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mariacallous · 2 months

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For almost a decade, Nick Roy has been scanning North Korea’s tiny internet presence, spotting new websites coming online and providing a glimpse of the Hermit Kingdoms’ digital life. However, at the end of last year, the cybersecurity researcher and DPRK blogger stumbled across something new: signs North Koreans are working on major international TV shows.

In December, Roy discovered a misconfigured cloud server on a North Korean IP address containing thousands of animation files. Included in the cache were animation cells, videos, and notes discussing the work, plus changes that needed to be made to ongoing projects. Some images appeared to be from an Amazon Prime Video superhero show and an upcoming Max (aka HBO Max) children’s anime.

The findings and security lapse—detailed in a report by the Stimson Center think tank's North Korea–focused 38 North Project, which helped analyze the findings along with Google-owned security firm Mandiant—provide a glimpse at how North Korea can use skilled IT and tech workers to raise funds for its heavily sanctioned regime. It also comes as US officials increasingly warn about North Korean IT workers infiltrating companies and their outsourcing.

North Korea’s internet is a small—and fragile—space. The repressive nation only has 1,024 IP addresses and around 30 websites that connect to the global internet. While there is a limited internal intranet, only a few thousand of the country’s 26 million people can get on the internet. When they do, it’s highly controlled: These select few North Koreans can use the internet for an hour at a time and have a person sitting next to them approving their use every five minutes.

When Roy discovered the exposed cloud server, it was being updated on a daily basis. Martyn Williams, a senior fellow on the 38 North Project who helped analyze the contents of the server, says the server likely allowed work to be sent to and from North Korean animators. The server itself is still live, but it mysteriously stopped being used at the end of February. While there is a login page, its contents can be accessed without a username and password. “I found the login page after I found all the exposed files,” Roy says.

Inside, the files contained editing comments and instructions in Chinese which were translated to Korean, the researchers write in their report. “For a lot of the animation files, we would find things like spreadsheets with details of the workflow,” Williams says. A sample of the files shared with WIRED show detailed anime images and video clips, with notes for the authors and date stamps on various files. In one instance, the report says, an animator was “asked to improve the shape of the character’s head.”

Based on the documents and drawings, the researchers were able to identify some of the shows and projects the North Koreans were working on. Some of the projects included work from season 3 of the Amazon show Invincible, which is produced by California-based Skybound Entertainment. There were also documents linked to Max and Cartoon Network show Iyanu: Child of Wonder, produced by YouNeek Studios, as well as files from a Japanese anime series and an animation studio in Japan.

Some file names gave away clues about the series and episode numbers. There were also files and projects the researchers could not identify—including a “bunch of files” with videos of horses and a Russian book on horses, Williams says.

Sanctions placed upon the North Korean regime, for its ongoing human rights abuses and nuclear warfare programs, prohibit US companies from working with DPRK companies or individuals. However, the researchers say it is highly unlikely that any companies involved would have a clue about North Korean animators working on the shows, and there is nothing suggesting the companies violated any sanctions or other laws. “It is likely that the contracting arrangement was several steps downstream from the major producers,” the report says.

Spokespeople for Amazon and Max spokesperson declined to comment for this story. YouNeek Studios did not respond to a request for comment.

“We do not work with North Korean companies, or Chinese companies on Invincible, or any affiliated entities, and have no knowledge of any North Korean or Chinese companies working on Invincible,” a spokesperson for Skybound Entertainment says. “We take any claims very seriously and have commenced an investigation into this.” In a post on X, the company characterized the findings as “unconfirmed” and said it is working with authorities to investigate.

Williams says it is possible that a front company in China is used to help disguise the activity and involvement of North Koreans. The researchers were able to analyze connections to the exposed server and, despite most having their location masked by a VPN, spotted access from Spain and three Chinese cities. “All three cities are known to have many North Korean–operated businesses and are main centers for North Korea’s IT workers who live overseas,” the report says.

While Williams says the researchers did not find any identifiable names of North Korean organizations buried in the files, the country has a well-established animation company called April 26 Animation Studio, which is also known as SEK Studio. Originally set up in the 1950s, the studio has worked on hundreds of international TV shows and movies.

However, in recent years, the US Treasury Department has sanctioned SEK Studios, individuals linked to it, and various “front companies” that it says are used to “work for foreign customers.” Many of these have links to China, according to the sanctions. “SEK Studio has utilized an assortment of front companies to evade sanctions targeting the government of the DPRK and to deceive international financial institutions,” a statement issued as part of the sanctions in 2021 says.

The main aim of these efforts, says Michael Barnhart, a North Korea researcher at Mandiant, is to raise money for the North Korean regime. The country’s hackers and scammers have stolen and extorted billions of dollars to help fund its military ambitions in recent years, including from huge cryptocurrency heists. In early 2022, the FBI issued a 16-page alert warning companies that remote North Korean freelance IT workers were infiltrating businesses to earn money they could funnel back home.

“The volume is much higher than we were expecting,” Barnhart says of North Korea’s IT workers. They are constantly changing their tactics to avoid being caught, he says. “We had one not too long ago, where during the interview, the person’s mouth was just off-frame. You could tell that someone in the background was speaking on their behalf.” Technically, Barnhart says, companies should verify their remote workers’ devices and make sure that there is no remote software connecting to a company laptop or network. Businesses should also put extra efforts at the hiring stage by training HR staff to detect possible IT workers.

However, he says, increasingly there is a greater crossover between North Korean IT workers and individuals who are members of known hacking groups or classified as advanced persistent threats (APTs). “The more we focus on IT workers, the more we’re starting to see APT operators and efforts blending in with those,” he says. “This might be the most quick learning-on-your-feet, nimble nation-state that I've ever seen.”

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ae-neon · 5 months

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Venting because I really need it

I need to know what crack SJM puts in her stuff that causes almost everyone that reads her books to start acting like a complete fool of themselves because I’m tired of all my safe spaces being intruded by her stans. Can’t even escape her irl I’m tired. I just want to mind my own business 😭 I literally try to carve out as much as I can to make my online and IRL presence peaceful and she’s freaking everywhere and it stresses me out. 😭 literally that woman gave me ptsd and it gets worse the longer she has a career

No cause she's inescapable

it might sound weird to some people because there's so much (anti) sjm on my blog, but I never interact with sjm stuff outside of Tumblr. like I don't even follow bookish accounts on twitter or tiktok so unless something goes as viral as 4th Wing, I don't see it

You'd think that means I'd be free of seeing sjm's shit but nooo

Random people I follow for music will make posts about picking up acotar cause they keep hearing about it, and suddenly the image of someone I thought was quite aware and critical of social and political topics is talking about how much fun the racist, misogynistic, ableist and almost certainly zionist work of sjm is

and neither the people in the comments nor the creator is going to bring up these aspects - even just as a warning or a disclaimer - as they advertise the books to more and more people, actively rewarding shitty authors and their publishing houses who market these books to children

#anti sjm #anon ask

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starblightbindery · 4 months

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Editor's Note from my bind, Designs of Fate, an anthology of Star Wars stories by Patricia A. Jackson.

Patricia A. Jackson is a criminally underrated Star Wars author.

I’ll explain.

Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was challenging to be an adolescent Star Wars fangirl, particularly an Asian American one. Back then, fandom meant negotiating male-dominated online message boards where identifying as a teenage girl meant inviting a ‘fake geek girl’ grilling at best and sexual harassment at worst. Most of the published Star Wars books were about Han, Leia, and Luke. Han and Leia were in their thirties and the parents of three children...not super relatable for preteen me. As far as character development was concerned, our “Big Three” had established characterizations coalesced firmly on the side of good. For our heroes, there was no moral ambiguity as, novel by novel, they tackled the galactic Threat of the Week.

Bildungsromans, those books were not. When Jackson started writing Star Wars in the 1990s, there were no women Jedi or protagonists of color. If you wanted stories with original characters coming of age, your primary recourse was the West End Games’ Star Wars Adventure Journals and their published anthologies, Tales from the Empire (1997) and Tales from the New Republic (1999). I remember avidly poring over my dogeared paperback copies and stalking the internet for scans or transcriptions. Although I never played the D6 role-playing game, the short stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journals helped me envision that a character like me—a young Asian girl coming into her own—did have a place in Star Wars after all.

As evinced by the vitriolic reactions towards John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran during the production of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars fandom can be a hateful environment for proponents of diversity and inclusion. A small but irritatingly loud faction of fascist-leaning, cishet, white male fans are actively hostile towards fans who advocate for change; they are more troubled by the presence of queers, women and BIPOC than our absence. Because of the ubiquity and popularity of Star Wars in America’s cultural milieu, the sentiments from these self-appointed gatekeepers have been—and continue to be—amplified by right wing extremists, and, to some extent, even by the Internet Research Agency as tools of Russia’s psychological and cyber warfare against the United States. During his Ph.D. candidacy with the Department of Information Studies at UCLA, Morten Bay, PhD., studied negative tweets about The Last Jedi and found that 50.9% of negative tweets were “bots, trolls/sock puppets or political activists using the debate to propagate political messages supporting extreme right-wing causes and the discrimination of gender, race or sexuality.”

“Russian trolls weaponize Star Wars criticism as an instrument of information warfare with the purpose of pushing for political change,” he wrote, “while it is weaponized by right-wing fans to forward a conservative agenda and for some it is a pushback against what they perceive as a feminist/social justice onslaught.”

The creation and inclusion of characters with minoritized identities in Star Wars is, therefore, an act of resistance. As far as I’m aware, Patricia A. Jackson was the first woman of color and Black author to write for the Star Wars expanded universe. Jackson has described the fan environment in the 1990s thusly; like many minoritized fans of color, she would be given pithy justifications such as "Well, there’s no Africa in Star Wars, so there are no Black people." Jackson noted, aptly, "That was just translation for “’You don’t matter. You don’t need to be here.’” Jackson's work for West End Games, particularly her sourcebook The Black Sands of Socorro, is a subversion of those expectations.

Before anyone else did, Jackson showed fandom that dominant mayo masculinity did not have to be the only way to tell Star Wars stories. Her stories existed before the prequel trilogy and three decades of Star Wars publishing, before FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, or Wattpad. She is the forerunner for BIPOC writers in Star Wars, followed by other luminaries like Steven Barnes, Daniel José Older, Nnedi Okorafor, Rebecca Roanhorse, Ken Liu, Greg Pak, Alyssa Wong, Sarah Kuhn, Saladin Ahmed, C.B. Lee, Justina Ireland, Alex Segura, Zoraida Cordova, Greg VanEekhout, Mike Chen, Charles Yu, R.F. Kuang, Sarwat Chadda, Sabaa Tahir, and Renée Ahdieh.

Jackson had and continues to have an incredibly prescient understanding of what makes a good Star Wars story. Any of the stories in this anthology could find a home as an anime short from Star Wars: Visions (2021). Ideas from Jackson’s Star Wars short stories have appeared in later media, sometimes decades later. Whether convergently evolved or directly influenced, the parallels are astonishing: Kierra, the snarky feminine droid consciousness who inhabits Thaddeus Ross’s ship, is a spiritual predecessor to L3-37, Lando Calrissian’s snarky feminine droid companion from Solo (2018) who ends the film uploaded to the Millennium Falcon. Jackson addressed concepts like slavery and Force healing predating the prequel and sequel trilogies. In “Idol Intentions,” she created an adventuring academic on the hunt for artifacts long before Kieron Gillen brought Doctor Aphra to life. Squint and the upturned red salt on the planet Crait in The Last Jedi becomes flying red soil on the planet Redcap. Dark haired, dark side tragic emo boy starcrossed with a fiery girl Jedi?—I think Jackson understood intuitively the appeal of this trope to a woman-dominated contingent of fandom well before “Reylo” topped Tumblr’s fan favorite relationship charts in 2020.

Jackson’s work is also significant for deepening world building. Much like how Timothy Zahn introduced analysis of fine art to Star Wars with his villainous art connoisseur Grand Admiral Thrawn, Jackson’s stories introduced concepts such as the evolution of Old Corellian, the acting profession, and Legitimate Theatre. These elements added verisimilitude to the expanded universe; it makes sense that different cultures in Star Wars would have archaic languages, folk songs, and old stories of their own from even longer ago in galaxies far, far, away. More recently, the franchise has started to flesh out in-universe lore in Star Wars: Myths and Fables (2019) by George Mann. Still, Uhl Eharl Khoehng in “Uhl Eharl Khoehng” (1995) remains the finest example of mise en abyme in any Star Wars related work.

Themes from Jackson’s Star Wars works, particularly around Drake Paulsen and Socorro, also connect contemporaneously with our real world. When the Seldom Different is essentially ‘pulled over’ by Imperial authorities in “Out of the Cradle” (1994), stormtroopers lie about Drake Paulsen having a weapon as a pretense to terrorize the teenager. It’s a collision of space opera with Black youths’ past and current experiences of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence. Accordingly, this capricious encounter is the rite of passage that jars Drake out of his childhood. I cheered when I read The Black Sands of Socorro (1997) and saw that the Black Bha'lir smuggler’s guild is named for a bha'lir, depicted in the book as a large...panther. Few Star Wars expanded universe authors—particularly in the 1990s—leveraged their influence to center characters of color or to allude to racial justice movements. Jackson did both.

For this anthology, I have copy edited and also taken the liberty of, when applicable, substituting some gendered or sanist language with more contemporaneous wording.17 The stories are otherwise intact. It would be remiss of me if I did not note; however, that one of the stories, “Bitter Winter” (1995), has sanist and ableist tropes that could not be contemporized without making dramatic changes to the story. In this story, the fictional disease brekken vinthern drives those impacted to violence; while it’s real world correlate of major neurocognitive disorder can include symptoms of aggression and agitation, extreme violence is rare and people with this condition are also at great risk of being harmed by violence. The tropes “Mercy Kill” and “Shoot the Dog” are depictions of non-voluntary active euthanasia, typically from the perspective of the horrified “killer” placed in an impossible situation. These tropes frame murder and death as “putting someone out of their misery” while downplaying any alternatives (ie: sedation to alleviate suffering, medical attention, or, say, ion cannons to render a ship inoperable without killing.)

Like in our society, the societies in Star Wars have consistently framed mental illness pejoratively. There are certainly valid critiques of the utter inadequacy of health care in Star Wars. Ableism is ubiquitous in entertainment media, and even with it’s problematic tropes, “Bitter Winter” remains one of the more humanizing depictions of a mental health condition in Star Wars fiction. I have included it in this anthology as a rare example of moral ambiguity in the franchise.

With the exception of “Fragile Threads” and “Emanations of Darkness,” the stories here are presented not in published order, but in chronological order as they would have occurred in the Star Wars universe. Ordering the stories chronologically helped clarify timelines; it also allows the anthology to begin with “The Final Exit,” which was a fan favorite back when it was first published. I’ve interwoven the Brandl family stories with Drake Paulsen’s coming of age adventures, as the Paulsens are such a strong foil to the Brandl family.

Since “I am your father” dropped in 1980, Star Wars has been big on Daddy Issues—intergenerational trauma, parental relationships, broken attachments, identity development, and initiation into adulthood (or, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would put it, “taking your first steps into a larger world.”) With Drake, we see that Kaine Paulsen is a father who is gone but ever-present. With Jaalib, we see that Adalric Brandl is a father who is ever-present but clearly far gone. Drake knows his Socorran roots; he has community and found family. Fable’s identity is adrift; she was torn from her roots after her fugitive Jedi mother’s death. Jaalib’s roots are scaffolded by disingenuous artifice. There is a diametric interplay of identity formation and parental legacy in these short stories that captures classic themes from Star Wars. And, the stories challenge readers to consider how we interact with shame, guilt, and obligation. Through the morally ambiguous dilemmas that are her oeuvre, Jackson’s characters discover who they are and where they stand.

While the thrill of having an Imperial Star Destroyer drop out of hyperspace is pure Star Wars energy, Jackson’s stories also disrupted what fans had come to expect. Published online as fan fiction, “Emanations of Darkness” (2001) polarized fans of the previous Brandl stories, particularly with Fable’s decision to throw her lot in with Jaalib and his father. At the time, Star Wars fan commentator Charles Phipps noted how the story dealt with the insidiousness of the dark side by taking potential heroes and crushing them. “Star Wars, I've never known to leave a bitter taste in my mouth,” he wrote, stunned. “I don't like what it's brought out in my feelings or myself...Bravo Brandl, you have your applause.” Although the Brandl stories were written and published before Revenge of the Sith (2005), Fable and Jaalib’s relationship mirrors the relationship between Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, down to both Jaalib and Anakin selling their souls to the same Emperor in hopes that will spare the women they love.

The prequel trilogy introduces the Jedi Council’s detached approach to attachments—don’t feel it, emotions like fear or anger are to be shunned, else suffering will follow. Anakin Skywalker’s broken attachments to his mother and Padmé lead him to turn against his values; his inability to integrate or tolerate his attachments is his downfall. It’s the same in the Brandl stories where, trauma bonded, Fable and Jaalib cannot let each other go. While Jaalib credits this as how he was able to preserve a bit of himself while under the Emperor’s thrall, his inability to extricate himself from his father’s influence or to let go of Fable ends up dooming her.

This is why I was thrilled to discover “Fragile Threads” (2021) on Wattpad twenty years later. In this story, Drake Paulsen helps his lover Tiaja Moorn save her sister, at the cost of losing their relationship when she decides to remain on her homeworld. Drake doesn’t fight her decision, he accepts it. He can hold onto that connection to Tiaja, just as he knows he will always be connected to Socorro, his father, and the Black Bha'lir. Drake can love freely because he knows what Luke Skywalker told Leia in The Last Jedi: “No one is ever truly gone.” He is able to straddle the fulcrum of attachment and love without letting it consume him, and that is balancing the Force.

Contemporary fandom discourse is also a struggle with attachment; the parasocial relationships we form with characters and stories are similar in process to how we attach to the important people in our lives. We imbue with meaning and carry these stories with us. As Star Wars storytelling enters its fifth decade, the divide between affirmational fandom (allegiance to manufactured nostalgia) and transformational fandom (allegiance to iterative and transgressive fan engagement) has factionized fandom. When Star Wars is seen as a totemic object, right wing fans have agitated for a return to a mythic past where white men were centered and morality was Manichean. From where I stand, at the heart of this debate is whether or not the reader or Star Wars is permitted to “grow up”—to leave the cradle, to evolve new identities and explore shades of grey.

To me, Jackson’s stories are a reminder that characters of color and complex moral dilemmas have always been a part of Star Wars. We have always been here. No other Star Wars author has been as exquisitely aware of the significance of storytelling; how it can help people challenge existing beliefs and discover themselves. Since the beginnings of the expanded universe, Patricia A. Jackson has spun yarn, and those fragile threads have tethered readers like myself to a galaxy far, far away.

Ol'val, min dul'skal, ahn guld domina, mahn uhl Fharth bey ihn valle. (Until we next meet, may the Force be with you.)

#star wars legends #patricia a jackson #star wars adventure journal #swrepmatters #binders note #patricia a. jackson #fanbinding

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childabusesurvivor · 3 months

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Reviews Elsewhere - Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers

New Post has been published on https://www.childabusesurvivor.net/reviews/2024/03/20/reviews-elsewhere-hold-on-to-your-kids-why-parents-need-to-matter-more-than-peers/

Reviews Elsewhere - Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers

This wasn’t a review as much as an interview with the authors, Dr Gabor Maté and Dr Gordon Neufeld, but it is worth reading.

Parents must reclaim the central role if growing crisis among children is to end, suggests new book

Some of what they say will be familiar if you follow me here or when I talk about the workplace on my other blog. Kids who are not securely attached to parental figures are at risk. I often talk about them being vulnerable to grooming, but they are also vulnerable to mental health issues and a lack of maturity. For example:

“Maturation happens in the context of strong attached relationships with nurturing adults, who promote independence by inviting dependence. Children can develop independence when they have a strong sense of self.”

You may have seen me writing about the sense of self around here a few times. As an abused child, that was the one thing I lacked that held me back as an adult more than anything else. I was adrift in creating an adult life without a sense of self. I could only base my decisions on what others told me to do. I was vulnerable to many influences, not all of whom had my best interests in mind. Others meant well but didn’t know me well enough to know what would work and what wouldn’t, but very few people taught me my place in the larger world – my sense of self. I had to go to therapy to get an understanding of that, and then I had to do a lot of maturing to get it.

Without involved adults, kids don’t see an example of someone with a sense of self because their peers aren’t mature enough to have a healthy sense of self. Thus, we have kids who are very active in activities with their peers, including many activities that are good for them but without a solid tether to security.

This may seem to contradict some recent research that pointed out the mental health impacts of kids not having free time with peers to explore without parents looking over their shoulders, but I think it’s related. Kids need that free play time. It helps them develop social skills and experiment with finding their sense of self in their community. However, that also requires having a solid foundation from adult relationships to allow for experimentation versus dependence on peer relationships for their sense of self.

Parents, don’t walk away feeling like this is your fault. They also point out that society plays a vital role in explaining why this has gotten worse:

“From an early age, for economic and social reasons, children don’t see their parents most of the day.”

Yes, if both parents work, and not many families can afford not to, children grow up without their presence. As work demands more and more of our time and attention, kids get less. As work demands that we move closer to fast-growing corporate areas of the country, kids spend less time with grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They spend more time in daycare and after-school care, with larger and larger staff-to-child ratios and no real connection to adults.

This is one of the many reasons I am a proponent of flexible and remote work. Kids need adults who have time for them. That includes parents and other adults who can be involved in the community as volunteers, coaches, etc. When you work 50-60 hours per week and another 7-10 commuting, let alone traveling as part of your job, it’s impossible to be involved in the community.

I think parents are now at a disadvantage when it comes to spending the time necessary to connect with their kids. For single parents, this all gets harder to do. This leads to many of the other issues, including kids being online, as the authors also mentioned. However, again, I don’t think it’s as simple as internet = bad for kids. I think social media and the internet mirror what we see in real life. Kids are online without any adult involvement. Instead of watching TikTok together and learning about how to be online from parents and adults, they are learning from each other and terrible adults.

I’ll repeat what I’ve said many times. Kids are often vulnerable because they have no close adults to trust and lean on for support. No one is there modeling what a mature sense of self is, so they aren’t learning it. I don’t necessarily agree with everything Drs. Maté and Neufeld said in this interview that I’m sure I wouldn’t agree with everything in their book, but on this point, I agree. Kids need trusted adults who make them feel safe and loved.

Yet we keep creating a society that makes it harder to provide that for kids. We are paying a price for that.

#Book, #Connection, #Grooming, #MentalHealth, #Parents, #Reviews, #School, #SocialMedia, #Support, #Therapy, #TikTok, #Writing

#Book #Connection #Grooming #Mental Health #Parents #Reviews #School #Social Media #Support #Therapy #TikTok #Writing

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tullipstudio-blog · 5 months

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SELF-PUBLISHING VS TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING: WHICH ONE IS MORE PROFITABLE?

Self-publishing in children's books is the process of independently producing, distributing, and marketing a children's book without the involvement of a traditional publishing company. It allows authors and illustrators to retain creative control and a larger share of the royalties from their work, but it also requires them to take on many responsibilities typically handled by a publishing house.

1. Creating the Book: This involves writing the story, illustrating it (if you're also an illustrator), or working with an illustrator. The book should be professionally edited and designed to meet industry standards for quality.

2. Production: Self-published authors must handle the production of physical and digital copies of the book. This includes formatting the book for print or e-book publication, securing ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers), and creating cover designs.

3. Distribution: Self-published authors can make their books available through online retailers, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores. Print-on-demand services, like CreateSpace and Ingram Spark, can be used to produce physical copies as they are ordered, reducing upfront costs and the need for inventory.

4. Marketing and Promotion: Authors are responsible for promoting their books, including building a website or social media presence, organizing book launch events, and seeking reviews and media coverage. Marketing is a critical aspect of self-publishing, as it helps you reach your target audience.

5. Pricing and Royalties: Self-published authors have control over pricing their books and typically receive a higher percentage of royalties compared to traditional publishing. However, they are also responsible for covering production and marketing expenses.

6. Copyright and Legal Matters: Authors must handle copyright registration, contracts (if working with illustrators or collaborators), and other legal matters on their own or with the help of legal professionals.

7. Quality Control: Self-published authors must ensure the quality of their children’s books, from editing to printing, to compete with traditionally published works.

8. Financial Investment: While self-publishing can be more cost-effective than it used to be, there are still expenses involved, including editing, cover design, marketing, and distribution costs. Authors should be prepared for these financial commitments.

Self-publishing in children's books can be a rewarding way for authors to see their work in print and reach their intended audience. However, it requires dedication, a commitment to quality, and a willingness to learn about the publishing and marketing process or seek professional assistance when needed.

Traditional publishing in children's books refers to the traditional and established method of getting a children's book published through a traditional publishing house.

Here are the key elements of traditional publishing in the context of children's books:

1. Acquisition: The process typically begins with an author or illustrator submitting a manuscript or children's books proposal to a literary agent or directly to a publishing house. The publisher's editorial team reviews the submission for its potential to be published.

2. Editorial Process: If a manuscript is accepted, it goes through various stages of editing, which can include developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading. The publisher may also provide feedback on the children's books content, structure, and suitability for the target audience.

3. Illustration: For children's picture books and some middle-grade and young adult novels, illustrations play a significant role. The publisher may hire an illustrator or work with the author/illustrator to ensure the visual elements align with the story.

4. Design and Layout: The children's books design and layout, including the cover and interior pages, are professionally created by the publisher's design team. The layout takes into consideration the age group and format of the children's book.

5. Production: The physical production of the children's books, including printing and binding, is managed by the publishing house. They handle the choice of paper, typefaces, and other production details.

6. Distribution: Traditional publishers have established distribution channels that allow the children's books to be made available to bookstores, libraries, and online retailers. They handle the logistics of getting the book into the hands of readers.

7. Marketing and Promotion: Traditional publishers typically have marketing and publicity teams that work to promote the book. This can include author book tours, advertising, social media campaigns, and other promotional activities.

8. Sales and Royalties: The publisher sells copies of the children's books, and the author receives royalties based on the sales. Royalty rates vary, but they are typically a percentage of the book's cover price.

9. Advance: Some authors receive an advance payment from the publisher against future royalties. This advance is typically paid upon signing the publishing contract and in installments.

Traditional publishing can offer authors and illustrators many benefits, including professional support in all aspects of book production and distribution. However, it often involves a competitive submission process, and the author or illustrator may have less control over certain aspects of the children's books content and design compared to self-publishing.

It's important to note that the landscape of publishing, including children's book publishing, has been evolving, and there are now various hybrid and alternative publishing models available to authors and illustrators, allowing for more flexibility and control over the publishing process.

Self-publishing and traditional publishing are two distinct routes for bringing a children's book to the market, and they have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Here's a breakdown of the key differences between the two:

1. Control:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors have full control over the content, design, and distribution of their children's books. They make all the decisions, including the cover design, formatting, and pricing.

b. Traditional Publishing: Traditional publishers have the final say on many aspects of the children's books, including the cover design, illustrations, and sometimes even the content. Authors have limited control over the final product.

2. Cost:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors bear the financial responsibility for the entire publishing process, including editing, cover design, and marketing. While this allows for more control, it can be expensive.

b. Traditional Publishing: The publisher covers the majority of the production costs, such as editing, cover design, and printing. However, authors typically receive lower royalties to compensate for this financial support.

3. Time:

a. Self-Publishing: The process can be relatively quick, allowing the author to set their own timeline. The children's books can be published within a few months.

b. Traditional Publishing: The traditional publishing process is typically slower due to the need for manuscript acquisitions, editing, and the production schedule of the publisher. It can take a year or more to see the children's books in print.

4. Distribution:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors need to handle distribution themselves, which often involves selling through online retailers, local bookstores, or at events. E-books can be distributed through various online platforms.

b. Traditional Publishing: Traditional publishers have established distribution networks and relationships with bookstores, making it easier to get the children's books into physical stores. They also handle the distribution of e-books.

5. Marketing:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors are responsible for their book's marketing and promotion, which can be time-consuming. They may need to build their own audience and hire marketing services.

b. Traditional Publishing: Publishers have marketing departments to promote books, which can include author tours, advertising, and other promotional activities. However, even traditionally published authors often need to be involved in marketing efforts.

6. Credibility and Prestige:

a. Self-Publishing: Self-published authors may face challenges in gaining recognition and credibility, as there is no external validation of their work. However, this has been changing as self-publishing becomes more accepted.

b. Traditional Publishing: Being traditionally published can lend credibility and prestige to an author's work, as it implies that the manuscript has been vetted by professionals.

7. Royalties:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors typically receive a higher percentage of royalties for each book sold, but they also bear the costs of production and marketing.

b. Traditional Publishing: Royalties are usually lower, but the publisher covers production and distribution costs.

The choice between self-publishing and traditional publishing for a children's book depends on an author's goals, resources, and preferences. Some authors may prefer the creative control and potential for higher royalties in self-publishing, while others may value the support and credibility offered by traditional publishers. Hybrid models and collaborative publishing options also exist, providing additional choices for authors.

#illustration #writers #children's books #Create children's book #publishing #author

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fic-history · 1 year

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2000's and Beyond: Modern Fic

In this iteration of Fic History, we’re going to be exploring the fic culture in mega-fandoms from the early 2000’s and beyond. That’s a big field to cover, I know, so each section is probably going to be a bit less detailed than usual in order to make things easier to digest. To begin, we’re starting with:

Harry Potter

I think it goes without saying that the HP fandom is probably the fandom of the 21st century. No book series has become so ubiquitous as HP, and there are still more HP fics on FF.net than from any other fandom. Since HP was published when the internet already existed, most of the fandom’s fics were published online, although a few printed fanzines were created. HP fic is also extremely varied, most likely due to the wide cast of characters and length of time covered by canon lore. You could find fic on anything from coffee shop AUs of the Hogwarts founders to explorations of the main trio’s children when they eventually attended Hogwarts. Like most fandoms with a large internet presence, the HP fandom had its own fic sites, some of which were dedicated to specific attributes like certain ships or tropes, but fic was also posted en masse to multifandom archives like FF.net and AO3. In fact, as of 2017, there are still more Harry Potter fanworks on FF.net than any other fandom.

Twilight

If HP is the fandom of the century, Twilight is probably the fandom of the 2000’s decade. At least in the media, Twifans were portrayed as either feral teenage girls or feral middle-age women, but the fandom is actually much more diverse. In terms of fanfiction, it goes without saying that the most famous fic within the fandom is probably Master of the Universe by Snowqueens Icedragon, more commonly known by its profic title of Fifty Shades of Grey. Snowqueens Icedragon, A.K.A. E.L. James, filed the serial numbers off of her fic and sold it as an original piece of fiction to massive critical attention and success. You can read a bit more about Fifty Shades here.

One Direction

This is the odd fandom out of the bunch, as it’s the only one listed that’s completely focused on real person fic, or RPF. According to FanLore, since there isn’t traditional source material to function as a canon to write fic about, canon in the 1D sense consists of “One Direction's members' original appearance on the reality show, plus their concerts, albums, music videos, video diaries, interviews, books, photo shoots, award ceremonies, other television appearances, band members' and families' personal twitter accounts, media gossip, authorized candid photos and selfies, and unauthorized candid photos by paparazzi and fans.”

RPF already has a bad reputation in fandom spaces, but since 1D is an engineered boy band adored mainly by teenage girls (fandom’s least favorite demographic), the 1D fandom reputation is in the pits (Jamison 2013). Despite this, the fandom is still quite large, and produces a lot of fic, especially on Wattpad, where the fanfic series turned profic After by Anna Todd was published from 2013 to 2014. The most popular ship amongst directioners is Larry Stylinson, or Harry/Louis.

Finally, we have

SuperWhoLock

Behind HP, this is probably the largest fandom on the list, simply because it’s actually three fandoms smushed together: Supernatural, Doctor Who, and BBC’s Sherlock. Fans in this fandom are called SuperWhoLockians. This fandom was especially active on Tumblr in the early 2010’s, and while the main form of fanwork was gifsets, lots of fanfic was produced in each fandom individually as well in crossovers. The most popular Supernatural ships were Castiel/Dean (Destiel) and Wincest (Sam/Dean, who are brothers, hence the portmanteau between Winchester and incest), while Sherlock’s most popular was Sherlock/Watson or Johnlock. Doctor Who is different, as each individual reincarnation of the Doctor is considered a different character, so each Doctor has different pairings, usually with their respective companions or the Master. SuperWhoLock has a reputation for being cringy due to member’s repeated hijacking of Tumblr posts with fandom related GIFs, but now that the fandom is much less active, the cringe has turned into a feeling of nostalgia.

There are so many more fandoms I could talk about, which just goes to show how fandom spaces have only exploded in size as time has passed. Even though these descriptions aren’t the most detailed, I hope you found them informative and interesting!

Happy reading,

-KP

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tuneford · 10 months

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Source: https://dictionary.apa.org/introjection

“in psychoanalytic theory, the process of absorbing the qualities of an external object into the psyche in the form of an internal object or mental representation (i.e., an introject), which then has an influence on behavior. This process is posited to be a normal part of development, as when introjection of parental values and attitudes forms the superego, but it may also be used as a defense mechanism in situations that arouse anxiety. Compare identification; incorporation. —introject vb. —introjective adj.”

Source: http://traumadissociation.com/alters

Quote specifically is talking about when introjects appear in a system as a response to RAMCOA.

“Alters may be created which are internalized representations (introjects) of fictional characters. Some people with DID refer to alters based on fictional characters as fictives although this term was not used in literature on DID until 2021, before then fictives were described in many case studies and books, but had not been given a collective term.[9],[32],[35],[43] People with Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD) often have groups of inner characters based on fictional sources, but these are different to alters in DID because they cannot physically take control or interact with other, outside people, and are not split-off parts of the person's own personality, although there are other differences as well.”

9. Miller, A. (2014). Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse. Karnac Books. ISBN 1782412182

32. Tutkun, H., & Sar, V. (1997). Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder in Turkey. Dissociation, 10(3), p. 148-156.

35. Schwartz, R. W. (2011). "An evil cradling”? Cult practices and the manipulation of attachment needs in ritual abuse. In O. B., Schwartz, J., & Schwartz, R. W. (Eds.). (2011). Ritual abuse and mind control: The manipulation of attachment needs (pp. 39-56). Karnac Books.

43. Christensen, E. M. (2022). The online community: DID and plurality. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 6(2), 100257.

From Christensen, E. M. (2022). The online community: DID and plurality. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 6(2), 100257.

“The appearance of fictives in the community is significant. In part it simply reflects a change in cultural references. It has been four generations since the diagnosis [historically referring to DID or MPD] was formally established, and young people now provides a very different presentation than those who grew up in the 1940s or 1950’s or 1960’s, but this makes them no less legitimate. However, this author proposes it also reflects the relationship ruptures due to the shift in parenting practices over the last two decades - while primary caregivers may be abusive in some cases, as has always been true, there is a higher population with relational trauma due to neglect and some of these children create imaginary inner worlds to deal with the lack of presence of attachment figures (Sándor et al., 2021). In this way, fictives are, in part, at times, substitute introjects, and then the related rich inner worlds are further developed through maladaptive daydreaming (Somer, 2002, 2015, 2016a, 2016b).”

Sándor, A., Bugán, A., Nagy, A., et al. (2021). Childhood traumatization and dissociative experiences among maladaptive and normal daydreamers in a Hungarian sample. Current Psychology. doi: 10.1007/s12144-021-02223-3.

Somer, E. (2002). Maladaptive daydreaming: A qualitative inquiry. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 32, 197-212.

Somer, E., Somer, L., & Jopp, D. S. (2016). Parallel lives: A phenomenological study of the lived experience of maladaptive daydreaming. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 17(5), 561-576.

Eli Somer, Liora Somer & Daniela S. Jopp (2016) Parallel lives: A phenomenological study of the lived experience of maladaptive daydreaming, Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 17:5, 561-576. DOI: 10.1080/15299732.2016.1160463

#RAMCOA mention #abuse mention #links #introjects

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infinityactual · 11 months

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12, 15, and 30 for Giuseppe :3

12: Answered here!

15: What kind of sense of humor does he have?

Giuseppe has a classic ADHD sense of humor; the more unexpected, non-sequitur or random it is, the more it'll make him laugh. He's also a sucker for dad jokes and the absolute WORST puns known to mankind.

30: If he had the chance to be famous, would he take it?

It depends. If it's a case of his writing becoming well known and him getting the credit for it as he should, he's ok with that. But your 'classic' paparazzi, star on the Hollywood walk-of-fame, verified on twitter, household name sort of stuff? That's not for him, and if it's drama related it can fuck right off. He tends to keep to himself anyway, even his online presence is pretty anonymous outside of his writing.

In the AU where he doesn't die, Giuseppe actually becomes a fairly well-known author of hard sci-fi and children's books, and does the occasional book signing event. But his fame is relatively localized to the Sol system.

#giuseppe lasky #oc asks #coyote frend tag

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goldinavonlea · 1 month

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dont know if it’s ever clarified in the book or whether it’s different to in the film but at the end of It chapter two they clearly are able to remember events in Derry after leaving implying that Pennywise’s bubble influence preventing people from remembering has died with him. it also seems pretty apparent that Pennywise’s influence is what prevents there being any like… outside investigation on attention paid to the fact that people are dying and vanishing at an incredibly alarming rate, or even a greater level of concern about this from adults within Derry.

anyway the point i’m getting at is with the death of Pennywise’s influence it could only be so long before whatever Buzzfeed Unsolved is now got ahold of Derry death and abduction stats and the fact that like a small army of people from all over the country like. woke up one morning and suddenly remembered their profoundly creepy childhoods in this town after having genuinely and absolutely no recollection of having grown up there for years. Bill with a legion of burner socials so he can furiously argue with true crime fans online about how actually all of this was due to the presence of a demon clown from outer space nesting in the sewers and coming out every twenty seven years to eat children but who has since been bullied to death. people who are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that famed author Bill Denbrough, comedian Richie Tozier, fashion mogul Beverly Marsh, and award winning architect Ben Hanscom all seem suddenly to know each other Extremely well and apparently have some complicated and alarming back story they’re all evasive about only for someone to realise they all grew up together in this newly infamous murder town…

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qbopublishing · 6 months

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How Kids can be Safe Online

Ensuring the online safety of kids is crucial in today's digital age. Here are some tips for parents and caregivers to help children stay safe online: 👀

Open Communication: Establish open communication with your child about their online activities. Encourage them to talk to you if they come across anything that makes them uncomfortable.

Educate About Online Risks: Teach your child about potential online risks, such as cyberbullying, inappropriate content, scams, and the importance of protecting personal information.

Set Age-Appropriate Boundaries: Determine age-appropriate limits on the types of websites, apps, and games your child can access. Use parental controls to restrict access to inappropriate content.

Supervise Online Activities: Monitor your child's online activities regularly. Be aware of the websites they visit, the people they interact with, and the content they consume.

Teach Privacy Protection: Instruct your child not to share personal information online, such as their full name, address, school name, phone number, or any other sensitive details.

Encourage Strong Passwords: Teach your child the importance of using strong, unique passwords for each online account. Ensure they understand not to share passwords with anyone, even friends.

Be Wary of Strangers: Emphasize the importance of not communicating with strangers online. Teach your child not to accept friend requests or engage in conversations with people they don't know in real life.

Check Privacy Settings: Adjust the privacy settings on social media accounts and other online platforms to limit the sharing of personal information. Regularly review and update these settings.

Use Parental Control Software: Consider using parental control software to help manage and monitor your child's online activities. These tools can assist in blocking inappropriate content and managing screen time.

Teach Critical Thinking: Help your child develop critical thinking skills to evaluate the credibility of online information. Teach them to question and verify information before accepting it as true.

Promote Healthy Screen Time: Set reasonable limits on screen time and encourage a balance between online and offline activities. Encourage physical activities, hobbies, and face-to-face interactions.

Model Good Behavior: Be a positive role model for your child by demonstrating responsible online behavior. Show them how to use technology responsibly and respectfully.

By combining these strategies, you can create a safer online environment for your child and empower them to make informed decisions when navigating the digital world. Keep the lines of communication open, stay involved, and adapt your approach as your child grows and gains more independence, for more information visit https://book.chainzd360.com/ or buy Click, Post, Succeed Social Media and Digital Marketing for Kids on Amazon. 👀

#Kids Social Media Education #Young Author and YouTuber #Digital Marketing for Kids #Child Youtube Influencer Strategies #Youth Content Creation Tips #Soccer Kid Vlogger #Social Media Success for Kids #Digital Marketing Youth Guide #Social Media Tips for Young Creators #Children's Book Author Online Presence #Youth Social Media Trends #Kidpreneur Strategies #Soccer Star on Social Media #Kid Author Blogging Tips #Child Influencer Marketing #YouTube Success for Kids #Digital Marketing School for Kids #Online Presence for Young Authors #kid soccer player #Kid-friendly Digital Marketing #Children's Author Marketing #Online Safety for Children #Social Media Skills for Kids #Young YouTuber #Soccer Training for Children #Fifth Grader YouTuber #Soccer Skills for Kids #Soccer Training for kids #11-Year-Old Influencer #Digital footprint for Children

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blogbound · 2 months

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7 Ways of How Local SEO Helps Parents Choose a Pediatrician

It is essential to highlight the importance of local SEO strategies in helping parents locate the best pediatrician in their neighborhood in this digital age. Parents often use search engines to find pediatricians in their area, since they increasingly depend on online searches for healthcare information. To ensure their visibility to parents seeking pediatric treatment, physicians must optimize their local search engine optimization.

The majority of people now get their medical records online, a trend that has only grown in recent years. Parents look for pediatricians and other medical professionals to treat their children, in addition to seeking out general health advice. So, physicians must have a strong online presence to meet the needs of tech-savvy parents who prefer to look for healthcare services online for their families. This emphasizes how important it is for physicians to focus on local SEO methods so they may be easily identified and trusted in their communities.

Enhanced Online Presence

To reach more parents looking for pediatric care, pediatricians use local SEO strategies to boost their online presence. Parents in the neighborhood are more likely to find pediatricians when they optimize their internet presence strategically so that they appear high in search engine results. Pediatricians to increase appointment bookings, website traffic, and the number of parents actively seeking healthcare providers for their children, this increased visibility is essential. Local SEO strategies that include allergist Long Island keywords allow pediatricians to reach parents who are looking for allergy care for their children.

Finding a nearby pediatrician is key for parents. Local SEO ensures your practice shows up in online searches, making it easier for families to find you. A strong local presence builds trust, attracts new patients, and helps your practice thrive!

Reaching Your Desired Audience

When it comes to pediatrics, local SEO strategies are crucial for reaching patients. By utilizing these tactics, physicians can enhance their internet presence and appeal to parents in their area who are looking for pediatric care. With this targeted strategy, physicians can increase the likelihood of interacting with prospective patients who are actively seeking pediatric care by focusing on connecting with the specific group they aim to serve.

Pediatricians should prioritize targeting local keywords and geographic modifiers in their local SEO strategies. Use phrases like "allergist near me" to boost your pediatric practice's visibility in local search results. Parents in the area who are looking for pediatric services will be able to easily find pediatricians' practices thanks to these keywords, which also boost their ranks in relevant searches. Pediatricians can increase their exposure and patient volume by optimizing their web content with these specific keywords. This will increase the likelihood that their practice will appear prominently in local search results.

Establishing Reliability and Authority

To establish credibility and confidence among parents looking for pediatric care, pediatricians must be visible in local search results. Parents are more likely to have a positive impression of pediatricians as a whole when they appear high in search engine results for locally relevant questions. Establishing the pediatrician's credibility in the neighborhood, this increased exposure gives patients and their families faith in the doctor's abilities. A pediatrician's reliability and reputation can be further enhanced when they are acknowledged as the best allergist on Long Island.

When choosing a pediatrician for their child, parents find online reviews and ratings to be quite influential. Credible testimonials of the pediatrician's competence come in the form of positive evaluations and high ratings given by happy patients. Negative reviews or low ratings, on the other hand, could make parents think twice about seeing a pediatrician, so it's important to keep a good reputation online. Fostering positive feedback and properly managing internet reviews is crucial, as parents often depend on the experiences of other patients to evaluate the pediatrician's competence, bedside manner, and overall patient happiness.

Delivering Useful Data

Local search engine optimization strategies are crucial in delivering relevant information to parents looking for pediatric care. Pediatricians can tailor their internet presence to local parents' needs and tastes using these tactics. The pediatrician's website can be fine-tuned to appeal to local families by using location-specific keywords and other data.

Website content optimization using location-specific keywords should be a top priority for pediatricians who want to appear in local search results. Using this method, parents who are actively looking for a pediatrician can find them more easily. Parents can better choose a healthcare provider for their child if they have all the information they need, such as business hours, services provided, and insurance plans accepted. Strategically placing location-specific keywords across your content, you may reach out to parents in your area who are looking for pediatric care. This will boost your exposure in relevant local search results and establish your credibility in the neighborhood.

Maximizing Engagement and Sales on Your Website

Pediatricians can increase the number of people looking for local pediatric care by strategically using these strategies to boost their website's ranking for relevant local keywords. This increased exposure does double duty: it drives more people to the pediatrician's website and strengthens the doctor's online reputation in the area, which in turn attracts more patients.

There is a clear association between pediatricians' website traffic and the number of appointments booked. Appointments for children are more likely to be scheduled when more parents see the pediatrician's website through local search results. The pediatrician's office will see an increase in appointments and patient conversions as a result of this rise in website traffic, which indicates heightened interest and engagement from prospective patients. Additionally, doctors must optimize their website content for conversions so they can take advantage of the increased website traffic that local SEO strategies bring in.

Carefully increasing online exposure and engagement, working with a New York social media agency can further improve these efforts, leading to more conversions and appointment reservations for pediatric practices. To maximize the effectiveness of the pediatrician's online presence in fostering meaningful interactions with potential patients, clear and compelling call-to-action buttons should be strategically placed. These buttons should prompt visitors to undertake desired actions, such as scheduling appointments or accessing informative resources. By doing so, they should guide visitors seamlessly through the conversion funnel.

Ease of Use and Access on Mobile Devices

Improving mobile accessibility for parents seeking pediatricians on the go is greatly facilitated by local SEO methods. Implementing these tactics, we can make sure that pediatricians' office information is prominently displayed in mobile search results, making it easy for people to seek nearby healthcare services. These improved mobile capabilities cater to the tastes of contemporary customers who value convenience and speed when it comes to accessing information on the go, ultimately leading to a better user experience.

Physicians must have a Google My Business page that is optimized for mobile use and a mobile-friendly website to meet the demands of mobile users. Optimal use for parents researching pediatricians on the go is ensured by a mobile-friendly website, which allows for easy navigation and legibility on smartphones. Further simplifying the process for parents seeking pediatric care on the go, an enhanced Google My Business listing allows pediatricians to exhibit vital practice information, such as contact details, location, and office hours, immediately inside mobile search results. Pediatricians can improve their chances of interacting with potential patients and generating meaningful engagements by aligning their local SEO efforts with mobile accessibility best practices. This will allow them to effectively fulfill the needs of mobile users.

Gaining a Competitive Edge

To stay ahead of the competition in their local area, physicians must implement local SEO methods. Parents looking for pediatric care can find pediatricians more easily if they optimize their internet presence so they show up prominently in local search results. Pediatricians who have engaged in local SEO methods not only draw more potential patients but also place themselves ahead of competitors who may not have.

A pediatrician's competitive edge and market share in their location are greatly affected by their local search rankings. More parents looking for pediatric services will notice a pediatrician's profile when it appears higher in local search results. Greater brand recognition, more website traffic, and a larger proportion of the local pediatric healthcare market can be achieved through enhanced visibility. By taking the initiative to increase their internet visibility and accessibility, pediatricians may position themselves as the top healthcare providers in their area. This will provide them with a competitive advantage over other practices in the area.

An Overview of the Advantages Local SEO Offers to Pediatricians

Search engine optimization strategies that focus on local areas are incredibly helpful for parents looking for a physician in their neighborhood. Parents will have an easier time finding and interacting with pediatricians if they take the time to enhance their online presence. This will increase their exposure in local search results. In addition, these tactics enhance the credibility of physicians by displaying ratings and positive comments from satisfied patients. This, in turn, builds trust among parents who are looking for pediatric treatment.

Since local SEO efforts have an immediate impact on a pediatrician's ability to draw in new patients and prosper in their community, their importance should be prioritized. Pediatric clinics can benefit greatly from local SEO strategies, which offer a multitude of advantages such as improving mobile accessibility and staying ahead of competitors. Adhering to local SEO techniques is crucial for physicians to maintain their exposure, reputation, and competitiveness in the modern digital world.

#digital marketing #children #pediatrician #SEO #local seo #pediatric care #pediatric health

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marketingprofitmedia · 2 months

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How to Create Passive Income With Ai-Powered Children’s Storybooks

Create passive income by developing AI-powered children’s storybooks and selling or licensing them online. Monetize through regular sales, subscriptions, or ad revenue.

The key is to offer unique stories which adapt to the reader’s responses, creating an immersive experience. Utilizing platforms such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or establishing a dedicated app, authors can reach a global audience. As digital media consumption continues to rise, parents and educators seek out innovative educational materials, positioning AI-generated storybooks as a lucrative venture. By establishing a robust online presence and employing strategic digital marketing techniques, you can attract a loyal customer base, ensuring a steady stream of income with minimal ongoing effort.

>> My Best Recommended & Proven Way to Make $100 Daily — Watch THIS Video FREE Training to START >>

The Rise Of Ai In Publishing

Imagine a world where books come to life with the help of AI. That’s what’s happening in publishing today. AI is changing the game for authors and readers alike. Stories can now be personalized and crafted in ways we never thought possible. This rise of AI is making it easier to create passive income streams, especially in the world of children’s storybooks.

Innovations In Storytelling

AI-powered storytelling introduces a new era in children’s books. Interactive experiences now captivate young minds like never before. Let’s explore this innovative world:

Personalized Endings: AI can create multiple story endings. Kids feel the thrill of unique outcomes each time they read.

Character Customization: Children choose and name characters. This builds a personal connection with the story.

Language Learning: Stories adapt to include new words for language skills. Kids learn while they enjoy a magical reading journey.

Ai’s Role In Content Creation

AI is not just a tool for innovation; it’s now a creator. In the realm of children’s books, AI aids content creation by:

AI FunctionContent Creation ImpactWriting AssistanceAuthors receive help with grammar and story flow. Stories become polished and more engaging.Image GenerationCustom illustrations are crafted at the click of a button, bringing stories to life in vivid colors.Interactive ElementsStories gain puzzles and quizzes. These elements make reading fun and educational for kids.

Identifying Opportunities In Children’s Literature

Exploring the magical realm of children’s literature opens doors to incredible passive income possibilities.

Dive into the world of kids’ stories and discover how leveraging AI can unlock earning potential.

Gaps In The Market

Uncovering hidden niches in children’s books is akin to finding treasure. Look for:

Underserved genres: Seek out themes or topics less common yet in demand.

Age gaps: Find age groups that lack variety in storytelling options.

Cultural diversity: Offer tales that embrace different backgrounds and experiences.

Languages: Tap into the need for stories in multiple languages.

Trends In Children’s Preferences

Keep a finger on the pulse of what captivates young minds:

TrendOpportunityInteractive StoriesCreate engaging experiences with choices that shape the tale.Educational ContentCombine learning and fun to attract parents and educators.PersonalizationDevelop stories that can be customized to each child.Augmented RealityIncorporate AR to bring narratives to life in a new dimension.

By identifying these opportunities and capitalizing on them with AI, creators can craft stories that not only enchant but also generate passive income.

>> My Best Recommended & Proven Way to Make $100 Daily — Watch THIS Video FREE Training to START >>

Building The Foundation For Your Ai Storybook

Welcome aspiring authors to the exciting journey of bringing stories to life through the power of Artificial Intelligence. Crafting an AI-powered children’s storybook is an adventure in itself, one that begins with laying a solid groundwork. This foundation is crucial for creating a passive income source that entertains, educates, and inspires young minds. Let’s start with the basics and build our way up to a magical AI storybook!

Choosing A Theme

First things first, selecting a theme is like picking a destination for your storybook adventure. The theme serves as the backbone of your AI tale, guiding the plot, setting, and characters. For a children’s storybook, consider themes that are enchanting, educational, and relatable to young readers.

Adventure in Outer Space

Secrets of the Enchanted Forest

Life Lessons at Summer Camp

These are just a few ideas to get the creative gears turning. Think about what captivates the imagination of children and embark on a theme that unlocks a world of possibilities.

Crafting A Diverse Character Cast

Next up, we create a cast of characters as vibrant and diverse as the world around us. Each character should bring their own flavor to the story, promoting inclusivity and representation.

CharacterRoleUnique TraitZara the BraveHeroineLoves to solve puzzlesLeo the InventorSidekickInvents cool gadgetsMr. WhiskersMentorWise talking cat

Credit: m.youtube.com

Leveraging Ai For Personalized Stories

Leveraging AI for Personalized Stories is a game-changer in the world of children’s books. Such technology allows for unique narratives tailored to each reader. Imagine storybooks that address your child by name and incorporate their interests. This is not just a dream anymore; AI makes it possible for every story to be as unique as the child reading it. Engage young readers like never before with tales crafted specifically for them.

Customization Tools

Create magic with AI-powered storybooks using advanced customization tools. Start by selecting story themes and characters. Build an imaginative world with options that mirror your child’s world. Choose a protagonist with the same name or similar traits. Decide on settings familiar to the child or fantastically exotic. With AI, each book morphs into a private universe where every plot twist feels designed just for them.

Choose protagonist names

Select favorite themes

Personalize character traits

Custom environments

Interactive Experience Creation

Beyond names and traits, enrich your stories with interactive experience creation. AI integrates puzzles and educational challenges relevant to the story. Children interact directly with the tale, making choices that influence the outcome. An endless combination of options means no two adventures are the same. Kids stay hooked. Learning becomes fun. They grow through play and storytelling.

Integrate interactive puzzles

Include educational activities

Offer choices that affect the story

Provide a variety of outcomes

AI-powered storybooks offer personalized and interactive experiences like never before. They captivate young minds, making reading an adventure uniquely theirs. Customization tools and interactive experiences empower kids to be the heroes of their own stories.

>> My Best Recommended & Proven Way to Make $100 Daily — Watch THIS Video FREE Training to START >>

Monetization Models For Ai Storybooks

Exploring the ‘Monetization Models for AI Storybooks’ reveals effective ways to turn smart, AI-crafted tales into streams of passive income.

Subscription Services

Subscription services offer readers a treasure of stories. They pay regularly to access new AI storybooks. This creates a dependable income for creators. Here’s how to shine with subscriptions:

Set clear plans: Offer monthly, quarterly, or yearly options.

Provide perks: Subscribers love exclusive content or features.

Keep content fresh: Release new books consistently to keep kids excited.

With the right books, children will eagerly await each update. This model builds a loyal audience. Loyal readers are assets.

One-time Purchases

One-time purchases are simple. Parents buy a book and own it forever. Here’s why this model works well:

Easy to understand: Pay once, enjoy forever.

No commitment: Perfect for those hesitant to subscribe.

Sample your service: Lets families try your stories without pressure.

Creating combinations of popular stories can lead to special edition sales. Bundles attract purchases. Kids love collections!

Credit: clydedz.medium.com

Marketing Strategies For Success

Embarking on the journey to create passive income with AI-powered children’s storybooks requires savvy marketing strategies. These strategies are vital for success, turning a great product into a commercial hit. Let’s explore how to capture the hearts and imaginations of both parents and children for your AI storybook adventure.

Social Media Promotion

Make waves online with social media promotion! Showcase your storybooks where parents and children spend time scrolling: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Vibrant images and engaging snippets from your books will spark curiosity. Here are some social media tips:

Create captivating visuals: Post colorful and immersive book scenes.

Interact with followers: Respond swiftly to comments and messages.

Use hashtags strategically: Help your content reach a wider audience.

Run contests and giveaways: Engage users and spread the word.

Share testimonials and reviews: Build trust with real-life feedback.

Partnering With Educational Institutions

Forge powerful alliances with schools and learning centers. This partnership can give your AI-powered storybooks a stamp of educational approval. Here’s how:

Pitch to educators: Show how your storybooks can aid learning.

Offer samples: Let the quality speak for itself.

Propose co-branded events: Fun reading sessions or book fairs.

Provide discounts: Encourage bulk purchases for classrooms.

Seek endorsements: Earn recommendations from teachers and librarians.

Credit: www.udemy.com

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

How To Use Ai For Passive Income?

To generate passive income using AI, you can create AI-powered content for blogs, develop smart tools or applications, and trade using AI-driven investment platforms. Always monitor performance to optimize revenue.

Can You Make Passive Income From A Book?

Yes, you can earn passive income from a book by self-publishing or securing a traditional publishing deal, thus receiving royalties from its sales over time.

What Is Passive Income With Ai Storybooks?

Creating passive income with AI storybooks involves leveraging artificial intelligence to generate children’s books that continually produce revenue with minimal ongoing effort.

How Do You Monetize Ai-generated Storybooks?

Monetizing AI-generated storybooks can be done through direct sales, subscription models, or by placing them on platforms that offer royalties or pay-per-read schemes.

Can Ai Create Original Children’s Stories?

Yes, AI can craft original children’s stories by using natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to generate unique content.

Conclusion

Embarking on the journey of AI-powered children’s storybooks offers a new frontier in passive income. It merges creativity with technology, helping writers tap into a lucrative market. As we’ve explored, the right tools and strategies can turn a simple idea into a steady revenue stream.

Let’s transform storytelling and financial growth together by embracing this innovative approach.

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Thanks for reading my article on “How to Create Passive Income With Ai-Powered Children’s Storybooks”, hope it will help!

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Source : How to Create Passive Income With Ai-Powered Children’s Storybooks

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the-people-watching-writer · 2 months

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Five Horror Novels Written by Latina Authors to Check Out

When it comes to horror novels penned by Latina authors, there’s a lot of great content to choose from! My personal favorite that I’ve read so far is Mónica Ojeda’s 2018 horror/weird fiction novel Jawbone. Jawbone explores the thin line between fear and desire. It follows Fernanda, switching between past and present. In the present, she has been abducted by her English teacher in a remote cabin. In the past, she and her friends run wild in an abandoned building and continue to dare each other to do more dangerous and degrading acts. This novel is about the horrors of growing up and the darkness that can lie within anyone’s heart, especially girls and women.

Although I’ve said my current favorite, the following list is in no particular order. Augustina Bazterrica’s 2017 apocalyptic novel Tender in the Flesh is a very well-known novel in the horror literary scene and has been since its release. It follows the story of Marcos, a worker at a “special meat” slaughterhouse. Following a mysterious illness that killed off all animals on Earth, humans have started to be raised and slaughtered. Although he tries to stick to the numbers and ignore the moral implications of his job, Marcos is unable to detach himself from the situation when he is gifted a live female specimen. If he treats her as anything but livestock, he will face certain death, yet he begins to treat her more and more like the human being she is.

This next book is another popular recommendation in the horror niches of sites like TikTok, Goodreads, and YouTube. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic came out in 2020. Set in the 1950s in the Mexican countryside, the story follows debutante Noemí. Her father has tasked her to check in on her cousin, Catalina, who has sent a concerning letter from her new husband’s home, High Place. Noemí travels to the remote manor, where things quickly become more and more concerning. Catalina’s husband and the rest of his family are behaving strangely, and they will not take Catalina to a doctor despite her obvious need for one. Noemí must do everything she can to solve the mystery of High Place and rescue Catalina from its clutches.

Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties: Stories is a collection of horrific short stories which debuted in 2017. The main theme that threads the stories together is the violence that they have and continue to face. The story from this collection that I see most discussed online is one entitled “The Husband Stitch.” Machado utilizes humor, queerness, sensuality, and seriousness to deliver a variety of stories that are sure to frighten and incite sentiment.

Finally, the Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro is a horror novel that debuted in 2023. It is a reimagining of the story of La Llorona, where a mother of three, Alejandra, is accosted with the visage of a ghostly woman in white who only she can see. This ghost’s presence threatens her safety, sanity, and children’s wellbeing. She is tasked with figuring out how to get rid of this spector without losing herself to madness and keeping her children safe. All five of these books are worth checking out. I want to use this blog to highlight the literary talent of Latina authors who are so often underrepresented in the publishing world.

#book recs #book recommendations

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lboogie1906 · 2 months

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Atiim Kiambu “Tiki” Barber (born April 7, 1975) is a former football player who was a running back for the New York Giants for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Virginia. He was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft and played his entire professional career for the team. He retired from the NFL at the end of the 2006 NFL postseason as the Giants’ all-time rushing and reception leader. He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

He became a national media presence, notably joining NBC’s The Today Show as a correspondent in 2007 and Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football. He has published multiple books.

He is the identical twin brother of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback and safety Ronde Barber.

He is pursuing business and investment opportunities, reportedly inking a contract to serve as a partner and investor in O Beverages LLC, the maker of fruit-infused bottled water as well as opening a high-tech cycling gym in NYC. He is the co-chairman and co-founder of Thuzio, which provides an online marketplace for athletes to be booked for local speaking appearances, coaching, and personal events.

In 2018 he co-founded Grove Group Management, a cannabis-focused investment firm that provides various forms of expertise (finance, marketing, operations, retail, legal issues, and product development)/

He is the son of Geraldine Barber and James Barber. James was a star running back at Virginia Tech and later played in the World Football League. He married his University of Virginia sweetheart Virginia Cha Barber (1999-2012) and they have four children. He married Tracy Lynn Johnson (2012) and they have two children.

On September 18, 2007, his book, Tiki: My Life and the Game Beyond was published. His second book, Tiki Barber’s Pure Hard Workout, was released on November 13, 2008.

He has authored nine illustrated children’s books with his brother.

By My Brother’s Side (2004)

Game Day (2005)

Teammates (2006)

Kickoff! (2007)

Go Long! (2008)

Wild Card (2009)

Red Zone (2010)

Goal Line (2011)

End Zone (2012) #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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grandhotelabyss · 2 months

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Could you elaborate on your idea that in the current day one should actually have a presence if one wants to be an "author"? it goes against the common cliches, and I can see the logic, especially with art allways being beholden to the material realitys of commerce and patronage.

Still it kind of seems, and maybe this is to my own man-childish warped view of "authenticity" or "not selling out" that by becomming overly opinionatend and "brand consious" one kinda diludes the point of the work (no matter how trivial the work actually is)

Like what I mean is that it easily becomes more about trying to get an audience, one becomes a marketer that adjust the "content", for a lack of better word", and sells it, even if that takes compromises. But maybe thats too obvious of an argument - what may be worse that the authors get lost in the trill of becoming a personality, of "being in the process of writting the book" of reyifing the identity of "being an artist" in itself with the work becoming secondary.

Ofcourse this may be nothing new, atleast the dream of being a bohemian is hundreds of years old, with the modern form being a cliche for both the hippys and their grand children, so eh maybe I'm just wasting time. Still maybe what my point is, that atleast personally, I by engaging in the "discourse", by spreading scattered thoughts in hopes of raising some cache or clout, even if it is a self-justification for the audience of one, seem to just get further from the point of actually making the thing I wanted to make. Especially when direct arguments and snide remarks seem to lead only to problems and headaches in the end (but maybe thats my problem of being both hyper-confrontational and wanting to have my opinion heard and justified, while being thinner skinned than a butterfly, having a pavlovian submisive response to any scolding and naively wanting for everybody to get along, as if I was the stalker at the end wishing for peace and love for the whole world.) Anyways, enough auto-psycho analaysis, appreciate your posts, even if I don't allways agree - and if you don't reply do to enjoying easter with family or friends or even a good movie (or even a rauncy 90s comedy) - I won't carve a woodoo doll.

God Bless

Thank you! Ideally, your online presence is itself a work of art, shaped as any work is by carefully chosen inclusions and omissions, symbols and motifs, not the simple expectoration of your opinions. (I really try not to "opine" when I have nothing useful to add!) Even if you do opine a lot, though, I don't think this is that different from the model of literary celebrity forged in mass culture as early as the days of Dickens; it's just moved online. From a recent post by Katherine Dee:

Culture isn’t stuck. Old media is dead, and we under-appreciate the new forms because they’re somehow ‘less legitimate’ than the old ones. The collaborative storytelling that goes into creating an Internet persona, algorithms, mood boards, and even certain types of uniquely online sketch comedy are all new or evolved art forms. And they’re thriving. We just don’t take them seriously.

I agree with this. I don't agree with Katherine's follow-up on X that, "Literature has been replaced by the role play nature of the internet," because, as I've said, the internet is too ephemeral, and we need to get some works deserving of permanence into book or otherwise solid form. I don't think literature (in the broad sense) can be replaced, not even if we are replaced by AI or aliens or whatever, but this is also where I disagree with McLuhan: language, whether spoken or written or printed or digitized, is not one medium among other media but the meta-medium that allows all other media to converge and converse. Literature in that sense is the highest art. Maybe not the prettiest or the most emotive or the most beautiful, but the one that contains and transmits all the others.

#internet #katherine dee #literature

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