Sinking the Pirates, Part 2: the Audiobook Edition

This is how I single-handedly shut down two thieving audiobook pirates on YouTube. Yes, thousands of illegally shared audiobooks are still on YouTube, converted to mp4s. If you're a fan of stolen property, piss off. If, however, you are an author, narrator, or a fan who respects artists, read on.

I've written about piracy before, of ebooks, back in 2013, after my fourth novel, Every Time I Think of You, had received a good amount of sales and publicity. It was also the time when I converted all four of my books published at the time, to ebooks for sale on various websites.

But I hadn't known, or forgotten, that hundreds, if not thousands, of audiobooks, converted to 'videos' with just the cover as a visual, are all over YouTube.

While looking up any posts about my seventh novel, Finding Tulsa, I checked for any mentions of the audiobook adaptations of Every Time I Think of You and its sequel, Message of Love, which I coproduced with talented voiceover actor Michael Wetherbee. Co-producing means we split the profits.

Imagine my surprise when I found a 'video' of Every Time... on YouTube! Wow, thanks. No, wait, it's not a review, but the complete seven-hour audiobook converted into a movie! WTF?

After saving link, making screencaps, and clearing the smoke blowing out of my ears, I reported it to YouTube. After only a few hours, it had been deleted. Then I found another copy on a different account with about 1500 other M/M (code word for 'gay' in the romance book world. Don't get started on that again). I reported that one, too, and noticed several others in the pirate's playlist/uploads had also been deleted. So at least a few other authors are aware of this problem.

Then I thought to contact a few other authors, but the list was too long. I posted a short account of the situation on a private writers' support Facebook group; no replies. Fine. You don't care, but I do.

So I went deep. I found contact emails for Amazon, Audible, ACX (the Audible program for creating audiobooks) and YouTube. Amazon's legal department replied within an hour. YouTube's autoreply was that they could only delete specific copyright claims from individuals.

Anyway, someone took this seriously, and the two YouTube accounts that had uploaded my audiobooks were completely deleted.

Gone. Wiped. Done. Gurl, bye.

In the words of Joan Crawford, "Don't fuck with me, fellas. This isn't my first time at the rodeo."

Get my money back
So, why did I go to all this trouble? Because I spent years writing these books, and worked for months with my narrators to complete these projects. And in the two weeks the pirated version of Every Time... was on YouTube, I noticed a sharp drop in sales of that title.

Further, if you count the 450 (one YouTube account) and 900 views on another, add about $5 to each view (our split royalty), that's $6,750. That is how much potential income we may have lost because of the scum that uploaded my one audiobook. 

Consider the multiple other authors, most of whom sell ten times more than mine, and it could be in the hundred-thousands. While it's impossible to track down the actual users, suing the creeps is still a hope.

The inane argument for condoning piracy is that it's 'good publicity,' it's 'good exposure.' That's baloney. I do marketing, I'm quite 'exposed,' literary-ily speaking (not in a Chris Evans way!).

For Finding Tulsa, I got a discount entry to the pricey NetGalley, where readers can get free copies of ebook editions, in exchange for reviews on GoodReads and/or Amazon.com. I also took up a request from Erie Gay News to give away audiobook access to my paired romance novels, and ebooks of Finding Tulsa.

The result was underwhelming in terms of reviews. Not only did I not get a single Thank You email from the winners, but perhaps two reviews resulted from the contest so far. The NetGalley deal got me six reviews so far.

This is all part of experiments I toy with for every book I publish, by myself or with small presses. In times like these, it's nearly impossible to get press, and being a member of the press, I know. At my job as an arts editor, I get more press release emails than ever before, with artists and producers in all genres desperate for attention. Some of them are offering free shows, readings and talks online. Others charge admission, an option they should have.

Writers who are indifferent to loss of sales from piracy must not be like most artists these days, who are unemployed or underemployed. 

But even if an author has, perhaps, a partner to support them, or they're so darn successful they don't care about losing a few hundred or a few thousand dollars a year from piracy, they should show support for fellow authors and narrators by sending complaints to the corporations, who sometimes respond and act swiftly.

So, here's the deal. Buy the damn audiobooks. Buy the books in whichever format you prefer. Buy them through Bookshop.org, and then post your reviews on (evil) Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble.

If you're a fan, but money is tight, ask for promo codes for any or each of my three audiobooks and I'll send them to you. In exchange, please post a review on Audible and/or Amazon.com. That's only fair.

Finding Tulsa, my seventh novel and advance fundraiser

My seventh novel, Finding Tulsa, will be published in September 2020 with Palm Drive Publishing.  Check out the rave advance quotes from some of my favorite authors and filmmakers, and check out the IndieGogo fundraiser!

The story

Stan Grozniak, director of a ’90s cult action trilogy and gay art films, almost self-sabotages a prestigious directing gig with his writer-producer ex-boyfriend, after casting his rediscovered teenage summer stock crush. His tale of cinematic success and failure captures the passion and heartache of making love, making movies, and the occasional riot.

Read the first four chapters free at
http://palmdrivepublishing.com/Finding_Tulsa/FindingTulsa.html

Advance praise for Finding Tulsa

“Everything’s coming up roses in Finding Tulsa, Jim Provenzano’s intoxicating portrait of an artist as young to middle-aged man, from a high school musical techie in torn shorts to a semi jaded independent gay filmmaker. It’s a well-told yarn, full of humor and panache about a Hollywood player torn between his boyhood crush and a porn star. Spin the bottle, ride the Rolodex, and fasten your seat belt for Provenzano’s sweet roller coaster ride.”

– Marc Huestis, film director (Sex Is …) and author of Impresario of Castro Street: an Intimate Showbiz Memoir

“Finding Tulsa reminds you what a good friend a novel can be.  It’s about friendship, about “losing men and then finding them,” about brotherly love and conflict, and the possibility of resolution.  It’s sexy, funny, astute, panoramic – it knows about suburban Ohio basement rec rooms and glam parties in the Hollywood hills.  I felt like I had met a charming guy at a cocktail party who seemed to get me, understood my past, confided his own, and then disappeared to another better party before I was ready for him to leave.  And it’s wrapped around a fearless, wrenching narrative about facing your childhood demons, raising the question of whether or not one of the demons might have been you. There’s so much to savor, to argue with, reflect upon, learn from, enjoy.”­

– John Weir, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket

“Jim Provenzano must have been spying on me from my adolescence (making short films with my brother) to my adulthood (making gay movies and TV series). I identified with every twist, turn, and blow by blow of this sexy show biz saga!” 

– Sam Irvin, Director of Dante’s Cove; Co-Producer of Gods And Monsters and The Broken Hearts Club

“Finding Tulsa is sexy, romantic, witty, engaging, both cleverly current yet sweetly retrospective. It's Jim Provenzano's most complex and accomplished novel. He gets so much right and so evocatively about show business, from those school plays we all remember to Hollywood made-for-television movies, with delicious stops at boyhood Super-8 movies and out of town gay porn shoots.”
– Felice Picano, author of Justify My Sins: A Hollywood Novel in Three Acts,
and the New York Times best-seller Like People in History

“Jim Provenzano's sexy, funny and soulful new novel Finding Tulsa is a beautiful deep-end dive into the memory of desire, the thumping bass note that drives life and art. The novel gorgeously explores how our hearts and cocks are woven with our theatre and films as we figure out how to be the star of our own queer story.” 
– Tim Miller, Performer and author of A Body in the O 

“Lights! Camera! Action! Finding Tulsa is a show-biz comedy told by a witty industry insider divulging how plays and movies and characters like “Tulsa” help gay boys survive adolescence, create identity, and worship beauty. What better icons could Provenzano have picked than Sondheim and Gypsy on which to fly his vivid characters, backstage intrigues, and dialogue sure to thrill the theater and movie queen in all of us. Writing at the top of his powers, with his striped tie and hopes high, he’s got rhythm. All he needs is you to go with ’im. A splendid romp! Let him entertain you!”

– Jack Fritscher, author of Mapplethorpe: Assault with a Deadly Camera and the Lammy Finalist, Some Dance to Remember: A Memoir-Novel of San Francisco 1970-1982

“Jim Provenzano always keeps in mind what the original ‘Tulsa’ said in Gypsy: ‘This step is good for the costume.’ Provenzano never misses a step as he suavely combines aesthetics and homoerotics in a work that is throughout deeply touching.”

– David Ehrenstein, author of Open Secret: Gay Hollywood–1928-2000

 Donate to get your copy, ebook or paperback. Donate more and get copies of my previous books in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!

https://igg.me/at/findingtulsa/x/7012313#/

Disagreeing on Disagreement: the Upside Down of 'Them'

Three examples of online arguments vexed me enough to further explore them. The first was being scolded for calling Starbucks coffee drinkers dumb, the second for getting rightwing hatred in a rock music group, the third being outright rabid hatred for ads with my new book trailer. They're each strangely connected, and worth comparing.

First off, reviews are good, so it's not about my books, although they could certainly use some new ones! That's one thing I can take, a critical book review that focuses on the storytelling. 

Of course, if more people were buying it, I wouldn't feel compelled to spend a few bucks to promote the very nice trailer for my book. I'd uploaded it to YouTube and Instagram, hoping to promote them both, but had to re-upload it on Facebook to try to get it on Instagram, which failed. So I simply paid about $30 to get the trailer show up as a sponsored ad on Facebook. I chose three categories; people in the U.S., who like the band Queen and, when searching for Gay Interest, chose "Gay Life." Okay.

A day later, I got a notification about two comments on the shorter book trailer. Yay!

But they were abrupt virulently bible-hatred of 'the gay.' A day later, another one 'Heck no' was less offensive. Each of these people happened upon my ad, whose thumbnail shows the two cover models in the back of a truck being affectionate.
  These are Diane Mcallister Nichols' comments. I could show you her anti-Muslim, anti-everything not her posts, but I'll spare you.

Don't Stop Me Now - pianos and protease

With a few Golden Globes, five Oscar nominations, and fan adoration worldwide, Bohemian Rhapsody is enjoying another encore.

I'm making plans to see the sing-along version of Bohemian Rhapsody, because despite its flaws, and even disdain, I want to have fun with the music again.

But it's not without a skeptic's eye, for while the band's music continues to please, the praise is a bit perplexing to some. Insider considers Bohemian Rhapsody to be among the 12 least deserving Oscar noms, and allegations on its director are coming out in full.

"To even begin to argue over whether or not Bohemian Rhapsody deserves its best picture nomination you have to ignore the Bryan Singer sexual assault allegations (it's worth noting he was let go from the project but still took credit for its Golden Globe win on Instagram) and the accusations of straight-washing and lack of conversation around Freddie Mercury's death from AIDS, which Rami Malek admits is a problem."

Fans of Queen don't care. The band, Freddie Mercury in particular, always had a contentious relationship with the media. They just love the music, and the story, despite its numerous fictionalizations.

Queen devotees now can sing along for a pre-Oscar victory lap in 750 theaters. It's the latest phase of the expertly marketed film and music enterprises; book, album, a Carnaby Street takeover. Amazing; very Queen. I still feel bad about paying to see it considering what's to follow, but I didn't pay the first time (see onstage interview with 3 of the cast), if that counts.

 
"Great King Rat was a dirty old man"
What's not very Queen is the now-re-announced multiple accusations of sexual assault against (85%) Director Bryan Singer. The Atlantic says the director "has been trailed by accusations of sexual misconduct for 20 years. Here, his alleged victims tell their stories."

According to multiple sources, Fox had no idea that the Sanchez-Guzman lawsuit was coming when the studio fired Singer. Still, Sanchez-Guzman’s claims shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Almost from the moment his star began to rise, Singer, who is now 53, has been trailed by allegations of sexual misconduct. These allegations were so well known that 4,000 students, faculty members, and alumni at the University of Southern California had signed a petition asking the school to take Singer’s name off one of its programs, the Bryan Singer Division of Cinema and Media Studies—which the school did immediately after Sanchez-Guzman filed his suit. As one prominent actor told us, “After the Harvey Weinstein news came out, everyone thought Bryan Singer would be next.”

Other publications are catching up to what many have known for years, like this expose in Vanity Fair, which puts Bohemian Rhapsody's producers and stars in a sticky situation; little if any mention has been made to Singer through the Golden Globe wins (albeit a cryptic tweet), and the upcoming Oscar rite could endure the same mendacity. Make jokes about convicted Cosby and harpooned Harvey, but Singer's mum because why ... because you knew?

Singer's response, according to IndieWire, is that the accusations and article are nothing but "homophobic attacks" against the film's success. That's hardly valid, considering that the alleged sexual assaults go back years. Is it 'homophobic' to treat a gay alleged sex predator the same as a straight one?

But GLAAD isn't waiting for a court of law, and has snubbed Bohemian Rhapsody from its lauded roster, Variety reports in their statement issued two days after the Atlantic article and other articles were published.  GLAAD won't be tossing their usual lucite awards to straight actors playing gay this time, despite its rather sympathetic, if not clichéd, depiction of Mercury's life.

“In light of the latest allegations against director Bryan Singer, GLAAD has made the difficult decision to remove ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ from contention for a GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Film – Wide Release category this year. This week’s story in The Atlantic documenting unspeakable harms endured by young men and teenage boys brought to light a reality that cannot be ignored or even tacitly rewarded.”  

And while most of the straight fan-mania ignores this, or has no clue, elation continues among the band's larger fandom ("I've seen it six times!" they crow online). New young fans exclaim their devotion, having only been born decades after his death.

Lives have changed. The face of AIDS is almost lost to myth to them, except fan groups obsessed with Jim Hutton's later years, hinted at on-screen in the film, but more in home movies and memoirs that document what happened after Live Aid. Freddie's other life scenes were left unshot. 

Now I'm Here - Get an Advance Reader Copy now!

It's Christmas in July! New Advance Reader Copies of my sixth novel, Now I'm Here, have arrived.  I'll be mailing signed copies to more than a dozen fans in the next few weeks.

To sign up, simply private message me via either of my social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, or Instagram. Like and subscribe, then send a private message with your mailing address.

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In exchange, you agree to post an honest review of Now I'm Here on Amazon.com, Goodreads.com and/or BarnesandNoble.com. Post a review on all three sites, and on the social media account of your choice, and I'll mail you a signed copy of my first novel, PINS!

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This offer is for U.S. and Canada addresses only.
For overseas fans, ebook giveaways will kick off in August. Thanks for reading!

Now I'm Here, new novel, new website

Now I’m Here

a novel by Jim Provenzano

Beautiful Dreamer Press

ISBN-13: 978-0998126265

Release date: September 19, 2018

“Here is a novel of such sweep and breadth that to call it simply a love story is inadequate, even while the love of David and Joshua at the heart of the book resonates so deeply that I could not stop reading their tale. Provenzano is one of our masters; like his character Joshua he is a kind of musician. The instrument he plays on is the heart, and the story of these men rings true for all of us who lived through these years.”  
– Jim Grimsley, author of Dream Boy and Winter Birds

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"Jim Provenzano has again created characters that a reader can’t help but fall in love with. This is an epic story, a tale as captivating as a favorite piece of music.”  
– Mark Abramson, author of Minnesota Boy

​

“A haunting page turner;  Provenzano fearlessly navigates, with wit, unflinching candor and a detective’s tenacity, that deepest mystery: first love, with all its euphoria, madness and wreckage. Gorgeously written, Now I’m Here stands alongside the best of Edmund White and Andrew Holleran. I could spend a year with each sentence.” 
– Adam Tendler, concert pianist, author of 88x50: A Memoir of Sexual Discovery, Modern Music and The United States of America

So, yes! My sixth novel is available for pre-order on Amazon.com in ebook and paperback editions. It will be in bookstores in September.

And to jazz up this little celebration, I got a new website: https://www.jimprovenzano.com/
Visit, scroll around and let me know what you think.

Message of Love, the sequel to Every Time I Think of You

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Message of Love, the sequel to the Lambda Literary award-winning novel Every Time I Think of You, is finally published, in paperback and Kindle editions.

How to Succeed in the Book Business While Really Really Trying

Every now and then I get a request from a fledgling (or even successful) author colleague asking for tips on the book business. To me, that's almost like asking a kid riding a Big Wheel for pointers on competing in the Daytona 500.

They also ask to "pick my brain" which sounds painful. It's not, really. 

But the prerequisite to any such talk is that you read one or several of Dan Poynter's books on self-publishing. It's as useful a handbook as my Wolf Cub Scout books were when I was a kid.

Pretty much everything you need to know is in Poynter's books, from developing a book that sells (if that is your goal) to marketing a "difficult" title that may be limited to a subgenre.

By "subgenre," I mean a book that's a genre within a genre, of course.  Take PINS, for example: gay + sports. While my subsequent three books were produced via Print-On-Demand (POD), PINS was done the old-fashioned way.

It's a long involved tale, some of which I'll be explaining within a few brief minutes at an author panel that's part of Word Week. The Noe Valley Book Festival is like a mini-LitQuake. Panels, readings, and a Saturday gathering of many authors selling and signing their books are part of it. It's mostly for Noe Valley area writers, but I got in because I'm nice.

Read? Good.

So, if my books are so good, why aren't they more popular? Is it because I'm not popular? Am I the Grumpy Cat of gay publishing?

I've been wondering that recently for several reasons. The first is that I've had several friends and colleagues ask to meet up for a meal or coffee, or via phone calls and emails, to "pick my brain" about publishing. While I can imagine nothing more painful-sounding than having my brain picked, I do offer my advice, but no brain chunks.

But I'm not sure if my advice is worthy. I plow through the chores of doing it all myself, and take some small comfort when colleagues who have the advantage of prestigious publishers and agents regale me with their woes (mostly to do with a lack of control over their work), the position of being a "success" still befuddles me somewhat.

Fa la la la la...

...and buy my books. Rather fitting for the holidays, doncha think?




And if you're a fan of the thriving literary site GoodReads.com, please vote for Every Time I Think of You in this interesting poll of Gay Romances that Include Disability. I had no idea there were so many in this subgenre! I wish I had time to read more of them.

Check out the other lists my book is on; pretty neat. Vote!

Wheely Great Deal: Free Kindle Week

With a special promotion going on this week, there's no excuse for Kindle readers not to enjoy my fourth novel. Every Time I Think of You is free to download today, Monday February 20, through Friday February 24.

That's right. It's free! Numerous other author pals have recommended this a great promotional tool, so I've jumped on board. Hey. if people can offer President's Day sales on cars and mattresses, why not a book?

Also, I've joined Amazon Prime in offering Every Time I Think of You free to share for members, now through May20, 2012.

Here are a few new published reviews:

It's not easy to write a novel about sports, gay teenagers and sex in (and out of) wheelchairs. Jim Provenzano has done it, with grace and power. All readers - disabled or not - can stand and applaud." - Dan Woog, The Outfield

"A beautiful story of friendship, devotion and love" - Bob Lind Echo Magazine (forthcoming)

"This is a unique coming of age story replete with the surprise one feels when he realizes that he is in love." - Amos Lassen Reviews

"Provenzano’s sense of pace and plotting are dead on ... and his prose is straightforward and never showy. It’s a well-told tale whose aim to inform as well as entertain certainly hits the mark." - Out in Print

Get my new book today on Amazon.com!

UPDATE: Feb 26.
Well, that worked.