David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 160

Have You Checked Out Eleven And A Half Years Of Books?

Hey, have you checked out Eleven and a Half Years of Books yet? It’s a book review blog I co-edit with Kimberly Moore. I’ve mentioned it on here before, but not for a while. We just hit the four year anniversary of running the blog the other day, so it seemed like a good time to bring it up over here again.

The blog was actually Kim’s idea originally. She’d picked up a copy of The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books edited by J. Peder Zane and thought about how many she hadn’t read, and how many she wanted to. She thought it would be an interesting idea for the two of us to read the books mentioned in those lists and do reviews, along with whatever struck our fancy along the way, if for no other reason than to get us reading more of those books than we would have otherwise. It was a great idea, and it’s been a lot of fun.

So, check it out. With weekly posts for four years, you’ve got a lot you can peruse through.

Some Reputable Reviewer Sold My ARC Before Release

I mentioned yesterday how an accidental Amazon listing of Not Quite so Stories as available months before release resulted in PBShop UK consistently offering my book for sale despite them knowing they didn’t have it and couldn’t get it, which I proved by repeatedly ordering only to have the orders cancelled. There was one order that wasn’t through PBShop UK that was fulfilled though, which was surprising because the book hadn’t been released. It was a reputable seller too, Powell’s Books Chicago. Turns out, some reviewer didn’t end up reviewing the book and ended up selling the ARC they’d been sent before the book was released.

“Not Quite So Stories” by David S. Atkinson on Ganxy//

How do I know? Well, not only was it the ARC, it had the press release my publisher included in ARCs they sent out. Only my publisher had those, and only included them in the ARCs they sent out to the bigger reviewers, places like Publisher’s Weekly. So what does this mean? Well, it means that one of the bigger reviewers, one you would really expect to know how unethical selling a review copy rather than reviewing it and before release date no less, sold an ARC rather than review it before release.

Now, I sent ARCs to some smaller places. Smaller places I wouldn’t necessarily hold to the same ethical and professional standards. However, the places my publisher was sending ARCs weren’t the smaller places. Whoever sold the ARC prior to release date without actually reviewing was really someone who should have had the ethical and professional standards to not do this. That’s what everyone would expect. Don’t decide to review? Fine. However, don’t sell the ARC…particularly before the book releases.

It’s just dishonest, as well as unethical and unprofessional.

Frankly, I wish my publisher had put some kind of unique identifier on the press release that was included with the ARC. Then we’d know what reviewer did this. Believe me, I wouldn’t send them ARCs anymore. Even if they decided to review later books, that just isn’t someone I’d feel comfortable being associated with.

Showing PBShop UK Is A Drop Shipper

There is a lot of debate about PBShop UK (and it’s other PBShop variants). Supposedly they have a ton of positive feedback, but most I talk to have had horrible experiences. A few are really good, but so adamant in their defense that I do have to wonder if they don’t work for PBShop UK in some way. Perhaps paranoid, but the vehemence of their defense and their weird, often choppy defenses are suspect. One of the biggest criticisms I’ve seen is that PBShop UK is a drop shipper.

For those who don’t know, a drop shipper is a seller who offers to sell books they don’t have. Once ordered, they get them from the distributor or Amazon and then fulfill the already taken order. This often results in long delays and cancelled orders when they claim to discover not to have the book (they couldn’t get it, or at the price they wanted).  PBShop UK claims to have this immense stock, but others claim they don’t really and just drop ship, relying on their supposed shipping from the UK to justify delays (though many say that the actual items you click on say ships from US and PBShop UK later denies that).

But, what can I say on this? Well, Amazon accidentally listed my book Not Quite so Stories as available over three months before it actually released. It wasn’t actually available, but it looked like it was.

“Not Quite So Stories” by David S. Atkinson on Ganxy//

Because of that, third party sellers jumped in and started offering it. PBShop UK was one of the first. Mind you, it hadn’t been published. There were no copies available other than the advanced release reader copies that had been sent to reviewers. When you ordered, the third party sellers realized they didn’t have it, cancelled the order, and took the ad down.

Well, except for PBShop UK. They continually claimed to have the book from December 30, 2015 through March 1, 2016 when it actually released and copies were available. I started ordering. I was just trying to get them to realize the error and take their ad down. Sometimes the same day, sometimes as much as a week later, they’d suddenly “realize” they didn’t actually have the book and cancel the order.

However, their ad offering the book stayed up.

I kept ordering. From December 30, 2015 through February 17, 2016, I ordered the book from PBShop UK 31 times. Each time, they’d accept the order. Each time, they’d eventually cancel because they suddenly “realized” they didn’t have a copy after all. Then, despite realizing they didn’t have any copies, they kept the ad up offering to sell the book.

They just didn’t care. Clearly they were drop shipping here. 31 times? They knew they didn’t have the book and couldn’t get it. They just kept the ad running anyway. There’s simply no other explanation other than being a drop shipper, and lying in their explanations for why they had to cancel the orders. They knew they didn’t have it and couldn’t get it. 31 times? They knew.

SuperBookDeals was almost as bad. I only ran into them 4 times, but that’s because they took around two weeks to “realize” and cancel. Of course, they’d at least take their ad down after the order. However, it would go up later.

So, yeah. PBShop UK has to be a drop shipper. I don’t see any other explanation for offering a book for sale for months they claimed to have in stock despite no copies being possibly in their inventory, both by the book not being released yet and by 31 orders having to be cancelled for the book being suddenly “realized” to be out of stock. I really have to wonder where all their positive feedback comes from.

I Feel So Betrayed

I felt the need for a bit of 80s nostalgia today. As such, I thought I’d post the original 80s commercial for the game Perfection today. You know, “Pop goes Perfection!” However, I had a nasty surprise:

Turns out, there was a commercial for a version of the game back in 1973. It isn’t an 80s game at all, rather a 70s game that continued long after that.

I feel so betrayed. And this commercial totally sucks compared to the one I remember.

Live Interview Saturday May 21 On The Funky Writer Online Radio Show At 2:30 PM Mountain Time! For Real This Time!

For real this time! We had to reschedule at the last minute last time, but I’ll be interviewed live this Saturday May 21st at 2:30 Mountain time about Not Quite so Stories on The Funky Writer! You should tune in. Should be a great show. I’ll post a direct link as soon as I have one.

It’ll be archived on the site afterwards, but live is a one time opportunity. Live is live, and other self proving statements.

More Painting Fun

Let’s have some more painting fun. This time, “A physician examining a urine flask” by Gerrit Dou and Dr. Nick Riviera from The Simpsons:

This is fun. Well, it is for me.

My Coffee

Look at my cup of coffee:

I have no idea why I posted this. No idea at all. I think there’s something wrong with me.

Let’s Just Listen To The Dead Milkmen Instead Of Having A Real Post Today

Let’s just listen to The Dead Milkmen instead of having a real post today:

Isn’t that better than an actual post?

Bad Joke Monday

Despite the sympathy we should feel, is it still funny if someone gets robbed by a group of people all named Rick?

Get it?

Making Do With Odd Apartment Features

I once had a crappy apartment. It was crappy for a number of reasons (roaches, rough neighborhood, leaking ceilings, and so on), but it wasn’t too bad because it was $365 a month (back in the late 90s) and all the utilities were paid (except a $50 monthly fee in the summer months if you had a window air conditioner). I was okay with it, but there were a few odd features.

For one thing, the apartment actually had two doors into the main outside hallway. The main door was fine, external door with a deadbolt, but the kitchen was an internal door (solid wood for the most part, but still an old style internal door) and only had an ordinary internal door skeleton key lock. Seriously, I could go to any hardware store and pick up a skeleton key that would get me into any kitchen door to the building.

Personally, that made me nervous. Luckily, the kitchen door opened inward into an alcove by the massively heavy fridge. I dealt with the situation by putting a table I had in there that just happened to be the exact dimensions of the alcove. Wedged that door closed. Even if you unlocked the kitchen door with an easily available skeleton key, you would have had to bash hard enough to crumple that table before you were getting in. I just didn’t think that was very likely. You’d have an easier time breaking the deadbolt on the front door, which resisted at least one decent attempt to do just that.

Other people used theirs though. I was in the hallway one time when my neighbor took his trash out from the kitchen into the hall naked. I don’t know why, given that the trash was outside and he didn’t appear to be going there. He looked a little sheepish, but didn’t hide or anything. He just set the trash down and went back inside.

It was an odd building.