Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 163
February 19, 2011
Saturday Snippet…Veil #3
Dunno when this will be out. I'm still writing it. But I liked this bit.
She was hungry, and she was demanding, and he was almost certain she was going to drive him out of his mind.
No—
He had more control than this. Damn it, he would have more control, but when he tried to wrest it away, she nipped at his tongue, then tore her mouth away, pressing her brow to his. "I won't be controlled, Morne—when this happens, we'll take each other."
February 18, 2011
Soldier's birthday…
From Kelly…
Hi all, this one snuck up on me so all we have time for is cards…..he is a great soldier, for years he was a social worker and after 9/11 he wanted to do more for his country. He will be turning 33 on Feb 23rd, so again it is late notice but even if they arrive late it will make him SMILE!
Travis Kimmel
HHT/89th CHEM
RSS 3D ACR
APO,AE 09312
The Friday 56…Nalini
I so love Nalini's stuff.
She was wolf. She knew that coming from her alpha, it was very much the opposite.
About the Friday 56
Grab the book nearest you. Right now
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST
February 17, 2011
Talking TEMPT ME and a friend… :-)
When people ask for an exact date with these things, it's hard to say. I uploaded it on Monday to Amazon. Waited until it was through the process at Smashwords before I finalized things on Amazon. And of course…finalizing things on Amazon took almost 24 hours.
Thought I could have it ready on Tuesday, but nope. It was ready last night.
Now available at Kindle & Smashwords
Tempt me…She's a temptation he can't resist…
Roxanne 'Rocki' Monroe's life is full of secrets and hidden heartaches. Cole Stanton would love to heal her pain and chase away the ghosts of her past, but she's just a complication he doesn't have room for in his life.
Or so he thinks.
It doesn't take Cole long to realize he's more than willing to let temptation get the best of him, more than happy to deal with complications if that's what it takes to get her.
What he has and what he needs are two different things…and what he needs is Rocki.
The book is priced $2.99 but if you buy it from Smashwords, you can use this code HE95P to get an additional 33% off. It won't last long, though!
**Not yet available on the Nook or in other outlets. Smashwords does distribute to them, just take a bit. You can get the needed formats for your device from smashwords, though. Just see their FAQ
Sara Reinke is another author who's trying some things out with Smashwords and Kindle. She's got a book out, too… :)
Tristan Morin is a vampire on a mission: to not fall in love with Karen Pierce. To do so would prove that humans and Brethren were meant to be physically and emotionally bound to each other―something he, as a full-blooded Brethren, refuses to believe. It would be so much easier if Karen wasn't beautiful. And if there wasn't something about her that draws him like a moth to a flame, damn near impossible to resist.
Price: $1.99
Purchase links: http://www.sarareinke.com
Release date: 2/14/11
February 16, 2011
TEMPT ME…now available…updated with a couple of reviews
contemporary hot romance
Tempt me…She's a temptation he can't resist…
Roxanne 'Rocki' Monroe's life is full of secrets and hidden heartaches. Cole Stanton would love to heal her pain and chase away the ghosts of her past, but she's just a complication he doesn't have room for in his life.
Or so he thinks.
It doesn't take Cole long to realize he's more than willing to let temptation get the best of him, more than happy to deal with complications if that's what it takes to get her.
What he has and what he needs are two different things…and what he needs is Rocki.
Staring at Rocki standing on the stage, Cole told himself he wasn't going to do it. He'd just broken up with his fiancée. Rocki was still grieving over her husband. It was a bad thing all around. Right?
But that didn't keep him from taking a few steps into the restaurant, getting just a little bit closer. His blood pumped hard and fast as he got closer.
The bids were at two thousand now, but fewer people were involved. As he reached the bottom of the stage, he said loudly, "Three thousand."
Rocki looked down, startled.
Her eyes met his, wide and dark…so dark, he felt lost in them.
Screw the bad things. He wanted this woman, damn it. Maybe just having a simple date would convince him that she wasn't everything he had convinced himself she was. Besides, this whole thing was for charity…a good cause.
"I've got three thousand here," Lacey called out, delight evident in her voice. "Do I have thirty-five hundred?"
Another voice said, "Thirty-five hundred."
Because he was standing so close, Cole saw the minute way Rocki's shoulder's tightened, the flash of something in her eyes. Was it fear? What was it…? It didn't matter.
"Five thousand," he said, still staring at her.
She lifted a brow. "Five thousand?" she mouthed.
Silence fell through the room, and this time, nobody offered another bid.
Lacey grinned down at him. "She's all yours, Mr. Stanton. For a night, at least."
and you can read another excerpt here, or the first 20% of the book on Smashwords at the link below.
*Please note, Smashwords distributes to the other ebook vendors, Nook, Kobo, etc. Once I have the links for them, I'll post them here. At this time, I'm not uploading things directly to sites other than Amazon & Smashwords-there are too many and as Smashwords will distribute the works for me, it's much easier for me to keep track of things this way. I hope you understand. ALSO, please bear in mind, you can buy the formats you need from Smashwords–they've got a very simple FAQ explaining everything here.
Smashwords also sells worldwide, so anybody can buy from there!
A couple of reviews…
Demonlover's books
Alise on life
Limecello
TEMPT ME…now available…
contemporary hot romance
Tempt me…She's a temptation he can't resist…
Roxanne 'Rocki' Monroe's life is full of secrets and hidden heartaches. Cole Stanton would love to heal her pain and chase away the ghosts of her past, but she's just a complication he doesn't have room for in his life.
Or so he thinks.
It doesn't take Cole long to realize he's more than willing to let temptation get the best of him, more than happy to deal with complications if that's what it takes to get her.
What he has and what he needs are two different things…and what he needs is Rocki.
Staring at Rocki standing on the stage, Cole told himself he wasn't going to do it. He'd just broken up with his fiancée. Rocki was still grieving over her husband. It was a bad thing all around. Right?
But that didn't keep him from taking a few steps into the restaurant, getting just a little bit closer. His blood pumped hard and fast as he got closer.
The bids were at two thousand now, but fewer people were involved. As he reached the bottom of the stage, he said loudly, "Three thousand."
Rocki looked down, startled.
Her eyes met his, wide and dark…so dark, he felt lost in them.
Screw the bad things. He wanted this woman, damn it. Maybe just having a simple date would convince him that she wasn't everything he had convinced himself she was. Besides, this whole thing was for charity…a good cause.
"I've got three thousand here," Lacey called out, delight evident in her voice. "Do I have thirty-five hundred?"
Another voice said, "Thirty-five hundred."
Because he was standing so close, Cole saw the minute way Rocki's shoulder's tightened, the flash of something in her eyes. Was it fear? What was it…? It didn't matter.
"Five thousand," he said, still staring at her.
She lifted a brow. "Five thousand?" she mouthed.
Silence fell through the room, and this time, nobody offered another bid.
Lacey grinned down at him. "She's all yours, Mr. Stanton. For a night, at least."
and you can read another excerpt here, or the first 20% of the book on Smashwords at the link below.
*Please note, Smashwords distributes to the other ebook vendors, Nook, Kobo, etc. Once I have the links for them, I'll post them here. At this time, I'm not uploading things directly to sites other than Amazon & Smashwords-there are too many and as Smashwords will distribute the works for me, it's much easier for me to keep track of things this way. I hope you understand. ALSO, please bear in mind, you can buy the formats you need from Smashwords–they've got a very simple FAQ explaining everything here.
Smashwords also sells worldwide, so anybody can buy from there!
If You Know Her
Blurb! I have blurb!!!
A SHADOW IN THE WINDOW
Nia Hollister doesn't scare easily. Come hell or high water, she intends to find her cousin's killer. She returns to Ash, Kentucky, for answers. What she doesn't expect is to ache with desire every time she sees Law Reilly. If any man can help her escape the nightmares for a while, it's him. But can she allow herself to take comfort in those strong arms when a murderer still roams free?
Unknown to Nia, as she quietly slips into Law Reilly's home, is that she's being watched—by someone who is waiting for an opportunity to strike. Timing is everything, though he can't wait forever. If she's not frightened, she soon will be. Nia has made a vow to find her cousin's killer. She should be careful what she wishes for.
I has blurb! And here… you can haz excerpts. For all three books, listed in order, posted on the WHAT'S NEW page…
February 15, 2011
How to be a real pain…#ioffer and copyright
courtesy of Mandy M Roth
Are you an author who keeps having people steal from you with ioffer? FYI, there's no denying pirates piss me off.
Ioffer and the pirates there? More than.
**Please note, this all pertains to ebooks. Not print. Reselling used books is perfectly legal and I've got no problem with it. Now then.
About the mess…
Authors have a few options with this mess.
Ignore it (not an option for me-not only do they violate copyright, they make money from my hardwork and they are stealing. Nope. Not ignoring)
Have the publishers handle it. Yes, this works. But it takes them a week or more. Publishers have their entire house to watch for and small legal staffs. Which means? Your stuff waits it's turn in line.
You can pay somebody-I actually know somebody who handles these. You can authorize somebody to do the takedowns. Don't have an assistant and want to do it that way? Email me. I'll give you her name.
You do it.
Options three and four are the fastest. Option one-basically sticking your head in the sand isn't going to help the problem and until more authors stand up and fight it, the problem isn't going to improve. Option two works, no denying it. But look at it logically. The publishers only have so many people in the legal department. And they've also got other things to do besides piracy and ioffer messes.
Options three and four are the ones that have the most effect and if you're diligent, eventually word gets around. Especially if you stay on ioffer with the takedowns and remind them that they are only protected by the safe harbor laws of the DMCA if they take action against those who repeat offend. What does this mean? If there is a seller who is repeatedly listing your stuff even after you've sent in the takedowns and ioffer isn't doing anything?
Well, I'm no lawyer. But I would think if they aren't taking action…think about it. So remind them that you've complained on such and such seller before…and see if you don't see that seller's store disappear within a day or so. All of the listings. I've watched it happen dozens of times.
Now, I suspect they show back up under another name. But if they relist your stuff? Complain again. Remind Ioffer again. Sooner or later, the sellers get tired of having their auctions yanked and you don't see your stuff as often.
And if you really want to be a pain…
When you send the takedown? Also CC…CC, not BCC to , the SIIA deals with piracy issues. Give them more ammo.
I also make notes on the sellers' pages. Once, Ioffer closed my account. I emailed them and told them that if they allowed people to illegally sell my books, then I had a right to point out to potential buyers they were buying stolen property and if they didn't want me getting rather public with it, they might want to reopen the account. They did. These little notes on the seller's pages? Don't get ugly…remember, a lot of readers still don't get how the ebook thing, piracy and all that jazz works. They may not realize they are buying stolen goods and the ugliness won't benefit you.
I say something like… Be advised, this is copyright infringement and illegal. See the FBI's warning. Then I leave a link to this page. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber/ipr/anti-piracy
Lessons in being an advanced thorn in the side
Well, you can always report them to the IC3, Internet Crime Complaint Center. From their site:
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
As of 2/11/2012, I started taking screenshots of all people who list auctions in violation of my copyright on ioffer. After I send the takedown to Ioffer, I send a complaint to the IC3. Ioffer is also aware I'm doing this-I told them. Pointblank, I told them in an email- "You can find a way to keep illegal goods from your site."
Ebay keeps illegal crap off their site. (Not ebooks, or rather, not as good as they should, but it's possible.) It requires effort on their part, and sure, it will cost them money. But that's their problem. Until they take a more active role in policing their site to keep the illegal goods off of it, I'm reporting them to the IC3.
Maybe if enough fed up authors (as well other intellectual property owners) started regularly filing complaints with the IC3, and making ioffer aware… they'd get their act together.
For Beginners…
Not sure how to get your illegally sold ebooks off ioffer? (FYI, the ebooks sold on ioffer, unless they are in public domain, are most likely illegal, and if you just wrote it? Not in public domain).
Here's what you do…send a takedown notice to copyright@ioffer.com. This has to come from either the publisher, the author, or someone the author has designated to act on their behalf (agents, assistants, etc).
What needs to be in the takedown? From IP Watchdog**, post dated 1/6/09 :
A physical or electronic signature (i.e., /s/NAME) of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that is allegedly infringed.
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.
Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner.
A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that is allegedly infringed.
So, what needs to be there… who you are, what the works are, a link to the works are found, a way to contact you-I provide my PO Box and the phone number of my publishers-not giving those guys my number. And then the last statement is VERY important. I include my name with the words ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE next to it, then my name and contact details.
I send it to ioffer, CC it to netpiracy, then notify the IC3, and I make a screenshot of the auction and save it in a file labeled ioffer. Generally, ioffer has them down within a few hours, a bit longer on the weekends.
Do the numbers on ioffer seem insurmountable? Well, at first, probably. But if you can stay on top of it, word will get around. Especially if you let the sellers know you are reporting them to the IC3… I make sure to mention the connection to the FBI.
If you stay on top of it for a while, those numbers no longer seem so insurmountable. Sellers try to find ways around it, misspelling your name, mis-LISTING the names, etc-they continue to find ways, I continue to look…and when I find them, I report them, not just to ioffer.
In case anybody reading this is a seller? It's not an idle threat on my side. I report. Happily. And with great pleasure. I even forward the confirmation of each successfully submitted complaint to ioffer to let them know about each auction that I've submitted. Sellers might want to consider…if the FBI and other law enforcement agencies that deal with copyright decide to investigate ioffer? Why wouldn't they look to the sellers as well?
heads up… I'm not a lawyer, not a copyright specialist or anything. Just a writer who's tired of dealing with this crap. IMO, ioffer is one of the worst and I've got two years worth of emails/takedowns. It's gotten better over the past few months, finally, but I suspect that's not on because of anything ioffer has done. This is all just my opinion, make of it what you will, but if you are tired of it and want to see a difference, as an author, you're the one with the most power of bringing it about. Ioffer is required by law to remove the infringing works. If you send the proper DMCA, they have to remove the works-if the seller relists, remind ioffer about the safe harbor laws of the DMCA and see what happens. And keep on it…you just may see the difference.
**Re IP Watchdog…he's a very informative and helpful guy. If you use any of his info outside of a DMCA…like a blog…please credit him…thank you!
February 14, 2011
Your most memorable Valentine…
Valentine's Day isn't always everybody's most favorite holiday. Some people don't care. Some people hate it. Some people love it. Me, I like it…it's not Christmas or my birthday but I enjoy it. But instead of talking about the anti-Valentine (larissa had a fun contest, but I can't do an anti-Valentine…I like the day) or an awww…it's so wonderful…, because it's not always, not for everybody, let's just talk memorable.
What was your most memorable Valentine's Day?
Mine? *G* Having roses sent to me at the office one year when I was still working the day job. Hey, I'm materialistic, and I like presents. There was also one year when I came home and there were chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva…drool.
You?
February 13, 2011
Soldier needing mail…
Okay, so I was looking for a picture of a kitten/cat/dog/puppy with mail. But this was too cute, so we're going with it. Got an email from Kelly for another soldier who could use some cards…his birthday is coming up. FYI… if you have questions on what to send or about these posts for soldiers, please read THIS page first-it answers most of those questions.
Her note:
Hi all, we have a young soldier who has a birthday coming up next month. This is one of our soldiers from Iowa, he is a sweetie who LOVES getting mail. He emails everyone back because he wants the support from home.
His birthday is March 22nd, which gives us plenty of time to get him cards and packages if you are so inclined, but cards are what we are looking for here. Try to have in the mail by march 10th for packages or march 15th for cards.
As always thank you for reaching out to our troops!
Kelley
SOS
Tom Kennedy
C/168IN
AFCOP Rahman Kheyl
APO,AE 09364
Authors who do blogs or websites you can feel free to share.
