02-28-2021, 08:45 PM
I'm a bit torn. I have a friend who is a novelist, and he publishes and sells through Amazon, with Facebook his primary advertising venue. Now that I'm not using either very much, it's hard to keep up with releases and impossible to buy them. This must be a primary problem, because Franklin has acknowledged there are tons of people no longer buying from Amazon, and he has set up an alternate channel for acquisition by selling books to folks who no longer use Amazon out of his house instead, via mail order, and put the word out about that via his own website.
It's mostly smoke and mirrors though, I think. I'm guessing he still gets the books from Amazon, they just don't appear on the invoice when he mails them out.
To be fair to Amazon, they do cut authors a better deal than other publishers. They only take a 30% or so cut where others take upwards of 80 to 90% of the cut. So they are a good deal for authors, but I just can't bring myself to purchase from a company arrayed so hard against American Free Speech. I just can't financially support them any more. I've never cottoned to the idea of paying someone to remove my rights.
I still have a Facebook page, but don't visit it very often. It's just not fun any more. It has been overrun with Party Proles who can't string two words together into a coherent thought to save their asses unless someone else tells them what to think, and then when you disassemble the thoughts issued to them with independent logic, they get all flustered and devolve. Can't hold it together or defend it at all, and there is no fun in that other than watching them foam at the mouth like rabid mutts. There's just no sport in Facebook conversations any more. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Franklin is coming out with a new book in one of his series in a few days, and it's crucial. The last time we had lunch, we discussed a crossover between two of his series, and I have a strong suspicion that this next book will start that crossover. I further strongly suspect that "my" character will play a fairly large role in the crossover, pursuant to that conversation and the nature of the characters' various histories. So, I'm a little beside myself to get it sorted out in time. Not beside myself enough to order from Amazon... but I may have to set up another lunch with him to get it straightened out and obtain a copy.
I have no such issues bypassing Facebook. It may be more immediate news, but since I don't visit there often anyhow, immediacy is not a concern. Life moves with somewhat less urgency around here than it does out in the world, and instead of relying on FB, I have started relying on his own website instead, unaffiliated with Facebook.
I also have a Gab account, but have not yet figured out how to use it. Hell, I don't really know how to make full use of FB, even today. If something doesn't just pop into my feed of it's own accord, then I have no way of knowing it even exists... and there is no figuring out how the arcane algorithms that make that happen work, so it's about useless to me beyond the basics anyhow.
As a CCP propaganda organ, I think they could have done a better job of sorting it out. I probably wasn't getting the best of their propaganda even when I WAS visiting FB on the regular!
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It's mostly smoke and mirrors though, I think. I'm guessing he still gets the books from Amazon, they just don't appear on the invoice when he mails them out.
To be fair to Amazon, they do cut authors a better deal than other publishers. They only take a 30% or so cut where others take upwards of 80 to 90% of the cut. So they are a good deal for authors, but I just can't bring myself to purchase from a company arrayed so hard against American Free Speech. I just can't financially support them any more. I've never cottoned to the idea of paying someone to remove my rights.
I still have a Facebook page, but don't visit it very often. It's just not fun any more. It has been overrun with Party Proles who can't string two words together into a coherent thought to save their asses unless someone else tells them what to think, and then when you disassemble the thoughts issued to them with independent logic, they get all flustered and devolve. Can't hold it together or defend it at all, and there is no fun in that other than watching them foam at the mouth like rabid mutts. There's just no sport in Facebook conversations any more. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Franklin is coming out with a new book in one of his series in a few days, and it's crucial. The last time we had lunch, we discussed a crossover between two of his series, and I have a strong suspicion that this next book will start that crossover. I further strongly suspect that "my" character will play a fairly large role in the crossover, pursuant to that conversation and the nature of the characters' various histories. So, I'm a little beside myself to get it sorted out in time. Not beside myself enough to order from Amazon... but I may have to set up another lunch with him to get it straightened out and obtain a copy.
I have no such issues bypassing Facebook. It may be more immediate news, but since I don't visit there often anyhow, immediacy is not a concern. Life moves with somewhat less urgency around here than it does out in the world, and instead of relying on FB, I have started relying on his own website instead, unaffiliated with Facebook.
I also have a Gab account, but have not yet figured out how to use it. Hell, I don't really know how to make full use of FB, even today. If something doesn't just pop into my feed of it's own accord, then I have no way of knowing it even exists... and there is no figuring out how the arcane algorithms that make that happen work, so it's about useless to me beyond the basics anyhow.
As a CCP propaganda organ, I think they could have done a better job of sorting it out. I probably wasn't getting the best of their propaganda even when I WAS visiting FB on the regular!
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Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’