CONVINCING READERS YOU ARE WORTH THEIR TIME

by C. Hope Clark

When you stack up all the years we are allowed
against all there is to read, time is very short indeed.

~ Stephen King

When I saw this quote, I almost flinched in my chair
as it hit home. It's almost poetry (and not just because
it rhymes).

In all our rush to become published in magazines, books,
blogs, and newsletters, we forget that people only have
so much time to read.

How much do you read daily? An hour? Thirty minutes before
you go to bed? What is that . . . a book every week at
best? Let's say you do read a book a week, and kudos to
you. That's, say, 50 books a year (giving you downtime
for holidays and interruptions). Out of the hundreds of
thousands of books published, you will handpick only 50.

Or you might be one of those who reads two to three hours
each day. That also usually means you are more knowledgeable
about what there is to read. It also means you might spend
less time on the computer researching the authors, publishers,
and stories that are available to you. Chances are, you have
your specific groups and connections, and from those
recommendations you select your next reading material.
Let's say you read 80-100 books a year. You're voracious!

Now, turn it back around. As an author, how in the world
do you think you're going to reach those readers, and
convince them that your work is worthy of being added
to their nightstand, end table, Kindle or Nook?

Not by saying "buy my book."
Not by putting it on Amazon.
Not by blogging once a month.

Put yourself in your readers' shoes. Chances are the big
name authors grab most of those 50-100 book slots. Let's
say half. So, you compete with thousands and thousands of
writers to convince readers you are such a good storyteller
that you deserve one of those remaining 25-50 slots.

There are more authors than that in your hometown.

You are not different until you make yourself so. Nobody
can read your mind. Nobody will accidentally find your
book. All accidents are opportunity that meet prepared
and savvy individuals. Your job is to prepare.

Don't Bump Me

The weather is the same everyday, warm and muggy.

Went for my run yesterday and almost got run over again. This time by two joggers. They passed me on the right and didn't even beep. I need a rear-view mirror attached to my glasses.

Watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Everything was about their past and present, nothing about the future. Personally, I don't think they have a future. The present was kids having fun and texting. That says it right there. Man can not live on Harry Potter alone.

This was a bad week for losing people. First, my son's friends father died, Then it was my wife's uncle. On Thursday it was the wife of my best friend from high school. I guess I'm on top of that bell curve now. It starts of with hardly knowing anyone who dies, then it builds up to someone almost every week and then back to hardly knowing anyone.

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Walking For Your Health.

Went for my walk yesterday. There is only one crosswalk on my route. As I was crossing over, I saw a bus down the road. It was quite a distance away, at least I thought so. As it turned out, I was about five feet from the curb when he went flying by, behind me. Never slowed down a bit.

About three minutes later, a black guy on a bike went streaming by me, driving on the sidewalk. One misstep and I would have been toast.

Then, five minutes later, a crow yelled at me and then swooped down almost rapping my head.

After that I concluded walking can be hazardous to your health.



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One Way or Another.

On my walk yesterday, I helped a guy lift a lawnmower from his truck. He proceeded to tell me all about his new mower. He bought it at Canadian Tire for $330.00. It had rear wheel drive instead of the usual front wheel.

On this  street, the back yards on one side are particularly steep. He told me how he cut the lawn before he bought the new mower. My way would be to go from side to side, but not him. He told me he stood at the top of the yard, put a rope on the handle and let the mower go to the bottom, then he would drag it back and do it again till the lawn was mowed. I would loved to have seen it.

He then told me he didn't know which was worse, mowing the lawn himself or pulling the rope.


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It Is What It Is

Rained all evening and all night. Boom, boom in the sky, etc. I won't have to put the hose on today. Going up to 25C/77F. Humidity will be higher. It's already sticky.

Took my wife to the bank yesterday. She has a pension from Germany so every year the bank has to tell them she is still alive. So, I was sitting in my van, reading on my Kindle, when I hear this loud scream beside me. I looked out and this woman says to me, "Oh, I'm sorry, wrong car." Wonder what gave me away.

Looks like Halifax has come into the big time. We now have the second-highest homicide rate in Canada. In Canada the rate is at its lowest in four decades. I was going for a walk, maybe I better stay home.

Something to laugh at. The Atlantic Superstore is selling Replicas of the schooner Bluenose made in China. First off, the spelled Lunenburg wrong, added a h to it. There is also no wheel, plus a number of other bo bos. Lunenburg is the town where it was built. They make a lot of movies and tv shows there. "Haven" is filmed there.

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Olympics

Tuesday. Temp 17C/63 F. Supposed to rain. Believe it when I see it.

The garbage can was tipped over last night. Must be that racoon I've seen before.

"LONDON (Reuters) - In the shadow of London's gleaming Olympic venues, a quiet battle is under way over who gets to cash in on the Games.

Olympic organisers have enforced strict rules to protect official trademarks, deploying about 250 uniformed "brand police" on the streets of the capital to ensure businesses do not piggyback off the world's biggest sporting event.
The rules are simple: no one outside a small band of official sponsors such as McDonalds or adidas is allowed to make a profit by creating an association with the Games.
London is buzzing with curious stories of those who have found themselves on the wrong side of the brand police such as a stall owner who was told off for displaying the London 2012 logo and a butcher in a town hosting sailing events who had to remove a sign showing the Olympic rings made from sausages.
On a quiet side-street within walking distance of the Olympic stadium where the Games open officially on Friday, a cafe called Olympic has had to paint over the letter "O" to comply with the rules."

There you have it. You can only make money if you have big bucks.

Monday Morning Grass

Monday. Temp 22C/75F. Cut the grass this morning. Takes an hr. and a half, back and front. The whole back yard was in shade, which was confortable.

Got a note from Amazon. My printed version of "Moonshine or Dirty Faces " will be going up one of these days. I used Sydney Mines as the town but changed the name to Li'l Warsaw, which used to be the name of the lower part of Pitt St. around the turn of the 20th. century. It's fiction so everything and everyone is worst than it actually was. The ponds are now swamps.

Then it was paperwork, paying bills, confirming an eye apointment.

Before all that, I grabbed a hedge trimmer my neighbour threw out. Gave it a try. Seized. Put some oil on the blades. Success. I now have a hedge trimmer, but I don't have a hedge. I do have bushes though.


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Visitors and Beer

I had planned to cut the grass yesterday, but I got involved with "The Jackal," designing his rifle. We did a good job. Anyway, I can cut the grass on Monday. Weather is supposed to be similar.

Two weeks of visitors are gone, that should be it for the summer. Scared to get on the scale. Too much restaurants, KFC, steaks, lobster and beer. Especially the beer.

Did you know that 80% of intelligence comes from the nother's side? This is something you can't criticize too much or you would be insulting your mother. I have to admit that comparing my relatives with my wife's there is probably some truth in it.

Over the years I've noticed how everyone throws out the coffee filter after one go. I use it till it is full of coffee grounds, then it goes to the garden.

Have my book "Moonshine or Dirty Faces" on Amazon. Just in ebook so far. Have to do some work on the cover before it goes into print.

Woke up about 1am and noticed the back yard lights were on. Probably a cat or something. Thought I would have a look anyway. You never know, someone might be breaking into my shed. Opened up a crack in the blind and then I was eyeball to eyeball with a deer about 5" away, happily having a night snack. Then he wandered off to my neighbours. I must say, he is a bit away from the woods. Maybe he came to see the tall ships.


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Hot Summer

It has been hot lately, around 30C, with humidity higher. We have visitors from Ontario last week and another group this week. They find the weather nice. The humidity for them has been over 40C lately.

I've been off Facebook for awhile. Too busy. Two weeks ago, we finished our renovated bathroom. Had someone to do the plumbing, another for the carpentary and I did the electrical. After that, my wife and I did the painting etc.

I finally completed my second book, (cover on the left). You can find it on Amazon. So far,just an ebook. Book being checked