K.M. Frontain's Blog, page 24

My tweets

Sat, 18:38 : 5 of 5 stars to Bard of Pain by Dusk Peterson http://t.co/mhYw5MO5 Sun, 11:12 : #review #freebook The Gryphon Taint: Volume One "The quality of the writing has not diminished" https://t.co/JxVDwkVa Sun, 11:13 : #review The Gryphon Taint: Volume Two "I wish the story would continue forever." https://t.co/kitjy2g6 Sun, 11:15 : #review The Gryphon Taint: Volume Three "Not to repeat myself but this book is as good as all its predecessors." https://t.co/Rl5TYDEi Sun, 11:16 : Thank you, Samdarius, for the reviews you left this morning. Lovely Sunday morning surprise. :-) #review #freebook https://t.co/BOCD5Uh8 Sun, 11:16 : Three reviews for The Gryphon Taint set http://t.co/oP6EV7VO Sun, 12:00 : I'm scheduled to write a blog post for Literary+ in October on writing outside the box. Won't be a post about ideas so much as skill.

Three reviews for The Gryphon Taint set

Three new reviews over on Smashwords this morning, all for The Gryphon Taint set, 5 out of 5 from Samdarius. Thank you so very much for these lovely reviews and your support of The Soulstone Chronicles series. 

Samdarius, btw, purchased Bound 1 and Gryphon 1 when they were still 99 cents. I appreciate having these reviews from a paying customer. I noticed Smashwords differentiates between reviews of paid books as opposed to free books, so it's nice to have these ones because...

I recently made the ePUBs of Bound 1 and Gryphon 1 free on Lulu, and all versions of these two ebooks are free on Smashwords. They were originally free as PDF files way back when I first pubbed them on Lulu in 2006. When ePUB became feasible on Lulu, the pricing rules weren't altogether clear with regards to having my books distributed higher up at Nook and iTunes. I am testing the free price to see if the freebies remain on iTunes and elsewhere, and then I will ask Amazon to price match. Perhaps fans can help me with that and also ask for a price match to get those two ebooks free on Amazon, if you see it free on Nook or iTunes (no sign of this so far).

And please like me on Amazon, even if you purchased elsewhere. I could use the help. I've been around a long time, but yeah, I hate being a pushy spammy author. 

Links to the new reviews! And visit my main Smashwords page for the other novels.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/172169
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/172178
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/172179

My tweets

Fri, 13:26 : RT @wl552: Today's the day! Available now in all formats: Second Chances: http://t.co/COvb3J8F A m/m romance anthology.

My tweets

Thu, 15:32 : For authors in need of music for book trailers, @LeeFitzsimmons has a Goodreads group you might want to check out. http://t.co/4Ejwk89R

My tweets

Wed, 14:16 : the comment that got huge (erotica, censorship) http://t.co/UJvhnqRr

the comment that got huge (erotica, censorship)

(Cut paste from over on G+)

I started this as a comment and then realized I had something to say too. Kinda big for a comment. So here goes.

Started from this blog post:
http://jd-savage.blogspot.ca/2012/08/for-mature-eyes-only-when-does-romance.html

I am very much in agreement with Sophie Duncan that porn has no emotion compared to erotica, or rather it has perhaps the most instinctual sort of emotion, and sometimes the worst sort of emotions, without the benefit of knowing something good or decent will result from the act of sex. With romance, romance without tragedy, you get that good feeling, that something decent will result, something that makes life worth living long after the sex occurred (but yes, let's hope there is more sex). With porn, I often feel disgusted with the human race after, or at least the part of the species that wrote the sex for titillation. 

The lines between porn, erotica and romance are very shady, sometimes narrow, sometimes wide, and with many flares of grey leading out; a lot of ugly grey, perhaps, but some very comfortable. What I call romance, some will call porn. What I call exploring human nature, others may call obscenity. When I endeavour to awaken awareness through story, others call it promoting moral collapse. 

All in all, I am glad that the romance genre has more sex in it. The blurred lines of where erotica starts and stops isn't necessarily a bad thing. The less hung up the populace in general is about sexual topics, the more easily sex can be discussed and the more easily it can be brought into a healthy future where human rights and freedoms apply to all consenting adults, not just certain pairings of consenting adults.

The more sex is discussed, the less easily some things are hidden, and some things should not be hidden. Those who shout that certain types of sexual subject matter are solely porn or obscene, or impermissible because they focus on harsh realities or topics society likes to pretend don't exist, have forgotten or refuse to acknowledge the reason behind why some authors write. Exploration of the truth, of human nature, through fiction.

This of course leads to censorship and why it's a dangerous activity. Dangerous why? Some think it's there to protect the populace. From what? Clear labels protect the populace. Censorship, government approved or social habit, just shuts up and hides the truth. That's all it has ever done (besides making it easier for certain elements to hide their crimes). Doesn't matter if the persons responsible for censorship say they're policing fiction. They're policing the same creative force that gave us Star Trek.

And some will scoff there wasn't much erotica in Star Trek to speak of. Well no, but if Star Trek had been brought before a censorship body comprised of fundamentalists with reservations against race and short skirts, that show wouldn't have aired.

Some say the sexual revolution was in the sixties. I say it only just started--for North Americans. It's barely begun elsewhere in this world. Hasn't started some places. Atrocities against human rights and freedoms still abound throughout this world. 

This might seem to have nothing to do with the lines between porn, erotica and romance, but it does have a relation. Those lines are blurred here, where we live, because we are exploring the lines. Human rights and freedoms are advancing despite fundamentalist attitudes. But elsewhere, this has yet to happen. The lines are still black and white.

My tweets

Tue, 14:10 : RT @PoopheadPooky: Huge flourescent PAPER flowers outside window. The human says they're real. She's a total liar. PAPER! http://t.co/oC ... Tue, 14:10 : RT @PoopheadPooky: And I don't care if I can't spell flowerescent. Poo on you. Tue, 14:10 : RT @PoopheadPooky: My window. In my house. Ignore the humans. http://t.co/YqugMdUU Tue, 14:14 : RT @PoopheadPooky: Flower obscenity. http://t.co/UwSmTswR Tue, 21:23 : My daughter put a password on her new computer, and yeah, it failed when she rebooted next day. And not because she forgot it. Tue, 21:24 : No, this old computer, WinXP, decided the keyboard was another language keyboard prior to loading the user settings, so her A's were Q's etc Tue, 21:25 : I spent multiple hours tracking down a crack cd to isolate her password, confirm it was she said it was, and then conclude keyboard foolery. Tue, 21:25 : Because she put the password on the administrator account, somehow. And it was the only account, visible outside safe mode. Tue, 21:26 : Yeah! Not much done today on writing. Tue, 21:26 : Anyhow, eldest has two more days before back to university. I've been gaming with him. Won't see him for months after this.

My tweets

Mon, 13:34 : Well, I'm really not sure about Lulu's retail pricing rules, and not entirely sure about Smashwords' either, but (continued) Mon, 13:34 : I set both Bound in Stone 1 and The Gryphon Taint 1 for free on Lulu and Smashwords. I hope neither disappear from retailers after. Mon, 13:35 : I shall know soon, I suppose. But if this works, and they stay on retailers, I shall ask for a price match on Amazon. Mon, 13:35 : Then they will both be free on Amazon too, which is the way I originally wanted these books to be. Mon, 13:36 : But Amazon rules are poopy about free books that aren't Kindle Select. Mon, 13:36 : Hence the price hoop jumping. Mon, 13:40 : FreeEEEeeee! https://t.co/iqxmD3fl and https://t.co/JxVDwkVa #freebook #glbtq Mon, 13:42 : And ok, now that I'm done mimicking Alan Sandler, all this price manipulating came about through reading author interviews on Smashwords. Mon, 13:43 : Originally, Bound 1 and Gryphon 1 were free on Lulu and I always wanted them to remain that way, but the whole "now we have ePUB" threw me. Mon, 13:44 : Anyhow, so long as the pair show up on retailers, I'll shall keep them free; otherwise they go back to the low 99�. Mon, 13:45 : I still haven't figured out RSS feeds... Should get my eldest to show me, I suppose. I can gut and fix a computer, work basic html, but... Mon, 13:45 : Yeah, I'm slow learning anything new. Mon, 13:50 : OMG, I've missed a whole slew of "Where the Bears Are" vids. :-( Mon, 13:51 : RSS must be for people like me, who have writer memory, good only for writing facts. Mon, 13:52 : Facts about writing, I mean--details, plots... bleh. Oh! Look! Cawfee! (attention deficit attack) Mon, 14:00 : OMGosh, I forgot. I have a new #review on Smashwords for Bound 2. https://t.co/Xga2GQRm Mon, 14:01 : Thank you for the review, tomwild. Mon, 14:07 : Wil Wheaton's cat has a twitter profile... I shall make one for my bird, Shithead, aka Pooky, who is small and evil. @wilw Mon, 14:40 : RT @ShitheadPooky: Hijack. This account is now mine. Piss off @SoulstneChrncls Mon, 14:49 : RT @PoopheadPooky: It's war. This human changed my account name from ShitheadPooky to PoopheadPooky. As if that's really more polite. Mon, 14:49 : RT @PoopheadPooky: I'd change it back, but my little feet are getting sore stomping on these keyboard keys. So I'll just bite her. Mon, 15:31 : Ok, so figuring how Smashwords search works, Bound1 is on the first page of #glbtq, #free, highest rated -- thanks to kind reviewers. Mon, 15:32 : In case you want the search link for book #freebies with glbtq content: http://t.co/RqLFYp5o Mon, 19:29 : new review on Smashwords and I took the leap and made freebies http://t.co/iL10nAfW </lj-cut

new review on Smashwords and I took the leap and made freebies

This one is for Bound in Stone: Volume Two. Smashwords user tomwild says:

"I'm into the 3rd book of the series right now and don't want it to end."

Thank you, tomwild.

I am still not 100% on the rules over at Lulu about listing a book for free. And I'm not 100% on how it works for Smashwords. When I pubbed at Lulu, the way they wrote the advice for pricing (on the publishing page at time of pricing), it seemed an author couldn't make a book free if they wanted it to be listed on iTunes. That really sucks, though, doesn't it? So I listed 99¢ instead of my usual "free" purchase and then listed the same price when I finally made it to Amazon and then Smashwords.

And of course, right at the same time, Amazon screwed me over by introducing Kindle Select. Actually, I think they screwed a lot of authors over. It's a big trap to get you on their venue only. And it also means that you don't get free books published over there unless you put your books on Kindle Select, or unless Amazon price matches a book that is lower on, say, iTunes.

So, I am waiting to see if my first novels of the Bound and Gryphon sets remains on iTunes after this price drop. Lulu is the vendor in the case of iTunes and Nook. Smashwords is the vendor in the case of all other venues (except Amazon). If I see my books disappear from any of those retailers, I have to raise my price to 99¢ again. But I hope I don't have to.

If the books stay on line at the retailers, I will ask Amazon to price match so that these two novels are free there as well. So, here's hoping for the best.

My tweets

Sun, 13:15 : And now that I'm less Twitter encumbered, have discover RSS feed for Prince of Cats. Not sure how RSS works with Twitter yet, though. Sun, 13:18 : Actually, I'm not even sure how RSS works period. It's one of those things I never got around to figuring oit. Sun, 13:21 : RSS rampage. Gonna find the feed links for all my on line comic interests and then figure out how to use them. Sun, 13:22 : Oit! Oit! Ahh ha ha! Don't look at my earlier tweets. Sun, 13:29 : Daughter may have her own computer soon... 0.0 Someone wants to give her an old one. Hope it's in good working order. Must find wifi dongle.