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91
Writer 101 [Public] / Re: Steps to change your author name without messing up your books.
« Last post by Doglover on July 22, 2019, 06:09:13 PM »
Quote from: LilyBLily on July 18, 2019, 06:20:36 AM
What if all I want to do is change about 1300 words?

When I've changed backmatter to include excerpts or changed the copy urging people to subscribe to my newsletter, Amazon has never given me any trouble. Is it likely to be a problem now?
I've added 25,000 words before and never had a problem. I also changed first person to third at the same time.

As I said, the author name place was greyed out when I went to change that (different book) so it couldn't be done. Too late now, anyway.
92
Bar & Grill [Public] / Re: RIP Internet: 1991-2019
« Last post by Jeff Tanyard on July 22, 2019, 04:39:29 PM »
For those using Firefox, I recommend the following addons:

Ghostery
AdBlockPlus
uBlock Origin
No Coin
Privacy Badger
Decentraleyes

I run all of these simultaneously, and my browsing experience--other than those lower-right-corner videos that I can't seem to kill--is pretty hassle-free.  You can add filters to a couple of those, too.  If a site is giving you trouble, just search for ad filters for that site and then add them to your uBlock or ABP.
93
Bar & Grill [Public] / Re: RIP Internet: 1991-2019
« Last post by Captain Cranky on July 22, 2019, 03:04:13 PM »
Ugh, don't even get me started! I've just deleted a facebook account I haven't even had for two weeks (I hate FB with a vengeance but I needed to access a private group for a course I'm doing) because it was compromised TWICE (I think there was malware or something in my browser). I've spent the entire day resetting all my passwords because I'm paranoid, and adding all my bookmarks etc to a new browser. I'm still not finished. I find the ad blockers do a decent job but don't always block pages that have been hijacked by those 'you've won a free iphone!' ads you can't click away from, and those little videos you mentioned along with the rabbit warren of so called 'articles' annoy the crap out of me too. I love the access to free info and all, but man the internet is becoming a pretty overwhelming place to visit..  :icon_sad:

Okay, rant over.
94
Bar & Grill [Public] / Re: RIP Internet: 1991-2019
« Last post by elleoco on July 22, 2019, 01:15:20 PM »
I'm increasingly having the same problems with blocked sites, Shoe, so right now I'm trying what I hope will be a workable solution for me. I set up a second browser on my MacBook Pro without ad blocking. So when I hit an article I'd really like to read, I switch to that browser, but I use the one with ad blocking for most things. That still means a lot of articles I might otherwise read just get zapped and I never go back, but it at least it leaves me a way to read the ones that evoke more than mild curiosity.

The funny thing is I'd actually be willing to pay if it weren't a matter of paying for dozens of sites individually. If there were some way to pay an aggregator a reasonable fee and get access to most of the respected news sites now demanding ransom, I'd do it, but I'm not subscribing to all of them for an accumulated monthly sum more than it's worth to me.

One interesting thing I found out when I started this is that the ad blocker that I've considered not all that effective really is. The difference between what I see on the blocked browser and the unblocked one is stunning. I'd still like something that would block the blasted auto play videos.
95
Promotion Signup Desk [Public] / Re: The Speculative Fiction Showcase thread
« Last post by CoraBuhlert on July 22, 2019, 12:50:07 PM »
Today at the Speculative Fiction Showcase, we have a promotional post about the Science Fiction and Fantasy Flavored Romance giveaway at StoryOrigins.

Do you want your science fiction, fantasy or horror book featured at the Speculative Fiction Showcase or would you like to be interviewed or submit a guest post? We look forward to receiving your submissions.
96
Bar & Grill [Public] / Re: RIP Internet: 1991-2019
« Last post by ingobernable on July 22, 2019, 11:27:40 AM »
I always use ad blockers and some other stuff, so I rarely see any of that. If an anti-adblock warning pops up, I find a way to block it or disable it, and if I can't, I just don't go to that website anymore, but that's very rare. There have always been a bunch of clickbait ads everywhere, or at least there used to be, before I discovered ad blockers. I mostly remember all the "you're the winner!" and "you're infected! scan your computer now!" stuff. I wonder if that still exists.  :hehe  Also, I'm glad that, thanks to Facebook, I know what my elementary school crush looks like today. Bullet dodged.  :icon_rofl:
97
Bar & Grill [Public] / RIP Internet: 1991-2019
« Last post by Shoe on July 22, 2019, 10:43:29 AM »
It's probably just my age (sixties) but is the free Web becoming intolerable? I just noticed USAToday, which I skim now and then when bored, now requires unblocking ads to view. Fine, they need to make money to survive, but after unblocking, half of the content is "sponsored" by Outbrain, Tabola (whatever), Zergnet, or some other crap content peddler pushing even more ads. Look at their homepage and you'll see what I mean. Have you ever seen the "Doctors say don't eat these three foods" and clicked on it? Fifty clicks later you still won't know which foods not to eat. And why is that video playing on the bottom right of my screen? I didn't ask to see it.

On my iPhone, reading most sites is beyond intolerable.

On nearly every website now when loading a page I'm first instructed to "accept cookies", then get hit with an "allow notifications" pop-up followed by a plea to join a newsletter or in some other way offer my email. When that happens, I close the tab.

In the not far off future, the free Web will just be a click-farm.

Which gets me to Social Media. It could die without a  receiving a whimper from me (note other thread on FB). I can't believe there is a generation that actually thrives on that stuff. Overall, we're the worse-off for it. I don't really need to know what my high school girlfriends look like today. I was, in fact, better off not knowing.

Those seeking their glory on Instagram, YouTube, FB, Tik Tok, and Twitter really need to reevaluate their career goals. I say this while having a son who thinks he's going to "kill it" making workout videos, which he peddles on Instagram. He got some free sunglasses from a potential "sponsor", which he told me about with excessive pride. A few minutes later he asked if he could borrow a hundred bucks. Thank God he's returning to college in the Fall.

I still love the internet, and there's plenty that's free for now that offers great value, but its volume is shrinking. I think the easy money days are over for internet entrepreneurs. Google informs me there are 380 new websites created every minute. I wonder how many are dying daily. I couldn't find that number.
98
Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: Favorite Book Title (and how much just the title made you want to read the book)
« Last post by Tom Wood on July 22, 2019, 10:06:23 AM »
Quote from: Tom Wood on July 20, 2019, 04:25:02 AM
Quote from: Lysmata Debelius on July 20, 2019, 03:55:39 AM
Quote from: Tom Wood on July 20, 2019, 02:45:40 AM
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I saw mentions of this novel around the interwebs several times before taking the plunge, but the title always caught my eye.

My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2902230915
Tom, have you read the second in that series? "A close and common orbit" I think it's called? I loved it even more than the first one.

Based on your recommendation, I'll start it later today!

This had better be good!  :hehe

It was! Thank you!

My Goodreads copied to Amazon review here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R18ML8H8H8QS17

Because you recommended that story, I dove into The Babylon Eye. Wow, this is a really cool story world! It reminds me of Valerian & Lauraline and the City of a Thousand Planets. (They screwed up by leaving Lauraline out of the title, IMO.) I'm having a lot of fun. A review full of stars is coming your way!
99
Publisher's Office [Public] / Re: ISBN numbers on an ebook?
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on July 22, 2019, 07:41:53 AM »
To the best of my knowledge, the only benefit is that your sales will be part of industry-released statistics. This wouldn't make much difference for indie writers in general unless most people were doing it.
100
Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: 50+ words a day...no matter what!
« Last post by Electric Dan on July 22, 2019, 07:06:42 AM »
Wrote 330 words today in the lame space opera.  Pace has really dropped.  LOL.  It's harder now that I'm working on integrating it all together into a cohesive whole.


Quote from: Maggie Ann on July 22, 2019, 01:16:43 AM
Quote from: Electric Dan on July 21, 2019, 02:47:55 PM
Wrote 205 words yesterday in the lame space opera.

Just spent about a half hour drawing an alien.  Was almost finished--only had to draw the hands--and the drawing program froze and I lost the whole thing.

Piffle! Hope you can recreate him/her/it.

Quote from: notthatamanda on July 21, 2019, 10:53:11 PM
Oh man that stinks.  Sympathies.  Good luck recreating it.

Thanks.  I was so disappointed last night after losing it that I didn't attempt to redraw it.  Instead I drew a rock in a landscape which was like really, really simple.  LOL.

I suppose it's not a big loss.  These are generally little more than glorified doodles.  There's one that I plan to refine and making into a greeting card, but most aren't anything to get excited about.  Maybe character ideas for books or whatnot but not so far.

Earlier today, I did recreate the drawing.  I feel the one I did (and lost) last night was slightly better but at least its "regeneration" survives.

I try to do a drawing every day.  I started in February and I don't think I've missed a day yet.  It is sometimes difficult to come up with a new idea every day.  In March, I had like a week and a half of aliens then almost a week of weird animals in March.  Then, in April, almost two weeks of aliens again.

Certainly, none of these will ever hang in a gallery.  LOL.

I didn't do daily drawings last year but did have a number of drawings throughout the year and used them, with commentary, in my newsletter.  I may do the same this year, but it would be a huge issue if I use them all.  LOL.
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