Monkey think, monkey do

Does your blog have a cool name?

Mine does…

Indie Thinkin’.

What do you think? Do you think Indie Thinkin’ is a cool name for a blog? I hope so. I like it. I especially like the hanging apostrophe indicating a sense of humor or—at the least—a non-formal approach. You know, chillin’ and all dat.

Besides my irreverent nature I think ‘Indie Thinkin’’ might also convey a little of what I like to blog about too, themes which might be summed up under these two headings: Independent Thinking and Independent Publishing.

1. Independent Thinking

One thing I love about the internet is it offers an alternative to the mainstream media. There are a lot of intelligent people out there—writers, freelance journalists, and informed computer chair philosophers—taking the time to report on important world issues. Many such folk do so without the intrenched bias subjectivity that comes from being edited forced—however much they might or might not try to resist—to propagate a corporation’s opinion. Not all Free Thinkers are conspiracy theorists simple because they offer seldom cited evidence to support seldom presented claims (the brave people behind Remember Building 7 come to mind right now). Similarly, though, no man is an island and as such I don’t pretend all my thoughts are original but I do value the opportunity to give voice to ideas which seem sound to me but go unheard by many.

2. Independent Publishing

I’ve had a DIY ethic for a long time. Before independently publishing my first novel this ‘just get on with it’ approach was responsible for me producing three self-penned plays and four original CDs. I didn’t know it at the time but way back in 1990 when I sourced artwork, designers and manufacturers for an ‘Independent Cassette’ (for my then band, Why Not?) I was taking my first steps on the journey of an independent publisher. Even today, as I prepare to press ‘publish’ on this post I am continuing my exploration of what it means to present my work to the world without the need for a complex system between me and…you.

So there it is.  A simple breakdown of why this blog is called what it is. But even though I like Indie Thinkin’ enough to have bought the domain name (the url isn’t linked through just yet) that doesn’t mean I didn’t think up a few other names first. After all, making a choice requires options.

Here were some of the other names I considered in my brainstorming:

- Think, Write

- Think n’ Write

- Indiethinkin’ (one word)

- Alternative News Sauce and Alternative Opinion Sauce—even did some mockup art for that one…

It’s good for you too!

As you can see it wasn’t a long list I needed to make before settling on Indie Thinkin’. Maybe, though, if I had found this blog name generator before choosing Indie Thinkin’ I could easily have ended up with too many to choose from. Check out these randomly generated blog names:

- Snobby Column (there’s enough of those already)

- Heart Life (as in I ‘heart’ life OR the expiry date of teen romance perhaps?)

- Nude Chronicles (good for a video blog maybe?)

- Bugger Updates (possibly appropriate for a private school boys’ blog)

- Violet Ramblings (my name’s not Violet)

- Geeky Blatherings (don’t know enough about tech stuff)

- Feisty Fantasies (hello hello!)

- Cool Thoughts (if I had enough of those to fill a blog I probably wouldn’t be a blogger considering ‘Geeky Blatherings’ for my blog title)

So how about you? Has your blog got a cool name? Any name at all? Maybe ‘cool’ isn’t the best word? Maybe your blog’s name is memorable, funny, perfectly descriptive or totally irrelevant (and irreverent)?

Feel free to whack a link to your blog in your comment too.

He was that French guy who wrote Madame Bovary. I just wiki’d it.

“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” Gustave Flaubert.

That quote by Flaubert is one of my favourites about writing.

I like how it implies writing is a continual process of learning.

That’s how I feel about writing. As a writer I am always learning about my craft, myself and how I fit in (or not) to the world around me. And this is a philosophy I think the Emerging Writers’ Festival wholeheartedly embraces: writing as a process of learning about who you are, about what you believe—and sharing that.

But exactly what is an emerging writer?

Is an emerging writer a bespectacled goatee-wearing hipcat climbing out from behind a torn-up couch after a drunken night of pseudo-intellectual pontificating, reaching for a pen to write a post-party poem about how some cad stole his iPhone?

Is an emerging writer a housewife who had locked herself in her study for three weeks—so she could blog in privacy—taking a crowbar to the padlock and chains on her door and coming out, finally giving into her need to pee in something other than a bucket?

Or is an emerging writer a fired accountant encouraged by his girlfriend to upload his eBook memoir to Smashwords? (‘Linked Over and Out’ being an extraordinary exposé of an office culture ‘directly responsible for’ his addiction to making increasingly crass Facebook updates and how said addiction had cost him his career when he inadvertently linked FB to LinkedIn)

Perhaps an ‘emerging writer’ is all these and more. But I can tell you one thing for sure:

I am an emerging writer*.

Moi.

Having first been part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival last year—at ‘Page Parlour’ and the ‘Fifteen Minutes of Fame’ event—and after being invited to present a panel on ‘Structure’ at the Town Hall Conference on Saturday 26^th May this year (see below for more on that), it will be my second year as an attending artist.

Cool.

It will also be my second year as an attending attender. Because even though I’ve been writing for about twenty-six years (I wrote my first song when I was sixteen—yeah, that’s how old I am) I am still emerging, and as such can benefit from getting amongst it with other writers more advanced than, less advanced than, and many about the same as, me.

Yes, I’ve been a writer for a while but as I am still chipping away at The Big Commercial Success, and am still developing my voice, I believe I qualify as an Emerging Writer. Not that No Fame and Small Fortune are the qualifiers of being an EW. Going by the official description of how the Emerging Writers’ Festival organisers describe an emerging writer I qualify there too.

Here’s how the #ewf12 (as you’ll find ‘em on Twitter) see an Emerging Writer.

How many points can you TICK?

“An Emerging Writer is someone who:

1. Identifies as a writer doing work.

TICK. I have written well-reviewed albums, a still-being-discovered novel, and am halfway through a year of blogging about a year of living sober. I identify with doing a lot of work.

2. Is at an investigative, early or experimental stage of their career.

Investigative? TICK. I’m always investigating. Early? Well, I’ve only published one novel so I’m definitely early in that phase of my writing career: TICK. Experimental? My next novel combines my love of music and narrative in a unique way I haven’t heard of being done before so…TICK.

3. Has an ongoing engagement with the creative practice of writing.

TICK. I blog, I tweet, I festival (therefore I am)

4. May be working in established or emerging genres and media.

TICK, TICK, TICK. (Paperback novel, couple of blogs, ebook convert)

5. Has slightly forgotten why they write and are in the midst of finding the writing industry around them restrictive, intimidating and frustrating.

Not me. NO, NO, NO and sometimes maybe…but, NO. I actually think this is the best time since the quill and ink-well to be a writer. Google ’KDP Select’, ‘Amanda Hocking’ or ‘J.A. Konrath’ if you disagree.

6. Is removed from networking and who appreciates the change to emerge from their studies

Well, I’m not studying—except my own library—but living on the outskirts of town I certainly appreciate a chance to network with peers so…TICK

7. Someone who wants to be inspired by those around them

TICK. Of course.

There you go. It’s almost a clean sweep. I AM an ‘Emerging Writer’.

How about you?

Are you an Emerging Writer too?

:)

Ben

N.B. If you are in Melbourne and interested in the role ‘structure’ plays in writing do come along to The Town Hall tomorrow (Sat 26^th May, 2012) for what promises to be an illuminating and fun session with four experienced pros (Ali Cobby Eckerman, Anita Sethi, Damon Young and Fiona Harris).

N.B.B. If, like most of my readers, you aren’t in Melbourne you can still join in the fun by getting involved on-line with the digital component of the festival (again, check out the website for more.)

* Except for the peeing in a bucket bit. I keep an old baby bath under my desk**.

** No I don’t. I do skip to the loo more frequently than the Sex and the City girls at a nightclub though.

“Rose had never thought herself a writer until one day when…”

Writers Emerge.

Tonight is the opening of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in Melbourne. The ‘festival for writers’ runs for eleven days (May 24 – June 3) and includes international and local guests at varying degrees of emergence.

Some of the writers are well established in their field, and will be sharing from their wealth of experience. Others are newbies who’ll no doubt be bringing bucket loads of enthusiasm (perhaps a cup or two of naivety) and more than likely—if I remember my twenties well enough (and even though they’re not that far behind me I’m not sure I do)—a sprinkle of, dare I say it, cynicism.

But just where are these writers emerging from?

Picture a vegetable garden in your own backyard. If you live in a flat or apartment you might like to imagine a herb garden small enough to fit on a window sill. Wherever your mind’s eye is wondering, now start to water that little patch with words. Say things like,

“You were born to write!”

“Come out, come out wherever you are, pick up a pen and become a star!” (I think that fairytale television show, Once Upon a Time might be getting to me)

and

“We’re waiting for EXACTLY what you’ve got to give. Come—forth—NOW!”

So why are we staring at an imaginary mound of compost rich soil, yapping away like crazy folk? Because we are not just waiting for magic to happen, we are getting involved and focussing our energy to help make it happen.

What’s going to happen?

A writer is going to EMERGE.

“Look! You can see her head breaking the surface, she’s just graduated with her commerce degree but still doesn’t know what to do with her romance novel manuscript.”

“I see her,” you say. “I see her!”

“And, over there! There’s another one sprouting too. He looks like he might grow into a fine playwright now that he’s had his heart broken and travelled the world. Or maybe he’s got some poetry sprigging from all that life experience?”

New writers come from everywhere. They emerge from unrelated studies, unfulfilling career paths and unbelievably amazing diverse life stories.

Fresh talent for picking!

Though some people say writers are born and not made, most would probably agree that, at some point, all writers emerge. Not just out of their mothers either.

The emergence I’m talking about is this process by which talent is developed, recognized and built upon, word by word, poem by poem, blog post by blog post and novel by novel; each turn in the road that leads one to call himself a writer.

Quick grab the water can!

(And if you’re in Melbourne check out the program for the Emerging Writers’ Festival HERE.)

How about you? Were you always going to be a writer? Or did you fall into it from another profession? And if you’re not a writer, have you ever dreamed of being one? Please feel free to share your experience with a comment below.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve looked a bit at branding.

With a particular focus on writers/performers I started with this post HERE on Steve Martin and his refusal to be pigeonholed as either a writer or a performer (he’s both). I followed that up with a post on what to call ourselves when we can be many different versions of our own name HERE.

Today I’m going to continue the theme of what makes us unique by making a startling confession, the likes of which has not been heard by the world since we found out who shot J.R. (yeah, I’m that old).

Here’s my confession:

“I am not the only Ben Mitchell in the world.”

I know. Hard to believe, right? But it’s true. There are at least three—maybe three-thousand—more.

Besides one particularly annoying other ‘Ben Mitchell’ (annoying because he snapped up the simplest Twitter handle back in 2009 and hasn’t used it since), there is a Ben Mitchell tennis player from Perth, Australia, and a fictional character from Eastenders who both share the name most of my friends refer to me as (Benjamin Grant Mitchell being a bit of a mouthful and all).

But maybe I’m the only Ben Mitchell writer guy? Yeah?

Nup. No way. There are more Ben Mitchell writers than you might think.

Here’s a few.

Ben Mitchell is a gay writer from Dallas whose book, ‘Without One Plea’ tells the story of “a young gay man who returns to his Southern roots” (‘roots’, hey? *insert Beavis and Butthead laugh here*); Ben Mitchell is a television gossip magazine editor from Australia (or he was in the nineties when I was thespian-ing on the box), and Ben Mitchell is a country western singer-songwriter (again from America) who, like me, has put out at least two albums.

But wait. There are still MORE Ben Mitchell creative types.

I haven’t done any acting for a while but when I was treading the boards (mostly of commercial casting agencies) I learned I wasn’t the only Ben Mitchell from the Southern Hemisphere with a ten-by-eight and DVD showreel in my knapsack. There’s a another Ben Mitchell actor, one who hails from New Zealand and once had a lead part in one of that country’s most popular soaps (also refuting my once cherished belief I was at least unique in being the only Ben Mitchell to ever star in a Southern Hemisphere soap opera?). Choice ‘bro BM and yours’ truly BM have even had their credits mixed up on IMDB (a showbiz website for actors). No wonder it gets confusing, hey ‘bro?

And don’t get me started about the fictional Ben Mitchell who came to a sad demise in the classic Ozzie slasher flick, Wolf Creek.

“No, unknown Facebook message sender. I am not the same ‘Ben Mitchell’ who was stupid enough to get his broken down car towed by a psychopathic Crocodile Dundee impersonator.”

So with all these Ben Mitchell’s floating around the internet what should I do? As I seek to build an easily identifiable brand around me and my writing, and endeavour to separate myself from the pack of other ‘Ben Mitchells’, what can I do about all my multi moniker mates? Maybe I should change my name completely? Go all Englebert Humperdink on my arse?

Yeah, that’s sounds like fun. Let’s see then, what can I come up with in the way of memorable strange professional monikers?

Kevin Knievel. Has that simple first name and cool surname thing going on. I once rode a motorbike too.

Don Brown. Maybe it would help my own book’s sales (or at least google searches) having a name so similar to a known best seller.

J.K. Rowing. Ditto above. Plus it would give the added bonus of doing what it was designed to for J.K., namely to disguise the gender of the writer for a possibly genre-biased readership (it’s been said Ms Rowling’s publisher didn’t think fantasy readers would appreciate her having boobies.)

Or, I could take another writer’s name, the real one they decided NOT to use, like, I don’t know…

Eric Arthur Blair. As a big fan of his prophetic novel, 1984, surely I could do worse than appropriating George Orwell’s real name?

What about going the other way and resurrecting the forgotten pen names of some other famous writers?

Boz: Charles Dickens.

Clive Hamilton: C.S. Lewis.

Richard Bachman: Stephen King.

and don’t forget this doozy:

Silence Dogood: Benjamin Franklin.

And I could go on.

I won’t.

What I will do is stick with Benjamin Grant Mitchell as my author name and B_G_Mitchell as my Twitter handle. By using my full name  for my ‘serious’ writing I remind myself how I use every part of me when I write; all that I was given and all I have grown to make it mean. By keeping my Twitter name as short as possible, hopefully I make it easy to remember.

Then again, some of my new Twitter buddies have started calling me by my initials, ‘B.G.’, and I kind of like that too.

But maybe I should keep it simple, at least on this blog.

It might not make me unique but, please, feel free to call me Ben.

How about you? Do you know of any other ‘selfs’ roaming the world? Are they making it hard (or easy) on you establishing a unique identity? Do share…

A teapot by any other name might be a vase.

Identity is an issue for everyone these days.

It’s not only writers, like me, who deliberate over choosing the perfect moniker (for characters and ourselves), at some point, everybody faces the dilemma over what to call his or her self.

Whether we are forced to choose a strange Twitter handle (because our own name is taken already), have to resignedly accept an awkward suffix to our name for use on a website (back in the day, my myspace account had to me benmitchellmusic) or if we just have to add the required next-number to our real name when setting up a new email account (benmitchell867 is NOT available!), we all have moments when we have to compromise the integrity of the name we’ve grown up with.

But what is the cost of being forced to make these bastardizations or alterations to our names? Especially for those of us who need our good name to reflect our good work?

As a writer I need to know:

What’s in a writer’s name?

Would a Rowling by any other name be as rich? Or, as Shakespeare said, “would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?”

I don’t know? A rose by any other name could be a flampin.

It could also be a ‘wolstack’ or maybe a ‘trangop’ even.

The thing is, and to answer the question posed by Bill Shake Spear, a rose could be called by any multitude of different names and it would still smell sweet. But—and I guess this is the point ye Will was really trying to poetically make—would it seem as sweet? Would lovers feel the same way about exchanging ‘cruxins’ or leaving a single, long stemmed ‘jismbit’ on the pillow for their beloved to discover.

‘“Oh my! What a lovely yepupoltski. And yellow! My favourite!”

The reason I’m thinking about the names of world conquering authors and world popular flowers is because lately I’ve been confused about what to call myself. Though it’s not a recent dilemma. Almost since I was christened (legally speaking) I’ve been undecided about my own name.

As a married father of two baby girls you’d think I should know who I am by now—but I’m not sure I do. Maybe that’s because, since entering the world of art/commerce/credit-card-applications also known as ‘showbusiness’ way back when (around the time Crowded House was toppin’ the charts), I’ve been a few different versions of my self.

I, Benjamin Grant Mitchell have been Benjamin Mitchell, simply Ben Mitchell and also Benjamin Mitchell. Since joining Twitter, which wouldn’t allow me to use my full-name-including-middle-name, I’ve also been B_G_Mitchell (as I am here on this blog).

Just call me ‘B’ Underscore ‘G’ Underscore Mitchell.

On second thoughts…maybe don’t. It might confuse me even more than I already am.

And what else has contributed to my identity confusion?

When I started in the ‘biz’ I continued acting under the name in my first high-school production programme—’Ben Mitchell’. Then when I hit the big-time (1 year on Australian soapie=3 years in English pantomime) I took the more refined ‘Benjamin Mitchell’.

When songwriting took over as my main source of creative expression I reverted to the more accessible ‘Ben Mitchell’ for all four CD’s (two albums; two EP’s) I released independently. Then, in 2011, when I published my first novel, I decided to use my full name again (Benjamin Grant Mitchell).

But what of my future I.D.?

Gearing up to publish my second novel I’ve been thinking what ‘written by’ name I should put on it?  I’m wondering if, since social media is such an important tool in book promotion these days, maybe I should include the Twitter underscores on my next novel’s cover?

A novel by B_G_Mitchell.

I don’t know?

But I do know that whatever name I call myself—am known by or answer to—I’m just a guy who likes to stop and smell the roses and write a bit about how life is better for their existence.

Whatever they’re called.

HOW ABOUT YOU? DO YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE ‘NAME’? OR MAYBE YOU’VE JUST GOT A FUNNY ALTERNATIVE FOR ‘ROSE’ TO SHARE? LOVE TO GET YOUR COMMENT…

(P.S. Come back real soon—or ‘follow’ this blog—for Part 2 to this post, where I explore my Inner Gay Television-Star Country-Singer. No, really.)

But someone forgot to tell Steve Martin.

That guy does a bit of everything. Steve Martin is ‘The Renaissance Brand Man’. From a successful stand-up he morphed into a world-famous movie actor while all the while never giving up the banjo.

Steve Martin is a writer too. He’s written plays, books, screenplays and about a squillion Tweets—way before most people his age had even figured out how to LOL.

You gotta love a guy who’s so multi-talented, disciplined and productive, haven’t you? Maybe not. Not if you’re the jealous type, anyway.

Personally, I love Steve Martin.

But being someone who has always expressed himself (and my feminine, inner-‘herself’) across various disciplines of artistic endeavour (not all of them involving as much discipline as good ol’ Steve) this branding business—this marketing need to simplify my offerings—has been a constant challenge for me.

I write (novels, songs, blogs and more), I sing and I act; I love it all. But I’m still struggling with something as simple as whether my main website should be ‘Benjamin Grant Mitchell’ or ‘B.G.Mitchell’ (because that is easier for people on Twitter, and has the added bonus of evoking J.K. Rowling and J.D. Salinger; ahh the mystery of a sexless initial). What is my brand? What is my B.R.A.N.D.?

Steve doesn’t seem to have this problem. Steve seems to have it all figured out.

‘Steve’ is an everyman name; ‘Martin’ is easy to remember. Together Steve Martin does whatever he loves and then puts it out there to let the world worry about what pigeon hole to stuff it and him in. Perhaps he does calculate his moves a bit more than I think but my point is, Steve lets it all hang out. Whether people take him seriously or not. Whether they laugh or not. Whether they tap their feet to his picking or scratch their chins to his philosophical pontifications.

“Here you go, check this out!”

I like to do lots of things. I like to write, to sing, to tell jokes and to act. I like to draw too and I try not to let the fact I’m not very good at it stop me sketching the odd (very odd?) doodle or damble.

Dang, a man’s creative output should not be limited by narrow boundaries of what fits your brand!

Over the years, inspired by my constant need for graphic design (CD covers, flyers for gigs, posters for plays and last year my first book cover) I’ve ignored my self-critical voice—the one that reminds me of my lack of formal training—and have added pixel manipulation to my palette of imagination realization colors.

Recently, when I saw all those ‘ironic profession’ jpegs flying around the Facebook I came up with one of my own for Steve Martin. It’s simple, maybe a bit funny but most importantly I had fun doing it. And so I wanted to share it.

Here.

What about you? Do you struggle with issues of brand? How do you market your multi-talents?

War is over if you want it.

First spoken, written and advertised (!) in 1969 these simple, powerful and resonant words continue to inspire people all around the world. Yoko Ono gives them away. You can download a poster with these words in almost any language HERE at Yoko’s website. She encourages you to use these words and go forth and spread the message any way you like.

War is over if you want it.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon put these words into song many years ago. Yoko’s still singing. These days she uses the web and social media to share her music and though the media may change the message stays the same:

War is over if you want it.

I feel a bit vulnerable/silly/hippy saying it but I kind of feel everything I do is in some way an effort towards creating or finding peace. Unlike the beauty contestant though, I’ve probably given up on campaigning for ‘World Peace’. I think my focus is better put on myself rather than others; what can I do to be less hypocritical, judgemental or aggressive (passive counts) in my personal life, in my everyday exchanges and in my own family. As such, these days I wage a mostly silent campaign, one I hope can one day end the conflict between opposing forces each are sure are right, two forces in near constant battle, two forces within me. Today I’ll remind myself again:

War is over if you want it.

In my peace efforts—in my quest to find a balance between my inner impulse to create (breathe life) and a reptilian instinct to destroy (criticize/attack/kill)—I use the ‘weapon’ I’ve had most success with: words. I write every day. And when I write I find, as another writer did—and so eloquently put it, “my mind is no longer a nest of scorpions”, Edward St Aubyn.

Writing allows me to express—when I do it well—the internal conflicts manifested as external reality, the infinite loop of thought-word-action-experience I believe spiritual masters of every religion have been addressing when they’ve been reported as saying things like:

“The Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke, Jesus, Tolstoy)

“With our thoughts we make the world.” (Buddha)

“War is over if you want it.” (John and Yoko)

But then there are others who say war is part of life, death is part of life, violence is part of life. Maybe they are right? Maybe death does give life meaning and maybe violence gives peace its power?

Or maybe not?

Maybe as a race we are still learning? Maybe humanity is simply still evolving and part of that evolution involves going through this period (Kali Yuga?) when as a group—as a planet—we manifest the experience of ‘MIGHT is right’, ‘only the STRONG survive’ and, as George Orwell said in his prophetic work, 1984, ‘war IS peace’.

War is peace? They’re kidding aren’t they?

So for now, maybe a majority of planet Earth’s humanity will accept this media supported, cruel inversion that convinces righteous folk everywhere that some people deserve to die so others can offer those deaths as a sacrifice to the one true God. But perhaps it won’t always be like this? Perhaps not forever will we believe the lie that killing innocent people for oil or real estate is in anyway peaceful.

War is over if you want it.

Peace.

* How about you? Do you think war is a natural expression of man’s need to dominate others in order to feel safe? Or is there another way? A peaceful way?

(Or ‘How Giving Away Your eBook Can Make You Money’)

Last year, after deciding to publish my debut novel independently, I learned from experience how there are many decisions to make when publishing a book. From finding an editor to choosing your final book-jacket design, every stage from manuscript to barcoded shop-stocked finished product required a choice—and taking action on that choice. Of all the choices I made there was one I deliberated on more than almost any other: how much to charge for my ebook version?

“I don’t know?” I said to myself. “If you want people to buy the paperback version you better not make the digital version too low though.”

So, ignoring the logic that I myself probably wouldn’t pay the same price for a digital copy as I would for a paperback (or hardback) copy I initially put my novel on Amazon for the same retail price as the paperback, $29.99. After about three seconds I realized it was a bit silly (dumb; stupid; greedy) to expect people to pay the same as they would for the physical copy so I dropped the price to $19.99. Then, after about eight months of 1-10 sales per month I dropped it even further, to $9.99.

Can you guess where this is going?

That’s right. Last week I put the price down again, this time to $2.99.

Since getting into the eBook game I’ve been flying by the seat of my own pants. I was, therefore, understandably excited when I read a post by Seth Godin on the subject of eBook pricing that made instant and complete sense to me. In his post (HERE) Seth basically points out a new model for pricing eBooks, one that has you STARTING off your book at $0.00 and moving incrementally up before hitting a peak of $15.00, then eventually settling back around $7.00.

But as much sense as Seth’s argument made to me, when it came to me actually giving my blood, sweat and tears-in-the-form-of-my-novel away for free, I still dragged my feet. Until yesterday. Yesterday I had an epiphany which came to me in the form of a question I asked myself:

Have you ever watched a movie on TV?

“Of course I have, Ben. What is this a ‘dumb question of the day’ post?”

Hold your horses, Mitchell. There’s more to this question…

Have you ever watched a movie on TV you had wanted to see at the cinema but for whatever reason missed catching on the big screen?

“Umm, let me see—YES! Who hasn’t! That’s dumb question number two, boyo. Sometimes a little thing called ‘life’ gets in the way of my plans to see every blockbuster I’d like to down my local multiplex.”

Yes, well then, crabby alter-ego-self, since you, me and probably everyone who has ever sat in the dark under the light of a towering silver screen has, at many other ‘some points’, watched a new movie on the old idiot box we have also shared in a growing modern trend:

Free Entertainment.

What I’m talking about is the increasingly common (it seems to me—and I’m sure there’s stats somewhere to back up my ‘seems to me’) expectation we should be able to get our entertainment for free. We want laughs, tears and moving moments for nadda. Zilcho.

Not one pretty penny.

The television has taught us if we wait long enough almost everything worth watching (and a lot not) will come around for free. What’s more these days you don’t even have to wait. You can, if you’re so inclined, download illegal versions of movies that are STILL AT the cinemas.

Now, I’m not advocating ripping anyone off, and I’ve never used any of those Torrent-y things personally, but I hear you can get million-dollar blockbuster movies (and latest release albums) for free, if you want to buck (‘buck’—very funny, Ben) the system.

Why, therefore, should books be any different?

They’re not. Because it’s not just movies and music many are getting for nothing, if you do even a little bit of digging around on the internet you can come up with a whole bunch of books without sending any moola the author, publisher or book retailers way.

Cool.

But is it? Is it really cool that readers are increasingly expecting to get my creative genius for free? As an author shouldn’t I be encouraging possible purchasers to, well, purchase? Isn’t it in my interest to DIS-courage piracy and devaluation of any and all artists work? In a word, yes. Yes, I want people to BUY my work and NO I don’t want my work to be ripped off.

But this is where the movie on the television experience comes back in.

When it comes to eBooks and giving them away for FREE (for a limited period) I think it’s just like watching a movie I really wanted to see—and would have been happy to pay for at the cinema but didn’t get around to—on television instead for free. Because, if I like the movie I may just become a fan for life. Then, when I talk about the movie with others who may not have even heard of it I become a salesman, genuinely energised and enthusiastic. Though I saw the movie for free my ‘word of mouth’ transfers my interest; I have subsequently created interest in another where there was none before. Then my friend might just go down to the local video store and hire the DVD. If I really rave about it my friend might even BUY the DVD.

And finally the writers of that movie will get their share of income.

My feeling is the same thing is happening with ebooks and books. Recently I downloaded a couple of free eBooks, read and enjoyed them, and am now going to purchase a paperback version of at least one of those freebies. I bet other readers have similar stories too (feel free to comment)?

So now, unlike when I first published my eBook (and paperback) last year, thanks to my own experience and other’s advice I think I ‘get’ the whole ebook pricing thing a lot better. As such I’m about to apply some of Seth Godin’s eBook pricing principles, along with some great hints from David Gaughran’s posts (THIS ONE is about why giving away free books is a good thing; THIS ONE is about the importance of popularity on Amazon) and jump in with a FREE eBook promo on my novel, The Last Great Day.

For FIVE days only from Saturday 24^th March to Wednesday 28^th March you can have my novel for nothing. So if there’s no movie worth watching on TV tonight (and if you want to make sure you read the book of The Last Great Day before you see the movie) go download your copy and enjoy.

On me.

It’s free!

Here is the linked eFlyer for The Last Great Day ‘Early Easter Ebook Promotion‘.

One family's journey from a doomsday cult to freedom.

Then again if you’re comfortable setting your sights on the full cool mill’ here it is: $1,000,000 for YOU…

At this resolution a million bucks looks like a kinda’ nondescript pattern—a table cloth or wallpaper maybe? Perhaps that’s a helpful way to think about such a large figure of money? As I said before, a lot of anything is just a small amount of something replicated many times.

Dig?

And your first million bucks has already started to accumulate in your pocket or purse because, of course, it all starts with a single dollar.

And a single thought.

What do you think?

Warm Soft Cash

Do you believe in the power of the subconscious mind? If so, do you ever use affirmations to send conscious messages to that part of your mind?

If your answer is “Yes” then you’ll probably already be repeatedly saying or writing out something like the opening line above the picture of one thousand dollars in warm, soft cash. Here it is again:

“A large sum of cash has just dropped into my lap.”

If you are doing abundance affirmations maybe you’re already seeing results too? Maybe more money than you’ve previously attracted is now starting to show up in your life?

“More money than ever before is now showing up in my life.”

If, on the other hand, you don’t believe in the manifestation powers of your own mind and believe instead that some external force is responsible for your current situation maybe you would like to read a couple of books I’ve had the good fortune to stumble upon (even before StumbleUpon came along) and one I’ve only recently discovered.

They just might change your mind.

But before I tell you about those three great books I’d like to share a bit about me and money. I must first tell you I am only a student of money manifestation. While I have managed to manifest small and large sums ($200,000 in one pop my biggest expected unexpected pay-day to date) I’m still learning about the mind n’ money connection.

And maybe I will always be learning about how reality starts in the brain, deep inside, deep down; some place where imagination begins.

Now, before you worry this is a Disney sponsored post about how all your dreams can come true—don’t. While I do believe in the unlimited capacity of man to create I have also experienced first hand what limitation and limited thought manifests. Namely: not much fun.

But I have experienced some cool stuff too. And when I look back on all the good things that have ‘happened’ ‘to me’ (sorry, couldn’t resist bringing attention to the erroneous idea of humans as only passive receivers of life—instead of the transmitters or instigators of it all) I realize everything good started with a thought.

When I couldn’t yet play guitar and dreamt of doing so (and long before I could get my hands around a G-chord or my mind around a blues pentatonic scale) I IMAGINED myself on stage and performing to an appreciative audience.

Then one day my imagination came true.

When in high school I first had the idea it would be fun to be an actor on stage and screen, and long before I had the training or experience needed to get the big TV and theatre gigs, I began VISUALIZING myself performing and travelling the world.

Then one day my visualization became real.

And when my writing career evolved beyond writing songs and plays to include becoming a novelist I again tuned into the power of creating a picture of what my finished book would look like and how it would appear sitting on the shelf in the Number One Best-seller position to make that happen.

And for one day I did make it happen. My novel was the best-seller in one store for one day!

And it’s still selling…

But of course whether or not you consider my modest worldly success as ‘Success’ —with a big ’S’—depends on who you compare me (and—by default—yourself!) to. I agree there are many much more successful actors, singer-songwriters and novelists than myself but there are also many would-be actors, would-be singer-songwriters and would-be novelists who never got close to achieving their dreams.

At least some of my dreams have come true. Not all—not yet, but some. I guess I am somewhere in the middle. But I am ready to aim even higher now and get more focussed than ever before on manifesting my dream life.

As such I am once again returning to the most basic creative block of all: thought. And in thinking about my thoughts I have been helped by many wonderful books by authors living and dead. As I work on money manifestation I keep reading and practicing. That’s why I bought my second copy of Stuart Wilde’s great ‘money’ book, The Little Money Bible; it’s why I have highlighted many passages from The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D Wattles and it’s why I am currently reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

What I have learned so far is while each of these inspirational texts approaches wealth creation from slightly different angles they all share a basic philosophy which might be summed up thus:

Money is good. You deserve to have as much money as you are comfortable receiving but exactly how much you make depends on your willingness and ability to concentrate on GIVING to the world by doing something which you can put your whole heart into. Furthermore it is vital to guard against negative thoughts which only confuse your subconscious mind: visualize what you want, write out what you want, then GIVE MORE of yourself than you ever have before in attracting what you want. 

Simple. Yes?

I think so. But I’m still reading. And I’m still learning; still affirming abundance is natural.

:)

Stay tuned for an upcoming post where I’ll ‘give away’ ONE MILLION DOLLARS to everyone—and anyone—who wants it. Until then here are links to three great books on wealth creation:

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D Wattles

The Little Money Bible by Stuart Wilde

Have a lovely day!

x

HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED AN UNEXPECTED WINDFALL? HAS A LARGE SUM OF CASH RECENTLY TURNED UP IN  YOUR LIFE? PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT.