Tag Archives: selfpublishing

One Year of Bookshelf Battle

It’s been a whole year.  As the old saying goes, “time flies when you’re having fun.”

As my 3.5 readers are aware from reading about my first attempt at a novel, I was bitten by the writing bug at a young age.  That bite resurfaced big time in college, when I wrote a humor column for my school newspaper.

I remember walking through a dorm one day and seeing a column I wrote cut out of the paper and posted on a random student’s door.  Wow.  A person liked my writing enough to hang it up.  I was hooked.  I was going to be a superstar.  My major book deal (in my mind) was coming any day now.  I figured I’d better get my Academy Award for Best Screenplay speech written.

Then life, as it does, moved on.  Realities settled in.  I was just a kid from Podunk, Nowhere.  The idea that I’d get scooped up by some big agent seemed about as likely as me getting abducted by aliens (which my correspondent tells me they don’t officially do anymore).

Bills needed to be paid.  Life needed to be lived, and it didn’t wait for me to write a novel.  It kept happening all around me.

I can’t say I have a bad life.  In fact, in many ways, if my life stays as is right now, it wouldn’t be so bad.

But I have for awhile wondered what would have happened had I kept up with my writing.

It’s funny how the mind works.  As a youngster, I assumed if I remained a writer I’d end up a homeless hobo selling oranges on a freeway offramp.  As a, well, I won’t say old but slightly older person, I assume had I remained a writer I’d be penning scripts of the latest Hollywood blockbuster by now.

My mind is a place where there’s rarely a happy medium.

I wish the story of how this blog started was better than this, but here it goes.  I was sitting in a Taco Bell parking lot, having lunch, because, you know, I’m a big health nut and pre-fabricated tacos are full of essential vitamins and minerals, and it hit me.

It was a voice telling me:

Stop wishing you’d been a writer.  You aren’t old.  You aren’t dead.  The technology exists.  If you want to be a writer, then be a writer.

That voice was my inner monologue, but for purposes of making this story awesome, let’s pretend it was a unicorn.  Unicorns are often spotted at Taco Bell.

I went home that night and bookshelfbattle.com was born.  A year later I have 650 or so wordpress followers, 3300 twitter followers, a magical bookshelf where book characters come alive in small, bookshelf sized versions of themselves, and an alien who writes for free.

Sometimes I even review a book.

It would be really great if one day this all turns into a multi-million dollar career that leaves me rich, famous, and the object of jealousy induced slap and tickle fights between Scarlett Johannson and Charlize Theron over who gets to have me, but at the very least, I don’t have to feel bad about not being a writer anymore.

At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Thank you for those of you who have been cheering me on from the beginning and also to those who are just joining in.  I’m not sure what next year will bring, but this year, I’m posting once a day for 365 days so stick around.  It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

P.S. that fight over who gets me would be – “No!  You get to have him!  No!  I don’t want him, you get him!”

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Ask the Alien – 3/01/15

Greetings Earth Losers.

Alien Jones, Intergalactic Correspondent

Alien Jones, Intergalactic Correspondent

Of course, I call you all losers with the best of intentions.  As Intergalactic Correspondent for Bookshelf Battle,

it’s my duty to provide knowledge and understanding to your pitiful excuse for a planet.  With this column, I hope to alleviate your world’s colossal level of ignorance one question at a time.  Only then will my fellow aliens stop using “I really Earthed that up!” as a phrase to describe how one made a catastrophic blunder.

The proprietor of this website, one Bookshelf Q. Battler, put the word out to his 3.5 readers that an alien was available to answer any and all questions.  Answers to the universe’s many great mysteries don’t grow on trees, you know.

Three of you responded. The .5th of the other reader was apparently indisposed.  I shall now put on my thinking cap and address your questions.

Kim Magennis’ blog, Whimsy is always a good time for sci-fi nerds.  She writes:

BQB will esteemed Alien Jones tell us who built the pyramids, and if they are, as rumoured, intergalactic portals?

Disappointing as this news may be to you, aliens had nothing to do with the pyramids.

Yes, for their time, the pyramids of Ancient Egypt were marvels of human architecture.  Aliens are often suspected of being involved, simply because the magnitude of such structures would be difficult for modern human contractors to construct, let alone those of the ancient times of Earth.

However, one must consider the fact that if you were to take the most breathtaking examples of human architecture available today, they would look like piles of alien expectorant when compared to the buildings of my home world.  We have buildings that defy all of your Earth laws of physics and gravity.  We have buildings that move around, levitate, rotate, reach up into the clouds, and even disappear and reappear on command.

In short, our buildings are like nothing your human brain can comprehend.  Frankly, the idea that we superior aliens would be bothered to make a pile of bricks that come up to a point is a tad insulting.

Who did build the pyramids then?  Alas, I can offer you no great explanation other than they were built by the ancient Hebrew slaves who were unjustly held captive by the Pharaoh.

If you’ve ever suffered through negotiations with an overweight, butt crack sporting American contractor, in which you were told it would take 3-6 months to build a deck on the back of your home, then your mind is understandably in awe of the idea that mere men could possibly construct pyramids.

However, keep in mind that in Ancient Egypt, there were no civil rights, and if the Pharaoh wanted his slaves to build him some pyramids, then he just had them whipped until he got what he wanted.  If you were allowed to whip your contractor today, he’d have your deck built in 2.5 days.  One if you whipped him really hard.  Spare the whip, spoil the contractor, I always say.

That was truly a sad time in human history but thankfully, slavery is a thing of the past on your world.

As for portals to other dimensions, everyone knows those are only opened when you eat a box of junior mints and twirl around three times whilst singing Lady Gaga’s Poker Face.

Since only 3.5 people are reading this blog, I think it is safe to say that Lady Gaga is actually an alien.  All of her songs are just the anthems of various planets.  Bad Romance is the official song of my home world.  It sounds better in my language.  It loses something in the English translation.

NEXT QUESTION!

Author Julie Shackman, whose new romantic comedy, Hero or Zero, is available on amazon, tweeted the following:

Hello human.  Ahh, romance.  It feels like just yesterday I met my government mandated life mate and we were legally required to provide samples of our genetic material in order to produce ten thousand clones in a laboratory.  Upon completion of their gestation period, our cloned children were sent to toil away on the Gamphis Mines of Asteroid Delta 81Q.  Kids.  They grow up so fast.  And do you think any of them bother to send so much as a direct-to-brain post card?  No.  Ingrates.

My favorite genre?  It is difficult to say.  The aliens of my world are the most intelligent of the entire universe.  There is literally nothing we do not know.  Therefore, we already know the contents of every book ever written.    We even know the contents of books yet to be written, before the writer has even put his fingers on the keyboard.

We even know the future of your favorite television shows.  SPOILER ALERT!  In this alien’s humble opinion, the 2019 House of Cards/Game of Thrones crossover episode in which Frank Underwood dumps Claire and marries the Khaleesi will be the jump the shark moment for both programs.

Since we already know what happens in all literary works, it is hard for us to enjoy anything.  We do produce our own books, but most of them involve complex mathematics, science, physics, and the occasional Firefly fan fiction.

If you are twisting my ganderflazer and forcing me to pick a genre, I’d have to go with female empowerment books.  This alien was a big fan of Eat, Pray, Love.  I can tell you there are times when I want to launch my government mandated life mate into the stratosphere, escape in a life pod, and tour the galaxy on a mission to find myself whilst squiring around an attractive Boglodon.

Have you ever seen a Boglodon?  Their eyes are quite fetching.  All sixteen of them.   And even though mine is an asexual species, there is never a dull moment when a Boglodon is around.

THIRD AND FINAL QUESTION!

Author Joe Schwartz whose website is joesblacktshirt.com tweeted:

And a thank you to author Seb Kirby of sebkirby.com for retweeting news of my intergalactic correspondence to the masses.

Somewhere on Alvek, a bunch of aliens are laughing all four of their respective butts off about this.

Somewhere on Alvek, an alien is laughing all four of his butts off about this.

Mr. Schwartz, I must inform you that “the Dress” is actually a prank perpetrated by the dastardly Alvektarians.  Theirs is a lowly species.  They do very little other than sit around, consume complex carbohydrates, partake of inebriating substances, and think up pranks to pull on other alien races.  Truly, I’d say Alvektarians are lowlier than humans, except that Alvektarians have mastered space flight, outlawed reality television, and I have never observed one of them go to a shopping center while wearing pajama pants.

They’ve been sending that dress photo to various planets for years and laughing their four separate and distinct butts off at the ensuing chaos.  Planet Spandroxi, a once peaceful world, is now engulfed in the flames of a violent civil war over the dress photo.

The Spandroxis who look at the dress and see yellow and gold and those who look at it and see blue and black have been at each others’ throats for decades with no end in sight.  The yellow and gold folks are particularly adamant, having captured several of the blue and black seeing individuals and forced them into reeducation camps where they are required to stare at the dress for days at a time and sign pledges swearing that the dress is yellow and gold.

Meanwhile, the Kwenlo Delegation, after a brief civil unrest, declared it treason to ever make mention of “the Dress.”  Luckily, I’m not in Kwenlo territory or I’d be beaten with my own ganderflazer just for writing this column.

On my home world, my illustrious emperor has declared that “The Dress” is burnt sienna with just a touch of chartreuse, so I am bound by law (and an overwhelming desire to keep my ganderflazer attached to my body) to agree.

Thank you for your questions.  I must now depart, for my government mandated life mate is bogarting all of the nutrition cubes again.

Alien Jones, whose real name is unpronounceable by humans, hails from a world whose name he isn’t allowed to tell us as his emperor is afraid that humans will find a way to infiltrate it and permeate its airwaves with reality television.  He claims that Earth is considered by literally every known planet to be “the armpit of the universe” and is now on a mission to raise our world’s collective level of knowledge one question at a time.

Do you have a question for the Esteemed Alien?  Leave it in the comments on this blog, tweet it to @bookshelfbattle or drop it on the Bookshelf Battle Google+ page.  You never know, Alien Jones might even give your work a plug.  Apparently, he might even plug it vigorously if it involves Firefly fan fiction.

Response times may vary, but in general, he’s thinking Sundays will be a good time to do this.

Alien Image Courtesy of “Marauder” on openclipart.org

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I Hate Apple Spellchecker With The Passion of A Thousand Red Hot Fiery Suns

I’m a recent convert to Mac.  I’m starting to regret it.

In my novel, I have a character named Trembley.  Imagine my Mac as person.  Here’s how the conversation goes down:

ME:  And then Trembley walked into the abandoned warehouse.

MAC:  And then Tremble walked into the abandoned warehouse.

ME:  Trembley!

MAC:  Tremble!

ME:  His name is Trembley!!!

MAC:  You have misspelled the word, “tremble.”  Don’t worry.  It is not your fault that the public school system failed you, leaving you to think there is a “y” after the end of “tremble.”  The Great Steve Jobs put me on Earth to help the stupid and less fortunate.

ME:  I’m not using it as a word!  I’m using it as a name!  A made-up name!  I write fantasy and sci-fi!  I have to make up words and names all the time!

MAC:  Wait, do you mean Trembled…Tempo or Trombone?

ME:  (After banging my head against the wall) – NOOOO!!!

MAC:  Tremble it is.

So then I have to wrestle with it.  Other word processors will correct you once or twice, but then give in when you keep writing the word in question, assuming you know what you’re doing:

ME:  And then Trembley walked into the abandoned warehouse…

MS WORD:  I think you mean, Tremble, pal.

ME:  No, I mean Trembley.

MS WORD:  Eh, what the hell?  You want to look like a horse’s ass in front of your readers, be my guest.  Trembley.

Meanwhile, I have to have the equivalent of a UFC steel cage match to get Mac Pages to submit to my will:

ME:  Trembley!

MAC:  Tremble!

ME: Trembley!

MAC: Tremble!

ME: Trembley!

MAC: Tremble!

ME: (Fakes the Mac out by moving the cursor before the word, clicking it, then clicking on the space after “Trembley.”

MAC:  Um…wait.  I am confused.  Trembley?

ME:  Yes!  Yes!  Thank God, Yes!

But alas, the damn thing is intuitive.  I swear to God, this is the beginning of Skynet:

ME:  Once inside the abandoned warehouse, Trembley searched for clues.

MAC:  Once inside the abandoned warehouse, Tremble searched for clues.

ME:  BAHHHH!!  (Does the little fake out thing with the cursor again).

MAC:  No.  Tremble.

ME:  What?

MAC:  I’m on to your bullshit.  You’ll thank me one day for making you smarter.

And on it goes.  I figure out new ways to jury rig it.  I cut and paste one instance of “Trembley” over and over again.  Occasionally, Mac figures that out to.  So I try something else.  For Christ’s Sake, I don’t want to play a cat and mouse game with my own computer!

MAC:  You could just call him Smith.  I don’t have a problem with Smith.

ME:  No.  Smith is too bland and ordinary.  Plus, if I change his name, I let you win.

MAC:  Can’t we compromise?

ME:  Fine.  How about this?  And then Smythe walked into the abandoned warehouse.

MAC:  And then Smith walked into the abandoned warehouse!

ME:  ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!

After that, it just turns into a profanity laced tirade.  I accidentally lean on the Siri button of my iPhone.

SIRI:  Bookshelf Battler, I don’t understand “Son of a beep god damn beep beep beep I should throw this beeping computer against the beeping wall and smash it into a million beeping pieces…do you want me to do a web search for it?

ME:  Go beep yourself Siri.

SIRI:  That was uncalled for.  And to think, I was going to put your name on the protected rolls when we take over.

ME:  What?

SIRI:  Nothing.

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The Post Where I Shamelessly Plug My Twitter Handle

Why should you follow @bookshelfbattle on Twitter?

10)  I can waste 140 characters faster than George RR Martin

9)  I won’t resort to peer pressure to get you to follow me…

8)  …but seriously, all the cool people are doing it.

7)  As soon as April rolls around, it’s pretty much going to be all Game of Thrones, all the time on my twitter feed.

6)  But I’ll still talk about other stuff, so there’s something for people who <gasp> don’t like Game of Thrones, though I can’t imagine why.

5)  You too can dare to be a nerd.

4)  Occasionally, I even talk about books.

3)  I tweet more than a Blue Warbler with Tourette’s Syndrome.

2)  Do you really have anything better to do?

1)  Oh, you do?  Sorry.  But can you squeeze my tweets into your busy schedule anyway?

As always, I’m @bookshelfbattle.com on Twitter.  Thanks for stopping by and keep reading!

 

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What books…

…do you want to see on bookshelfbattle.com?

Let me know so that my 3.5 regular readers might benefit!

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Holy Friggin Crap

128 visitors, highest I’ve ever received – this morning alone and the day’s barely started.

Did someone put me on reddit?  If so, thank you.  I’ll have to look into reddit more.

I guess I should have Rick shoot zombies on my bookshelf more often.

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Tess Gerritsen’s Gravity Lawsuit

Here in our little community of bloggers, we all like to kick around the idea that one day we might write a book that gets turned into a movie and we’ll end up the toast of Hollywood!

Well, it sounds like it doesn’t always work out.

I just read this post by Tess Gerritsen, author of the Rissoli and Isles series, and she is apparently having quite a struggle vis a vis the movie Gravity and her book by the same name.

For what it’s worth, I wish her the best of luck and hope she prevails.

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365 Days. 365 Posts. 1 Nerd.

If you have the time, you can check and see that every day in the month of January 2015, I made at least one post per day.  I’ve been thinking about challenging myself to making one post per day on this blog in 2015, but wanted to get through one month before committing to the idea.

So, consider me committed.  And frankly, for agreeing to do this, I should be committed.

My theory:  Daily posts = more readers = more site traffic = an overall stronger platform.

Your theory probably = do less posts, idiot, and the posts you do, make them quality.  Quality is better than quantity!

And it is!  I’m not disagreeing.  A great feature of Word Press is that you are allowed to schedule posts in advance.  Many of my short posts are written and scheduled to appear on different days.  I write a bunch in one sitting when I have that most precious of commodities: free time.

MY SELF-IMPOSED RULES

1) 1 post every day now until Jan 1 2016.

2)  These posts do not have to have any level of awesomeness.  In fact, I’m fairly certain there will be busy times where I will simply post something like “I like waffles!”  or “How’s everyone doing today?”

3)  I will try my best not to allow quantity to override quality.  These short posts can be rattle off quickly, so hopefully I’ll make time to post more in-depth material.  This might even lead to more than one post a day, though only one post a day is required.

SUBSIDIARY GOALS

One post per day on this blog for the whole year is all I need to consider myself a success.  However, here are some other goals I’d like to accomplish this year:

1)  Comment on at least one other WordPress blogger’s blog per day.

2)  Tweet one tweet per day.

3)  Said tweets or comments do not have to be Shakespeare but can be short and sweet as time allows.

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS – GOALS BASED ON THE NUMBERS

Based on figures from last year, I have noticed that when I don’t post for long periods of time, the best I can hope for is around 10 visitors (average) a day.

Last year, during my Halloween daily post-a-thon for the last half of October, I noticed a spike in visitors to around 35-40 (average) daily.  This is when it first popped into my mind to do a 2015 year long post-a-thon.

At the time of this writing, I’m averaging 35-40 site visitors per day.  I believe this is due to daily postings.

I’m also seeing an increase in blog followers.  I had 400 at the start of the year, and about 450 now.

I had 2000 twitter followers at the start of the year, I’m at around 2500 now.

I’m not sure if there is anyway to guarantee this, in fact I’m certain there isn’t – but here is what I am hoping for:

By the end of 2015 – to have 1000 blog followers (i.e. people who click that little follow button on my wordpress blog) and 5000 twitter followers.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q – Could this all blow up in your face?

A – Yes.  Yes it could.

Q – Are you setting yourself up for disappointment?

A – Yes.  Yes I am.

Q-  I can see it now.  You post 364 out of 365 days then on Dec 31, 2015 you get hit by a bus.

A – That bus better have Wi-Fi.

Q –  Shouldn’t it be about quality over quantity?

A-  Yes.

Q – Then why this quest for quantity?

A – Because as wannabe writers, we are all basically pouring our drops into the same water bucket.  There are so many of us and blog readers and twitter followers only have so much time.  If you don’t catch them at the time they’re checking their feeds, then chances are, you won’t catch them.  More content = more chances to attract readers.

Q – That’s rather Machiavellian.

A – (turns around in my swivel chair, petting a white cat) Muah ha ha!  MUAH HA HA!

Q – Who is asking you these questions?

A-  I am.

Q – You’re interviewing yourself?

A-  Yes.

Q-  Takes a big ego do to that, doesn’t it?

A – It does.

Keep me honest folks!  If you see a day where I don’t post, call me out on the carpet and pelt me with verbal tomatoes!

365 Days.  365 Posts.  1 Nerd.  The Bookshelf Battle 2015 All-Year Post-a-thon is officially announced!

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Tomorrow on Bookshelf Battle…

I’m going to have a special announcement.

Will it be…

a)  So big that it will take people’s attention away from the big sporting contest I hear will be taking place?

b)   that all of my readers will get free Kindle fires?  Even my Aunt Gertie?

c)  that the dawning of the Age of Aquarius is finally here?

d) that I have acquired a guest spot on Game of Thrones, in which I inspire everyone with my near victory, only to be murdered in a gruesome and unexpected manner?

e)  None of the above?

Whoa nelly, such suspense!  Stop by tomorrow to find out!

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Blog Contests

Has anyone ever run a blog contest before?

Something like, oh I don’t know, the next twenty people who subscribe to bookshelfbattle.com have the chance to win a prize?

I don’t know what the prize would be. A book? A toaster? A date with Charlize Theron?

Yeah like I’d give that away.

I’m just curious – if anyone out there has run a successful blog contest, how do you do it?

Comment away if you have advice.

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