Category Archives: Writing
How to handle bad reviews – Shirley Jackson edition
The case of the missing parcel
You remember the bit about sharing the funny and surreal bits of the everyday life of a freelance writer, in order to captivate the audience and, in theory, sell more books and get more Patreon supporters?
Well, try this one for size…
A few months back I translated a short essay in narrative form, about time travel and politics, The Political Travails of Time Travel, by Tamil writer and poet Gouthama Siddarthan. It was a fun job, and I enjoyed it greatly. The book in question was published – in a number of different languages – and is having a well-deserved success, and you might want to check it out.
The author was so nice he sent me a bunch of copies of the printed work. Here is where the funny and surreal bit begins.
Continue reading10 things I learned self-publishing 101 ebooks
Buscafusco: Fun & Games is my 70th self-published ebook under my name, my 101st self-published ebook in total. It’s been a long run, and I do not see an end of the track: I’m striving to get more of my material published traditionally, but I will always be an author/publisher, for a number of reasons we’ll maybe discuss another time.
Right now, I thought I’d like to do one of those bullet-list posts that my personal gurus say are great to attract people on the blog.
So here we go: 10 THINGS I LEARNED SELF-PUBLISHING 101 EBOOKS.
Blocked!
Well, this is a first. BUSCAFUSCO: Fun & Games has been blocked by the KDP Guardians, for reasons undisclosed. I asked around, and apparently this is the standard: they block your book, and they do not tell you why. Hell, they don’t even send you a mail. You have to check the KDP dashboard (something that, admittedly, you do every two hours when your book is overdue), and find out the book’s been blocked.
So now I’ve sent a mail asking Amazon for explanations. Based on what I’ve been told by friends that have been there already, I’ll probably get an automated response along the lines “your content violated our guidelines”, with a copy of the guidelines. As a friend said…
“They basically tell you to ask yourself a question and give yourself an answer.”
Now here I am, waiting, but in the meanwhile: if you are one of the hardy souls that got my ebook through Gumroad, and if you have been through it already, would you please let me know if you found something that justifies the block?
Thank you.
Also, if you want to check out the Book Amazon Doesn’t Want You To Read, please go to this link. You’ll get a 1 Euro discount on the cover price.
Digging ditches
I’m writing a 30.000 words story that will not be published under my name. Work for hire, paid in three months time (If they’ll pay me at all). I’m 10.000 words short and today I just scrapped 3500 words because, let’s be honest, they sucked. I’ve a three days deadline. I can do it.
It’s being a fun ride. The story is not my usual genre, so there is a component of challenge, but also the reason why I am ditching so many pages: sometimes the ideas are right, and cool, but the tone is off. It’s like playing a different instrument from the one you usually play, like driving somebody else’s car.
Continue readingTypewriters
The reason I like typewriters is, exactly like bicycles, they are a sort of hands-on technology. You can actually get to work on them using a screwdriver and a wrench, get your hands dirty, set them straight if they break. Works for PCs and old cars, too – but not for smartphones and recent automobiles. And let’s not get started on the issue of software.
There is actually a spreading grassroots movement that demands manufacturers to allow access to the tech of their products, so that they can be repaired and updated instead of thrown away and replaced. It’s an interesting approach, and it has my full support. My grandfather was a tinkerer, and he taught me it’s OK to get your hands dirty while fine tuning a piece of machinery.
I think this approach also applies at the way I write, but let’s save that for another time. Let’s talk typewriters.
Continue reading
Karavansara 