disappointed readers?
One side effect from all the slanted attention lately could be disappointed readers and bad Amazon reviews.
Depending on where they heard of the book, if their hands aren’t burned when they touch it, will they be disappointed? Or if I don’t start out telling them how to be a whore and how much to charge and where to find good pimps, are they going to be disappointed? Will my serious discussion on STDs lack the bimbo quality they were hoping for? Will they not appreciate the dearth of “sex with clients” tips? Or my lack of discussing the good strolls in major cities? Are they going to be mad I don’t tell them which brand of stiletto is most comfortable for standing on concrete? Are they hoping to be brainwashed into selling their bodies for money and think the book sucks if they don’t decide to put an ad on CraigsList?
Just an idle thought…
media and a sex worker
There’s been a small blitz of media attention directed at me (I haven’t been updating stuff, though, I’m behind). And it’s not at all when I expected or asked for it. My relationship is over so I moved to regroup and finish Book #2. I figured on a fairly quiet existence for the next couple months. Instead, all of this hits the fan the very day that I moved (right after I unplugged my computer, apparently).
What’s amusing is a lot of people think I just published the book to capitalize on the Spitzer thing. They don’t do enough fact-checking to discover its public-release date was mid-October 2006. Less amusing is how they mangle my bio or misquote something they read about me on the Internet, written by someone else.
Last night on XBN, I discussed this with Jill (rambled, actually). These are some residual thoughts on my brief experiences with the media as a self-identified sex worker.
an agency offer
An interesting side-effect of winning an Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards was that I got an e-mail from a literary agency. More properly, an intern at the agency. Still, a literary agency contacted me. Pretty nice and something I was very secretly wishing for. It was a heady moment.
Since she contacted me about two weeks before the Spitzer scandal broke, I knew it was genuine interest. Anything else I would’ve dismissed. And it was an agency I had considering querying (eons ago when I was querying agencies). So that was very good.
amazon is a monopoly (apparently)
One of the funniest happenings in self-publishing land has been brewing over the last two weeks. None of my self-pub groups can concentrate on anything else. Their flailings make most escort discussion board threads look rational.
Amazon (one poster called it “the self-publisher’s best friend” – I have never subscribed to that notion) has decided to force the POD issue and only carry books by its own POD manufacturer BookSurge. I realize this means diddly for most of my blog readers. My amusement comes from something other than technical details.
girl-on-girl “outing”
I debated whether or not to post this, but decided to (obviously). This is my personal blog, so I feel it’s ethically okay.
An online competitor of mine sells e-books (something I’ve been encouraged to do by several different people, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon — sorry). Competitor in the sense we’re presumably going after the same market. Since I don’t trust e-books or e-book sellers (the exceptions can be named on one hand), I never bought her book, plus it was too expensive for mere research purposes.
In my Google Alerts, I noticed she had a new blog. Its subject matter seemed a little odd, but okay. Then I discovered she outs people on her blog. In particular, customers who order her e-books. I found this out because an escort paid for the e-book, never received it and got blasted when she dared contact the seller about the issue. Not only has the poor girl not gotten her money back, all the information she put into the ordering system is now posted online in connection with the escort book.
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Copyright Notice
Notice of copyright: The After Hours blog is copyrighted (c) 2002-2008 by Amanda Brooks. All rights reserved.
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Personal Update (7/2/08)
Book #2 is on its way. Slowly. But getting there.
I'm finally ready to rejoin life. Slowly, too.
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Geeky
I've discovered the pleasure of working with Brian Gardner's WP themes. His free stuff is nearly flawless and his more expensive stuff is mind-blowing. Although his work is easy to use right out of the box, there's infinite fun to be had by customizing (i.e., destroying) it. As you can see here.
