USA 50 State Challenge update - 

So, nearly 16 months ago I launched a fun challenge to see if I could get at least one person from each of the 50 States to visit my website www.ajwilsonbooks.net/  I seem to recall that I thought it would take around 12 months to complete - oh well.

It has been a little up and down but now there are only FOUR States left:

Montana 
Wyoming
North Dakota
South Dakota

So, if you know anyone on any of those States ask them to click onto my website, just to say hello, then at least I can cross it off as completed.

Cheers

www.ajwilsonbooks.net/

Why is a person bullied on the net?

On my travels around the forums I occasioned upon a post with a link the blog of a very well known author, John Scalzi. 

Two points to make before you read on:

1) I have no link or relationship with John Scalzi, he doesn't even know I exist.

2) In my opinion 'bullying' on the internet is just sooooo yesterday! It seems the whole world is being 'bullied' - so much so the use of the words 'bully - bullied - bullying' have become fashion accessories - sorry darling, you're just not part of the in crowd unless you've been bullied. 'Bullied is the new popular! Seriously, if governments could find a way of taxing just that one word..... well, you get the idea. Make no mistake, I am not belittling those unfortunate individuals that have truly suffered at the hands of the halfwits, but it seems like everyone wants to claim 'I've been bullied.' 

The wonderful thing about the internet is that with the press of a single button you can disconnect. It's not like being in a playground where you are surrounded by the bully's gang, unable to escape, forced to endure the onslaught of unpleasantries, nope, not at all - just one button push and it's gone. The definition of being 'bullied' has gone through such a series of downgrades that, according to some, a simple non-complementary term, or even a simple difference of opinion qualifies as 'bullying' - complete crap, 

Anyway, back to John Scalzi - I've never read any of his books, I only know what I've read about him on the internet but I love his honesty, I think he would be a great dinner guest, (and by that I mean a McDonalds with a group of mates) - here is an exert from his blog, and I have to say...... I couldn't agree more!

Bettie Pager asks:

Generally, bullies bash people to get particular reactions — they want to shut down others’ voices or at least scare them. But, at least from the outside looking in, the only affect the Mewling Manlings/Rabidly Sad Puppies/etc. have on you is an occasional volley of very well-crafted snark. Given that they don’t seem to be getting what bullies generally want out of you, why do you think they keep at it?

Well, with regard to the Puppies specifically, I don’t think they’re trying tobully me. They just like to use a fictional version of me as a poster boy for Everything That’s Wrong With Science Fiction, and occasionally the poster boy for Sure We’re Doing a Shitty Thing But This Guy Kinda Did It First If You Squint Real Hard, and always as the poster boy for WAAAAAAAAAAAH SCALZI WE JUST HATE YOU SO MUCH AND WISH YOU WOULD DIE. Which is different than bullying. There’s not much to do but snark on that, honestly. They keep at it, I suppose, as a community-building activity. Which, you know. I guess is nice? None of their rationales for slating holds up to even casual scrutiny but at least they’re united in their dislike of me? Bless their little hearts. I wish them joy.

Which is not to say that occasionally someone on the Manly Men Who Manfully Man Mantastically spectrum won’t occasionally try to get in my face (online) in an attempt to intimidate me. In which case a little condescension followed by judicious application of the mute button is the usual order of things. I suspect some of them might consider ignoring them “running away,” but then they would, wouldn’t they, the dear, sweet lads. OH YOU CAN’T TAKE IT CAN YOU? Sure, I can take it. I just don’t have to take it, so I don’t. Life’s too short.

But note well that a) as a well-off straight white dude, I find it very easy to condescend to, and then ignore, all manner of schmuck, b) as a well-off straight white dude who can condescend and then ignore, I am a low-value target for bullies. The bully pathology is “punch down, suck up”; that is, harass and threaten people they believe are lower (or should be lower) on whatever fucked-up social hierarchy they subscribe to, and then run back to people they see higher up on the hierarchy for head pats (this is why bullies on Twitter often “@” who they see as higher-value bullies when they try to crap on someone).

For lack of a better way to put it, for their pathology, bullies get a lot more mileage out of other people than they do me. And alas for those other people, it is more difficult for them to wave off attempted bullying, both in terms of its seriousness, and its volume, than it is for me. My ability, and luxury, to point and laugh at, and then ignore, the sad little dudes who try to pull this crap on me, should not be construed as me suggesting this sort of nonsense is not a real problem for others. It is, and it needs to be dealt with.

For the full article: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/05/12/reader-request-week-2015-4-bullies-and-me/

What's your thoughts?

I'm sat at the dining table, all the tools of trade strewn across the varnished pinewood; laptop, notepad, 3 different coloured ink pens, some fact sheets constructed from various internet sites, a brief loose map of the story backbone and.... a cup of tea. The basic component parts to my writing position. With the exception of Barney, our rescued multi-bloodlined, faithful hound, (a 'mongrel' by any standard), the house is empty, and peaceful. I'm not one of those authors that demands complete silence, or locks themselves away for weeks at a time in order to scribe a story but I'm making the most of this opportunity.

So, screen up, glasses pushed up on top of my head and let's get to it.

At this point I have three books published, with a further six now waiting to be completed, or waiting for finances to avail themselves facilitating progress through to editing.

I am, without doubt, my own worst critic; I write great stories, or at least they always seem 'great' to start with. A few weeks after finishing the story I'll reread it, they just never seem quite as good as I remembered, and that's when the red pen comes out. I've also noticed a distinct 'pattern' to my writing; I love to jump around, weaving a dozen plots at a time, gradually meshing them all together for the final scene, it's just the way my mind works. But that's not the pattern I'm referring to. I'm one of those authors that seems to like to start the story quietly. I would liken my style to music masterpiece 'O Fortuna' (Carmina Burana) - gentle introduction, draw the reader in, gradual build then BOOM! and hold that pace until the end.

It's that gentle start that is bothering me. I've read many blogs and articles around the merits of the 'BOOM' start, straight into the action, then reveal how the characters arrived at the scene retrospectively. Remembering that Amazon has a 'Look inside' feature which allows the would-be purchaser to view the early words of a book, I can see where this sort of beginning can act as a good hook, a very valuable opportunity to tempt the reader into purchase... so why don't I use this technique? Dunno. I delved deeper into my brain in search of a plausible explanation and believe I have uncovered it...

As I was growing up my reading preferences including story's like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series, The Hobbit, and naturally the Lord of The Rings. I then moved to Sven Hassel and David Eddings, before spending a while in the wilderness of Autobiographies - Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson, Lady Diana, Brian Clough, Sharon Osborne (the 1st one), Billy Connolly, Michael McIntyre and a few others. It seems that (unsurprisingly) my writing style reflects my reading preferences. Does that make me old?!

Maybe I need to try the "Boom' start, see how it goes. Every book I've read seems to have that fill-in chapter or two - the information dump, or scene setting, painting the picture, too much detail that slows the tempo but increases the word count. And there it is! There is the point, or the maybe the problem? My story's seem to be quite polarizing; people seem to love them or 'did not finish'. With some it is the frantic and exciting pace that absorbs them, that they love - yet others complain that the characters aren't 'developed' enough. If I slowed the pace to give depth to more characters those that love the pace would probably become the complainers, and the complainers would become the advocates. Tough decision eh?

Actually, it's not, I write the stories as they come. I tend not to conform to the traditional, and I don't write for the masses. It is still early days, and I'm still learning my craft (so to speak). I've learned that I love to write, I'm just waiting to find the right niche, those people that will read my books and enjoy the way I write - it's fun to be different! (Providing your living doesn't depend on it).

One thing that Amazon has definitely done is to have prized away the power and control of the big publishing houses. They (the big five trad publishers) no longer dictate the reading material available to the masses. People can now try new things, explore new genres and styles, experience authors that they would never have been exposed to had it not been for Amazon and the Indie Author/ Self publishing opportunities. That has to be a good thing yeah?!

If people ignore the warnings..........

Here's a thing, in the world that I live in (and I think this is the same for 95% of the worlds population) if I see a sign that reads 'Warning! Bridge out ahead', probably accompanied by a pictorial representation of a little black car driving off the end of a solid black bridge painted inside a red bordered triangular sign standing erect on the roadside, I would consider my route very carefully. It seems reasonable to me to believe that to continue driving on said road will result in trauma, or possibly death. Should I be surprised if, ignoring the warning signs, I end up sat behind the steering wheel of my little car as it sails through the air into a ravine, deep gully or onto the freeway underneath? And who's fault is it? 

What's my point? 

Russian Redemption, my first book, carries a number of warnings:

"An Adults ONLY story that contains some graphic and shocking violence coupled with intrigue and conspiracy, it is a portrayal of life and death in war-torn Russia, the depths of depravity a human can sink to, and the cruel mind games played by those in power. It is also a look inside the Kremlin and the NKVD in the time of Stalin, and into life in a USSR the early "Russian revolutionaries" would never have imagined."

Described by the Wishing Shelf Awards as "A dark, horror-filled look at Russia in 1941. Powerfully written and fascinating."

Some of the reviews highlight the nature of the content as well:

"A HIGHLY ENGROSSING, THOUGH VERY DISTURBING TALE"

"A Novel of Brutality and Cruelty"

All of this and yet still the Sunday School teacher type choose to read it and are shocked to the point of being "so disgusted I couldn't read another word...". I'm not surprised! Why the bloody hell would you choose to read a story that is clearly beyond the moral tolerance of someone that believes the sky is blue and the clouds are made out of candy floss?! People that live in a bubble where the sun always shines, flowers bloom and the dark side of humanity is denied an existence.

I don't want you people reading "Russian Redemption" - I don't want to be responsible for introducing you to the reality of war; the violence and the violations of the horrible side of sub human existence. And I sure as heck don't want you bleating about how shocked and mentally scarred the story has left you - It's supposed to!!!

What's prompted this reaction? I got an email this morning in response to a review request submitted to a 'Review website' on 22nd August 2013 - just one line, 'Sorry.... 2 people tried to read it but couldn't so there is no review for you..' type email. It took nearly 2 years for that!

I don't really worry about reviews too much - I know that positive reviews can certainly help sales,of course they can, but I also know that the Amazon review process is so flawed it's pretty pointless to a degree. And, of course, a review is very subjective, very personal. But seriously folks, if you don't like blood, gore, perversion, rape, intrigue, violence or people dying PLEASE DO NOT READ 

Thank you.

ajwilsonbooks.net

ANZAC Weekend, perspectives need to be readjusted.

I'm not sure just how much this has to do with writing, or being an author, but during times of deep reflection, I suppose all things should be considered.

Occasionally I go off on a personal tangent - now is one of those times, so feel free to stop reading if you are looking for something amazing about authordom to follow.

Gallipoli, May 1915 - a hundred years ago. tens of thousands of ordinary people, men just like the bloke you sit next to at the bar, or work alongside, or share a bus ride with, or people you bump into in the street; tens of thousands of men just like them, struggled with their inner most fundamental basic beliefs of humanity, and set about killing each other. If the stories are to be believe, these brave men were slaughtered as a result of incompetent leadership, poor military tactics and, to be frank, a complete disregard for their own safety. I truly have to wonder what can possibly motivate grown men to rush machine guns with nothing more than a single shot rifle and a bayonet? What must they feel when they've just watched two or three lines of their comrades cut to ribbons, without even clearing the lip of the trenches? How do they take those next few steps up the makeshift ladder to almost certain death? Is it the forlorn hope that the machine gunners have ran out of ammunition, or changing the belt fed bullet spitting machine guns of the Turkish army? Or is it a strange acceptance that it's just 'their time'? I am reminded of a conversation I had with an old Scotsman, a lot of years ago: "Death becomes your friend." he told me, "Not in a 'lets have a beer and a chat' type friend, but more of a 'C'mon pal, walk with me, it'll soon be over' type friend." Strangely, I suppose I have a better understanding remembering his words, but I certainly won't pretend to be able to imagine the horrors they must have witnessed. Some would say a belief in God drove them forward, some were willing to give up their own life to stop the enemy from reaching out it's claws and striking at the homeland of their families, and some were programmed to follow orders; whatever the motivation, it must have been a hell beyond words.

Lessons were not learned as they should of been, that is obvious even by modern standards. But I want to focus on that unknown Private soldier, huddled in a trench, ankle deep in rain water polluted by the blood of the many soldiers that lay dead in its path as it washed over the hillside battlefield. I can't get in to his head. To try and imagine what he must have felt deep inside, waiting for the whistle blast that will send him to his untimely death, is beyond me because my imagination could not do justice to that mans personal suffering. And for that I thank him!

I always buy and wear a poppy; I was in the army, my two brothers were in the army, my father was in the army.... you get the picture. We were always taught to respect those that have gone before, taught to respect the sacrifice, particularly of the fallen. My children have had the same education based on one very simple understanding - If it wasn't for them, if it wasn't for those incredibly brave hundreds of thousands, we would not have the life that we have today. There is a luxury about not being able to imagine the horrors that those servicemen and woman must have witnessed, experiences that were repeated across Europe. And, it's a 'luxury' purchased with the lives of those same men and women.

So, "where the heck am I going with all this", I hear the strange person sitting in the dark, still reading this,

Well, for me it's my yardstick for what's important, what matters; would that unknown Private soldier give a flying stuff about it? If the answer (in my head) is 'no' then it puts things in perspective for me. And here I shall introduce this thinking into the realm of authorom; based on the above, just how important are bad reviews? (You didn't see that coming eh?). With all the charges of lost revenue, personal attacks, 'trolling' or sock puppets, just how important - on a scale of the 'damns' given by those soldiers in Gallipoli one hundred years ago - is it?

Just my thoughts.

Amazon fight for what's right..... but why?

It's all over the news that Amazon (The internet retail giant) is taking legal action against sites that offer reviews for money - bought & paid for 4 and 5 star product reviews (including books).

Is this the first step of an Amazon mission to clean up its act? Well, lets hope so, but it has a lot to do.

To understand the 'gaming' that goes on we need to agree the true purpose of an honest review:

The review process is designed so that would-be customers have view of the honest opinions of those that have tried the product that they are thinking of purchasing, simplified by the 1-5 star grading system. This in itself is not without challenges as it relies on the 'reviewers' own thoughts, needs and motivation. "Why motivation?" I hear you ask; well Amazon runs a league table of reviewers, the further up that league a person is, the more likely a company (or author) are to want them to leave a review for their product/book. Reviewers, like authors, have fans, a group of people that have made a purchase based on a review given, and have been pleased, or in agreement with, that reviewers opinions. There is a 'was this review helpful to you?' Yes/No option at the end of each review AND by selecting one or the other the reviewer can climb or sink in the 'reviewers' chart - to the point where some Reviewers/Authors float around Amazon using this system to downvote their competition, or create 'sock puppet' accounts to upvote their own reviews, pushing themselves up the league table of Reviewers. (probably going for the double hit and using the same account(s) to push their competition down the table). What do they gain? Freebies! Like I said, people want their products reviewed by the 'best' reviewers so will happily send free  samples in order to get the higher ranking reviewers to recommend their product by way of a good review.

The average purchaser is going to look at two similar products and the one with the most 4 or 5 star reviews automatically becomes the one to beat - choice made. It's not quite the same with books as there are a lot of personal preferences that one has to consider - genre, style, content etc.but the reviews do still have an impact.

As with any system, there are people that live to game it, use it to their own advantage, and I am absolutely positive that there are people out there that make a tidy income from doing just that - a particularly famous (or infamous) one is Harriet Klausner, an American woman who claims to read between 2 and 6 books a day, every day - books sent to her for review by unsuspecting authors, but many of those books ended up on her ebay/trade me account.

But it's got a little too brazen for Amazon to continue to turn a blind eye when you have websites that guarantee 4 or 5 star reviews for pretty much any product (including books) for a cash donation - and this is what Amazon are fighting. Why? Well, I have two very different trains of thought here:

1. The more 'gaming' that goes on then the less effective the Amazon reviews become, completely devalued by the poison of fake reviews. Customers complain to Amazon, their name gets sullied and Big A gets the hump. After all, its system is designed to help its customers.

2. Big A doesn't like it when someone else is making money off the back of their system - if anyone is going to make money, it has to be Big A.

Now, you may feel that option 2 is a little cynical, possibly even harsh, but never forget that Amazon is a business, a big business that doesn't play nice with others, so don't discount that train of thought too readily.

The end result is the same, so maybe the motivation doesn't really matter, I'm ok with that.

One thing that Amazon desperately needs is more honest reviewers, more ordinary people that are willing to offer their opinions based on their own experiences of a product/book for the benefit of others, not for their own gain in terms of reward or ego tickling.

Ammy has got a long way to go, and I do hope that this is the start of a housekeeping clean up - time will tell.

As an Indie Author the honest reviews are critical to me, good or bad it doesn't matter - just so long as they are a persons honest opinions.

Who's watching whom? The perils of an author..... (tongue in cheek)

Firstly, I love Google Analytics - I agree that it's not perfect, but it is very informative. I also have to confess that my brain is quite quick at spotting unusual trends and patterns - and I can be a tincey wincey mischievous.

However, even I was surprised to see the sudden interest my blog site was attracting from some very unusual countries. I do a lot of book research on-line, and a lot of my stories involve terrorist plots, or anti-terrorist scenario's. I am a great believer in the plausibility of a plot and the accuracy of things like component parts, weaponry and so forth, are very important- you get the picture. Last weekend was Easter bank holiday and I was fortunate enough to have the head space to write a new 20,000 short story over those four days; this one is set in the middle east and involves a handful of Iraqi officers. For the plot to work I needed to research Sunni and Shia Muslims, the differences in their core beliefs pertaining to very specific scenario's, certain traditions and of course the Quran.

Other factors in my life have meant that I haven't had the opportunity to post here for several weeks (sorry about that) so why then, all of a sudden, have 86 people from the Ukraine, 78 people from Russia and 46 people from the US come visiting?

Strange activity indeed - but wait, that's just this blog site; if people were taking an interest in my on-line presence then wouldn't they also be looking at my website? www.ajwilsonbooks.net I'd better check (Paranoia? Possibly but it has kept me alive so I'm ok with that) >>>> Runs over to website - hhmm for the first time in the 20 months that I've had the website up and running I have more than two visitors with location 'not set' - in fact there have been 149 visitors from 'location not-set'! That is a huge anomaly, especially when, also for the first time in it's history, the number of recent visitors from the US outnumbered those from New Zealand, and not just by a few - as a side note I see that 25 visits from China puts them on 4th place. 

So, that's 

So, if I happen to disappear in the next few weeks/months, or am the victim of a slightly unusual 'accident' would someone mention this to an honest copper somewhere - cheers.