Still Off

The technical difficulties collided with an unexpected family visitor and my carefully organized day went all to Hades. Just now I recalled that I promised to post something today, too. Please consider this something, even if it is 1:42 am. My sincere apologies, but I will be off dealing with all this until Monday.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Head Go Boom

I'm sure you all remember that post I wrote when a reviewer on GoodReads gave a possibly psychic review for Forget-Me-Knot, a novella I never wrote. The listing is still up (click here to see the idiocy) and currently has 16 ratings and three reviews. For a story I never wrote. Sigh.

Funny, right? I've tried to be a good sport about it, too. Until yesterday, when I got a very real, serious offer from a European publisher for the translation and publication rights for Forget-Me-Knot.

I thought exposing the fake reviews would shame the host site into taking down the phony listing. Hasn't happened in the two years since I wrote that post. So now I have to persuade the pinheads at this site to take down the listing for real. They wouldn't take down my blog content even after they agreed to, so I'm not especially optimistic.

Any advice from you Goodreads-savvy folks out there?

Updated: My thanks to those who offered helpful advice. Due to the large volume of trolls who have been trying to use my blog to vent their spleens, I'm now shutting down comments. For more information on my comments policies, please see the About PBW page on the sidebar.

Beyond Annoying

While trawling for freeware I came across a mention of Reedsy (?) who are currently offering a free writing/typeset tool. I found that much, hence the link, but the (?) is because I can't figure out what the heck this thing is. Editor marketplace? Digital platform? What? Everything else on the web site is so glutted with gleeful meaningless advertising and testimonials by earnest new authors that I can't find any actual service info.

Case in point: look at their About page. Evidently they have big plans for the publishing industry, and they were founded by four dudes in the UK. That's it. When you click the "learn more" button it doesn't actually take you anywhere (or maybe I'm supposed to watch these informative videos. I hate watching videos. Where is the text?) Or maybe I have to sign up on Facebook to get the gist. Sorry, no Facebook here.

I'm utterly perplexed. Is this the hot new way to tell everyone about your new business? By not telling them anything? How innovative.

Look, I know I'm an old writer chick, and grumpy most of the time, but please. Before you try to take over the publishing industry from your hip new web site, how about providing potential clients (one might have been this grumpy old writer chick) some actual information? That's not too much to ask, is it?

My Head Explodes. Again.

PBW: So now it seems the guy who inflicted Facebook on the world wants to build an artificially intelligent assistant for himself to, and I'll quote the Time article here "to help run his house and assist him at work." Because, you know, that's insanely hard work no human being should ever have to do.

Alfred: Madam, your proposal is waiting. The canines will need walking, and the batcave is beginning to resemble an actual bat cave. Please stop surfing the internet.

PBW: In a minute. Apparently Facebook guy sets himself a new goal every year, and this is it. Build himself a robot helper.

Alfred: It sounds rather admirable. I wonder if he'll sell them on Amazon?

PBW: Instead of giving someone who actually breathes a job? How is that admirable? No, it's just like an insanely rich person to think up something idiotic like that. I bet he just doesn't want to offer medical benefits. Or any benefits, really. A robot wouldn't need any, or rights, or lunch breaks, or--

Alfred: Perhaps if I could buy one that closely resembles me, I could -- wait, you mean other assistants get lunch breaks?

PBW: I give you tea breaks, Al, because you're British. Also, you never eat.

Alfred: Oh, dear. Am I a robot?

PBW: No, you're my invisible assistant. Like an invisible friend, only naggier and more organized. Anyway, you remember that Will Smith robot movie? Will was great, but the whole robot helper thing didn't turn out so well for his alternate universe. And that other, awful movie about robots, you know, that one with the kid. What was the name of that one? It was like three hours long. Jude Law was in it, and he didn't even have to act.

Alfred: AI, Madam.

PBW: That's it. I still think of that robot kid every time I hear the word dolphin. I don't know why these things annoy me. What would you expect from a person who considers reading two books a month such a difficult thing that he had to make that a goal one year?

Alfred (mumbling): But you read only three books last September.

PBW: I heard that.

Alfred: I think I'll take my tea break now, Madam.

Scribd.com Gets Greedy

It's been brought to my attention that Scribd.com has begun charging people to download my free e-books hosted on their site. To get around my copyright and the free distribution notice I've placed in each e-book, they are using an archive subscription scam to make their money (this also neatly avoids them having to pay me any royalties on the profits they make.) Evidently all the money they've been raking in from the Google ads they've posted on my e-book pages hasn't been enough for them.

I was not made aware of this new policy by Scribd at all; a reader kindly brought it to my attention. If you have free stories or documents hosted on this site, chances are they're doing the same to you.

I immediately contacted Scribd.com and demanded an explanation, which they provided at their leisure. Basically they washed their hands of any liability and ethics by telling me it was my problem, not theirs. In order to prevent Scribd from further profiting from my free books, I have to remove each e-book individually from their archives (for instructions on how to do this, see Scribd's instructions here.) As I discovered this morning this is going to take a considerable amount of time for me to accomplish, and it's not a permanent solution; they tell me I'll have to check the documents regularly to see to it that they aren't arbitrarily returned to the archive, where Scribd can then again start charging people to download them.

I find the situation particularly ironic, as anyone can bootleg my work on the internet with no problem, yet when I try to give it away for free, greedy people still try to make a buck off it. Writers just can't win.

Honestly, I do not want to deal with this garbage right now, and I'm tempted to delete the entire library this morning and say the hell with it. However, I've been giving away these books for ten years, and I'm not going to allow the greed of others hoping to make a surreptitious buck off my name to defeat me.

I may still have to take down my library of free reads. For now I will be researching other options, removing my free e-books one by one from Scribd's archive scam, and see if I can find a solution that doesn't cost my readers anything or make my head explode.

In the meantime, please do NOT pay Scribd.com to access or download my free e-books. If you are asked to pay ANYTHING for any of the thirty e-books I have on Scribd, and you can't wait until I find a solution, contact me at LynnViehl@aol.com and I will personally send you a free download of whatever you'd like.

Added: I think I've found a solution, but I still have to test it out and make sure it works. Unfortunately I have to finish some revisions to meet a deadline first. Please be advised that I will be removing my library of free e-books and documents from Scribd.com as soon as I get everything transferred over to the alternative site and make sure the links work. This will happen probably within the next couple of days.

Added 9/2/10: I've temporarily transferred my free library over to Google Docs, which allows anyone to read them online or download them in .pdf format for free. I tried to delete my documents and account on Scribd, but despite numerous attempts their web site was unresponsive, so I've contacted them and told them to take it down. Hopefully they will do so quickly; in the meantime please use the Google Doc links listed on the Freebies page here and please do NOT pay Scribd.com anything to access my free e-books.

Just When You Think

You've seen everything in this business . . .



Yep. I think it's Flipper. In drag.

Click here for a closer look, if you think your retinas can stand the burn.