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Google CheckOut vs. PayPal


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While the whole PayPal Debacle rages on and people back-peddle and try to make excuses I think I may come out on top on this one. (Yeah, ‘on top’ is always a good place to be! LOL)

I figure, in the end, it will turn out to be a good thing if, for no other reason, than getting me to switch to Google CheckOut which is sooooo much easier than PayPal! I’m not kidding. I’ve struggled with PayPal for years because it’s the ‘most favored way to pay online’ so I was stuck with it. It SUCKS. If you don’t have a Merchant Account with them and/or if you don’t know a whole bunch of the ‘back doors’ and HTML tricks you’re nearly f’d when it comes to selling digital products with PayPal. The ONLY way I found to it do so that it works with ALL browsers was to send people to a page where my books/pictures could be downloaded after purchase. (That was after asking PayPal why the darn thing didn’t always go straight to the file like I told it to.) Authors have been begging PayPal to fix this problem there are all kinds of posts on the boards over there from authors wondering why their code doesn’t work and why their books don’t download the way they should. PayPal’s best suggestion of opening a page to send customers to for download was their best fix unless you happened to be some internet guru who could sift through all the CRAP to get the code working properly.

The problem with sending people to a page after purchase is that not everyone is honest….those of who sell through Kindle and see the ‘return rate’ know that I mean. People will bookmark the link and send it out to their friends so they can download free.

Add to that the fact that half the time the downloads didn’t work and I ended up getting an email from an upset customer and having to send them whatever they purchased. It really just wasn’t very good but it’s what I had to work with…until they blew up and had a hissy fit.

Not with Google CheckOut!

Google CheckOut is actually DESIGNED to handle ‘digital goods’. What a concept, huh??? I was shocked when I first signed up and started inputting information for the buy codes there is actually a box you can check for ‘digital good’ instead of something you have to ship. I filled out the information for each buy link sending the customer to the FILE and not a PAGE at completion of the transaction. It even allowed me to add a security key….you know, a passcode…the people have to add in to finish the transaction. AND GCO doesn’t keep a freakin’ laundry list of every buy link you’ve ever made so you DO NOT have to sit there sifting through X amount of old links to find the one you want to edit. PP doesn’t even allow for bulk deletion of old buy codes you have to do them one at a time and it was a royal pain in the ass. I hated updating my buy links with PayPal. It was such a chore and if I had to do a lot of updating it took hours. Now I just make new code! There’s nothing to sift through. Nothing to edit. Nothing to delete.

Honestly, if you were thinking about leaving PayPal…or if you were thinking of selling through them…don’t. Google CheckOut is the way better system for merchants. Yes, it’s a little less convenient for the customer who probably has a PayPal account and not a Google CheckOut account but it’s free just like PayPal and if they really want to buy your book/picture/whatever they’ll sign up with it. The more people like me who sign up with and use Google CheckOut (or similar) then the more buyers will open accounts with those financial middlemen.

For those who don’t want to sign up with Google CheckOut, I still take PayPal by request and I provided them with links to my books on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords so they can buy from those retailers if it suits them. Of course they pay $1.00 more to go through one of those sites…well, they pay up to $3.00 more if they buy through Smashwords just because Smashwords only pays out quarterly instead of every month like Kindle and Nook. I don’t know about you but I really hate waiting to get my money no matter how little it is! LOL That’s part of the reason I dropped All Romance E-Books, they pay quarterly too. It’s too long of a wait between meager paychecks. I mean, ya know, I didn’t buy stock or something so why shouldn’t I get paid monthly? Just a suggestion for those two sites not that either of them care. :)

Release Day


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We made it!

Woot-Wooooot!

Here’s the ‘last minute’ blurb, cuz, ya know, I totally forgot it! :)

In a Small Town Secrets Are Kept and Then They Kill.

After the death of her husband, Helen Makris never expected to fall in love again until she met retired Colonel Kevin Smith. Both widowed for years the two unexpectedly meet in Helen’s new home, the quaint New England Village, Tarrytown, Maine. All would be well if it weren’t for the watchful eye of the Shaw Street Strangler who has his sights set on Helen.

In a grand homage to The Master, Stephen King, Lisa Beth Darling and Moon Mistress Publishing proudly invited you to take a rocketing no-holds-barred journey into the diseased mind of a madman with this ADULT Chiller/Thriller Horror Story with heavy Romantic Tendencies.

Yes, I kept to my word. The Dedication reads:

This story is dedicated, unequivocally and unabashedly, to The Master, Stephen Edwin King who’s given me some of the best hours of my life. I’m so glad you made it to this party, dude.

“OBSESSION” is now available on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords and my site. Best deal is on my site where it’s $2.99. You can also read a new excerpt and the sexcerpt has been added. If you buy elsewhere; Kindle and Nook=$3.99 and Smashwords $4.99.

Got an email this morning and it looks as though PayPal is going to loosen their restrictions on ‘banned material’ so I also republished my other books over there. HOWEVER, I have not returned PayPal to the site. Sticking with Google CheckOut. If you don’t have a Google CheckOut account but you do have PayPal and you want an ebook copy of “OBSESSION” drop me an email lisabethdarling@gmail.com, please let me know what format you would like; Nook, iBooks, Sony, Palm, Kindle,Kobo, or Adobe. I’ll give you my PayPal address, you pay for the book through them and I’ll send you the file ASAP.

It may, or may not, come to print in the next 3 weeks but I’m really not sure about that. The main reason I would do it is simply because I would like to have a hard copy of it.I still don’t own a hard copy of “Child of War-A God is Born”. How sucky is that? I sent away ALL my copies….including one that had my copyright certificate in it!Can you say; idiot? I knew you could! LOL

Now the ONLY reason I was able to pull this off on time is my husband is a freakin’ genius! He was able to SAVE ALL of my files, pics,graphics, music…everything. Phew. Still had to wipe the hard drive but he saved it and put on ye olde laptop so I could keep plodding along. Thanks honey! Yes, I gave him a right proper THANK YOU last night! ;) My life is on this damn thing, man, I’d go nuts if I lost ALL of it.

BUT we did make it to the Finish Line, now it’s off and on it’s own. Almost time to get back to “Rising Son”.

Oh yeah, guess what? After I made my last post yesterday….norwichlaw.com….poof..disappeared. hahahahaha SBC came back this morning, they’re hitting from Waterford which is how I know it’s a ‘local’. Wonder what NLC thought of my post. They didn’t email me over it, darn. I really don’t care who comes in and reads what here but I thought that was a little excessive. And, ya know, if anyone out there is actually LOOKING for something here, you could always EMAIL ME and ASK. Geez. ;)

In any event; Good luck to Helen and Kevin! Let’s hope the general public roots for them and doesn’t hate Eddie enough to totally pan the book. He’s a bad bad man, yes he is. Now he’s gone for a while. Olympus and my reward for going through this ickyness is just around the corner.

Child of War-PAPERBACKS & REVIEWS


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Well it started out as bloody-awful weekend…and I do mean bloody. Oooo it was nasty. That person over on GoodReads sure knew how to whip people up into a frenzy. That’s over now. I blocked her from my GR page and my FaceBook page. All of the posts in that thread are gone and the only thing left is her nasty initial remark. As it sits among the growing new TOTALLY AWESOME REVIEWS….well…..guess who’s getting the last laugh on this one?

Yeah, me. :)

So first up…..Check Out this freakin’ fantastic review! Really, seriously, you have to go over and read this one! It’s the best so far, the reviewer really ‘got’ the book and everything that was going on so GO NOW. Rage, Sex, & Teddy Bears I think this is one of the best reviews I’ve ever received. I’m really proud of it! We earned it. Especially after yesterday.

Fine…here’s a nice quote for those of you who won’t click the link.

“I was completely immersed in their lives due to the expert storytelling of Ms. Darling. If ever there was a series of books destined for the “big screen” this would be it. I can promise you there is nothing out there in any form that remotely resembles this. It is an unforgettable and not entirely comfortable experience that I intend to repeat as often as one of Lisa’s books are published. This is the purest from of literary crack, I couldn’t put it down to save my life. Phenomenal.”

I told you it was an AWESOME review and there’s even MORE!

Now to other news…..Child of War-A God is Born has just been made available in PAPERBACK exclusively through Amazon.com it will come to Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million by early November. E-books are still slated for release on November 25, 2011.

Looks like it’s going to turn out to be a good weekend!

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