My current web hosting is crap, and I've been looking into transferring my domain elsewhere. I had every intention on doing that tonight, but one wrong decision has ruined my night and made me sick.
When I clicked on BlueHost, it was because it was on a list of hosts recommended by WordPress. I went through, and the pricing and products looked good, so I ordered the smallest package, since I don't need much. It was going to be $3 a month, paid in advance for a year. And since I already have the domain name, that was an added savings right there.
So when I purchased it and went to initiate the transfer, I got blocked because my account wasn't verified. Well, I thought. I'd gone through all the hoops, hadn't I? I checked my email to make sure there wasn't a link I missed clicking on somewhere. But no. I have to phone them to verify my account. And they're nine-to-five, so I couldn't even do that. I was kind of annoyed, and went digging through the options to see what else I could even do without verifying my account (answer: nothing). And that's when I saw that instead of being billed $36, I was billed over $230. Because not only did they charge me for extra time I did not order, but they added on extra packages I did not order. Packages I specifically opted out of.
And I can't even cancel, because they're not open. I feel so sick right out. I can't remember the last time I've been taken advantage of so thoroughly. First thing in the morning, I'm calling and speaking with someone's supervisor, and I am not hanging up until I get a full refund. I was willing to deal with being jerked around with the verification, but I will not do business with this company ever again.
Friday, March 6, 2015
New Mailing List
I have a new mailing list set up. Anybody subscribed to the old one has already been moved over to the new service. Subscribing is now simpler and does not require a Google email address. You can subscribe either by using the form on this blog's sidebar, or by going to this page.
Mailing list subscribers automatically get entered into drawings for free books and other promotions. Five signed copies of Sky Treader will be given to subscribers on April 1st. Other titles will be offered as they become available.
Mailing list subscribers automatically get entered into drawings for free books and other promotions. Five signed copies of Sky Treader will be given to subscribers on April 1st. Other titles will be offered as they become available.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Goodreads Giveaway
Are you on Goodreads? Do you want a signed, printed copy of Dwarf's Ransom? I'm giving away ten of them! The giveaway will last for one month, with winners announced on April 5th. Enter now for your chance to win!
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
BOOKS!
Well, a book. My book! The first proof copy of Sky Treader came in today. I need to make a minor change to one of the pages that didn't centre properly, but it's good. I was particularly worried about my font choice, and thought it might be too big, but it works. And now that I know it does, I'm going to go ahead with the others as well.
After reading a lot of discussions on CreateSpace's printing, I was a little worried that I wouldn't like the end product, but it actually feels really sturdy. The cover is good and thick, and the pages don't feel like they're going to tear if you look at them too hard. When I get it through and have it properly available, I'll probably order about a dozen copies and do a GoodReads giveaway to celebrate.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
LibraryThing Giveaway
Even though I just held one on Tumblr, I've decided to see how much I like LibraryThing's giveaway platform. I just posted the details for it, though I can't find how to link to the actual giveaway.
These giveaways are also the reason I've decided to look into going into print. I'd love to hold a few giveaways on GoodReads, but they only allow printed books, where LibraryThing does allow ebooks. Already looking at it, I'm seeing several times more requests on print books than ebooks though.
I'm kind of excited to see how this goes. I'm only running it for a week, so I don't expect to see too many takers. Still. It seems like it might be easier than running them on Tumblr.
These giveaways are also the reason I've decided to look into going into print. I'd love to hold a few giveaways on GoodReads, but they only allow printed books, where LibraryThing does allow ebooks. Already looking at it, I'm seeing several times more requests on print books than ebooks though.
I'm kind of excited to see how this goes. I'm only running it for a week, so I don't expect to see too many takers. Still. It seems like it might be easier than running them on Tumblr.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Release day book binge
Since Dwarf's Ransom came out yesterday, I spent last night going through the top sellers for its category and effectively scoping out the competition. It's a small category, but of what I started to read last night, I wasn't able to even get past the first chapter on any of them. The last one seemed promising, but by the time I got to it, I was too tired to keep my eyes open, so the last one's waiting to be read tonight.
Most of the books I came to had similar problems in formatting that made it too difficult to read (either because something happened and there were no paragraph breaks, or the author didn't understand formatting conventions or how paragraphs work), or had just been placed in the wrong category and weren't anything I actually wanted to read. Two of them had misspellings in the title, which just made it impossible for me to get past (and I thought twenty uses of "reigns" when the author meant "reins" was grating). These are issues I find I can look past in fanfic, but if I'm paying for a story, I expect it to at least be spelled correctly.
Another really common one that came up, which just reminded me of why I hated reading as a kid, is all the pointless infodumping. And not even about anything interesting, like the setting, or a particularly turbulent political history. Those, I can usually get through. But more like the kind of infodumping every children's novel does, where they describe in detail what a person looked like, and what they're wearing, and what they thought about what they're wearing, and their opinions on what they had for breakfast two days before...
I read a lot of that last night. And it's just something I could not possibly care less about. I've always been a believer in only telling the reader the important bits, but so much of infodumping is just random garbage. It goes back to the boring bits. Often, the boring bits are boring because they're unnecessary.
I admit, this is a matter that entirely comes down to taste, but it's becoming so prevalent that I find myself reading less and less these days. And when I do read, half the time I'm just skimming over stuff and hoping to find the plot again.
Most of the books I came to had similar problems in formatting that made it too difficult to read (either because something happened and there were no paragraph breaks, or the author didn't understand formatting conventions or how paragraphs work), or had just been placed in the wrong category and weren't anything I actually wanted to read. Two of them had misspellings in the title, which just made it impossible for me to get past (and I thought twenty uses of "reigns" when the author meant "reins" was grating). These are issues I find I can look past in fanfic, but if I'm paying for a story, I expect it to at least be spelled correctly.
Another really common one that came up, which just reminded me of why I hated reading as a kid, is all the pointless infodumping. And not even about anything interesting, like the setting, or a particularly turbulent political history. Those, I can usually get through. But more like the kind of infodumping every children's novel does, where they describe in detail what a person looked like, and what they're wearing, and what they thought about what they're wearing, and their opinions on what they had for breakfast two days before...
I read a lot of that last night. And it's just something I could not possibly care less about. I've always been a believer in only telling the reader the important bits, but so much of infodumping is just random garbage. It goes back to the boring bits. Often, the boring bits are boring because they're unnecessary.
I admit, this is a matter that entirely comes down to taste, but it's becoming so prevalent that I find myself reading less and less these days. And when I do read, half the time I'm just skimming over stuff and hoping to find the plot again.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Dwarf's Ransom Release! Also, contest winners!
Dwarf's Ransom is now availale on Amazon for $2.99. You can order it to read on any wireless device with the Kindle app, and read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription (only for the next 90 days. After that, it will no longer be avalable on KU, since I won't be keeping it in Select after the first enrollment period).
And if you still haven't grabbed it, Sky Treader is free for the next five days, as well as being available in Kindle Unlimited as well (also only until its enrollment period expires).
Why are they coming out of Kindle Unlimited? I've decided to give Select (the publishing method which allows books to be enrolled in KU) a try this month, to see how I like it. Enrolling in Select gives me higher royalties in terroritories outside the US (70%, as opposed to 35%), but at the expense of not being able to offer my books anywhere outside of Amazon. Since this limitation does not expand to print, I've decided to release all new books in print as well. In future, I'm going to aim to have them release on the same day as the ebook version, but that wasn't possible with Dwarf's Ransom, since I only made this decision within in the last few days. It and Sky Treader will be made availble this month, as time and scheduling allow. If the stars manage to align and I can get everything formatted in time, I would like very, very much for Nidhöggr to come out in print and digital together next month.
But what's this? A contest? That's right. Three lucky winners have won the giveaway for a digital copy of Dwarf's Ransom.
moustashleigh, freedom-taker, and elethyra were the lucky winners this round. I will be contacting you later today, when it's not the middle of the night.
Winners were chosen via random number generator at random.org.
And if you still haven't grabbed it, Sky Treader is free for the next five days, as well as being available in Kindle Unlimited as well (also only until its enrollment period expires).
Why are they coming out of Kindle Unlimited? I've decided to give Select (the publishing method which allows books to be enrolled in KU) a try this month, to see how I like it. Enrolling in Select gives me higher royalties in terroritories outside the US (70%, as opposed to 35%), but at the expense of not being able to offer my books anywhere outside of Amazon. Since this limitation does not expand to print, I've decided to release all new books in print as well. In future, I'm going to aim to have them release on the same day as the ebook version, but that wasn't possible with Dwarf's Ransom, since I only made this decision within in the last few days. It and Sky Treader will be made availble this month, as time and scheduling allow. If the stars manage to align and I can get everything formatted in time, I would like very, very much for Nidhöggr to come out in print and digital together next month.
But what's this? A contest? That's right. Three lucky winners have won the giveaway for a digital copy of Dwarf's Ransom.
moustashleigh, freedom-taker, and elethyra were the lucky winners this round. I will be contacting you later today, when it's not the middle of the night.
Winners were chosen via random number generator at random.org.
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