# Publishing the "furry aesthetic"



## Conker (Jan 27, 2014)

Early this month I finished the first draft of my first novel and then got super drunk to celebrate. I've told myself I"d wait a few months before I start editing as I want it to just sit there for awhile. I figure a break will let me look at it with a fresher mindset, and then I'll probably cry when I see how terrible it is. Then I'll try and fix it.

But this attempted break of not thinking about it has me thinking of other things: publishing.

I've read plenty of shitty books that made me go "how the fuck is this a thing I can buy in a store?" but the answer really boils down to: it's marketable. Bad books sell. I like to think that what I have is better than those books I deem "fucking trash" but that doesn't mean it's marketable. 

So now I"m all worried and shit. I put over a 100 days into that draft and I"ll be putting in a great many more for edits, and it might all come down to nothing because the world I made and the story I wanted to tell needed to have that "furry aesthetic." It wouldn't work otherwise. 

I don't know how I'd even change everyone into normal people and make the crazy caste system work, not to mention the chimeras at the end. 

It's funny because the other novel idea I have doesn't involve people either: it's more "Toy Story meets Grand Theft Auto." I guess I have an aversion to writing about humans and people. 

I dunno. I'm all worried and shit. I'll see this to the end because that's something super important to me, but it would suck if I wrote something that isn't really sellable. Brian Jacques got away with his Redwall novels because they were aimed at kids, but what I wrote really isn't a kid's book. As an enjoyer of fantasy, I'm cool with talking animal people and shit, but I'm also a member of this forum. Doesn't mean I'm the norm or that a like-minded adult would pick up a book with a cat creature on the cover. 

This has been thought vomit. I don't know how to end this.


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## Gnarl (Jan 27, 2014)

Many of us feel the pain. I started to write my longest novel... way back in 1989. I wrote the first two pages and threw it in a drawer. 
in 1994 I found it again and it became a different book. Each time I picked it up it changed. then after I finally finished writing it I thought if I left it I would come back with a different point of view and be able to edit it. I found that if I did that it would never get published as I would always think it needed more work. After I had the copy wright in hand I said to hell with it and put it out there. It has been a year now and every month when that check for the sales comes in, I wonder to myself, why are they reading this? Then I read the reviews and am still in shock, they like it! I had almost thrown it away thinking it no more than a sex fantasy about a guy who get frozen in the artic and then awoken ten thousand years later by a bunch of females who all want to breed with him! Too bad they are not human, but human hybrids! The point is if you don't just swallow hard and take a deep breath and go for it... it will never happen!


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## Conker (Jan 27, 2014)

I'm very much going to go through with it. The thing is: I want to get it publish published. Self publishing is the fallback if literally no one will buy it from me, but god damn would I love to walk into a book store and see my name on something.

I think it's a solid fantasy story with some fun ideas that I haven't run into before. It's just, the furry shit is my big worry. I'll see what happens of course, and if I truly need to, I could make most of the characters human, but damn, that would kill some of the charm. It's such a fun aesthetic to work with, but ti's also the biggest factor against this being picked up by anyone of note.


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## Hooky (Jan 30, 2014)

I wouldn't worry about it. If the story is unique, the characters likeable and the narrative clever, people should read it.


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## Conker (Jan 30, 2014)

Hooky said:


> I wouldn't worry about it. If the story is unique, the characters likeable and the narrative clever, people should read it.


Eh. I hope that's true. 

I'm probably getting ahead of myself all the same with this. Fucker isn't even edited yet. It's just, I'd hate to have put so many days into this and have it not pan out or for me to fall back on self publishing, which is fine I guess. I mean, I'd need to put some money into advertising space (hello banner ads!) but it would just be cool if this got picked up by someone huge. I don't even want money for it in a way. Thad be nice, but I'm more going for "PUBLISHED!"


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