The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

I was playing Morrowind. I forgot to save before exiting. My last save was more than an hour earlier. I am not smart.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I was playing Morrowind. I forgot to save before exiting. My last save was more than an hour earlier. I am not smart.

I remember Morrowind as being a bit tedious though with a clever system of magically enhancing weapons and armor. Oblivion was more fun for me, and Skyrim was great except for a ridiculously complicated leveling system.

[ownedbycats]

Oblivion is my favourite, except for the potato faces and the awful leveling system. Skyrim is prettier but the quests kinda stink. Too many draugr too.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Oblivion is my favourite, except for the potato faces and the awful leveling system. Skyrim is prettier but the quests kinda stink. Too many draugr too.

I think I cheated in Oblivion, re-doing towers until I got the items to make myself invisible...

[ownedbycats]

In Oblivion, Chameleon was better. You could have enchanted items to give you a total of 100% Chameleon, which allowed you to steal anything with impunity.

The item ownership system in Morrowind makes playing a sneak-thief very difficult. Shopkeepers will buy stolen items from you (unlike in Oblivion and Skyrim) but there's one very important thing to keep in mind. Say you steal a loaf of bread from Arrile, then eat it. Afterwards, every loaf of bread you get, even legitimately, is marked as stolen. You can never sell a loaf of bread to Arrile again, or he'll accuse you of having stolen it from him. And the guards will take all your bread from you if they arrest you.

Even the Morrowind Code Patch can't fix this. The only way to do so is to use something like Enchanted Editor to clear out all the STLN entries in the save.

[badgoodDeb]

Mac music files ==> Android phone?

I picked up an Android phone for ebook listening and music, some Black Fridays ago. Any ideas how to get my iTunes-ripped personal CDs from my mac onto the Android phone? I don't want to go through a cloud. Will the below simple suggestion work?

[timebug]

I enjoyed Morrowind, but only played out the main mission,as it were. My late wife spent many hours on it, and I doubt if there was an inch of the terrain that she had not covered! It was her all time favourite game at the time.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by timebug

I enjoyed Morrowind, but only played out the main mission,as it were.

That's a shame. There's a lot of fun sidequests.

[timebug]

Yes, so my wife told me! But I am more into a different kind of game, (if I play one at all), and I was happy with what I had done in Morrowind!

[badgoodDeb]

Hey Hitch - do you know anything about how to publicize a Kindle book and/or an Amazon print-on-demand book? Specifically, my brother gripes that he can't edit the description on Amazon's web page, to show pics of what's IN the book (the large description section further down the web page, on many books) since it's technically not a print book (yet, for the print-on-demand ones) or since it's self-pubbed (for the Kindle books).

Any how-to web pages you know about, anybody?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Hey Hitch - do you know anything about how to publicize a Kindle book and/or an Amazon print-on-demand book? Specifically, my brother gripes that he can't edit the description on Amazon's web page, to show pics of what's IN the book (the large description section further down the web page, on many books) since it's technically not a print book (yet, for the print-on-demand ones) or since it's self-pubbed (for the Kindle books).

Any how-to web pages you know about, anybody?

Hey, BadGood:

I know a bit about it. ;-) Yes, he's right, he cannot add "customer images" of the interior, but he should have a 10% LookInside the Book Sample, for the eBook version and the print version as well. What do you mean, when you say it's not a print book "yet"? Is it stuck in the publishing queue, or is it actually live and on sale? If it's live and on sale, he WILL get a LookInside the book but it's not instantaneous.

Does he not already have that?

He should be able to edit the description, ad infinitum, but no, he cannot add images to the description.

Is his book so short that it's not displaying a LookInside? Is it a low/no-content book?

Does he keep up with the KDP guidelines? He may want to look into this: https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/artic...language=en_US

Let me know if any of that helps or at least clarifies some elements.

Hitch

[badgoodDeb]

Ah, I do see "LookInside"s, though no indication that it's there. (I forget whether there usually is an indication ...)

The "not yet" was because it's not printed until it's demanded. (print on demand). But I guess it's the self-pubbed that prevents adding "customer images" of the interior.

Anyway -- I forwarded your answer and questions, and I'll see what he says. Thank you so much!!! I enjoy hearing your rants, just for the small look it gives us into the process of all this. And of course, bad customers are fun for those not involved, to hear about!

Oh, and the kindle book is using the new(ish?) "Kindle Vella" chapter by chapter release format. Perhaps the rules are different there. The first 4 chapters indeed are free (like the 10% LookInside).

(wonder if my spell checker is changing "self-pubbed" to dubbed ... yes, I watched it do it this time. Grr!)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Ah, I do see "LookInside"s, though no indication that it's there. (I forget whether there usually is an indication ...)

Yes, there is--there's a graphic and a swooshy arrow, that leads people to click into the book, BUT, if he's in Vella, read below, pls.

The "not yet" was because it's not printed until it's demanded. (print on demand). But I guess it's the self-pubbed that prevents adding "customer images" of the interior.

Something is hinky here--you don't publish VELLA and print version of the same book at the same time. Is he sure that's what he's doing? In fact, when you publish on Vella, you are prohibited from publishing the same story (anywhere) until its run on Vella is done, whether that "anywhere else" is Amazon, B&N, eBooks, print, etc.

Normally, when you publish a POD book with Amazon, the LookInside for the paperback shows up in 2 weeks-ish.

Anyway -- I forwarded your answer and questions, and I'll see what he says. Thank you so much!!! I enjoy hearing your rants, just for the small look it gives us into the process of all this. And of course, bad customers are fun for those not involved, to hear about!

I just had some doozies. I wish I had a..."safer" way to blow off steam. I never want to embarrass my customers, I really don't. But there are days..

Oh, and the kindle book is using the new(ish?) "Kindle Vella" chapter by chapter release format. Perhaps the rules are different there. The first 4 chapters indeed are free (like the 10% LookInside).

Well, Vella doesn't have a LOOKINSIDE like Kindle eBooks or paperbacks. It works differently than that. You upload the story parts, one at a time, and you upload the cover. You then add tags and the description.

A "sales page" for KV looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0939HQW6P (I'm not promoting this story. One of the people at the KDP forums requested help so I have it handy. God knows, though, I've read worse on Vella!).

See how there are tags? And for this one, a one-line description is all there is, but normally, they're longer. You get 3(ish) free episodes, to read, before you have to use tokens to "unlock" the remaining content.

So...I'm not sure what he's expecting to see that's different than this. Other authors are not getting visible pictures of pages, like the LookInsides in "regular" Amazon/KDP.

Does that help?

Hitch


(wonder if my spell checker is changing "self-pubbed" to dubbed ... yes, I watched it do it this time. Grr!)[/QUOTE]

[badgoodDeb]

I don't think it's the Kindle Vella book he was questioning (but I'll forward your post). He has one (i think) Vella book, and a fistful of print-on-demand activity books for tweens. All a few weeks new.

I see now that he DOES have LookInsides -- but no indicator. Does Amazon add the visual "Look Inside <down arrow>"? They must, since they're all identical. Or does the author add that to his cover pic?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I don't think it's the Kindle Vella book he was questioning (but I'll forward your post). He has one (i think) Vella book, and a fistful of print-on-demand activity books for tweens. All a few weeks new.

I see now that he DOES have LookInsides -- but no indicator. Does Amazon add the visual "Look Inside <down arrow>"? They must, since they're all identical. Or does the author add that to his cover pic?

Look Inside arrows are added by Amazon.