Jen Black's Blog, page 3

Stuffing your Kindle

Rainstorm over Ullapool As an experiment I put my most recent book on Free for three days at the beginning of the month. I haven't done this for some time and I wondered if it still worked as a method of get ting a book into the hands of readers. Well, it seemed it did. Quite a few went out in those three days on Amazon Kindle.

But guess what?

Here we are three weeks later and not one page has been read. How disappointing is that?

I can only hope that in the next few weeks I may see some KENP reports creeping in.

Luckily I have diaries

 I have been adding one photograph per day to Facebook, utilising the old paper pics I have in my collection.  Most are fine though all I've done is take a photo in good light of the old pic with my mobile phone, then uploaded it to my pc.

It is surprising how hard it is to remember where the places are.

Some have a scrawled name - Domme - but many are blank.

Luckily I have diaries (week to view) going back to 2002 and they tell me we took the ferry on 29th July and stayed in the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, from where we visited Chinon and Azay-le-Rideau, then Angers, Saumer and then on to Tulle,  Figeac amd Maurs where we stayed at La Chatelleraie before we drove on to Cahors. Back to Perigeaux, west to Saintes, then north to Nantes across the pont de Chevire and to Saint Malo and Portsmouth. 

Quite a journey to try and fit all those photographs into! But at least it is a guide. And the memories are so good.

Podcasts

Call me slow if you like but I have just discovered the world of podcasts.

The only trouble with them is I tend to fall asleep - which is great if its late at night and sleeping is what I really should be doing, but not so good if it is midday and I am supposed to be working.

I hear them all day long as my other half listens to political/news podcasts,. I hear them but I don't listen. Well, sometimes I do when it's Rory and Alistair. But it gave me the idea that it would help save my eyesight if I listened to things instead of reading them all. So I began looking for podcasts in my area and found  loads of creative writers do them.

Many are American. We are usually a decade behind American trends, though maybe the delay is not so long now as it used to be thanks to social media and television. I've begun with Urban Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker since I enjoyed her Death Before Dragons series. She is a six figure author so she must be doing something the readers like. 

Will I do a podcast? I think the world is safe as haven't a clue how to do it technically. 

I saw these 10 reasons why an e-book isn't selling on a ...

 

I saw these 10 reasons why an e-book isn't selling on a screen that flashed by me today. Maybe it applies to only one person, or maybe it applies to all e-book authors. It makes you realise what hard work it takes to be a successful author and actually make money these days. 

At first it all seemed really good for authors but Amazon realised they were being too generous and made some changes. Now they are making money but I doubt most authors are. Maybe it's time to give up?

1)    You’re up against millions2)    You’re not considering the direct competition3)    You haven’t thought about the audience at all4)    You’re trying to draw from an empty well5)    You haven’t built your personal platform6)    Your book cover is not good enough7)    Your pricing strategy is incorrect8)    You have unrealistic expectations9)    You’re not marketing yourself10)  Negative reviews

Where did TikTok go?

 

TikTok’sparent company, the Chinese-owned ByteDance, was directed to sell the app to anon-Chinese owner by January 19 or be banned in the U.S. AfterByteDance failed to meet the deadline, TikTok vanished for Americans.

Afterhis inauguration on Monday, Trump gave TikTok 75 days to seek a new solution. Theapp remains operational in the U.S. for the time being, but if TikTok candisappear so quickly, what’s to stop it from happening again?

Noone knows what’s next for any platform. The best advice is Diversify. Start aYouTube channel they say, Invest in Instagram Reels. Launch a Substack newsletter. 

Seemsa self-pubbed author needs to be or hire a PR expert these days . Also required is an intuitiveknowledge of how to use the new programs. I find it difficult to use the few platformsI do know and wish they were all as simple as Facebook.

Dictatorial forms

 It has been a while since I posted, mostly because I was tied up with Amazon. They had been sending me notices to refresh my Tax information, which I duly did, received a verification in the shape of a big green tick and sent it back to them. A few days later the request appeared again, so I went through the same steps and returned it. This happened four or five times and then I needed to fill in a different form. This one requested my Unique Tax Reference Number (UK) and I didn't have one. 

Ah! The steps I went through! It took days and much pulling of hair and then to crown all  after I received said Tax Number, they said I could use my National Insurance Number. Duh! I could have used that the first time. 

Dealing with online forms is difficult. Put a letter where a number should be, or where there should be a space and the equivalence of red ink springs up all over the screen. Invalid information! It repeats the same information endlessly until by lucky chance you hit the correct format/information. If they really want AI to work, then the red ink should have politely informed me I had  allowed a space in the answer I gave and they didn't want the space but a number. Perhaps one day, all forms will be helpful instead of dictatorial!

The pic is of York. Evidently the town is considering charging a Tax on Tourists who stay overnight.

Less than helpful

 Twice since Christmas I've tripped into conversation with AI masquerading as a person.

In both cases I had contacted a helpline.

One with my bank, and the other with Amazon.

In both cases AI could not answer my query.

How many more firms/businesses out there have installed AI instead of a human being to supposedly answer questions? If all you want is the store opening times, then its probably fine, but anything with a  hint of complexity and I doubt you will be satisfied.

The sad thing is we don't know that this is happening until we have reason to contact a helpline.

Problems ahead.

 

23% of US authors reportedly used AI in their work during 2023

47% of them used AI as a grammar tool

29% used AI to brainstorm plot ideas andcharacters.

"It’s just words," oneis reported as saying. "It’s my story, my characters, my world. I came upwith it. So what if a computer wrote them?"

The US author quoted above claims using AI has made her writing faster, therefore increasing heroutput and presumably earning her more money in sales. I'm reading this and wondering How far can this go? 

IfI asked a programme to write three paragraphs on a particular event or subject,in the style of a particular author, could it perform well enough to fool readers? If so, would it beconsidered a form of plagiarism? If Lee Child finds books coming out recognisablywritten in his style, can he do anything about it? Authors like Dunnett,Mantel, Seton, Christie – are they fair game? 

Seems to me that this is ratherlike letting a fox loose in the hen house because there are going to beProblems ahead. Massive problems.

Temptation

 

I asked Copilot (otherwise AI)

why Reading as a hobby was good for me and these are the answers it gave me:

1.      MentalStimulation: Reading keeps your brain active and engaged, which canhelp prevent cognitive decline as you age.

2.      KnowledgeExpansion: Every book you read opens up new worlds and ideas,broadening your understanding and perspective.

3.      VocabularyImprovement: Regular reading exposes you to new words and phrases,enhancing your language skills and communication abilities.

4.      StressReduction: Immersing yourself in a good book can be a great way toescape from the stresses of daily life and relax.

5.      ImprovedFocus and Concentration: Reading requires concentration, which canhelp improve your attention span and focus over time.

6.      BetterWriting Skills: Exposure to well-written content can influence yourown writing style and improve your ability to express yourself clearly andcreatively.

7.      Entertainment:Books can be a source of endless entertainment, offering stories and adventuresthat captivate your imagination.

8.      Empathyand Understanding: Reading about different characters and theirexperiences can enhance your empathy and understanding of others.

In essence, reading is a hobby that not only entertains but also nurturesyour mind and soul.

Not bad, eh? I can guess which people are going to start using it on a regular basis.

What hope is left?

 

Artificialintelligence (AI) and machine learning are revolutionizing the publishingindustry. That is the polite term for what is happening. There are other, lesspolite views from those who object to any sort of software doing all the workin a fraction of the time it would take an actual cover artist to do it. Thereare fears it will put a lot of software artists out of work.

In 2025, thesetechnologies will play an even more significant role in content creation,editing, and distribution in various ways as the algorithms grow more and moresophisticated and generate content indistinguishable from human-written text. Usedin journalism it can and probably begin to produce more news articles, reports,and summaries.

These algorithms studyour behaviour online. This allows them to “provide personalized contentrecommendations” or, as some see it, plague us with ads of what to buy next. Itis claimed publishers will be able to provide more of what we actually like. Toolslike  Grammarly already assists writers with editing. I've used it myself and wished it were swifter. By 2025, such tools will offer moresuggestions and reduce the time required for manual editing. 

It will betempting. I can see that. But I also have fear that if authors turn to using AIto “write” six books a year for them, what hope is left for the struggling author who can manage to hold a job and write at night and perhaps publish a title every two years?