I was really touched to get a letter from a woman who is a reading volunteer at a nursing home. She had read my book to an elderly woman and had taken the time to get in touch to tell me how much they had both enjoyed the book. As always it was wonderful to hear from a reader (two in this case) but I was more touched by the work that she did. For those of us who love to read, the idea of not being able to do it is unthinkable. Sadly many people in nursing homes face this reality and it is only through the generosity of volunteers that they get to continue to enjoy books. So I huge thank you to all those who give their time in this way, you truly are awesome.
Before migrating over to this blog I used to post my reviews for the Australian Women Writer's Challenge here on my main blog. In the interests of streamlining things I have now moved those reviews to a separate page which can be accessed by clicking the blue button in the sidebar. I am passionate about the AWW challenge each year because I know just how beneficial reviews are. Thank you to all those who do take the time to review and I am trying to do my part by posting as many reviews as I can to pass it forward to other authors.
The Australian site of Amazon has been up and running for a while now, although many people have chosen not to swap over from the .com site. The main disadvantage of the Aussie site is that it is digital content only. So if you wanted to buy a physical book or some other product you would have to go back to the US site to do so. Given the favourable exchange rate at the moment, there is no price disadvantage in not swapping over either. Whether Australian readers do swap over or not, I am excited about the AU Amazon site. Because as an author, it means much better royalties. Previously any sales to Australian buyers on the .com site only paid a 35% royalty because we did not have a local store. Given that most of the people purchasing my book are Australian this cut into my royalties quite significantly. Now we have our own site authors are paid the full 70% royalty and I noticed an immediate jump in earnings. The other big advantage is that it is much easier to get to the best seller lists on the local site, which can then translate to more sales because your book is actually noticed. Sounds like a good deal all round.
Having always had access to a well-stocked Council library, I was blissfully unaware of the amazing work done by community libraries all over the country. It was not until I was invited to speak as an author (quite a thrill I must say) that I had the pleasure of visiting my first community library and learning all about what a huge role they play in small towns.
After doing a little research I learned that community libraries are generally run by volunteers and they rely mainly on donations to stock their shelves. So, to be honest I was expecting a small building with lots of second hand books (and there would have been absolutely nothing wrong with that). Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find a good sized, modern building with a huge range of books, all lovingly cared for. There was even free internet. Today's blog post has nothing to do with writing or book reviews - although it is kind of related to a book I'm reading (My James by Ralph Bulger). Most of us remember the absolutely horrific murder of an angelic looking two year old boy James Bulger back in 1993. Almost as shocking as the brutality of the crime was the fact it was carried out by two ten-year-old boys. Reading this book you cannot help but be absolutely horrified at what this young boy suffered and feel despair that kids could be capable of such evil. Unfortunately we usually only hear the horrible things kids do and rarely the good, so I would like to write a little about that today. I have two day jobs - I work in learning support in a primary school and as a swimming teacher. Obviously both these jobs involve close interaction with a fair number of small children. Sadly there are some that you see who will probably end up committing crimes - but on the flip side there are many more who amaze me with their capacity to be kind, thoughtful and very selfless.
I really am very glad that I have become an author in the Internet age! In fact in all honesty, I might not even be here if it wasn't for the sweeping changes that the Internet has brought into the publishing industry. Not only is it much easier to get your work out on the world stage, but there is a huge community of fellow authors out there who are ready and willing to help you make it in the writing world. Over the past couple of months I have managed to conquer two of the biggest challenges facing (non U.S.) authors publishing on Amazon Kindle - tax and payment.
I've said it before - Amazon has changed the way books are bought and read and given all authors a massive worldwide platform to share their work with the world. They are the King of books and I humbly acknowledge that. However, they can also be sneaky and as a huge player that knows they pretty much control the world book selling and e-book publishing industry, sometimes they do things that are just plain unfair.
Recently an indie author John Locke admitted he had paid for hundreds of glowing reviews of his own book. While it is without doubt an unethical thing to do, it was also without doubt a dumb thing to admit to. So like the whole class who gets kept in at lunch time because one kid won't admit to doing something wrong, thousands (or millions) of other authors have to suffer the fallout from this. There are pros and cons about becoming a published author in this day and age. On the pro side is how technology has not only revolutionised the way we write, but also the way we publish, advertise and sell our work. Authors are no longer held ransom by major publishing companies or exorbitantly priced self-publishing and have the option of going it alone and using social media to promote their work. On the con side, these things can also hinder an author's journey. Because there is so much more written work out there competing for the same amount of readers, it is very difficult to get noticed (especially if you are an unknown). Many years ago when I visited Rome for the first time, a few of my fellow travellers complained about the standard of hotel rooms there - the fact that they were small, had no air-conditioning and tiny, badly designed bathrooms. One particular guy (you know the kind...the one who should have just stayed home because he hates everything about travelling) made the statement that the Italians should lift their accommodation standards. Our tour leader just laughed and said, 'Rome is an amazing, historical city that people want to visit. They're going to come anyway - whether or not the rooms are large and luxurious. Why would you need to change when you've already got a massive tourism industry?'
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