Category - Admin Stuff

My wife took a phone call from someone who started ranting about his book appearing on this site, dropping f-bombs and generally behaving such as one doesn’t credit to people who consider themselves fully human. (She hung up.)  Caller ID showed it to be from this number, registered to one “Michael Pacione.”

Hmm… Pacione, Pacione… Where have I heard that name before? Oh, right. Here.

He then placed some comments on an unrelated-to-anything post at my personal blog (which were stuck in moderation because he hadn’t commented there before, and there they shall stay), blathering further f-bombs about my being a Mormon.  You see, I believe differently than he does, and that offends him beyond the limits of his paltry self-control.

Seriously, is Nickolaus Pacione scouring his old address book to start new fights with old combatants?  Did his medical plan stop covering his meds?

Nick, old son.  You’re either completely deranged and need to be institutionalized, or you’re deliberately a festering bubo on the anus of humanity.  I’m not ruling out that both are true simultaneously.  You’ve already won the Jackass Of All Internet Award; there’s no need to keep trying so hard.

On having one’s cover show up here:

http://tmikemccurley.com/2015/05/lousy-covers/

At first I was angry (“Those bastards! I hope they get crabs, and then fall in a woodchipper!”). After that came sadness and all those other stupid emotions that one gets when any part of something they did is ridiculed. That’s natural.

But after a couple of minutes, I smiled. Why smiled? Because they were right. That cover was shit. A drunken aardvark missing two toes could have bettered that one. That was the work of someone who had no business designing a cover, who simply wanted to get his writing out there and was too industry-ignorant to think any better.

I’m experimenting with some new ad networks to see which ones can bring useful, contextually relevant ads without annoying the bejeezus out of us all.  You may see some pop-ups, etc. over the next couple of days as I play around. Stay calm; pop-ups annoy me as much as they do you, and I’ll curtail them as soon as I encounter them.  I spend as much time on this site as anyone, after all.

I’ll only mention this once here (lest I be accused of having a “negative business model”), but I thought you’d like to know that I’ve opened a site vending pre-made ebook covers for $30. It’s Thrifty Book Covers, it’s awesome, and I’d appreciate any signal boost.

It’s an idea that I should have thought of: using bad book (and other media) covers as the basis for a commentary-style webcomic. But since I didn’t think of it, Roman Jones did.

Ugly Book Covers. (Warning: Frequent salty language.)

A new commenter with the username of “Yo” just commented on half a dozen different posts.  Since Yo seems intent on kicking the wasps’ nest, I think it’s easier to begin buzzing all in one place, instead of on those scattered posts.

In the comments to Chasing the White Rabbit, Yo says:

Not bad, good title, not sure why it made it on this site, lots of jealous people exist in the world I guess.

Ah, yes.  The only reason we would have an opinion other than yours is jealousy, obviously! Although why we wouldn’t concentrate on truly successful covers instead of ones that are, at best, marginal is left unexplained.

In the comments to The End The Book: The Disappearance, Yo says:

Good cover image fitting for the plot of the story, only children or the illiterate who don’t read judge a book solely on it’s cover…

Actually, illiterate people are the ones who think that “judging a cover” and “judging a book by its cover” are the same thing. Illiterate people also don’t realize that I’ve written a full page answering that oft-repeated, never justified “don’t judge a book by its cover” cliche.  (Illiterate people also don’t understand how commas are supposed to work.)

In the comments to Saving Gideon: Growing Years: The Angel Chronicles, Yo replies to a comment asking whether it’s really appropriate to show angels dressed in Roman armor, giving the persecution of the early church by Rome:

Actually many a Roman Solider converted…the reason why Constantine made it the official religion…it’s best you critique the cover, not the history as your obviously are illiterate when it comes to basic history…

Actually actually, Constantine was Emperor almost three hundred years after the death of Jesus — three centuries which were largely characterized by brutal oppression of Christians by Rome.  Please enlighten us as to how a span that long is something to be entirely ignored in your “basic history.” (Of note: Now we are encouraged to critique the cover, whereas earlier it was tantamount to “judging a book by its cover”?  Whatever stick lies at hand, I suppose…)

In the comments to Without Any Warning, Yo says:

Many Best Sellers have had very little for cover, ever hear of Catch 22 by Heller, I got it right next to my computer and all the cover says is Catch 22 in red and the background all white…you guys really really need to bone up on your book selling history….

So you’re saying that minimalist is automatically good? Or that the cover to Without Any Warning is the equal to that of Catch-22 (please note the correct title, complete with hyphen)? Or that the criticism leveled at this cover was solely because of its simplicity?  (The answer to all three is No, by the way, in case you’re confused.)

In the comments to the page “Copyright Concerns?,” Yo says:

“I am an Amazon and Smashwords affiliate”

but how do you find time to do this site if your making money being a affiliate? It doesn’t make sense,,unless your a lowball player and this site is a Catharsis for you not making much money…i get it…

There’s so much stupid here. Do you, Yo, know what an “affiliate” is? It means that my links from this site to Amazon and Smashwords are monetized; if someone clicks through and buys the book in question, I get a referral fee. This site is not something separate from and conflicting with being an affiliate, it’s how I am an affiliate. Your attempt to get off a half-assed insult only showcases your ignorance.

I think Yo left some other comments, but really, I already feel like I’m swatting a fly with a Buick.

On the other hand, it’s someone who believes that knowing the author personally is the only way to appreciate the quality of the book (or its cover). In other words, a moron. Details here.