Wildwood Reader

Jen | 36 | Books & Fanfiction | Lover of Fantasy, SciFi, Paranormal, Danmei, Dark Academia

[wildwood-reader]

MASTERPOST

Reading Updates

Recent Reads as Moodboards

Monthly Wrap-Ups

[startrekladies]

EZRI DAX in 7.11 "Prodigal Daughter" Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)

[atomiccollectionanchorme]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 7 Episode 11 "Prodigal Daughter"

[dependenta1de1pacanele]

And then bigots try to say new star trek turned woke 😭

[club-cryptid-by-sarah]

[fliplifeupsidedown]

fantastic

[uinre]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY JANE AUSTEN Illustrated By Anna & Elena Balbusso (2013)

[juleskelleybooks]

If you want books to exist, stop pirating them.

This sounds like drama, but it's not.

Not only is it well documented that pirating contributes to publishers not buying more manuscripts from an author (Maggie Stiefvater's experiment being the most famous), now we have evidence that Amazon's Kindle Unlimited algorithm is registering pirated copies of books online as the book being "offered" somewhere else, and punishing the authors for it.

And I don't know how much you know about Kindle Unlimited, but the thing is, if your book is in KU, you have to check a little box that says you're not offering the book anywhere else for sale. At all. So when the algorithm is finding the pirated copies, it's pinging it as, Oh! The author lied! The author misrepresented their sales strategy! ACCOUNT DELETION FOR AUTHOR. NO ROYALTIES FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS.

Miette jokes aside, that's actually what's happening to very popular self-pub authors. Ruby Dixon just had her account deleted, her 15+ volume popular KU series taken down, and Amazon fighting her over the KU Pages royalties she'd already earned on those books. Now, Ruby's got her account back because she's popular enough that people shouted at Kindle executives very, very loudly, but what about other authors? This could ruin someone's career.

Well, why not publish wide, I hear you saying. Why stick to Kindle Unlimited? After all, Amazon sucks.

Here's the thing. Whether we like it or not, Amazon has a massive corner market on books, and for authors who are self-publishing, it is by far the most accessible and cost-effective method, PLUS, it's a great way to be discovered by new readers.

Because readers don't have to pay for individual titles under KU (they pay for a subscription, and then Amazon pays out authors based on how many pages of the book someone read), they can give new authors a try. They can take a chance on a book they're not sure they'll like. And Amazon tends to promote KU titles more aggressively because it's good for their business.

My little $0.99 short story, Swelter, is on Kindle Unlimited, and I can tell you that a good 85% of my royalties from it come from KU pages, not from people buying it. And that's for a story that costs less than a dollar and is not a big investment and has pretty good word-of-mouth in the f/f reading community.

Self-publishing is expensive, and time consuming. I'm getting away with it pretty cheaply right now because I am also a professional editor, and I have friends in the business who are willing to trade in kind rather than be paid. I have a really wonderful friend who is doing my ebook formatting for free because I beta read and do proofing for her. But if I were paying for all the services that I'm trading for, as most authors have to do? I'd be well over $1500 sunk into this little ebook coming out in a week that is going to cost $3.99 and be free to read on Kindle Unlimited. And that's not counting marketing. Because yeah, you have to pay for marketing. Hell, I had to pay $35 upfront to a popular site to be considered for their marketing campaign, and would've paid another $65 if they'd accepted me. (They did not, so I'm out that $35 without even a marketing campaign to show for it.)

And the thing is, I'm currently gainfully employed. I'm salaried. My spouse is also salaried, so I have enough disposable income to spend what I've spent on this ebook (which is still about $600, even with all the things I'm trading for). Most authors? Especially most self-publishing authors? Don't have that.

So Kindle Unlimited, for all its flaws, is a way to get more diverse voices in the business because you don't even have to buy an ISBN. Amazon assigns you an Amazon Sales Index Number (ASIN) and you're good to go, as long as you're not listing it on any other sites. Hell, they even have tools for you to make your own cover art if you don't want to pay someone to make it for you. They do a lot of their own internal promotion on Kindle. Readers can try you out for little-to-no personal investment on their part and maybe discover that they love your writing, and you've gained a whole audience. It's a great return-on-investment for self-published authors.

So that's why a lot of self-pub authors choose Kindle Unlimited. And a lot of authors will do a limited run on KU in order to get some early word-of-mouth and discovery readers, and then publish wide later. (That's my current strategy with Welcome to the Show, if it does well. If it's not doing well, I probably won't sink the money and time into expanding its availability.) But if this happens, if Amazon shuts down their account over "KU membership misrepresentation," then even if the book has been published wide and is available on other platforms by then, Amazon is going to dispute their KU Pages royalties and try to take them back.

So by pirating books, not only are authors losing "potential" sales (I know, there's a whole argument there), they could be losing real, actual sales that they've already sold.

In conclusion:

1. Don't pirate books.

2. If you see someone requesting where they can read a book "for free", speak up.

3. If you see someone providing links where people can read a book "for free" (if it is not provided by the author for free), speak up.

Thanks, and have a good day.

[benepla-deactivated20200506]

can we give it up for Suzanne Collins for fucking off into oblivion with her money after hunger games fucking destroyed the YA market for like 6 years. everything YA was dystopian “EVERYONES IN A DIFFERENT QUADRANT” shit from 2010 to 2016 and we didnt hear a peep from her. true fucking power.

[ruby-white-rabbit]

And she hasn’t said a word since. Rowling could take some pointers

[galaxiepresdechezvous]

Yeah but in Collins defense, her book was really good. She perfectly showed PTSD, Katnis trauma from when her mom mentally “abandoned” her when her dad died and the parallel with Katnis depression at the end of the series, perfectly depicted the society and its inherent problems, Finick’s back story, socio-economic disparities based on skin colour, Rue and the 11th district, President Coin and how she was as bad as Snow but in an other angle, distrinct 13 and the capitol trying to use her image for the war even though she did want to, and way more stuff I can’t think of right now.

I mean the following Y/A distopian books were mostly bad knock off who thought that the reason the HG had such success was because of the love triangle, but in reality Collins created such a complexe yet very realistic world that makes a parallel to our society of entretainment and war

[whatisthisplaceidonteven]

The Hunger Games was baby’s first intro to social justice for a lot of kids back in the early 2010s. They were brilliant books that introduced a lot of complicated concepts in a way teens could understand and enjoy - plus, addictive, well-plotted adventure stories with A+ characterization and worldbuilding. But all the general public seems to remember about them is the love triangle, and I will always be salty about that.

[princecaviar-deactivated2022113]

The irony of the Hunger Games is that the media in the book and the media in the real world both chose to focus on the love story instead of the rebellion.

[corisanna]

One of my favorite aspects of the book series was the way it dissected the art/science of propaganda/media and the often stark differences in popular figures’ public and private personas. The movies also got that frighteningly correct. Propaganda to oppress and propaganda to uplift were laid side-by-side and used as foils to show how the techniques work to achieve the desired purpose. The direct invocation of “panem et circenses” (”bread and circuses,” keeping a population docile by controlling/bestowing distractions regarding food and entertainment) made the point all the clearer. “Look. This is what is being done to distract you.”

Having Katniss– the symbol of The Common Person at the bottom of the societal hierarchy who most heavily bears the brunt of oppression– be stiff and awful at scripted propos but a fucking goddess at unscripted, passionately angry speeches and stoking reflection and resistance and rebellion was very deliberate. It is a call to be genuine, to question media narratives and seek facts, to take a long, hard, honest look beyond the sparkling lights and glamor projected by the media to really see and take the downtrodden seriously before their collective patience wears thin enough to snap and they bring out the bombs. Or guillotines, if you want to look at IRL history.

One of my favorite scenes in the series is in Catching Fire: the interviews with the Victors being forced to take part in the Quarter Quell. Especially with the visuals of the movie. The entire thing builds up to when Peeta “drops the baby bomb” and the audience breaks into dismayed/horrified pandemonium and there are calls by the privileged to stop the injustice; it is an escalating series of oppressed, re-victimized individuals turning their glamorized re-victimization into a platform to scream their humanity at the citizens of the Capitol until it seems to finally start seeping in. Stanley Tucci play’s Caesar Flickerman’s growing discomfort perfectly; IIRC, his calling for the lights and cameras to be cut when the Victors show unity is to use the gesture of slitting a throat. It’s a common gesture, but in this case it has a greater weight: “Cut this, kill it, don’t let people see it, these people we’ve set up to hate each other joining hands in united defiance is dangerous.”

That also veers off into an extended lesson in “the powers that be seek to divide you and turn you against each other to keep you weak.” In modern terms, you can see it in such things as “wow why should burger-flippers get raises to earn more than the legit heroes who fight crime and save lives and defend our country?” to turn those groups against each other on the basis of accepted social hierarchy instead of talking together and coming to a consensus of, “You know, we’re ALL getting screwed and should ALL make more money; let’s work together to achieve that.”

It is highly relevant to this period of civilization. It resonates with the masses. That resonance is amorphous; allowing it to gel into something more solid could erode media/propagandist influence. Thus, whether conscious or just the nature of the beast,

“LOOK AT THE LOVE TRIANGLE! ROMANCE! FOCUS ON THE ROMANCE! ISN’T IT ROMANTIC?! THINKING ABOUT THE DEEPER STUFF IS UNCOMFORTABLE, SO LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN AND HANDSOME MEN AND CHOOSE A SIDE AND FIGHT FOR IT! R-O-M-A-N-C-E-!”

In other words, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”

In other words, “Let’s play up the circus part of panem et circenses.”

It’s like a social ourobouros. I observe it with a sort of morbid fascination.

[zarohk]

Just FYI, Suzanne Collins was pressured by her editor to make a love triangle, and decided to make President Snow be the one pushing the Peeta romance to show that it was forced.

[thisisallthehattersfault]

Hunger Games didn’t really eat holes in my brain the way that it did for some other people but god the opening lines. The opening lines. Katniss wakes up in bed and immediately, instinctively reaches beside her, only to find the bed empty and cold. Before we even know her name – before we know literally anything about her or this world or her place in that world – we know that she loves someone. We know that she is reaching for where Prim should be, sleeping safe and warm beside her, but Prim is not there. She is not there, and her half of the bed is cold and empty. People talk about characters being “doomed by the narrative” when most of the time the character was literally just a well-foreshadowed death, but Prim WAS doomed by the narrative. It’s the very first thing we learned. It’s the most key, integral, important piece of information we’re given about everything that is about to happen: Every single choice Katniss makes is to protect her little sister, and it isn’t enough. In the end, Prim still dies. Prim was dead before the story even started. Katniss, reaching. Prim’s side of the bed was cold and empty. There is no version of this story where Prim could have been saved. Katniss, reaching. The very first thing she does in the series. She wakes, and she reaches, but Prim is already gone. THAT is how you do Doomed By The Narrative. Edit: Also it is key that there was literally nothing Katniss could have done differently. If she had not acted to save Prim, Prim would not have survived the Hunger Games. But by acting to save Prim, Katniss accidentally kicked off an entire rebellion and ultimately massively increased the amount of danger Prim was actually in. The key is that this is irrelevant. If Katniss had done literally anything differently, Prim still would have died. If Katniss had faltered or changed course at any point, Prim still would have died. There was never a point where Katniss could have changed Prim’s fate. There’s no version of this story where Prim lives to see the end of it. She’s dead before the story begins. That’s doomed by the narrative.

[shaelit]

January 26, 2023

For the full timeline and tons of information on the HarperCollins strike, here’s the long post.

It has been FIFTY-SIX days since the HarperCollins Union went on strike… and Harper has at last agreed to sitting down with an independent, mutually agreed upon mediator to at least discuss the Union’s demands.

What this means:

- The pressure is working. Brian Murray and the leadership at HarperCollins have spent the last fifty-six days lying, spinning, hiring scabs, and doing everything except speaking to their union employees. That they’re even willing to talk now means the steady pushback has made things uncomfortable.

Therefore: Keep writing to [email protected]! Keep supporting the strike fund! Keep buying your books through the union’s Bookshop page! And keep sharing the union’s posts online and in your in-person communities!

- The strike IS NOT OVER. No agreement has been reached. Do not post reviews of Harper titles, accept work for any of their imprints, submit manuscripts for consideration, or in any way cross that picket line.

Additionally: The union is holding two separate rallies for folks in New York. The first, on January 31, is for industry professionals. The second, on February 2, is outside the NewsCorp HQ and is for everyone. If you’re not in the metro area and can’t attend, I’m sure folks would appreciate online support. New York is cold and gross and wet right now.

This is not the time to ease up, but rather to push HarperCollins, News Corp, and Rupert Murdoch even harder to cede to the beyond reasonable demands of their employees and to put an end to this absolute farce that they initiated.

[thebeautifulbook]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien. Art binding and box by Dimitris Koutsipetsidis (2022). Book cover designs by Mia Heath. One of a kind.

source [more photos and information from Dimitri]

[farewell-to-lorien]

The Fall of Númenor, by Alan Lee. From The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-Earth, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

[thoughtportal]

[sarahthecoat]

aw, that would be awesome. so many fabrics are just not made any more, or not made to the same quality.

[fieldbears]

Fuck a map, gimme swatches

[kyliereads]

Relatable

[zandraz]

A school project: book cover redesign for Heroes of the Olympians.

Basically is just me trying to make fanarts for pjo during classes

[chibi-n00b]

Time to read with my cat!

[shaelit]

HarperCollins Strike Update

For the full breakdown of what’s been going on since November, read here.

January 20, 2023

It’s been over FIFTY days. The strike is still ongoing. Harper has yet to even speak to the union.

Union members are still scraping on their second and third hustles (which most entry-level publishing people have) and donations to the strike fund. The union has set up a hardship fund (here’s the post about it on their official Instagram, for verification) so no more fiddling with checks or Venmo.

If you can donate, please do.

And whether you can or can’t, please do still share.

[millenniallust4death]

Link to Stephen King's original tweet.

[luv3horse]

Anyone remember a post from Tumblr past, where somebody said something about being tired of having teenage chosen ones and they wish someone would write one that's older? Because my older sister did that and it's getting published in April.

[elizmanderson]

it's me!! I'm the older sister!!! and this is my book!!