Those of you who regularly follow my blog know that a couple of weeks ago I made my book FREE for five days. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has downloaded the book – I hope you will enjoy it and will find time to post a review on Amazon and Goodreads. There are many marketing advisers who advise giveaways as a way to boost the marketing of your book. My giveaway has just finished so it is too early to say yet. I will report on the results in a later blog, but I would like to offer an observation.
Any new writer who embarks on novel writing with the aim of making a living will be disappointed – there is a better chance of winning the lottery- twice. The writers who WILL succeed are those who are writing from a love of writing, from a passion to offer their talents to the reading world. These people are the successful ones – they are successful even if they NEVER sell a book.
My Giveaway was immensely successful – over the course of five days more than 37,500 people downloaded my book. I know many people will not read it, but I also know many people will, and indeed have read it. I know because I have had reviews, emails and social network comments. It makes me so happy that there are potentially thousands of people out there reading my book right now. That is the success we should aim for.
Any new writer who embarks on novel writing with the aim of making a living will be disappointed – there is a better chance of winning the lottery- twice. The writers who WILL succeed are those who are writing from a love of writing, from a passion to offer their talents to the reading world. These people are the successful ones – they are successful even if they NEVER sell a book.
My Giveaway was immensely successful – over the course of five days more than 37,500 people downloaded my book. I know many people will not read it, but I also know many people will, and indeed have read it. I know because I have had reviews, emails and social network comments. It makes me so happy that there are potentially thousands of people out there reading my book right now. That is the success we should aim for.
Over the last twelve years of living in Asia this is the biggest lesson I have learned. In the rural areas of the Philippines, where I lived for many years, success for many people was knowing where their next meal was coming from. I learned so much about true values from the poorest of people there. They smiled and showed no anger or jealousy while the politicians and big businessmen treated them with contempt and kept them poor. They also share my love of cats. It is common to eat dogs there, but not cats - see this recently released postage stamp.
This is a Tarsier - they are only found on one island in the Philippines - Bohol. Some say they are the smallest monkey in the world - others say they are not actually a monkey. But they are endangered and they are cute! I spent ten years in the collection of island paradises that make up the Philippines. The people are poor, but kind and forgiving. Their rich and corrupt leaders rely on their kind and forgiving natures to keep them poor while enriching themselves and saving illegally obtained money overseas. There is currently a huge scandal in the country – the ‘Pork barrel scam’ – I will be writing about this in other blogs.
This famous restaurant is set at the bottom of a waterfall - you wade through the water to get to your table and eat your meal as the stream goes through your legs. I've been there - a great experience. Although I write novels, they are based on true life situations in the Philippines. I am working on my next novel – Final Vengeance – which deals with corruption and violence not just in the Philippines, but also in Hong Kong and China – you can read about my progress.
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In case you miss my blogs, my writing process, and advice, you can have them sent to your email regularly – just sign up HERE.
| My Blog would not be the same without the Cat pics!! Sometimes I try to get a serious message across, but I will always try to end on a lighthearted note. Life's too short....  |   China can be a very dangerous place - as you will find out in my next book - Ninety Percent - you can check my progress - click the Panda! |
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