June 14, 2010
-
Xangans & Dick Turpin
According to The_X_Rankings I’m Number One on Xanga this last week in terms of power ranking, which I don’t understand so I won’t try to explain how it’s worked out.
This is no brilliance on my part, but due to the cooperation of the thirty blogging authors who sent me their stories etc for Xangans.
Paul_Partisan doesn’t agree with this, saying it’s “illogical,” so I think he’s been watching too much Star Trek, and I need to tell the following story.
In the nineteenth century there was a bold highwayman in England called Dick Turpin. He would mount his horse, Black Bess, and gallop her alongside stage coaches while waving his pistols, and when they pulled over he’d rob them.
One day he pulled a coach over after he’d had a bit too much to drink, and when the trembling passengers got out he shouted “I’m Dick Turpin! I’m going to rob you, then I’m going to kill all the women and rape all the men!”
One of the women wasn’t scared. She shook her hair and sort of heaved her bosom at him, sort of sluttish (women did that in those days) “Surely,” she said, “you mean you’re going to kill all the men and rape all the women?”
A neatly dressed little man stepped out from behind her. “You be quiet bitch,” he said “this is Dick Turpin. He know’s what he’s doing without your help.”
And so does The_X_Rankings
Incidentally, for three days Xangans was in the top 0.07 percent of all books selling on amazon.com, and is still in the top 0.7%
Comments (16)
i trust dick
LOL I think I’ve actually heard the Dick Turpin story, or something similar, anyway.
@fleurdelisart - And so you should. If we all knew our place in life, we’d be happier.
@SamsPeeps - There is such a bunch of these hairy old stories in the UK.
Lol @ the story.P.S.- Are the Xangans who submitted their work being compensated?
@A_NY_Zone61 - I did consider this as an option, then I looked at the practicalities. From previous experience I predicted that small amounts of royalties would come from Amazon, and that would be (literally) less than $10 each if divided among 30 people. The time needed would be tens of hours (it actualy took well over 200) and this couldn’t be divided between the contributors, because most of them have no idea how to prepare manuscripts for print. Also, I knew better than to try to run this as a committee thing. If I’d done that, we’d still be at it a year from now, or – more likely – the whole thing would have collapsed, as someone else’s attempt did a few years ago. No great secret. I’ll probably get to fill my gas tank a few times from this, and become better known to the public. You’ll see links to my two novels on previous posts. The whole idea was a win/win/win situation. Xangans would have the fun of beng part of it, authors on Xanga who are unknown would get some publicity, and Xanga as a blogging community would benefit.
@A_NY_Zone61 - y’know… that’s a good question. . . careful who hears you asking, though. . . you might get some nasty feedback for having the thought/inquiry.
@darkoozeripple - thx for answer. lol.. something like that was ALL I was wondering. The community didn’t quite think so. T_T
@darkoozeripple - “The whole idea was a win/win/win situation. Xangans would have the fun of beng part of it, authors on Xanga who are unknown would get some publicity, and Xanga as a blogging community would benefit. ” …While you’re the only one who benefits from it financially, however slightly. Interesting.
@A_NY_Zone61 - I don’t think I made myself clear. Probably I was too detailed, being an open kind of guy. The expense of doing this will way exceed the royalties, probably by about twenty five to one. Do you call this “benefit”?
You’re profiting off of other peoples’ work. And it isn’t like you spent capital to publish that book. It is aggregate.
@darkoozeripple - ”The expense of doing this will way exceed the royalties”…That’s a blatant lie. Each book is made for cheaper than it’s sold for, that’s how publishing companies make a profit. You don’t seem like an idiot so I’d be naive to believe that you’re not making a profit[however slight]. A profit is a benefit, no matter how small. @Paul_Partisan - I can’t believe he’s actually trying to claim he’s not making a profit, lol.
this sounds cool but, I already get all my news from/and about xanga/xangans, on BFN/edlives.
@Paul_Partisan - @A_NY_Zone61 - Yes, that’s exactly what I’m claiming. I am not a publishing company, and I don’t have to make a profit, and capital has been spent, and it will certainly not be recovered by royalties. Also, each contributor has a contract that clearly states that, and that they do not surrender copyright. Happy now?
@darkoozeripple - Complete bullshit. No legit or even semi-legit publishing company makes the author pay. In fact you can get books published on commision through different companies nowadays.
It is not beyond the realm of impossibility that a writer would have to buy his/her own copy of his/her work in print. Sometimes the publisher will give out a freebie to the author, however; in other cases, the author will gladly allow the publisher to recoup their losses in the interest of free publicity.