Eldon’s Comments (group member since May 30, 2016)

Eldon’s comments from the Support for Indie Authors group.

Tomas wrote: "I haven't seen it yet - would you mind posting a screenshot?"

See if this works...

Tomas wrote: "I haven't seen it yet - would you mind posting a screenshot?"

Not sure I know how to post images on here lol

Just wondering if anyone likes the new home screen on the Kindle device after Amazon's latest update? I wish I could go back to the way it used to be :(

Jeffrey wrote: "I hope this is the right folder to be posting about this. If not, apologies. This and the SIA investigates seemed the most appropriate.

I was googling my work and it looks like ALL of my work is u..."

I answered this question for you under the SIA Investigates post :)

Jeffrey wrote: "I hope this is the right folder to be posting about this.

I was googling my work and it looks like ALL of my work is up for grabs or for members or something on a website "free.4read.live." Has a..."

Hey Jeffrey. Be very careful visiting such websites. Most of them don't actually have your books but could potentially hijack your computer to hold for ransom or just install nasty viruses on it. I would steer clear and not worry about it.

If you find they do have your book (unlikely) you could file a takedown order with them. Most of the time though, it isn't worth your time.

Christine wrote: "Tomas wrote: "Christine wrote: "I wanted to share that I often see picture book authors post on Amazon without doing the following
1. Categorizing properly
2. Making ample LOOK INSIDE section
3. A..."

Wait a minute. You have Amazon show your entire book? Why would anyone buy it then?

I'm going to call this a success :) I contacted Goodreads about this issue and received resolution. In an email to me they assured me

"We don’t tolerate spam on Goodreads, and I’ve removed the content you brought to our attention."

This, along with a promise to do likewise to any more offending links I come across. Not bad all in all :)

M.L. wrote: "It's been going on for years."

Maybe, but that doesn't make it right. I'm not done with this yet!

Well, that didn't work. Put the challenge question in place and still get the obvious fake requests. This is becoming a truly vexing problem.

Gail wrote: "Good luck with finding a place to report this stuff on Goodreads! This is most UN-USER Friendly site I've ever tried to find anything on!"

Very true Gail! And thanks :)

B.A. wrote: "Avast, CC cleaner and Malware bytes. Haven't had an issue in years."

Good to know :)

B.A. wrote: "I noticed someone mentioned bloat ware on the computers. Th first thing I do is take a day and get rid of the all the things I won't be using. What i can't delete I disable. The first things to go ..."

Interesting B.A. So, if you don't use Norton, what do you do to protect against viruses? Also, for someone not well versed in the workings of a computer, how would you be able to tell what updates are good to delete and which ones needed to be kept? And where do you see all this information? Very interested to learn this myself :)

I. wrote: "I formated my book Gurzil on Atticus, an authors best friend. It was extremely easy to use and it came out looking great."

Sweet :)

Anna wrote: "Enabling the challenge question is a good idea, Eldon."

Hi Anna! I did enable that challenge question today. My concern though is not solely for myself. There's a lot of newbies who come here that might not know better than to click on the links these accounts put up in their profile or the comments under their profile.

Those links could easily install malware or ransomware on unsuspecting individuals who trusted that GR policed that kind of thing. You either have a safe online environment, or you don't. Frankly put, people come here for books not pornography or whatever else these sock puppets are peddling :(

This folder seems like as good a spot as any to broach this concern. I've noticed an increase in the number of friend requests from, shall we say, shady accounts. I don't expect anyone here to be able to solve this problem, but perhaps someone could direct me to someone who can do something about it?

It seems to me that the site has been infiltrated by accounts that are pushing links to places on the internet you don't want to go. If they're allowed to persist on here it undermines the overall safety of the site.

Christine wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Christine wrote: "B.A. wrote: "Sotto wrote: "My other question:

What is your take on giving ARC to reviewers? I suppose they must be the reviewers you trust?

At least with published..."

You can ask for them, just be sure you don't require them and be prepared for some of them to not grant you a review :(

Wanjiru wrote: "Jay Said: " ...Then they suggested I un-publish that book and change the size, which doesn’t work, because, once published, the size may not be changed."

I didn't know one couldn't change a book s..."

Not sure either Wanjiru, but I think you're unable to change trim size once published. If I'm not mistaken that forms part of the data associated with the ISBN number. You'd need a new number to change the size which means, republishing.

Christine wrote: "B.A. wrote: "Sotto wrote: "My other question:

What is your take on giving ARC to reviewers? I suppose they must be the reviewers you trust?

At least with published books, your work is out there a..."

Bear in mind Christine you cannot require a review in exchange for the ARC copy of the book. Amazon doesn't allow that type of arrangement.

Dwayne wrote: "The hard truth, Sotto, is that anyone who wanted to steal a manuscript and try to pass it off as their own isn't likely going to target a virtually unknown Indy author anyway. It could happen, sure, but the chances of it are slim enough it's really not worth the worry...."

Good advice Dwayne!

Jay wrote: "What kind of testing department misses something like that, and the cover size screwup? ..."

I think we are the testing department Jay LOL :)