My book is selling

EileenG

I've just heard that my book, Don't Feed the Fairies, is in the top 2% of Amazon sales.

People I haven't been nagging have been buying it.

Mind you, I have no idea how they calculate these things, but I'm not going to argue.

I'm getting reviews as well. www.tinyurl.com/eileengormley

Antilles

Wow that's fantastic news Eileen! So happy for you

Mr E

... and the reviewers don't have Gormley in their name either.

Only joking.... congrats Eileen... that's fantastic!
How long before you start getting some cheques from Amazon?

FewFew

Wow that's brilliant! Well done!

delighted for you eileen

i-digress

That's fantastic, Eileen. It must be a dream come true

pickarooney

Congratulations Eileen
Chalk up another sale there

CD.

That's amazing, congradulations!

Today Amazon,

Tomorrow the WORLD MWAHAHAHA...sorry about that...Junior Dictator Club memories are resurfacing.

pickarooney

Eileen, the link in your OP is not working.
Also, is the extract from the main page of your site actually in the book?

EileenG

pickarooney wrote: »

Eileen, the link in your OP is not working.
Also, is the extract from the main page of your site actually in the book?

Strange, the link worked for me just now.

The extract on my website is actually a bit I cut from the novel, but couldn't bear to discard altogether.

pickarooney

Ah, looks like my work firewall has it blocked, I was able to see it via a proxy. Lucky for you, I paid full whack instead of the discounted price on that link

EileenG

Well, thank you so much! I'm not going to object to sales.

Memnoch

Great stuff, Eileen. To see a member of the forum achieve success in the kind of environment where new writers are told not to bother is very inspiring for those of us still trying to pursue writing as more than just a hobby some day. Way to go. I'll be buying my copy soon as I manage to get my cc unblocked.

EileenG

CD. wrote: »

That's amazing, congradulations!

Today Amazon,

Tomorrow the WORLD MWAHAHAHA...sorry about that...Junior Dictator Club memories are resurfacing.

Today Barnes & Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dont-feed-the-fairies-eileen-gormley/1103844698?ean=2940012904959&itm=1&usri=don%2bt%2bfeed%2bthe%2bfairies

Mind you, I don't think anyone in Europe has a Nook!

FewFew

A Nook is a thing? Damn, I thought it was a website. Hmmm... this complicates matters.

Well no it doesn't really. I'm going to be stubborn and totally against my regular form and just buy a kindle. Apparently you can't by them in shops, so to Amazon I go, but I have to figure out delivery.

EileenG

You don't need to buy a Kindle. If you have any sort of smartphone, even the little 59.99 ones Vodafone are advertising now, you can download the free Kindle Ap and off you go.

I know people who have Kindles and they all seem to love them, but I'm too cheap to shell out, and I do it on my phone.

pickarooney

I was able to download it to both my work PC and my Android tablet. I think it's limited to one computer and one mobile device. As far as I can tell it's the same with Nook, you can install it on a PC and Android/iOS device.

FewFew

EileenG wrote: »

You don't need to buy a Kindle. If you have any sort of smartphone, even the little 59.99 ones Vodafone are advertising now, you can download the free Kindle Ap and off you go.

I know people who have Kindles and they all seem to love them, but I'm too cheap to shell out, and I do it on my phone.

Ah yeah, but I've convinced myself that I'd really like a Kindle, it all kicked off when I realised you can put dictionaries and stuff on there. If I can view it on my iTouch and then later my Kindle, I shall buy the book after work. Research ahoy!

EileenG

pickarooney wrote: »

I was able to download it to both my work PC and my Android tablet. I think it's limited to one computer and one mobile device. As far as I can tell it's the same with Nook, you can install it on a PC and Android/iOS device.

As far as I know, it's on as many devices as are registered to you. I do know if you switch phone, all the Kindle books you've bought can be downloaded immediately to the new one.

FewFew

EileenG wrote: »

As far as I know, it's on as many devices as are registered to you. I do know if you switch phone, all the Kindle books you've bought can be downloaded immediately to the new one.

Awesome! Then I shall buy your book tonight. I hope I like it after all this

pickarooney

Fewcifur wrote: »

Awesome! Then I shall buy your book tonight. I hope I like it after all this

Have you read the excerpt on Amazon? Or is that gone now?

FewFew

pickarooney wrote: »

Have you read the excerpt on Amazon? Or is that gone now?

Nope, I want the whole steak, not just the mouthful. Plus I'd buy it anyway to show support, lord knows I've bought enough crappy CDs to support local bands without having any attention of putting them on my ipod

Fewcifur

Fewcifur wrote: »

Nope, I want the whole steak, not just the mouthful. Plus I'd buy it anyway to show support, lord knows I've bought enough crappy CDs to support local bands without having any attention of putting them on my ipod

I am not sure this is encouraging to Eileen... :pac:

pickarooney

Yeah, I honestly would not buy a book 'just because'. Normally I wouldn't be into space-fairies but the excerpt hooked me and I'm really enjoying this so far.

EileenG

Now I'm going to be really worried until you are finished.

But yeah, I've bought books I had no intention of reading, just to show support. At least this one won't take up space on the bedroom floor - or am I the only one who "stores" my books here?

FewFew

pickarooney wrote: »

Yeah, I honestly would not buy a book 'just because'. Normally I wouldn't be into space-fairies but the excerpt hooked me and I'm really enjoying this so far.

Ah but the 'just because' is supporting one of your own then it's worth it. Sure I buy plenty of daffodils, teddy bears, guide dogs, pink ribbons and whatever else comes across my way en route to work with not intention of wearing them, at least this way I know in some very small way I'm helping for another book to happen.

EileenG wrote: »

Now I'm going to be really worried until you are finished.

But yeah, I've bought books I had no intention of reading, just to show support. At least this one won't take up space on the bedroom floor - or am I the only one who "stores" my books here?

They're not allowed to be officially stored there, but they always are. I do try my best to get them on a shelf where they can look pretty, but somehow I always have at least four of them on the floor next to my bed, even though I only read one at a time. Odd.

Don't worry, I'm sure I'll like it. I'll even write a review of it... um, so now I do hope I like it, cause I'm awfully critical when I don't (apparently)

The Mad Hatter

EileenG wrote: »

Now I'm going to be really worried until you are finished.

But yeah, I've bought books I had no intention of reading, just to show support. At least this one won't take up space on the bedroom floor - or am I the only one who "stores" my books here?

I don't store my books there! They just sort of wind up there anyway...

Antilles

I just throw a duvet over my enormous book pile and sleep on top of that

Mine are on the floor, the bed, the bedside table, other bedside lockers in family's home, in boxes in the spare room... and even on bookshelves!! :pac:

pickarooney

I tend get rid of my books once I've read them - share the wealth and all that.

EileenG

I get rid of a lot, but there's still a growing pile of "I'm going to reread that one, it has to stay." Not quite "How Clean is your House", but heading in that direction.

get rid of your books!!
*clutches my collection* :eek:

CD.

bluewolf wrote: »

get rid of your books!!
*clutches my collection* :eek:

THIS, a thousand times this!

how could you get RID of books? blasphemers!

On a more serious note, I am not allowed give books to second hand bookshops anymore, my dad has banned my mum and I from doing it, the pair of us always leave with more books than we brought in.

pickarooney

I don't know that I've ever read a book twice (apart from Dr. Seuss ) so I'd rather clear space for new books and let someone else read the ones I'm done with. Imagine in 50 years when you have a stack of full kindles under your beds.

pickarooney

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't know that I've ever read a book twice (apart from Dr. Seuss ) so I'd rather clear space for new books and let someone else read the ones I'm done with. Imagine in 50 years when you have a stack of full kindles under your beds.

Never read a book twice? Really? I think I have lost count how many times I have re-read so many favourites...

pickarooney

You must have loads of free time (or you don't have an addiction to quality television)

FewFew

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't know that I've ever read a book twice (apart from Dr. Seuss ) so I'd rather clear space for new books and let someone else read the ones I'm done with. Imagine in 50 years when you have a stack of full kindles under your beds.

It's not that I read them twice, it's more that they're there as photo albums, I just have to glance at the shelf and smile with memories of how good some of them were
I also tend to lend out a lot of books to friends, so I do try my best to spread the love.

pickarooney

pickarooney wrote: »

You must have loads of free time (or you don't have an addiction to quality television)

I don't know about free time but I am a total bookworm. I don't watch all that much tv, no
I have books with covers falling apart, they've been re-read so often!
Wheel of Time especially :eek:

That said my sheet music for bach is also falling apart from being used so often, maybe things just fall apart around me :pac:

Fewcifur wrote: »

It's not that I read them twice, it's more that they're there as photo albums, I just have to glance at the shelf and smile with memories of how good some of them were
I also tend to lend out a lot of books to friends, so I do try my best to spread the love.

My autographed copy of a Hamilton book has vanished so I am very rarely lending again!
Yes, I shouldn't have lent an autographed one...

The Mad Hatter

bluewolf wrote: »

I have books with covers falling apart, they've been re-read so often!
Wheel of Time especially :eek:

That said my sheet music for bach is also falling apart from being used so often, maybe things just fall apart around me :pac:

I used to live with an author who, when he saw my copy of Lord of the Rings, with the cover fallen off, the pages worn and blotched, and the whole book having fallen into two halves with numerous other pages fallen out and inserted back where they belonged, described it as "a well-loved book."

pickarooney

bluewolf wrote: »

My autographed copy of a Hamilton book has vanished so I am very rarely lending again!
Yes, I shouldn't have lent an autographed one...

Probably the one book I regret losing (lending to X, where X is undefined) was an autographed copy of Mr. Nice.

CD.

I reread books all the time, don't understand why people wouldn't. people rewatch movies and television shows (i do myself) but not books, it doesn't make sense.

I also find it easy if there's no book that catches my fancy in my to read pile and i'm not in the mood for them then i can fall back on a book i have already read because i know vaguely what it's about.

of course, i read multiple books at the same time, right now i'm reading three and rotating them depending on how tired i am/how i feel at the time etc

I tend to forget details over time so i can reread it again and spend teh entire time trying to figure out the ending or rember it. have a great auditory memory so the same does not happen for TV shows/movies, usually remember them very well.

pickarooney

I rarely ever watch a film or TV show twice either. It seems like such a waste of time when there are mountains of films I haven't seen yet.

I'm thinking of splitting this thread as it's gone a bit OT but it's hard to define the exact point it stopped being about Don't Feed the Fairies.

Kinski

I suspect that the relationhip a person has with their books says something about how they view literature. The only books I've ever thrown away were ones so bad that I felt they hadn't earned a place in my collection (and even then I've kept some rubbish). If you regard the medium as basically disposable and consider an already-read book as clutter, does that in some sense reflect the value you place on the contents?

pickarooney

I doubt it, to be honest. Some people just have more of a hoarding nature than others. It says a lot about their relationship with their mother though, that's for definite.

Thread is officially way OT.

mikom

pickarooney wrote: »

Probably the one book I regret losing (lending to X, where X is undefined) was an autographed copy of Mr. Nice.

If you buy a copy direct from Howards personal website he will autograph it and write whatever dedication you request.
Now that's nice.

The Mad Hatter

Kinski wrote: »

I suspect that the relationhip a person has with their books says something about how they view literature. The only books I've ever thrown away were ones so bad that I felt they hadn't earned a place in my collection (and even then I've kept some rubbish). If you regard the medium as basically disposable and consider an already-read book as clutter, does that in some sense reflect the value you place on the contents?

I don't think so, no.

Pickarooney: your attitude towards rereading/rewatching is one I wish I had. I know I'll never come close to reading, watching and listening to all the books, films, tv shows and music I want to, but I still can't seem to stop myself from sitting down with the comfort and nostalgia of a familiar book.

FewFew

I get into major nostalgia mode with Terry Pratchett books. I know I've read them all, but I begin to forget what happened where, plus the chuckles are always fast flowing

Kinski

pickarooney wrote: »

I doubt it, to be honest. Some people just have more of a hoarding nature than others. It says a lot about their relationship with their mother though, that's for definite.

I don't think that appealing to the idea of a "hoarding nature" really answers my question, since hoarding something implies that one places value on it (to hoard things which are valueless or useless is considered pathological). I'm asking why some readers wouldn't feel that impulse towards books when so many do. Maybe I'm guilty of fetishizing the book form, of asking the materiality and durability of books themselves to stand-in for the constancy of great writing. However, I can't leave the topic without quoting a few lines from Walter Benjamin's little essay "Unpacking My Library." Of course, I recognise that Benjamin speaks to us from a different time (and he certainly wasn't unpacking a box of Stephen Kings and John Grishams). Given the rise of Kindle, I also think that the potential obsolescence of this piece's titular activity would be a real loss - somehow the idea of scrolling through one's folder of ebooks lacks a little romance.

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories [...] [N]o one has had a greater sense of well-being than the man who has been able to carry on his disreputable existence in the mask of Spitzweg's 'Bookworm.' For inside him there are spirits, or at least little genii, which have seen to it that for a collector - and I mean a real collector, a collector as he ought to be - ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have with objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.

And yes, we are a million miles OT. Congrats Eileen! I'll buy your novel when there's a physical edition!

Aoibheann

Eileen - I'll definitely get this and have a read, congrats btw. Delighted that a boardsie is published and hopefully you'll be the first of many! I'll throw a review up here when I get a chance to read it. Best of luck with the sales!

Also, with regard the off-topic slant to the thread, I absolutely could not bear to part with so many of my books. I have storage boxes full in the attic (no wonder I can't find my favourites half the time!), there are stacks upon stacks of books under my bed, beside my bed, on bookshelves downstairs, in a spare room in my father's house.. I'm fairly sure I could stock a decent-sized library at this point. I'd say I have a problem, but I'm pretty delighted with the situation tbh! :pac:

Antilles

Eileen would you consider writing up something for the forum on your book's journey from idea to publication?

donfers

I consume my popular media in binges.

I'll buy loads of books, download loads of music or movies and then not get around to reading/listening to/watching them.

I think I like the idea of having certain books. albums, movies on the shelves/computer (especially the critically acclaimed stuff), I'll dip into them, not be immediately bowled over, wonder what all the fuss was about and promise myself I'll get back to it at some point to try to "get" it and appreciate it and in the meantime buy or download whoever the latest darling of the critics is and go through the same process again with that item - so basically all I am doing is builiding a large pile of stuff that everybody says is great but that I don't have the time, insight, intelligence or patience to appreciate but I collect on nonetheless.

Oh and video games are the worst for that binging practice, the amount of half-finished video games I have is embarrassing.

I think the instant gratification, one-click digital era is to blame as there is so much stuff available and it's so easy to get yet because of this self-same digital age we are conditioned to always be hunting for the next piece of information and have the attention span of gnat, thus if i may use an analogy we are being programmed to consume the stuff without actually tasting it before moving on to the next meal.

Let's face it, we are the shuffle generation.