Writer, translator, art historian🖋️
GHOST APPARENT 2024
@pressorchid
🖋️
DARK WOODS, DEEP WATER 2023🖋️
Words in BCS, The Dark, The Deadlans🖋️
SFWA, Codex 🇭🇷
🌟 LIMITED EDITION🌟
🌟 HARDBACK SET 🌟
💫 Dark Woods, Deep Water (novel)
💫 Ghost Apparent (novella)
💫 handwritten note & lino print by me
💫 3 full-colour character art postcards by
@DoryWhynot
💫Ghost Orchid Press bookmarks and sticker
Preorder link in next post.
If I used pirated software to build my company and make money, tech companies would sue me to hell and back, but if they use my art to build their company and make money it's somehow fair use.
Can anyone explain why?
Just a reminder that the chief AI scientist at Meta not only thinks authors should provide their works for free, but he and Meta will just pirate them anyway and claim fair use. This isn't an obvious agenda at all...
I think you should go fuck yourself.
In the society where you need money to survive, perpetuating the lie that all artists make art for a higher cause is lethal.
Yes, our art touches people.
No, that does not pay the rent.
Pay the artists.
Pay the artists.
Pay the artists.
Publishing a book is a great litmus test for friendships.
People think true friends show up when you hit the bottom.
But try having a tiny speck of success. Try achieving your dream goal and being happy and proud about it.
You'll see who's happy for you. And who isn't. 🫤
So KT Literary parted ways with Hilary Harwell over that idea-stealing tweet.
I'm glad that pressure from the community worked, but it leaves a bitter taste.
I've never been paranoid about getting my ideas stolen, but the cruelty and tone deafness the agent showed shocked me
I like MBB and wish her all the best. And I understand how the publishing industry works.
But as an author whose book is coming out next week, this makes me want to give up, dig a hole in the ground, curl up in it and die.
Authors need to start being VERY vocal about what tense they’re using bc I’ve been bamboozled AGAIN with 3rd present and now I have this arc I don’t want to read 😭
Hey,
#WritingCommunity
, I posted my introduction because I want to meet more writers, especially SFF/horror writers.
I most emphatically do not want to meet men looking for a hookup. Back off and stop being creepy.
I've stopped raging in silence about the cultural appropriation of all things Slavic, and started writing about it.
This is my take on Slavic fantasy, my own novel and labels in publishing, fresh on SFWA Blog.
Thanks to
@RoxanaArama
for helping me.
@erotaigaArt
Not paying creatives is a choice, as is devaluing humanities. We must ask ourselves why our society makes those choices and who benefits from them.
Small presses and SFF magazines are rewriting their submission guidelines to show they stand with writers, against the AI-generated content.
But where are the big publishers?
I stopped querying a year ago yet it still triggers me when I see what writers face.
Agents should remember that queries - a tedious daily routine for them - are years of someone's work and their career dreams bundled together.
They deserve a professional, straight, timely reply.
This is not passive voice. Verb "to be" + -ing form of the verb is continuous *tense*.
Passive *voice* is formed when the verb acts upon the subject.
Bob was walking. -> active voice, past continuous
Bob was kissed. -> passive voice
So, in a nutshell, a quick way to spot passive voice is if you have is, are, was, or were in a description or paired with a verb ending in “ing.” Passive voice has its place sometimes, but for the most part, try to have vivid descriptions and active voice instead. Okay, next. 9/?
I write mostly dark stuff, but occasionally my brain produces something funny.
For all those poor querying souls out there, here's a list of Seven literary agents who will never represent you
Important: there's a difference between indie and self pub.
Trad pub wants you to believe that the only alternative to querying, getting an agent and subbing to big publishers is doing everything yourself.
That's a lie.
There are many independent publishers out there. 1/3
Big bestsellers make publishing smaller authors possible?
But:
- trickle down economy is a lie
- publishers throw shitloads of money on celebs who don't earn out
- the money bestsellers earn goes to those lavish deals or to shareholders' pockets
- most debuts are paid peanuts
Here we go again 😁
Hello,
#WritingCommunity
I'm Jelena, an ESL writer and art historian. I write dark fantasy + horror + Slavic folklore.
My novel, Dark Woods, Deep Water came out last year, and my novella Ghost Apparent is coming out in September.
All links in bio.
😽🗡️💀🇭🇷
@DHuskytron
Do publishing execs have pirated MS Office on their laptops? If they don't, why do they think it's ok to take my copyrighted work and use it?
Whenever artists ask to be paid fairly, there's always backlash from a certain group of people who believe they could be great artists but somehow never got round to create anything.
It's not my pay that hurts you, buddy, it's your broken dreams.
This.
Publishing has an unhealthy obsession with sparkling debuts.
Did we forget that artists need to grow, develop, mature? That they need to feel safe to keep producing and growing?
If every great writer was judged on their debut, there'd be few great writers.
you want Discworld? You pay Pratchett to start with The Carpet People
Hilary Mantel was first published in the 80s and Wolf Hall didn't appear until *2009*
investing in authors as practitioners of a craft produces their best work, fireworks are pretty but vanish just as quickly
My dark fantasy tale inspired by Slavic mythology DARK WOODS, DEEP WATER
will be out in September.
Add it on Goodreads:
You can also preorder it here:
Paperback
Kindle
I hate, hate, hate writing middles.
60k in, shoveling sand, nothing makes sense, this is horrible, which idiot plotted this, the characters are running wild, etc.
Send pics of pets and food pls.
😭
Pro-paying fantasy short story markets are so decimated that after one rejection, I have only two more magazines I can send my story to.
Four or five more will perhaps open later this year... and that's all.
So, 7 or 8 shots at <1% acceptance markets, and that's it.
Does horror as a genre allow writers to write an unhappy ending, or more precisely, the ending the characters didn't deserve?
SFF doesn't, in my experience, and it bugs me very much.
"Dark Woods, Deep Water" is out in the world today.
If you like dark, Gothic fantasy fuelled by sorrow and rage, if you want vengeful Slavic gods, tired, disillusioned heroes and clever rogues, give it a try.
"Dark Woods, Deep Water" is out today!
A huge thank you to my publisher
@PressOrchid
, to the amazing cover artist Liiga Klavina, to reviewers and everyone who supported me on my journey.
❤️
I shouldn't angry tweet, but what the publishing industry seems to tell us lately is that there are no 'good' and 'bad' agents and agencies. This is capitalism, there's only profit, commissions, 7-figure deals. Writers are expendable, cannon fodder for the industry.
Nobody: ...
Absolutely nobody: ...
Goodreads: Yeah, let's remove Children's, MG, Poetry and Graphic Novel categories in the attempt to become even more useless, obsolete and hostile to books, and chase superficial fads instead.
I woke up to a publishing tweet gone viral.
Thank you all for your kind words, the writing community is still strong here ❤️💪
Thank you for pre-ordering my book.
Thank you for sharing my posts.
Thank you for following.
Here's my book links:
@ravavyr
Nope, it was ghostwritten for her. And to be clear - I don't resent her for slapping her name on the cover. But I do resent the industry that promotes celebrities who don't write, but ignores the actual writers.
If you're into pagan vibes for the holidays, why not try something with Slavic gods, dark snowy forests and bleak winter weather?
"Dark Woods, Deep Water" is my debut dark fantasy novel.
Links in bio.
@audreywrites
That's absolutely fine. I refuse to eat a number of foods, but I don't go around calling myself a food critic and shouting how much I hate rice.
Dark Woods, Deep Water is available on NetGalley.
If you want a dark fantasy tale about a cursed castle and morally grey protagonists making wrong choices, give it a try.
New publishing low: a magazine threatening any writer who withdraws a submission for any reason with immediate blacklisting.
💩
Is this how you treat your partners? Is this how you build your business? Is this how you show respect to the creatives your magazine depends on?
GHOST APPARENT cover reveal!
Beautiful artwork by
@miavern
Ghost Apparent will be published by
@PressOrchid
on 24 September.
It's available for preorder in their shop or on Am*zon.
Add it on Goodreads!
One of the rare advantages of being an introvert with no friends is when people discover someone's a horrible person and writing Twitter explodes in a storm of accusations once again, you vaguely remember you've heard the cursed name once or twice and get on with your day.
It's my birthday today!
If you want to make me super happy, you can preorder my book:
100% human generated content, involving my blood, sweat and tears and three years of my life.
Cover by the amazing (and also 100% human) Liiga Klavina.
Thank you!
Indie publishers are a good in-between option if you don't want trad pub but can't self publish.
Just like with agents, you have to do your research: there are scammers and well-meaning amateurs out there, but most indie publishers I know are legit, enthusiastic book lovers. 3/3
This is a massive win!
Jingna Zhang has fought a long, hard fight for copyright protection. In the current climate, where artwork is stolen without second thought, this court decision is incredibly important for all artists.
I won. I won my appeal.
The Luxembourg court has ruled that Jeff Dieschburg infringed upon my copyright when he used my work without consent.
Using a different medium was irrelevant. My work being 'available online' was irrelevant. Consent was necessary. 1/
The person/tense idiocy just goes on and on.
You know what? Here's my hot take: people who throw tantrums at basic grammar have no fucking business being reviewers.
And they have absolutely no fucking business publicly shaming writers whose ARCs they've been given in good faith.
So true.
Without understanding how religion exploits the weak and the vulnerable, hijacks resources, imposes a rigid hierarchy that protects the patriarchy and status quo and strives to be a major political force one indeed cannot write good historical fantasy.
I find those "What did you look as a kid / teen?" posts hilarious.
We had no camera phones.
All my photos are crammed into boxes in my parents' house. If I wanted to see my 13 yo face, I'd have to drive over there and dig them out.
This inaccessibility makes me very happy.
I can finally share with you that my dark fantasy about a desolate castle ruled by the Goddess of Death will be published by
@PressOrchid
in September 2023
✒️ AUTHOR SIGNING! Jelena Dunato✒️
A deal with the Goddess of Death turns a desolate castle into a lethal trap in this Slavic folklore-inspired dark fantasy by
@jelenawrites
.
DARK WOODS, DEEP WATER will be published by Ghost Orchid Press in Sept 2023.
It's time for my 2023 short fiction submission stats, yay!
Submissions: 117
Pending: 12
Acceptances: 7
Personal rejections: 13
Form rejections: 85
In the shrinking short story market, with me writing hard-to-sell dark fantasy and horror, I consider this a success.
@marinamaral2
I visited his favourite castle, Konopiště, and when I saw how many animals he'd killed and hung on his walls, I was kind of sad they didn't stuff and mount him after the assassination.
Indie publishers will do for you most things a big publisher will do: edit and format your work, comission cover art, market and distribute your book.
They are faster, more approachable, usually genre oriented and connected with their readers. 2/3
@JoaoSilvaWrites
What bugs me more is the attitude, the callousness with which the agent tossed one query into trash and demanded something similar as if it were their call
@chrisknyfe_
@erotaigaArt
It starts before, in primary school where STEM subjects are seen as the core and arts and humanities something you do as a hobby
@mssakshinarula
I think this was just one stupidly misjudged tip of the iceberg made public. I find it hard to hate one person when the whole system is broken. Ideally, she should have apologized and learnt from it. Now the other rotten apples will simply keep quiet about it.
I can't wait for the big publishers to finally use all-AI publishing team to publish AI-written books for bots to pirate and scrape and churn out more rubbish so the rest of us can finally go back to handwritten letters and telling silly stories by the fire.
Nebula nominations are now open. My debut novel, Dark Woods, Deep Water is on the reading list. I know it is a small indie novel, but it would make me insanely happy if you considered nominating it. Thank you.
I cringe every time I see this.
Some authors just want to say the curtains are blue. Some weave in all kinds of symbolism.
BUT
It's your English teacher's job to teach you how to look for meaning in a text and not take everything at face value like a goddam idiot.
I'm so excited about something in my inbox that I'm alternating between squealing around the house and chewing on dry muesli, too excited to work or sleep.
And I want to share it but I also want to keep it to myself for a little while and just enjoy the bubbles in my head.
I wrote about the experience of being an ESL writer on my blog - about my love for English, about the problems with diversity and the feeling of insincerity.
I'd love to hear from other ESL writers.
The contract is signed so now I can announce that I've sold my poem "Five Easy Hairstyles for Snake-Haired Girls" to
@SmallwondersSFF
If your snakes are feeling a bit lifeless and limp, this is the right poem for you.
@JoaoSilvaWrites
I still find it so hard to believe, because I think that ideas without execution are mostly worthless. I don't fall for concepts, but then, I don't write high concept books 😕
If you want dark Slavic fantasy written by a Croatian author, try DARK WOODS, DEEP WATER.
It will be out in September.
Add it on Goodreads:
Preorder it here:
Paperback
Kindle
@ClaudiaRappDE
Hah, thank you. I have plenty of promotional tweets for my book, but this wasn't one of them 😂 It's just that the publishing burnout is real and despite all efforts to stay positive and focused on my own work, things come out of the left field and shoot me down.
Tell me you've never been an Eastern European immigrant living in Western Europe without telling me you've never been an Eastern European immigrant living in Western Europe.
How often have white people who live in a dominantly white country told other white people to “go back to their country?”
That insult is aimed at PoC and PoC only because even if you’re a national, it’ll be thrown at you.
We've launched "Dark Woods, Deep Water" in my hometown. Knowing how stressed I was, my husband took over PR and did a fantastic job. So many friends and colleagues came and made the evening perfect.
So anyways, I don't have an agent, but I do have an indie publisher and a novel coming out in September.
If you want to support small presses and diverse authors, please preorder it.
DARK WOODS, DEEP WATER by Jelena Dunato
Staggering the line between fairytale and brutality, this novel will appeal to fans of Katherine Arden and Naomi Novik, as well as lovers of classic Gothic fiction.
Amazon:
Our store:
@gailmoon
No, and the power imbalance will always be there. However, the community response and the demand that the agents should do better gives me some hope.
Querying is hard for everyone. Bad critiques are hard for everyone. Rejection is hard for everyone.
It's the system that's broken and rigged and inefficient, not the people.
Fix the publishing, don't blame the writers for being weak. They're not weak.
Thinking about this this a.m. so I say this with the greatest kindness:
if querying is hard for you if reading reviews is hard for you if getting critiques is hard for you, traditional publishing will bring you nothing but heartbreak
it might be worth it, it truly might not
There's a special kind of sadness when you finish a very good book, the need to remain in that world a little longer, to keep the characters close for just a little while more.
I always thought that "fear the people who've read only one book" was about religious texts, but it seems that it's also about those who've read only one fantasy series.
I wish some people would learn that
1)"Medieval" covers a period of 1000 years (5th-15th cent) and
2) "Europe" covers the territory from Scandinavia to Greece, from Spain to Russia
before voicing their ridiculous opinions.
Go read some history and buy a map.
Should authors of secondary-world fantasy still write worlds that are heavily inspired by Medieval Europe?
(I saw a BookTuber saying it ought not to be done anymore. I agree with her it would be better to have more variety, but is Medieval Europe in your view completely over?)
The discourse how authors can't move the sales needle no matter how much they promote their book?
I know that. Every indie writer does.
And yet.
It's my book. I love it. And out there, someone else will love it too.
For that tiny chance that our hearts will sync, I do all this.
🎉 AUTHOR SIGNING! Ghost Apparent by Jelena Dunato 🎉
We are thrilled to announce GHOST APPARENT, a new novella by Jelena Dunato, author of Dark Woods, Deep Water.
Find out more on our website:
Dark Woods, Deep Water
🎧 audiobook 🎧
I'm thrilled to announce that I've signed a contract with Spotify and that DWDW audiobook will be released on 19 March. It will be included in Spotify's Audiobooks Premium catalog and available at their 40+ distribution partners.
"Dark Woods, Deep Water" is now available in paperback, ebook and audio formats (check my bio).
Give this dark little indie book a chance to make you sad. 💀🖤
@SketchesbyBoze
"Ježeva kućica" (Hedgehog's Home) by Branko Ćopić, illustrated by Vilko Gliha Selan. This edition was first published in 1957 and it's been a classic ever since.
Reading comprehension at its lowest.
Stories reflect real life, good things and bad. Writing about hard subjects - death, grief, SA, violence doesn't mean you enjoy them.
It's cathartic, it's lived experience, it's true. 1/2