A.C. Flory's Blog, page 91
May 1, 2018
Free ebook promotion on Amazon
A step-by-step guide for absolute beginners
[image error]“An absolute beginner is someone who has yet to learn all the little things everyone else takes for granted.”
Unfortunately, it’s always the little things that trip people up. That’s why ‘How to Print Your Novel with CreateSpace’ takes nothing for granted. Examples, screenshots and step-by-step instructions guide absolute beginners through the entire printing process, from start to finish.
The only pre-requisites are a basic knowledge of Microsoft Word, the ability to save and retrieve files, and an internet connection.
With patience, nothing is impossible.
‘How to Print Your Novel with CreateSpace’ is available as a paperback or as an ebook. The ebook is available on the following devices and apps:
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You can find ‘How to Print Your Novel with CreateSpace’ on:
The ebook is free from May 1 to 5, 2018.
April 30, 2018
Brian Dettmer Uses Surgical Tools To Carve Books Into Intricate Sculptures
Another amazing artist from Flow Art Station. This one scupts glorious shapes that tell their own story…from books. Gobsmackingly good!
Brian Dettmer Uses Surgical Tools To Carve Books Into Intricate Sculptures
New York-based Artist Brian Dettmer creates impressively intricate multi-layered sculptures from books. The artist calls himself the Book Surgeon because he uses knives, tweezers, and surgical tools to carve the art works out of old medical journals, illustration books, dictionaries, map books and encyclopedias. The bigger the book, the better – The Surgeon doesn’t add anything additional to the sculptures, he only folds, bends, rolls, stacks, and, of course, removes.
“Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories,” explains Dettmer in the artist’s statement. “My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception.”
More info: briandettmer.com
April 26, 2018
WordPress vs Medium
This post is not a full on comparison of WordPress and Medium. Rather, it’s a comparison of my expectations of the two blogging platforms. When I first started writing on Medium, I thought I would gradually shift my focus from WordPress to Medium. But things haven’t worked out that way. Instead, I’ve come to realise that the two blogging platforms bring out different types of writing from me. And I enjoy both.
Based on the reading I’ve done on Medium, I’d have to say that the writing is generally more ‘formal’, like articles you might find in an old-fashioned newspaper or magazine. By contrast, WordPress is more chatty, like a conversation amongst friends. Of course, these could simply be my perceptions of both platforms, but I do enjoy the freedom of being able to alternate between the two styles of writing.
lol – And then, of course, there are the weeks when the two overlap, like this week. I wrote an article about getting an ABN on Medium and posted almost the exact same article here on WordPress. I also created a ‘Books’ page for both Medium and WordPress. Nevertheless, these overlapping weeks will probably be the exception rather than the rule because I’m simply more comfortable writing certain kinds of things here.
What kinds of things? Well, recipes for example. Or music posts. Or progress reports like this:
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The pic above is the new cover I’m working on for Vokhtah. It’s as rough as guts because I’m still experimenting with ideas, but I’m happier with this particular idea than I have been with earlier ones. In case you’re curious, these are some of the ones I’m less happy with:
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or this:
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or this:
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There are a couple more, but they’re far less finished than even these. Once I have some finished covers that I’m happy with, I’ll ask for feedback from you guys, especially the artists amongst you. 
April 25, 2018
Yes…but why bother?
This is not one of my stereotypical technology posts because instead of exciting me, it simply makes me uneasy. Before I explain why, have a look at this video clip. Go on, it won’t take long:
You can also read the article that goes with the video here:
https://futurism.com/smart-walls/
Now, here’s the thing. I can see the wall sensors becoming a part of the building process, just like light switches and plumbing, but I must have missed the bit that says why you would want to have them in your wall in the first place?
I mean, yes, walls probably should be multipurpose, but aren’t they already?
I don’t have a single wall that’s ‘naked’. I like putting up prints, clocks, the odd real painting to personalise my space. In fact, that’s one of the big disadvantages of renting – you can’t do any of that in case you damage the walls.
Nevertheless, assuming there are naked walls that should be doing something other than forming rooms, I can’t think of a single good reason to have sensors track me from room to room?
“Mum! Where are you?”
Okay, that’s a possibility, but do you really want the wall monitor to display a pixelated image of you sitting on the loo?
To be fair, I suspect the engineers who put this video clip together probably haven’t gotten past the point of making wall angels with their invention. They are probably just in love with the idea that they can put sensors in the walls. In fact, they probably haven’t given much thought to what actual problem the sensors are supposed to solve. But…
If these sensors have to phone home to Amazon, or Google or some other giant tech company to do their smart processing, then this invention goes beyond “gee whiz, look how much fun this is” to “bloody hell, I can’t even have any privacy in my own home????”
I love tech, but only when I own and control it…all of it. My home is my castle, and I don’t want an internet-of-things spying on me. Ever.
Meeks
April 23, 2018
Free and Permafree
As an Indie, I’ve often used Amazon KDP’s ‘free days’ to promote my books, but 5 free days out of 90 has never felt like enough. And being forced to sell the book exclusively on Amazon for those 90 days rankled. That’s why I’ve always yearned to make at least some of my books ‘permafree’ – i.e. permanently free.
In marketing terms, this is called a ‘loss leader’, meaning that revenue is lost from one book in order to lead potential customers to other books that are not free. Given how hard it is for Indies to be ‘discovered’ in the first place, permafree can be a very powerful marketing tool, but only if you have one or more series. Make the first book in the series free and hope like hell that people like it enough to buy the rest.
Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t support permafree. Or should I say, it only supports permafree as part of its price matching policy. This is where going wide comes in. You put the first book of the series up for free on a number of retail platforms and then request that Amazon match ‘the price’. If all goes according to plan, the book will eventually become permafree on Amazon as well.
So that’s the theory. Here comes the reality check. Up the top of this blog you’ll now see a page called ‘Books by acflory’. If you click on it, you’ll see every book I’ve ever published, along with a link direct to the named retailer [sorry, the links in the sidebar lead only to the Amazon ‘Look Inside’ feature].
There are five links to five retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Angus & Robertson and Indigo. And guess what? Miira and The Vintage Egg are now permafree on all of them except Amazon.
You can either click on the book page or click on the links below. Oh, and while you’re at it, please scroll down to the end of the post for details on the 5 free days coming up for ‘How to Print Your Novel with CreateSpace‘. Even if you never print your novel, you may as well have the book handy, right?
April 21, 2018
How to apply for an ABN – the basics
After the near disaster of my previous attempt to reactivate my ABN, I thought I’d better do a quick how-to for others.
FIRST!
The website you need to go to is:
[Note: no www required]
That web address will take you to this screen:
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Whether you’ve never had an ABN before, or want to reactivate an old one, this part of the process is the same: if you’re a sole trader, you have to click ‘For Business, Super funds & Charities’ [as shown above].
[Note: there are unscrupulous companies that hire people as employees but then force them to get ABNs in order to avoid having to pay entitlements such as holiday pay, sick leave etc. The government will NOT issue an ABN in these circumstances. In order to qualify as a sole trader, you must be carrying on some kind of business of your own. Being a self-published author qualifies me for an ABN].
Next, click ‘Applying for an ABN’
Then, scroll down the page until you reach this:
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Click the bright yellow ‘Apply for an ABN’ button as shown above.
The next screen involves ticking checkboxes:
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Click the screenshot to see a larger image.
For the second checkbox from the top, it says “I have the TFN, date of birth and name…” etc.
TFN stands for Tax File Number. If you are a sole trader, the only Tax File Number you will need is your own. Tick the checkboxes and then click ‘Next’.
The next screen is for your ABN entitlement. Click ‘Sole Trader’ and then click Next:
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Remember, this is a government website so click the button for ‘Sole Trader’ again, then select the answers as shown below:
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When you get to ‘What is the nature of your activity?’, click the small down arrow as shown and select ‘In the form of a business’. To be honest, none of the options seemed particularly relevant but this one worked for me so I guess it’s the general purpose one. Again, click Next to continue.
The next two sections – Application Detail and Business Information – are fairly self explanatory. The only tricky bit is if you’re seeking to reactivate an old ABN. If you don’t know what it is, you can check the ‘Look up’ table here:
http://www.abr.business.gov.au/Tools/AbnLookup
Or you can follow the ‘Look up’ link on the screen itself:
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To find your old ABN, simply type the name associated with it into the search box and start the search.
If your ABN was cancelled through lack of interest, you won’t find it on the first page of results as they are for active ABNs only. Click the tab for ‘All ABNs’ :
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So long as you typed the name correctly, the ‘All ABNs’ page should display your old business name at the very top of the list. Type, or copy/paste the ABN into the Application Detail form.
The second page of the Business Information section is where you type in your personal details, including your Tax File Number. Click Next.
If you are reactivating an ABN, the next page will have a big red error message saying that the system has detected that you already have an ABN…
-facepalm- “No? Really?”
Ignore this and click Next again. You won’t see the error message again, or at least not that one.
The next screen is a little odd:
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There is a text box that allows you to type in your ‘…main business activity’. For mine, I mentioned needing an ABN to print my books via IngramSpark. I assume the word ‘print’ triggered something because when I opened the list of categories [see above], they ALL seemed to be related to printing. Anyway, click the category that most closely matches your business and then click Next to continue.
The next screen is also a little odd, or perhaps this is simply how the bureaucratic mind works. You will be asked to enter the business address details. One of those details is the email address, but instead of asking you to type the email address twice, one after the other [as most other websites do], the ABR site only asks for it once. You click next and it flags an error message. Essentially, you have to check that the email address you entered is correct. -more facepalm- That’s all it is. Click Next to continue.
This next one has to do with the business phone number, and it’s a fudge. I imagine the form was designed back when landlines were the no. 1 form of business communication, even for sole traders. Then, everyone started using mobile phones for their businesses. Recognizing this, the form was…changed, but not properly.
If your mobile phone is your only business number, do NOT type it into the box clearly labelled as ‘Mobile’. Type it into ‘Business’ as shown below:
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Put the first 4 digits into the area code box and the last 6 digits into the number box…-sigh-
Almost done.
Under ‘Reason for application’, select the closest match from the drop down list.
For ‘Position held’ type ‘Sole Trader’.
Before you click Submit, try to print off the completed form. It didn’t work for me, which is one reason I took screenshots of everything, but it may work for you. When you’re done, click the Submit button.
The last screen is a confirmation screen. As I was simply reactivating an old ABN, I was told that it was active again. You may be told that it will take xx days.
Congratulations!
Meeks
April 19, 2018
New posts on Medium for the week ending April 20, 2018
The first post compares the security, and privacy, associated with credit cards, PayPal and prepaid cards:
https://medium.com/tikh-tokh/internet-security-credit-cards-vs-paypal-vs-visa-load-go-2be018cf1b07
The second post just went up. It looks at Draft2Digital, an online distributer, and a feature called ‘Universal Book Link’:
https://medium.com/tikh-tokh/d2d-universal-book-links-and-why-i-wont-use-them-f185ed585c12
And that’s it, Friday in Australia and the weekend has almost begun. Enjoy.
April 18, 2018
Aussie Authors! Don’t pay for an ABN!
[image error]I can’t name any names as I’m still hoping I’ll receive the promised refund, but I couldn’t let this go without sounding some kind of a warning. 
April 16, 2018
Art from small rocks…amazing!
I’ve been following Flow Art Station for a while, but Japanese artist, Akie Nakata, really is something very special. Have a look. My favourite is the fox.
If you don’t end up going “Awww…!” I’ll buy a hat and eat it. 
April 13, 2018
Medium posts for the week ending April 13, 2018
I’ve done a lot of blogging this week, but only one post for Medium. It’s a shortish post about ‘going wide’ for Indie beginners.
https://medium.com/tikh-tokh/going-wide-with-draft2digital-d2d-954bd70c28d0
Have a great weekend.
