Small Press Blog

The Ever-Elusive Database, Part 2

So I am not done with the database, but I did get an amazing amount of work done. It should be done by the end of the week and that works for this project. Considering that there are hundreds of listings with quite a bit of information on each, this is a time-consuming project.

One of the things that I discovered was that I need to get some work done to the database. I have a couple of ways that I would like the data to export that it is not now capable of doing. That's the sort of work that I can get done cheaply on eLance.

The Ever-Elusive Database

I am spending this long weekend working on the ever-elusive database. The rest of the book is done. However, the challenge with the database is:

1. Making sure that I have all of the schools that I can find and that are a good fit; and

2. Creating the text that goes with each listing. The listing information (address, telephone number, etc.) is relatively simple, but I do need to have a couple of sentences for the listing as well.

But this weekend I am ploughing ahead. I will let you know Sunday evening how it all went.

What do you do with those extra domains?

I own extra domains that I am not currently using. The total that I own is about 150. Yes, I said that right. Why do I have so many? If I think up a domain name, I buy it. Good domain names are hard to find, but they are cheap. Most are related to high schools, colleges, and academics.

So lately I have begun to use those domains. I have put up temporary text that will feed readers into my website.

If you look at this online high school website here: Alaska Online High School, you will see that it is a single page. It mostly refers you to my main website. Why have I put this up?

Look at some of the elements (and elements to come):

1. I provide a link to my main website.
2. I provide anchor text to my main website.
3. I provide links on my Blogroll.
4. I even have a Google Adsense ad.

What you don't see yet is the new banner picture across the top that will replace the current one. The new one will be an advertisment for my next book.

So it has now become a big advertisement for my business. I am in the process of putting more of these up. I am curious as to the efficacy, but I think it is a good move.

The Amazon Smack-Down

This was rather predictable. The State of California needs money. They decided to get some of that money from online sales by attempting to tax folks. In particular, they were looking at Amazon. Governor Brown signed legislation that allowed for this.

Amazon, of course, retaliated by shutting down the accounts of all of the California-based affiliates. This is in the neighborhood of 100,000 companies, charities, and individuals.

I do get California's point. They need money and local businesses can't compete with online sales (in part because what makes the online sales cheaper is the lack of sales tax). That being said, Amazon was very specific about what they were going to do if the legislation passed.

As it happens, I am one of those Amazon affiliates and my account has indeed been shut down. In my case, it was a relatively small amount of money per quarter. Still, every little bit helps. However, I know of a number of businesses that are predicated solely on being Amazon affiliates and selling books as an affiliate. I can only imagine what this will do to their ventures.

If it were me, I would be considering a relocation to Nevada. Perhaps ten feet across the border!

Choosing a Partner

I have recently written an article for the Virtual Earner website about how to select a partner for creating your web presence. One thing I mention over there is that it is about more than web development skills.

I encourage you to go take a look at:

Choosing a partner to develop your web presence

Can I write a book in one month?

I have a book that I was working on for a while, but other things have intervened. I now actually have some time and some desire to finish this book. Most of it is still to be written and that includes a significant amount of text to be inserted into my database.

All that being said, I have time this month, a significant amount of time, and it works on a number of levels, so I am going to do it. Really all it takes for me is time and the strength to write every day. This is my fifth book, so I have some sense for how this all works.

I hope to report here periodically on my efforts as I work toward publication. I will probably start my putting in some time tomorrow. That is the hard part.

Why is that hard? Because I have to see if my memory of how much has been done matches the reality of what has actually been accomplished. I expect that I have a lot to do.

How not to respond to reviews

Wow. Just wow.

I can understand not liking reviews of your book. I really can. That being said, it's best not to engage the reviewer in the comment threads. That way lies danger.

And it certainly was dangerous for the writer in question. Well, people know who she is now (because her rants have been picked up by numerous writing and publishing websites).

You can see the review and her many, many responses to the reviewer and the commenters here.