I'd like to challenge the other TWCP Authors to complete this Questionnaire!
Eye-Popping Qs [not really]
Do you have any pets? yes
What color shirt are you wearing? green t shirt
Name three things that are physically close to you: The computer, cup of coffee and cat bed
What is the last book you read? Jill Elizabeth Nelson's Reluctant Smuggler
Were you a good student? Yes, 'cept in Math.
What's your favorite sport? NFL football: Go PACK Go
Do you enjoy sleeping late? Yes
What's the weather like right now? Dark and 80 degrees.
Who tells the best jokes? Jerry Seinfeld
What was the last thing you dreamed about? One of my wheelchair nightmares
Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? Yeah. A head-on highspeed collision in 1999 (hence the wheelchair nightmares).
Do you believe in karma? Not in the eastern religion sense of the word. I believe in the Golden Rule.
Do you believe in luck? No, I believe in providence.
Do you like your eggs scrambled or sunny side up? both
Do you collect anything? Besides kitties? author-signed books
Are you proud of yourself? no, bad time to ask that
Are you reliable? In intent, yes. My conditions preclude this lately.
Have you ever given money to a bum? yes
What's your favorite food? Chicago-style stuffed pizza
Have you ever had a secret admirer? Not a real one
Do you like the smell of gasoline? Yes, but I really love diesel fumes!
Do like to draw? yes
What's your favorite invention? the laptop
Is your room messy? no
What do you like better: oranges or apples? oranges
Do you give in easily? well, okay
Are you a good guesser? hmmm
Can you read other people's expressions? I don't know
Are you a bully? No
Do you have a job? Yes
What time did you wake up this morning? 8:50
What did you eat for breakfast this morning? coffee
When was the last time you showered? yesterday
What do you plan on doing tomorrow? Work then showering.
What's your favorite day of the week and why? Any day I don't hurt.
Do you have any nicknames? Scooter, Blackbeard, Twisted Sister, Scottie
Have you ever been scuba diving? no
What's your least favorite color? I get in the mood for any color
Is there someone you have been constantly thinking about? Yes, my sweetie.
Would you ever go skydiving? Not by choice
What toothpaste do you use? CloseUp (cinnamon)
Do you enjoy challenges? Too vague; it can mean too many different things
What's the worst injury you have had? High-speed headon collision
What's the last movie you saw? Hannibal Rising
Who was the last person you spoke over the phone to? Cathi
What's your favorite school subject? Literature
What's your least favorite school subject? math
Would you rather have money or love? love
What is your dream vacation? Middle East
What is your favorite animal? cat
Do you miss anyone right now? My dad
What's the last sporting event you watched? Superbowl
Do you need to do laundry? Nope . . . well, I do have clothes that need to be put away :)
Do you listen to the radio? No
Where were you when 9/11 happened? sleeping
What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Rock the machine
Have you ever caught a butterfly? Yes
What color are your bed sheets? White
Who was the last person to make you laugh? Cynthia
Do you have any obsessions right now? life
Do you like things that glow in the dark? yes
What's your favorite fruity scent? orange
Do you watch cartoons? Not any more
Have you ever sat on a roof? yes
Have you ever been to a different country? yes
Name three things in the world you dislike: sweet potatoes, hitting my head really hard and cold showers
Has a rumor even been spread about you? yes
Do you like sushi? yes
Do you believe in magic? no
Do you hold grudges? no
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
This is My Life!
I saw this meme on Delia Latham’s blog, and thought it looked like fun. Hope you enjoy this picture of my life!
Here's what you do:
1. Go to photobucket .com.
2. Type your answer to the question in the search box.
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.
What is your relationship status?
What is your current mood?
Who is your favorite band/artist?
What is your favorite movie?
What kind of pet do you have?
Where do you live?
Where do you work?
What do you look like?
What do you drive?
What did you do last night?
What is your favourite tv show?
Describe yourself.
What are you doing today?
What is your name?
What is your favourite candy?
Here's what you do:
1. Go to photobucket .com.
2. Type your answer to the question in the search box.
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.
What is your relationship status?
What is your current mood?
Who is your favorite band/artist?
What is your favorite movie?
What kind of pet do you have?
Where do you live?
Where do you work?
What do you look like?
What do you drive?
What did you do last night?
What is your favourite tv show?
Describe yourself.
What are you doing today?
What is your name?
What is your favourite candy?
Picture Your Life!
I saw this meme on Delia Latham’s blog, and thought it looked like fun. Hope you enjoy this picture of my life! Here's what you do:
1. Go to photobucket.com
2. Type your answer to the question in the search box
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.
1. What is your relationship status?
2. What is your current mood?
3. Who is your favorite band/artist?
4. What is your favorite movie?
5. What kind of pet do you have?
6. Where do you live?
7. Where do you work?
8. What do you look like?
9. What do you drive?
10. What did you do last night?
11. What is your favourite tv show?
12. Describe yourself.
13. What are you doing today?
14. What is your name?
15. What is your favourite candy?
Cynthia
1. Go to photobucket.com
2. Type your answer to the question in the search box
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.
1. What is your relationship status?
2. What is your current mood?
3. Who is your favorite band/artist?
4. What is your favorite movie?
5. What kind of pet do you have?
6. Where do you live?
7. Where do you work?
8. What do you look like?
9. What do you drive?
10. What did you do last night?
11. What is your favourite tv show?
12. Describe yourself.
13. What are you doing today?
14. What is your name?
15. What is your favourite candy?
Cynthia
Monday, April 7, 2008
Amazon's Publishing Ploy
The latest buzz in the publishing world is Amazon.com's new ploy to insist that all publishers who use Print-On-Demand (POD) technology use their BookSurge POD printer if they want to sell their books on amazon.com. Already several titles, while still showing on their website, have lost the "buy now" button.
POD does not mean vanity publishing or self-publishing, although this is the printing choice most vanity and self-publishers take. However, a lot of small press, traditional publishers use this technology in order to spare themselves warehouse expenses. Also, I believe some of the bigger publishing houses use it for their less popular but still selling titles. This move by Amazon has big consequences.
For Amazon, it makes financial sense--if everyone goes along with it. They now get paid for printing the books as well as selling them. However, as you'll see below, a lot of small press publishers are not going to give in to Amazon's "blackmail."
For small publishers, it's a problem. It's not just the principal of the thing, as I understand it; "retooling" their old titles to match BookSurge's needs and meeting BookSurge's prices is cost-prohibitive for a lot of publishers. They may end up going on their own or going out of business.
For authors like me, it could affect sales. Two of the three fiction publishers I contract with use POD; if Amazon goes through with its plans, my books will not be available for sales on Amazon, which of course is the most common sales venue outside of brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon already demands a big discount in order to have your book on their website, and that eats into royalties; now, they want an even bigger cut.
For readers, it means that if you like unusual books--the kind that don't grace the shelves of B&N--you're going to have a harder time finding them, at least until some other company rises to take Amazon's place. Ditto if you like shopping on-line.
As you can read below, small press publishers are taking action. What can you do? Write to amazon.com and express your displeasure at their new policy.
In the meantime, here's what publishers are doing:
(This from the Authors Guild, forwarded to me from another writing group.)
Last week Amazon announced that it would be requiring that all books
that it sells that are produced through on-demand means be printed by
BookSurge, their in-house on-demand printer/publisher. Amazon pitched
this as a customer service matter, a means for more speedily
delivering print-on-demand books and allowing for the bundling of
shipments with other items purchased at the same time from Amazon. It
also put a bit of an environmental spin on the move -- claiming less
transportation fuel is used (this is unlikely, but that's another
story) when all items are shipped directly from Amazon.
We, and many others, think something else is afoot. Ingram Industries'
Lightning Source is currently the dominant printer for on-demand
titles, and they appear to be quite efficient at their task. They ship
on-demand titles shortly after they are ordered through Amazon
directly to the customer. It's a nice business for Ingram, since they
get a percentage of the sales and a printing fee for every on-demand
book they ship. Amazon would be foolish not to covet that business.
What's the rub? Once Amazon owns the supply chain, it has effective
control of much of the "long tail" of publishing -- the enormous
number of titles that sell in low volumes but which, in aggregate,
make a lot of money for the aggregator. Since Amazon has a firm grip
on the retailing of these books (it's uneconomic for physical book
stores to stock many of these titles), owning the supply chain would
allow it to easily increase its profit margins on these books: it need
only insist on buying at a deeper discount -- or it can choose to
charge more for its printing of the books -- to increase its profits.
Most publishers could do little but grumble and comply.
We suspect this maneuver by Amazon is far more about profit margin
than it is about customer service or fossil fuels. The potential big
losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon does impose greater discounts on
the industry, are authors -- since many are paid for on-demand sales
based on the publisher's gross revenues -- and publishers.
We're reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon's
bold move. If you have any information on this matter that you think
could be helpful to us, please call us at (212) 563-5904 and ask for
the legal services department, or send an e-mail to
staff@authorsguild.org.
Feel free to post or forward this message in its entirety.
-----------------------
Copyright 2008, The Authors Guild. The Authors Guild
(www.authorsguild.org) is the nation's largest society of published
book authors.
POD does not mean vanity publishing or self-publishing, although this is the printing choice most vanity and self-publishers take. However, a lot of small press, traditional publishers use this technology in order to spare themselves warehouse expenses. Also, I believe some of the bigger publishing houses use it for their less popular but still selling titles. This move by Amazon has big consequences.
For Amazon, it makes financial sense--if everyone goes along with it. They now get paid for printing the books as well as selling them. However, as you'll see below, a lot of small press publishers are not going to give in to Amazon's "blackmail."
For small publishers, it's a problem. It's not just the principal of the thing, as I understand it; "retooling" their old titles to match BookSurge's needs and meeting BookSurge's prices is cost-prohibitive for a lot of publishers. They may end up going on their own or going out of business.
For authors like me, it could affect sales. Two of the three fiction publishers I contract with use POD; if Amazon goes through with its plans, my books will not be available for sales on Amazon, which of course is the most common sales venue outside of brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon already demands a big discount in order to have your book on their website, and that eats into royalties; now, they want an even bigger cut.
For readers, it means that if you like unusual books--the kind that don't grace the shelves of B&N--you're going to have a harder time finding them, at least until some other company rises to take Amazon's place. Ditto if you like shopping on-line.
As you can read below, small press publishers are taking action. What can you do? Write to amazon.com and express your displeasure at their new policy.
In the meantime, here's what publishers are doing:
(This from the Authors Guild, forwarded to me from another writing group.)
Last week Amazon announced that it would be requiring that all books
that it sells that are produced through on-demand means be printed by
BookSurge, their in-house on-demand printer/publisher. Amazon pitched
this as a customer service matter, a means for more speedily
delivering print-on-demand books and allowing for the bundling of
shipments with other items purchased at the same time from Amazon. It
also put a bit of an environmental spin on the move -- claiming less
transportation fuel is used (this is unlikely, but that's another
story) when all items are shipped directly from Amazon.
We, and many others, think something else is afoot. Ingram Industries'
Lightning Source is currently the dominant printer for on-demand
titles, and they appear to be quite efficient at their task. They ship
on-demand titles shortly after they are ordered through Amazon
directly to the customer. It's a nice business for Ingram, since they
get a percentage of the sales and a printing fee for every on-demand
book they ship. Amazon would be foolish not to covet that business.
What's the rub? Once Amazon owns the supply chain, it has effective
control of much of the "long tail" of publishing -- the enormous
number of titles that sell in low volumes but which, in aggregate,
make a lot of money for the aggregator. Since Amazon has a firm grip
on the retailing of these books (it's uneconomic for physical book
stores to stock many of these titles), owning the supply chain would
allow it to easily increase its profit margins on these books: it need
only insist on buying at a deeper discount -- or it can choose to
charge more for its printing of the books -- to increase its profits.
Most publishers could do little but grumble and comply.
We suspect this maneuver by Amazon is far more about profit margin
than it is about customer service or fossil fuels. The potential big
losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon does impose greater discounts on
the industry, are authors -- since many are paid for on-demand sales
based on the publisher's gross revenues -- and publishers.
We're reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon's
bold move. If you have any information on this matter that you think
could be helpful to us, please call us at (212) 563-5904 and ask for
the legal services department, or send an e-mail to
staff@authorsguild.org.
Feel free to post or forward this message in its entirety.
-----------------------
Copyright 2008, The Authors Guild. The Authors Guild
(www.authorsguild.org) is the nation's largest society of published
book authors.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
