It has been free for years and gets downloaded between 25-30 times a month and that usually leads to about 5-8 Bangkok Wet sales.
So the question for me is by reintroducing a price for the book, how much does it kill, or not, that 25-30 people that get into the books with the overflow of 25-40% that continue in the series?
So sort of an experiment. If it completely tanks the readership then it might become free again. We will see.
This site has existed in one form or another since 2010, fifteen years and been destroyed twice only to arise from the ashes or whatever constitutes ashes in a digital world.
I like being able to type my thoughts out and have them on display for the world to read – especially gratifying when you hit over sixty and start to feel like you became invisible all of a sudden. A non-entity, past it. Yep. There’s been more than a bit of that. And it is not nice.
First time ever, as a previously privileged white man, I got a taste of what it is like to be in a minority. To be excluded because you match a certain demographic; at first you think, nah, that’s not happening, right? I mean, really, no, really. Oh wow, as realization sinks in that this ageism is incredibly real.
Hit 60 and you’re fucking dead – that’s about the size of it folks so get creative because from a career perspective unless you are super lucky, you are screwed up the yazoo – for sure.
So what are you going to do? Well, depends on your situation. Mine is not so great, so my solution is write shitloads of books because that is a skill I have that does not cost a lot of money to invest and can get a great return if I do a good job. But it will take time, my plans are between 12 to 24 months out from now, because writing books but more importantly a backlog of books takes time.
I’m very lucky right now, because I have kind of a cool job – demanding but cool, where the owners of the company are real people who understand what it is to be poor and to fight for something better in life. I hope one day soon to write about the owner of the company I work for because his story is amazing and inspirational; more on that in future episode.
So, yes, for me, right now I am lucky because I met someone who appreciates experience and likes senior people because of the work ethic (a true and real thing: boomer love to work).
Back to writing…. here’s the kicker – they’ve got to be good books – interesting and worth reading, original, well-written, character-driven, solid novels. tbc.
You cannot just write any old shit and think that’s going to work – nope, not that easy – this is real work, forge good worlds, and stories, make it real. Make people feel it, resonate.
So that’s me and I appreciate not you – what can I say. Get very creative. Can you cook? Can you fix shit? Can you landscape? (everyone can mow a lawn right?). The world is going to get more dystopian before it will get utopian, that’s almost a given.
One thing I can share, is being honest and transparent with those you love, even when that really hurts, is a good way to go, and that forgiveness, kindness, and acceptance of who people are, and loving them for what they are, foibles, and all, is just an easier way to live, and love through life.
This is a lesson hard learnt, one I’ve wasted some years, and some time I truly regret where I could have been there for people I love that were going through a rough time, but because of whatever bullshit I was dealing with, I ignored their stuff with some nice convenient excuse for myself.
So yeah, deal with that. I find guilt transferred into action of kindness, reaching out, being nice, saying, yeah I was wrong, because I was – and it is okay to be wrong, is a good way to go because you’ll feel better. I’ve been doing a bunch of this lately, people I had serious issues with, but just letting it all go and reaching out and saying, “How are you doing, man, how’s life treating you?” Simple, but really effective at breaching that gap in time in relationship.
Sometimes I can sense distrust and wariness, but that’s okay, better than silence and ignorance. A start in the direction of reconciliation of whatever grievance is better than just maintaining the grievance.
Just thoughts.