It is that time of the year again where we reassess what we are doing with our lives. For me, I am enjoying writing and the life of authorship. I have finished my tenth book and am doing the editing/pre-publishing elements for books 7-10 (Man on the Run Volumes 6, 1, 2, and Concentration Camps of Canada). In the last twelve months, I have published Revelation, Faust, Art of Wealth, and Man on the Run Volumes 3, 4, 5, 6. It has been an enormous effort and I look forward to writing more one-offs than series. I will only write volume 7 of my series once I have sold at least 100,000 copies of the series. This means 2017 will be about getting to grips with marketing. I have held off on this until now because people have proven resistant to starting a series at volume 3. I thought it was clever (a la Star Wars) but I have been proven wrong.
In addition to publishing to 35,000 outlets (so I am told), I have made (and am making) all my books into audio books. I have become hooked on audio books as I enjoy longish (20km) walks 3-5 times per week. They are the perfect companion. Naturally, for those of you who have friends, it is better not to be listening to audio books when you are walking together.
I continue to have books translated into other languages, but I am going to halt this until my sales increase. Translators want to see track record. That being said, I have had Art of Wealth translated into French, Spanish, and Portuguese; it is currently being translated into Chinese (Mandarin). Revelation has been translated into three languages and is also being translated into Chinese. Faust has been translated into three languages. I anticipate these books to hit the market in the next three months.
I look forward to 2017 for a number of reasons.
1. My newest book, Concentration Camps of Canada will go on sale. I hope to get it onto the curriculum of schools in Canada and the United States. If there are any of you reading this who can help, please contact me. It relates to Residential Schools in Canada and is a powerful story of a young boy told from his point of view from his first day in school to adulthood. I look forward to working with the First Nations in Manitoba and Canada in educating people about this chapter of Canada's history.
2. My series will be ready for marketing. Man on the Run will be my primary focus and I look forward to getting the message out there. Naturally, I would be over the moon to talk to a distributor about this. The reality is that the Indie market is now more lucrative than traditional publishing for authors. Theoretically, I will make more money doing it myself. In reality, I am not doing this for money so I am happy for someone to take marketing off my back. The difficulty is that if I do nothing, my books will languish in obscurity. I would like them read!
3. This is the most important: I look forward to spending more time with my wife.
4. I look forward to getting back into the saddle re: business and development. I have been living the life of a retiree for five years. While it has allowed me to study French in France and Hebrew in Israel and write these books all while travelling the world, I find that I miss the buzz of business. Hyper-tech greenhouses, green energy, and creative financing are the most likely avenues I will pursue. Whatever I end up doing, I will ensure that I maintain my 2-4 hours of writing per day (either creating or marketing).
5. Paper. I look forward to paper books (again). As I am travelling a lot, I converted to e-books. I love my kindle but it remains a sterile experience for me. I still love the feel of paper. I love to see the books on the shelf after I have read them. I miss the tactile interaction with 'real' books. I find that living in the ether of a paperless existence to be lonely. One one hand, I have the world at my fingertips. Google, downloads, and endless books, movies, documentaries, and research are available to me anywhere I can get wifi or an internet connection. While the world is theoretically limitless, I find that the algorithms of Amazon, Google, and the rest feed me what I am interested in. As a result, my world horizon narrows the more 'they' get to know me. I think there is still something lacking (for me) in the ether. I want to search, explore, and enjoy what is out there. The more I do, the more I come across the e-mining of emails and contact details from vendors and users of the net. This is because everyone is trying to accumulate their email lists independently. So, as I approach a site, I am required to enter my details. I dislike this so I click away. If I do enter my details, my inbox is bombarded. I can mark as junk or discontinue but somehow they continue to send me stuff. In the internet, you never truly ever leave a site. In real life, the door opens and then closes; you enter or leave as you want. You are drawn in or not and it becomes part of who you are. In the ether, an algorithm is defining who we are. The problem is that it is a reflection of who we are at the time.
I feel optimistic about the future. There are many reasons to dispair at local, national, and global news; but there are more reasons to be excited at the opportunities available to us--as individuals, communities, and nations. It is a good time to be alive and participating in history.
In addition to publishing to 35,000 outlets (so I am told), I have made (and am making) all my books into audio books. I have become hooked on audio books as I enjoy longish (20km) walks 3-5 times per week. They are the perfect companion. Naturally, for those of you who have friends, it is better not to be listening to audio books when you are walking together.
I continue to have books translated into other languages, but I am going to halt this until my sales increase. Translators want to see track record. That being said, I have had Art of Wealth translated into French, Spanish, and Portuguese; it is currently being translated into Chinese (Mandarin). Revelation has been translated into three languages and is also being translated into Chinese. Faust has been translated into three languages. I anticipate these books to hit the market in the next three months.
I look forward to 2017 for a number of reasons.
1. My newest book, Concentration Camps of Canada will go on sale. I hope to get it onto the curriculum of schools in Canada and the United States. If there are any of you reading this who can help, please contact me. It relates to Residential Schools in Canada and is a powerful story of a young boy told from his point of view from his first day in school to adulthood. I look forward to working with the First Nations in Manitoba and Canada in educating people about this chapter of Canada's history.
2. My series will be ready for marketing. Man on the Run will be my primary focus and I look forward to getting the message out there. Naturally, I would be over the moon to talk to a distributor about this. The reality is that the Indie market is now more lucrative than traditional publishing for authors. Theoretically, I will make more money doing it myself. In reality, I am not doing this for money so I am happy for someone to take marketing off my back. The difficulty is that if I do nothing, my books will languish in obscurity. I would like them read!
3. This is the most important: I look forward to spending more time with my wife.
4. I look forward to getting back into the saddle re: business and development. I have been living the life of a retiree for five years. While it has allowed me to study French in France and Hebrew in Israel and write these books all while travelling the world, I find that I miss the buzz of business. Hyper-tech greenhouses, green energy, and creative financing are the most likely avenues I will pursue. Whatever I end up doing, I will ensure that I maintain my 2-4 hours of writing per day (either creating or marketing).
5. Paper. I look forward to paper books (again). As I am travelling a lot, I converted to e-books. I love my kindle but it remains a sterile experience for me. I still love the feel of paper. I love to see the books on the shelf after I have read them. I miss the tactile interaction with 'real' books. I find that living in the ether of a paperless existence to be lonely. One one hand, I have the world at my fingertips. Google, downloads, and endless books, movies, documentaries, and research are available to me anywhere I can get wifi or an internet connection. While the world is theoretically limitless, I find that the algorithms of Amazon, Google, and the rest feed me what I am interested in. As a result, my world horizon narrows the more 'they' get to know me. I think there is still something lacking (for me) in the ether. I want to search, explore, and enjoy what is out there. The more I do, the more I come across the e-mining of emails and contact details from vendors and users of the net. This is because everyone is trying to accumulate their email lists independently. So, as I approach a site, I am required to enter my details. I dislike this so I click away. If I do enter my details, my inbox is bombarded. I can mark as junk or discontinue but somehow they continue to send me stuff. In the internet, you never truly ever leave a site. In real life, the door opens and then closes; you enter or leave as you want. You are drawn in or not and it becomes part of who you are. In the ether, an algorithm is defining who we are. The problem is that it is a reflection of who we are at the time.
I feel optimistic about the future. There are many reasons to dispair at local, national, and global news; but there are more reasons to be excited at the opportunities available to us--as individuals, communities, and nations. It is a good time to be alive and participating in history.
RSS Feed
