Well, it’s been quite a week so far. Thank the gods and goddesses it’s half over, though at this point I’m not sure my BP*’s gonna stay within a moderately healthy range if it keeps on keeping on in the current downward spiral.

Undoubtedly you’ve heard about SPAMAZON and the scammers attack on our wallets (us being both readers and authors, aka content providers). They managed to skim off millions while Amazon played the duck responsibility game, plugging holes by opening up more gaping orifices from which bleed authors’ life blood. Amazon’s fix managed to net quite a few innocent victims via a slap on the tuskus regarding placement of ToCs* and more jiggling of their infamous and ever-changing ToSs*. They also limited number of pages allowed in a document to 3000, closing down the spammers’ take from an estimated $100 per fake book to a measly $12 (gracious, my heart bleeds for them).

Read all about it: HERE,   HERE,   HERE,  and  HERE  and the Zon’s response HERE.

There’s probably lots more out there, but this should bring y’all up-to-speed. You’ll want to pay special attention to Amazon’s claim they know how to calculate number of pages read in order to determine KU compensation based on that metric. Hmm, seems as if that might perchance be just a rough approximation or (gasp) a falsehood?  I’ll let you decide.

The upshot for this content provider: I said buh-bye to KDP for all titles registered in KU (it will take time to dislodge myself but eventually I’ll be KU FREE). And as a reader, I opted to no longer support such shenanigans by cancelling my subscription to KU.

On a side note: since I am a power reader and gobble about 20-25 books per month (some are novellas, many are ‘short novels’), I looked at the last two months and assessed the percentage I returned without finishing. The number was actually staggering: fully 75% of the borrows did not meet minimum editing or good storytelling best practices and simply weren’t worth my time. 75% And I’m not talking about “to my taste.” If a story is well-written, yet in a non-preferred genre or style, I will read it all the way through because, well… STORY rules and I don’t want to miss out on expanding my horizons.

Then on the political front… TRUMP… and this video with real women reading real Trump quotes: see full story here.

And last, but by no means least, Firstborn and I binge-watched seasons 1 & 2 of #BlackSails, only to find we have no way to catch up with season 3 since we don’t subscribe to STARZ , and I’m already in withdrawal and needing me a Vane and a Flint fix!

It’s… it’s… gawd! I love that show. It makes me insanely happy. #fangirling

TOC: TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOS: TERMS OF SERVICE

BP: BLOOD PRESSURE

I think I’ll go watch the last episode of #BlackSails again—the look Vane gave Flint when he ordered Charlestown leveled? That look, like Vane recognized Flint’s the baddest of all the badasses around. Oh yeah, that one—a real defining moment.