A New Panzerism

Panzer on the human misconception of their importance:

Mom told me that, if parents compliment children, it boosts their confidence.

She said that's a good thing.

But ...

She needs to learn you don't ever compliment a cat.

N-o-o-o ... a real bad idea.

Good kitty? You're kidding, right?

Cats will always take such sentiments and turn them into moments of disbelief and then hilarity.

How dare a mere human ... an inferior species to cats ... pass judgement on us ...

with statements like "Good Kitty" and "What a smart boy."

Amazon's Book Review Policy - Part 2

Panzer got woken up from his afternoon nap today by yowling and hissing. When our big brave explorer kitty got the Panzermobile fueled up and out into the Catosphere, he discovered the noise was coming from the Indies Unlimited site.

Panzer found a guest post by Brenda Perlin whose ebook review got rejected by Amazon. In an email to Ms. Perlin it was stated Amazon's rationale was that the reviewer "rules" say no reviews for authors/persons you know are accepted. Amazon determined she knew the author/person the review was for and so the review was rejected. Our kitty boy posted about a similar ebook review rejection earlier this week. According to this Indies Unlimited post, a petition has been started to get Amazon to change their review policy.

I'm busy. Leave me out of it.

Panzer says, "I'm not taking sides in this new war with Amazon. I've got other work to do right now ... like take a nap ... and eat ... and take a nap. You know important cat work."

Note: The post isn't that long. but the comments section is. So ... if you plan to read the comments, you will need a h-u-g-e cup of tea.

To read Brenda Perlin's post, tootle over to Amazon reviews
To read Panzer's post from earlier this week, tootle over to book review policy

Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and Meows: Forever Young, My Precious Truffles

We'll miss you.

Short post today.

Panzer got some sad news yesterday. His kitty friend Truffles at Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and Meows blog has gone over the rainbow bridge.

To read about Truffles and/or leave your condolences, tootle over to Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and Meows: Forever Young, My Precious Truffles:

Amazon's Book Review Policy

Rules are rules.

Panzer was taking a nap when he got woken up by a bunch of hissing and yowling coming from the Catosphere. Our sleepy little kitty hopped in the Panzermobile to see what all the ruckus was about.

Panzer didn't have any trouble following all the noise to the Consumer Affairs site. According to a post by Jennifer Abel, blogger Imy Santiago is up in arms because Amazon wouldn't post a review by her. Amazon said she violated their review policy. Back and forth emails are quoted in the post to show Amazon's "lack of transparency" in regard to why they wouldn't post the review. Basically, it come down to the fact Amazon believes she "knows" the author of the book she was reviewing and, therefore, it couldn't be an honest review. There's a link in the post to Santiago's original post at her blog.

Panzer says "Amazon knows everything about authors, including who your friends are. Have a link to your blog at Author Central (Hi, Amazon!)? They have not only your posts, but the comments. Put a link to your Twitter account (Hi!) and same thing. Have a Goodreads account with a link to your blog? Same thing (Hi, again!). And on it goes.  Everything is tied together. And ... You do know about Amazon and Goodreads, right? There's no place to hide."

To read the post, tootle over to book reviews

Smashwords July FREE and Discounted Ebooks Sale

Hurry over while it's FREE!

Panzer's trip into the Catosphere today took him over to the Smashwords site.

Smashwords is having a huge sale all month on ebooks. Some are 25% off; some are 50% off; some are 75% off; and some are FREE.

Now, you all know how much Panzer likes FREE stuff.

So ...

He's offering his ebook Cats and Crime FREE!

Here's the instructions to get Cats and Crime. Follow the link below to his Smashwords page, click to Buy the ebook, enter the coupon code SW100, click enter, make sure the price says 0.00. Smashwords will then tell you how to download the ebook.

To see all the other discounted and FREE ebooks, follow the second link below. At Smashwords, scroll down the front page and on the left you'll see "Browse Books on Sales," click and look for ebooks of interest. Be sure to read the information at each book and make sure it's FREE, before you buy it. Remember, some are only discounted, NOT FREE.

Note from Panzer: You shouldn't need an account to download Cats and Crime with the direct link below. But the accounts are FREE and easy to set up. I'm not sure if you'll need one to download the other FREE ebooks.

For your FREE copy, tootle over to Cats and Crime

To see other FREE ebooks, tootle over to Smashwords

A New Panzerism

Panzer on plausible deniability:

Here's an exercise for some of my cat friends to try.

You know that key fob Mom has for her new car?

Well, if you pounce on it just right,
the car's horn goes off in the driveway.
Pounce again and the same thing happens.

Me? I was sleeping.

For the best results, it needs to be done at 3 a.m.

Just be sure to be curled up in a ball on the chair far away from the key fob, when Mom comes running downstairs at the noise.

Enjoy July 4th Barbecues, Hot Dogs And Lemonade

Happy 4th of July!  

 
From Panzer, Mom and What's His Name

Has George R. R. Martin Finished The Winds of Winter?

Did he or didn't he?

Panzer took a quick trip to the Catosphere today. While our kitty explorer was out there, he stopped in at The Independent site. Panzer spent some time digging around there and dug up an interesting post by Daisy Wyatt.

According to Ms. Wyatt, rumors are circulating that George R. R. Martin has finished The Winds of Winter. It's book 6 in The Game of Thrones TV series. Of course as with all rumors, other sites are reporting he hasn't finished it.

But ... it's an interesting story about how the rumor got started.

Panzer says, "Why don't you just ask him?"

To read the post, tootle over to George R.R. Martin

More Time For You With Simple Marketing Tools

Whew! I'm glad I found my way home.

Panzer got lost in the Catosphere today. Our poor bewildered kitty was flying here and there trying to get his bearings. In his travels, he discovered the BookBub site.

At the site he found a post by Diane Urban about tools to make your ebook marketing easier. There's information on Trello for time management, Canva for image design, Feedly for a blog post aggregator and more. The post is from earlier this year but the information contained in it is still valid for indies today.

Panzer says, "I want anything that gives me more time in my day."

To read the post, tootle over to simple marketing tools

Smashwords: Wattpad Runs Major Promotion Featuring 72 Smashwor...

They're all FREE!

Panzer was out tootling around in the Catosphere today. Our big bad kitty boy stopped in at the Smashwords Blog to see what's new in the world of indie book distribution. He's really glad he did because now he's doing the Happy Kitty Dance!

According to a post by Mark Coker, Smashwords and Wattpad are running a romance promotion featuring 72 Smashwords authors. The authors' books will be serialized and available for FREE reading on the Wattpad website or on it's apps. A list of all the titles available with links is in the post.

Sorry, the promotion is only for romances.

Panzer says, "You do have a Wattpad account, right? The account is FREE just like all the reading there is FREE."

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords: Wattpad Runs Major Promotion Featuring 72 Smashwor...: