Recent Posts

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1
Yeah, the US ISBN thing is pretty crazy and scammy. I bought 100 too thinking it'd be enough for many years.
2
People have differing opinions about paper color, just as they have about matte covers versus glossy. And some people will not notice or care. For your own satisfaction, you'll probably want to redo the book.

Which reminds me that a friend who died last month had bought 100 ISBNs when she retired. I don't know that she got a chance to use even half of them, and now I'm not sure anyone can since they were bought in her name and no other name can be attached to them. The U.S. ISBN system is a swindle as it applies to individual authors.
3
I goofed. I published my hardcover on Amazon for a 5th book in series with the wrong color paper--white.  :HB Wouldn't be as much of a problem if it was a standalone, but now it won't match my other hardcovers in series. I've since learned that there's no way to change it after publication as it's linked with its Bowker ISBN. The thing that's really annoying about it is I'm sure I didn't click on white initially. Amazon reverts to a default. This created a similar problem a month ago, though caught in time by me, over Amazon's paperback size default for another book.

My only solution is to unpublish it and create a totally new hardcover version with a new ISBN.

But... does the color of the paper really matter? Will it matter if the new white doesn't match my past cream paper in other books?

I'm waiting for a hardcover to come in the mail to see how different it looks. Unfortunately, that's being delayed by Amazon shipping too :(
4
I've got my credit locked, and it wasn't a big deal to unlock it last year when I had to buy a car. Locked it back up again in a hurry. But yes, the timing of the unlocking sometimes goes awry.

5
Yeah, Facebook insisted I confirm my identity and location because of the number of followers my author page has. It also insisted I install FB on my phone as a way of verifying my location. I didn't want it on my phone, but there you are.

My Wordpress site did get hacked once, but since installing Wordfence and other precautions, I haven't had a problem. People keep trying, but so far, so good.
6
And someone or "somebot" keeps trying to get into my Facebook account, too.

Someone tried to use the reset password feature on my Facebook account the other day.  There was a link in the eMail from Facebook where you can report that you didn't request the reset, so I did that.

But, it probably wouldn't matter anyway since I can't even get into Facebook with my current password.  A while back, Facebook forced me into two-factor authentication and demanded my phone number.  I'm not giving Facebook my phone number, so my Facebook account is pretty much dead to me now.

And, yes, there are plenty of attempts at getting into my websites.  On the plus side, most of my websites don't use WordPress so that tends to stymie most attempts since the majority of attempts seem to be targeted at the wp-login.php page which does not exist.
7
I'd have to go through a tedious process to temporarily unlock if I needed to open a bank account, get a credit card, move, or take out a loan. All of those are at best unlikely. I would have thought twice if any of those were things I needed to do frequently, but that isn't the case.
Freezing credit is an easy step for mitigating identity theft. I think since the big breaches in the US, freezing must now be free at all bureaus.

I will note I had a bit of a hiccup when I discovered trying to sign up for a new internet provider required a hard credit pull, and despite unfreezing and giving it two days, the internet provider didn't see it as unfrozen. So if you have to unfreeze, I would recommend doing so for 1-2 weeks at a time so everything can percolate.
8
I'm seeing the same pattern with Microsoft. And a lot of bots try to breach my author site every single day.

With proper precautions, these threats can probably be kept at bay.

After a data breach some time ago, I followed Lifelock's instructions on how to make life difficult for identity thieves. Specifically, I got all three credit bureaus to lock my info, so no one can request it. There are also two agencies (can't remember the names) that locked the ability to open a bank account or a utility account in my name. Hackers can still attempt to breach existing accounts, but no one can open new ones.

I'd have to go through a tedious process to temporarily unlock if I needed to open a bank account, get a credit card, move, or take out a loan. All of those are at best unlikely. I would have thought twice if any of those were things I needed to do frequently, but that isn't the case.
9
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Website Update Issues
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on April 19, 2024, 11:55:29 PM »
Update: I asked some presale questions of A2 Hosting and got answers back in a very short time. Same with follow-up for clarification.

I was particularly interesting in stuff that might screw up a migration, but they were able to put all my fears to rest.

Not only does switching hosts solve the Cloud Linux update issue (which is now meriting a link directly to the update script at the top of my cpanel dashboard) but it also solves a potential issue with Cloudflare. CF's more flexible packages require that you use their nameservers. Bluehost, while not forbidding the practice, clearly doesn't like it. There's even a request to correct the nameserver discrepancy buried deep in cpanel. Though it hasn't proved problematic yet, it might at some future point.

In contrast, A2 Hosting fully supports this kind of Bluehost arrangement and even explains how to set it up for someone doing it for the first time.

As far as costs are concerned, spending the same amount of money gets me a slightly better setup. I'll lose the money for the rest of my current BH term, but I won't have to risk blowing up my site over the CL update. Also, I'll be in a managed plan, so I'll never have to worry about OS updates again.

10
Recently my identity theft company--the one I have a free sub to because of prior data breaches--told me my name has been found on the Dark Web. Well, okay. My name is public. I asked them about it and they said no biggie. Really?

Of late, there has been an uptick in efforts to get into my Microsoft account--two yesterday alone. What I don't understand is, why bother? Microsoft is not my best buddy. I don't hang out with Microsoft or give it money every month, and I don't believe I have ever bought anything from Microsoft directly, either. I have registered software with Microsoft because I had to in order to use the software, but no credit card info was involved. I'm scratching my head over this one.

And the usual "I saw you..." extortion emails continue, listing so far three legit passwords from things I signed up for years ago. Passwords I never used for anything else, and not involving money, most of which were for sites that now are moribund. So, where's the threat in that? I did scurry around and change one banking password because that bank doesn't have two-factor authentication. (And it's a very big bank, too. Weird.) I'd changed my user name on that a long time ago and now I have such a long, complicated, and nonsensical password that woe betide me should I ever have to get into that account and don't have my cheat sheet handy.

Beyond activating two-factor and changing passwords now and then, I don't think there's anything else I can do. A recent article about someone being hacked said his online password manager had been hacked. Yikes. 

And someone or "somebot" keeps trying to get into my Facebook account, too.

On balance, yes, I do feel under attack, presumably because my name is being sold and resold on the Dark Web. But the bad guys aren't winning so far.
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