Dear Readers of Every-kind,
I am back from the past. Here’s what’s been happening since my return.
The Caricaturist’s Hit List Leaked – Causes Bad-blood!
Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio weren’t there at the Time-Portal to welcome me home. In fact, I also didn’t see Demi Moore, Penelope Cruz, and Madonna among those who had gathered to welcome me to this timeline. I don’t blame them. I know that your love for me might make you angry at all these actors, I’d request you to exercise restraint. They have a valid reason to feel unhappy about my return – they have found out that they are on the Caricaturist’s Hit-list.
Before you ask my why I didn’t contract Pricewaterhouse-Coopers to keep the list secure, I must remind you that this Caricaturist is the first of The 4 Types of Artists, and that PwC’s price-tag was a tad higher than I was willing to shell out. Nevertheless, I am not concerned. Other than these four, everyone else who’s anyone was there with bouquets of roses (thorns included), boxes of candies, and of course with requests that I shouldn’t caricature them, if possible.
Anonymous Reader and Commentator Makes my Day with a Minus 5 Rating!
… with an Ultra-Caustic review of my Free eBook at Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
Phew! Never thought that I’d get a 2 Star on a book that 4 NON-anonymous readers gave me 5 Stars for! But then I understand that just the way some people who like to donate anonymously, some like to comment anonymously. I appreciate the witticism in the comment, which goes as follows:
“Forgot 5th type of artist…Really bad self-published ones. Don’t waste your time. -5* – By Anonymous”
Hey! Does it say “-5*”?!! *Minus 5 Star”??!!! Oh Boy! I hope that the book didn’t cause any sort of fatal injury to the reader. I mean how terrible the experience must have been! I wish my Zeta reader tons of luck for recuperation. Now, if you are strong enough to stomach the contents of my awful, awful, awful book, check it out here.
If you disagree with my sweet anonymous commentator, will you please make another comment with your persona identified?
I must also mention that this anonymous commentator had the distinction of being the first of his (or her) kind, and so I mention the comment here. All other anonymous comments shall be royally ignored as I tap into the last drops of royal blood in my veins.
On smashwords however this book along with its sister book “The 5Ps of Creativity”, appears on the first page of the highest rated Free books in the Entertainment category. Don’t believe it? Well, here’s the link:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/87/highlyrated/0/free/any
Thank you, dear readers, for putting it there.
In the meantime, I invite my blog-readers to share their experiences with anonymous comments. They say that happiness grows when shared…or was it that sorrow reduces…
And finally, I bring you…
The Toony Pretzels – Cartoons with a funny aftertaste!
Well…well! The cat’s out of the bag, the mouse is out of the trap, and the mystery of those missing blogging hours is solved!
I’ve re-discovered my lost love for cartooning, thanks to the Great Ajit Ninan. There’s a lot I need to learn…but then quite like any other artist, I can’t wait to post my cartoons…so don’t go away…I’ll be back after a short break 🙂
Shafali's Caricatures, Portraits, and Cartoons 
Thank you, Viv. You are absolutely right about the troll phenomenon:) People don’t value freebies…yet the fact that they spend their precious time commenting upon it, makes me wonder.
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There is something about kindness and generosity that can make some folks turn on the giver; maybe its suspicion or maybe simply just the baseness of human nature at times.
I too wonder about folks that spend time vituperating something they were given for free….but it seems very common. One of the authors I am friendly with commented that giving away a book to gain fans is often one of the most discouraging things a new author can do, because the backlash of nasty reviews is very upsetting. Even slapping on a 46p price tag seems to limit this. Plus, there are actually authors who make a habit of anonymously doing 1 star reviews of authors writing in the same or related genres, in the hopes that by making someone else look bad, they make themselves look better.
Times like this, I miss my dog still. She had good sense.
x
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Thank you Viv. I’ll consider your kind advice 🙂 Warm Regards, Shafali
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If it is any comfort, I have recently gathered from many authors that there seems to be a sport among trolls of writing hideously nasty reviews for books that are free, simply because they are free. Several of my contacts have commented about this phenomenon and given that one or two are best-sellers but made a volume free as a simple gesture of kindness, I think you can rest assured that you’ve been trolled.
I think you once said to me that people do not value what they get for nothing, and in terms of free books, I think it may be true. Your work is worth more than this, I know.
hugs.
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