Talisman
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Posts posted by Talisman
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I think I have bought around 6 maybe all year - but I have also been sent copies by self published friends that I exchanged my own book for, and borrow quite a lot from the library as well. I also tend to re-read a lot of the books that I do have, especially non-fiction, more than once.
Have just won
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From an authors point of view, I would love to work in a book shop or a library or even as a a journalist. I did consider journalism as a career when I was at school, but did not have the confidence and couldn't get to grips with shorthand. Not many people use it these days though, and 25 years on, I am a lot more confident than I was at school!
I did see an ad for a trainee reporters job, which I may have considered had I been single, but it meant a 6 month residential course in Newcastle, at the other end of the country. I content myself then with being an amateur journalist, as Editor of my village newsletter.
There is a chance that the store I work in will be closing soon, so I am keeping an eye open for that book shop or library job !
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Okay, 5 facts about me:
1) I was born on June 21st, which is how I got my name
2) I live in a mobile home with my partner of 11 years, a cross dressing man.
3) I am afraid of dogs
4) I love wild, rugged places and disappear on my own to a small island in the Bristol Channel two to three times a year.
5) I am a vegetarian who is also wheat intolerant. A nightmare when eating out !
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I have quite a few, nearly all non fiction:
Lawrence Gardner: Bloodline of the Holy Grail
Graham Philips: The Chalice of Magdalene#
Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince: Templar Conspiracy
Andrew Collins: Tutankhamun Conspiracy
Joshua Shapiro: Mystery of the Crystal Skulls
Tracy Saunders: Pilgrimage to Heresy (Tracy is a friend of mine)
various others. Would have to go through my book shelves to find them all. Mostly they are from meeting the authors at talks, conferences etc.
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Cheese omelette with chips, salad and onion rings.
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Welcome aboard Bronwen - I have just back from holiday so didn't see your message until today. I am also a writer though - and author of one non fiction (mind, body and spirit/religion) book which I published through print on demand.
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Now there's a thought ! The trouble is though, how the hell do you get in touch ! This is a company that is notorious for not being contactable !
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Interesting question ...
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Didn't see your earlier post Philip, not sure how I managed to miss that ! You are right though, the majority of books on Amazon market place are not second hand copies, but being sold through other online retailers and sometimes even the author themselves if the book are POD or self published.
Amazon in my view though are a dangerous predator who will not stop until they have almost total control of the market. Given their rate of growth, if is entirely possible that they will be the biggest book retailer within three years. This is why they need to be stopped - now !
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Thank you Jennifer. Of course the other problem with Marketplace is that the books do not qualify for free shipping, which also puts a lot of people off. Amazon then is not good news for any author right now. They would imo be wise to remember that the bigger you are the harder you fall !
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This has been going on for months. It started in the US when they said that print on demand publishers had to use their own printer or risk having their buy buttons removed. The problem is that their printer charges twice what everyone else does and is not good quality. Several publishers did cave in, but only because they charge their authors for having their books on Amazon, and if they didn't and Amazon carried out their threats, these publishers left themselves open to being sued.
There is no need though to charge for this service, since books are automatically fed to Amazon and other online retailers via the ISBN agency. In this case then what goes around did indeed come around !
No buy buttons have as yet been removed for any POD books, but one US publisher is now suing Amazon under anti trust laws. Again, it is all detailed on my blog site.
The latest dispute with Hachette is though more interesting, since this is not about a POD publisher, but one of the largest publishing groups in the world. Talk about cutting off their noses to spite their face !
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cheese and spring onion burgers with roast potatoes and red onion, runner beans, carrots and onion gravy.
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Amazon, the online book seller, could face a strike by authors and publishers in an increasingly bitter battle over book profits - by Nick Allen.
The UK's biggest publisher, Hachette Livre UK, is leading the charge against Amazon, which it claims is squeezing the market and demanding too great a share of sales.
In a very public fallout Amazon stopped selling new copies of about 50 Hachette titles, including books by Kate Mosse, Alexander McCall Smith, James Patterson, Stephen King and Dan Cruickshank, on its British website.
People are still able to buy and sell the books second hand through Amazon but the publishers make no money out of those sales.
Hachette claims the move was aimed at at pressuring it into giving up a greater percentage of profits and vowed to fight the Amazon "juggernaut".
Chief executive Tim Hely Hutchinson said: "In Britain the terms publishers give to retailers are the highest in the world and more than half of the price of a book goes to the retailer. We have collectively been too soft in our negotiations and we are trying to make a stand.
"Amazon put pressure on us and took the 'buy' button off a number of prominent authors' books on their website. We don't like it and our authors don't like it."
As Amazon continues to grow Mr Hely Hutchinson warned that independent book sellers, as wells as authors, would be the victims.
In five years time readers outside the major city centres may face the prospect of only being able to buy their books from Amazon or a supermarket, he said.
The Society of Authors acknowledged that Amazon has helped writers to sell more books but said the current dispute would affect their sales.
Chair of the society Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, called for a strike against Amazon. She said: "To punish the author so publicly and so humiliatingly is really not on. I hope other publishers join Hachette and basically strike against Amazon to say there is only so far you can push us before you break us and we are not going to take it any more."
Novelist Emma Darwin, the great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, said she supported Hachette's stand even if it affects her own sales.
She said: "This is about whether Amazon can be allowed to exploit its near monopoly."
In an email to all Hachette's authors Mr Hely Hutchinson said: "Despite advantageous terms Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another, making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours. We are politely but firmly saying that these encroachments need to stop now."
Literary agents accused Amazon of being "predatory" and "ruthless".
Clare Alexander, managing director or Aitken Alexander Associates, which represents Sebastian Faulks and Germaine Greer, said: "This is a disturbing glimpse of the iron in Amazon's soul."
Jonathan Lloyd, managing director of literary agent Curtis Brown, said: "I think the entire industry of publishers, authors and agents are 100 per cent behind Hachette. Someone has to draw a line in the sand.
"Publishers have given 1 per cent a year away to retailers so where does it stop? Using authors as a financial football is disgraceful."
An Amazon spokesman said: "We are totally committed to offering the broadest selection of titles possible. We are also committed to ensuring we offer our customers the lowest possible prices."
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I will add a link to here next time I do some updates to my own site.
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I don't often buy CD's, but the last one I downloaded was Moby.
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I will be 43 next month, which makes me 42 now.
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veggie sausage and mash with onions, peas and loads of Bisto roast onion gravy.
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brown rice with various veggies (mange tout, baby sweetcorn, red onion, celery and carrots) with sweet and sour sauce.
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Have only managed 9 myself (including the one that I am currently reading):
A New Earth: Eckhart Tolle
Pilgrimage to Heresy: Tracy Saunders
A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini
The Shadow of the Wind: Carlos Ruiz Zafron
The Last Town on Earth: Thomas Mullen
Random Acts of Heroic Love: Danny Scheinmann
The Kite Runner: Khaled Hosseini
On Chesil Beach: Ian McEwan
Topp Family Secrets: Anne Moore (aka Grumpy Old Bookman) - miss his blog site !
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hard boiled egg salad (organic of course)
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Writing blurb is a difficult thing to do - I wrote my own, as I could not afford to pay someone to do for me, and besides I wrote book and so know it better than anyone else ! Most blurb on commercially published books (as opposed to self published) is written by the editor. It can be subjective as people's opinion of books does of course differ - it should though be accurate when it comes to the plot. Write to the publisher and tell them how you feel if you feel that strongly about it.
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When I sell copies of my own book direct to anyone via my own website I always use a jiffy bag - mine is quite a large book (336 pages) so unfortunately it is just that little bit too big to qualify as a small package. If one though wants to be seen as a professional then one has to act like one, it is not worth sending in sub standard packaging after all, as the book is likely to arrive damaged, costing me more in the long run, as I will then have to send a replacement.
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smoked mackerel salad !
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I don't remember much at all of my time at school, but the book I remember most of all was My Family and other Animals by Gerald Durrell - I actually won a copy of this in a creative writing competition - I got second prize. I still have it, and although I have seen the film, have not read the book at all since I left school in 1982. Perhaps that will change soon though.
Keeping track...
in Introductions
Posted · Edited by Talisman
Birthday: June 21, 1965
Age: Just gone 43
Starsign: Cancer, by about 2 hours
Single/Married/Other? living with partner
Children? No
Where do you live? Box Hill, Surrey (the picnic scene for Jane Austen's Emma was set here, and she was a regular visitor, so I am told).
Do you work? Yes, four days a week in retail. I am also a self published author.
Favourite author? I read more non fiction than anything else, and particularly enjoy the works of Graham Philips
How did you get here? Can't honestly remember, I think I may have clicked on a google ad somewhere.