books | John Locke

06

Davy Jones Knew Curly’s Secret

John Locke posted on March 06, 2012

I don’t know what you thought when you heard Davy Jones died last week. Probably depends on your age. If you’re under 30, you never heard of him. If you’re in your 30’s, your mother had a crush on him. If you’re my age you felt older than you were before you heard the news. Like someone blew out another flame on the candles of your youth when you weren’t looking.

In the movie City Slickers, Curly (Jack Palance) and Mitch (Billy Crystal) are walking their horses, herding cattle.

Abruptly, Curly says, “You know what the secret of life is?”
Mitch says, “No, what?”
Curly holds up his index finger and says, “This.”
“Your finger?”
Curly says, “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.”
Mitch says, “That’s great, but…what’s the one thing?”
With a twinkle in his eyes, Curly says, “That’s what you’ve got to figure out!”

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Posted in: Best-Sellers, Fiction, Nook, Kindle, iPad, Self-Published Authors, Donovan Creed, Authors, ebooks, Kobo

Tagged with: John Locke, readers, writers, writing, blog posts, blogs, books, New York Times best selling author, Billy Crystal, blog, City Slickers, Davy Jones, entertainers, famous people, Jack Palance, movies, singers

04

An Army of Authors and Friends!

John Locke posted on February 04, 2012

Last year publishing houses wanted to buy rights to my next four Creed books. A possible couple million for books I planned to write anyway? Talk about validation and prestige! There’d be talk shows, newspaper reviews, feature articles in major publications!

Heady stuff, even for an old war horse like me.

But I said no. I’m proud to be an independent author, proud to be self-published. Those who remember me from my first tweet in late 2009 will tell you I’ve always believed in self-published authors, always believed we could compete with industry giants. They’ll tell you I always supported indie authors by tweeting news and buying books. In some cases I bought three, four, and even five indie books at a time, announced contests, and paid to ship these books to the winners, to help indies gain not just readers, but also much-needed reviews.

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Posted in: Adventure, Best-Sellers, epublishing, Fiction, Nook, Kindle, Smashwords, Self-Published Authors, Authors

Tagged with: John Locke, indie, Kobo, readers, reading, Reading Groups, writers, writing, books, airport bookstores, Barnes & Noble, bookstores, entertainment, independent authors, indie authors, mass market paperbacks, mystery, paperback books, thriller, Wal-Mart, Walgreens

21

Need Your Advice!

John Locke posted on November 21, 2011

You know I have the utmost respect for your time, right? That’s why I only publish a few posts a year and keep them short. I usually tell you about things I’ve learned or people I love. Sometimes I tell you odd things that happened to me.

This time I need your advice.

As an author, I’m a “push the envelope” type of person. I like to shake things up. I think the worst thing an author can be is boring or predictable, so I created a new series about a former kidnap victim. I wrote two books. The first is present day, where 24-year-old Dani Ripper is a private investigator who searches for missing kids. Nine years ago she was kidnapped by a serial killer/rapist who held her captive in his basement for a month. Obviously, bad things happened in the basement. By using her wits and courage, Dani eventually managed to escape.

Tagged with: John Locke, authors, Call Me, ebooks, hostage, Kidnapping, marketing, selling books, writers, writing, blog posts, blogs, books, New York Times best selling author, best selling books, escape, New York Times best selling books, top selling books

22

Lower Your Expectations? Really?

John Locke posted on June 22, 2011

Traditional publishers and even some successful indie authors are publicly saying how hard it is for self-published authors to succeed. They say most will never sell 100 ebooks, and only a small percent will sell 10,000. Self-published authors are being told to “be realistic” and “lower your expectations.”

Really? What type of advice is that?

Sure, there are obstacles out there, but that’s true in any endeavor. Is it simple to write a best seller? No. But can you do it? Yes, absolutely!

The world makes it hard enough for you to be successful, so you’re not going to see me piling on the negativity! Let others talk about the mountains. I’ll show you where the tunnels are! Others can talk about the raging rivers, I’ll point you toward the bridges! Yes, there are roadblocks in the land of self-publishing, but there are super highways, too.

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