Random serious and thinky things...

[scribblemyname]

1. Amazon

I've never liked them. I wasn't really sure why until MacMillan. And now, I'm doing independent publishing, seeking to start up my own serial (and have some real ideas for it), and learn this. [Click the link and scroll down to "From the Office: Amazon is Nobody's Friend, Part One."]

A while back I was wondering how to build a platform for Christian independents; now, I think there needs to be something besides this for everyone. We've got B&N, Smashwords, Scribd (which hardly anyone's using, despite them setting up seller functionality), and Amazon—who's clearly been taking more than its fair share of the pie.

I see how web serials and independent publishing for real (personal websites, downloadable files, etc.) could be a boon. But the issue is readers still go to bookstores and few of them realize how much of a monster Amazon has become.

:still thinking:

2. Summerlight

So I finally have a direction for this serial o' mine, and it wasn't what I expected at all. Any thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Would you keep reading?

Summerlight would dawn soon. And with its dawning, Vardin would gather in her scattered hunters, and all her hills would burn. In the heart of the city, the Queen would open her court and convene her Council. The spring storms would quiet over the lake, and the Households could safely take one watch off of the outside world and turn it towards the tops of the mountains where dragons made their nests.

The opening dance would begin.

After this begin the scenes, starting with the last character I'd have thought of starting with, but I can already tell where the story is headed.

3. Wordpress

Do I look like a website developer? 'Cause if I do, you must be looking at the gal standing behind me. This is not what I had imagined it would take to build a loyalty rewards site.

On the plus side, it may be possible with the free plugins I have on this Wordpress installation. On the downside, the affiliate plugin is very poorly documented and I can't figure out how to use it at all.

:headdesk:

I knew I should have learned to program PHP!


4. Tribes

I love Tribal Writer. But her post today still left me flailing in the one way I haven't figured out how to fix, except for in fandom. [Until fandom pays, however, I do need to figure this out!]

Figure out who your people are.

Talk to them. Create for them. And only them.

Exactly who are my people? Well, she goes on, but I'm not sure how this helps.

What is the purpose of your blog? What is the Big Meaning? And I don’t mean in terms of what you want it to accomplish for you – although that is an important question – but what you want it to accomplish for others. What do you want to give people? What change in the world, however big or small, do you want to work toward?

I know for this journal, that purpose seems to fall under "purpose" and "aware"—and I see that. But for original fiction?

I don't really seem to do so well with blogging about falling in love with God. [penname #1]

I don't really seem to have a purpose but to explore the consequences of a culture that doesn't actually exist. [penname #2] Make people think outside the box and dig into what this or that might mean.

Is that even useful? I don't know. I feel lost again. :waits glumly:

Comments

[arliddian.livejournal.com]

I live in Australia, so I've never liked Amazon, mostly because of shipping prices, and I don't have an eReader and don't generally download eBooks. But their hugeness in the market unnerves me.

I like the idea for Summerlight! You could go to very interesting places with it. It's great that you know which direction you want to take. Run after it. =)

The purpose thing - an interesting thought. Will have to think more about it, myself...

[scribblemyname]

The fact that Amazon has driven out so much consumer choice and done it by unethical business practices concerns me a lot. We need options. Now, before it's too late. :unhappy frown:

Thank you for the excerpt feedback. I am going to run with this. I'm hoping if I can make myself write at a decent pace to post a chapter weekly. Now that I've been playing with wordpress though... I'm really considering if I want to do a different platform or crosspost.