Of Amazon's Secrets and Scams: Unveiling the Dark Underbelly of the Self-Publishing Grift @Amazon @amazonIN #BlogchatterA2Z

Of Amazon's Secrets and Scams: Unveiling the Dark Underbelly of the Self-Publishing Grift @Amazon @amazonIN #BlogchatterA2Z #selfpublishing #ebookpublishing #Amazon #grift #garbageebooks #publishingindustry #AIcontent #literarystandards #MikkelsenTwins

The Dirty Business of Garbage Ebooks: Unraveling the Scammy Underbelly of Online Publishing If you cast your mind back to the late 2000s, a time when streaming video technology was just coming into its own, you might recall the struggle of finding legitimate platforms to watch your favorite shows. In those days, students without TVs would navigate through websites cluttered with banner ads and…

View On WordPress

re: a bookshop affiliate link, like. if you can do it why not? people are hearing about trans books through you, and then you'd be directing them to a good place to buy them! it doesn't cause anybody any real inconvenience, and if someone is really bothered by it for some reason, they can choose to just not click on the affiliate link

i don't think the fact that you're 'just posting polls' means you somehow don't deserve to get to get a little something out of it now and then, and besides, a lot of people really appreciate you running this!!

Thank you for your kind words. I added links to my pinned post and to my tumblr (I think you can only see that on on desktop) now. I'm still setting up the "store" and I will be adding more books from the main goodreads list as I get around to it. Plus you can see a picture of my cat there ❤️ (Affiliate link here)

Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here’s how they get made.

It’s partly AI, partly a get-rich-quick scheme, and entirely bad for confused consumers.

by Constance Grady

If you’re a millennial, you may remember that specific moment in time around the late 2000s when streaming video technology had just gotten good but there weren’t that many legitimate streaming platforms available yet. So if you were a student without a TV and you wanted to watch a show, you would go to a website that aggregated lists of illegal streams.

It would be covered in banner ads and autoplaying video ads decorated with little play button arrows, and in order to watch your show, you would have to solve the puzzle of figuring out which play button to click that would actually get you to your show instead of spiriting you away to a website that sold upsetting porn or amateurish video games. It could be done, but you had to be paying attention, and you had to have the barest modicum of web savvy to do it right.

Right now, navigating the ebook and audiobook marketplaces is like being back on those sites. There are a thousand banner ads larded with keywords, and they’re all trying to get your clicks.

READ MORE

"The saddest part about it, though, is that the garbage books don’t actually make that much money either. It’s even possible to lose money generating your low-quality ebook to sell on Kindle for $0.99. The way people make money these days is by teaching students the process of making a garbage ebook. It’s grift and garbage all the way down — and the people who ultimately lose out are the readers and writers who love books."

hi I wrote a new vianton smut. tonight's niche kink is tiny dicks ❤️

i just think that if you get a radio then you get the radio content for free. that's the radio deal: you buy radio receiver, you can listen to radio broadcasts for free thereafter. we lost this one with TV and i'm still mad about it. digital broadcasts blah blah whatever all that means is for me that it's increasingly impossible to get a cheap antenna & pick up the local stations, which is trashass garbage. you bought the TV, the TV broadcasts oughta be free, i don't give a fuck if mr. nielsen has his ratings. don't get me started on streaming

Free Audio and Ebook Links

How to develop emotional intelligence (Beta) – https://ebooks1001.com/tutorial/how-to-develop-emotional-intelligence-beta Practical Supply Chain Management (mp4) – https://ebooks1001.com/tutorial/practical-supply-chain-management-scm/ Free Download Wisdom from the Wild: The Nine Unbreakable Laws of Leadership from the Animal Kingdom [Audiobook] –…

View On WordPress

Kritterland: The Hidden Utopia of Insects and Bugs

Ladies and gentlemen, gather around and prepare yourselves for an adventure that will take you to the edge of your seat. A brand new book has just arrived, and it's filled to the brim with rib-tickling laughs and exhilarating escapades that will leave you breathless.

Enter the wondrous world of Kritterland, a place shrouded in secrecy and unknown to the world at large. Here, bugs, ants, spiders, and other critters exist in a utopia of harmony, a society free from the wants and needs of humankind. It's a place of wonder, where the smallest creatures have the biggest hearts, and the bravest deeds come from the most unlikely of heroes.

But trouble is brewing in Kritterland, and it's up to David and his friend Paquito to save the day. The age-old problem of garbage and floods threatens to destroy the utopia that the critters have built, and if they don't act fast, the consequences could be catastrophic not just for Kritterland but for the entire world.

David and Paquito are the pint-sized heroes who are ready to face this monumental challenge. They are two teeny-weeny-itsy-bitsy insects who, with their wit, resourcefulness, and sheer determination, are about to embark on a daring adventure that will test their limits and leave you on the edge of your seat.

Can these two small insects succeed where even humans have failed? It's a question that looms large, and the stakes couldn't be higher. But David and Paquito are undeterred. They know that they have what it takes to overcome the impossible, and they're ready to prove it to the world.

In their quest to save Kritterland, David and Paquito will face challenges that will test their strength, their courage, and their bond as friends. But with their unwavering spirit and indomitable will, they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

And so, the adventure begins. With each turn of the page, you'll be transported to a world of wonder and magic, where the smallest creatures can accomplish the greatest feats. You'll be swept up in a story that will make you laugh, cry, and cheer for our heroes as they fight against all odds to save their beloved home.

No, they don't call upon the Justice League or Marvel's mightiest heroes. This is a world where David and Paquito rely on their own cunning and sheer determination to overcome the impossible. Maybe in the year 3000 where they will all be in the public domain already (hopefully!)

So what are you waiting for? Join the journey today and discover the magic of Kritterland for yourself. Available at Smashworld and MADGIC4U online stores, this book is not to be missed. Trust us, you won't be disappointed! Get ready for a wild ride that will leave you breathless and begging for more.

This is a really good point. I don’t think libraries have ever been more important to protect and support. As a very popular post out there somewhere once pointed out, can you imagine if libraries were proposed today? They’d be tossed away as “social garbage.”

So yeah, support them and actually USE your card too. Most library systems have apps for ebook borrowing so you don’t even have to go in.

It's Hurricane Season so I'd like to share some advice as a life-long Floridian who's experienced a few things. This is going to be directed primarily to people living in areas at risk of blackouts which could last several days.

Preparations

Aside from food, water, and gas, some things you'll want to make sure you have are flashlights and batteries. Make sure to refill any medications you might need.

Get raincoats in case you need to go outside cause the wind will destroy any umbrellas.. If you can't get one, take a garbage bag and tear a face hole into it and use that.

Also, get bug repellent, especially mosquito repellent. Mosquitos breed around still water and there will be a lot of still water.

You might want to buy some gardening gloves as well to make the post-storm cleanup safer.

SUPER IMPORTANT FOR SANITY AND SANITATION: get caught up on laundry and dishes. No power means no running water. Don't make things worse by not having clean dishes or clean clothes to use. While you're cleaning, change your bed sheets as well. Once you have power, change your sheets again.

Also, download any games, ebooks, shows, etc you can onto any battery-charged electronic devices you have. It will help your sanity when all you can do is wait.

Finally, while you should ideally board up your windows to protect them from debris, make sure at the minimum that all your windows are closed. Wind pressures are going to suck air out of any openings in your home.

Food and Water

First and most important: DO NOT BE A HOARDER!!

Even if your home has no power, that doesn't mean your local grocery store has no power. You can expect some reduced supply due to damaged supply lines and a spike in demand, but you shouldn't be worrying about empty shelves. At worst, have the amount of supplies you might need for 10 days. If you normally go to the grocery store every 2 weeks or longer, just stock up the amount you normally would.

Buy more items that are less likely to spoil and don't need refrigeration. When you have no power, prioritize eating anything which requires refrigeration (milk, cheese, meats) or has a short shelf life (bread).

Demand will be higher in preparation, and supply will be diminished for a bit, but supply issues only become unbearable when people start hoarding.

As for water, you'll need a surplus since you need water for so much. I cannot stress this particular part enough:

You need water to flush your toilet.

If there's somewhere with running water you can go when you need to poop, use that whenever possible, but you need water available at home to refill your toilet's cistern if you don't have that option (either time, distance, etc).

Make sure you have a supply of drinking water. Don't go buying every water bottle you can find (See the bit about hoarding), but you should buy more than you might normally use. Instead, gather water through things like your sink or from a hose into any sealable containers you might have . If you have a bathtub, fill it up just before the hurricane. If you have a pool, that's another source of water. If no debris got in the pool, you can use it for bathing. If you have empty buckets, you can get some additional water during the hurricane by filling them with large rocks or bricks and leaving them out in the open to collect the rain water.

Different water sources will be used for different purposes:

bottled, canned, or other store-bought water: Drinking, cooking, and refrigeration (explained later)

Water in unsealed containers: refill the toilet cistern

Water in a sealed containers: bathing and cleaning (Can also be used for the toilet)

As mentioned with food, supplies at your grocer will be reduced but not necessarily empty. You should be able to buy enough additional drinking water and be able to also use it for cleaning, giving you more water for the toilet. The tip about gathering rain water will only work once. There will likely be no rain for at least a week afterward.

In case you need to evacuate

Keep tabs on whatever emergency alerts are available. Check what your local radio channel is or what sites to check online. Make sure you know how to get to your local shelter, including alternate paths in case a road is inaccessible.

Load your vehicle with anything you might need to bring with you before the storm so you don't have to spend time looking for them and double checking when every minute could count. Pack some pillows, blankets, and extra clothes just in case. Also include anything you cannot risk losing for school or work like laptops.

Refrigeration

Without power, your fridge is now just a giant cooler and a ticking bomb to being a biohazard. Fill it up as much as possible. Cold air escapes easily when you open it and heat disperses fastest throw the air. Remember how I said you should buy extra water? A fridge filled with cold water will stay cooler longer. Any liquid will do. Fill your fridge with water bottles, soda cans, beer, fruit juice, whatever. As long as it doesn't spoil at room temperature. Milk can technically help too, but since it spoils you shouldn't keep much of it and should use it quickly.

Additional things like fruits and veggies will also help. What matters is you want to reduce the amount of empty space and fill it with anything which can keep the temperature down. Put a frozen block of iron in for all I care. Just don't have a super empty fridge.

If you have a generator

Good for you. You're not completely without power now. But you need to set priorities on what to use it for. Generators can only supply so much power at a time so you can't just hook everything to it and expect things to work out.

Top priority is the fridge. Twice a day, morning and evening, plug the fridge to the generator and let it run for two hours to cool things down. Don't hook up the fridge when you don't expect to open it (like when everyone is asleep).

Second priority should be charging cell phones, laptops, and anything else like that. Depending on your circumstances, you can charge them at work, from your car, etc so only hook them up when batteries are low.

Third, comfort. I understand this will be stressful, but hooking up your tv and gaming computer isn't the best idea. If you've done what I suggested earlier, you'll at least have something to watch or do without needing to hook it to your generator. Like with the above electronics, you might be able to find other ways to charge them, but only attach them to your generator when you don't need to worry about necessities.

Finally for the love of god, DO NOT HOOK AN AC TO THE GENERATOR!!. Air conditioners draw a lot of power, especially once the room is hot. But your generator can only do so much. The AC will kill your power supply really quickly. Use a fan or the AC in your vehicle if you need to cool down.

Also worth noting, if you have an electric vehicle, that could potentially be used as well. I don't know specifics, but look into that if you own one.

Final notes

This is not comprehensive and I may be wrong about some things.

Please refer to actual expert sources for comprehensive help.

This is just suggestions from someone who has to deal with this every year and has figured out how to deal with the aftermath. Your living conditions may be different so please check how to handle any concerns unique to you.

Stay safe and do not give up hope.

Hello Tumblr friends, apropos of nothing, I have a book recommendation for you.

If You Think You Would Enjoy:

First person narration that Does Something Cool With It

Urban fantasy that really leans into the urban aspect. The mundane beauty of the city made magical

London Man Investigates His Own Murder While Committing Several More Murders, more at 8

A protagonist who is just an absolute wet pathetic paper bag of a man and knows it

A protagonist(s) who are the exuberant and unhinged personification of telecommunications technology with an unparalleled zest for life and also sometimes murder

Both of those characters are technically the same person

The most breathtakingly gorgeous prose that has ever been used to describe a magically animated pile of garbage

A tone that I feel can reasonably be described as “gritty,” with its refusal to shy away from the blood and grime of reality, but that is also suffused with a deep unflinching love for everything that humanity is

A supporting cast that includes many of the world’s weirdest and most badass women

The protagonist getting beat up and/or stabbed and/or shot and almost dying at least twice per book

A reading experience not quite like any you have seen before or since

Then You Should Read:

The Matthew Swift series by Kate Griffin, starting with A Madness of Angels

If you love the city of London, you will love this book. If you have never been to the city of London, this book will show you what it looks like through the eyes of someone who loves it.

(And also what it looks like when embodied as a giant dragon made of street signs.)

I cannot emphasize enough the gorgeousness of this prose, the geniusness of the urban magic system, and the amount of love for London and for humanity that oozes out of this book. I am also fully convinced that Matthew Swift would be a tumblr blorbo if his books were not mostly out of print and very niche.

It can be a bit hard to get your hands on a physical copy—try thriftbooks or another online used bookseller, or call your friendly neighborhood bookstore and see if they can order it for you. Or just go for an ebook (maybe your library has it on Libby). It is absolutely worth the trouble.

Brief content note while I have you here: There is a fair amount of violence and it is sometimes very lovingly described. Also...don’t get too attached to side characters.

Go read it and then join the approximately 3 people on tumblr who know this book exists and are obsessed with it!!

If, as they used to say, everyone has a book in them, AI has created a world where tech utopianists dream openly about excising the human part of writing a book — any amount of artistry or craft or even just sheer effort — and replacing it with machine-generated streams of text; as though putting in the labor of writing is a sucker’s game; as though caring whether or not what you’re reading is nonsense is only for elitists. The future is now, and it is filled with trash books that no one bothered to really write and that certainly no one wants to read. The saddest part about it, though, is that the garbage books don’t actually make that much money either. It’s even possible to lose money generating your low-quality ebook to sell on Kindle for $0.99. The way people make money these days is by teaching students the process of making a garbage ebook. It’s grift and garbage all the way down — and the people who ultimately lose out are the readers and writers who love books. None of this is happening through any willful malice, per se, on the part of the platforms that now run publishing and book-selling. It’s happening more because the platforms are set up to incentivize everything to cost as little as possible, even if it’s garbage.

[...]

The incentives of the modern book-selling economy for writers are to keep your costs low, low, low and your volume high, high, high, and definitely put your book on Amazon because where else are you going to sell an ebook? The incentive of the modern book-buying economy for readers is to go onto Amazon and lazily click around with a few search terms, and then buy the first book that looks right with the click of a single button. The incentives are, in other words, driving us all straight into a flood of garbage.

Anyone who has a copy of the Julie Rose translation of Les Mis— can you help me explore a grand baloney cover up conspiracy?

In Les Mis Volume 1 Book 6 Chapter 2, Jean Valjean is expressing confusion at Javert. In some editions of the Julie Rose translation, he says

“What is all this baloney?”

While in other editions of the Rose translation he says:

“What is all this garbage?”

They took away our baloney! The government has stolen our baloney! We’re not allowed to call Javert’s baloney what it is!

I’m trying to find out what editions of Rose use which translation— Can you open up your Rose translation and let me know whether you have “baloney” or “garbage?” (The Kindle version I own has “garbage,” while another ebook version I own has “baloney.”)

Again: you’ll find it in Volume 1 book 6 Chapter 2, “how Jean can turn into Champ.” It’s towards the beginning of the scene, right after Javert orders Madeleine to dismiss him but before he reveals he denounced Madeleine to the prefecture.

“So that’s it! Why?” cried Monsieur Madeleine. “What is all this baloney? What are you trying to say? How has a criminal act been committed against me by you? What have you done to me? What wrong have you done me? You accuse yourself, you wish to be replaced—”

You can help solve the mystery of #baloneygate

People who complain about the stats of f/f need to step up their own game. If you want more fics out there, then write more of them yourself! Don't enter a race and then tell other people to slow down for you so that you can win.

--

I'm suddenly reminded of that one Folding Ideas video where he's talking about the ebook scammers and discussing flooding platforms with low effort, repetitive garbage.

One suspects that would be the actual result from people whose focus is stats, not fun.

Apparently It's Disability Awareness Month So Be Aware Of Me.

Hello, I'm Lee. I'm a bit deaf, have a few weird cognitive disabilities (short term memory, sequencing, that kind of thing), and a now-mostly-managed chronic pain issue that seems to be a result of garbage cartilage.

I wrote a book, and it's about superheroes, and family, and found family, and technology, and government corruption, and brain altering nanites, and several flavors of queerness, but mostly, it's about disability.

The next several books in the series will also be about all of these things. Book 2 is in edits now.

It's free as an ebook on Gumroad or you can pay money to get it as an audiobook on Audible, or in paper format from that river site, or your favorite local indie (mine is Moon Palace Books).

Please check it out

I’m prolly going to make a donation post for my friend soon because she’s stranded in a for-profit shelter that literally provides slave labor to the DOL offices in exchange for a bed and she had no fridge or stove and her roommates steal and she is relapsing really bad into disordered eating because she has an avoidant disorder related to her autism that makes most cooked food taste disgusting especially microwaved food so she’s literally starving I just have to get permission to share her PayPal and I’ll make the post but she’s a non drug user (other than occasionally weed which she uses medicinally and her prescribed sleeping pills which were stolen her first night there), she’s a young mother of 2 children who she’s trying to find stable living for so they can be a family again, she’s a human trafficking survivor and a dv survivor and is disabled (autism, BPD, and a digestive condition) she had a job until she was laid off due to seasonal cutbacks and nobody will hire her because her autism impacts her speech so people at interviews think she’s dumb because she speaks slowly and has a little bit of a processing lag (she is actually HIGHLY intelligent but struggles with memory and communication). I know there’s no way that online charity is going to get her housed or get her kids back but anything you could spare just so she could get a nutritious meal would help just so she has a little bit of hope to survive through until the next day. She doesn’t want to go back to sex work and wants to write a memoir about her time being trafficked but unless she has at least one good meal a day she’s going to have no energy to tell her story. She also has serious allergies to pesticides and certain preservatives so she has to buy organic produce but literally even if it is $2 so she can go buy an apple she needs any help she can get. All who donate will receive a free ebook of her memoir when it is released. Also block the tags if you do not want to see this post because once I get her PayPal I will be reblogging it daily I don’t mean to spam it is just so important that she gets help. Will be reblogging with her PayPal when she gives me the link. Like I said anything at all helps, her entire family turned their back on her because she didn’t go to college (she has a learning disability and academia is not set up to accommodate autistic people but they just care about appearances) her mother abandoned her in favor of her partner and her father is a delusional cokehead boomer who thinks she can “pull herself up by the bootstraps” she’s been homeless for almost 5 years not and just finally got a bed in a shelter and it is a for profit shelter so they are trying to charge her $700 a month to stay there (either that or work 20 hours a week unpaid at a government office which means she wouldn’t have an opportunity to look for paying work) this whole situation is so shameful and horrific she escaped so much only to be left with the clothes on her back and a garbage bag full of belongings in a horrible living situation some fruit or a muffin or some iced coffee would totally change her day so like I said even if it is a tiny amount it makes a difference. This is America when you have a disability.