K. Morris's Blog, page 785
April 8, 2014
Sponsor A Guide Dog Puppy
A video from the Guide Dogs For The Blind Association about sponsoring a guide dog puppy helping to provide independence to blind people, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCTcvbV1CHI&feature=youtu.be&Ref=email&dm_i=LDK,2A5ET,5B5CNX,89P3S,1. As a blind guide dog owner I have every reason to be grateful to Guide Dogs and those who sponsor them. I am currently on my fourth guide dog, Trigger who can be seen by clicking on my author page here, http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0.
April 7, 2014
Giving Away E-Books for Free and the Damage This Can Do
A controversial though well expressed argument which can be summed up by the following quote, “I agree with Foster’s entire article. If indie authors want to establish a solid reputation amongst themselves, they must ban together, so to speak, and
imbue quality in their work by not giving it away for free. Yes, there are books given away for free that have great ratings, but then it drowns out the
rest of those who want to attach a value to their work. Authors, do not undervalue your efforts. If every single author never gives away a book for free
again, readers will have no choice but to pay, will not expect free books (save review copies), and you will be making money that is well-deserved.”
The problem with this perspective which is, as I say extremely well articulated is that it presupposes a perfect world in which all authors (or most) determine not to give away free books which, in the real world simply isn’t going to happen.
I understand the blogger’s argument and have some sympathy for it but, as an author I have received a number of 4 star reviews as a consequence of giving away my books for free, reviews which would, almost certainly have not been forthcoming had I insisted on keeping my books as priced publications. Once reviews are forthcoming this does, I hope encourage others to part with hard earned cash. To my mind many self-published writers have little alternative other than to utilise tools such as KDP Select if they wish to get their foot in a crack of the door and be noticed.
Originally posted on This is a very sensitive topic that I am going to try to handle with care, as I know some or many authors may disagree with me. However, this is a conversation I had with my personal assistant and the publisher of Writers AMuse Me Publishing. All of us came to the same conclusion: giving away e-books for free (outside of review copies, which are only given to select individuals) devalues both the author and his/her work. Now I’m not writing this article based on a conclusion among three people. However, I will use author Melissa Foster’s
article
to support my points, along with adding a few of my experiences as a YA author trying to compete with books being given away for free. Let me present this graph to your from Smashwords before I begin.
Okay, so free books aren’t on here, but notice even books at $0.99 cents…
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The Solution to E-book Piracy?
An interesting post with some novel answers regarding how to combat book piracy. I personally suggest making the blighters walk the plank in shark infested waters but, funnily enough one or two people have told me that my solution is, perhaps a little extreme. Maybe making them walk the plank in non shark infested waters …!
Thus far, there is no solution for piracy, other than for authors to actively seek out the website pirating their work and requesting for it to be removed. I don’t know if my book has yet been pirated, but if it has and you have knowledge of this, please, please, please let me know.
A Tumblr follower whose handle is slurpeemoney made me aware of a service where those who pirate books can be given the option of paying what they think the book is worth after they’ve read it. And if they don’t pay, they can at least spread word of the book. mattfractionblog uses this service for his P.I. graphic novel series and seems to be successful with it. My follower admits it may have something to do with name recognition, but it is an interesting service to be made aware of.
Slurpeemoney then goes to admit that…
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April 6, 2014
Apology
Trailing clouds of chaos as I come! Earlier this morning I published a piece of flash fiction entitled “Missing”. Well, actually I hit publish only to discover that I had neglected to cut and paste the text of my story from Microsoft Word into the text area of the post, hence a title followed by a blank page. Had this been April 1 (April Fools or All Fools Day) I might, perhaps have got away with pretending this was a deliberate act of japery on my part however, as it is 6 April I admit to having made a mistake! I have now deleted the blank post and republished my story (complete with text)! Which can be found here, http://newauthoronline.com/2014/04/06/missing-2/. Apologies for any confusion caused.
Missing
John paused on the wooden bridge and looked down at the stream below. The light reflected beautifully back off the water, the ripples dancing in the spring sunshine. Leaning on the sun bleached wooden rail John drank in the freshness of the air. On first moving to the place he had been amazed by the lack of pollution. In contrast to London the only scents which filled his lungs where those of new mown hay and wild roses which lined the banks of the stream. The place was paradise, well as close to that biblical state as one can achieve on earth.
“Morning John”.
He turned to see his nearest neighbour, Jenny Thomas, hand in hand with Maria, her youngest child.
“Oh good morning Jenny and hello to you Maria” John said a warm smile suffusing his face. “I was just thinking how lucky I am to live in this beautiful village. I wouldn’t go back to the city now whatever money the head hunters offered me. 0 stress or mega bucks and an early grave”.
“Yes it is a no brainer” Jenny replied, her smile matching that of John’s. Jenny’s eyes strayed to the headline of the Daily Telegraph held in John’s right hand,
“Police are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of 14-year-old Gemma Lewis who has been missing for 5 days”.
“Its shocking. Her poor parents must be frantic” Jenny said tightening her grip on Maria’s hand.
“They should bring back hanging for kiddy fiddlers” John said, “the country’s been going to the dogs ever since the 60’s, that’s why I moved out here, its still England not like London which is full of bloody foreigners. I don’t recognise the country I grew up in Jenny”.
Jenny shifted uncomfortably. “One of my closest friends is Jewish”.
“Oh the Jews are integrated. It’s the others I’m talking about. We take in the world’s flotsam and jetsum instead of looking after our own people”.
“I must be going. I’m taking Maria to Sunday School and I’d better get a move on as it starts in 5 minutes”.
“Have a lovely time in Sunday School” John said pulling a funny face at Maria. The child stuck out her tongue and smiled at him.
Jenny frowned at her daughter. “Don’t stick out your tongue like that darling it isn’t nice”.
Maria’s face fell.
“Bye John”.
“Bye Jenny, bye Maria”.
John watched as the disconsolate child trailed off, dragging her feet in the wake of her mother. “Poor kid, fancy having to be stuck in a boring old church on a day like this” John thought.
Prior to opening his front door John paused to savour the scent of his honey suckle. “Wonderful” he said out loud burying his nose in the fragrant blooms.
Entering the house John locked and bolted the door behind him. Removing his shoes he padded in stockened feet up the oak staircase. Reaching the top John turned right entering the large guest bedroom.
“Hello Gemma” he said to the girl who lay tied and gagged on the large four poster.
April 2, 2014
Is Your Boss A Psychopath?
An interesting post but, as one of the commenters remarks the author of the article ought to have entitled his piece “Is Your Boss A Sociopath” rather than a psychopath. Fortunately I have never experienced either a sociopathic or psychopathic boss although I have, in my personal life encountered people who, almost certainly fall into both categories.
In my short story, Samantha Sam’s pimp, Barry exhibits psychopathic behaviours. His sole goal is the making of money and he uses whatever means, including extreme violence against Sam and the other prostitutes who “work” for him to achieve that end.
For the article, Is Your Boss A Psychopath please visit http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/is-your-boss-a-psychopath/. For my story, Samantha please go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samantha-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI or http://www.amazon.com/Samantha-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI
March 31, 2014
I had an adventure nun-the-less.
Many thanks to Cupitonians for the following excellent post about her experiences in Tanzania. Like Cupitonians, I also attended a religious school, but that is, as they say, another story.
So I landed in Tanzania, not knowing a soul. I was in touch with a contact of a contact. They had never met each other before but you know what they say about leaps of faith and trust. The only thing I did know was that I was meant to meet a nun from the Ursuline congregation. My dad, being the resourceful guy that he is, googled the habit(uniform) of the nun so that I wouldn’t be confused by the hordes of religious people that would haunt the airport. He had a point, any third world country is jam packed with missionaries (read priests and nuns) who are there to alleviate poverty and other religious phrases I’m too lazy to google.
I landed in a bathroom sized airport, grinned from ear to ear because I was finally in a country I had dreamed of being in since I was 7. I was apprehensive. What if my contact wouldn’t be there? I knew no one, knew nothing, had heard horror stories of tourists being taken for a ride and left for near dead. Dread started to fill me but I put my brave face on as I walked out the airport doors, backpack in tow. My fear quickly faded as I spotted the habit of the contact and I quickly walked to her. She hugged me and I was relieved to hear her speak English to me. Contrary to popular belief, English is NOT the first or official language of Tanzania. It’s Swahili.
Stella, that was her name, had lived in Canada for a while and so knew English and was confident and full of stories and questions that kept my mind off the fact that a few minutes after my arrival, I was shoved into a bus with too small seats and a goat under me that kept nipping at my feet. 4 hours later, we reached a beautiful area with a mountain right outside the window of the room they gave me. I watched the palm and banana trees and the sun set brilliantly behind that mountain and I smiled. I didn’t realize Africa could be so green. I already knew it would blow me away.
My dinner was a plate of spaghetti, another thing that took me by surprise. I had no idea that Tanzanians were into pasta. Later on in my trip though, I found out that the Ursuline congregation is an Italian one and no matter the poverty around, the nuns and priests of any congregation always ate well. This was further proved by my breakfast feast of fresh bread and butter and the most amazing cup of black coffee that was ever brewed.
The next day, Stella and her sister bought me a pair of Tanzanian styled clothes that were commonly worn in that area and we set off on another bus journey, this time a 12 hour one through all sorts of sceneries. We finally reached a deserted place that finally looked like the Africa you would see in documentaries. The land was parched and dry, little malnourished kids roamed the streets, caked in mud but in the middle of this, the nuns had created an oasis. Flowers were blooming and well watered, there were beautiful buildings with stained glass dotting the perimeter. The stained glass shadows on the dry earth made it look like we were walking on rainbow streets.
The nuns were all at the road and welcomed me with a song and dance number. This is one of the most shocking things I found in Tanzania. I studied in a convent school and so my idea of nuns was that they were poker faced and strict and that the idea of “fun” was indoctrinated out of them and yet in front of me, their voices came out together in harmony and they moved like their body was moulded to dance.
I spent a 4 -5 months with different religious communities across Tanzania and learnt a lot of things about the religious life.
There are so many youngsters who join the church because the alternative is rape, hunger and poverty. The church provides you shelter, healthy meals, a job and respect.
On account of them joining such closed communities, the maturity levels of most of the nuns remain the same as when they joined. Because they are sheltered and they grow up with just girls their age, I found that the nuns, no matter their age, acted more like shy preteen girls than anything else.
The priests, on the other hand, get more opportunities to travel, see the world, interact with more people and enjoy more power in the society. Therefore, they have cars, big houses, even better food and a chance to be treated as royalty by the community. They enjoy rich and generous gifts.
On account of this, priests believe they are God’s gift to women kind and so think it their duty to hit on any nun or any foreigner they see. I have been approached by more priests than I can count.
Sex is such a natural instinct among Tanzanians that people struggle to come to terms with the restrictions religion has placed on them. I remember one nun saying in a matter of fact way that the church allows you to have one wife but you can also have one mistress. I’ve also heard many stories of women having hysterectomies so they don’t have to deal with pregnancies.
The nuns are truly charitable. I have seen development and schools where you could never imagine there would be one. They have done more for the nation than the government has.
That being said, they are still very orthodox in their ways of thinking. I was once part of a very interesting debate between a very well educated priest and nun when the nun said that she was the wife of Christ
They are essentially good people,
They care so much about the way they look. I have been on shopping trips across mountains where the nuns buy stockings and black stylish shoes. They are so stylish and well-kept that I often felt out of place during pass and other public events
They pray 5 times a day and since I was lived for free with them, I was obliged to attend all five. Suffice to say, I haven’t seen the inside of a church since 2012.
March 30, 2014
Being and Being Bought: An interview with Kajsa Ekis Ekman.
An interesting post on Feminist Current entitled Being and Being Bought: An interview with Kajsa Ekis Ekman. The author is a supporter of the Nordic model of prostitution law under which clients are punished. For the interview please visit http://feministcurrent.com/8514/being-and-being-bought-an-interview-with-kajsa-ekis-ekman/.
The views expressed in the above interview are diametrically opposed to those set out in my post of 28 March in which 2 academics argue that the Nordic model of prostitution law reform does not do what it says on the tin (I.E. it fails to protect those engaged in sex work and actually harms prostitutes), http://newauthoronline.com/2014/03/28/the-nordic-model-of-prostitution-law-reform-is-a-myth-a-post-on-the-conversation-argues/).
I haven’t read Ekman’s book (one more weighty tome to add to my ever growing list of “must reads”). I am, however a little concerned regarding the (apparent) comments policy of Feminist Current. The overwhelming majority of the comments on the interview with Ekman endorse her perspective and comments in respect of other posts are, by and large non-critical of the blogger’s message. I usually wouldn’t comment on the comments policy adopted by other bloggers however having attempted to comment several times only to see my comments not appear I have reached the conclusion that Feminist Currentt only (or largely) accepts comments which endorse it’s ideological perspective. If this is, indeed the case then it is a great pity as it is through debate, the cut and thrust of differing opinions that democracy lives. The only comments I have ever not approved are those which clearly belong in the spam queue for debate is one of the things which makes blogging interesting. I don’t want newauthoronline to become a blog where debate is curtailed but other bloggers appear to think differently.
March 29, 2014
Dark Thoughts In Spring Time
Dark thoughts on a bright day. The sun warms my face, brightness mingles with darkness on this spring morning.
Birds sing gladdening my heart but, underneath the sorrow remains.
A child’s voice full of joy calling “mummy, mummy”. My mood lightens, there is love and innocence in this world of tears.
Reading Recommendations – 56 Authors promoted!
A great service for authors which I will be checking out myself.
Originally posted on Books: Publishing, Reading, Writing:
On my other blog,
Reading Recommendations
, I have been posting promotion for my fellow authors, recommending their books to readers, and offering the authors’ suggestions on good books to read. Since Nov. 18, 2013, I have posted information about
56 Authors
! Thanks to everyone participating and sharing these blog posts, the number of readers visiting this site and now following has increased by leaps and bounds. I still have many more authors scheduled to promote over the coming weeks, so please continue to check out the new blog posts I publish, discover some interesting reading suggestions, reconnect with favourite authors, and learn what they all have to tell us about themselves and their writing as well as their own reading recommendations.
So far, I have published two recaps of the first 16 authors and the next 20. Here then are the most recent 20 Authors who have…
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