Random thoughts...

[Dan Hocker]

Mobile websites are and will continue to be an afterthought. Before businesses were fully up to speed with mobile browsing App's took over. Most companies switched their development effort from mobile sights to App's. At this point I expect very little new development on mobile websites.

Pretty much all development is fearing the customer experience to touchscreen. I have rarely found that to be to the detriment of keyboard navigation. The pushing you to link to Google or Facebook is a real issue. Not for smaller operations like Cemetery Dance but most larger companies like the additional revenue they get by helping the large data gatherers to gain more data. Even without you logging in via those accounts they are already gathering your information in most cases. Try using any search engine to look for a specific item and look at several options. Then go to any webpage that presents ads. You will find they are now presenting you ads for the products you were searching for. Truth be told most of society looks at this as a plus, they like seeing targeted ads and do not care that there information is being collected, aggregated and sold. Our internet data is a commodity, just not one we see any money from.

Correct on all fronts about the FB / Google linking stuff. That said I've very rarely seen a website that requires you to link those accounts. Usually there's still a traditional sign up method, but a lot of people (myself included) tend to opt for the Google / FB option, as it means one less password you need to monitor, and in my case my Google accounts are about as secure as they could possibly be. I try to never use the Facebook login option, but I'm perfectly fine with the Google one. Mostly because I'm so embedded into Google's services as it is that any data they would gain by me using it as a login method they'd have anyways as I'm using their email service and their web browser.

Edit: Also I just generally trust Google a little more with my data than I do Facebook.

[Ben Staad]

I'm going back to my aluminum foil covered windows and putting on my tinfoil hat. Google, as far as I know, does not and will never have my financial information. I know there are sites that have it but I don't like this amorphous sharing that seems to occur once a mega-corp has information.

[Martin]

I'm going back to my aluminum foil covered windows and putting on my tinfoil hat. Google, as far as I know, does not and will never have my financial information. I know there are sites that have it but I don't like this amorphous sharing that seems to occur once a mega-corp has information.

Your data is simply something they can sell. Since they did not have to pay for it they are able to realize a a very high margin. Not every company chooses to do this but enough do that I would suspect that Google and Facebook both have it as they are big buyers, so they can re-sell with a higher return because they have more data.

[Dan Hocker]

Your data is simply something they can sell. Since they did not have to pay for it they are able to realize a a very high margin. Not every company chooses to do this but enough do that I would suspect that Google and Facebook both have it as they are big buyers, so they can re-sell with a higher return because they have more data.

It's also extraordinarily illegal for them to share your financial information. I actually have no problem with Google having my financial info. Personally I'm a smartphone user, and I use Google Pay when I can. It's essentially impossible to have your credit card number stole via one of those services. I just wish more places would offer that has a payment method. Especially gas stations, as those are the place your CC info is most likely to be stolen, because the CC readers are out in the open and fairly easy to tamper with.

[Martin]

It's also extraordinarily illegal for them to share your financial information. I actually have no problem with Google having my financial info. Personally I'm a smartphone user, and I use Google Pay when I can. It's essentially impossible to have your credit card number stole via one of those services. I just wish more places would offer that has a payment method. Especially gas stations, as those are the place your CC info is most likely to be stolen, because the CC readers are out in the open and fairly easy to tamper with.

They can't sell your credit card, checking account SS number data but they can and do sell purchasing habits including how you pay and how much you spend. While I do not use Apple or Google pay I am under illusions about security. I am much more likely to have my data stolen at an ATM or gas pump then I am from an online purchase. Many people will not use a credit card online without realizing the retailer they are using it at is transmitting the data to a third party for processing. I work in technology for a large retailer and one of the applications I manage is credit and check processing. At this point checks are handled just like credit cards. We do not even send the physical checks to the bank, all the account information is sent electronically.

[Martin]

I have two books in transit from CD at the moment. The first made it to Seattle back on the 26th so I should have had it a couple of days later. Instead it arrived in Albuquerque New Mexico on the 28th and left Albuquerque on the 29th. Have to assume the book is a big fan of Breaking Bad.

The second one left Seattle this morning. We will see where it decides to venture off to.

Not that anyone cares but my package that went from Seattle to Albuquerque has made its way to Denver. The other is no win Portland so it will arrive before the book that was shipped earlier.

[c marvel]

So I have not yet ordered (But I will) order Three Strikes: 3 AUTHORS, 3 NOVELLAS by Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg (September 2018). I am tempted to order a new novella that Subterranean Press announced two days ago. I am restraining myself. I have the three books SP has published by this author.

Cap

[Brian861]

Not that anyone cares but my package that went from Seattle to Albuquerque has made its way to Denver. The other is no win Portland so it will arrive before the book that was shipped earlier.

Remains me of Loony Tunes cartoons when they would kick something around the world. It'd come back with all these passport stamps.

[Martin]

Remains me of Loony Tunes cartoons when they would kick something around the world. It'd come back with all these passport stamps.

As long as it does not come back with foot prints and tire tracks I will be ok. I have had packages arrive with both of those in the past.

[Ben Staad]

I have to say this is very stressful. I just went through my cash flow and Yikes!

Not really much to be done about it but it is very disappointing.

[RonClinton]

Thought this list post on the broad effects of the virus on the publishing industry was interesting (and sobering):

Beth Meacham
11 mins ·
I want to talk for a minute about why publishing is in so much trouble right now. It's way more complicated than most people seem to think.
First, you need to know that the vast majority of our business remains in hardcover and paperback books. Hard copies, physical objects. The second strongest sector has been audio books. Ebooks are a distant third.
Selling books is a very long and complicated supply chain. Ignore editorial -- writers and editors can work at a distance and electronically. It really starts with the paper. Storing paper for the big presses takes an enormous amount of warehouse space, which costs money. Printers don't store a lot -- they rely on a "just in time" supply chain so that when a book is scheduled to go to press, the paper is delivered to the printer. Most of that paper is manufactured in China. Guess what isn't coming from China? Anything, for the last three months. Some of it comes from Canada. Guess what the Trump administration put a big tariff on at the beginning of the year?
So, we don't have adequate paper supplies. Then consider, big printing plants are not "essential businesses". There are only a couple printers in the US that can handle the book manufacturing business. One of them shut down last week. Covid-19. We started rescheduling books like mad to deal with that.
But supposing we had paper, and a printer and bindery, the books have to be shipped to the warehouse. Again, non-essential movement. The freight drivers moving books? Staying home, as they should. Not all of them. I hope they remain healthy, because dying to get the latest bestseller to the warehouse doesn't seem quite right to me.
Now then, our warehouse. We have a gigantic facility in Virginia. Lots of people are working there, bless them, but it's putting them at risk. There they are, filling orders, packing boxes, running invoices. Giving those boxes to the freight drivers who take the books to the bookstores and distributors. Again, truck drivers risking their lives to bring books to the bookstores.
But think again. The bookstores are closed. The distributors are closed . No place open to deliver the books to. Some bookstores are doing mail order business, bless them, but they aren't ordering very many books from our warehouse. Amazon isn't ordering very many, either -- because they have (correctly) stopped shipping books and are using their reduced staff to ship medical supplies and food.
So the books that distributors and sellers ordered months ago are not being printed or shipped or sold. And because of that, they aren't making any money. And because of THAT, they are not ordering any books for months from now. Plus they aren't paying for the books they got from us last month and the month before. Cash flow has ground to a halt.
Now, audio books....turns out that people mostly, almost 100%, listen to audio books while they commute to work. Sales of audio books collapsed about three weeks ago. Fortunately, there isn't a physical supply chain there, so theoretically that business can restart immediately upon resumption of commuting.
So given all the above, it's not a good time in the publishing industry. The damage is going to last for a long time, the effects will be felt for at least a year to come, even if we do go back to business as usual in May. Or June. Or July.....

[Ben Staad]

Paper. Warehouses. Trump. Oh My.

[Dan Hocker]

Very interesting. It kinda just shows the differences between the New York publishers and the small press. As far as I'm aware none of what's listed there are actually happening to us. Aside from the fact that the majority of the CD staff are currently working from home.

[Martin]

Not that anyone cares but my package that went from Seattle to Albuquerque has made its way to Denver. The other is no win Portland so it will arrive before the book that was shipped earlier.

The wandering package has made it back to Seattle. That means it has passed by my twice in its journey.

[Dave1442397]

The wandering package has made it back to Seattle. That means it has passed by my twice in its journey.

That happens me all the time. I track my Fedex packages and watch as they head up to Central NJ before coming back down to me. If the driver could just chuck it out the window as he drove by on the Turnpike, I could have everything a day earlier

The furthest astray anything has gone for me was a birthday card to my Mom. Instead of sending it to Dublin, Ireland, they sent it to Dublin, Ohio. After a long vacation where it gained many stamps to mark its journey, it got to her a few months late.