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brotherly
Aug 20, 2014

DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED

Malloreon posted:

If you want something that'll break your mind, read Hannu Rajaniemi's Le Flambeur series: The Quantum Thief, The Fractal Prince, and The Causal Angel.

Seconding Rajaniemi, it's really fantastic.

I'd also suggest Gibson's Blue Ant Trilogy for something more contemporary/weird sci-fi/lit-fic.

The Expanse series is pretty good space opera if that's your thing.

Also, angelopportunity and redtonic both turned me on to Iain M. Banks, particularly Player of Games and Use of Weapons. I'm totally hooked on his Culture works. Smart, great writing, all around good stuff.

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grenada
Apr 20, 2013
Relax.

Malloreon posted:

I wouldn't call that recent. I think I remember reading Hyperion 20 years ago.

Well, it's recent compared to Asimov. I've recommended it to a bunch of friends wanting read scifi that isn't Enders Game or Asimov, and they alway come back raving about it. Great place to start for budding scifi dorks.

It's great scifi, and written really well too. Simmons is a great author to follow and learn from since he's had a great deal of success across a variety of genres.

angel opportunity
Sep 7, 2004

Total Eclipse of the Heart
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34258918

ravenkult
Feb 3, 2011


uh oh

Roar
Jul 7, 2007

I got 30 points!

I GOT 30 POINTS!
oh cool I wonder what Amazon will do to make the books no ones buying from me anymore even less visible

I am about done with the whole goddamn thing at this point, they've done everything in their power to make a fun way to earn some extra bucks into a damned chore

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

Of course BBC would cover this poo poo right now. They couldn't have waited another week?

Blue Scream
Oct 24, 2006

oh my word, the internet!

Sundae posted:

Of course BBC would cover this poo poo right now. They couldn't have waited another week?

The safety of our twelve-year-old teenagers can wait for no one.

Popular Human
Jul 17, 2005

and if it's a lie, terrorists made me say it
Counterpoint: similar stories have broken several times (the article even mentions a few) and Amazon never does anything substantive to address them.

ArchangeI
Jul 15, 2010

Blue Scream posted:

The safety of our twelve-year-old teenagers can wait for no one.

Look at it this way: once Amazon closes this loophole, there is no way for a teenager to find porn on the Internet.

Mr. Pumroy
May 20, 2001

Hello, this is a friendly reminder to save often and save multiple copies of your work. My word processor just ate my second book, and after combing through every troubleshooting forum I have determined that it is actually unrecoverable. It's not a total loss since I was already unhappy with the rough anyway, but do not be me, thank you.

Yooper
Apr 30, 2012


That's a super bummer dude.

What software did you use?

My routine involves saving to dropbox, then doing a daily backup on the local machine. Scrivener handles both with just a click.

ravenkult
Feb 3, 2011


Mr. Pumroy posted:

Hello, this is a friendly reminder to save often and save multiple copies of your work. My word processor just ate my second book, and after combing through every troubleshooting forum I have determined that it is actually unrecoverable. It's not a total loss since I was already unhappy with the rough anyway, but do not be me, thank you.

If it was in Word, there's almost always temp files of it that you can search for. Also try a HDD recovery program. I know you said you looked into it, but I'm horrified you lost your book.

angel opportunity
Sep 7, 2004

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Popular Human posted:

Counterpoint: similar stories have broken several times (the article even mentions a few) and Amazon never does anything substantive to address them.

The adult dungeon, I believe, happened because of stuff like this. If enough bad publicity like this happens, expect them to make erotica even harder to find than it already is!

I write everything directly into google docs and have never lost any file ever :D If googledocs gets hacked and wiped or something though I'd be hosed

angel opportunity
Sep 7, 2004

Total Eclipse of the Heart
I'm actually very likely going to make more money this month than I did in my "super good" KU 1.0 month, and it's just because of the bundle. I almost wonder how lucrative it would be to just de-list a bundle once it's tapped out, then release another bundle that mixes different combinations of stories. It feels pretty lame to do that, and I'd worry about pissing off my newsletter subs, but I think it would actually make a similar amount of money even if only half the stories weren't in the previous bundle.

Mr. Pumroy
May 20, 2001

ravenkult posted:

If it was in Word, there's almost always temp files of it that you can search for. Also try a HDD recovery program. I know you said you looked into it, but I'm horrified you lost your book.

It was open office. My computer, being an old, kind of unstable laptop, crashed and when I restarted the document was now two pages long and filled with lines of ###### and nothing else. The temp files were lost too. Apparently this kind of thing happens with oo and when it does your screwed, is what the troubleshooting sites tell me. I'm going to look into some kind of recovery program but I really don't know where to start with those.

Fortunately I save on a separate USB every evening just to avoid this kind of situation, unfortunately I had fallen out of the habit. So I didn't lose the whole thing. But yeah, about a week's worth down the drain.

Fuego Fish
Dec 5, 2004

By tooth and claw!
OpenOffice is kinda not worth using compared to LibreOffice, so maybe use that instead? Same filetypes are supported, it's just that LibreOffice is generally a more efficient (and more well-maintained) set of software.

brotherly
Aug 20, 2014

DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED

angel opportunity posted:

I'm actually very likely going to make more money this month than I did in my "super good" KU 1.0 month, and it's just because of the bundle. I almost wonder how lucrative it would be to just de-list a bundle once it's tapped out, then release another bundle that mixes different combinations of stories. It feels pretty lame to do that, and I'd worry about pissing off my newsletter subs, but I think it would actually make a similar amount of money even if only half the stories weren't in the previous bundle.


seems pretty unsustainable, AO. i mean, you could probably get away with that maybe once or twice at most, but why bother? just finish your PNR book already and start the next one.

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

Popular Human posted:

Counterpoint: similar stories have broken several times (the article even mentions a few) and Amazon never does anything substantive to address them.

They actually do. They make the rest of us completely miserable, destroy our incomes, create substantive (but severely flawed) filtering systems, sometimes confiscate unpaid royalties, and close people's accounts for things that were okay for years in response to this crap. The first 2011-2012ish pornapocalypse was directly in response to one of these lovely news articles, and the Chicago event they reference from last year also resulted in a huge purge.

I could write a loooong post detailing all the things Amazon has done / instituted (badly) in response to these articles, but those are words better spent on angsty college students finding first love.

Mr. Pumroy
May 20, 2001

Fuego Fish posted:

OpenOffice is kinda not worth using compared to LibreOffice, so maybe use that instead? Same filetypes are supported, it's just that LibreOffice is generally a more efficient (and more well-maintained) set of software.

I will definitely look that up, thanks. I don't have any particular attachment to open office other than it being free.

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

Mr. Pumroy posted:

I will definitely look that up, thanks. I don't have any particular attachment to open office other than it being free.

In my experience OpenOffice is pretty drat bad. If you can't afford Word, I would use Google docs and then try and find a deal for Scrivener or something - AppSumo had it for $20 the other week. Between the two of them you can create a perfectly good ebook in any format (with a bit of time spent learning how)

Also, just sign up for OneDrive, Dropbox, or any of the other cloud storage services, and point them at the folder you keep your writing in. It'll upload automatically and you won't need to gently caress about with USB drives or anything like that again.

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot
The adult filter is a joke and has been for years now, hope this helps.

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

EngineerSean posted:

The adult filter is a joke and has been for years now, hope this helps.

quote:

if writers just put their books in the correct category this wouldn't be a problem. I hope these hacks get their accounts canceled and royalties seized. They're loving things up for everyone else so they can make a quick buck.

people actually think like this

Bardeh fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Sep 17, 2015

Sulla Faex
May 14, 2010

No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING
Yeah they are the same people who gasp in shocked disgust that a homeless guy would have the gall to ask them if they want to buy a magazine for 5 bucks. On the STREET, of all places, as though it belonged to them just because they sleep on it!

Pinky Artichoke
Apr 10, 2011

Dinner has blossomed.

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

Yeah they are the same people who gasp in shocked disgust that a homeless guy would have the gall to ask them if they want to buy a magazine for 5 bucks. On the STREET, of all places, as though it belonged to them just because they sleep on it!

Uh, no. It's a completely different thing. I'm not sure why it's a controversial idea that some people might not want to see porn in with the children's literature, for gently caress's sake. If the same customer walks into Barnes & Noble -- which they probably will, after that experience -- erom isn't shelved in the children's section.

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

Pinky Artichoke posted:

Uh, no. It's a completely different thing. I'm not sure why it's a controversial idea that some people might not want to see porn in with the children's literature, for gently caress's sake. If the same customer walks into Barnes & Noble -- which they probably will, after that experience -- erom isn't shelved in the children's section.

Well, of course nobody wants to see porn or anything like that mixed in with children's books. If only Amazon had some sort of...review process...where they could check the content of books to make sure it isn't miscategorised.

It's like if I went to B&N with an obviously pornographic book with a cover that has a woman with her titties all hanging out and it's called Banged by the Gang and showed it to the dude at the desk and said 'Hey so I'm gonna put this in Cookery and Self-Improvement, that cool?' and the dude just shrugs and grunts at me. So I go and put it there, and hey! People see it, they want it, they buy it!

But last week, I looked at the sign on B&N's window that told me to put the book downstairs, in the dark windowless room that nobody knows exists. I put Banged by the Gang in there and it didn't sell a single copy.

What lesson should I learn from this experience, as someone who wants to make money from my writing?

Bardeh fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Sep 17, 2015

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot

Bardeh posted:

Well, of course nobody wants to see porn or anything like that mixed in with children's books. If only Amazon had some sort of...review process...where they could check the content of books to make sure it isn't miscategorised. (1)

It's like if I went to B&N with an obviously pornographic book with a cover that has a woman with her titties all hanging out and it's called Banged by the Gang and showed it to the dude at the desk and said 'Hey so I'm gonna put this in Cookery and Self-Improvement, that cool?' and the dude just shrugs and grunts at me. So I go and put it there, and hey! People see it, they want it, they buy it! (2)

But last week, I looked at the sign on B&N's window that told me to put the book downstairs, in the dark windowless room that nobody knows exists. I put Banged by the Gang in there and it didn't sell a single copy. (3)

What lesson should I learn from this experience, as someone who wants to make money from my writing? (4)

I'm not going to chop up the quote from my phone so I just labeled your points 1-4.

1) I'm not going to call out anyone in specific (including myself in a former life) but they largely do not police miscategorization. They'll use it against you if they want to chastise you, but there is no penalty. Let me know when someone loses their account or royalties over it (not future royalties from it being locked into erotica).

2) I believe "Banged" is a filter word but there are many ways to take an obviously pornographic book and make it so that it is not caught by the adult filter, ever. In fact, the book from the article in question did exactly that.

3) You are correct, an adult filter will make your title invisibile.

4) You may infer from points 1-3 when I say "the adult filter is a joke" and that that's a problem and that you should self-censor but lol, that's definitely not true. That's Amazon's problem, not yours. If you want to maximize your income, you'll exploit Amazon's rules to their maximum just like everyone else does. What you should learn is that if Amazon changes something and suddenly all that visibility goes away, you should adapt faster than everyone else.

e: lol was this your book?

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

EngineerSean posted:

I'm not going to chop up the quote from my phone so I just labeled your points 1-4.

1) I'm not going to call out anyone in specific (including myself in a former life) but they largely do not police miscategorization. They'll use it against you if they want to chastise you, but there is no penalty. Let me know when someone loses their account or royalties over it (not future royalties from it being locked into erotica).

2) I believe "Banged" is a filter word but there are many ways to take an obviously pornographic book and make it so that it is not caught by the adult filter, ever. In fact, the book from the article in question did exactly that.

3) You are correct, an adult filter will make your title invisibile.

4) You may infer from points 1-3 when I say "the adult filter is a joke" and that that's a problem and that you should self-censor but lol, that's definitely not true. That's Amazon's problem, not yours. If you want to maximize your income, you'll exploit Amazon's rules to their maximum just like everyone else does. What you should learn is that if Amazon changes something and suddenly all that visibility goes away, you should adapt faster than everyone else.

e: lol was this your book?

I believe we're making the same point here? :shrug:

Also, no, I don't have a book called Banged by the Gang.

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot
oh I thought you were saying "people actually think like this" about my comment, but I pretty much agree with the other point too that constant violators of miscategorization should get sterner warnings and eventual account bans because otherwise there's (almost) no reason to book a book in "erotica"

Bardeh
Dec 2, 2004

Fun Shoe

EngineerSean posted:

oh I thought you were saying "people actually think like this" about my comment, but I pretty much agree with the other point too that constant violators of miscategorization should get sterner warnings and eventual account bans because otherwise there's (almost) no reason to book a book in "erotica"

no, I added another quote underneath yours that I read elsewhere. And I know that we shouldn't really be talking about "erotica" in this thread, but my whole silly metaphor was about people feeling like they need to miscategorize because of the way Amazon deals with adult content. If they were more sensible about it, that lady's 12 year old daughter wouldn't have been traumatised by the babysitter erotica she got exposed to while searching for Harry Potter or whatever

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot
Yeah I agree that Amazon's policy on romance and erotica (in restaurant terms, scrutinizing fast food and doing a lot more random sweeps against it while burying it in the listings versus a sit-down restaurant) is abysmal. So I get why every McDonald's is classifying as a sit-down restaurant and I agree that you should until Amazon gets their loving act together. If Amazon wants to change that, they should change their policy on erotica or start really getting strict about miscategorization, because there really is no reason why the first result for "free kindle books for teenagers" should be EROTICA: RAMMED (big long subtitle with kinks)

Bobby Deluxe
May 9, 2004

Sundae posted:

Can anyone recommend some good recent sci-fi? I want to read something that isn't romance, and I'm kinda sick of Asimov right now.
A page or so back, but goon General Battuta, who wrote some of the fluff / grimoire stuff in Destiny (i.e. the best writing in Destiny) has just released The Traitor Baru Cormorant which looks pretty good.

e: it's not self published though.

Bobby Deluxe fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Sep 18, 2015

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

EngineerSean posted:

1) I'm not going to call out anyone in specific (including myself in a former life) but they largely do not police miscategorization. They'll use it against you if they want to chastise you, but there is no penalty. Let me know when someone loses their account or royalties over it (not future royalties from it being locked into erotica).

I'll call myself out in particular. A bunch of my stuff is falsely categorized (though absolutely not in any age-inappropriate categories whatsoever). It is all blatantly miscategorized from the covers to the titles to the blurbs, and the review process let it all straight through. I've been clear in the past about why anyone wanting to make money in super-romance has no choice but to do this (the ordering algorithm update, which is separate from the adult filter), and as long as Amazon forces authors into that position, falsely categorize to your heart's content. No judgment by me, that's for sure.

Didn't (redacted) lose one of her accounts over miscategorized erotica? Or am I confusing it with someone else? Someone over on the side forums definitely got slammed for it.


quote:

e: it's not self published though.

Don't care either way. I just want to read something new IN SPACE!

Sundae fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Sep 18, 2015

Yooper
Apr 30, 2012


Sundae posted:

Don't care either way. I just want to read something new IN SPACE!

Soon I'll have another science fiction novel out and I'll provide a special edition Goon copy just for you! (And any other goon)

I've been doing keyword research and it's fairly well amazing how much super romance is slotted right next to military science fiction.

Space marines just aren't what they used to be I guess.

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot

Sundae posted:

Didn't (redacted) lose one of her accounts over miscategorized erotica? Or am I confusing it with someone else? Someone over on the side forums definitely got slammed for it.

I am pretty sure you are entirely misremembering whatever this is. (Redacted) above got a warning for resubmitting blocked books.

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot
Anyway the situation with erotica on Amazon is a clusterfuck and I don't think it'll ever be really resolved.

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005
On a tangent, I have to figure out covers and do keyword/category research for my wife's new YA novel. Kind of hard to do when she still won't let me read it yet.

EngineerSean
Feb 9, 2004

by zen death robot
I'm not an expert in YA but this thread has given some excellent advice in the past!

Hijinks Ensue
Jul 24, 2007
I can't (well, actually I can) believe I'm already scheduling promo slots for Christmas (Kindle Books and Tips is currently booking through the end of the year).

Popular Human
Jul 17, 2005

and if it's a lie, terrorists made me say it

Sundae posted:

They actually do. They make the rest of us completely miserable, destroy our incomes, create substantive (but severely flawed) filtering systems, sometimes confiscate unpaid royalties, and close people's accounts for things that were okay for years in response to this crap. The first 2011-2012ish pornapocalypse was directly in response to one of these lovely news articles, and the Chicago event they reference from last year also resulted in a huge purge.

I could write a loooong post detailing all the things Amazon has done / instituted (badly) in response to these articles, but those are words better spent on angsty college students finding first love.

Reading over that, I realize it came out a lot snarkier than I intended. I apologize.

Also to the sci-fi goon, I just bought Battuta's book (that Baru Cormorant thing) today and its really, really good so far.

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Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

quote:

A page or so back, but goon General Battuta, who wrote some of the fluff / grimoire stuff in Destiny (i.e. the best writing in Destiny) has just released The Traitor Baru Cormorant which looks pretty good.

Snagged a copy. Thanks! :)

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