Mark Paul's Blog
February 13, 2025
Author Success Story: Self-Published Memoir Sells 60,000 Copies and Gets Optioned for Film
October 25, 2023
Letter To The Editor: Racing In Crisis – Thoughts From A Passionate Fan
by Letter to the Editor |10.05.2023| 4:16pm
by Mark Paul
Letter To The Editor: Racing In Crisis – Thoughts From A Passionate Fan
I have been obsessed with horse racing for decades. Racing combines beauty, adventure, triumph, and (occasionally) the sophistication of a Hollywood movie. Throw in the excitement of gambling and “You had me at hello.”
I have bred my own horses, have invested in 30 horse racing partnerships (don’t tell my wife), and have written The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told – the best-selling horse racing book since Seabiscuit. In short: I’m all in.
I believe horse racing is the greatest game in the world, and I am desperately fighting to remain engaged in the sport I love. It is from this desperation, written solely as a racing fan and horse player, that I write this letter. I have listed my issues with horse racing’s current realities while acknowledging I don’t have many solutions. Perhaps my next “Letter to the Editor” will include a few of my ‘half-baked’ ideas of controversial fixes for racing’s demons.
When simulcasting was first introduced in the late 1980s I thought it the greatest invention since vodka. I could go to my local track, or stay home, while watching and gambling on live racing at the nation’s greatest tracks. When other fans complained that onsite attendance was dwindling, I told them, “The track is still open in person. It’s just not as crowded.” In retrospect I believe that simulcasting is simultaneously the best thing that ever happened to racing (it would be extinct without it) and the worst thing that ever happened to our sport.
Technology is transformative. The concept that I can download my Daily Racing Form “Formulator” past performances, watch and wager on top stakes races daily, all from the convenience of my home office, is incredibly convenient. My wife says she likes me at home—but I have my doubts. Unfortunately, being a solo racing fan is like gambling in solitary confinement.
No one likes to eat at an empty restaurant. Walking through the nearly empty, cavernous Santa Anita stands—on all but a few big Saturdays—is depressing to me. I loved buying horses in public partnerships, sharing with fellow owners in celebrating our wins, and convening in the bar after our numerous defeats. I enjoy bringing my wife and friends to the races, especially the excitement new attendees show when seeing a powerful, sleek, stunningly beautiful thoroughbred up close enough to touch, in the paddock, barn, or winner’s circle. Now the track usually resembles that empty restaurant and when I ask friends to join me for a day at the races, they mention the racing deaths they read about, while looking at me like I’m an axe murderer.
My personal opinions of racing’s future:
Legal sports gambling will not save horse racing, but instead will be a fierce competitor. Why will gamblers pay takeout of 16 percent on a win bet (21 percent blended racing takeout rate on exactas, trifectas) on horse racing, but only pay 5 percent vigorish on a sports team bet (8.6 percent on a two-team parlay).Simulcasting will not create racing fans. If it did where are they?CAWs (computer assisted wagering groups) are driving out serious horse players like me! I don’t mind competition. Hell, I don’t even mind losing—but give me a fair shot. Let me get this right: I am supposed to pay takeout of 21 percent, and compete against a computer with better data and the knowledge of pools that I am not allowed to access, and then the CAWs are getting a rebate of 10 percent for consideration of their huge bets? And the CAW site is owned by the racetrack? I think I’ll grab a beer, pay $5 takeout on a $100 dollar football bet, and call it an afternoon.Continue with all the great recent improvements for horse safety. Racing fans and owners love our horses. The fatalities numbers are way down. Bravo. Keep it up and add new technology like scans, etc. to get even better. But don’t try to appease PETA and don’t give unrealistic horse safety expectations to the public. What would happen if we took all the racehorses and let them go free in the wild? Do everything reasonable to make racing as safe as possible—but is it better to not breed horses at all, or to lose less than a small fraction of 1 percent while racing?Having played Hollywood Park and Santa Anita synthetic racetracks for a decade, I personally will not watch racing on synthetic surfaces. It is not just racing I enjoy wagering on or watching; if running on a track made of oatmeal is safer than dirt, then as they say on Shark Tank: “I’m out.”Racinos and slot machines will not save racing. Eventually economic reality will lead to the elimination of these subsidies and racing’s umbilical cord will be cut.Racing is funded by gambling dollars and well-bankrolled horse players who do not want to view or wager on small five- and six-horse fields. The number of thoroughbreds bred has been reduced nearly 60 percent from a few decades ago. I believe that racing is headed the way of a few big “super tracks” racing year-round, plus the summer “spa” meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar, and the spring and fall Keeneland meets. I am sympathetic to those hard-working backstretch workers at small and mid-level tracks, but I don’t see a future there. Respected podcaster Chuck Simon tells me that big tracks cannot exist without smaller satellite tracks feeding into them. How does Sha Tin racetrack in Hong Kong continue to thrive with huge fields and huge wagering pools?I attended horseplayer heaven at both Saratoga and Del Mar this summer, loving the energy of packed stands, the roar of the crowd, and full fields to lose my money on. I left hopeful, re-energized, and headed straight to the ATM. I don’t regret a single day I have spent at the racetrack.
How do I reconcile my adoration for this game with the realities of today’s racetrack experience?
My personal solution may unfortunately be to attend and simulcast only on racing’s few big Saturdays per year.The only experience that rivals cheering home your own winning horse is watching your children compete at sports and I enjoyed that gift when my family was young. I love being as close to the game as possible, yet I have decided there is no reason to own additional horses to race in front of empty stands.Several days this coming this year I will put on a sports coat and invite my wife to take out her “track hat” for a big-stakes day at the races. I will spend three hours of excited anticipation handicapping full fields of magnificent horses and will push my bankroll through the windows with happy abandon—all to enjoy the greatest game in the world.
Mark Paul – Beverly Hills, Calif.
Author of “The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told”
The post Letter To The Editor: Racing In Crisis – Thoughts From A Passionate Fan appeared first on Mark Paul.
March 27, 2023
Have You Ever Thought Of Writing A Book?
Dear Friends,
Have you ever thought of writing a book? …My personal experience three years later…. & The release of my NPR Podcast!
I took the leap three years ago when I published my true story: “The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told – A True Tale of Three Gamblers, The Kentucky Derby, and The Mexican Cartel”
Book Trailer: (57 seconds – 400,000 Downloads)
How do I feel about the authorship experience three years later and what lessons have I learned?The writing and recreating of the adventure I experienced at age 32 was a joy! Each morning at 6 A.M. for five months I started throwing myself into the creative process. After spending 60 years focused on my career and raising a family – doing something imaginative, creative, and new was a life altering moment for me.The research for a non- fiction book was tedious, as was learning how to properly write dialogue, and use adjectives properly.The hardest part was, and still is, taking criticism and reading poor reviews. I learned it is far easier to be a critic than to be a writer.I would recommend it – if you enjoy the writing process and won’t judge your book’s success on how it changes your readers – but rather on how it changes you, the author.More articles on my writing experience, book information and photo gallery can be found on my author web site blog pages: https://markpaulauthor.com/Other advice on writing?Hire professionals! You will need a professional editor, a professional publishing company (likely paid by you), and a professional graphic artist for your book cover.The single most important necessity is someone to be your early reader(s) as you write. These people will have to be supportive, and honest at the same time. I was lucky to have my wife, Renee, who read countless hours of countless versions of each chapter while giving me the hard-edged advice I desperately needed to improve the work, all wrapped in loving support and encouragement (apparently my understanding of female characters was limited).When I published my book, my goal was not to embarrass myself, and sell 1,000 copies. In three years the book has now sold 45,000 copies (top 1% of all self- published books) and reached #1 in 10 Amazon Book Categories.
This week was especially memorable when my story was featured on the top national NPR Podcast Snap Judgement with an average of 3-5 million listeners per show. The show has a fantastic soundtrack and special audio effects including live segments from the 1988 Kentucky Derby.
The podcast is free to listeners and can be found everywhere: “She’s stunning grey, sleek as a race car, and stronger than all the boys. Her name is Winning Colors and for Dino and Miami she’s the long shot of a lifetime.” – NPR
Links to NPR “Winning Colors” Podcasts (49 minutes)Streaming on NPRYouTubeSpotify PodcastsApple PodcastsTwitterFacebookLastly – a producer is writing a movie script based on the book – stay tuned!
Your friend,
Mark Paul
Author
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
Mark Paul Author/ Web Site
The post Have You Ever Thought Of Writing A Book? appeared first on Mark Paul.
November 9, 2020
First Time Author Sells 21,000 Books in Ten Months
Racehorses are born knowing how to run. But, unlike Seabiscuit on the track, I had no idea what I was doing when I first decided to write a book.
Thirty years ago, I had experienced a true-life, frightening, adventure involving both a Mexican drug cartel and the Kentucky Derby. I was dying to share my story with an audience and had always planned to write a book. When I finally sat down at my computer to write the story…I was compelled to get to the finish line with a winning manuscript.
My memories of the adventure needed a refresh, and I knew I’d have to do other research about the 1988 Kentucky Derby. In developing the story about a billionaire owner of an NFL football team, a famous racehorse trainer, and one of the richest men in Mexico who was suspected of being a cartel leader, I knew if I got the facts wrong, I could be sued—or worse. I spent three months doing research.
At first, I chose to write as a first-person narrator. After all, it was my story. It didn’t work, and I tore up my first draft. I started writing again, using third-person point of view, and was delighted to feel freer; I got myself out of the way. I studied the genre of creative non-fiction and knew it would work. For inspiration, I watched every gambling movie ever made and hated them all because each had a depressing ending. My book had to be fun; I wanted to recreate the colorful gamblers and other deranged characters I’d met during the adventure!
Thirty years ago, I had experienced a true-life, frightening, adventure involving both a Mexican drug cartel and the Kentucky Derby. I was dying to share my story with an audience and had always planned to write a book.
What a joyous five months I spent writing the first draft! Bouncing out of bed at 5:30 am, seven days per week to write in the quiet of the dawn, I was giddy, happy, and joyful to be doing something creative after decades of working in real estate. I was doing something new! I was so enthusiastic I wanted my friends to read the story! Who was the first reader? My wife, of course. From her I learned my female characters needed rewrites to depict their real-life personalities in more powerful ways. So, I rewrote, again, and again. Through her wisdom, I got the book out of my man cave and into the light of day. I spent days writing the characters and dialog for the women of my story and shared them with her (to bask in the brilliance I had created). She still told me that my female characters remained one-dimensional, especially the leading female, Ava, who was a smart and feisty character in true life. I rewrote, again, and again.
The next readers were my golf buddies. They liked it! Except they told me I could not punctuate and apparently had never seen a comma before. I rewrote, again, and again.
I live in Los Angeles—where movie people are like mosquitos in Minnesota. I gave the book to a friend who is a prominent movie agent and producer. He actually read it! He asked if he could share it with professional script readers but warned that they would be brutal with their candor and advice. (OK, it was not really advice; more like aggressive, blunt trauma criticism).
One month later, I received their verdict: the manuscript is tragically flawed. It had a pulse but should be destroyed to avoid damage to the reading public. The producer was kind, however, and met with me for an hour to discuss the fact that I did have a great story…told from the wrong perspective. I had written a good story about gamblers. If I wanted a book that only appealed to gamblers, I had done a decent job. I could sell 200 books and get back to my day job. But, if I wanted a book and perhaps a movie that everyone would want to read, the story had to be about the real heroine: the spectacular female racehorse, Winning Colors. She’d proven herself in a world championship against the male colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby! He advised me to “make her the Sun that all the gamblers, and trainers, and Mexican cartel members orbited around.” If I could write that story, men and women readers all over the world would be excited to read my book! Oh, and the professional script readers also told me the women characters in my book were still poorly written. I rewrote, again, and again.
Three months later, I made the wise decision to hire a professional editor. I was introduced to Mary Holden by another new author and sent the manuscript to her. She loved the story and was enthusiastic even as she gently told me how my writing needed to become more professional and showed me the way to become a better writer. I rewrote, again, and again.
If I wanted a book that everyone would want to read, the story had to be about the real heroine: the spectacular female racehorse, Winning Colors. She’d proven herself in a world championship against the male colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby!
Now I had an edited first draft. What to do next? I had no idea. I asked a real estate marketing expert to prepare a draft book cover. I had some great photos of the 1988 Kentucky Derby, of Winning Colors, and the newspaper stories about the cartel murders. I took the manuscript to Kinko’s and printed 25 copies, with color photos. I passed them out to more readers. Another good friend who loved the story shared it with a successful Hollywood cinematographer who gave it to a well-known producer. They loved my emotional story, felt my characters had a lot of heart, immediately optioning it for a movie.
Now that I had a finished, well-edited, revised manuscript in final draft, I needed a publisher. The book was sent to 40 publishers, of which 30 ignored it, eight declined it, two read it, and of those two, one said it needed to be rewritten “to be more literary.”
I decided to gamble and self-publish. I found Stephanie Chandler and Authority Publishing. I bought Chandler’s book, The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing. I liked her professionalism and I hired her. She was the ultimate pro and knew how to do everything for publishing the eBook, paperback, and hardcover, and improving the book cover and book title. She also directed me to Findaway Voices to create an audiobook and sent me to www.authorbytes.com to create the book’s website: https://markpaulauthor.com
The creation of a book video trailer for The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told turned out to be a positive idea. I now had 57 seconds of video to share and market on Facebook, Twitter, my website, and other social media venues. I have had over 300,000 downloads.
In late January 2020, the book appeared on amazon.com. Only two books sold on the first day. Then I researched Amazon’s “Keywords” by studying YouTube videos for hours. I bought some ads for the book on Amazon. I spent 30 hours the first week learning the system, and 20 hours every week for the next two months refining those ads.
Selling this book was my new goal, but I had no idea if I would be successful. My hope was to sell at least 1,000 books, but I feared seeing weak numbers. And I might have—had I not used the ads—because they worked. In the first month, January, 162 books were sold; 740 in February; 1,113 in March, 3,067 in April. By May 2020, an additional 4,920 books sold for a total of 10,000 in under five months.
Then suddenly in month six my sales crashed, as many of the marketing things I was doing, just stopped working. My Amazon ads ceased their effectiveness, so I re-wrote them, adding the new reviews I had obtained from the LA Times and other well know publications and persons. Still my Amazon ad word sales were now only generating 20% as many sales as in the first six months. I still do not know why. However, the other marketing efforts I had started began to ramp up. I ran video ads using my Book Trailer on YouTube, and this worked. I had my media person run Google display, and video ads on Facebook. I ran ads on horse racing web sites, and ads on Twitter. I reached out to podcasters and was featured on six podcasts shows that I posted on my author web site. And I just kept selling books! I sold another 11,000 books in the next five months.
Last month the Hollywood producers sent me the script treatment and visual storyboard. I opened it up with trepidation. What would they do with my manuscript? It was an out of body experience first viewing how Hollywood would reenact my life story. They amped up the action, love scenes, and frightenedly recreated Mexican Cartel executions. I loved it!
Here are nine things I learned during my two-year writing and publishing journey:
Write a book for passion, not money. Writing is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. To unleash your creativity is to discover new things about yourself.
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told has sold over 21,000 books in less than ten months.
Writing and publishing is an expensive hobby. The book is now profitable, because I was fortunate to sell a lot of books after a big cash up-front outlay.Hire professionals! You need pros to design your book cover and interior, to edit, release, and to encourage you every step along the way.You must have great graphics for the book’s cover and a unique, compelling title.Ask friends if they are willing to beta read and critique your book as it goes from edit to edit. You cannot do this in a vacuum. You need feedback from smart, engaged, and honest readers.Market, advertise, and promote your book every day!Have a good story and great characters. Be a vivacious storyteller and have a payoff for the readers in the end.Do not be afraid to self-publish or hire a paid publisher. I succeeded because I had the freedom to aggressively promote the book myself. And, I love controlling my own content and making my own marketing decisions.Commit fully. You must tell everyone you have a great book and you are going to be a successful author. If you do not believe it, why will they?I am working to find other creative ways to inspire people to read The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told because it is so much more than just a few days at the races!
Mark Paul – Author – The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
The post First Time Author Sells 21,000 Books in Ten Months appeared first on Mark Paul.
First Time Author Sells 21,000 in Ten Months
Racehorses are born knowing how to run. But, unlike Seabiscuit on the track, I had no idea what I was doing when I first decided to write a book.
Thirty years ago, I had experienced a true-life, frightening, adventure involving both a Mexican drug cartel and the Kentucky Derby. I was dying to share my story with an audience and had always planned to write a book. When I finally sat down at my computer to write the story…I was compelled to get to the finish line with a winning manuscript.
My memories of the adventure needed a refresh, and I knew I’d have to do other research about the 1988 Kentucky Derby. In developing the story about a billionaire owner of an NFL football team, a famous racehorse trainer, and one of the richest men in Mexico who was suspected of being a cartel leader, I knew if I got the facts wrong, I could be sued—or worse. I spent three months doing research.
At first, I chose to write as a first-person narrator. After all, it was my story. It didn’t work, and I tore up my first draft. I started writing again, using third-person point of view, and was delighted to feel freer; I got myself out of the way. I studied the genre of creative non-fiction and knew it would work. For inspiration, I watched every gambling movie ever made and hated them all because each had a depressing ending. My book had to be fun; I wanted to recreate the colorful gamblers and other deranged characters I’d met during the adventure!
Thirty years ago, I had experienced a true-life, frightening, adventure involving both a Mexican drug cartel and the Kentucky Derby. I was dying to share my story with an audience and had always planned to write a book.
What a joyous five months I spent writing the first draft! Bouncing out of bed at 5:30 am, seven days per week to write in the quiet of the dawn, I was giddy, happy, and joyful to be doing something creative after decades of working in real estate. I was doing something new! I was so enthusiastic I wanted my friends to read the story! Who was the first reader? My wife, of course. From her I learned my female characters needed rewrites to depict their real-life personalities in more powerful ways. So, I rewrote, again, and again. Through her wisdom, I got the book out of my man cave and into the light of day. I spent days writing the characters and dialog for the women of my story and shared them with her (to bask in the brilliance I had created). She still told me that my female characters remained one-dimensional, especially the leading female, Ava, who was a smart and feisty character in true life. I rewrote, again, and again.
The next readers were my golf buddies. They liked it! Except they told me I could not punctuate and apparently had never seen a comma before. I rewrote, again, and again.
I live in Los Angeles—where movie people are like mosquitos in Minnesota. I gave the book to a friend who is a prominent movie agent and producer. He actually read it! He asked if he could share it with professional script readers but warned that they would be brutal with their candor and advice. (OK, it was not really advice; more like aggressive, blunt trauma criticism).
One month later, I received their verdict: the manuscript is tragically flawed. It had a pulse but should be destroyed to avoid damage to the reading public. The producer was kind, however, and met with me for an hour to discuss the fact that I did have a great story…told from the wrong perspective. I had written a good story about gamblers. If I wanted a book that only appealed to gamblers, I had done a decent job. I could sell 200 books and get back to my day job. But, if I wanted a book and perhaps a movie that everyone would want to read, the story had to be about the real heroine: the spectacular female racehorse, Winning Colors. She’d proven herself in a world championship against the male colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby! He advised me to “make her the Sun that all the gamblers, and trainers, and Mexican cartel members orbited around.” If I could write that story, men and women readers all over the world would be excited to read my book! Oh, and the professional script readers also told me the women characters in my book were still poorly written. I rewrote, again, and again.
Three months later, I made the wise decision to hire a professional editor. I was introduced to Mary Holden by another new author and sent the manuscript to her. She loved the story and was enthusiastic even as she gently told me how my writing needed to become more professional and showed me the way to become a better writer. I rewrote, again, and again.
If I wanted a book that everyone would want to read, the story had to be about the real heroine: the spectacular female racehorse, Winning Colors. She’d proven herself in a world championship against the male colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby!
Now I had an edited first draft. What to do next? I had no idea. I asked a real estate marketing expert to prepare a draft book cover. I had some great photos of the 1988 Kentucky Derby, of Winning Colors, and the newspaper stories about the cartel murders. I took the manuscript to Kinko’s and printed 25 copies, with color photos. I passed them out to more readers. Another good friend who loved the story shared it with a successful Hollywood cinematographer who gave it to a well-known producer. They loved my emotional story, felt my characters had a lot of heart, immediately optioning it for a movie.
Now that I had a finished, well-edited, revised manuscript in final draft, I needed a publisher. The book was sent to 40 publishers, of which 30 ignored it, eight declined it, two read it, and of those two, one said it needed to be rewritten “to be more literary.”
I decided to gamble and self-publish. I found Stephanie Chandler and Authority Publishing. I bought Chandler’s book, The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing. I liked her professionalism and I hired her. She was the ultimate pro and knew how to do everything for publishing the eBook, paperback, and hardcover, and improving the book cover and book title. She also directed me to Findaway Voices to create an audiobook and sent me to www.authorbytes.com to create the book’s website: https://markpaulauthor.com
The creation of a book video trailer for The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told turned out to be a positive idea. I now had 57 seconds of video to share and market on Facebook, Twitter, my website, and other social media venues. I have had over 300,000 downloads.
In late January 2020, the book appeared on amazon.com. Only two books sold on the first day. Then I researched Amazon’s “Keywords” by studying YouTube videos for hours. I bought some ads for the book on Amazon. I spent 30 hours the first week learning the system, and 20 hours every week for the next two months refining those ads.
Selling this book was my new goal, but I had no idea if I would be successful. My hope was to sell at least 1,000 books, but I feared seeing weak numbers. And I might have—had I not used the ads—because they worked. In the first month, January, 162 books were sold; 740 in February; 1,113 in March, 3,067 in April. By May 2020, an additional 4,920 books sold for a total of 10,000 in under five months.
Then suddenly in month six my sales crashed, as many of the marketing things I was doing, just stopped working. My Amazon ads ceased their effectiveness, so I re-wrote them, adding the new reviews I had obtained from the LA Times and other well know publications and persons. Still my Amazon ad word sales were now only generating 20% as many sales as in the first six months. I still do not know why. However, the other marketing efforts I had started began to ramp up. I ran video ads using my Book Trailer on YouTube, and this worked. I had my media person run Google display, and video ads on Facebook. I ran ads on horse racing web sites, and ads on Twitter. I reached out to podcasters and was featured on six podcasts shows that I posted on my author web site. And I just kept selling books! I sold another 11,000 books in the next five months.
Last month the Hollywood producers sent me the script treatment and visual storyboard. I opened it up with trepidation. What would they do with my manuscript? It was an out of body experience first viewing how Hollywood would reenact my life story. They amped up the action, love scenes, and frightenedly recreated Mexican Cartel executions. I loved it!
Here are nine things I learned during my two-year writing and publishing journey:
Write a book for passion, not money. Writing is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. To unleash your creativity is to discover new things about yourself.
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told has sold over 21,000 books in less than ten months.
Writing and publishing is an expensive hobby. The book is now profitable, because I was fortunate to sell a lot of books after a big cash up-front outlay.
Hire professionals! You need pros to design your book cover and interior, to edit, release, and to encourage you every step along the way.
You must have great graphics for the book’s cover and a unique, compelling title.
Ask friends if they are willing to beta read and critique your book as it goes from edit to edit. You cannot do this in a vacuum. You need feedback from smart, engaged, and honest readers.
Market, advertise, and promote your book every day!
Have a good story and great characters. Be a vivacious storyteller and have a payoff for the readers in the end.
Do not be afraid to self-publish or hire a paid publisher. I succeeded because I had the freedom to aggressively promote the book myself. And, I love controlling my own content and making my own marketing decisions.
Commit fully. You must tell everyone you have a great book and you are going to be a successful author. If you do not believe it, why will they?
I am working to find other creative ways to inspire people to read The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told because it is so much more than just a few days at the races!
Mark Paul – Author – The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
The post First Time Author Sells 21,000 in Ten Months appeared first on Mark Paul.
November 8, 2020
Tips To Selling Your Book
Commit fully. You must tell everyone you have a great book and you are going to be a successful author. If you do not believe it, why will they?
The post Tips To Selling Your Book appeared first on Mark Paul.
June 9, 2020
First Time Author Sells 10,000 Books in 120 Days
Racehorses are born knowing how to run. But, unlike Seabiscuit on the track, I had no idea what I was doing when I first decided to write a book.
Thirty years ago, I had experienced a true-life, frightening, adventure involving both a Mexican drug cartel and the Kentucky Derby. I was dying to share my story with an audience and had always planned to write a book. When I finally sat down at my computer to write the story…I was compelled to get to the finish line with a winning manuscript.
My memories of the adventure needed a refresh, and I knew I’d have to do other research about the 1988 Kentucky Derby. In developing the story about a billionaire owner of an NFL football team, a famous racehorse trainer, and one of the richest men in Mexico who was suspected of being a cartel leader, I knew if I got the facts wrong, I could be sued—or worse. I spent three months doing research.
Thirty years ago, I had experienced a true-life, frightening, adventure involving both a Mexican drug cartel and the Kentucky Derby. I was dying to share my story with an audience and had always planned to write a book.
At first, I chose to write as a first-person narrator. After all, it was my story. It didn’t work, and I tore up my first draft. I started writing again, using third-person point of view, and was delighted to feel freer; I got myself out of the way. I studied the genre of creative non-fiction and knew it would work. For inspiration, I watched every gambling movie ever made and hated them all because each had a depressing ending. My book had to be fun; I wanted to recreate the colorful gamblers and other deranged characters I’d met during the adventure!
What a joyous five months I spent writing the first draft! Bouncing out of bed at 5:30 am, seven days per week to write in the quiet of the dawn, I was giddy, happy, and joyful to be doing something creative after decades of working in real estate. I was doing something new! I was so enthusiastic I wanted my friends to read the story! Who was the first reader? My wife, of course. From her I learned my female characters needed rewrites to depict their real-life personalities in more powerful ways. So, I rewrote, again, and again.
My wife was key during the rewrite. Through her wisdom, I got the book out of my man cave and into the light of day. I spent days writing the characters and dialog for the women of my story and shared them with her (to bask in the brilliance I had created). She still told me that my female characters remained one-dimensional, especially the leading female, Ava, who was a smart and feisty character in true life. I rewrote, again, and again.
The next readers were my golf buddies. They liked it! Except they told me I could not punctuate and apparently had never seen a comma before. I rewrote, again, and again.
I live in Los Angeles—where movie people are like mosquitos in Minnesota. I gave the book to a friend who is a big-time movie agent and producer. He actually read it! He asked if he could share it with professional script readers but warned that they would be brutal with their candor and advice. (OK, it was not really advice; more like aggressive, blunt trauma criticism).
One month later, I received their verdict: the manuscript is tragically flawed. It had a pulse but should be destroyed to avoid damage to the reading public. The producer was kind, however, and met with me for an hour to discuss the fact that I did have a great story…told from the wrong perspective. I had written a good story about gamblers. If I wanted a book that only appealed to gamblers, I had done a decent job. I could sell 600 books and get back to my day job. But, if I wanted a book and perhaps a movie that everyone would want to read, the story had to be about the real heroine: the spectacular female racehorse, Winning Colors. She’d proven herself in a world championship against the male colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby! He advised me to “make her the Sun that all the gamblers, and trainers, and Mexican cartel members orbited around.” If I could write that story, men and women readers all over the world would be excited to read my book! Oh, and the professional script readers also told me the women characters in my book were poorly written. I rewrote, again, and again.
If I wanted a book that everyone would want to read, the story had to be about the real heroine: the spectacular female racehorse, Winning Colors. She’d proven herself in a world championship against the male colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby!
Three months later, I made the wise decision to hire a professional editor. I was introduced to Mary Holden by another new author and sent the manuscript to her. She loved the story and was enthusiastic even as she gently told me how my writing needed to become more professional and showed me the way to become a better writer. I rewrote, again, and again.
Now I had an edited first draft. What to do next? I had no idea. I asked a real estate marketing expert to prepare a draft book cover. I had some great photos of the 1988 Kentucky Derby, of Winning Colors, and the newspaper stories about the cartel murders. I took the manuscript to Kinko’s and printed 20 copies, with color photos. I passed them out to more readers. Another good friend who loved the story shared it with a successful Hollywood cinematographer who gave it to a well-known producer. They optioned it for a movie or TV series.
Now that I had a finished, well-edited, revised manuscript in final draft, I needed a publisher. The book was sent to 40 publishers, of which 30 ignored it, eight declined it, two read it, and of those two, one said it needed to be rewritten “to be more literary.”
I decided to gamble and self-publish. I found Stephanie Chandler and Authority Publishing. I bought Chandler’s book, The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing. I liked her professionalism and I hired her. She was the ultimate pro and knew how to do everything for publishing the eBook, paperback, and hardcover, and improving the book cover and book title. She also directed me to Findaway Voices to create an audiobook. I then hired narrator Will Damron, winner of Best 2018 Audible.com Nonfiction Audiobook of the Year. Stephanie also sent me to www.authorbytes.com create the book’s website.
The creation of a video trailer for The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told turned out to be a positive idea. I now had 47 seconds of video to share and market on Facebook, Twitter, the website, and other social media venues. I have had over 100,000 downloads
In January 2020, the book appeared on amazon.com. Two books sold on the first day (thanks, mom!). Then I researched Amazon’s “Keywords” by studying YouTube videos for hours. I bought some ads for the book on Amazon. I spent 30 hours the first week learning the system, and 20 hours every week for the next two months refining those ads. That’s why I value this quotation: “I didn’t think; I experimented.” ~ Anthony Burgess
Selling this book was my goal, but I had no idea if I would be successful. My hope was to sell at least 1,000 books, but I feared seeing weak numbers. And I might have—had I not used the ads—because they worked. In the first month, January, 162 books were sold; 740 in February; 1,113 in March, 3,067 in April. By May 2020, an additional 4,920 books sold for a total of 10,000 in under five months.
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told has sold over 10,000 books in less than five months.
Being a self-published author, I also keep refining my “Book Details” and “Editorial Reviews” on Amazon Central, as there are ways to use HTML and other techniques to improve the presentation of a book on Amazon. For instance, an author can have 10 categories for both eBook and print books (and this is important). I have now purchased ads on several horseracing sites, and on Facebook and Twitter.
Here are nine things I learned during my two-year publishing journey:
Write a book for passion, not money. Writing is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. To unleash your creativity is to discover new things about yourself.
Writing and publishing is an expensive hobby. The book is now profitable, because I was fortunate to sell a lot of books after a big cash up-front outlay.
Hire professionals! You need pros to design your book cover and interior, to edit, and to encourage you every step along the way. I succeeded as an author because of assistance from several professionals.
You must have great graphics for the book’s cover and a unique, compelling title.
Ask friends if they are willing to read and critique your book as it goes from edit to edit. You cannot do this in a vacuum. You need feedback from smart, engaged, and honest readers.
Market, advertise, and promote your book every day! If you are unwilling to do this, sell your manuscript to a major publishing house and let it do your marketing.
Have a good story and great characters. Be a vivacious storyteller.
Do not be afraid to self-publish or hire a paid publisher. I succeeded because I had the freedom to aggressively promote the book myself. And, I love controlling my own content and making my own marketing decisions.
Commit fully. You must tell everyone you have a great book and you are going to be a successful author. If you do not believe it, why will they?
What are my next steps? I believe I need media help to go to the next level. I am now marketing to podcasters, radio shows, sports, and true crime journalists. And, I am working to find other creative ways to inspire people to read The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told because it’s so much more than just a few days at the races!
Mark Paul – Author – The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
The post First Time Author Sells 10,000 Books in 120 Days appeared first on Mark Paul.
November 27, 2019
IS GAMBLING A BAD THING?
Why is it investing in the stock market, but it’s gambling when making a wager on a sports team? Is the stock market an institution of social morality while a racetrack is a hotbed of moral corruption? Racetrack workers and stockbrokers have one thing in common—they get to work early. Beyond that I would trust grooms and jockeys with my money more than bond and options traders.
Perhaps gambling’s bad rap is rooted in the fact that in the past most sports betting was transacted illegally with a bookie. Only in Las Vegas could you wager on sports legally, yet billions were bet every year with bookmakers. The stories of bookmakers threatening violence for nonpayment of gambling debts was more fiction than fact, but no doubt added to the sinister perception of gambling in general. That is all changed now, as in May 2018 the Supreme Court ruled to allow state-legalized sports betting. If your state doesn’t yet allow sports betting legally, it will soon. The man next to you on his cell phone is as likely to be betting on sports as he is to be checking his stock prices.
Will gambling still be perceived as without virtue—even if it is a legal enterprise? I believe that sports wagering is about to explode in popularity with the new legal online sports betting options soon to be offered. Sports bars will become hugely more popular, and may one day have gambling kiosks available. The major professional sports leagues are vying to charge fees for putting on the games. Your children may one day work for the NBA—in its gambling division. ESPN debuted their show “The Daily Wager” this year, featuring gambling content, as did FOX with “Lock It In.” Colleges will likely soon be offering many degrees in gambling industry professions.
I believe the horse track, Las Vegas casinos, and other venues for gambling, are not intrinsically immoral—any more than drinking alcohol is inherently bad. People go to a two-day Las Vegas getaway, lose their allocated $500 bankroll, and then go back to being a teacher, realtor, or accountant on Monday morning. In the same way, most people can drink a couple of beers or glasses of wine at happy hour, and report to work the next day without any issues. For about five percent of the population, moderation is impossible and they drink or gamble to excess. Yet, there’s a perception that if you like to hang out at the horse track and take chances on a bet or two, you’re seen as a social deviant. Some people talk about baseball’s Wrigley Field like it was a shrine or a museum, but they think of racetracks as one step above brothels. Wagering soon will be legal at both.
The world is changing…and soon the perception of legalized gambling will be much improved. Please don’t tell my wife I wrote this.
Mark Paul – Author
“The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told”
—-
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told is an inspiring personal narrative about a filly in the male-dominated world of horse racing and inspired crowds of men and women alike, along with a trio of gamblers who embark on an unforgettable adventure that’s as epic as the historic victory of Winning Colors. It’s Seabiscuit meets Narcos, and the best true-life gambling story ever told.
When the gamblers unknowingly place their longshot bet with members of a suspected drug cartel at a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico, they must figure out how to claim their prize—without getting killed in the process.
—–
Mark Paul lives for action and adventure at locations where gambling occurs. Mark made a 5,000-mile journey in a sailboat through the Panama Canal and then on to the island of Jamaica, to attend Caribbean and South American horse races. He completed these gambling junkets alone, via bus, to gamble at the local thoroughbred racetracks. He was a participant in a $1 million win on the 1988 Kentucky Derby with two other gamblers through a bet placed in Tijuana, Mexico. He has owned interests in 34 racehorses. Mark has enjoyed a long commercial real estate career. With his wife, Renee, Mark raised over $750,000 for City of Hope cancer research through their events held at the Santa Anita racetrack.
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The Best Bet in Gambling
The Best Bet in Gambling:
Having been fortunate to hit a couple of game-changing horse racing and sports betting scores in my lifetime—I am always asked “What is the best way to bet?”
It is an easy answer for me. Bet a “Future” bet on a top contending sports team. Futures wagering allows a gambler to bet on the possible future winner of a sports championship. You can bet on the “division” winner of a conference—e.g., the Pittsburg Steelers to win the AFC West over the other three teams in that division. Or you can bet on the conference winner—e.g., the Baltimore Ravens to win the AFC. Or you can bet on a team to win the Super Bowl.
You can often bet up to six months in advance. Why can this be a good bet? Because you will have live “action” for those months. You will have a rooting interest in a top team to cheer, and you won’t have to lay “points” on an individual game. Some team is going to win each Division, Conference, and the Super Bowl and each year there are probably only two to eight teams that have a legitimate chance at the start of the season to go all the way and win the Super Bowl. The odds can be generous. For example, the New England Patriots were 6-1 or higher at most sports books before their first game was played last year. At 6-1 you have to win one year out of seven to break even. For one small bet you may have 16 to 20 NFL games with action (including playoff rounds and the finals), in the NBA 82 to 100 games, and in MLB 162 to 180 games!
Most sports fans want immediate action. Most “gamblers” want it faster than that. Futures bets go against the grain of most gamblers. That is likely a good thing, as most sports gamblers are net losers at season’s end. I frequently watch top horse racing gamblers wait for hours—just looking for the one race they like to come up, and then they will bet aggressively when the horse they like is offered at fair odds. But a gambler is often more attracted to the blackjack table in a casino, where he will have action every minute or two.
Betting on any game is a pretty good value at a sports book. The book will provide you with a seat and perhaps a free drink or two. They will take the risk of making the betting points line, and if they screw up, the big players will hammer them with tens of thousands of dollars. And what does this bet cost you? Five percent (ten percent on losing bets and zero percent on winning bets). Sports betting is the best value in all of gambling.
Let’s say you bet $50 on all 16 games on any given Sunday. $800 wagered at 5% commission = $40 in “vigorish” to the house. That’s a lot of gambling action for $40 ! If you simply flat bet your selections and don’t get involved with teasers and parlays that cost for more juice (betting commission) to the sports book, you will be hard pressed to ever get killed financially. For those who are math proficient it will take a win % of only 52.38% to break even with the vigorish. The problem that most bettors suffer are the problems they create for themselves:
The Top Four Mistakes Sports Gamblers Make:
Playing Teasers and Parlays
The odds that you will pick two games correctly is 3-to-1, but a two-team parlay typically only pays 2.6-to-1 (13.33% vigorish).
Playing too many favorites and laying too many points
Fans tend to bet the leading teams with the known star players. The odds makers know this and often make the favored teams undervalued in odds.
Not flat betting (betting the same equal amount on each wager). Are you sure your best bets are actually more profitable than your smaller action bets? Show me your records—or don’t do it. Flat betting makes you be honest with yourself. If you keep having to put more money into your account (beyond the 5% vigorish you expect to lose) then you are either a bad handicapper, you are betting the wrong and more expensive vigorish bets, or you have bad money management. The latter is typically the worst sin. Bad gamblers chase their losses with bigger bets, or press their later evening bets for no good reason. Never increase your wagers when losing!
If you are losing consistently, start to make your flat bets smaller and smaller in denomination until you start consistently showing weekly or monthly profits.
Sports wagering is a fun and exciting way to enjoy watching a game. And if you bet with the above recommendations in mind, you will not pay a high price in losing bets for that entertainment.
Mark Paul – Author
“The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told”
—-
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told is an inspiring personal narrative about a filly in the male-dominated world of horse racing and inspired crowds of men and women alike, along with a trio of gamblers who embark on an unforgettable adventure that’s as epic as the historic victory of Winning Colors. It’s Seabiscuit meets Narcos, and the best true-life gambling story ever told.
When the gamblers unknowingly place their longshot bet with members of a suspected drug cartel at a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico, they must figure out how to claim their prize—without getting killed in the process.
—–
Mark Paul lives for action and adventure at locations where gambling occurs. He began his gambling career by sneaking into Hollywood Park and Santa Anita at age 16. Mark made a 5,000-mile journey in a sailboat through the Panama Canal and then on to the island of Jamaica, to attend Caribbean and South American horse races. He completed these gambling junkets alone, via bus, to gamble at the local thoroughbred racetracks. He was a participant in a $1 million win on the 1988 Kentucky Derby with two other gamblers through a bet placed in Tijuana, Mexico. He has owned interests in 34 racehorses. Mark has enjoyed a long commercial real estate career. With his wife, Renee, Mark raised over $750,000 for City of Hope cancer research through their events held at the Santa Anita racetrack.
The post The Best Bet in Gambling appeared first on Mark Paul.
November 17, 2019
The Future of Horse Racing – Part 3 Problem: Racing Deaths at Santa Anita
Most horse racing fans are hooked the first moment they watch a race. Perhaps it’s a gene one has or doesn’t have. I first attended the races at age 14 and it remains one of the greatest days of my life. Not because I won—I didn’t experience a winning day until several gambling junkets later—but it opened a window of great joy, excitement, and entertainment that has lasted a lifetime. I don’t regret one day I have spent at the track.
Horse racing is a game played outside, in magnificent track venues—so unlike sitting in a windowless casino looking at blackjack hands or at a poker table with seven other irritable, poorly dressed men. At the track, a blur of colored silks flies by aboard the most gorgeous creatures at 40 mile per hour! And your money is riding on one of them.
Horse racing is hurting today. Not simply because of the spate of equine deaths at Santa Anita recently, but from technology that is changing the gambling industry. I just finished two days at the Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita. Attendance for the two days was 109,054 and total wagering was $154,000,000, an increase of 14% over last year at Churchill Downs, and the fourth consecutive year of increase. The event was a magnificent success—except that it will all be overshadowed by another horse death at the track, the 37th fatality since the current Santa Anita meeting began December 26, 2019.
According to the Equine Injury Database, total Santa Anita horse racing deaths in 2018 totaled 18 from 8,833 starts, and have averaged 20.6 since 2014 when the number of racing days increased to its current level after the closing of Hollywood Park in 2013. However, the total number of “fatalities” from racing and training—excluding illness—as reported by the California Horse Racing Board for the 12 months July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, was unchanged from 2019, at 37 deaths.
Most fans do not realize that Santa Anita has nearly 1,500 horses stabled and in training. Nearly all of these horses have a saddle and an exercise rider on them every day for at least a light workout of one to two miles. If 80% of them trained six months per year at Santa Anita, this adds up to more than 200,000 workouts annually! You simply cannot have 200,000 workouts and nearly 9,000 racing starts and not expect equine fatalities. If you had 1,500 horses living in open fields like wild mustangs, what would the fatality rate be from coyotes, weather, and other natural calamities? Would it be better for those 1,500 horses not to be born at all, than to suffer 37 deaths annually? We need to be humane and do all that can be done for our resplendent horses, and we can always do more, but there will be fatalities whenever thousands of thoroughbreds are training and racing.
I have been involved as a fan and an owner in the thoroughbred industry for more than 45 years. One thing I am certain of is that the humans involved love their horses. Being a thoroughbred owner is almost certainly a losing financial proposition for 95% of all horse owners. Horse owners and their trainers have a vested interest in keeping horses alive and healthy, in order to enjoy their activity in racing and to attempt to recoup their sizable investments. If a trainer has a racehorse die under their care, it’s a bad way to keep their respective owners happy and investing with them. The trainers and grooms endure long days for typically low-level pay, except for the handful of elite trainers. The horse racing industry supports tens of thousands of jobs. I do not believe state and local politicians will ultimately destroy an entire industry, especially as horse racing produces millions in annual state tax revenue. Racehorses run at high speed on ankles smaller than humans’ ankles, and there will always be injuries and, unfortunately, equine deaths.
Solutions to These Issues:
California tracks are continually improving their safety protocols. They have implemented real and specific improvements such as increased veterinarian scrutiny of all runners, stricter medication guidelines, and increased drug testing. The racetrack surfaces are closely tested for safety and have been made “deeper” to slow down the racing surface, providing more cushioning for the beautiful, swift animals skimming over the surfaces.
Many believe problems were exacerbated during the winter months when cold temperatures and large amounts of rain led to the Santa Anita track being constantly “sealed” into a hard pack condition similar to beach sand at the water line. I believe we should simply not race when the racetrack is “sloppy” from excessive rain—even though it is perhaps not unsafe. Why not err on the side of caution and present to racing’s critics that we are trying everything possible to insure horse safety?
A personal confession: I wrote this article originally stating that we should “invite” PETA and other animal rights protestors into the backstretch to view firsthand the love and care that racehorses are lavished with each day in the barns of racetracks. Then I read a fantastic article by Donna Brother in the 11/14/2019 edition of the Paulick Report 11.14.2019 . She educated me that PETA is not a reasonable organization that can be cooperated with. I researched PETA thereafter and learned that PETA is against all pet ownership of all animals, including dogs and cats, and should be “free of all human interaction”. They can not have such radical opinions changed. They do not want anyone to even ride a horse- yet alone race them. I then was further educated on this issue of animal rights protestors while listening to a fabulous podcast interview of retired racing executive Steven Christ, by Peter Fornatale Steven Crist Interview. I was persuaded that the protestors will not settle for anything less than the abolition of racing, and to engage them is to invite disaster; work to make racing safer yes- but to engage with them foolhardy.
We must educate the public, the legislators, and more importantly, the media, that racing is a humane sport and that we love our horses as an industry. Yes, we should invite these people into the racetrack, to witness the care given our beautiful, noble, and courageous animals. We must educate them that as with all domesticated animals, there will unfortunately be accidents, just as dogs run in front of cars, and cats are lost to disease and predators.
Make “Thoroughbred After Care” a top priority at every racetrack, and allocate a small percentage of every racing dollar to the guaranteed safe relocation and retirement of every racehorse.
Horse racing was held at the Olympic Games in 776 BC, and I believe racing will survive the current crisis at Santa Anita and other tracks. The industry may be investigated or possibly even temporarily suspended until it can convince regulators that all that can be done to protect the horse is being done. It may get contentious, but racing will continue to find ways to be safer for the horses and make other changes in order to weather the current challenges.
Mark Paul – Author
“The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told”
—-
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told is an inspiring personal narrative about a filly who broke through the male-dominated world of horse racing and inspired crowds of men and women alike, along with a trio of gamblers who embark on an unforgettable adventure that’s as epic as the historic victory of Winning Colors. It’s Seabiscuit meets Narcos, and the best true-life gambling story ever told.When the gamblers unknowingly place their longshot bet with members of a suspected drug cartel at a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico, they must figure out how to claim their prize – without getting killed in the process.
—–
Mark Paul lives for action and adventure at locations where gambling occurs. He began his gambling career by sneaking into Hollywood Park and Santa Anita at age 16. Mark made a 5,000-mile journey in a sailboat through the Panama Canal and then on to the island of Jamaica, to attend Caribbean and South American horse races. He completed these gambling junkets alone, via bus, to gamble at the local thoroughbred racetracks. He was a participant in a $1 million win on the 1988 Kentucky Derby with two other gamblers through a bet placed in Tijuana, Mexico. He has owned interests in 34 racehorses. Mark has enjoyed a long commercial real estate career. With his wife, Renee, Mark raised over $750,000 for City of Hope Cancer research through their events held at the Santa Anita racetrack.
The post The Future of Horse Racing – Part 3 Problem: Racing Deaths at Santa Anita appeared first on Mark Paul.
