The Supermarket Guy

Just will take a 2 day approval time. I applied for a new contest for "The Supermarket Guy 2" again. This time, it is more international, including the Russian Federation, France, Spain, Germany, Great Britian, Australia, Japan, and others. If I get the approval, I suggest you go to Goodreads and join up, if you are into reading. Then, apply to win a book, if not from me, from other authors out there. Great fun, and chances are great that you will win a book! Goodreads is a great forum for book lovers, as explained in earlier posts. I know I have allot of Russian followers on this site. This is the reason for making it, truly international, as I am a bit better at the process now.  Thanks for the audience, and I wish you all a good afternoon.  Till next time.

I mailed the winning books today, to the lucky contestants at Goodreads! It costs approximately 9 dollars per mailing address by plane to any destination to the USA. I thought, it was different for the longer distances, but it appears to be not the case. The mailing of the books, to Canada cost probably under 15 dollars for the three books. It took 40 minutes, to do all the paper work, and such. I had to get one written up for a friend in the USA as well. 11 mailed in that time frame. I drew out a cover for one of my books today. I decided to do it, before I would forget about the concept. I can add things to the cover, to make it better over time, as the ideas become stronger in time. I hope you all have a good day. It is hot today in NB, sunny, and the beaches are full. Till next time...

It took me approximately 2 hrs to get set up to mail out the winning contestants books. First, just to find the mailing envelopes. They were in the house, somewhere. Big, bulky, bubble style envelopes. Then, to get the printer set up for to print off the winning addresses. My printer was in the other room. After, getting a small thank you letter ready, to be sent to each winner. And, a few postcards to boot, in each envelope. Postcards of my book. Tomorrow, at the post office, depending how busy they are, it should go through within a half hour or less. The 3 going to Canadian cities, should be very fast. The others, 7 to the USA, will take time in filling out those small sticky forms, and then declare what is inside and the value of such. I am glad the contest went well. I cannot do one on Part 1, as the Goodreads application form online just allows giveaways for current books or new releases. Part 1, is now, a senior citizen. I hope you all have a good day, as I will thin...

The results are in, ten winners, 3 from Canada and 7 from the USA. Stretching across from California, to Gatineau. I had 411 people sign up for the contest. An overwhelming number, for myself, as stated earlier I had only expected 150 or so approximate entries. I will be starting to send out the books this Monday or Tuesday, to the lucky contestants. Once again, thanks to the Goodreads staff and the contestants for making this a better than expected giveaway! Cheers, and till next time...

Just in a little over one day, I went from 260 contestants to a current 345! That is really incredible, how perhaps, a first page viewing on the giveaway page can do for your numbers. I am really taken aback. So in retr ospect, I got over 85 contestants in a period of 30 hours. That is the best that my contest, has ever done, period. I did not go out to advertise heavily on twitter, but I did put in the odd ad here and there. My advertising on twitter has gone down, dramatically, as I focus my advertising more on the contest itself. I may do a contest on Part 1, if Goodreads will let me do it. I should have done a contest on Part 1, last year when it was first released. My mistake, and it did actually affect, everything I have done up till this point. It led me down some different directions, in thinking about the business, that I did not have to take. I have even stopped writing, and let allot of things go in the book writing world. I did not truly expect to get over 150 or so ...

One day left on my Goodreads Contest!  260 people signed up for to win a book! This is actually, better results than I had expected. I had expected around 150 contestants, so this is a very good result. Mind you, I did not get the thousands that some big titles garner, where only one copy can be won. I offered 10, in my contest wowo. I truly need to thank all of the contestants that have applied. I am really happy, with the 260 number. Tomorrow, it will be a little higher, and with it being on the "The Contest nearly over" front page tab, it will get even more exposure on its last day on the viewing screen. I have also 3 friends who wish to read it, and approximately 18 people that said they had it on their read lists. This is totally, good news, from a book that was at zero interest for a long, long, time... I talked to a friend at work the other day, and asked if they seriously liked my book. Once again, they said overwhelmingly, Yes! I said, you are just saying that t...

This is since yesterday, 210 is now the tally, and 2 days and a half left to go until the contest ends. I have had little time to start to continue my work on Part 4. Busy with my real job, and family matters again. I will try next week, or further down the line to keep chugging away at it. "The Supermarket Guy Book of Poetry" is complete. I just have to get it published, but there is plenty of time for that. Part 3, the cover is drawn out in rough draft, some tweaking is needed, but the general idea is there. I found out that people can order my book online at the local bookstore here. It saves me the trouble of ordering them, and then placing them on consignment. I rather it go through the book sellers, as it shows up on the rankings a bit better on the system. I just need to tell them, they can order it through the bookstore. I may give the bookstore a poster, to put up on their wall though, for advertisement... If they accept it.. Well, that is it for now. Not m...

I have now 188 people signed up to win a free copy of "The Supermarket Guy 2: Rise of the Market Overlord".  This so far has resulted in 12 people placing it on their read list, and 3 of my friends picking up the book. Not to mention, gaining a few friends on Goodreads in the process. This is compared to gaining 140 friends on Goodreads with the first book, and gaining 6 friends who offered to read my book- No contest with the first book, something I should have done. I must be frank, that my contest did not garner a huge sign up tally. Popular books with similar time spans, come out with a thousand or so contestants, while giving away one book. I would say the medium to popular range is from a 400 tally to upwards to a thousand. Being around where my book has finished, I would have to admit that it is not in the popular genre, of where the thrillers and romances, sci fi are.  But, the contest did help. It helped allot, as I would still be stuck on first base if not fo...

Thinking about all the work being put into the book business, so far on my end of things. To say that advertising on twitter every day, doing promotional work on the web, dealing with the book itself between me and the publisher, takes time away. Advertising on twitter has actually become fun. It does take an hour or so a day, but after you catch on to some little tricks that cause a person to advertise less over time for the same bang for the buck or more as when first started. You learn little tricks, and it gets better as you go. And you do make new friends, so it is not as bad as what i thought it could have turned out to be. Promotional work on the web. Well, first of all, without the internet or web, my book probably would have never have been published. The personal computer, labtop, or whatever you use, is power at your fingertips. It is truly amazing, what you can do with such a device. In the 1980s, 90s, my book would have probably been rejected by all traditional publis...

Earwigs, once again this year we got allot of them. And, they multiply like crazy. When the rainy season is off and on, we usually get them pretty strong. We see their black little eggs near the edges of the Garages, where they just propagate like crazy! If piles of wood are laying around, that is where they head to to lay their eggs. They are harmless. But, to find the odd one crawling around the house is a surprising thing. Usually they are brought in with our clothes, are if they are hanging on the door they somehow fly in, maybe with the wind. As, the house is sealed very tight here, which is a good thing. Once inside the house, there is no food for them. They just will eventually, whither away. I doused them a year ago with soap and water, as they say that is enough to kill them. It does work, but it seems to be a temporary matter of remedy. I seen the neighbor today, hire a pest control professional to clean up around his house. I am unsure of the spray he uses, but he did...

The authors interview I done awhile back, is now posted on Rai29BookReadNReview. here is the link  http://rai29bookreadnreview.blogspot.co.uk/ I hope you all take a peek, as it provides some insight into my book writing. I hope you all have a good day, as the star focus will be on her website today, instead of mine :)

The Supermarket Guy IV has now 10 pages written. I am glad that it came together today, fairly fast. It is in the same, crazy way the first 2 and possibly 3rd book is written. I am hopeful it will come together as time goes on, as the main plot is there directing the way to a fine ending once again. That is the latest update with this newest writing.. Till next time 

The fabulous young lady that undertaken my blog interview said it would be ready on July 16 th at 9 AM GMT.  I think the GMT means Greenwich mean time. First time I had seen that one, in a long time. It will be a 4 hour difference, so here it will be 5 AM AST when it is published here. I will post the link, when it actually arrives on the net. 99 contestants on my Goodreads giveaway today. It is such a nice number, hopefully it will stay that way. Bought a book today, Soros on Soros, which was printed in 95. I actually thought it was a new release, but it was on the shelves anew again. I will read this book to find out, what he things on economics and finance back then. Should be interesting. I also bought a book from a friend of mine, a print on demand one. "Jesus is My Friend" by Gary Lombardi, and I will try to read it with a neutral mind. It should be interesting, as sometimes it is hard to know what to expect from a Religious book. We will see if it is mesmerizing, ...

I went back to check on the interviewers blog site to see when my interview maybe posted. I read very carefully, to see that sometimes it takes in between 5 days to 2 weeks to be posted.  This is understandable, as book reviewers do review an incredible amount of material. For the book author, patience is a virtue. Currently have 94 people signed up to win a book on Goodreads. Only 15 days left to the contest, and I will be ready to mail the signed copies away. On twitter, I have close to 1500 followers, from just 5 months on the site. This is with 8160 tweets, and actually had some super conversations with people from mostly the USA, England, and Canada. People at work are beginning to ask for Part 2 again. I asked this guy what he thought of Part 1, as he did not tell me beforehand. He said his wife liked it, and he found the book was great. It seems people are too busy these days, just to even read the book. I know some people who bought my book, still have not read it ...

Recently had an interview for a blog about my book. I am unsure if it will be published, as I did not see it up on the persons site yet. It maybe up in the next few days, but we will see. I will post the individuals link here, if it comes about. Sometimes it takes time to get things up and running, as these people are very busy with much more than just blog interviews. I know this person reads, and does interviews as well. Reading takes allot of their time away, from doing things fast as fast can be. Besides that, Goodreads contest total at 87. This is great, and I am thankful for all the response I have received so far. Please continue! I need all the help I can get ;) Working shift work, back to the grind tomorrow. Till next time...

It is some windy and cold out today. The total opposite to the Central USA heatwave they had, a little while ago. Good day to actually do some writing, again. I will try to write, a page or two. Maybe I will draw out the cover for Part 3 today, it is so hard to decide what to do!  I actually could use some exercise, too. My beer gut is starting to show, a little bit ;) My Goodreads contest is going alright, with 80 people signed up to win a copy of "The Supermarket Guy 2". The mother in law liked the book, so at least it past the most important test of them all! I sent a version to the United Kingdom to a reviewer today. It cost 9 dollars and some change for the boat voyage, or 17. and some change for the flight. I decided to go first class, and pay for the air mail. Why leave someone wait, that long for an experience that they will never forget! Reading my book.. Yes, this person will give me a review on her blog. I am anxious to see what she thinks of the book. And, as...

Twitter is getting to be allot more fun. I have been actually talking to some people on there, and you feel more of a community atmosphere than what it was when I first started. I have over 1400 followers, but have tweeted quite a bit. 8000 approx tweets, for 1438 followers. My average is not spectacular, compared to most people who tweet less than the followers they get. But, this is all due to their knowledge of twitter land, and your willingness to experiment with it. I am quite content with the way it is going now, on twitter. I have actually heard words of support for my book, and someone who actually 'quite liked' my book on line. It all bodes, just allot better than when I first got on. The only thing, I find the connections are slower and such. The program freezes up, during high loading periods. Maybe it is just my machine, or my connection to the internet, but I do find during high loading times (when many followers are being added to your list), my hard drive ru...

I made a lobster salad the other day. Here are the ingredients: 8 potatoes, peeled and boiled. (The peelings have allot of vitamins in them, but I remove them) 3 eggs, boiled, then sliced up. (The shells are good for calcium if you put them in, but I rather not) Two 1 lb cooked lobsters, shell removed (The shells are hard to chew on, so remove em) 1/2 a cup of 1/2 fat mayonnaise. (Go for the real thing, if you are healthy) 2 tsp of mustard (Can't go wrong with this one) 1/2 tsp of tumeric (Good for your joints) Dash o salt, dash o pepper. Mash the potatoes, chop the lobster up in fine pieces, mix it all together. and, then, to top it off Sprinkle paprika on top after mixing it all up. It tastes delicious, and is simple to make. It is the authors mid summer 'lobster claw got my book' salad.... Till next time...

I am happy to see 67 people have thus far joined for my Goodreads Giveaway contest! I generally gain 3 more people a day, and that is good for a book that has absolutely no marketing budget. Thankfully there are places in social networks, such as goodreads, to spread the word out somewhat. I was close to advertising on radio in the USA, which never happened. Same as newspaper, or the old style advertising. I am truly unsure you will obtain allot of sales throughout these methods. I have heard not many, so if the proof is not there to support, then I cannot enter in such high risk actions. Contests are the best way to bring out attention to your product. I do believe advertising, on Amazon or Barnes, maybe a good way to spend your money too. But, there is no guarantees. I know I did not try the banner thing on those sites. Goodreads also offers advertising as well, which could be my next alternative. I think that that kind of advertising among people who have the same common intere...

Today at the mail, it was great to see the copyright for "Supermarket Dominium" come through. I was worried, as it seemed this one was taking a long time to process. A little longer, but in the world of anticipation, it seems like an eternity. Producing part 3 this time, will have to definitely depend on sales volume of the first two. It does need to be brushed up, but it is ready to be fired away. Hopefully some sales will come about, to bring about Part 3 to a reality. Thanks for your time, have a good day....

Someone come in to ask for to pave my driveway the other day. They were doing the local swing through the area, visiting people who had no pave in their courts. There is a bit of competition in the area as of late, and the price of oil has come down a little bit.  The paver asked to measure my gate. I told him to go ahead, in order to give me an estimate. He took out his measuring equipment, a distance odometer on a wheel that rolls on the ground. He went from the edge of the road, to the garage, across a few times where the breadth definitely changes through the driveway. He then asked for a minute, to give me his calculation. I waited in the beating sun, outside. I could see him fervently drawing it, on a sketch, then multiplying to find area and adding up the blocks. In the end, he gave me a 2 dollar per square foot value. It was indeed, a good price, and a price I heard offered to other people around the area. I said I would talk with the wife. In the end, we decid...