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Self-published Books – You Get What You Pay For?

Warning: rant ahead.

There’s a discussion going on in one of my Facebook groups and I’m having a very hard time staying out of it. So lucky you, you get to hear the side that’s going on in my head.

The complaint was a misused word. The sentence they are “Ugh!”ing over included the phrase, “something worst.” The original complainer called it a grammatical error. I pointed out it could have been a typo, and asked if it was one of many. She said it was the only one she’d found, so I said it was understandable: even a spellchecker wouldn’t have picked it up, to which she replied, “True probably self published.” Note the total lack of grammatical issues with her reply. (Sorry, I get sarcastic when I’m pissed off.) What I wanted to say was that even had it been edited and proofread professionally by a traditional publisher’s editing department, they hire humans. And humans are fallible.

Oh, but this isn’t the worst of it all. Someone in the group actually had the gall to say that with cheap, self-published books, you get what you pay for. First let me say that we self-published authors, no matter how much effort we put into a book, have to stay competitive. That means charging less than the big publishers do, because we don’t have the fan base who will buy anything as long as it has our name on it. That means, yes, undervaluing our work much of the time. But even so.

Name one profession other than writing where you can pay the person producing the work under five dollars for five thousand hours of work. Think about it. How long does it take you to read a three hundred page book? Do you think the writer wrote and edited it faster than you read it? Did you pay minimum wage for the number of hours it took you to read it? I don’t care who you’re reading, you’re getting much more than you paid for, and chances are if it’s a self-published author, you’re getting a lot more of their blood, sweat, and tears than you are of an author with a team of editors and marketers behind them.

End rant.


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#SoCS – Giddiness – #AtoZChallenge

Give me a glass of wine, and I’ll show you one light-headed lady.

I admit it – I cheated. I said I was going to write a post on whatever word showed up on the right-hand page, second from the bottom in my thesaurus, no matter what, but the word I found today was “genocide.” I’m not going to apologize for turning the page. So what did I get instead? “Giddiness.” Couldn’t be more opposite.

Anyway, welcome to the Stream of Consciousness version of the A to Z Challenge, where nothing is deleted and nothing is planned. Also, nothing but typos are edited. Yeah, yeah, sometimes I go back and fix the punctuation. But that’s mostly for your sake. If I didn’t, you might not be able to figure out what I’m trying to say. …or maybe you can’t anyway…

It’s been a less-than-giddy-inspiring day today. My darling son is up to his antics, whining over a game he’s been playing all day. Oh, he’s as good as gold for ten minutes if I threaten to take it away. But every time I walk away, he’s at it again. He’s sitting beside me now, leaning on me, “singing” in his own way – he’s Deaf, so it’s more like a one-note elongated scream – knowing there’s nothing I’m going to do about it because I’m typing. If I don’t do it (post this) now, it’s going to be so late that I won’t feel like doing it. All freakin’ day it’s been like this.

So after he goes to bed, I think I may open a bottle of wine and get… let’s look in the thesaurus… (I’ll take all the “-ness”es off the words, since the original has it.) Dizzy, faint, light-headed, nauseous, vertigo, wobbly, or woozy. I see a few there I definitely don’t want to become. Wobbly sounds good. I remember when I was younger someone calling beer “wobbly-pop” on a regular basis. It fits.

Okay, the kid’s getting overwhelming again. Wish me luck. And wine.

This wobbly post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link and learn how you, too, can join in the fun! https://lindaghill.com/2017/04/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-apr-817/


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Apr. 8/17

It’s Friday today and that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. The month of April, as you might have heard, is time for many of us to participate in the A to Z Challenge. With this taken into consideration, I’ll start the prompt with the letter of the day, just to potentially help people along. Here’s your prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “give/given/giving.” Begin your post with one of those words. Bonus points if you end your post with one as well. Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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Chide – #AtoZChallenge

I’d have to give myself what for, if I didn’t write my A to Z blog post today.

“Chide” is my thesaurus word for this third day of the A to Z Challenge. It’s a word I know but that I don’t think I’ve ever actually used out loud. When I’m reprimanding someone (usually my kids – who else am I going to chew out?), I’m more likely to use the term “telling off.” But according to my trusty old synonym-finder, “chide” has a bunch of different meanings I’d never put in the same category. It can also mean “blame” and “criticize.”

When I blame someone for something I don’t necessarily scold them, and when I criticize someone it doesn’t mean I berate them. So it seems “chide” is a bit of an all-purpose word for anything we don’t like.

“Admit it. It was you who took my bone,” Winston chided.

Okay. I guess that works.

***

If you’re stopping by my blog for the first time or you haven’t picked it up yet, please check out my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette “All Good Stories.” It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“Delightful, Light-hearted tale with great twists!” ~ Lori Carleson, 5 stars, Amazon review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories


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Breather – #AtoZChallenge

Take a deep breath. Time to really get into this whole A to Z business.

When I opened my thesaurus to find my “B” word, I saw “breather” and thought HA! An easy one. But like many words, the more I think about it, the more complex it seems. Of course, it’s “one who breathes.” Then there’s the rather unflattering term, “mouthbreather,” which according to the Urban Dictionary means “a stupid person.” I’ve been a bit of a mouth breather of late, but it’s to do with my cold… You know, stuffed up nose and all that.

But mostly the word “breather” is known as a noun to mean “a break.” Relax. Take a breather. In my thesaurus it says it’s a synonym for “constitutional” and “walk,” as well. In which case it could be thought of as a heavy-breather, depending on the shape one is in.

Speaking of heavy-breathers, do they still do that anymore? I remember it was a big thing in the 70s – you’d pick up the phone and on the other end there’d be someone just breathing heavily. I suppose prank calls pretty much went out the window with caller ID. One day I’ll be able to ask “Is your fridge running? Yes? Better go catch it!” and nobody will know where it came from.

“Breather” is one of those words that, when I think about it too much, stops making sense. Or in this case, I think it makes too much sense. Relax. Take a breath.

Phew! I need a rest. 😉

***

If you’re stopping by my blog for the first time or you haven’t picked it up yet, please check out my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette “All Good Stories.” It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“Delightful, Light-hearted tale with great twists!” ~ Lori Carleson, 5 stars, Amazon review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories


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#SoCS – Appreciative of the #atozchallenge

To find the prompt and participate in SoCS, click the picture. It’s fun!

Any of my fellow WordPress bloggers who are participating in the A to Z Challenge and haven’t heard yet, you can post your links to the new WordPress “A to Z” blog here: https://atozchallenge.wordpress.com They’re doing a daily post for each letter, so it’ll be as easy as a pingback to record your post and find readers. You’ll find the one for the letter “A” at the top of this post if you click on the letter. 😀

Now that that’s out of the way, my first thesaurus word for the challenge is “appreciative.” And I am, for so many things. First and foremost on my blog are all my readers and those who join in on my prompts week after week, as well as those of you who have done it once or twice. I’ve made so many friends here on WordPress and really, it was a surprise to me that there is such an amazing community here. When I started my blog I had no idea what I was doing. I thought I might find a couple of people who would read what I wrote and that would be it. It wasn’t until I discovered the interaction in the comments, and that discovery I still thank Jason at HARSH REALITY for, for showing me how great it can be to get to know people, that I knew there was so much more to this place than meets the eye.

And prompts like A to Z help expand our horizons. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who share the same passion as we do – writing, communicating, and sharing our work. The possibilities are endless. All we need do is tap into it. How can we not appreciate something like that?

***

If you’re stopping by my blog for the first time or you haven’t picked it up yet, please check out my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette “All Good Stories.” It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“Delightful, Light-hearted tale with great twists!” ~ Lori Carleson, 5 stars, Amazon review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories

 


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Apr. 1/17

Hey there! It’s Friday and time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. The month of April, as you might have heard, is time for many of us to participate in the A to Z Challenge. With this taken into consideration, I’ll start the prompt with the letter of the day, just to potentially help people along. Here’s your prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “any.” Begin your post with the word “any.” Bonus points if you theme your post on another word that starts with “A.” Have fun!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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The Brand New Crazy Way to A to Z and Theme Reveal!

Incredibly, we’ve somehow made it all the way (almost) to the end of March already, which means the A-Z April Challenge is mere hours away. And if that’s not mind-blowing enough, they’ve changed the way they’re getting everyone together this year! Yes, gone is the Linky list (because who needed 2,000 participants easily found in one place) and now, to confuse us all, they’ve decided to go all SoCS style on our asses. Which would be wonderful if only the A-Z Challenge was on a WordPress account… but it’s on Blogger!

So every day we’re to go to their daily post and drop our link in the comments, and look around for other blogs to visit. It’s gonna be a free-for-all! Yay!

Ahem. Where was I?

Oh yes. I’ve decided to participate again this year because self-flagellation extra work is good for me. That, and I miss writing. Seriously, I do. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m at such a loss in the creation department that I’ve started colouring. Colouring!! (Colouring is fun! 😀 But it ain’t working my author muscles.) So I’m doing it. Come rain or shine, flood or drought, high water or hell, I’m going to write a post every day this month except Sundays if it kills me. Because you know what? It’s not even just the writing I miss. I miss you guys!

Are you ready then to find out what my theme is going to be? Are you? Are you sure?

You’re going to have to look at the banner first:

Clicking the banner will take you to the AtoZ Challenge Theme Reveal page

Okay, that took me ten minutes. Is the drum roll almost finished?

My A to Z Theme for 2017 will be…

…

…

RANDOM AGAIN!

I had so much fun with my thesaurus a couple of years ago that I’ve chosen to do it again. This year, when I open my thesaurus to a page with the letter of the day, I’ll write a post based on the word listed second from the bottom, on the right-hand page, in the left-hand column. No exceptions. For those of you who are also playing along, I’ll choose a word to match the letter of the day that the Stream of Consciousness Saturdays of the month fall on. They are:

April 1 – A
April 8 – G
April 15 – M
April 22 – S
April 29 – Y

That’s that then! If you’re joining in on the torture fun this year, let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure to visit you.

Let’s do this thing!!

 


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Mar. 25/17

Is it still Friday? Yes, I think it is, and that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Well, it doesn’t happen often, but I think I’m sick. Or it could be allergies. Either way, I’m sneezing up a storm. I’ll try not to pass it on if it’s a virus. Haha.

Here’s your prompt for this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “march.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday – Any Takers?

Fortune cookie: You will soon receive an unusual proposition.

Please note: Any propositions proposed in the comments below may be used in a novel.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

If you would like to participate, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do,
you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com