In Good Company

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes, Other Columns

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Amazon, books, Dean Koontz, fiction, publishing

There’s something to the trend of Amazon both publishing and selling books, particularly fiction. My debut novel is doing okay, and apparently making waves now, but I’m not in the league of Amazon’s latest super author, Dean Koontz.

When Dean Koontz’s book contract expired last year, his stature as one of the country’s top-selling authors made him a hot target for several major publishing houses. He chose Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -1.16%

It was a surprising move because it means his new books likely won’t appear in retail stores, which generally boycott Amazon AMZN -1.16% -published titles. But Mr. Koontz is banking on Amazon’s vast retail machine to get his work to readers, whether in physical or digital formats.

“Maybe I won’t be in some stores or make the New York Times best-seller list, but I’m willing to take that risk and I think we’ll sell more books in all formats,” Mr. Koontz said.

Amazon dominates the U.S. book-retail market—accounting for over half of all new books sold in October, according to research firm Codex Group—but it is also a force as a book publisher. Signing up blue-chip authors like Mr. Koontz could make the tech giant an even more formidable threat to the traditional industry, led by publishing houses such as Penguin Random House, which is controlled by Germany’s Bertelsmann SE, ViacomCBS Inc.’s Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins Publishers, which is owned by Wall Street Journal parent News Corp.

Mr. Koontz’s first novel for Amazon is expected to publish March 31. He already has published a collection of short stories, “Nameless,” that generated over a million downloads in the first month after its debut last November. The stories are available only as e-books and audiobooks.

Mr. Koontz, whose over 100 books include hits like “Odd Thomas” and “Watchers,” isn’t the only high-profile writer Amazon Publishing has snared. In 2018, Patricia Cornwell signed a two-book deal; the first novel, “Quantum,” was published last October and enjoyed brisk downloads despite poor reviews. Both Mr. Koontz and Ms. Cornwell are in the top 25 of all currently published U.S. adult fiction writers, as measured by the size of their most dedicated fan bases, according to consumer surveys by Codex.

I am not in the, uh, top 20. But, getting there! (?) A million sales in the first month; I think I could handle that. Go Koontz!

e tu Amazon?

02 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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Amazon, antitrust, Google

Maybe they should shadow-ban the DOJ?

The FTC’s plans for Amazon and the Justice Department’s interest in Google are not immediately clear. But the kind of arrangement brokered between the Justice Department and the FTC typically presages more serious antitrust scrutiny, the likes of which many Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have sought out of fear that tech companies have become too big and powerful.

Pols on Capitol Hill think two corporations are too big and powerful… Then again, they’re just two more government entities.

Quarter Trillion $ Trio: How the Rich Get Richer

09 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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Amazon, economy, Federal Reserve, fiat money, money, the poor, the rich

Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett have a combined wealth greater than the poorest half of all Americans. Three men with more money than 160 million other people in the same country.

The three richest people in the US – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett – own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people.

Analysis of the wealth of America’s richest people found that Gates, Bezos and Buffett were sitting on a combined $248.5bn (£190bn) fortune. The Institute for Policy Studies said the growing gap between rich and poor had created a “moral crisis”.

In a report, the Billionaire Bonanza, the thinktank said Donald Trump’s tax change proposals would “exacerbate existing wealth disparities” as 80% of tax benefits would end up going to the wealthiest 1% of households.

“Wealth inequality is on the rise,” said Chuck Collins, an economist and co-author of the report. “Now is the time for actions that reduce inequality, not tax cuts for the very wealthy.”

The study found that the billionaires included in Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest people in the US were worth a combined $2.68tn – more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of the UK.

“Our wealthiest 400 now have more wealth combined than the bottom 64% of the US population, an estimated 80m households or 204 million people,” the report says. “That’s more people than the population of Canada and Mexico combined.”

The report says the “billionaire class” continues to “pull apart from the rest of us” at the fastest rate ever recorded. “We have not witnessed such extreme levels of concentrated wealth and power since the first gilded age a century ago.”

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David McNew/Getty/The Guardian.

This isn’t a piece on class envy – at least not mine is not. Who knows what the trained squirrels at the Guardian were up to. If this money were earned honestly, then there would be no problem, regardless of any “inequality”, real or fancied.

Some, many of whom are hoarse from howling at the moon last night, might propose to seize all of this wealth and redistribute it. Unlike Scrooge McDuck, these three real characters do not have $250 Billion in gold coins and cash in the basement of some mega mansion. It’s (almost all of it) invested in their companies and earning more money while created goods, jobs, and services. It’s not liquid. Taking it would collapse a sizable portion of the economy. Killing the goose … all for $1,500 per poorer half class member. Once…

Stick to the helpless screaming, SJWs.

The rest of you know I am (mostly) concerned with the truth. So, what is the truth behind Gates, Bezos, and Buffett?

Bill Gates became filthy rich by selling software. My perspective dictates the products are second-rate at best, a bill of goods bought from a high-class carny. Yet they remain extremely popular. The people get what they think they want. Gates gets richer. Okay.

Bezos runs Amazon. Some say this business is a modern monopoly, responsible for killing all the bookstores of the world. I have a vested interest here. Periodically Amazon sends me money for book sales. The checks are small but they do come. Thus, in my view, Saint Bezos and his beautiful creation can do no wrong. I wish them success as this directly benefits me. If you don’t like that, then you probably don’t read and, therefore, don’t really have a dog in the fight. Bugger off.

Buffett is held forth as the ultimate investor. Making and creating Billion$ while humbly living in the same small house for 50 years, the paragon of Wall Street virtue. That’s part of the truth.

The other part involves his direct manipulation of the economy. Watch the following video for a funny analysis of how this works (a cartoon, no less – for the people!):

Malekanoms/YouTube.

First, for the ardent pendatrists, consider the cloud cover in the cartoon. How is that consistent with the digital trees??? What say your television shows?

Now. If you happen to consider the substance, then know this: what Buffet and a few others do is not technically illegal. It should be as should be the whole central banking scheme. However, since we’re past the days of the law, why not make money (take money) from the existing corrupt system?

That’s where the problem lies. And howling at the moon, beating the bongos, and voting will not fix it.

Can the Churches fix the Schools? The Education?

16 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Amazon, Catholic Church, children, Christianity, education, Gary North, schools

Gary North, architect of the Ron Paul Curriculum (K-12) asks: Why Is There No Free Online Catholic Education?

It certainly makes sense to ask. The traditional schools slowly close due to this and that reason yet millions of families still favor the religious education over the government schoolhouse alternative.

North sees a possible inter-denominational bidding war for the attention/enrollment of young Christian scholars. It could all start Catholic:

What about the Southern Baptists? If they thought the Catholics were going to do this, there would be a bunch of Southern Baptists who would give it a shot. It would appall them that the Catholics would do it without a challenge from Southern Baptists.

October 31 is the 500th anniversary of Luther’s nailing of the 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg church. If Missouri Synod Lutherans thought the Catholics were about to offer a free online K-12 curriculum, they would organize to match them, course for course.

Presbyterians are the scholars of the Protestant world. If conservative Presbyterians thought that the Catholics were going to do this, they would form a study committee in each Presbyterian splinter denomination. Within five years, there would be a decision to start a curriculum by reach group. Within less than a decade from this decision — though not much less — there would be at least five Presbyterian curriculums online.

Then the Dutch would match them. The Dutch would not tolerate American Presbyterians horning in on Calvinist private schools run by school boards dominated by parents.

Then “word of faith” cable-TV Pentecostal pastors would see a profit opportunity: Holy Ghost-directed education. They would organize online programs. Their ministries would own the programs.

What we need is interdenominational competition. We need denominationally committed Christians who will not tolerate any of those other denominations getting away with this. Obviously, they’re not willing to fight the public schools. They are all perfectly willing to let the public schools steal their kids’ minds. This has been true in the United States ever since the 1840’s. But the thought that the Roman Catholics were going to do this would outrage Protestants.

Therefore, I call on some mother superior to leave a legacy behind. I call on some Catholic bishop to get his act together, educationally speaking. Get that free online curriculum up and running! Show those Protestants a thing or two!

If 20 million families then pulled their kids out of tax-funded schools, maybe a majority of voters would start voting “no” on school bond ballot propositions. Would that be so bad?

A very interesting idea and concept. More than rebuilding American education, this might just help the churches save themselves – from themselves.

BTW, if you and your kids are tired on the local K-12 experience, consider the RPC.

nimbus-image-1502897237869

RPC.

Thanks and thanks again, Dr. North.

Fred on the Lilliputian War Mongers

05 Saturday Aug 2017

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

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Amazon, Fred Reed, War

Some people never learn. Fred recounts:

When you have militarily stupid politicians listening to pathologically confident soldiers, trouble is likely. All of these people might reflect how seldom wars turn out as those starting them expect. Wars are always going to be quick and easy. Generals not infrequently advise against a war but, once it begins, they bark in unison. They seldom know what they are getting into. Note:

The American Civil War was expected to be over in an afternoon at First Manassas. Wrong, by four years and some 650,000 dead.

Germans thought that World War I would be be a quick war of movement, over in a few weeks. Wrong by four years and fantastic slaughter, and was an entirely unexpected trench war of attrition ending in unconditional surrender. Not in the Powerpoint presentation.

When the Japanese Army urged attacking Pearl Harbor, their war aims did not include two cities in radioactive rubble and GIs in the bars of Tokyo. That is what they got.

When the Wehrmacht invaded Poland, having GIs and the Red Army in Berlin must have been an undocumented feature. Very undocumented.

When the French re-invaded Vietnam after WWII, they did not expect les jaunes to crush them at Dien Bien Phu, end of war. Les Jaunes did.

When the Americans invaded Vietnam, having seen what had happened to the French, the thought did not occur that it might happen to them too. It did.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, having seen what happened to the US in a war against peasants, they did not expect to lose. They did.

When the Americans attacked Afghanistan, having seen what happened to the Soviets there, they did not expect to be fought to a slowly losing draw. They were.

When the Americans attacked Iraq, they did not expect to be bogged down in an interminable conflagration in the whole region. They are.

Is there a pattern here?

Pattern, schmattern.

A Review of The LawDog Files

16 Sunday Jul 2017

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Amazon, book review, books, Castalia House, Humor, LawDog, The LawDog Files, Vox Day

Vox asked for reader reviews of Castalia’s new release, The LawDog Files, by LawDog. I volunteered and My God! I’m glad I did. My Amazon review:

LawDog leads the reader on a fantastic and hilarious journey through human psychology, the realities of rural Texas, and the ups and downs of LEO life.

Going into the book I was uncertain what to expect. I don’t think I’d every heard of the author before (my shame). He’s much more than a Sheriff’s Deputy – a humorist of great eloquence and adroitness. Think of stories by Jerry Clower, Ray Stephens, Andy Griffith, maybe Fred Reed; then, think about small town policing. That’s the nature of The Files.

I’ve been in Texas a few times but never trekked into Bugscuffle. It’s the kind of sleepy little town where the darndest things happen, only to be publicly forgotten and thereafter only retold by old men (in boring fashion). Except that, here, LawDog captures the essence of the area, its people, and the demands of law enforcement, melding them out of keen memory and superb wit.

You’ll love this book if: you have ever worked in or around law enforcement; you’re from Texas, the South, or anywhere rural; you fondly remember the “good old days” from a past America, or; if you just like to laugh. Thrill to: an amorous armadillo, a murderous animatronic Santa Claus, a Dick Cheney-style pheasant (quail??) hunt, and perps appropriately referred to as “critters.”

The layout was easy-going (for an ebook) – a straight flow from one funny tale to the next – as well designed as written. I found one drawback, due entirely to the subject matter and exposition. My reading slowed as I “lived out” the files in my head. And that’s as fun a literary problem as one can have.

I loved it! Do yourself a favor and buy The LawDog Files today. Many thanks to LawDog for serving on the thin blue line and then, again, with the fine lines of his pen.

BUY IT TODAY

LawDog/Castalia/Amazon.

You’ll love it!

Valediction 2017

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

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academic, Amazon, culture, education, schools

The news from government schools and the standardized “education” industry grows worse by the month.

“Valediction,” as used above, means saying farewell.

Valedictoria: a student, typically having the highest academic achievements of the class, who delivers the valedictory at a graduation ceremony.

The Valedictorian, with the highest academic achievement, gets to say farewell to the school on behalf of the graduating class. And we now bid farewell to valedictorians in American government high schools.

Unfortunately, as the AP points out today, that is exactly what seems to be happening at high schools all around the country as the title of “valedictorian” is being eliminated and/or bestowed upon so many kids in each graduating class that it’s rendered meaningless.

“More and more schools are moving toward a more holistic process. They look deeper into the transcript,” Gottlieb said.

Wisconsin’s Elmbrook School District has for several years ranked only the valedictorian and salutatorian, and only then because the state awards scholarships to schools’ top two graduates, according to Assistant Superintendent Dana Monogue. The change has been accepted by colleges and community alike, Monogue said.

“We are encouraged by any movement that helps students understand that they’re more than a score, that they’re more than a rank,” she said.

One school in Tennessee awarded the “valedictorian” title to 48 kids or roughly 25% of the entire graduating class.

Tennessee’s Rutherford County schools give the valedictorian title to every student who meets requirements that include a 4.0 grade-point average and at least 12 honors courses. Its highly ranked Central Magnet School had 48 valedictorians this year, about a quarter of its graduating class.

At another school in Maryland, the AP highlights the woes of a concerned mother who wonders how ranking might affect her teenager’s confidence.

The day rankings came out at Hammond High School in Columbia, Maryland, students were privately told their number — but things didn’t stay private for long.

“That was the only thing everyone was talking about,” said Mikey Peterson, 18, who shrugged off his bottom-third finish and will attend West Virginia University in the fall.

A spokesman for the Howard County, Maryland, district said schools recognize their top 5 percent so students can include it on college applications and hasn’t considered changing.

“There was a big emphasis on where you landed,” said Peterson’s classmate Vicki Howard, 18. “It made everything 10 times more competitive.”

Peterson’s mother, Elizabeth Goshorn, said she can’t walk into his school without hearing good things about her affable son, but worries about how rankings can affect a teenager’s confidence.

“It has such an impact on them as to how they perceive themselves if you’re putting rankings on them,” she said.

Try as you might, ignoring the principles of basic mathematics does not mean that they cease to exist. And while your enabling parents, high schools and colleges may share your view that ranking people on the basis achievement is racist, sexist and/or any other number of adjectives you may wish to throw out there….again, we assure you that the real world does not care.

Life is competitive and your relative performance versus your peers will ultimately determine your success in life irrespective of how “triggering” that fact may be. The sooner you realize that fact, the sooner you’ll be able to move out of mom’s basement.

The feelings of the snowflakes and the incessant demands of the SJWs destroy another tradition.

unnamed-1

I was not, if I recall ancient history correctly, valedictorian at “my” government high school. We had some very smart kids and very industrious. I’m confident my IQ placed at or very near the top. But my efforts*, while better than average, fell far short of the top slot. I can’t remember who received the honor, and honor it is (was), but I wasn’t the least bit upset about it. I’m happy when people succeed.

Now it’s gone – or going. Maybe it’s time to bid farewell to the schools. A class of valedictorians probably will require remedial education in college and, later, in life. What’s the point?

* My efforts continued to slide in college, as my IQ also surely declined… I rebounded in law school; still not top spot but with honors. I also got a shout out by name, from the faculty speaker, for my achievement. That, I think was rebel-rousing… Hmmm…

The World Is Changing. You In?

28 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes, Other Columns

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Amazon, books, changes, economy, James Altucher, jobs, money

Earlier today I wrote an article about how sitting in a cubicle like a zombie will kill you. If you’re already undead, you might as well go all the way, right? In my story I mentioned that the job itself might be a problem.

Then I read a couple of pieces by James Altucher (one usually leads to another). You need to read them now. The first is 10 Reasons Your Boss Hates You. The Next is 10 Reasons You Have to Quit Your Job (in 2016). Go ahead, read them now – I’ll wait right here.

Okay, he’s right, right? The old economy is on life support. And the “old way” hasn’t really been around that long. At any rate it isn’t working anymore.

5) Income is Disappearing

In the past 25 years, real income has gone from $36,000 to $33,000 for people ages 18 to 35.

Why? Who knows. Because nobody cares.

Then the talking blobs on TV tell you you have to start saving during those years.

Meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up.

How do you save, when it costs more to LIVE, while the money coming in the bank is going down.

Society is being strangled. I don’t blame anyone. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s not Wall Street’s fault. Or Main Street’s fault.

Jobs were a myth from the beginning.

The Industrial Revolution standardized society so that factory workers would show up at the same time, have the same education, hit the same bolt on the same nut at the same time, and get paid every two weeks.

That’s the truth, good, bad or indifferent. I’m a fuddy-duddy. Yet, even I realize things are changing and must change. It’s not just incomes that are going down (away?). Home ownership is at the lowest level in over 50 years – only 62% of adults own a house. And, most of them don’t even own one – a bank owns it for them.

The whole economy is being shaken up. Facebook, today, passed Berkshire Hathaway in terms of market cap. Let that sink in for a second. Then again, many of you are reading this right now because you saw it on Facebook, not through one of Buffett’s companies.

129_1200

vimeo.com/HP.

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday and another, similar one today about how I publish words. To some, what I do seems like wizardry. Maybe it is in a sense. But, its academic and logistical, not magical. Me – computer – internet – Amazon – your computer, phone or bookshelf. Kind of like: cow – farmer – bottle – truck – grocery store – your fridge. Easy, huh?

The old economy is on life support and the funeral arrangements are now being made for the traditional publishing industry (and the bookstores). Meanwhile, Amazon keeps posting record profit after record profit. They capitalize on me and my computer and I on them. Heck, I’m preparing to give them two new amazing works to offer world-wide in a few days (weeks? – y’all know I’m slow). Then, I’m publishing more. And more after that.

If the world is changing, I’m going to make the most of it. I hope you do to.

Bookends, July 2016

10 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Books For Sale, News and Notes

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Amazon, Barnes and Noble, books, publishing, The Happy Little Cigar Book

The news keeps getting better month by month for authors and readers alike. The old, traditional, monopolistic publishing industry is fading rapidly. Good riddance. With it goes the middlemen, the obscene contracts, the thefts of rights, the low royalties, the limitations of access and of selection, and the tyranny of the gatekeepers.

Barnes and Noble, the last of the big chain booksellers, has announced it will allow some self-published books in its 640 or so stores nationwide. Some, not all. First, a book has to be formatted for Nook, which is B&N’s house version of Kindle. They’re keeping it in the family. Then, there are sales number requirements (1,000 for e-books, 500 for physical copies). Finally, a review board must approve the book for shelving.

Book Business/Mike Valasnick – Flickr.

This is a systemization of their current, difficult and arbitrary policy. An idie author can already get into B&N but the process and the resulting rewards (if any) are so uncertain it’s almost not worth it. B&N is desperately and belatedly trying to compete with Amazon, which allows any and all authors access to their digital store.

Book Business makes a bigger deal out of this story than it needs to. They compare B&N’s 640 stores (and shrinking?) to Amazon as if Amazon was a nebulous startup concept.

Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore. Period. No, they don’t just have one single store in Seattle. They have as many stores as there are computers, tablets, and smartphones in the world. What is that number? A billion stores? Five billion? It’s huge. I have two of those stores in my immediate possession right now.

Sometimes I get asked if The Happy Little Cigar Book is in bookstores. I always say “yes” and refer the inquirer to Amazon. By the way, just click the link two sentences back, and you’re in the store, ready to buy a copy.

When was the last time you went into a bookstore? Odds are it was a B&N as they’re about the only game left in town – and only in decent sized towns. There are, here and there, small private stores but their selection is extremely limited. An indie house might have 5,000 – 10,000 books that the owner felt like carrying. A big B&N might have 10,000 – 30,000. I’ve noticed B&N sells fewer and fewer real books in their stores and more picture books, calendars, coffee mugs, and other stuff. They’ll have popular bestselling novels but perhaps not a work of classical history or philosophy.

Amazon has millions and millions (scores of millions) of books. The e-books one can buy and start reading within about 30 seconds. Hardcover and paperbacks take a few days for delivery. They’re prices are better too because of the economy of scale.

**Want a FREE book from My Bookstore? CLICK HERE and have one, right now.**

It’s getting harder to find a “real” bookstore just as it’s getting harder to find a “real” book from a “real” publisher. The big houses are in deep trouble. If not for coloring books and romance novels, they would already be gone. The world has changed – for the better.

Am I happy B&N is opening up? Yes. Will I try to get a few of my works into their hallowed stores? Yes. Will I obsess about it? No. Amazon and the internet are the future and the future is now and has been for a few years.

PERRIN LOVETT

~ Fiction, Freedom, and The West

Tag Archives: Amazon

In Good Company

e tu Amazon?

Quarter Trillion $ Trio: How the Rich Get Richer

Can the Churches fix the Schools? The Education?

Fred on the Lilliputian War Mongers

A Review of The LawDog Files

BUY IT TODAY

Valediction 2017

The World Is Changing. You In?

Bookends, July 2016