WordVixen.com

I’ve been MIA for a few days, and you’ve probably noticed that I tend to post in spurts.

My interests tend to cycle. I’m way too into too many things. There are days where I simply want to clean (they’re rare) or cook (also rare), or write (usually when I can’t). There are weeks where all I want to do is curl up with good books, cheesy movies, or play video games. Weeks where I work on nothing but crafts, weeks where I sew, weeks where I knit, weeks where I work on cross stitch.

Then there are usually months where I’m fully addicted to the internet. I can spend entire days doing nothing but working on my affiliate sites (these are the times where I’m always putting up posts that say “I just built this site, I’ll finish it later” and then never do), days with nothing but reading Miss Snark, days where I just read and comment on blogs, days where I post on every blog and site that I have.

I’m sort of ADD with a dash of obsessive compulsive.

What I’ve been doing recently is the sewing thing. The last time I went through the “sewing phase” was because I’d just gotten into the “cleaning phase” and had found a stash of fabric that a former friend had bought. I was going to make it into a set of Renn Faire garb for her birthday. Um. I don’t even know when that was.

Well, she paid for it, and I made a promise- so I can’t just dump it or use it for myself. And it takes up a nice chunk of space in my craft closet (yes, my husband and I live alone, and yet a three bedroom townhome does not have enough space for all of our junk). So, last sewing phase coincided with The Tudors on On Demand. So, I cut out EVERYTHING while watching the shows. The skirt, two pair of bloomers, and two chemises (for you guys- the thing you look up, two pair of what you pull down, and two things with sleeves that cover up what you want to see). I also cut out two other skirts that I’d planned to make (one for me, one for BIL’s girlfriend). I pinned most of it and promptly lost interest.

So, now I’m back in the sewing phase. And this time, I’m actually sewing! I finished (aside from hand stitching and drawstrings) two bloomers and a skirt, and half of a chemise. Which means that hopefully this weekend, I’ll be done with her stuff, and I can start on mine. Or, at least finish her stuff before I lose interest again.

My goal for Memorial Day weekend was to write 10 pages in my WIP, finish the sewing, vaccuum the downstairs, and clean the bathroom.

Well, I got 6 pages written, half the sewing, and I sorta scrubbed the tub. Hubby insisted on spending all of Sunday in York just because we wanted to have dinner there. On the upside, I got my three 1gig memory sticks and a handful of books. On the downside, I only had a few hours in the evening to do what I actually wanted to do.

In all, I’m glad that I had the time off, but I wish I could have gotten more done.

I was going to write a proper MTM post, but hubby’s taking me out, so I won’t have much time left this holiday weekend.

And so, I leave you with a short video that I found that pretty much describes life in this area. Minus all the work and restaurants.

I was on a friend’s site today, and searching for ads to click (she needs cash, and I can’t afford to buy actual products through her links), and saw an ad that I’ve seen a lot lately.

A website called AuthorTree which promises free websites and blogs for authors and is sponsored by… ta-dah! 4 pod self-pub/vanity presses (AuthorHouse, AuthorHouse UK, WordClay [formerly Vesta], and iUniverse). I’d suspected as much, but since some of these click ads check to see how long you’re on their site, and where you go on it, I sniffed around a bit more. Hopefully they have a good click pay rate.

So, anyway. I’m exploring the site, alternating between laughing at them, and feeling terror at the prospect of innocent authors being sucked in by their blatant promotion of the POD people, and I click on their “services” button. In fact, I’m going to link to it as SCAM since I don’t know how to no-follow it.

The first few items they offer seemed rather over priced to me, but since I didn’t have the numbers on hand to compare, I just kind of rolled my eyes and thought “whatever”. But then I saw their “Domain Name” offer. Only $99! Wow! Um… At first I thought it was just an over priced service like “We’ll register the domain name for you, and set up your hosting account and free template”. But no. It’s just for the domain name. (Anyone who doesn’t understand why this is not a bargain, please go to GoDaddy.com where you can register a domain name for under $10. And that’s not the best deal that you can find online.)

All of them are quite nearly hilarious to anyone with a sprinkling of ‘net or promotional knowlege, but I think Kathy would like this one.

The Personal Media Valet- $4000. No, I didn’t type too many zeros. Here’s what they do:

How do Personal Media Valet services help promote my
book?
A copywriter will produce a press kit for your book, including a press
release and a full color Fact Sheet and Author Biography Sheet
Your
publicity coordinator will distribute press releases and personally follow-up
with media outlets within your selected target markets
A custom Marketing
Kit will provide business cards, bookmarks and postcards designed to promote
your book.

How Does the Process Work?
Review and approve a
professionally written press release for distribution to targeted media outlets
An publicity coordinator will follow-up with media outlets, and send review
copies of your book upon request
Utilize word-of-mouth marketing by
distributing business cards, bookmarks and postcards to potential readers

Um. Yeah. Yanno. If I were going to pay $4000 for a press release and someone to distribute it? I think I’d be calling up Kathy because at least I’ve seen her work and know it would be good. And does anyone else suspect that they’re one of the clients who keep trying to hire freelancers at $20 a pop? And then mass mailing these press releases to every address they can find? And then dumping the business cards, bookmarks and post cards at their local book store? Because, yanno, that’s where potential readers are at.

Hopefully that charge includes the cost of the business cards, bookmarks, and postcards because they’re charging $250 per 1000 business cards.

Seriously- if you’re willing to shell out this kind of money to promote your book, you’d better A) have gotten a good advance, and B) hire a PROFESSIONAL PUBLICIST. Good Lord, these people want you to toss away half a year’s pay on promotional services without even showing you what you get! And, they’re pumping it to the self-published crowd who aren’t getting advances at all.

Ye gods. It’s times like this that I wish I didn’t have ethics.