I've seen the forum mentioned here a few times It's supposed to be strictly for romance genres. Does anyone know about this first hand? I went over to check it out but its a pay to use forum. I've never seen or used a forum that you need to pay for.
The forum started out erotica-centric, but now the most commonly discussed genre is romance (of varying types). There are a lot of people writing in non-romance genres, as well, but the bulk of the discussions about genres probably center around romance. A lot of the discussions aren't genre-specific, however.idontknowyet said:I've seen the forum mentioned here a few times It's supposed to be strictly for romance genres. Does anyone know about this first hand? I went over to check it out but its a pay to use forum. I've never seen or used a forum that you need to pay for.
Those keep me out of it. Just saying.Shelley K said:The paywall and the no-lurking policy keep the forum business-oriented. I'm a fan of that.
Is DD useful? Worth the cost?Shelley K said:The paywall and the no-lurking policy keep the forum business-oriented. I'm a fan of that.
Whether or not it's worth the cost for you isn't something anyone else can really answer. There are very few regulars who aren't working their booties off writing, publishing, marketing, with an aim at profit and/or career-level income. You don't get the drive-bys who want to publish a book of poetry or that one novel they've been writing for a decade, or the people who can't be bothered to google answers to questions like "what's KDP?" I have nothing against anybody who lovingly crafted a novel for a decade (glances in my own trunk), but unless that person is then ready to launch it like a businessperson who wants to make money off it, they might not find much there that's useful.Wired said:Is DD useful? Worth the cost?
A policy against lurkers. To remain a member, you have to participate.What's a no-lurking policy?
This is my sentiment exactly about why joining a private and/or paying membership group can help. One of the biggest frustrations I have with most writing forums is the influx of people who can't be bothered to read. Anything at all. Rules, TOS, Google results, writing books, any other books... They want their hands held and someone to coddle them through the business of selling books. Or else they think there's secret, magic formula that's being withheld from them, and if we'd just get over ourselves and tell them what it is, so they can become rich, everything would be super.Shelley K said:Whether or not it's worth the cost for you isn't something anyone else can really answer. There are very few regulars who aren't working their booties off writing, publishing, marketing, with an aim at profit and/or career-level income. You don't get the drive-bys who want to publish a book of poetry or that one novel they've been writing for a decade, or the people who can't be bothered to google answers to questions like "what's KDP?" I have nothing against anybody who lovingly crafted a novel for a decade (glances in my own trunk), but unless that person is then ready to launch it like a businessperson who wants to make money off it, they might not find much there that's useful.
Also, I think people who are truly unwilling to invest $5 or $10 for a month to see if it will help their business are probably not going to benefit that much from the place anyway, so the paywall works well for those within and without.
A policy against lurkers. To remain a member, you have to participate.
I don't write erotica, so I'm not a DD member. But I've paid for many forum memberships (up to $100/mo) to support other businesses.oakwood said:If DD may be useful to you depends on who you are, what you write, and most importantly if you might need / want peer suppport
I agree with the sentiment that DD is very biz-focused. There is less social chitchat and more how/why/when/where to do things in order to become better, target the market and grow sales. Some members are very experienced and continously top the sales charts, others are just starting out and have 1 failed book under their belt but want to become better.
Main bulk of writers are in romance (of all sorts) although cozy also has a clique.
There is a predominant focus on writing-to-market (writing exactly what readers want in specific sub-genres).
There is a strong focus on productivity, setting up series, writing fast, cover choice for max exposure etc.
There are several accountability threads where writers either join in quests or are open with sales numbers etc.
Again, its biz-oriented. Worth every penny of you have a couple of books and decide its time to ramp up. Less worth the money of you are just starting out imho.
I had a look at it the last time I saw it mentioned here. The landing page for the forum struck me as crudely pornographic, so I didn't look further.Shelley K said:The forum started out erotica-centric, but now the most commonly discussed genre is romance (of varying types). There are a lot of people writing in non-romance genres, as well, but the bulk of the discussions about genres probably center around romance. A lot of the discussions aren't genre-specific, however.
The paywall and the no-lurking policy keep the forum business-oriented. I'm a fan of that.
Good call, because it's filled with erotica and steamy romance writers, and a lot of frank language about such things. If a single short sentence with the word anal in it as part of a humorous image was enough to put you off, you'd hate the place. The page did its job.DarkScribe said:I had a look at it the last time I saw it mentioned here. The landing page for the forum struck me as crudely pornographic, so I didn't look further.
Yep, just like a good book cover, you were forewarned about what would be found inside. You prob made a good call, as there is no bad language filter there, and it is most definitely not 'family friendly' like this place. Which is another good reason for the paywall. It def shouldn't be publicly searchable.DarkScribe said:I had a look at it the last time I saw it mentioned here. The landing page for the forum struck me as crudely pornographic, so I didn't look further.
DD is the opposite. They keep membership low and encourage newbie questions. Still one of the best in my opinion, because some of the most business savvy romance authors hang out there and will actually take the time to answer the questions with little to no snark. Almost everything you ever need to know is there and the people running it really care if you're successful. I mean no one can make you successful. You have to do that yourself, but they have a lot of resources if you want to learn.Anarchist said:I don't write erotica, so I'm not a DD member. But I've paid for many forum memberships (up to $100/mo) to support other businesses.
Every forum is unique, of course. But in my experience, the signal-to-noise ratio tends to be high. The best ones, in my opinion, maintain higher price points and limit membership. Doing so minimizes the volume of newbie questions.
When I first joined it was free. When they started charging it was a low cost and I learned so much there I felt it was definitely worth 5 bucks to me. I make a lot more than that and it's largely due to what I learned there.Laran Mithras said:Those keep me out of it. Just saying.
I'm sure Dirty Discourse doesn't care.
You should join for a month I think you'd enjoy it - afaik you write non-fic so a lot might not apply to you, but there's a lot of business discussion that's applicable across almost all niches. There are quite a few non-romance subforums or closed groups, too.Anarchist said:I don't write erotica, so I'm not a DD member. But I've paid for many forum memberships (up to $100/mo) to support other businesses.
Every forum is unique, of course. But in my experience, the signal-to-noise ratio tends to be high. The best ones, in my opinion, maintain higher price points and limit membership. Doing so minimizes the volume of newbie questions.
I didn't realize that. Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out.AR W said:You should join for a month I think you'd enjoy it - afaik you write non-fic so a lot might not apply to you, but there's a lot of business discussion that's applicable across almost all niches. There are quite a few non-romance subforums or closed groups, too.
Hell, crude jokes are a draw for me.AR W said:PSA: no-one sensitive to a crude joke should join.
lol. Just in case the name Dirty Discourse went over someone's head they added on final, less subtle warning.Shelley K said:Good call, because it's filled with erotica and steamy romance writers, and a lot of frank language about such things. If a single short sentence with the word anal in it as part of a humorous image was enough to put you off, you'd hate the place. The page did its job.
Except it's five bucks, not the major investment of buying a car.jb1111 said:I looked at it, saw that there was an entrance fee -- even just to read any of the forums.
I won't join a forum I can't see first. It's like buying a car without even knowing the make or the mileage.
That's true. I can't put a price tag on what I learned there. If I did it'd be a lot more than 5 bucks. That's 60 bucks a year invested in your career.Shelley K said:Except it's five bucks, not the major investment of buying a car.
If you don't want to spend $5 to have access, I promise that you're not missing out on anything that you'd find useful. This is the paywall working as it should to protect the people and the info inside and make it more likely that people who join will benefit from it.