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Unbound, undone, oh dear…

business model, indie publishing, unbound 29th March 2025 Other Things 0 Comments

More annoying and upsetting stuff this week: the collapse of crowd-funding ‘disruptive’ publishing house Unbound. Quite what happened still seems to be obscure: the website has a rather bland statement assuring anyone who cares to look that it’s been bought … Continued

Story stealers- they probably got you as well #libgen

authors, content-scraping, data-scraping, Meta, piracy 22nd March 2025 New Books, Rantings

So, big fuss in Authorworld about the amount of blatant thievery perpetrated by Zuckerberg and his robot army. For once the whole lot: well-known best-sellers, complete newbies, traditionally published and self-pubbers and quite possibly people who’ve only ever had a … Continued

The remarkable Dr Tuppy Owens

obituary, sex and disability, sex positivity, tuppy owens 3rd March 2025 Other Things

News filtered through over the weekend that Dr Tuppy Owens, a true pioneer and radical, has died at the age of 80. She was rather less in the public eye over the last decade or so, having left London for … Continued

Natural orders and executive delusion

americans, male supremacy, monogamy, natural 20th February 2025 Musings, Other Things

If you are or ever have been female/femme-presenting, you’re probably aware of the Natural Look, and the fact that it takes a lot more effort – and products – to look ‘natural’ ie as if you are not wearing makeup … Continued

To Ebook or not to Ebook?

authors, bookselling, ebook piracy, ebooks, paperbacks, Swinella 4th February 2025 Musings, New Books

The answer appears to be NOT, for the moment. Swinella is out in paperback, of course, and you can pick up your copy from me at either London Alternative Market, SWAMP or the BBB. And other places as well, from … Continued

Rainbows Rising

community, hope, power 28th January 2025 Musings

It’s getting scarier by the day, no one is going to deny that. Perhaps one advantage of being a bit older is having lived through times that had those around us thinking or indeed screaming and yelling that we had … Continued

Spines: a modern scam for wannabe authors.

scams, vanity publishing, wannabe authors 4th December 2024 New Books, Other Things

That’s all it is, you know. You should know, by now, what vanity publishing is (and know, of course, never to go anywhere near it) and Spines is such a blatantly obvious vanity-publishing scam that it’s surprising how many publishing-industry … Continued

My Foolish, Bestial, Brilliant Weekend

beasts, cosplay, folk traditions, new books, performance, roleplay 26th October 2024 Musings, New Books

The first time I described my social circle to someone as ‘mainly pagans, perverts and morris dancers‘ was about 20 years ago and, well, not much has changed. Just recently I went to have a bit of fun that involved … Continued