Chase the Night Release Day--Free on Smashwords

I'm pleased to announce another short story release. Chase the Night is a dark, erotic fantasy with vampires and is part of the world building for the upcoming urban fantasy, Crime Bites.  I also made the cover with a lot of help from a graphic designer friend. Slowly, slowly learning Photoshop!

After vampires decimate Kafele’s bedouin tribe, he thinks he has finally found revenge in the dark embrace of a vampiress...only to learn his quarry has other plans.

Chase the Night is free on Smashwords and waiting for Amazon to price match.

Man Eater Release Day and Make a Book Cover in Photoshop CS5 in 10 Easy Steps

I have another short story out today titled Man Eater. It's free on Smashwords with other distributors to follow.

This book also marks the first time I created an ebook cover in Photoshop CS5. There's a steep learning curve with Photoshop, at least for me, and, not finding the help I needed online, I made a video tutorial of the process I used to create the Man Eater cover.

I figure I can't be the only one trying to learn Photoshop and wanting really basic instruction so the video is below for your amusement or education, whichever applies most to you.

By the way, the video is not the greatest quality...I'm technologically challenged, but, if you can put up with my camera work, you'll be all set to make simple ebook covers in Photoshop in ten steps in just ten minutes.

The key to these simple covers is finding really great stock art, something with different textures and depth to the image. The Man Eater cover is nothing more than the picture,a  background color and the text. There's no shading, no special effects because the picture itself is of high quality.





Below is the process written out. You can copy/paste it and print it out for reference. I've also elaborated on some things that I didn't mention in the video.

How to Make Book Covers in Photoshop CS5: A Basic Tutorial for Beginners

1. Buy stock art from a stock art site such as iStockphoto.com or similar.

2.Crop the photo as required--for example, if you just want to use one part of the picture, crop that now-- and save to your computer. (You can crop in PS, but, as a beginner, this is easier).

3. Open Photoshop CS5 and open a new file using the settings: 6” x 9” 300 dpi/pixels per inch. Give it a name, but note this is not your book cover file, it's a working file that will make the actual book cover in a minute. We are using this just to establish the background color. I like to pick up a color from my stock art with the eyedropper tool, if you want to pick from the PS color palette that's fine too--you can just skip ahead to the bucket fill step.

4.Click file, click place, select picture.  This inserts the picture so we can use the eyedropper tool to establish the background color.

5.Size picture to fill screen as desired.

6. Click the eyedropper tool to select color from picture for top and bottom margins. Now we're going to open a new file to do the actual cover--as there's no way I can find to use the paint fill bucket without covering up the photo (it actually can be done, but requires deeper knowledge of PS, which I lack right now).

7.Repeat step 1, then click on paint fill bucket tool. Be sure foreground color from the eyedropper is visible in bottom left of tools and fill in the white 6x9 cover. Click on that color, then take the bucket and click on the book cover to 'fill in' the background color for your ebook cover.

8. Click file, click place, select picture to insert stock art.

9. Size picture to fill screen as desired, keeping in mind this is going to be the actual book cover.

10.Click the text tool and type in title, selecting font and font size, type in title on top, author name on bottom---center text as necessary.

Note: font color is selected in upper right menu. Usually, the program tries to type the title the same color as the paint bucket fill so you need to manually change it.

Paypal Censorship Spreads to Publishers-UPDATED (Again)

The story with Paypal's stance on erotica continues to unfold across the internet. I thought I would do a quick round up on some of the more important essays and opinions on the topic.

Most Recent Updates: 

Visa has issued a formal statement saying they were not behind Paypal's decision to censor erotica. Note that this is contrary to media reports and Paypal's own statements to both retailers and consumers.

"Although our company rules were not the impetus for PayPal’s decision, these issues are important to us, and we’d like to share our point of view with you.

In general, Visa takes no position with respect to lawful goods and services bought and sold by the people and the companies who use our payment service. As the largest payment network in the world, with billions of cardholders and tens of millions of retailers and individuals selling goods in nearly every country of the world, our goal is to offer the best way to pay everywhere and for everyone. In fulfilling this mission, we strive to respect the many different perspectives that citizens of the world hold, and we avoid taking sides when those opinions differ." Full post here.

Paypal finally issued a statement on their blog, however, they are not posting all comments and readers report seeing different comments, both in content and quantity, at different times. Further, Paypal's statement provides yet another different data point on their position that has not previously been made public. Paypal just can't get their policy together or provide cohesive, consistent action.

My comment on Paypal's blog post is below, which they have yet to publish according to what I can see and what others have verified for me:

"Can you clarify what is meant by images associated with erotica? That's not a statement I've heard before from Paypal on the issue. As far as I've read, erotica books don't contain pictures beyond a cover.

How exactly does this policy protect your interests? Also, how does this policy protect your interests when traditionally published books containing content that violates your policy are still sold on sites using Paypal? And how does this policy protect your interests when content in violation of your terms is still for sale on Ebay, your parent company?

Further, when your policy effectively dictates the confines of a genre, you are limiting speech."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a letter you can sign that will be sent to Paypal's CEO. Please sign it as it's from an official advocacy group, coordinating with other advocacy groups--this is the petition to sign in my opinion. To be on the safe side, don't use the same email your Paypal account is under .

There's been media covers, of variable quality on the issue of Paypal censorship:

Forbes ( excellent dissection of Paypal's faulty logic)
Reuters
Wall St. Journal
MSNBC
CNET
Publisher's Weekly ( one of better articles)
New York Post

The other big news story that broke this week was the Department of Justice's announcement that they would be filing a lawsuit against publishers for price fixing. The upshot is NY Publishers colluded to jack up ebook prices. Since the effect of Paypal's policy has been to remove independent authors from small bookseller sites, which effectively reduces ebook price competition, inquiring minds wonder if this was the larger strategy at play.

I continue to believe this entire situation has nothing to do with sex, but is more about market share and pricing. Indies are vulnerable, without a large corporate conglomerate protecting our interests, and erotica is even more vulnerable yet, especially as it very successfully encroached on prime real estate publishers were used to owning.


Lastly, please welcome a new sub genre called Paypal Satire. Yes, now people are writing books where Paypal gets screwed without a safe word. They are quire funny and I encourage you to check them out. Buy them before Paypal bans them!


Make Love the Right Way or You're Going to Hell

Two People Having Sex

Depression Era Sex

Missionary Possible











Previous Updates

Mark Coker, head of Smashwords, is in the process of issuing a rallying cry to the 'troops' in an effort to fight the moral censorship of Paypal and credit card companies. Please set up an account so you can receive his emails on the subject, and, while you're there, show your support by buying a book.
   
The National Coalition Against Censorship has weighed in with a letter to the CEO of Ebay. 

   "If PayPal’s concerns were limited to restricting the sale of illegal content, the policy would beunnecessary, since it already holds users “independently responsible for complying with allapplicable laws in all of your actions related to your use of PayPal's services, regardless of the purpose of the use.” However, the apparent purpose and clear effect of the policy is to prevent booksellers from distributing content that adults have a legal right to receive.Given PayPal’sdominant role in processing online transactions, the policy will have a dramatic effect on online sales of materials that do not even arguably qualify as obscene."

There's also a statement from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which highlights the insidious nature of corporate censorship. The US constitution protects Americans from government censorship, but there's no such recourse when companies act as censors. When it comes to corporations, people will only have as much freedom as they are willing to fight for.

Note, the links to the two petitions are at the end of this post. Please sign them. Corporations respond to numbers and, if we can amass a show of force, they will reconsider their position--they've been very responsive to petitions in the past.

Previous Updates:

Well known and respected erotica writer, Remittance Girl has "formally sent a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, alleging the targeted commercial suppression of women’s literature by PayPal on the grounds that it specifically stifles the free speech of a ‘persecuted gender grouping’."  This is not something that the US court system would support, but the European legal system may take action as their laws on discrimination are quite different.

New York Times Bestselling author, Michael A. Stackpole has spoken out against Paypal.This is something that affects the entire industry and I'm grateful any time an author with a strong audience is willing to wade past the buzzwords Paypal has used to make their actions more palatable.

There have been too many traditionally published authors (as well as some indies) poo-pooing the independent casualties. Well, as you'll see if  you keep reading, Paypal is also targeting publishers with their morality sweep. Solidarity is the way to move forward. If you want to publish your story, you're going to have to accept some of the raunchier indie stuff too.

Confused on all the details? Not sure why anyone would support incest? Stephanie Draven has some great clarifications on the terms involved in this debate. She clears up confusion about whether this is censorship. A pet peeve of mine has been, whenever I say it's censorship, someone comes back with 'it's not the government doing this so it's not censorship.'

The First Amendment of the US Constitution does not own the word censorship nor provide its sole definition. There are academic sources covering different types of censorship, look them up. When a near corporate monopoly starts banning an entire genre and attempting to police fiction, that's censorship.

By the way, Paypal continues to sell all sorts of hard core porn across the internet. Apparently it's just erotica they have a problem with--Unless, of course, they decide to police sexual content in other genres, which is the slope we're sliding down at the moment.

And if you're looking for a humorous take on the issue, check out this link. Don't drink or eat while reading and, if you do, don't say I didn't warn you.

Lastly, I have reports from good sources that traditionally published books are being banned as well. This has spread beyond independent authors. There hasn't been any official word from affected parties and I don't know if there will be--my sense is publishers want to keep their heads down and off the chopping block. However, I hope they come forward and serve the greater good. Paypal cannot be allowed to dictate the content of fiction.

There are two petitions you can sign and don't think they don't help, they do. Paypal has been responsive to petitions in the past on GLBT rights issues. If we can make a show of force, we may turn the tide. Hopefully before your book is banned.

One is on Change. org.

Another one is on Care 2 Petition.

Paypal is a Fascist Librarian and Here's What to Do About It

The story of corporate interests banning of books continues with sad news today. Paypal moved against Smashwords this past week and, last night, the email went out to authors with instructions to delete specific content or else the company would delete it for them. Unlike other book retailers, Smashwords actually put up a vigorous fight and their communication to authors was filled with regret, respect for authors and anger against the latest chess move in the bigger game of corporate censorship.

The end result of Paypal's edicts against erotica over the past weeks has been to contribute to Amazon's market share and shrink ebook distribution options for independent writers. While it's good to have at least one place still standing that will continue to sell what the customer wants, I am uncomfortable with the quickening pace of Amazon's growth into an online monopoly.

Business competition is good and healthy for consumers and artists. The lack of payment processor competition has enabled Paypal to essentially do whatever it wants with impunity--not just in regards to book content, but in all areas of online business. There's a reason why sites like Paypal Sucks exist.

The last thing authors and readers need is one single retailer distributing the lion's share of ebooks. That will be the point where Amazon can do whatever it want, just as Paypal has, with almost no avenue for recourse.

What's a little person to do?

We can vote with our dollars and our feet.

How? Let me count the ways, because, no matter how little we may feel, we do matter and our actions do invoke consequences. We can choose a future that doesn't let corporate censorship thrive without opposition and it's not that hard to do.

1.Open an account with another payment processor such as Verotel.

2.Write to Smashwords, Bookstrand, All Romance ebooks and other retailers to ask them to do the same and demonstrate your willingness to make the switch with them. They need to know you're not afraid to leave Paypal's "trusted brand" behind.

3.Like Paypal Sucks on Facebook and keep up with the latest in the fight for the right to buy what you want to buy without Paypal punishing retailers you rely on.

4.Keep buying erotica. Write reviews. Support the authors, some of whom have lost thousands of dollars in the last ten days.

5.Support retailers other than Amazon when possible--Smashwords is a great place to start.

Things won't change tomorrow or even next month, but these actions will start the forward motion we need to create the retailer diversity that both readers and writers want.

And be warned, Barnes and Noble accepts Paypal ,meaning they are likely in the cross hairs next. Are they too big for Paypal to take out or will the corporate censorship continue unabated?

Good Reading on this Topic Elsewhere:

Two Legs Bad: An Open Letter to Mark Coker 

Slippery Slope 2: Why Frogs Boil

And There Goes Another One (Smashwords) 

Paypal: Taking a Sledgehammer to Artistic Freedom


Smashwords Falls Victim to Paypal

Banning Books and Blocking Authors: A Reader Alert

There's been quite a bit of nastiness in the online world of publishing as of late and there are some important developments that readers and writers alike need to be aware of.

Earlier this week, Paypal sent out directives to various online book retailers and publishers advising that they must eradicate certain erotica stories or lose their account.

Initially, the demands were focused on what is known as 'Pseudo Incest' stories. I had no idea this sub-genre of erotica existed myself, and had to do some research to figure out if it was as bad as it seemed. It's not.

These stories are not incest in the true meaning of the word, hence the Pseudo, but they do appeal to a surprisingly large demographic of people for which this is a big sexual fantasy.

It is not my fantasy, but I don't knock other people's kinks so long as they aren't illegal, which, in this case, they are written so that they are within the limits of the law. (Think Woody Allen and his adoptive daughter, kind of icky for me personally, but he was not put in prison for incest now was he?)

Worse, Paypal has now told veteran erotica author and publisher, Selena Kitt, that BDSM is equivalent to rape and is banned as well. As someone who reads and writes BDSM, that is about a million different kinds of wrong. If you are a fan of BDSM, your jaw probably dropped reading that, mine is on the floor.

Even more insidious, to date, only independent authors have been targeted by these Paypal initiated sweeps. I can give you lists and lists of traditionally published books that should be banned on sites using Paypal as a payment processor, but haven't been touched. Why is that?

I don't know, but it worries me and I hope it worries you. Content is being banned with no recourse and publishers are getting away with things Indies cannot. Retailers and Paypal say the problem is the pseudo incest and 'rape', but what they are actually doing does not match their words.

More damning is the fact that Paypal is owned by Ebay, which has multiple BDSM books available for sale. So Paypal's parent company sells the very fiction they are banning. That doesn't make any sense, does it?

The whole thing smells.

If you are a reader who enjoys erotica, you are being denied access to popular books, books that have sold tens of thousands of copies.

If you are a writer, any genre, you begin to see how larger business interests can move against you and your work. Actually, on one site, they have already deleted their entire Indie catalog which makes this a multi-genre issue. Besides, if you can't stand up for erotica who will stand up for you?

Erotica sells too well for me to believe anyone who says they don't read and don't like it. While I'm sure that small percentage exists, most of us have enjoyed a naughty, raunchy tale or two in our time. In light of current events, I wonder how much longer that option will be open to us as readers?

Please consider signing the petition on the Care 2 Petition site and shop at sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, which are still selling erotica without silly definitions that equate BDSM with rape. Please make your voice heard and continue to follow this issue.

Before Commenting on this Post:

1.Let's avoid the incest debate and focus more on the fact that Indies are being targeted while traditionally published books are favored. The uneven enforcement deserves attention and I don't want us to get side tracked by sexual fantasies that squick us out, okay? Also, please keep in mind, at least one site banned their entire Indie catalog--so this is bigger than one genre.

2.Please don't bring up the straw man of 'Indies put out crappy books and suck' because we all know traditional publishers are not immune to quality control issues themselves. Don't buy the hype that Indies deserve to be banned and marginalized, at least not in the comments here. Besides, many of the works that were banned, dominated the best seller charts on the sites in question.

More reading on this topic:

Selena Kitt--Slippery Slope: Erotica Censorship (with comments from Joe Konrath)

A Sexy Valentine Full of Banshees, Just for You!

Banshee's Tattoo is once again free, for one day only. It's a short steamy romance, a valentine from me to you. Yes, somehow I managed to make a Banshee story sexy. No really. You have to read it to believe it.

This story first appeared in an anthology back in late 2007. When I finally met the publisher a few years later (I had a baby the month the book launched) they greeted me with great excitement. Apparently, while I was dealing with colic and sleep deprivation, Banshee's Tattoo had become a reader favorite.

I hope you enjoy it just as much and that it makes your Valentine's Day.

By the way, if you want something longer, I also just picked up a free copy of A Taste of Twilight Crimson which is a story of vampires and rockers. Don't know the author or anything, just thought it looked like a good read.

The Dangers of Amazon's KDP Select

I no longer plan to participate in the KDP Select program once my current contracts expire due to erratic and chaotic accusations of plagiarism.

Piracy is a huge problem and is often much more coordinated than authors realize. The even bigger problem is Amazon's unintelligent, punish-the-author approach to managing copyright issues. The pirates are laughing all the way to the bank while the authors are destroyed.

How does this happen?

When you take advantage of those 5 measly free days that Amazon uses to lure authors into the KDP Select program, so do the pirates. They come through, scrape your story, repackage and resell it on Amazon and all over the internet. (Hell, sometime they even shell out a few bucks to buy your book in order to steal it.)

Which results in Amazon accusing YOU of plagiarism once they find the plagiarized content. (Please, for the love of books, register your copyright!)

Amazon has been known to only give authors one day to respond to their accusation--better hope you're not sick or in the midst of a power outage or traveling. Even if you respond and prove you are the copyright owner, they have also been known to suspend, not just the book in question, but your ENTIRE account.

Once that happens your books' rankings are dust. Any momentum you've built up is gone and you will be starting over from scratch.

This is happening to authors right now. People are losing everything they've built. All for 5 free days and a buck something per lend.

I don't know about you, but the benefits of the KDP Select program are nowhere near enough for me to assume that kind of risk.

KDP Select gives Amazon way too much power, power they are abusing with draconian impunity.