Novels - A Guide

[Rothchild]

Conclusion: hells of disappointing.  I was hoping the library'd at least do something, I guess its effect is either a LIE or is limited to skilling.  I'll test that next.

Three tests are hardly conclusive.  I thought I read in one of the XML's that the library gave some percent increase in the chance of hits and best sellers, so I searched through all the GameplayData.package XML's and found this;

In the Book XML it states the library grants a bonus 1 point per minute when reading.
In the Homework XML it states the completion rate modifier from the library is 1.111.
In the BuffPowerStudy XML it states the "working from home" performance (for workaholics) multiplier for the library is 1.5.

Absolutely no mention of any writing bonuses.

[J. M. Pescado]

The interesting thing is I can't actually find a modifier inside skilling anywhere for the library effect. I can definitely confirm the existence of the homework and work effect, though. It makes "Work from Home" a bit of a misnomer, really.

[Roflganger]

In the BuffPowerStudy XML is states the "working from home" performance multiplier for the library is 1.5.  What "working from home" is exactly, I'm not sure, but I'd guess it's writing reports and articles for your job.

Workaholic Sims have the option to "Work from home", which allows them to raise their performance outside their work hours on a computer.  

[Rothchild]

The interesting thing is I can't actually find a modifier inside skilling anywhere for the library effect. I can definitely confirm the existence of the homework and work effect, though. It makes "Work from Home" a bit of a misnomer, really.

Is skilling modified by the speed at which you read the skill book? I keep wanting to think PPM is Pages Per Minute, when it's Points Per Minute.  Since the Homework skill gets 10 PPM (3 PPM if you copy homework), 1 PPM doesn't seem like much.

Code:

<kBookLibraryReadPPMBonus value="1" />

Workaholic Sims have the option to "Work from home", which allows them to raise their performance outside their work hours on a computer.

Thank you.  I edited my post.

Book Values...
From the Writing XML I calculated the average pages and average unmodified royalties for each book type to find the royalties per page.  Most of the results were obvious, but I like to have hard numbers when picking the best thing to do.  I was a bit shocked at how well Childrens ranked.

Masterpiece - 1.463
Vaudeville - 1.288
Romance - 1.104
Satire - 1.086
Childrens - 0.857
Fantasy - 0.75
Mystery - 0.652
Historical - 0.644
Humor - 0.638
Drama - 0.562
Article - 0.554
SciFi - 0.433
Trashy - 0.416
AutoBiography - 0.406
Biography - 0.406
Fiction - 0.333
NonFiction - 0.333

[Gus Smedstad]

From a game-balance point of view, it makes a certain amount of sense because Children's requires that you develop an unrelated skill.  Of course, that ignores the fact that Biography and Autobiography, which aren't particularly easy to unlock, are the worst sellers on the list.

I slightly resent that a category that doesn't really exist is so high paying.  A "vaudeville novel" is a contradiction in terms - by its very nature, vaudeville is not something that translates off the stage.  It's fairly low-quality entertainment even when it is on stage, so it's annoying to see it as the penultimate literary form.

No figures for the bottom two categories, Fiction and Non Fiction?  Though from experience they're both low.

 - Gus

[Rothchild]

No figures for the bottom two categories, Fiction and Non Fiction?  Though from experience they're both low.

Thank you.  I totally missed those two.  For some reason they were much later in the XML and not grouped with the rest.  They both rank the lowest at 0.333.  The list was edited to include them.

[Nerzhal]

- Reading 50 books caps out your speed bonus, seems to be a very tiny linear speed progression per book read from 0 to 50.

Do you have to read 50 different Books or can you just read the same over and over again?

Edit: do books written by yourself also count?

[hooptytrib]

Edit: do books written by yourself also count?

They fulfill reading wishes, so likely yes.

[PolecatEZ]

- Reading 50 books caps out your speed bonus, seems to be a very tiny linear speed progression per book read from 0 to 50.

Do you have to read 50 different Books or can you just read the same over and over again?

Edit: do books written by yourself also count?

Check your "books read" stat in your writing skill page.  I believe repeated books don't count.  You will see the difference when you go to read a book, it will either be "Read XXX" or "Reread XXX".

Yes, your own books count, but only if you read them after you get them in the mail.

[Czezechael]

Three tests are hardly conclusive.  I thought I read in one of the XML's that the library gave some percent increase in the chance of hits and best sellers, so I searched through all the GameplayData.package XML's and found this;

Well, I was honestly hoping more for a bonus in writing speed.  I guess it could just be the RNG and the library actually does give some mysterious invisible bonus to hit/best seller chance, but since most of my experiences with library seemed to make reading, skilling, etc. faster I'd assumed it would have some effect on novel writing rate.

Also, I think rereading books count.  My partner's selfsim regularly got wishes to read many, many books, and rereading books prompted the wishgranting.  Of course my eyes could deceive me, but that's what I recall.

[PolecatEZ]

Also, I think rereading books count.  My partner's selfsim regularly got wishes to read many, many books, and rereading books prompted the wishgranting.  Of course my eyes could deceive me, but that's what I recall.

It may grant the wish, but it doesn't up your permanent stat, just checked.  Under your writing skill tab you will see the stat for the amount of "unique" books you have read.  The good news is that every unique book read makes your reading that much fast for the next one.  Also, short books and articles count just fine, my sim can read a children's book in about 30 game minutes or less.  Fiction, non-fiction, and sci-fi novels go down very easy also.

New question...for everyone.

I parsed the heck out of the xmls and found no bonus to writing for having the "Artistic" trait.  The trait's description mentions that they become better writers, but nothing in the xml code backs that up.

Does the "Artistic" Trait have any global effect on writing, or does it just help one or two genres maybe like other traits?

[Rothchild]

Artistic simply adds a 1.1 multiplier to the speed you learn the Writing skill.  It also multiplies the speed for Guitar by 1.1 and Painting by 1.25.

[Czezechael]

It may grant the wish, but it doesn't up your permanent stat, just checked.  Under your writing skill tab you will see the stat for the amount of "unique" books you have read.  The good news is that every unique book read makes your reading that much fast for the next one.

Wait, so reading moar unique books makes you read faster?  Does this apply to reading skill books too?  Do we have any inkling as to what rate it increasificates at?

[moonluck]

How does one gain the ability to write a Childrens novel?

[dusty]

How does one gain the ability to write a Childrens novel?

I believe by having a certain level of painting skill - level 4 or possibly 5.

[BlueSoup]

How does one gain the ability to write a Childrens novel?

I believe by having a certain level of painting skill - level 4 or possibly 5.

Level 4.  Or by having the childish and/or playful traits.

[Soggy Fox]

Children can write novels too - and they seem to get the option for children's books without painting [I think], but I can't confirm it since my sims tend to learn painting first.

[cuthbert]

My sim got an option to write Political Memoir while she's in the Politics career(9). Problem is, I can't figure out the exact condition to unlock it. When she got an opportunity to write a Political Memoir and bring it to work, I thought it was a one-time thing only available through opportunity like Biography since no one in MATY mentioned 'Political Memoir' except PolecatEZ. Anyway when she got that opportunity she was level 9 in the Politics and reached 10 that day. After finishing writing the memoir she quit the job without completing the opportunity, because completing the opportunity would lose the book forever and I wanted to keep the book in her home. But the option to write Political Memoir is still on her computer. She maximized all of her skills except writing(8-9) and painting(8-9).

Sorry for any grammatical errors, I'm Korean and I'm not good at writing in English.

[witch]

Sorry for any grammatical errors, I'm Korean and I'm not good at writing in English.

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your question - but your English is just fine. More than fine, it's bloody good. 

[FrickinIdjit]

Does anyone know if reading skill books, recipes/bait, and learning songs adds to the "#Books Read"?

[Gus Smedstad]

Yes, they do.  I've completed "read X books" wishes with reading recipes and skill books.  I don't know if it works for songs, since learning a song doesn't use the Read interaction.  If you do it properly, anyway, instead of reading the songbook.

 - Gus

[Motoki]

I will have to try to get the Vaudville one. Childrens one looks like a good deal though. I didn't realize reading books helped you write either. Or going to write at the library, but makes sense. Does having more logic also help? It seems that helps a lot of things.

And good god does the masterpiece ever take long to write. I just had my sim finish one took FOREVER and that was with constantly using the damned moodlet soother too and with all the bonuses like the speed bonus for making $30k from books. But on the upside it was a best seller and she's getting 6 payments of $15K!! 

[ingeli]

I'll ask this here too, probably a better place for it than the Awesome Wish Thread . So, I want my sims novels to be buyable, and I have tried selling them to the bookstore. They don't show up as buyable books. Do they have to be bestsellers for that or what? They are all in the library. Selling them to the bookstore just made them vanish from my sims house, which is sad.

[Gus Smedstad]

They never show up in the bookstore, despite hints to the contrary.  They show up in the library, but otherwise the free copies you get for writing them are the only copies in existence.

 - Gus

[Roflganger]

They never show up in the bookstore, despite hints to the contrary.  They show up in the library, but otherwise the free copies you get for writing them are the only copies in existence.

They can also show up as Book Club books (for bookworm Sims).