Month: March 2024

Has Independent Publishing on Amazon Lost Its Allure?

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Photo by M.A.D.

Has self-publishing on Amazon lost its allure? I have asked myself the question, and I honestly think that it has become a non-monitored farm where the cows run amok, and the farmer is too busy to do it all. The amount of crap (content without any creative effort just for the sake of making a quick buck) that has been published over time is nothing compared to the amount of low content books that plague the site. Low content books are defined as “books” that have minimal content/text, are repetitive or contain templates, blank pages, or a simple design/drawing. Examples are coloring books, notebooks, journals … Although there are many of these items that have been created with much care, creativity, and offer value to the customer, and that is a legitimate endeavor, there is another type of low content that does not follow the guidelines, and the creator has not made an effort to make the product legitimate. It does not have any valuable or substantial content for the customer. This type of low content takes up a lot of real estate on Amazon, and it is being published at a fast rate, thus “clogging up” Amazon. The problem is the product that does not offer anything to the user and is created without any creative care or thought-out intent. These self-publishers only focus on quantity vs quality and are there to sell as many low-content books to make fast money.

Legitimate authors are paying the price having to navigate the dirty waters that are flooding prime real estate. Although Amazon is making efforts and intensifying the review process, as well as removing non-compliant books, the flood gates have been open for a while. This will be a long and continuous effort, and hopefully, will alleviate part of the problem. I say part of the problem because there are many other issues in the future, if not now, such as AI generated “books” or content from legitimate authors that might have been manipulated and rebranded, and of course, there has always been content on public domain that can be published by anyone. As you can imagine this takes up prime real estate on Amazon.

So, has independent publishing on Amazon lost its allure for legitimate authors? Well, the answer to that might depend on the answer to other questions: Has publishing on Amazon lost prestige? Is Amazon too crap-saturated? Has Amazon hurt legitimate authors by allowing this type of content? Will the traditional publishing industry say, “I told you so?” The questions are many. Self-publishing continues to evolve, hand in hand with technology, and no one knows what the future holds, even for the big giant. I guess that for now, I’ll take it one book at a time.

Long Gone Are the Days

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Photo by MAD

The other day, I was minding my daily grind and an idea for a new novel came to mind, a good one, I thought. The idea presented itself as the beginning and ending of the story, nothing in between. I was busy, so I decided to write it down later on. Later on never came, and the whole idea went out of my mind; I simply cannot remember it. When it is gone, it is gone for good. This is something that I find happens more often as I age. Before, in my younger years, I would put the thought or idea on pause, and come back to it later. Not so anymore. That is why now it has to be written when it presents itself, otherwise it is lost forever, and forever is a long time.

As we age, our memory is a bit less reliable than it was in our younger years. We are not as quick and sharp as we used to be, and that happens to every person, to some more than others. After researching this topic for my own benefit, I decided to write this post. No matter how old we are, it is good to exercise the mind just as we exercise the body. It is common knowledge that exercising the body improves the mind function, and so does eating a healthy diet; so is leaving habits like smoking, alcohol, drugs, sugar …. Beyond that, what can a person do to improve brain function? Getting enough sleep and rest is another item in the commonsense bucket. Aside from those mentioned above, experts recommend social contact, mental activities that exercise the brain such as word puzzles, painting, drawing, manual dexterity activities, reading, jigsaw puzzles, learning something new … Eating nuts and seeds seems to be beneficial, and so is my favorite treat, dark chocolate. There are other foods that appear to boost your brain, and vitamins such as B6, B9, B12, are also beneficial. Some supplements are specific to brain health, and there is difference of opinion about that. Meditation and keeping a diary seem to help as well. All of the above things I do already, although I have to work on the “sweet tooth” a bit more.

All this information most of us know it by heart; it has been repeated over and over. I find that most times, I forget things when I am on automatic pilot and not being mindful of what I am doing. When I pay attention and focus on what is at hand, I feel more alert and conscious, even organized and with less brain fog. I guess use it or lose it is appropriate in this case. Long gone are the days.

When Miracles Leave a Trail

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Photo by M.A.D.

Ever been in a situation where no matter how much you analyze it there appears to be no solution? In those instances, one hopes for a miracle, and many prayers after, a miracle takes place. Most likely, one recognizes and appreciates the miracle, however, many times, it takes a while to comprehend the full impact of that miracle and all the backstage work (godly work) leading to it. Sometimes, it takes time to see the whole miracle as it unfolded. It is then, when we start discovering little pieces of information that come to us bit by bit, leading us to understand and comprehend the magnitude of a miracle. It is this trail of awe that makes us see in full completion the experience of it. If gratitude and awe were strong before, the trail of a miracle not only humbles us, but plants a seed of hope, faith, joy, and peace within.

One realizes that human reasoning has its limits, and when reached, faith and hope take over. If you have experienced a miracle, a happy resolution to what seemed like a hopeless situation, pay attention to the trail that it leaves, and your perspective (more so) will be changed.

Looking Forward

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Spring is almost here, and the old farmhouse becomes alive again. That entails many chores, most of them delightful, at least in my eyes. To prepare this home for spring, I like to give the porch a refresh, change or move around things a bit, after a good cleaning. The side entrance gets new life as well. Both entrances are adorned with new wreaths (recycled). This year, it was time to change the tattered flag and replace it with something different. I love the farm animals’ motif on this flag. I have decided to eliminate the side entrance flag in order to simplify the outdoors a bit. It will stay up until the holidays, and then, I will remove the pole as well. Most of these items have migrated from indoors to outdoor use as I continue to declutter and simplify things inside. I love pine trees, so the pine tree sign stays all year and so does my two potted cedars. I found the little cedars growing outside when these were about two or three inches tall, and they have grown lovely. They look great during the Christmas season as well. In living simply, one of the things I have decided to eliminate is having artificial flowers all over the house, indoors that is. These flowers were repurposed for use on the side door arrangement. The rest of the flowers and many other items were donated to our local SPCA thrift shop. All the proceeds go to help pets in the shelter and families who need pet food and cannot afford it at a particular time. It is a great place. Once the holidays arrive again, I will eliminate most of my Christmas decor, and leave only a few items and our Christmas tree. I have already told members of my family that I don’t want any gifts, unless they disappear with use, such as a candle or holiday food items, if they insist on gifting. As I age, I find the need and want for things, whether decor or other has really diminished. I can appreciate the beautiful and lovely things without wanting these items. I have only left some meaningful items that represent gifts from people I love, and a few dear to me. I like the feeling of lightness and simplicity, and as I am enjoying this feeling, I think more items will have to find new homes and people who will appreciate these in their surroundings. It is a win-win.

The month of March is reserved for setting up the garden areas and for general cleanup. Areas that have not performed well will be eliminated, and other areas will be improved or simplified. The idea is to make the garden more enjoyable and less of a chore. Some potted plants will be condensed and in general, the areas will become less cluttered and easier to manage. March is also the time to clean and set up the veggie garden and also a time to plan what veggies we will plant this year. We also plan the outdoor projects for this year. We will try to tackle one project a month, if possible. One very important, and the first project we will tackle is fixing the way the grape vine is hanging. We let it grow over the veggie garden fence. Last year was the first year that we would have collected grapes, and the vine was full of grapes. However, when the grapes were almost ready to pick, they disappeared overnight, hundreds of grapes gone. I was puzzled. We think that deer had a feast, so we have to come up with a solution. We trimmed the vine, and we will start it again this year, higher up this time.

Outdoor projects will continue until September or October, depending on the weather, so there is not much time to do everything we would like to do. However, planning helps us take care of the most important issues and prioritize them. I will share some of these projects here.

Happy Spring!

Your Dream Might Overshadow Your Purpose

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Dreaming starts early in life. It starts wishing for favorite toys and things we want as kids, and it continues to evolve to more complex desires, material, such as a car or a house, and even nonmaterial things such as success, financial freedom, and so on. I don’t think that there is anyone on this planet that does not have at least one dream.

For many of us, our most precious dreams manifest late in life; other people never get to realize their dream, and others struggle all their life in pursuit of something that never materializes. Other people realize what they thought was their dream, was actually not after achieving it. Sometimes, our dreams can overshadow a main purpose. That is, we are so focused on achieving what we want (or think we want) that we forget the main objective, which might be different from our dream. For example, let’s say that I run a shop to raise money for a cause. The main purpose is to make as much money to benefit such cause. However, I had a dream of owning an upscale boutique, and the shop is fulfilling a small part of that dream, emotionally that is. Ideally, and keeping to the main purpose of raising money for a cause, I would price items at various price points to attract as many people as possible in order to achieve my main purpose. However, my own dream gets in the way and overshadows my main objective. I start thinking of more upscale items that will attract specific buyers, and not the number of customers I need coming through the doors in order to achieve the main purpose. In this example, my personal dream overshadowed my main objective which was to raise as much money as possible for a cause. Another example, it is also the case of parents who live their dream through their kids. The kid’s own dreams take second place and so does parenting. These are just two examples but this can apply to many things in life, including writing.

We are emotional beings and sometimes, the strings of the heart play a louder melody, thus deafening us to our main objective. To dream is in our nature, and so is to strive and achieve a purpose/objective. Sometimes, those two don’t necessarily align well. When in doubt, go back to the main objective.

We can think that the moon is a slice of cheese, or we can see it for what it is. (Photo by M.A.D.)