ROBUST discussion

I found an interesting bit of software that automatically translates the Amazon, NookPress and Smashwords software into a single database. It has a number of report options and will export a spreadsheet.

I just got it last night - saw it mentioned on Dean Wesley Smiths blog and needed to see for myself.

It's a 45 day free trial - after that I think it's $50.

I'm playing with it - needed an update to get all the smashwords sheets downloaded and translated.

I haven't tried it with Create Space or Kobo yet.

But I thought fellow members here might want to take a looks.

This software has really opened my eyes to the sheer numbers of ebooks that I've given away over the last 5 years: 35k ebooks!

Income is another story - kench.

K.A. wrote: "This software has really opened my eyes to the sheer numbers of ebooks that I've given away over the last 5 years: 35k ebooks!"

You worked really hard at giving away books. It's one form of success.

K.A. wrote: "Income is another story - kench."

I thought we decided "kench" is maniacal laughter. The word you want is "hurl", as in, "He was so drunk, he hurled a nine foot duke." I don't know precisely what it means but it used to be an impressive thing to say in the East End of London before Murdoch turned all the Cockneys into millionaire expatriates in Spain.

OMG! 'Hurl a nine-foot duke' what a saying!

I think I'd like to see Spain. There are supposed to be thousands of abandoned villages, some being rebuilt by 'back to the land' types.

Hmmm...Ireland first, Spain after, I think.

Took another run at Tracker Box - Found some limitations - can't chart a book over multiple years.

Does anyone have experience with Scribbcrib Publishing? They sent me an email - they publish book apps. They pay royalties, he was talking 50%, but their website says 30% to 60%.

I think there's another company that does the

K.A. wrote: "Took another run at Tracker Box - Found some limitations - can't chart a book over multiple years.

Does anyone have experience with Scribbcrib Publishing? They sent me an email - they publish book apps. They pay royalties, he was talking 50%, but their website says 30% to 60%.

I think there's another company that does the

omg...OMG did you all see that? Something GOT her! No! Not K.A.! Cut off in mid sentence! Now I'm freaking out!

If K.A. posts after this date, is it really her? Or has she been 'replaced' with something else?

OMG!

What now? What do we do?

Kench!

Sorry, came across the thread, read it to that part, and as I'm on a writing vacation for a little bit, my brain couldn't help playing with this. ^_^

I do not know the software, but I'll be looking into it a little.

Thanks for the heads up, even though I'm a few months late. I gotta catch up somehow!

:)

Maybe it is the Tracker Co she's talking about above. "Tracker" sounds a bit too much like "We always get our (wo)man."

Andre Jute wrote: "Maybe it is the Tracker Co she's talking about above. "Tracker" sounds a bit too much like "We always get our (wo)man.""

Or worse yet... we find out that 'Tracker' is an acronym:

Tactical Ranged Advanced Catch-Kill Engineered Robotics

Andre Jute wrote: "Tactical Ranged Advanced Catch-Kill Engineered Robotics "

Where's our Kat? Oh, she rode off into the nuclear mushroom with Arnie Schwarzenegger on a big-hog Harley.

Typical.

That's funny!

I've gone hermit at my dad's croft awhile. I'm tickled to think you'd credit me with such adventures. I might just be on the lookout for some new adventures this fall.

Working on a paperback version of the Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse. And getting a template set up in Scrivener so I can more easily publish Mom's short stories. Also learning Windows 8.1 - which is a horrible hybrid that neither suits a laptop or a tablet.

Trackerbox is an odd little database that imports Smashwords, Amazon, B&N and Createspace sales data. It's cheap, but it has some frustrating limits.

Get a real computer. PDP-11's are going cheap, I hear. And you thought I'd say a Mac.

Windows 8.1 really means they are pushing 8 new ways to tick off 1 person.

Back in my old days of writing drivers for Windows NT 4, all it took for somebody to go halfway nuts was to get a poorly written driver for the HAL.

No no no! Not HAL 9000 in Space Odyssey.

HAL stands for Hardware Abstraction Layer. It's the translator that lets the software talk directly to the hardware. All windows software after Windows 95 has it in one form or another.

Windows 8 has a mutated, rotted zombie-like HAL that is more than likely to puke code so it can load faster, instead of processing the non-linear 16, 32 and 64 bit shells.

Your keyboard and mouse are examples of the 16 bit driver models. A 32 bit driver model would be for advanced legacy use, like the software fax and driver port for the printer. Only programs for the 64 bit range ever use the 64 bit shell.

Windows NT used to run all the services in it's own memory frame. 16 bit bubbles and 32 bit bubbles never linked or crossed over memory addresses.

Windows 8, everything shares memory addresses, even virtual memory. So if the 32 bit shell crashes, it takes the 16 and 64 bit shells with it.

Which is why for Windows 7, which used the older HAL system, you could have your keyboard and mouse crash, but the programs int he background ran fine, and vice versa. If a 64 bit program crashed, your keyboard and mouse would still function, because the 32 and 64 bit shells ran independently.

Windows 8 marries them all together. Nuts I tell. Nuts. Yeah, it boots faster, and that is about it.

Just wait until you find out about Smartscreen. Yuck. That is another nightmare windows opened themselves up too. If I use a packet sniffer, like I used to in my old hacker days, I can hijack your Windows 8 and fill the screen with a hostage note. Pay $XXX.XX dollars here, or forever have this window in your face. All I need to do is pretend to be a Microsoft Server to redirect your entire Operating System to my menu.

Double yuck.

Back to K.A. here, sorry if I rambled. I'm trying Trackerbox later this day. I'll let you know what I think tomorrow. :)

I wrote Cobol code for PDP-11.

Windows 8.1 has me d/ling Ubuntu. I think I'll try that on an old XP desktop. I've got a Win98 laptop that might run it,too. Got so many old computer parts, I could open a shop.

Scrivener runs on Lenix, so that's always an option.

I had to get 8.1 to get up to date. I may return to working outside the house soon. Depends on a lot of things.

Thank God I use Macs. Though they are bad enough these days. And the Apple software is getting worse to make it conform to iOS. I just spent an hour of frustration just making a list in Numbers, before exporting Excel and continuing there. Pages, which used to be a very reasonable word processor, has been totally bolloxed to in the recent "upgrade" -- actually a downgrade to the lowest common denominator of iOS, with previously available useful features removed wholesale. Here's a tip: if you format your book with the latest version of Pages, Apple won't accept it for the iBook store. So there!

WOW - Apple must have hired a Microsoft Exec to run their new software division. Too bad.

I have this nightmare that Steve Ballmer moves to Cupertino and teams up with John Sculley to...

Cross contamination alert!