E. Jean Simpson's Blog: A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA, page 13
June 19, 2021
Philosophizing
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from Canada’s Smallest Province Prince Edward Island! Today’s podcast and blog post deals with random thoughts and what goes on in the mind of this author. Welcome to the crazy mixed up world we all live in from a writer’s perspective. I sometimes think I may turn into the Prince Edward Island’s English version of La Sagouine. If you want to find out more, including who this cultural icon, La Sagouine, is then stay tuned!
It seems that the more the world changes, and the more that the internet is accepted as a method of communication and information, the less people understand that it cannot be a “free for all” of information and that we should be responsible for knowing whether we need to obtain a particular ID or give private information to companies. For instance, there has been change made to one particular company and now they insist that you provide them with either SIN, Driver’s License or Passport. Sure, it is valid information. Sure it is unique to the individual. Here is the main issue with this. You see, this is information that hackers would love to get their hands onto. There is a whole black market wanting to have identities. The particular place, I won’t mention names, we had been hacked just last month. Now, this in itself reduces trust in the whole thing. They were nice about it, fixed the issue. We didn’t sell the item, nor have we ever and we never got payment for this non-existent article. I didn’t even know what the item was. We caught it fairly quickly. Still the company took a hit for it I’m sure. I’m sorry for that, but we didn’t ask for our account to be misused. What I’d like to know is how this giving over of personal ID will fix the issue. The hard and fast answer is it won’t. We can still be hacked and still have the same thing, though I suppose it will stop the money from going through to an account since it goes somewhere else first, though I’m sure the dishonest will find a way to get it to work for them. We don’t know whose account they sent money to, because we didn’t get it…so apparently it could still happen depending on the hacker. We’ve dealt with the particular company for years. We opened our only payment account using them. So, honestly, we’re not the problem, but they lost us for selling. Time will tell if they lose us entirely. Depends if we have to open a special other account to pay for things.
One of the things that makes this focus on numbers of little use is, under a certain dollar amount of earnings, the Government doesn’t even consider you as having the ability to have an existential crisis…because as far as they are concerned, you don’t exist. Let’s just say at this point, I can’t have an existential crisis. If we could make enough to exist to our Government, then we would likely be better off to apply for a Tax ID from the Government if it has to go online. So, why the panic about SIN on self-publishing e-book sites? Especially with regard to self-publishing e-book authors because of the volume that one would have to sell and indie authors aren’t always the big money makers. However, if you don’t make enough to pay GST, they find this rather a waste of Government resources to give a number…but I keep trying to find a valid way of getting something I can use. We need some kind of ID that is proof of our existence without endangering said existence and credit rating. This would be less dangerous to our credit rating as our SIN wouldn’t be directly exposed. So, the more companies attempt to make things ‘safer’ for themselves the more they make it unsafe for people who want to work with or through them. The fact of the matter is that small e-book publishing is not a money making enterprise at this time. It’s a labour of love, and a belief in the new medium. You hope someday it will become worthwhile. In the meantime, you try to get your e-books out. Hope for the best and hope not to be hacked nor to have your work stolen or compromised in some way. If I made enough to be of interest to the Government, then I would have to do the tax forms. I don’t belong to the USA and don’t care whether or not they take out the 30% for their Government. It certainly doesn’t make a difference to my sales or lack thereof. I’d rather they take the 30% than be hacked. That should be the end of argument, but often is not. Sometimes it appears there is a dearth of common sense in the whole only numbers count world that exists online. How does a number prove who I am? I find it funny…they aren’t even concerned about the Canadian Government, it’s the American Government they want to look after but make it about not taking out taxes for the USA. I’m Canadian and I don’t pay the American Government taxes and am not an American citizen. So, there seems a lack of actual thought going through the whole process. Some leave me alone because they already know that e-books are not where the money is yet. So, I now am back to trying to get some kind of number so that they won’t harass me about numbers. Fingers crossed. I’ve made a request from information from the Government here in Canada. So, anyone who is really good at math must enjoy this new computer literate world…it seems it all runs on numbers.
Then there was my saga this week with the cell phone. It suddenly refused to start. It seems to be full power, seems to go on, but then stops at the opening screen and goes no further. It just happened out of the blue. Apparently no one can fix it….and won’t lay a finger on it…so it must be osmosis they use to diagnose these things nowadays. Apparently, and I won’t use the name of the place we bought it from, we essentially bought a “piece of crap”. Now, I have to say, this may have been honest, but how much confidence does that instill in my making the decision to replace it with another from the same place? “Conspicuous consumption”, I tell my husband as we stand making breakfast. “Conspicuous consumption”…new cell phones every time they move a muscle and all this technology changing all the time, where does all the dead stuff go? Landfill? Then they cry about eco-friendly. I can’t get a cell to last more than 3 or so years. I don’t use them much. Hate phones and I can only make it last 3 years with little to no use. I seem to have started to become the English version of La Sagouine. For those unfamiliar with this character and Acadian cultural icon, (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...). In my case, I may be English speaking, but there are Acadian roots in the family. I learned about her in High School. Anything more you want to learn about her, you can google search. An interesting piece of Canada’s history. As an aside, we have finally ordered a cheapie phone.
Of course, other companies decide they will hold your work that is being taken down hostage to getting it off sites. When one is busy, do you have time to fight staff asking that your intellectual property get taken down? Who owns the intellectual property rights? It is always the author. I can only do so much at one time. I removed it from a larger company with absolutely no trouble. These type of questions are floating around the cyber universe waiting to be resolved. Who resolves them? I guess the person who gets fed up with being just a number. People who get tired of being the door mat to the universe and start to answer back. Of course one needs do it politely. When others think they own you, they forget that you also own yourself. Sometimes being kind is to remind them that it isn’t what they want but what the owner of the intellectual property wants or the owner of whatever wants. If they decide they will remove something, they should not have to ask permission from one of their profile pages that they claimed. I guess one has to be super clear on who owns it.
So, be unrealistically realistic because it seems nowadays, they want eco-friendly, but aren’t willing to slow down on conspicuous consumption or take pride in what is made. They want you to put your private information out on the internet without a thought about the consequences or the long-term impacts. People go around flashing their body parts online without thought of appropriateness. Fast paced is one thing. Breakneck speed and poorly thought out are a whole different thing. As Alphonse Karr is believed to have said, “The more things change, the more they are the same”. It sometimes feels that we’re back in the day of ancient Rome…I remember my father making similar comments when I was in my teens…I guess that now makes me officially an older person. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
It seems that the more the world changes, and the more that the internet is accepted as a method of communication and information, the less people understand that it cannot be a “free for all” of information and that we should be responsible for knowing whether we need to obtain a particular ID or give private information to companies. For instance, there has been change made to one particular company and now they insist that you provide them with either SIN, Driver’s License or Passport. Sure, it is valid information. Sure it is unique to the individual. Here is the main issue with this. You see, this is information that hackers would love to get their hands onto. There is a whole black market wanting to have identities. The particular place, I won’t mention names, we had been hacked just last month. Now, this in itself reduces trust in the whole thing. They were nice about it, fixed the issue. We didn’t sell the item, nor have we ever and we never got payment for this non-existent article. I didn’t even know what the item was. We caught it fairly quickly. Still the company took a hit for it I’m sure. I’m sorry for that, but we didn’t ask for our account to be misused. What I’d like to know is how this giving over of personal ID will fix the issue. The hard and fast answer is it won’t. We can still be hacked and still have the same thing, though I suppose it will stop the money from going through to an account since it goes somewhere else first, though I’m sure the dishonest will find a way to get it to work for them. We don’t know whose account they sent money to, because we didn’t get it…so apparently it could still happen depending on the hacker. We’ve dealt with the particular company for years. We opened our only payment account using them. So, honestly, we’re not the problem, but they lost us for selling. Time will tell if they lose us entirely. Depends if we have to open a special other account to pay for things.
One of the things that makes this focus on numbers of little use is, under a certain dollar amount of earnings, the Government doesn’t even consider you as having the ability to have an existential crisis…because as far as they are concerned, you don’t exist. Let’s just say at this point, I can’t have an existential crisis. If we could make enough to exist to our Government, then we would likely be better off to apply for a Tax ID from the Government if it has to go online. So, why the panic about SIN on self-publishing e-book sites? Especially with regard to self-publishing e-book authors because of the volume that one would have to sell and indie authors aren’t always the big money makers. However, if you don’t make enough to pay GST, they find this rather a waste of Government resources to give a number…but I keep trying to find a valid way of getting something I can use. We need some kind of ID that is proof of our existence without endangering said existence and credit rating. This would be less dangerous to our credit rating as our SIN wouldn’t be directly exposed. So, the more companies attempt to make things ‘safer’ for themselves the more they make it unsafe for people who want to work with or through them. The fact of the matter is that small e-book publishing is not a money making enterprise at this time. It’s a labour of love, and a belief in the new medium. You hope someday it will become worthwhile. In the meantime, you try to get your e-books out. Hope for the best and hope not to be hacked nor to have your work stolen or compromised in some way. If I made enough to be of interest to the Government, then I would have to do the tax forms. I don’t belong to the USA and don’t care whether or not they take out the 30% for their Government. It certainly doesn’t make a difference to my sales or lack thereof. I’d rather they take the 30% than be hacked. That should be the end of argument, but often is not. Sometimes it appears there is a dearth of common sense in the whole only numbers count world that exists online. How does a number prove who I am? I find it funny…they aren’t even concerned about the Canadian Government, it’s the American Government they want to look after but make it about not taking out taxes for the USA. I’m Canadian and I don’t pay the American Government taxes and am not an American citizen. So, there seems a lack of actual thought going through the whole process. Some leave me alone because they already know that e-books are not where the money is yet. So, I now am back to trying to get some kind of number so that they won’t harass me about numbers. Fingers crossed. I’ve made a request from information from the Government here in Canada. So, anyone who is really good at math must enjoy this new computer literate world…it seems it all runs on numbers.
Then there was my saga this week with the cell phone. It suddenly refused to start. It seems to be full power, seems to go on, but then stops at the opening screen and goes no further. It just happened out of the blue. Apparently no one can fix it….and won’t lay a finger on it…so it must be osmosis they use to diagnose these things nowadays. Apparently, and I won’t use the name of the place we bought it from, we essentially bought a “piece of crap”. Now, I have to say, this may have been honest, but how much confidence does that instill in my making the decision to replace it with another from the same place? “Conspicuous consumption”, I tell my husband as we stand making breakfast. “Conspicuous consumption”…new cell phones every time they move a muscle and all this technology changing all the time, where does all the dead stuff go? Landfill? Then they cry about eco-friendly. I can’t get a cell to last more than 3 or so years. I don’t use them much. Hate phones and I can only make it last 3 years with little to no use. I seem to have started to become the English version of La Sagouine. For those unfamiliar with this character and Acadian cultural icon, (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...). In my case, I may be English speaking, but there are Acadian roots in the family. I learned about her in High School. Anything more you want to learn about her, you can google search. An interesting piece of Canada’s history. As an aside, we have finally ordered a cheapie phone.
Of course, other companies decide they will hold your work that is being taken down hostage to getting it off sites. When one is busy, do you have time to fight staff asking that your intellectual property get taken down? Who owns the intellectual property rights? It is always the author. I can only do so much at one time. I removed it from a larger company with absolutely no trouble. These type of questions are floating around the cyber universe waiting to be resolved. Who resolves them? I guess the person who gets fed up with being just a number. People who get tired of being the door mat to the universe and start to answer back. Of course one needs do it politely. When others think they own you, they forget that you also own yourself. Sometimes being kind is to remind them that it isn’t what they want but what the owner of the intellectual property wants or the owner of whatever wants. If they decide they will remove something, they should not have to ask permission from one of their profile pages that they claimed. I guess one has to be super clear on who owns it.
So, be unrealistically realistic because it seems nowadays, they want eco-friendly, but aren’t willing to slow down on conspicuous consumption or take pride in what is made. They want you to put your private information out on the internet without a thought about the consequences or the long-term impacts. People go around flashing their body parts online without thought of appropriateness. Fast paced is one thing. Breakneck speed and poorly thought out are a whole different thing. As Alphonse Karr is believed to have said, “The more things change, the more they are the same”. It sometimes feels that we’re back in the day of ancient Rome…I remember my father making similar comments when I was in my teens…I guess that now makes me officially an older person. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
June 12, 2021
Current Events: What Can We Do?
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today’s podcast and blog post deals with the need for change because what we have right now is not working and the media is making it more and more clear. We see the results of racism and intolerance of all sorts daily in the media. If you are going to be offended by opinions on racism and intolerance in Canada, then I suggest you move on, you don’t want to hear this. I have to say this is my own author opinion and not affiliated with the opinions of A & J PEI Treasures in general or any other entity. This is purely my opinion. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned!
We watch horror shows and fear the monster under the bed. But, there is a monster more pervasive and darker than anything M. Night Shyamalan or Stephen King could ever come up with and it’s real, current and out in the open. It makes Lestat in Interview with The Vampire by Anne Rice look like a sweet gentle soul full of love and compassion. I have seen a lot of this type of monster in the news lately. I’m not a political person and I fail to see how caring for your fellow human could or should become a political move. I always thought it was the way human beings should function…not for popularity, nor for politics nor for religious fervor, but just good old human common decency. So, for those of you that want to make this a politically driven argument, go away! I’m not interested in politics nor popularity. I’m interested in the “Human Condition”, such as it is. The monster is not under the bed, but out in full view and is racism, intolerance and its effects.
Right now in Canada, they have found 215 dead children buried in a mass grave in British Columbia. Don’t fool yourself, these are NOT the only dead children they will find. It is heart breaking and a brutal look at a disastrous Government and Church plan to assimilate First Nations Children. Can it be made right? No, it can never be made right! What can be done, well if you are political minded, then go and bug whoever you can contact in the Government...in that way you might stand a chance at making it political. Sadly, we all know they will most likely find more dead children. Start pushing the church to release documentation or provide funding for the excavation and identification of these poor dead children to give families closure if that is what it takes for the victimized people. Go with what fits their needs…they’re the ones to talk to about what to do.
One of the hard history lessons we need to remember is that this country was settled by people who had different ideals and beliefs than we do now…at least that is my hope…that they had different ideals from us…that maybe we have come ahead some. The original settlers in North America believed that the white man was superior and this carried forward for many generations resulting in things like slavery and the residential school system. This was something that was mainstream thought and went unquestioned for a long time. They thought nothing of the people they were displacing nor of the people that were dying from their discovery and colonization of the new world because they were superior. I don’t say this to be nasty or because they were bad people. That was the overriding thought on life at the time. This was how it was. I can’t change it, I can’t change history. I can learn from it though and try to think about things differently than my ancestors. I can learn from the pain of the people involved. Their pain breaks my heart and I have been exposed to it long before now. I worked in a Northern town in Alberta for several years. I heard of the residential system and the horrors that students were exposed to. I heard about the poverty and the lack of proper housing and numerous other heart breaking stories.
The second incident that pushed me toward this blog post was that there was a Muslim family walking on their own side walk. They were run into by a car. People killed of all ages and one child in serious condition in the hospital. At first you think….oh what a tragic accident. Then the reality hits. You read the headlines and the article stating that a man was arrested and they suggest that there is evidence this was premeditated. Shock happens. They suggest it wasn’t an unfortunate accident, it may have been targeted. This is sad and makes one think about racism more and how much it costs humanity in general.
Where did this attitude come from? The one that allows people to harm others who are not of their race or religion etc. Well, dear readers and listeners…it’s not really a mystery it came from around them. This miasma fog of rotten misinformation and conspiracy theories, hearsay from family and others that allow people to feel justified in doing harm because they form an opinion on a whole group from information without evidence. This is wrong. We are wrong to allow this to perpetuate throughout our beautiful country! We allow people to talk like this around us and say nothing. Look at what racism has cost us. It has cost us lives, it has cost us trust, and it has cost dignity of some, loss of safety and lives. It has cost us dearly but it has cost the victims more dearly. There are good and bad people in every possible group.
So, now we see that we are not immune to racism. We are not immune to intolerance. It happens quickly and it lasts and like the monster in the movies, destroys all within its path. What can we, as people, do to stop this? Well, first of all, we need to take notice of what we say to our children. When we tell our children someone is bad because of their religion or their color or orientation or any other factor they have no control over, we are telling children it is ok to judge people on something that they cannot change. You are telling children it’s ok to mistreat someone because they are different. Your language tells your children that the ‘bad people’ are less than human and therefore not deserving of equal treatment. This is not going to improve the world around you. Tell your children about the damage that has occurred from hate and encourage them to learn more about their friends and other people who are from different cultures. There are many articles online that have suggestions on how to approach this. It’s not like you have no resources. If you want to, you can even check with the local library, they might have books that they can suggest to explain things to children or programs to help them learn about different people. When you start with the children, we have a chance of educating them and they will educate their parents and grandparents. If you hear someone putting down others based on being different, then have a discussion about what these attitudes have cost in lives and in terms of tax payer money. You see, every case that goes to trial because of this intolerance or racism costs tax payers as well. Who do you think pays the crown prosecutors, counselling the victims? Every case where people are harmed or killed, costs in terms of money, police are paid to investigate, lawyers to prosecute and defend just to name a few. If you don’t understand in terms of human suffering and it has no meaning for you, then understand in terms of it costs money and time and administrative stuff….and yes, you are paying for it. It doesn’t just cost lives, mental health and dignity, but also money for treating, prosecuting, etc. It is not worth the many costs that are incurred with this hate that is being grown and cultivated in creating controversial rhetoric about those different from you. Love or tolerance costs so much less than hate.
The situations I have pointed out are just two of the most recent ones. I would not have to look back too far to find different cases. This is the ugly side to the world we live in. We have to stop being afraid to admit that our history is rife with examples of intolerance and we need to be better as people. We have to stop hating based on someone being different. You do not have a right to bully, beat, kill, or maim people because they don’t suit you based on colour, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other criterion. We may have the constitution, but until we all believe it, all we have is a piece of paper that will result in maybe fines or jail, but it won’t result in people being treated with respect and dignity. It is our responsibility to provide respect for each other and others. As Martin Luther King, Jr said: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Those little children are now adults and one has died of heart condition. I think we have to stop dreaming and start doing if there is hope for his remaining children to be given the opportunity to do what their father dreamed of. Start taking action to make this a reality. We can do it, but we have to work for it. We need to do more to dispel myth, conspiracy and learn more about our fellow citizens. We need to speak up and let people know what harm intolerance and racism cause.
So, be unrealistically realistic and understand that the world was not created for you or your little groups alone. We have a variety of humans because that is what came with the world. Things haven’t changed. No true religion preaches harm your fellow human. I know what I would choose. I hope others would choose to make this a better world too! Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
We watch horror shows and fear the monster under the bed. But, there is a monster more pervasive and darker than anything M. Night Shyamalan or Stephen King could ever come up with and it’s real, current and out in the open. It makes Lestat in Interview with The Vampire by Anne Rice look like a sweet gentle soul full of love and compassion. I have seen a lot of this type of monster in the news lately. I’m not a political person and I fail to see how caring for your fellow human could or should become a political move. I always thought it was the way human beings should function…not for popularity, nor for politics nor for religious fervor, but just good old human common decency. So, for those of you that want to make this a politically driven argument, go away! I’m not interested in politics nor popularity. I’m interested in the “Human Condition”, such as it is. The monster is not under the bed, but out in full view and is racism, intolerance and its effects.
Right now in Canada, they have found 215 dead children buried in a mass grave in British Columbia. Don’t fool yourself, these are NOT the only dead children they will find. It is heart breaking and a brutal look at a disastrous Government and Church plan to assimilate First Nations Children. Can it be made right? No, it can never be made right! What can be done, well if you are political minded, then go and bug whoever you can contact in the Government...in that way you might stand a chance at making it political. Sadly, we all know they will most likely find more dead children. Start pushing the church to release documentation or provide funding for the excavation and identification of these poor dead children to give families closure if that is what it takes for the victimized people. Go with what fits their needs…they’re the ones to talk to about what to do.
One of the hard history lessons we need to remember is that this country was settled by people who had different ideals and beliefs than we do now…at least that is my hope…that they had different ideals from us…that maybe we have come ahead some. The original settlers in North America believed that the white man was superior and this carried forward for many generations resulting in things like slavery and the residential school system. This was something that was mainstream thought and went unquestioned for a long time. They thought nothing of the people they were displacing nor of the people that were dying from their discovery and colonization of the new world because they were superior. I don’t say this to be nasty or because they were bad people. That was the overriding thought on life at the time. This was how it was. I can’t change it, I can’t change history. I can learn from it though and try to think about things differently than my ancestors. I can learn from the pain of the people involved. Their pain breaks my heart and I have been exposed to it long before now. I worked in a Northern town in Alberta for several years. I heard of the residential system and the horrors that students were exposed to. I heard about the poverty and the lack of proper housing and numerous other heart breaking stories.
The second incident that pushed me toward this blog post was that there was a Muslim family walking on their own side walk. They were run into by a car. People killed of all ages and one child in serious condition in the hospital. At first you think….oh what a tragic accident. Then the reality hits. You read the headlines and the article stating that a man was arrested and they suggest that there is evidence this was premeditated. Shock happens. They suggest it wasn’t an unfortunate accident, it may have been targeted. This is sad and makes one think about racism more and how much it costs humanity in general.
Where did this attitude come from? The one that allows people to harm others who are not of their race or religion etc. Well, dear readers and listeners…it’s not really a mystery it came from around them. This miasma fog of rotten misinformation and conspiracy theories, hearsay from family and others that allow people to feel justified in doing harm because they form an opinion on a whole group from information without evidence. This is wrong. We are wrong to allow this to perpetuate throughout our beautiful country! We allow people to talk like this around us and say nothing. Look at what racism has cost us. It has cost us lives, it has cost us trust, and it has cost dignity of some, loss of safety and lives. It has cost us dearly but it has cost the victims more dearly. There are good and bad people in every possible group.
So, now we see that we are not immune to racism. We are not immune to intolerance. It happens quickly and it lasts and like the monster in the movies, destroys all within its path. What can we, as people, do to stop this? Well, first of all, we need to take notice of what we say to our children. When we tell our children someone is bad because of their religion or their color or orientation or any other factor they have no control over, we are telling children it is ok to judge people on something that they cannot change. You are telling children it’s ok to mistreat someone because they are different. Your language tells your children that the ‘bad people’ are less than human and therefore not deserving of equal treatment. This is not going to improve the world around you. Tell your children about the damage that has occurred from hate and encourage them to learn more about their friends and other people who are from different cultures. There are many articles online that have suggestions on how to approach this. It’s not like you have no resources. If you want to, you can even check with the local library, they might have books that they can suggest to explain things to children or programs to help them learn about different people. When you start with the children, we have a chance of educating them and they will educate their parents and grandparents. If you hear someone putting down others based on being different, then have a discussion about what these attitudes have cost in lives and in terms of tax payer money. You see, every case that goes to trial because of this intolerance or racism costs tax payers as well. Who do you think pays the crown prosecutors, counselling the victims? Every case where people are harmed or killed, costs in terms of money, police are paid to investigate, lawyers to prosecute and defend just to name a few. If you don’t understand in terms of human suffering and it has no meaning for you, then understand in terms of it costs money and time and administrative stuff….and yes, you are paying for it. It doesn’t just cost lives, mental health and dignity, but also money for treating, prosecuting, etc. It is not worth the many costs that are incurred with this hate that is being grown and cultivated in creating controversial rhetoric about those different from you. Love or tolerance costs so much less than hate.
The situations I have pointed out are just two of the most recent ones. I would not have to look back too far to find different cases. This is the ugly side to the world we live in. We have to stop being afraid to admit that our history is rife with examples of intolerance and we need to be better as people. We have to stop hating based on someone being different. You do not have a right to bully, beat, kill, or maim people because they don’t suit you based on colour, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other criterion. We may have the constitution, but until we all believe it, all we have is a piece of paper that will result in maybe fines or jail, but it won’t result in people being treated with respect and dignity. It is our responsibility to provide respect for each other and others. As Martin Luther King, Jr said: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Those little children are now adults and one has died of heart condition. I think we have to stop dreaming and start doing if there is hope for his remaining children to be given the opportunity to do what their father dreamed of. Start taking action to make this a reality. We can do it, but we have to work for it. We need to do more to dispel myth, conspiracy and learn more about our fellow citizens. We need to speak up and let people know what harm intolerance and racism cause.
So, be unrealistically realistic and understand that the world was not created for you or your little groups alone. We have a variety of humans because that is what came with the world. Things haven’t changed. No true religion preaches harm your fellow human. I know what I would choose. I hope others would choose to make this a better world too! Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
June 5, 2021
Authors as Community
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the sunny Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today’s podcast and blog post deals with the need for more than just working toward making money, but also toward doing whatever you can to help others…whether it be a charity or other people. If you are a low or no budget author, you have to look for opportunities and take them when you find them. Sometimes charity also starts at home. Not every bit of charity results in directly giving money but may indirectly as well as directly. If you want to find out more, then keep reading!
Authors and Artists are not just single entities or an Island unto themselves. No matter where you are, you are part of a community. This does not mean that you have to go out and kiss babies and shake hands…though I’m sure that would also be appreciated. However, not all Authors or Artists have a yen to be out in public life. Some of us are more behind the scenes types. I happen to be one of those behind the scenes types. I’m quite content to do my e-books and keep up the social media. I also am happy enough to work toward getting my e-books to be better and improve upon my photography which also can become part of my e-books. However, I also like to help out when and where I can. Whether that is liking posts, commenting on a few blogs I follow, making my own blogs and pod casts to try to get information out and different ideas, or just communicating with family, I try to help out. I don’t do things to get noticed very much. I’m not the limelight sort. However, anything I do that I think might help someone else out, I put out there. This was true of our COVID shots this week. I generally never posted anything personal a few years ago, but this I decided to post to encourage others. It really wasn’t that scary. I’ve had needles before. I hardly noticed this one. I hope that it is a step toward helping out family and friends who are immunocompromised. Hopefully it encourages those who are nervous that it’s not that bad. I’ll still be wearing a mask because first I have a weak immune system and secondly, I have family whose immune systems are compromised by transplants, chemo etc. So, I try to help by acting as an example.
Somehing that I would caution people is to make sure that they know what is going on with charities. I am a sucker for animal charities and such. It seems some of the bigger online entities have contests that may or may not fit your desired outcomes. Most shelters and Humane Societies depend on donations, donations of time, donations of goods, donations of money. Two in our Province are Keeping Cats Homed (https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/) and the PEI Humane Society (https://www.peihumanesociety.com/) both do good work and help people get pets and can use help in many different ways. If you want to help out. You can do it directly to either website.
People always think they have to give money and when one doesn’t have money to give, they don’t have the ability to help.
This is a fallacy! There is volunteer work and a ton of places one can volunteer and a lot of different methods of helping in this sector. Of course most shelters can use different things and you can check with the shelters to see what they need (dog walking, spending time with the pets or other methods). Maybe they could use something you are good at doing…a craft like crochet, or knitting most shelters need comfy blankets for the pets they take in. Crochet and knitting can also can be used by hospitals, elder care homes and other types of organizations that help people if you can make blankets or lap blankets. If you don’t have money there are other ways to help. That is something that low to no budget authors or artists could look for. Some way to help others.
Another thing that isn’t always remembered is that if you are an author or artist, there are often libraries looking for books, e-books and other things that you might not even think of. I was amazed to find out some of the things that our local libraries also carry. So, if you have some skills that you think might be useful, check with local agencies and libraries. If they don’t need your skill right now, they might know someone who could. Check with your local library to see if you can help out by providing copies of your books or e-books if you’re an author or if they have a wish list that you might be able to help with. When you have low or no budget, you have to get creative on how to help others.
I’m sure that there are many other ways that could be suggested to help out others and please let me know of some that you know of that I could add to the list in comments. When I say sometimes charity starts at home, I mean that sometimes there are family members who are unwell or who need someone to talk to. Then if you can be available, you have done something kind and caring. If we want to make this a better world, then we have to look for ways to make it a better world. There are already enough people out there that take advantage of people and that do negative things….we need to be the people who make the world a better place. We need to find a way as Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” There is nothing that keeps the world from changing but ourselves. If those who did harm instead wanted to see a different world, there would be nothing stopping us from reaching different galaxies, curing cancer and other diseases. If they would use power properly and apply themselves to making this a better place, this world we call home, then we would live in a near utopia. This is a deep philosophical question which many of us have to answer for ourselves. What is the world that we want to see? Do we want to have a better and more honest world or a bitter world? The choice is up to you! I know what I would choose. I hope others would choose to make this a better world too! Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
I mention:
Keeping Cats Homed https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/ and the Prince Edward Island Humane Soceity: https://www.peihumanesociety.com/
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
Authors and Artists are not just single entities or an Island unto themselves. No matter where you are, you are part of a community. This does not mean that you have to go out and kiss babies and shake hands…though I’m sure that would also be appreciated. However, not all Authors or Artists have a yen to be out in public life. Some of us are more behind the scenes types. I happen to be one of those behind the scenes types. I’m quite content to do my e-books and keep up the social media. I also am happy enough to work toward getting my e-books to be better and improve upon my photography which also can become part of my e-books. However, I also like to help out when and where I can. Whether that is liking posts, commenting on a few blogs I follow, making my own blogs and pod casts to try to get information out and different ideas, or just communicating with family, I try to help out. I don’t do things to get noticed very much. I’m not the limelight sort. However, anything I do that I think might help someone else out, I put out there. This was true of our COVID shots this week. I generally never posted anything personal a few years ago, but this I decided to post to encourage others. It really wasn’t that scary. I’ve had needles before. I hardly noticed this one. I hope that it is a step toward helping out family and friends who are immunocompromised. Hopefully it encourages those who are nervous that it’s not that bad. I’ll still be wearing a mask because first I have a weak immune system and secondly, I have family whose immune systems are compromised by transplants, chemo etc. So, I try to help by acting as an example.
Somehing that I would caution people is to make sure that they know what is going on with charities. I am a sucker for animal charities and such. It seems some of the bigger online entities have contests that may or may not fit your desired outcomes. Most shelters and Humane Societies depend on donations, donations of time, donations of goods, donations of money. Two in our Province are Keeping Cats Homed (https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/) and the PEI Humane Society (https://www.peihumanesociety.com/) both do good work and help people get pets and can use help in many different ways. If you want to help out. You can do it directly to either website.
People always think they have to give money and when one doesn’t have money to give, they don’t have the ability to help.
This is a fallacy! There is volunteer work and a ton of places one can volunteer and a lot of different methods of helping in this sector. Of course most shelters can use different things and you can check with the shelters to see what they need (dog walking, spending time with the pets or other methods). Maybe they could use something you are good at doing…a craft like crochet, or knitting most shelters need comfy blankets for the pets they take in. Crochet and knitting can also can be used by hospitals, elder care homes and other types of organizations that help people if you can make blankets or lap blankets. If you don’t have money there are other ways to help. That is something that low to no budget authors or artists could look for. Some way to help others.
Another thing that isn’t always remembered is that if you are an author or artist, there are often libraries looking for books, e-books and other things that you might not even think of. I was amazed to find out some of the things that our local libraries also carry. So, if you have some skills that you think might be useful, check with local agencies and libraries. If they don’t need your skill right now, they might know someone who could. Check with your local library to see if you can help out by providing copies of your books or e-books if you’re an author or if they have a wish list that you might be able to help with. When you have low or no budget, you have to get creative on how to help others.
I’m sure that there are many other ways that could be suggested to help out others and please let me know of some that you know of that I could add to the list in comments. When I say sometimes charity starts at home, I mean that sometimes there are family members who are unwell or who need someone to talk to. Then if you can be available, you have done something kind and caring. If we want to make this a better world, then we have to look for ways to make it a better world. There are already enough people out there that take advantage of people and that do negative things….we need to be the people who make the world a better place. We need to find a way as Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” There is nothing that keeps the world from changing but ourselves. If those who did harm instead wanted to see a different world, there would be nothing stopping us from reaching different galaxies, curing cancer and other diseases. If they would use power properly and apply themselves to making this a better place, this world we call home, then we would live in a near utopia. This is a deep philosophical question which many of us have to answer for ourselves. What is the world that we want to see? Do we want to have a better and more honest world or a bitter world? The choice is up to you! I know what I would choose. I hope others would choose to make this a better world too! Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
I mention:
Keeping Cats Homed https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/ and the Prince Edward Island Humane Soceity: https://www.peihumanesociety.com/
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
May 29, 2021
Author Cyber Issues
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the bright and cheery Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today’s podcast and blog post deals with some of the practical and not so fun issues of being an author. In life there are always parts of any job and in life in general there are things that you have to do that aren’t pleasant. You just have to work on them anyway or find a line of work that doesn’t include stuff you entirely hate. Anything can happen in the online e-book world. People don’t often talk about the issues. Some things you need to watch for if you want to protect your online investments. So, fasten your seat belts and get ready to hear about the wild ride that is the world of the no budget Indie e-book author. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned!
Every now and then every author should do a check of their online presence. I’m not saying that because I don’t have something better to do. I’m also not saying it because of some twisted notion that we need to make everyone do a make work project. You know what I mean by make work project, the meaningless projects that you are given to collect information and then they don’t do anything with it, but you were kept busy. It’s not one of those either. If you self-publish, like I do, you have one or two publishers and you need to make sure that your links are live, valid and that you are actually being sold on pages that are associated with your publishers. I was checking links and came across an e-book site that I cannot for the life of me figure out the affiliate and it is also supposed to have been in a different format than I submitted. I have yet to figure out where that came from. It’s still in process at this point and a report has been sent in so follow up has to happen at the same places. On the other hand, I started to check my links on one of my publishers. In short order, I found some of the links were dead as a doornail. It isn’t a secret from the company that one should check their links regularly. One dead link was because they stopped working with the company. The other one was due to the original company moving to a different format (I still had the new link, but also the old dead link). Either way, the links were dead as a doornail and were my responsibility. I had to remove dead links. Then I worked on updating links and found that some links hadn’t ever updated. It’s well worth the time to figure it out. You may or may not have a lot of buyers, but who wants to risk losing buyers due to dead links. I have to admit that lately, I have been remiss on keeping my links updated…and even when I did, might have missed the odd link. After a while, I have to manually add them.
Another issue is the links that I found that don’t seem to belong to any of my publishing companies. So, I have emailed to get the information so that I can add the links. If none is forthcoming, then I have to assume that somehow my e-books are being pirated. It becomes a never ending project because you have to confirm all this. Still wondering how I get anything done for blog posts, podcasts and even how I get e-books done.
I have also seen a suggestion that one keep an eye on their online presence stated in many articles. I would definitely suggest this too. I have added a Google Alert and typed my name. In my case, because I am also part of A & J PEI Treasures, I type it in a search too. Type in your names of your books if you want to ensure catching everything. At least that way you have all bases covered. I admit it might actually be overkill or not…but I have no budget which means it would be good if any of my books do sell, I get the proceeds. It gives one a chance to get notified when your name is used online. There are many different programs available to do this, but at least Google Alert gives me one other method of keeping up on what I’m doing. I also do an odd manual check. I’ve discovered some interesting things over time. You may also find upsetting things. These things, you need to deal with one way or another. Be ready that you may even have to go as far as claiming copyright issues. This is not always a fun task, but you need to keep your name from being misused and your e-books as well.
A little more about the lack of respect for e-book authors. The thing that I realized after being subject to this is that there is always a chance that someone will try to use or misuse your work for their benefit or even by error or accident (give the benefit of a doubt). I had one case where someone took the cover of my e-book and used it to advertise some kind of scam site. I made multiple requests it be removed but it just kept coming back up. Then I made multiple requests to Twitter that it be removed with the same results. Then, I had to make multiple reports to the RCMP scam squad and present the numbers of the cases to Twitter before it disappeared. Even then, who knows if the person just blocked me so I couldn’t see it but Twitter knew I was taking my work seriously even if no one else did. As Vince Lombardi said: “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Of course misuse of your intellectual property can affect sales too. So, it’s really important that you protect your intellectual property online. It is horrible to find that you have worked so hard just to have your work used in scam site links. Or find someone has changed your e-book and released it in a different format to a seller you have no idea about. It just shows the lack of respect that people online give. It’s sad, that you have to guard your own works to make sure that you aren’t being used to scam…because that will make your online presence even less respected.
Be realistically unrealistic. Your reputation online and your work that you publish is what people see and it represents you as an artist. Don’t let anyone misuse your work. That said, you also have to understand that accidents can happen and when they do, if it is dealt with in an honest and forthright manner, then it is fixable. When you have to make reports to the RCMP to get your work taken off scam sites or have them dealt with, then it has become a battle and it is not an accident, it is a poor choice by someone else to misuse your intellectual property. A little more on accidents…sometimes people might do something on a wrong format or put a cover up thinking it is ok because they don’t know the difference. But, it is the author’s intellectual property. Unless you have permission to use it, don’t. If you do something accidentally, then stop and clean up the mess you make. You can tell mistakes because when you contact them about it, they either remove it, or give you the link you need for your royalty tracking or they fix the problem. When that isn’t being done, then you have to move toward thinking it is dishonest use of your intellectual property and you have to take action. Accidents are easily fixable. Dishonesty, unfortunately, is not.
Being an author or artist isn’t the world’s easiest thing. I mean you can pop out an e-book and apparently a lot of people did with the beginning of COVID. Sadly some were simply scams or copy and paste jobs which of course caused a lot of distrust for newer authors. Some of us were serious about actually doing e-books and did it because we had been waiting for a chance that would work for us. This was it. We worked on our craft and worked toward being the best we can be. As with anything else out there, some people are dishonest and will try to take what you have done and make it worthless. There isn’t a person out there that is immune from dishonest or unscrupulous people. We read about it every day on the news. Someone scams someone out of money in some way. In the online e-book world, this can really destroy an author or artist’s reputation and create a lot of issues. But, if you keep an eye on your own little corner of the world, you might be able to make it a more honest and artistic place to be.
Remember, you are an author/artist. Be proud that you work hard to get your thoughts out in the world in whatever form it is that you decide to use. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s all fun and that it isn’t work. If you self-publish and have no budget, it is a lot of work, but you do it because you love what you could accomplish and you are willing to do what it takes. It is not something everyone wants to do nor can do. It’s also not something everyone should do. Each person has their own skills, abilities and interests. Don’t let someone else’s disrespect become something that stands in your way of being the best author or artist you can be. However, if accidental, don’t punish someone for making a mistake. Mistakes happen. In the end, it is up to you to keep your reputation intact.
Sorry, I had the podcast done before I found out, so this isn't in my Podcast...a tidbit for those of you who read my blog posts: A & J PEI Treasures has joined the Miles of Smiles photo contest https://www.shelterchallenge.com/shel.... Sam the Wonder Dog has agreed to smile pretty for the camera so we can help our local Keeping Cats Homed Shelter...if we win. Also gives them publicity like this. They also accept donations. So if you want to help out, their page gives information. https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
Every now and then every author should do a check of their online presence. I’m not saying that because I don’t have something better to do. I’m also not saying it because of some twisted notion that we need to make everyone do a make work project. You know what I mean by make work project, the meaningless projects that you are given to collect information and then they don’t do anything with it, but you were kept busy. It’s not one of those either. If you self-publish, like I do, you have one or two publishers and you need to make sure that your links are live, valid and that you are actually being sold on pages that are associated with your publishers. I was checking links and came across an e-book site that I cannot for the life of me figure out the affiliate and it is also supposed to have been in a different format than I submitted. I have yet to figure out where that came from. It’s still in process at this point and a report has been sent in so follow up has to happen at the same places. On the other hand, I started to check my links on one of my publishers. In short order, I found some of the links were dead as a doornail. It isn’t a secret from the company that one should check their links regularly. One dead link was because they stopped working with the company. The other one was due to the original company moving to a different format (I still had the new link, but also the old dead link). Either way, the links were dead as a doornail and were my responsibility. I had to remove dead links. Then I worked on updating links and found that some links hadn’t ever updated. It’s well worth the time to figure it out. You may or may not have a lot of buyers, but who wants to risk losing buyers due to dead links. I have to admit that lately, I have been remiss on keeping my links updated…and even when I did, might have missed the odd link. After a while, I have to manually add them.
Another issue is the links that I found that don’t seem to belong to any of my publishing companies. So, I have emailed to get the information so that I can add the links. If none is forthcoming, then I have to assume that somehow my e-books are being pirated. It becomes a never ending project because you have to confirm all this. Still wondering how I get anything done for blog posts, podcasts and even how I get e-books done.
I have also seen a suggestion that one keep an eye on their online presence stated in many articles. I would definitely suggest this too. I have added a Google Alert and typed my name. In my case, because I am also part of A & J PEI Treasures, I type it in a search too. Type in your names of your books if you want to ensure catching everything. At least that way you have all bases covered. I admit it might actually be overkill or not…but I have no budget which means it would be good if any of my books do sell, I get the proceeds. It gives one a chance to get notified when your name is used online. There are many different programs available to do this, but at least Google Alert gives me one other method of keeping up on what I’m doing. I also do an odd manual check. I’ve discovered some interesting things over time. You may also find upsetting things. These things, you need to deal with one way or another. Be ready that you may even have to go as far as claiming copyright issues. This is not always a fun task, but you need to keep your name from being misused and your e-books as well.
A little more about the lack of respect for e-book authors. The thing that I realized after being subject to this is that there is always a chance that someone will try to use or misuse your work for their benefit or even by error or accident (give the benefit of a doubt). I had one case where someone took the cover of my e-book and used it to advertise some kind of scam site. I made multiple requests it be removed but it just kept coming back up. Then I made multiple requests to Twitter that it be removed with the same results. Then, I had to make multiple reports to the RCMP scam squad and present the numbers of the cases to Twitter before it disappeared. Even then, who knows if the person just blocked me so I couldn’t see it but Twitter knew I was taking my work seriously even if no one else did. As Vince Lombardi said: “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Of course misuse of your intellectual property can affect sales too. So, it’s really important that you protect your intellectual property online. It is horrible to find that you have worked so hard just to have your work used in scam site links. Or find someone has changed your e-book and released it in a different format to a seller you have no idea about. It just shows the lack of respect that people online give. It’s sad, that you have to guard your own works to make sure that you aren’t being used to scam…because that will make your online presence even less respected.
Be realistically unrealistic. Your reputation online and your work that you publish is what people see and it represents you as an artist. Don’t let anyone misuse your work. That said, you also have to understand that accidents can happen and when they do, if it is dealt with in an honest and forthright manner, then it is fixable. When you have to make reports to the RCMP to get your work taken off scam sites or have them dealt with, then it has become a battle and it is not an accident, it is a poor choice by someone else to misuse your intellectual property. A little more on accidents…sometimes people might do something on a wrong format or put a cover up thinking it is ok because they don’t know the difference. But, it is the author’s intellectual property. Unless you have permission to use it, don’t. If you do something accidentally, then stop and clean up the mess you make. You can tell mistakes because when you contact them about it, they either remove it, or give you the link you need for your royalty tracking or they fix the problem. When that isn’t being done, then you have to move toward thinking it is dishonest use of your intellectual property and you have to take action. Accidents are easily fixable. Dishonesty, unfortunately, is not.
Being an author or artist isn’t the world’s easiest thing. I mean you can pop out an e-book and apparently a lot of people did with the beginning of COVID. Sadly some were simply scams or copy and paste jobs which of course caused a lot of distrust for newer authors. Some of us were serious about actually doing e-books and did it because we had been waiting for a chance that would work for us. This was it. We worked on our craft and worked toward being the best we can be. As with anything else out there, some people are dishonest and will try to take what you have done and make it worthless. There isn’t a person out there that is immune from dishonest or unscrupulous people. We read about it every day on the news. Someone scams someone out of money in some way. In the online e-book world, this can really destroy an author or artist’s reputation and create a lot of issues. But, if you keep an eye on your own little corner of the world, you might be able to make it a more honest and artistic place to be.
Remember, you are an author/artist. Be proud that you work hard to get your thoughts out in the world in whatever form it is that you decide to use. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s all fun and that it isn’t work. If you self-publish and have no budget, it is a lot of work, but you do it because you love what you could accomplish and you are willing to do what it takes. It is not something everyone wants to do nor can do. It’s also not something everyone should do. Each person has their own skills, abilities and interests. Don’t let someone else’s disrespect become something that stands in your way of being the best author or artist you can be. However, if accidental, don’t punish someone for making a mistake. Mistakes happen. In the end, it is up to you to keep your reputation intact.
Sorry, I had the podcast done before I found out, so this isn't in my Podcast...a tidbit for those of you who read my blog posts: A & J PEI Treasures has joined the Miles of Smiles photo contest https://www.shelterchallenge.com/shel.... Sam the Wonder Dog has agreed to smile pretty for the camera so we can help our local Keeping Cats Homed Shelter...if we win. Also gives them publicity like this. They also accept donations. So if you want to help out, their page gives information. https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
May 22, 2021
Writing Some Issues
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the inspiring Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today’s podcast and blog post deals with some of the issues that are common to writers in our modern era. It is difficult to make and find your own niche. You need to have perseverance in the face of a diverse world of books and e-books and be able to outlast the current economic conditions. If you want to learn more about my take on this and find out just how important that is….keep reading!
I have to warn people, in this post, I don’t talk all wine and roses. There are a lot of benefits to being an artist/author. I love doing what I do. But, there is also another side to the whole process. This is the side that not many talk about. The reason is more to do with ego than with reality because you have to admit that it isn’t perfect and it seems to be an issue with many things nowadays. Anything takes time. Writing is one of those things that you may or may not make a living from, so make sure that you enjoy the work enough to give yourself enough time to find out. It’s not an easy career to make your way through. So, on to the meat of this thing.
The other day, I filled out a Government questionnaire on being an author/artist. These can be somewhat enlightening and also somewhat discouraging. You see, you realize just how little you’ve accomplished by the standards of monetary gain and just how hard you work. You realize how far you feel you are from what you want to be. This isn’t always a bad thing. Once you pick yourself up and dust yourself off, you realize that you’re just starting this avenue and it is a difficult path. You see, there are a variety of things during this time that affect your ability to be as productive as you would like.
The first and most important factor that we realistically have very little control over is the current economic condition. You see, with COVID, there are a lot of people who are not in stable occupations or who have had some blank spaces in their resume. There are a lot of businesses that are struggling to maintain themselves with the lockdowns and there are a lot of people working from home. So, logically speaking, there is a lot less disposable income floating around and people have to pick and choose what they buy. There are also a lot of people who are suddenly thrust into publishing e-books, blog posts, podcasts etc. because of the current conditions. This is a reality. We don’t control this reality. Prior to COVID many people were working or doing other things and had more stable career paths. They were too busy to do anything else. So, since you have no real control over the economy or COVID, you need to decide if you want to continue on the artistic/author path. If the answer is yes, then keep on your path. Realize that you don’t control it and don’t make it a requirement for your continued happiness as an artist or author. Sure it sucks, but you don’t control that aspect of your art. There is always the option to find some other line that you can, but they aren’t always any easier. But, if you are determined to continue as an author/artist, then keep on going.
If, like me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, who has little to no budget, then find whatever means you can come up with to keep your art going. If you cannot afford to do advertising, there are methods of advertising that are free to maintain…and though you may not make any money from it and will be busy, it will keep you working and inspired. There are news sites that you can post pictures in if you do photography or other craft type arts. If you make craft type art, you might be able to sell some. Sure a lot of ways don’t pay, but if you send out some good pictures, you may find that your name gets out in the mainstream. Take one step at a time. If you do e-books, make sure to have a press release prepared that you can send off. Send it out for every e-book. Find free to advertise your e-book sites. You might or might not get any publicity, but you will get your name out. Be realistic, this might not work and it might be a long time before it does. It definitely won’t work if you don’t bother. It seems much of the publishing world requires entry fees for anything that one does. This actually makes it harder for low budget authors to fit for anything. This also highlights some disparity in the publishing field.
So, I have hinted at it, but the world of self-publishing seems to have dramatically increased with COVID. March 2020, there was a news article stating that Amazon was flooded with self-published books. There are also scam plagiarized books. I’m not even going to try to discuss this extra issue. https://www.theguardian.com/books/202.... They do note that Amazon tried to be diligent in removing the plagiarized and copy and paste type books. These issues have made it even tougher for those who are serious about e-book publishing as it creates more on the market and disappointed buyers who lose trust in the format. So, another thing one needs to take into account is that COVID resulted in a glut of e-books and book publishing on the market and not necessarily keeping pace with the increase in buying. Though it also resulted in extra sales, it resulted in extra e-books and books in general. This makes it harder to sell and be taken seriously.
Understand that if you choose to use e-books, you will not be taken as seriously as those producing print books. Though it is more eco-friendly than print books, it is still seen as the ‘alternative’ format by some publishers and many contests. Also, one has to take into account that there is a push to smaller homes now…and the tiny home movement. E-books would be the most space friendly and travel friendly. However, the printed book still seems to be the preferred method for most advertising and contests etc. So, as with anyone who finds themselves a bit ahead of their time, you will find that you are treated as less credible than those who produce printed books. This may or may not improve over time. Libraries do have e-books available. Printed books will not disappear, but it sometimes feels as though they are treating each other as competition.
I have listed just some of the issues with publishing at this time. It remains to be seen whether time clears up these issues. I hope with time that the above mentioned issues will be resolved and that with improvements in the situation, there will be resulting improvements with the self-publishing issues as well. In the meantime, being aware of the issues that are part of the e-book author’s world will make it easier to understand why some of us will continue to create and wait for times to improve. I think it is called hope, though less charitable people would have a different name for it.
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on Books2Read/Draft2Digital: https://books2read.com/rl/A-J-PEI-Tre... and
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
I have to warn people, in this post, I don’t talk all wine and roses. There are a lot of benefits to being an artist/author. I love doing what I do. But, there is also another side to the whole process. This is the side that not many talk about. The reason is more to do with ego than with reality because you have to admit that it isn’t perfect and it seems to be an issue with many things nowadays. Anything takes time. Writing is one of those things that you may or may not make a living from, so make sure that you enjoy the work enough to give yourself enough time to find out. It’s not an easy career to make your way through. So, on to the meat of this thing.
The other day, I filled out a Government questionnaire on being an author/artist. These can be somewhat enlightening and also somewhat discouraging. You see, you realize just how little you’ve accomplished by the standards of monetary gain and just how hard you work. You realize how far you feel you are from what you want to be. This isn’t always a bad thing. Once you pick yourself up and dust yourself off, you realize that you’re just starting this avenue and it is a difficult path. You see, there are a variety of things during this time that affect your ability to be as productive as you would like.
The first and most important factor that we realistically have very little control over is the current economic condition. You see, with COVID, there are a lot of people who are not in stable occupations or who have had some blank spaces in their resume. There are a lot of businesses that are struggling to maintain themselves with the lockdowns and there are a lot of people working from home. So, logically speaking, there is a lot less disposable income floating around and people have to pick and choose what they buy. There are also a lot of people who are suddenly thrust into publishing e-books, blog posts, podcasts etc. because of the current conditions. This is a reality. We don’t control this reality. Prior to COVID many people were working or doing other things and had more stable career paths. They were too busy to do anything else. So, since you have no real control over the economy or COVID, you need to decide if you want to continue on the artistic/author path. If the answer is yes, then keep on your path. Realize that you don’t control it and don’t make it a requirement for your continued happiness as an artist or author. Sure it sucks, but you don’t control that aspect of your art. There is always the option to find some other line that you can, but they aren’t always any easier. But, if you are determined to continue as an author/artist, then keep on going.
If, like me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, who has little to no budget, then find whatever means you can come up with to keep your art going. If you cannot afford to do advertising, there are methods of advertising that are free to maintain…and though you may not make any money from it and will be busy, it will keep you working and inspired. There are news sites that you can post pictures in if you do photography or other craft type arts. If you make craft type art, you might be able to sell some. Sure a lot of ways don’t pay, but if you send out some good pictures, you may find that your name gets out in the mainstream. Take one step at a time. If you do e-books, make sure to have a press release prepared that you can send off. Send it out for every e-book. Find free to advertise your e-book sites. You might or might not get any publicity, but you will get your name out. Be realistic, this might not work and it might be a long time before it does. It definitely won’t work if you don’t bother. It seems much of the publishing world requires entry fees for anything that one does. This actually makes it harder for low budget authors to fit for anything. This also highlights some disparity in the publishing field.
So, I have hinted at it, but the world of self-publishing seems to have dramatically increased with COVID. March 2020, there was a news article stating that Amazon was flooded with self-published books. There are also scam plagiarized books. I’m not even going to try to discuss this extra issue. https://www.theguardian.com/books/202.... They do note that Amazon tried to be diligent in removing the plagiarized and copy and paste type books. These issues have made it even tougher for those who are serious about e-book publishing as it creates more on the market and disappointed buyers who lose trust in the format. So, another thing one needs to take into account is that COVID resulted in a glut of e-books and book publishing on the market and not necessarily keeping pace with the increase in buying. Though it also resulted in extra sales, it resulted in extra e-books and books in general. This makes it harder to sell and be taken seriously.
Understand that if you choose to use e-books, you will not be taken as seriously as those producing print books. Though it is more eco-friendly than print books, it is still seen as the ‘alternative’ format by some publishers and many contests. Also, one has to take into account that there is a push to smaller homes now…and the tiny home movement. E-books would be the most space friendly and travel friendly. However, the printed book still seems to be the preferred method for most advertising and contests etc. So, as with anyone who finds themselves a bit ahead of their time, you will find that you are treated as less credible than those who produce printed books. This may or may not improve over time. Libraries do have e-books available. Printed books will not disappear, but it sometimes feels as though they are treating each other as competition.
I have listed just some of the issues with publishing at this time. It remains to be seen whether time clears up these issues. I hope with time that the above mentioned issues will be resolved and that with improvements in the situation, there will be resulting improvements with the self-publishing issues as well. In the meantime, being aware of the issues that are part of the e-book author’s world will make it easier to understand why some of us will continue to create and wait for times to improve. I think it is called hope, though less charitable people would have a different name for it.
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on Books2Read/Draft2Digital: https://books2read.com/rl/A-J-PEI-Tre... and
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
May 15, 2021
Art and Society: Reflections of Truth
Note: Sorry I'm running a little later today. Our Ebay was hacked. Ebay reacted quickly. Will be reporting it to RCMP later.
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the amazing Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today I’m going to talk about the need to be aware of our morals and who we are and where we come from. We need to be aware of what we believe and be clear on it while still being willing to be flexible when it is in the best interests of society in general. We need to understand that there are many different cultures and types of people in the world and that we all need to be part of society. It is also imperative that one be willing to educate yourself so that we can add to the world and improve the world view. This means find out more about the world around you and its issues. Art and literature need to support the forward momentum of all of mankind. One culture should not be more important or given more rights than another based on race, religion or sexual orientation. If you want to learn more about my take on this and find out just how important that is….stay tuned!
As an Author, I know that I have an obligation not only to my art, but also to society. We are not created in a vacuum. We come from our environment, our experiences, and our history. They, in some ways determine who you are. But, they do not have to stay like bricks in mortar. You need to be willing to learn about other cultures and other people and other beliefs. You need to accept that your culture is not the only one and that we must support everyone in order to move forward rather than staying in the past. In order to be true to yourself and society, you need to be willing to learn more about your world and the issues of the world at large. You need to be willing to make sure that, whether or not your art deals directly with social conscience, you have one or you should have one Why is this important? Well, there are a lot of reasons. Let’s start with we need to be the innovators, the ones that try to make the world a better place. We need to be the ones that sees what the world could be. Not what it is. It is the ability to see a better world that has driven much of the innovation in the arts and in the world in general. If we accept the status quo, then we will never push beyond the limits of hate, fear and discrimination. If we insist on perpetuating the status quo, then we don’t move ahead as a society.
Art is generally one of the ways that can show society that there is a better way…or at the very least a different way to deal with things. It can also show us the past (though with varying levels of accuracy due to creative license), but even there, it shows situations that occurred and the horrors of people feeling superior to another group. We see such expressions of social issues in televised shows such as Grey’s Anatomy which is currently following the issues of racism and COVID. Other movies have shown problems in society. They get people talking about these issues. They expose viewers to different ideas and different viewpoints. Whether it is life mimicking art or vice versa is not important, though oft argued. It is sufficient that it opens people’s eyes to the conditions and situations that long term refusal to deal with has created strife in society.
At 58, I had thought we had moved ahead, and maybe this is where my blog post/podcast has come from. I saw an article showing some area in my country of Canada had a Nazi flag and Confederate flag being flown. Peripherally, I knew there was still intolerance but maybe hoped it was much less serious than I thought. Perhaps, I had hoped that it was just a few … and maybe it is just a few. But, in a country where we are known for tolerance, if we have those who would fly these flags, then how far have we moved backwards. If we, as a country allow others to be mistreated due to their race, religion or sexual orientation, then how far have we regressed with COVID….or perhaps we have never moved ahead and I just lived an illusion thinking that we had improved. Perhaps the pandemic has brought out the worst in some, at least this is my hope. As Thurgood Marshall said, “The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.” I think as a Canadian, I had hoped that we had more compassion for those who are different rather than pointing fingers, blaming, feeling threatened and hating and fixating on such things. Maybe I had hoped that it would bring out the best in society and not see it regress to hate and fear of our fellow humans. Perhaps I thought that people would care enough about each other to not make a huge issue out of wearing a mask when there are a lot more issues that we have not faced longer term. Focus on making change on something long term…human rights for people who are different colors, religions and sexual orientations. To focus on less is just to focus on being entitled since you can afford to wear or complain about wearing a mask.
Be realistically unrealistic, you are not going to change the world. You are not going to convince the world that we are all equal, though it would be beautiful to see it happen overnight…it’s been going on for centuries. When you have all you need, the focus becomes more on me than we. We can get the world to think about things and maybe move ahead. Every step ahead is a step ahead. We cannot go backwards. We’ve been there and we can’t continue to live there anymore. I hope we choose to move forward in respect and love rather than self-entitlement and hatred for everything different from the ‘mainstream’ culture.
Above everything else, truth is essential. Without it we hardly know what is honest and what rhetoric is. As Thurgood Marshall said, “Truth is more than a mental exercise.” If we find truth and understand the truth of other groups as well as our own truth, we may be able to find a common path and a common goal. We may be able to move forward toward a better world for everyone. All I do know is that we can’t keep telling our kids that we should respect them and others and the environment and keep putting caveats on this respect.
I hope that I have given you some food for thought and inspired some to look at their art and see if there are things that are being kept that no longer suit our hopefully more modern world or to accept other cultural forms of beauty. We could also think about what we could do to improve our own art and find less fault with others and their worlds. We keep talking about making a better future for our children or a better world for our children, but this should be a goal actually available to all people. It should not be made out of reach to anyone. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our latest release (The Big Kid’s Magical Path to Colours in Nature) is available on Draft2Digital: https://books2read.com/Magical-Path-t... and
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09... Keep watching for more e-books!
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the amazing Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today I’m going to talk about the need to be aware of our morals and who we are and where we come from. We need to be aware of what we believe and be clear on it while still being willing to be flexible when it is in the best interests of society in general. We need to understand that there are many different cultures and types of people in the world and that we all need to be part of society. It is also imperative that one be willing to educate yourself so that we can add to the world and improve the world view. This means find out more about the world around you and its issues. Art and literature need to support the forward momentum of all of mankind. One culture should not be more important or given more rights than another based on race, religion or sexual orientation. If you want to learn more about my take on this and find out just how important that is….stay tuned!
As an Author, I know that I have an obligation not only to my art, but also to society. We are not created in a vacuum. We come from our environment, our experiences, and our history. They, in some ways determine who you are. But, they do not have to stay like bricks in mortar. You need to be willing to learn about other cultures and other people and other beliefs. You need to accept that your culture is not the only one and that we must support everyone in order to move forward rather than staying in the past. In order to be true to yourself and society, you need to be willing to learn more about your world and the issues of the world at large. You need to be willing to make sure that, whether or not your art deals directly with social conscience, you have one or you should have one Why is this important? Well, there are a lot of reasons. Let’s start with we need to be the innovators, the ones that try to make the world a better place. We need to be the ones that sees what the world could be. Not what it is. It is the ability to see a better world that has driven much of the innovation in the arts and in the world in general. If we accept the status quo, then we will never push beyond the limits of hate, fear and discrimination. If we insist on perpetuating the status quo, then we don’t move ahead as a society.
Art is generally one of the ways that can show society that there is a better way…or at the very least a different way to deal with things. It can also show us the past (though with varying levels of accuracy due to creative license), but even there, it shows situations that occurred and the horrors of people feeling superior to another group. We see such expressions of social issues in televised shows such as Grey’s Anatomy which is currently following the issues of racism and COVID. Other movies have shown problems in society. They get people talking about these issues. They expose viewers to different ideas and different viewpoints. Whether it is life mimicking art or vice versa is not important, though oft argued. It is sufficient that it opens people’s eyes to the conditions and situations that long term refusal to deal with has created strife in society.
At 58, I had thought we had moved ahead, and maybe this is where my blog post/podcast has come from. I saw an article showing some area in my country of Canada had a Nazi flag and Confederate flag being flown. Peripherally, I knew there was still intolerance but maybe hoped it was much less serious than I thought. Perhaps, I had hoped that it was just a few … and maybe it is just a few. But, in a country where we are known for tolerance, if we have those who would fly these flags, then how far have we moved backwards. If we, as a country allow others to be mistreated due to their race, religion or sexual orientation, then how far have we regressed with COVID….or perhaps we have never moved ahead and I just lived an illusion thinking that we had improved. Perhaps the pandemic has brought out the worst in some, at least this is my hope. As Thurgood Marshall said, “The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.” I think as a Canadian, I had hoped that we had more compassion for those who are different rather than pointing fingers, blaming, feeling threatened and hating and fixating on such things. Maybe I had hoped that it would bring out the best in society and not see it regress to hate and fear of our fellow humans. Perhaps I thought that people would care enough about each other to not make a huge issue out of wearing a mask when there are a lot more issues that we have not faced longer term. Focus on making change on something long term…human rights for people who are different colors, religions and sexual orientations. To focus on less is just to focus on being entitled since you can afford to wear or complain about wearing a mask.
Be realistically unrealistic, you are not going to change the world. You are not going to convince the world that we are all equal, though it would be beautiful to see it happen overnight…it’s been going on for centuries. When you have all you need, the focus becomes more on me than we. We can get the world to think about things and maybe move ahead. Every step ahead is a step ahead. We cannot go backwards. We’ve been there and we can’t continue to live there anymore. I hope we choose to move forward in respect and love rather than self-entitlement and hatred for everything different from the ‘mainstream’ culture.
Above everything else, truth is essential. Without it we hardly know what is honest and what rhetoric is. As Thurgood Marshall said, “Truth is more than a mental exercise.” If we find truth and understand the truth of other groups as well as our own truth, we may be able to find a common path and a common goal. We may be able to move forward toward a better world for everyone. All I do know is that we can’t keep telling our kids that we should respect them and others and the environment and keep putting caveats on this respect.
I hope that I have given you some food for thought and inspired some to look at their art and see if there are things that are being kept that no longer suit our hopefully more modern world or to accept other cultural forms of beauty. We could also think about what we could do to improve our own art and find less fault with others and their worlds. We keep talking about making a better future for our children or a better world for our children, but this should be a goal actually available to all people. It should not be made out of reach to anyone. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our latest release (The Big Kid’s Magical Path to Colours in Nature) is available on Draft2Digital: https://books2read.com/Magical-Path-t... and
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09... Keep watching for more e-books!
May 8, 2021
What is Your Goal?
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Island Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today I’m going to talk about the importance of setting powerful goals in your artistic work. If you want to learn more, (keep reading) or
I think that often, people make the mistake of taking man made goals and inserting them as their goals as an artist or as a person in general. In the arts, this can take the form of making reviews one of the main goals. This is a wonderful goal in some ways, when you’ve been at it for a while. It’s more a lovely form of validation if you get it…but also most discouraging when followed too closely. It can result in removing your motivation or trying to meet an ever changing definition of who you are as an artist, so you never find your true self or voice as an artist. It might actually detract from the creative process as you are always trying to be someone whom everyone likes. Good luck with that but I doubt it will bring you a lot of happiness. You’ll burn out before you get very far. Make your goals attainable for yourself. Make your goals in line with why you started to write, or draw or paint or insert here whatever it is that you are doing. Make your essential goals a part of who you are so that they are a part of you rather than some outside force. I’m not saying reviews are bad. They can good…but if we determine what we read or what we create solely on being reviewed, well, some really great books would never have been written and some really great art never would have been created.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. If you look through history of literature, art, music, almost any of the arts, you will find many examples of people who created their art despite lack of positive reviews and often despite very poor reviews. I remember seeing an old newspaper review shared about the famous rock group KISS. It was from their early days and it wasn’t a positive one. Now it stands as a running joke for KISS fans, but if they had listened, there would be no KISS Army. Closer to home, at least for me, famously it is said that Lucy Maude Montgomery had her first attempt at getting published turned down by every publisher she went to. There are many examples of modern day artists who were told essentially not to quit their day job and went on to gain fame including the author of Harry Potter. So, reviews, though nice and might help sell books, may not be the best thing to aspire to or make into an author goal as such. They likely are best to be thought of as secondary to the need to create and be creative. I mean no disrespect to reviews or reviewers, they can be very useful and helpful. They can also be damaging if one is only chasing that illusive critical acclaim. What are the chances that this will happen? Well, I looked at some of the stats…I’m sure if you are interested, a Google search will be enough to discourage many…so I will not go that route. It is sufficient to say that it’s not an everyday occurrence. So, this is the other question you need to ask yourself. When you create, and there is no slap on the back or praise forthcoming for your work, what will result? Will you keep your drive to create? Will you grow despondent and stop working on your projects? So, it is not as cut and dried as you need reviews at least if history holds true. If it were that cut and dried, there are sites online that will do this for you. Some even do reviews of your books for free with some caveats. Everyone wants or likes to have them, but when that becomes the goal, then you cease to create for yourself or to add to the art. You fail to create because you see a goal or a mission or a career or even a lifestyle and you start to try to please others and not find your own distinctive voice nor your own niche. We need to become people who are the artist because it is part of who we are and we want to add to the art first and foremost. We also need to be the artist that believes in ourselves and our art. The artist that sees the sun set and lets their mind roam free without having to consider whether or not it will result in reviews or acclaim.
So, my message isn’t that reviews are bad, in fact, yes, they can be good for sales and helpful to the author. It is more that reviews, as an artist, are not your worry…you aren’t writing your own. It is, in effect, a goal you have very little control over, unlike your art. They do not make a worthwhile goal because acclaim is fleeting and ever changing. Sure, it’s great if people like your work. Sad if they don’t. But reviews aren’t the artist’s goal. Creativity needs to be the goal. Creating something with the aspiration to inspire, to teach, to further art or even to shock or get people thinking. We can’t all be Nobel Prize winning authors. But, we can be the best author or artist that we can be. We can create and be inspired. We can show the beauty that the world has to offer or the depths of darkness and everything in between.
I think my message to authors and other artists is that it is more important to be yourself and less about being who people think you should be. There is no point to art if it is important to be someone that you aren’t. Be yourself! Be Proud to be Creative! Put your work out there. I’d rather fail while being me than succeed trying to be someone else. Each person has to make the choice of what is important to them. Make it a wise choice for the sake of your art.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who will find my stance strange. I’m not the first artist who believed that it was more important to be artistically true to themselves first. Some will think they are challenging themselves to be the best they can be by trying to meet some review goal. As Kenny Loggins said “It's hard enough doing something bold without jumping into your bad reviews.” … and you do know there is possibility there will be bad reviews. No one will always get good reviews. Any longer term author has gotten poor ones and you will too if you stick with it for any time. There will be good reviews as well as bad reviews. This is reality. If you are going to let them control how you do your art or if you are going to be up for good ones and down for bad ones and let it interfere with your art, then it is not the best method of setting a goal. I think it depends on what you are looking for from life and from your art.
So, be realistically unrealistic. Make sure the goals you set for yourself are goals that will help you continue with your art. Make sure they are goals that inspire you and help you keep walking the path of being the best you can be. It is great if you have fans. But it’s not the goal of art. The art/authorship is an end in itself. It is what makes you feel alive. It is what you would do whether people loved it or not. Monet was never popular in his lifetime. Lucy Maude Montgomery didn’t succeed at her first attempt. Make sure you select goals so that you are able to continue whether or not anyone thinks you are worth a chance. If you don’t, you will have a shorter career and the world will be short one more artist. That said, it is not terrible to decide to move on to something else. It’s up to each person what a good fit is for them. If it feels forced, then it is likely you will want to move on and there is no shame in that either. Find what fits for your life. You’re the one that has to live it. Not reviewers, not other artists, not anyone else. Remember that the most important and powerful goals come from inside of you, not the outside world. Outside world goals may burn you out. The intrinsic goals are the ones you internalize. They will be the ones that will put you on the path to lasting in the chosen field or fields of art.
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
Our latest release (The Big Kid’s Magical Path to Colours in Nature) is available on Draft2Digital: https://books2read.com/Magical-Path-t... and
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
I think that often, people make the mistake of taking man made goals and inserting them as their goals as an artist or as a person in general. In the arts, this can take the form of making reviews one of the main goals. This is a wonderful goal in some ways, when you’ve been at it for a while. It’s more a lovely form of validation if you get it…but also most discouraging when followed too closely. It can result in removing your motivation or trying to meet an ever changing definition of who you are as an artist, so you never find your true self or voice as an artist. It might actually detract from the creative process as you are always trying to be someone whom everyone likes. Good luck with that but I doubt it will bring you a lot of happiness. You’ll burn out before you get very far. Make your goals attainable for yourself. Make your goals in line with why you started to write, or draw or paint or insert here whatever it is that you are doing. Make your essential goals a part of who you are so that they are a part of you rather than some outside force. I’m not saying reviews are bad. They can good…but if we determine what we read or what we create solely on being reviewed, well, some really great books would never have been written and some really great art never would have been created.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. If you look through history of literature, art, music, almost any of the arts, you will find many examples of people who created their art despite lack of positive reviews and often despite very poor reviews. I remember seeing an old newspaper review shared about the famous rock group KISS. It was from their early days and it wasn’t a positive one. Now it stands as a running joke for KISS fans, but if they had listened, there would be no KISS Army. Closer to home, at least for me, famously it is said that Lucy Maude Montgomery had her first attempt at getting published turned down by every publisher she went to. There are many examples of modern day artists who were told essentially not to quit their day job and went on to gain fame including the author of Harry Potter. So, reviews, though nice and might help sell books, may not be the best thing to aspire to or make into an author goal as such. They likely are best to be thought of as secondary to the need to create and be creative. I mean no disrespect to reviews or reviewers, they can be very useful and helpful. They can also be damaging if one is only chasing that illusive critical acclaim. What are the chances that this will happen? Well, I looked at some of the stats…I’m sure if you are interested, a Google search will be enough to discourage many…so I will not go that route. It is sufficient to say that it’s not an everyday occurrence. So, this is the other question you need to ask yourself. When you create, and there is no slap on the back or praise forthcoming for your work, what will result? Will you keep your drive to create? Will you grow despondent and stop working on your projects? So, it is not as cut and dried as you need reviews at least if history holds true. If it were that cut and dried, there are sites online that will do this for you. Some even do reviews of your books for free with some caveats. Everyone wants or likes to have them, but when that becomes the goal, then you cease to create for yourself or to add to the art. You fail to create because you see a goal or a mission or a career or even a lifestyle and you start to try to please others and not find your own distinctive voice nor your own niche. We need to become people who are the artist because it is part of who we are and we want to add to the art first and foremost. We also need to be the artist that believes in ourselves and our art. The artist that sees the sun set and lets their mind roam free without having to consider whether or not it will result in reviews or acclaim.
So, my message isn’t that reviews are bad, in fact, yes, they can be good for sales and helpful to the author. It is more that reviews, as an artist, are not your worry…you aren’t writing your own. It is, in effect, a goal you have very little control over, unlike your art. They do not make a worthwhile goal because acclaim is fleeting and ever changing. Sure, it’s great if people like your work. Sad if they don’t. But reviews aren’t the artist’s goal. Creativity needs to be the goal. Creating something with the aspiration to inspire, to teach, to further art or even to shock or get people thinking. We can’t all be Nobel Prize winning authors. But, we can be the best author or artist that we can be. We can create and be inspired. We can show the beauty that the world has to offer or the depths of darkness and everything in between.
I think my message to authors and other artists is that it is more important to be yourself and less about being who people think you should be. There is no point to art if it is important to be someone that you aren’t. Be yourself! Be Proud to be Creative! Put your work out there. I’d rather fail while being me than succeed trying to be someone else. Each person has to make the choice of what is important to them. Make it a wise choice for the sake of your art.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who will find my stance strange. I’m not the first artist who believed that it was more important to be artistically true to themselves first. Some will think they are challenging themselves to be the best they can be by trying to meet some review goal. As Kenny Loggins said “It's hard enough doing something bold without jumping into your bad reviews.” … and you do know there is possibility there will be bad reviews. No one will always get good reviews. Any longer term author has gotten poor ones and you will too if you stick with it for any time. There will be good reviews as well as bad reviews. This is reality. If you are going to let them control how you do your art or if you are going to be up for good ones and down for bad ones and let it interfere with your art, then it is not the best method of setting a goal. I think it depends on what you are looking for from life and from your art.
So, be realistically unrealistic. Make sure the goals you set for yourself are goals that will help you continue with your art. Make sure they are goals that inspire you and help you keep walking the path of being the best you can be. It is great if you have fans. But it’s not the goal of art. The art/authorship is an end in itself. It is what makes you feel alive. It is what you would do whether people loved it or not. Monet was never popular in his lifetime. Lucy Maude Montgomery didn’t succeed at her first attempt. Make sure you select goals so that you are able to continue whether or not anyone thinks you are worth a chance. If you don’t, you will have a shorter career and the world will be short one more artist. That said, it is not terrible to decide to move on to something else. It’s up to each person what a good fit is for them. If it feels forced, then it is likely you will want to move on and there is no shame in that either. Find what fits for your life. You’re the one that has to live it. Not reviewers, not other artists, not anyone else. Remember that the most important and powerful goals come from inside of you, not the outside world. Outside world goals may burn you out. The intrinsic goals are the ones you internalize. They will be the ones that will put you on the path to lasting in the chosen field or fields of art.
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
Our latest release (The Big Kid’s Magical Path to Colours in Nature) is available on Draft2Digital: https://books2read.com/Magical-Path-t... and
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
May 1, 2021
Always the Same, but Ever Changing World of the Indie Author
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in NatureHi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Island Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today I’m going to talk about the duality of Indie Author life. Always the same, but ever changing. If you want to know more, stay tuned!
Much like regular life, Indie author life is an ever changing landscape of different projects and tasks. It is also always the same in that there is always a focus on writing and in my case, the addition of photography. I don’t know if this is true for all Indie Authors or if I’m different. You see, the only Indie Author I can truly speak for is me and my situation. I’m sure there are differences between different Indie Authors…each one has a different focus, some on romance, some on horror, some history, etc. etc.. Much like most of the general population, each person is unique and each person has different skills and abilities. We are, after all, part of the general population. However, as an Indie Author, I tend toward verbal/written work. Some people excel at computers, some at sports, everyone has their own talents and interests. If your interests are varied, you get to try more things. Some excel at thinking outside the box. Most of my focus in expressing my artistic side through words and visuals.
Here, I feel I must add a short talk on thinking outside the box as it is seemingly quite prevalent in our society; sometimes for better and sometimes for worse…there’s that duality again. One of the things about thinking outside the box, is that one has to have a good sense of ethics before they work outside the box. To give a good example of what I mean, quite often you see, in the news, where someone has hacked something. This is illegal and can cause a great deal of trouble. Very often the hacking is because someone is very talented at thinking outside the box, but has difficulty with understanding basic concepts of right and wrong. The ones that have this talent but are concerned about ethics often work for Government agencies or other related agencies where hopefully they have a manager with a good sense of ethics. When they don’t, then it is a problem for everyone.
Back to the duality of authorship. I have an interest in both writing and photography. The best place for this seems to be children’s books and travel type books and my various social media accounts. So, I get to use both things that I really enjoy the challenge of putting together e-books that I hope are entertaining and show the lovely area that we call home. I also get to write up blog posts/podcasts and maintain several other sites. This all works toward putting our lovely area on the map and developing our brand. So, very often, I am doing the same sort of things, but I also add new things to my skills and every day is somewhat different from the previous. Each new thing involves a learning curve and is an adventure. I admit there have been some hiccoughs, but overall, I hope that I have been doing something useful for some and given some people a glimpse of the beauty of our Island. Of course it is also something I can do from home. This is another division in my life. Though my mind is active, I have a weak immune system, so have been self-isolating due to that.
Even the programs that I use are ever changing and even within the same program, I have to learn the new set up procedures, e-book method of set up. They update and invariably something changes. I have to watch for the changes to get our work out. The thing about e-books is that it is an ever changing landscape and one always has to make sure they have made it so the whole thing goes smoothly. Then there is the need to continue to practice one’s craft to improve upon what they have done the previous time. So, though one is the same person they are also not the same person, there is always a lot that can be done to change and improve.
Just as there is a divide between day and night, there is a divide in projects between seasons. There is also a divide between types of projects and types of skills one needs to develop to maintain proper balance and work toward improving one’s art. All artists need to find balance and determine the necessary divisions in their work. They need to determine their best times to work and what work needs to be done at what time. People often assume that being artistic is something you are born with. I would like to be one of those people. Being artistic or doing anything has never come easily. I have always had to work at it. I suspect that born artistry may be rare as most artists I have heard of, have had to work at their art. That is the duality of what people consider to be true. Artistry is born, not made…yet artists always practice their art. I think it might also be a mix…of enjoying something and finding an outlet for your artistic skills. You cannot be an artist without practicing and you need to practice to maintain your art.
With an ever changing yet the same duality that I am surrounded by, one takes chances to reach for the beautiful and the sublime whenever the chance presents itself. As I looked out the window, I saw the sun setting. I grabbed the camera and ran out. Writing can wait. I hear the sunset calling. After a brief photo shoot, I am walking home…still light and enjoying every minute of the sunset. I took every angle I could take and did some sand writing. When I walked back, I listened to the birds, insects, frogs and all the life singing good night to the sun in their own song. Feeling perfectly at peace and one with my surroundings, I understand exactly why we came here and what attracts me to the water and the Island we now call home. It is the ever changing yet always the same, yet different. In effect, it is my kindred. The dual nature of life and of the Indie Author. There is a quiet loveliness at the sunset hour. You can hear all nature and the cacophony of the myriad of creatures singing their songs so that the beauty of the area continues over the centuries. The same song that our ancestors have heard. The same sunset that our ancestors followed. The same water that our ancestors traversed. I see it with new eyes just as they did all those centuries ago. I follow all those ancestors in the silent and beautiful wonder of walking home from the water edge after watching the magnificence of a sunset lighting the earth around us. There is comfort in the daily sameness and differentness. This is LIFE! Life is duality and maybe a multiverse of beauty and change.
Our latest release is now available on Amazon: The big Kid's Magical Path to Colours in Nature at https://read.amazon.ca/kp/embed?asin=...
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
Thank you for listening to my podcast or reading my blog post and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! You can find our podcast on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
April 24, 2021
Some Days are Better than Others
The Big Kid's Magical Path to Shapes in Nature Hello, I’m E Jean Simpson your author host of the A & J PEI Treasures Blog Post/Podcast coming to you from the beautiful Island Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today I’m going to talk about attempting to start a new career after age 50. Yes, I was over 50 when I started as an author, blogger, podcaster, social media person for A & J PEI Treasures. If you want to find out more about what goes on in this, my crazy new world….stay tuned!
So, yes, I’m over 50 and have just started podcasting. I’m the creator, photographer, host, blogger, author and over all media person for A & J PEI Treasures. My husband does most of the renovation and wood craft work and proof reading. As I said in other podcasts and blogs, this started with my desire to be an author. It seemed to have explode into a lot more. There have been challenges, but no one talks about the funny things that happen because you’re over 50 and doing all this technical stuff. Like the messed up links that you can’t fix and have to contact the service personnel of the particular agency. I’m sure I’ve had some of them pulling out their hair. They are one of the unsung heroes of the web’s universe and I thank them for their tireless work. They have had to take time to correct mistakes I made when they don’t have that function available to the actual creator. Though, thinking about that, it might actually be a wise idea given some of my gaffes.
Here is a handy tip for those newer to blogging, podcasting, e-book creating and any other multimedia work. If you have a link, make sure that it is the correct link. Now this may sound like a no brainer, but humour me for a little because it’s not as simple as it sounds. Even better, have a list of your links handy because you’re going to use them a lot! Let me give you the most recent error example so you can see how easy it is to make this one…at least if you’re over 50. I can’t really speak for the younger group. I’ve had to write to the nice people at Anchor FM to ask them to change my Apple link. You see, it came to me with a language specific link. When I looked it up I forgot that this should be removed from the link. I should have double checked before copying, but didn’t. My Podcasts are in English. I’m unilingual English but apparently it is offered on a variety of different language stations. Sorry, I never had the talent for languages that some people have. So, I had to ask them to take off the last bit as it wasn’t necessary or useful. That is just one of many examples of silly mistakes that I made…and if this helps you avoid one, I’m sure the people at the various places you use will be most grateful and I’ve done my good deed for the day.
The nice people at Draft2Digital have had their share of issues to deal with that I created. I don’t do this maliciously. I just wasn’t born to computers. They came about when I was in College. So, I’m a little slower on getting it than the kids born using them. So, I dedicate this blog post/podcast to the lovely helpful service people who work for the various sites that I use. They are life savers and seldom seem cranky about the latest escapade of that old lady trying to get books out or podcasts or what have you. You see, I do it all from beginning to end. I don’t have and can’t afford to have staff. I thank you unsung heroes of the online universe! I really do appreciate your hard work in correcting my galactic atrocities committed to links, etc. I’d be lost without your dedication and expertise.
Then there are the emails for help with things that don’t need help. Like I just realized that since I am distributed through Anchor, I don’t need a code for my Apple Podcasts though it does allow me to claim it. Sorry nice service people at Apple as I had some confused emails going out to you. Thanks so much for your explanations. I’m pleased to say I’m not your average customer I’m sure.
I think one thing that the younger people out there need to realize is that they are going to make mistakes too. I’m just more spectacular in making them and making especially silly ones. I’m sure, for a while, I was all the talk around the proverbial internet water cooler for service/technical support as I have done some pretty silly things. However, they have always been very kind and helpful.
You have to be realistically unrealistic and understand that this is a learning process. Any time you start something new, it is a learning process and there will be a learning curve. If you don’t make any mistakes, then you aren’t trying something new. It is not the end of the world to make a mistake, though you will feel foolish for making the mistake. When you do make a mistake be honest about it. Let someone know and correct the mistake. Try to avoid making them. At the same time, remember that everyone makes mistakes. This also means that when someone makes a mistake on your site or with your items to have some patience. Some things I think you want to avoid though are things that are scams.
It’s not easy being the 50-something running an internet based multimedia show and being a one woman show. It’s a learning curve every day. At the same time, it allows me to use my writing, my camera, and my interests while keeping me on a path of lifelong learning. It allows me to stay busy and hopefully add something interesting to the world at large.
As Graham Davies said, “We've moved on through tape recorders to video, through to multimedia computers”…I add that we’ve moved through to a stage where we can communicate on such a wide variety of forums and through such a wide variety of media that it is literally staggering. They make it possible for us to open a whole new world not only to ourselves, but to others from the comfort of our own homes. We are essentially able to all be together, yet apart. It remains to be seen what effect this will have in the longer term on human beings. It depends if we are determined that we will make ourselves better and if we want to move forward as a better unified people. I hope that we will. How about you?
Thanks for listening to my Podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Also available on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
April 17, 2021
The Wonderful World of an Indie Author
Hello and welcome to today’s blog post/podcast. I’m your host E Jean Simpson the A & J PEI Treasures Indie Author and this is the A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson Author podcast. Today I’m going to talk about the no budget world of an Indie author in the modern age. I’ll tell you some of the pros and cons. If you want to find out more stay tuned!
At one time, being an author just meant that you had to write a book or books. You either took it to a “vanity press” or went through the process of handing it to a Publisher. It was either rejected or accepted. From there, the whole thing was done and you took in money for your book, maybe do an interview for a paper or on the Television or Radio and do some sort of circuit if you were popular at least the short form of the old world publishing. Or you just let the book go out and see if it made sales. There was the option of going to bookstores and doing appearances as well. There weren’t the dizzying number of e-books and books out. Now with technology, the old options still exist, but there is a huge additional world of e-books and audio books added to this and self-publishing is a whole different world. It does provide opportunities, but also challenges. For example, the opportunity is that one can publish with no budget to spend if they have a computer or laptop. On the other hand, there are now a lot more books and e-books out there so making a living isn’t a foregone conclusion.
The modern age, with all our computer apps and knowledge and the confusing array of advertisers, pages, blogs etc. makes it a bit of a different game and even more so on a non-existent budget. Of course, add the expectation that the author have at least one or two pages, to get yourself out there as they say. Just some of the things available include: Face Book, Instagram, WordPress, Good Reads, Anchor (podcasts), LinkedIn, Pinterest YouTube and thousands of other forums that I don’t even know about. Then there are the book awards…few of which are made for low budgets…but undeterred, I hunt down a few. Of course with all this on top of the actual author work, one begins to wonder how anyone manages get a book out at all.
Just to be clear, I’m not complaining, I knew I had no budget to do any of this and I had to take on all the work myself, writing, publishing, advertising, websites…all are under our umbrella. The whole point to all the media etc. was that I get my books out and start the A & J PEI Treasures ball rolling as the future sometimes needs to start now. It started out as a way to maybe inspire some people to think about what they could do rather than just feel locked up during COVID. I hadn’t realized it would be the world’s first unpaid full-time work from home gig.
However, it is exactly these things that make authorship far more work than it used to be. If you want to get exposure so that you can be an author, then there is also the possibility that you will get into aspects of entertainment….then you must plan on having many different hats on. If you have limited budget, then you have to be prepared to put in a lot of work. Believe me when I tell you that nothing comes easy or for free (most especially when you consider the hours one puts into getting ‘seen’). I spend a lot of time putting our little part of the Island and A & J PEI Treasures on the map. I guess time will tell if it turns into a paid gig of some sort at some point in the future.
The thing about being an author and being serious about it, there are no short cuts. For example, the advertisers will want to see that you’re doing something for their money and so followers figure in. There is no easy way to go about it. To be a photographic author takes a lot of work and exploration. It is a career that requires one to put in a lot of work. It’s not the norm that you get ‘discovered’ out of the middle of nowhere with no exposure. It is so rare as to be unheard of. If you’ve managed it, I congratulate you and hope you bottle and sell that puppy. However, I had no expectations that it would be easy. I have every expectation that it will be a lot of work and the more I can do, the more likely I am to find a niche that fits and that will benefit myself and others. This makes it important to keep options open.
I should say that you can still go the tried and true publishing method…but that costs. So, if you have no budget and are going about it from the bottom to the top instead of the publisher method, then I can tell you be prepared to put in the work. Be prepared to hunt down leads for awards and hunt down opportunities. They don’t usually just drop in your lap. You have to work for it. Even if something is free, you’ve put in the hours to find that lead.
Make sure, if you are intent on being an author, that you write about something or do something that you see as being worthwhile and that you’ll continue to do because you love what you do and believe in it. Choose to do something that is important to you. In my case, I love the nature that I’m surrounded by. I want to share it with people and I want them to see that nature is beautiful and that we need to work toward saving it. I choose to stay with e-books for the time being. I love doing what I do, but at the same time, I know that some want to do it because they think they’ll make a lot of money. If it’s about money, you’re going to be disappointed. If it is about doing what you love and loving what you do, then you’ll find a way to make it work.
Be realistically unrealistic and understand that your ‘big break’ isn’t going to just fall into your lap…if it does Congratulations! If you want to get anywhere it will take a lot of hard work. As Henry Sy said, “There is no substitute for hard work. There is no such thing as overnight success or easy money.”
Thanks for reading our blog post and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
You can find our Podcast on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
Our latest e-book: The Big Kid's Magical Path to Shapes in Nature is now available via Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B091MJ6KVK
Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091MJ6KVK and Books2Read: https://books2read.com/Magical-Path-t... !
At one time, being an author just meant that you had to write a book or books. You either took it to a “vanity press” or went through the process of handing it to a Publisher. It was either rejected or accepted. From there, the whole thing was done and you took in money for your book, maybe do an interview for a paper or on the Television or Radio and do some sort of circuit if you were popular at least the short form of the old world publishing. Or you just let the book go out and see if it made sales. There was the option of going to bookstores and doing appearances as well. There weren’t the dizzying number of e-books and books out. Now with technology, the old options still exist, but there is a huge additional world of e-books and audio books added to this and self-publishing is a whole different world. It does provide opportunities, but also challenges. For example, the opportunity is that one can publish with no budget to spend if they have a computer or laptop. On the other hand, there are now a lot more books and e-books out there so making a living isn’t a foregone conclusion.
The modern age, with all our computer apps and knowledge and the confusing array of advertisers, pages, blogs etc. makes it a bit of a different game and even more so on a non-existent budget. Of course, add the expectation that the author have at least one or two pages, to get yourself out there as they say. Just some of the things available include: Face Book, Instagram, WordPress, Good Reads, Anchor (podcasts), LinkedIn, Pinterest YouTube and thousands of other forums that I don’t even know about. Then there are the book awards…few of which are made for low budgets…but undeterred, I hunt down a few. Of course with all this on top of the actual author work, one begins to wonder how anyone manages get a book out at all.
Just to be clear, I’m not complaining, I knew I had no budget to do any of this and I had to take on all the work myself, writing, publishing, advertising, websites…all are under our umbrella. The whole point to all the media etc. was that I get my books out and start the A & J PEI Treasures ball rolling as the future sometimes needs to start now. It started out as a way to maybe inspire some people to think about what they could do rather than just feel locked up during COVID. I hadn’t realized it would be the world’s first unpaid full-time work from home gig.
However, it is exactly these things that make authorship far more work than it used to be. If you want to get exposure so that you can be an author, then there is also the possibility that you will get into aspects of entertainment….then you must plan on having many different hats on. If you have limited budget, then you have to be prepared to put in a lot of work. Believe me when I tell you that nothing comes easy or for free (most especially when you consider the hours one puts into getting ‘seen’). I spend a lot of time putting our little part of the Island and A & J PEI Treasures on the map. I guess time will tell if it turns into a paid gig of some sort at some point in the future.
The thing about being an author and being serious about it, there are no short cuts. For example, the advertisers will want to see that you’re doing something for their money and so followers figure in. There is no easy way to go about it. To be a photographic author takes a lot of work and exploration. It is a career that requires one to put in a lot of work. It’s not the norm that you get ‘discovered’ out of the middle of nowhere with no exposure. It is so rare as to be unheard of. If you’ve managed it, I congratulate you and hope you bottle and sell that puppy. However, I had no expectations that it would be easy. I have every expectation that it will be a lot of work and the more I can do, the more likely I am to find a niche that fits and that will benefit myself and others. This makes it important to keep options open.
I should say that you can still go the tried and true publishing method…but that costs. So, if you have no budget and are going about it from the bottom to the top instead of the publisher method, then I can tell you be prepared to put in the work. Be prepared to hunt down leads for awards and hunt down opportunities. They don’t usually just drop in your lap. You have to work for it. Even if something is free, you’ve put in the hours to find that lead.
Make sure, if you are intent on being an author, that you write about something or do something that you see as being worthwhile and that you’ll continue to do because you love what you do and believe in it. Choose to do something that is important to you. In my case, I love the nature that I’m surrounded by. I want to share it with people and I want them to see that nature is beautiful and that we need to work toward saving it. I choose to stay with e-books for the time being. I love doing what I do, but at the same time, I know that some want to do it because they think they’ll make a lot of money. If it’s about money, you’re going to be disappointed. If it is about doing what you love and loving what you do, then you’ll find a way to make it work.
Be realistically unrealistic and understand that your ‘big break’ isn’t going to just fall into your lap…if it does Congratulations! If you want to get anywhere it will take a lot of hard work. As Henry Sy said, “There is no substitute for hard work. There is no such thing as overnight success or easy money.”
Thanks for reading our blog post and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
You can find our Podcast on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
Our latest e-book: The Big Kid's Magical Path to Shapes in Nature is now available via Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B091MJ6KVK
Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091MJ6KVK and Books2Read: https://books2read.com/Magical-Path-t... !
A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
...more
- E. Jean Simpson's profile
- 2 followers
