Yup, that's my span of attention. I just discovered Pinterest (nevermind that the site has been around for a while now). What do I do? waste a lot of time creating boards, following people, re-pinning, etc. Meanwhile, I am still updating my ebook library. I have printed out several booklists from favorite authors. My list of faves is LONG so I know that's going to take me a while. Then, I go to Facebook and what do I do? Get hooked on their hidden object games and on the latest quest line on The Sims Social. I have a 1 foot pile of magazines to go over (I have quite a few subscriptions and I love to browse through them, plus subscription prices are super low these days). I also want to start a Sith in Star Wars: The Old Republic, to play it with my husband. Never mind that I haven't even reaches level 25 with my smuggler and am currently playing a Jedi Consular with my husband (who is playing a Jedi Knight). Is there something smaller than a gnat? Because really... span of attention ... what the hell is that...
Mireya
Showing posts with label Random musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random musings. Show all posts
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Blogger conventions, who knew...
I have to admit that I am clueless and oblivious about a lot of things online. I don't participate in Tweeter (wouldn't know what to do with it anyway, and I hate using my tablet or my smartphone to type anything). I don't visit a ton of blogs either. This means that being up to speed regarding things like conferences and conventions is not exactly my forte.
Today I found out, courtesy of one of the few blogs I visit, that there was a "blogger convention". It was organized by bloggers for bloggers, literally. Recently, said Con was bought by the people that manage the Book Expo of America (BEA). By "bought" I am assuming it means the "concept"? Again, not a clue. Anyway, it seems like in their attempt to change the nature/tone (from non commercial to commercial it does mean CHANGE, people) they haven't been forthcoming about what is it exactly that they are offering attendees. They have also hit quite a few "snags" and there is still quite some room for improvement on their part, so to speak. (This is my source).
One thing that has become blatantly obvious from what I have been reading, however, and of course, to be expected, is that this event is now a marketing tool or rather a "networking" tool, networking because it looks like it serves the purpose of bringing together publishers and authors with bloggers... mega bloggers that is. I understand that certain bloggers would certainly be interested in this particular convention, but for the truly teeny blogs like mine, it's pretty much useless, unless all you want to do is socialize and maybe learn how the big guys do things? From what I am looking at if you are are not a "big name/big traffic" blogger it does look like there would be little interest in what you have to offer. Publishers and authors want the attention of big blogs, the blogs with tons of traffic that can bring them business.
Personally speaking, I would be interested in a non-commercialized type of blogger convention. I would still be a nobody, but I feel I would be able to learn more from such an event and find topics more relevant to my interests or more useful to me, than I would in a 100% commercial type of convention. I don't get any "freebies" from any author or publishing company, so networking with them is not something that I care about, at least not at this point. Add to that that (to use a gaming term) I am a "casual" blogger, meaning that I blog when I feel like it and upload reviews when I feel like it. Topics of use to me would involve networking with other bloggers or listening to those bloggers who, mostly through their very hard work, can provide me tips on how to make mine a semi-successful one (again, operative words being "hard work", but still, I'd be interested to hear how they got there).
I am one of the "little people" among hundreds if not thousands of reviewer blogs out there. I even removed myself from Netgalley because as it grew, I pretty much became part of the non-desirables and didn't qualify to ask for any ARCs/books there any longer, not that I asked for a lot to begin with. so, at this point in time a marketing/networking former convention and now conference (the Bloggers Con is now going to take place during BEA, so sorry, but it can't be called a Bloggers Con any longer the way I am reading it) is of little to no use to me. Of course, leave it to me to find out that such a thing as a Blogger Con existed when it pretty much no longer exists as it was intended or I would have been interested in.
C'est la vie...
Mireya
Today I found out, courtesy of one of the few blogs I visit, that there was a "blogger convention". It was organized by bloggers for bloggers, literally. Recently, said Con was bought by the people that manage the Book Expo of America (BEA). By "bought" I am assuming it means the "concept"? Again, not a clue. Anyway, it seems like in their attempt to change the nature/tone (from non commercial to commercial it does mean CHANGE, people) they haven't been forthcoming about what is it exactly that they are offering attendees. They have also hit quite a few "snags" and there is still quite some room for improvement on their part, so to speak. (This is my source).
One thing that has become blatantly obvious from what I have been reading, however, and of course, to be expected, is that this event is now a marketing tool or rather a "networking" tool, networking because it looks like it serves the purpose of bringing together publishers and authors with bloggers... mega bloggers that is. I understand that certain bloggers would certainly be interested in this particular convention, but for the truly teeny blogs like mine, it's pretty much useless, unless all you want to do is socialize and maybe learn how the big guys do things? From what I am looking at if you are are not a "big name/big traffic" blogger it does look like there would be little interest in what you have to offer. Publishers and authors want the attention of big blogs, the blogs with tons of traffic that can bring them business.
Personally speaking, I would be interested in a non-commercialized type of blogger convention. I would still be a nobody, but I feel I would be able to learn more from such an event and find topics more relevant to my interests or more useful to me, than I would in a 100% commercial type of convention. I don't get any "freebies" from any author or publishing company, so networking with them is not something that I care about, at least not at this point. Add to that that (to use a gaming term) I am a "casual" blogger, meaning that I blog when I feel like it and upload reviews when I feel like it. Topics of use to me would involve networking with other bloggers or listening to those bloggers who, mostly through their very hard work, can provide me tips on how to make mine a semi-successful one (again, operative words being "hard work", but still, I'd be interested to hear how they got there).
I am one of the "little people" among hundreds if not thousands of reviewer blogs out there. I even removed myself from Netgalley because as it grew, I pretty much became part of the non-desirables and didn't qualify to ask for any ARCs/books there any longer, not that I asked for a lot to begin with. so, at this point in time a marketing/networking former convention and now conference (the Bloggers Con is now going to take place during BEA, so sorry, but it can't be called a Bloggers Con any longer the way I am reading it) is of little to no use to me. Of course, leave it to me to find out that such a thing as a Blogger Con existed when it pretty much no longer exists as it was intended or I would have been interested in.
C'est la vie...
Mireya
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Random musings
I just noticed how what arguably is the most visited romance related blog uses the tag "random musings"... I unsubbed from that blog due to a recent brouhaha involving the majorly full of herself owner that totally disgusted me about them. How did I find out about this? I googled my own blog to see if it shows in google search, and lo and behold, I found a link titled "random musings tied to that particular blog.
Another random musing courtesy of,
Mireya
Another random musing courtesy of,
Mireya
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Red Rose Publishing and why I am not sympathetic towards anyone that submits there
Red Rose Publishing (RRP) started operations over 3 years ago (2007). The individual who started said company, one Wendi Felter, already had a "reputation" of having issues with other now defunct epubs (look up Mardi Gras Publishing). However, she still managed to start a new epub and get submissions for it.
If you read Piers Anthony's site you'll see that the history of RRP is now long and, well, pretty bad. The troubles haven't ended. More recently, an author had to resort to ask help from Karen Knows Best to pretty much have RRP remove her books from their site, as she had requested reversion of rights, with no response from the owner. Additionally, I don't think I need to say that this publisher really didn't endear itself to bloggers and reviewers in general after this gem of an incident involving the popular blog Dear Author, with further reports here and here.
At this point, as a mere reader, I find baffling that people still submit to that "publishing company". To put things into context: according to the site Internet World Statistics, 77.4% of the population in the US has internet access. The growth from 2000-2010 has been 146.3% Now, I am sure that all those people have heard about Google and other search engines, I mean, if you want to find anything online, you HAVE to use a search engine. When people decide that they want to write something, the first thing to do is to research where they can get published, right? So, that means that they need to use a search engine (likely google) and trust me, as it pertains to that particular publisher, at this point in time, people are going to find both the good and the bad when they do a search and stumble upon the name Red Rose Publishing. It is now well documented online the kind of track record that company has.
Frankly, the word naive to refer to those that newly submit there is not a word that I would use, not even to be kind. At this point, I firmly believe that anyone submitting there is either outright dumb (not going to apologize for this one), is taking a calculated risk, is friendly with the owner thus, is being treated preferentially, or is outright desperate to be "recognized" in some form as an "author".
I truly feel bad for those caught in a rather nasty tug of war to get their rights not only reverted, but their work brought down from the publisher's site. However, I will not feel bad for those that submit their work there now and are accepted, only to end up crying foul in the future. As a reader, I just will not buy any excuses along the lines of "I didn't know" or "I was naive" because no, you were not naive ... the word that I would use is a lot harsher than that...
Mireya
If you read Piers Anthony's site you'll see that the history of RRP is now long and, well, pretty bad. The troubles haven't ended. More recently, an author had to resort to ask help from Karen Knows Best to pretty much have RRP remove her books from their site, as she had requested reversion of rights, with no response from the owner. Additionally, I don't think I need to say that this publisher really didn't endear itself to bloggers and reviewers in general after this gem of an incident involving the popular blog Dear Author, with further reports here and here.
At this point, as a mere reader, I find baffling that people still submit to that "publishing company". To put things into context: according to the site Internet World Statistics, 77.4% of the population in the US has internet access. The growth from 2000-2010 has been 146.3% Now, I am sure that all those people have heard about Google and other search engines, I mean, if you want to find anything online, you HAVE to use a search engine. When people decide that they want to write something, the first thing to do is to research where they can get published, right? So, that means that they need to use a search engine (likely google) and trust me, as it pertains to that particular publisher, at this point in time, people are going to find both the good and the bad when they do a search and stumble upon the name Red Rose Publishing. It is now well documented online the kind of track record that company has.
Frankly, the word naive to refer to those that newly submit there is not a word that I would use, not even to be kind. At this point, I firmly believe that anyone submitting there is either outright dumb (not going to apologize for this one), is taking a calculated risk, is friendly with the owner thus, is being treated preferentially, or is outright desperate to be "recognized" in some form as an "author".
I truly feel bad for those caught in a rather nasty tug of war to get their rights not only reverted, but their work brought down from the publisher's site. However, I will not feel bad for those that submit their work there now and are accepted, only to end up crying foul in the future. As a reader, I just will not buy any excuses along the lines of "I didn't know" or "I was naive" because no, you were not naive ... the word that I would use is a lot harsher than that...
Mireya
Monday, April 4, 2011
The eternal cycle of friendships that come and go
This post has zero to do with romance reading, books and what not, but I needed to express this in some way so I decided to use my blog that no one reads to do so. This is something that I wish I would have the opportunity to tell to the person's face... and mind you, I've broken up with friends before telling them exactly why... not that they understood... which is prtty much why they are not my friends any longer ...
Anyway, I am a gamer. I am co-admin of a gaming kinship in Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) with my husband. It was a kinship that we have put a lot of effort into. After four years of playing LOTRO I find myself now bored with that particular game. The main reason is that the developers have not added any content of substance in over two years. I have done the vast majority of what there is to do and I have explored pretty much every nook and cranny in that cyber world. Another MMO game was released last month, Rift. When some of us in the kinship had a chance to participate in the last couple of Beta tests we fell in love with the game and decided that we were going to keep ourselves occupied with it until there is more content available in LOTRO or another MMO catches our eye.
I informed my kin that neither my husband nor I had the time to oversee yet another guild. Several of the members in my kin started a guild in Rift, which I joined, along with a few others who are also members of my LOTRO kin. That guild has 5 chiefs: 4 of them came from my LOTRO kinship, and 1 is friends with one of the four from my kinship. The guy's personality rubbed me the wrong way from day one, but I decided to ignore it, though my gut feeling was telling me "run to the hills" from early on. I figured that all I needed to do was stay out of his way. Anyway, to make the story short, he made a comment (that I am sure he will allege was a joke) pretty much targeting me, at which point I stuck the proverbial middle finger (not literally, but in my head, I didn't want to create scenes) in his general direction and removed myself from the guild. My husband left too. I explained to those that came from my LOTRO kinship what happened and why I left. I didn't post anything in their forums either, again, I was not bound to create scenes.
Anyway, the whole incident showed me who my friends were. I wasn't expecting any sort of reaction from 3 out of the three, however, I received a heartfelt apology from one of them (even though he had nothing to do with the incident)... and zero reaction from the one that I was expecting some words from. I wasn't even expecting an apology, but more something along the lines of "oh he was just joking..." or something neutral, even if she didn't agree with my reaction. Instead, zero is what I got. True colors showing again.
I have her on my FB. I haven't decided yet what to do, I can be a hypocrite with people at work, because I consider those people "acquaintances" ... I don't know how to be a hypocrite with people I used to call friends. For now, I turned off her feed on my Wall. I am still feeling hurt about all this. I hate when I lose my trust on people I used to call "friends". Thing is that even if I don't know the person face to face, I don't know how to use the word "friend" lightly, to me the person is real because, well, the person IS a real person.
Anyway, I needed to take some of this off my chest, and now I have done so. I don't know if I'll even bother to talk to her. I have told people in the past exactly why I couldn't call them "friends" any longer. It takes guts to do so, but at my age, I think that probably it accomplishes nothing. It may be better to let go, and it will all fade, though things will never be the same even if we continue talking to each other. I am sure she's oblivious.
Mireya
Anyway, I am a gamer. I am co-admin of a gaming kinship in Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) with my husband. It was a kinship that we have put a lot of effort into. After four years of playing LOTRO I find myself now bored with that particular game. The main reason is that the developers have not added any content of substance in over two years. I have done the vast majority of what there is to do and I have explored pretty much every nook and cranny in that cyber world. Another MMO game was released last month, Rift. When some of us in the kinship had a chance to participate in the last couple of Beta tests we fell in love with the game and decided that we were going to keep ourselves occupied with it until there is more content available in LOTRO or another MMO catches our eye.
I informed my kin that neither my husband nor I had the time to oversee yet another guild. Several of the members in my kin started a guild in Rift, which I joined, along with a few others who are also members of my LOTRO kin. That guild has 5 chiefs: 4 of them came from my LOTRO kinship, and 1 is friends with one of the four from my kinship. The guy's personality rubbed me the wrong way from day one, but I decided to ignore it, though my gut feeling was telling me "run to the hills" from early on. I figured that all I needed to do was stay out of his way. Anyway, to make the story short, he made a comment (that I am sure he will allege was a joke) pretty much targeting me, at which point I stuck the proverbial middle finger (not literally, but in my head, I didn't want to create scenes) in his general direction and removed myself from the guild. My husband left too. I explained to those that came from my LOTRO kinship what happened and why I left. I didn't post anything in their forums either, again, I was not bound to create scenes.
Anyway, the whole incident showed me who my friends were. I wasn't expecting any sort of reaction from 3 out of the three, however, I received a heartfelt apology from one of them (even though he had nothing to do with the incident)... and zero reaction from the one that I was expecting some words from. I wasn't even expecting an apology, but more something along the lines of "oh he was just joking..." or something neutral, even if she didn't agree with my reaction. Instead, zero is what I got. True colors showing again.
I have her on my FB. I haven't decided yet what to do, I can be a hypocrite with people at work, because I consider those people "acquaintances" ... I don't know how to be a hypocrite with people I used to call friends. For now, I turned off her feed on my Wall. I am still feeling hurt about all this. I hate when I lose my trust on people I used to call "friends". Thing is that even if I don't know the person face to face, I don't know how to use the word "friend" lightly, to me the person is real because, well, the person IS a real person.
Anyway, I needed to take some of this off my chest, and now I have done so. I don't know if I'll even bother to talk to her. I have told people in the past exactly why I couldn't call them "friends" any longer. It takes guts to do so, but at my age, I think that probably it accomplishes nothing. It may be better to let go, and it will all fade, though things will never be the same even if we continue talking to each other. I am sure she's oblivious.
Mireya
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2010 - A year full of changes for me
2010 turned out to be an eventful year for me. Early on (January 26th to be precise) I was let go from the job that I had over the past 11 years. It was my very first job in New York. I started in that firm less than two months after I moved in with my now husband, back in 1999. Although it was a bit of a shock as, for some reason, I deluded myself into thinking that there is such a thing as job "security", I had stopped being happy there for quite a long time, I would even dare say years. However, I was "comfortable" and as I said, felt "secure", so why mess with things. Fate had a different idea, it seems.
Though I spent two months and a half looking for a new job (a short period of time compared to what a lot of others are going through trying to find a job), I think I was lucky... and also have the very strong feeling that my guardian angel felt that I needed the kick on the ass for me to take action, and finally get out of a job situation I was unhappy with. Though I am earning a bit less, my quality of life has substantially improved, and since I don't have to pay hundreds of dollars a month in transportation (railroad, subway, and gas), it all evens out and my take home salary is pretty much the same. I also have made some new friends among my new co-workers, which is a blessing as well. I pretty much only had one true friend in my former job, and I have made it a point to keep in touch with her. Finding her has been a blessing to me.
Later in the year, I also made the decision of leaving Just Erotic Romance Reviews. My time to leave was long overdue, as I had stopped enjoying my role there a long long time ago and it felt more like a chore than something I was doing because it brought me satisfaction. However, for some weird reason, I just kept hanging on because of a sense of responsibility. I then realized that it was not going to be the end of the world if I left, that things would continue normally, so I finally let go. I confess I enjoyed the first few years I spent there and it was an incredible experience, but my stay lasted more than it should have.
The closing of the year turned out to be on the crappy side though. My husband spent most of December and a portion of this month dealing with pneumonia and I got a bout of bronchitis (the joys of coughing fits in tandem...). Suffice it to say, I am hoping that is not an omen of things to come (keeping my fingers crossed). Over the past 3 years we both seem to be getting some sort of major health issue at the beginning of the year, specifically around the Martin Luther King weekend. Looks like this winter we got it earlier though. :P
In terms of reading, I found myself reading substantially more historical romance than paranormals, and it does look like the trend will continue on 2011. I tend to avoid contemporary romance as well as romantic suspense, so I do not have anything to say on those two sub-genres. I am happy to say that I discovered some new and new-to-me historical romance authors, and as to that respect, my list of auto-buy authors has increased.
As I decided to start this blog a few months ago, my one and only resolution for 2011 is to keep track of what I read. I bought a gorgeous planner with that purpose in mind. Hopefully I'll keep motivating myself to jot down what I read. I only include date in which I started reading a book, the date in which I finish, and some notes as to if I liked it or not. I read a lot but I truly have no clue how many books do I go through every month.
Let's see what this year will bring. Hopefully a LOT of good reading material...
Later in the year, I also made the decision of leaving Just Erotic Romance Reviews. My time to leave was long overdue, as I had stopped enjoying my role there a long long time ago and it felt more like a chore than something I was doing because it brought me satisfaction. However, for some weird reason, I just kept hanging on because of a sense of responsibility. I then realized that it was not going to be the end of the world if I left, that things would continue normally, so I finally let go. I confess I enjoyed the first few years I spent there and it was an incredible experience, but my stay lasted more than it should have.
The closing of the year turned out to be on the crappy side though. My husband spent most of December and a portion of this month dealing with pneumonia and I got a bout of bronchitis (the joys of coughing fits in tandem...). Suffice it to say, I am hoping that is not an omen of things to come (keeping my fingers crossed). Over the past 3 years we both seem to be getting some sort of major health issue at the beginning of the year, specifically around the Martin Luther King weekend. Looks like this winter we got it earlier though. :P
In terms of reading, I found myself reading substantially more historical romance than paranormals, and it does look like the trend will continue on 2011. I tend to avoid contemporary romance as well as romantic suspense, so I do not have anything to say on those two sub-genres. I am happy to say that I discovered some new and new-to-me historical romance authors, and as to that respect, my list of auto-buy authors has increased.
As I decided to start this blog a few months ago, my one and only resolution for 2011 is to keep track of what I read. I bought a gorgeous planner with that purpose in mind. Hopefully I'll keep motivating myself to jot down what I read. I only include date in which I started reading a book, the date in which I finish, and some notes as to if I liked it or not. I read a lot but I truly have no clue how many books do I go through every month.
Let's see what this year will bring. Hopefully a LOT of good reading material...
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