Chris Baty

@chrisbaty.bsky.social

Writer, former word nerd at Figma, and founder of NaNoWriMo.

Doing NaNoWriMo this fall? Check out www.nano2.org!

šŸļøAlameda, CA

@chrisbaty.bsky.social

Thank you, Soren! That makes my day to hear NaNo has had a positive impact on your life! And I couldn't agree more about that wide-open magic of a first draft. Good luck in November!

@chrisbaty.bsky.social

Working in software design has given me the gift of getting annoyed at things that are invisible to most people. Example: I spent 10 minutes this morning shaking my fist at the fact that "Odd" and "Even" appear above "Custom" in this print dialog.

A print dialog showing a drop-down menu that has a stacked list of options that goes, top to bottom: All, Current, Odd, Even, Custom.
@chrisbaty.bsky.social

Does anyone else get weird book publicity scam emails all the time? Here's a screenshot of an email I got today generously offering me ā€œpermanentā€ placement in a Goodreads community called Around the Year in 52 Books. The next screenshot is the first pinned post in that community. šŸ˜‚

An email that readsā€¦You are probably wondering three things. Is this real? What do I want from you? And what is the catch? Let me answer all three. It is real. The link above is the group. Look around. It has been active since 2016. I want to add your book to our permanent recommendation lists so members find it when they plan those weeks. That is it. There is no catch. If you want in, say the word and I will walk you through the next step. If you have questions, ask. I will answer honestly. Either way, thank you for writing a book that stayed with me.A message board post that readsā€¦ Multiple authors have received emails purporting to be from Mods or members of GR groups, including this one. They include flattering comments about their book and an offer to "feature" the book in the group. After a response or two, they ask for money. These emails are always illegitimate and a scam. This group never has "featured" authors and no group on GR requests money from authors. GR has been notified but because these emails come from multiple sources, and are almost certainly generated by AI, they are very difficult to trace. If you have questions, you may ask in this thread. Because there is no more direct messaging on GR, we can't respond any other way. But any email an author receives from a name in this group is unauthorized spam.