Face it; we all like freebies and many Flores Girl fans feel the same way about getting the Flores Girl Trilogy for free. Unfortunately, like a lot of self-publishing authors, I have struggled with my efforts to monetize my writing efforts. I made a few dollars selling the novel on Amazon but not nearly enough to cover my costs to keep the web site going and never mind being rewarded for the time I put in writing the novel. However; having a fan base that numbers in the tens of thousands is far more important to me than the dollars so how do I reconcile the two conflicting needs?
That’s where BookIM comes in and their various advertising programs for publishers and the self-published. Flores Girl has had over 275,000 downloads to date and we expect that number to more than double with the near term arrival of the sequel “The Sacred and the Profane”. BookIM has advertising programs that allow sponsors – okay let’s call then what they really are: advertisers- to insert quality, non-offensive ads inside ebooks without offending readers and distracting from the flow of the novel. All ads are subject to the approval of the author and can support a number of ebook publishing platforms. The fans get their novel for free, the author gets some much needed revenue and the advertisers get a wide distribution among some very dedicated consumers with a product that has a long shelf-life. Plus depending on the platform the ads can interactive with hyper-links to their site so their ads can remain fresh and interactive!
The new BookIM program is called ADAAP (Advertising for Authors, Advertisers and Publishers) and is the next step to revolutionizing the self-publishing and publishing industry. It’s a program that manages the often conflicting needs of authors, advertisers and readers. Also, if readers want their eBooks free of ads, they can always buy the ebook novel at Amazon.
If you are a Flores Girl fan let me know what you think of this proposal. Your opinion does count. I know most of you are wondering just where is the sequel? I completed writing the sequel this summer and I’m still editing the novel. The delay is because I must work full-time to support my pesky family, they insist on food and shelter, so the editing has been delayed and is done as time permits. ADAAP will give self-publishing authors new opportunities to create revenue from their hard work.
I count Steve Jobs among the top leaders of the PC revolution along with the likes of Gates, Berners-Lee, Metcalfe and Trovald. Why do we owe so much to Steve Jobs? Simple, Steve Jobs saw the future in the PARC Alto workstation when all Xerox could see was a failed way to sell Xerox machines! Steve Jobs genius was in taking that $50,000 Alto workstation and making it fit on a microprocessor platform. In short, Steve Jobs made personal computing desirable and affordable whereas Gate made it ubiquitous. Now if Steve Jobs had just paid more attention to the Ethernet cable running through the PARC facility we could have had the Internet sooner!
So what’s the future of computing and humanity without Steve Jobs? Well here is my take on the future and there are no big surprises here since these ideas have been espoused by many other futurists. So here is my take on the future of computing and Homo sapiens beginning with two new phases:
The Computer Tool Phase - Present usage of computers and interconnectivity that maintains the physical distinction between the silicon and the corporal entity that comprises the human body. Monitors, keyboards GUI and speakers provide the interface between humans and computers. Tactilely they are not much different from our old usage of typewriters, paper and TV.
Synergy Phase–it‘s starting now with medical implant technology that will evolve into personal neural connections that will allow individuals to harness information directly without the need for manual interface such as GUI’s, mice, speakers and keyboards. Instead, a combination of an individual’s gestures and brainwaves connected via implants to a host of processors will drive the future of computer interfaces. Expect this to hit big time by 2050!
Symbiosis Phase- the evolution of implant technology plus universal connectivity combined with quantum computers will make us increasingly a hybrid of organic and silicon constructs. Sensory feedback from our brains will be wholly addressed by implants starting with sight and sound but expect that to evolve into the truly strange in terms of sensory experiences for the individual. New senses such as connectedness will develop that don’t simple have an equivalent in our present analog world. Interestingly, this new sensory interface will merge our personal sex lives with the porn industry into a new personal service offering that would do Woody Allen proud! Recreational drug will disappear to be replaced by a continuous chemical tonic flow controlled by this new personal hardware interface.
Not surprisingly, instead of there being more for everyone, human existence will increasingly become a tale of the have and have-nots. Hey, it’s starting already and as the human population grows so does the demand for food and resources. The breadth and power of one’s implants combined with the speed of our personal connection to the new Internet will be the ultimate measure of one’s wealth, happiness and longevity.
As for the Internet it will evolve into three very distinct intranets or domains that will respectively be the province of government, commerce and private individual control. The issue of monitoring for health and security concerns will clash big time with the need for privacy and personal freedom. Hacking will truly become personal since a hacker can control the individual’s hardware interface. The demands of cultural memes and the disruptive opportunities that war affords the opportunistic means little will change regarding human carnage in the near future. War is not just an integral part of the industrial complex but it is also a growing cottage industry for the Third World nations as well. Civilian casualties will go from the present ratio of 10 civilians killed to 1 combatant to a far harsher 99 to 1 ratio. Once one side of the human controlled robot armies wins a decisive battle expect civilian massacres to go on unabated for days on end. After all, it will be robots doing the killing.
As to the immediate future of Apple without Steve Jobs, well it will putter along for a couple of years but the mass psychology that drives so much of the stock’s present success will turn against Apple and ultimately drive down the company that is now missing a corporate messiah. Frankly, any other CEO will pale in comparison to Steve Jobs in the years ahead; his death will only serve to magnify those inequities.
To me this taxation argument is irrelevant. You can quarrel all you want about taxes or cutbacks we’re just not going to grow like we are accustomed to and the American middle-class will soon be an endangered species. American business has found it easier to out source their job costs, pollution issues and compliance challenges overseas to some third world nation where the costs and standards are lower than in the USA. And if they need someone to bail them out overseas they can always hire some American kids for the cheap in the military because the kids can’t find any other work stateside anymore.
Over the past two decades the sectors that promised to create jobs that would replace the lost manufacturing jobs, service and technology, have been outsourced to India. The manufacturing jobs, of course, went to China. In the meantime we have been reduced to third world status by exporting raw materials to China. The Chinese do their part by buying our now downgraded Treasury bonds.
It’s really that simple, no jobs, no growth as long as American corporations are allowed to shelter their profits overseas. The housing bubble, like the Internet bubble before it, artificially hid the lack of job growth. Frankly, I doubt the financial markets are capable of conjuring up another bubble to mask the true pain of job loss for the middle class. Worse, Obama doesn’t get it nor do the Republicans.
It’s bad enough that I have to deal with the moronic creationists and their crayon-tinged tirades it now appears I pissed off some wacko cryptozooligists named Deborama at a Blogger site ineptly called the Monster Research Blog. Here’s the post from some crank called Deborama back on April 28th 2011 who didn’t have the chutzpah to use their real name:
When using Google to search for Ebu Gogo, one of the early hits is a site titled ‘floresgirl.com’ authored by this man, –> Erik John Bertel. He apparently holds a degree in biology and “has training” in physical anthropology. He worked in “several Fortune 1000″ companies and trained under the art critic, Lawrence Alloway, who apparently coined the term “Pop Art.” A regular jack-of-all-trades…
While Bertel questionably displays more information than is typically found about the Ebu Gogo, one quickly discerns that this site serves as an advertising ploy and launchpad for his “adventure novel” about two scientists who encounter an ancient tribe of Ebu Gogo (http://www.floresgirl.com/flores-girl-novel-trailer.htm) while researching on the island of Flores. Furthermore, the link to the associated blog page entices the reader by stating:
“More importantly and more provocatively can the Ebu Gogo or Homo floresiensis still be alive in a remote corner of Indonesia? Stay tuned for more or go to the flores girl blog for new insights!”
If one follows the link, one finds the continuous commentary of Bertel’s own personal politics, not information regarding potential sightings of this historically fabled creature.
Bertel seems to, at once, promote and diminish the validity of the Ebu Gogo as a living or recently extinguished branch of our evolutionary tree. I find this disappointing and detracting from the importance and enormity of the implications of the folk tales of the ebu gogo and the recent discoveries of the Homo floresiensis remains. Besides, he did a terrible job creating this cg representation:
Okay back to me. I have so many problems with this post but their moronic blog won’t allow me to post my retort. So here is my rebuttal and I know have more readers than insipid Monster Research Blog:
Dear Deborama:
Crackpot huh? Well duh, it’s a web site for my free speculative fiction novel, Flores Girl: The Children God Forgot and that makes me a crackpot? How does writing a fictional account regarding the discovery of Homo floresiensis diminish the importance of this find? Deceiver? Is is a stretch to imagine that someone interested in the Ebu gogo might want to read a fictional account about their discovery? In any case, I’m glad my SEO efforts were not for naught.
Moreover; I guess being a crackpot is why I was contacted by a National Geographic video team about contributing to a documentary on Flores Island. And yes, I do know more that I am not at liberty to discuss about Homo floresiensis due to confidentiality issues with other cryptozoologists, so how’s that for fueling speculation? Notice, I did not comment about my own personal views regarding the existence of the Ebu gogo or Homo floresiensis.
Sorry that my being a jack of all trades bothers you but I do agree with one point that you made and that was regarding the poor quality of the graphic image. I have a new image I am working that was reviewed by the physical anthropology researchers who have written extensively about the Homo floresiensis find. Some of these researchers are the same professors that I studied with as a physical anthropology student at SUNY Stony Brook.
So your qualifications for calling me a crackpot include what, your ability to type a post at a computer? You studied what by the way? By the way did you bother to read the novel that has been downloaded 250,000 times? It’s free at floresgirl.com and I took great care to ensure the accuracy of my portrayal of these diminutive people. When you decide to do character assassination of a non-public person please have the good courtesy to open a dialog directly with that person rather than hiding and sniping anonymously from some blog. I make opinions all the time at the Flores Girl Blog but it’s with my real name! And if you do a little more research you will find the following posts about the Ebu gogo at the Flores Girl Blog so did you get anything right in your post other than the comment about the graphic?
How did the Ebu Gogo get to Flores?
Is Flores Island the new Galapagos?
YouTube Video of a dead Ebu Gogo or Homo floresiensis?
Strange Doings
The Ebu Gogo Legend and Flores Girl Novel
Cheers,
Erik John Bertel
Tags:
Rupert Murdoch's News of the World Folds
After the bad taste following the Casey Anthony trial it has been fairly amusing for me to watch Rupert Murdoch sweat out the News of the World scandal. In case you haven’t heard, and that could only happen you’re a devoted fan of the Fair and Balanced FoxNews channel, one of Rupert Murdoch’s holdings in News Corp, the News of the World scandal rag has done an impressive job of creating its own political scandal that leads all the way to the Royal Family. The charges are that editors knew that staff were utilizing illegal hacked sources and were bribing police officials to get inside scoops on celebrities, dead British soldiers, a dead teenage girl and the Royal Family. Unfortunately, the inside info on the Royal Prince was a little too on the money thereby prompting an official hacking investigation. Of course, as the hacking charges grew in intensity so did the efforts to cover-up. To add to the carnage the British Prime Minster David Cameron hired one of the compromised editors, Andy Coulson, of the New of World as his communication officer compounding the mess.
All of this leads to Murdochs and what did they know of the scandal. Rupert did what he always does when the heat increases he acted boldly and folded the entire newspaper to kill the trail. Even so, the timing couldn’t be worse as Rupert Murdoch was busily acquiring another company to add to his communication empire: the takeover of the hugely profitable BSkyB satellite television operation.
I understand that the Murdoch’s will claim that they don’t have day to day control of their holdings and subsequently they will claim no knowledge of the hacking. That’s an understandable defense but the hacking charges are not new and with their somewhat lackadaisical control over their operations many will simply ask why should they be trusted and rewarded with the acquisition of BSKyB?
More importantly why isn’t FoxNews in the states covering the story? Surely, the folding of News of the World because of the ongoing hacking scandal qualifies as a newsworthy item, particularly because of the impact on the British PM. But no not a single word anywhere on FoxNews nor on their website. Why? Because Rupert Murdoch owns FoxNews and it’s not nice to air the bosses’ dirty laundry so the FoxNews editors got word not to breathe a word of the scandal. Go ahead and look on their web site, all you will see is business blurb regarding the close of New of the World operation. Jeez, I have seen higher journalistic editorial standards at a local high school newspaper. And if Murdoch’s has that type of control over the FoxNews editors it’s hard to believe he did not exert that same measure of control regarding News of the World. Here’s your smoking gun, let’s see if any of the politicians on Rupert Murdoch’s payroll grow a pair and take their chances away from Murdoch. I got to buy me a politician someday you know?
Update: Still nothing this morning on the FoxNews channel but there were more business entries about the scandal at the FoxNews Site. Latest word is there were attempts at getting 9/11 survivors personal information. If you recall a little while back there was neocon backlash agianst the 9/11 widows, the thinking being that the widows were getting too much sympathy and too much money from the terrorist attack that occurred duing George Bush’s watch.
I have only been a casual follower of the trial of this repugnant mother and this commentary is more about the ardent followers of this, now unsolved, murder trial. As a parent I find these stories of abuse and the murder of innocent children by a parent to be particularly disturbing and would just as soon not hear the details of how a defenseless child was left to suffer. Yet others, most of them women by the way, are drawn to this trial as if they were in the grip of some timeless morality tale.
Why would seemingly normal women, including a number of them in my own inner circle, be so riveted by this tale? Obviously, the aberrant behavior of this mother from hell has them wondering as to the true motivations of Casey Anthony. Clearly, they must be wondering how a woman could go so wrong since motherhood is so primal and strong for most women?
I wondered too and then it dawned on me that up to now this really has been a feel good story disguised as a senseless murder. How does the death of an innocent 3 year old qualify as a feel good story? Well, in two ways. First, for almost all outside observers there is the seeming satisfaction of knowing that no matter how hopelessly screwed up your own family circumstances may be and that includes possible economic hardship and your own personal family tragedies, all of this and I do mean all, pales in comparison to the murder of a three year old by this sociopath that masqueraded as a young mother.
The other feel good part of the story was the seeming belief by most trial followers that this mother from hell, Casey Anthony, would indeed be dealt her due justice and would spend some considerable time in prison while possibly facing the actual prospect of her own execution. In other words, this story was to be confirmation that the system works, that righteous gods are in control of our destinies, good triumphs over evil and that karma in the universe is instantaneous! Yes, vengeance and retribution is sweet. Unfortunately, the vicarious thrill of a just punishment was not to be due to the curious behavior of a jury panel that needed more than just overwhelming circumstantial evidence, presumably a video of Casey Anthony actually killing little Caylee!
Have I decided in my own opinion that Casey Anthony is guilty? Of course I have, there is no other rational explanations as to Casey Anthony’s behavior during the 31 day disappearance of Caylee Anthony which included numerous lies and tall tales to the police and other bizarre non-motherly behavior including a stint in a local hot body contest. How could you be dismissive of this chain of events with just ten hours of jury deliberations is beyond me but my opinion like yours is not necessarily relevant at this point and Casey Anthony is now found innocent of this horrific crime.
So the feel good aspect of this tragic little morality play has disappeared only to be replaced by the cold, somber realization that the universe is often indifferent not to just our plight but to the needs of the most innocent among us. Many are upset that Casey Anthony now stands to profit big time with a million dollar book deal; however, to me the biggest horror to this story is that this creature could find some other soulless slime to procreate with and bring into the world another innocent to be tortured by this perverse mother and a seemingly indifferent judicial system. The best thing that can happen from this tragedy is for you to love your own child just a little more. I’m sorry but that’s all I got.
Yes, it’s been a bad week week for fundamentalist religious cults and I’m not just talking about al-Qaeda. As bad as it was for al-Qaeda it’s been a devastating two weeks for the tea party members or what I call the Republican birthers. First, Obama releases his birth certificate and he trumps that performance, sorry Donald, by writing Osama Bin Laden’s death certificate. Talk about being ballsy! Tea party members were having enough problems sustaining momentum from the recent budget clash with the President but this news was devastating to their fundamentalist cause.
Then Obama threw the tea party members a bone by not releasing Osama’s death photo and it instantly gave rise to a nascent deather movement that insisted the administration was perpetuating yet another fraud on a gullible American public. Hell, they had to get something right, right? The Internet was alive with all sorts of chatter even more so than the al-Qaeda sycophants. It finally hit a crescendo when the queen bee of tea baggers, Sarah Palin, twittered that Obama so just stop “pussy footing around” and release the damn photo. Good times, huh? But alas, that movement was also to be short-lived because al-Qaeda soon acknowledged that in deed their spiritual leader Osama was no more, a victim of American resolve and presumed to be chum for the denizens of the ocean bottom.
So what’s a poor birther to do? No birth certificate and then Obama takes out public enemy number one all in the span of a couple of weeks. The only ones more despondent than the birthers has to be that motley collection of Republican presidential nominees left with no agenda other than the budget. But have no fear birthers and I take you back to a simpler time almost twenty years ago and to the wise words of a lone deranged muppet named James Carville who cried in the political wilderness:
“It’s the economy, stupid!”
“So your site is pro liberal too!! Its great to find more baby killing hippy tree huggers who think we came from a puddle of mud not minding to BREAK THE !#@! LAW…. Spend the money to see the movie!!! Why not.. Some of your “tree of lie” believing friends probably were involved in the pre & post production…
P.S. The CG rendered chick at the top of your page lacks in every form of the art.. Someone give the artist a basic tutorial on using Maya, 3ds, or Poser for character design!!!! Jesus saves!!!”
Well, I’m not sure Jesus would approve of your comments since I had to remove the vile language before posting this diatribe. First, for the record, I am a fiscal conservative and I am definitely not a liberal. I do like trees but I am not a baby killer, however I can’t be sure that my tax dollars haven’t killed a few babies in Iraq. Moreover, I do think for myself and I have found numerous fossils over the years that need a narrative that is a little more compelling than the one provided by a two thousand year old collection of disparate short stories.
As to DRM, I understand you guys believe in literal interpretations but when I wrote the column about the Expelled bootleg I was being satirical, hello. And no I will not spend my money on Expelled, no more than I expect you to read a book about Darwin or science for that matter. As to the origin of life from a mud puddle, hey I guess I missed that one but with the intellectual acuity being demonstrated by some of these creationist arguments it probably isn’t that far off the mark.
On the other hand, it is refreshing to hear that the creationist lobby is so concerned about DRM so hopefully they will urge the producers of Expelled to address their unsanctioned usage of the John Lennon song “Imagine” in the movie. Oh, yeah I forgot, fair use, that’s the argument I will use when I get my bootleg.
As to the CG chick I’m sorry you find the image disappointing but if that is all you have to worry about I would heartily recommend that you get out and get a girlfriend because you sound like a backed up fourteen year old to me. Now get out of here and go make some little Christians will ya!
Erik John Bertel
Author of Flores Girl:The Children God Forgot
I wrote this almost a year ago and finally saw Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed on NetFlix. I fell asleep watching it and it was truly craptacular. I did get a very refreshing nap from the movie.
WHAT WILL TEA PARTY BIRTHERS DO? WHAT WILL DONALD TRUMP DO? Oh, never mind, now they want Obama’s college transcripts as if that mattered!
FROM CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/27/obama.birth.certificate/index.html?hpt=C1
Obama comments, ‘We do not have time for this kind of silliness”
Trump replies: “I’ve accomplished something nobody else was able to accomplish,” Trump said. “I’d want to look at (the birth certificate), but I hope it’s true so that we can get on to much more important matters.”
Obama “should have (released the certificate) a long, long time ago,” he said.
Well, now that Trump has accomplished something hopefully Trump and his perpetual bad hair day will exit the presidential race but we know that’s not going to happen.
Its amusing how much obsessive energy goes into questioning the birth certificate of Obama by Tea Party advocates. I didn’t vote for Obama as much out of respect for McCain as for my innate distrust of Obama’s redistribution of wealth plans. That said, I can also smell the whiff of racism in the tea-bagger birthers take back the country campaign which is really synonymous with tired, old white guys who despise Obama’s dark skin. The birther issue, much like the 9-11 conspiracy theory, was fueled as much by distrust, paranoia and wishful thinking by birthers than being based on any real factual information.
Same can be said of Tea Party zeal for going after the unions for all of the nation’s troubles. Of course, all of the fools are just spouting the words of the Rupert Murdoch funded conservative Fox News propaganda machine. You don’t hear nearly as much vitriol regarding the TARP funds and where the money went into billion dollar bonuses for fund managers and widows. The Fox News dogs heed their master fairly well and frankly nobody on either side of the political spectrum really knows what to make of the TARP mess. Like the remains at Gilgo the consequences of the TARP episode will take time to expose and by then the trail will have grown considerably colder.
However; tea part advocates need not fear about lacking appropriate family fare entertainment now that the germaphobic, people firing, liberal entremanurial publicity machine called Donald Trump announced his entry to an already colorful field of Republican presidential aspirants. And boy does he knows how to work a conservative Tea Party audience particularly by stoking this birther nonsense. I give Trump credit for taking China on and how uneven the competitive manufacturing playing field is with China but the rest of his platform borders on sheer lunacy.
Why lunacy? Well, let’s look at one of Trump’s foreign policy initiatives and you can forget about calling Trump a cowboy; his take on the Mideast oilfield strategy would make even a foreign policy cowboy like George Bush blush in its sheer audacity! To quote Donald about the Iraq oil fields, “You’re taking– we’re reimbursing ourselves– at least, at a minimum, and I say more. We’re taking back $1.5 trillion to reimburse ourselves (for the Iraq war).” Let’s see, we are going to invade and decimate your country, kill thousands of your citizens for non-existent WMDs and then charge you back for the privilege because… well we’re America and we can! What a deal and as only The Donald can pitch to a world-wide audience! This guy is a genius, I don’t care what they say about his cross-weaved combover being “an elaborate structure best left to an architecture critic”.
And is that the real problem with going off the political deep end with the Donald , we just don’t get to have the real conversation about social entitlements and how do we go about equitably cutting them back? Instead, we get more side-show snake oil entertainment from a carnival barker. Fret not however; Trump’s team of crack investigators will soon get to the bottom of the Obama birth certificate mystery, whether you gave a damn or not!
Latest News:
“Well I’ve been told very recently, Anderson, that the birth certificate is missing,” Trump told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday. “I’ve been told that it’s not there or it doesn’t exist. And if that’s the case it’s a big problem.”
Latest word is Trump now wants to see Obama’s college grades in addition to his birth certificate. Obama should agree but with the caveat that Trump must release a video on his hair styling techniques. Enquiring minds want to know!
BREAKING NEWS: OBAMA RELEASES LONG-FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE! NOW WHAT WILL BIRTHERS DO!
Free Flores Girl Audio Podcast at Podiobooks
