Stories from the Heartland

 And a new cover and time-limited special price. $2.99 at Smashwords

Download a free sample.

Hobson's Choice

A new cover and a limited time, special price. ONLY $2.99 from Smashwords!

When a chain of events is set in place, Templeton Ngubane, a cop in the apartheid police must make a terrible choice if he is to save the life of his only son. But will it cost him his own life?
"Hobson's Choice" will shake you to your core. It is a story you will never forget.
Download this book now!

News 10/12/2014

News

Australia's ebook reading habits.
The most popular ebooks of 2014 in Australia.

Airlines Start Adopting eBooks, Magazines and Newspapers

Micro fiction: Love in the Morning

Micro fiction: Fish Fingers and Business Card

Micro Fiction: Cat

Micro fiction: Tattoo, Sometimes I wake

 

Micro fiction: Love and Coffee

Micro fiction and the Steam Tomato

 It's called many things: 'short, short fiction', 'micro fiction', 'flash fiction', 'nano fiction' and other names.
 In essence, it is the writing of a complete short story in a tiny number of words. This can be anything from 1 000 words to 100 or less, depending on the definition chosen by the writer.
 Arguably, the most famous piece of micro fiction is Ernest Hemingway's "Baby Shoes" complete "novel" in just six words: For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
 I wrote about this story in this blog post.
 My interest in the technique was piqued by a story I came across about Franki Elliot, a writer in Chicago and Los Angeles who sets up her typewriter on the street and writes short stories on demand for passersby.
 They give her a topic and she hacks out a story on the spot, for which they pay what they want. She's become something of a media celebrity and I thought the concept was pretty cool.
 I wondered if I was capable of doing something like that, if I could come up with something creative, when put on the spot. Using a manual typewriter also means there was no opportunity to correct or revise.
 So I set up the "Steam Tomato" and got my wife and son to call out a couple of random topics.
 I've scanned and posted two short stories. (I will post more in future.) The topic is at the top of the sheet of paper.
 Did I succeed? That's for the reader to judge. I like them and it was a lot of fun - and the ultimate nerd, party game.

Thoughts on my Writin' Iron

 

News

Ebooks, E-Reading Devices to Top Children’s Holiday Gifts

 Among the various high-tech gifts and gizmos parents are planning to buy for their children this holiday season, ebooks and e-reading devices are likely to be among the most popular, according to a new survey by PlayCollective and Digital Book World.
 45% of parents surveyed said they plan to buy a new device for their children to use in order to read ebooks. The share of those parents who already own an e-reading device and intend to purchase a new one rose 4% compared with last year.

Read the full story at Digital World

95 percent of American public libraries now carry ebooks 

 Ebooks are the new books. At least that's according to a recent survey by the Library Journal that looked at American public libraries. 

 Ninety-five percent of libraries carry ebook titles. That's up from 89 percent in both 2013 and 2012, when researchers thought that adoption had plateaued for good.

Read the full story at Gizmodo 

 

Can e-Books Ever Overtake Print?

 A number of analysts have been proclaiming that within a few years digital eBooks will overtake print.
 PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the most notorious, who recently said this will occur in 2018. Is this possible?
 In the United States and Britain, sales of eBooks represent between a quarter and a third of the consumer book market. According to a recent survey by Nielsen Books, eBook sales made up 23% of unit sales for the first six months of 2014, while hardcover’s accounted for 25% and paperbacks 42%.
 Ever since the Kindle was released in 2007 digital sales have consistently increased by double digit figures. In 2013, sales growth for eBooks slowed to single digits, and the new numbers from Nielsen suggest the leveling off was no anomaly.

Read the full story at Good E Reader

5 things EVERY author should know

 I came across a very interesting and thought-provoking article published in the Huffington Post that struck a chord.
 Written by Brooke Warner, Publisher of She Writes Press; President of Warner Coaching Inc.; Author of 'What's Your Book?', it brings a welcome dose of reality to both traditionally published and author/indie publishers.
 "These are five things I wish I every author could carry with them through their writing journey," she writes. "Though they're all things people know, writing a book is one of those experiences that cause rational people to sometimes lose perspective, if not their sanity. So here's a reminder to keep your eye and your heart on what matters as you write."

1.   You first book won't make you any money or bring you fame.
2.   Getting published will change your life, but maybe not in the way that you think. 
3.   Don't worry about the competition.
4.   There are many paths to getting published, and what worked for someone else might not be what works for you.
5.   Your voice matters, and your readers are out there.

She discusses each point in detail in the original article which is a worthwhile read.

Please be cool and share this post.

How writers can still be successful

Alone in the wilderness - the occasional freelance experience.

This article first appeared on Karoo Space and is reproduced with their permission.

By Chris Marais

 Every day, I hear the cries of media people – journalists, graphic artists, photographers and copy editors – who have just been kicked out onto the street by their long-time employers.
 Many of them have given decades of faithful service – with little remuneration – to their newspapers and magazines.
 Most of us do this work because we have a passion for it. Take my travel-writing familiars, for instance. If you sent us on a trip without a notebook, pen, camera or some form of recording device, we would probably seize up on the spot.
 We love what we do. Our bosses know it, so they’ve never really paid us much.
 And that’s been fine, up to now. We’ve bitched about the money, but we’ve loved the newsroom buzz, the deadline pressure and the occasional songs of praise from our readers.
 As the late great South African arts writer Percy Baneshik once told me:
“Young man, you may never become a millionaire, but you’ll always have a season ticket to the Grandstand of Life.”
 And now I see thousands of my brothers and sisters of the world’s media suddenly faced with the supposedly-bleak prospect of freelancing.The Old Firm

 And it looks bleak, because who do you freelance for? Your old bosses? Do you stand in line for scraps of assignments? Will you ever earn enough to cover those mounting bills?
 But spare a thought for the Old Firm, the folk who used to pay your salary. Most have simply been blind-sided by the Digital Era, citizen journalism and the instant information available on the Internet.
 Print was once lucrative. Now, not so much.
 The new brand of media owner could just as well be a plastic widget maker. He doesn’t have ink in his veins or whatever the hi-tech crowd calls it these days. It’s all about the bottom line, the shareholder and how to squeeze the most words out of you – for the least amount of bucks.
 It’s also about sucking up to the government of the day.
 But I’m not here to lament the woes of Mahogany Row. I’m for Freelance Alley, that dangerous, edgy place where only the brave dare to venture.
 And it is a brave new world out there. It takes balls to wake up in the morning and build your earnings base from zero. But the freedom, aah, the freedom.   Even if, as Mr Kristofferson said, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”.

Hungry

 The first thing you have to realise is that the readers are still out there. They’re hungry for what you have to produce, as long as you’re dealing in quality content.
 And they’re right across the globe. If you’ve become a crocodile expert over the years, I’ll bet you good money there are millions of crocodile fans in this world, from Fietas to Fort Lauderdale.
 Me, I cover the Karoo in South Africa. For those who don’t know, the Karoo is the most kick-ass desert in the world. It spans 101 settlements and represents the Heartland of South Africa. I’m part of a team that owns and runs a bookstore-website called Karoo Space.
 Talk to a South African expat about the Karoo and he will experience great pangs of home-sickness. It’s that kind of a magical place.
 So I write articles on the Karoo, mainly for one very good South African magazine called SA Country Life. They pay fairly and my partner and I give them the best of our stuff.
 But our main gig is books. Print books (Karoo Keepsakes I and II) and a whole slew of e-books.
 We sell e-books to South Africans at home, to foreigners wanting to visit the Karoo and to Saffers living overseas.
 I get a special thrill when I see an order from someone currently in Manitoba, Sussex or Saskatchewan. I know they’ll be back home one day, drinking a beer under a wind pump somewhere in the Great Karoo.
 And that’s where I see the Rise of the Freelancer. It’s our time right now, and here are my thoughts. They could be relevant for the print-publishing business, but let’s stay on the path of the e-book.

Good content
 
 Firstly, you must realise the value of what you’ve been producing all along: good content. That phrase (Content is King) didn’t just invent itself.
 People (and you really can’t fool them) love a good story, a beautiful photograph and a creative layout.
 There are billions of readers out there consuming content every day. They might want to become your fans, if you let them.
 Secondly, if you’re writing a book, invest in high standards. If you’re going to be an Indie Publisher (not a self-publisher, not a vanity publisher) then you must look around and hire the best copy editor you can afford.
 Source the finest illustrations and then find yourself one of those Magic People: the Webmeister who does graphics.
 Suddenly, you’re a publishing house. Why? Because you’re passing work to copy editors, photographers, map makers, graphic designers, webmasters and possibly all sorts of other people in your field.
 They are helping you to bring your book to market – in a professional manner. They are the very people who have been laid off in their millions by the Old Firms.
 Get where I’m going with this?
 There are other elements to this conversation, which involve subjects like audience interaction and marketing, social media and live gigging. But that’s for another blog.
 In the meantime, dear freelancer, the audience awaits your content. Your new professional peers are all out there, only too willing to be your backing band. Now go on stage and give it hell.
 And if you die trying, well, at least you did your best…

Go float your own boat – you might surprise yourself.

The world is your prairie – or was that oyster? Or was that prairie oyster? 

Selling in e-book to a Saffer from Saskatchewan is a big thrill for us.

 Take the time to browse through the Karoo Space Bookstore!

Betting on Mobile Phones and PDFs

I'm betting my writing future on the assumption books and articles will mostly be read on mobile phones and (to a lesser extent) tablets.
 It's a no-brainer! Everyone has a smartphone and that is no exaggeration. According to the International Telecommunications Union, there are currently nearly seven billion mobile subscriptions worldwide. That is the equivalent of 95.5% of the world's population. By comparison, tablet sales so far in 2014 account for 270.7 million units.
 Every major report by statistical organisations, declares smartphones are read more than any other device, because they are always available. They're there in your pocket or purse, immediately ready to be read in the doctor's waiting rooms, commuting to and from work on the train, or just while enjoying a quick coffee break. Add to that, the ability to store hundreds of titles on them and, it's easy to see, smartphones and ebooks are a marriage made in heaven.
 The same cannot always be said for tablets or dedicated ebook-readers which are often too large to fit into a pocket or purse and more likely to be left behind.
 All of the major ebook retailers, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Oyster and Scribd etc., report that it is their Android and iOS app for mobile phones that gets most traction. These companies all know their customers are mostly using smartphones to buy and read digital books.
 But having to first download an app before a customer can read a book, and having to leave your website to do so, is risky business - the reader may never return to make the purchase!
I'm betting my writing future on the assumption books and articles will mostly be read on mobile phones and (to a lesser extent) tablets.

The good old PDF

 Enter the good, old, PDF format that works on any device and can be read with software that almost always is preloaded on digital devices.
 Everyone knows what a PDF is and what to do with it but trying to explain the differences between Epub and Mobi formats - or something even more exotic - can quickly kill a sale.
 A PDF is simple: download it, read it!
 But what of the criticism that PDFs display horribly on small screens? True - if the original document is not specifically formatted and designed to be read on small screen devices.
 Format a PDF as an A4-sized document and it becomes a nightmare to read on a small screen. But, if it is done right, from the get-go, the reading experience becomes slick, clean and pleasant. And it will display perfectly on laptops and PCs by simply "zooming out".
 Both "Hobson's Choice" and "Stories from the Heartland" are PDFs formatted to be read on mobile phones and tablets but also work perfectly on Amazon Kindles and other ebook-readers.
 If you'd like to see how a mobile-formatted PDF reads on your cellphone, tablet, ebook-reader, laptop or PC, you can download free samples of both "Hobson's Choice" and "Stories from the Heartland."

Name the turkey and change the world

  I am, quite often, prejudiced and bigoted. I'm not proud of it but it's true and much of my generation is the same.
 That should surprise no-one.
 We grew up in the era of grand apartheid, when black people in South Africa were required to carry a "pass" that allowed them to work or live in certain areas in the country of their birth.
 I clearly remember the big, Ford or Chev pick-up trucks with steel canopies and barred windows, slowly picking their way through white suburbs, on the hunt for blacks without passes. At night, policemen jumped over garden fences and hammered "maid's room" doors, checking passes and making sure they weren't sleeping with white men.
 At 10pm a siren sounded to signal the start of the nightly curfew for blacks.
 At school we were taught about "us" and "them" and why "they" could never be trusted and why "we" and "them" should never mix, mingle or socialise. Our churches preached, "water and wine" do not mix and our government put in place legislation to ensure we wouldn't.
 Looking back, I can't believe we saw such things as okay.


Not confined

But we did. However, in our defence, I should point out, our prejudices were not confined to our fellow black citizens. We were prejudiced about everyone. English speakers hated Afrikaners and they in turn hated us and held grudges that dated back to the Boer War.
 We looked down on the Portuguese, distrusted the Jews, had no good word for the "Coolies" and despised kids whose fathers worked in lowly jobs. The Catholics were leery of the Protestants. The Protestants found the feeling mutual but still found time to foster differences within the churches under their umbrella.
 And then, we white boys were drafted into the army where we were taught "they" were out there waiting for the chance to kill us, in the most brutal of ways!
 In 1994 democracy arrived and "they" came to power and much of what we'd been told would come to pass but believed wouldn't, did. Infrastructure collapsed as incompetent cadres were put in charge. Corruption by the political elite and those in power became a national sport as they squabbled to loot and pillage as much as possible in the fastest possible time.
 White men in particular were retrenched and new Affirmative Action laws, saw the possibility of ever being employed again, vanish like smoke from a snuffed out candle. Thousands of qualified non-black youngsters, many fresh from university, packed their bags and left the country. Once again greed and political expediency drove away the very people needed to rebuild a country that was, and remains, greatly hamstrung by the screw-ups of the past.
 Is anyone really surprised we are the way we are!
 On the surface we are more polarised than ever before. We no longer see each other as humans but rather as differently-labeled groups. Blacks are criminals, whites are racists, Indians are shifty and coloureds are gangsters and drug dealers.  

Label

It's easy and comforting to compartmentalise "them". Like building a wall around a village to keep the people from the next settlement out. We feel united - in our tiny group - as we band together in our shared dislike and fear of "them".
 We dehumanise those who do not wear our particular label. Instead of Johan or Themba they become "boers" or "kaffirs" or, as was the case in the Rwandan genocide, "cockroaches". It's much easier to kill a label than it is to kill someone whose name you know and who has the same dreams, fears and aspirations as do you.
 In October of the year I was four years-old, my father brought home a live turkey, to be fattened up for Christmas dinner. My younger sister and I thought it was the coolest pet ever. Together with our mother, we named it Gobble. We fed Gobble, played with her and generally had a wonderful time with our new companion.
 And then, a few days before Christmas we noticed the Old Man sharpening his axe and reality struck home. We begged and pleaded with my father not to kill Gobble and even our mother, who grew up on a farm where slaughtering poultry was a routine, everyday, occurrence, pleaded for Gobble's life.
 In the end, my father gave in and said he'd return Gobble to the farm where he bought her. She was stuffed into a box and loaded into the car and he drove away. Still, I've often wondered about that day because I remember eating turkey on Christmas Day that year ...
 Of course labelling is what politicians do. It's in their interest. Label a group as "settlers", "foreigners", "racists", "houtkoppe", whatever, and it's easy to convince supporters that such and such a group is the cause of all their woes and hardships.

Ingrained

It's the nature of the beast in South Africa - race and prejudice is an ingrained part of our psyche that permeates every aspect of our lives.
 In 2008 I found myself in the middle of a sort of perfect financial-storm. At the time I was contracted to write speeches and opinion-pieces for the CEO and other top executives of one of the country's largest financial institutions. It was lucrative and my skills were in demand but the organisation was pursuing huge government accounts and, in order to win brownie points with the ruling party, the CEO, a white Afrikaner, was replaced with a person with very powerful party connections.
 She quickly brought in her own people and many of us had our contracts terminated. I believed it would not be difficult to find new clients - I was, after all, skilled at what I did and well-known in the financial industry. It was not to be. Affirmative Action and BEE legislation had made me too white to be employed. And, at the same time, the world went into global melt down.
 I quickly went from someone courted by credit card providers to someone harassed by them. And there were times we survived only as a result of the kindness of friends, family and sometimes strangers.
 I suddenly knew what it was like to struggle and when I saw guys begging at traffic lights, I viewed them in a new light. Where previously my outlook and attitude was to mutter "get off your ass and get a job", I realised I was only one small step away from being one of them. I had skills and connections way beyond anything they had, and I couldn't find work!
 It was the cold, wet slap in the face I needed. Heck, I was now one of "them" - unemployed, with a family to feed, mortgage to pay, bills to meet and I didn't have a damned clue how I was going to do it. For the first time ever, I could empathise with people I'd always looked down upon. I could now understand that they had the same fears, dreams and desires as me. They suddenly became... real people!

Frugal

 Fast forward a couple of years.
 We were largely able to weather the financial storm by cutting every possible expense and luxury and living as frugally as humanly possible. My wife is currently the major bread-winner, while I earn a following for my books and short stories, one reader at a time and write a paying blog for an NGO. I also periodically work on “The JoziFolk Photo Project” (www.jozifolk.com), that will never be a paying proposition but is a labor of love.
 On the financial totem-pole I've slid a long way down from where I once was. Things I once took for granted, are now just memories or future dreams. But the weird thing is, I am happier than I've been for years.
 Every day my life is enriched immeasurably. Starting and publishing “The JoziFolk Photo Project” has been a gift. How else would I ever have had the opportunity to get out and be forced to engage with fellow South Africans?
 Where, previously I had little hope for this country, I am now optimistic.
 I set out on this endeavour with much trepidation. For good reason South Africans have built physical, emotional and attitudinal boundaries around themselves. Crime, and our constant focus on what is wrong, has made us fear and distrust each other - something politicians and other interests groups mercilessly exploit.
 If truth be told I was worried about how I'd be received but I need not have feared. In not a single case amongst the many people I've so far stopped to interview and photograph, was I met with aggression or rudeness. Some politely declined but most were happy to chat. In fact, it seemed they welcomed the opportunity to talk to a stranger.

Everyone has a story

 What I've learned is, everyone has a story to tell and it is important to them. And though the stories are different, they are the same. They're about the hopes, tragedies, fears and dreams we all share.
 Their stories forced me to examine my own beliefs, the things I took for granted and accepted without question.
 Their stories inspired many of the stories in my book: Stories from the Heartland. They are bizarre, often unbelievable but based on events I saw unfold.
 No matter what label is assigned or chosen, scratch us all hard enough and beneath the surface we are all the same.
 I could empathise with the 18 year-old youngster who grew up in rural Lesotho and made his way to Jo’burg in search of work and a perceived brighter future. But there was no work to be found and now he searches through people's trash for stuff he can sell to recyclers. God knows, it took my son a few years to find a job!
 The "scary biker" turned out to be a family man with a normal job during the week and the same concerns about educating his children and paying his bills as the rest of us.
 There are endless examples.
 But I would never have known, had I not stopped to talk to them. They would simply have remained strangers who, because of my ill-founded perceptions, made me wary and nervous, in the same way as Manie van Zyl, the main character in “I know you plan to kill me” feels.
 I learned ordinary people do have the power to make the world better and the way to do it is to start talking to each other.
 We'll discover "they" are human beings, with actual names and real living, breathing, children - who also have names. Human beings who have mortgages and bills and worry about corruption, the government and the future. "They'll" become the Christmas turkey who got given a name - as will "we"!

Simplistic?

Is this too simplistic? Will doing this simple thing mean we'll all miraculously live happily ever after? That crime will magically disappear and our little worlds become giant love-fests?
 Of course not! There will always be evil and dishonest people. Criminals will always exist and some will always lie. But what's the alternative? What we're doing now is not working. We are more polarised than ever and the concept of a united, rainbow nation is little more than PR-speak.
 In a survey of 25 000 people, published in August 2014 and carried out by The Observatory – a partnership between the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Gauteng government and the South African Local Government Association it was found:

• 73% of blacks said they would never trust whites and
• 35% of respondents said all foreigners should immediately be sent home

(See the results at http://www.gcro.ac.za/gcr/review/2013/gcro/life-and-people/race-relations)
 Something has to change and God knows, politicians and government aren't going to do anything that will make us "South Africans" first!
 If we want to save this country, the most important thing we can do is to talk to and get to know each other. It will enrich our lives, reduce our stress and fear, and free us from the bullshit some would have us buy. It will teach us to think for ourselves and ask questions.
 It'll be like naming the turkey.

Why I plan to buy a typewriter

 There is something to be said about analogue technology - it works!
 There's no denying modern, digital technology makes our lives faster and more efficient but does it make us more effective? When it breaks or, as was the case yesterday, needs power and there is none, we're left stranded, frustrated and "powerless".
 Where I live, mostly as a result of maladministration, rampant government corruption and long-term lack of maintenance, the government-owned power utility often can't supply enough electricity to power the country and nation-wide rolling-blackouts bring larges swathes of the country to a standstill. This was the case  yesterday.
 Work plans were instantly out of the window and I was immensely frustrated.
 There was once a less stressful time when I did all my writing on a portable, manual typewriter. On it I knocked out articles, speeches and books and never worried  about power-cuts. There was something pure, simple and tactile watching thoughts turn into 'concrete' reality on a sheet of paper, one letter, one clack and one keystroke at a time.

Sculptor

 It was the nearest thing I could imagine to being a sculptor, chipping away at a lifeless hunk of granite, giving it form and life, one chisel-strike at a time. An act of creation, I find impossible to reproduce on a computer screen.
 These are the reasons I've decided to buy typewriter and, it appears, I'm in good company. There are many prominent writers and authors who remain firmly "old-school", including P.J. O'Rourke, Danielle Steel and Tom Wolfe. As was Hunter S. Thompson who occasionally took out his frustrations on his IBM Selectric by flinging it into the snow and shooting at it. In the end the machine outlived him, as he committed suicide by shooting himself.
 Actor, Tom Hanks obsessively collects typewriters and has hundreds in his collection. His passion has now resulted in an app for iPads called "Hanx Writer" that allows users, nostalgic for the "clickety-click" and "ding" of typewriters, to type and print documents just like on an old, manual typewriter.
 There is also a surprising number of modern writers who remain even more traditional and work in longhand with a pen or pencil - J.K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Quentin Tarantino, Joyce Carol Oates, Amy Tan, Jhumpa Lahiri and George Clooney are good examples.
 "I've gone back to using a typewriter for the first draft because it forces me to think," said author, Will Self, in a recent magazine interview. "It brings order back into my mind."

More productive?

 Will I be more productive and effective in the long term? I think so. There are no distractions. No Internet connection open in the background. No "let me quickly check what's going on on Facebook". And most significantly, no "cut and paste" or quick and easy deletion and correction that interrupts the flow and process of getting thoughts captured. Producing a first draft will be quicker.
 That draft will be edited and corrected, in pencil, then entered into the computer, resulting in a second editing during the inputting process. Another read-through and final edit of the document on screen and a better, finished product.
 It's a much more structured and formal examination-process.
 Typewriters are still made in the US and supplied to prison inmates who are prohibited access to computers and the Internet. And while the machines may have been confined to history in many countries, in those where electricity supply is erratic, they remain vital.
 In Mumbai, India's most populous city, the "clack...clack...clack" of typewriters rings loud as professional typists on the pavements outside courthouses type legal documents for clients.
 Many of the world's greatest works were written with a pen or on a typewriter - so also may the next great South African novel!

 Anyone still write with a pen or typewriter?

Author "stalks" reviewer who panned her novel

Kathleen Hale

 Reviews are the lifeblood of book sales.
 But, the sad truth is, even if your book gets mainly five-star reviews, there will also be bad reviews in the mix. How is it possible for some readers to praise the work and others to pan it.
 Bad reviews can be the result of many reasons. The reviewer may disagree fiercely with the author's point of view with a deeply opposing opinion and nothing will change his or her mind, the decision not to like the book made before it is is even read. A reader may purchase a book expecting something completely different from that offered, is irritated by the mistake and vent frustration in the form of a bad review.
 And sometimes the reviewer is simply a troll. Someone who hides behind internet anonymity with the sole purpose of causing trouble and dissent.
 Authors are vigorously advised is not to respond to negative reviews and never to interact with a trolls.
 Which is exactly what YA author, Kathleen Hale did not do when a blogger by the name of Blythe Harris, rubbished her novel on Goodreads. What followed is itself the stuff of a novel and movie.

Pissed off!

 Hale was pissed off! She responded then began tracking down the offending reviewer.
 It seems Blythe was involved in an [online] attack on a 14-year-old girl back in May 2012, she reported, in an essay she wrote for the Guardian newspaper. The teenager had written a glowing review of a book Blythe hated, obliquely referencing Blythe’s hatred for it: “Dear Haters,” the review read. “Everyone has his or her own personal opinion, but expressing that through profanity is not the answer. Supposedly, this person is an English teacher at a middle school near where I lived… People can get hurt,” the review concluded.
 In response, Blythe rallied her followers. Adults began flooding the girl’s thread, saying, among other things, “Fuck you.”
 "In the following weeks, Blythe’s vitriol continued to create a ripple effect: every time someone admitted to having liked my book on Goodreads, they included a caveat that referenced her review. The ones who truly loathed it tweeted reviews at me," Hale wrote.
 A social media war broke out.
 "My notifications feed exploded," writes Hale. "Bloggers who’d been nice to me were hurt. Those who hated me now had an excuse to write long posts about what a bitch I was, making it clear that:

• Reviews are for readers, not authors.
• When authors engage with reviewers, it’s abusive behaviour.
• Mean-spirited or even inaccurate reviews are fair game so long as they focus on the book."

 The yarn continues about how Hale "stalked" Harris. Her research and detective work seemed to indicate Blythe's real name is Judy Donofrio, not an English teacher but rather someone who works for a medical insurance-claims business.
 Hale tracked down Blythe's address, went to the house and called her at work on the telephone. Their confrontation makes fascinating reading.
 Responses to Hale's essay in the Guardian have been wide and varied. For some, it is is simply a fascinating tale but bloggers, reviewers and Goodreads members were appalled. They accused Hale of stalking a reader who'd done nothing more than give her a bad review. But a number of authors have rallied behind Hale, applauding her for “exposing a troll,” and for confronting, “a typical online bully hiding behind anonymity.”
 It's becoming a dangerous place out there for both readers and writers.
 But one thing is certain, Harper Collins, publisher of Kathleen Hale's novel, "No One Else Can Have You" must be smiling all of the way to the bank!

NYT bestselling author offers 4 tips on how to come up with brilliant ideas under pressure

 Sometimes the creative juices dry up and the dreaded "writers' block" takes hold.
 It's a time of frustration and doubt, when writing is no longer fun.
 But Michael Levin, a New York Times best-selling author and writing coach, has an idea. Levin preaches that creativity is a muscle. You have to use it or lose it, and the more you use it, the better shape it will be in when you really need it.
“I define creativity as ‘the ability to develop great ideas while under pressure,’ ” he says. “Pressure creates diamonds, so why shouldn’t it also create great ideas?”
 Speaking to Forbes Magazine, Levin says: “Over time, I’ve developed several tricks to stimulate my creative muscle and help me come up with great ideas for whatever challenge I face—whether it’s writing or figuring out how to arrange a busy family weekend schedule so that everyone’s needs are met.”
 He offers four no-fail tips to get the pump flowing again:

1.  Ask yourself, “What’s the most dangerous, expensive and illegal way to solve this problem?”
2.  Hide
3.  Count to 20
4.  Give up

Read the complete article here and visit Levin's website and YouTube channel.

 Here is an excerpt from my short story, "An Unlikely Teacher." It's a story that will strike a chord with many and is available on Amazon (US) (UK) (Australia)

An Unlikely Teacher

Lessons in Freedom

by

Hilton Hamann

PUBLISHED BY

HILTON HAMANN

An Unlikely Teacher
©Hilton Hamann (2014)



 I first met Jonathon at a charity function held in a fancy, five star hotel in Johannesburg's northern suburbs. It was part of the world I effortlessly inhabited at the time. As the head-writer at the country's most exclusive and expensive, corporate public relations firm, I moved in high circles.
 Jonathon wore a tux but looked uncomfortable and out of place. A doctor with Doctors Without Borders, he was much more at home in his rural clinic but the organisation relied on corporate donations and there were times he had no option but to reluctantly schmooze at fund-raising events.
 He looked interesting so I made a point of buying him a drink and we got chatting. Jonathon operated a small clinic in deep rural Kwa Zulu - Natal that was the only source of medical assistance to a few thousand people who lived in villages in the area.
 He said he loved his work, but to be honest, I quickly grew bored with the conversation. He was an educated man, a doctor, but knew nothing of the world. There was no Internet where he lived, he knew little of current affairs and when it came to financial topics and investments, he was clueless.
 When I finished my glass of 12 year-old scotch, I graciously excused myself and headed off to chat with the CEO of a large bank. I never thought I'd see Jonathon again. Our world's were separate and different. Mine sophisticated and civilised, his backwards and primitive.
 And our paths most likely would not have crossed again, had I not been retrenched six months later. In a single moment, on a Tuesday morning, I discovered my carefully constructed, moderately well-to-do existence was, in fact a house of cards. Like so many of my age and generation, I believed the good times, the easily-available credit and an abundance of work would last forever. When it crashed, it came down hard and I was left gasping, neck-deep, in a sea of debt.
 In short order I lost it all...the wife...the dog...the house...the car and pretty much everything else in between. My retrenchment package was enough to settle my debts with almost nothing left over.
I thought I'd easily find another job - after all I was at the top of my game and over the years I'd built up an impressive network of contacts - I was wrong. No-one wanted to hire a fifty-something man, and after six months of making calls and sending out CVs, I gave up looking for work.

Are Ebook subscription services good or bad for authors and publishers?

Here is an interesting article about Ebook subscription services. As an ebook self-publisher I haven't as yet decided if this model is going to be good or bad for writers and publishers.

Your thoughts?

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/where-ebook-subscription-services-could-have-the-most-success/

Social media is the icing, not the cake!

 I recently chatted to a fellow writer, a former journalist working on a novel but simultaneously attempting to build a business-writing operation.

 "I've tried this social media nonsense and it doesn't work for me," he declared. "I set up a Facebook page opened a Twitter account and told the few people who decided to become friends what I'm doing, informed them of my skills and special offers and...nothing. Just a gigantic waste of time! Social media doesn't work for me as a marketing strategy."

 And he's right. Social media is not a marketing strategy. To use a baking cliche: social media is the icing on the top of the cake that is the marketing strategy.

 So what exactly is a marketing strategy? Naturally it varies from business to business and writer to writer but it's all the other stuff you do to help you get sales. That could include:

•  Advertising in mainstream media (Not recommended!)
•  Your online presence -- ensuring your website is the best it can possibly be.
•  Blogging
•  Presence on Pinterest 
•  Public relations
•  Networking -- online and in person 

 You get the idea. So where does social media fit in? Let's say you post a new blog entry. You would then share that fact across your social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and maybe Linkedin. The idea is not to sell anything on those channels but to inform people of the blog post that, if you've done your job properly, gets them to head on over to read it. If you provide content that is valuable they will likely share it with their friends, followers and colleagues and you are establishing relationships with new people who may become clients/readers and further recommend you.

 And that means social media is working for you. You are using it to grow traffic to your website and blog or possibly to grow your email and newsletter subscriber base. Then it's up to you to convert the increased traffic into sales.

 I am absolutely convinced you can sell nothing on Twitter or Facebook (don't ask me how I know that!!). Simply sending out "Buy me" type messages only irritates recipients and turns them away from you. (If your experience is different, I'd love to hear about it.)

 The role of social media is to build relationships, it is the icing. The selling comes from the cake!

Thoughts on short stories

 I love writing short stories - or to paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, I hate writing short stories but like having written short stories!
 The short story is the 100 metre dash of writing, where, unlike the novel, there is no space to build and develop complicated plots and characters. The short story-author must, by way of broad brush-strokes and subtle guidance, get the reader to build the details in his or her imagination.
 It's enough to say: "He opened the car but not fast enough not to puke on his trousers."
 No need to describe the car, it's colour, make, seat make-up or the fabric of his trousers or - God forbid - the contents and consistency of the vomit.
 It matters not at all, if one reader sees the car in his mind's eye as a silver Lexus and another pictures it a lime green Camaro. A good short story makes everyone's experience unique.
 Short stories are more radio dramas, than television series and I like that.
 But what I like most is they are...short! By nature, the short story is an intense, bite-sized chunk of entertainment, consumed in a single gulp that must release a storm of flavours and emotions. It is the literary get-down-to-business-with-no-foreplay orgasm. The complete package. No coming back next week.

Pondering

 A good short story leaves a reader pondering, hours after it is done. It perplexes, challenges and delights and often works best with an ending that is not all neatly wrapped up.
 What, you may be wondering, has brought about this post?
 I am currently editing my latest Coffee Break Tale that, if all goes according to plan, will be published in the next couple of days. It's a somewhat bizarre account of unattainable love and dreams sold out. The first draft ran to about 6 000 words but I figure by the time I'm done, 2 000 words will disappear. If it were a novel, I undoubtedly would not be so ruthless.
 Writers put great stock in the number of words they produce each day. Readers too, believe more words make a work worth more and that is sometimes true - Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is a good example.
 But the flip side is Hemingway's famous six-word short story that is, in many ways, even more thought-provoking.
 According to Wikipaedia, in a 1992 letter to Canadian humorist, John Robert Colombo, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke recounts it thus: While lunching with friends at a restaurant (variously identified as Luchow's or The Algonquin), Hemingway bets the table ten dollars each that he can craft an entire story in six words. After the pot is assembled, Hemingway writes:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn" 

on a napkin, passes this around the table, and collects his winnings.
 Food for thought indeed!

SHAKESPEARE helped Matthew Mather sell over 200K books

 

 Matthew Mather is a self-publishing titan! After being rejected by over 100 publishers, he decided to self-publish and the rest, as they say in the movies, is history.

 Exactly one year after publishing his first novel, Atopia Chronicles, a science fiction epic that has to date sold over 70 000 copies (followed a half a year later by CyberStorm, a present day tech-thriller in the vein of Crichton) he's achieved remarkable success: 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights to CyberStorm, over 120,000 books sold and ten foreign language publishing deals were signed.

 How did he do it?

 "My background as an entrepreneur shaped my thinking in approaching self-publishing," he writes on his website. "In the past I’ve managed my own successful start-ups, as well as helping start many other companies get started – handling everything from writing business plans to raising venture capital. I applied that same structured way of think about starting a new business to the business of marketing a book."

 Some of his methods can only be described as innovative.

 "Craigslist and other free online classified ads are the secret weapon for a new authors," Mather says. "It is incredibly difficult to get outside feedback when you are a new writer. My solution? Post an ad saying you’ll pay someone $10 or $20 to read your book and give you honest feedback.

 "Get 20 people to read your book like this; these people will probably become your biggest promoters and will be happy to write reviews and Facebook and tweet your book when released."

 Mather calls his marketing and promotion method, the SHAKESPEARE system. Some of his advise is diametrically opposed to what I've come to regard as the conventional self-publishing truth but who am I to argue with success!

 For example, he advises authors to initially focus only on Amazon, as this results in reviews that get your book up in the rankings. 

 "By only going on Amazon, you force people to buy from one place and thus drive up your rankings in this one spot," he writes. "Once you have achieved some success there, expand to other platforms."

 Not surprisingly, Smashwords founder, Mark Coker, counsels differently in his free book "The Secrets to E-book Publishing Success."

 Mather also advises new authors to serialize, again completely opposite to much of the "accepted truths" that are out there.

 "As attention spans shorten in the online (and real) world, readers don’t trust a new author enough to read 400 pages to get the point," he writes. "For a new author, a winning approach is to serialize, to create your work as a set of progressively longer stories that connect together through cliffhangers to get a reader hooked."

 

 And so ladies and gentlemen...drum roll...here is SHAKESPEARE in Matthew Mather's own words:

Serialize

As attention spans shorten in the online (and real) world, readers don’t trust a new author enough to read 400 pages to get the point. For a new author, a winning approach is to serialize, to create your work as a set of progressively longer stories that connect together through cliffhangers to get a reader hooked. And speaking of that…

Hook

The first short story needs to be punchy and tell a complete story in itself while leaving the reader wanting to know more. Even more than that, you need to hook the reader on the first page somehow, create a mystery, a reason and need to keep reading.

Amazon

To start, focus only on Amazon. I’m not here to promote Amazon, but the first rule of entrepreneurism is to focus, focus, focus. The large majority of revenue in digital books comes from Amazon, with a small minority coming from all of the other players combined. So when you start, focus on Amazon by itself; getting reviews, getting up in the ranking. By only going on Amazon, you force people to buy from one place and thus drive up your rankings in this one spot. Once you have achieved some success there, expand to other platforms (FYI the easiest way to get on other platforms is just to use Smashwords).

Key networks

Make sure to use your personal social networks to maximum effect. Post on Facebook and ask people to re-post your postings for free book offers. Make sure to email everyone at work on the “internal” email (ask your boss first, of course!) Use your LinkedIn network to mention that you have a book out. What other networks are you a part of?

Try emailing top-selling authors in your category when you release the first installments of your work. Ask them to read the first one (by starting with serialized shorts, it makes it easier for other authors to try reading your work), or just ask them to post on their blog or Facebook. When I released Atopia, I had about five or six top-selling authors who posted to their readers for me!

Empathize

It is critical to create a character that you introduce readers to right away that they can empathize with. People read still primarily because they want to feel an emotional involvement with a character they meet in your writing. Keep this front and center of your mind when writing.

Select Program on Amazon

Use the Amazon Select Program: You can offer your book for $0 (free) for 5 days each 3 months. Used effectively, this is an extremely potent tool for reaching an audience. There are at least 40 websites I use to promote a “free weekend” for my books (email me for a list) – these sites are mostly specific to books that go free on Amazon Select and are mostly free to use for promotion.

If you can plan it ahead of time, write out all of the parts of your serialized work ahead of time, and then each two weeks release one of them, promoting it on Amazon select for free and on the promotional websites. I can usually get 4000+ downloads of a free book when I do this.

Perceived Value

Create perceived value by offering a deal. For instance, try and divide your ‘whole’ work into 6 parts, and sell each for $0.99, and then offer the whole ‘collection’ at half price, e.g. $2.99 for all six. This creates perceived value on the part of the buyer when you start to sell the whole collection

Editing

If your work is not edited well, you will get killed in the reviews and in word of mouth. As a first pass, make sure to find some friends or family to have a look. If you can’t afford a professional editor, trying going on Craigslist and find some just-graduated English lit major to edit your book on the cheap. A “real” editor can be quite expensive, but there is no excuse to not get an external editor of some kind, and not getting one will kill your chances of success.

All free posting websites

Craigslist and other free online classified ads are the secret weapon for a new authors. It is incredibly difficult to get outside feedback when you are a new writer. My solution? Post an ad saying you’ll pay someone $10 or $20 to read your book and give you honest feedback. Note that this is not for line editing, but for high level feedback to make your story more engaging in an iterative process.

Bonus: Get 20 people to read your book like this; these people will probably become your biggest promoters and will be happy to write reviews and Facebook and tweet your book when released.

Free PR – When you release your book, create several press releases about different aspects of the book, what it is about, why people would like it. When you release each of the story segments, put these press releases up on the free press release websites. There are about a dozen high quality free release sites out there. Highlight that the short story that is free that week.

Reviews

It is critical to get reviews as this has a direct impact on the Amazon ranking and recommendation system. YOU CANNOT do fake reviews. Apart from the ethical issues, Amazon has an impressive array of technical tools to make this very difficult. Instead, be honest and creative; use friends, family, co-workers; and see my point regarding Craigslist and getting people ready to punt for your project.

Engage

Find any and all ways to engage with your audience once you start to get readers. Do a video blog on YouTube about the process, do a regular blog showing progress on next books and stories, get people to your Facebook page. Just get engaged with them somehow!

Be cool and share this.

Why not just bring back the rope?

 Judicial executions evoke strong public emotions. You are either for capital punishment or against it - there is no middle ground!
 The recent execution in Ohio, of convicted murderer, Dennis McGuire, once again focused attention and public debate on the matter. According to witnesses, McGuire after receiving an experimental cocktail of two untried (for executions) drugs, took more than 26 minutes to die, apparently, the longest ever for any Ohio execution.
 McGuire was put to death at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville with an injection of midazolam, a sedative and hydromorphone, an analgesic.
Columbus Dispatch reporter, Alan Johnson, witnessed the event, his 19th. "This one was different," he said in a posting on the newspaper's website. "After three to four minutes, Dennis McGuire began gasping for breath, his stomach and chest were compressing deeply, he was making a snorting sound, almost a choking sound at times.
"And I didn't notice it at first, but his left hand -- which had been waving at his kids -- had clenched into a fist."
 For about 10 minutes, McGuire appeared to be straining against his restraints, Johnson recalled. "Obviously, he couldn't get up, but he appeared to be trying to get up or at least raise up in some fashion."
 McGuire family lawyer, Jon Paul Rion said they plan to file a lawsuit in federal court seeking an injunction against the state's use of the drug combination, alleging it represents cruel and unusual punishment and, as such, violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.
 The controversy has seen Ohio delay its next scheduled execution, to complete a review of a new two-drug combination. Gregory Lott, 52, was scheduled to die on March 19 by a lethal injection of the same drug-combination Ohio had used in the January execution.
 Ohio Governor John Kasich delayed Lott's execution date to November, to give the state prison department time to complete a review of that execution, spokesman Rob Nichols said.
 Ohio and other states with the death penalty are increasingly being forced to look for alternate drugs and sources of drugs for executions, as pharmaceutical companies raise objections to their products being used in capital punishment.

Why not simply bring back the rope?

 Which brings us to the question: why not simply bring back the rope? If done correctly, it is by many accounts, quick and supposedly painless - although I guess, no one successfully hanged has ever confirmed the lack of pain or otherwise.
 While writing my novel, "Hobson's Choice"  that deals with a man on death row, I got to peek behind a thick veil of secrecy. Unlike is the case in other countries, when executions took place in South Africa, no outside witnesses were allowed to be present and secrecy was legally enforced.
 Before the abolishing of capital punishment in South Africa, in the 1990s, hangings took place regularly. In 1967 a purpose-built, gallows was built at Pretoria Central Prison and and it became a well-oiled death-factory where over 2 000 convicted people died at the end of a rope by the end of the 1980s. In the 1980s alone, 1 123 prisoners were hanged there.
 Seven condemned prisoners could be hanged at the same time and executions normally took place on a Tuesday and/or Thursday.
 I was able to find the best possible source about the facility and the process - a former death row warder who was present at over 200 hangings. He joined the Correctional Services right after school and was only 19 when he escorted his first prisoner to the gallows and ensured the condemned man's feet were correctly positioned on the white, painted, footprints located on either side of the dual trapdoors.
 So when Thinus (let's call him that to protect his privacy), says he would choose to be executed by hanging, I figure he knows what he's talking about.
 Looking back through my notes, he had this to say.
 "It's over in seconds. The hangman, an old police sergeant called Oom Barries (Uncle Barries), who hanged around 1 500 people in his day, calculated everything precisely. Based on the condemed's weight and the thickness of his or her neck, he usually made the drop about one and a three quarter times their height. So a six-foot tall man would drop around 10 feet. They would drop, twitch for a few seconds and then nothing. They didn't shit in their pants. There heads didn't come off and the only blood I ever saw was where the rope tore the skin on the neck. I am convinced it was over instantly and completely painless."
 So why do Ohio and other states no longer use hanging as a method of execution?
 It seems they consider other methods more humane.
 A report on the Death Penalty Information Centre website reads:
 "The prisoner's weight should cause a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck. However, instantaneous death rarely occurs. (Weisberg, 1991)
If the inmate has strong neck muscles, is very light, if the 'drop' is too short, or the noose has been wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation is not rapid and death results from slow asphyxiation. If this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the eyes pop, the body defecates, and violent movements of the limbs occur. (The Corrections Professional, 1996 and Weisberg, 1991)."
 Who is right? I don't know. I would put a great deal of faith in the accounts of a man who quite literally stood right beside the trapdoor abyss and watched 200 people drop to their deaths. But, at the same time, I accept he was not a doctor and maybe Oom Barries was just that good - he certainly had enough time and practice to hone his skills.
 I also read about the 43 botched executions listed on the DPIC website and noted, not one involved a hanging.

No sympathy

 But whatever the case, there appears to have been little sympathy for Dennis McGuire. Most comments about McGuire's execution, it would seem, are, he got what he deserved and so what if he suffered at the end?
 For example, Dudley Sharp commenting in the New York Daily News writes:
 "Dennis McGuire anally raped/tortured/murde­red Joy Stewart, a 22 year old newlywed who was 30 weeks pregnant. There is no indication that McGuire was conscious at any time after the first 30 seconds of the 24 minute execution process, as pharmacological realities dictate.
 "There is every indication that Joy Stewart was conscious throughout the eternal horror of her savage rape and murder. McGuire forced Joy from her car, choked her, attempted to rape her vaginally, raped her anally, slashed her throat so deeply it severed both her carotid artery and jugular vein, all the while Joy realizing the horror of her own death, as well as that of her unborn child.
 "McGuire had more time on death row than Joy had in life. McGuire's children have threatened to sue the state over their father's just execution. So foul. They have learned so very little. Their only comments should have been:
 "'We are truly sorry for the horror and suffering that our father has caused to Joy, her unborn child and to Joy's family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers will be with them, always.'
 "Do folks gasp, wheeze, moan, etc. while in their sleep? Of course, which is all that happened with McGuire. Possibly, someone in the media will look up the overdose properties of the drugs involved and tell us how McGuire could, possibly have been conscious. He couldn't have been. The properties of the drugs and their overdosing effects are very well known - by no means an experiment."
 It may appear I support the death penalty. I do not. But my position is not based on liberal, "all life is valuable" sentiments. The world is indeed a lot better off with people like Dennis McGuire permanently removed from it.
 My objection rests with the principle that the Government, State, judicial authorities - call them what you may - declares killing is illegal but that it's okay for them to do the same, albeit in some sort of ritualized form. I naively believe, laws should apply equally to all, including the government. If it is wrong to kill (excluding circumstances like self defence etc) then it is wrong to kill...period...and the State cannot be exempt.