Mercury Direct and the Self Publisher
Well, this self-publisher.
I'm not a believer in Astrology but there is the amazing coincidence that the most negative experiences of my life have happened during Mercury Retrograde. My heart attack, diagnoses with Diabetes, death of my father, and other such landmarks. A friend warned me that Mercury would be Retrograde until the middle of August.
But I didn't know that until after the next event.
Immediately after getting CLIMBING THE SPIRAL MOUNTAIN up onto Kindle my computer decided to take a shit on me. It has happened many times in the past two years (I'm on a Macintosh) but I've gotten very good about paranoid backup prices. It only two days to diagnose the degree of the problem, erase, install Mac OS 10.14 from the ground up, restore documents, Adobe programs, and start the nightmare of restoring online accounts for things like Amazon, Kindle, a dozen email accounts, and many other websites where I visit for information (almost all of which need new passwords).
Annoying, but ... done.
My Mac back up in time to get a notice that my web host was charging me for "Advanced PHP Support." I don't use PHP. I don't use any of the extra services - no shopping cart, no WordPress, no databases, no scripts, and not PHP. The reason I got the charge was I did not have the latest version of PHP (7.3) installed and previous versions require "advanced" support.
So I was required to install the latest PHP to ignore and not use, to avoid the charge. I did - I installed the latest PHP to not use, which dropped that charge.
But it was time for my annual renewal of hosting contract, with they casually raised to their "minimum business package," which includes shopping cart, WordPress, databases, scripts, and PHP.
You may have picked up on the fact that I do not use, and therefore do not need a shopping cart, WordPress, databases, scripts, and PHP. I called to object.
I want the same simple, FTP only, web host where I make my own pages with HTML, with graphics, links to URLs, and downloads. Simple. No bells or whistles, much less the new ones.
But, my little phone monkey whined, I just installed the new PHP and can't use PHP if I don't have the package that offers PHP support. I don't use PHP. I asked to be transferred to Retention four times before she became frustrated enough that - she transferred me to Retention.
A half-hour with the new and improved phone monkey and he came up with a solution. He would set up a contract with FTP and web hosting only.
Oh, what a genius.
So after enjoying the appearance of my book on Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, and other electronic outlets, and the sudden catastrophic loss of my computer with the attendant reconstruction from the ground up, and the juggling of the new owners of my hosting provider concept of contracts and services - I have a book out, a working computer system (for the moment), and a simple FTP hosting site from which to connect to the world. All while fighting with the doctor to keep this ugly leg with its ugly 5.7cm x 7cm open diabetic stasis ulcer that has been threatening amputation.
I'm tired. Dealing with Rocket Scientists does that to me.
So I will try to find something to feed my soul for a few hours before I dive into the complete reconstruction of my web presence to support books sales. And several books are backed up in the stream.
Did I mention I was trying to be a self-publisher, and hopefully beyond 'self' into a small publisher to handle projects I think are worth the time and blood.
And there will be blood.
I'm not a believer in Astrology but there is the amazing coincidence that the most negative experiences of my life have happened during Mercury Retrograde. My heart attack, diagnoses with Diabetes, death of my father, and other such landmarks. A friend warned me that Mercury would be Retrograde until the middle of August.
But I didn't know that until after the next event.
Immediately after getting CLIMBING THE SPIRAL MOUNTAIN up onto Kindle my computer decided to take a shit on me. It has happened many times in the past two years (I'm on a Macintosh) but I've gotten very good about paranoid backup prices. It only two days to diagnose the degree of the problem, erase, install Mac OS 10.14 from the ground up, restore documents, Adobe programs, and start the nightmare of restoring online accounts for things like Amazon, Kindle, a dozen email accounts, and many other websites where I visit for information (almost all of which need new passwords).
Annoying, but ... done.
My Mac back up in time to get a notice that my web host was charging me for "Advanced PHP Support." I don't use PHP. I don't use any of the extra services - no shopping cart, no WordPress, no databases, no scripts, and not PHP. The reason I got the charge was I did not have the latest version of PHP (7.3) installed and previous versions require "advanced" support.
So I was required to install the latest PHP to ignore and not use, to avoid the charge. I did - I installed the latest PHP to not use, which dropped that charge.
But it was time for my annual renewal of hosting contract, with they casually raised to their "minimum business package," which includes shopping cart, WordPress, databases, scripts, and PHP.
You may have picked up on the fact that I do not use, and therefore do not need a shopping cart, WordPress, databases, scripts, and PHP. I called to object.
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| Make the Genius Shut Up! |
But, my little phone monkey whined, I just installed the new PHP and can't use PHP if I don't have the package that offers PHP support. I don't use PHP. I asked to be transferred to Retention four times before she became frustrated enough that - she transferred me to Retention.
A half-hour with the new and improved phone monkey and he came up with a solution. He would set up a contract with FTP and web hosting only.
Oh, what a genius.
So after enjoying the appearance of my book on Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, and other electronic outlets, and the sudden catastrophic loss of my computer with the attendant reconstruction from the ground up, and the juggling of the new owners of my hosting provider concept of contracts and services - I have a book out, a working computer system (for the moment), and a simple FTP hosting site from which to connect to the world. All while fighting with the doctor to keep this ugly leg with its ugly 5.7cm x 7cm open diabetic stasis ulcer that has been threatening amputation.
I'm tired. Dealing with Rocket Scientists does that to me.
So I will try to find something to feed my soul for a few hours before I dive into the complete reconstruction of my web presence to support books sales. And several books are backed up in the stream.
Did I mention I was trying to be a self-publisher, and hopefully beyond 'self' into a small publisher to handle projects I think are worth the time and blood.
And there will be blood.
 |
| I need a nap. |
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