Apple Loses Ebook Price-fixing Appeal

Just give up. It's not worth it.

Panzer was out in the Catosphere today when he heard a lot of loud teeth gnashing and fist pounding. Following all the noise lead him to the Publishers' Weekly site. There our brave kitty pilot found the latest news on the Apple price-fixing case.

According to a post by Andrew Albanese, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Judge Denise Cole's 2013 ruling that Apple did participate in ebook price-fixing. This finding clears the way for Apple to be required to refund $400 million to ebook buyers.

But ... don't hold your breath.

Apple still has the right to appeal to the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals ... and beyond ... up the ladder to the Supreme Court.

Panzer says, "Geez. Just give it up. You humans are spending more money on attorney fees than you'd have to pay ebook buyers and in fines."

Note: This is an e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y l-o-n-g post. Bring a h-u-g-e cup of tea.

To read the full post, tootle over to Apple loses appeal

A New Panzerism

Panzer on showing love:

I gave Mom a dead mouse this morning. I left it on her pillow so she'd find it when she woke up.

That really hurts.

Then ...

she let What's His Name have it

and ...

he threw it in the garbage can outside.

Humans just don't know the value of love gifts.

J. K. Rowling Explains Why Dursleys Mistreated Harry Potter

I'm a little better today.

Panzer is feeling a little better today, so he made a quick trip into the Catosphere. Our recovering kitty boy stopped in at The Guardian site. There he found a post about Harry Potter, one of his favorite non-mystery fictional characters.

According to Alison Flood's post, J. K. Rowling wrote a post at Pottermore.com to explain why the Dursleys treated Harry Potter so badly. Ms. Rowling wrote that there were old resentments between the Dursleys and Harry Potter's parents Lily and James. Because of this, the Dursley's took their resentments out on Harry.

Panzer says, "If you're a Harry Potter fan, you do have an account at Pottermore.com, right?"

To read the full post, tootle over to J. K. Rowling

Sick Day

Panzer is taking the day off because he had to go to the vet today and get some vaccinations.

Our sick little kitty boy will see you tomorrow.

Win An Ebook Cover At Covertopia.com

Panzer decided to visit Guido Henkel's blog today. It's been a while since our kitty boy has been there.

Guido Henkel is the author of the Jason Dark fantasy novels. But he also does HTML formatting for Kindle books. Recently, he became part of the Covertopia.com site, too. According to a post at his site, Covertopia.com is having a contest and the grand prize is a free book cover. Panzer checked it out and this is a standard Rafflecopter contest. You accumulate points by posting to Facrbook, Tumblr, Twitter ... all your social media sites, about the contest. You can enter every day to accumulate more points.

It's worth taking a look.

Panzer says, "Be aware, these are premade covers, not originals. That means your cover may be the same as someone else's on Amazon."

Note: Click the link at Guido's site to go to Covertopia.com, at Covertopia.com you can read all about the covers and/or at the top click on the contest announcement graphic, and that takes you to the contest site.

To read the post, tootle over to Covertopia

Buying Books Through Your Twitter Account?

It had to happen sooner or later.

Panzer was out in the Catosphere today when he heard a strange little chirping noise. Afraid there might be a problem with the Panzermobile he stopped at the closest site he could find.

Our kitty mechanic discovered the noise he heard wasn't coming from the Panzermobile, but from the GoodEReader site where he parked. It turned out he wasn't hearing chirping, but tweeting instead.

According to Michael Kozlowski, Twitter and Penguin Random House are partnering in an initiative that began on June 18. Twitter users can now view information and purchase PRH books through their Twitter accounts. Instead of being restricted to the standard tweet length, buyers will be directed to a page listing the current available PRH books.

Panzer says, "Now, when can indie authors sell their books on Twitter?"

To read the full post, tootle over to Penguin Random House

A New Panzerism

Panzer on cause and effect:

Calm down, Mom.

You know you can't force a cat to do what you want by yelling and causing a commotion.

But ...

just as a little reminder ...

Okay, how about a pinch of catnip?

cats can be influenced to do what you ask for politely.

And ...

for a small plastic bag of catnip as an incentive, I might be convinced to give you the name of the individual who left the kitty do-do in your shoe the last time you yelled at him.
 

Happy Father's Day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
from
Panzer, Mom and What's His Name   

 

Amazon and Penguin Random House Reach Agreement

Ahhh ... It's so quiet.

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere just enjoying all the quiet.

Our kitty boy stopped in at the Publishers' Weekly site to see if he could find a saucer of milk. After his little snack he looked around for some news for you. According to a post by Jim Milliot, Amazon and Penguin Random House have settled on terms for the sales of  books and ebooks. The terms aren't available, but both sides say they've reached an agreement.

Panzer says, "That explains why everything is so quiet right now. All of the Big Five Publishers have sales agreements with Amazon."

To read the full post, tootle over to Amazon and PRH sales deal

International Box Day Is A Cat Holiday

Where's MY box?

Panzer heard some soft little giggling noises in the Catosphere today.

Our brave kitty boy followed all the purring to the Glogirly site. He discovered it's International Box Day. It's a Cat Holiday! So build your kitties a fort ... or a boat ... or just give them an empty box.

Panzer says, "Who knew you humans had such good taste in holidays."

To see all the uses for your kitties' boxes, tootle over to official cat holiday

Smashwords: How to Reach More Readers with Ebook Preorders

On his daily trip into the Catosphere today, Panzer stopped in at the Smashwords blog.

Our kitty explorer discovered Mark Coker has two posts about ebook preorders and how to use them to get more readers. According to Mark, books which launch using preorder have significantly more sales. However, most authors haven't been using Smashwords preorder program, so Mark wrote a post explaining how to use it. The second post explains changes Smashwords has made to the preorder launch program to make it easier and more viable for authors.

It might be too late for me.

Panzer says, "Hmmm.  I bet it's too late to do a preorder launch for Cat Wisdom for Humans since it almost ready to upload. So ... what's a cat to do?"

Note: These are two v-e-r-y l-o-n-g posts, so you will need a g-i-a-n-t cup of tea. The first post listed below makes reference to the second post, but I'd read the first one all the way through first.

To read how to get more readers using a preorder launch, tootle over to Smashwords: How to Reach More Readers with Ebook Preorders:

To read about the changes Smashwords has made to the preorder function, tootle over to Smashwords Introduces Assetless Preorders

Are Kindle Unlimited Royalty Changes Unfavorable for Authors?

My eyes hurt from all that reading.

Panzer was awakened from his afternoon nap by loud hissing and snarling. Our kitty boy hopped into the Panzermobile and headed into the Catosphere. Following all the noise lead him to a new Amazon announcement about their royalty payment to authors in the Kindle Unlimited program

 First our fearless kitty stopped at the Publishers' Weekly site. There in a post by Calvin Reid he learned that according to an Amazon announcement they have changed their royalty terms for KU. Amazon said they did this because authors were complaining about the previous terms. In particular authors said their royalties were lower in the plan as opposed to before they entered the plan. Based on the authors' input, Amazon made the change. However, Amazon said even with the old terms 95 percent of their KDP Select authors renewed their titles in the program.

Next our kitty boy headed over to the GalleyCAT site. There he found a post by Dianna Dilworth that quoted a post at the Melville House blog site saying the new changes are unfair to authors. Whereas in the old plan Amazon paid for a 10 percent read of an ebook, now under the new plan they will only pay for the pages actually read in an ebook.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. I was thinking of putting my new book Cat Wisdom for Humans in KU. Now I'm not so sure."

Note: Get a b-i-g cup of tea. Below are links to both posts and the GalleyCAT post contains a link to the Melville House post. So ... you're in for a l-o-n-g read.

To read the Publishers' Weekly post, tootle over to Amazon updates KU and-KOLL royalty terms

To read the GalleyCAT post, tootle over to Kindle Unlimited Royalty Changes Are Unfavorable for Authors | GalleyCat

2015 Online BritCrime Mystery Festival

FREE.

Every once in a while Panzer takes a trip into the Catosphere looking for FREE stuff for his friends. Today our inquisitive kitty explorer was over at Sandra Seamans' My Little Corner blog. He likes to stop there regularly because she has posts about markets for writers in all genres as well as writing information in general.

On today's stop he discovered a post about the BritCrime Online Mystery Festival. According to Ms. Seamans, the entire festival is online. No travel plans or hotel reservations needed. And ... it's FREE! No money needed.

Panzer says, "Online is good ... but FREE is always good."

To read Ms. Seamans' post about the festival, tootle over to My Little Corner

To read about the festival, tootle over to BritCrime 2015: An Online Festival

A New Panzerism

Panzer on the virtue of naps:

Young cats have often asked me how many naps are too many.

It's enough to make me purr when those youngsters recognize my expertise.

Thanks for asking.

So, my answer to them is: as the day progresses, it's natural to take more frequent naps.

When the naps begin to overlap, you have reached the perfect nap to alert cat ratio.

European VAT and U.K. Indie Authors

Sometimes you just make it worse.

Panzer took a leisurely Sunday trip around the Catosphere this morning. Our kitty boy parked the Panzermobile at The Guardian for a little rest stop.

While he was walking around and stretching his legs, he happened to find a post about the VAT (Value Added Tax) and indie authors in the United Kingdom. According to Anne Baddeley's post, UK indie authors who sell their ebooks from their own websites are being hit hard by the European Commission's VAT. Any time an ebook is sold from the author's website to someone outside the UK the author must collect the respective VAT for whatever country the buyer is located. This is turning into a logistic nightmare for authors. They either need to purchase special software to compute the VAT for them or simply stop selling from their website and put their books on Amazon (or other e-retailer site).

Panzer says, "Can't you EU guys give indies a break?"

To read the post, tootle over to VAT and self-published authors

European Commission Investigating Amazon

Hmmmv. Protect your own business.

Panzer hit the Catosphere at Cat Warp Speed today. Our kitty boy stopped at the Publishers' Weekly to dig around at the site looking for news for you.

According to a post by Jim Milliot, Amazon is in the European crosshairs again. The European Commission is investigating if Amazon is preventing competition from European ebook distributors through Amazon's contracts with ebook publishers.

Panzer says, "If it's not Amazon's taxes, it's their publisher contracts. What are they going to investigate next?"

Note: This is a l-o-n-g post, so bring a b-i-g cup of tea.

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon Ebook Probe

American Hogwarts School Of Wizardry?

Hurry ... Hurry ... I can't wait.

Panzer's sensitive hearing heard faint shouts and cheers coming from the Catosphere this morning. Our fearless kitty hopped in the Panzermobile and headed out.

Following the noise lead him to the Time.com site. There he discovered a video about Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling's announcement that there is an ... American School of Wizardry. All this is in relation to the 2016 movie based on Rowling's 2001 book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Panzer says, "I'm making popcorn for the new movie."

Note: There are advertisements before the video starts.

To watch the video, tootle over to American Hogwarts

Amazon to Open Fulfillment Center in Dallas Creating Hundreds of Full-Time Jobs | Business Wire

More jobs for Texas.

Panzer headed into the Catosphere looking for news for his friends. Our kitty reporter stopped in the Business Wire site.

Panzer found some news about Amazon for his friends in Texas.  Amazon is opening a new fulfillment center in Dallas, Texas. This brings Amazon's total to four centers in Texas. According to the post, the center will hire hundreds of full-time workers to process small purchases. As with all employees, the fulfillment center workers will have access to benefits such as education tuition help. There's a link to employment at fulfillment centers included in the post.

Panzer says, "Amazon sales must really be picking up to open a new center."

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon to Open Fulfillment Center in Dallas Creating Hundreds of Full-Time Jobs | Business Wire

George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones Coloring Book

Panzer was enjoying himself tootling around in the Catosphere today. Our fun-loving kitty boy discovered an interesting post at The Guardian site.

 According to Alison Flood, publisher Bantam announced George R. R. Martin will guide the production of a Game of Thrones coloring book. He will oversee the fantasy illustrators' 45 images from the A Song of Ice and Fire series. The book will be available in October.

Panzer says, "I want one."

To read the post, tootle over to Game of Thrones

Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Awards Finalists

I looked and I looked.

Panzer was checking the Catosphere for news for today's post. Our adventurous explorer kitty stopped in at the In Reference To Murder site.

B.V. Lawson has all the 2015 Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award nominees listed. In addition to their usual categories, they do have one category for indie published books.

The nominees for Best Indie P.I. Novel are:

The Shadow Broker by Trace Conger
Nobody's Child by Libby Fischer Hellman
Played to Death by B.V. Lawson
The Kids Are All Right by Steve Liskow
Get Busy Dying by Ben Rehder

Panzer says, "Not one kitty P.I. story on the list."

To read the post with the full list of nominees, tootle over to 2015 Shamus Award finalists

A New Panzerism

Panzer on human misconceptions:

Mom needs to stop telling me I'm a fat cat.

She needs to change her attitude.

Washington, Lincoln, Panzer.

I am a statuesque cat.

Statues weigh a lot and have a solid base.

Sounds like me, right?

Got it Mom?

I'm a cat statue.

Entry Fee Free SF/F Writing Contest

Panzer needed a break from his editing duties today, so he made an unscheduled trip into the Catosphere. Our adventurous kitty stopped in at Lynn Viehl's Paperback Writer site.

According to the post, the National Fantasy Fan Federation's Annual Short Story Contest is now open for entries. Stories must be science fiction or fantasy based and you must be an "amateur" writer. The complete contest rules are included at the PB site.

Panzer says, "Best of all the contest has no entry fee."

To read the post, tootle over to SF/F contest

Free Kristine Dexter Fiction

I need some sleep.

Panzer has been very busy the last two days. He's getting the final edits done on Cat Wisdom, so today's trip into the Catosphere was very short.

Our poor bedraggled kitty boy made a quick stop at author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's blog. Writing as Kristine Dexter, Ms. Rusch has a short suspense story called Scheduling Conflict available at her site.

What would you do if you were a police detective and got a phone call from someone confessing to a bank robbery? And it didn't appear there was a robbery? And what if the woman had the sexiest voice you had ever heard? You'll have to read the story to find out what Police Detective Riley Scott did. You can read it free at the site until Monday when it will be removed.

Panzer says, "Hurry over there before it disappears."

To read the story, tootle over to free fiction

Stephen King About Books

He is scary sometimes.

Panzer was out in the Catosphere this morning.

Our big brave kitty heard moaning and screaming and crying outside the Panzermobile. Using his Cat Radar he followed all the noise to The New York Times site. He found an interview with horror (and now mystery) author Stephen King.

In the interview Mr. King discusses his favorite books as a child, as an adult, what he's reading now and much more. So, if you're a fan of Mr. King's books, here's your chance to learn all about his reading habits. You'll also learn about his foray into the mystery field with the Hodges trilogy. According to him, they are set to become a TV series.

Panzer says, "His books are kind of scary, but he is funny in this interview."

Note: This is a very l-o-n-g interview so bring a b-i-g cup of tea.

To read the post, tootle over to Stephen King

Amazon Moves U.K. Sales Processing

They're moving.

Panzer made a trip to The Bookseller site today. Our big bad kitty explorer discovered some interesting news about Amazon there.

According to a post by Sarah Shaffi, as of May 1 Amazon no longer processed its United Kingdom sales through its Luzembourg European Headquarters. They began processing the sales through their U.K. sales office. Amazon has already stopped using the Luxembourg sales office and begun processing local country sales in Germany, Italy and Spain.

Panzer says, "No more Google Tax in the U.K. for Amazon."

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon

A New Panzerism

Panzer on meditation and your mantra:

Gimme ...
Gimme ...
Gimme ...
N-O-W

Gimme ...
Gimme ...

How long does it take to happen?

Gimme ...
N-O-W

Gimme ...
Gimme ...
Gimme ...
N-O-W