into Earth. 

And then I even had time to knock out a 410 word 'flash fiction' story on top of that (think "Calvin & Hobbes" with a young boy's imagination). 

Time spent so far: six hours

I guess even if this whole thing is over, I'll still spend an hour editing it to a polish and then another hour of ham-fisted Photoshop/MS Paint (my art skills are about as good as my astrophysics skills). Then I'll publish it at Amazon and SW. I hate charging $.99 for something so short, so I'll spend the agony of 6-8 weeks waiting for Amazon to price match. Two stories for a buck sounds better than one story for a buck. 

"I'll buy that for a dollar!" - Bixby Snyder (Robocop)


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

Ryan Sullivan said:


> People, people! Your covers look too good! People will think you're serious!


Sorry Ryan. My sense of humor got lost along with my sense of direction. I'm incapable of being anything but serious.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Kwalker said:


> Sorry Ryan. My sense of humor got lost along with my sense of direction. I'm incapable of being anything but serious.


You know what would make cover look better?

Fire. A couple kissing ON FIRE.

Now that would be hot.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I am SO tempted to try this.  I suffer from perfectionism, so this might help.  Hmm...


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I agree with Ryan. Great covers. Maybe we shouldn't agonize over our covers so much if this is the kind of good work that comes out of the pressure cooker.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

These are looking GREAT! Congrats to everyone who's already done it!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I can't wait to see how many other people do this. I e-mailed Joe a link last night. We'll see what happens.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Zelah Meyer said:


> I am SO tempted to try this. I suffer from perfectionism, so this might help. Hmm...


You should! It's exposure therapy for perfectionism.

Besides, it's not like it's permanent. I am going to unpublish it in a couple of weeks.


----------



## ken_naga (Jul 29, 2013)

This intrigues me. I think I shall try it. As I stated on my blog post, I am already four hours into the process. The cover was difficult for me.

Something Under the Sea is Drooling
(c) 2013 Ken Naga









Something Under the Sea is Drooling
(c) 2013 Ken Naga
Thumbnail:


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

This was pretty fun to wake up to this morning:


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Woo!  Congratulations!


----------



## Meowsers (Jun 23, 2013)

Mine has finally published. Getting everything down in 8 hours felt like giving birth through my brain.

*Into the Darkness*
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQ98GIY


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

I really wasn't sure I would manage this, but I skated through with about 2 minutes to spare. I ended up writing the first volume in a serial, and I've got the Pen name almost completely set up. 

49 minutes for cover
260 minutes for writing
75 minutes for editing
---- 6 hours 14 minutes

It the took me nearly an hour for formatting. I made small glyphs for my chapter heading, plus a logo that I can use on a website, and a facebook header. I also set up a mailing list, and an email address for this pen name, and bought a domain name.

Then I signed up for a facebook page and a tumblr, loaded my graphics, then took the links and listed them in the back of the book to complete the formatting.

At that point, I thought the coast was clear, but I ran into a hiccup with the formatting in the back of the book with the links and spacing them correctly through Draft2Digital, so it took me three tries of small tweaks before it was right. I hit publish with 2 minutes to spare.

Hopefully it will be up in the morning. And hopefully it doesn't suck. It's only about 5k words.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Very cool!


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Has anyone told Konrath about this thread?


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

VydorScope said:


> Has anyone told Konrath about this thread?


I tried to e-mail him about my book, but I don't know if I have the right address. I got it from his website. If anyone knows his current e-mail, let me know.


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

I'm SO in! Thanks for posting.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


That's easy, use your regular pen name: David Adams!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I'm in, but I'm going to do it later this weekend.

I don't work on anything from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.


----------



## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

I jumped in and got something up yesterday. It went live last night.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQAEN80


----------



## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

Knocked something up in about 3 hours and its now live. Keeping it quiet though because I don't want it associated with my other stuff haha


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Was hoping to have a bash at this today - but the small sleepless one lived up to his nickname last night, and I don't know if I could do it today!  I am planning to concentrate on polishing up my novel today and then cross my fingers for a decent night's sleep tonight so I can try this tomorrow.

We'll see.

I currently don't think I'll be able to do it, so it will be interesting to see if I can or not!


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

I did it! "Vegan Cokehead (A Short Snorty)" by H.A. Uber is now available on Amazon  Created the cover using Amazon's beta cover creator.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQWVQDS


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

SBright said:


> You should! It's exposure therapy for perfectionism.
> 
> Besides, it's not like it's permanent. I am going to unpublish it in a couple of weeks.


Yeah, but suppose it really _sells_?



David Scroggins said:


> This was pretty fun to wake up to this morning:


Wow! Actual sales an an actual ranking! Congrats! I think it's the cover that's doing it, plus a great premise.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Finally had a chance to get this done. I just uploaded it to Amazon and with about twenty minutes to spare. 

Eight Hour Fiction #1
A Career Move - A crash-landed alien tries to find a job that suits him (3075 words)
Capture At The Hive - The Evil Queen Mother has finally captured General Megatron, Defender of the Galaxy (think 'Calvin & Hobbes, I guess it's a children's story sort of?) (437 word flash fiction)

(sort of paraphrasing the blurbs, have to wait until Amazon publishes it to copy whatever I wrote haha)

I kind of dig this idea enough that I will try to knock out a new one every week or two, which is why I went with the 'Eight Hour Fiction #1' title. Definitely could see myself doing #2 and #3 and such. I'd even go for trying to get a couple of you guys to put a story in and giving a bit more value (more words) for the $.99 price. Not sure how complicated splitting royalties would be though...ah well. I still like the idea of it.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I might give this a whirl. I've got an idea and I whipped up a cover, so now I only have to write this sucker. 1488 words in already.


----------



## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

David Scroggins said:


> This was pretty fun to wake up to this morning:


It is a GREAT cover, David!

Congrats, buddy.


----------



## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

CoraBuhlert said:


> I might give this a whirl. I've got an idea and I whipped up a cover, so now I only have to write this sucker. 1488 words in already.


Love that cover too!

(think I might even have the book it came from on the shelf - looks like Edward Rowe Snow?)


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Steve Vernon said:


> Love that cover too!
> 
> (think I might even have the book it came from on the shelf - looks like Edward Rowe Snow?)


No idea. I got it from a collection of public domain vintage art, mostly old book illustrations and the like. It was the best image of pirates burrying a treasure I could find on short notice.

The name of the narrator Old Mommark comes from a brand of Danish cheese BTW. I always thought it sounded like the name of an old pirate.


----------



## Lefty (Apr 7, 2011)

Mine went live last night. A challenge or deadline helped.
2,600 words
~3 hours writing
~1 hour cover/format/upload

_White Elephant_

http://www.amazon.com/White-Elephant-Holiday-Warning-ebook/dp/B00EQH3Q5Y/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1377350980&sr=1-6&keywords=hugh+gentry


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Well, I've picked a plot idea to write tomorrow (one I came up with years ago that fits the bill of being a shorter story length than my usual work.)  I've designed an ebook cover.  That took me half an hour (it would have been 15 minutes, but it's been so long between cover designs that I spent 15 minutes researching how to do the things I'd forgotten how to do!)

That will leave me 7 1/2 hours tomorrow to write, edit, and format it.  I can probably write it in that period, it's the editing and formatting that I'll struggle to get done in what will remain of the time!  I'm going to use UK English to make things easier for myself (and because the typography for the title looks better with it in UK English!)

Edited to add:  Though, if I have the brain later, I might try to do the writing part of it today.  We're house hunting, and my husband has just told a bunch of estate agents that we can view properties tomorrow.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

3615 words and done with _Old Mommark's Tale_. I'll be taking a break to do something else now and then get back to it tonight for editing/proofreading, formatting and publishing.

I wouldn't want to do this all the time, but it's fun.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. The sales died today, but it was fun while it lasted! Maybe if I get featured on Joe's blog, things will pick up again. Either way, it was a lot of fun and I can see myself writing another story like this pretty soon.  

Everyone's stories look freaking great, so far! When I get my royalty payments in a few days, it looks like I have a lot of short stories to buy. I want to read them all.

I was thinking about starting a serial using this format. I want to do something wacky, like start it off as a New Adult story and at the very end, when things start getting steamy, BAM! Alien invasion! That could be hilarious.


----------



## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

You all have inspired me.  So...here's the question - if i write a fake book about child-rearing with all fake advice, and use the fake pen-name of a fictitious romance writer, can I call it non-fiction?


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Dee Ernst said:


> You all have inspired me. So...here's the question - if i write a fake book about child-rearing with all fake advice, and use the fake pen-name of a fictitious romance writer, can I call it non-fiction?


Only if you make the child's bed a banana box. 

And I get 10% of the profits for the suggestion


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Presuming it's a clear spoof, I'd categorise that under humour.  If it's not a clear spoof, then that could lead to all kinds of crazy!  So, if I were you I'd be careful to spell it out as much as possible in the cover and the blurb.  

Mine is going to be a straightforward sweet contemporary romance.  I'm praying I get some decent sleep tonight so that I have a brain tomorrow!


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

In the same spirit as Dr. Uberass' How To Stop Farting, I created a 2,100-word short called Bottling Farts:

http://www.amazon.com/Bottling-Farts-ebook/dp/B00ERBWO98/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377372459&sr=1-1

Unfortunately, the cover hasn't made it over yet. I should have this fixed in the next 24 hours. Ugh!


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

I'm having the exact same problem. Mine has finished publishing (after taking longer than usual) but the cover is MIA
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ER8EDHM


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Kwalker said:


> I'm having the exact same problem. Mine has finished publishing (after taking longer than usual) but the cover is MIA
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ER8EDHM


Mine is up as well:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ER52A66

and still no cover for me either...

edit: If I remember correctly, it took a day or two for "One Last Job" to get a cover to show up on Amazon's site.


----------



## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Understudy-ebook/dp/B00ERDLZU0/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1377377859&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Understudy

Mine's up as well- but as others said, still no cover yet. 

All told - 4 hours and one of those was looking for the right cover...

It was a very fun exercise and my short story The Understudy falls into the horror realm.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

I wonder if someone would be kind enough to gather all of our stories in a single post so we could have a clickfest and buy each other's nonsense (mostly I want to be able to yell like an old man about how I spent $1 on your story and how it was missing things or it made me angry or whatever I can find to yell like an old man who just spent a dollar on something other than Murder, She Wrote dvd's).

I've enrolled mine in KDP Select. I don't expect to actually sell many, if any, but I'll use my 5 free days to coordinate with all of you...maybe everyone that has enrolled in Select we can choose a day to run a freebie promo?


----------



## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

AngryGames said:


> I wonder if someone would be kind enough to gather all of our stories in a single post so we could have a clickfest and buy each other's nonsense (mostly I want to be able to yell like an old man about how I spent $1 on your story and how it was missing things or it made me angry or whatever I can find to yell like an old man who just spent a dollar on something other than Murder, She Wrote dvd's).
> 
> I've enrolled mine in KDP Select. I don't expect to actually sell many, if any, but I'll use my 5 free days to coordinate with all of you...maybe everyone that has enrolled in Select we can choose a day to run a freebie promo?


I enrolled mine in KDP Select as well.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

David Scroggins said:


> Thanks for the kind words, everyone. The sales died today, but it was fun while it lasted! Maybe if I get featured on Joe's blog, things will pick up again. Either way, it was a lot of fun and I can see myself writing another story like this pretty soon.
> 
> Everyone's stories look freaking great, so far! When I get my royalty payments in a few days, it looks like I have a lot of short stories to buy. I want to read them all.
> 
> I was thinking about starting a serial using this format. I want to do something wacky, like start it off as a New Adult story and at the very end, when things start getting steamy, BAM! Alien invasion! That could be hilarious.


David,

Your "Allan Raithe" story is nice and I will be buying it soon.

One bit of advice, though: At under 5,000 words, I'd call it a short, not a novelette. A novellette starts at ~7,500 or ~10,000 words.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> I've enrolled mine in KDP Select. I don't expect to actually sell many, if any, but I'll use my 5 free days to coordinate with all of you...maybe everyone that has enrolled in Select we can choose a day to run a freebie promo?


I'd be happy to do that, too.

Or not. I just realized my self-inflicted exposure therapy needs to end soon.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> David,
> 
> Your "Allan Raithe" story is nice and I will be buying it soon.
> 
> One bit of advice, though: At under 5,000 words, I'd call it a short, not a novelette. A novellette starts at ~7,500 or ~10,000 words.


Thanks!

Yep, I know. I was aiming for 8k when I started writing, but it never made it that far. I just haven't had a minute to change the cover yet.


----------



## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

If I weren't in the middle of a hard marathon to finish *Cobweb Empire*, I'd totally join you guys! 

I do all my covers fast (once I've found the public domain images).... And I already did a similar thing many times, formatting classics for Norilana Books, I can easily do a book in a day, including formatting and full wraparound hardcover and paperback jacket.... But the writing takes time!

However, I did write and release *Vampires are from Venus, Werewolves are from Mars: A Comprehensive Guide to Attracting Supernatural Love* in just a week...


----------



## Jerri Kay Lincoln (Jun 18, 2011)

Does anybody have his email address? Or is the one on his website sufficient?

I finished in about six and a half hours . . . mostly the cover and a few formatting issues. _25 Tips for a Profitable Garage Sale_

I've been thinking about it all summer and putting it off, and Konrath gave me the incentive to finally do it!


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

hah, still no cover, but I'm patient. 

I'd even be willing to get with other authors in this thread and combine our stories for a book that is a little meatier than '3k words'. Maybe give a reader 4-5 (or more) stories for $.99. The royalty split would probably be a nightmare, but if someone who has good karma wants to deal with that part, it isn't like I'm writing these to make any money so if you run off with all of our royalties, well, the karma genie WILL strike you down at some point. And again, it isn't like I'm in this little experiment to get rich. 

A few bucks would buy my cats another day's worth of food, but I doubt it will allow me to put a down payment on my $46,000 dream Challenger R/T with black racing stripes on an orange base... *drool*

And I suppose we would all be able to dedicate one hour out of the eight to read each other's stories and help point out any spelling/punctuation/grammar mistakes the original author might have missed. "Eight Hour Collaboration" doesn't have a very good ring to it as a reader, but it kind of does as an author. I'm sure someone else could come up with a snappier title. Heck, we could even form a band at some point (I call dibs on rhythm guitar).


----------



## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

segordon said:


> In the same spirit as Dr. Uberass' How To Stop Farting, I created a 2,100-word short called Bottling Farts:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Bottling-Farts-ebook/dp/B00ERBWO98/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377372459&sr=1-1
> 
> Unfortunately, the cover hasn't made it over yet. I should have this fixed in the next 24 hours. Ugh!


Is there a big market for farts? How did I not know this?


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> hah, still no cover, but I'm patient.
> 
> I'd even be willing to get with other authors in this thread and combine our stories for a book that is a little meatier than '3k words'. Maybe give a reader 4-5 (or more) stories for $.99. The royalty split would probably be a nightmare, but if someone who has good karma wants to deal with that part, it isn't like I'm writing these to make any money so if you run off with all of our royalties, well, the karma genie WILL strike you down at some point. And again, it isn't like I'm in this little experiment to get rich.
> 
> ...


Also good for cross promotion.

I'm in.

I'm horrible at short stuff. So many ideas start flowing and I get all excited.
Any one have a good article or ebook on writing shorts?


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

SJ Woods said:


> Also good for cross promotion.
> 
> I'm in.
> 
> ...


My personal opinion is that reading a lot of short stories will give you a better idea of how to write one than reading a 'how to' on them. Short stories are pretty much like long stories except you don't get too much time to do deep character development, and you are only looking at a 'slice' of a character's (or even multiple characters) life. Short stories can also be quite humorous and silly (I like humorous/silly short stories), or they can be ultra-tragic. They can be anything you want.

Most have a 'cliffhanger' type of ending, or a finality that closes the door on that little slice of life/time. For me, a good short story leaves me wanting more of it, and/or leaves me in thought about the universe it was presented in or the events that happened. I also grew up watching endless Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes on television (and Creepshow and Tales From the Crypt as well).

To make a short story longer than it should have been...check out some of your favorite authors and see if they have short stories or a collection of them, or go find a collection or anthology from your favorite genre that have stories written by some of your favorite authors.

edit: will reiterate that this is just my personal opinion, and every writer has a different method that works for him/her (etc etc you know all this stuff)


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

Apparently fart jokes are big sellers these days!  

These are so quick and fun, I've already got an idea for a second one: The Chapped-Ass Reviewer. But are chapped asses really popular? And can one really bottle farts?

Oh, the insanity of it all...


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

EC Sheedy said:


> Is there a big market for farts? How did I not know this?


Yes. Just ask my 15 yr old grandson. 

Sorry I can't join you guys but I've got too many projects going already.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I wrote, proofed, formatted and did the cover for _Old Mommark's Tale_ plus uploaded it to the various stores (No Select for me) in a little under seven hours. Now I'm waiting for it to go live at Amazon and the other bigger retailer, though it is already live at some of the smaller stores.

The final wordcount was 3750 words.


----------



## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

CoraBuhlert said:


> I wrote, proofed, formatted and did the cover for _Old Mommark's Tale_ plus uploaded it to the various stores (No Select for me) in a little under seven hours. Now I'm waiting for it to go live at Amazon and the other bigger retailer, though it is already live at some of the smaller stores.
> 
> The final wordcount was 3750 words.


WOW! I'm at just over 4400 words. I put together a VERY basic cover. I hate formatting...that alone could be 8 hours...
But - I've been so wrapped up in finding reviewers for the new release, I've done very little real writing this week. This was great fun.


----------



## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

The image is finally up - but I still can't get it from the link maker yet, so here's the live link. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Understudy-ebook/dp/B00ERDLZU0/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1_CTZH


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

No image yet (I guess the challenge broke Amazon), but mine is up:

Old Mommark's Tale

It's up at Kobo and the smaller dealers as well, only B&N and Apple are dragging their feet. I also put up the book page on my website.

I'm not sure if this counts for the eight hour challenge, since I did not work through in a single block of time, but took two breaks inbetween. But it was fun and it demonstrated (though I theoretically knew this) that it is possible to write and publish a short e-book very quickly.


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

I have a second entry that I just finished called The Chapped-Ass Critic by Donald Rump, but KDP is down at the moment, so I can't submit it. Ugh!

Oh well, I'll have to put it up tomorrow. Hopefully the cover for my other book, Bottling Farts, will be up, too.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

And it's up at B&N as well. Now I'm only missing Apple, which can take a few days.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

I'm getting on board.
Only spent 20 minutes so far, but have an outline. Still not 100% healthy (sinus infection having a party in my face) so I'm going to go slowly.
Still sticking the the 'as fast as you can' idea but over the next few days.
Keeping a tally down to the minute.


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

FINALLY my cover for Bottling Farts is live. Not sure what happened there, but at least it's up.

Also submitted The Chapped-Ass Critic without issue, but I'm still waiting on approval; however, when I went into Bottling Farts to replace the MOBI file, it uploaded and then hung in conversion. I've tried a couple times now, but it's still stuck.

Ugh! If it's not one thing, it's another. At least the previous version is up.

Aside from the Amazon headaches, it's been a real joy publishing these silly stories. The first one I did in approximately 4 hours, the second, 5, for a total of 9 hours. I could easily do this every day if I could generate enough sales from my backlist.

Speaking of my backlist, the two latest additions now bring the total to 98 published works of fiction (there's a slew of foreign translations and compilations in there, so take this number with a grain of salt). One more day like this and I'd crack 1,000. Exciting times...


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

Follow-up: Although the new MOBI file appeared stuck in conversion, apparently it was good to go. By going back to my titles (I lost a few changes that I had put in) and then editing details again, I checked the book preview and discovered that the newest version was there. No problemo. Afterwards, I simply added the rest of my changes and then clicked submit.

Problem solved. Whew! (wipes forehead)


----------



## SVD (Jan 15, 2013)

Done. Just submitted to Draft2Digital. It was a lot of fun. My cover took all of four minutes to create


----------



## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

Live on Amazon - yay! http://amzn.to/16Ir5e3

I'd love to be in with y'all, but mine is not a short story per se - it's more of a mini-spoof of those how-to parenting guides. If that's okay, count me in.

Here's a question - I did the cover thru Amazon's cover creator. Is there any way I can copy that image so that I can put this up on other retailers with the same cover? I'd also love to do it on createSpace as a booklet.


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

I mistakenly thought he said a book in one hour. I have a writing excercise I do which consists of writing whatever comes into my mind for twenty minutes a time as a loosening up excercise without self-critic. It works quite well, but then I'd always considered doing something with what came out, that's when I came up with this concept cover just out of curiosity as to what would happen...










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ER7NLLW

It really is as the title says, so just be warned...

PS: Notice that bad-boy 'phoenix from the flames' in the top right! Yeah!!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Okay, folks, I have a 3,500-word draft completed.

Took me about four hours, which is half the time I have available to me.

Shaping up to be a nice little techno-horror/satire tale.

I'm taking a break now because I've been up all night, but I'll focus on proofing/editing, cover creation, formatting and publishing Sunday evening.

With four hours to spare, I should be just fine.

Teaser: The title is "The Devohrah Initiative."


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

The Chapped-Ass Critic is finally live:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Chapped-Ass-Critic-ebook/dp/B00ERV1VJ2


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

_Old Mommark's Tale_ finally has a cover.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

It's so cool to see everyone coming up with stuff! I just set "Healed" to free for a few days, so if anyone wanted to read it, now's your chance.


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

I love this thread! It is so tempting to jump in the fun, but if I don't get cracking on the last installments of my series, I think my readers are going to send a lynch mob after me. Still, it's only 8 hours, right? Hmmmm....


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

cegesmith said:


> I love this thread! It is so tempting to jump in the fun, but if I don't get cracking on the last installments of my series, I think my readers are going to send a lynch mob after me. Still, it's only 8 hours, right? Hmmmm....


Maybe you could write a side story to your series and make your regular readers happy as well.


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

CoraBuhlert said:


> Maybe you could write a side story to your series and make your regular readers happy as well.


You are brilliant, Cora! I love taking that angle. Will mull on this...


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

AnitaDobs said:


> I mistakenly thought he said a book in one hour. I have a writing excercise I do which consists of writing whatever comes into my mind for twenty minutes a time as a loosening up excercise without self-critic. It works quite well, but then I'd always considered doing something with what came out, that's when I came up with this concept cover just out of curiosity as to what would happen...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We should cross promote. Mine came out of a similar free write experience. But your cover needs more fire.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Well, so far I've only managed 725 words (three of which are the title) in an hour and twenty minutes worth of actual writing.  It's not looking hopeful - but I aim to try to push it out soon anyway - it's just that it will probably be in my own time not the 8 hours!

I'm out of practice and fighting block/resistance at the moment, so it's like getting blood from a stone.  I'll manage it though.  I've got to write it now, I've got the cover!


----------



## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Zelah Meyer said:


> Well, so far I've only managed 725 words (three of which are the title) in an hour and twenty minutes worth of actual writing. It's not looking hopeful - but I aim to try to push it out soon anyway - it's just that it will probably be in my own time not the 8 hours!
> 
> I'm out of practice and fighting block/resistance at the moment, so it's like getting blood from a stone. I'll manage it though. I've got to write it now, I've got the cover!


GO GO GO ZELAH!


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Read and reviewed Healed.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Hah, I hit #87 / #100 on two lists. Some people will read anything if they read my drivel lol.

So...does anyone else want to coordinate 'free' days (if you put yours in Select)? It would probably be a little unethical for all of us to write reviews at Amazon, but our sudden blitz of downloading each other's stories on the same day might give everyone a boost and get random internet strangers to check the stories out as well. 

Definitely still interested in lumping any of these I do in with others and giving potential readers more (or less if every story is atrocious haha) bang for their buck . 

Judging by this thread and the post at Konrath's blog, this thing has really sort of just blown up. This is a good thing. 

edit: whoa I sincerely apologize if anyone saw a 1563x2500 book cover in my sig for the last 60 seconds... =/


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> Hah, I hit #87 / #100 on two lists. Some people will read anything if they read my drivel lol.
> 
> This is a good thing.


Now some of us will try anything once. I am ready for the stories to be free.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> So...does anyone else want to coordinate 'free' days (if you put yours in Select)? It would probably be a little unethical for all of us to write reviews at Amazon, but our sudden blitz of downloading each other's stories on the same day might give everyone a boost and get random internet strangers to check the stories out as well.


I'm game, because I really want an unsolicited one star scathing review. I want to know I can survive it, lol.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

How do you set it for free? I am enrolled in Select now.

Never mind, found it!


----------



## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

AngryGames said:


> Hah, I hit #87 / #100 on two lists. Some people will read anything if they read my drivel lol.
> 
> So...does anyone else want to coordinate 'free' days (if you put yours in Select)? It would probably be a little unethical for all of us to write reviews at Amazon, but our sudden blitz of downloading each other's stories on the same day might give everyone a boost and get random internet strangers to check the stories out as well.
> 
> ...


I'd love to join a coordinated Select free "blitz".


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Should we start a new thread just to keep it coordinated? Since we all get 5 days (I think David used one of his already though?), we could just space it out a bit, set a date for the first one and use the thread only for those of us who want to join in? 

I'm kind of new here so I already feel really pushy about working this angle, and I apologize, but I'm really impressed at the number of us who went all-in on this little experiment, and it has even given some of us ideas of doing it once or twice per month. I'm not really interested in making money from it (a new bag of cat food every couple of months means my cats would hate me slightly less) as much as I am seeing what everyone comes up with, and helping each other get a little more name recognition (those of us *ME* that need it anyway, some of you probably wouldn't want to put your stories anywhere near the rotten potatoes that I write). 

Two of us are interested in combining some stories into a single volume for the 'next time'. Maybe instead of worrying about royalties we could keep the rights to each individual story but let someone from the forum publish them and use the money (unless we strike it rich haha) to pay for the website or use it to help promote fellow members when they have a new release...I even suggested at Konrath's site that Joe publish them and donate the money to whatever charity he wants. Again, for me it isn't about the money. I'll make mine with other stories, but a little exposure would be something I could be down with. 

derp. I apologize again. I hate being the new guy.


----------



## B. P. Crouse (Aug 25, 2013)

All done and it's live on Amazon. Please check it out if you want, and reviews are always nice.

This was an amazing experience, and I have so enjoyed reading about everyone's experiences.



2700 words. 
The rich feast while the poor labor. But the table is about to be turned.

It's got a bit of science fiction and punk elements if you're into those.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ERPWMAK


----------



## RMHuffman (Apr 1, 2013)

Hat, ring, etc. If diabetics have high blood sugar, wouldn't that be like candy to a vampire?


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Thanks for reading and reviewing Healed, Cin! I'm glad you enjoyed it.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I don't do Select, so no free days, but I could offer coupons, if we want to do a coordinated promo. I also blogged about my process of writing _Old Mommark's Tale_.

Did you just announce your books in the comments on Konrath's blog or did you e-mail him as well?


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

CoraBuhlert said:


> I don't do Select, so no free days, but I could offer coupons, if we want to do a coordinated promo. I also blogged about my process of writing _Old Mommark's Tale_.
> 
> Did you just announce your books in the comments on Konrath's blog or did you e-mail him as well?


I didn't comment on the blog, but I sent him an e-mail. I hope I got the right address.


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> I didn't comment on the blog, but I sent him an e-mail. I hope I got the right address.


Me too! Just downloaded Healed.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Sweet!

Oh, and *smacks self in the forehead* I forgot to set Healed up for two free days, so it just came off free. It's set to go back on for a few days tomorrow, though. I can't believe I did that.


----------



## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

Over 60 people have completed the challenge so far. Nice work, everyone!

I'll blog about it this week, asking for links and cover art, then do a blog post linking to everyone's stories. 

It would be kind of cool to do a compilation omnibus of all of these, but it would be near impossible to divvy up royalties. Maybe someone (other than me) wants to compile them with the proceeds going to charity?


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 60 people have completed the challenge so far. Nice work, everyone!
> 
> I'll blog about it this week, asking for links and cover art, then do a blog post linking to everyone's stories.
> 
> It would be kind of cool to do a compilation omnibus of all of these, but it would be near impossible to divvy up royalties. Maybe someone (other than me) wants to compile them with the proceeds going to charity?


I'm definitely down with putting my challenge stories into the pot for such a thing. I think most of us did it just to see if we could meet your challenge, not to make any real money from them. But if I can help get some money to whatever charity you want to support, then yeah, totally down with that. A couple of us are talking about doing this as a regular thing. Hopefully someone else will volunteer to put them all together in a single volume.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Hey all,

I have my cover ready; only took an hour to create, including the time spent searching Shutterstock for just the right image.

I am kinda proud of my lil' cover... Just me and Photoshop and a nice licensed image.










I now have three hours left for editing, formatting, and uploading.


----------



## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

segordon said:


> In the same spirit as Dr. Uberass' How To Stop Farting, I created a 2,100-word short called Bottling Farts:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Bottling-Farts-ebook/dp/B00ERBWO98/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377372459&sr=1-1
> 
> Unfortunately, the cover hasn't made it over yet. I should have this fixed in the next 24 hours. Ugh!


What I want to know is if you bottle your farts in recyclable soda pop bottles does that INCREASE or DECREASE their recycling value?

And would bottled farts make it easier for bottle scavengers to lug those big heavy bags to the bottle recycler?

Could a bottled fart be used to clear a crowded elevator?

And more important - would all of that bottled methane help slow down the onslaught of global warming

Man - the possible implications of pre-bottled farts are mind blowing...


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

segordon said:


> FINALLY my cover for Bottling Farts is live. Not sure what happened there, but at least it's up.
> 
> Also submitted The Chapped-*ss Critic without issue, but I'm still waiting on approval; however, when I went into Bottling Farts to replace the MOBI file, it uploaded and then hung in conversion. I've tried a couple times now, but it's still stuck.
> 
> ...


And what an AWESOME cover it is!! Did you draw it yourself??

Congrats on nearing 1000 works in your backlist - amazing!

This thread just keeps on getting better!!!


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Hey all,
> 
> I have my cover ready; only took an hour to create, including the time spent searching Shutterstock for just the right image.
> 
> ...


I love it!!


----------



## AnitaDobs (Sep 18, 2012)

SBright said:


> We should cross promote. Mine came out of a similar free write experience. But your cover needs more fire.


_More_ fire? I'm not sure that cover can even handle the raging firestorm that's on there already.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I made it! Just under eight hours.










The book is submitted to KDP and processing. It'll be up later today, I imagine.

Now, if I can only get Joe to mention me and my book once it's up... here's hoping. 

(I imagine he's been inundated by KBers beyond his wildest imaginings.)


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

I only read about this last night when it was way too late for me to start. I know I'm coming late to the party, but I'm going to give it a shot too! 

And that's a great cover, Craig! Way to go!


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

RuthNestvold said:


> I only read about this last night when it was way too late for me to start. I know I'm coming late to the party, but I'm going to give it a shot too!
> 
> And that's a great cover, Craig! Way to go!


I don't think there's a time limit. I think it's a bit of an open-ended offer, actually...


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

I made it into the top 100 of a category!

#14,898 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #61 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Self-Help > Motivational

I am laughing so hard right now.


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

This is such a fabulous idea. I hope I'm still in time, too - Joe said he's blogging about it this week, so I hope I can get my book in before that. Trying to finish tonight, which means in 4 hours or so in my timezone, and then wait for it to get through review and get published overnight...










The cover took about one hour. (Stock photograph I already own plus a bunch of editing, taking out all the background and putting new one in, etc.) I'm forcibly stopping myself from noodling with it longer, smoothing out the edges, changing the colors and generally fiddling endlessly. And yet, if I'm honest, it looks better to me than most of my other covers.

That's a great thing about this challenge. To me it says: FOCUS.

Current wordcount: 1450. Cover me, I'm goin' in!

Oh, and the current blurb, which I always write first:



> Sharazad was the highest-ranked courtesan at the Persian court, and the only one who could keep the King entertained, night after night after night.
> 
> Some say that she told him stories, and so she did. But that was not all she did to keep a bored and jaded King occupied. Here, for adult readers only, are the confessions of Sharazad that never made it into the Thousand and One Nights&#8230;


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

SBright said:


> I made it into the top 100 of a category!
> 
> #14,898 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> ...


Congrats!!


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Joe/Jack, sure I'm in for a charity anthology.

Craig and Isabel, love your covers.


----------



## summerdaniels71 (Jul 23, 2011)

Ashy said:


> ROTFL!!!
> 
> Female: Steamy Daniels
> Male: Rock Samson


Hey!! I'm Summer Daniels ... and I'm already PLENTY *STEAMY* ...


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

summerdaniels71 said:


> Hey!! I'm Summer Daniels ... and I'm already PLENTY *STEAMY* ...


Maybe that's where it came from...subliminal messages...yea, that's it...


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

*CRUD!!!*

Looks like if you did not get your 8-Hour book done already, yer outta luck. 

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/08/jack-daniels-franchise-and-8-hour-ebook.html

Oh well...congrats to everyone who DID get it in undert the wire...


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Ashy said:


> *CRUD!!!*
> 
> Looks like if you did not get your 8-Hour book done already, yer outta luck.
> 
> ...


*DISREGARD!!!*

See Joe's post here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/08/jack-daniels-franchise-and-8-hour-ebook.html?showComment=1377543852962#c1959145794953947104


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

Ashy said:


> *DISREGARD!!!*
> 
> See Joe's post here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/08/jack-daniels-franchise-and-8-hour-ebook.html?showComment=1377543852962#c1959145794953947104


Hooray, thanks for that! And in the main post, Joe also said:

1. Email me the header 8 HOUR WINNER in all capital letters.
2. In the email include the Amazon link, a five sentence book description, and the price
3. Attach a jpg of the cover art.
4. Do this by midnight, August 29.

So I'm counting that as the ultimate deadline for any of us who want to participate.

Meanwhile, I'm going to finish the damn book tonight. 2400 words now...


----------



## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

Hugh Howey said:


> I'm in!
> 
> One-day erotica. Need help with a pen name.


Hug M T Howl


----------



## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

SBright said:


> I made it into the top 100 of a category!
> 
> #14,898 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> ...


As of 3:29 PM CST:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#3,815* Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
*#34* in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Self-Help > Motivational


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Just popping in to say:  so far all the shorts/novellas/books/whatever you want to call them from this challenge have been very good.
Thanks for the great reads today.  You have restored my faith in the short story.


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

cinisajoy said:


> Just popping in to say: so far all the shorts/novellas/books/whatever you want to call them from this challenge have been very good.
> Thanks for the great reads today. You have restored my faith in the short story.


Thank YOU for reviewing Vegan Cokehead, which is now:
#7,480 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#80 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor

LOL!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Well, my new little story is up!

You can find The Devohrah Initiative here.

I will probably start my free days this weekend, for those of you not interested in paying a measly $0.99, LOL!  (Hey... free is ALWAYS better.)


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

I've set two days, Fri and Sat as Mr. Konrath's blog post featuring all of our stories will probably be a nice bump. It will be interesting to see the massive flood of our short stories pasted all over Amazon haha.


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

This sounds like SO much fun... but I'm not sure I even HAVE eight consecutive hours between now and next week when my son goes back to school. Unless I pull an all-nighter, which could be interesting to see what comes out of it. 

And I can't format either -- don't have the first clue about it -- so I'd have to get my hubby to do that for me, and that sounds like it would blow the eight hours alone. 

And is this like a NaNoWriMo deal, where you can't work on something that's already started? 

And also, do you see me making excuses and finding outs? lol! 

I don't know. I don't know. The idea of putting something out there that hasn't even been beta read by someone other than myself makes me feel panicky. Maybe if I didn't tell anyone but you guys that it existed. I might be way too neurotic for this.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Laura you don't have to write it in consecutive hours. I split my eight hours up over two days, with two hours here, an hour there (you know...real life stuff had to come first). You just can't cheat and do stuff like work on a cover or think of a plot or character and not count it. Okay, well, you can, and there's no real 'cheating', but you know what I mean 

I personally found it to be exhilarating to take the challenge of writing within the parameters Joe set out for everyone and actually get something completed, covered, and published (and without a ton of errors or issues...my first upload had a TOC that was...completely destroyed somehow, second upload fixed that thirty minutes later).


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> This sounds like SO much fun... but I'm not sure I even HAVE eight consecutive hours between now and next week when my son goes back to school. Unless I pull an all-nighter, which could be interesting to see what comes out of it.
> 
> And I can't format either -- don't have the first clue about it -- so I'd have to get my hubby to do that for me, and that sounds like it would blow the eight hours alone.
> 
> ...


The idea is to get over your usual perfectionism panic and just have fun. I forced myself to give my story just a single read-through and then put it out there.

And if you don't normally do your own formatting, this is the perfect opportunity to try. You don't need bells and whistles (though mine has a few, largely because I used my regular format template), you just need to get it out there.

Anyway, I downloaded a few of the stories. I read and reviewed two so far (Amazon.de crossposted to Amazon.com). Good work, everyone.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> And also, do you see me making excuses and finding outs? lol!


YES. *smacks your hand* (out of love, of course.)

Mine has a ton of editing and formatting mistakes for 3 reasons. 
1. I had no idea what the heck I was doing. Still don't.
2. It fits the theme. 
3. It was an exercise in letting go...and not running screaming off into the night as a result.

The idea isn't to do something perfect and polished. It's to do something fun, for the sake of fun.

DO IT!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Laura,

I took it as an eight-hour challenge, but split it into two four-hour shifts because that's what my schedule is like.

I'm pretty confident about the proofing results. When I uploaded my .mobi to KDP, it flagged four last-names as possible misspellings, as well as an instance where I had used "alll" instead of "all." So I fixed that, reuploaded the .mobi, and it passed with flying colors.

Is it perfect? Probably not. An editor probably would have had me fiddle with word economy and other certain details... but that wasn't the assignment. If I ever read it later and find something that REALLY needs fixing, I can always revise it.

But the idea of doing something fast and on my own for the fun of it? A great cure for many ills, considering I've been working on my latest novel-length project for almost a year-and-a-half.

C'mon... have fun. If you don't care for it, you can always create a pen name to publish it under.


----------



## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

AngryGames said:


> I've set two days, Fri and Sat as Mr. Konrath's blog post featuring all of our stories will probably be a nice bump. It will be interesting to see the massive flood of our short stories pasted all over Amazon haha.


Thanks for the heads up - I'll join you in Fri/Sat freebie.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

I'm taking it as a "complete it as fast as you can, preferably less than 8 hours" challenge.
And yes, I'm splitting it over time. As long as the work I do on it is under 8 hours in total, I don't care too much.

And if its not up to a standard, than put it under a pen name. No harm, no foul.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

Got out 3300 words for my first draft and have a good idea what I'll use for the cover. Once I can settle on a title, that is. Started a little after six, so I'm loafing and gestating on that for at least an hour while I peruse stock photo sites/watch Hulu. Then edits (which shouldn't be too brutal for the word count). I love short lit (as a reader as well as a writer). This may have to become a thing (maybe a monthly self-challenge if not a regular group challenge).



AgnesWebb said:


> Thank YOU for reviewing Vegan Cokehead, which is now:
> #7,480 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #80 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor
> 
> LOL!


Totally deserves to be there. It's a masterpiece, seriously. Would love to see this character (somehow) emerge again.



AngryGames said:


> I've set two days, Fri and Sat as Mr. Konrath's blog post featuring all of our stories will probably be a nice bump. It will be interesting to see the massive flood of our short stories pasted all over Amazon haha.


It's worth the .99, especially the flash story (#Lurve). I need to get a non-author account going so I can leave reviews for books I genuinely like without fearing Amazon will wipe reviews of the authors during one of its software-fail sweeps.


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

Wow, you guys are awesome at pep talks, you know that?! I should ask for a kick in the butt a little more often! 

I think I will give it a shot. It'll be a much-needed exercise in letting loose. And short stories are fun and experimental by nature, so it's a good form to practice that with.

(And of course, there's no rule saying I can't have it edited and revise it again after the challenge is over!)

So I'll do it in 3-hr/2-hr/3-hr sessions between tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night. And I do have an idea on my to-write list I've been wanting to get out of my head (1st person coming-of-age story, sort of darkly-comical, not too complicated or serious). I'll check in with you all again tomorrow night to let you know whether it was a spectacular failure or not!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

After finding out that Cin liked my story, I almost wish I would have released it under David Scroggins! I think I'll put "by David Scroggins (writing as Allen Raithe)" somewhere in the description.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

I must not be as nerdy as I thought as I am not sure what #Lurve is. I googled it up and saw this at Urban Dictionary:

"A play on the word love, often used by the people who TMI on Facebook that you want to punch in the face."

I'm going to go put on my hockey helmet with full-face cage for a couple of days... 



(and hide all of my FB posts haha)

I can't wait to get bogged down with hopefully about 50 short stories on Friday-Sat. I hope none of us run afoul of the Amazon surgical saw. I'm still a little 'iffy' on the policies of authors reviewing authors. I've never had any of my reviews nixed, but ever since the great purge I've probably only left about 5% of the reviews I normally would.


----------



## emnoble (Aug 27, 2013)

This was so fun. My finished product is now available! Hooray!



Lights in the City is a post-apocalyptic science fiction story, at 13 pages.


----------



## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

Interesting... this reminds me of mini-NaNo... or the 24-hour comic day.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

DONE!
Just getting published through D2D now
3,500 word story. Horror, intrigue, a sexy heroine. Oh, and running. What more do you need?

From planning to uploading in 4 1/2 hours. (all I needed was a little kick in the pants)










Leah was desperate.
She didn't have much of a choice. It was either a slow death or a quick death.
Slow death meant living on the streets, getting through life day by day.
A quick death meant opening The Door.
But behind The Door were things that had no care for Leah's problems.
And just like Leah, they were hungry.
All Leah can do it run.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

Coming sooneth/submitted through D2D (if I'm lucky, I may get a price match by the weekend). 
Somehow, despite the computer shutting down twice and the image program shutting down a few times (eating my file more than once >_< (sigh), I got it up at D2D within the 8 hour mark. Lost a 1/2 hour due to glitches, and loafed for 2 hours and change...










*The Blurb:*

_When he made the deal with the fey, it was because he didn't have any other choice. Things were bad then. He needed an out. The middle rung on the ladder gets old though, and he's starting to want better for himself. Can he push himself to become the thing he's feared most to get his hands on something better than the tiny slice of the pie the elder Fey have allowed him to claim?

A short urban fantasy mashup
3300k words_

note:
The cover doesn't speak UF like it could, but the glitches threw off any extra time I might have had to add in a city scape, some blurs and stardust, and maybe a small silhouette. Maybe next edition.



AngryGames said:


> I must not be as nerdy as I thought as I am not sure what #Lurve is. I googled it up and saw this at Urban Dictionary:
> 
> "A play on the word love, often used by the people who TMI on Facebook that you want to punch in the face."
> 
> ...


Haha. I think that dictionary would be pointing more to the face-smashing of the person using the term. lols. #Lurve is uber-love in my world, and I totally love-loved the flash fiction piece. It was masterfully done.

I have the same reserve with reviews, but I've abstained from leaving them completely since that arse-backwards silliness commenced. I sorely want to leave reviews, though. I'd say Goodreads, but... well. That could be pointless for authors of short lit in another way.



emnoble said:


> This was so fun. My finished product is now available! Hooray!
> [/url]
> 
> Lights in the City is a post-apocalyptic science fiction story, at 13 pages.


Agreed. This was a ridiculously fun exercise.
Your cover is excellent, btw


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

Hooray, mine is finished too! 1 hour for the cover, 4 hours and change for the story. Feels good.

I'm actually really happy with it, it's a short story (3.000 words) but it feels complete in and of itself. And it's both a tip of the hat to the Arabian Nights and a sly poke at myself for writing the kind of stuff I write. This was just so much fun, y'all.



Sharazad tells her stories to the King night after night, but sometimes he's just not in the mood for a story and wants something else...

I've put my story in KDP for the first time, and I'll make it free for a couple days starting August 30th, to coincide with Joe's promo.

Congrats to everyone for finishing! And E.M. Noble, that cover is excellent and very SF.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Isabel Dare said:


> Sharazad tells her stories to the King night after night, but sometimes he's just not in the mood for a story and wants something else...


I'm guessing you mean Scheherazade?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> I'm guessing you mean Scheherazade?
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade


Yep! Her name had lots of different spellings, depending on which source you go to. I thought it was fun to pick a lesser-known spelling (Sharazad) for this little tale.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Isabel Dare said:


> Yep! Her name had lots of different spellings, depending on which source you go to. I thought it was fun to pick a lesser-known spelling (Sharazad) for this little tale.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Woohoo! Healed now has a 2-star review to go with the 5-star. I feel complete.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

Isabel Dare said:


> Hooray, mine is finished too! 1 hour for the cover, 4 hours and change for the story. Feels good.
> 
> I'm actually really happy with it, it's a short story (3.000 words) but it feels complete in and of itself. And it's both a tip of the hat to the Arabian Nights and a sly poke at myself for writing the kind of stuff I write. This was just so much fun, y'all.
> 
> ...


Love the cover.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Isabel Dare said:


> Hooray, mine is finished too! 1 hour for the cover, 4 hours and change for the story. Feels good.
> 
> I'm actually really happy with it, it's a short story (3.000 words) but it feels complete in and of itself. And it's both a tip of the hat to the Arabian Nights and a sly poke at myself for writing the kind of stuff I write. This was just so much fun, y'all.
> 
> ...


Love your cover AND your blurb - that blurb is great! 

I spent yesterday on paperwork and letter drafting to request my son's special educational needs statement - that's a job in itself! Not much sleep last night as a result, because I was anxious about whether he'll get the help he needs. Will see if I can fit the rest of the writing/publishing process over the coming few days and make the overall time limit! Currently at 1hr 50 minutes with cover done and 700-odd words written.


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

Zelah Meyer said:


> Love your cover AND your blurb - that blurb is great!
> 
> I spent yesterday on paperwork and letter drafting to request my son's special educational needs statement - that's a job in itself! Not much sleep last night as a result, because I was anxious about whether he'll get the help he needs. Will see if I can fit the rest of the writing/publishing process over the coming few days and make the overall time limit! Currently at 1hr 50 minutes with cover done and 700-odd words written.


Thanks for the kind words, Zelah! And dang, that kind of writing - dealing with red tape to get your son some help - is so much more stressful and less fun than the other kind. I hope it goes well.

Keep going on the story, you can do it!


----------



## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

This challenge does look like fun, but I would not be brave enough to do this. I would feel naked putting an 8-hour project up for sale without it first going through a professional editor, and/or using a professional cover designer...


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

RM Prioleau said:


> This challenge does look like fun, but I would not be brave enough to do this. I would feel naked putting an 8-hour project up for sale without it first going through a professional editor, and/or using a professional cover designer...


That is part of the appeal to most of us...just let go, let loose, and have at it. Like others have said, if you don't want it associated with your name, publish it under a pen name.

FUN is the keyword, as you said. Worrying about a professional blah blah blah is ANTI-FUN.

FUN is good
ANTI-FUN is anti-good.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

I say just do it.
Its nice to get a project finished for once.
(although still waiting for D2D/Amazon to hurry up and publish the damn ebook. 8 hours and counting...)


----------



## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Everyone's done some great-looking covers under the deadline.

But I went with the Dr. Hans Uberass "I dare you to buy this" vibe. Comic Sans!



I'm following Isabel Dare's example and adding an excerpt to the book description, since the sample for an eleven-page story is nothing more than the cover.

The story behind the story: http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=160550.0 What if the incoherent blogger actually _did_ work in a publishing house? Why was his or her anti-indie blog taken down?

So, Grammar Nazi Panzer General, your rant against the flood of indie ebooks is directly responsible for one more indie ebook that looks as if it were churned out in a third of a day. Thanks for the inspiration!


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

RM Prioleau said:


> This challenge does look like fun, but I would not be brave enough to do this. I would feel naked putting an 8-hour project up for sale without it first going through a professional editor, and/or using a professional cover designer...


My plan, if I can get it done under the 8 hour limit (working in segments of time fitting around caring for my son) - is to give the finished text a quick read through for major errors, spell check it, run it through 'fix' on Serenity, give it a last proof read scan & then publish it at 99 cents. Then I'll go through the other Serenity editor checks and run it past my human editor and a beta reader or two before raising the price (depending on how long it turns out to be) and publishing it on Smashwords as well (since I don't want to deal with the update delays on content/price/etc. that I'd be facing if I immediately publish it on Smashwords as well. Hopefully there will only be a delay of a week or two at most between it going live on Amazon and making it over to Smashwords.

If I go over the eight hours then I'll give it the full treatment before publishing it at the price I want it to stay at.

Only managed half an hour of writing so far today, up to around 1,300 words in 2hrs of writing (plus half an hour of cover design.)

On the plus side, I ran my draft statement request letter and report past a woman from the education department this afternoon and she said it's 'perfect' - so at least I've got something right!


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

mgohearn said:


> Everyone's done some great-looking covers under the deadline.
> 
> But I went with the Dr. Hans Uberass "I dare you to buy this" vibe. Comic Sans!
> 
> ...


Bwahaha, I LOVE IT. The strikethrough 'novel' and 'novella' on the cover is a stroke of genius.

Bet Joe gets a kick out of that one.


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

RM Prioleau said:


> This challenge does look like fun, but I would not be brave enough to do this. I would feel naked putting an 8-hour project up for sale without it first going through a professional editor, and/or using a professional cover designer...


Rules say it has to be published in 8 hours. It doesn't mean you have to leave it alone from then on. 

I'm hoping to send mine to publishing and hand it off to a couple of my trusted crit partners. If I wake up in the morning with emails saying "OMG what is this mess!?!" then I'll pull it, lol!

If they give it a go, I'll then do another round of more careful edits.

So, update: I've spent 3.25 hours so far between last night and this morning, and it's actually looking pretty solid! I'm at 3300 words, and on track to hit at least 5K, hopefully 6K by the time I go to bed tonight. I have a couple plot holes I need to figure out, but I think this might be a real little story!

I spent 30 of those minutes listed above working on the cover, and I now have a rough comp: 









It's basically just stock with text slapped on, lol! It will be passable enough for this challenge. I'll probably pick at it some more after it's published.

genres: chick lit/coming of age

And a working blurb: 


> A quirky and hopeless young woman recounts the spectacularly awful rise and fall of her first love, as she discovers the truth about sex, religion, life, and herself, interspersed with memories of all the other boys who shared her heart for a short time. For fans of contemporary stories of first love and growing up, "All the Other Boys" is sharp in voice, darkly comical, truthfully disappointing, and ultimately triumphant.


4 more hours to go! I may need another one of those pep talks later when it's publish time! 

ETA: also don't forget to try these free web-based editors: 
http://editminion.com/
http://www.autocrit.com/ (has a freebie subscription)


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

mgohearn said:


> Everyone's done some great-looking covers under the deadline.
> 
> But I went with the Dr. Hans Uberass "I dare you to buy this" vibe. Comic Sans!
> 
> ...


Oh, this is brilliant!


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> Rules say it has to be published in 8 hours. It doesn't mean you have to leave it alone from then on.
> 
> I'm hoping to send mine to publishing and hand it off to a couple of my trusted crit partners. If I wake up in the morning with emails saying "OMG what is this mess!?!" then I'll pull it, lol!
> 
> If they give it a go, I'll then do another round of more careful edits.


That's kind of my take on it too, Laura.  And it was just plain fun to see if I could do it!

I've uploaded mine now too. Here's the cover:










It's a retelling of the Breton legend of the city of Ys from Dahut's point of view and comes in at a whopping 1800 words! 

But I have a problem -- I can't find Konrath's email on his blog. Can someone point me in the right direction or share it? Thanks!


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> Woohoo! Healed now has a 2-star review to go with the 5-star. I feel complete.


Your ending was why I gave it 5 stars. I thought it was brilliant.


----------



## emnoble (Aug 27, 2013)

Isabel Dare said:


> Congrats to everyone for finishing! And E.M. Noble, that cover is excellent and very SF.


Thank you so much! I have to say, your cover is pretty great as well.


----------



## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Isabel Dare said:


> Bwahaha, I LOVE IT. The strikethrough 'novel' and 'novella' on the cover is a stroke of genius.
> 
> Bet Joe gets a kick out of that one.





AgnesWebb said:


> Oh, this is brilliant!


Thank you, Isabel and Agnes. I can let out my breath now! I knew everybody here would get the joke, but still...

I've been debating whether to add the cover to my signature. Will the joke explain itself a few months from now, even with a line saying Konrath Challenge 8-Hour Ebook?


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Love your covers, Ruth, Isabel and E.M. Noble. Agnes a.k.a. Charles Deckins, your book looks hilarious.

Zelah, hope your son gets the help he needs.

The e-mail address for Joe Konrath I used is joekonrath (at) comcast(dot)net


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

CoraBuhlert said:


> Love your covers, Ruth, Isabel and E.M. Noble. Agnes a.k.a. Charles Deckins, your book looks hilarious.
> 
> Zelah, hope your son gets the help he needs.
> 
> The e-mail address for Joe Konrath I used is joekonrath (at) comcast(dot)net


Thanks, Cora!

And yeah, that is the correct email address to send your 8 Hour Challenge info to. Joe confirms it here in the comments: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11291165&postID=7634321127753577793

Good luck to everyone who's still writing/publishing!


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

What pixel dimensions have you all been sending for your cover art?


----------



## Jerri Kay Lincoln (Jun 18, 2011)

I sent my official info off to Konrath. Here's my cover:



And my current rank!!


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> What pixel dimensions have you all been sending for your cover art?


Joe didn't specify, so I sent a 200x300 jpg. Not too huge, but also easy to resize if it needs to be smaller.

Jerri, the Garage Sale idea is a terrific one, and looks like you placed it in some nicely specific categories. Who knows, this one could take off.


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

Thanks for passing the email address along, Cora and Isabel! Now I just have to wait for the thing to finally publish.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> Rules say it has to be published in 8 hours. It doesn't mean you have to leave it alone from then on.


That's true, Laura.

Since first hitting publish, I've found just a bit over a half-dozen typos I missed when I uploaded within the 8-hour time limit.

Not a problem. I did what I'd do with any book when that happens: I revised the eBook and re-uploaded it. And I was able to do it before any more than three folks bought it!

SIDE-NOTE:

Good thing, too. I can't get into KDP right now because of their scheduled maintenance outage, so I have no idea what it means in terms of copies sold, but:










It looks like I've sold more than 3 since last night when I updated the eBook with the corrections I made.

Now, my biggest source of stress? How many of these "sales" are going to be returned once the book begins its free days, since Amazon shows NO compunction about returning paid for free, even DAYS later? *sigh*

But, I suppose I could do worse than have a problem like enough sales to achieve a ranking PRIOR to my free run....


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> What pixel dimensions have you all been sending for your cover art?


Laura,

KDP requests a standard size of 2500 pixels on the longest side, and a W x H ratio of 1:1.6

That brings a person to an eBook cover size of 1563 (w) x 2500 pixels (h).

People do other sizes, but since that's what KDP asks for, that's what I give them.

And since it's easier to size down than up, that's what I sent Joe. I figure if he needs it smaller, he'll have plenty of resolution to play with.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Good thing, too. I can't get into KDP right now because of their scheduled maintenance outage, so I have no idea what it means in terms of copies sold, but:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hmm...

KDP's maintenance outage is over but my sales numbers haven't moved... at all. (Just 3 copies.)

The rank is moving a lot...

How long does it take for KDP to update their sales numbers, lately.

Rank changing constantly would seem to indicate people are buying, and I doubt three sales are enough to generate the ranking I saw and captured earlier, even though it's gone down a tad since...


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

So I'm still waiting for mine to publish through D2D.
19 hours and counting. Is that normal?
Is the first thing I've published through them so I don't know what to expect


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

SJ Woods said:


> So I'm still waiting for mine to publish through D2D.
> 19 hours and counting. Is that normal?
> Is the first thing I've published through them so I don't know what to expect


Amazon and B&N are usually pretty quick. It's Apple (sometimes Kobo) that lags for weeks on end in most cases. I pushed mine through last night, and it's up on Amazon now but still waiting for Apple and Kobo. It won't show as 'published' until all of the outlets publish it, but you can check the status page to see which individual outlets published your book. I'd send them a note if it's not still published on Amazon. There might be a glitch. It's rare over there (D2D is usually on point), but it happens.

Good luck.


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

It seems as though it was something in the reporting side at D2D. Says its still publishing but I did find it on Amazon.
The categories are all weird though. Trying to figure that one out.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

SJ Woods said:


> It seems as though it was something in the reporting side at D2D. Says its still publishing but I did find it on Amazon.
> The categories are all weird though. Trying to figure that one out.


It'll show as 'publishing' (in orange text) until all of the outlets you selected have it posted on their sites. It will only list the green 'published' text when every site has it listed. If you only selected Amazon, and there aren't other sites involved, I'm not sure what happened there, but at least it's up. Congrats


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

It says published now, so I don't know what happened. Some weird Matrix glitch.
But its up! And first book published. 
So I lay back and wait for the millions to roll in now? That's how it works right?
Guys?

.....guys?


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

SJ Woods said:


> So I lay back and wait for the millions to roll in now? That's how it works right?
> Guys?
> 
> .....guys?


Yes, that's exactly how it works!


----------



## TRGoodman (Jul 9, 2012)

Sent mine off to Joe. I've never written this fast in my life.

Here is the cover:


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

TRGoodman said:


> Sent mine off to Joe. I've never written this fast in my life.
> 
> Here is the cover:


Congrats 

Lovely cover and a quality sample <3 #buylisted


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

That is a lovely cover!


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Love your cover, T.R.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Just snagged these two to read:

 and  and saw this in another thread: 

All are free for the moment. Now if everyone at home will just leave me alone for about an hour I'll get some reading done...


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

WOW! These are all looking awesome!! 

Congrats, guys! I hope I can get mine done in time...


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

and  are free for the moment as well.

I'm trying to get as many of these read as I can before Konrath's blog post on Friday as I have a feeling I'll suddenly be on the bottom end of another 30-40 (or more) of the challenge stories. I'm also hoping the ones I link are actual challenge participants. So far all of them have a review from cinisajoy so I'm pretty sure they are


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

"The Destruction of Ys" is now live, and I sent Konrath a jpg and the info he wanted.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Destruction-of-Ys-ebook/dp/B00ET5NSVK/

I've set it to go free tomorrow through Sept. 2. I may well end up taking it down after I get half-a-dozen 1 star reviews, but hey, it didn't take much of my life to throw together.  And it was a great experiment, really good for me to know that I can do something like this!

Are we collecting links somewhere?


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

RuthNestvold said:


> "The Destruction of Ys" is now live, and I sent Konrath a jpg and the info he wanted.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/The-Destruction-of-Ys-ebook/dp/B00ET5NSVK/
> 
> ...


I think we are waiting for Joe's blog post on Friday (making him do all the work hah).

 is free as well, just grabbed it (it is neat to see everyone's stories starting to pop up in the 'Customers Who Viewed This Item...' section.


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

AngryGames said:


> I think we are waiting for Joe's blog post on Friday (making him do all the work hah).


Works for me!


----------



## Wya Soquiet (Aug 28, 2013)

Hello! This is my first time posting on the Kindleboards. I figured it was time to jump in now that I have a new Konrath-inspired pen name. I just wanted to say how impressed I am with everyone's covers! I took Joe at his word and used Paint for mine (tweaked it with Gimp later). I'd be embarrassed to post it in this thread, but here's my link for Leave Me Alone: The Introvert's Guide to Travel - http://www.amazon.com/Leave-Me-Alone-Introverts-ebook/dp/B00ESCUKMO

I'm planning to join you guys on the free days this weekend. This has been a riot!


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

Wya Soquiet said:


> Hello! This is my first time posting on the Kindleboards. I figured it was time to jump in now that I have a new Konrath-inspired pen name. I just wanted to say how impressed I am with everyone's covers! I took Joe at his word and used Paint for mine (tweaked it with Gimp later). I'd be embarrassed to post it in this thread, but here's my link for Leave Me Alone: The Introvert's Guide to Travel - http://www.amazon.com/Leave-Me-Alone-Introverts-ebook/dp/B00ESCUKMO
> 
> I'm planning to join you guys on the free days this weekend. This has been a riot!


Love it! Looking forward to reading Leave Me Alone!


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Wya Soquiet said:


> Hello! This is my first time posting on the Kindleboards. I figured it was time to jump in now that I have a new Konrath-inspired pen name. I just wanted to say how impressed I am with everyone's covers! I took Joe at his word and used Paint for mine (tweaked it with Gimp later). I'd be embarrassed to post it in this thread, but here's my link for Leave Me Alone: The Introvert's Guide to Travel - http://www.amazon.com/Leave-Me-Alone-Introverts-ebook/dp/B00ESCUKMO
> 
> I'm planning to join you guys on the free days this weekend. This has been a riot!


That's actually a very good cover, to be completely honest with you. I like it a lot!


----------



## Lizbooks (Mar 15, 2013)

This is a great challenge. I think I'm going to try! I've been battling an illness for the past few months and haven't written anything. This is just what I need to get my butt back in gear.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Finished  and gave it its first review 

The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I ran into quite a few errors while reading, but nothing that took away my enjoyment. I really wanted to give it 5, because...because farts. I mean...duh. I'm totally looking forward to a sequel. I NEED to know what Henry does now that...doh, spoiler alert grrrrr...

(If farts are funny to you, read this. If they aren't funny to you...well I honestly can't even fathom such a concept...)


----------



## Lizbooks (Mar 15, 2013)

I'm not sure if I'll make it! I'm at about 7 hours. The story is done, the cover is done...now I just need to learn how to format it. This has been a lot of fun. I finally wrote a story that's been in my head for a long while, I took a crash course in using GIMP, and I'm going to do my best to format this sucker before the time limit is up. Even if I don't "win," I'll consider this a WIN. 

My poor little cover:









The blurb:
The world is ending. Scientists predict it will be five hours, at most, before a series of comets strike Earth, causing worldwide devastation. Seventeen-year-old Macie Evans just wants to lose her virginity before everything falls apart. Forget propriety or shyness, or angst over those last fifteen pounds she hasn't been able to lose. If she's going to die, she's going to do it on her own terms. Now she just needs to find the perfect partner for her first-and last-time.

This is a short coming-of-age story about a girl, a comet, and what happens when you stop letting fear dictate the terms of your life.

Rating: Mild expletives and references to sex. This is best suited to mature teens.


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

Liz/Carrie, that sounds like a good story! 

I'm coming up on 8 hours soon, but nearly done! 5000 words at the moment, and I'd like to pump it up to 6000 in the next hour if I can. I put money down on my cover stock, so I guess I'd better not chicken out, huh?  

Has anyone ever tried just uploading a .doc file on KDP? A simply and cleanly formatted one (like, as per Smashwords file guidelines)? I mean, with a short story this small, it's not like it has a TOC or anything. There's almost no formatting in it at all, actually, apart from a few section breaks. And even those converted just fine when I tried sending a .doc to my "send to kindle" address.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

Lizbooks said:


> I'm not sure if I'll make it! I'm at about 7 hours. The story is done, the cover is done...now I just need to learn how to format it. This has been a lot of fun. I finally wrote a story that's been in my head for a long while, I took a crash course in using GIMP, and I'm going to do my best to format this sucker before the time limit is up. Even if I don't "win," I'll consider this a WIN.
> 
> My poor little cover:
> 
> ...


Congrats! Looks good. The formatting should be fairly easy though, no? If you use Word or OpenOffice (free download on their site), you can upload the file to kdp or Draft2Digital, and they'll create the mobi for Amazon. In OpenOffice, I click on Format-Paragraph, and then fill in .25 for the Before Text line and .25 for the After text line. I usually go with a .10 indent in the First line box. You can 'Select All' and then format pre-written text that way, as well, to create the .doc you'll need for KDP or D2D. It's usually simple for shorts and not too bad for books that require chapter headers, and etc.

Good luck!



Laura Rae Amos said:


> Liz/Carrie, that sounds like a good story!
> 
> I'm coming up on 8 hours soon, but nearly done! 5000 words at the moment, and I'd like to pump it up to 6000 in the next hour if I can. I put money down on my cover stock, so I guess I'd better not chicken out, huh?
> 
> Has anyone ever tried just uploading a .doc file on KDP? A simply and cleanly formatted one (like, as per Smashwords file guidelines)? I mean, with a short story this small, it's not like it has a TOC or anything. There's almost no formatting in it at all, actually, apart from a few section breaks. And even those converted just fine when I tried sending a .doc to my "send to kindle" address.


Just saw this. My thoughts exactly on .doc file. I do it all the type with zero problems.
Good luck with your challenge entry, as well <3


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> Liz/Carrie, that sounds like a good story!
> 
> I'm coming up on 8 hours soon, but nearly done! 5000 words at the moment, and I'd like to pump it up to 6000 in the next hour if I can. I put money down on my cover stock, so I guess I'd better not chicken out, huh?
> 
> Has anyone ever tried just uploading a .doc file on KDP? A simply and cleanly formatted one (like, as per Smashwords file guidelines)? I mean, with a short story this small, it's not like it has a TOC or anything. There's almost no formatting in it at all, actually, apart from a few section breaks. And even those converted just fine when I tried sending a .doc to my "send to kindle" address.


My first upload to Amazon was a .DOC short story. It was wasn't the cleanest format (hint: convert it to HTML and clean out all of the MS Word crap if you can, but if not, like you say, it is just a short story and as long as the formatting looks halfway decent in the Kindle Previewer you'll be just fine), but it worked. I went back and cleaned it up a couple of days later (then I bought Scrivener which made me completely ditch Word).

basically...don't sweat it. If it looks good in the Kindle Previewer, and it isn't a 'real' novel or such that you are expecting to help you pay the mortgage, just get it done and then you can fiddle with it a bit...but getting it uploaded is the key.

Oh yeah, PS: I forgot that I uploaded to Smashwords first and once it passed the 'meatgrinder' I just removed the 'smashwords edition' from the .doc and uploaded to Amazon. This is NOT an endorsement that the meatgrinder is a worthy conversion tool for .doc though. I'm not a fan of the meatgrinder. But I guess I'm saying that if it will pass the meatgrinder, it will be fine at Amazon.


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

As for DOC->KDP --- Yes, you can, and it will produce a useable product. How ever, if you grab the FREE program Calibre ( http://calibre-ebook.com/ ), as of version 1.0.0, it now takes DOCX as a native type in, and produces MOBI that is superior to what KDP will give you. Then directly upload that mobi. Fast and easy to use.

Just a suggestion to save time. I just put a 400k word novel through it and am happy with the results.  It makes clean epubs that pass epub's newest checks also.


----------



## RMHuffman (Apr 1, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> I think we are waiting for Joe's blog post on Friday (making him do all the work hah).
> 
> is free as well, just grabbed it (it is neat to see everyone's stories starting to pop up in the 'Customers Who Viewed This Item...' section.


Indeed it is - through September 1st, I think. If you like old-school vampires who skulk rather than sparkle, pick it up and let me know what you think, will ya? I even think I might have actually put an original spin on a done-to-death genre (or "done-to-undeath," rather oh ho ho that's comedy gold).


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

VydorScope said:


> As for DOC->KDP --- Yes, you can, and it will produce a useable product. How ever, if you grab the FREE program Calibre ( http://calibre-ebook.com/ ), as of version 1.0.0, it now takes DOCX as a native type in, and produces MOBI that is superior to what KDP will give you. Then directly upload that mobi. Fast and easy to use.
> 
> Just a suggestion to save time. I just put a 400k word novel through it and am happy with the results.  It makes clean epubs that pass epub's newest checks also.


I thought I heard a rumor going around that Amazon was going to stop taking Calibre-created files. For all the talk of Calibre in this thread though, that seems not to be the case. Did that never end up happening then? Was it only ever just a rumor?

The .doc seems to have worked okay for me, as far as the previewer shows. But I will have a look at Calibre now that I've got a little more time to mess around with it. Still (impatiently) waiting for the thing to go live...


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Laura Rae Amos said:


> I thought I heard a rumor going around that Amazon was going to stop taking Calibre-created files. For all the talk of Calibre in this thread though, that seems not to be the case. Did that never end up happening then? Was it only ever just a rumor?
> 
> The .doc seems to have worked okay for me, as far as the previewer shows. But I will have a look at Calibre now that I've got a little more time to mess around with it. Still (impatiently) waiting for the thing to go live...


I never heard that rumor, but I just last night uploaded a Calibre generated file and it is live this morning. So I would say Amazon still accepts them.


----------



## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

I got my first ever one star review!


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

SBright said:


> I got my first ever one star review!


Congrats?


----------



## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Man...I really wish I could jump in on this.  So much fun.  But I've got a wedding in two weeks and a serious book to finish.  

I never get to have any fun.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

ElHawk said:


> Man...I really wish I could jump in on this. So much fun. But I've got a wedding in two weeks and a serious book to finish.
> 
> I never get to have any fun.


I can kinda relate, ElHawk, but as soon as I get off work today, I'm gonna give it a whirl. My piece might become a 4 hour challenge, however, due to time constraints!


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

RMHuffman said:


> Indeed it is - through September 1st, I think. If you like old-school vampires who skulk rather than sparkle, pick it up and let me know what you think, will ya? I even think I might have actually put an original spin on a done-to-death genre (or "done-to-undeath," rather oh ho ho that's comedy gold).


That's the reason I snagged it (well, I'm trying to read EVERY book that was written for Konrath's challenge too). I hate vampire/werewolf/zombie stories because of their saturation over the last few years. However, I am totally down with reading books that are not the same trope. I told someone in another thread that if he wrote a vampire story where the vampires drink milk instead of blood, I'd read it in a heartbeat.

Then I see this story about a vampire...well, hah, I don't have to explain it to you. You wrote it .

Haven't gotten to it yet. Finished Bottling Farts and How To Be A Force Of Nature so far. Haven't had a chance to leave a review for Force of Nature yet.

Should get to yours and Vegan Cokehead when I wake up. Spent my 40th birthday writing two stories. One for my wife, and one that will probably get me sued by Hugh Howey (whom I apparently have a man-crush on? So sayeth my wife). I guess the two I wrote tonight are eligible for to fit within the 8-hour challenge as well...if I can make a cover for both in less than an hour.


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> I told someone in another thread that if he wrote a vampire story where the vampires drink milk instead of blood, I'd read it in a heartbeat.
> 
> Then I see this story about a vampire...well, hah, I don't have to explain it to you. You wrote it .


Did someone actually DO it? If so, link me!!


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

ElHawk said:


> Man...I really wish I could jump in on this. So much fun. But I've got a wedding in two weeks and a serious book to finish.
> 
> I never get to have any fun.


Well I hope you have lots of fun at your wedding at least!

Congrats, by the way!


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Ashy said:


> Did someone actually DO it? If so, link me!!


No, everyone else told him to not break the rules of vampires and to only write what is hot at the moment, what will sell. Which is when I suggested that he write about vampires drinking milk instead of blood. I guess it was a question of writing for money or writing for the story. For me, the story of milk-sucking vampires is more important than money. I suppose it will have to be one of us that writes the story then. I'm not really a vampire guy though. I don't know any of the 'rules' of vampires anymore. I learned all of mine from Stephen King.

So...you know. Write me a story about milk vampires. Guaranteed your version will be light years ahead of mine.


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

"One more day like this and I'd crack 1,000."

Yes, well apparently math is not my strong suit. Perhaps it was just a Freudian slip, and I really intend on publishing 1,000 works of fart fiction.

Nooooo!!!!!! Say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

@Angry Games - That's an epic review! I'm so impressed, I'm going to go back into Bottling Farts and take that stinky short to a whole new level. Also, another challenge story that has eked into my brain is Let's Go Dutch by Donald Rump. Look for it this weekend! (or not...)

As for a sequel, well...be careful what you wish for...


----------



## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

I uploaded mine just before midnight, but Amazon seem to be taking longer than usual to publish, because it's not live yet. I'm hoping it will be there and waiting when I get home so I can send off my email to Konrath...

I may have to do some more of these eight-hour shorts in the future .


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

SBright said:


> I got my first ever one star review!


I had to giggle at your one star review. At least if I give a 1 star review I do psell everything correctly. Congrats on your first one star.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Story finally finished!     It took me 4 3/4 hours for around 4,270 words (because I'm seriously rusty!)  Add the half an hour it took for the cover to that, and the fact that I still need to do the edits and the formatting... not sure if I'll make it in time.  I have 2 3/4 hours to edit, format & upload.  It's also unlikely to go live in time to send it off.  Still, I'll get it done as quickly as possible.  Just need to take a quick break for food before I start the error checks!

Edited to add - P.S. Does anyone know what timezone Joe Konrath is in?


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Zelah Meyer said:


> Story finally finished!  It took me 4 3/4 hours for around 4,270 words (because I'm seriously rusty!) Add the half an hour it took for the cover to that, and the fact that I still need to do the edits and the formatting... not sure if I'll make it in time. I have 2 3/4 hours to edit, format & upload. It's also unlikely to go live in time to send it off. Still, I'll get it done as quickly as possible. Just need to take a quick break for food before I start the error checks!
> 
> Edited to add - P.S. Does anyone know what timezone Joe Konrath is in?


I don't know, but I think Eastern or Central in the U.S.

And you CAN DO IT, Zelah!!


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> No, everyone else told him to not break the rules of vampires and to only write what is hot at the moment, what will sell. Which is when I suggested that he write about vampires drinking milk instead of blood. I guess it was a question of writing for money or writing for the story. For me, the story of milk-sucking vampires is more important than money. I suppose it will have to be one of us that writes the story then. I'm not really a vampire guy though. I don't know any of the 'rules' of vampires anymore. I learned all of mine from Stephen King.
> 
> So...you know. Write me a story about milk vampires. Guaranteed your version will be light years ahead of mine.


I just might do that..._Bovines Beware!_

LOL


----------



## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

Ashy said:


> I just might do that..._Bovines Beware!_


We have finally solved the mystery of cattle mutilations... maybe we should all write that story and upload our own versions.

I wondered about Konrath's timezone too. I'm hoping to just email as soon as I get home .


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

I uploaded at 3am last night and mine still isn't live yet either. Not even "publishing" on the dashboard -- it's still "in review"  

On a positive note though, I just did a proper read-through on my Kindle, no obvious spelling errors and I'm actually really proud of the story, lol! Of course there are some things I want to revise, but nothing glaringly obvious that I could see, or even that anyone else will really notice. 

I'm really glad I did this. I'm going to do more of them in the future!


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

Ashy said:


> And you CAN DO IT, Zelah!!


Yes, you got this! Can't wait to read your story.


----------



## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

Over 120 stories and counting.

This blog post is gonna be enormous.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 120 stories and counting.
> 
> This blog post is gonna be enormous.


Wow. That's a lot more than I thought you would have. I was thinking you'd have somewhere between 10 and 25 because it's not exactly an easy challenge.

Awesome!


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 120 stories and counting.
> 
> This blog post is gonna be enormous.


I will never get to the books I have stored. I will also wear out my amazon review card. Good news is from what I have read so far, most of them are great.


----------



## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

Phew, mine's gone live after just about exactly the 12 hours the popup window said when I submitted it.


----------



## Lizbooks (Mar 15, 2013)

I uploaded mine and now it's just a matter of waiting for KDP. I finished with about twenty seconds to spare. (Toggl is a great program, by the way! I used it to track how long each task took--I highly recommend checking it out!)


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

Add another one to the pile! Mine just went live! 

All the Other Boys, a short story










Genres: contemporary women's fic and coming-of-age (new adult chick lit, which I am officially declaring "a thing"!)

Blurb: A quirky and hopeless young woman recounts the spectacularly awful rise and fall of her first love, as she discovers the truth about sex, religion, life, and herself, interspersed with memories of all the other boys who shared her heart for a short time. For fans of contemporary stories of first love and growing up, "All the Other Boys" is rich in voice, darkly comical, truthfully disappointing, and ultimately triumphant.

This is a stand-alone SHORT STORY at 5600 words (about 20 pages).

If anyone is interested, I have it in Select and plan to make it free this weekend!


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Does anyone know if the processing time to be published is LESSENED if you DO NOT put the book in KDP Select?


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I have deleted this post as I do not consent to the new Terms of Service that Vertical Scope are attempting to retrospectively apply to our content.  I am forced to manually replace my content as, at time of editing, their representative has instructed moderators not to delete posts or accounts when users request it, and Vertical Scope have implied that they will deal with account deletion requests by anonymising accounts, which would leave personally identifying information in my posts.

I joined under the previous ownership and have posted over the years under different Terms of Service.  I do not consent to my name, content, or intellectual properties being used by Vertical Scope or any other entity that they sell or licence my data to.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

ElHawk said:


> Man...I really wish I could jump in on this. So much fun. But I've got a wedding in two weeks and a serious book to finish.
> 
> I never get to have any fun.


Easy... blow off the wedding... this is an opportunity to have FUN!  Gotta keep those priorities straight, after all...

(Yes, that's a j/k comment, totally not serious.)


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

AngryGames said:


> I don't know any of the 'rules' of vampires anymore.


That didn't stop Stephanie Meyer...


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Ashy said:


> I don't know, but I think Eastern or Central in the U.S.
> 
> And you CAN DO IT, Zelah!!


I think he's Central. Lives in Chicago, if I remember correctly. (It's possible I don't.)


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> I will never get to the books I have stored. I will also wear out my amazon review card. Good news is from what I have read so far, most of them are great.


Yes, well, you haven't read mine yet....

*evil laugh*


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Yes, well, you haven't read mine yet....
> 
> *evil laugh*


That is because I am cheap and yours goes free tomorrow so .


----------



## B. P. Crouse (Aug 25, 2013)

Just submitted a 2nd piece to Amazon. Out of Time - Overture. I have enjoyed this challenge so much. Now I just hope it's up in time to email it in. If not, I will have it free over the weekend like all my other works.

This one is 2100 words and introduces a series I have been cooking up for a while. 

My name is Josef Finch. I just woke up in a nightmare of the past. Somehow I've shifted out of place and time. The last thing I remember is falling asleep in my St. Louis apartment. Now I'm being interrogated by German soldiers during WWII.

Can't wait for the blog post. Looking forward to having links to all the new books.


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

Decided at the last minute to give this a go. Two hours in and the first draft is done coming in at just under 5K words. I'm going to take a short break and then move into editing which I expect will take another two hours. Then I figure an hour for cover, 30 minutes for blurb, 30 minutes for formatting and then I'll be ready to hit publish.

I am fairly certain that this won't be live before midnight, but I'm going to send a screenshot of my KDP dashboard in as proof- hopefully that will work!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> That is because I am cheap and yours goes free tomorrow so .


In about 10-11 hours, actually...  Jus' sayin'...


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> In about 10-11 hours, actually...  Jus' sayin'...


You really expect me to stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning just to grab a book?


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> You really expect me to stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning just to grab a book?


(I'm Pacific, you're Central. For you, it's only 8-9...  )

And do I expect it? No. But I've seen you post past midnight before, I think... (As do I.)


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> (I'm Pacific, you're Central. For you, it's only 8-9...  )
> 
> And do I expect it? No. But I've seen you post past midnight before, I think... (As do I.)


Not usually but I have been known to stay up late. Oh and hey Craig I am 2 hours ahead of you. It is 4:12 pm here.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I've e-mailed Joe already, even though my book isn't live yet.

What I've done is guess the eventual url based on the ASIN that showed up once it moved from 'in review' to 'publishing' on my bookshelf. I remembered that when Elle had us list our Amazon links for her giveaway, she got us to shorten them to http://www.amazon.com/dp/*YourASINhere*

I shortened the url to one of my existing titles to test that the link worked like that, and it did. Then I swapped in the ASIN for my other title, and that worked too. So, I've taken the ASIN for my challenge title that is still in publishing and given him the link. It doesn't work at time of posting, but hopefully will once the book goes live. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EV71WYQ

Thought I'd post that in case it helped out anyone else who is stuck in publishing. I don't know if this will work - but if the alternative is not getting in before the wire, then it's worth a shot!


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

Zelah Meyer said:


> I've e-mailed Joe already, even though my book isn't live yet.
> 
> What I've done is guess the eventual url based on the ASIN that showed up once it moved from 'in review' to 'publishing' on my bookshelf. I remembered that when Elle had us list our Amazon links for her giveaway, she got us to shorten them to http://www.amazon.com/dp/*YourASINhere*
> 
> ...


Nice!! Thanks, Zelah!!


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Right. So. I am now the most powerful man in the universe. Behind Hugh Howey. I wrote another story last night (40th birthday) that fits into the Konrath Challenge. Since a few people decided to parody self-publishing, and because there's another thread around here about 'did you ever get a review that made you want to quit writing?', I started a reply to that thread that ended up going over 8000 words.

Let me say this...non-fiction (the funny kind that doesn't involve historical research or statistics) is far, far easier to crank out than fiction. However, I did do just enough research to find the very first book review in the history of humankind.

But the book is going to be called "Are You Ready? (To Self-Publish)". It is supposed to be funny (when I read it again I'll decide...sometimes what is funny at 5AM is very much NOT funny at 5PM the next day). It also stars Hugh Howey as the Evil Villain Self-Published Overlord. Since I actually really like Mr. Howey, I asked him for permission to use him as an example in the book.



> Haha! Besmirch me all you want!
> 
> -Hugh


Challenge accepted Mr. Bigshot Author Guy.

I finally passed out at around 8AM, so didn't get to polish it up yet. Should be done tonight, and going by the Konrath challenge rules, I still actually have about 3 hours left over to make a cover and edit this travesty of a story.

http://www.angrygames.com/?p=352

That's the rough draft of the story if anyone wants to take a look. If not, here's a small paragraph sample that will validate your opinion that it is crap and you did the right thing by not reading any of it:



> No author in the history of humanity has escaped without someone taking a crap all over their masterpiece. That phrase, by the way, 'taking a crap all over *<insert whatever someone was taking a crap all over>*' is actually from about 400,000 years ago. In the ancient days, cavemen would come by another caveman's drawing about a mammoth being hunted, and would smear excrement in the shape of a penis on it. This was Og's first bad review, and he was incensed enough to hunt down the offending reviewer and crush the reviewer's head with a heavy stone.


Hopefully Mr. Drew Doughty Bigshot Author doesn't actually read this thing, or I will get sued 

(nah, he has an awesome sense of humor...I hope)


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> Right. So. I am now the most powerful man in the universe. Behind Hugh Howey. I wrote another story last night (40th birthday) that fits into the Konrath Challenge. Since a few people decided to parody self-publishing, and because there's another thread around here about 'did you ever get a review that made you want to quit writing?', I started a reply to that thread that ended up going over 8000 words.
> 
> Let me say this...non-fiction (the funny kind that doesn't involve historical research or statistics) is far, far easier to crank out than fiction. However, I did do just enough research to find the very first book review in the history of humankind.
> 
> ...


Let me know the second this is published and I will write you a review on it.


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

4 hours and 10 minutes later, I hit publish. It is absolutely amazing what you can do when you just let yourself go and have fun!
I crafted a little horror tale of 5500 words. I was missing my ghosts since I've been so focused on my pen name in NA romance lately.

I suck at doing my own covers, so I bought an image and tried out Amazon's cover creator. It was actually pretty slick and I was able to find a font that was fairly close to what I use for my other covers.

Now I'm crossing my fingers that the little Amazon elves get it up and live before the deadline (or at least assign an ASIN so I can use Zelah's trick.)

I'm going to go through this thread and scoop up the goods from fellow challengers- anyone who did this deserves a huge pat on the back!!


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Congrats to Zelah, CeGe, AngryGames and everybody else who made the challenge.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

Zelah Meyer said:


> I've e-mailed Joe already, even though my book isn't live yet.
> 
> What I've done is guess the eventual url based on the ASIN that showed up once it moved from 'in review' to 'publishing' on my bookshelf. I remembered that when Elle had us list our Amazon links for her giveaway, she got us to shorten them to http://www.amazon.com/dp/*YourASINhere*
> 
> ...


Thank you for the tip. Definitely useful for a number of occasions (even prepping posts for non-challenge books before they're ready).
Congrats on your challenge book!



cegesmith said:


> It is absolutely amazing what you can do when you just let yourself go and have fun!


So true. I definitely plan to do this more often.
Congrats on your challenge book


----------



## RaeC (Aug 20, 2013)

Wow, you guys do some pretty good "rushed" covers.  I think I might take the challenge over the weekend.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

superfictious said:


> Wow, you guys do some pretty good "rushed" covers. I think I might take the challenge over the weekend.


They write pretty good too. On most of the stories, you would not know it was 8 hours from start to finish. I have read and reviewed several over the last few days.


----------



## RaeC (Aug 20, 2013)

cinisajoy said:


> They write pretty good too. On most of the stories, you would not know it was 8 hours from start to finish. I have read and reviewed several over the last few days.


Oh, of that I have no doubt. It's cover design that scares the heck out of me. I'm might have to do a crash course on Photoshop.

And I'm kind of bummed I didn't find a listing for Huge Howey on Amazon.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Annnnnnd.... we're off!

Devohrah Initiative is free and Joe's blog with all our challenge books goes live sometime today, so... it begins.


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Annnnnnd.... we're off!
> 
> Devohrah Initiative is free and Joe's blog with all our challenge books goes live sometime today, so... it begins.


Woop woop! *rubs hands*

Confessions of a Courtesan is now free at well. NOT safe for reading at work though, fair warning. 

Can't wait to see Joe's post with the list of all the books.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Isabel Dare said:


> Woop woop! *rubs hands*
> 
> Confessions of a Courtesan is now free at well. NOT safe for reading at work though, fair warning.
> 
> Can't wait to see Joe's post with the list of all the books.


Yes, I plan to "spend a fortune" on freebies this weekend, LOL... I wanna take part in the "fellowship of blood, sweat, and tears" we all endured trying to get this done under deadline.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I have deleted this post as I do not consent to the new Terms of Service that Vertical Scope are attempting to retrospectively apply to our content.  I am forced to manually replace my content as, at time of editing, their representative has instructed moderators not to delete posts or accounts when users request it, and Vertical Scope have implied that they will deal with account deletion requests by anonymising accounts, which would leave personally identifying information in my posts.

I joined under the previous ownership and have posted over the years under different Terms of Service.  I do not consent to my name, content, or intellectual properties being used by Vertical Scope or any other entity that they sell or licence my data to.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

snagging Craig, Isabel, and Zelah's freebies right now. I'm not a romance or erotica reader, but because of the special nature of this 'event', I'm going to read EVERYTHING. 

Though I am 'at work' so I am trying to figure out where I'm going to read the seedy, steamy ones that are NSFW.  


This. Is. Going. To. Be. Insane.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Ah well, Zelah, let me congratulate you on your first sale. I just clicked 'steal this now' at Amazon on all three of your pages, but the last one was a trap!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

AngryGames said:


> snagging Craig, Isabel, and Zelah's freebies right now....
> 
> Though I am 'at work' so I am trying to figure out where I'm going to read the seedy, steamy ones that are NSFW.


I'd suggest mine is SFW, but _someone_ claims I'm a hazard to read in the kitchen, so who knows?


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Thank you for the sale.  

Unfortunately, I can't make it free as I'm not in Select.  I hope to get it up on Smashwords some time next week.


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

AngryGames said:


> snagging Craig, Isabel, and Zelah's freebies right now. I'm not a romance or erotica reader, but because of the special nature of this 'event', I'm going to read EVERYTHING.
> 
> Though I am 'at work' so I am trying to figure out where I'm going to read the seedy, steamy ones that are NSFW.
> 
> This. Is. Going. To. Be. Insane.


No kidding! I will try to nab at least all the freebies from KBers. At over 120 8 Hour Ebooks, that's an awful lot to read, even if they're all short and shorter.  (I officially labeled mine a "short short" story. *g*)


----------



## Sam Winterwood (Jun 25, 2013)

Mine won't go free since not in Select. Oh well.
I'll grab everyone I can buy will probably take an age and a half to read them all


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Mine is free again. I can't wait to see this enormous blog when it goes up!


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

Yay! Reading and reviewing as many as I can.


----------



## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

_Tsunami of Swill: Secret of the Ebook Crapnado_ is free through Tuesday--I took all my Select free days. Today I posted the promotion on my blog, Who Created the Comic Books? http://martinohearn.blogspot.com/ Since I normally post once a week, on Tuesdays, I didn't want anyone to look in on their regular visit and kick themselves over missing the deal of a lifetime.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

David Scroggins said:


> I can't wait to see this enormous blog when it goes up!


Yep - it's going to be quite something!

Well done to everyone who's managed it. 

If anyone is thinking about trying it out later - I'd say go for it! It's a really great exercise in only concentrating on the essentials.


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

Mine is free today and tomorrow!


----------



## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

Over 140 eight hour challenge winners.

It's going to take me at least two more hours to list them all. Blog will be up mid-afternoon.


----------



## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 140 eight hour challenge winners.
> 
> It's going to take me at least two more hours to list them all. Blog will be up mid-afternoon.


*WOW!*  That's a lot. Thanks for the challenge-this was so much fun.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 140 eight hour challenge winners.
> 
> It's going to take me at least two more hours to list them all. Blog will be up mid-afternoon.


Wow! Yes, that's a lot of titles!

Thank you for kickstarting this. I've been wanting to try something Heinlein's rules based, and your challenge was perfect for it.


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

That is amazing! Can't wait to see all the challenger winner titles.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> I'd suggest mine is SFW, but _someone_ claims I'm a hazard to read in the kitchen, so who knows?


Grabbed, read and reviewed your book. Oh and no food was burned in the reading of this book.
Great book Craig.


----------



## TRGoodman (Jul 9, 2012)

That's an amazing number of winners. 

Maybe someone should try to combine this with the Dean Wesley Smith method and publish one 8 hour story a week for a year and see how it goes.

And my entry, Abigail Abernathy: All-Night Analytical Engine Analyst, is free today through the weekend, if anyone is interested.


----------



## B. P. Crouse (Aug 25, 2013)

So excited to see the post. Amazing number of winners. I am so energized after this. Amazing to live out a passion. And share in so many people living out their passions.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 140 eight hour challenge winners.
> 
> It's going to take me at least two more hours to list them all. Blog will be up mid-afternoon.


Wow, that's an impressive amount of winners. Thanks for doing this, Joe/Jack.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

If one is not at work, then you need to read Confessions of a Courtesan by Isabel Dare.  Great book.


----------



## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

cinisajoy said:


> If one is not at work, then you need to read Confessions of a Courtesan by Isabel Dare. Great book.


Aw!! I keep coming back and refreshing this post to see if the full list of winners is up yet, and suddenly I see this.

Thanks so much for the review and the kind words, cin! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I enjoyed it too.


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

TRGoodman said:


> That's an amazing number of winners.
> 
> Maybe someone should try to combine this with the Dean Wesley Smith method and publish one 8 hour story a week for a year and see how it goes.
> 
> And my entry, Abigail Abernathy: All-Night Analytical Engine Analyst, is free today through the weekend, if anyone is interested.


NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I would turn into a babbling idiot trying to review them all.


----------



## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

Got about 50 left to do.


----------



## TRGoodman (Jul 9, 2012)

cinisajoy said:


> NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I would turn into a babbling idiot trying to review them all.


You shouldn't have made the offer in the other thread. Now you'll have to check the closet and under the bed every night to make sure there aren't any authors looking for reviews. 



Jack Kilborn said:


> Got about 50 left to do.


Thanks again for doing this. My brain hurts thinking about the amount of work going into that post.


----------



## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks, Joe--I mean, Jack--if you are still following this thread. Your little contest has inspired me to finally start a pen name. Nothing silly, but I think it will be interesting to see the results of occasionally pumping out two or three short works a month in between writing larger projects. Just to see difference in the rate of success of each method (publishing 4-5 novella/novel-length works per year vs. 20-30 shorter works).

I will give it a try and post the results in a few months.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

First, I'd like to give Joe Konrath a HUGE hug (but a platonic one, he might be attractive but we'll just stick with simple bromance so things don't get too weird) for doing this. THIS WAS HUGE! 

And though I've not been much of a crime-ish reader, the only way I can think of to pay Joe back is to buy a few of his books for my brother who totally digs the Jack Daniels and Whiskey Sour stuff. You didn't have to waste your entire day for us, but you did, and we thank you. 


I've got 42 of these stories downloaded and I'm not even halfway through the post. To everyone who made your stories free today, THANK YOU. To everyone else, no offense, but if I bought your story today, I'd have to buy every story, and that's like $60 or so =( Hopefully if you ever do make it free you'll come back here and let us know. I know that probably sounds cheap, but...okay it is cheap. That $60 I would have spent went to my birthday present. 

I'm going to be reading for days. I'll be leaving reviews for everyone that I can remember to do so for. In the meantime, everyone should thank Cinisajoy for being the best trooper in the forum and reviewing something like 30 of our stories so far. I've no doubt her eyes are bloody and raw by now...


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Yep, I've just added a bunch of books to my TBR pile too and am keeping an eye on the post to see what else turns up.

As mentioned, I'm not in Select so I can't go free.  However, once my editor has checked it for errors that I missed (I'm telling him to only flag up stuff that needs to change) I'll be uploading it on Smashwords, and then I'll do a coupon for a month & stick it in my sig.  

Readers of Dean's blog will know what I mean when I say that I was getting stuck in the 'book as event' mentality - and this story was about shaking things up so that I could get past that and start publishing some of the 5+ stories I'm currently sitting on!


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

AngryGames said:


> First, I'd like to give Joe Konrath a HUGE hug (but a platonic one, he might be attractive but we'll just stick with simple bromance so things don't get too weird) for doing this. THIS WAS HUGE!
> 
> And though I've not been much of a crime-ish reader, the only way I can think of to pay Joe back is to buy a few of his books for my brother who totally digs the Jack Daniels and Whiskey Sour stuff. You didn't have to waste your entire day for us, but you did, and we thank you.
> 
> ...


I don't know about the bloody and raw but pretty sure I am gonna have some strange dreams about books, vampires, werewolves, and other things in space.


----------



## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

Mine will be free tomorrow through Tuesday. Meeting Monday is the title, down in my sig.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

For anybody who wants to try _Old Mommark's Tale_ for free, I've set up a coupon at XinXii.

The book is here. The coupon code is KONRATH08. The coupon will be valid until September 6, 2013.

Enjoy, everybody.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

That's a massive blog post! Thank you so much, Joe! We seriously appreciate everything you went through for us today.  

Oh, and just to let everyone know, Healed is free today. It's listed as .99 on the blog post because I forgot to tell him I was setting it to free. It should be free for the next three or four days if anyone wants to read it.


----------



## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

I didn't take part in the Konrath challenge, but I've been following this thread with interest and awe. (And picking up some fun short stories.  )

I think all of you who wrote your fingers off over the last few days are truly scribe heroes! Congratulations.


----------



## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

Mine is going to be free tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to make it into Joe's post because I missed the 2nd blog post he put up that outlined exactly what he needed participants to send over.  

Did anyone else use Amazon's cover creator? I'm trying to determine the best way to nab the image to use on Goodreads.


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Over 140 eight hour challenge winners.
> 
> It's going to take me at least two more hours to list them all. Blog will be up mid-afternoon.


Wow, that's amazing! Looking forward to the list tomorrow. (It's very late here in Central Europe, and I have to go to bed.)


----------



## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Konrath's got a lot of the stories up now. May the downloads grow and grow...

I just tweeted this:

The Eight Hour book challenge winners! Look and see and get some for free. http://jakonrath.blogspot.ca/


----------



## B. P. Crouse (Aug 25, 2013)

Just took a look at the top 100 in free short stories. Lots of 8 hour winners there. Congratulations everyone.


----------



## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

It was an 8 hour ebook challenge.

It took me 10 hours to upload all the winners.

If I missed you, or I made some error in your listing that you can't live with, shoot me an email.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/08/8-hour-ebook-challenge-winners.html


----------



## Lefty (Apr 7, 2011)

Thanks for the hard work.


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

B. P. Crouse said:


> Just took a look at the top 100 in free short stories. Lots of 8 hour winners there. Congratulations everyone.


I just took a look and I'm #16 in Sci-Fi / Anthologies & Short Stories and #85 overall in Short Stories.

There's a LOT of stories that I downloaded that are above mine and this makes me happy that we've all kind of made Joe waste his Friday. I mean that we all took the challenge.

When I finally went to my email inbox, there were 81 emails from Amazon thanking me for my purchase of such-and-such story. It was weird. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed because I just turned my Kindle on finally, and it just. Keeps. Downloading.


----------



## rjspears (Sep 25, 2011)

I didn't learn about the "Challenge" until Thursday, but dove in with enthusiasm and got a piece up on just under 4 hours.  Too bad I didn't make it in time to be considered, but I had a blast doing it.  I usually write mystery/crime and horror.  I decided to write a satirical piece and just went with it.

Hopefully a few people download and enjoy it.

--
R.J. Spears


----------



## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

AngryGames said:


> First, I'd like to give Joe Konrath a HUGE hug (but a platonic one, he might be attractive but we'll just stick with simple bromance so things don't get too weird) for doing this. THIS WAS HUGE! . . .
> 
> I'm going to be reading for days. I'll be leaving reviews for everyone that I can remember to do so for. In the meantime, everyone should thank Cinisajoy for being the best trooper in the forum and reviewing something like 30 of our stories so far. I've no doubt her eyes are bloody and raw by now...


What he said, Joe and Cinisajoy.


----------



## Willo (May 10, 2013)

Jack Kilborn said:


> It was an 8 hour ebook challenge.
> 
> It took me 10 hours to upload all the winners.
> 
> ...


All of this is extremely gracious of you. Thank you for the challenge and the overtime you put in to give challenge winners the exposure that you have. A lot of folks who didn't think they could do it have an entirely new perspective on the possibilities available to them indie in publishing.



rjspears said:


> I didn't learn about the "Challenge" until Thursday, but dove in with enthusiasm and got a piece up on just under 4 hours. Too bad I didn't make it in time to be considered, but I had a blast doing it. I usually write mystery/crime and horror. I decided to write a satirical piece and just went with it.
> 
> Hopefully a few people download and enjoy it.
> 
> ...


Under 4 hours is incredibly impressive. Congrats


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Jack Kilborn said:


> It was an 8 hour ebook challenge.
> 
> It took me 10 hours to upload all the winners.
> 
> ...


Only one reply is apropos, Joe.

On behalf of all the KB winners, THANK YOU.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Great job everyone!


----------



## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

Thank you Joe, for giving up so much of your time for this challenge! I can't even believe how many people "won" it! There are some really great little stories out there. I've already read a couple gems, and I have a bunch more to read still too.

And I can't believe how many of us are crawling into the free charts too!

Mine is hanging around #46 at the moment in Coming of Age. 



> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,437 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #46 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Coming of Age


Thank you Joe! And thank you to everyone who took the time to read, review, and spread word about the challenge! <3 <3 <3


----------



## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

Jack Kilborn said:


> It was an 8 hour ebook challenge.
> 
> It took me 10 hours to upload all the winners.
> 
> ...


Thanks for all your work, Joe. That was both fun AND educational.


----------



## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Echoing what Laura and Ruth said. Thanks for all the work, Joe.

And though _Old Mommark's Tale_ isn't free, I did get some sales out of this plus some downloads via the XinXii coupon plus a five star review.


----------



## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Jack Kilborn said:


> It was an 8 hour ebook challenge.
> 
> It took me 10 hours to upload all the winners.
> 
> ...


So, how surprised were you at the results?


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Got my story back from my editor (he had instructions to only flag up the stuff that _needed_ to be fixed.) Better than I expected. A smattering of commas/comma splices that need fixing. Some rogue spaces, a set of speech marks that snuck in where they shouldn't be, some apostrophes in the book blurbs that lost their curl, and a section break marker after the author note that I forgot to centre. He also found a phrase where I was mixing my metaphors somewhat, but I kind of like my habit of doing that, so I'm going to keep it! 

I'll make the changes in the next day or so and get the updated version uploaded to Smashwords & re-uploaded to Amazon. In the meantime, at least I feel better about the quality of the product that I managed to produce in the time frame - though I think I have Serenity Editor to thank for some of that!


----------



## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

B. P. Crouse said:


> Just took a look at the top 100 in free short stories. Lots of 8 hour winners there. Congratulations everyone.


Oh you are here. Great. You upped my averages. Or lowered them depending on which group. I had you misplaced in the non-kboarders.  Off to read Gain. I read and reviewed your other one earlier.


----------



## Lindy Moone (Oct 19, 2012)

Hey Wya Soquiet! (Hope you're watching this thread!)

Wya so embarrassed? It's a funny, and even insightful, little book. In fact, I just reviewed it (go check it out on your book page). Also featured it on my blog today (September 1st), as part of my Instant Review Challenge to myself. I'm trying to read and review the Konrath challenge books he listed as winners, with a time limit of one hour each. Each will also get a blog post. Wish me luck!  

P.S. I didn't see this thread (or find out someone else is doing something similar) until after I started the reviews. Oh, well. Can't have too many reviews, right?

 Hey, other listed winners of the Konrath Challenge!:


Check out my blog to see your reviews in their natural habitat, and feel free to drop a link to ONE of your other books in the comments of your featured post. Please don't hijack others' posts, though. When I can, I'll message each of you to let you know when your book is up.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> Oh and no food was burned in the reading of this book.


*wipes sweat off brow*

A person can only afford to burn so many steaks in this economy...


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Dang it Lindy, now I am kind of dying to know about these clinical observations you are talking about... (wasn't sure if you were in this thread so I sort of left a comment on your review, breaking one or more Unbreakable Rules I'm sure). 

I'm afraid I won't be able to get to your book for another...79 Konrath stories and one sci-fi space opera. However, I just snagged it from Amazon so it will be sitting there if I don't die before getting all of these others read. 

edit for clarification: I didn't grab Lindy's book because of the review score, but I clicked on her name to see if she was reviewing other Konrath challenge books and saw she had one that seems pretty close to what kind of craziness goes through my head daily.


----------



## Lindy Moone (Oct 19, 2012)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> My Konrath Challege book is still free, Lindy, if you fancy some high-tech horror with a sense of humor.
> 
> It's the one with the pretty blue cover.


Already got it, Craig, and love the cover. I'm trying to do two reviews a day, but only putting one per day on the blog. My too-few followers will choke to death if I feed them too often! (Mama's little piggies...) 

Wander around the blog if you have a chance. "Like" the reviews, if you like them. This is hard work! But it's fun.

BTW, I'm not fishing for Amazon book reviews for Hyperlink. That would be a no-no, as far as Amazon is concerned. (Don't be a Quid Pro Ho!) I wouldn't mind a bit more traffic to the blog or facebook page, or whatever. Check out the author's website, maybe. I'm pretty proud of it.


----------



## S.E. Gordon (Mar 15, 2011)

@AngryGames - Ok, I just uploaded a new draft (pun intended) of Bottling Farts. I'm not sure how long it will take to show up (my latest Donald Rump story Going Dutch took 24 hours before it finally appeared), but you should see it by early tomorrow.

Thanks for the hilarious review. Fart on!


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

segordon said:


> @AngryGames - Ok, I just uploaded a new draft (pun intended) of Bottling Farts. I'm not sure how long it will take to show up (my latest Donald Rump story Going Dutch took 24 hours before it finally appeared), but you should see it by early tomorrow.
> 
> Thanks for the hilarious review. Fart on!


Are reviewers allowed to change their scores? Because I would most definitely give it 5-stars once you cleaned up the minor issues


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

My wife and I just reviewed  together, though it will only show as a single review.

I can't say you've changed our lives, as my wife is a smart woman as well, but I applaud your efforts to educate others on this very important subject


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Folks, a reminder....

this is the Writers' Café....no links, no begs for downloads.  You can post in the Book Bazaar.  And, I think there is a "genre" thread in the Book Bazaar for short works.  And I wouldn't object to a "Konrath Challenge" thread in the Book Bazaar, if there isn't one already.  I think it would be a service to readers....

Betsy


----------



## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Folks, a reminder....
> 
> this is the Writers' Café....no links, no begs for downloads. You can post in the Book Bazaar. And, I think there is a "genre" thread in the Book Bazaar for short works. And I wouldn't object to a "Konrath Challenge" thread in the Book Bazaar, if there isn't one already. I think it would be a service to readers....
> 
> Betsy


I didn't see one, so I made one:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,161259.0.html

Hopefully it is okay. I'm very interested in hearing what everything thinks of all of the stories, especially since I know a lot of authors are hesitant or refuse to review books anymore at Amazon. Non-authors I think might be interested in what we all think of each other's stories as well. Maybe


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Well done.  I've "welcomed" the thread.  And will look at the books posted there.  (I had an ulterior motive--it'll be easiest for me to pick out KB member books which are available!)

Betsy


----------



## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Wharg....SO bummed I was not able to get mine wrapped up in time.


----------

