Monthly Archives: August 2019
Release Blitz – Highway to Hell
About the Book
Title: Highway to Hell
Author: Lydia Anne Stevens
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Death. Reapers. Atonement.
Catriona Clarke is a mercenary demon leading a gang of reapers and working with Lucifer to atone for her sins. The Hellcats’ mission is to collect the marked souls of the damned and bring them to Hell once they perish. When Catriona returns from collecting a soul, she discovers the rival gang of demons, the Hellhounds, have marked her ex-boyfriend.
Conflicted about going to reap Zeke’s soul, she reluctantly goes to collect. In a whirlwind of chaos, Catriona discovers that the son of Satan, Damien, has mistakenly marked the innocent and pure soul of Zeke’s twin brother, Lowell. Her gut instinct tells her to stand up against Lucifer and the demons of Hell, but in doing so, she will lose everything she’s worked hard for.
Is her ex-boyfriend’s brother worth the trouble?
Readers of Patricia Briggs, Darynda Jones, and Kevin Hearne will devour this Hellishly fantastic series.
Author Bio
Lydia Stevens is a full-time author and freelance writer having written over 75 novels for clients – with two series having become Amazon Bestsellers. She is an active member of the Maine Romance Writers Association, The Horror Writers of Maine, The Fantasy Writers of Maine, The Maine Women Authors, The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, Sigma Alpha Pi’s, National Society of Leadership and Success, and Sigma Tau Delta’s, International English Honor Society. Lydia graduated from the University of Southern New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English on May 12th, of 2018 and she graduated with a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and English on May 11th, 2019.
She’s the author of a paranormal/humor trilogy, The Ginger Davenport Escapades and is contracted with a second trilogy, The Fire Series with LM Vintage Publishers. The first book, Phoenix Fire, is slated to be released in 2019. Lydia currently works as an internist in the second semester within a literary agency and plans to pursue future endeavors within this line of work, as well as a PhD in Creative Writing. Her creative writing research proposal is under review at Lancaster University in Lancaster, England.
Lydia lives in Maine where she enjoys living life with an active eight-year-old and a black cat, Sirius Black, who is equally competitive for her attention. In her spare time, Lydia loves knitting, reading, coaching soccer, completing fantasy-themed jigsaw puzzles for inspiration, traveling and having a laugh with her best friends.
Links
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Author Links:
Upwork … and Triple Dipping
Ever since E-lance and O-Desk merged, there has been a decline in how Upwork operates, especially for the Freelancer.
Here’s why in a nutshell:
Triple Dipping… Here’s why:
I am on Upwork as both a freelancer and an Employer. I have seen that although Upwork “States” that if a bid is lost or closed, you get the big credit replaced, they actually do nothing of the kind. So, here is how Upwork triple dips:
1: Bid Credits – You pay to place a bid on projects (some of them are scam – PROVEN – Go search groups on Facebook for this). Upwork states that it is based on “Employer history, amount of money they want to pay plus budget. Yet, 99% of these “so-called” gigs are ranked at 6 credits per bid. Does the freelancer get reimbursed these unsuccessful credits? No. I have waited 90 days and I still do not see any reimbursement of bids on “closed jobs”, even though I get a plethora of notifications that “X” job has been closed.
2. 20% fee on any gigs up to $500. – Most employers will “test the waters” to see how a freelancer performs. If the employer is satisfied, they will continue. If not, then the contract ends. Which leaves the Freelancer 20% down on their earnings. (not including the amount of credits that it cost to get the project).
3. Cost to withdraw funds – We all know that one. Upwork charges an additional fee when you withdraw funds to any payment source, regardless if it is Payoneer, Paypal or a Bank account.
On the flip side: What does the employer get charged?
As I said before I use Upwork for Freelancing plus hiring virtual staff. The ONLY fee an employer gets charged is the credit card fee, if they use a credit card. No fee to list a project, and no fee when hiring a person. (And believe me, I have hired a number of people over the years).
I agree with the fact that Upwork charges $0.15 per connect, but… when 99% of all gigs posted cost 6 connects to place a bid, that amount can cost in the long run. Lets look at it like this:
Old Model: 60 Free Credit Bids a month = 30 bids a month – no cost to Freelancer to bid.
NEW Model: 60 Credits a month = $9 cost per month for 10 bids a month! So to get the same amount of bids a month (that being 30), freelancer needs to spend $27 upfront.
Do you see the fucking math on how Upwork now operates?
But wait, you can avoid that by buying into Upworks “Premium Account” which gives you a grand total of 70 bid credits a month for the fee of $15 a month! (Most gigs are listed at a cost of 6 credits to bid!)
Hmmm… Seems that the writing is on the wall with Upwork, where it rips off the Freelancer, posts “fake gigs” (Proven), and tries to “upsell” freelancers to a higher fee for bidding.
So yes, triple dipping!
Upwork seems to be great at reporting everyone on TrustPilot who speaks the simple facts.
Yes, Upwork, you can go ahead and flag this review as you have done to so many others for speaking the facts on Trustpilot, but you cannot flag the same post for going up here!