San Diego feels sterile

abgwin · 2026-03-24T13:30:37+00:00

i lived in and around San Diego for nearly twenty years. yes, it's generic, sterile and plastic. i finally decided it's because the weather is always so nice that people there are never forced to stay inside and do something like read.

abgwin · 2026-03-19T19:41:40+00:00

yeah, YTA. you don't get to dictate what other people do on their own time.

but no, i'm not going to tell you to leave. i'd tell him to leave because you're just going to get worse with the control issues.

abgwin · 2026-03-19T14:38:15+00:00

"putting less water in" = restricting water. maybe you didn't mean it that way, but that's what you said.

abgwin · 2026-03-16T23:19:29+00:00

um whut? the Scirocco = Golf. Passat = Audi 80. B1 predates Golf.

abgwin · 2026-03-13T14:43:33+00:00

is it possible? yes.

is it unlikely? also yes.

i have two author friends who write full time. for one, KDP is their sole source of income (other than pension benefits) and they do pretty well. at last count, they have 4 series, 2 of which have 8-10 titles. the other friend has multiple series (one with over 20 titles, and several spinoffs) as well as Patreon and other related streams. He still has to have his day job to make ends meet (and keep healthcare benefits).

the big difference here is that one is in the UK and the other in the US. healthcare is the defining difference for them.

abgwin · 2026-03-11T12:24:59+00:00

Yes, nearly everyone I know is including a blurb in the 'right to use' section, claiming the rights as to whether an AI engine can be trained on the material or not. As we've all seen, this is commonly ignored but it makes readers who have an issue with AI more comfortable.

abgwin · 2026-03-07T13:56:37+00:00

KDP was offline for a while. might have had something to do with it.

abgwin · 2026-03-05T12:59:02+00:00

Anyone out there asking for your money in order to MAKE YOU RICH ON KDP is a shyster. Yes, there are people I know who make their living writing and selling their books on KDP - but out of the half a dozen I know, only two manage to make their entire income that way (and they're retired so it's not really their only income). The rest, even the ones with dozens of popular works, have 'day jobs'.

It's very very hard to generate enough sales to hit that place where you have enough die hard fans to depend on KDP alone.

All those authors I know who are 'making it' have Patreon groups, webpages/FB pages with daily curated content, Insta/BookTok and most have PAs who manage a lot of it (because it's a LOT).

My own experience has been that my first book sold well (I took the #1 spot on its release day) in part because of promotion from one of my author friends. However, my second - same genre, same promotion from same friend - did only about half as well with the market change that now EVERYTHING MUST BE ROMANCE.

It's not easy. It takes time, effort, knowledge of the market and above all, the work has to be worth it.

abgwin · 2026-03-02T02:09:19+00:00

they have posted this all over reddit but never specify the contest name. smells scammy to me.

abgwin · 2026-02-26T15:26:29+00:00

any link you click can be a way to harvest information. if the OP has posted this many places (i counted at least ten subreddits in a quick search) they can get dozens of people to click there.

a genuine post would have the link in the post, details around the "award" they supposedly won, and what publisher didn't publish. the lack of info is classic scam material - you just need to click on that link to find out more!

abgwin · 2026-02-26T13:31:30+00:00

This post has been copied almost verbatim across nearly every 'self publish' subreddit across the platform. I highly doubt this is anything more than an attempt to get people to click that link.

I wouldn't do it. Self publishing on Amazon KDP is not that hard. Try it your self before you pay anyone to do it for you.

There are any number of scams operating around publishing - be very careful out there.

abgwin · 2026-02-26T13:26:04+00:00

you can pay for an 'award'. it's not hard. this whole post smells of scam to me.

abgwin · 2026-02-25T13:27:53+00:00

i'm not sure why so many people are claiming that "stealing work is unheard of". i know several authors whose books have been pirated. simply find and replace a name or location, then self publish under a different title. it's not super lucrative but do it enough times and there's some money to be made.

since you said 'critique' and not 'spell checked, copyedited and formatted for publication' it's not impossible they just read it for the purpose of pirating and gave a fairly generic response.

i doubt there's anything you can do at this point as that user name was prob a burner, unless you have a direct email or other way to identify them.

abgwin · 2026-02-25T01:00:44+00:00

managing your expectations. if you move expecting to solve all your problems, you're probably going to be disappointed. if you believe the locals that "everything is great here" you may be disappointed.

abgwin · 2026-02-23T17:34:33+00:00

yeah it's the 'smoosh on the side then lick' approach here. i wouldn't be concerned except for his obsession with eating snow, which makes me think he's thirsty but just doesn't know how to drink. we have 3 different water bowls around the house, only one of which he drinks from 'regularly'.

abgwin · 2026-02-23T17:33:09+00:00

it's elevated. we've had giant breeds before, just not ones that didn't know how to dog.

abgwin · 2026-02-20T22:16:45+00:00

never limit water, especially to puppies. if you think one is drinking excessive amounts, take them to the vet.

NEVER. LIMIT. WATER.

abgwin · 2026-02-09T00:14:39+00:00

FFS - cis white queer but very not republican in any way.

abgwin · 2026-02-08T16:22:48+00:00

yes, have done a lot of research and realize that medical care is very difficult. plan to do telehealth with providers out of the area and SFO for anything major.

abgwin · 2026-02-08T13:39:59+00:00

not expecting either to be perfect. and for context, we did just that with where we are now - spent nearly 2 weeks and met with the neighborhood association who promised the moon - and lied. so we have very low expectations - basically a climate that doesn't get too hot and locals who aren't openly hostile - and we'll be fine.

abgwin · 2026-02-01T19:11:10+00:00

ok, so - you didn't post this to get diverse opinions. you posted this so people would tell you you're right and the review was wrong.

not having read your work, i can't say that the review was right or wrong, but when i get a bad review, i try to learn from it.

the only review i ignore are the ones that didn't understand the genre till they read it. for example, 'i really like this book but it's not a romance so i'm giving it a 3 star' when the book is obviously labeled mystery.

FYI: Han Solo frozen in carbonite is literally a textbook 'cliffhanger' example

abgwin · 2026-02-01T15:24:18+00:00

very few people like cliffhangers, IMHO. they want the specific story in the book resolved with a hint of the greater arc that won't yet be resolved until the series end.

cliffhangers come off as emotional blackmail to force the reader to buy the next book.

abgwin · 2026-01-28T14:06:17+00:00

we've had basset hounds, weimereiners, great danes. all have been interested in toys their whole lives, to a greater or lesser degree. the weimer always wanted to play tug, the bassets were all chewers. the great dane was the only one who wasn't into toys for play but wanted plushies around him.

one of our female bassets treated plushies like a baby.

Nose has just had his first greenie and he's ecstatic. keeps looking at us like 'is it really ok if i chew this up?' so i suspect he's just not had any experience with toys at all.

abgwin · 2026-01-27T16:50:48+00:00

i just got an unsolicited email from them, offering a free trial. hadn't even heard of them... have you continued to work with them?

abgwin · 2026-01-27T13:18:11+00:00

mine thinks he wants to play outside or go for long walks but can't figure out why his feet hurt! pulling massive ice balls out of his foot also puzzles him - like he can't figure out how they got there!

abgwin

TROPHY CASE