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Distribution is not standard, each one has their own fees and practices and rules to follow. Always read the fine print or you could lose distribution rights to your own work.

This goes double for singular stores like Kobo and Amazon who focus their distribution on themselves and libraries. They have global market access but it's through their sites. Pay attention to what you're signing away.

Research the BISAC, know the categories your book will be listed under. Distributors or stores could refuse to list your work because you tagged it incorrectly. This will also help you learn your genre and how to market your work by looking at how others in that genre market theirs. But I will tell you, from experience, people prefer casual over cookie cutter. Be yourself, show off your words, be proud of what you've done and people will notice. The trick to marketing is reach, which I do not have but I am a scared little cup. Be better than me.

Your book doesn't actually have to be perfect, perfection is a myth and even professionally edited material contains typos and errors. Look up standards for formatting in ebook and print (they're different and may even change depending on age group you're writing for). Become familiar with punctuation and grammatical rules (where to put commas, quotes, how to use an em dash, etc). Then get your manuscript as good as you can. If you can't hire someone, do your best and add to your beta form that you're looking for editorial mistakes. Your readers can help here, you just need stuff you missed. Be aware that hiring an editor isn't a one and done affair. They offer multiple types of editing, so know what you need.

If your book is over...say...20kwords? You need beta readers. You can get away with not having them for shorter work as it's easier to edit that on your own and find errors, but longer work needs extra eyes. Set up forms to weed out the bots, keep it to those in your community so you know they are your readers (alternatively list comp titles in the form so people know what they're getting into and tell them you're only looking for people who like those genres/styles), and be sure to send out free copies to them once published (if physical, sign them). Merch is cool too, if you have it. Most work for free and I personally do not trust any who claim to do it professionally...but that's me. Your money is your money.

If you have concerns about Amazon, or want nothing to do with the Draft2Digital $12/year fee and brand new support of 'AI-assisted content', have heard the horrors of IngramSpark and Lulu and wish to run screaming...well, you're going to have a hard time. Welcome to the club. Itch.io is a friend as is Payhip and Kobo. Those are your new stores. Learn them, love them, be nice to them they're all we have left.

In reality, they usually go down to some large submerged floats.

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.

Drink some water.

Move your body around some if you are able. (Don’t overdo it.)

Think of at least three things you like about yourself. They don’t have to be big things.

If you can get out under that bright shiny ball of fire in the sky for a bit without fucking yourself up, try and do that for a little bit.

That shit you keep meaning to do? Appointments, shopping, whatever? Try to get through at least one step of it. You’ll feel like a fucking superhero.

Reward yourself by doing something that makes you happy. If nothing can make you happy today, try something that USUALLY makes you happy. Watch a Star War or meme something or whatever normally gets your rocks off.

Counting your own breaths while imagining yourself in the most peaceful fucking place you can think of is a great way to calm down if you’re able to focus enough to do so.

Is your mood shitty? I’m sorry to hear that, friend, and I hope you feel better soon, but that’s no excuse to be shitty to other people, dig? If you’re shitty to someone who didn’t deserve it, fucking apologize. Mental illness might be the reason you went off, but it’s not an excuse.

If you didn’t/couldn’t do some or any of the above today, there’s always tomorrow.

His longest, most serious partner was the artist Peter Hujar who helped him quit heroin and mentored him as an artist. The AIDS focused chapters are mainly centered around his rage and grief watching Peter and other friends die.