#Amazon unlimited

[freshthoughts2020]

Performing Live Oct 15,

JHarry @ Outer Limits Lounge.

$5 COVER CHARGE

Doors Open @ 9PM

BE THERE ‼️‼️

[mostlysignssomeportents]

2600’s amazing Hackers on Planet Earth con may go down under enshittification

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.

It's been 40 years since Emmanuel Goldstein launched the seminal, essential, world-changing 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. 2600 wasn't the first phreak/hacker zine, but it was the most important, spawning a global subculture dedicated to the noble pursuit of technological self-determination:

https://www.2600.com/

2600 has published hundreds of issues in which digital spelunkers report eagerly on the things they've discovered by peering intently at the things no one was supposed to even glance at (I'm proud to be one of those writers!). They've fought legal battles, including one that almost went to the Supreme Court:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCSS

They created a global network of meetups where some of technology's most durable friendships and important collaborations were born. These continue to this day:

https://www.2600.com/meetings

And they've hosted a weekly radio show on NYC's WBAI, Off the Hook:

https://wbai.org/program.php?program=76

When WBAI management lost their minds and locked the station's most beloved hosts out of the studio, Off the Hook (naturally) led the rebellion, taking back the station for its audience, rescuing it from a managerial coup:

https://twitter.com/2600/status/1181423565389942786

But best of all, 2600 gave us HOPE – both in the metaphorical sense of "hope for a better technological tomorrow" and in the literal sense, with its biannual Hackers On Planet Earth con:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_on_Planet_Earth

For decades HOPE had an incredible venue, the Hotel Pennsylvania (memorialized in the phreak anthem "PEnnsylvania 6-5000"), a crumbling pile in midtown Manhattan that was biannually transformed into a rollicking, multi-day festival of forbidden technology, improbable feats, and incredible presentations. I was privileged to keynote HOPE in 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1D7APjmVbk

But after the 2018 HOPE, the Hotel Pennsylvania was demolished to make way for the Penn15 (no, really) skyscraper, a vaporware mega-tower planned as a holding pen for luxury shopping and empty million-dollar condos sold to offshore war-criminals as safe-deposit boxes in the sky. The developer, Vornado (no, really) hasn't actually done all that – after demo'ing the Hotel Pennsylvania, they noped out, leave a large, unusable scar across midtown.

But HOPE wasn't lost. In 2022, the ever-resilient 2600 crew relocated to Queens, hosted by St John's University – a venue that was less glamorous that the Hotel Pennsylvania, but the event was still fantastic. Attendance fell from 2,000 to 1,000, but that was something they could work with, and reviews from attendees were stellar.

Good thing, too. 2600 is, first and foremost, a magazine publisher, and these have been hard years for magazines. First there was the mass die-off of indie bookstores and newsracks (I used to sell 2600 when I was a bookseller, and in the years after, I always took the presence of 2600 on a store's newsrack as an unimpeachable mark of quality).

Thankfully for 2600, their audience is (unsurprisingly) a tech-savvy one, so they were able to substitute digital subscriptions for physical ones:

https://www.2600.com/Magazine/DigitalEditions

Of course, many of those subscriptions came through Amazon's Kindle, because nerds were early Amazon adopters, and because the Kindle magazine publishing platform offered DRM-free distribution to subscribers along with a fair payout to publishers.

But then Amazon enshittified its magazine system. Having locked publishers to its platform, it rugged them and killed the monthly subscription fees that allowed publishers to plan for a steady output. Publishers were given a choice: leave Amazon (and all the readers locked inside its walled garden) or put your magazine into the Kindle Unlimited system:

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/arp/B0BWPTCP4K?deviceType=A1FG5NAKX0MRJL

Kindle Unlimited is an all-you-can-eat program for Kindle, which pays publishers and writers based on a system that is both opaque and easily gamed, with the lion's share of the money going to "publishers" who focus on figuring out how to cheat the algorithm. Revenues for 2600 – and all the other magazines that Amazon had sucked in and sucked dry – fell off a cliff.

Which brings me to the present moment. After 40 years, 2600 is still at it, having survived the bookstorepocalypse, the lunacy of public radio management, the literal demolition of their physical home by an evil real-estate developer, and Amazon's crooked accounting.

This is 2600, circa 2024, and 2024 a HOPE year:

https://www.hope.net/

Once again, HOPE has been scheduled for its new digs in Queens, July 12-14. Last week, HOPE sent out an email blast to their subscribers telling them the news. They expected to sell 500 tickets in the first 24 hours. They didn't even come close:

https://www.2600.com/content/hope-ticket-sales-update

It turns out that Google and the other major mail providers don't like emails with the word "hacker" in them. The cartel that decides which email gets delivered, and which messages go to spam, or get blocked altogether, mass-blocked the HOPE 2024 announcement. Email may be the last federated, open platform we have, but mass concentration has created a system where it's nearly impossible to get your email delivered unless you're willing to play by Gmail's rules:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/10/dead-letters/

For Emmanuel Goldstein, founder of 2600 and tireless toiler for this community, the deafening silence following from that initial email volley was terrifying: "like some kind of a "Twilight Zone" episode where everyone has disappeared."

The enshittification that keeps 2600's emails from being delivered to the people who asked to receive them is even worse on social media. Social media companies routinely defraud their users by letting them subscribe to feeds, then turning around to the people and organizations that run those feeds and saying, "You've got x thousand subscribers on this platform, but we won't put your posts in their feeds unless you pay us to 'boost' your content":

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first

Enshittification has been coming at 2600 for decades. Like other forms of oddball media dedicated to challenging corporate power and government oppression, 2600 has always been a ten-years-ahead preview of the way the noose was gonna tighten on all of us. And now, they're on the ropes. HOPE can't sell tickets unless people know about HOPE, and neither email providers nor social media platforms have any interest in making that happen.

A handful of giant corporations now get to decide what we read, who we hear from, and whether and how we can get together in person to make friends, forge community, rabble-rouse and change the world. The idea that "it's not censorship unless the government does it" has always been wrong (not all censorship violates the First Amendment, and censorship can be real without being unconstitutional):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/04/yes-its-censorship/

What can you do about it? Well, for one thing, you can sign up for HOPE. It's gonna be great. They've got sub-$100 hotel rooms! In New York City!

https://store.2600.com/products/tickets-to-hope-xv

If you can't make it to HOPE, you can sign up for a virtual membership:

https://store.2600.com/products/tickets-to-hope-xv-virtual-attendee

You can submit a talk to HOPE:

https://www.hope.net/cfp.html

You can subscribe to 2600, in print or electronically (I signed up for the lifetime print subscription and it was a bargain – I devour every issue the day it arrives):

https://store.2600.com/collections/subscriptions-renewals

2600 is living a decade in the future of every other community you care about, weird hobby you enjoy, con you live for, and publication you read from cover to cover. If we can all pull together to save it, it'll be a beacon of hope (and HOPE).

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/19/hope-less/#hack-the-planet

[animentality]

Hey guys???

I just wanted to let you know that I DID NOT INCREASE THE PRICE OF MY BOOKS.

Amazon did AND they sent me a fucking email letting me know that they were increasing the prices of my books AND paying me LESS royalties for it.

So I'm sorry.

And all Amazon published authors are probably fucking sorry, because it's horse shit.

And Amazon lied in their email and said it's because of "printing costs" and "inflation," but that's code for, get fucked readers and authors, we are increasing the price just because we want to.

The assholes.

Like Bezos wasn't rich enough.

[moregraceful]

my hot take as a person with an english degree and a library degree is that some of the dorkiest fiction and poetry ever committed to paper in the english language came out of the iowa writer's workshop so it is at best goofy and at worst completely futile to argue that your average amazon unlimited writer is having a more deleterious effect on literacy and literature.

[stephtuckerauthor]

I've just released my first novel and the first in a trilogy! The Bonds That Bind Us is a story of trauma, healing, found family, and growth. It is a literary fiction with a gay romance plot, and is currently FREE ON KINDLE FOR EVERYONE!

[pandoras-blog]

i will always come back to you♥️

*find my poetry on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited, or check out my website, angelscroggins.com, for more info*

📚Two Halves of the Whole https://a.co/d/9fZ8Kcw

📚When I Look at You: a love letter

https://a.co/d/87OYYaE

[sarafangirlart]

Haepheastus having proto robot servants is undertapped aspect of his characters, especially if you want to treat his creations like his daughters. And in my opinion, this actually could work in Wonder Woman who uses a lot of greek mythology characters. One of them could become an Amazon and fight with wonder woman.

I haven’t watched this show but I really dig Hephaestus’s personality, he’s actually smart and capable like in mythology (unlike his GOW version). Like I can genuinely imagine this version humiliating and divorcing Aphrodite and then marrying Aglaia.

I don’t really care for Wonder Woman’s interpretation of mythology, the goddesses are too girlbossyfied and there is that one comic that portrays the Amazons as rapists even tho it’s ironically not how it is in mythology despite how ppl expect it to be, also with Ares being cartoonishly evil despite being the father of the Amazons (yeah believe it or not just bc I don’t like ppl woobifying him doesn’t mean I like villainizing him) tho robot amazons would be cool af.

[maze-of-tones]

LIVE STREAM (September 2, 2024) on YouTube

My new art collection eBook is now available on Amazon with Kindle Unlimited (KU) and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) for a limited time. You can now have easier access and leave a review.

DRAWING ENERGY: A Collection of Figure Sketches with a Stick Model, Portraits and Drawing Hands (Figure Drawing)

[imgilmoregirl]

Hello, everyone! Long time, no see.

I know it has been quite a long time, but I’m here to share some great news with you! My old beloved fic The Dark Lady has officially been turned into A NOVEL! I mean, I’ve spent so long editing it, rewriting and actually making it into a historical romance that I can barely believe it was born in ao3, many years ago.

My book Tears Of Seer is avaliable on Amazon for a very cheap price and if you happen to have Kindle Unlimited you can access it for free. I’ll leave it linked down bellow.

I would love it for you guys to take a look at how it turned out and tell me what do you think, that’s why I’ve just decided to come and share here on Tumblr too. You are a part of this story!

Also I want to leave my greatest thank you to every single person who has followed my journey writing here. You are the reason this book is out there.

Plus, in Amazon, you can also find my other two books, Sweet Autumn that it’s also a novel and Things I Did After Him, which happens to be a short poetry collection. Let me know if you take a look at anything.

Love,

T.

TEARS OF SEER AMAZON LINK: https://a.co/d/15ks5ZS

[dani-musings]

🎼 Let's make a mess, steal a kiss in the moment

Him and her, everything that it could be

Touch, don't go, stay as long as they like

Let's get reckless, dance with their hands to the beat

Don't let this slip through their fingers

It feels insane, they don’t put up a fight

Let's rough it up 'til they shut it down

It's oh-oh-obvious, right here's where the party starts

With him and her, all alone

No one has to know

It's oh-oh-obvious to me

How it's gonna be

Oh-oh-obvious when he come close to her 💖

[not-so-secret-nerd]

Drowned by men. Saved by a monster.

The last place Alexandra Bailey expects her routine life of domestic journalism to lead is being sucked into icy floodwaters below New York City with a knife in her ribs. Headlines like this happen to other people, but it's real, and she knows she's dead. Which makes the circumstances of her survival as impossible as the woman who drags her from the water. 

Saved but hardly safe, Alex wakes in the Underground, a world of misfits and monsters thriving below the streets. It's a journalism goldmine. One Alex can't resist digging into after learning her beastly savior is Leanna Farrow, adopted daughter of an infamous and "presumed dead" scientist. But Alex's curiosity, coupled with her rapidly developing feelings for Leanna, put both women in danger when Alex’s inquiries pique the interest of a powerful family with bloody secrets connected to the Underground. 

If Alex wants to unravel the secrets of the world below she'll have to walk the razor's edge, but some mysteries are better left buried.

🕮 Over 1700 copies sold  🔖 600k pages read on KU ⭐ 200+ Amazon reviews 🏆 2 Awards 🎖️ 4-time Indie Ink Award Finalist 🔥 One hell of a #sapphic read

 So what are you waiting for?

Undergrounder by J.E. Glass

Amazon Link

[whorefordean]

so like… my novella is live for preorder now 🫣

tropes/triggers/kinks (in no particular order) include: mask kink, stalker mmc, child abuse (mentioned/off screen), murder, sex by a dead body, slightly unhinged mmc and fmc, dubcon, knife kink, second chance, mentions of a suicide attempt (off screen)

BLURB

Six years ago, I watched my boyfriend bleed out in the middle of the street. I've spent every day since trying to convince myself that he never even existed. That he was just my coping mechanism.

But blades are sharp.

And this one won't settle until I'm begging for mercy. Until he's torn me apart completely.

preorder link under the cut if you’re interested 🫣

[lilactyme]

🔥New Mystery Suspense Novel🔥 amazon.com/dp/B0CKMYGF9B

Gina Rae, a tenacious defense investigator, is trying to find evidence that will vindicate her client, Darren Lewis. Her boyfriend, Detective Tae Lee, still grappling with the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, sets out to prove Darren’s guilt. Their quest propels them into a world where the wealthy and powerful play... by their own set of rules. As Gina and Tae get closer to discovering the truth, they soon find themselves on a collision course with a methodical, ruthless killer.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

[stephtuckerauthor]

Tomorrow is the day I'm self-publishing my book on Amazon.

Hopefully.

Mental health is a bit wild rn.

[pandoras-blog]

A sneak peek at my upcoming poetry collection, "Feel Something"

https://linktr.ee/angelscroggins

[fractallogic]

Also, briefly, do the BookTok/BookTube people not know that… instead of paying for kindle unlimited, where you might have what feels like an unlimited library of books… you could instead get a library card for free and also access their ebook options

And you can also get out-of-state/non-resident library cards, usually by paying a small annual fee (in 30 seconds on Google, I found a list ranging from $25-175/year), if your library doesn’t have a great selection, which, in many cases, is cheaper than ku and also has the benefit of supporting libraries

Like all these people are like “is kindle unlimited worth it” and it might be for some people (and honestly can’t think of who, other than Jeff bezos, off the top of my head), but the answer for 99% of you is no, actually, libraries are better—and those library cards will in all likelihood get you additional services on top of ebooks, like hoopla or kanopy (streaming movies and music). Your university library also does community member cards, where generally you can access these services too.

For real, y’all, kindle unlimited isn’t worth it, even if it IS cheaper than buying a book a month (but also, on that note, consider: used bookstores, thrift shops, etc.). JB gets enough of our money.