You made it! Thanks for visiting.
Authors who are either self-published or with small publishers have an extremely difficult time getting the word out about their novels. Most large publishing houses have money devoted to advertising, and well-known authors usually have their own publicists to handle marketing.
You receive a lot of spam, right? Apparently, so does everyone else.
In a recent report compiled by SoftScan, close to 90 percent of emails sent in July were spam. It should be noted that SoftScan is a company that offers anti-spam software, and that it also acknowledges that fewer actual emails were sent in July because of the holiday, according to vnunet.com.
To preview today's book signing, The News-Enterprise ran an article in Thursday's Pulse, its entertainment guide. The article is just a brief overview, but it is an article nevertheless. Here's the text of the preview:
Humor and technology collide in 'Developers' (08/03/06)
Louisville author coming to E'town for book signing
By The NE Staff
ELIZABETHTOWN - Purdue graduate and Louisville resident Ben Woods will be in Hardin County to sign his new book "The Developers" from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at Waldenbooks in Towne Mall in Elizabethtown.
I will be at the Elizabethtown, Ky., Waldenbooks in Towne Mall 5-7 p.m. Aug. 4 to discuss and sign my latest book, The Developers. The humor-fiction novel mixes the insane and obscene with technology, romance and pop culture. But while the book's web development group tries to make its mark on the virtual world, it encounters pre-eminent issues that will soon be shaping the Internet of the future: Are individuals losing their remaining privacy due to the World Wide Web? Will online social interaction eventually replace in-person gatherings as a necessary means?
Louisville Mayhem on Friday, July 28, was a success. We had a pretty good turnout, a lot of food, people took home some nice prizes (and some silly ones) and we raised a little money for Volunteers of America. Thanks to everyone who made the evening possible, and for the great turnout.
Here's the list of winners:
Carl West - four-color pen
Eric Bailey - bingo bucket
Mary Rising - bingo bucket
Nick Ress - Integrity computer bag
Dave Plummer - tub of cheese puffs
Sharon Adams - smiley face t-shirt
Bad things happen.
There's nothing anyone can do; they just happen. This past week, we saw our fair share of incidents. Nationally, a man whose life has been in a continual spotlight died in a plane crash. Locally, a young woman was found dead after being missing since July 4.
Tragedies strike at all times, mostly when least expected. There are numerous levels of tragedies, yet they all come back to one thing — loss. Losing something or someone can be devastating. But eventually, the void becomes a part of you, while you try fervently to concentrate on other things.
I've decided to go a little different route with "The Developers" than your normal let's-just-sell-in-the-bookstore approach. There are numerous reasons I'm trying this, but it comes down to two major ones:
1. Bookstores end up taking a huge portion of the money.
2. Bookstores bury books that aren't being sold at record-setting paces.
The Book Escape in Federal Hill is now carrying Corporate Ties. I just noticed online that this store is selling a copy of The Developers for $5. That's a great deal (although I won't get a penny if someone purchases it).
As someone who likes the optimize as much as possible when it comes to vacation, I cannot stress enough that it's impossible to optimize fully the Disney experience (especially when your three children are 7, 5 and 2). There are so many variables that can happen during the day that over-planning can backfire. As our trip's primary planner, I divided my objectives into the following categories: