Nicholas A. McGirr's Blog, page 10

Practically FREE Books

So while out shopping with my wife today we decided to stop into our local Big Lots store and look for something specific and to glance over the closeout deals they normally advertise.

Much to our surprise on their "Clearance" shelves was practically an entire bookshelf of title marked down to just 50 cents. We thumbed through the titles contemplating which ones we would read (or have been waiting to come down in price) and here's what we came home with :

Infinity
No Mercy
Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter, #18)
The Poe Shadow
Pirate Lattitudes by Michael Crichton
Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

All of these books came to just over $11! All of them hardback aside from The Poe Shadow.

We were ecstatic to be walking out of the store with two large bags of books for such little money.

I just thought I would share the wealth with all of those following my blog. Enjoy and see if your local Big Lots is practically giving away books in your neighborhood!

Thanks for reading!
Nicholas.

P.S. don't forget to enter the giveawy for Life of Death, an exclusive paperback to goodreads winners only!

Part of the Learning Process

To any and all authors of published or about to be published ebooks:

I have to say as being a writer for quite some time now, that I have learned a lot of hard lessons of what NOT to do in my process. This is not one of those lessons. I am fortunate enough to say that I landed on a good tactic on my own, without trying several different options in the same aspect of marketing one of my works.

As I'm sure you already know, I'm hosting a giveaway of Life of Death, one of my earlier works that I recently re-published in ebook format. Upon entering multiple giveaways here on goodreads and watching the market to see who is entering, what titles are getting more hits than others, et cetera, I decided to give it a go.

Of course, goodreads does not allow ebooks to be given away and with good reason. So, the first thing I needed was print copies of the book. Naturally, I began doing some research on print companies and compared, contrasted, and made my lists of the most beneficial printer for how quick and cost efficient I wanted my project to be.

I stumbled upon 48hourbooks.com, a website that claims to have professionally bound books back to the author in less than a week (granted there was formatting and a full book cover to design) but once I had everything in place, followed their formatting instructions and hit "submit", I opened up my printed book less than a week later.

The formatting instructions were simpler and easier than self formatting your own ebook. The cover design was up to my discretion and 48hourbooks even provided a template to copy and paste my manuscript into. A few clicks and moves later, I was ready to submit.

I am by no means advertising for this company, I am merely expressing my gratitude for the professionalism and vast quickness they gave my work. Even though I had a small order (minimum of 10 prints), they were responsive to my questions via email and didn't give me any run around like I was expecting.

Granted, the cost of these paperback is not cost effective enough to sell the book at a competitive price and still profit, but for less than $200 I had a great looking book in my hands that would surpass my expectations of handing it to one of the winners of the giveaway posted here on goodreads.

I hope this post serves you well and helping you with your writing and marketing process. If you have been doing this on your own for a while, you already know tha there are no "guarantees" of what will work and will not work. This particular post is to show my excitement that I did not have to do a trial and error run, waste hundreds of dollars to get something rolling quickly.

Again, I want to thank you for reading, and if you get a chance, check out my giveaway and add to your 'to reads' list.

Nicholas McGirr
Life of Death

Life of Death Giveaway Posted!

Life of Death

Click the above link to win a copy of Life of Death! I am very excited to be doing another giveaway here on goodreads and cannot wait to give these three copies away!

The great thing about this giveaway is that I had Life of Death (ebook format) printed into a paperback format just for this giveaway. The prize at stake here is a very unique copy of Life of Death for I only sell this book in ebook format.

Again, click the book cover above for more details and don't forget to add to your "to read" shelves!

Thanks and good luck!!

Nicholas

New Giveaway!

Life of Death

I have promotional copies of Life of Death printing as we speak. I plan on doing a giveaway of three copies at a time and also want to do an advance notice for anyone who follows my blog.

Once the books arrive, I will post the giveaway the same day and then announce it here on my blog.

Please let me know if you are interested in receiving a free copy of this book as I will do the giveaway right here on goodreads.

The promotional copy of Life of Death will also have the first two chapters of Book One: The Growing Dim Project. I am very excited about this as I remember the giveaway of a free Kobo ereader I did last year. I love to see people's reaction to my work and cannot wait to mail out the free copies of Life of Death next month.

Please leave your thoughts, comments, and interest in winning a free copy of this book!

As Always,

Thanks for reading,
Nicholas.

Majors and Minors

For those of you who have been reading my blog, following my career, or just reading my published works, you may have guessed or known that I am currently working towards my Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. I attend Ashford University’s online program and it fits perfectly in my already busy schedule of working as a more than full time retail manager and writing books in between. I’m a sophomore and I have already begun my major course studies and after reviewing my already scheduled classes over the next two years, I realized that it was time to really think about my electives and get ready for defining my chosen path.

As I’m sure you already guessed or asked yourself when reading what my major course of study was, people always ask the same question when I tell reveal that I’m an English major: Are you going to teach? After hearing this question over a billion times, it really got me thinking about teaching. My ultimate goal when I started college was to obtain a position where I could stay home with my family and actually get an opportunity to watch them grow up. I still hold that goal. I want to be a better writer, I want to stay home, and I want to make a ton of money to support my family.

I’ve decided to venture down a double minor path with Marketing and Child Psychology, then ending my college career with a Master’s in Teaching with Technology. What the hell do all of these have in common and what the hell am I going to do with all of these majors, minors and a Master’s degree? Well, I figured this way I have my choice and will leave my options open: Teach online grade school, write books at home, or both. I’m betting I’ll do the latter and pursue both opportunities. As a retail manager of over 14 years, I know I have the capabilities of handling groups of people and I also used to teach percussion instruments to students here in Ohio preparing them for state competitions. And well, the books, it’s up to you, the reader to determine my fame or fortune. I love writing and will probably never stop learning about it and practicing it.

I don’t know why I felt the need to share my decisions with random people on a blog post, but I believe that support from my readers is important. I’m asking if you’ve read this post to feel free to leave me comments on the bottom and let me know what you think. I’m always anxious to hear from my readers and fans of my work. And well, that’s you!

So to end this post, I will continue to work on my latest work Book Two: Book of Joel, which I’m hoping will be slated for this upcoming summer. I am almost finished with it and I cannot wait to hear the feedback and comments on the cover. I am infatuated with the art work on the cover and am eager to share it with my fans.

Again,
Thanks for reading and leave me your feedback!

Nicholas.
Life of Death (Now $4.99 on nook and kindle!)
Book One: The Growing Dim Project(On sale now for $7.49 on nook and kindle!)_

The final part of The story of S

So if you have missed the first two parts, please click back twice to start at the beginning. If you don't care to because you have already done so, let me recap.

S, a crazed customer of mine (through other business, of course) has requested that I deliver a package to her apartment. She called me several times making sure I knew exactly where I was going and a small forewarning that her apartment would be cluttered with boxes and books.

In my last post I described S's apartment having wallpaper that was in the form of stacked books along her walls...every wall. Her apartment was small and cluttered as it was, it was understandable as S began to tell me about her lack of family and how she was able to read over 6,000 borrowed books from her local library.

Now, I'm not sure that any library would ever honor someone with a letter simply stating how many books they have borrowed, or at least not without an initial request, but still, I had to believe S for there had to be a few hundred books in this apartment at least. And most of the books that were paperback had bent spines and curled covers that proved that someone had read them at some point in time.

Now back up to speed, let it be known that S never left her bedside as she spoke to me. She sat there holding her cane upright and her hand rested on top. She took deep breaths as if thinking and speaking wore her out. It was obvious to me at this point that S either was ill or had suffered in the past from an illness. I found out it was the latter.

S had fought cancer and allegedly won the battle. S also told me how she lost her daughter, son in law and two grandchildren nearly ten years ago. Although she wouldn't tell me how she lost them, I can only imagine it was a great tragedy however it happened because S continued to tell me of her therapy that she had to go through after the loss.

Not tragic enough? Well, S was also a Navy nurse back in her day and served a good amount of years as one. I can only imagine the horrific things a nurse sees on a daily basis, let alone one that has served our country.

This lead S to begin talking politics which I blocked out respectively. At this time, I grew anxious to leave taking note that S was taking advantage of having someone in her company that wasn't on the telephone with someone else from my workplace. The woman was lonely, there was huge amounts of evidence there, but I felt as though I had absorbed too much of S's lifestory and was ready to leave.

I left, almost running for the door, realizing I had been there about an hour. Gathering my thoughts as I ran for my car, I began to think about all the things that just happened.

S's apartment shock, her lifestory shock, S as a shock by herself. The whole experience was a shock and I had to look deeper into the situation to realize that it was almost surreal and that I had to use this experience to learn something about my writing.

So here it is: you have been reading my lesson learned. I have recorded this experience here taking in as much of the detail as possible, making light of it, taking note of it and most of all, not forgetting it. It was a memorable experience and I'm sure that I will encounter S again, hopefully not in her home, that just might take away the grand characteristics that I hold of her in my memory.

If I do see her again, and I'm sure I will, I will ask about what books she is reading, does she need help from my place of business, but one thing I will not do is ask how she is doing or how she is feeling. These things may bring back a deja vu of that night at her apartment all over again ruining the experience as being unique.

If you are reading this and think that you know someone else who may enjoy it, please forward it along. The more readers and feedback any writer can get is always a learning experience.

I welcome any feedback if you have read these posts in their entirety and look forward to hearing from you.

As Always, thanks for reading,

Nicholas A. McGirr
Book One: The Growing Dim Project
Life of Death

The continued story of S...

So if you missed the beginning of this story, please click back and get a recap of where we are....

S opened the door.

And what I saw at that point was a woman with a cane, overweighted with what I would soon find out was more than just physical body weight, but rather a conglomerate of events that have happened to her that caused the cane to bear more than just the burdens carried by physique.

I brought the package into the tiny kitchen that consisted of a sink filled with disgusting dishes, cat bowls on the floor and three steps to escape into the bedroom slash living room. S, upon my first sight of her, used her cane dependently as she looked shamefully to the floor through her rose tinted sunglasses in which she never took off during the entire duration of my stay. I placed the package on the kitchen floor as S turned to sit on the white 4-post bed that dominated her combo room. I shut the door behind me quietly.

"Just place it over there," she declared and I obliged. Please keep in mind that this was my first encounter with S other than the numerous phone calls earlier that day.

She sat there on the bed with the four posts enveloping the two mattresses that sat on the floor. On the bed, there were towels, many pillows and a sprawled out afghan that she must've been using for comfort as she read her book that was now spread flat on the bed.

As I said earlier, S warned me of the clutter that would takeover her apartment and as I looked around, I found not much clutter other than the stacks and towers of books that seemed to act as her wallpaper. Everything from biographies to mysteries, hardcover and paperbacks were to simply put it, everywhere. I, as the writer in the room couldn't help but notice all the books, intrigued that reading books was still a form of entertainment for many people like S.

I also couldn't help but notice that there wasn't a single piece of technology in the apartment at all save for an alarm clock on the nightstand that matched the 4-post bed. Just books, and plenty of them.

Eager to tell S that I was a writer and her fascination of books was reassuring to me that I would someday find a career that was plentiful was slighted as I realized that my books are only available in ebook format and S would simply have no use for a digital copy that she would never read.

I began the conversation with a different approach in which I received a very solid and confident answer.

"How many books have you read?" I asked not expecting an answer, but S gave me a very close roundabout answer.

"The library just sent me letter stating the amount of books I have borrowed. The number they gave me was over 6,000 borrowed."

"Please don't tell me all these books belong to the library," I said, jokingly.

"No, of course not, but when you've lost all your family and you are damn near crippled with cancer, you have nothing left to do but to obtain from the lives of others," she said. "That is the reasoning I have for all these books."

To be continued...

If you are reading this, take this as an invite to subscribe to my blog which may or may not contain stories, updates on my writing process of my newest work (which is seemingly taking longer than expected) and/or critiques of other works I am reading.

Please enjoy this blog and pass it along. Feel free to check out my published works which there are links below my signature. If you are interested in my works but would prefer to see them in paperback, let me know, I am considering publishing my works in paperback format to expand my audience.

As Always, thanks for reading,

Nicholas McGirr
Life of Death
Book One: The Growing Dim Project

Character: The Story of S

There are events that happen around a writer daily that he obtains for his craft. Those things could include something he heard on the radio, the bus ride to work, or perhaps just an instance that happened during his day. Of those happenings that the writer obtains, he takes away key characteristics from any of those happenings, like the setting, lighting, moods, or quite possibly a full-blown character analysis as he leaves the event.

This happened to me just the other day and all of those things were required for me to think about the situation, its characteristics, and what I could possibly take away from it. I met someone the other day, we shall call her S, and to sum up her initial character trait can only be named as pain in the arse. There really is no other way to describe her character when you first meet her. Even in the same method that I met S.

I do not plan on giving out the details of why I met this woman, but rather the details that I took away from the situation as a writer and soon to be scholar of the English language. I write fictitious stories in my spare time, and I am always looking for character building experiences such as the one in this article.

So, getting back to S, I should first tell you I met S on the telephone, four times, before meeting traditionally face to face. Yes, I said four times, in the same day, in the same part of the day, three of those times in the same hour. S rambled to say the least, giving me the customer demands and a deep forewarning of what was about to happen. S informed me that when I made the delivery that I had offered to make, that the apartment that S was living in was covered in boxes, and books, and clutter. Big deal, I thought. That was the third phone call that I received from S.

The fourth was an indirect message from the person answering the phones that day telling me the name of S’s apartments, even though I informed S that I had a wonderful invention called GPS and I had all the information I needed to make a delivery to S’s apartment.

So I set off to S’s apartment, package in the backseat of my car and upon my arrival, I found S hanging outside a basement apartment window motioning me to go through the door. Now, if I forgot to mention that S has special needs, there is a specific reason for that, as I shall foretell now.

After waiting for five minutes waiting for S to figure out that the intercom was not the door buzzer, I finally buzzed a nearby neighbor to let me inside. I followed the maze of apartment doors until I reached the number etched my post it note. S opened the door...
To be continued…..



Nicholas McGirr
Book One: The Growing Dim Project
Life of Death

Death

Death does funny things to the mind. I recently attended calling hours for the death of a local teacher in my neighborhood. He was also the father of my first guitar player in my first "basement band".

As I waited in line with my wife to approach the children of this teacher (and my former guitar player) I noticed that the line to get to the casket was extremely long. I hadn't realized that this teacher who passed away would have such a showing to his death. Had he really impacted that many people during his life that people felt the need to see him off before burial? As it turned out, that was exactly the case.

I watched as family members, students, and other teachers lined up and spoke great things about the man lying in the casket two rooms away. I had never been to such a funeral where only positivity was spoken and not one ill word was repeated.

The man who passed was indeed a great man. He was always positive and I can't remember a time when I was playing my drums in his basement that he didn't encourage his son and I to make some more noise and we would soon be rockstars. He was lying, of course, but nonetheless we rocked out the best notes we could day in and day out with his encouragement.

With this funeral in mind, I found a lot of time to think of the outcome of his life. Well respected, loved, and now dearly missed by a huge amount of people. In a way, I would think that is what most people would want their life goal to be: an enormous outcome to their funeral filled with people who love them, cherished their life, words and inspiration, and that we impacted something with our life here on earth.

So I guess the point to this post is this: What impact are you making on the earth to have such positive results at your funeral? Although it may be a long ways off, truly think about what types of people will show up to see you off one last time, remembering one great thing you said, or words of inspiration that helped them through a tough situation. Even if your funeral isn't a huge turnout like the one I recenly attended, make sure it is filled with people that you love, that love you and will respect your life. In other words, make an impact on someone you love. I know I'm trying the best that I can.

Nicholas McGirr


(If you are reading this blog and find that it may be relevant to someone else, please pass it along. I am always looking for more followers and do my best to keep this blog as part of my learning process of writing different types of material.
To express a little about myself, I am the author of two books, both which you can find in ebook format and are published on all major websites. I am pursuing my English degree at Ashford University and I am a member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, an honors sorority at AU.
Again, I ask if you know someone who would love to read my blog posts, please pass them along. And as always, thanks for reading.)The Growing Dim Project : Book OneLife of Death

Sad days approach as I make my last purchase at my local Borders

With our kids off to school, my wife and I decide to run some errands "kid free" and decide to take a 20 minute drive to our closest Borders location. I knew it was in the final days and well, I was curious to see what was left.

There wasn't much talking between us as we both knew that our destination would be sad, well, at least for me. We pulled up to a full parking lot and giant signs that read "Final Days" and "Savings up to 90% Off". A sad day indeed. My wife and I walked into the store, doors were wide open and employees held a somber face as they walked slowly around their store putting away the final stock on the shelves.

As I always do, I scanned for a bargain when I walked into Borders that day and my wife gave a chuckle when I asked her where the "bargain" section was. We separated as we walked further into the almost empty building as we have different reading tastes. Understandable. I scanned the shelves and realized that there were absolutely no books spined, they were all faced out to show off the glorious covers that so many artists and publishers had worked on. These were slim pickin's.

I stumbled upon a copy of The Bone Palace by Amanda Downum and read the blurb on the back cover, and well for $1.60, I was willing to give it a try. We checked out as we handed the sad cashier cash and decided to save the bag as it wasn't needed for only one paperback. I tucked the receipt in the book and thought "Well, this will be my last receipt from a Borders store."

In the past year, I have discovered the wonderful world of ebooks through my University and decided to re-publish my first two novels as ebooks. Ebooks have also given me inspiration to continue writing the sequel to one of my books. I have joined among the many before me to try and make my name known in the reading world and ebooks have given me that opportunity. I have the feeling of success once again and I owe it all the fantastical world of digital media.

With this being said, it's still sad to see my local Borders store closing as it is the start of the new revolution of books and how digital media is impacting consumers. Although sad and disheartening, I understand that this new age of technology is giving authors like myself a new challenge and opportunity to make lifelong dreams come true. I won't hide the fact that the paperback editions of my work have not done well at all. But maybe, just maybe, in my search through a second hand bookstore (as I do frequent those often) I may find a beat up, spine-broken, copy of one of my books and I will admit it will bring a huge smile to my face knowing that there are still readers out there who still adore holding glued pages together to expand their imagination.

To this I shall end this blog post and I hope you share my sadness in knowing that our corporate bookstores are coming to an end folks, it may not be next week, next year, but we are in a full force technology age where bits of data are now impacting our imaginations.

Nicholas McGirr