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20 Questions author interview
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Douglas, thanks for this opportunity. I'll answer the questions tomorrow. Thanks!
Hey Shanna. It takes about 15-20 minutes for me to format the answers for the blog, post it, and share it. But, if you give me at least 24 hours heads up, I'd appreciate it.Also, to avoid too much spam, I put a "human factor" question on the form. Please make sure you answer it correctly, or I might not see your responses.
Hi Douglas, really thoughtful idea :) I've submitted mine, the book is already out so whenever you get the chance would be cool! Thanks!
If anyone has submit answers to the interview and entered the human factor to the best of their ability, I have not yet encountered them. And, I am deeply sorry about that, because those that did submit answers, probably put a lot of thought into their answers. I tested the form twice, so it appears to be working (at least for me). I have adjusted it to not filter out the failed human factor test, but just mark it with a possible spam subject (just in case people are a little too human ;).C., Emma, and J.F. - If you have already submit your answers, would you mind sending them again? Again, very sorry for any lost entries.
Ha, I'm a bit too human so if mine's gone walkabout I'd blame me first! I copied half of them because my internet is tempestuous at best, so I'll resend mine :)Says a lot, because I thought just before sending 'should I copy all just in case?' then thought nah... lol
Mod
(Not saying I'm not a robot either)
Okay. It appears to be working. I've received a set of answers from Sue.Christina - I don't remember when I added the human factor to the page. I was receiving a lot of spam in chunks, so I added it, which cut down the spam. Hopefully, it didn't cut it down too much. I don't mind if a robot answers the questions. I'd rather deal with robots than spambots.
Douglas wrote: "Okay. It appears to be working. I've received a set of answers from Sue."Awesome that you are doing this --- counting to 8 while typing randomly generated alphabet letters was a test I almost failed, so good thing your 'human factor' did not require 9 letters...
Yeah. It's my own home-brewed version of Captcha.I will post your interview later today. I really need to put down the social media and get back to work.
Douglas wrote: "Yeah. It's my own home-brewed version of Captcha.I will post your interview later today. I really need to put down the social media and get back to work."
Tell me about it. slinking away now...
Douglas wrote: "Here is Sue's interview:http://pegamoose-g.livejournal.com/62..."
Thanks, Doug, the questions were fun to answer! Hope your blog and your writing do well for you!
Attempt 2 has been sent - we shall see how good my powers of being a human are :)
I got your submission, Emma. I will post it later today. I guess you really are human. ;)
Douglas wrote: "I got your submission, Emma. I will post it later today. I guess you really are human. ;)"Or a next-generation model that can outwit captchas.
The other day at work, we were discussing how hacker-bots use unwitting humans to maneuver around Captchas. Apparently, our robot overlords have figured out how to use porn sites against us.
Hmm. I'm probably more of an unwitting human than a next-gen model on account of the constant falling over and forgetting things, but the end result is the same! Tee hee :)
If I remember correctly, some of the Capcha entries are difficult for a computer algorithm to beat. So, the hackers wrote scripts to send the image and input to porn sites with a fake message that says something about, "If you'd like to continue looking girly peep show, enter the word." Most people wanted to keep looking at the girly peep show, and would enter in the word or code, which is sent back to the hacker's script trying to bypass the Capcha. The script runs, send info, waits for a reply, then proceeds. It's very clever to use human weakness against us, which is why they are our robot overlords.
Ah, can't say I've ever tried but then we are technically conversing via robot-type things rather than snail mail, so you might be on to something there. Just make sure the overlords don't know you've rumbled them!
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Actually, now that I think about it. I've seen this. A long time ago, there was a popular blog that I visited. The mods were really good at keeping up with the spam on current posts, but not so much in the archives. One of the new readers was going back though old posts and found in the comments, two spambots who were having a garbled and surreal, yet very nsfw conversation. We were all a little sad to see it get modded because we never did get closure on their relationship.
Christina wrote: "There's a story here. I'm picturing a bored bot, sending captcha info out to unsuspecting peeper types, who falls for one of the lovely 'models' he sees on the site and tries to send her love lette..."OMG I love that.
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Got it! Thanks, Richard.I usually try to space them out a little. I don't want to bombard my readers with too many at a time.
Eek, thanks Douglas :) I will now be found hiding under my table lol
This sounds like fun! Thanks for the opportunity :)
Hi Douglas, I've submitted my interview. This is a lovely idea. Thank you for doing this.
Thanks so much for doing this Douglas, I've just submitted my answers :)
Thank you everyone for your responses! The people in this group are awesome! (Shh...Don't tell the other groups. They might get jealous)I finally wrote a script to help me auto-format the responses making my life much easier.
I will post new interviews periodically to space them out.
Shanna - I've made a note to post yours October 1. Let me know if you need me to push it out a little further to better coordinate with your release.
Hey thanks for the opportunity. Really good questions. I must say that I've been blown away by the community and selflessness of many established independent writers.
Thanks, Jeefunk, for submitting your answers. I will post them later when I get home from ye olde day jobbe.With publishers working with authors to fit play nicely with industry standards, I agree it's hard to fit us square pegs into the round holes. Why smooth down the edges and make it fit what you know rather than take chances and produce something different and new?
So true, Douglas, not that I'd ever want to prohibit that sort of thing. I mean, sometimes I want to just enjoy something that's fun and isn't intended to conquer new frontiers. I just think for every mould, there should be a cheeky writer trying to break it. Thanks again.
Those questions reminded me of the Monty Python thing with the bridge of certain death. To cross the bridge, first you must answer three questions.
One. What is your name?
Two. What is your favourite colour?
Three. What is the air velocity of a European land swallow?
Um.... WAAAHH!!!!!
It's just the switch from easy to utterly obscure...
Interested, Shanna, to see you staying out of KDP Select for your second book. I'm at exactly the same stage and made the same decision. Being visible on more sites is worth the tradeoff, I think. Now if they could just fix bookmangler or whatever the ghastly conversion software on Smashwords is called, it would be a no-brainer.
Is the offer still open? If so, I'm marking this to answer tomorrow (presuming allergy meds don't knock me out again.)
The offer is open until I take it down, which is not any time soon.On a side note, I was organizing the past entries. The interview has helped introduce over 70 indie authors to new potential readers. :)
Douglas wrote: "The offer is open until I take it down, which is not any time soon.On a side note, I was organizing the past entries. The interview has helped introduce over 70 indie authors to new potential rea..."
This is so cool that you have done this Douglas. I'll be filling mine out. :)
Thank you so much Douglas for doing this! I've started offering a similar interview on my own blog, but hadn't found many places where I could be interviewed. This was actually fun!
Thank you Charles and K for re-discovering this interview. Charles, I've posted yours this morning. K, I will post yours tomorrow. I've met so many interesting authors since starting it.
I posted K's interview this morning.Glad the interview post worked out for you Charles.
Douglas wrote: "Thank you Charles and K for re-discovering this interview. Charles, I've posted yours this morning. K, I will post yours tomorrow. I've met so many interesting authors since starting it."
Got the notice, and thanks again Douglas.
I enjoyed that. There were some thought provoking questions.
I got your interview, Patricia. I will most likely post it either later today or tomorrow. And, I will contact you offline when it is available.To everyone who has completed the interview, thanks for taking the time to share.
Thank you. I'll put a link up on my twitter account and blog, once it's complete.
I have a webform set up on my site that presents 20 questions to any author who would like to partake an interview. Just fill out your answers to the best of your ability and submit. Then, I post your interview on my blog (either as I receive them, or you can request to be coordinated with an upcoming release). The blog is shared via my social media, plus I'll email you and let you know when it is available for you to share, too. Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.checkeredscissors.com/page...
Christina (who recommended this group to me) participated in the interview. As an indie author, I know the struggles of getting recognized. Just doing my part to help you.