Everett Peacock's Blog, page 21
August 14, 2011
Book 1 Review (The Life and Times of a Hawaiian Tiki Bar)
4.0 out of 5 stars Light and entertaining, August 14, 2011By Karen West - See all my reviewsThis review is from: The Parrot Talks in Chocolate (The Life and Times of a Hawaiian Tiki Bar #1) (Kindle Edition)I was enchanted with the Tiki bar and all the patrons, human and animal. We meet Tiwaka, the parrot that answers your questions when he eats his chocolate and who wouldn't love Ococ, the "backward dog. As far as the human patrons we met a official Tiki bar inspector, a elderly man who may or may not be a ghost and of course the story teller who runs the Tiki bar. The bar specially is a Coco Loco Moco in which the ingredients are added according to the answers given to questions during the preparation in order to personalize the drink.
This story was a perfect "take me away" from life, a place were I would love to live and experience the beautiful imaginary that was created by the author. A quick short book but long enough to keep you interested and wanting more.
If you crave a reader's paradise for the mind this book is the one for you to read.
Thank you Mr. Peacock, for the complimentary copy and a great story.Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
August 10, 2011
Happiness take effort
"Happiness takes effort. You have to make yourself available to happiness. That is probably the best definition of faith that I can come up with."— Everett Peacock (The Parrot Talks in Chocolate: The Life and Times of a Hawaiian TIKI Bar)
August 8, 2011
Quick Question
what are you doing right now that is keeping you from enjoying Maui? Seriously, what?
August 2, 2011
Short: My Life as a Fraction
"My Life as a Fraction"Fraction: "I tell you, it's hard being 9/2 (that's 9 over 2) because everyone is always trying to convert you. I mean, I don't want to be a Mixed Number, I want be myself. Some people even go so far as to call me 4 and one half!!! Can you imagine that? Once, when I was traveling in a foreign country some people pointed and told their children, "there goes a 4 point 5".
Interviewer: "But, don't you feel so, well, I don't know. I'm looking for the word, let me see, oh yes - complex?"
Fraction: "Hey, my parts may always be equal to the whole, but I always feel like I can be whatever I want."
Interviewer: "What? How could you be something other than an unsimplified complex fraction?"
Fraction: "Dude, DUDE, don't you see the cosmic beauty in it all? I can be 2 ¼ plus 2 ¼. Can you imagine that? I can be two equal parts!"
Interviewer: "Wow! That is quite amazing. It's like you're twins or something."
Fraction: "Oh yeah, baby! I can even be Triplets. That's right: 1 ½, plus 1 ½, plus another 1 ½. "
Interviewer: "I don't know how you do that! It's like you're smaller but there are more of you?"
Fraction: "Indeed! I can be many things. In fact, there is probably an INFINITE amount of combinations that I can take. I'm like a ShapeShifter."
Interviewer: "I get it now. You could even be 1 plus 2 plus 1 plus ½. Or, 3 plus 1 plus ¼ plus ¼. You sure are flexible!"
Fraction: "It's all about equality dude! You just need to put that equals sign, =, in between all my variations."
Interviewer: "So, that sounds pretty cool. You can be whatever you want, as long as it is equivalent?"
Fraction: "You got it! Anyone can be whatever they want, but they are always themself."
(written for a math class and copyright in 2009 by Everett Peacock)
August 1, 2011
Classify Your Book In a Sub-Genre
Amazon's Top 100 Lists. I always wondered HOW would I get my titles featured there? Featured...being on such a list would no doubt encourage sales and so my desire, and confusion, persisted. I was, and still do, monitor my Amazon Bestsellers Rank daily, generally watching my Kindle Store rank bounce around all over the place. Honestly, my sales on my best title are generally less than 10 per day. What to do? When your title is moving slowly how do you kickstart it?
As any Indie Writer will confess, marketing and exposure for a title that has garnered good reviews already is of utmost importance. Most products would beg for an advertising budget, but as an Indie, where your profit per sale is relatively low, paying 75cents a click on Google makes little sense, especially when only 2% of those clicks might convert to a sale. Making an Amazon Top 100 List though....that would be great! And FREE.
So, I started checking out the subcategories under Kindle eBooks > Fiction. There are dozens and I found that some titles in some genres were selling LESS than my title yet they made a Top 100 List. Naturally, my title might not fit into their genre, but there had to be one where it would. Something like Fiction >Literature >Genre Fiction >Amazing. Why wasn't my book showing up in any of those?
It was because I had inadvertently classified my own book as General Fiction in the KDP dashboard . That may be a good place for it, but it will never make one of Amazon's Top 100 lists.
For instance, this morning the title "The Parrot Talks in Chocolate" is a not too impressive #16,874 in the Kindle Store (a listing all books get) but is a more impressive #23 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Metaphysical. I also listed it in a category I liked, called "Visionary Fiction" where my title would fit around #6 if it gets into that list.
Of course, you must be honest about classifying your book. Don't put it in Romance > Dark Times > PreColumbian (which doesn't exist by the way) just to make it #1 if it is a story about Female Swim Coaches.
Enjoy! Marketing is more fun than you might think!
The Parrot Talks in Chocolate at 8 A.M. Hawaiian Standard Time August 1, 2011
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #16,874 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#23 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Metaphysical
July 24, 2011
Forget Writing For Contests, Publishers or School
The world has changed (this virtual laptop in the sand used to be an IBM Selectric typewriter).Back in the day....writers, or those that wanted to call themselves that, had to constantly prove themselves to legions of what I call "middleware" readers before they could enter the Marketplace.
Middleware are the writing classes in school, the multitude of contests, even the large publishing houses (complete with Genre Gurus and Editors). If one could muster the energy, downsizing of your dream and time to complete that competition THEN, with some luck, they might be allowed into the Holy Grail of Writing: the Marketplace. The Marketplace being bookstores, libraries and eventually into the hands of your real target - readers. Far too many obstacles between you and the reader, don't you think?
I just read a great blog post by the one single successful writer I follow, J.A. Konrath. His genre is one I will never read or write for, but he sells books, ebooks specifically and quite a few of them. So his take on the "marketplace" is one I respect. His post today was something like "why are you reading my post when you should be writing?" A good point, of course.
It prompted me to think further....why would we, as writers, spend too much time trying to get our words into the hands of those that judge them worthy of a business deal that will make the judges money? Why not go straight to the Marketplace, straight to the readers?
eBook publishing, via Amazon and other venues is allowing the creativity out in force. Get yourself busy, get yourself a trusted friend who can speak better English than you to proofread and PUBLISH direct to the Marketplace.
Excuses to tell your story are numerous, especially in the beginning. Sidestep the pitfalls and get your words into the hands of readers. Whose opinion is the most valuable eventually anyhow?
Let the marketplace be your Contest. Let the comments section be your Editor. Someone think you cut the story short, or did not develop a character well? Fine, rewrite it and republish...it takes about 48 hours for your changes to get back out there. Study the top sellers on Kindle, download the free samples, see what is catching people's attention. See what genres are moving best. Create your own genre! But, study the marketplace, write for your readers and for God's sake ENTER THE MARKETPLACE! Now.
July 22, 2011
Signed eBooks now available
A new service has launched that allows authors and readers to bridge a gap previously left open in ebooks....a signed book.It's not perfect, but it is good, as this allows personalization that has not existed up until now.
All of my titles are available via this service now at Kindlegraph.com
July 21, 2011
Lendle my Kindle
I was lurking in the Amazon forums and found someone talking about The Parrot Talks in Chocolate and how they had borrowed it from LENDLE.ME.Initially, I was a bit put off. Here was some clearinghouse taking advantage of the "Allow lending of this book" feature in the Kindle self publishing dashboard. Lendle is a clever way for people to list what Kindle books they own, put them up for "Loan" and in return might find a book available they would like to read from some other member.
It's like a big fat library.
Does that hurt sales? At first I thought it might and wanted to get out of the lending program. After all, when my books are priced at 99c, 1.99 and 2.99 AND Amazon already hands out a free 10% sample why would anyone short of a cheapskate need to wait in line to borrow a book IF and WHEN it becomes available?
Well, that was my first thought. After a deep breath, maybe two or three of them, I had another thought.
I would JOIN Lendle and OFFER ONLY my OWN books for loan there. I often give away copies to promote my brand, so how could this be any different?
In fact, Authors should all join Lendle and offer up their own books. Another great venue to get the word(s) out.
Of course, beyond my own books, I am not loaning any others.
July 16, 2011
Morning Breakfast Spot...
July 12, 2011
Plumerias Awaiting the Morning Sun
