gdp's Comments

Ex Libris : Introducing the Incubus by Zoe Winters Giveaway

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 22:16:31 +0000

Thanks, Runs with wolves, so glad you enjoyed Blood Lust! Thanks, everyone! Debbie, Kept (first novella in Blood Lust) features a cat shifter as the heroine. And book three (next one after Save My Soul) will feature a panther shifter as the hero. :)

Ex Libris : Introducing the Incubus by Zoe Winters Giveaway

Wed, 9 Feb 2011 22:23:18 +0000

Thanks, everyone! Thanks, Latisha, glad you enjoyed Blood Lust. :) Thanks, JL, so glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the support! (Mated, the third novella in Blood Lust features a werewolf.)

Belinda Kroll, Young Adult Victorian Fiction : The Cost of Self-Promotion

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:14:48 +0000

You might try focusing on getting review copies to smaller book bloggers, those trying to build an audience and following. It can give you an "in" and if they like it, they have friends who are also book bloggers. And it can go from there.

Belinda Kroll, Young Adult Victorian Fiction : The Cost of Self-Promotion

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:29:27 +0000

Thanks, Belinda! And on Amazon, my pen name outsells Zoe, and it's by a wide margin when you consider that name only has two titles out. So yeah... definitely don't kill yourself over the marketing side. What you really need is a few "influencers" to read your book and start the recommendations-machine rolling.

Belinda Kroll, Young Adult Victorian Fiction : Indie Lovers Unite

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 06:54:43 +0000

Thanks for the shout out!

RINF Breaking News : Big Publishers Terrified of Kindle Mavericks

Tue, 9 Nov 2010 21:13:33 +0000

@Sarah, that was my thought as well. I'm not sure Amanda Hocking wants to be referred to as a "desperate writer". I don't know of a single indie author who wants to be referred to as a "desperate writer". Many of us go indie as a conscious choice. I've sold over 28,000 ebooks this way myself. It's not exactly a world of desperation and no success.

Ex Libris : Who wants to win a Kindle?

Sun, 5 Sep 2010 02:04:31 +0000

Thanks!

Ex Libris : Spotlight on Paranormal Romance: Author interview with Zoe Winters GIVEAWAY!

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:55:26 +0000

Thanks Everybody for all the great comments! I'm going to try to reply to everybody who asked a specific question: @Stacey Smith Twitter follower? @Rae: I came from the factory that way. :P Just kidding. @Katherine: I do a bit of research on the creature first, then I twist it to create my own mythology. Like with vampires I took some stuff out and left others in. One of the main things that's different in my vampire mythology is that vampires DO reflect in the mirror, but the reason they usually avoid them is because you can see the full demon in the mirror, which isn't great for stealth. There is a lot of stuff out there about the incubus. Originally it seems that the incubus/succubus was a good excuse for an affair. "I can't help it, I got preggers by a demon, not my fault!" LOL. Of course in my verse an incubus just feeds off sex, they can't actually get a human female pregnant. @Jason Thanks! I wanted to do something that "wasn't vampires" which I think was a wise choice. My vampire novella, sells well, but it's consistently the worst-selling of the three. I think people are starting to get burnt out on vampires a little. @vidisha Internet, old mythologies, etc. I figure out what's out there, then take it and make my own tweaks. @everyone else: Thanks!

Ex Libris : Spotlight on Paranormal Romance: Author interview with Zoe Winters GIVEAWAY!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:50:26 +0000

Hey Alise, I recognize your avatar! How are you? I think Twitter and Facebook and even Goodreads and blogging are all very important for promotion (And I've recently added YouTube to that with my new Zoe Who? video series.) Here's the video link if you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/user/ZoeWinters1 I love social networking and marketing. Which probably makes me pretty weird for a writer. A lot of times if I'm procrastinating, I'm on Twitter. Sometimes it does get a little draining so I try to take weekends off and unplug from all the noise. But usually I like it!

Ex Libris : Spotlight on Paranormal Romance: Author interview with Zoe Winters GIVEAWAY!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:47:50 +0000

@Stephanie My favorite cover is the Blood Lust cover designed by Robin Ludwig of Robin Ludwig Design, inc. Of MY designs that I did, Kept is my favorite.

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:11:40 +0000

Thanks, Persephone! I'm going to do this every Thursday through Sunday.

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:25:06 +0000

LMAO @ "oppression olympics". And I understand your viewpoints. Everybody uses or doesn't use diff terminology for their own reasons. I think when I used the example I used it because I felt I had the "right" to use it as someone who has experienced that. However, when I used it I didn't take into consideration that most people don't KNOW that about me. So many would assume that I was talking out of my ass and didn't understand what I was talking about... thereby in some way lessening their experience. And even if they did know that about me, that doesn't stop it from being an uncomfortable trigger for THEM. So, yeah. I'm not the only person with rights and when I'm at someone else's house or blog, I need to think before I type. I think it would have been a different matter if I'd made the example on my own blog. Because then people can just opt out of visiting my blog if they find me offensive. But it's not fair to put someone through that when they weren't coming to my blog and I was a guest on someone else's. I appreciate Joe not going to terror level orange over it though. He could have if he'd wanted to. It's his blog. I also agree with you with regard to not punishing someone for someone else's crime. I think it could work out if there was a protocol where if the person didn't share a computer with others, they would lose internet for awhile, and if they did, they would be fined heavily. I absolutely don't believe in everybody being punished for other people's wrongdoings. It just seemed to me (and still does) that the threat of loss of Internet might be a good deterrent. Especially if it was enforced often enough that people felt it was a real threat. But many people share one ISP and that does become a significant issue. If only everybody had their own computers and ISPs. lol

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:06:07 +0000

Thanks, Persephone!

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:09:50 +0000

The last line of my last post (rereading it the next day) sounds a little snarky. And I absolutely didn't mean to come off snarky. I was "trying" to acknowledge that it's okay for us to hold opposing viewpoints on this without one feeling the need to "change the other's mind" but I'm paranoid it didn't come off that way. I'm also paranoid I might have hit some other nerve with the other part of my post that touched on the sensitive issue. But yeah. There is some stuff I don't know how to talk about because it's too raw for people. I forget that I had a time when it was too raw for me and just because I'm not still at that point doesn't mean other people aren't. What happened to me happened several years ago and there were mitigating circumstances which allowed me to get closure most women never get. So if I was insensitive yet again, I apologize. That is not my intent. I'm just saying. I've been there too. I may process certain emotions differently. I don't know.

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:39:31 +0000

I agree that we should agree to disagree, but one last point I'll make... There is more than one way to put someone's life in danger. I'm talking about the risk of losing a potential livelihood. I have an anxiety disorder. I can't keep normal jobs. All I have is my writing. If piracy gets completely out of control and the government doesn't step in and do SOMETHING, then yes, it puts my life at risk just like a drunk driver, because we live in a society where money is not a luxury, but a necessity for survival. If something happened to my husband, and I was making decent money from writing, but it eroded further and further away and I couldn't afford health insurance and something happened and I couldn't pay for the kind of care that would give me a chance, I could die. That's the world we live in. So it's not just a little thing to me. Taking someone's internet away for stealing to discourage the behavior, is something I'm 100% behind. You can also lose your license if you get too many speeding tickets. Even if you aren't endangering a single life, but just drive about 10 miles over the speed limit and get caught a lot. I'm sorry you were raped and were offended, but I've been raped too. Maybe I process emotion differently than you, but both things felt like a personal violation to me. Piracy is a much smaller one, but it's like Chinese water torture. Drip Drip Drip. The rape was ONE day. And ONE experience. It happened, and it was awful, and it took months to be able to start to heal, but then it was over and I could. I don't call myself a rape survivor though because I refuse to label myself for life as a victim. (And I'm not saying that to be offensive, but the term "rape survivor" defines someone FOR LIFE by that experience and I refuse to be a part of that social mentality.) But if I was given a choice to go back and experience that one awful day again and the emotional aftermath, or end up destitute someday when piracy got out of control and I couldn't feed myself, I would choose to go back and redo that day. Because it would be done and over and I wouldn't have to live in fear of losing everything some day because of selfish assholes who think stealing from me is cool. Survival is the first rule. Rape is awful. But so is starving in a ditch. So is living in poverty. So are a lot of things. I would never try to diminish someone else's experience, but I won't let that one experience define me. Either way though, the analogy was never meant to say they were "exactly the same" but merely to explain WHY some artists are so upset by it from the point of view of personal violation. Again, not everybody processes things the same way emotionally. Clearly it was too emotional a point to make. And no one could listen to the analogy without it hitting some personal hot button for them. I'm sure a lot of the offense from those who were offended was because they were raped or someone they knew was raped and they felt that I couldn't possibly have had that experience or I would never use such an example. Well, they were wrong. I know what sexual violation feels like. And I don't waste time chasing down pirates because it is POINTLESS. The second a torrent is stopped, another one begins. I'm sorry but unless the technology can actually be regulated, there HAS to be some kind of punishment for perpetrators of the crime that will actually put some kind of threat behind the idea of stealing other people's work. Nothing hits home like loss of Internet. Obviously you are free to hold an alternate viewpoint.

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:33:34 +0000

I don't believe every download is a lost sale, but I do fail to see why someone feels they have the right to read something then decide if they "want to" pay for it or not. This is not a tipping system. I'm not a waitress. I create a product expecting to be compensated for it. I think if you were an author you'd feel differently. The reason authors get so crazy about it is because we feel completely helpless over the issue. There is nothing in place actively enforcing the law on the matter and meanwhile people are just running around stealing and distributing more of our work. It's like spitting on me. And pirates don't care. They don't give a crap. They just want to be entertained for free. No one who steals from me is my fan.

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:28:28 +0000

I just now saw your reply. I think people shouldn't be stealing shit. I mean maybe that's simplistic and I'm sure "some" legal stuff gets passed around on torrent sites, but I can't get that worked up about the idea of people losing internet privileges temporarily for doing internet crime. You say people shouldn't lose their driver's license for shoplifting (in your original post). But they DO lose it for DUI. Since file sharing happens on the Internet as an abuse of their Internet privilege AND in direct violation of the TOS of their ISP, then yes, they should lose their Internet. Maybe in incremental amounts... like 2 weeks for first violation, a month, 6 weeks, 6 months, etc. Until it gets into their thick head that if they want to use the internet with the other civilized people, they need to stop stealing shit. People feeling they have a right to steal from me just cause they can makes me SO angry, I can't even talk about it without pissing people off. But why shouldn't I be angry? Intellectual property is different than physical property, but it's still mine. It's still stealing hard work I did without compensating me for it. And honestly I think I'd be a lot more upset if everybody was stealing my writing and not paying for it than if they stole my TV. Because my writing is personal. It's a part of me. A TV is an impersonal inanimate object. The whole thing makes me feel pretty violated, not to mention the fact that some day in the future I could lose a livelihood I'm just now starting to see potential for because of shitheads who think it's cool to steal... er... "file share". I just feel that my rights should be upheld and that of every other artist. Whatever punishment will lessen the behavior, whether it's fines or loss of Internet, I don't care. I just want to be compensated for my work. I work too hard and charge too little anyway to have people pirating me.

Persephone Green : Book Trailers

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:56:32 +0000

Yeah, I kind of want a book trailer now. But if I did it I would either make friends with a film geek, or pay someone the big bucks to do it right! And that would be a few years down the road, assuming my sales velocity continues.

Persephone Green : Book Trailers

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:52:10 +0000

Hey, Persephone, thanks for the shout out! And OMG I SO agree with you about 99% of people should not be making book trailers. I saw an amazing book trailer while researching for this Monday's Indie Reader blog posts (which no surprise are about book trailers, with less of my crazy thrown in), and I found a great book trailer. I mention it here on today's blog: http://zoewinters.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/book-t... If I could have something like THAT, I would do a book trailer. But I can't. Unless I paid big money. And I don't have that kind of budget right now. Basically I think book trailers are okay for people with MAJOR skillz or the big dogs with a big budget, and maybe I'll meet a film geek friend who is so geeked out by my work they want to make a book trailer... but... for most indies, it's just going to be fail.

Persephone Green : Ebooks, Ebook Piracy, File Sharing and Authorial Hypocrisy

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:59:52 +0000

I have such mixed feelings about file sharing. On the one hand, it's going to happen and as far as I can tell it doesn't necessarily kill sales. I mean I have KEPT free in a lot of venues in PDF, but sell it on the Kindle for a buck. I still am selling now a little over 500 copies a month. Despite it being free like everywhere AND file shared on torrent sites and such on top of that. I'm not sure if it's a big threat to sales right now because like you say, not all of those people would have bought anyway. And I get that intellectual property and physical property are different, but the problem comes in when a whole generation is raised to believe if it's digital they can steal it off the internet and it's okay. When this becomes the overwhelming mentality then it will significantly financially hurt authors. And authors already don't make enough money to have to deal with it. We're talking about stealing someone's livelihood and turning them into a slave class where they basically work for free because people feel entitled to "take." I've seen a lot of Shiloh's posts on this subject and I do think they get a little "emotionally loud." But then I get really emotionally loud about topics that I'm passionate about as well, so I have no room to judge. As for the internet suspension thing, I'm not sure. I can see a million ways that it could become a bigger problem than a help but it DOES on some level make some kind of logistical sense. Maybe a year is too long though. What about three months. If you REALLY need the internet then you can use an internet cafe. What we're talking about is INCONVENIENCING someone who stole and distributed someone else's work. And actually I think it shouldn't necessarily be the person who downloads because in the grand scheme it's not individual downloaders that are causing the issue. The punishment doesn't fit the crime when someone who downloads something loses their internet for a long time. And even though it's unlikely, there are cases where people think if something is on the internet for free they can have it and it's okay. No, the people I would support this type of punishment for are the people who UPLOAD other people's free content to be downloaded thousands of times. Without people uploading free content that didn't belong to them, there would be no issue because people who wanted stuff for free wouldn't have anywhere to go get it. And no one can argue that someone uploading content that isn't theirs to just give away to people doesn't know what they're doing is wrong. They know and they don't care. They aren't just sharing something they love with a few friends, they're redistributing it to thousands of people and helping to make stealing that much easier. So yeah... sure it's draconian, but all someone has to do is not distribute other people's shit. I think losing internet for awhile for people who consistently use the internet to break the law and steal from people, is fair.