Monday, July 23, 2012

Why Publish Your Book via Kindle?


I have never really understood the attitude of unpublished authors who receive many rejections for their manuscripts and blame publishers for not wanting to take a risk by publishing their novel. I don't think publishers are evil, they simply have to put their money where their mouth is. If they publish your novel, they have to invest a certain amount to have it edited, produced, promoted and driven to various bookshops. That means they are very picky about what they publish, albeit not in a way that makes sense to the lay person. Sometimes their most hyped up book might sink, and sometimes it might swim, and sometimes it all goes pearshaped and the publisher goes bankrupt.

But don't blame the publisher for not wanting to take a risk on you. Get out there and do it yourself! Is there any more wonderful invention than the Kindle for the adventurous author who wants to get her book out there? Publish your book as a Kindle and it costs practically nothing, so you're not exactly plundering your retirement fund to get it into print.

Remember the dark days of self publishing, when you had to order several thousand copies of your book, which went moldy in your garage and no one bought off you, not even your gran? And if you ever saw them in a public place it was in the local dog pound lining the kennels? The other problem, apart from wasting your money, was you never got back any feedback on your book.

But now if you Kindle your book, you get readers without even really trying. Additionally, on the days you give it away free you will have about 10,000 people reading it. The down- or upside to all this is you will get a lot of feedback on your book because many people are reading it. For a fully paid up narcissist like myself, this kind of feedback is like manna from heaven.



When I published my novel Confessions of a Cake Addict as a Kindle, I was soon inundated with people telling me what they thought of it.

Some of it good like this:

"The title of Confessions of a Cake Addict was the first thing that struck me about the book. It instantly made me smile as I completely empathised with Kate, the protagonist, as I am a self-confessed chocaholic. Kate is the quintessential geeky girl with a great big heart. There were so many times during the book that I just wanted to hug her. We've all been where Kate finds herself in life; single, chubby and just a little bit lonely."

or this:

"This such a riot of a read! Grab this book and cozy up on the couch in the sunroom and just read! I found myself just laughing like silly. It's funny, improbable, but it's not exactly the fluff I was expecting. There is something very smartalecky about this that I really enjoyed."

While others said the book was fluff, but not in a good way, like Laila454:

"This was just total fluff. I expected more from but all I got was a quick beach read."

Well, I'm sorry Laila454 if you thought a book with a pink cover and a cake on it was going to be an indepth exploration of alienation and loss, possibly told from the point of view of a Husky dog Tinker who climbed up Mount Everest with his trusty owner, octogenarian, Mable Smithers. In the course of which, Mable loses her toes to frostbite, Tinker loses his tail to a rabid wolf and they hobble to the bottom of the Mount only to be gunned down by an assasin with cataracts.

No seriously, Laila454, I don't mind what you think as long as you're saying it!

So, if you're thinking of Kindling your book, just go for it!! Fifty Shades of Grey may well owe part of its success to it being available via Kindle so that horny mums can read it on the sidelines of their daughter's soccer games without anyone being the wiser.



Also another book that's selling well in Kindle and paperback is The Life and Death of an Unknown Celebrity by Darren Cockle. It's a tale of how Darren coped with life after his wife died of breast cancer and it's raw, moving, honest, funny and uplifting. 

So if you're feeling brave, I urge you to put your book out on the Kindle. I guarantee you won't regret it!!

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Friday, July 20, 2012

One Drop Uses Poker to Improve Lives




Poker on TV is a fad that I have never really gotten into to. I've tried to watch the programs on TV, but it is hard to relate to those who regularly put up $10,000 at a time in the hopes for winning big money. However, there is an event that will be coming up that I may take the time to watch called The Big One for One Drop.


The Big One for One Drop is a charity poker event that was held earlier this month at the World Series of Poker. It was the first event ever to cost players $1 Million to event. I know, some of you wonder why I would watch this after talking about live and online casino players putting up just $10,000 in an event, but this event was a bit different because it largely supported an important charity.


The Big One Drop is tournament that was the brainchild of Cirque De Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and the event supports One Drop, an organization that helps to provide clean water to developing nations. Water is our lifeblood and having clean water is key for proper growth and development.


The $1 Million tournament I mentioned was important in that out of every $1 Million, 11.11 percent was taken out for One Drop. A total of 48 players entered the event which meant that over $5.3 Million was raised for this wonderful organization. Several players also pledged a portion of their winnings to One Drop.


In addition, the company spent a lot of time and effort in educating players not just in the event but also at the WSOP about their cause. From what little research I have done since hearing about this event, I have discovered just how generous that poker players are and have learned that they are not as ego-driven and money-obsessed as I once thought.


When ESPN plays the final table for this event, I will be among those watching. It will not be to pick up any casino strategy or to obsess over the money being thrown around, but rather I will be watching to support a event that will ultimate impact countless lives.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Pig Tales - The Adventures of Two Talking Guinea Pigs

Part 1 - Adventures in Real Estate....in which darstardly guinea pigs Peanut and Marshmallow have a ding dong about which house they want to get their mitts on




They were rather less chuffed with the garden:




This post is part of the Digital Parents Blog Carnival:

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