I know a lot of us here have published books through self-publishing or traditional publishers. Promoting your book is always difficult. (I know. I am promoting my own "Poetry Books Don't Sell!" on Kindle at present.) Here is a book all authors should get:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G5L3DC/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8...

This is a great book to have if you want to market your book: The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or partnering with your publisher (The HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers) by Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

"This second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter is an updated version of the multi award-winning first edition. It has been expanded to include simple ways to promote books using newer technology, always considering promotion and marketing techniques that are easy on the pocketbook and frugal of time. It also includes a multitude of ways for authors and publishers to promote the so-called hard-to-promote genres."

I recommend this book for all authors trying to promote their books.

Cheers!

Harry
 

http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Books-Dont-Sell-ebook/dp/B0070RARL8/ref=sr_1_1::QM:...

My newest poetry book will be available for FREE this Sunday & Monday to everyone. Anyone can download this e-book for free without having to be a member of Amazon Prime. If you can download from Kindle, you can get "Poetry Books Don't Sell!" for these two days only for free. It normally sells for $2.99.

The poetry in this book addresses a wide variety of subjects. It is written in various formats or styles, including forty-three rhyming storoems (story-poems), six acrostic poems, five political poems, and twenty-nine free-verse poems. Seven older poems (prize-winners and author’s favorites) are included as lagniappe, making ninety poems and storoems total. It even has one flash fiction story included.

Please spread the word to all your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, blogs, etc who download from Kindle about this free poetry e-book. I'd appreciate it if you did.

Cheers!

Harry


-Published 2012: Poetry Books Don't Sell!, My newest collection of my poetry.
--Published 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/historical fiction short novel, 4RV Publishing. Now available!
--Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Books-Dont-Sell-ebook/dp/B0070RARL8/ref=sr_1_1::QM:...

My newest poetry book is now available on Amazon as an e-book.

Check it out! I'd appreciate your doing so.

Cheers!

Harry
 

I will be publishing a new (my fourth) collection of my poetry soon. It should be available on Kindle and Nook as an e-book first, followed by a print book through Lulu Press in a few weeks. I have chosen the title of "Poetry Books Don't Sell!" This is a truism in the publishing world. Most agents and publishing firms won't accept poetry as a submission. Poetry books tend to be mostly self-published, and, no matter how good the poetry contained is, no one much buys the books. This is a pity because most readers would enjoy reading poetry and would be surprisingly entertained if only they would give it a try. I'm sure most of the poets here know this to be true, especially those poets with published books to their credit. (Frustrating, isn't it?)

My new book, "Poetry Books Don't Sell!", contains storoems and poems addressing a variety of topics. It has ninety of my storoems and poems all together: 43 rhyming storoems (story-poems), 6 acrostic poems, 5 political poems, 29 free-verse poems, and 7 of my older poems (prize-winning and personal favorites).

Look for "Poetry Books Don't Sell!" to become available at Lulu Press, Amazon.com. Barnes & Noble, Kindle and Nook soon.
It will make an enjoyable read and a good gift for family & friends.

Cheers!

Harry
 

I read in today's Shreveport Times that giant Burmese pythons, which grow up to twenty feet in length and weigh up to 250 pounds and eat everything "from birds to mammals (muskrats, rabbits, cats, dogs, deer, etc.) to alligators", are spreading farther throughout Florida. A recent study revealed that even newly hatched pythons can survive an average of a month in full-strength seawater and older snakes can survive many months swimming across seawater. This means there is no physical barrier (seawater) to stop the spread of the pythons from the Everglades and Keys, where they are now thriving, farther up the coast line, maybe eventually to other Gulf Coast states, even to Louisiana and Texas. It had been hoped that being unable to survive swimming in the open seawater would prevent them from spreading. Not so! Bummer.

I first read about pythons being found in the Florida Everglades back in 2008. I wrote a poem about it then:

ID: 1473636   (Rated: 13+) Florida Has Pythons!  A fanciful look at the establishment of Burmese pythons in Florida. by Harry

Today I entered the short story contest at Lulu Press. It really is flash fiction because the maximum number of words allowed is 600. My story is entitled "A 1930s Christmas to Remember". It is an appropriate story for the holidays upcoming, and it is a good read, I believe. You can download it for free here: http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/a-1930s-christmas-to-remember/18646206 . I hope you will read it and let me know what you think of it.

Cheers!

Harry


--Published 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/historical fiction short novel, 4RV Publishing. Now available!
--Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry.

 

Yesterday I had the most views of my portfolio items ever, ending up with 536 total views of 408 items. Now today I have the second most views ever: at 4:47 EDT I have had 448 views of 406 of my items. 536 views yesterday? 448 views and counting today? What is going on, folks? Does it have anything to do with the phase of the moon or somehow time to return to Standard Time by "falling back" an hour tonight? Something weird is happening for sure!

Cheers!

Harry

NOTE Added: My total views for the day ended up as 475 views of 408 items. (My portfolio includes 409 items.)
 

If one goes to 'My Summary Stats' under My Account, one can see how many of one's items have been viewed on that date and the total number of views their portfolio items received, along with any ratings given to those items.

I normally run a goodly number of daily views, fairly frequently receiving more than 100 views a day. Today at 3:05 EDT, I have had 408 items viewed for a total of 506 viewings. Wow! What happened today? Perhaps someone stumbled across my portfolio and viewed every item in it. I've never had over 500 viewings in a single day before! I hope whoever read/viewed all my items enjoyed them.

Cheers!

Harry

Note added: I ended the day with 536 total views of 408 items, with one rating given (a 5-star) in the 536 viewings.

 

Today my wife Linda & I visited Uncle Travis at his White Lightning Road residence near Ruston, LA. He is Linda's old country uncle who raises purple hull peas and shoots deer every year. Travis is the one who taught me about how persimmon seeds each fall predict the severity of the coming winter. I wrote a poem about it a few years ago:

ID: 1487417   (Rated: E) Persimmon Seed Forecast  A poem about how La countryfolk use persimmon seeds to foretell the winter's harshness. by Harry

I have reduced the Kindle price of three of my books to only 99 cents! That's a real bargain any way you look at it. All that great reading for only 99 cents each. Please check it out, and buy yourself some cheap but good reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Bob-the-Dragon-Slayer-ebook/dp/B003WEA17I/ref=tmm_kin_titl...
Bob the Dragon Slayer, a witty fantasy novella.

http://www.amazon.com/White-Lightning-Road-ebook/dp/B003WEA18C/ref=tmm_kin_title...
White Lightning Road, a contemporary romance novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Gilleland-Poetry-Storoems-Poems-ebook/dp/B003WEA1AK/ref=tm...
Gilleland Poetry: Storoems and Poems, a collection of my fabulous poetry.

Cheers!

Harry



--Published 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/historical fiction short novel, 4RV Publishing. Now available!
--Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry.