*cries*
shad
I saw his blog post pointing to his stories on Amazon. Must have led to a pissing match as its gone too.
I saw his blog post pointing to his stories on Amazon. Must have led to a pissing match as its gone too.
Standard behavior. If an author removes all of his stories the entire author account including blogs is no longer visible.
I saw his blog post pointing to his stories on Amazon. Must have led to a pissing match as its gone too.
do you mean his Amazon site or his blog entry?
A link to another story site is a no-no on SoL, and if an author has no stories posted then his blog and story list are not visible.
I saw his blog post pointing to his stories on Amazon. Must have led to a pissing match as its gone too.
He asked to remove his stories to comply with Amazon's exclusivity rules.
Not to hijack the thread but my question relates. Is it true that the exclusivity only is required for a period of months? does that mean the stories might be back someday like other authors have done?
Is it true that the exclusivity only is required for a period of months?
That would be a question for Amazon.
That said, my understanding is that aside from things only available through their subscription based service (Kindle Unlimited I think, but I'm not sure I have the name right) they don't have an exclusivity requirement.
The problem for authors that want to self publish with Amazon is that Amazon reserves the right to reduce the price to meet the lowest price the story is available at anywhere.
Which means that if it's available free on SOL Amazon could cut the Kindle price to $0.00 and the author stops getting paid for Amazon sales.
And no, there is no finite period after which that no longer applies.
That said, my understanding is that aside from things only available through their subscription based service (Kindle Unlimited I think, but I'm not sure I have the name right) they don't have an exclusivity requirement.
The problem for authors that want to self publish with Amazon is that Amazon reserves the right to reduce the price to meet the lowest price the story is available at anywhere.
You're right. Amazon loves their pet brand names. Kindle Unlimited is how one gets access to the legion of cheapskate Amazon Prime readers (most publishers won't release their books to Amazon because they know how badly Amazon treats everyone, they publishers (either independent or mainstream) prefer getting paid for the number of books sold, not phantom 'views'.
As far as 'reducing' the price of your books, they do, do that, however Amazon makes up the difference, so the author still gets their regular commission, as the temporary discount is merely a 'promotional' offer to draw new readers into punching a Prime account. So, it's really not as restrictive as is otherwise sounds.
And no, there is no finite period after which that no longer applies.
Once you quite participating in Kindle Unlimited (i.e. you remove your books from their exclusivity, you're no longer bound by their restrictions (i.e. the periodic 'discounts' no longer apply). But, as long as you continue participating in Kindle Unlimited, they'll continue until the books no longer sell.
As far as 'reducing' the price of your books, they do, do that, however Amazon makes up the difference, so the author still gets their regular commission, as the temporary discount is merely a 'promotional' offer to draw new readers into punching a Prime account.
I think you're mixing two things. When a book is in KU, the price is listed as $0.00. But that's only for the KU subscribers. Everyone who buys the book pays the price the author sets.
But if I offer a novel for sale on Amazon for $2 and on Bookapy for $1 and someone notifies Amazon about the Bookapy price, Amazon will reduce the price to $1 and that's what the author's royalty is based on.
Is it true that the exclusivity only is required for a period of months? does that mean the stories might be back someday like other authors have done?
The exclusivity refers to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited (KU) program. That's when someone subscribes to KU and gets to read any book in KU for free. The author is paid for pages read. The author enrolls in it for 90 days and it automatically renews for another 90 days unless he specifically removes it. So if he wants his stories in KU, they won't be coming back to SOL.
However, I took all my novels out of KU because it's not really a great deal plus I wanted them on Bookapy. So if he discovers that, they might be back on SOL (unless he doesn't want to give them away for free any longer).
does that mean the stories might be back someday like other authors have done?
Yes, that's exactly what happened with banadin's Richard Jackson Saga which was removed from SOL for KU and is now posted to SOL again.
Yes, that's exactly what happened with banadin's Richard Jackson Saga which was removed from SOL for KU and is now posted to SOL again.
Which is interesting because it's currently listed on the removed story list, and the reason is not "Deleted at author's request"
The Richard Jackson Saga Banadin 2021-06-20 mistakes
Which is interesting because it's currently listed on the removed story list, and the reason is not "Deleted at author's request"
Probably initial problems with posting. It's currently being (re)posted, books 1-3 up to chapter 46 now: The Richard Jackson Saga
ETA: The saga was previously removed as "Deleted at author's request" before it went up on KU. Don't know the exact date, I didn't start to collect removal dates until January 13 this year so it must have been before that.
up to chapter 46
I just checked, its up to chapter 47 now, new ones are showing up nearly every day. Although the author is listed as "Banadin" so a din is baned, the actual author is Ed Nelson, aka E.E. Nelson (based on the copywrite statement.) Some editions show his wife Carol as co-author. This one says "This is dedicated to my wife Carol for her support and help as my first reader and editor."
Read it, maybe save the story, sometimes the stories you love disappear. Stories off line aren't on Stories On Line any more.
Stories off line aren't on Stories On Line any more.
They are on StoriesOffLine, i.e. my local library :D
I never lost these stories because of that, bought most of them bookapy too.
the author is listed as "Banadin" so a din is baned, the actual author is Ed Nelson, aka E.E. Nelson (based on the copywrite statement.) Some editions show his wife Carol as co-author. This one says "This is dedicated to my wife Carol for her support and help as my first reader and editor."
Read it, maybe save the story, sometimes the stories you love disappear. Stories off line aren't on Stories On Line any more.
It was hard for me to find a place to post the following comment, I decided to use this one which is fairly recent.
The author is an Earl. The first E in EE Nelson is "Earl". Not sure why Ed is used instead of a nobility title. It would be interesting to learn why he used Ban a din as his pseudonym when first writing. Probably didn't want to prevent loud noises.
ETA: The saga was previously removed as "Deleted at author's request" before it went up on KU. Don't know the exact date, I didn't start to collect removal dates until January 13 this year so it must have been before that.
Technically, that 'behavior' is not restricted to Amazon, as virtually ALL publishers will place restrictions on an authors outside sales in order to give them time to maximize their sales. So, in that case, the questions really comes down to whether you (the author) is comfortable with 'subscription' services, or whether you prefer outright sales of your books, and authors fall into both camps.
I didn't start to collect removal dates until January 13 this year so it must have been before that.
If you have (or can recreate) an old bookmark to the story and follow it, you get back a 'Not Found' page giving the date it was removed and the reason. However, the bookmark must be the modern form that ends with the story name in URL form, not the older form which is just the story ID, which will just load whatever current story is using that ID. Note that the timestamp for the deletion appears to be in plain text rather than in toLocaleString form, so is likely in EST/EDT not your local time.
Tried it.
The story 'blank' by 'gwresearch' was not found.
It was deleted on 2021-08-04 21:54:54.
Reason for deletion: Deleted at author's request
I started Magestic a long time ago. I wasn't convinced it was the best thing since sliced bread, but I saved the link to where I had reached with the intention of resuming it some day. It was back in the days when SOL divided stories into sensible sized chunks and the link ended in '?page=2'.
AJ
I started Magestic a long time ago. I wasn't convinced it was the best thing since sliced bread, but I saved the link to where I had reached with the intention of resuming it some day.
Always download the full story before you start to read. That way you can continue reading your local version even if it's removed from SOL. You always have the option to delete your local copy if you don't like it but you can't download it from thin air if it's removed ;)
Well done, looks like you found a bug; I'd guess that Lazeez's code to look up the storyname from the URL doesn't cope with the '?page=2', in which case it probably also won't cope with the even older '@2' (or is it ':2') form.
Those are standard ways of passing parameters via the URL. If the parameters are no longer actionable, they are ignored. I don't see that as a bug.
AJ
Here's another bug. I had GWResearch's 'Retirement' open as a html page and scored it after it was deleted. My score was assigned to 'Daughter's mind-controlling invention' by mypenname3000.
If you have (or can recreate) an old bookmark to the story and follow it, you get back a 'Not Found' page giving the date it was removed and the reason. However, the bookmark must be the modern form that ends with the story name in URL form, not the older form which is just the story ID, which will just load whatever current story is using that ID. Note that the timestamp for the deletion appears to be in plain text rather than in toLocaleString form, so is likely in EST/EDT not your local time.
A little misunderstanding I think. My comment was about the first time The Richard Jackson Saga was removed following up on the question if such a story can reappear in time. So, not about the gwresearch stories. For optional usage as a data point for the ReaderInfo site I started logging removal dates because the page on SOL drops of the oldest entries when new ones are added. I started that on January 13 this year but the removal mentioned was before I started logging so I don't have that date.
What happened with the RJS is that banadin removed them for listing on KU. That removal date is too long ago so is no longer visible in the removed list. He then started posting again but apparently something went wrong and it was removed with the reason "mistakes". That entry is currently still available in the removed list. He retried posting and that is currently going on at a fast pace. So although listed as removed the story is actually being posted.
A little misunderstanding I think.
My comment is a general one, not tied to any particular story - most bookmarks to older deleted stories will give this 'Not Found' page if the site detects that it's a deleted story the URL refers to, even if that story no longer resides on the 'recently deleted' list.
The exceptions are if the story was deleted long enough ago that it was not recorded in the database (some of the stories with ID >30000), or if the story URL references only a story ID which is in the current range (< 29999). The latter is the case even for story URLs of the form http://storiesonline.net/s/(5 digit story ID):(N digit chapter posting ID) where the chapter ID is not valid for the story ID, like my bookmark for the RJS summer vacation Banadin: Summer Vacation 1959 - the Rick Jackson Saga: Chapter 4, which brings up a completely different story.
ETA: reconstructing the link http://storiesonline.net/s/13683/chapter-4-summer-vacation-1959-the gives
Story Not Found!
It may have been deleted or never existed on the site!
so either not recorded in the database, or has expired.
My understanding is he had an issue with a significant event in with a serious mistake and he has to rewrite part of the story and is also fixing other typos.
edit to add: not sure if he's doing that on a chapter by chapter basis or not.
Not to hijack the thread but my question relates. Is it true that the exclusivity only is required for a period of months? does that mean the stories might be back someday like other authors have done?
Basically, it's variable. Many authors will sign up, sell on Amazon for only a month, while partaking in the many sites offering promotions and discounts for new Amazon stories, and then open it up to other sites for greater exposure.
However, once someone gets into the Amazon Prime account nonsense (where instead of selling their books outright, they get essentially paid by the pages read), they're generally reluctant to quit. Since I've always had a very loyal (i.e. 'particular' fan base), I never saw the point.
Since my stories have never sold to the masses, offering my stories for free on Amazon Prime was never financially viable for me, but apparently several authors do quite well on that front. I personally prefer being paid for each book, rather than counting on instant fame and recognition, but that's just me.
But, if you're not locked into that Prime Account nonsense, then most authors use the exclusionary period to promote their books, before stepping back and promoting their books themselves, after introducing the books to wider Amazon audience. Going the all-Amazon route is simpler (i.e. it doesn't take as much thought and work), but it also offers more options.
Note: In most cases, people who read books for FREE are not inclined to PAY for them, so for me and many others, it's a losing proposition. But that's where the Prime LOCK comes in. For us, we can't move readers to paying full price, while from the Prime fans, if they remove the book from Prime exclusivity, they'll then LOSE their entire fan base. So, it's not always a simple or even a straightforward decision.
As far as whether they'll ever return, generally once someone 'quits' SOL, they generally don't return. Not to mention that they've essentially 'burned their bridges' on the way out, creating an openly hostile relationship with Lazeez. A few authors have returned, but many, many more have never once glanced back.
Not to mention that they've essentially 'burned their bridges' on the way out, creating an openly hostile relationship with Lazeez.
Usually the bridges aren't burned or with hostility. So far only a couple of authors over the last 10 years or so were hostile and I wouldn't let them back on the site.
I'm a reasonable man, I think, and I understand when people have their reasons and I don't take it personally.
I take it personally when the author makes it personal.
I take it personally when the author makes it personal.
I agree, and my observations were based on the limited few who did make it personal and refused to relent. More often, it's not Lazeez who's burning the bridges, but the author, who frequently seeks to break their ties to the site (either for publication purposes, or for the less-common 'my wife suddenly insists that I've 'got' religion, so we're 'quitting' together.).
I too am unhappy about not having GW Research's stories available on SOL. He had posted another story fairly recently about retirement, which I had reviewed favorably. If authors pull all the stories I have reviewed, I may lose my reviewer credential. I doubt Benjamin Franklin will pull his stories so at least one review will remain.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't is the situation. Writers need places like this to get their writing known and make their name. Places like Amazon squeeze writers into a bad place with such policies. If they can make money, more power to them, but forgetting their initial support base is a bad move imo. It would be wiser to give some warning rather than up and delete their works out of the blue.
If they can make money, more power to them, but forgetting their initial support base is a bad move imo. It would be wiser to give some warning rather than up and delete their works out of the blue.
Exactly, no problem in making money but at least try to not alienate your existing reader base. I bought all of it from him directly and he was very friendly in our email exchanges so this action was a little disappointing. I hope he puts them back on SOL in a few months and at the same time on Bookapy.
If you have exchanged PM emails with him and his account here still exists, you could still communicate with him.
If you have exchanged PM emails with him and his account here still exists, you could still communicate with him.
Everyone here can, I mentioned his 'sales' email in this thread: https://storiesonline.net/d/s4/t8764/2-stories-airport#po154601