Today I saw a commercial for a tool that would auto-generate complete books. Including all chapters, text, graphics, layout, everything.
It was tailored to non-fiction, but it's rather scary - at least to writers. What will be the next step? Will there be 100% written - and readable - novels in our future?
Will there be any writers left? Probably. But - to level the playing field - I think we should be honest about WHO is creating the work...
My 'to do' list for publishing something on Amazon KDP, including links to sources or sub-posts, whereever relevant.
Read on... or visit the KDP Essentials page...
Note: this isn't a 'top 10' kind of list. I was just wondering where you could watch them (legally)...
Note that I'm based in The Netherlands, and availability strongly depends on the region you live in...
Alright... this post is going to be a weird one.
I was pointed toward this video by another nettizen (does anyone still use that word?) / Discord user / writer, and the video is quite interesting.
So let's split this post up in two parts: writing related, and a short review of the book itself.
Voor Engelstalige boeken ben je waarschijnlijk beter uit met Amazon + Audible, maar voor Nederlandstalige boeken is Kobo misschien de betere optie.
Koop je online, zorg dan dat je koopt van een betrouwbare (toe)leverancier. Er zijn heel veel spelers welke rotzooi verkopen, of onbetrouwbaar zijn.
Ik beperk me dan ook vooral tot de grotere / betrouwbare namen, maar dat betekent niet dat alle (kleine) shops slecht zijn!
Elke keer wanneer Amazon (Amazon.nl, om precies te zijn) met een trotse melding komt dat je 'al je digitale producten nu op Amazon.nl' kunt kopen krijg ik hoofdpijn. Omdat ik weet dat daarmee gelijk de prijzen omhoog gaan, en het toch niet werkt...
I binged Beacon 23. Think of a lighthouse in space, home to lots of double dealings in the current and the past. I haven't read the book(s) but the series by itself is fine and perfectly watchable, and it more or less sticks the landing after two seasons.
I made these tools to fabricate some of my own plates. These 'tools' are made using wood, some PETG bits and pieces, and a router. These made it a little easier to assemble a plate (but there's still a lot of room for improvements).
3240 can be anything. And stuff sold as FR4 can be outright crap.
So, there's the enterprising Chinese entrepreneur who sells very old FR4 on Amazon... It may once have qualified as FR4, but not today. These plates were old, ugly, damaged, full of scratches, and definitely contain formaldehyde, bromide, and probably tons of other halogens.
Moral of the story: made sure you know what and where you buy!
In the past I've printed some small housings for electronics. Most hobbyists do, and most of the time we're not considering how flammable (printed) filament can be.
I've gathered a few illustrative videos, as well as a list of materials and possible (Dutch) sources. This may lead to a little investigation into the flammability of filament. I might turn it into a YouTube video, yeah! (Pfffff 🙄)
Engineering High Temperature Smooth Textured PEI PEX PEZ PEY Cryogrip SSS Polyurea FR4 GS10 TK99 Honeycomb Cube Wham Bam Lightyear...
My god! It's enough to drive one crazy! So, I've ordered a few different ones, and have been scouring the Internet for more information. And to be perfectly honest: it's a confusing mess.
3 books by a debuting author. The series contains three books, and they're... cheap. Yeah. Literally, I mean. (Discounted on Amazon.)
Unfortunately, the price is somewhat a reflection of the quality of the proofreading. Someone should have given some feedback to the author, and that clearly didn't happen.
I've recently bought some books to become a better writer, and some of those were Janice Hardy's.
At 300 pages this one’s a bit bigger, and of the three Janice Hardy books I’ve picked up this one feels the most like a real ‘text book’, something to study. You can actually buy a companion ‘work book’ to work out the questions at the end of each chapter, but you don't really need it.
Je zou een ton apps verwachten, welke allemaal claimen dat ze je helpen je monitor te kalibreren... Maar nee. En de paar welke ik gevonden heb waren niet echt indrukwekkend. Dus wat te doen als je geen colorimeter hebt?
Uiteindelijk ben ik maar voor de goedkoopste oplossing gegaan: met het blote oog. (Da's altijd fout, maar soms heb je geen andere optie.)
You'd expect to find tons of apps that would claim to aid in monitor calibration, but there aren't that many... and the few I tried were not very impressive. So, unless you have an actual colorimeter, you're pretty much on your own.
I tried some things but in the end I had to settle for the cheapest solution: eyeball it. (Which is always wrong, but sometimes all that's left.)
On https://myindiebookshelf.com/ I ran into Lawrence Nault. Who is... real? Or not? When I see an AI generated or otherwise modified face, I start to doubt. So, just for fun, I looked a little deeper.
Sleuthing on the 'net may also help you to figure out how to present yourself as an author. Learn from the best and the worst, as they say.
Sometimes I sample ultra cheap offers on Amazon / Audible. Here's one of those... It's another typical fantasy / romance with some 'porny' chapters inserted ('She took his cock in her mouth' etc.)...
Unfortunately, though the premise is promising (post apocalypse, Celtic gods, latent magic etc.) the books as a series fail to hold my attention, and I don't need the porn scenes to spice it up. (It isn't romance, it's porn. Duh.)
