BLOG - Notes and commentary

2.12.19 Today marks a new start. I have left both Etsy and Smashwords, and started to publish my own ebooks in several formats. Right now the books are available as PDFs and EPUBs. If anyone has any desire for another I can publish another but these are the most popular. I am looking into other viable marketplaces to showcase my work in all areas, but some will not sponsor digital downloads, so it will probably take some time to find more. In the meantime, please visit my two other sites and you will find some interesting things for sale.
     Work proceeds apace with Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century: The 1950s and I expect to publish it sometime after the 16th or so. I am finding new films to add since they were not on the list of films which were considered science fiction. My criterion is to list films which have some science included in them. I am on the fence about some others, but I will have to determine if they meet the criterion before I do the final edit. ♦

1.31.19 I have been having a few issues with Smashwords, where I have published most of my ebooks. Their meatgrinder processor is not reading the files correctly. I have revised the files several times in an effort to comply with their rules but I can't really get past it. The fact is that when I look at the doc files in Word, they are fine. So I can only conclude they are ignoring the problem. I am debating whether I should just not bother to publish the books (especially the nonfiction books) in ebook formats. Is there any point in publishing them in ebook format at all? Meanwhile, I have taken the abridged books off publication and just relied on KDP, where they don't have any problem with the files I upload.
     Meanwhile, I am on the fence about Etsy, which is where I keep a secondary shop to my own. I am finding that the fees to even post on Etsy are onerous enough that I am slowly migrating my things to Bonanza. When I sell something on Etsy, not only do they charge a final value fee, they add a fee to the shipping charge. This makes me charge free shipping in order to avoid the shipping fee. I sold something a couple of days ago and will be paid 1/2 the price thanks to the fees. How am I supposed to gain a profit if I am doing nothing but paying fees? This is not fair. ♦