Showing posts with label LibreOffice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LibreOffice. Show all posts

Something Strange Happening at Scribd - Thanks to Smashwords

Ever hear the story of a blonde virgin on a NY subway - waiting, unsuspecting...

Scribd has been acting more strange than usual lately. Like a stalker in the bizarre NY Underworld. Well, maybe not that strange...

The strange behaviour of Scribd - auto publishing Smashword books underground.
(photocredit Ed Yourdon)
It's all some Victorian "underground" scene.

Scribd signed some deal with Smashwords to re-publish any author's books they had up. So now my two books which somehow made it through Smashwords "meatgrinder" are both auto-published via Scribd.

And any other version of these were auto-replaced with the Smashwords version.

Weirdest of all is that a book I hadn't published on Smashwords just "replaced" something I'd posted on Scribd (more than likely a blog post converted to a PDF.) But searching for that book on Smashwords proved that it's not there, either. (I'd never attempted to publish it there, since it was based on a public domain work.)

Scribd is already known for over-aggressive "copyright policing" (read: duplicate content filter) and I'd pretty much given up on using them as part of search engine marketing for that reason.

Now they are into this "replace with Smashwords" business.

Very underground.

At least they sent me an email.

More civilized than your traditional Underground Stalker...
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Updates to Online Publishing - Easier Than You Think...

The trick is to do your study, assemble the tools, and have your mind clear.

(photocredi: AlicePopkorn)



There are 3 points to successful publishing.

1. Do Your Study. 2. Assemble the Tools. 3. Clear Your Mind.

There are many good books on how to publish. Of course, I consider my own to be the best (even if it undersells some of the others.)

Reason being - you can start from next to nothing, needing only an Internet connection. All free tools ready for the download. LibreOffice, Sigil, Gimp, Calibre.

You also have to study what makes a good book and what you think you are doing in this heady world of publishing.

They are all interlocked, and will improve with use and application.

Of course, I cheated. And that makes me a scammer?  Not really. You see, I spent 3 months learning what there was to build ebooks from free tools by downloading and reading and testing what was out there. Of course, I also went down some very false trails led by celebrity-types (see "J'APE.")

Earlier than that, I was seriously scammed by a bunch who made me agree to not talk about them - but they've pretty much disappeared these days, as their crimes caught up with them...

But I spent years learning graphic design, and more years learning web design. So I had a head start when I started self-publishing. (Oh, and I was publishing on Lulu years before these epub's hit the modern scene - they just accelerated my income.)

In all this publishing I found, not too oddly, that publishing - not writing - is where the money is. I now have 173 books up on Google Play alone, which is close to what I have on iTunes, Nook, and Kobo. (Amazon and Smashwords, well, not so much. They don't like public domain or PLR.)

While one book I re-published (re-titled, and re-covered) is just now finally starting to take off on Amazon, for months I was making twice or more on my other distributors than there.

Writing is what brings you bliss. 

Publishing is what pays your bills.

Know those two. Your head will have to be in the game of writing. I suggest Dorothea Brande's "Becoming A Writer" and Stephen King's "On Writing." Once I get some time, there are some other books in the public domain about writing that I want to bring out again - an essay by Poe, for instance. Those two books will get you writing well.

Both King and Brande tell how to set your schedule and simply crank out some writing.

Part of your schedule has to do with publishing. Marketing your books - making them discoverable - is part of publishing. It's not all this fol-de-rol about having huge social networks. Yes, you network. Yes, you take care of your audience. Yes, you answer emails.

But you work smarter, not harder, or longer.

I cover some basic points of this with my "Just Publish." You are going to have to spend some time in the trenches to get your own world sorted out and forge your own success.

This post has been boiling around for awhile. And now you have it.

- - - -

Reason for this sudden out-pouring is that I'm updating my site with a new look. Actually, I've found I can move it to Blogger and get both free hosting and probably some better SEO as a result. (I owe you a technical background post "how-to" once the dust settles - on a different blog.)

SEO doesn't really matter. It's a dying scene, anyway. Spammers have taken care of that, plus evolution in general.

What makes your success is plenty of writing, and plenty of perseverance.

What makes your sales is plenty of distributors. Do NOT put all your eggs in one basket, unless you are going to watch that basket very, very carefully. In general, Amazon is a trap. Underperformers are buried in the muck at the bottom. If your book sells regularly, consistently, at low volumes, then it will move up. If you have a huge following, you can then become an "overnight" success. (But that fact doesn't make the celebrities any less a fake.)

The point, which Napoleon Hill makes very well, is to have your Vision (his "Burning Desire") and persevere regardless of anyone and anything in your environment.

That last statement is what this site is all about.

You and your success.

All the books you see here have that one goal in mind: to help you with your success.

That's the Golden Rule. Help others to get any help you need. Help open-handedly, not ever expecting a return, and everything you want or need comes to you even faster and more abundantly.

Just the way life is. Life isn't a hard-scrabble existence. It's a constant joy.

Sort all this out for yourself and - as Dorothea Brande covered in her other bestseller - you will only succeed from there on out, since there is no other option.

Hope I've given you enough hints on how to make your writing and life a complete success. Have fun with this.
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Discovering the Online Millionaire Plan - it's now a book series...

The Online Millionaire Plan Series

Small Business startups can succeed in creating millions for entrepreneurs.

This story is probably yours as well.

Suddenly finding himself "retired" by his company at middle age, the author had to find a new job. With no pension and little savings, the situation was dire.

None of the jobs he could get locally were anything but entry-level positions paying little above minimum wage, and nothing able to quickly build reserves so he could really retire and support his interests.

Even returning to college to fill out missing degrees only deepened the gulf between his capabilities and what was available in local businesses.

All options pointed to commuting (poorly invested, non-returnable time) or moving to a larger city (where added income would be eaten up with higher costs of that lower-quality life.)

Instead, finding and working local part-time and freelance positions (while minimizing personal expenses), this author honed and used his research skills to find the most highly-leveraged income source available - his own online business.
None of this was easy. It took years of study, testing, blind alleys, and scams to learn the lessons he needed. As he researched, he wrote up his findings.

At long last, the subject opened up and revealed its secrets.

This lead, in turn, to reviewing the topic from top to bottom, revising and rewriting as necessary. The final result was a series of 3 books, a supplement, and additional related books which covered specialized areas.

Now, they are all available to you.

The idea is that you can learn from this story – and not spend years working this out for yourself. But instead to take the shortcuts another's experiences offer...

My Online Income Guide - earn extra income from home business manualMy Online Income Guide


Now available as ebook:
Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

This massive compilation was the first research effort. Running over a thousand pages, it was edited down to a "mere" 800 in order to print it as a hard-back reference edition. Originally titled "An Online Millionaire Plan", it collected and boiled down all the material available for a person to learn every facet and tool required to earn income online.

The original book was edited into shape from a collation of PLR and public domain materials along blog posts from necessary verifying research as I studied to learn what the conventional wisdom for Internet Marketing held. Each of these articles were reviewed and updated (or corrected) so they are valid,  valuable approaches.

The point was to examine what passed for "conventional wisdom" and test it thoroughly against what was really being utilized and applied. The "failures" would then point out any needed areas for further research.

Within a year, it showed gaping holes. And research then started solving those areas one by one. Shelved until this last few months, it's now dusted off and updated with revisions and notes. The bulk of the original material showed to be still useful and applicable.

So this is now reissued, with updating notes, to form the foundation to build your online business from.


Now available as ebook: Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

How to Build Your Own Honest Online Business - a guide to spam free Internet startupHow to Build Your Own Honest Online Business

Now available as ebook:
Kobo
| Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

You don't often see scams coming – the first time, anyway.

The trick is to learn from mistakes. By the time I learned from mine, it cost me more than just the money. I invested considerable time to discovering how these scammers operated – and more importantly, Why.

Testing what I found out not only got my refund, and those who followed my lead, but also shut down that particular line of scammers. It wasn't our work, but the point that we were telling others what we found and published it for the world to use. Sure, most of that has been pulled for one reason or another, but that “business” is mostly gone now, too.

That invested time resulted in “Get Your Self Scam Free.” It also led to the complete rewrite of everything I knew. This was labeled, “An Online Sunshine Plan” - and was designed to help anyone start their business from an ethical base. It wasn't that the scammers didn't know what they were doing, and how to rank well on the search engines, etc. It was that their “business plan” was to take advantage of people instead of providing actual value. They weren't there to improve people's lives, but just to leech off their “share.”

The consequence is written up in the oldest texts this world has. How a person treats others is how they will be treated. It was inevitable that scammers wouldn't be permitted to continue. One way or the other.

This book took the same data and put it into a format people could use to improve their lives.

Of course, it started dating immediately. I was off doing some further research and applying it as I could. Meanwhile, I was working at web design and search engine optimization, finding faster and better ways to help people with their online business. When I got a chance, I did a 30-day content “data dump” of all the updated techniques.
This revision has all my updates and improvements which are all found on the Internet, but are mostly hidden and mixed up with the “get rich quick” hype which people think actually “sells” their stuff.

Again, this is being given to you so you don't have to spend your time on discovering all this for yourself.

However, all this technical know-how pales compared to what was discovered next...


Now available as ebook: Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

Build Forever Today - the breakthrough natural system for business building and online marketingBuild Forever Today

Now available as ebook:
Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

If you haven't followed my other books, I have to tell you all this started from self-help studies. This eventually lead to a very unique discovery – that showed there was an underlying natural system as the base of all businesses, throughout recorded history.

Yes, really.

Knowing this from the get-go, in starting your own business, then you can expand the size of it indefinitely.

Yes, indefinitely.

This means you can build something to hand down to your children, or sell for a tidy profit – then start another. Or go into business as a consultant to help people recover their own business.

Of course, it simply works to the degree you test it and have faith in it. Faith is generated. Has to do with focus (which of course has long been known – written up by Napoleon Hill in his “Think and Grow Rich.”)

All I've done is to lay it out in a simple, easy to understand book.

It's your job to put it to work.


Now available as ebook: Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

The Great MLM Conspiracy Exposed - how to actually earn money online with Network MarketingThe Great MLM Conspiracy Exposed


Now available as ebook: Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

What I haven't told you about is the “Marketing Diamond” which was discovered first. This is also a natural system, consisting of seven points which work together to make any company a market leader and keeping them that way – yes, indefinitely. Well, as long as they continue to apply it.

You wouldn't think that Network Marketing would be able to give a breakthrough in marketing. But it's been underestimated for years.

The story continued with figuring out how things work. And this route went right into MLM, as a client I was working for wanted to get a site built. That study found initially that there were some severe bug-bears in the way of success in that industry. What they were missing was what worked in “regular” online marketing.

Merging these two “worlds” brought the common system into focus. Testing this in both worlds found an amazing application success.

However, in order to go there, I have to first debunk some “conventional wisdom” which says all of these are just pyramid schemes.

What has been always missing is business basics. The funny thing is, this is the best training regimen for people who are wanting to learn how running your own business actually works.

And now that Network Marketing is moving online, this brings these worlds into a merging universe that can – if you want to learn – bring you into the most leveragable income base that multi-millionaires use. At least as one of their diverse income sources.

But yes, this book does reveal how the whole system is rigged. And why most people (like 97%) won't make a dime in profits and mostly stay broke for the months or years they are involved with that “opportunity.” You'll learn how to not just avoid the real scams out there – but actually join an upline which will actually mentor you, while building a downline simply and quickly.

The solutions are all there.

And now you can learn them for yourself.


Now available as ebook: Kobo | Lulu | iTunes | Nook | GooglePlay

Resources you can use to improve your ability to earn  income onlineResources

This is really a Rolodex of those proved products I have tested and use. Most of these have affiliate programs and many have 2nd tier programs (where you get paid when someone signs up under you and then signs someone else.)

I know there's a lot here – around a decade of collecting can do that. Just try them as you feel the need (or have time) and use what works for you. There's more out there than this – and many just as good or better. My criteria are to get going for no more than you already have, and committing only to the minimal budget startups have.

There is nothing on this list that shouldn't be there, that is gratuitous or self-serving. (It can be an adventure just finding why any particular resource was included...)
Enjoy.

Mind

You want to clear your mind, and learn to focus on what's vital:

Body

Personally, you want to have a body which is in good shape and supports anything you want to do, as long as you want to do it.
Organizationally, you need to have a healthy business which is agile and able to support anything you want to do, as long as you want to do it.

Value

You and your business need to give out far more value than you receive monetarily.

Purpose

Knowing what you're here for is simpler than laid out. These are all free ebooks for you:

Market Leadership

Finding the community which aligns to your purpose is key.

Content Publishing

There's also copywriting to learn, which is specific for your web site:

Social Syndication

List Building

Product Launching

Delivery/Fulfillment

  • Clickbank - digital delivery with affiliate sales
  • Lulu - digital books (ports to iBookstore and B&N), print-on-demand hardcopy books to Amazon
  • Kunaki - CD's and DVD's with dropshipping
  • Cafepress - wearables and accessories, paperbacks
  • Zazzle - wearables and accessories, posters
  • Udemy - online courses

Additional Resources

2nd-tier Affiliate Programs:

The only MLM Opportunity I recommend:

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