Indie Publishing Music Playlist

Why, yes! There is a theme...

The Verge's Bad Romance

The Verge had an interesting article on Monday that summarizes the issues with the recent kerfluffles in the romance community.

I've spoken a little about #cockygate (here) as well as #tiffanygate (here) in between all my tests and doctor's visits.

I get wanting to make a buck. I don't object to making a buck.

Nor do I object to properly trademarking your SERIES name or a man writing romance.

But as a former attorney myself, I have a serious problem with using the law as a weapon to prevent competition as in Faleena Hopkins's case. I have an even bigger problem with Chance Carter's bizarre sex cult of personality shtick.

However, the absolute worst to me is Amazon out-and-out lying about their ability to track page reads in the KU program. With little authors like me testing the system, we know damn well they can't! It's one of the reasons I dropped out of KU a year ago. The only way I could make money through Amazon alone was by joining the Dark Side.

Frankly, I did better in Barnes & Noble and the iTunes store anyway so it wasn't worth the spiffy red lightsabre or the black robes.

Would I like to make millions of dollars? Hell, yeah! But not at the expense of writing. Because I have as much fun writing these stories as you all do reading them.

And I can live with that.

Monday Movie Mania - The Bookclub

I have no girlfriends in the town where I'm currently living. And while DH is pretty tolerant of most of my movie peccadillos, he draws the line at anything remotely close to women's fiction.

The Bookclub is a little gem of a flick that doesn't just hit the proverbial nail when it comes to the trials and tribulations of middle-aged women in America. It disintegrates the nail with the might of Mjolnir.

Even more impressive is The Bookclub has lasted in our little cinema for nearly two months. Long after some of this year's blockbusters have disappeared.


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SPOILERS


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PROS
1) The cast is superb!

2) It's rare for any movie these days to touch on the lives of older women. As an older woman, I can say each woman's story hits very close to home. Especially after a conversation I had with my friend in Nashville about what we'd do if something happened to our husbands.

3) The device of the Fifty Shades trilogy was actually humorous, not icky. The books were the macguffins to get the protagonists to evaluate their life choices.

4) I love the main theme--just because you're old doesn't mean you're dead.

5) Not everyone had a perfect HEA, but all the endings were satisfying.


CONS
1) The pacing could have been better. Overall, it was jerky, and the middle seriously sagged.


Overall, I would give The Bookclub 8 stars out of 10.

Indie Publishing Music Playlist

A long time ago . . . well, seven years ago, I put together a positive, in-your-face playlist to perk me up when people were trying to drag down the indie publishing movement.

Now, I need a little pick-me-up as I try to tackle my 2018 schedule that got blown to hell with the cancer. So here we go...

Amazon on the Warpath or a Different Type of Conflict Diamond

While I was recovering from surgery over the past six weeks, Amazon cracked down on a few people scamming their Kindle Unlimited (KU) service.

(For those new to the world of indie publishing, a publisher can place their books in the Kindle Select program. While this gives the publisher access to special promotions, the books must be exclusive to Amazon and are automatically enrolled in KU. Readers pay $9.99 a month for KU, and they can read as many books as they wish within the program.)

From the advent of indie publishing, people have tried to con Amazon and/or readers. Private label rights was a big issue right from the beginning. Amazon yanked that crap pretty damn quick.

Since the start of KU, folks have been gaming the system to make the most bucks possible. Now, I don't have a problem with people making a buck or two. But I prefer doing it by writing an entertaining story that people want to read. Not by cheating readers, or retailers, out of their hard-earned money.

During the first iteration of KU (referred to as KU 1.0 by most indie writers), Amazon paid the publisher the full retail price once the customer read 10% of the book. Indie writers quickly figured out shorter works hit the threshold faster, triggering the payout sooner. Which meant a lot of short scenes that didn't even qualify as flash fiction were published on KU and irritated the hell out of readers.

Within a year, Amazon ditched the first version of KU for KU 2.0, a system that allegedly counted the number of pages read. Oh, the howls of outrage from the short story writers.

Until they figured out that Amazon COULDN'T actually count the number of pages the customer read. The number of cons to get the maximum amount of money by getting the readers to click to the end of the books exploded. Hell, I'm not even going to try to list them all here.

But Amazon couldn't ignore one major scam any longer. To do so would make them internationally liable.

It has to do with sweepstakes-style contests. Many countries have very strict laws governing these type of contests. In many more, these contests are very illegal. And since entrance was through Amazon's online store, they could/would be held equally guilty as the indie publisher.

A few indie writers went too far. It's one thing to offer a free e-book when a customer signs up for your newsletter. It's another when a indie writer offers to give away diamonds.

*facepalm*

Yeah, the diamond trade is pretty heavily regulated on an international level. I don't know what this author was thinking.

Or he wasn't thinking. He just wanted his readers to make money for him by clicking to the end of his books.

Amazon pulled everything he had down: e-books, print books, and audio books. All that potential income--gone. Just because someone got greedy.

So when someone offers you a sure-fire way of making thousands of dollars through e-book publishing, think twice, do your research, and read the terms of service on the retailer's webpage.

Because screwing people over may not bite you in the ass today or tomorrow, but one day, Karma will and she'll take a bigger chunk than a megalodon.

Monday Movie Mania - The Incredibles 2

After fourteen years, we finally have the sequel to what I think is the best Pixar movie next to Up! And the theater staff didn't give us the wrong  tickets this time!


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SPOILERS!!


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PROS
1) I2 focuses on Helen Parr/Elastigirl (much to the excitement of the little girl sitting in front of us at the theater). But it's not just about the superheroics. It's about the jobs a parent will take when their kids are homeless.

2) On the other hand, Bob/Mr. Incredible deals with the issues of the role of men in our culture. At first, he's angry and hurt that his wife is tapped to be the PR example for the possible return of the supers. But he finds his parenting skills as the stay-at-home dad without losing his identity of what it means to be a man.

3) Like the original, the sequel emphasizes the qualities of family and working together.

4) The subtle dig at the need for representation. Void's fangirling of Elastigirl onscreen mirrored the young movie girl sitting in front of me. We all need to see someone like us, someone who shows us how to be our best selves.

5) Edna's bounding with Jack-Jack was too freakin' adorable.


CONS
1) Not enough Edna!


The Incredibles 2 lived up to its original and expanded on its themes. Overall, I give it 10 stars out of 10.

Monday Movie Mania - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

DH and I intended to see The Incredibles 2. I asked for tickets for The Incredibles 2. But I only glanced at the theater number and not the title on my actual ticket.

We found seats in a very packed audience. The lights went down, but the logo for Universal Studios rolled across the big screen instead of the Disney and Pixar logos. DH and I looked at each other. He shrugged and said, "Well, we were planning to see this next week." So we stayed.

After the movie, I check our stubs and receipts. It wasn't just the movie that was screwed up. So we asked to see the theater manager. I was polite, listed the issues, and merely suggested that the girl who waited on us seemed overwhelmed and might need some additional training.

I give the manager props. She went above and beyond to make everything right. In fact, she refunded our tickets, even they both DH and I emphasized we'd planned to see Jurassic World 2 the following week anyway. So, many kudos to the manager.

Which bring me to the movie itself...


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SPOILERS


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PROS
1) Ummm...dinosaurs?


CONS
1) A world-class cast totally wasted trying to work with a redundant, repetitive, uninteresting script.

2) That's not even taking into account the total lack of character development. The previous four movies at least made a token effort.

3) You're going to figure out the one twist with the introduction of that character.

4) Making female characters dumber than a box of rocks. I thought we'd gotten past that. Or was this backlash to #METOO?

5) We've reached the limit when Spielberg and crew make DINOSAURS BORING!


Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is one of those movies we would watch when there's nothing better to do on a cold, snowy January night, and it shows up on Netflix, FX, or TNT. Actually, I'd probably watch it for a few minutes before popping in Guardians of the Galaxy if I was in that much of a Chris Pratt mood. So, I guess it's a good thing we ended up watching it for free.

Overall, I give Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom 3 stars out of 10. And those 3 stars are for Scar the T-rex's scenes.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

We're gonna rock with Def Leppard!

Writing Tidbit

Dean Wesley Smith posted this video on his own blog because creator Michael La Ronn talked about Dean's book Writing Into the Dark.

For the record, I read Dean's book some time ago. And I pretty much gave up outlining back in 2008 when I wrote Amish, Vamps & Thieves. These days, I do a half-assed combination of plotting and pantsing. As in, I know how/where the story starts, I know how/where the story ends.

The middle stuff? I just start typing and leave it to the characters to figure out how they are getting from Point A to Point Z. It's basically my own weird version of The Amazing Race. LOL

Anyway, I watched Michael's video, and I was intrigued. He has some interesting spiritual/psychological insights beyond Dean's "Just the facts, ma'am" delivery. I ended up subscribing to Michael's YouTube channel to watch the rest of his videos on writing. And I'll probably check out his fantasy novels, too.

So check out Michael's commentary on Writing Into the Dark and see if he can help your process.

The Summer Shorts Sampler

I'm not in this promotion, but a couple of writers I know are. Lots of good stories, but I highly recommend Joseph Bradshire's "Fire Flower" and Stuart J. Whitmore's "Wolf Block".

Even better? All the stories in The Summer Shorts Sampler are FREE!

So load up your phone, tablet or e-reader before that Fourth of July roadtrip. This is a great way to try some new-to-you authors!