Craig Murray’s adventures in Africa from 1997 to 2001 are a rollicking good read. He exposes for the first time the full truth about the “Arms to Africa” affair which was the first major scandal of the Blair Years. He lays bare the sordid facts about British mercenary involvement in Africa and its motives.
This is at heart an extraordinary account of Craig Murray’s work in negotiating peace with the murderous rebels of Sierra Leone, and in acting as the midwife of Ghanaian democracy. Clearly his efforts were not only difficult but at times very dangerous indeed. Yet the story is told with great humour. Not only do we meet Charles Taylor, Olusegun Obasanjo, Jerry Rawlings and Foday Sankoh, but there are unexpected encounters with others including Roger Moore, Jamie Theakston and Bobby Charlton!
Above all this book is about Africa. Craig Murray eschews the banal remedies of the left and right to share with us the deep knowledge and understanding that comes over 30 years working in or with Africa. Gems of wisdom and observation scatter the book, as does a deep sense of moral outrage at the consequences of centuries of European involvement: even though he explains that much of it was well-intentioned but disastrous.
Note: Follow the Amazon link to author Craig Murray’s blog where you can buy the print edition from Amazon or buy a signed copy direct from the author (includes a donation to charity). You can also read the amazing story on how this book came to been released as a free ebook.
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
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Who is Connor Mackenzie? Is he the result of an illegal experiment…or is he the prophet foretold by an ancient text discovered in the Sinai wilderness? This is the question he and his pregnant wife must answer in a race across five continents, the targets of a sinister organization with an unthinkable agenda, and a journalist who believes he’s stumbled onto the biggest story of his career…
“I love you.”
“You don’t look like a man in love. You look terrified.”
“I am terrified.”
He twisted the gold wedding band on his finger. Even in the dim light, he could see the tiny infinity symbol engraved on it. He remembered the day they were married…standing before the preacher in that little church in Jerusalem, listening to him read from the Song of Solomon….
“Love is invincible facing danger and death…passion laughs at the terrors of hell…the fire of love stops at nothing…”
He recalled the day she brought him home from the hospital after his encounter with the desert horned viper. He’d been angry and frustrated by his temporary impotence-and she’d been angry with him for it.
“Is that all you think you have to offer? Is that all you believe you are to me? Listen to me-even if we could never have sex again, you are the only man I could ever love.”
He drew in a deep breath. He had to put an end to this insanity. He had to protect her and the baby.
All his life, he’d been disappointed by everyone he’d known, men and women. They’d all wanted something from him, whether it was his money, his connections, his genius, or even his body. Lynne was different. She loved him for the one thing only she could see.
His soul.
–Excerpt, Copyright 2008 by Norma and Collin Beishir
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This fast-paced, criminal mystery centers on Jake Stern, a former trial lawyer turned private investigator who undergoes a dangerous adventure as he investigates a boutique estate law firm. This puzzling case is much more hazardous than expected as Jake travels from New Orleans to Philadelphia to Rio, uncovering insurance fraud, kidnapping, murder, nightclub scandals, and even romance.
“…but with that Will changed just before Marlene died, you can bet there is one hell of a battle about to take place with the Dow Jones heirs.”
“What is it?” Jake yelled to his driver.
“It’s the PCC.” Called the driver.
“Who the hell is the PCC?” Jake asked.
“It was a late New Orleans night…the air felt different from Rio….It felt like home. It was the musky smell of delta humanity…”
“Methodically, he walked back to the Cooper as if this were an out of body experience. He got into the Cooper and drove off. No one was around. No one came around. It was the ghetto.”
–Excerpt
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Psaurian: a novel of semi-intelligent design chronicles the exploits of Deacon Flick, a drunken ex-military telepath. He makes a living in Las Vegas using his telepathic abilities as a casino cheat for the mafia. Deacon is conscripted into a covert organization. The clandestine group uses a menagerie of telepathic beasts to combat an extraterrestrial threat. The cryptids, however, are chaffing at years of human rule.
Deacon is partnered with Mira, a veteran operative on the rebound, to find the Psaurian, a cryptid of legendary power. They embark from the Complex’s base in Nevada for the swamps of the African Congo.
The journey takes Deacon and Mira to the possible origin of humanity. An event birthed at the intersection of conspiracy theory, religious dogma, and Led Zeppelin album art.
Psaurian was written by a former political operative with front line experience in the ongoing battle between science and religion. Political themes are woven with a penchant for unexplained phenomena. There are militant insurgent Sasquatches and aliens who prescribe to a preemptive first strike doctrine. Psaurian revels in the absurdism generated by presidential debate questions on creationism, evolution, and UFOs.
From the author:
“I’m intrigued by influences and inspirations, and the idea that the hip-hop movement has transformed how art and media are mixed and manipulated. I wrote Psaurian as equal parts satire of recent works like the Left Behind series, a pastiche of cultural references from Roswell to Snoop Dogg, and an homage to classic genre efforts by King and Creighton, with plenty of intoxicated silliness.”
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Hal Spacejock books 2, 3, & 4 will be released as low cost, DRM-free ebooks in February 2009! This is wonderful news for fans who’ve read the ebook version of book 1 (which is a completely free download) and wish to continue reading the series in ebook format.
I read book one last year and found it such an enjoyable read I ran a competition and gave away the entire print edition. Winner, Shane Hockings had this to say
I’m sorry to say that they didn’t last two days before I finished them and now I’ve got to wait for number 5. *sigh*
Author Simon Haynes announced the good news on the Spacejock blog.
I had a meeting with my publisher just before Christmas, where we discussed a few things about the Hal Spacejock series. The main topic was ebooks.
I’m a strong believer in DRM-free ebooks, and I also believe the price point should reflect the fact there’s zero cost required to pump out each copy of an ebook. I put this to my publisher, and they were happy to go along.
You may not be aware that the first book in the Hal Spacejock series is available as a free download. It was released as a freebie when book 4 (Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch) hit the shops, and to date it’s been downloaded over 40,000 times.
However, there are two questions which land in my inbox again and again:
1. When can I buy the Hal Spacejock books in (insert country here)?
2. Can I buy the rest of the series as ebooks?
The answer to question one is … no idea. Sorry.
The answer to question two is … next month.
Yes, Hal Spacejock books 2, 3 and 4 will be released as low-cost, DRM-free ebooks in February 2009, barring any last-minute hitches.
Text, RTF and HTML files will be included, and most likely a Mobireader PDB as well.
As for the price, the target is A$5 or so, which translates to US$3.50 at the current exchange rate. (Don’t hold me to that – it might be a little bit more depending on payment processing costs.)
So there you go – both of my ebook goals met. Now I just have to pray people buy the things so my publisher doesn’t see me as a deluded idiot with the business sense of a certain inept freighter pilot.
However, with all three books selling for less than the cost of one paperback, anyone with more business sense than an inept freighter pilot will see that it’s going to be a pretty good deal.
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Isiah is having a tough time. The Devil is making his job very difficult.
Samuel Harrigan is a murdering lowlife. He used ancient blood magic to escape a deal with the Devil and now he’s on the trail of a crystal skull that he believes will complete his efforts to evade Lucifer. But Lucifer wants Samuel’s soul for eternity and refuses to wait a second longer for it. Isiah needs Samuel to keep looking for the crystal skull, so he has to protect Sam and keep the Devil at bay. Not for Samuel’s sake, but for all of humanity.
RealmShift is an engrossing Dark Fantasy thriller; a fascinating exploration of the nature of people’s beliefs and their effect on the world around them. Magic, action and intrigue, from dank city streets to the depths of Hell and beyond.
“Realmshift is action packed and keeps you wanting more, with a plot that builds to an exciting crescendo… If you, like me have found yourself getting tired of the usual stuff being churned out by well known authors, then give this book a read. You will not be disappointed.” – James Frost
Author website: Alan Baxter Online
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
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“Newbury! Thank God you’re here.”
Sir Maurice Newbury swept into the hallway, his overcoat billowing open behind him as he marched across the marble floor towards his friend. His expression was serious. “Don’t thank God, Charles. Thank the cabbie who agreed to take my fare this close to Christmas.” His face was ruddy from the biting cold and his breath was shallow with exertion.
He began removing his black leather gloves, one finger at a time, eyeing the older man for any clue as to why he’d been called from his bed at such an early hour of the morning. Sir Charles Bainbridge, his grey moustache twitching with irritation, glanced over Newbury’s shoulder as if he were expecting someone else.
“Miss Hobbes?” He looked flustered.
Newbury shot his friend a stern look. “Charles. It’s Christmas Eve!”
Bainbridge nodded in acknowledgement, as if the date had only just dawned on the Chief Inspector. He glanced at his pocket watch. “Quite so, old man. Quite so.” He shook his head. “Well, Christmas or not, I’m afraid the situation here is rather grave.”
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It is an era of corruption, intrigue and seduction. Caesar Augustus has died and Tiberius is about to become the second emperor of Rome. Marco, former slave in the house of Claudius, is now a freedman and has become master of the grain shipments at the Claudia Procula estate in Ostia. Procula and her cousin, Claudius the Stammerer, unwittingly involve Marco in a political scheme that could threaten the throne and puts them all at risk. For everyone’s safety, Marco is forced into the Roman Legion and is eventually posted in Judea. Several years later he is reunited with his former mistress, who is now the wife of the procurator of Judea, and the old political maneuver once again threatens their safety. When Marco stands trial for aiding a new sect of fanatics who promote a false faith, he is faced with an agonizing choice–where does his allegiance lay? With Rome, or with the truth?
“The book is based on impeccable research. The times, traditions and values of Rome are brought to life. The people, their motivations, joys and fears are genuine. You can learn more about Rome from this novel than from a library full of dry history books. Perhaps the most attractive aspect of this book is the language: it’s very easy reading.”
–Dr. Bob Rich, M.Sc., Ph.D.
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Adelaide Binchley is probably the only fortysomething housewife and junior college dropout ever to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, and she’s certainly the only one whose career was launched by a bedpan.
When Addie meets Physics professor Jakob Pankowicz, she discovers that having just one person see a greater potential in her, and believe in her even when she doesn’t believe in herself, is all she needs to escape her self-imposed limits. In this hilarious and touching novel, as she navigates the rough territory created by her teenage-feminist daughter, borderline delinquent son, philandering husband, and the friends in her embroidery circle, Addie finds when one person selflessly reaches out to another, that gesture has the power to change the world.
Hamilton has a real gift for drawing credible people who have equal potential for being hilarious and dramatic.
- Grady Harp, Amazon Top 10 Reviewer
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Neelan Choksi, cofounder of Lexcycle
Today I have great pleasure in bringing you an interview with Neelan Choksi, co-founder of Lexcycle, developers of Stanza, the most popular ebook reader for the iPhone and iPod touch. Stanza has been downloaded from the iTunes store over 500,000 1 million times in the last 6 months.
Mark: Stanza and Lexcycle seem to have appeared almost overnight. Can you tell me a little of the history of Lexcycle and the people behind it?
Neelan: Appearances can be deceiving. Marc Prud’hommeaux, our Principal Developer, has been thinking and experimenting with eBooks and eBook technologies for over 5 years. It was often personal side projects here and there but there is a lot of R&D and thought leadership that went around the technology of Stanza long before Lexcycle was even formed. As such, there are features in Stanza and in prototypes of Stanza that I often don’t even know about e.g. text to speech using the Mac text to speech conversion tools in the Mac Desktop version of Stanza or a prototype of horizontal auto-scrolling in one of our desktop versions of Stanza (apparently, you can read faster and retain more with horizontal auto-scrolling than a regular book / current ebook paradigm).
The company is about a year old and we view ourselves as a media application company. We’ve started with eBooks and have a relatively strong focus on the iPhone and iPod Touch but we truly view ourselves as much more than that.
The founding team of Lexcycle have been working together on and off for nearly a decade. We all met in Washington, DC in 1999 at a company called TechTrader. TechTrader was a startup trying to address the B2B net market business. Like many bubble companies, we raised a lot of venture capital and spent a lot of money and eventually filed bankruptcy. From the ashes of TechTrader, we started SolarMetric with a fourth co-founder. SolarMetric created a product called Kodo, which basically was an object / relational mapping tool (in non-geek speak, a product that made databases interact more efficiently with Java). In 2005, BEA Systems acquired SolarMetric. At BEA, we open sourced Kodo as the Apache project Open JPA. After the acquisition and the transition, I worked for SpringSource, an enterprise Java open source company. With Marc, leading the charge, we came back together to work on Lexcycle. I think the enterprise Java experience and the open source experience all plays a major role in the way we do things at Lexcycle.
Mark: How many people do you have working at Lexcycle?
Neelan: 4 employees and a few contractors on an as-needed basis.
Mark: Is Lexcycle a VC funded startup?
Neelan: No. We are self-funding Lexcycle at this time.
Mark: Your Stanza reader application is free. The desktop application is also free, although there has been some talk there may be a small charge for this in the future. What is Lexcycle’s business model?
Neelan: We also provide access to 50,000 free ebooks through a variety of sources. This is an example of where our open source experience play a role in what we do. Part of our business model is based on referral or affiliate fees around the sale of pay books. Part of it is making books into standalone apps like we did with the iPhone: The Missing Manual application for O’Reilly. We also envision licensing our reader technology as well as the Lexcycle Atom Distribution System (LADS) which is our catalog services to various hardware manufacturers over time.
Mark: You have a number of partnerships with established ebook stores such as Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard. How easy were these partnerships to set up and do you think they’ve play a big part in the popularity of Stanza?
Neelan: The biggest complaint about Stanza from July to November was the fact that users could only get free books (mostly classics like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, and “Huckleberry Finn”) and they wanted to be able to read more popular contemporary titles. The relationships we’ve established with Fictionwise, BooksOnBoard, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords are part of the popularity of Stanza. Working with third parties is always fraught with challenges but in each case there were significant joint benefits to making things work and that always helps in getting over any hurdles. There are still things we can do to improve the user experience in each of these cases and that is one of our major thrusts for this quarter.
Stanza Reader for the iPhone & iPod touch
Mark: Some ebooks for the iPhone are being sold through the iTunes store as applications. The iPhone Missing Manual is perhaps the highest profile of these. I believe it’s actually the Stanza Reader that’s used to display this app-book. This approach seem wrong on a number of levels – the equivalent on the desktop would be to fuse Acrobat Reader into every PDF document. How can readers read these app-books on other devices, search across multiple books and how do they manage a large library of app-books? Is this a stop-gap solution or something we’re likely to see more of in the future?
Neelan: The user is always right so I have a hard time judging what clearly is a popular route to go in having a application for each title or in some cases an application than bundle a variety of titles. I currently have 64 books in my Stanza Library including the iPhone: The Missing Manual. Would I want 64 icons cluttering my iPhone? Probably not. But I am probably part of a different segment than the one that chooses to pay $0.99 or $1.99 for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” when you can get a standalone app for free or get it via Stanza through the Feedbooks catalog. I actually wrote a blog about paying for things that could be received for free because that never made any sense to me especially in this economy.
All of that said, the audience who wants a separate app actually comprises of a variety of segments that are valuable and there are reasons they may want to have an “app-book”. I can envision a photographer wanting her 3 most important reference guides available as icons on her home page. I can envision a writer wanting his grammar reference guide available to him with just 1 tap. I can envision someone new to the iPhone wanting Pogue’s guide right there. Also, I bet there is a segment of the population who once they read “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” will just delete the application with no desire to ever read it again. There is a clearly a market for “app-books” and just because you and I don’t believe it makes sense for us, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make sense for another segment of iPhone and iPod Touch users.
The Apple SDK agreement also plays a role in this in that every application has to be a standalone application. As such “app-books” are a very real part of the eco-system and I think we are going to see a lot more of this in the future.
Mark: What is your position on DRM protected ebooks? Do you believe it helps or harms the ebook industry?
Neelan: Personally, I think proprietary DRM systems (and proprietary formats) hurt eBook users dramatically. The bottom line is that when a user upgrades their phone or moves to one of the new dedicated readers, they shouldn’t have to lose their entire library of content and right now, proprietary DRM and proprietary formats often result in that exact problem. I believe vendors are using the non-portable nature of proprietary formats and proprietary DRM to create switching costs and I truly believe that is a bad thing for eBooks across the board. I know that publishers don’t like to here the argument that they should look at music but I do think that music is a valuable thing to look at regardless… yesterday’s announcement that iTunes tracks are going to be DRM free is very telling. We are trying to encourage publishers to go DRM free but don’t always have success.
I understand why publishers and authors and agents want DRM and given that is one of the constituencies we have to work with, we do support DRM as a necessary evil to do business currently. To be honest, we considered creating our own proprietary DRM system but have chosen to wait to see if a defacto standard emerges. That said, we hope publishers follow their brethren at O’Reilly and Samhain and Pan Macmillan into being more supportive of DRM-free and being more supportive of the ePub standard.
We are huge proponents of the ePub standard and want to see it be very successful so that our users know that there is a future for the books they purchase to read on Stanza today. A big reason I ran for the open board seat on the IDPF (the organization behind ePub) is because we believe in the ePub standard and think its success if very important to the overall success of eBooks. We are huge proponents of DRM-free because we believe that 99% of readers will pay for books if given the opportunity to do so.
If given our druthers (and ignoring a variety of limitations that would prevent us from doing so), Stanza iPhone would read every format and be able to decrypt every DRM system out there until a standard truly took hold and was supported by all elements of the industry (publishers, distributors, retailers, etc). We obviously read a lot of DRM-free formats via Stanza Desktop. At the end of the day, the simple fact that user is aware of format issues and DRM issues is a sad, sad statement. A user simply wants to read the book. The more vendors get in the way of that simple goal, the harder it will be for eBooks to be successful.
All of that said, my open source background is probably showing through this answer. As a business, we will make decisions to help our business like we did to support the eReader proprietary format and the eReader proprietary DRM system all the while working very had to help promote ePub. It seems schizophrenic but certain decisions are made as the right thing for the business as a stop-gap while hopefully the industry as whole comes to the eventual right conclusions.
Mark: Can you tell us a little about your vision for Stanza and what we’re likely to see in the near future?
Neelan: Our vision for Stanza is very simple. User experience. We believe our success is tied to 1 thing and that is making the user experience the most efficient and best user experience possible in every aspect of electronic reading (including finding the content the user wants, downloading the content, providing an immersive experience when reading the content, discovering new content, learning more about the content interacting with the community, etc). So, I think you will see us improving every one of these things. We provide a variety of mechanisms for users to interact with us and give us feedback including Twitter, Facebook, our forums, email, phone calls, etc. We always want to hear from users and love constructive criticism.
Mark: There’s been a lot of talk that Apple should release a dedicated iPhone-style ebook reader with a larger touch screen. Have you heard anything to substantiate this speculation? Perhaps Apple have slipped you a prototype or two?
Neelan: As far as we know, this is still speculation.
Mark: Oh, you’re good. I’m taking that as a yes;)
Thank you so much for your time today Neelan. I look forward to seeing where Lexcycle take Stanza in the future.
(3 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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David Meerman Scott has just released a free ebook Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure. This is an appetizer to his new print book World Wide Rave, due to be released on March 3rd. I interviewed David last month on his upcoming book and his unique approach to marketing the book.
I’ve noticed a number of authors (e.g. Leo Babauta - Thriving on Less, Seth Goding – Tribes Q&A) are writing companion ebooks to help promote their print books. Like an entrée at a good restaurant, the ebook provides enough to whet your appetite but leaves you looking forward to the main course.
This is a great approach for non-fiction authors who are looking to promote and spread their ideas and reach new readers.
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Do you market like the Grateful Dead? Or like Led Zeppelin? (Find out in the ebook).
Here are some other things you’ll find inside:
Return On Investment Makes You Boring
“For many executives, an obsession with ROI is just a convenient excuse to shy away from something new and untested. Yet that’s exactly what the best ideas for creating a World Wide Rave are—new and untested.”
“If you’re obsessed with ROI measurements that worked in an offline world, then you’re just making an excuse. If you worry about losing control of your message, then you’re making an excuse.”
Sales Leads Are The Wrong Goal
“For decades, companies have offered Web content as lead bait. But the goal should be to get the word out about your organization, not to misuse the Internet for the sake of an outdated technique.”
“For your ideas to spread and rise to the status of a World Wide Rave, you must give up control. Make your information on the Web totally free for people to access, with absolutely no virtual strings attached.”
What Do You Have To Lose (But Control)?
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Overcome Loss, Sadness, Stress, and Depression and Return to a Normal Happy Life
Dealing with personal and family crisis is one of the hardest things anyone can have to do. Bad things can happen suddenly and leave you devastated in their wake.
I have helped many people work through difficult in their lives and shown them how to recover and be happy again.
You CAN deal with even the worst events on your own, you simply need a guide.
To get through these hard times, without the need for expensive medications or therapy, you can use my book…
I am a psychotherapist and Zen master and have helped thousands of people deal with grief, depression, and many other problems stemming from personal loss and traumatic events in their life. My first book, Learn to Love, has sold over 200,000 copies and has now been translated into five languages.
I wrote Overcome Anything to help people like you recover from life altering events and be happy again.
- Are you going through a difficult time?
- Have you lost a loved one and just cannot get them off your mind?
- Have you lost your job?
- Are you stressed out due to a financial crisis?
- Have you been in an accident or do other traumatic events haunt you?
- Do you find yourself sad with no way to relieve your heavy emotions?
- Do you wonder what direction you should take in your life?
Overcome Anything will Guide You Out Of These Dark Times and Help You Find Meaning and Happiness.
– Mary Jaksch, author of Overcome Anything
“Wow, I found myself profoundly moved by the passages in this book. I believe this book should be required reading for anyone who is … breathing. Reading this made me feel stronger, more alive!”
– Annie B.
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Dorothea’s Song is the story of Peter, who is your typical high school student, but when his mother’s marriage falls apart he copes by dreaming up the story of Dorothea, an elf who lives in the magical Bois d’or forest. Releasing his frustrations in his French teacher’s nightly writing assignment, Peter shares Dorothea’s story with his teacher, imagining a world in which witches, a renegade elf lord and the humans have joined forces to conquer the elves. With the Bois d’or on the verge of being invaded, Dorothea and her friends embark on a quest to find the wizard Mohan. But the witches have other plans. They have set the three ancient evils of Anger, Fear and Lust against Dorothea. Can Dorothea survive the three curses and find Mohan in time to save her homeland? Dorothea’s fate is in Peter’s hands, but as his mother’s marriage deteriorates and his infatuation with his French teacher increases, he must find a way to rise above the insanity and save not only Dorothea’s home but also his own.
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The Solomon Scandals is a Washington newspaper novel. This book is, yes, fiction. But it was inspired by such history as a powerful senator’s secret investment in a CIA-occupied building in Northern Virginia, as well as an unrelated building collapse.
CIA skulduggery. Hundreds dead in a fallen IRS building. Corruption and blackmail from the Oval Office. D.C.-quirky sex scandals. A gossip columnist’s suicide. The death of a shark-like editor in a car bombing. Reporter Jonathan Stone lives through it all, until one day he forsakes Washington for Hollywood to write history disguised as conspiracy movies.
Simply put, The Solomon Scandals serves up a mix of suspense, thrills and satire that you won’t find in any other Washington novels. It is a genre-bender with touches of science fiction and even Jewish fiction. Author David Rothman tells the story in the form of a Stone’s newspaper memoirs–discovered by a multiracial great-grandniece, Rebecca Kitiona-Fenton, Ph.D., of the Institute for the Study of Previrtual media. What other D.C. newspaper novel ends with a talking Afghan Hound named Thackeray II doing a Harry Truman act at the Cosmos Club in the late 21st century?
“The Solomon Scandals is a mordantly entertaining book that broadens the cast of the standard Washington novel beyond spymasters and politicians to include real estate barons and federal contract officers. David Rothman’s detailed knowledge of the D.C. scene comes through in his satire. Scandals is set in yesterday’s Washington, but is about truths behind today’s headlines—and about the troubled newspapers that publish the headlines.
“Like Boomsday and others of the best recent Washington novels, it amuses while broadening our understanding of how today’s government works—and doesn’t.”
– James Fellows, author of Breaking the News
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I’m delighted today to bring you an interview with Leo Babauta, the creator and blogger at Zen Habits, a Top 100 blog with 80,000 subscribers — one of the top productivity and simplicity blogs on the Internet.
Leo has a new book out called The Power of Less: the fine art of limiting yourself to the essential… in business and in life, his first to be published in print. I thought I’d ask him a few questions on how and why he’s moved from online to print for this book.
Mark: What were the major differences you found writing a book over writing for a blog?
Leo: Writing a blog is easier, because it’s in little chunks — one blog post can be written in an hour. But a book is more overwhelming, even if you break it into chapters — you can’t write a chapter a day, so it’s harder to do in little bursts, like I do with blog posts. Still, I enjoyed the process!
Mark: How long did it take and how did you find the time?
Leo: I had a hard time at first because I was actually running not only the Zen Habits blog but a blog for writers and bloggers (WriteToDone.com), planning for my wedding and honeymoon, training for a marathon, and working on a couple other projects. So I procrastinated on the book writing and it dragged on for awhile. But I did the last 1/3 of the book in two weeks, after I decided to take a break from the blogs so I could clear my schedule and focus completely on the book.
Mark: How did you go about getting your book published?
Leo: It was much easier after Zen Habits became popular — when you have 20,000 very enthusiastic readers (as I did when I sold the book — I’m up to about 80,000 now), a publisher gets excited. I wrote up a book proposal, gave it to an agent who had contacted me, and she helped me polish it up a bit. Then she shopped it around and we found the right publisher.
Mark: You’ve written countless blog posts and released several ebooks. What prompted you to publish The Power of Less in print this time?
Leo: While I reach thousands of readers through my blog and through the ebooks, I know there are many more people I can’t reach through digital means. So I decided to do the print book to reach those who are more familiar with bookstores than blogs — and there are lots of those still. It won’t be much longer when that number has dwindled to a few holdouts, but for now, it’s good to take a multiple-media attack if you want to reach the most people possible.
Mark: Do you have any offline promotion planned to reach this audience or are you hoping that word of mouth will simply spread from online readers?
Leo: I’d really love it if online readers spread the word about the book — I really think that’s the best promotion possible: a satisfied customer. But I’m also doing some print and radio interviews and promotions. The majority of my promotions, at least for now, will be online, though.
Mark: Blogs and ebooks have the advantage over print of being able to provide timely information on rapidly changing subjects. However your advice has a timeless quality to it. The messages of simplicity and focus you describe in the companion ebook Thriving on Less: Simplifying in a Tough Economy are only likely to grow in importance as we’re confronted with ever increasing choice, complexity and change in our lifetime. Was this a factor in deciding to publish in print?
Leo: I really think my message of simplicity is a perfect fit for both online and print reading. Online, our world is increasingly technical and overwhelming, so the simplicity that I recommend is extremely useful. But even for those who like to curl up with a good print book (like myself actually), it’s good to be able to read this message of simplicity, and to look around you in the real world and see ways you can simplify your life, become happier and work more effectively.
Mark: What is the main message you’re hoping readers will take away from the book?
Leo: That simplifying can have a profound impact on our lives — as we identify the essentials to be more effective and live the life we want, as we set limits and learn to say “no”, as we start small and form positive habits, as we learn to focus on one thing at a time, and as we slow down to enjoy life more.
Mark: One of your key pieces of advice on simplifying your life is to eliminate the non-essential. When I did this exercise I found my day job came up high on this list. Although I enjoy my job, a 12 hour day (includes commuting time) away from my family and the fact I’m working for someone else makes it nonessential, save for the income it generates. I imagine this is a very common situation. Do you have any specific advice on reducing or eliminating the dependency on a regular day job?
Leo: What are you more passionate about than your day job? For me, it was writing about the things I write about on Zen Habits and in The Power of Less. So I made it a goal to transition to this, over time — I couldn’t eliminate my day job overnight, but slowly I increased my income from writing and decreased my need for my day job. If you’re passionate about it, you’ll work hard at it. Make this passion one of your essentials and make time for it.
Mark: As you change your lifestyle is there a danger of growing apart from friends who are still living your old lifestyle? Should you just move on or try to change them too?
Leo: There is a danger of this happening, yes. But it doesn’t have to happen — you can still maintain your bond with your friends and find common ground. Talk with them about the changes in your life, acknowledge that there are differences between you now and that it could make things uncomfortable, and talk about how they feel about it. It could take them awhile to adjust, so be patient, educate them, be positive.
However, if people cannot accept the new you, and are constantly critical and negative, there may be a point where you decide the relationship isn’t worth it. That’s OK too … people change and relationships don’t always last forever. In the end, you want to have friendships that are meaningful and positive.
Mark: There is a huge difference between theory and practice. How successful are you at following your own advice on a daily basis? Do you have a sense of trying to live up to your readers expectations? Do you days where things go completely off the rails?
Leo: I fail on a daily basis! I’m not perfect, nor have I ever pretended to be. However, I have made most of these principles a habit for the most part, and I know that when I do focus on the essentials, focus on one task at a time, and clear away distractions, I’m much, much more effective. I also like to live a simple life, and I think my life reflects that most of the time.
I do feel that I have to live up to readers’ expectations, but I try to be honest with them and don’t pretend I’m a god or anything. They appreciate the honesty, and I think this kind of sincere relationship is much easier to live up to than trying to be perfect in the eyes of others.
Do I have days when things go completely off the rails? If you mean do I ever get lazy and unproductive, then yes! I sometimes take entire days off and just lounge around. I call these “good days”. They’re lovely. Do I also have days when things get complicated and hectic?
Yes, and that’s when I pause and simplify things. I also remind myself to take one thing at a time, and then things calm down considerably.
Mark: Some tips for leading a frugal lifestyle can prove to be false economies in the long run. Do you think eliminating cable from your life might have contributed to you being the proud father of 6?
Leo: Ha! I have definitely found ways to have fun other than watch TV or spend a lot of money, although I still do those things now and then.
However, I should point out that I eliminated cable TV *after* I had my kids, so the cause-and-effect might be reversed — the 6 kids forced me to be more frugal! Being more frugal with my kids, though, is actually a blessing in disguise — when we do things for free or cheap, we have so much more fun than when we watch TV or spend a lot of money.
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Thank you so much for your thoughtful answers today Leo. I’m sure The Power of Less is going to find a whole new group of appreciative readers.
The Power of Less is available now from Amazon.com here. For more information on the book, including a number of other valuable resources, visit ThePowerOfLess.com.
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