I have been thinking about publishing a book for over 25 years. And I still remember those early years when I sent out Query Letters to publishers big and small. At one point I sent out 147 letters by mail because we didn’t yet have email. I received 28 rejection letters and no replies from the others.
A few years later I contemplated something that was new then – self publishing. The cost was like $5,000 but within a couple of years it had dropped to just $1,000. By this time I just didn’t have a thousand dollars lying around but I marveled at how far we had come in allowing the ordinary author the ability to publish their own work.
What I didn’t know was that eventually the price would drop to Zero. That’s right the price today to publish your book is a big fat nothing.
I am not just making this up and I am not just promoting something. I literally just became a published author for the first time and it did not cost me a cent. Now let me be clear. I did decide to choose expanded distribution so that my book would appear in more stores. I didn’t have to choose that but I did and the cost – just $25.
The online software was extremely easy to use and I honestly believe that if you have a book that is begging to be published, go do it. The price has never been better. Click on the link at the top right and get started right now. It is so exciting!
On April 21st I lost my brother who died very suddenly. He was a year younger than me and I never, ever suspected that we did not have many more years to spend time with each other. I live in Calgary, Canada and he lived near San Francisco, California.
I was grief-stricken but I really didn't realize how bad things were until I came for his funeral and saw how devastated his wife and kids were. His wife of 23 years wrote this beautiful poem that was shared at his funeral. She has graciously allowed me to share it with you.
As you read it and feel her pain you may pray for her. Most of all, when you are done, go cherish every moment with the ones you love. Life is not just short; it can end very suddenly.
My Lost Love
by Dolly Tek-Marston
I have only just lost you and the pain is so hard to bear
Do I have to go through life knowing you're not there?
Please someone explain to me why he had to go
Are there any reasons, I really need to know
I sit here and remember all the wonderful and precious times we shared
The talks, the laughter, of everyone you cared for
I am told the pain will ease with time
And I will think of him without a tear
But that will be impossible as I need to have him here
He was my very world to me and my ever guiding star
My darling just kiss me softly on the cheek and tell me where you are?
I am not as strong as I thought I was
Since you have been gone
I sit and cry all night long
from dusk to dawn
Another day comes and once again
I have to pretend that I am strong
As soon as the day is over
I sit and cry all night long
From dusk to dawn
Nevermore
Will I see your smiling face?
Will I feel your strong, firm embrace?
Will I wish upon the starry skies,
Will I gaze into your loving eyes.
Will I feel your warm lips upon mine,
Will my eyes sparkle and shine,
The streets your feet will roam,
Because Our Lord and Savior decided to take you Home.
Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you for your calls, e-mails and cards on the sudden demise of our beloved Christopher Marston.
The Funeral arrangements are as follows:
The viewing and Rosary will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 at St. Johns Catholic Church, 264 E. Lewelling Blvd.,San Lorenzo, CA 94580.
The Funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at St. Johns Catholic Church, 264 E. Lewelling Blvd.,San Lorenzo, CA 94580. The phone number for St. John's Church is 510-351-5050.
The burial will follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery at 1051 Harder Road, Hayward, CA 94542. The phone number for Holy Sepulchre Cemetery is (510) 581-2488
Funeral arrangements are made by: Holy Angels Funeral & Cremation Center, 1051 Harder Road, Hayward, CA 94542.
Thank you.
The Marston Family.
My 54 year-old brother collapsed and died at the gym as he was working out with his wife. Now the shock is turning to sorrow and contemplation.
Today I find myself questioning my own mortality. I have heard many people say that ‘Life is short’ and that is true. What I am thinking about today though is how suddenly life can end. Death has no regard for your plans, your future, your dreams and goals!
Do we have a predetermined amount of time on this earth?
Is our final times written in some book somewhere?
In Greek mythology Atropos or Aisa was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as the "inflexible" or "inevitable." It was Atropos who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears." She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length.
For me my brother’s death – he was just a year younger than me – creates massive urgency in my mind to get more done, get more accomplished and fill my life with more memorable moments.
Not sure if I can live every day like it is my last but I am contemplating the concept.
It's a lazy sunny Sunday as I sit on a patio chair reading the March 2012 issue of Inc magazine. Most of the articles are on entrepreneurship which has me reminiscing about my startups and my journey into Silicon Valley with my first tech company.
One of the first things I encountered was the huge difference in the mentality of Angel investors and Venture Capitalists here in Calgary, Canada and those I was meeting and presenting to in the Valley. In Calgary they wanted to know how much of our own money we had put in and even then they wanted to own most of the company.
In the awesome Inc. article on Howard Tullman, the manic super entrepreneur and investor who has a dizzying array of accomplishments, says it best. The entrepreneur's stake in a startup should be his time, and only his time. "This idea that you have to go into hock and mortgage your home and starve is bullshit," says Tullman. "I tell entrepreneurs this all the time. If these VCs' come along and say 'Would you work for $5?' find different partners."
As I continue my entrepreneurial reading I come across another article on the file-sharing startup, YouSendIt.com and the nightmare the founders went through. If you think all Silicon Valley startup stories are magically uplifting, they're not. In this one the VC's really screwed the founders bringing in $5 Million and leaving the founders with 3% each even though the company had over a million dollars in earnings that year.
I call it stealing the souls of the creators. They then fired the founders as YouSendIt went from 300,000 users to 100,000. Beware, startup entrepreneurs! It might be better to continue to toil in the Valley of Darkness than sell you soul to the devil.
Butterflies start off as caterpillars feeding on leaves until they finally cocoon themselves turning into butterflies. The process of the butterfly breaking out of the cocoon is quite strenuous and can take a while to do so. However, this process actually strengthens the butterfly’s wings and allows the butterfly to have the strength in it wings to fly away from the cocoon.
If someone decided to help the butterfly in the cocoon by removing the layers of the cocoon, the butterfly would be denied the opportunity to strengthen its wings. Once free from the cocoon the butterfly would fall to the ground and die.
When helping others never deny them the opportunity to strengthen their wings, so they too can fly like a butterfly.
The Internet has been growing at a torrid pace for a few years now. A number of businesses and savvy marketers have earned huge profits as a result of tens of thousands of people joining the ongoing online revolution every day.
Yet there is a mass of people who have been the engine of economic growth for decades that are being left behind as the big brands consolidate their gains. These people are the home-based and small businesses that collectively generate billions and keep millions working but have not caught on to what is happening on the Internet.
They know very little about putting together a website and in some cases they have no idea how critically important a website is to their credibility and how it can play a role in making them more profitable.
Most of them don’t know what SEO or SEM is and have no idea what Google Analytics is or how they can use it to generate business. The majority still use referral and word of mouth marketing that is very effective but not nearly as huge as doing it on the Internet where a business can quadruple their profits if they know what they are doing.
And then there is social media and in particular Facebook and Twitter that many small businesses think is the way they can increase profits. Instead they find out that on Facebook promoting your business is the fastest way to get unfriended and that Twitter works if you know how to work it.
So what is a small business to do?
Here are 3 suggestions that I am working on:
1- Let’s get a movement started amongst our friends, family and acquaintances to fanatically support home-based and small businesses.
2- Let’s get all these businesses in one place so people can find them.
3- Finally, let’s make it affordable for these businesses to get on board.
That movement has already started and it is called BIZAXY.
Our world is changing, no doubt about it. How can you meet these changes with grace, preparedness and with awareness?www.SeedEvent.org
_ I wouldn’t call myself a workaholic as such but I sure spend a lot of time trying to hit a home run in business. I don’t consider that ‘work’ since I love being an entrepreneur. However, one of the things I have learned over the years is to take some time and play and that has not been easy for me to do. My idea of play is to surf the Internet looking for stuff that is weird or inspiring or entertaining. I would find them, enjoy them and bookmark them so I could view them again, later. Then when I would go back a few months later the page or website was no longer there. I started thinking of creating a repository for me to go back to, for posterity sake and for others that might find this stuff interesting. That is why I decided to put together www.wisecraks.com which is a revival of sorts of an eZine I used to have in the early days of the Internet that was called W.I.S.E.craks. Back then the W.I.S.E. stood for Wisdom, Inspiration, Satire and Enlightenment. The modern version of W.I.S.E.craks stands for Weird, Inspired, Serious and Entertainment. I hope you will visit and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If you do enjoy it please consider subscribing on the site and sharing with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc as well as email. You will find those links below each post. Enjoy!
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