Twitter x Musk Cancellation = Win-Win

Last Friday, Elon Musk announced his termination of offer to buy Twitter, proving the market right and starting a legal battle between the two parties. As much as I respect Mr. Musk as a business person, he is an egotistical man who I wouldn’t count as a steward of free speech on the net. If he ended up owning Twitter, I expect him to tear it down and rebuild it with profitability as the primary focus. So from Twitter’s perspective (and its users), this deal cancellation preserves the service as they are accustomed to using/providing.

This termination is also good for Musk because he’s not forced to sell his shares of Tesla to raise capital for the purchase price. Big sales of stock = downward pressure on price, and we saw plenty of down days before recessionary fears became prevalent amongst investors.

As for what happens next, I expect both sides to negotiate a settlement and save on the expensive legal fees of a court battle. Despite his wealth, Musk is a frugal man. 🙂

In regards to Twitter, I expect the company to muddle along with decreased ad revenues. Since I’m playing armchair QB in this post, let me throw out an idea for Twitter: Twitter Local. In my view, the service works best as a digital version of a local town crier. So formalize that aspect by offering a localized version of Twitter based upon user zip codes. In other words, Twitter Local would only involve people living in the same neighborhood, and it’s a means of developing a local, digitalized community. Businesses within the zip code could offer deals/specials to local residents (and pay a fee to Twitter for advertising). Public announcements such as reminders to participate in voting, and free services (such as free lunch for kids) would also reach target residents.

I think Twitter has become too globalized in general, and this approach makes it difficult for advertisers to target their desired audience set. A Twitter Local service would resolve this gap while expanding its relevance to businesses and consumers alike.

Amazon’s Easy Return Policy = Bane of Authors

A guildmate at The Authors Guild posted (another) complaint about returns for her books in a series. Amazon currently allows returns of ebooks within seven days, regardless of whether the content has been read or not (even if it’s 100%). Although they add a warning that customers with a high rate of returns might see this option blocked, I have yet to hear Amazon taking that step with any customers. Unfortunately, there are tons of YouTube videos and TikToks teaching viewers how to take advantage. Consequently, each ebook return reduces the author’s royalty. In extreme situations, that monthly royalty statement becomes a NEGATIVE number!

This easy return policy for ebooks hurts authors in numerous ways. First, it is outright theft from the author. The book publishing market is highly competitive, and successful authors spend enormous amounts of time writing, publishing, and marketing their works without any assurance of compensation on the other end. Oftentimes, lesser known/unknown authors require second and third jobs to support themselves while hoping that their works become profitable bestsellers. So when people exploit Amazon’s excessive return policy, they are stealing the victim author’s hopes and dreams for a better future.

Secondly, Amazon is heavily reliant on metrics and algorithms. The more an ebook sells, the higher its visibility on Amazon’s website. Conversely, when returns are processed, they REDUCE the book visibility to potential readers. So this results in a negative feedback spiral until the returned book becomes invisible and difficult to find on Amazon’s website. If you click on “Kindle Books” link on Amazon and filter by “Last 30 Days,” 50,000+ search results come up. 50,000 divided by 30 days = 1,600+ new book releases per day. It becomes VERY easy for publications to get lost in the crush of new books coming out daily. And each ebook return is another nail in the coffin.

Thirdly, excessive returns DISCOURAGE authors from writing new books. For example, if you are enjoying a series of mystery novels but see that the writer hasn’t published anything lately, why do you think that’s the case? If I’m an author who ends up receiving a negative royalty statement, I might quit writing that series and start under a new pen name. Authors who write for a living are unlikely to stop writing books entirely because that is their livelihood. But they WILL stop writing the book series drawing excessive Amazon book returns. In the end, you’re screwing yourself over if the book series is unfinished and likely never will be.

A Welcome to My First WP Follower

I have to admit I was surprised when WP alerted me to a like for my review of He Who Fights with Monsters. Lo and behold, I somehow gained a follower on this obscure blog. In other words, I can’t curse out people, companies, and products without expecting a reaction anymore. My plan got foiled! What a bummer! 😀

All kidding aside, I give a hearty welcome to Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha. I hope you don’t regret discovering my outpost. 😛

Review: He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon

When the publisher offered the first bunch of volumes in He Who Fights with Monsters on sale at a tantalizing 99c each earlier this month, I couldn’t resist the siren’s call and bought them. But I delayed starting this series until around the July 4th holiday.

With 6k+ Amazon reviews for the first two books, it’s an eyesore for any respectable fantasy reader if you don’t take a peek at them. So after binging the first two books, here are my thoughts:

  • The title is badly misnamed. Yes, “He Who Fights with Monsters” is a VERY catchy title. But a majority of fantasy stories (that I’ve read anyway) end up with characters fighting monsters. In this portal fantasy, the MC lands in the world buck naked and spins his wheels trying to stay alive, unhurt. Fighting monsters? That took up maybe 5-10% of the books. In my view, a more accurate title is: “He Who Fights Conspiracies”. Alas, that title isn’t as sexy, and most readers will glance at it and take a hard pass. So maybe Shirtaloon made a truly sensible and profitable decision in fibbing his book title here.

  • Here’s a more accurate book description: “KonoSuba x The Land”. Konosuba is a Japanese light novel turned popular anime series about a human portaled to a fantasy world. What distinguishes this show is the outrageous and outlandish cast of characters, and Shirtaloon achieves a similar situation with his biracial Aussie/Japanese protagonist. And over the course of the novel, the author admits to going over the top with the MC’s antics via the cast dialogues amongst themselves and sweep it under the rug as crazy outworlder antics. The Land is a litrpg series by Aleron King which has equally crazy antics by the newcomer MC trying to survive and adjust to a new world.

HWFM definitely is an entertaining series but edges toward a bit of grimdark. That being said, I suspect the MC’s antics slowly shift from new to dull unless the author really evolves this character from a clueless clown to someone more respectable and feared. I guess I’ll find out as I continue reading the later volumes. 🙂

Why WordPress?

As an older person, I’ve been in and out of social media. My first site was MySpace followed by Blogger. But due to time commitments, I eventually dropped both.

After deciding to start writing a blog, my choice was either to return to Blogger or start a WordPress blog. The respectable, publishing veteran Jane Friedman recommends WP for writers and my ebook formatter, Jesse Gordon, shares a similar opinion. But what nailed my choice is the availability on a mobile app with a higher overall rating compared to Blogger. And as I type the original post on my app, I’m proven right.

Hello World!

As a full-time indie author, I have been encouraged (or pressured!) to maintain a social media presence. So here goes nothing!