Summer Books - The Best Books this Summer

The summer is a time when many people are looking forward to their vacation and a little bit of time to relax and chill out. And what better way is there to relax and chill out than settling down with a good book to read?

But now you may have a problem, with so many new books entering the arena, especially with the take off of independent publishers using Amazon to self publish, what books do you go for?

There are of course always the Top Ten Best Selling Books in the UK. Of which incidentally the Millennium Trilogy is still featuring very heavily. Not the first one 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' , it's the second and third that are still doing rather well. 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest' and 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' are at the time of writing in the UK top ten listing, not bad for an author that actually died before even the first of his trilogy books was actually published.

Then of course there is the 'The Hunger Games Trilogy, another set of books that is selling rather well. You can't knock it, if they are selling well they are very likely worth a look.

If you really need to, and you're not prepared to take a risk, then you can of course find the Amazon Best Sellers List here and choose from a whole host of different best selling books in different genres.

But what about a few new authors, some of the unknown out there that haven't quite got to the level where they are having a film made about their book or having it turned into a Broadway production. Funnily enough there are actually some really good authors that hardly get their head above the parapet, but are very very competent writers. I am going to start the ball rolling with a few I know of and I am inviting others to do the same. Get your unknowns KNOWN right here by adding them to the Amazon voting Plexo.

Why not give your favourite 'UNKNOWNS' a thumbs up and see if they can be helped to a position where they might even be featured on those best seller lists above.

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Image Courtesy of PhotoXpress

You will never hear those words spoken by a miner, Margaret Thatcher was the Nemesis of the trade union movement and none more so than the national union of miners. I can't say I was a complete fan either as you can read in my article about Maggie the Iron Lady, but my emotions never reached the level of those that could be described as hate. In fact in a way I had a begrudging respect for her, I have no doubt that the policies she pushed through had a detrimental effect on the industry I was in, but I think everyone knew something had to be done. The country was, without fear of contradiction, going to the dogs and a strong leader was required. So whether you agreed with her policies or not, she was definitely a strong leader.

So here it is your chance to share your favourite Unknown or Relatively Unknown author. The objective is to get them a much needed leg up on their way to best seller status with one or more of the big book distributors.

Fiction, non-fiction, reference or funny, doesn't matter what it is as long as you are prepared to endorse it you can add it and vote for it. Only one book per author please, just make it your favourite author and his or her best book.

Is it content or promotion?

There are so many aspiring and accomplished authors out there that firmly believe once they have written their book that it will sell itself. Unfortunately this is rarely the case, there will always be an exception to the rule but more typically if an author does not take steps to promote their books they will probably not sell enough books to keep a relatively robust mouse fed. The reason is clear for any that care to look and it is down to competition and marketing.

The most gifted authors in the world will not sell their books unless they either arrange for marketing to be done on their behalf or are prepared to promote, promote and promote again. There will be those that tell you that if you get the content of a book right it will sell itself. But nothing sells itself, or at least not initially. Great content will eventually build its own momentum once enough people have found it and are prepared to share that discovery. But if no-one finds it, reads it and tells other people about it, then there is a good chance a great book will languish at the bottom of the rankings pile for ever and a day.

Another problem of course is that an author can, when newly published, be consumed with an overwhelming enthusiasm to tell everyone they meet how wonderful their new book is. They tell people what it costs, where they can buy it, how long it took them to write, how many pages there are, what sort of paper it was printed on or which digital format is was constructed in. When people try to tell them what they have been doing, they don't hear a word. No they are new authors and the world needs to know.

The above I am afraid isn't marketing or promoting, it is training people to run for the hills as soon as they see the silhouette of the guilty authors, be that actually or virtually. Marketing a book, over the Internet at least, requires a level of subtlety, a method of putting out social signals that say I am here, I am interested in you and when you are ready I may have something of my own to share that you might have an interest in. All you need to do is ask.

They also need to get to grips with the mighty Google and its cohorts, understand how Google finds a book and then deciphers what has been written in the book so that they can say to an enquirer, with confidence, 'this might be what you are looking for'. They also need to know what the enquirers are actually looking for. The breeding rituals of a Mongoose may be something as an author you are fascinated by and are able to write about in great detail, but the chances of that becoming a best seller are likely to be fairly remote. No disrespect to the Mongoose by the way and if that is what someone wants to write about and are passionate about, then more power to their arm. Just don't build up false expectations about how many will sell.

Actually if you do keyword research for the mongoose term you will find the best recommended alternative is tasmanian devil breeding, and around 390 people per month in the whole world search on that subject. My point made I think.

I think I probably need to end this little rant now, it is supposed to be about finding a good book to read after all. So this is my final flurry, honestly. If as an author you want to be a publisher of your own books, you need to look beyond just writing it, as difficult as that can sometimes be, and into the world of book promotion and marketing which, of course, needs to be done properly and professionally. Even the basics need thinking about, if you just stop and think there will be things you intuitively know you need to do, even if you are somewhat resistant to do it. Like having an author profile on line somewhere for example.

Oh and the answer to the question above about 'content and promotion' is that it's both. But in the meantime, this facility is here and available to be used. One small piece in a big puzzle, but it's a start.

Apologies to anyone just looking for a book to read, but there are plenty of those as well and if really good authors can market their books well, then readers will have even more choice.

A little inside help from someone who has been there and done it sometimes help.

Has the introduction of self publishing through major retailers such as Amazon resulted in a massive drop in standards for published books?

High society living, African safaris, murder mystery and intrigue all wrapped up in a contemporary romance. What more could you ask for.

The 12 districts that surround the capital of Panem have been punished for an earlier uprising. The punishment is to send one of their young every year to fight to the death on live TV. The only option is kill or be killed

An examination of animism and indigenous people through the medium of fiction. The setting however was at a time when there was real conflict and real event s that affected many people who were far from home and sought solace in the arms of the women they found and fell in love with.

Markham's next novel is a Soldier's Story of military adventure in Hong Kong and he Oceanic regions of Australia. Find out more via this link.

The Tuscan cats go on a summer holiday in the Italian countryside, what better topic it there than this for recommended summer reading, especially for children and cat lovers alike.

When your brother dies in what appears to be a tragic domestic accident, but you know he would not have been doing what he was supposed to have been doing when he died! You would smell a rat wouldn't you?

Frank Armstrong did and before he knew it, he was up to his neck in political murders and corrupt policemen. But he knew he had to do what he could to bring his brother's murderers to justice. No matter what sort of justice that was; vigilante or otherwise.