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Published on 2 Comments on Amazon Shifts Goodreads Focus Back to Books

There has been a spate of abusive, bullying tactics at Goodreads, about which I blogged very recently HERE. This has been spawned by bad behavior by authors and reviewers/GR users.  As to the authors, they have erred mainly by entering discussions to randomly toss up marketing for their books - something which (justifiably) annoys readers no end and by wading, uninvited, into discussions about their books.  As to the reviewers/GR users, the bad acts go from small - labeling their shelves in a manner designed to insult authors personally -  to large - ganging up to harass and threaten authors on GR and by leaving bad reviews on Amazon.

Frankly, I suspect that my prior blog post led to my receiving a dose of the bad Amazon reviews.  It may or may not have led to bad reviews or insulting shelves on Goodreads.  Like most writers, while the readers have been in a "posse" or "follow the bully" mentality, I've stayed off GR.  Now, thanks to a move by GR owner Amazon, I may return - along with many other writers who love reading and discussing books as readers.

Sheriff Amazon finally waded into the fray, enforcing a couple of important, basic rules and announcing them at the same time.  What are they?   (1)  Reviews must be about the book; and (2) Members can't harass or threaten others.  They're such basic rules, one wonders how they weren't always the standard at the site.  However, Amazon's announcement led to a mass backlash at GR, with users crying the expected charge of "censorship."

...continue reading "Amazon Shifts Goodreads Focus Back to Books"

Published on

Y'all - the McNugget is at risk tonight.  Where's that crate of tissue?  I could use it to blot my tears or --- I could think of an entirely different way to use it on Shonda Sunshine.  Just sayin'.  The giant griddle in the sky best not come for the McNugget ---

Right after the voiceover, Hurricane Karev isn't waiting for the storm, but Owen has the docs getting ready.  Karev calls McDreamy away - If the jerkwad hit Jo, I hope Karev and McDreamy pack the kind of punch that leaves a lasting impression.  Uhh Ohhh.........  it's too late for McDreamy to intervene - Karev already dealt enough blows of his own.  (You go, Alex!)

Arizona's still flirting?  No, girl - you don't go...

Owen and Ethan and yes, Owen should be a Dad because he's got the stuff, the magical Dad stuff.  But Cristina told Ethan's Grandmom the truth about Ethan's Dad's condition.  How dare she!  The truth?  What was she thinking?

And yeah.........  Owen asks Mer the "A" word question.  We've all known that was coming.

Power tools in the OR.  It's about time.

So Jo beat the Doc who hit her?  Lovin' that.  I hope she doesn't suffer for it.  Take it from a lawyer - the law isn't always just.  Will Alex take the fall?  Yes, he will.  Mer knows that - telling him not to do anything stupid was futile.  She chases after Jo, telling her not to let Alex take the fall.  She chases after Jo on the stairs.  Then the cleaning guy comes by with the power tool from the surgery she was kicked out of and Mer is pissed -- she stomps up the stairs, not watching where she's going and........

Damn it.  She falls.  I fell once when I was carrying my youngest.  I was getting out of the tub.  Thankfully, I landed on my hands and knees mostly but I was still terrified.  I see Mer's face -- yeah, I felt like that.  Just like that.

Shonda - leave the McNugget be!  Mer can be happy.  We don't need the dark and twisty back.  No losing the baby and a downward spiral in the marriage.  No threat of infidelity from Mer or Der - No, I tell you.  No.  A healthy McNugget means a healthy Mer/Der.  You listening, Sunshine???

Dear duck - Der's in emergency surgery on Ethan's Dad when Mer falls on the stairs.  He leaves it in the hands of the intern.  He had to go, of course - HAD TO - but it can't bode well for Ethan's PaPa.  Course, we all knew Ethan's Dad was a goner.  He has to die so that Owen and Cristina have to deal with that "A" word.

So far so good for the wee McNugget.

A musical proposal for Kepner?  Rose and all?  I still like her with Jackson better, but.......  what will she say?  She said yes - they throw roses.  But what will Jackson say?  His eyes meet April's........  Jackson is clapping - trying to be happy for April.  Yeah, Sunshine, we all see the circle.  She's trying to make April and Jackson the new Mer/Der.  But you know, the paramedic the paramedic is no Chris O'Donnell -- err, Veternarian Dr. Finn Dandridge......

Yep, we're heading for a trauma room scene with Jackson and April.......  It probably won't occur at a prom at the hospital though.  How many of those can they have?

But, yes, the proposal is why Owen kicked April out of her surgery.........

Dear Duck 2 - the visiting hot doc wants Arizona to show her the on call room?>  Really?

And Alex is trying to talk the beaten Doc out of calling the cops.  Alex is being smart.  Threatening the Doc with who Alex's friends are..........  No, Alex's friends don't like a guy who'll hit a girl.  It's the new Denny and the LVAD... But McDreamy overhears.  By the Book McDreamy - the cop's kid.......

And Webber calls Bailey on the carpet for avoiding the OR....  Good.  We need the Nazi back.

And then Mer goes to answer Owen's "A" question about Zola.  And Owen tells Mer all his feelings for Ethan - all the ones he should be telling Cristina.  But Owen thinks Cristina won't get it.  And Ethan's Dad wakes up --- so Owen is sad.  Very, very sad.  Cristina doesn't get it.........

I'm still wondering if Ethan's Dad will actually make it.

And, yeah, I'm still worried about the McNugget.....

The storm is rolling in...... And the paramedic has to speak with Jackson. He tells Jackson that Owen was in on it.  Will Jackson tell April?  Do bees bee?  Do birds bird?

And, yeah, Mer tells Cristina about the "A" conversation with Owen......  And the power is flickering as Arizona shows hot doc the on call room.  It had to be, right?  No, girl.  Don't do it.  Another flicker.  And a kiss......  Arizona gives the right answer.....  but the hot doc talks her into being bad......  And sometimes I like bad......  But I like Callie more.

Alex yells at Jo and she doesn't understand it means that he cares......  And they almost have their moment until... A tree falls right in the den........

Callie is looking for Arizona..........  and Mer's water breaks........  It's too early........

But sometimes, McNuggets arrive early, right?? But the preview doesn't look good.  A C Section in the dark?  An explosion -- and Mer's voice asking why the baby isn't breathing........and McDreamy trying to look calm with a horrified expression on his face?

Don't do it Shonda........  leave the McNugget alone!

 

 

 

 

 

Published on

This is a brief update based on an interesting news story out of Missouri via the New York Daily News.  It's about a couple into S&M.  The couple engaged in rough sexual play which was consensual.  From accounts, the acts are somewhat similar to those portrayed in the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" -- although it should be noted in a hurry that the acts are also vastly different.

Can you imagine Christian sharing Ana with other men?  Not if you've read the books, you can't.

The article that caught my eye was in the New York Daily News and entitled:  "Sex Slave Case in Missouri Raises Questions About Criminality of Bondage and Rough Sexual Activities."  The lead paragraph says:

EB (name omitted)  faces 11 counts of abuse against a woman, whom prosecutors claim was groomed to be his sex slave. His lawyer says it was consensual. Groups defending bondage and S&M activities fear the case's outcome could impact the legality of the lifestyle. It's gained more attention with the popularity of the bondage book '50 Shades of Grey.'

It's an interesting story, both because of the connection with 50 Shades and because of issues relative to the constitutionality of  the government intruding on a couple's sex life.  Does the state have grounds to call a halt to bedroom antics by an adult couple?  Prosecutors in the case say:  (names omitted)

"MB's `consent' to the sexual assaults by Defendant EB does not change whether the acts legally constitute assault or not. Pursuant to the Missouri state assault statute ... consent is not a defense to assault resulting in serious physical injury."

Check out the story and consider whether and when the government has a right to criminalize a married couple's sex life.

Published on

A search for "naughty school girls" hits the blog nearly every day and usually multiple times.  It's one of those strange things that makes me say -- hanh? 

It's the cover for Griffin's and John's post about covers that hits, I think.  I just find it an odd search to land on a romance blog.  I never see searches for naughty school boys hit, but now that I've mentioned it here - I bet they'll start coming too! 

Here are some random phrases thrown out just to attract searches everywhere: 

  • Shagging at Myrtle Beach;
  • Two For One Sale;
  • Lusty Ladies;
  • Lusty Lads;
  • Day Jobs Are Cruel and Unusual Punishment;
  • Geeks Are Sexy;
  • Sex On The Beach;
  • Sex In The Sand;
  • Handcuffs in Strange Places;
  • 9 to 5 Is 8 Hours Too Long;
  • Fifty Shades of Furries;
  • Whips and Chains With Cherries On Top;
  • Sex On A Tightrope Over Niagra Falls;
  • Forever Isn't Long Enough Unless It's Too Long;
  • Writers Are Strange People Who Do Strange Things;

Okay - that's enough for now.  Maybe we'll throw some more grist out for the search engines again later.

If you're strange enough to search for some of these things, you deserve what you hit and you should go buy one - or all - of my books immediately.  Think of it as penance.

Published on

For my February Prime borrow on Kindle I picked up Elizabeth Lowell's, "Golden Mountain."   It now appears to be free, so you might want to pick it up and give it a read.  Your opinion could certainly vary from that of a crazy duck lady, because IMHO - this is one to pass on.  And I can't believe I said that about a Lowell romance!

I love every Lowell book I've ever read with the exception of this one.  Ms. Lowell is an amazingly talented author, but this book just didn't do it for me.  I couldn't finish it.  I read about 10 to 15% of the book before I put it away.  I only read that much because it was a Lowell so I kept waiting for it to pick me up and get me involved.  Except that never happened.  Not only did I not get involved, I dreaded picking up my Fire and would make excuses why I couldn't read more just now.  That's when I knew that I had to let this one go because normally I steal time from writing to read.  I was a romance fan a long time before I was a romance author, after all. 

Why didn't I like this one?  First, it took way too long to get started.  The first part was the heroine following her father around and assisting him while he took photos of  Chinese miners and mining communities.  When the father died - very early in the book (not a *spoiler*) -  the heroine wandered off to Seattle to take photos.  Then we're treated to long, expansive descriptions of the Chinese community in Seattle.  By the time I put it down the story seemed almost ready to go somewhere, but by then I didn't care.  In a romance, I want to feel tension between the hero and the heroine fairly quickly.  I'm okay with a few pages of backstory, but get me involved first, then feed me the history.

My other big problem with this book was that it wasn't clear from the get go who the hero was.  There were 2 brothers - one good guy and one wild one.  It seemed that the good guy would be the hero, but the first chemistry we read about occurs between the heroine and the wild brother.  I wasn't even sure if the good guy could be the hero because there was a reference to the good guy having slept with the heroine's newly discovered step-mother, a prostitute for one of the Chinese crime lord big shots we read far too much about.  That made me feel icky about the good guy brother.  Of course the good guy could have turned out to be the bad guy and the wild one could have been the real good guy. 

My biggest problem with the book was that the lack of clarity about the hero made me feel unsure of the story.  I'm okay with a hero that starts out with issues.  I'm okay if he is the biggest rogue in the galaxy.  I know that once he meets the heroine, he'll change.  Oh, he'll be unwilling to change and perturbed with the world at large because he is changing.  But by the end of the story, I'll have been with him through his changes and I'll adore him.  But that can only happen if I'm clear that I should be rooting for him instead of finding him annoying.

I hate romances where the heroine is torn between two men.  Or at least, I generally hate them.  I recall that "Whitney, My Love" was an exception to that rule.   Golden Mountain could have been an exception too - it should have been, because it was written by Lowell.  The difference between Whitney and Golden is that we knew who the hero and heroine were in Whitney and we saw chemistry between the hero and heroine early on - even if the heroine didn't see it yet. 

I guess Elizabeth Lowell can't be perfect every time.  So she's only "almost" perfect.  If I ever achieve "almost" perfect I'll rent out an airplane and skywrite it.  I'll buy TV time and advertise it.  But I won't start budgeting for that just yet...

If I were you, I'd give "Golden Mountain" a pass and pick up Lowell's "Only" books instead.    I got them while they were $1.99.  Of course, they're old favorites but now they have space on my Fire.  It looks like HarperCollins is running "rolling" $1.99 specials on a bunch of Ms. Lowell's work.  Trust me, pick those up and pass on "Golden Mountain."

Published on

Today news broke that the Justice Department warned Apple and a number of big publishers of its intent to file suit against them.  The DOJ alleges that Apple and the publishers conspired to increase the price of ebooks.  Publishers affected apparently include the following: 

The five publishers facing possible Justice Department action are Simon & Schuster Inc, a unit of CBS Corp (CBS.N); Lagardere SCA's (LAGA.PA) Hachette Book Group; Pearson Plc's (PSON.L) Penguin Group (USA); Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; and HarperCollins Publishers Inc, a unit of News Corp (NWSA.O).  -- Reuters

If DOJ wants confirmation, it might check with consumers, particularly those who owned Kindles and bought them based upon Amazon's promise to try to keep ebook prices below $9.99.  Yes, Virginia the roosters coming home to roost this time arise from the publisher's battle with Amazon over ebook pricing that resulted in publishers and Apple concocting the "agency model" of pricing. What is the agency model?  It's where the publisher decides what its price will be and the retailer is not allowed to change it. 

Think of the agency model like this (and this is only an example, based on nothing more than the odd imagination of a certain duck lady) - imagine that Wrangler is really peeved at Wal Mart for selling its blue jeans for $19.99.  Wrangler has decided it wants it's blue jeans to have an upscale image and a price tag to match.  Wrangler decides that Wal Mart can only sell its jeans if they are priced at the numbers on the tags shipped with the jeans and they start at $49.95 a pair.  If Wal Mart doesn't like it, then they can't sell Wrangler jeans. 

Well, that wouldn't work if just Wrangler did it, now, would it?  Wal Mart would say to Wrangler - screw you and the horse you rode in on.  Where will you sell your jeans with those terms, Wal Mart would ask.  The store that Sam Walton built might reply that it would just sell Levis instead.  But what if 5 or 6 big companies control all the well known jean brands? And what if  all of them say the same thing to the big chain store?  And when the chain store asks, in a much softer voice, well, where will you sell your product, then - who will ever accept those terms?  And the merchants answer - Target.  We've all reached a deal with Target on exactly those terms and Target will keep a set percentage for profit based on the price we set.   Well, Target would be making a chunk of change too, wouldn't it?  And Wal Mart would lose all the customers who wanted to buy big name jeans.  AND, worst of all, the customers would pay a lot more for the product. 

Now,  understand that the big publishers are the blue jean companies and Apple is Target. That's agency pricing and in the long run, the victims are the consumers. 

Federal Antitrust legislation exists to prevent monopolies that destroy competition and damage consumers.  The most famous example of DOJ's heavy hand with Antitrust action was the break up of the old Ma Bell network of AT&T.  Since that time - look at what's happened to telephone service.  Consumers have options at every price point and every service level.  And as much as I dislike the Feds regulating most things, Antitrust legislation has an important and valuable purpose. 

So, DOJ may very well be right on target in breaking up this scheme because prices consumers pay should be set by the merchants from whom consumers buy.  The merchants pay a wholesale price and sometimes they'll sell some items below wholesale in order to promote some other items.  That's what Amazon was doing with ebooks to sell its Kindle devices - and again, that's what publishers were trying to prevent. 

Yes, if agency pricing goes then the whole system will have to adjust.  Indies like me would be hurt because we are little tiny pebbles caught between giant boulders.  Amazon says to indies, you can only sell on our platform if you price you ebooks at your cheapest price.  Oh, and if your price is lower anywhere else - we'll match the low price and base your royalty payment on that figure.  Presently, the agency pricing system gave indies got a benefit of sales platforms mostly selling indie work at the price the indies set. So indies don't get caught in a price reduction whirlwind at Amazon, often the biggest sales source. 

Even though readjusting the system to get it back to a wholesale/retail marketplace would hurt indies, like me, for a while, I expect that pricing would work itself out after a period of some turbulence.  And even if it didn't, and I took a hit along with other indies, well, that's okay.  We'd have to adapt because ultimately, the agency pricing results in readers paying high prices across the board when in a wholesale/retail market, competition would keep prices lower.  READERS SHOULD NEVER BE HURT BY AND OVERCHARGED BECAUSE OF A "SECRET" SYSTEM THAT'S KEEPING PRICES ARTIFICIALLY INFLATED.

It's not something I say often but in this case, I've gotta make an exception - YOU GO, DOJ.  Ma Book should go the way of Ma Bell.

Published on

Don't miss out on the Smashwords Read An Ebook week promo.  It runs through this Saturday, March 10th. 

There are steals and deals galore so don't miss out on this once-a-year chance to fill your ereader without draining your wallet.  It's a coupon sale, so enter the codes at check out.

ALL QUACKING ALONE ROMANCES ARE 50% OFF !  If you don't own 'em all already - perhaps you haven't picked up one or two of them yet - then don't miss these deals. 

With the strained state of finances and the need to stretch a dollar until old George Washington quacks for help - I never miss this deal and you shouldn't either.  So waddle on over to SW and fill up your ereader before the stroke of midnight on Saturday, March 10th.