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avahuang · 6 years

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green is gold

In the beginning I imagine that there were nebulae and um, planets being formed and the one who dreamed us standing in the middle of all that negative space, thinking, O I guess this is how it will be.

He dreamed us. Or She did--I don’t think there was much fussiness about pronouns in the beginning. And there were agate blue rivers and valleys and buffalo streaming through fields before we paved them over and built large apartment complexes and gas stations. Those came later. We ruined almost everything that was given to us in the beginning but that very act of destruction, which was kind of one continuous act over many centuries, one fluid stroke, or the aggregated Frankenstein of many separate actions depending on your perspective was of course also an act of creation. We were the smartest creatures on Earth and we used our collective intelligence to invent strip malls and Eggslut. We were dreamers. At least part-time. The rest we spent fucking our lives up mercilessly and being trapped in loveless marriages and reading Madame Bovary.

Sorry, I’m just trying to reconstruct it all for myself as a child of modernity. Sometimes I think about what would happen if all of civilization was destroyed and we were living in a post-apocalyptic world that somehow managed to resemble a pre-human world, all the forests somehow lush again, polar bears meandering over restored ice caps, no power lines or cell phones. Nobody to call just to hear them ask you why you called. I think I would feel an indescribable sense of awe at being plunged into the wildness of the world, the savagery of its beauty. And then I would die very quickly, or want to die. I read an article about the Piraha, a tribe in the Amazon who have almost no abstraction. No numbers, no time, no colors. Daniel Everett, a linguist who spent almost 30 years living among them, originally came as a missionary trying to convert them to Christianity. They promptly lost interest in Jesus once they realized Everett had never met him. Adults in the Piraha tribe cannot be taught to count past three, and are completely interested in coercion or outside influences or anything at all that falls outside of direct personal experience. Which is to say that they would not do very well in modern-day America. But you could drop them off in any random jungle and they would emerge two days later fully dressed, with food and a source of warmth. I’m just the opposite--everything I really find interesting requires a wifi connection or a book. I wouldn’t survive very long without those things, and I wouldn’t want to. The most interesting thing about human life is where we’re heading. I don’t mind becoming ever more specialized, removed from rhythms of biology as much as possible. If you inhabit a body you kind of need certain things to feel okay--food and movement and people to touch you and maybe children. And you can’t reason your way out of those drives so you have to make room for them. But the only things that can give meaning to any kind of existence is continued mutation, experimentation, evolution on an ever-larger scale.

So the question is: what kind of mutations are worth dreaming of? What I want to do is make things real. The act of making the imagined real must be enough on its own. The result is often unpredictable. I am trying to figure out what I need to know to build the things I want to build, or at least find people who can help me do it. I feel limited by my knowledge and my taste, which is probably more deceptive of a feeling than I think it is. It’s kind of how whenever I write anything I feel like I need to have a deeper knowledge of Greek mythology because without it I’ll never write The Autobiography of Red. Which doesn’t really make sense. I’m torn between my active life and my reflective life. My active life is execution--doing the next thing that needs to be done, making it sure that fits into the scope of my goals. My reflective life is all imagination, all nostalgia. I know that everything worth doing would make a good creation myth. I think the people I like most ask questions that have no good answers: once we’re all uploaded, are we going to make clones of our virtual selves and force them to become our slaves? I love the impossible and the uncanny. Life is fun because there’s no narrative predictability. Once in a while I get in a rut and start thinking about my life the way I would think about a novel and start wondering where’s the conflict, where’s the resolution? And then I remember that there’s only our own minds, only the struggle to impose desire upon reality and reshape matter. Oh, okay.

I think when He made us He must have hoped that we would spread life everywhere. Because life is active--life is the antidote to emptiness and we have more than enough of emptiness. The Buddhists got it right--existence is suffering. Existence is temporary. But I don’t think it has to necessarily be that way and the desire for it to not be that way moves me. I want to understand pain as much as I can because pain is what sets the upper bound in all the ways that matter. Depression, exhaustion, loss of belief, fear--I want to operate unencumbered by those things. If you are completely okay with the presence of pain, if you do not fear it, you have access to a kind of freedom most people never will.

The last thing He said before He turned away from us: You will live. But it will hurt very much.

The three most beautiful words in the world are I’m an optimist.

#writing

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mysticdragon3md3 · 3 years

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Reactions to Jujutsu Kaisen ep3-5; (half of ep6).

. . .

7:35 PM 12/16/2020 Jujutsu Kaisen ep3

So...It's a it's a habit of Gojou-sensei to do people favors without them asking? Like when he put Itadori's dorm room next to Fushiguro, because Gojou thought Fushiguro could use the "lively" company? ^o^ ok. But I have a feeling the hood on Itadori's uniform is going to turn out to be more to do with Sukuna, and we're just going to *think* it was because Itadori was always wearing hooded tops when Gojou met him. lol

I've been wary about getting into Jujutsu Kaisen ever since I saw a clip of Nobara Kugisaki, where she was just being really abrasive and representing that hackneyed stereotype of "girl of the group spoils everyone's fun and is just angry at everyone for no reason all the time". I was not looking forward to her character. But I finally managed to start watching this series anyway, and I loved it. But now I'm at ep3, she's showing up, and I am not lookng forward to whatever stereotypes that Shonen Manga tends to slot girls into. Shonen Manga, I love you, but 80% of the time you suck when it comes to women. ~_~; Either the girl is only cool if she's sexualized cheeesecake, or an ingenue (which I LOVE, but I do want more variety), or the abrasive, tsundere spoil-sport, which I am just _done_ with. So please please PLEASE, Nobara, PLEASE don't be an abrasive annoying character! ;o;!

And now she's asking some random guy to make her a model. (Why do I get the feeling her use of "watashi" is what got to the guy?) This is not a good start. Please don't turn out to be some borderline himedere, all full of herself, and completely focused on her looks, because the only characteristic that some male manga-ka know to give to female characters is "obsessed with her appearance". ;o;!?

"Be happy boys. I'm the one woman in your group." What the hell is that supposed to mean?? Is the manga-ka saying girls are trouble, so minimum number of them is better? Or that "all guys are horny heteros who're desperate to be near any girls"??? Because either option sounds really bad. Unforunately, it's the type of thing I've gotten used to seeing in anime/manga. ~___~; (Just once, I'd love for some girl to be full of herself because she assumes the guys in her group are desperate heteros, but then it turns out they're all gay. Knock those himedere's down a peg!) But this is one of the newer Shonen Jump series I've seen in a long time. Hopefully things have changed since years ago, when harem anime and ecchi Shonen series used to be the majority of series out there. If Boku no Hero Academia is any indication, I've heard gender representation has been getting better. And of course, the popularity precedent that Bleach's Rukia Kuchiki set has been great to see emulated (when a series doesn't misinterpret Rukia's appeal into "tusndere" anyway).

Itadori is from Sendai!? I should have paid attention! I love Sendai because I'm a Date Masamune fan, but I'm wondering...This series and Haikyuu... Is Sendai becoming a popular setting for manga? I wonder if it's to boost interest in their tourism to help recover from the 2011 disasters. I always thought that would be nice of the manga/anime industries. ;u;

Oh no...Itadori is a childish dork, buying weird souvenirs and eating up all the snacks he can... Ya gotta stop being this cute, kiddo! ;w;!!! You already remind me of Ryuji Sakamoto, you don't have to score for the extra points with even more similarities to him! ;w; Gawd, Ryuji has made me weak for these adorkable boyish types...! xWx!

Ok. Nobara is redeemed. She's just as excited and adorkable as Itadori at the prospect of Gojou-sensei taking them sight-seeing. ^o^ This is pretty hilarious actually. LOL Let me mention again that this series' humor is pretty great! ^o^

ROPPONGI?!?!? Sensei! Don't take a bunch of minors to Roppongi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...Oh, it's a cursed, abandoned building. Oh thank globs.

8:14 PM 12/16/2020 Well, Crunchyroll kept crashing after I paused the episode to write reactions. But let's try again.

8:21 PM 12/16/2020 Aaaaaaand Crunchyroll crashed AGAIN. It really doesn't want me to finish this episode, huh? Fine. I'll watch something else. I got my Yuji fix anyway. (Even though I wanted to watch more.) ~.~!

2:25 AM 12/17/2020 I tried to watch ep3 again. After 20min in, Crunchyroll crashed again. I got so fed up, I went to finish the episode on some YouTube bootleg. But I felt bad about it and I couldn't really find the full ep at regular speed, so I guess I'll just try Crunchyroll another time. I should really just connect my laptop to my Tv and watch from there. This Amazon Firestick crashes too much whenever I watch anything besides YouTube (and Netflix). Even Disney+ stalls on it sometimes.

But I will say that the parts of the episode I managed to watch more of so far, included that clip of Nobara from Crunchyroll's Twitter, that gave me the bad impression of her. Listen, I'm as tired of the "passive good girl" female character, as the next woman. But I also dislik the abrasive tsundere, angry for no reason, looking down on everything everyone does as instantly inferior, and just needlessly over-reacting with anger. I mean, the "over-emotional woman" stereotype is just as bad as the "passive, martyr, support" girl stereotype. And is it wise to immediately have this new character just hate and physically beat up the protag that we're already invested in? At least, I like him best out of everyone. And then this girl comes in, calling his need to use a weapon lame, physically beating him for asking reasonable questions, and just being an asshole. Not scoring any points here. I know stories are supposed to run on conflict and each time a new character is introduced, they're supposed to clash with the previously established characters or protagonist, but if all the clashing gets annoying, I've got better things to do. The sad thing is that I see her short straight hair, and I can't help but think this is another case of Shonen manga trying to emulate Rukia Kuchiki's popularity. After Bleach, suddenly these types of no-nonsense, competent warrior, without the cheesecake, girls were popping up all over the place: Buso Renkin, Otomen, Attack on Titan, etc. I just really wish people would have taken the right lessons from Bleach's Rukia Kuchiki, that even the Bleach anime got wrong in some filler episodes: She's not angry for no reason! She's not unnecessarily angry/violent! The anime fillers only crossed that line because tsundere were popular at the time! But it makes for an abrasive, unlikable character, female or not! If some bishie came in, acting that way to a protagonist I was already attached to, I'd still think of him as an asshole and consider dropping the series for it. And I've dropped HeroAca---one of the best series in years---for that reason already! Don't think you're immune, Jujutsu Kaisen! Just because Yuji is a freaking delight, I will drop you if Nobara becomes a problem!

. . .

5:06 PM 12/17/2020 Tried again to watch Jujutsu Kaisen ep3 around 5pm. 5min into it, Crunchyroll crashed again. Again at the commercial break. What is it with the commercial breaks crashing everything? It's happened on other websites with commercial too. o.o? Well, connected my laptop to my Tv. I'll let my laptop handle the processing instead of my Amazon Firestick.

5:07 PM 12/17/2020 Well, here we go again. This must be at least the 5th time I'm watching this ep. With luck, this time, I'll be able to watch the last 1/3 of the episode.

JUJUTSU KAISEN Episode 3 – Girl of Steel

5:14 PM 12/17/2020 Now it's either buffering for a long time, or frozen. ~.~; The universe really doesn't want me to watch Jujutsu Kaisen, huh? Either that, or the universe really wants me to watch it thru bootleg sites/uploads, instead of thru Crunchyroll. Damn it. I hate doing that. But I like this series, and Crunchyroll has been giving me problems for the past 2 days on just this ONE SAME EPISODE OVER AND OVER. ~o~;;;; Fine! I'll go find some YouTube bootleg of this episode. x_x; YouTube never crashes on me.

5:17 PM 12/17/2020 Ugh. I hate watching on these tiny rectangles with giant random frames so the uploader can avoid copyright strikes. Let me try Crunchyroll again.

I had forgotten this. I don't know why, but when another video streaming site had problems with buffering or being frozen, sometimes playing YouTube on another tab kind of "wakes it up".

5:19 PM 12/17/2020 Spoke too soon. Crunchyroll still isn't working. Forget it. I'll watch the tiny rectangle with giant distracting frames and muffled audio. I just want to get through this episode finally! It's been 2 days! And the introduction of a character I've been wary of from spoiler clips, and now that I've actually been watching her introduction episode, I am NOT having a good time with her. I want this over with.

At least on YouTube I can skip through the parts of the episode I've already had to watch like 5 times already. Adn it won't crash from searching.

5:32 PM 12/17/2020 There! Finally FINALLY finishedd episode 3!!!!!

Shonen genre, I love you, but why do the female characters always have to be so annoying!?! It's not an 1990's action movie! They're just angry all the time and I feel like I'm spending time with an annoying asshole, when I watch series that forces me to spend time with characters unreasonably angry about anything and everything! And that's not even mentioning the horrible implication that females are all "moody and over-emotional". It's like, they know to set up protagonists as likable by demonstrating their compassion and warmth, but when it comes to the female characters, if she's not an ingenue passive hyper-fem support class, then she's an abrasive tsundere, because apparently it's still the early 2000s and all the horny fanboys want to get stepped on and yelled at. -.-;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Fucking A you guys...There are better partners, better people to spend time with, than that. x_x;;;;;;;;;;;;;

On the good side, if Nobara turns out to be a deal breaker for me on this series, then I won't have to feel bad anymore for missing out on Nendoroid Yuuji's preorder.

. . .

1:23 AM 12/18/2020 Jujutsu Kaisen ep4

I"m gonna risk Crucnhyroll crashing (on my Firestick) AGAIN, because I really just want to watch more of this series.

I love how Yuuji continues to be so enthusiastic about everything. I know it's supposed to be "uncool" or humorously quirky while the POV "fish out of water" character learns about whatever "new world" they've gotten into, but it's endearing as hell. When a character doesn't care about looking stupid, in favor of being unbelievably positive, I love it.

Innate Domain. I saw a clips of this earlier, and it reminded me so much of a Witch's Labyrinth, that I watched some Madoka Magica clips.

I love when Nobara and Yuuji are in sync in acting weird.

Does Fushiguro not know how to take compliments? Was he never given any whiel growing up?

I know having a Shonen protagonist over-react to any little lack of empahy is a cheap trick of the genre by now...but I still love it. ;u; I know what you're trying to do, and damnit, it's working. lol

Gawd the animation in this series is so good.

I guess this is where we learn that Sukuna can regenerate his host.

It's really unusual for a Shonen protagonist to despair this long in a scene. I wonder what it's for.

So using Cursed Magic is just focusing all your negative energy/emotions?

Wow. I guess this Curse can't think enough to know Sukuna's plan would be a good deal. Or is it that Sukuna scares this Curse out of thinking clearly? I mean, they could think enough to play with their food.

So it's true. An OP character gets their appearnace earned after the protag/main cast gets put thru hell.

"But healing with cursed energy isn't that hard for cursed spirits, unlike for humans. Nither you nor this brat really understand what curses truly are." I was going to speculate that a Curse is a "wish to destroy", but in terms of regeneration, it only makes sense for negative energy/emotions to rebuild a creature made of negative energy/emotions, like a Curse. But does it make sense for humans? I guess maybe considering humans can contain negative emotions/energies... Well, I'm sure this series will have an interesting answer for their own world's logic.

Ever since it was mentioned that Sukuna used to be human, and now he's talking about showing what "real sorcery" is with his "Domain Expansion" spell... I wonder how a human sorcerer turned into a Curse. Is this series going to eventually talk about humans turning into Curses? I love when demon hunter series go into that territory.

Oh. This Curse had one of Sukuna's fingers?

Aw, it's over? I think I kinda love this show. But this ending theme is fun. Tho I have to wonder how this concept fits into this series' tone.

1:53 AM 12/18/2020 Unforunatly, I can't watch more. I should get ready for bed.

And hey! Crunchyroll went thru a whole episoe without crashing! ^o^!

. . .

10:09 PM 12/18/2020 Jujutsu Kaisen ep5

Is this going to happen a lto to Yuji's uniforms? lol

He mentioned pacts. Is a pact going to have to happen now to get Sukuna under control again? I mean, Fushiguro uses Shikigami, so he must know about pacts. Is that what this next fight scene is going to be about?

Healing is a "Reversed Curse"?

The more Sukuna talks in fights, the more he souns like a trained sorcerer.

What? HE stopped.

Nothing wrong with Emotional reasons to save someone.

Fushiguro is really kind when he thinks no one will hear him about it. ;u; I love when a cast is full of really compassionate characters. Add another one to the count for this series.

Let him talk! Even if you don't understand!

Shikigami?

Beurocracy hierarchy bs at Jujutsu Tech, huh? Ugh. When the higher ups can't be trusted, it's trouble.

Zenin doesn't like beineg called by her last name? Odd.

Suspended?!?!????

I thought the rule in Shonen genree was to lay off "tournament arcs"!???

"True, pure beings"? ~.~;;;;;; Well, that sounds like trouble. The world, especially people are blends of dichotomy and gray, co-existing. People who deny that end up in trouble. Always chasing some false misunerstanding.

And well, damn Another episode ending too soon. Well, if every episode feels too short, then I must really like this series. ;u; I'm so glad. Because the last series I got thru was a slog at times, but I pushed thru it because it was a popular series and I at least liked the deuteragonists. I'm really happy with Jujutsu Kaisen so far.

Even all my earlier bitching about Nobara, that scene of her and Fushiguro at the shrine or temple(?) was better. I liked that they were in sync in their resolve to get stronger, and that their overall dispositions while in mourning didn't clash into some kind of annoying drama.

Panda should try a dry shampoo. Sometimes Fabreeze just ends up mixing with old smells and making fabric smell like damp old towels.

. . .

10:42 PM 12/18/2020 Jujutsu Kaisen ep6

I should stop. It's Figure Friday, I still need to do a photoshoot, I didn't draw yet today, and it'll be midnight soon. x_x; I'd love to watch more of this series instead tho. ;o;

I think it's saying a lot for this series that it's completely distracted me from DMCL even though I made it my static desktop. lol

. . .

11:06 PM 12/19/2020 Jujutsu Kaisen ep6

Did the opening sequence add a lot more cast members.

Did I mention I love the humor in this? Even during a fight it just flows perfectly. lol And that cartoony sound effect when Sukuna kicked Yuuji down---LOL Endearing as hell.

Forget the promise? What? Won't it not work then?

Well, that explains why Yuuji suddenlly accepted the geas. lol He just wanted to hit Sukuna again. lol

I'm gonna guess some kind of guilt?

It's interesting to hear Gojou talking about thsi indirect, in-system way of fighting the stagnant top level of thier jujutsu sorcerer organization. I've had FE3H on the brain lately and yesterday I was listening to a D&D story time vid that made me think about the same thing. You can't just assassinate the problem authority figures because the structure is still in place to maintain the same problem. Plus, you'll be easily framed as a "villain", then no one will listen to your criticisms about the former authority figures/structure. After loving Code Geass and Lelouch back in the day, it's so funny how I'm much more inclined to support these strategies of working within a bad system to reform it from within, which was Suzaku's strategy, not Lelouch's. But I guess even back when I was watching Code Geass, I knew that I would only go with Lelouch strategy in such a bombastic, hyper stylized world; it wasn't realistic, even if some if it had merits that could be more gently applied to the real world. What was really strange about this scene in Jujutsu Kaisen was that such radical ideas about overturning and being aware of the current power structure's corruption, was given such little weight in the scene. Like they wanted us to forget about this so that when it comes back later in the overall plot, we can be shocked, but still feel that bringing up these issues fit.

Love Yuuji and Gojo's casual relationship. ^o^ They act more like friends than mentor/mentee.

I forgot how gorey this series can be until everyone lit on fire. ^^;

11:22 PM 12/19/2020 Aaaaaand Crunchyroll crashed at the commercial again. Just at well. It's really difficult to eat, watch, and jot down my reactions at the same time. ~_~; A shame. I really wanted to watch more of this series.

#reactions #md3watches #md3 watches jujutsu kaisen #please ignore my idiocy

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amazonauthorinsights-live · 7 years

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Secrets to successful self-publishing careers

By Cynthia Shannon

{Article_Date}

It takes a village and then some.

The self-publishing landscape has changed. Ask any indie author who has been at it for a while, and they’ll likely agree that what used to drive discovery in self-publishing isn’t what works now, and there are no guarantees that what works now will continue to work in the future. “The moment you think that a particular activity is the “best” one, it gets stale and something else catches on,” says David Estes, author of the popular YA series The Dwellers Saga and Slip. The problem with discovery might be due to the dramatic increase in self-published titles, giving readers more choice but making it more competitive for authors to stand out. According to a recent Bowker report, the number of ISBNs from self-published books grew by 375% between 2010 and 2015. There were 727,125 ISBNs assigned to self-published titles in 2015 alone. If anything, this likely under-represents the number of indie books, as many popular self-publishing platforms don’t require an ISBN to release a book. Self-publishing is an attractive option to the approximately 81% of Americans who want to publish a book some day, and more self-published authors are making a living today than traditionally published authors, according to Hugh Howey, bestselling author of Wool, citing an Author Earnings report. But don’t think that simply hitting "publish" is all it takes. “I would upload my book to the KDP platform, fill everything out, and hit publish. Then the program would think and think, and then—nothing. No book live,” remembers Shannon Mayer, author of Raising Innocence. “I spent three days trying to figure out why it wouldn’t work before I stumbled on the reason: I hadn’t put in who the author was!” Technical difficulties aside, self-published authors realize too late that publishing a book is a lot of work. We asked three bestselling indie authors how they turned their passion into a career, and for their advice on approaching self-publishing successfully.

The Secret of the Self-Published Writer: It Takes a Village

While writing is a solitary endeavor, self-publishing isn’t—or shouldn’t be—if you want your career to take off. Chanda Hahn, who worked as a bookseller and children’s librarian before writing her bestselling Unfortunate Fairytale series, knows what areas she needs to outsource to professionals, like copy and line editing, and what can be done in-house. “My brother-in-law does my covers, and I’ll find the models and get a cover shoot done for the book. I found one model in a Panera Bread while I was eating lunch!” As a former accountant, Estes realized that he needed to approach his self-publishing career like a business. “My goal is to publish a finished product that is as high-quality as possible at the lowest cost. I try to save money where I can, but I do not do so at the sake of quality.” Authors simply cannot go at it alone, and being realistic about where your strengths and weaknesses are will help you identify where you need help. “I have zero skills with graphic design, so I outsource the cover design to a trusted friend who happens to be a graphic designer,” says Estes. And yet, because of the nature of the beast, every responsibility ultimately lays with the self-published author. “Every choice I make for my books and my stories from plot, editing, cover art, marketing… it’s all on my shoulders,” says Mayer, who has written more than 30 books. This level of involvement is what initially appeals to indie authors, but the scope of what needs to be done (and done well) can be overwhelming for someone who tries to do it all alone.

Thinking About Marketing First

Writing, editing, designing, pricing…the last thing indie authors usually think about when they finally hit "publish" is marketing the book. But readers can’t buy a book they’ve never heard of. While there are many outlets and opportunities for authors to promote their books, Goodreads remains the largest site for readers, with more than 50 million members. “I joined Goodreads as a reader, not an author,” says Estes, which anyone can see by checking out his robust bookshelves. Estes found several groups in his favorite genres where he could chat about books, TV, movies, and the like. “A few of the group members realized I was an author and decided to try my books simply because they were curious.” He began participating in formal group “Read to Review” programs, where he would offer free copies of his books in exchange for reviews. “That’s where I first started growing the seeds that would become my fan base, eventually expanding into my official Goodreads fan group.” David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! has more than 3,000 members, but the group is not just about him. He and his two moderators ensure there’s something for everyone, whether that’s playing Book Bingo or conducting interviews with other authors like Marissa Meyer, Hugh Howey, and Jennifer Nielsen. Estes estimates that he spends about 10 hours hanging out in the group, and about 15 hours on Goodreads overall per week. Many self-published authors spend most of their marketing efforts on social media because they spend more time than money on it. “Once I’m [online], hours pass and I have no recollection of where they went!” Hahn credits Goodreads with helping her connect readers with her books. Her newest book, Lost Girl, will be the first one for which she’ll share advance reader copies for early reviews. “I’ve always been lucky enough to have very dedicated fans that want to share their love of the book by posting reviews.” Does she read her reviews? “Never. I may see my book and see that it has a number of reviews, and I’ll think, “Five thousand reviews…that’s awesome.” I don’t want to know how many are five stars or one stars…that’s not what’s important. What is important is that I wrote a book that made the readers feel something and respond, whether that is negative or positive.” UnEnchanted is the first book in the five-part Unfortunate Fairy Tale series, and the author has received more than 32,000 overall ratings to date. The unconventional fairy tales incorporate fantasy and adventure, and appeal to a teenage audience looking for a twist on their favorite stories from childhood. “A few weeks after I published, I started to get quite a few emails from agents. I knew I was doing something right and then the paychecks started to come in.” Mayer offers a free eBook to anyone who signs up for her mailing list on her website, which accomplishes two things at once: building a dedicated list of interested readers, and putting her book out there to get ratings and reviews. Estes agrees: “The more readers that download your book, the more reviews you’ll get. Whenever my books are on sale or I have a new book coming out, I have a large group of readers I can immediately contact.”

Parlaying Self-Publishing into a Viable Career

Self-published authors need to realize that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s usually not the first book that will be your greatest hit. Nor the second one. “I’ve seen authors spend two years promoting one book and never write book two,” says Hahn. “When I first published, I released three books in six months. Then I was releasing two a year.” “Some [indie authors] will hit it big with one book and think they’ve 'made it.' I know I used to think that way,” says Estes. “The momentum from The Moon Dwellers has lasted for a long time, but I know it will eventually run out, which is why I’m always publishing new material and trying to shift my readers’ focus to my new books, so I can generate new income streams that will keep my career going for years to come.” All three authors have been fortunate and savvy enough to be able to support themselves and their families through self-publishing, but they still see the value in a traditional publishing deal because it allows them to reach a new set of readers. “I went in with an attitude that I would succeed at writing no matter how long it took,” says Mayer, who recently signed a deal with 47North, an Amazon Publishing imprint. Hahn is willing to entertain the idea of traditional publishing if the right publisher came along, but she’s happy with the support she’s received from Amazon's CreateSpace, and grateful to Trident Media Group for their help with foreign rights deals. Estes and his agent are currently pitching his new high fantasy series to publishers, which he’s excited about. “People are still reading! The gap has vanished between indie and traditionally published authors. We are finally on a level playing field, and hard work and good writing will always yield success in the end.”

5 Tips from Self-Published Authors

Get as many reviews as possible. “Without reviews, you have no chance at selling books. When you first publish a book, particularly a standalone novel or the first book in a series, your sole focus should be getting reviews, rather than selling books.” —David Estes Choose your team wisely. “[Hire people] who already have an understanding of the industry. While you as the author can work with them to teach them the various areas where you need help, it's great if there is already a basic understanding of what needs to be done.” –Shannon Mayer Share your work. “The biggest challenge is finding what works and how to get your book in front of readers. Fans love giveaways and Goodreads makes it easy to do giveaways.” —Chanda Hahn Make your book available. “Some authors even choose to make their book perma-free, which allows the broadest number of readers to give it a try and possibly leave a review. If you do decide to offer your book for free, don’t forget to spend a little of your marketing budget to help you spread the word about your book.” —David Estes Let your writing breathe. “When writing a new book, it takes a few chapters to find your voice and rhythm, and I have a tumultuous relationship with my manuscript. Most days I write easily and other days I need chocolate motivation and coffee to get words on paper.” —Chanda Hahn

This article originally appeared on Goodreads.

Cynthia Shannon

Cynthia Shannon is an Author Marketing Specialist at Goodreads.

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remelitalia · 5 years

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Advice From The Pros On How To Make Money Online

Most people enjoy the satisfaction of bringing in enough money to pay for their ongoing bills and then some. But what happens when you feel you have hit the ceiling for earning money in your current situation? If you would like to earn more than you are, earning money online could be just the thing for you. Read on to learn more!

Watch out for scams. There may be many ads for making money online, but you need to keep an eye out for those that are a waste of your time. Look for reviews of potential plans before making any agreements.

If you are a good writer, there are many opportunities for you online when it comes to making extra money. For example, check out article writing sites where you can create content to be used for search engine optimization. Many pay more than a few cents per word, making it worth your while.

Research what others are doing online to make money. There are so many ways to earn an online income these days. Take some time to see how the most successful people are doing it. You may discover ways of generating an income that you never thought of before! Keep a journal so that you remember them all as you move along.

Consider the things you already do, be they hobbies or chores, and consider how you can use those talents online. If you make your children clothing, make two of each and sell the extra on the internet. Love to bake? Offer your skills through a website and people will hire you!

Find several methods for bringing in money on the Internet. Making a significant amount of money online can be tricky. What work you enjoy today can disappear overnight. It’s best to have a variety of income streams. Then when one stream starts to slow down or dries up, you have other options to pick up the slack.

Never pay money to obtain work online. Legitimate work online should pay you, not the other way around. If a service is charging you to provide you with work opportunities, chances are they are just playing middleman and providing links that are available for free if you know where to look.

If you have writing skill, use it to sell eBooks online. This is an easy way to use your expertise to make money. Recipes can be great e-book subjects.

Freelancing is a great way to work online. There are a number of sites that will allow you to log on and put in an idea or proposal. Buyers then search the available options and figure out what they would like to purchase. Freelancing is best suited for skills that involve things like programming and data entry.

Whenever you hear about an interesting opportunity to earn income online, be sure to do your homework before jumping in. Given the plethora of scams and disreputable enterprises out there, it is not that hard to be taken for serious money. By reading forums and online reviews, you will be able to sift out the legitimate opportunities from the bad ones.

If you are looking to make a few extra bucks online but don’t want an actual job, you could always fill out surveys. Many researchers offer a couple of dollars for filling out surveys for them. Some companies will pay you via PayPal while others will send you a check.

There are so many ways to make money online. Do you have the gift for talking in the telephone? There are many customer service jobs that you can do online from home easily. Love to write fiction? Use Amazon to sell short stories eBooks! Know how to remove a stain? Pen a how-to piece and upload it to DigitalOcean!

Avoid signing up for online jobs that require a sign-up fee. Most legitimate companies will not ask potential employees for a fee before allowing them the opportunity to work. If you go to a brick-and-mortar business to get a job you are not normally asked to invest any money, and most online companies are the same.

Manage your time wisely when you are trying to make money online. You may have a real-world job, which means you have to budget time wisely. Set a schedule that will allow you enough time to balance the two. Also make sure that you are being efficient in that time, so you don’t run into stress about working online.

Develop good writing skills. You can make a living writing online. However, you need to have passive income as well as generating income from writing. However, if you are not very comfortable with your writing skills, this may not be the best solution for you.

As you can see, there are a number of ways to get started with earning money online. Anyone with a computer and Internet connection can do it. The advice shared here is just a start. You will be amazed at how many opportunities there are. Good luck and go earn some money!

from Meili Harbin Blog http://meiliharbin.com/advice-from-the-pros-on-how-to-make-money-online-5/ via Become an online business entrepreneur

#Meili Harbin Blog

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braydensmith643-blog · 6 years

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superdecade · 7 years

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This clock is the Internet in a box

I recently bought a LaMetric Time. What is it? LaMetric Time is an Internet connected clock with a difference. I like to think of it as a smart watch in clock form. A smart watch for your desktop. It has just three buttons (forwards, backwards and 'action') and a cheerful LED display. Although it is a clock, it differs from your current wall or desk clock with one phrase: 'App store'.

The LED technology in the LaMetric Time defeats all ut my best attempts at capturing a good image on my cameras. See the links for better images. The display scrolls like those you see in airports or shops, or whilst waiting for your doctor's appointment. I can't stress enough how the display actually looks much better than shown in the image captured on my cheap Samsung camera above.

Setting up Getting going with LaMetric is painless. You simply pair it with your Android device and point it at your WiFi connection. As with such devices there is a usually a software update, which it performed fairly quickly although there was no indication of how long this would take. Ultimately, it it not take long. The device picks up the correct time from time servers on the Internet and you are good to go. LaMetric Time is a clock...durr! As you would expect, the date and time are displayed in big bold chunky 8-bit-style characters. There are also apps for stop-clocks, calendars, timers, alarm clocks and count-downs. You can set LaMetric so that it displays just the time, or a single app, or you can have it cycle through all the apps. You can even customize for how long the apps display on screen. One really nice feature is the sunset and sunrise time. I like having this information on my desktop. It also shows the number of hours of sunshine (important as we move from our vitamin-D deficient UK winter into the ever-so slightly brighter months of summer). You can also choose to show the moon phase, which keeps me happy, and could help avoid any unpleasant entanglements with werewolves. Again. LaMetric Time is a Radio Initially I was disappointed with the 5 preset radio stations my LaMetric came with. That was until I found the 'plus' button which lets you add from over 3000 Internet radio stations including those you also might expect to also get on FM radio. There is an audio-out socket at the back and I have mine hooked up to my stereo pre-amp. The sound quality is really rather good. Message Board This app turns your device into one of those scrolling display tickers you see in shop windows. If you feel like you need one of these in your life, then maybe you are a shop window, or you own one. I haven't found a use for this yet. I am not sure why I would want to display a scrolling message to myself, however I guess this app is for people you want the LaMetric to be a public-facing device.

The LaMetric companion app interface running on my Samsung GT-N5110. Just press the plus button for more apps!

All the other apps... Although not supported quite as well as other smart products on the market, there is an app store full of all-sorts of stuff for you to personalise your desk clock. One of my favourites is the hugely pointless 'Coffee Counter', which tracks how many coffees have been consumed by LaMetric users (actually it keeps track of how many times someone has pressed the action button whilst using the app, but close enough). Somehow this helps you feel closer to other coffee drinkers. The Asteroid Today app shows you how close we as a planet came to a collective inhalation today. Phew. Most of them miss. Scrolling through the apps in the app store I can see dozens of apps both for productivity and entertainment: News headlines, motivational quotes, Facebook fan counters, Chuck Norris jokes, London Underground status and Weather to name just a few. Furthermore you can connect your LaMetric time to other Internet of Things such as the Amazon Echo or Hue lights. Or you may just wish to use it to stream music from your phone through the Bluetooth speakers. The really cool part. LaMetric gets really interesting when you connect it to your IFTTT account. If you didn't know, IFTTT lets you connect all your favourite online services (well, perhaps not all of them, but more are arriving all the time). With IFTTT you can create 'applets' or 'recipes'. Litterally, if this happens, then that should happen. There are two ways this can play with your LaMetric. This first is so you can receive notifications on your LaMetric in the form of a notification sound, icon and short message, and the other is through the IFTTT indicator app. This leaves a permanent message appearing on your device (until the next message appears). You can also use your LaMetric device as an IFTTT 'do' button, should you so desire. I have found it most useful to receive notifications whenever new YouTube videos have been uploaded onto my favourite channels. I wouldn't want to miss the next Lindybeige.

I have other applets set up to inform me of new tweets, mentions or followers on Twitter and other social media including Yo. I get a notification whenever the International Space station passes overhead along with news and weather from Mars. I even have a notification telling me when my bedtime is (it was twenty minutes ago).

In fact, there really is no end to what you can do with your LaMetric once you have IFTTT working with it. I suggest you head over and buy one now. They really are an awesome tech toys.

Don't believe me? Perhaps this video from Techmoan will be of interest to you.

youtube

Or, perhaps you would listen to the Elders of the Internet?

youtube

That's all from me for today. +1 geek experience point for LaMetric Time (even though the calendar app does get the date format wrong!) PS. If you enjoyed this post, then you might like my RSS news ticker for Raspberry Pi. via Blogger http://ift.tt/2mcFCfX http://ift.tt/2mOLtes

#lametric #iot #ifttt

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