Rod Raglin's Blog, page 39

Confessions of a (recovering) analyt-aholic

It���s been 28 days since I had my last hit of analytics.

The first two weeks were tough. Time and again I had to restrain myself from taking ���just a little peek��� to see where my stats were at. The urge to check my emails more than twice a day left me anxious and twitchy. On occasion when I unconsciously clicked on a�� site with stats�� I would avert my eyes until I had closed the program, then wait two minutes until my breathing returned to normal.

Prior to “going on the wagon” my first impulse when I sat down at the computer had been to check how many impressions my last tweet got, new page views on Smashwords, or my author ranking on Amazon. Now, in my state of recovery, I would sit and wonder what to do.

What I did was write.

In the last four weeks I produced:

– three book reviews,

– completed a short story of 6600 words,

– started another short story and am 2800 words into it,

– added 11,651 words to my new novel The Widower (wip),

– posted two blogs,

���� – posted 19 new photos to flickr,

– tweeted 22 times

I think this represents about twice the productivity of the previous month.

Did I miss anything? Was there a statistic, a message, or a trend I overlooked that could have changed the course of my career (what career you ask, which may be the point)?

No.

Did my sales decrease? No, but then there were none in the previous month so how could they? Unless you can you have negative sales? Now there���s a depressing thought.

But more importantly, did anything positive come out of my swearing off analytics for a month?

Yes.

I was productive. I created something. I was more content. I didn���t waste time on statistics that mean nothing, because in the end there is only one stat that matter���s ��� sales.

Statistics and every other kind of analytics are just another source of delusion giving the impression that something is happening when in fact it isn���t.

So how do you make it happen?

I have no idea.

So I���m going to try to accept the things I cannot change, find the courage to change the things I can and go back to the writing, and hope in some infinite wisdom, that has nothing to do with statistics and analytics, it will make a difference.

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

��

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My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients (now in paperback). http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

��

“Publishing experts” charge big bucks for what you can do yourself free

I recently received a press release from the professional public relations firm ESMI entitle How to Price an E-Book.

The release is written by Kim Staflund and is promoting her two books How to Publish a Book in Canada . . . and Sell Enough Copies to Make a Profit!, and How to Publish a Bestselling Book … and Sell It Worldwide Based on Value, Not Price!.

So here���s an indie author who claims both her books have been Amazon bestsellers telling other indie authors or those considering becoming indie authors how to sell their books and make money. What���s new about that? Libraries must have and entire bibliographic classification complete with it���s own Dewey Decimal code taking up considerable shelf space about this very topic. And now Kim Staflund has published two more. So what?

I guess it���s the hyperbole in the titles as well as unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements that gets my blood boiling.

Staflund claims her POD books became best sellers on Amazon priced at $19.99. Here she muddies the water a bit ��� these are paperbacks not e-books and the press release is entitled ���How to Price an E-book. So what are we talking about here, e-books or paperbacks or is she purposely being misleading?

According to Staflund, her books reached bestseller status because ���of their quality content combined with using various online and traditional marketing techniques���not because of low pricing.���

There doesn���t seem to be an optimum pricing point for POD books, but this statement contradicts all the information I���ve seen from Amazon and Smashwords regarding the pricing of e-books. Both these sites have data complete with graphs that show the optimum price to maximize sales and profits. Since both these companies work on a royalty basis, they don���t make money unless you make money, it���s in their interest for your book to sell.

Amazon says, considering you���re a nobody, the optimum price for your e-book on their site is $2.99. A lower price won���t increase sales, but it will diminish profits. A higher price won���t increase profits because it will diminish sales. At Smashwords the optimum price is $3.99.

There���s all kinds of gimmicks (like buying your own books) that might spike your sales for a very short period, but over time these are the prices that work and they should know.

Staflund goes even further with this incredulous remark:

���It will likely take an author forever to make back the money it cost to properly publish a book if the retail price is set at $2.99 per copy. Additionally, such a low price truly devalues content.���

Even the most delusional author must be aware nobody cares, the reader or the publisher, if they���ve spent the last ten years of their life writing a book and, even at minimum wage, it cost them a quarter of a million dollars in work hours. The truth is in this free enterprise system the value of something is the maximum price it will sell for – consistently.

Furthermore, if saying a low price devalues the content of your book what does having no sales at a higher price say? And, oh yeah, who decides if the content has any value in the first place?

So who is Kim Staflund and why is she saying these things?

Staflund���s the founder and publisher at Polished Publishing Group (PPG), www.polishedpublishinggroup.com, where she ���works with businesses and individuals around the world to produce professional quality audiobooks, e-books, paperbacks and hardcovers using a supported self-publishing business model. As a bestselling author (sic) and sales coach, she shows authors how to sell their books using all the effective traditional and online tricks of the trade.��� (This, from someone who uses a public relations firm to help her promote her own books.)

She further claims to have ���a substantial sales and sales management history combined with over 20 years of book publishing experience within the traditional and new publishing markets.���

I checked out her website and it is very similar to those of Amazon and Smashwords in that it accumulates all the information necessary from an author, including a properly formatted manuscript, that is necessary to publish a book with today���s technology.

Once Amazon and Smashwords have this data they can proceed to publish your book on a royalty split basis. You can purchase expertise at any point along the way including the formatting of the manuscript, designing a book cover, and additional marketing services, but you don���t have to.

If you���re patient and persevere you can do it yourself.

For books, from 201 to 300 pages (max. 90,000 words, the category my novel The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic would fall into) Polished Publishing Group offers: two (2) ISBN numbers; copy editing; cover design, proofreading; a hard proof; both paperback and e-book formats; book signing; two-year online distribution term; print-ready files returned to you.

The price is $4,750.00 cdn.

There���s nothing illegal or immoral about what Staflund is doing. If you don���t have the time, inclination or the computer savvy to navigate through self-publishing sites then there are countless ���experts��� like Staflund that will do it for you for a fee.

What I find objectionable is her claims that she has special expertise on How to Publish a Bestselling Book … and Sell It Worldwide Based on Value, Not Price and further more that she can show you How to Publish a Book in Canada . . . and Sell Enough Copies to Make a Profit! There are just too many variables to be able make these bombastic claims.

Be wary of so called experts that make unsubstantiated claims and charge you a hefty fee for what you can do yourself for nothing. Today, having 20 years of experience in book publishing is worth almost nothing. The industry is evolving so quickly what you learned today is worthless tomorrow.

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

30

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My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients (now in paperback). http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

Free equates to no value in book giveaways

More delusion.

I just completed another ���giveaway��� of one of my novels on Booklikes www.booklikes.com

Between January 24 and February 28, 2015, I offered 50 electronic copies of FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend. Forty-two people requested the book.

Because I want my readers (even non-paying ones) to be able access my book in as many formats for as many devices as possible, I decided to take advantage of a free coupon code, a feature offered by Smashwords, one of the sites FOREST is self-published by.

In my email acknowledging the winners I instructed them to go to the Smashwords site at

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/515038

click on ���buy a copy��� and insert this coupon code ��� I provided them with the coupon code.

I wrote, ���Smashwords will send you a link and you���ll be able to download the book free of charge. This method allows you to download FOREST in six different formats including ones for your iphone, tablet or computer as well as e-pub and mobi.���

I indicated that the coupon would expire on March 31, 2015.

Furthermore, I said that if they didn���t want to take advantage of this option to just reply to my email and I would send them an EPUB or MOBI file directly.

The emails announcing them a winner went out March 1 and by March 4 thirteen people had used the coupon at Smashwords. I know because Smashwords lets me know.

As I write this on March 6, no one has replied to my email and asked for the book to be sent directly to them, and no more coupons have been redeemed. I���d be surprised if any more were though they do have until March 31.

Thirteen out of 42 is not quite 31 percent.��Two-thirds of the people that ���won��� my book aren���t even interested enough to take a couple of minutes to respond to an email to get it in the most convenient format.

To me, this is further evidence that ���free��� is equated to ���no value���.

Despite what those marketing ���experts��� tell you in their books on how to become a best selling author, on their (paid subscription) sites, or during online seminars, giving your books away will not enhance your sales, nor encourage numerous reviews.

There���s not even any indication that giving away books increases readership because there is no way of knowing how many of those 13 that actually downloaded Forest will read it?

More delusion.

I think I���m going back to my original premise ��� if it won���t sell, it ain���t good (blog post 2013/05/31).

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

30

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My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients (now in paperback). http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

Confessions of an analytic-holic

Hi, my name���s Rod and I���m an analytic-holic

Here���s my story.

I’m no different than most of you, a struggling writer searching for an answer to ���the big question���, how do I get my work noticed amidst the plethora of prosaic publications available in this day of unfettered self-publishing opportunities?

What? You thought ���the big question��� had something to do with the meaning of life? You obviously aren���t an author.

How to do this? Well, I didn���t see any harm in trying out some the websites that offered to post my book for free. What harm could it do, a couple of sites that might generate some reader interest? After all, everybody else was doing it and they didn���t seem to have any problems handling it ��� or so I thought.

I admit I might have gotten a bit carried away. Information about my novels including sample chapters, buy links, boring stuff about the person who wrote them, and much more appears on no less than a dozen sites that I know of and likely some I���ve forgotten.

As I became more familiar with these sites I discovered they provided statistics about visitors to my address on their platform. The first I got intrigued with was Bublish. The site opens with Author Metrics including Bubble Views, Profile Views and Conversions. It was interesting to see what ���bubbles��� attracted the most ���views���.

Because Bublish ���bubbles��� are linked to Twitter I soon became enthralled with Twitter Analytics and the number of impressions, engagements and the engagement rate ��� the number of engagements divided by the number of impressions, plus links, clicks and retweets.

By now I was frequently sampling Goodreads ���stats which indicated who had added, reviewed, rated or were planning to read my books.

Authorcentral at Amazon had sales info, and rankings according to book sales and the Neilsen Bookscan. Google Books did the same but went further indicating the number of book visits, visit with pages viewed, the number of pages viewed, and visits a with buy link.

It got worse once I self-published.

Smashwords stats included page views, downloads, and sample downloads. They even had stats on search engine optimization.

KindleDirect and CreateSpace had details regarding the breakdown of royalties by week and month in GB, EUR and USD.

Each day I was wasting hours checking these reports and analysis and despite all the information available there never seemed to be a logical reason why one tweet got 103 impressions and another got only 2 ��� or at least no logical explanation to me.

I���d wake up the next morning with a statistical hangover and vow to not view this information for the entire day and finally get something meaningful done. But by early afternoon I���d weaken. What harm could a peak at Twitter analytics do just to take the edge off? What���s this? A whole lot of impressions? Better check and see if that generated more sample downloads on Smashwords, and so it would begin all over again.

As they say, ���Half measures have availed us nothing���, and it���s not just half measures. Apparently neither has my obsession with analytics. My ���searching and fearless inventory��� of all things analytical shows my Amazon author ranking is 663,606 of out of 1,100,000, and that���s probably on a good day.

Other demoralizing stats include LibraryThing ranking my popularity at 3,689,591 and dropping; 126 followers on BookLikes which is less than the number of books I���ve given away to it���s members; and, 16 followers on Twitter in including a social media manager who wants to ���boost my online visibility��� and a same day grocery delivery superstore I���ve never heard of.

And so it is that I admit I am powerless over the lure of analytics. Just for today I will not check my stats on any site, and furthermore I will only check them at the end of each month, and only once.

I���m into day three ��� the sweating is now intermittent, my hands still shake but I no longer slop my coffee. I hope tonight I���ll be able to sleep.

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

30

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My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

Writing goals? I breathe, I think, I write

FREE BOOKS

Send me an email at rod_raglin@yahoo.com and I���ll send you Smashwords coupon codes for free downloads of my novels; FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend, and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic.

Offer ends February 28, 2015

Do you set writing goals?

Do you structure your day to make time for writing?

Do you feel guilty about not writing?

Why?

Two things. First. Life is about choices. If you���re not writing then you���ve made a choice to do something else; have kids, a successful career, maybe a loving relationship. Sure, sometimes we make a mistake and it might take some time away from what we really want to do to dig out from under it, but there���s no reason for not getting back on track. It���s about priorities.

Second. Don���t set writing goals or establish times to write because you���ll only feel miserable when you can���t attain them.

For years I lived a structured life. I executed my days like a general commanding troops going into battle beginning the night before with setting out the clothes I was going to wear and triple checking my over booked daytimer to find efficiencies that would allow me more time to fulfill my mission.

I was ambitious, I was aggressive, I got results, but than it wasn���t what you���d call a creative endeavor.

When I was able to commit more time to doing what I love, that���s writing, I decided I couldn���t approach it the same way ��� like an enemy that had to be defeated. I���d have to come to it willingly and with an open heart and mind.

I wanted to enjoy what I did and enjoy all the time, forever. I didn���t want to feel guilty. I didn���t want to feel pressured. I wanted writing to be my one true thing, unsullied by deadlines, production schedules, other people���s expectations.

Early in the new year I was at a dinner party and someone asked what goals I had for 2015. I no longer set goals, I said. My companions seemed taken aback. Well, how then, they asked, do you stay motivated? How do you measure your achievements?

I have no goals, I told them, and my achievements seem only to matter to others. Writing is not a problem with a solution, a journey with a destination.�� I breathe, I think, I write

The rest seems to look after itself.

��Stay Calm, Be Brave, Watch for the Signs

��30

My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

Review, response, reality

As per the previous blogs regarding my commitment to review new, self-published authors. I wrote a review of indie author HJ Lawson’s novel, War Kids. She responded. I responded to her response. Hence – a review, a response, and reality – at least from my perspective.

Weak writing hinders well conceived story

War Kids starts with a BANG! in the middle of the action. Jada, a fourteen year-old girl wakes up to witness a horrific scene ��� the hospital she is recovering in has been bombed. You never know how she got there or what her injuries are, but she���s fit enough to escape the ruins.

Zak is at school when the soldiers arrive and begin indiscriminately killing everyone. He manages to escape as well.

So starts the individual journey���s of Jada and Zak through war torn modern day Syria to try to reunite with their families.

Author, HK Lawson has picked a contemporary theme and packaged it with an excellent cover, but unfortunately her writing is not up to the task.

Very early on the author���s inexperience becomes apparent. She uses capital letters like BANG to indicate gunshots, THUD, THUD, THUD, is the sound of heavy boots. Rather than find appropriate descriptive words and images she resorts to capitalization and punctuation (there are 463 exclamation marks in the book) including the combination ?! (used 21 times) which is supposed to indicate what I���m not sure, questioning shock perhaps?

Gratuitous profanity is also used for emphasis, though oddly it���s mostly in the character���s thoughts and not in their dialogue where it might have been put to good use.

Clich��s abound, diction is limited with the use of ���horror, horrific, horrible���, and ���hell��� repeated countless times as is ���God��� (used 55 times).

The narrative is littered with horrific events and human tragedies but because the characterization is so shallow and one-dimensional I never got to know anyone as a real person and so the impact on this reader was minimal. Except for their gender the children could be interchangeable, they are all good, virtuous and brave; the soldiers are all bad, evil and cowards.

The author gets caught up describing the details of the action, much of which would be better left to the reader���s imagination, but comes up short on giving the character���s reaction to events which would help develop their personalities and create reader empathy.

Another example of the lack of craft is displayed when the author launches into a couple of pages of back story about how Jada���s father taught her to use a gun just as she���s about to blow the brains out of a bad, evil, cowardice man intent on raping her.

Half way through the novel it reverts to a YA romance, but here again the lack of depth in the characters and their reaction to these new feelings left this reader unsatisfied.

The plot is a bit convoluted and at one point flashes back 19 years and introduces and entirely new line that really stretched this reader���s suspension of disbelief. The story would have perhaps been better served if it would have stayed focused on the two original protagonists and delivered from just two points of view instead of six.

Nitpicking issues include a BBC journalist allowing an interviewee to editorialize to an international audience ��� would never happen, I know, I���m a journalist.

As far as I can discern, the UN has had a limited presence in Syria in the role of observers. Whenever the heavy hitting begins they pull out, so it���s not likely they would be rescuing any civilians from a bombed hospital as the reader is lead to believe near the beginning of this story.

And what about religion? Only ten percent of Syria���s population is Christian, yet all the children in this novel pray to God not Allah.

The lack of political context could be justified by the fact the characters are children, however, the kids I know, at the very minimum, reflect the parent���s prejudices. I think the lack of understanding of the situation may have more to do with the absence of research into the issue. Consider this paragraph by the character Faith, an international doctor in the war zone, delivered to a BBC television reporter.

���Suffering has gone beyond all boundaries. There is no safe place left. Syria has become a battlefield. Every aspect of human rights, freedom, and citizenship are lost from view, and no one cares. Entire villages have been cleared off the map. Innocent children are being massacred, and a whole generation is being erased. For what? I pray every single moment that the government and all political parties around the world will engage with the rebels. The rebels are capable of engaging in dialogue, because if they do not, the blood of the innocent is on their hands. All of their hands.���

For what?

Well, there���s obviously some motivation though you may not agree with it. Deep background and an understanding of the characters��� situation, inserted subtly, can give the story more authenticity.

Engage with the rebels? What exactly does Faith mean when she says this? Does she mean negotiate with the rebels for a truce? Is this an example of using the wrong word?

The rebels are capable of engaging in dialogue because if they���?

Who are they and what do they want to engage about? Again, should this read ���negotiate���?

Blood of the innocent is on their hands ���?

Whose hands – the rebels, the government (and which government is that), political parties around the world, everyone���s?

This story has potential and is well conceived. All it needs is for the author to log her 10,000 hours before writing it.

I received this book free from the author in a giveaway sponsored by BookLikes.

Hi Rod,

Thank you for time reading and reviewing the book (War Kids). As an fellow indie author you understand how difficult it is to get your book in front of people.��

It’s just a shame you didn’t like it, I am very new to the writing world. In fact I’ve hidden away from writing for many years due to my dyslexia. Writing War Kids gave me the confidence to share my work, it may not be the best but I love it. I continue to learn and understand this very alien trade to me.��

Hayley Lawson

Author of WAR KIDS

Dear Hayley,

Being an indie author is frustrating, but writing for me is so much more than getting published ��� even than getting read.

Ironically, most of what I���ve learned about the craft of writing has come from critiques and bad reviews ��� not books, not conventions, not online seminars. It can be painful, but when I get past that sometimes there���s something I can use. I always keep in mind it is still only one person���s opinion and, hey, they may not know what they���re talking about, right?

Like you, I simply love to write. I love finding le mot juste, just the right word or phrase, creating a new metaphor other people actually get, and (especially) that magical experience when the story takes off in a direction I had not intended it to and my characters do and say things I never imagined they would. They���re in control, I���m just a conduit.

I also write because it gives me an opportunity to research and learn, as I imagine you did with your book War Kids. I purposely put my characters in emotional and physical situations I know little about. In my novel Not Wonder More my heroine is schizophrenic and also a natural healer. That was a learning curve.

Apparently, we also share the third reason I write – to influence my readers with my view on issues, or as George Orwell put it, ���There is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.���

The last reason I write means I���ve got to put it out there, and the reality is some people (sometimes most) don���t like it. So it���s a good thing I don���t write for money or fame, because I���ll likely have neither.

Nietzsche said, ���Art is the proper task in life.��� I agree as I hope you do. He also said, ���The doer alone learneth.���

Writing is a craft. The more you do it, the better you get. I continue to write and learn and hope you will. Conceiving and creating a book is a great thing. You should be proud of what you achieved.

Rod

PS Thanks for the offer of the book, but it���s not necessary

30

My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

��

Rethinking reviewing self-published authors

Okay, remember when I made that commitment to review unknown, self-published authors. Well, I���m adding a corollary to it.

If, after three chapters, the book is causing me severe cerebral stress manifesting in physical symptoms such as clenched teeth, muttering under my breath and the onset of clinical depression at having to resume reading it, I will abandon it and write a review accordingly.

I do the same with best sellers so why should a newbie get preferential treatment? Besides, we all know that what is indicative in the first three chapters will be repeated throughout the rest of the book.

If you���re not all right with this, well, too bad.

Okay, one more thing. If I slam Michael Ondaatje why shouldn���t I slam John Doe? Does it help anyone if I send an unfavorable review to the author, they look at it, then redirect it to trash? They could think ���what does he know?���, which is a valid point, and not consider any of my suggestions to improve their writing. It is, after all, just one person���s opinion.

What about the prospective reader ready to slap down $2.99 (or more) on this e-book on the strength of twenty glowing reviews? Do I have an obligation to forewarn them? Reviews are for readers.

So my review gets buried and nobody benefits – including me.

I don���t think so.

New policy. I review your book, you get my honest opinion ��� posted, everywhere.

30

��

My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

A commitment to review unknown authors

I was about to review The Cat���s Table by Michael Ondaatje when I discovered this work already has 352 reviews on Amazon. Does Michael need another review? Will my comments make a difference to this internationally known, winner of every major literary award, Canadian literary icon?

I know an author that would like to see his novel(s) reviewed ��� me. Or someone like me. Someone at the beginning of his or her writing career when a review and a starred rating are actually worth something, perhaps in sales and certainly in self-esteem.

So why not read works written by author���s like myself and write a review of their book instead of a book by the Michael Ondaatje���s of this world? There���s certainly lots to choose from and many of these books are free on sites like BookLikes, StoryCartel, even Smashwords and Amazon.

Just a second, that could mean reading a lot of bad writing. Am I up to that kind of sacrifice to help promote new literary voices?

No.

I believe an author should read the same type of books he wants to writes. Why read westerns when you write commercial/literary fiction? Why read amateurs when you want to be a pro?

Nietzsche said, ���The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.��� If I want to create great art, perhaps I should be a little more gracious. Probably good for my karma as well.

Okay, how about half of what I read will be from new, undiscovered writers and the other half from someone I aspire to write like?

I can���t see any point in writing a dishonest review. There���s likely at least a few on most new writers book pages as it is ��� family and friends guilted into posting something flattering and hitting five stars. I���m not sure how that helps them and I won���t be doing that.

I���ll write constructive reviews. I think I know enough about this craft to point out what the author is doing right and perhaps suggest how they might improve other areas, though this by no means suggests I don���t make the same mistakes myself ��� again and again.

I actually get more from well-considered negative reviews of my work (and I���ve had enough) than glowing ones that lack specifics. However, if the review I write is less than three stars I���ll email it to the author to see if they want me to post it. If they don���t, I won���t. They can use it for their edification or send it to their trash file unread.

I hope to make some surprising discoveries and maybe offer some assistance along the way.

P.S. Anyway, I went ahead and reviewed The Cat���s Table. I gave it one star just so you know what you���re in for.

30

My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

Free Novels – forget sales, I’ll be satisfied with readers

Send me an email at rod_raglin@yahoo.com and I’ll send you Smashwords coupon codes for free downloads of my novels; FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend, and The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic.

Offer ends February 28, 2015

When I completed The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic, I spent about a year sending out query letters to several dozen agents and even a few publishers. It produced nothing but frustration.

Finally, last July I decided to self-publish an e-book and began investigating Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.

It was a learning curve, and still is, but I persevered. After a few false starts I have a Kindle e-book. I took it a step further and use Amazon’s CreateSpace and published the novel in paperback.

Have these ventures produced any results in regard to sales? No, but at least people have the opportunity to purchase it. I mean I couldn’t just abandon it, could I? Well, could I?

I also have control – to change the price, revise the manuscript, or enhance the cover.

What difference does it make to control the price of your book when no one’s buying it, you ask? Good point. Let me think on it.

Okay, if nothing else you’ll at least agree I’m moving forward. I’m learning skills and acquiring knowledge that might come in handy, maybe, sometime, perhaps.

You’re not going to give me a break, are you?

Well, if you think that was delusional, I’ve now gone ahead and e-published both FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic with Smashwords.

Why? Because Smashwords makes my work available in more formats. Has that helped sales? Not yet, but – okay, no.

But there’s another reason. I watched An Introduction to E-Book Publishing by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khM4czIJUVM and besides some real good advice, I liked the guy. I mean, he actually tells you it is very unlikely your book will sell, and furthermore don’t borrow money, and don’t go in debt to publish your book.

This is so counterintuitive to what everyone else on the internet promises you I was immediately endeared to the guy. Mark’s not selling some magic formula that if properly brewed will result in success. Mark says you likely won’t have success but hey, you don’t have to spend any money to find that out.

What Mark does say is everyone should have the right and the ability to publish an e-book and he gives you that opportunity. Well, so does Amazon, but I’ve never heard them put it quite that way.

So now you can obtain The BIG PICTURE and FOREST from both Amazon and Smashwords. And if you send me an e-mail before February 28, 2015 I’ll send you the Smashwords coupon codes so you can enter them and download these novels free.

Lets forget about sales, okay, and try for readers.

30

 

My new novels, FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

Free Novels ��� forget sales, I���ll be satisfied with readers

Send me an email at rod_raglin@yahoo.com and I���ll send you Smashwords coupon codes for free downloads of my novels; FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend, and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic.

Offer ends February 28, 2015

When I completed The BIG PICTURE –��A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic, I spent about a year sending out query letters to several dozen agents and even a few publishers. It produced nothing but frustration.

Finally, last July I decided to self-publish an e-book and began investigating Amazon���s Kindle Direct Publishing.

It was a learning curve, and still is, but I persevered. After a few false starts I have a Kindle e-book. I took it a step further and use Amazon���s CreateSpace and published the novel in paperback.

Have these ventures produced any results in regard to sales? No, but at least people have the opportunity to purchase it. I mean I couldn���t just abandon it, could I? Well, could I?

I also have control – to change the price, revise the manuscript, or enhance the cover.

What difference does it make to control the price of your book when no one���s buying it, you ask? Good point. Let me think on it.

Okay, if nothing else you���ll at least agree I���m moving forward. I���m learning skills and acquiring knowledge that might come in handy, maybe, sometime, perhaps.

You���re not going to give me a break, are you?

Well, if you think that was delusional, I���ve now gone ahead and e-published both FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic with Smashwords.

Why? Because Smashwords makes my work available in more formats. Has that helped sales? Not yet, but ��� okay, no.

But there���s another reason. I watched An Introduction to E-Book Publishing by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khM4czIJUVM and besides some real good advice, I liked the guy. I mean, he actually tells you it is very unlikely your book will sell, and furthermore don���t borrow money, and don���t go in debt to publish your book.

This is so counterintuitive to what everyone else on the internet promises you I was immediately endeared to the guy. Mark���s not selling some magic formula that if properly brewed will result in success. Mark says you likely won���t have success but hey, you don���t have to spend any money to find that out.

What Mark does say is everyone should have the right and the ability to publish an e-book and he gives you that opportunity. Well, so does Amazon, but I���ve never heard them put it quite that way.

So now you can obtain The BIG PICTURE and FOREST from both Amazon and Smashwords. And if you send me an e-mail before February 28, 2015 I���ll send you the Smashwords coupon codes so you can enter them and download these novels free.

Lets forget about sales, okay, and try for readers.

30

��

My new novels, FOREST ��� Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE ��� A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic (now in paperback) are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

Visit my publisher���s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More ��� Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients. http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA