Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day 

From Panzer, Mom and What's His Name

Harlan Ellison (1934 - 2018) - Locus

According to the Locus site, Harlan Ellison, one of Panzer's favorite authors, has died.

To read the announcement and information tootle over to Harlan Ellison

Edie Bryant, Hayden Hunt, and How to Turn One Novel Into Two By Changing the Pronouns - The Digital Reader

Panzer made a quick trip to The Digital Reader site today. With very little digging he found a post about a new way to get away with breaking the rules on Amazon.

They're getting away with it.

According to the post by The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder, there's a new way to ignore Amazon's rules. The ploy involves using the same novel in the romance genre under two sub-genres. To do this all the author needs to do is publish the novel in one sub-genre with the main characters named as females and then in the second sub-genre change the main characters names to male. As the post title says, the author must also change all the pronouns to match the main characters' either male or female names. There are three side by side examples of how this was done by Edie Bryant and Hayden Hunt. (Obviously, pen names for the same person.) According to Amazon's rules, it's illegal for authors to use PLR material. (Taking the same material, making a few changes and publishing it under your name as an original work.)

Panzer says, "Humans can find more ways to scam on Amazon than a cat takes naps."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read to the post tootle over to Amazon

Bethesda Row's Amazon Books Opens Tuesday - Bethesda Magazine

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the Bethesda Magazine site. There with a little digging our inquisitive kitty found a post about Amazon.

According to the post by Bethany Rodgers, Amazon has opened its 16th brick and mortar store. The new Amazon Books store is located in the District of Columbia (DC) area. The store has 3,700 books. Besides new releases and reader favorites, there's a whole shelf of books with 10,000 or more book reviews. Amazon devices are also available. The store is open seven days a week. Numerous photos of the inside of the new store are included in the post too. You'll also want to read the Comments section for some interesting information.

10,000 reviews? That's really depressing.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... It seems impossible to this little kitty to get 10,000 reviews. How did they do that?"

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection. If you plan to look at all the photos of the inside of the store, bring an extra cup of tea.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon Books

Google Reopens their Play Books Publisher Program - GoodEReader

Today, Panzer had hardly gotten into the Catosphere when the Panzermobile was buffeted and shaken by all the clapping and cheering outside. Our traveling kitty boy had no trouble following all the noise to the GoodEReader site. There he found a post about Google.

According to the post by Michael Kozlowski, Google has reopened the Play Books Publisher Program. The program was closed in 2015 due to ebook piracy and quality issues. The resurrection of the program includes restrictions aimed at cleaning up these issues. Indie authors and publishers and their books must be vetted before being placed in Google Books and Google Play. The post includes links to past informational posts about the previous issues and a link to the online interest form for submission and admission.

I don't cheat, so I bet I can get accepted.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... It sounds like now is the time to get into the program. If an indie author and publisher can get accepted into the program, there won't be much competition in the beginning."

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links and read the posts, bring another cup of tea and two muffins.

To read the post tootle over to Google Play Books Publisher Program

A New Panzerism

Panzer on cat instinct:

I heard What's His Name tell Mom that instinct accounts for a cat's behavior.

And ...

That that instinct should guard against eating a ham and cheese sandwich that falls on the floor under the table.

Burp!

Except ...

What's His Name forgot one thing ...

The basic tenet of cat instinct is ...

If it's on the floor, it's mine.

Cat World Domination Day

Let's All Enjoy Cat World Domination Day

From Panzer The Cat

Court Shakes Up Tax Landscape for Online Sales - Publishers Weekly (Pw)

Panzer was sweeping out the Panzermobile today when he noticed something under his pilot seat. Pulling it out our fastidious kitty boy discovered it was a wadded up post. Flattening it out he found it was from the Publishers Weekly site. Reading it over he saw it was about the United States Supreme Court decision about online sales taxes.

According to the post by Ed Nawota, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a new online sales tax decision. The new decision overturns a 1992 decision and allows states to collect sales taxes on all online purchases to the residents of their state. This does mean the states who don't already have online tax collection laws will have to pass them. However, some states have already put the tax collection laws into effect and have been collecting them. Included in the post are several links to other sites for more information.

Cleaning is a lot of work.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Oh no! This will raise the price on everything Mom buys online for this little kitty."

Note: This is a long length post. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links in the post for more information, bring another cup of tea and three more muffins.

To read the Publishers Weekly post tootle over to United States Supreme Court


 

Amazon Announces First Fulfillment Center in Alabama, Creating 1,500 Full-Time Jobs - Press Release

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he heard clapping and cheering outside. Following the jocularity took our kitty pilot to the Amazon press room. With no digging at all he discovered a post about Amazon's new Alabama fulfillment center.

The press release announces Amazon's newest fulfillment center is to be built in Bessemer, Alabama. As with all fulfillment centers employees will fill customer orders. The center will also make use of robotics to help the employees work more efficiently. The fulfillment center will employ 1,500 full-time employees. The employees will immediately be eligible for full company benefits. Benefits will include healthcare, 401k retirement plan, company stock, and maternity and parental leave. There's a link in the post for Amazon's hiring and employment information.

Is there a fulfillment center in all 50 states?

Panzer says, "It looks like Amazon is on a fulfillment center building spree. It seems like this little kitty reads about a new center ever two or three weeks."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon

Online Bookstore Bookwitty.com Shuts Down - Publishers Weekly (PW)

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when the Panzermobile was buffeted by wailing and crying. Following all the noise took our brave kitty to the Publishers Weekly (PW) site. There with no digging at all he discovered a post about online bookseller Bookwitty.com.

According to the post by Ed Nawotka, three year old Paris-based online bookstore Bookwitty.com is closing. The company sent an email to its contributors that the site is shutting down. Bookwitty.com was the online arm of Bookwitty, a distributor of books to third-party sellers. No reason other than the company could not provide the service customers deserved was given; although, the post does say a hoped for $10 million cash infusion did not materialize.

Maybe their inventory was just too big.

Panzer says, "Bookwitty.com had 27 million books for sale. That is a lot of books."

Note: This is medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a chocolate chip cookie (biscuit) for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Bookwitty.com

Amazon Now Lets Authors Purchase Multiple Copies of Kindle eBooks - The Digital Reader

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he decided to make a stop at The Digital Reader site. With a little digging around our adventuresome kitty found a post about Amazon's new author book buying plan.

According to The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder, Amazon now allows authors to purchase multiple copies of their own Kindle ebooks. The post includes a quote of a section from Amazon's announcement. In the announcement Amazon says authors should use the Buy for Others button and then enter how many copies they want to buy. Then, the announcement explains how to give readers access to the ebooks. Be sure to read the Comments section. There's some interesting information in there too.

I wonder if it would be worth it?

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Buying copies of your own book from Amazon could get pretty expensive."

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon

A New Panzerism

Panzer on training your human:

Humans are flawed. All cats know this.

And ...

We do our best to make allowances for their limitations.

And ...

We're very patient in our training methods.

Take my humans for example.

Today, Mom yelled at me for scratching the back of the couch.

He ever touches me again; he'll bleed.

So ...

As her punishment, she can't touch my nice, soft fur for six minutes. That should be enough of a penalty to teach her not to yell.

Now ...

What's His Name is in the penalty box for swatting at me. That's the permanent penalty box.

Happy Father's Day

To All The Fathers
From Panzer, Mom and What's His Name

Mike McCormack wins 100,000 International Dublin literary award with one-sentence novel - The Guardian

Today, while Panzer was cleaning out the Panzermobile he found a post rolled up under the passenger seat. Smoothing it out flat, our fastidious kitty discovered it was a post from The Guardian site about the International Dublin Literary Award.

According to the post by Sian Cain, Irish author Mike McCormack won this year's International Dublin Literary Award. Each year librarians around the world submit their nominations to a group of Irish author-judges. From these submissions the judges choose one book to award the prize to. This year's winner is Solar Bones a one sentence novel. The one sentence is over 200+ pages long. It turns out the novel is about a ghost and author McCormack decided a ghost wouldn't have time for stopping for periods at the end of sentences; therefore, only one sentence.

I really need a nap after reading that.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... One sentence long? Over 200+ pages? Glad I'm not reading it aloud."

Note:This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea, a muffin and a sugar cookie (biscuit) for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to International Dublin Literary Award

It looks like Google's going to launch a podcast app - The Verge

Panzer's trip into the Catosphere today took him to The Verge site. It took a little digging for our inquisitive kitty to find a post about Google's podcast app.

In the post at The Verge Shoshana Wodinsky explains why it's likely Google will launch a podcast app. The post speculates the app will actually be an extension of the existing Google Search on Android. There are several links to other sites for information on Google Search and podcast information included in the post. If you follow the links, you get a better understanding of Google's plans.

You can listen to a podcast where ever you are.

Panzer says, "Be sure to read the Comments section too. There are some interesting opinions about Google apps in general there."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links included in the post and read the Comments section, bring a thermos of tea and a dozen muffins.

To read the post tootle over to Google podcast app

Audio is publishing's new star as sales soar across genres - The Guardian

Today's trip into the Catosphere took our intrepid kitty traveler to The Guardian site. With some digging around in the posts, he found one about audio books.

According to James Tapper, audio book sales are rising at unexpected rates. Sales in 2017 were up 21.5 percent. The increasing sales figures in the audio book market have drawn new competition for Amazon's Audible too. Audio book popularity has inspired some agents to convince their author clients to release their fiction and nonfiction books in audio book format only. It appears audio books may be the newest thing to take a bite out of traditional book publishing sales right behind ebooks.

What do you of my face on the cover?

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Is there a market for kitty narrated audio books?"

Note: This is a long post. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to audio books

Is Amazon Bugging Authors Into Moving From Createspace to KDP Print - The Digital Reader

Today, Panzer made a quick trip to The Digital Reader site. With a little digging around he found a post about KDP Print and Createspace.

According to The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder, Amazon's Createspace has developed an annoying habit. Indie authors are reporting receiving copyright verification emails from Createspace. From the example cited it appears even books that were published in foreign languages are fair game for the emails. Whether harassing authors with these verification emails is Amazon's plan to push authors over to Amazon's KDP Print or not is still unclear; but, the copyright verification emails are definitely annoying to authors.

Makes no sense to this little kitty.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... The author in the example says they got 18 emails so far this year. ... Wow. ... I thought Amazon was all about customer service. ... Amazon owns Createspace. ... Authors use Createspace printing service. ... Authors are customers. ... Where's the customer service?"

Note: This is a short-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to KDP Print and Createspace

Cassandra Dee and Mosaic Book Stuffing - David Gaughran

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when the Panzermobile was buffeted by shouting and gnashing of teeth. Following all the angry noises took our brave kitty pilot to David Gaughran's blog. There with no digging at all he discovered a post about book stuffing.

Why isn't Amazon looking at her books?

According to the post by site owner David Gaughran, book stuffing is alive and thriving on Kindle Unlimited (KU). Book stuffing in case you haven't seen or heard of it is when an author stuffs a bunch of material/books into another book to increase the page count to 2,000 or so pages. Then, the author includes an inducement to get the reader to flip to the last page of the ebook. Both of these are against Amazon's Terms of Service. This is because one of the ways authors in KU are paid is by the number of pages read in the book. These authors' books have so many other books stuffed into them that the authors are robbing Amazon's KU fund and the honest authors who don't book stuff. Apparently, Chance Carter, one of the book stuffers, got caught by Amazon and his account shut down, but there are a myriad of others still working in KU. The Cassandra Dee of the post title is one of them and Mr. Gaughran gives a breakdown of how she does the book stuffing. There are links at the beginning of the post to other information about book stuffing.

Panzer says, "Be sure to read the Comment section too. You'll read how to report these book stuffers."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea, a dozen chocolate chip cookies (biscuits), and two muffins.

To read the post tootle over to book stuffing

A New Panzerism

Panzer on human behavior:

What's His Name is late for work.

Again ...

He's really funny to watch.

He's running back and forth ...

And ...

Making noises and yelling ...

Why would I know where it is?

"Where's my wallet? I can't find my wallet!"

And ...

Now ...

He's looking at me.

Amazon Announces Further Expansion in Oklahoma with Tulsa Fulfillment Center - Press Release

Yesterday really tired this little kitty out.

There was no post yesterday because Mom and What's His Name were replacing the baking element in the oven, whatever that is. Every time I tried to help What's His Name pushed me away. Of course, without my help it took an hour longer than they expected. By the time they finished it was dinner time and Mom wouldn't turn the computer on to record my hunting adventures. But ... She's all set for today, so here we got.

Panzer's trip into the Catosphere today took him to the Amazon press room. There with a little digging around he found a press release about Amazon's expansion in Oklahoma.

According to Amazon's press release, the company will be opening their second Oklahoma fulfillment center in Tulsa. The first fulfillment center will be located in South Oklahoma City. The new fulfillment center will employee 1500 employees. Full-time employee benefits will include maternity leave, parental leave, healthcare, 401(k), and company stock. The Career Choice program is also included in the benefit package. In the program Amazon pays 95 percent of the tuition for courses in in-demand fields. Included in the press release is a link to information about how to apply for employment at the fulfillment site.

Panzer says, "This little kitty wonders if Amazon is the largest U.S. employer yet."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the link and read about employment opportunities at Amazon, bring another muffin.

To read the press release tootle over to Amazon

Kindle will now let you install custom fonts: A how-to - TeleRead

Panzer hasn't been to the TeleRead site for a while, so he decided to stop in there today. It's a good thing our inquisitive kitty did. With no digging at all he discovered a post with an important announcement about the Amazon Kindle ereader.

According to the post by David Rothman, there's a long overdue improvement for the Kindle ereader. Amazon now allows the download of custom fonts to their ereaders. The post uses a screenshot from a Kindle Paperwhite as an example, but other ereaders have the same capability now. The post includes a link for the update. If you don't know what generation of ereader you have, there's also a link included to determine which it is. There are instructions for an update for older ereaders as well at the Amazon site. Some updates need to be downloaded manually, so it's important to check the site to make sure your Kindle continues to work.

Her Kindle is way older than me.

Panzer says, "This little kitty can hardly believe it. We followed the links and found out Mom has a third generation Kindle. She got it as a gift when it was brand new. It's so old she can't download new fonts to it. Lucky for her she has got a new Paperwhite for Christmas."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Kindle

Barnes & Noble is Ending Support for the Original Nook eReader - The Digital Reader

Panzer's trip today took him to The Digital Reader site. With no digging at all our forensic kitty found a post about Barnes and Nobles's Nook 1st Edition

According to the post by site owner Nate Hoffelder, Barnes and Noble announced they will no longer support the original 2009 Nook 1st Edition ereader. The announcement was made via an email sent to Nook 1st Edition owners. Effective June 29 ereader owners will no longer be able to sign in or buy new ebooks. Barnes and Noble is offering Nook 1st Edition owners a discount on the Nook Tablet 7 or the Nook Glowlight.

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty is wondering if Barnes and Noble might be making a mistake forcing customers to quit using the Nook 1st Edition and buy a new Nook Tablet 7 or Nook Glowlight."

Note: This is a long-medium length post because it includes a copy of the Barnes and Noble email at the end. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Barnes and Noble

iBooks reading app has been renamed Apple Books in iOS 12 - engadget

Today Panzer made a quick trip to the engadget site. There our quick kitty found a post about iBooks.

Maybe there's something here.

According to the post by Nathan Ingraham, Apple has announced iBooks will become Apple Books with the introduction of iOS 12 this fall. The store itself will also be revamped, but information is limited now.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty says this seems like an announcement about an announcement that will be coming in a few months."

Note: This is a short post. Bring half a cup of tea for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to ibooks

A New Panzerism

Panzer on career counseling:

Today I was looking for a new career. Something to make this kitty world-famous.

What's His Name offered the insight that helped me find it.

He said, "Find your muse and you'll find yourself a writer."

That sounded like paradise to me.

 Somebody else to do all the dull writing stuff ...

And ...

I become a famous kitty.

So ...

What's so funny? Was it something I said?

I caught a mouse ... but ... he couldn't even write his own name.

I wish What's His Name  would be quiet. He keeps scaring the other mice away with his laughing.

Amazon to Block Australian Customers from Using Amazon.com, & They Could Lose Access to Their eBooks - The Digital Reader

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when the Panzermobile was shaken and buffeted by howling and crying and gnashing of teeth. Following all the anguish took our brave kitty pilot to The Digital Reader site. There he discovered a post about Amazon.com.

According to The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder's post, after July 1 Amazon will no longer allow Australian's to have access to the Amazon.com site. Instead, Australian shoppers will be redirected to the Amazon.com.au site. The post quotes from an Australian news site which says the new policy is being implemented in response to Australia's new ten percent tax (tariff) on all goods purchased from companies outside Australia (overseas). The The Digital Reader post also includes speculation on  the possibility of problems for Australian Kindle users and losing access to their ebook purchases. The Comments section has some interesting information too.

It's a ten percent tariff ... Not a tax.

Panzer says, "Ummm ... Put a ten percent tax (tariff) on my products and I won't sell the products to you anymore. Makes sense to this little kitty."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a glass of milk and two chocolate chip cookies (biscuits) for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon