18 Wednesday Sep 2019
Posted in Books For Sale, Other Columns
Tags
Made a major tech breakthrough today with The Substitute! Anything can be accomplished if one swears hard enough and long enough at a computer. How major is major? I (not you) can now read the beta version on my Kindle. This weekend, cover art unlike the crude thing over in the margin will take shape (I hope).
Get those card$ ready.
17 Tuesday Sep 2019
Posted in Books For Sale, Other Columns
Tags
There’s much more to novel writing than I had imagined. Well, the writing is fine. The editing, formatting, etc. is a bear, especially with my (new) low-power computer. 400+pages makes for some awkwardness. I’ll make do for now. But! After The Substitute sells 10,000 or so copies, I’m upgrading to the fastest, most powerful thing I can find. Y’all can help with that. Thank$. – P
22 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted in Books For Sale
Today I’ve been hard at it, editing the forthcoming TPC Column Compendium for 2018. I so enjoy this process. MBM has agreed to give me a fitting Forward. Now, I have to think about adding expanded features and maybe an exclusive bit or two.
Here is (again) the working cover:
Expect this sometime next month at Amazon, B&N, here, and a few other venues. She’ll be around 150 pages and perhaps offered in print for $11.99-ish (less for Kindle). There will be a few pictures.
Ready the credit cards…
26 Monday Nov 2018
Posted in Books For Sale, News and Notes, Other Columns
Tags
I had a high-energy Sunday. Much was accomplished.
The first change, here, is minimal, though substantive:
As you might have noticed above, the Header modification is now: “Thoughts on Freedom and The West.” This, as opposed to:
This has been the general theme, anyway, for a long time. Now it’s codified. Yes, I’m still concerned with Natural Law. The cigars will continue at random intervals as will the general rambling. Also,
I moved the TPC link up the sidebar and the FP link down:
If I’m honest, TPC is, now, where my better commentary is found. FP is limping along – and likely will for a little longer, bar some reinvigoration. Natural changes.
And, just below those links, one finds the heralding of A NEW BOOK (SOON)!!
I have solicited a fitting forward from a fitting commentator. This should run about 150 pages or so. Hopefully, the e-version will be more readable than that of THLCB; the high-quality trade paperback will be awesome. Ready the credit cards…
The new, to-come entry has been entered on the updated Books Page. Peruse that, if you like.
Yesterday, I kicked off some semi-heavy posting with a social media update. My de-linking from Farcebook was multi-faceted (and great!): the great algorithm changes of 2017-2018 dealt me quiet the traffic blow. That coupled with the spying and privacy invasion and the fact that social media marketing is virtually useless led me to kill the FB account. Still, I’m missing a lot of clicks.
I appreciate that those who now visit are hardcore fans (and perverts Googling in for the #hotpants post – geeze, don’t think I haven’t noticed the pattern [still grateful for the visits]). And, by my admittedly weak standards, 2018 still counts as a “great” year along with 2015, 2016, and 2017. Something needs improvement though. Working on it.
The eventual syndication of my TPC column should help, as will increased book-related queries. I have an email list that I have never deployed. Honestly, it needs a cleanup and I need to learn how to use a list. Progress…
Other items, briefly:
More fiction coming;
Pen Names cometh;
A new alt email has been secured;
What to do with Youtube and videos in general;
I’m mindful about the old Patreon page (ignore it for now);
The ads are problematic, yes; the mobile app is horribly clogged; with a traffic increase I should be able to update $$$ and clean that up while keeping the site free;
etc.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by and reading through these changes – for the better in the near future.
Thanks,
Perrin
17 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in Books For Sale
I write books. Very very slowly I write books. And I promise more. Then I get busy here, with other projects, beating myself up and with just being lazy (like the mighty tiger).
Here’s a recap of what’s STILL in production, hopefully for release this year (then a freebie):
Shape Up America or Perrin’s Fitness Plan or something like that (name subject to change);
Fight Back! Personal Anti-Terrorism Tactics (name subject to change);
The (Fictional) History of Cigars (name probably locked in…). This one may feature, among many other great things, original artwork by yours truly. The collector’s item of our times. The times meaning the future. When I get around to it. Etc.
Additionally I have a ton of ideas and manuscripts in various states of disarray. The pretty darned good success of The Happy Little Cigar Book (buy now!) has me thinking about a Second Addition. Or maybe I could get to Cigar Stories sooner or later. Or maybe I could get off my butt and fix the original Kindle version of THLCB (don’t buy that one, please, still…).
Often overlooked and forgotten is my lovely, little, free e-book, Perrin On Politics:
63 pages of wit, wisdom and the tragedy of everything political. They tell me another election is right around the corner. By the growing odor I believe them. This little gem is your election guide – How to Save America – and so forth…
You’ll laugh, cry, and mug like Bert:
Download it now before I revise it and start charging. And y’all know how fast I move with stuff like that…
I hope your Monday was as great as mine. Night, friends.
29 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in Books For Sale, Other Columns
Tags
blog, blogging, books, ideas, Perrin Lovett, perrinlovett.me, The Happy Little Cigar Book, writing
A talented friend asked me how I do the crazy things I do. This was going to be an email to him. However, I thought it better to share with everyone. I suppose I can give this now. Sometimes its easier to give it than to live it. Do as I say!
Here are a few ideas:
Start a Blog
I use and recommend WordPress.WP allows for easy and professional startups. The base level is absolutely free. I pay a nominal fee to keep the “wordpress.” out of my page name and a few other perks. Next I will step up to the expensive level. Start small – and cheap. Just get started. There are other free hosts out there too.
Social Media
From WP you can link your posts to Facebook, Twitter, etc. This will help generate traffic and maybe build some new friends. Don’t forget LinkedIn.
Email List
They say for real on-line success one needs an email list – a go to group of dedicated followers. I spent a lot of time building mine this summer. I took it from about 20 people to almost 1,000. Sadly, I have not tested the system out. I will. I use Gmail which is okay for one to one emails. For a list there are vastly better options – MailChimp, Aweber, etc. Those cost money. Keep it simple (and free) to start.
Publishing
My friend has a wealth of historical knowledge he would like to share. There’s no reason he shouldn’t get paid to do it. One sure-fire way to do that is to publish a book:
Createspace
Createspace is Amazon’s professional publishing wing. Account setup is free and relatively easy. Converting, editing, and formatting everything takes a little work. However, the services are free and one can then directly upload to Amazon. These are books “available on demand”. Someone sees it, orders it and pays for it and CS prints a copy and mails it out. They also have other formats which I have not experimented with – audio, video, etc. For a fee they also have editing and design services.
You can make a book like this:
This is the way of the future – self publishing and Amazon. A few more years and traditional publishers and bookstores won’t exist. They are committing suicide.
CS is also a stepping stone to:
Kindle
Once one has a manuscript ready it can be converted to Kindle for ebook publishing and sale. This is not necessarily easy. I have one book in Kindle and the format is horrible. Worse, I have never gone back and fixed it yet. Learning curve here. One can also pay to have the formatting done. Otherwise the system is free. There are books available on the subject. I suggest reading them.
Amazon Tools
Once one has a book out, odds are people are going to find it on Amazon. Remember to set up an Author Page with links to your Blog posts.
There is a super easy way to make an ebook. Just convert a Word, WordPerfect, or Docs text to PDF and link it to your blog or email it. Freebies build business although it is possible to offer these for sale.
PayPal
Set up an account and use it to receive payments for the PDFs and other services offered until you can afford a real e-commerce system. Amazon and Kindle offer direct deposit for their sales of your work. PayPal also comes in handy for freelancing (see below).
Some Writing Resources
These are in no particular order and there are so many out there:
James Altucher offers a wealth of publishing tips and other inspiration. Read this.
The Write Life. All kinds of advice for all sorts of things.
That will do for now. If you have an idea or a question, don’t forget the Google.
Freelance Ideas
Independent contract work can be a great way to build business and make money. Many of these jobs can be found just by looking around. Then there are “content mills”. The mills are marketplaces where people look for work and companies look for talent. I list three of them below. I can’t really recommend using them because so much of what is offered is pure crap. However, the gems are out there. It’s just a matter of finding them.
As for my friend or really anyone, I would recommend searching hard within the author’s niche. I’ve stumbled into some great projects that fit my crazed topics and style. One might as well be happy when working.
This is just a board published by ProBlogger. No account to set up; just communicate directly with projects by email or their sites. I’ve had the most success with this service. And jobs are posted daily and are searchable. Most pay by PayPal.
A true content mill with required setup. They frequently handle payment but they also take a cut. That’s also how it works at:
They handle all payment issues in-house. I think it’s a slightly better system. A good deal of hassle and BS but you can search out what you’re looking for.
As I said there are many other resources. This is a gateway not only for writers, but also for speakers, artists, professionals, and anyone with something to offer. I hope it helps. Happy hunting.
05 Friday Aug 2016
Posted in Books For Sale, News and Notes, Other Columns
Tags
America, books, fat, health, The People
Yesterday I announced a new book project in a nearly backhanded way. Being big is a big problem in America. I wasn’t making fun though I would like to cash in. That’s honesty. Here’s more honesty: we have a massive epidemic on our hands (and guts, thighs, etc.). A few of the facts:
dukandiet.com
35% of Americans are obese. That’s 111 million people. http://stateofobesity.org/rates/.
Almost 70% of Americans are obese or overweight. 223 million. That’s a vast majority being vast. Id.
Rates of physical inactivity range from 16% in Colorado to 31% in Mississippi. Id.
Obesity is costing around $200 Billion! per year in medical care. Virtually all of this is preventable Id.
Obesity-related illnesses kill 300,000 people each year (the number could be closer to 500,000). WV Dept. Health and Human Resources.
One in five American deaths is related to obesity. Dr. Joseph Mercola.
Sugar, tasty as it is, is poison. Id.
Being overweight can lead to: heart disease; high blood pressure; stroke, diabetes, high blood fat; failing metabolism; cancer; osteoarthritis; sleep apnea; hypertension; gallstones – among many other problems. Nat’l. Inst. of Health.
While being “overweight” could be explained by an excess of water, bone, or muscle (or by being fat), being “obese” just means being overly fat. NIH.
As the majority of Americans are now overweight, being normal is now abnormal. This isn’t good.
Americans eat 20% more than they did in 1983. publichealth.org.
Americans spend over $20 Billion a year on diet schemes – they’re not working. Id.
Obesity has doubled in the past four decades and it’s getting worse. ADA. 70% and worsening. What’s next? 90%? 99%?
In a way these facts are indicative of the prosperity of America. We produce more food than ever. Food is easier to come by than ever. Activities are less demanding than ever. Government evil and cultural idiocy aside, life is better than ever. Even our poorest people (especially the poor) are overweight these days. That’s a historical anomaly among the human population. It’s proof of too much of a good thing, maybe.
I was among the ranks of the new normal for a long time. Too long. Too many wasted years. Getting into shape and staying there isn’t easy. It isn’t difficult either. We can reverse these trends.
***
Note: It came to my attention that more unsolicited political ads are running on my posts from time to time. At some point I will be halting this altogether (WP control ain’t cheap). Until then I’ve decided to counter those ads with some ads of my own. Here’s one:
04 Thursday Aug 2016
Posted in Books For Sale, News and Notes, Other Columns
So say the Chinese. I agree. That’s why I am happy to report that Americans are fatter than ever – and getting fatter year by year. Since the late 1980s the average American has gained 15 pounds – and not muscle.
There’s no doubt about it: Americans are getting heavier and heavier. But new U.S. estimates may still come as a shock — since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the average American has put on 15 or more additional pounds without getting any taller.
Even 11-year-old kids aren’t immune from this weight plague, the study found. Girls are more than seven pounds heavier even though their height is the same. Boys gained an inch in height, but also packed on an additional 13.5 pounds compared to two decades ago.
…
“We are not doing nearly enough to control and reverse the obesity epidemic and doing far too much to propagate it. This is another notice of that sad fact,” said Dr. David Katz. He directs the Yale University Prevention Research Center and is president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
The new statistics were released Aug. 3 in a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The statistics for 2011-2014 are based on an analysis of a sample of 19,151 people who underwent medical examinations and were interviewed at home.
These are averages too. The ordinary people. More than two-thirds of all Americans are overweight and over one-third are obese (severely overweight and at risk of serious problems or death). Of the obese many are grossly obese. These are the behemoths one sees waddling around almost everywhere. They’re getting bigger too. 300 and 400-pounders are now very common and there is a growing class of hyper-heavyweights who flirt with four digit weights (some of them have TV shows).
America: big-time pig-time. Nutritionreview.org.
How, one might wonder, is this good news, an opportunity? One, there is tremendous potential for a huge number of (huge) people to change their lives for the better. There’s a chance for happier and longer living. People literally have the ability to save their lives. For me, this means financial publication potential.
Several years ago I started a book about how I got back into shape. I posted several articles about my journey. Then I let it drop. I noticed there was already a plethora of books on losing weight and living healthy. I figured mine would be white noise. Now I’m not so sure. All those diet books, some of them really good, don’t seem to be working. More diet books than ever and yet people keep getting fatter.
I also noticed that weight-loss is one of the most popular and lucrative book categories out there. It’s right up there with romance novels, get rick quick schemes, and adult coloring books.
Part of my forth-coming anti-terrorism book calls for people to get in shape; it’s hard to fight or flee while obese. Since I have so much of it already typed out and as if I don’t already have enough going on, I’m going to finish Perrin’s Guide to Fitness (title subject to change).
Look for it a little later in this year in Kindle, paperback and maybe even audio format. Enjoy your cheeseburgers and shakes while you can.
PS: my way is easy, fun, and self-rewarding!
25 Monday Jul 2016
Posted in Books For Sale, Other Columns
This is not a story about a new ride at Disneyland – wouldn’t that one be boring. No, this is about me and my beloved books – I hope that’s not boring.
I’m working as steady as I can on two new volumes which should be released in tandem (or close to it) and released soon. One is another cigar book, a work of pure humor. The other is dead serious, a guide to fighting terrorism on the personal, day-to-day basis. Soon, folks, soon. Ready those debit cards now.
While I was taking a break I did a periodic check on The Happy Little Cigar Book. While it is not a bestseller, it has been more successful than I had originally hoped. Thank you all! I also discovered that it is available at Barnes and Noble. I had forgotten that CreateSpace has a B&N connection. Or, maybe I made that up in my head. Anyway, I’m now at the first and second largest bookstores in the world.
I need 5-star reviews here to match Amazon. B&N.com.
The HLCB is also (allegedly) available from some not so reputable sites as I discovered on Friday. My Googling led me to several sites claiming to offer free downloads of my book. Free downloads of MY book! That is piracy. It’s theft of my copyright protected material. Two of these are linked to Google somehow – probably via an aggregation service anyone can use. The others I looked at, like the one below, are probably just scams. I read up on this phenomenon. “Download” means get a free virus. I do not advise looking into this. That, and they likely operate outside of U.S. jurisdiction or through a laborynth of servers.
I DID NOT and DO NOT authorize this theft of my property! I’m also not attributing this clipped picture (fair play).
This is a plain, simple DMCA violation. I have a warning right there inside my books, digital and paperback. I have an action under 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 512, et seq., provided I could pinpoint exactly who the pirates are. It’s odd for me to ponder having to use one of the many laws I can’t stand. I’ll probably let it go; blades are more my style anyway.
Part of me is angry but mostly I am flattered. At least I have enough notoriety to get into the scam sites. I was also a little mad that I did not find any pirated copies of Perrin On Politics – then again, that one is free to begin with.
I may take action but I probably will not. I could send a DMCA warning and notice (a cease a desist letter) along with a civil pre-litigation notice. I doubt much would come of it.
However, one site says the HLCB has a 4.5 star rating out of about 6,000 views. If that means they gave away 6,000 copies, then I am owed a tidy little sum. Those numbers are likely fluff and lies put up by some Chinese hacker, trying to get your bank information or something. Enough said.
For now I’ll just be flattered and a slight bit amused. You, all of you, please avoid the pirates out there. Fake or not, these postings are illegal reproductions – stolen goods. Get the real thing at Amazon or B&N. And, look out for my new material coming very soon (to real sites and stores and with real pricing).
Perrin
10 Sunday Jul 2016
Posted in Books For Sale, News and Notes
The news keeps getting better month by month for authors and readers alike. The old, traditional, monopolistic publishing industry is fading rapidly. Good riddance. With it goes the middlemen, the obscene contracts, the thefts of rights, the low royalties, the limitations of access and of selection, and the tyranny of the gatekeepers.
Barnes and Noble, the last of the big chain booksellers, has announced it will allow some self-published books in its 640 or so stores nationwide. Some, not all. First, a book has to be formatted for Nook, which is B&N’s house version of Kindle. They’re keeping it in the family. Then, there are sales number requirements (1,000 for e-books, 500 for physical copies). Finally, a review board must approve the book for shelving.
Book Business/Mike Valasnick – Flickr.
This is a systemization of their current, difficult and arbitrary policy. An idie author can already get into B&N but the process and the resulting rewards (if any) are so uncertain it’s almost not worth it. B&N is desperately and belatedly trying to compete with Amazon, which allows any and all authors access to their digital store.
Book Business makes a bigger deal out of this story than it needs to. They compare B&N’s 640 stores (and shrinking?) to Amazon as if Amazon was a nebulous startup concept.
Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore. Period. No, they don’t just have one single store in Seattle. They have as many stores as there are computers, tablets, and smartphones in the world. What is that number? A billion stores? Five billion? It’s huge. I have two of those stores in my immediate possession right now.
Sometimes I get asked if The Happy Little Cigar Book is in bookstores. I always say “yes” and refer the inquirer to Amazon. By the way, just click the link two sentences back, and you’re in the store, ready to buy a copy.
When was the last time you went into a bookstore? Odds are it was a B&N as they’re about the only game left in town – and only in decent sized towns. There are, here and there, small private stores but their selection is extremely limited. An indie house might have 5,000 – 10,000 books that the owner felt like carrying. A big B&N might have 10,000 – 30,000. I’ve noticed B&N sells fewer and fewer real books in their stores and more picture books, calendars, coffee mugs, and other stuff. They’ll have popular bestselling novels but perhaps not a work of classical history or philosophy.
Amazon has millions and millions (scores of millions) of books. The e-books one can buy and start reading within about 30 seconds. Hardcover and paperbacks take a few days for delivery. They’re prices are better too because of the economy of scale.
**Want a FREE book from My Bookstore? CLICK HERE and have one, right now.**
It’s getting harder to find a “real” bookstore just as it’s getting harder to find a “real” book from a “real” publisher. The big houses are in deep trouble. If not for coloring books and romance novels, they would already be gone. The world has changed – for the better.
Am I happy B&N is opening up? Yes. Will I try to get a few of my works into their hallowed stores? Yes. Will I obsess about it? No. Amazon and the internet are the future and the future is now and has been for a few years.
