Kindle Select Experiment

So, I've had a few stories posted on Kindle for purchase for over two years. In that time, I hadn't sold much, and I was wondering if there were a way to offer my stories for free or have a sale or something to boost sales and exposure. Then, a new program came along called Kindle Direct Publishing Select. With this program, stories or novels can offered free of charge for five days every 90 day period. Likewise, if someone borrows your story, you can get a piece of the pot they offer monthly. Since I was struggling with sales, I decided that this would be a great idea, so I moved them into the program. The only issue was that I had to not offer them anywhere else for sale or reading which wasn't really an issue. Then, this last weekend, I had my first free promotion which went pretty well.

I had a lot of downloads of my stories which was a pleasant surprise. It also appears that I had some sales from the experience. It's early, so it's difficult to tell if this will result in sustained sales. Personally, I doubt it, but, honestly, my stories are short, need more editing, and look kind of crappy (coverwise). Still, I'm definitely satisfied with the program.

While my experience is probably not common, I would advise a thing or two. First, my downloads dropped off significantly on the second day of my promotion, so, if I do this again, I won't offer my stories for free two days in a row. Secondly, from what I've seen, sales improve after offering stories for free. If your sales are struggling, try putting that story into KDP Select and see how it goes. At this point, people aren't really reporting a downside. If your work is selling well, I've seen others who aren't using this program, and I can't blame them. Why jeopardize that? I can't think of a good reason. Good luck to any authors out there and think about this option if you want exposure.

William Melvin Hicks: 50 years old today had he lived

William Melvin Hicks aka Bill Hicks was a fantastic comedy even though many didn't find him funny. In fact, many found him to be offensive, but he never wanted to offend his audience. He wanted them to think, to question, and to challenge what we'd been told. He was a free spirit who wanted us to love each other and stop being afraid, a message that still isn't getting through to people today. I miss the man, and he died when I was 9. We miss you, Bill.

Here is an article with links to Bill's full stand up sets. Enjoy!

Biggest Loser Winner: An oxymoron for America

Losing 220 pounds is an amazing accomplishment. It really is. However, when you factor in that this weight was lost over the course of only a year,it becomes scary. John Rhode lost weight at a rate of four pounds a week. That's twice the recommended weight loss per week. It comes to an energy balance of -14,000 calories a week or -2000 calories a day. That's the daily recommended intake for an adult woman. I know many people watch the show and feel inspired, but this is a terrible example for people who want to lose weight. So much of the contestant's lives are controlled. While they cook their own meals, their resources are limited. There's no white flour or sugar or any other high fat stuff.

John Rhode did an amazing thing, but much of that weight was lost with the help of personal trainers and a huge monetary prize. My point is the show shouldn't inspire anyone to that level of weight loss, but I'm sure that people do after watching the show. It doesn't encourage a healthy level of weight loss, and, if anything, it encourages people who are morbidly obese to try out for the show instead of changing their ways, maybe even gain weight. It also presents weight loss as something that's easy, but losing four pounds a week is nearly impossible in the real world. Even losing two pounds a week is incredibly challenging, and few, if any, behavioral studies have found a way to do this. John Rhode's accomplishment is indeed impressive, but it's not a lifestyle that people who want to lose weight should inspire to emulate.

More importantly, being the Biggest Loser Winner means that many people on that show didn't win. They lost a lot of weight, and, hopefully, changed their life for the better. However, that weight loss is going to be associated with actual losing. Sure, this may seem like a stupid remark, but imagine working harder than you've ever worked in your life only to fail. Did you want to keep on or just give up? A lot of people just give up.

Also, this may have changed, but there's a psychological aspect to food for these contestants meaning there's a reason these contestants gained so much weight. Eating bad food and not exercising really only gets people to a certain weight. To get to 400 pounds, eating has to be medicinal. It has to be accounting for something be it depression, anxiety, or some other issue, but, until this is treated, the contestants are going to gain back a lot of weight. So, John Rhode is the Biggest Loser Winner, and he's made an amazing change in his life. It is impressive, but it's also unrealistic and probably for someone outside of a controlled setting like the Biggest Loser, dangerous.

UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident: Way Too Far

At an occupy protest at UC Davis, non-violent demonstrators were pepper strayed by police. There was no reason for this to occur, and, apparently, many agree. A picture of the event was put on the internet, and it went viral. It may not have been a big deal except that this is hardly the first over reaction by police.

A retired police captain is arrested at an occupy protest.

http://i.imgur.com/K1sTv.jpg

A Marine's skull is fractured by a tear gas cannister in the Oakland Occupy Protest.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/26/article-2053502-0E89468100000578-420_964x493.jpg

Police repeatedly try to remove protestors by force.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15779008


http://www.reddit.com/r/occupywallstreet/

It's a disturbing trend when peaceful assembly is disrupted considering that it's a right listed in the 1st amendment. Police are supposed to be on the side of the people, yet they have repeatedly taken action against them. It's a scary thought, and it doesn't get the attention that it deserves. The tea party is heralded as a great movement that almost everyone, at one time, said they could get behind. What's the difference with the occupy movement? Why is this so hard to support? This seems to have a reasonable explanation though. The money doesn't support it. Those with advertising dollars don't like it, so shows are less willing to air it. Tea Partiers get all kinds of love, but those in the Occupy Movement are left out in the cold. Well, that's enough. Tell others about it, about police brutality against non-violent protesters. I can't care who are, but that simply isn't right, ever.

Rick Perry names facts and knowledge as his greatest foes

At an emotional public announcement, Rick Perry announced that he would no longer participate in all of the presidential debates after his ranking in polls took a dive due to his poor performances in previous debates. Perry didn't blame his lack of intelligence or poor preparation for these performances. Instead, Perry revealed his true foes. Those on hand were somewhat surprised to learn that facts and knowlege were Rick Perry's greatest foes in his aspiration to be president.

His problems with facts and knowledge go back to his days in college when Perry explained that he desired to be a veteranian, but knowledge didn't cooperate and refused to help him with this goal. Then, he tried to learn facts, but they didn't agree with his opinions. So, naturally, he ignored them and came to his own conjectured conclusions. Evolution was clearly wrong, but this didn't help with his biology classes. Economics refused to impart any knowledge to him no matter how much he prayed. Admittedly, he found studying to be a ridiculous endeavor saying "that kind of behavior is just as bad as worshipping the devil like atheists do".

As he entered the political arena, he was originally a Democrat until he didn't want to be anymore, so he became Republican where his anti-fact and anti-knowledge stances began to show promise. His willful ignorance seemed to have no limit as he became Lieutenant Governor and, then, Governor of Texas. Even as the recession hit, the number of jobs in Texas grew when other states lost them even though the jobs were at lower wages and the job growth didn't keep up with population growth. It was starting to become clear to Rick Perry that facts and knowledge were wrong. They were things of the past until the presidential debates where facts and knowledge reared their ugly heads.

In his latest press conference, Rick Perry admitted that facts were going to defeat him simply because he refused to acknowledge them. It appears that Rick Perry's only hope is that voters have the same distain for facts and knowledge that he exhibits. That just may be a fact.

Andy Rooney Hospitalized But in Stable Condition

The beloved "60 Minutes" has been hospitalized after a minor surgery resulted in serious complications. The 92 year old just retired from "60 Minutes" after an illustrious run. His segment at the end of the show was a hit among fans, and he often spoke his mind no matter the consequences. While no more information has been released, his family has revealed that his in stable condition but still in the hospital.

Here's an article I wrote about this wonderful man:
http://news.yahoo.com/andy-rooney-finally-retiring-60-minutes-213400768.html

Does God Have Borderline Personality Disorder?

The Bible has long presented a picture of God as contradictory. A being who inspires two creation stories that don't match, kicks Adam and Eve out of Eden for mistakes it'd knew they would make, and who destroys a good man's life just on a bet. While this may scream jerk, it appears that the being depicted in the Bible may, in fact, be mentally ill.

The disorder in question is borderline personality disorder. Here is an overview of the disorder taken from the Mayo Clinic website:

Borderline personality disorder affects how you feel about yourself, how you relate to others and how you behave.

When you have borderline personality disorder, you often have an insecure sense of who you are. That is, your self-image or sense of self often rapidly changes. You may view yourself as evil or bad, and sometimes may feel as if you don't exist at all. An unstable self-image often leads to frequent changes in jobs, friendships, goals and values.

Your relationships are usually in turmoil. You often experience a love-hate relationship with others. You may idealize someone one moment and then abruptly and dramatically shift to fury and hate over perceived slights or even minor misunderstandings. This is because people with the disorder often have difficulty accepting gray areas and things seem to be either black or white.

Borderline personality disorder symptoms may include:

•Impulsive and risky behavior, such as risky driving, unsafe sex, gambling sprees or illegal drug use (destruction of almost the entire human population or cities, impregnating 13 year olds, testing a man's commitment for unhealthy reasons)
•Strong emotions that wax and wane frequently ("I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy." (JER 13:14) vs."The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." (PSA 145:9) )
•Intense but short episodes of anxiety or depression (sorry, nothing on this one)
•Inappropriate anger, sometimes escalating into physical confrontations (flooding the Earth, Sodom and Gomorrah, kicking the money changers out of the temple)
•Difficulty controlling emotions or impulses (previous example)
•Suicidal behavior (crucifixion of yourself?)
•Fear of being alone (desiring worship?)
When is borderline personality disorder diagnosed?

When five or more of these signs and symptoms are present.

•Intense fear of abandonment (Believe in me or you're going to hell)
•A pattern of unstable relationships (Job, Moses)
•Unstable self-image or sense of identity (Contradicting messages time and again)
•Impulsive and self-destructive behaviors (Destroying cities, lives, and flooding the entire Earth)
•Suicidal behavior or self-injury (Suicide by Roman Crucifixion)
•Wide mood swings ((All-merciful vs. All-just) & (JER 13:14) vs. (PSA 145:9) )
•Chronic feelings of emptiness
•Anger-related problems, such as frequently losing your temper or having physical fights (Mauling children for mocking a bald man)
•Periods of paranoia and loss of contact with reality (Believing you're all powerful and created the entire universe)
It sure seems like a diagnosis is in order.

Source:

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html#cruel