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~ Deo Vindice

PERRIN LOVETT

Tag Archives: books

The Nine Laws: Not A Book Review, Not Yet

06 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

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Tags

books, inspiration, Nine Laws

I’ve made it up to chapter four, where I believe the substance of the book begins. Again this is The Nine Laws by Ivan Throne.

51rdnrxumzl

Throne / Castalia House.

So far I can say it certainly is interesting. I’m not ready for a full review, obviously, but I can say that I recommend it, at least for investigation purposes. It purports to be a textbook of sorts, a teaching of self-improvement, and I think it is ramping up to that. At any rate, it does cause thought which is a hallmark of any good book, technically useful or not.

The book offers a bleak but honest look at the world and our lives within. I find it most refreshing that the author doesn’t tip-toe around with foolishness and idle politically-correctness. If it is a self-help book, then it is only for those who embrace reality. And, of those, only the ones willing to do something about their status and places. It is not for the weak. Thus, I hate to say, it is not for most people. Readers, here, I presume will benefit or at least will not be harmed.

Very good, so far. I may have a full report when I am finished.

Advice for Writing and Publishing

29 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Books For Sale, Other Columns

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Tags

blog, blogging, books, ideas, Perrin Lovett, perrinlovett.me, The Happy Little Cigar Book, writing

A talented friend asked me how I do the crazy things I do. This was going to be an email to him. However, I thought it better to share with everyone. I suppose I can give this now. Sometimes its easier to give it than to live it. Do as I say!

Here are a few ideas:

Start a Blog

I use and recommend WordPress.WP allows for easy and professional startups. The base level is absolutely free. I pay a nominal fee to keep the “wordpress.” out of my page name and a few other perks. Next I will step up to the expensive level. Start small – and cheap. Just get started. There are other free hosts out there too.

Social Media

From WP you can link your posts to Facebook, Twitter, etc. This will help generate traffic and maybe build some new friends. Don’t forget LinkedIn.

Email List

They say for real on-line success one needs an email list – a go to group of dedicated followers. I spent a lot of time building mine this summer. I took it from about 20 people to almost 1,000. Sadly, I have not tested the system out. I will. I use Gmail which is okay for one to one emails. For a list there are vastly better options – MailChimp, Aweber, etc. Those cost money. Keep it simple (and free) to start.

Publishing

My friend has a wealth of historical knowledge he would like to share. There’s no reason he shouldn’t get paid to do it. One sure-fire way to do that is to publish a book:

Createspace

Createspace is Amazon’s professional publishing wing. Account setup is free and relatively easy. Converting, editing, and formatting everything takes a little work. However, the services are free and one can then directly upload to Amazon. These are books “available on demand”. Someone sees it, orders it and pays for it and CS prints a copy and mails it out. They also have other formats which I have not experimented with – audio, video, etc. For a fee they also have editing and design services.

You can make a book like this:

IMG_20151118_152219936

This is the way of the future – self publishing and Amazon. A few more years and traditional publishers and bookstores won’t exist. They are committing suicide.

CS is also a stepping stone to:

Kindle

Once one has a manuscript ready it can be converted to Kindle for ebook publishing and sale. This is not necessarily easy. I have one book in Kindle and the format is horrible. Worse, I have never gone back and fixed it yet. Learning curve here. One can also pay to have the formatting done. Otherwise the system is free. There are books available on the subject. I suggest reading them.

Amazon Tools

Once one has a book out, odds are people are going to find it on Amazon. Remember to set up an Author Page with links to your Blog posts.

PDF

There is a super easy way to make an ebook. Just convert a Word, WordPerfect, or Docs text to PDF and link it to your blog or email it. Freebies build business although it is possible to offer these for sale.

PayPal

Set up an account and use it to receive payments for the PDFs and other services offered until you can afford a real e-commerce system. Amazon and Kindle offer direct deposit for their sales of your work. PayPal also comes in handy for freelancing (see below).

Some Writing Resources

These are in no particular order and there are so many out there:

James Altucher offers a wealth of publishing tips and other inspiration. Read this.

The Write Life. All kinds of advice for all sorts of things.

That will do for now. If you have an idea or a question, don’t forget the Google.

Freelance Ideas

Independent contract work can be a great way to build business and make money. Many of these jobs can be found just by looking around. Then there are “content mills”. The mills are marketplaces where people look for work and companies look for talent. I list three of them below. I can’t really recommend using them because so much of what is offered is pure crap. However, the gems are out there. It’s just a matter of finding them.

As for my friend or really anyone, I would recommend searching hard within the author’s niche. I’ve stumbled into some great projects that fit my crazed topics and style. One might as well be happy when working.

Jobs for Bloggers

This is just a board published by ProBlogger. No account to set up; just communicate directly with projects by email or their sites. I’ve had the most success with this service. And jobs are posted daily and are searchable. Most pay by PayPal.

Freelancer

A true content mill with required setup. They frequently handle payment but they also take a cut. That’s also how it works at:

Upwork

They handle all payment issues in-house. I think it’s a slightly better system. A good deal of hassle and BS but you can search out what you’re looking for.

As I said there are many other resources. This is a gateway not only for writers, but also for speakers, artists, professionals, and anyone with something to offer. I hope it helps. Happy hunting.

BLM and My ATL SJW Experience, LOL

22 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes, Other Columns

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Atlanta, books, Catholic Church, civilization, Dr. Martin Luther King, Perrin Lovett, race, SJW, society, terrorism, The People, violence

Years ago, new into my legal career, I was eager to help as many people as possible. I was also active in a wonderful church. I consider a particular church “good” if it: is faithful to the Gospel and the early traditions of The Church; is led my a personable yet strict priest, and; is composed of decent parishioners. These things usually go together but not always. Sometimes they are all lacking – a bad church.

Anyway, I volunteered constantly in a variety of ways, to include a little pro bono legal counseling when necessary. My success and happiness led me to contact Catholic Social Services of Atlanta. I thought that there, with them, I could help the maximum number of people. I wasn’t just thinking law either.

By telephone I spoke with a director of something, a jovial enough seeming woman. We agreed to meet one afternoon and discuss what they were doing and how I could help.

We met at a fast food place somewhere between Marietta and Woodstock; I can’t remember exactly. At first the meeting seemed to go well as she told me about what she did and the organizations needs de jure. I then took the opportunity to explain my philosophies and what I thought I could do to help.

Some of our brief conversation centered on race and how a large portion of Services clients were lower-income blacks in the city. I took that as a cue for me to speak my mind on the subject. I said something along the lines that Dr. King had wanted to raise everyone up together – all races improving in harmony to accomplish new wonders. That is what he wanted, his dream.

I then noted how the government and various interests had done everything possible to give the appearance of integration while insidiously conspiring to lower all people down past the current lowest denominator. That was how you could have black mayors, city councilors and legislators (no Barack at that time), and black celebrities and executives and still have a hopelessly mired black underclass. Worse, I went on, the system was dragging down whites and everyone else.

Helping everyone shake off oppression and rise up was my goal, I told her. It was obviously the wrong thing. I said some other stuff but I had lost her. It was clear that I did not, would not, fit the agenda.

I’m guessing she was an SJW – a shrieker interested in prolonging problems in order to keep her job and to have something to shriek about. The thought of actually solving the problems horrified her as did my criticism of the government and the “system”.

I know now that CSS is an SJW organization. Sure, your local office may be honestly interested in helping society. But the big city branches and the national front are only interested in advancing a liberal, anti-American, anti-freedom agenda. They are deep into a host of social problems including, but not limited to, importing radical Islam into America and the West. It’s as big a scandal as the sex abuse cover-ups. It needs to be rooted out.

Heck no, I wasn’t a good fit. Our meeting ended awkwardly. They never returned my calls. I suppose we were better off without each other.

Then, today, I read about a racial attack in Cleveland, Ohio. It brought the above back to memory.

It seems that a group of seven young white men were walking the street when they were attacked by a gang (also of seven) who chanted “Black Lives Matter!” The gang beat down the walkers and then robbed them and ran off. The chant was a mere cover call for robbery – nothing to do with social justice at all.

Interestingly, the gang was interracial – five blacks and two whites. See their mug shots (six of the seven have been arrested):

11471858_G

News 19, Cleveland.

How wonderful! Black and white thugs coming together! Post racial America at its finest.

This is exactly what I was talking about twelve (?) years ago. Thirteen? (Long time). Instead of coming together for something positive, too often the races unite for debased criminality. This incident is not anomalous. It is pathetic.

I also find the success of a numerically even odds encounter a little strange. I suppose the victims were seven modern American men – weak. Then again, maybe they were all surprised. Maybe weapons were involved. Still, I’m not entirely sure I could have taken the whole gang alone but I know I could have at least made a dent in them.

Wouldn’t it be great if people would wise up and act civilized? Just act it if they can’t be it. Wouldn’t it be great if decent people fought back? I’m done with trying to “help” through corrupt organizations. Now I will just bring stories like this to your attention. Those who can make good out of it will. I’m helping.

In the near future (soon, soon, I promise) I’ll have my personal anti-terrorism book out. The main title is, for now, Fight Back! It will cover protecting oneself from ISIS agents as well as from street thugs like the above-pictured ramble.

We also need to fight back against those who have actively worked to retard society and lower all groups into helpless victim-hood and misery. They’re as bad as ISIS or worse.

 

Obesity in America: Startling Facts

05 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Books For Sale, News and Notes, Other Columns

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America, books, fat, health, The People

Yesterday I announced a new book project in a nearly backhanded way. Being big is a big problem in America. I wasn’t making fun though I would like to cash in. That’s honesty. Here’s more honesty: we have a massive epidemic on our hands (and guts, thighs, etc.). A few of the facts:

overweight-rates-in-america

dukandiet.com

35% of Americans are obese. That’s 111 million people. http://stateofobesity.org/rates/.

Almost 70% of Americans are obese or overweight. 223 million. That’s a vast majority being vast. Id.

Rates of physical inactivity range from 16% in Colorado to 31% in Mississippi. Id.

Obesity is costing around $200 Billion! per year in medical care. Virtually all of this is preventable Id.

Obesity-related illnesses kill 300,000 people each year (the number could be closer to 500,000). WV Dept. Health and Human Resources.

One in five American deaths is related to obesity. Dr. Joseph Mercola.

Sugar, tasty as it is, is poison. Id.

Being overweight can lead to: heart disease; high blood pressure; stroke, diabetes, high blood fat; failing metabolism; cancer; osteoarthritis; sleep apnea; hypertension; gallstones – among many other problems. Nat’l. Inst. of Health.

While being “overweight” could be explained by an excess of water, bone, or muscle (or by being fat), being “obese” just means being overly fat. NIH.

As the majority of Americans are now overweight, being normal is now abnormal. This isn’t good.

Americans eat 20% more than they did in 1983. publichealth.org.

Americans spend over $20 Billion a year on diet schemes – they’re not working. Id.

Obesity has doubled in the past four decades and it’s getting worse. ADA. 70% and worsening. What’s next? 90%? 99%?

In a way these facts are indicative of the prosperity of America. We produce more food than ever. Food is easier to come by than ever. Activities are less demanding than ever. Government evil and cultural idiocy aside, life is better than ever. Even our poorest people (especially the poor) are overweight these days. That’s a historical anomaly among the human population. It’s proof of too much of a good thing, maybe.

I was among the ranks of the new normal for a long time. Too long. Too many wasted years. Getting into shape and staying there isn’t easy. It isn’t difficult either. We can reverse these trends.

***

Note: It came to my attention that more unsolicited political ads are running on my posts from time to time. At some point I will be halting this altogether (WP control ain’t cheap). Until then I’ve decided to counter those ads with some ads of my own. Here’s one:

imwithfawkes

Crisis is Opportunity: The Fattening

04 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Books For Sale, News and Notes, Other Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

America, books, fat, fitness, obesity

So say the Chinese. I agree. That’s why I am happy to report that Americans are fatter than ever – and getting fatter year by year. Since the late 1980s the average American has gained 15 pounds – and not muscle.

There’s no doubt about it: Americans are getting heavier and heavier. But new U.S. estimates may still come as a shock — since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the average American has put on 15 or more additional pounds without getting any taller.

Even 11-year-old kids aren’t immune from this weight plague, the study found. Girls are more than seven pounds heavier even though their height is the same. Boys gained an inch in height, but also packed on an additional 13.5 pounds compared to two decades ago.

…

“We are not doing nearly enough to control and reverse the obesity epidemic and doing far too much to propagate it. This is another notice of that sad fact,” said Dr. David Katz. He directs the Yale University Prevention Research Center and is president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

The new statistics were released Aug. 3 in a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The statistics for 2011-2014 are based on an analysis of a sample of 19,151 people who underwent medical examinations and were interviewed at home.

These are averages too. The ordinary people. More than two-thirds of all Americans are overweight and over one-third are obese (severely overweight and at risk of serious problems or death). Of the obese many are grossly obese. These are the behemoths one sees waddling around almost everywhere. They’re getting bigger too. 300 and 400-pounders are now very common and there is a growing class of hyper-heavyweights who flirt with four digit weights (some of them have TV shows).

Global_obesity_Fat_Americans_30_percent_of_world_s_human_biomass-1200x908

America: big-time pig-time. Nutritionreview.org.

How, one might wonder, is this good news, an opportunity? One, there is tremendous potential for a huge number of (huge) people to change their lives for the better. There’s a chance for happier and longer living. People literally have the ability to save their lives. For me, this means financial publication potential.

Several years ago I started a book about how I got back into shape. I posted several articles about my journey. Then I let it drop. I noticed there was already a plethora of books on losing weight and living healthy. I figured mine would be white noise. Now I’m not so sure. All those diet books, some of them really good, don’t seem to be working. More diet books than ever and yet people keep getting fatter.

I also noticed that weight-loss is one of the most popular and lucrative book categories out there. It’s right up there with romance novels, get rick quick schemes, and adult coloring books.

Part of my forth-coming anti-terrorism book calls for people to get in shape; it’s hard to fight or flee while obese. Since I have so much of it already typed out and as if I don’t already have enough going on, I’m going to finish Perrin’s Guide to Fitness (title subject to change).

Look for it a little later in this year in Kindle, paperback and maybe even audio format. Enjoy your cheeseburgers and shakes while you can.

PS: my way is easy, fun, and self-rewarding!

Moving Forward

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes, Other Columns, The Perrin Lovett Show

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blog, books, Perrin Lovett, perrinlovett.me, The Perrin Lovett Show

Summer can be a time for reflection. I, as author and editor of this site, have the luxury of taking stock of where the work is going. This is the fifth summer at perrinlovett.me though the third of real activity (2012 and 2014 were pretty lame, yes). Based on such a short history I can still see trends. For instance, I know summer, for whatever reason, is a slower time for readership. Kids out of school, vacation, too hot – whatever. It’s just slower than the rest of the year.

Yet and still growth is happening. The July ended this past Sunday was my busiest July by far. The attention comes in waves. Lately the peaks of those waves have been reaching higher and higher. By the way, thank you all.

It’s not just July that impresses me. Everything is trending upwards. This post, on August 2nd, will bring my total for 2016 some sixty articles higher than through all of 2015. Positive growth. You are responding too. Sometime this morning I achieved more total viewers for this year than through all of last year (and I thought last year was impressive – for me). All that compressed into seven months, one day, and a few short hours. I’ve also noticed a growing audience outside of North America – much of what I write is about Europe and the rest of the West. It’s entirely likely that by December I will have eclipsed all previous numbers, counted together. Thanks, again.

1120131221a

WANTED for cigar arson and crimes against insanity.

Today, as a reward, I re-posted a popular piece from last fall – Piracy, Counterfeiting and Treason. Those are the three named crimes from the Constitution which the federal government may pursue. Of course, as I point out in the article, today the government commits them rather than prosecutes them. A few weeks ago a friend joked with me: “Perrin’s blog – government is bad.” That’s my theme (punctuated with guns, cigars and cultural befuddlement). Yes. That’s me and that’s not going to change.

What of the future? What will change, if anything?

Progress will continue to be slow and steady. I am akin to the tortoise of Aesop fame. More commentary, certainly. More books offerings. I am (veeeerrrry slooowly) working on an e-course which many of you will find of great utility. Rumor has it The Perrin Lovett Show may return.

There will, some day, be another page upgrade. There are three levels at WordPress. I’m in the middle level right now. Level one is free (for me) and basic. My level is paid and comes with many expanded features for you. The next level costs a little more but offers me near-total control while allowing you a more seamless experience. For one thing, it will eliminate the ads which WP sometimes runs here. I don’t control or benefit from them. I don’t really like them but I can’t, yet, do anything about them. The other day I wrote a short about how bad Hillary Clinton is. When I looked at it through a regular browser it was accompanied by a “I’m With Her” political ad. Ridiculous. That sort of thing will be going away.

I’ve never run ads per se here. Naturally, I promote the site and my published work. Once I had a few links to some businesses owned by friends. They may come back if I so decide. I may also run a few independent and narrowly targeted ads for things that fit with my overall theme. You’ll know them when you see them.

The next level will also feature embedded video. That will be handy should I decide to do a full-time, regular video series or a podcast or something. I also toy with the idea of a paid section – a newsletter or something similar. Nothing mandatory though.

I have been building an email list this summer. Experts say this is critical for promoting a presence and marketing things like e-books. Hint: if you’re reading this, you may very well be on the list. In short order I will do a test mailing. That will allow you the opportunity to stay on the list or to leave (why you would leave is beyond me…). It will also allow me to judge how bad my infrastructure is. Very bad I suspect. Moving forward I will upgrade to a professional mail service; right know it’s just a “group” in Gmail.

The experts also say a list needs 10,000 members to be truly effective but that the list essentially builds itself once it gets going. They say several hundred members is a good start. I’m starting somewhere between a good start and truly effective. I’m counting on you to get me to 10,0000 and beyond.

You can count on me to keep rambling and ranting away. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Thank you, yet again.

Perrin

The World Is Changing. You In?

28 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes, Other Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amazon, books, changes, economy, James Altucher, jobs, money

Earlier today I wrote an article about how sitting in a cubicle like a zombie will kill you. If you’re already undead, you might as well go all the way, right? In my story I mentioned that the job itself might be a problem.

Then I read a couple of pieces by James Altucher (one usually leads to another). You need to read them now. The first is 10 Reasons Your Boss Hates You. The Next is 10 Reasons You Have to Quit Your Job (in 2016). Go ahead, read them now – I’ll wait right here.

Okay, he’s right, right? The old economy is on life support. And the “old way” hasn’t really been around that long. At any rate it isn’t working anymore.

5) Income is Disappearing

In the past 25 years, real income has gone from $36,000 to $33,000 for people ages 18 to 35.

Why? Who knows. Because nobody cares.

Then the talking blobs on TV tell you you have to start saving during those years.

Meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up.

How do you save, when it costs more to LIVE, while the money coming in the bank is going down.

Society is being strangled. I don’t blame anyone. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s not Wall Street’s fault. Or Main Street’s fault.

Jobs were a myth from the beginning.

The Industrial Revolution standardized society so that factory workers would show up at the same time, have the same education, hit the same bolt on the same nut at the same time, and get paid every two weeks.

That’s the truth, good, bad or indifferent. I’m a fuddy-duddy. Yet, even I realize things are changing and must change. It’s not just incomes that are going down (away?). Home ownership is at the lowest level in over 50 years – only 62% of adults own a house. And, most of them don’t even own one – a bank owns it for them.

The whole economy is being shaken up. Facebook, today, passed Berkshire Hathaway in terms of market cap. Let that sink in for a second. Then again, many of you are reading this right now because you saw it on Facebook, not through one of Buffett’s companies.

129_1200

vimeo.com/HP.

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday and another, similar one today about how I publish words. To some, what I do seems like wizardry. Maybe it is in a sense. But, its academic and logistical, not magical. Me – computer – internet – Amazon – your computer, phone or bookshelf. Kind of like: cow – farmer – bottle – truck – grocery store – your fridge. Easy, huh?

The old economy is on life support and the funeral arrangements are now being made for the traditional publishing industry (and the bookstores). Meanwhile, Amazon keeps posting record profit after record profit. They capitalize on me and my computer and I on them. Heck, I’m preparing to give them two new amazing works to offer world-wide in a few days (weeks? – y’all know I’m slow). Then, I’m publishing more. And more after that.

If the world is changing, I’m going to make the most of it. I hope you do to.

Literary Pirates of the Internet

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Books For Sale, Other Columns

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books, internet, Perrin Lovett, Perrin on Politics, piracy, The Happy Little Cigar Book, theft

This is not a story about a new ride at Disneyland – wouldn’t that one be boring. No, this is about me and my beloved books – I hope that’s not boring.

I’m working as steady as I can on two new volumes which should be released in tandem (or close to it) and released soon. One is another cigar book, a work of pure humor. The other is dead serious, a guide to fighting terrorism on the personal, day-to-day basis. Soon, folks, soon. Ready those debit cards now.

While I was taking a break I did a periodic check on The Happy Little Cigar Book. While it is not a bestseller, it has been more successful than I had originally hoped. Thank you all! I also discovered that it is available at Barnes and Noble. I had forgotten that CreateSpace has a B&N connection. Or, maybe I made that up in my head. Anyway, I’m now at the first and second largest bookstores in the world.

nimbus-image-1469392393063

I need 5-star reviews here to match Amazon. B&N.com.

The HLCB is also (allegedly) available from some not so reputable sites as I discovered on Friday. My Googling led me to several sites claiming to offer free downloads of my book. Free downloads of MY book!  That is piracy. It’s theft of my copyright protected material. Two of these are linked to Google somehow – probably via an aggregation service anyone can use. The others I looked at, like the one below, are probably just scams. I read up on this phenomenon. “Download” means get a free virus. I do not advise looking into this. That, and they likely operate outside of U.S. jurisdiction or through a laborynth of servers.

nimbus-image-1469394135611.png

I DID NOT and DO NOT authorize this theft of my property! I’m also not attributing this clipped picture (fair play).

This is a plain, simple DMCA violation. I have a warning right there inside my books, digital and paperback.  I have an action under 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 512, et seq., provided I could pinpoint exactly who the pirates are. It’s odd for me to ponder having to use one of the many laws I can’t stand. I’ll probably let it go; blades are more my style anyway.

Part of me is angry but mostly I am flattered. At least I have enough notoriety to get into the scam sites. I was also a little mad that I did not find any pirated copies of Perrin On Politics – then again, that one is free to begin with.

I may take action but I probably will not. I could send a DMCA warning and notice (a cease a desist letter) along with a civil pre-litigation notice. I doubt much would come of it.

However, one site says the HLCB has a 4.5 star rating out of about 6,000 views. If that means they gave away 6,000 copies, then I am owed a tidy little sum. Those numbers are likely fluff and lies put up by some Chinese hacker, trying to get your bank information or something. Enough said.

For now I’ll just be flattered and a slight bit amused. You, all of you, please avoid the pirates out there. Fake or not, these postings are illegal reproductions – stolen goods. Get the real thing at Amazon or B&N. And, look out for my new material coming very soon (to real sites and stores and with real pricing).

Perrin

Pokemon: Mass Hysterical Stupefaction

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

books, chaos, culture, freedom, Pokemon, society, The People, triviality

I had forgotten about Pokemon – to me it was forgettable. Then, in the past few weeks, I started noticing a resurgence. People on Facebook were talking about the game – some for it, some against – as if it had relevance. I wondered once again if I had slipped-streamed back in time a few decades. It started showing up in the news. I investigated. Pokemon is back.

Pokemon.

It’s back with controversy. The first contention is that the cute little game is being played by many adults now. I remembered it vaguely as something nieces and nephews were into in the 90s. Now, it seems, it is for everyone (except me).

The second controversy comes from the manner in which Pokemon is delivered in the 21st Century – via a free phone app. The app, like most, comes with a long, draconian agreement that no one reads. Hidden in the terms one finds curious language about turning over private information (darn near all of it) to the app and its owners. People seem upset about this. Perhaps “free” really isn’t.

Little about Pokemon is actually known to me. I understand it is some sort of Japanese cartoon cock-fight, maybe mixed with a scavenger hunt. I know children loved it, or love it still, and many adults are completely obsessed. Then I found something…

Back in 1999 I started a book, one of many I never even came close to finishing. It didn’t even have a title. Still doesn’t. It was a “what’s wrong with modern society” kind of book. One of the chapters was “Pokemon”.

I am decades ahead of my time and have been for a while now. My thesis, if I remember rightly, was not that Pokemon is (was) inherently evil. It may be; I’m not sure. However, I am confident that it is one of numerous trivialities with which people obsessively entertain themselves while the world rots around them. I think I wanted to use it, specifically, as a benchmark of the mindless, dumbed-down fantasies people use generally to escape the real world. That was 1999. There’s more rot around now in 2016.

A child’s game is fine for children. If adults enjoy it too, in its place, that’s fine. But, when there is so much else going on, it seems a bit odd that millions spend hours and hours trying to … do whatever it is one does in Poke-land. While they’re searching for the bird or the egg or the rainbow (???) and giving away their identity and location to boot, the economy is collapsing. It’s not just bad numbers anymore – the underpinning themselves are being eviscerated as if by  a massive bombing. Then, there are the real bombings. And the terrorists. The racial strife. The robots. The debt. The attack of the one-worlders. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The civilization-resistant “refugees”. Wars. Real world things, many unpleasant. The adults play games.

Given the above turmoil, maybe a little trivial pursuit is in order – a little. I’m pleased today with two things. One, my thoughts are exceedingly constant across time. Two, so consistent also are the silly diversions employed by and against the people.

Notechmagazine.

Play this digital version of Grit and Steel if you like. Just remember: it’s a game; THEY are watching you, and; there’s a big mess sloshing around off-screen.

My thoughts – 17 years in the making.

Bookends, July 2016

10 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Books For Sale, News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Bookends, July 2016

Tags

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, books, publishing, The Happy Little Cigar Book

The news keeps getting better month by month for authors and readers alike. The old, traditional, monopolistic publishing industry is fading rapidly. Good riddance. With it goes the middlemen, the obscene contracts, the thefts of rights, the low royalties, the limitations of access and of selection, and the tyranny of the gatekeepers.

Barnes and Noble, the last of the big chain booksellers, has announced it will allow some self-published books in its 640 or so stores nationwide. Some, not all. First, a book has to be formatted for Nook, which is B&N’s house version of Kindle. They’re keeping it in the family. Then, there are sales number requirements (1,000 for e-books, 500 for physical copies). Finally, a review board must approve the book for shelving.

Book Business/Mike Valasnick – Flickr.

This is a systemization of their current, difficult and arbitrary policy. An idie author can already get into B&N but the process and the resulting rewards (if any) are so uncertain it’s almost not worth it. B&N is desperately and belatedly trying to compete with Amazon, which allows any and all authors access to their digital store.

Book Business makes a bigger deal out of this story than it needs to. They compare B&N’s 640 stores (and shrinking?) to Amazon as if Amazon was a nebulous startup concept.

Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore. Period. No, they don’t just have one single store in Seattle. They have as many stores as there are computers, tablets, and smartphones in the world. What is that number? A billion stores? Five billion? It’s huge. I have two of those stores in my immediate possession right now.

Sometimes I get asked if The Happy Little Cigar Book is in bookstores. I always say “yes” and refer the inquirer to Amazon. By the way, just click the link two sentences back, and you’re in the store, ready to buy a copy.

When was the last time you went into a bookstore? Odds are it was a B&N as they’re about the only game left in town – and only in decent sized towns. There are, here and there, small private stores but their selection is extremely limited. An indie house might have 5,000 – 10,000 books that the owner felt like carrying. A big B&N might have 10,000 – 30,000. I’ve noticed B&N sells fewer and fewer real books in their stores and more picture books, calendars, coffee mugs, and other stuff. They’ll have popular bestselling novels but perhaps not a work of classical history or philosophy.

Amazon has millions and millions (scores of millions) of books. The e-books one can buy and start reading within about 30 seconds. Hardcover and paperbacks take a few days for delivery. They’re prices are better too because of the economy of scale.

**Want a FREE book from My Bookstore? CLICK HERE and have one, right now.**

It’s getting harder to find a “real” bookstore just as it’s getting harder to find a “real” book from a “real” publisher. The big houses are in deep trouble. If not for coloring books and romance novels, they would already be gone. The world has changed – for the better.

Am I happy B&N is opening up? Yes. Will I try to get a few of my works into their hallowed stores? Yes. Will I obsess about it? No. Amazon and the internet are the future and the future is now and has been for a few years.

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Perrin Lovett

AURELIUS COMING SOON
From Green Altar Books, an imprint of Shotwell Publishing

From Green Altar Books, an imprint of Shotwell Publishing

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