A personal appeal from Jack Barrow

Okay so New Year, new marketing push.

It's always been my plan to spread the word about the Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil via the pagan network. This is my core readership but the book is clearly attractive to non pagan readers as they see it as contemporary fantasy, it is pretty fantastical in places after all.

So I'd really like you guys to help me out. If you are a pagan who has read and enjoyed The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil I'd like to invite you to spread the word amongst your pagan friends. There are a number of ways you can do that. You can simply tell people about the book, and I know that has been going on, but there are now numerous pages where people can subscribe or click to indicate their support.

There is a Facebook page about the book here.

There is a Facebook fan page about me here.

There is a personal Facebook profile about me here.

There is my Twitter feed here (@JackBarrowBooks).

And here is the page about the book on my web site.

And of course you can click subscribe on the link further down this blog.

However, what would be really, really great would be for you all to start writing reviews on the pages where the book is for sale. Most of the significant links to the sales outlets are shown on the sidebar at the top of this blog. If you bought the book (no matter how long ago) it would be great for you to go to the web page where you bought it and write an honest review of the book. If you bought it from a shop of from a web site that doesn't sell it any more because they don't do eBooks then find somewhere else to write a review. If it's already been reviewed then add your opinion to those of other readers. (Please only give it five stars if you feel it deserves five stars. Pure five star reviews can look a bit unbelievable so just be honest.)

Finally, and this is probably where you will have the greatest impact, if you know of pagan web sites that do reviews of pagan books then try to get them to publish a review. If you've never written a review for a web site why not try it yourself and get your own name in print (well electrons at least). If you come across a pagan web site that hasn't covered The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil, then ask them why they haven't covered it. It'll probably be because they haven't heard of it. If they say they don't do eBooks tell them that it should be back in paperback soon as I'm working on that too (as well as working on the animation promo and all that jazz).

Please also try to ask your friends whom you know have read the book to do the same as many people won't see this blog. Please don't leave it to chance and please don't leave all the success to Dan Brown as you know I can write a better pagan story then he can. I know I have lots of fans out there. (I hate that word but it's the way this works). If you want to see the next book in the series (there's four books planned, one for each element and the next one is water) then I need you to get the ball rolling. Reading the book is one thing, saying that you've read it is the next, getting other people to read it and say that they've read it is what will ensure that I can keep this going, and keep you guys laughing out loud at the bus stop or in the office or any of the other places I've heard you tell me about.

Thanks.

Jack

Steve Coogan, Alexi Sayle, Willy Russell and now Jack Barrow

I was browsing around trying to find which eBook retailers are now listing the Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil and I found this web page.

I don't know who posted this but I think it goes back to when the paperback was on sale. Whatever the case I'm grateful to whoever it was for the association.

Here's the promotional video on You Tube

The hunt for The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil

Okay, so a week on from Smashwords premium catalogue approval I've discovered that there is a delay between the Smashwords catalogue being shipped and the book appearing on the web sites.

So here's the thing.

The book is slowly due to appear on retailer web sites in the coming weeks. I've been checking the sites recently to see if the book appears but there are a few sites to check and the process is a bit repetitive. Therefore I'm offering a prize for each site.

For the first person to post a link to a retailer site where The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil is on sale I will give a free download of the book from Smashwords.

Post the links in the comment section below. The download will be in the format of your choice (see the list of formats in my post from last week). I will email you a voucher code to download a copy direct from Smashwords.

If you want to know what you stand to win you can read about it here.

Here's the promotional video on You Tube

The Hidden Masters and The Unspeakable Evil available worldwide

This just a quick update that The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil has now gone into the Smashwords premium catalogue which means that it will be available on the major retailers' web sites worldwide. The Smashwords web site says this:

Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Download
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Download
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Download

They say the catalogue ships at the end of the week but I don't know how long it takes for the files to appear on the relevant web sites. If anybody sees the book on any of these sites I'd be interested to hear about it.

One final note although Smashwords sell books formatted for the Kindle they don't actually distribute to Amazon yet. Apparently that may be on the way soon. I'm told it's something to do with them having an ability to upload the files to Amazon so it's a technical matter. Until that is sorted out Kindle readers can buy the Kindle version of the Hidden Masters from other sellers and direct from Smashwords themselves.

The Hidden Masters and The Unspeakable Evil out in eBook format

Today I am available to read as an ebook.

The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil is now on Smashwords.com


It's just a first step as the book needs to be approved for formatting before it gets into the Premium Catalogue and then onto the various retailer's web sites. That process might take a couple of weeks.

Keep watching.

New dialogue for Hidden Masters - Chapter 1

The old Chapter 1 was a bit narrative heavy so I came to the conclusion that it needed some dialogue to perk it up. The trouble is the opening scene was a single character getting ready for his friends to arrive for the esbat. However the saving grace was a reported phone call that he later describes. So this is what I've added.

"Hello?"
"…"
"Oh hi Geoff, how's things?"
"… …"
"Uh huh."
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … … … … … …"
"Really?"
"…"
"Good grief!"
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … …"
"Your model village?"
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … … … … … …"
"Casinos?"
"… … …"
"Cowboys?"
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … …"
"Vegas?"
"… … …"
"Blackpool!"
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … … … …"
"Indians? What, with war paint and all that?"
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … … … …"
"Chain Mart! You mean the little everything-shop where you buy your beer?"
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … …"
"Uh huh."
"… … … … …"
"Uh huh."
"…"
"… …"
"… … …"
"… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …"
"Are you stoned?"

----------------------------------------------------------------

It's currently available on Kindle and in paperback (check the links in the sidebar). Here's the You Tube promo video.

Passing on the stairs

When I was younger we used to pass on the stairs. I remember this because we had a relative from Canada come to live with us and she made a point of telling us that she wouldn’t pass on the stairs. She thought it was bad luck or she thought she was too wide or something. I remember it making no sense at the time. She used to make a point of lots of things and she was generally annoying like that but hey, what can you do when you are eleven? Anyway, that’s how I remember that the rest of us didn't mind passing on the stairs, because she was different.

I’ve recently finished working in an office where we worked upstairs with the kitchen downstairs. All day we’d be up and down to the kitchen and frequently I’d meet someone coming the other way. The stairs weren’t nearly as narrow as those in a house, although they were not quite as wide as a double width staircase. Colleagues would always wait when someone was on the stairs, often forcing some delay. This seemed strange to me, there was plenty of room.

Is there some change in people that I've not noticed? Over all these years of working at home have I lost touch with the etiquette of stairway traffic? Are people more sensitive about personal space? Did I grow up in a family where we were happier to share out stair space? Or was I so small at eleven that I could get past anybody? Hang on…?

It's just a notion and I thought I'd share.

Does gravity push?

Many years ago a friend in a pub suggested that gravity pushes and it's only the existence of a planet beneath our feet that creates a shadow that stops us being pushed away from the planet. If gravity pushes could it explain inflation and, at the same time, the increased expansion of the universe in the later part of cosmological history?

If gravity pushes and it is merely the effect of large masses shielding other masses from the gravity of the rest of the universe that pushes the whole universe apart, inflation could have occurred during a period when there was little or no matter to shield the universe from gravity thus pushing it apart at an extreme rate. Then when matter appeared inflation would have stopped dramatically because the sudden shielding effect.

Now, 14Bn years later the universe appears to be speeding up, thus the invention of dark energy to explain where this expansion is coming from. However, gravity pushing could explain this by the fact that the universe is so expanded by now that it's so far apart the shielding effect is weakened and another period of rapid expansion could be taking place. In other words gravity pushing would only have a cohesive effect on a dense universe but a universe that is sparse (or widely distributed) its shielding effect would be very weak.

Thus we can explain inflation and dark energy, which has always seemed a bit rubbish otherwise. All we need to do is wrap up dark matter in this and we might have a hat trick which could become the new standard model of cosmology.

How complicated is Facebook going to get?

As a struggling author, relying on word of mouth to get people to hear about my work, I’ve been counting on the opportunity to get some key people (people who are in my target demographic and have lots of friends) to ‘like’ my Jack Barrow page. The idea is that people who ‘like’ my page will be seen to do so and their friends will be curious enough to look. I’ve always thought that this was what the like feature is all about. At the same time I'll buy some Facebook ads, do other promiotions, generally put in some effort. (I've got a list somewehere of what I need to do when the time comes.)

Now they’ve introduced the new makeover with subscriptions, conditional news feeds, features that only work on a Tuesday when there is an R in the month, etc., it’s just so complicated I despair at anyone ever understanding how this all works. I might actually manage to set up my options so that people see what I want them to see, but if I have to rely on my key people having their settings right then have I really got a hope?

I’m finally getting close to the situation where I can do a re-launch of my career. Soon, very soon I hope, my books will be on sale again, but with a broken Facebook (Twitter simply isn’t enough) then I can’t see where to go next.

Is Amazon messing up the chances of small publishers?

This weekend I met a fan of my novel The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil. Apparently she read the book a couple of years ago and it was quickly circulated amongst all her friends. (I suspect there is a large streak of hedonism running through her social circle, part of my target audience.) Smelling an easy solution to her prezzie problem she decided to buy a copy for each of them for Christmas.

Unfortunately Amazon have been listing the book as difficult to source, out of stock or out of print pretty much ever since it was published in 2006. This has always been disingenuous at best if not a blatant lie. The book is print on demand so it is always available, it just takes a week or so to deliver.

So when she wanted to buy eight copies she had to buy them all second hand. Why is Amazon doing this?

Online sales are one of the few things publishers will take as a recommendation to publish a self published author. Alan Rinzler wrote a blog saying exactly this, yet Amazon is blocking our chances. This is a scandal that really ought to be brought to the attention of the industry.