Episode #91: Achtung, Baby & R.I.P. CreateSpace
Well, it has been quite a spell, but it does not necessarily mean that we are taking it slow this year… Welcome back to The Shared Desk, now recorded LIVE on Twitch at Tee’s Twitch Channel. So what is the difference between the live stream and the podcast, you wonder? We’re offering listeners a compact, condensed version of the show in the podcast feed for when you may have missed the show. The live Shared Desk will go longer, and be completely raw and unedited. We will also take your comments and questions as they come in. We are enjoying the whole Twitch experience, and hope you continue to listen (and reach out to us) on either platform. Alright then. on with the show, where we address the changes at CreateSpace. 00:00 — Introduction * It’s been too long… * Memories of Germany * Did we happen to mention it’s been a week. * Where the heck have we been? * Twitch for Dummies is done! * Celebrating seven years of marital bliss * Tee reaches the Gold Edition as he turned 50. * Pip is recording audio. A lot of audio. * Oh, yeah, in September, there was an upgrade to the studio. 04:48 — Episode #91: Achtung, Baby! (The Germany Trip) * Let’s celebrate the 50th birthday of Tee Morris! * When you’re in Germany, you’re going to mention the war. * Reminders are everywhere. * History is everywhere you go in Germany. * Oh, Bavaria… * We like beer! * We were visiting our steampunk supermodel. * You want to hear more about the trip overseas? Watch the full show at the YouTube video! (Yeah, catching the show LIVE means extra content!) 07:30 — Episode #91: R.I.P. CreateSpace * What’s breaking int he Writing World? (No, not writing advice from pretentious nitwits.) * The death of CreateSpace * We writers find ourselves, once again, here… * CreateSpace was its own entity…until Amazon decided “We can do it better.” * Yeah, about that… * Come on, Amazon. Step up! * It would have been great to have books for PhilCon, but there were two things we didn’t have: a working car, and books. * Some concerns about this takeover beyond delivery of books * Some opinions about Amazon courtesy of Hasan Minaj’s Patriot Act. * We are hooked on Amazon. We admit it. * It’s hard to deny how much power Amazon holds. * Amazon need competition. * What Tee is worried about: Quality of the Product from Amazon * An early experience with Dragon Moon’s experience with Ingram’s Spark * Devil’s Advocate: Times and technology are different. * How Amazon is handling proof copies * Amazon marks proofs as proofs. * Tee also has a bad story about booksellers selling proofs. * And here is where the “marital bliss” kicks in. * Pip Ballantine, dealer of sick burns * A mini-rant on Apple iBooks and the indie author * So far, the quality of books is fine; but we are still early in this new relationship. * Amazon is not a perfected science. Here are a few disappointments from the past… * So what options do you have outside of Amazon? * Pip is working with BookBub, and digging it so far. * Did you know about the Books & Braun Dossier? This is a thing! * We have our own holiday sale with The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh.