Fiona L. Woods's Blog, page 386

A New Panzerism

Panzer on the proper use of words:

You know semantics matter.

How come when there's a heavy rain humans say, "It's raining cats and dogs"?

That's all wrong you know.

Cats don't like water. You know that, right?
Just do it, Mom.
Raining cats and dogs, huh? That doesn't even rhyme.

The correct saying is It's raining hogs and dogs.

Next time it rains really hard, I want you to turn to the person next to you and tell them, "It's raining hogs and dogs."

Agatha Awards Announced

Really. I don't care.Panzer got woken up from a sound sleep by the sound of cats and kittens out in the Catosphere.  He went out to see what all the noise was about.

He followed the noise to the Mystery Scene site. Our very tired kitty boy discovered the Agatha Awards were announced tonight. The Odds Are Against Us, by Art Taylor, (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine) won the Best Short Story Award.

Panzer says, " Skipped me again. Twice in one year."

To read the post with all the winners, tootle over to Mystery Scene

Authors Up in Arms about Kindle Unlimited (Again)

To KU or not to KU. Which?Panzer made a trip over to the Indie Reader site. Our big, bad, kitty boy found a very disheartening post by Danny O. Snow there.

It turns out Kindle Unlimited may be readers' heaven, but it's authors and publishers' hell. Royalties for KU participants are now even lower than they were last year. So ... some authors and publishers are turning their work into paperbacks to be sold on Amazon and opting out of KU. They can get higher royalties and aren't in competition with their KU ebooks.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Makes sense to me."

Note: This is a l-o-n-g post, so bring a b-i-g cup of tea.

To read the full post, tootle over to Authors Up in Arms about Kindle Unlimited (Again)

New Author Publishing Platform Booktrope

Let's look into this.Panzer was out at the GeekWire site today.

Our big. bad, inquiring kitty found a post by Frank Catalano there. Mr. Catalano is writing about a new platform for ebook and dead tree authors called Booktrope. The platform has an interesting premise. The author submits a book to Booktrope for evaluation. If accepted, a "team" is formed to create and publish the book. The team then splits the money from sales.

Panzer says, "I have my own team already. It's Mom and What's His Name. I don't need anybody else on my team."

Note: The post includes a link to the Booktrope site so you can read about the company.

To read the post, tootle over to Booktrope

Kobo Trying A New Publishing Path

Now, where is that path?Panzer was out in the Catosphere today.  Our big bad kitty pilot stopped in at The Bookseller site.

He couldn't believe what he learned in a post by Lisa Campbell and Sarah Shaffi. Kobo is jumping into the traditional publishing venue. They've signed a contract for digital and print publishing rights for a book by Kevin Donovan.

Panzer says, "Is this just the beginning of a bigger change at Kobo? Or just a fluke? Only time will tell."

To read the full post, tootle over to Kobo

Mystery Fanfare: EDGAR AWARDS 2015!

Nope. Nothing again this year.Panzer got woken from his nap by all the meowing and paw clapping going on in the Catosphere. A quick trip showed our sleepy kitty boy that there is a lot of excitement and partying going on tonight.

According to a post at Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog the 2015 Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards have been presented. No surprise that Stephen King won Best Novel for Mr. Mercedes.

Panzer says, "It was almost worth waking up for, but it would have been better if I won an award too."

To read all the other winners, tootle over to Mystery Fanfare: EDGAR AWARDS 2015!:

Rakuten Completes Acquisition Of OverDrive

30,000 libraries?Panzer was out tootling around in the Catosphere today when he found some breaking news.

Back in March our kitty boy reporter told you about Rakuten's planned takeover of Overdrive. According to a post he found at the Publishers' Weekly site, the deal is now completed. Reportedly, Rakuten paid $410 million dollars for Overdrive and it's assets, including access to 30,000 libraries.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. They own Kobo and now Overdrive. My books are on Kobo and I use Overdrive through Smashwords. Let's hope things don't change."

To read the post, tootle over to Rakuten acqures Overdrive.

Hugo Awards and Puppygate

Get my paws out of the litter box.Today's post is late. When Panzer got home from the vet's today, he took a long nap. As soon as he woke up, he hopped in the Panzermobile and hit the Catosphere at cat-warp speed. Our big bad speeding kitty stopped in at The Guardian site.

According to a post there by Alison Flood, there's quite a brouhaha going on about this year's SF Hugo Awards.

Why?

Puppygate.

What's Puppygate you ask?

Puppygate is a term George R.R. Martin came up with. There are two groups, one called the Sad Puppies and the other the Rabid Puppies. Each group encouraged their followers to buy memberships for Worldcon so they could vote for stories and novels they wanted to get nominated for the Hugo Awards. Apparently, some of those nominated feel the two groups succeeded in loading the nominations with their picks. Hugo Award nominees Mark Kloos and Annie Bellet have withdrawn their work from the competition.

Panzer says, "What do you expect? They're not the smartest potato on the truck. They're puppies. You want smart? Get a kitten.  No kitten would have anything to do with this kind of litter box game."

To read the full post, tootle over to puppygate storm

A New Panzerism

Panzer on boxes:

Trust me. This is why cats love cardboard boxes.

Shhhh ... Do you hear them, yet?Just scrunch way down and pull the top closed ...

lay curled up and totally still ...

then you can hear mice sing.

Now stop whining and get in the box, Mom.

Enter A New DIY Publishing Company

Be careful. Always read everything first.Panzer found an interesting post at the Publishers' Weekly site today.

It seems Books-A-Million (BAM) is jumping into the do-it-yourself (DIY) self-publishing market. According to a post by Clare Swanson, BAM will be offering print books, ebooks, and distribution services to indie authors. There's a link in the post to the BAM site so you can decide if this option might be for you.

Panzer says, "Be careful! The post says you can pick up your print books in South Portland, Maine or Birmingham, Ala. Unless you live near one of these cities, it's an awfully long trip to get your print books!"

To read the full post, tootle over to BAM self-publishing