As we segue into 2023 I thought it prudent to lay out my literary plans for this year; which after all can't really be worse than 2022 was- that alone is grounds for some optimism!
While I formerly decided to stop editing one-off works, I have decided to continue that work on brownout mode; while it is far more sensible to write some more of my own material and compile occult material for serious study, there are still a large number of worthy editions which warrant crafting- I am going to considerably slow my output of such works, however, as it does not make sense to hire an illustrator to illustrate a work if it can't be reasonably expected to at least break even regarding the investment of my time and money. I will be more choosy in my releases. I adore obscure receipt books for example, but I can't expect them to sell as many copies as, say, a grimoire, or a historical tract on the Freemasons.
I am working on several authored works currently also; one is comedic and involves various leftists and their warped fantasies about Donald Trump- this will be more for my political audience than for any serious literary purpose, but if it does half as well as "101 commie jokes" it is well worth the time.
I will also be making at least three more compiled works over the next year, and plan to both re-edit several of my past works and begin crafting a rigorous and fully academic history of herbal medicine. I envision it as a massive tome of lore with a huge bibliography, profuse notes, and a large explanatory foreword; where Fruits of Eden was mainly about the supernatural this work will be historical.
I may randomly meander into other topics as well. I have found it both fun and intriguing to make short booklets regarding cultural events (Critical Race Theory, for example, or Memetics) and there is no telling what such topics may arise during the year.
Onward!
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
General Update Time!
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
General Update Time! Hardcovers and More!
First, let me begin by thanking everyone who reads these posts and who has purchased a book or two of my creation. Not only have I now sold about three thousand copies of "Critical Race Theory Debunked", but total sales, overall- not counting digital sales- are now approaching a whopping two hundred thousand editions. Yes, 200,000. That's a lot of paper. Onward to a quarter million editions!
The most major update I have as we approach that wondrous day of Halloween, is that Amazon now has a hardcover option- I immediately decided to release all of my compiled works in hardcover, but first I need to create two or three (I have not decided yet) more compiled editions- one will involve Theosophy, and both religious history and occult miscellany are other potential releases. Once these are done, I will create hardcover editions of all compiled works (demonology, folk magic, etc)- this will not take too much time, since the files are already done- however I will need to change the page and trim sizes, reformat accordingly, and of course change the page numbering in those full length works to reflect the new format. I do not know how long this will take- a month, or so, I guess.
In other news, I have been firing on both cylinders now for quite some time, and so now I believe that in addition to finishing the 360th edited work some time around Halloween, I will be able to complete five or so additional works before the end of the year, even allowing for a month or more for working out the hardcover compiled releases. I am also writing another semi-political humorous work which I think some here will enjoy.
And due to attacks on archive.org and other literary bulwarks, I have downloaded, formatted, and quadruple-backed-up about forty additional literary editions, adding them to nearly three hundred already acquired. I could edit and write at my current speed for a half decade at this rate and never run out of material to work with. These works range from anthropological and historical treatments, to folklore compilations, to spiritualist miscellany. The fight against ignorance continues!
Sunday, May 10, 2020
General Update: The Final Stretch And Amazon's Slow Processing Times
Alright everyone time for a new general update!
Editing by and large has been going about as normal, but you might have noticed a slowdown in actual work output... why?
Well the answer is simple; Amazon used to process files and give them their check for copyright etc within 72 hours of file uploads; at a maximum this meant a week to finalize everything because even if it got a copyright double-check, only another three days at most was needed, since it takes me at most five to ten minutes to respond to copyright queries, as I always keep links to the source files just in case of such a thing.
Now, 72 hours is less than the MINIMUM time it takes for the file to either be accepted or queried by Amazon; it's usually closer to five working days; in other words, a whole week. The book I posted here yesterday had taken no less than ten days to process and be allowed. Edition 280- "Christ or Buddha"- is as we speak still being reviewed, and will also take at least nine days total; it got a copyright query, thus at least doubling the review time.
While I can understand Amazon slowing down some of its services due to pandemic, I am still flabbergasted why all these large tech firms (Youtube and Facebook also) can't seem to keep pace with things using a remote workforce; moderation staff tend to be offshored anyways, and can work from home. Delivery times are so slow that paperback sales collapsed for several weeks (and have partly recovered now) necessitating I release a couple dozen new works on KDP to make ends meet; while this worked, it was a hassle.
In happier news I just got done with the 281st work so I am now in the final stretch of completing the third and final mandatory part of my extremely long term literary crusade. Once I hit the 300th edited work, I intend to take some time just to organize files and even longer-term projects both authored and edited, because after that I can take it a bit more easy. I also want to compile works within occult subgenres to provide collected critical editions with more notes, fleshed out bibliographic material, and commentary.
Editing by and large has been going about as normal, but you might have noticed a slowdown in actual work output... why?
Well the answer is simple; Amazon used to process files and give them their check for copyright etc within 72 hours of file uploads; at a maximum this meant a week to finalize everything because even if it got a copyright double-check, only another three days at most was needed, since it takes me at most five to ten minutes to respond to copyright queries, as I always keep links to the source files just in case of such a thing.
Now, 72 hours is less than the MINIMUM time it takes for the file to either be accepted or queried by Amazon; it's usually closer to five working days; in other words, a whole week. The book I posted here yesterday had taken no less than ten days to process and be allowed. Edition 280- "Christ or Buddha"- is as we speak still being reviewed, and will also take at least nine days total; it got a copyright query, thus at least doubling the review time.
While I can understand Amazon slowing down some of its services due to pandemic, I am still flabbergasted why all these large tech firms (Youtube and Facebook also) can't seem to keep pace with things using a remote workforce; moderation staff tend to be offshored anyways, and can work from home. Delivery times are so slow that paperback sales collapsed for several weeks (and have partly recovered now) necessitating I release a couple dozen new works on KDP to make ends meet; while this worked, it was a hassle.
In happier news I just got done with the 281st work so I am now in the final stretch of completing the third and final mandatory part of my extremely long term literary crusade. Once I hit the 300th edited work, I intend to take some time just to organize files and even longer-term projects both authored and edited, because after that I can take it a bit more easy. I also want to compile works within occult subgenres to provide collected critical editions with more notes, fleshed out bibliographic material, and commentary.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
The Time Has Come: Most Titles to Become Available via Kindle
As people may have seen, shipping times on Amazon have become completely insane; I bought a book a couple days ago, and the expected shipping time is in late April.
The current pandemic has turned people into fearful slaves, and unfortunately those of us still awake have no choice but to play along, in order to make ends meet.
As such, I have begun exporting my paperback files to digital. There is, of course, no wait time on delivery for these ebook sales; ebooks are inferior to paperbacks in most ways; a paperback does not magically go away because of a power outage or because some tech firm asserted proprietary rights over your book on its device because you are suspected of wrongthink for political reasons.
However it is clear that if I am to continue into this dark age, which has now grown darker due to human ignorance and the willingness of people to allow governments to do dumb things in the name of progress, or pandemic control, I have no option but to finally move titles to digital.
It will take several weeks. I have moved all my authored works already but it takes a couple days to process.
The current pandemic has turned people into fearful slaves, and unfortunately those of us still awake have no choice but to play along, in order to make ends meet.
As such, I have begun exporting my paperback files to digital. There is, of course, no wait time on delivery for these ebook sales; ebooks are inferior to paperbacks in most ways; a paperback does not magically go away because of a power outage or because some tech firm asserted proprietary rights over your book on its device because you are suspected of wrongthink for political reasons.
However it is clear that if I am to continue into this dark age, which has now grown darker due to human ignorance and the willingness of people to allow governments to do dumb things in the name of progress, or pandemic control, I have no option but to finally move titles to digital.
It will take several weeks. I have moved all my authored works already but it takes a couple days to process.
Monday, January 13, 2020
A Call for Help on Amazon
Whether because they have shifted (hopefully temporarily) their algorithms on site related to search, or because of some sort of direct suppression of my content in the same, my paperback sales on Amazon collapsed on the 10th of January, with an over 50% reduction in total output. Digital sales have not seemingly been affected. This indicates a high chance of the former; Amazon has altered its algorithms for some search terms and some of my works have been buried beneath competitors which are more expensive, as Amazon prioritizes cash flow.
Sometimes you will have random days where sales drop precipitously, but never for three days running. Something is afoot. When things are afoot I don't get upset, I look for solutions.
Since Amazons algorithms are in part based on the ratings and reviews present on works, at this time, I ask everyone who has purchased any of my works to leave an honest rating and if possible a short review of the work. Kindly note (I'm talking to you, KDP staff!) I am not asking for fake reviews or for anyone to game the system; only those who have actually purchased my works, to take a few minutes to help out an entirely independent creator who has released over 260 distinct works on Amazon thus far.
To be clear this hurdle will not stop me from continuing the work of releasing more books- but it might cause me to look into additional literary avenues. As always, a main-line tech firms' own decisions hazard the loyalty of its creator base; Amazon has always had my support in part because it was so irreplaceable- but as we all know, profitability is a big basis for that determination. For me, even more, it is a spiritual quest to protect and expand occult knowledge.
Sometimes you will have random days where sales drop precipitously, but never for three days running. Something is afoot. When things are afoot I don't get upset, I look for solutions.
Since Amazons algorithms are in part based on the ratings and reviews present on works, at this time, I ask everyone who has purchased any of my works to leave an honest rating and if possible a short review of the work. Kindly note (I'm talking to you, KDP staff!) I am not asking for fake reviews or for anyone to game the system; only those who have actually purchased my works, to take a few minutes to help out an entirely independent creator who has released over 260 distinct works on Amazon thus far.
To be clear this hurdle will not stop me from continuing the work of releasing more books- but it might cause me to look into additional literary avenues. As always, a main-line tech firms' own decisions hazard the loyalty of its creator base; Amazon has always had my support in part because it was so irreplaceable- but as we all know, profitability is a big basis for that determination. For me, even more, it is a spiritual quest to protect and expand occult knowledge.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
General Update Time!
It's time for the very first update of the year- I won't do these as frequently, probably, because some of the content gets a bit redundant.
First; I have managed to acquire a dozen or so new works I did not have before, for editing. I have enough material to last me through 200 editions, which is the end goal for this year.
Second: Because of my surge of work in December (which I will continue through this month also) I am well ahead of the curve- a lot of the remaining works I hope to release are fairly short and most are in good condition so replicating and editing them will be quicker than for works in poorer conditions or which are quite long. (I like to release works that most consider too short to be worth editing.)
Third: At some point I am going to take a good long look at the Grand Albert and consider releasing it as I did for the Petit Albert: It is important to note that there are two Grand Alberts in circulation, one of which is not a folkloric document and has nothing to do with occult workings.
Fourth: It seems sales have recovered from their lull post-Createspace and may even have risen, possibly because of the huge number of new titles released in December. Since income from crowdfunding is down across the board for most people who create content at all it makes sense to surge on ahead with what has been my primary income anyways; namely, literature.
Fifth: I hope to write a few works of my own in 2019- a couple occult topics and perhaps some spooky fiction.
Onward with the year!
First; I have managed to acquire a dozen or so new works I did not have before, for editing. I have enough material to last me through 200 editions, which is the end goal for this year.
Second: Because of my surge of work in December (which I will continue through this month also) I am well ahead of the curve- a lot of the remaining works I hope to release are fairly short and most are in good condition so replicating and editing them will be quicker than for works in poorer conditions or which are quite long. (I like to release works that most consider too short to be worth editing.)
Third: At some point I am going to take a good long look at the Grand Albert and consider releasing it as I did for the Petit Albert: It is important to note that there are two Grand Alberts in circulation, one of which is not a folkloric document and has nothing to do with occult workings.
Fourth: It seems sales have recovered from their lull post-Createspace and may even have risen, possibly because of the huge number of new titles released in December. Since income from crowdfunding is down across the board for most people who create content at all it makes sense to surge on ahead with what has been my primary income anyways; namely, literature.
Fifth: I hope to write a few works of my own in 2019- a couple occult topics and perhaps some spooky fiction.
Onward with the year!
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Ars Theurgia Goetia / Lesser Key Update!
It is with glee that I announce that I am now 50% done with the final image formatting for the Theurgia Goetia. This means there is a 99% chance it will be ready within a week or so. That means the Lesser Key can be released in time for Yule and the stand-alone edition (which will be around 100 pages in my format) in January alongside a second work (hopefully) on phallism.
That brings me however to one potential stumblingblock which is the full absorption of Createspace by Amazon; at this particular time I do not know fully how to load a paperback there and I am having difficulty figuring out the transition process for all of my paperback titles- when I attempt to use the link on KDP it only finds 5 works out of the over 160 that I have available, and I am unsure why- neither Createspace nor Amazon are logging my paperback sales despite them all being available so I cannot see my works to edit content if needed, and I cannot track my sales. I have contacted them so hopefully this issue will be resolved within a day or two. I only hope Amazon keeps the template generator on CS alive because I have no clue how to manually determine trim size.
That brings me however to one potential stumblingblock which is the full absorption of Createspace by Amazon; at this particular time I do not know fully how to load a paperback there and I am having difficulty figuring out the transition process for all of my paperback titles- when I attempt to use the link on KDP it only finds 5 works out of the over 160 that I have available, and I am unsure why- neither Createspace nor Amazon are logging my paperback sales despite them all being available so I cannot see my works to edit content if needed, and I cannot track my sales. I have contacted them so hopefully this issue will be resolved within a day or two. I only hope Amazon keeps the template generator on CS alive because I have no clue how to manually determine trim size.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Ending My Re-Editing Project Early; Amazons Copyright Team Has Some... Quirks
Alright everyone the weather is finally summer-esque so it's time for a re-editing project update!
The update is that I am going to complete two more works and then shelf the project indefinitely with respect to all works I didn't personally author. For those works the new editions will run alongside the old ones for some time.
Why? It isn't like it's hard to skim over a text I already proofread and corrected, since all I need to do is correct it once its new font and format are done, then make a new cover since the early editions weren't up to my new standards. Since the payoff is so high (I can lower the cost and improve the product, which likely means more readership- a win win for everyone) and the effort fairly low (I can re-edit a text every day, and could re-edit all of them by mid June) why would I end the project?
The answer is Amazons' arcane and slow copyright related processes; right now three of my works are awaiting confirmation that I have the right to release editions of them- one of them was written in the 17th century. I already supplied this needed proof (since these are just re-edits of extant editions from 2015 and early 2016) when I first released them. In the case of the Grimorium Verum (one of my top sellers among edited works- I managed to sell 47 copies of it this month before it got suppressed awaiting confirmation) it has been in this gray area for five days now, since twice I have supplied proof it is a public domain work only to be told I somehow need a signed statement regarding permission to utilize it.
But, Amazon, I AM the one giving myself permission; the original work was ALSO mine! And I can't supply you the authors' name or date of death- the author is not known! (Clearly listed in the text and on the BISAC info) Since it dates to the middle of the 18th century the general assumption is the author "probably" died prior to the 1800s, let alone the 1920s cutoff for public domain status.
The use of createspace/amazon for self publishing remains exceptionally easy overall but this is one part of the process that needs a tweaking desperately.
The update is that I am going to complete two more works and then shelf the project indefinitely with respect to all works I didn't personally author. For those works the new editions will run alongside the old ones for some time.
Why? It isn't like it's hard to skim over a text I already proofread and corrected, since all I need to do is correct it once its new font and format are done, then make a new cover since the early editions weren't up to my new standards. Since the payoff is so high (I can lower the cost and improve the product, which likely means more readership- a win win for everyone) and the effort fairly low (I can re-edit a text every day, and could re-edit all of them by mid June) why would I end the project?
The answer is Amazons' arcane and slow copyright related processes; right now three of my works are awaiting confirmation that I have the right to release editions of them- one of them was written in the 17th century. I already supplied this needed proof (since these are just re-edits of extant editions from 2015 and early 2016) when I first released them. In the case of the Grimorium Verum (one of my top sellers among edited works- I managed to sell 47 copies of it this month before it got suppressed awaiting confirmation) it has been in this gray area for five days now, since twice I have supplied proof it is a public domain work only to be told I somehow need a signed statement regarding permission to utilize it.
But, Amazon, I AM the one giving myself permission; the original work was ALSO mine! And I can't supply you the authors' name or date of death- the author is not known! (Clearly listed in the text and on the BISAC info) Since it dates to the middle of the 18th century the general assumption is the author "probably" died prior to the 1800s, let alone the 1920s cutoff for public domain status.
The use of createspace/amazon for self publishing remains exceptionally easy overall but this is one part of the process that needs a tweaking desperately.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Tarl Warwick Books: Now Also on Wordpress
Because Google has recently decided to join the increasing chorus of voices advocating the large-scale dumbing down of the internet I have decided to construct a wordpress blog for my literary work. Those of you who do not wish to partake in google services may use it at your leisure. It will take me some time to make the blog fully functional since I have never used wordpress before; but I did manage to import all posts.
Hysterically, both the generally right wing and the generally left wing are opposed to this new Orwellian tactic. I pride myself though on being one of the first to oppose this new tactic. I encourage all of my readers and fans to do the same.
Hysterically, both the generally right wing and the generally left wing are opposed to this new Orwellian tactic. I pride myself though on being one of the first to oppose this new tactic. I encourage all of my readers and fans to do the same.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The Process Begins on Improving the KDP Titles
This morning I finished "Magic and Witchcraft" and it is processing, but I figured I'd do a bit more and moved all five herbal titles to KDP (for ebook sales)- as always I don't really care much about ebooks because I prefer physical copies, but people keep asking me for digital versions of my releases so I figure I might as well have a full ebook catalog too.
Which brings me to the happy news of the day; I am fully aware that a few of the titles I have aren't properly processed there for sale as ebooks; when I released the first slew of digital releases I relied on Createspace to properly convert existing files and, of course, was let down; CS is great for paperbacks but has severe issues when it comes to processing uploaded files for release as ebooks; several titles were nothing more than the cover and one page of text, or four pages of badly formatted and massively cropped illustrations. I have to go back through and manually re-upload pdfs of each title to make sure they're all in proper working order since CS can't apparently handle it on their end; that means weeks more effort. I manually submitted the files for the five herbals so at least that category will be in proper format with no issues (I hope.) I'll get to work tomorrow with the four folk works, then after that spend a week or so on the rest and do as much as I can while also releasing the next herbal title.
Which brings me to the happy news of the day; I am fully aware that a few of the titles I have aren't properly processed there for sale as ebooks; when I released the first slew of digital releases I relied on Createspace to properly convert existing files and, of course, was let down; CS is great for paperbacks but has severe issues when it comes to processing uploaded files for release as ebooks; several titles were nothing more than the cover and one page of text, or four pages of badly formatted and massively cropped illustrations. I have to go back through and manually re-upload pdfs of each title to make sure they're all in proper working order since CS can't apparently handle it on their end; that means weeks more effort. I manually submitted the files for the five herbals so at least that category will be in proper format with no issues (I hope.) I'll get to work tomorrow with the four folk works, then after that spend a week or so on the rest and do as much as I can while also releasing the next herbal title.
Monday, November 21, 2016
General Update Time!
Things are going along quite smoothly at present; due to the sudden coming of snow (far earlier than usual) I've gotten a little ADHD addled I suppose and I have three works not complete but all more than half complete; namely the (very good) South Sea Herbal, the Asuri Kalpa, and A work called "Everybody's Astrology." I figure at least one will be done before November ends, and the other two in the first week of December, with three more works to go before the big #100.
That completes the first stage of my work; but there is an enormous load ahead for 2017; namely at least one and probably two entire categories' worth of work ("medical" will combine herbals with homeopathy, and I envision a new category for works related to the psychic arts, mediumship, mesmerism, and similar topics), as well as a planned massive addition of new subjects to the occult playlist I have made.
This is in addition to two side projects; tomorrow I should receive the three booklets I grabbed off ebay, and with my patreon-based donations far higher now I have the cash necessary to seriously look at some of the better booklet lots on ebay over time and grab a few to roughly double the occult archive- this has been actively planned for some time but until now I had so much else to do that I didn't have the time; I want to field at least 200 free scans by the end of 2017 and another 100 on top of that by the middle of 2018.
The second side project is, of course, finalizing the kindle ebook releases and adding links to them to the categories on this blog; unfortunately at least four separate editions were messed up (I'm good at dealing with createspace' system for paperbacks, but I am not used to the kindle process) and I had to completely redo them. If you do find that any of my ebook releases are not properly formatted, please do not hesitate to tell me here in a comment or by message on my Youtube channel.
I am also happy to announce that more than 120 copies of Sickness in Hell have been sold since its release about five weeks ago- this doesn't sound like a lot until you realize that the genre is the literal fringe of the fringe being self released without commercial advertisement by a largely unknown author of fictional works.
That completes the first stage of my work; but there is an enormous load ahead for 2017; namely at least one and probably two entire categories' worth of work ("medical" will combine herbals with homeopathy, and I envision a new category for works related to the psychic arts, mediumship, mesmerism, and similar topics), as well as a planned massive addition of new subjects to the occult playlist I have made.
This is in addition to two side projects; tomorrow I should receive the three booklets I grabbed off ebay, and with my patreon-based donations far higher now I have the cash necessary to seriously look at some of the better booklet lots on ebay over time and grab a few to roughly double the occult archive- this has been actively planned for some time but until now I had so much else to do that I didn't have the time; I want to field at least 200 free scans by the end of 2017 and another 100 on top of that by the middle of 2018.
The second side project is, of course, finalizing the kindle ebook releases and adding links to them to the categories on this blog; unfortunately at least four separate editions were messed up (I'm good at dealing with createspace' system for paperbacks, but I am not used to the kindle process) and I had to completely redo them. If you do find that any of my ebook releases are not properly formatted, please do not hesitate to tell me here in a comment or by message on my Youtube channel.
I am also happy to announce that more than 120 copies of Sickness in Hell have been sold since its release about five weeks ago- this doesn't sound like a lot until you realize that the genre is the literal fringe of the fringe being self released without commercial advertisement by a largely unknown author of fictional works.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Coming Soon: The Clavicles of Solomon
At long last I decided to begin the process of editing the Clavicles of Solomon, one of the most well known of all occult works, especially from its era.
The content is essentially a bit like the Little Albert- which is not a bad thing, except that the Little Albert is from the French cycle. It covers all of the usual folk magick suspects- obtaining love, and so forth, and often has similarities to some of these other works. It also contains a number of pentacles and other elaborate illustrations.
One problem I have encountered with some occult works (and this is no better illustrated than with the Clavicles here) is the prevalence of multiple variations upon each work- therefore there are about a half dozen recognizable variants of the same work containing different material. As I continue editing I may attempt to mesh the content of the two best versions of the work together, or I may indeed separately edit both since they are wildly different- different enough to stand as separate entities altogether.
This text refers to the person practicing the rituals as a conjurer- in other contemporary texts, exorcist, carcist, or sorcerer are all also used.
The content is essentially a bit like the Little Albert- which is not a bad thing, except that the Little Albert is from the French cycle. It covers all of the usual folk magick suspects- obtaining love, and so forth, and often has similarities to some of these other works. It also contains a number of pentacles and other elaborate illustrations.
One problem I have encountered with some occult works (and this is no better illustrated than with the Clavicles here) is the prevalence of multiple variations upon each work- therefore there are about a half dozen recognizable variants of the same work containing different material. As I continue editing I may attempt to mesh the content of the two best versions of the work together, or I may indeed separately edit both since they are wildly different- different enough to stand as separate entities altogether.
This text refers to the person practicing the rituals as a conjurer- in other contemporary texts, exorcist, carcist, or sorcerer are all also used.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)