Claude Forthomme's Blog, page 44

A New Form of Blogging: Flash Blogging! Today's Subject: Blog Traffic

I've decided to experiment something new: flash blogging! I don't mean just short blog posts. You can have a picture with a short caption and off you go - I might do that on occasion but I have a different plan. I want to take you along with me every day on a discovery trip...



That's what flash blogging is for me: establishing a close link to reality, walking with the world step-by-step... Not a blog hop, not a way to show off my virtuosity at inventing things from a prompt (see article below): that's fine but it's not what I'm interested in. On a blog, I don't want to invent (that's for my fiction books). Here I want to talk about the reality as I see it...



So I'll share with you what I think is interesting each day.



And today, I'm worried about my blog traffic. It seems I'm not alone, many people are suffering from a huge drop in traffic. In my case, it's paradoxical: my Alexa world ranking (and US ranking) is UP and my traffic is DOWN. Go figure!



If you want to diagnose what's wrong with your traffic, I've got just the article for you (see below, under related posts).



If you're a blogger like me, relax. Enjoy writing, pick something you want to talk about and talk about it.That's my recipe to solve blog traffic.



What's yours? Any problems with your blog traffic? If so, what have you done about it, please share! 







Related Posts:



30 Days of Flash Blogging: click here 



How to diagnose a sudden drop in your blog traffic, click here



How to boost your blog traffic: click here

What Sells Books: Word of Mouth or Something Else?

Are you worried that your books don't sell? "Discoverability", an awful newly-coined word, has become the name of the game in the publishing industry. Conventional wisdom has it that "word of mouth" sells books. And that as a writer, your only option is to write, write, write. Don't despair, "the cream will rise to the top",  that's another oft-quoted piece of wisdom.



Really? Consider the tsunami of new books. Last year, according to Bowker 3 million new titles were added to the pile (and Bowker only counts books with ISBN numbers, so the real amount of new books is probably much larger).



In spite of this, publishing gurus are optimistic, chief among them author Kristine Kathryn Rusch who is rarely given to flights of baseless fantasy: her latest blog post on the subject is a must read for any writer feeling the blues. But if you don't have time (her blog posts tend to be long, I love that but not everyone does), here's the gist of it.



She makes one basic assumption: what really sells a book is word of mouth, one reader telling another how much he/she liked the book.



So the story needs to be good to start with, that's fundamental.



Other things matter too and help to get word of mouth started:



1. A good cover, with the "right art and the right branding": it should clearly signal the book's genre. The e-book market is mature and the days are over when a book could sell with a crap cover even though it has a good story inside (the case of Howard Huey and Amanda Hocking - they both began two years ago);



2. An "active" cover copy: it should "tell the reader what the book is about without discussing a plot", it should be exciting, don't hesitate to use emotion-laden words.



3. The right price:  it should be "commensurate with other books of the same type." Check publishers' prices, keeping in mind that they've often mispriced ebooks (too high). Remember, too low only spells thrash, too high means you're out of the market.



4. Availability: make sure your book is easy to find. Put it on all the e-platforms from the Nook to the Kobo, even if Amazon is the biggest: there are still readers out there who don't own a Kindle. And, as K.K Rusch puts it, there are good news for Indies who until recently couldn't reach out to bookstores because they relied on publishers' catalogues and various trade publications (like Publisher's Weekly) as their only source of information to select books for sale. No more: now if you join CreateSpace's extended distribution system (cost: $25), your book will become available to all US bookstores.



5. Don't spend time and money on advertising, don't go after book bloggers and bookstore promotions - at least not until you have several "good" books, and even then, wait for them to come to you and ask for copies to review your book. Don't worry about bad reviews, they happen. 



In short, "just write the next book. Cultivate your readers by writing good books".



That's K.K. Rusch's best advice for you and when she put it out on her blog it got... 73 comments the last time I looked! 



But it still leaves the basic question unanswered: how do you jump start "word of mouth" if you're competing against, not just a dozen or a hundred titles, but millions? 



And consider there is yet an additional hurdle: everyone's eyes are focused on one thing only, rankings.



How do you climb the rankings? Ours is an exceedingly competitive society and we love nothing better than to "rank" everything, from the best tomato to the top model (no puns intended).



Best selling author Hugh Howey  recently pointed out on his blog that Barnes and Noble may be manipulating the rankings (see here). Coming from him, we should take note. After all, H.H. is something of a celebrity in the publishing world, he is the author of WOOL, a hugely successful serial novel that has brought back in fashion the format
that made Dickens famous (serial novels were routinely published in
19th century England).



What is your take on rankings? Should we do away with them? For now, they are simply based on sales volume, so they are self-feeding. It's a vicious circle: the more you sell, the higher your sales.



Should we have more precise rankings, say focused on quality (for example, based on the number of reviews plus the number of stars earned? But we all know these are subject to manipulation too...)



Should we have broader rankings, say up to 5k, then stop and not give away any ranking that is higher up? After all, a customer who sees a book that interests her might not buy if she notices that the book is sitting at a stratospheric level of say, 50k or even 500k (after all, there are millions of books in the Kindle store!)



What is your opinion? No ranking? Specialized ranking? Or something else entirely, like an improved customer review system?



Related articles

Indie Books Now Have a Better Shot With Brick-and-Mortar Bookstores(smallbiztrends.com)

Living Forever: Fantasy or Reality?

Science is getting us ever closer to defeating mortality. But how long exactly is "forever"?



Some scientists argue there is a "natural arc" to our lives, something like 125 years. Others argue we can be genetically engineered to live 1,000 years or more.



To achieve this, conflicting theories abound, among them:




diet to keep your caloric intake down by some 30 percent: mice can do it but it's hard to do for humans!


take a pill that contains resveratrol which is found in red wine to counter the damaging effect of free radicals 


use telomerase , an enzyme that mends protective coverings on cells 


inject human growth hormones to counter the process of aging (in spite of the cancer risk)


replace our fragile body components (blood, cells) with stronger ones like metal or computer backup, i.e. "android bodies". This the dream of at least one Russian billionnaire who plans to become immortal by 2045!  


Of course, so far none of this has proved feasible and it might take another 70 or 80 years of research to come up with anything like a reliable solution. I've blogged about this before (see here). What is most likely is that a baby born today could have the chance to live 120 years.




Would that spell happiness? A perfect question for literature to explore! Indeed, this is the central theme of my Science Fiction novel, Forever Young, set 200 years from now when it is highly probable that "living forever" (or at least our "natural life arc") will become a reality.




A perfect world? 




I don't think so. For starts, the medical programme needed to achieve this goal is likely to be very expensive and reserved to the ultra rich. This implies that we will have an even greater cleavage in our society than the one we are experiencing now with the Occupy Wall Street movement and the One Percent against the 99 Percent.




There's more to it. 



Imagine that only a minority among us will look young even when they are in fact one hundred years old or more. Imagine further that they walk around in society not letting on how old they really are. And with their youthful looks, they fool the young people around them. Suppose a beautiful 122 year-old woman falls in love with a young man and their love is reciprocated? How can this work out when her time is up and she must die?




This is what Part One of my serial novel Forever Young explores. There will be five Parts in total, and each will explore different aspects of this brave new world where longevity is reserved to the few who can afford it. Before embarking on this novel, I wrote a short story that you can find here on ReadWave. Whether you're a reader or a writer,  take a look, this is a real cool site. Please share with a friend or click "like" if you liked it!








Read on ReadWave.com
 




After reading this short story, to hop over to the blogs of other Boomer Lit authors, click here.  Yes, because this is once again Boomer Lit Friday, a Blog Hop of Boomer Lit authors. 



Now it's your turn: what do you think our future reserves for us? A divided world where the ultra rich get all the benefits from technical advances? Or do you believe we are headed for a more equal and just society?

Blog Traffic Slowdown? 5 Ways to Overcome it

Has your blog traffic shown worrying signs of slowing down?



Are you wondering whether we are suffering from a surfeit of people, a tsunami of news? I am.



When was the last time you had a real conversation on Twitter, exchanging news, expressing your opinion, making a new friend? If you're an author, when was the last time you saw a sales bump after a Twitter campaign?



When was the last time someone reacted to one of your posts on Facebook with an interesting comment showing they really cared? Ditto with Google+.



What about the other sites, more niche-like, say StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Reddit,  Digg or Tumblr, or maybe the video sites like YouTube? You tell me, because I don't know, I haven't got time for it all. I simply don't go there more than once in a blue moon. But if you do, please share your experience in the comments below, we'd all love to hear from you.



It looks like nobody is listening anymore out there on the Internet. The  major websites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+, no longer look like virtual piazzas where people strolled for hours. And LinkedIn?
It has some discussion groups around common interests but discussions
there always seem to fizzle out after a couple of exchanges. No, in my
view, LinkedIn was never a place for virtual chatter - just a website to
hang out your name and professional profile. Small wonder it is scoured
by headhunters...



What's your view? If you survey what other bloggers say about how to grow or revive your blog traffic, some advice stands out:


Provide fresh content: this is fundamental. It will avoid being hit by the mighty "Penguin", Google's latest algorithm that could freeze your blog traffic in its track. It is designed to give priority to interesting content and shoot down repetitive, cliché stuff. The easiest way to make sure your content is worthwhile is to develop your blog in your expertise domain: don't be a "scatterblogger", stick to your niche! For example, if you're a writer, you can join the blog sites of writer communities. To get an idea, start by checking Writers Unboxed and Venture Galleries. Join writers' groups like World Literary Café or Writers Meetup Groups


Go visual : drawings, photographs and videos, they all work and YouTube is your ally.


Link back to relevant content on your own site: when you find a topic that drives traffic, expand on it, explore different facets and make sure you link all the posts on that topic, so anyone enjoying one of the posts will look up the next one on your blog.


Share Your Blog on Social Media: all the big Net places need to be alerted, from Twitter to Facebook etc. This is where knowing your audience helps. If you're a niche blogger, make sure you reach out to your niche members. Be prepared to launch a small media campaign every time you come out with a post and use specialized sites like Triberr and Zemanta. Triberr provides invaluable help in automating your tweets and FB posts. Zemanta provides you with "related articles" that link you to bloggers handling the same topics. You want to follow up on that and visit those sites. If you do, you'll be rewarded with return traffic. Also be aware that Google+ is essential: it belongs to the King Search Engine and cannot be overlooked. Indeed, that's where I start...


Stick to a Regular Posting Calendar : twice a week is best, more is not necessary and once a week is a minimum.

At least, that's my experience. What's yours?



Related articles

7 Ideas To Maximize Sharing Of Your Blog Post With Social Media(business2community.com)



Five Tips to Prevent Social Media Fatigue(viralheat.com)



Triberr Is Blogger Treasure(soulati.com)



Ways to increase traffic to your blog(fitcom.co)

The Secret to Writing a Best Seller: How to Satisfy Your Readers

Ever wondered what makes for a best seller? Readers of course! But what keeps the eyes of your readers glued to your book? To figure that out, let's take a step back rather than dig into writing techniques. Let's assume you as an author have mastered the necessary writing techniques. They're not an issue, what we want to do is look at the bigger picture.



Let's start with the reader.



Storytelling is as old as humanity.We all have this vision of cavemen sitting around a fire after the hunt, munching on their grilled meat and telling stories to each other. The Lascaux frescoes comfort us in this vision. But we've moved on in storytelling sophistication since these early times, we want more than stories of preying on wild animals and killing. Though we still love suspense.



Suspense is the key.



Release from suspense is what we as readers yearn for, in the form of laughter or tears. And herein, you find the very essence of comedy and drama, the two major forms of literature. 



But wait, there's more to it. We read to inform ourselves, to get a better grasp of the reality around us and within ourselves. We want to walk away from our reading feeling that we've gained something, we are a better, more prepared individual. And herein, you find the very essence of non-fiction and inspirational writing.



What kind of reader are you? What do you want to get out of your reading? Do you agree with this analysis?



Bottom line, what matters is that readers perceive that an author has something special to say. That is the litmus test. 



But there's a problem here, a contradiction between readers and writers. Readers are interested in stories while writers tend to be interested in... themselves or they wouldn't write! 



Authors, please remember that if you want to sell your stories, you have to pitch the stories, not yourself. You have to explain why your stories are unusual, arresting and above all entertaining. Nobody is interested in banal, monotonous tales. Readers want suspense, they want to laugh and cry. Hollywood knows this: to evaluate the success of a film, they measure how many "emotional beats" it has, the more, the better, the more likely that it will reach out to a big audience.



How can a writer figure this out by himself? Obviously this is where the role of an editor is essential. Beta readers help too. All these people who read your drafts will tell you directly or indirectly how many "emotional beats" your book has. 



But there's another way to go about it. A do-it-yourself way, I call it DIY editing (pun intended - this is the way to know whether a book ought to be published or not). 



What am I talking about? I'll let you in on a secret. I am a writer but I happen to be my own most demanding reader. If I don't get a kick out of my own writing - if my first draft doesn't amuse me as I write it - then I stop writing. As simple as that. You have no idea how many novels and short stories I have started and abandoned after I was one third (or so) of the way through. Why? Because they bored me! 



Sure, the writing gurus will tell you that you should never give up, that you should keep writing, there's no "silver bullet"etc. Yes, there is none. But why finish something that bores you, the author? Chances are that it will bore your (eventual) readers even more! 



Indeed, that is one of the reasons why I never work out complete, detailed outlines prior to writing. I know a lot of writers do, no doubt it works for them but for me it doesn't. I always jump into my story, hoping to keep my enthusiasm for my characters and plot alive, right down to the closing line. And sometimes, I'm lucky, my characters regale me with their shenanigans and give me an unexpected ending. When that happens, I'm happy, I know that is a book worth publishing (once it's been thoroughly gone over and edited of course). Otherwise, it goes in the drawer and these days, it gathers digital dust. 



I don't mind, I don't want to see it.



If you're a writer reading this, let me know how you go about writing. What techniques do you use? What is your litmus test? And if you're reader, let me know what you seek from your reading, what kind of book makes you really happy that you've read them?








Related articles

New Trends on Promoting Literacy in the Classroom(rasmussen.edu)



Add some suspense in your life(diamondpublicationz.wordpress.com)



Defining Myself: I Tell Stories(dorianalysis.wordpress.com)



Discovered: A Cave Art Complex That Could Be the Lascaux of Mexico(theatlantic.com)



The secret to writing is........(jakeescholl.wordpress.com)



Inspiration (to keep writing)(deathofanauthor.com)



Discovering Our Own Writing Style(sharelovestory.wordpress.com)

Let the Good Times Roll: How Baby Boomers Face Retirement - Guest Post by Louis Mack

I met Louis Mack of
Boise, Idaho, on Boomer Café (click here) and I was immediately fascinated by this true “hippy at heart” who is getting
close to retirement himself. His specialty? As Boomer Café tells it, it’s New
Age retirement for the Woodstock Generation.

Here’s his advice:




If you grew up during the “Age of Aquarius”
within the epicenter of the 1960’s counter-cultural movement, your memories of the
hippie subculture and the society in which they protested may be hazy. Yet
those memories remain etched in our memories as a period of freedom and change
that revolutionized the world. As children of this cultural phenomenon, we not
only broke away from our parents authoritative rules in exchange for non-
conformity but set the stage for social change while throwing the rules of sex,
drugs and rock & roll out the window.  Like with all things though, the natural ebb
and flow of daily life has a way of catching up to all of us. 




Bob Dylan said it best, “The times, they
are a changing.” Today, the Woodstock generation is transitioning
once again, and many of us are choosing to go back to our care-free roots now
that retirement is upon us. Baby boomers everywhere are reflecting upon their
lives by making the decision to make the best out of the time they have left.
Seeking the adventure their spirits yearn for, many are choosing to expand
their horizons and consider new retirement options. With a natural curiosity and
a hunger for discovery, many baby boomers are choosing to declutter
their lives, and overcome the barriers of traditional retirement by moving abroad,
or tossing aside the traditional concept of retirement communities in exchange
for nomadic lifestyles and communal groups.




Who doesn't remember the Jefferson Airplane's 'Summer of Love' song, reminding us pointedly that  "even though those times are gone the spirit still goes on..."  That's the Boomer spirit!




While young at heart, the journey from
one’s adulthood to retirement can be one of life’s greatest transitions. It can
be hard to accept the fact that we’ve gotten older. Between the guilty
conscious of not watching our grandchildren grow up, along with the burden of
the legacy we leave our loved ones, retirement can be full of difficult decisions
when faced with the inevitability of new, and often scary possibilities. This often
leaves us feeling both exhilarated, and depressed. Not only do the choices we
make now affect those around us but the rest of our lives as well.




When planning your retirement, it’s
critical you factor in how you will spend your time, and what you want to do. Accept
the energy around you. 




What are your dreams, and goals? Think of retirement as
a process, not an end. 




While there are a lot of changes in front of you, there
are also countless possibilities. Transitioning into the unknown requires us to
overcome our fear of change. It’s okay to be nervous; many retirees find that
while they have a sense of anticipation when it comes to the thought of
retirement, they also worry about having enough money to sustain them. 




Make a plan. Although it can seem slightly
overwhelming at first, a little research can go a long way in providing you
with basic assessments, and peace of mind when it comes to daunting questions
about the future. 




Retirement intimidates everyone.  Relax. In the process of winding down from
our careers we start to question what we’re giving up and what we’ve
accomplished. 




In time we come to realize that none of this nonsense really
matters. We are NOT married to our jobs. Retirement provides us with the
opportunity of truly finding ourselves instead of being defined by our careers.
It also provides us with the time to do what we really love and what we’ve
always wanted to do. 




While 44 years may have passed, the spirit
of the Woodstock nation lives on. Take pride knowing you are part of a
generation that provided the people of America with a voice. Retirement isn’t
an issue unless you make it one. Relax and enjoy what you’ve worked so hard for
all these years. 




Remember the past, enjoy the present, and embrace the future.




Louis Mack is a freelance writer and independent
contractor. As an avid traveler he enjoys exploring new places, while dabbling
in creative photography and capturing the world through his lens.




One thing he says sums it all up for me: “We are NOT married to our jobs. Retirement
provides us with the opportunity of truly finding ourselves instead of being
defined by our careers. It also provides us with the time to do what we really
love and what we’ve always wanted to do.”




Precisely. That’s what my boomer novel A Hook in the Sky is all about – a retiree-turned-artist to the dismay of his much younger
wife. But he pursues his dream of becoming an artist even if it destroys his
marriage...How does it all end? With a typical Baby Boomer ending, but no
spoilers, you need to read the book to find out! To get it, click here.




Louis Mack told me, and I quote him, “I am
very interested in the rising popularity and surge in boomer literature. Perhaps
one of these days I'll find the time to write my own novel. It’s always been a
dream of mine. Perhaps a memoir mixed with a little fiction to spice up my
memories...”




Indeed, Louis, you should write up your
memories and tell us how YOU handle retirement in your boomer way, we’d love to hear about it! 


Louis Mack


  

Too Late for A Secular Turkey? The Coming of Islam...

Is Turkey turning its back on the West? Has it become an Islamic state, shariah-driven and autocratic? It certainly looks like it. The way Prime Minister Erdogan brutally squelched the latest wave of protest in Taksim Square and Gezi Park in the heart of Istambul, a protest that had spread to dozens of cities across the country, - resulting in over 4,000 wounded and four dead -  certainly bodes ill. 



On June 13, 2013, the Huffington Post published a long comment by Stanley. E. Weiss, Founding Chairman of Business Executives for National
Security, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC that I consider a must-read to understand what is happening in Turkey.  Here are the highlights (to read the whole text, click here):



 As has been expressed repeatedly in this space, since
taking power in 2003, Erdoğan's Islamist Justice and Development Party
has imprisoned more journalists than any nation on earth.  For good
measure, it has also incarcerated more than 2,800 students, most for the
crime of exercising free speech.  Similar offenses have led to more
than 20,000 complaints filed against Turkey's government in the European
Court of Human Rights. 
 

[...] Erdoğan has used public funds to build more than 17,000 mosques while
announcing plans to create a super-mosque overlooking Istanbul.



Last month, to celebrate the 560th
anniversary of Istanbul's conquest by the Ottomans, Erdoğan broke
ground on a third Bosphorus Bridge linking the Asian and European sides
of the city, naming it after the controversial conquering Sultan Selim
I-who adopted Sunni Islam as the official religion of the Ottoman
Empire, and then ordered the murder of 45,000 Alevites for not being
Muslim enough.  Along the way, he has ordered the separation of boys and
girls in primary and secondary schools; lowered the age requirement for
religious schools to 11 while tripling enrollment; and ruled that tens
of thousands of graduates of Islamic madrassas have the equivalent of
college degrees so they can be hired for high civil service posts.  



What upsets secular Turks the most is what
Turkish scholar Seyla Benhabib calls Erdoğan's "moral micromanagement of
people's private lives."  Saying he wants to create a "pious
generation," Erdoğan has spoken out in favor of keeping men and women
apart on beaches; supported announcements last month urging subway
passengers to refrain from kissing in public; and led the passage of
surprise legislation to ban the sale of alcohol while publicly calling
Atatürk a "drunkard."  After famously overturning a 90-year ban on
headscarves in public, Erdoğan also called on all Turkish women to have
three children while restating his opposition to day-care centers,
interpreted by the Economist as "women should have babies and stay home."  Erdoğan is precisely the kind of Islamic
fundamentalist that Ataturk warned against, and the very reason he
entrusted Turkey's military with the responsibility of safeguarding the
nation's secular traditions. 
 

Indeed. Erdogan has worked on several fronts. He has systematically thrown dissident journalists and students in prison, he has brought to justice and jailed the most prominent generals on trumped up accusations. When he had attacked the army, it had been viewed at first as a liberal move and many among the young and the intellectuals supported him. They saw it as a measure meant to defend democracy and one demanded by the European Union...



Well, he had everyone fooled. 



Once the secular forces in Turkish society were stymied, there was only one way out, and as Weiss wrote, this is why secular Turks took to the streets two weeks ago:  it's the only forum for redress they have left...As Erdoğan undertakes a high-profile
campaign to bring the most extensive changes to Turkey's political
system since Ataturk - re-writing the Turkish Constitution to give the
President more power while brilliantly working to end a 30-year war with
Kurdish separatists to win the support he needs to pass it - he will be
in position to run for President in 2014, just as he is term-limited out
as Prime Minister.  If this month's protests don't derail those
efforts, there is no telling what Turkey will look like - or who it will
be allied with-by the end of two likely terms of an Erdoğan presidency
in 2024.



Since Weiss wrote, as we now know, the protests were derailed. What is seriously disturbing is that protesters were not just dispersed, they were thrown in jail. Exactly who was locked up and what happened to them is not known. Erdogan was lucky, just as he moved against the leaders of the protest, the world media was full of the news of Brazilians taking to the street. Everyone started to forget about Turkey. How convenient for Erdogan! Yet he is clearly following the example of Iran when it successfully ended the liberal revolt in 2009.  



In all likelihood Erdogan will succeed now in his intent to islamize Turkey and return it to its Ottoman past. If only the access of Turkey to the European Union had been accelerated some 10 years ago when the process was started, we might have avoided this outcome. But we all know how Merkel and Sarkozy did their best to slow it down and discourage Turkey...



Now it is probably too late, what we will soon have at the doors of Europe is an Islamic colossus, 90 million people strong, following the rule of the Shariah, as imposed by Sultan Erdogan. 



Post scriptum  For the moment, I am only publishing a post once a week (on Sunday) because of the work I must do on Forever Young, my science fiction serial novel. Part Three, The Immortality Trip, is now at the editing stage...But Part One,I Will Not Leave You Behind and Part Two, You Will Not Take My Place are already available on Amazon, here and here (priced at 99 cents each, like WOOL).  The novel, which was ranked at the top in Science Fiction/Adventure in May 2013 (Kindle free bestseller list), will have 5 parts and once they are all published, an omnibus edition will become available. 



 



Related articles

Unrest in Turkey continues despite end to Gezi Park protest - Fox News(foxnews.com)

How to Make Your Book a Best Seller, Learn From WOOL

WOOL is the latest astonishing hit coming from the world of self-publishing. The author, Hugh Howey, "independently published" his book (as Wikipedia delicately puts it)  as a serial novel - meaning it started coming out in parts, each about as long as a novella and all linked together by their post-apocalyptic setting. The first came out in July 2011 and seeing the demand from Amazon reviewers pressing him for more, Howey continued producing parts until it had developed to a full length serial novel (5 parts, 528 pages printed).



An astounding success, especially considering this is his debut novel! He hadn't published anything before WOOL, he was born and raised in Monroe, a small town in North Carolina, and he'd worked as a yacht captain, a roofer and an audio technician.  Yet WOOL won Amazon's Best Indie Book of 2012 Award  and gathered, just for its Part One, 711 customer reviews, averaging an astonishing 4.5 stars out of five. The book today, two years after it's come out, is still ranked #1 in the Kindle Store for science fiction >short stories (no doubt a leftover from the early times when it started out as a short story) and #2 for science fiction >post apocalyptic. Howey has sold the film rights to Twentieth Century Fox and reached an agreement with Random House to distribute a printed version of  WOOL to book retailers in the UK starting in March this year, while fully retaining his e-book rights. He's also begun to sell his international rights, notably in Brazil. In short, he's a savvy self-published wonder, someone all self-pubbed writers could learn something from.



So what are WOOL's secrets for success? Perhaps Hugh Howey has better answers to that one than I do (and he does blog about it on occasion, see his piece on Salon here ), but there are certain surprising things about his experience that I think are worth highlighting.



There are five things all publishing gurus tell you that you need to get right: the title, the cover, the pitch to attract the readers' attention, a marketing strategy (know who your audience is) and of course, content quality.



Now how does WOOL fare on all five counts? Be ready for some surprises!



1. The title: do you believe this title works? To me, when I first heard it, I thought it had something to do with knitting, LOL! Honest! Actually, the title derives from a small detail in the first story, the pad to clear the lenses is made of wool...Does that tell you anything about the book as a good title should? Can you guess it's science fiction? Of course not. So forget the title, that is not what made WOOL's success.



2. The cover: Look at it, it's reproduced here. I don't know whether this is the original cover Howey came out with, but even if it is an improvement on whatever the first cover was, I can't imagine a less enticing cover. The texture, the colors are awful. Of course, it's all a matter of taste, but for me, the cover does not work and I imagine that it doesn't for a lot of other readers too.



3. The pitch: Perhaps this is a little better in that it has the virtue of being superbly short. Here it is: "Thousands of them have lived underground. They've lived there so long,
there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life
requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be
discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going
outside.

Or you'll get what you wish for."



Okay, once you've read it, you can see why this is a good pitch. It's well written, snappy. But the trouble is: if you haven't read the book, you can't quite imagine what's in store for you...Therefore, yes, the pitch is not bad but it could certainly be better.



4. Marketing strategy: clearly Howey had none. He first used a small press called Broad Reach then he abandoned it for the next four parts and used Kindle Direct Publishing. When he first published it, WOOL Part One wasn't really part one of a serial novel, it was just a long short story or a short novella, take your pick. It grew organically as a response to reader demand. No marketing strategy here!



5. Content: bingo! Yes, this is where the secret of WOOL is revealed. This is very well written, full of suspense and makes you wonder about the post-apocalyptic world Howey has dreamed up. You want to know more about it, you buy the next part. Simple...



Anything else? Yes, there is something else. Howey's marketing strategy is rather more sophisticated than what may appear at first glance: his book is upheld high in the Kindle rankings by the simple expedient of maintaining Part One of Wool permanently free . Now some people object to making books free on the theory that readers equate free books with worthless books. Yet, in the case of a serial novel, it makes perfect sense: the preview sample on part one of a serial novel that is essentially nothing more than an ultra short book, i.e. novella-length, is simply insufficient (barely 2 pages) to enable anyone to judge whether you want to go on reading or not. Therefore, making Part One of a serial novel free is merely the equivalent of providing a free sample preview of the book, something Amazon routinely does for all its books.



Yet Amazon, if you ask them, won't allow you to set the first part of your serial novel free. I know because I asked. I wanted to make Part One of 2213:Forever Young permanently free, exactly as Hugh Howey had done for Part One of WOOL. I got nowhere even though I asked three times (!). Now I've asked a fourth time and I'm still waiting for an answer that would go beyond what they originally told me, and I quote: "Due to operational costs it is currently not possible to set a book as permanently free through our KDP platform. The minimum list prices allowed with KDP are $0.99 for the 35% royalty option and $2.99 for the 70% royalty option."



Yes I knew that already. Their next point is also something that came as no surprise: "However, from time to time, we may match free promotions on other sales
channels, but we retain discretion over our retail prices." Right. If you want Amazon to lower the price to zero, you have to set your book free on other platforms that allow it, like say on Smashwords...and hope for the best! 



Is that what Howey did with his WOOL? The answer is no, his book is only available on Amazon or from his own website.



Oh, another remarkable aspect: Howey is a fan of YouTube videos, here's his latest one:









So far, he's done...62 videos where you can follow his book production travails, step by step, month by month. Fascinating look into a writer's life! And you'll notice, now his book covers are, as he put it, real artwork, professionally done.



Yes, Hugh Howey has come a long way...How about you? Are you selling books and if you are, what do you think is the single most important factor explaining your sales?



Post-scriptum to my readers: henceforth I'll publish only one post per week, normally on Sunday. I'm currently working on Part Three of 2213:Forever Young (called The Immortality Trip) and I simply haven't got the time to write two blog posts per week as I have done in the past. Sorry, but I need to finish my book!











Related articles

Monroe author is making millions online with 'Wool'(wcnc.com)



Kindle Self Publisher Hugh Howey Gets Noticed and Makes it Big with New Book "Wool"(katherinekay.com)



Hugh Howey on why he favors self-publishing(boingboing.net)

Lessons from Japan: How to (Not) Revive an Economy

The whole world is looking at Japan wondering whether it will make it out of its 20-year deflation. It may look like what is happening in Japan is occurring on another planet and that it has no bearing on the American situation, but that sense of comfort is deceptive. Japan is actually a laboratory experiment of what might happen in future in the developed world, the United States included. Why? Because the Japanese economy has been one of the fastest growing economy ever that has reached a fully developed status, sustained by amazing technological innovations, and it is the first advanced country in the world that has a growing - and soon overwhelming - aging population.



And it's not just America that could learn some lessons,  Europe too, particularly on how to get out of its self-induced Euro-crisis
that threatens deflation, exactly the way it happened to Japan.



To address the issue of deflation and economic stagnation, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has resorted to a Keynesian strategy dubbed 'Abenomics' focused on government spending and investing in infrastructure, i.e. aggressive monetary easing coupled with public spending on public works plus somewhat vaguely defined "economic overhauls".



Will it work? 



At first it looked like it would. The international community allowed the Yen to drop without retaliating, providing a boost to Japanese exports. Early first quarter figures showed Japan growing at a robust 3.5% annualized rate, now revised to an even better 4.1% rate.  Still, international investors have qualms,  things are no longer looking so good, hedge funds are betting on a bust. In short, financial markets have taken a dim view, fearing that all this government spending might result in nothing but a throttling debt at the expense of Japanese future generations.



To counter this view, on June 5, Prime Minister Abe outlined his blueprint for recovery, optimistically setting a target of 3% growth in income per head over the next 10 years. A tall order, as noted by Reuters' Andy Mukherjee, in the light of the country's shrinking and greying work force. And as Abe spoke the markets plunged, the Nikkei lost 3.8 percent that day. 



Why? Because it was deemed that he had left out the reforms Japan needs the most: in its labor market and in industry (see New York Times article). The promised "economic overhauls" did not seem to be coming. Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised: Abe is facing elections this summer, no politician likes to disappoint his electorate.  



So what does 'Abenomics' really propose and what are the problems Japan is facing and that have caused such a long period of stagnation?



The Challenges.



 Simply put:



1. An economy turned inwards: there is no true competition in the Japanese industry and laggards are
allowed to linger on behind tariff, tax and bureaucratic protective
barriers. They are maintained by state subsidies that further prevent newcomers to enter industries. As a result, firms financed by foreign investors account for only 4% of GDP, compared to 20% in the US and 50% in the UK. 



2. A cumbersome regulatory system that discourages start-ups and closes off markets, for example in the medical sector a ban on Internet sales of non-prescription drugs. 



3. A stultified labor market in desperate need of flexibility, for example workers from ailing companies cannot be easily transferred to promising new ones. 



4. An energy market in the hands of regional monopolies, a situation made critical by the recent idling of nuclear reactors, as a result of Fukushima.



5. A greying population causing a looming  medical insurance and pension problem, with Japan's public pension funds that control more than $2 trillion of savings mostly invested in domestic bonds, meaning that they help finance government spending.



All of this combined means that the Japanese economy is skewed towards favoring large established companies and places Tokyo in a leading, protective role.



Abenomics Solutions



An analysis of Abe's blueprint for recovery shows that it fails to tackle all five challenges and in each case only addresses part of it or in a way that will require time before it is solved.



1.  Announcement of "tax breaks" to encourage foreign direct investment and participation of Japan in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. Both would certainly help open up Japanese domestic companies to more competition - but obviously such measures take time. 



2. A pledge to remove "cumbersome regulations" but specific measures are not mentioned, except for lifting the ban on Internet sales of non-prescription drugs, surely a minor point, and the setting up of special zones to promote entrepreneurial innovation by "experimenting" with regulations. There is no indication of what sort of experiment is intended and much more needs to be done on the industry regulatory front.



3. Opening up the energy market seems to mean "breaking up regional monopolies" without indication of how this will be done, and pushing for an early resumption of Japan's nuclear reactors - which conveniently overlooks nuclear risks.



4. Overhauls of the medical insurance system are announced without giving any specifics and a call is made for extension of maternity leave to allow mothers to focus on child-rearing. The latter is really a minor populist measure that does not address fully the work-family life balance in Japanese society and it was immediately criticized for possibly discouraging female participation in the labor force



5. Calling on Japan public pension funds to shift their holdings towards investing more in higher-return-equities and overseas assets. This would ensure a more efficient use of savings but the risk is high that it will drive up the cost of government borrowing.



All this completely leaves out the needed reforms in the labor market and only barely addresses the major challenges facing the Japanese economy, in particular the high barriers to entry for newcomers - which means that innovation, the main engine of growth, is still muzzled.



It's not game over yet, but Shinzo Abe will need to press down on the accelerator if his proposed 'Abenomics' is to produce results. Will he dare to do so in the face of upcoming elections?









Related articles

Abenomics Won't Be 'Magic Bullet' for Japan, Says Johnson of MIT - Bloomberg(bloomberg.com)



BMW Says Abenomics Boosting Japan Demand Amid Europe Slump(bloomberg.com)



Japan PM outlines reform strategy for economy(miamiherald.com)



Japan growth numbers revised upwards(bbc.co.uk)



As Japan seeks revival, hedge funds bet on a bust(fresnobee.com)

Do You Really Want to Live 120 Years? That is What Science Promises...

Is the dream of a long and happy life within reach? The National Geographic recently published an article about the progress of science in this area and optimistically slapped a baby face on its cover suggesting that your child might live to be 120 years old (see photo, that's the Italian edition I get here, if you want to read the full article in English, click here).



The facts. 



How probable is all this? More probable than you think. We all know that life is getting longer, that the new "real old age" starts at 80 and not 60, and we've all heard of amazingly old villagers in Italy, in Calabria and Sardinia. Scientists here in Italy have engaged now for years in systematic research to try and uncover the "secret" of old age. Add to that other research in other parts of the world, in Switzerland, in Ecuador, in the United States, and you get an interesting, if complex, picture of where Science stands on this question.



To begin with, this new research is putting dents into some convictions like the one about the benefits to be derived from a restricted diet based on mainly fruits and vegetables. While centenarians from rural areas in Italy often ate that way, it's basically because they were poor and had nothing else to eat when they were young and continued to eat the same way out of habit even when their economic circumstances improved.



And that's one more reason why the question of longevity is treated in genetic terms. 



First, it's a question of having the right genes to avoid early death from major life-threatening diseases like cancer. For example, there have surprising results from research among men suffering from a recessive mutation in a single gene that causes the so-called "Laron syndrome", a form of dwarfism that is prevalent in many families in El Oro province. It would appear that the "little people" as they are known locally, are (relatively) immune to cancer and diabetes. Such conclusions are based on serious epidemiological research that started in 1987 and has identified about 100 people suffering from Laron syndrome. Moreover the results are comforted by a set of complementary experiments carried out in the laboratory on mouses. In 1996 Andrzej Bartke, a scientist at Southern Illinois University, shut down the growth hormone pathway which resulted in
smaller mice but also, surprisingly, produced longer-living mice by a noticeable margin: some 40 percent longer than normal mice. 



This suggests that there might be a link between genes that govern growth and cancer which is, as everyone knows, a condition where cells are multiplying in disorder, as if growth had run amok.



Second, the question arises whether there is a gene responsible for longevity. In Italy, since 1994, scientists at the University of Calabria have carried out solid demographic surveys of families with centenarians to try and figure out how much of longevity is determined by genetics, how much by the environment and how these factors interact to contribute to longevity. The scope of this research has recently turned up an astonishing finding: contrary to accepted wisdom that women live longer than men, a 2011 paper reported that the genetic factors involved seemed to
benefit males more than females. While the genetic component of longevity appears to be stronger in males,
women may take better advantage of non-genetic factors such as diet and
medical care.



So women should not despair, with diet and medical care, the chances of enjoying a life as long as men can even out!



Clearly the question is far more complex than just having a gene that you engineer for longevity and you're done. Calabrian researchers have shown that there are at least five or six pathways that influence longevity, and they include response to stress, the
metabolism of nutrients and metabolism in general, i.e. the storage and use of
energy. Anything really can influence how long you live, from childhood diet to how long a person attends
school.



In America, research is going in another direction at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, with studies of brain function and mobility in the elderly. Plus a particularly interesting study of  500 centenarians, all Ashkenazi Jews who were found to have exceptionally high levels of HDL (the good form of
cholesterol). This was apparently  caused by a
variant of a gene known as CETP (cholesteryl ester transfer protein) which protects against cardiovascular disease.



You can easily imagine how this finding has sent off pharmaceutical companies on a frantic search for drugs that would replicate the action of the centenarian variant of CEPT! 



The search for genes with key metabolic responsibility in  the mitochondria of centenarians also goes on at a fast clip. Think of the mitochondria as the cell’s power
plants, with their own DNA and genes. Several mitochondrial proteins have been identified by Einstein College scientists, the so-called "mitochines" associated with people who live into their 90s and 100s. One molecule in particular, dubbed the "humanin" has been shown to have surprising effects in experiments on rats: it was found to normalize glucose levels and essentially erase
diabetic symptoms in a few hours. It also prevents arteriosclerosis and
Alzheimer’s in mice prone to these diseases and helps limit coronary
damage when attacks in the experimental
animals are induced.



In short, human genetics research is currently focused on seeking "protective genes". One of the most promising is called FOXO3 (I love the name!), which has been found in long-lived Japanese-American men on the island of Oahu. This
gene is similar to the one identified in the Laron population in southern
Ecuador. Other scientists, at Einstein, are studying stem cells, suspecting that there might be influences on the fetus that affect genetic mechanisms at the beginning of life
that somehow set the rate of aging.



Recently, scientists in Switwerland have treated worms with antibiotics and expanded their life span by 60 percent (see article below).



So are we close to identifying a sure path to longevity? Not really, not yet, but we're on our way, no doubt about it. 



Question: Will living long make you happy? 



It depends. Just imagine for a moment that science gives us the option - I expect this could happen in about 80 years or so - to choose, assuming you have the means, to join an Age Prevention Program that will guarantee youthful looks till the day you drop dead. Because die you must: it seems we are genetically programmed to last some 130-140 years and not more.



So you look young and you feel good all your life. Is that a blessing or a curse? 



Two years ago, I asked myself that question and came up with an answer in fictional form, a short-short story, flash fiction really, to try and move you and make you think.  Curious? Here it is, on Read Wave, a cool new site for readers:









Read on ReadWave.com




This is  the original story which was the starting point of the serial level I am currently writing, 2213:Forever Young. Part One and Part Two of Forever Young are just published, I'm currently working on Part Three and it will be soon available.



Do let me know in the comments: do you believe longevity is pure gold, particularly if the problems of aging have been solved, or is there something not quite right about it?





Related articles

SCIENCE: Will Your Child Live To Be 120 Years Old?(davidmixner.com)



Ecuadorean Villagers May Hold Secret to Longevity(thehandiestone.typepad.com)



America's Oldest and Healthiest Reveal Their Secrets to Living Vibrantly to 100 and Beyond In New Book by Gwen Weiss-Numeroff(prweb.com)



How long will you live?(macleans.ca)



Live Long!(ihaveknowledge.wordpress.com)



Slowing the aging process -- only with antibiotics(eurekalert.org)



Single Gene Leads to Longer Lifespan Across Species(blogs.discovermagazine.com)



Skepticism on the Near Future of Rejuvenation Biotechnology(fightaging.org)