auria “Hussein” cortes

I don’t get authors who decide to go the publish on demand (POD) route.* I truly don’t. This is not because I look down on those who choose POD, but because it takes A LOT of work to promote your own book. A LOT. With POD, you have to share your profits with a company that has done zero, zilch, nada in terms of promotion. So the writer writes the book, pays to get the book published, promotes the book, and what does the POD company do? Simply prints the books.

For those of you thinking that self-publishing is more expensive, yes that is correct. But at least in the end you get to keep all the profits.

The embedded video is about an author and his views on promoting his book. It’s great stuff!

*Using a POD for a family recipe book or something similiar that isn’t intended for mass market is something I do get.

“Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.”

I’ve mentioned before that I’m an introvert, a loner even. But I never revealed that I’m a vampire. Well, that’s what my big sister calls me because I’m always in the dark.

When my friend Helene visited last month the first thing she did was open the blinds in my house. My big sister did the same thing when she was here last weekend. And my parents followed suit when they arrived yesterday.

I’m not a fan of light. I feel most comfortable in darkness. Perhaps this is a learned behavior because I can’t be out in the sun. Who knows?

Mi padres are coming up from Puerto Rico today. I’m preparing for their visit and won’t post today’s TT.

Just to give you a sneak peak as to how the visit will be, I called my mom this morning at 6:30. I asked her which airport she’s arriving. With her heavy accent she replied, “KFC.” She meant JFK. Without correcting her I told her I’ll be there to pick them up.

Last year I started a band in order to become a better guitar player and song writer. Writing lyrics is something I enjoy. It’s a different type of writing that requires a different writing skill than nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. At first, I was going to incorporate lyrics into my novel, but as the book progressed the lyrics didn’t make sense. Hmmm…maybe I’ll post lyrics. Hold on. Okay, I’m back. The lyrics look weird on paper - when not sung. Below is the beginning of a song I wrote. It’s not finished…as you’ll quickly find out.

My days have turned to gray, overnight
I remember your silhouette, just right
My thoughts spin out of control, hold on
Your face moves closer, come on

Breathe deep, breathe out

Anyway, back to the band. A month after starting the band, I quit because a member fell in love with me - again. Yes. Again. It’s a long story I don’t want to get into, but needless to say I let him back into my life because he had a girlfriend and I thought I was safe. I should have known better because when I met him he had a wife and he left her for me.

 

No. It’s not what you think. We didn’t have an affair. His marriage was emotionally over (I, along with everyone else knew this) and he asked for a divorce so he could date me (this is something I didn’t know). He followed the same pattern a year later. He left his girlfriend so he could date me. Ha! I just went into the story I stated I didn’t want to go into.

Without going into further detail, today I received a CD from him in the mail. It’s a homemade one where he sing songs he wrote and plays music he created.  

On the CD cover he wrote that he misses me. But here’s the thing: I do miss our conversations. I do miss his brain . I do miss all the hobbies we have in common. However, I don’t miss him.

How is that possible?

I enjoy reading the dictionary. My ex used to freak out when I read the dictionary for fun. He thought I was bored. I wasn’t. After years of being together, he got used to walking in the house and see me laying on the floor with a dictionary in hand.

Therasuas’ (spelling ?) are enjoyable to read as well.

Borders Books is having financial difficulty. This is not good news for writers and readers. Borders Books is known to purchase more Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and quirky books than Barnes and Noble. With Borders in danger, this can negatively impact many writers.

In addition, Barnes and Noble has only one nonfiction book buyer. Meaning they employ one person who purchases nonfiction books for all its stores. If Borders collapses, this means that nonfiction writers and publishers will depend on ONE. Yes, ONE person to say yeah or nay to their books being placed in a major bookstore.

Needless to say, Linda isn’t very happy about this development.

For now, Borders is up for sale. The company is rocky - recently high level executives were laid off.

As a reader, I’m concerned because I spend many days at Borders. Where would I go to people watch and read books for free? Oh, yeah…the library.