Notices by Robert Kingett (weirdwriter@caneandable.social), page 2

Other authors, you are limiting your reach by just posting your announcements on social media. Your website will be more accessible and will make it easier for others to find updates. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve missed out on recommending work to authors because they announced it on social media and not their own website. Besides, your social media post isn’t reaching a global audience anyway because it requires a login to see your post. Your website has no such requirement. #Publishing #Author #Marketing

Remember when everyone mocked us and said we were tech bros for thinking about the privacy of starter packs before adding them? BlueSky users are now realizing that you can’t remove yourself from a starter pack. People are making starter packs with the explicit intention of making targets to harass. They’re trying to change this, the users, but as of right now, it’s not going over very well. Here is an older post about it https://bsky.app/profile/cara.city/post/3laz7z4maks2p #Privacy

That might be true! After all, I never hear website boy mention anything about Friendica or GTS or Sharkey or similar. @hj @kaia

I'm *finally* starting to understand what people mean when they say picking a server is difficult. Unfortunately, you won't find these explanations in blogs and otherwise because people can't articulate the below. Why? I dunno, but after years of hearing the below, it *finally* clicked after someone *finally* explained it to me instead of saying fuck you all nerds!

Firstly, there isn't enough info about servers on the Join Mastodon pages. It gives barely any information and doesn't give a preview of the server, just a small and tiny space to learn about a server and even then that is incomplete. For example, how many polls can we have? How many poll questions can we have? What's the character limit? Can I preview the local timeline before joining? Not unless you're using an app like Mona or something. If you can do this on desktop, how do you do it?

If Join Mastodon isn't providing the information you need, how do you find out where to go to get better server information since Join Mastodon doesn't link to other directories.

You *can* get a lot of info about a server but you'd have to know to use a URL like https://<instance>/api/v1/instance and that's nowhere on Join Mastodon, at all.

Secondly, if a person decides to shut down their server, exports aren't emailed to users. A user would need to know when a server was shutting down and then they have to back it up. How can you move all your followers if you wake up one morning and your server is just shut down?

Since servers are shutting down, how do I know what server to pick before it shuts down? How will I know it's shutting down and where do I go to find this information logged out?

Third, how do you know how well your moderators act on requests? Where do you get this information? If so, how do you get it while logged out?

There are more, but that's just only some of the problems that haven't been addressed yet, if even at all that was **finally** explained to me, after years of telling us it's hard without explaining *how* it's hard!

#Fediverse #Mastodon

And @buttondown launched a feature that is great for people looking for a #Patreon alternative!

> We've been working on this feature for a while, and we're excited to push it out the door. You can now set up paid subscriptions on a per-email basis, so that paid subscribers are charged not every month or year but instead for every premium email you send.

https://buttondown.com/changelog/2024-11-04

#Email #Newsletter #OpenSource

Link at end, but If you unknowingly bought an audiobook with #AI narration, #LibroFM will refund you! More should do this! Just have a link to the audiobook, the date you bought it, and let them know it's AI narrated so they can flag it https://blog.libro.fm/an-update-on-libro-fms-response-to-ai-narration/ #Audible #AudioBook #AudioBooks @bookstodon @bookstadon

Let Elton John losing his vision remind you all that you can join the disability community at any time, at any age, for any reason. You’re going to be one of us and when you are one of us, those accessible modifications to hostile infrastructures that you’re enjoying were because of our hard work and advocacy that you previously hated. #EltonJohn #Disability #Accessibility

Your Internet Shouldn't Be My Internet https://samsharp.ca/your-internet-my-internet/ #IndieWeb #Internet

This website collects weird websites that do wacky design things and I love it! Some of these are still accessible! https://whimsical.club/ #WebDev #IndieWeb

What I’ve learned from Working as a Blind Developer for a Sighted Dev Team https://www.24a11y.com/2018/stories-from-the-trenches/ #WebDev #Programming #Software

Yeah. If you do pirate our books, don't tell us you are doing it, at least, because some authors, like me, have a policy where if you just send me an email, and ask for the eBook, I'll give it to you for free. I give stuff away for free, and sure, you go on my mailing list, but really, it's free stuff, which you want anyway, right? Now, telling book pirates to stop is useless, and educating them is also useless, because they don't want to be educated, they just want free books. For others, https://www.tjklunebooks.com/new-blog/2020/12/1/im-angry @susankayequinn @FallsMom @rabbit_fighter @sidereal @futurebird

@futurebird Authors and narrators make royalties off of library purchases so if you see that your local library doesn’t have a book in your audible library, ask your local library to purchase the audiobook. Narrators and authors make money from library purchases

Last Week in the ATmosphere – The News – 2411.d https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-the-atmosphere-the-news-2411-d/ #BlueSky

You hit everything I ever wanted to say in one post! Love it! I asked this elsewhere, but how do you see one click starter packs going on here, if, for example, I don't want everybody to register to my own instance since it is an instance for the blind. Maybe instances themselves can have starter packs for when someone can sign up to the instance? But I actually really like the invite system we have now where I can post a link to a chat and have everyone follow me after signing up. That raptor reply resignated with me too! I am curious, though, about 2 things.

1. Do you follow bridged accounts over here? I do, since they are not here. I know these connections will go away when they close down their API's and such, and more, but for now, it works enough.

2. What's your experience been like bridging your BSky account to the Fediverse?@_elena @cwebber @jonny @doctorow @phanpy @cheeaun @raptor85 @dansup @sennoma

The audiobook narrator that is recording an upcoming novella wrote to me expressing gratitude because I made hashtags in the book PascalCase, which made it very easy for him to read on paper. He said, I really wish more authors would do this because I have to write to the authors asking them how do I pronounce this hashtag that has more than one word. You are the first author that has ever done this and it’s made recording so much easier.

See? #Accessibility might be for disabled people, but it makes the world so much easier for everyone else if we design for disabled people first. #Audiobooks #Audiobook #Publishing

Due to a meriod of off-line things, I needed to make a quick move, but I’ll be moving again in a couple of weeks, so I need money for clothes, furniture, and toiletries. Because of the way American Internet works, the Internet provider is going to charge me to have a Technician come out here as well! https://robertkingett.com/support/
#MutualAid #MutualAidRequest @mutualaid @MutualAidNet @MutualAidVisibility

I’m Angry — TJ Klune https://www.tjklunebooks.com/new-blog/2020/12/1/im-angry #Piracy

A one click method to follow public lists of accounts, or to register to a server with a set number of people you follow, like, BSky has it where you can register to the platform instantly following everyone in a particular starter packs. Instances could do their own version too. Users can opt in to the starter packs for their instances. @meejah @mekkaokereke

Seriously, more people should use #WebDav to connect to OneDrive and others so you don't have to deal with their bloated, inaccessible, syncing apps. Below is a good how to on using WebDav so you never have to install the OneDrive app again. Plus, far more accessible too!

https://winscp.net/eng/docs/guide_microsoft_onedrive

#TechTip #FediTips #OneDrive

Yikes! Other authors, be very careful and make sure you, or your agent, keeps an eye on contracts! Because mine is more experienced, he spotted the below right away, but keep an eye out for the below.

1. Do not give publishers permission to train their AI on your work, even internally. WTF? A publisher tried to sneak this in!

2. Despite what publishers tell you, demand your audiobook should be done by humans and your cover should be done by humans. Publishers love AI despite what they tell you!

3. Do not let publishers dictate giving you a lower advance *because* you don't have a platform. This is bullshit, especially since they have all the PR connections.

4. Do not let them say anything about how many hours you should spend promoting your book. Make this low as possible or even eliminate it altogether. They have all the PR connections. You don't. Make it their fault you don't make back their advance, not you, because they can decline to publish you in the future and you won't have numbers to prove they failed in PR.

5. Don't let publishers tell you virtual book tours don't generate returns on investment and isn't worth having their publicist do. No, fuck that shit! Because my agent is experienced, he said fuck that straight away! If you want your releases to be virtual, say so!

And finally,

6. Do not let them give you a low advance. A lower advance says they don't have to invest in you as much to get back that investment. They should do the bulk of the publishing work, not you, so always ask for higher advances, always! Even if you don't think you'll make back that advance. Go higher. This will force them to do something about their investment in you!

#Publishing