Goodreads
I have to say I am entirely disappointed by Goodreads. Goodreads is a website that is supposed to help you discover your next book to read and it has many members. It was acquired by Amazon as well recently. However, the site is poorly designed and I do hope that Amazon are investing a redo because I find it annoying that so many things actually don’t work there. As an author, I also put up an author’s page but I have discovered that this really isn’t worth the effort either and here is why: 1. People are allowed to rate books on a 5-star system. Fine and dandy. The problem is there are no checks built in to see if the reader has actually read the book! So, I can
Read More »General Book News
With Astral Messages now out and a Kindle version of Inner Journeys (my very first book) having also just appeared, my first novel doing quite well and…. a kindle version of The Mystical Hexagram about to appear, I thought perhaps I would just write a quick article about all of my books. The first book was Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul. Having completed the first degree course with the SOL, I asked Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki if she would mind if I published a sort of autobiographical book about why I had done the course and what I had experienced. Not only did she think it a great idea but she helped me find a publisher and to promote the book. It was published by Thoth in 2005. Interestingly enough, I
Read More »Writing Projects
While still hoping that The Last Observer will find its own audience and take off a bit (two more great reviews today!), I am still quiet excited about my next book – Astral Messages. Since Astral Messages is a mix of poetry and blog articles I have gone the self publishing route using the Amazon publisher. Poetry doesn’t sell much and I think this book will be more one for the connoisseur than Joe Public. What I like though is that I was able to combine a poem with an article from Asteroth’s Domain in such a way that one supported the other. These truly are messages from the astral so I think its a great title. I am now waiting for the proof copy. It should be winging its
Read More »Looking for a Break is Tough Work
Writing – it’s a tough business. For small time authors such as myself, we rely on the ‘friends and family’ concept since we lack what is called a ‘platform’. Let me translate what I just said….Small time writers rely on their friends and family to purchase their books as they don’t have a brand name like say JK Rowling that will guarantee thousands of anonymous buyers for their writing product. Hopefully, friends and family will not just BUY the book but also support it by writing short reviews on Amazon or Goodreads and mentioning it to their friends. The hope is that either, one of these friends of friends and family is extremely influential and can influence the broader public to buy the book (a stroke of good luck) or,
Read More »Obsession with a Symbol
The hexagram. It’s a beautiful symbol of balance used extensively around the world and in everyday life. The hexagram might be said to represent the ALL THAT IS and because of its internal symmetry, it represents the ALL THAT IS in perfect harmonious balance – pure perfection. It is a symbol of perfection but it suggests too that perfection or harmony is something very delicate, immensely fragile, and it is easily lost. It is something that must be purposely sought for. It is the symbol of the Sun and, it is the symbol of the Son holding Tiphareth at its very center. It has a golden heart. The hexagram signifies the Great Work of Alchemy. It signifies the emanated and the source. It is the ALL and its creation or
Read More »The ‘Bad’ Review
One of the things you have to develop a thick skin for if you put yourself out there, is the bad review…. No one likes a bad review and I have heard many actors, writers etc. state that they never read reviews because they simply can’t abide it when they get a bad one. Having said that, a bad review is inevitable. Everyone is different and has their own view. So last night I found my first ‘bad’ review. I was googling to see if there were any more reviews and I found it. Actually, it isn’t all bad news. The reviewer actually enjoyed the book and gave it 8/10 for plot but he hated my writing and character development. It is hard to read negative stuff and one immediately
Read More »Promotion and More Promotion
As I have said before I think, the average book doesn’t sell too many copies. In 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. This is pretty old data but I couldn’t find anything more up to date in the 30 seconds that I tried…. It just shows you though. They say – they being my publisher – that you need to promote and promote and promote…. They do some of this work but I do the lion’s share. But, I am feeling guilty. For the next 2 and a bit weeks I will be on vacation and I won’t lift a finger on the book (collective
Read More »Viral Thinking
What if The Last Observer took off? I mean really took off. If it sold, hundreds of thousands of copies. I have been just occasionally letting myself dream such things in the hope that, if I think and believe it, it will happen. Funny though because this thought is always rapidly followed by that other little voice that says ‘You stupid bugger! Who would buy your book?‘ It’s that second little voice that stops us all from dreaming too much but actually, if we listened to it too much, we would never do anything at all. I set myself a goal with The Last Observer. It is this – minimum 3000 copies sold. 3000 isn’t that big of a number is it? Actually, I do think 300,000 would be achievable
Read More »My Best Selling Book
I think people outside of the book publishing and writing business have little clue as to how it really works. I am going to tell you all what my best selling book is…. (drum roll)….. Here it is…. Yes – it’s one of my business books. It has sold to date some 905 copies. Patrick and I are very pleased with its sales and the fact that it continues to sell every month. My second best selling book is it’s companion – Trends in ETRM Software: A Primer with 670 sales and still selling. Not far behind is Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul from Thoth. I have a target for my new book – The Last Observer. It’s a real stretch. I’d like it to sell 3000 copies. The
Read More »Weird Tales
Many moons ago I published my second book – Weird Tales: Otherworld Poetry. I self-published via the Amazon publisher Booksurge. Its a small book and it has barely sold more than 30 copies I reckon but then it is a poetry book! You see, everyone writes poetry and many of us also think our poems are the bees knees – me included! I have learned since 2006, when it was published, that poetry doesn’t sell very well. I think its because the poems that we write are personal. They have real meaning to us but perhaps not to others. Poems are our way to resolve pain, say what we truly feel and get our emotions on paper. There are words I could use to tell you Exactly how I feel
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