International Book Fairs 2019
Blogging / February 19, 2019

It is always a great thing when somebody curates an exhaustive list of information. I was recently made aware of a very thoroughly researched list of (nearly) every international book fair held in 2019. You missed some already, but there are plenty to come! Check the infographic below or see the entire list (including some detail information) here. The blog also covers many ebook and writing/publishing related topics. It is run by Kotobee, and ebook creation and publishing software provider. Enjoy!

Blog Highlights of 2018
Blog News , Blogging , Review / January 15, 2019

A good 4% of 2019 have already passed, so it’s about time to have a look back to 2018! I managed to review 14 books (which, annoyingly, is one less than 2017). I managed to gain more readers (thank you so much, how do you keep finding me?). I managed to not break the site, although a lot of improvements didn’t happen. I still have a lot of plans for the site, but plans are cheap. Maybe this year? Best book reviewed in 2018 There were three books with the highest rating for this year, The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Thinking in Bets. All were important readings for me, all are somewhat controversial. My best book reviewed this year is Thinking in Bets, as it manages to use the simple concept of betting against yourself in ingenious ways to improve decision making. Recently in the news I read that bookmakers and betters are a lot better and faster in predicting election results than polls are. They lose money if they are wrong. Best book published in 2018 Well, obviously this is Thinking in Bets again, so let’s talk about the honorable second place which is…

How not to ask for a review of your new book
Blog News , Blogging / February 27, 2018

I’m getting requests for reviews by newcomer authors lately, and it flatters me. I won’t deny that. I also get a lot of spam request from inexpensive promotion agencies.  Those hacks take money from aspiring authors with promises of marketing their book to the world. And then do nothing but contact whatever blog they have on their without any consideration. I’m just saying, maybe get a better deal, new authors. Then there are review request by people I refer to as “authors”, who clearly lack any talent, self-reflection or interpersonal skill. “Authors” that firmly believe their message is so important that it justifies ignoring polite manners and other people’s beliefs or preferences. I’d like to share an example, remeber – this woman claims to be a writer: “HELLO IM A MICHIGAN CHIRSTAIN WRITER HERE INDRODUC ING MYSELF AND WORK MY BOOK IS THE LEGACY OF CHIRST . IT IS A GENERAL REFERANCE BOOK THAT BEGINS WITH AN OVER VIEW OF CHIRST LIFE BUT GETS INTO THE CONTENT OF HIS LEGACY . I WAS WONDERING IF YOU BE INTERRETED IN REVIEWING” I counted twelve grammar and spelling errors so far, the composition is bad and for some reason she thought it…

Blog Highlights of 2017
Blog News , Blogging , Review / January 7, 2018

Yay, one year of excellent reviews! Well, technically, this blog is less than one year old, but I think I started early enough to have a year-end conclusion of 2017 already. In 2017 I read and rated 15 books, and posted two special reviews, as well as two additional articles. I reached an average of more than one view per day, which is in tune with my efforts at promoting this blog. At least I now repost my reviews on goodreads.com. For the next year I aim for more of everything: more content, more books, more buzz, more growth. Let’s see how well that goes! But first, you’re in for the obligatory best-of section.   Best book reviewed in 2017: That’s a very easy choice: How to Win Friends and Influence People is probably my favourite non-fiction book of all time. This is easily the single most valuable book I have read in my life. Pretty much every tip Carnegie gives can be applied immediately, in uncountable situations. I learned from this book how to understand and relate to other people better, and have much more satisfying social interactions ever since. Best book published in 2017: Barking up the wrong…

Special Review – Kickstarter Roundup October 2017
Blogging , Special Review / October 30, 2017

It’s time for a special review, where I have a look at other media, and this time I want to talk about crowdfunding. I did support some projects in the past, so I wanted to look into Kickstarter.com,  the biggest crowdfunding website, to see if there are some interesting books to be found. For those of you who don’t know what crowdfunding is, here is a short introduction. A creator initiates a project by opening a project page on Kickstarter (or another crowdfunding platform). There, he or she presents a pitch and every information that they think will get people to fund (“back”) their project. The backers decide if they want to pledge some money, to receive rewards. These rewards usually come in tiers, where a higher pledge means a better reward. Typical reward tiers range from adding the backer to a mailing list (for a very low amount of money pledged) over the thing that the project is about (like a pair of shoes or a book or tickets for a performance) to special editions, meetings with the creators and other goodies at a higher price. The creator will get the backers money if, and only if, the specified…

Are Preorder Bonuses for Books a Good Thing?
Blogging / October 13, 2017

I already mentioned that I’m a big fan of Dilbert. Creator Scott Adams is apparently in the process of writing a new book called Win Bigly – Persuasion in a World where Facts don’t Matter. I do not really care about Adams’ non-Dilbert activities (especially not his political campaigning), I do not read his blog and I know absolutely nothing about the book, but recently a post headline got my attention. Adams is offering a bonus chapter to people who preordered the book. At a first glance this is just a nice addition for his fans. On a second thought, however, I am appalled by this and preorder culture in general. We have seen this before with video games, that are absolutely pestered by this. Loads of content that should just be in a game is held hostage in an opaque system of editions, preorder bonuses and future paid additions (that can of course also be preordered and have their own preorder bonuses). All designed to make the customer fork over their money as soon as possible, months or even years before they can expect even a glimpse of the promised goods. With ebooks and digital distribution steadily on the…

Book Bias
Blogging / June 22, 2017

There are a lot of books out there that claim to make you successful. Let’s discuss if there is actually some merit to this. A little guide how to use self-help success books, if you will. Most books go “Our research shows that successful people do X!” and “Successful people attribute their success to Y!” – and now I am going to explain why there is a crucial and fundamental difference between those two premises. Let’s talk about biases in books, shall we? Imagine there was a book where successful persons get asked for the foundation of their accomplishments. Actually, there is no need to imagine such a book. Now a majority of the interviewed people claim said the main contribution to their success comes from getting up very early in the morning, way before 05:00 AM. Would it be a logical conclusion that rising early is a key factor to success? If you said yes, then congratulations, you have just experienced survivorship bias. You think of successful guys and gals doing business before anyone else. You did not think of the millions of people that work the morning shift in the factory. People who drive the garbage truck around…