Updates Available…

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A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, authors, Horror, humanity, Manage your content and devices, nonfiction, novel, photos, Short stories, The DiVacci Curse, To Sleep in the Ground, updates

First things first…

I hope that everyone is coping with the pandemic and that lives are being saved by compliance to the worldwide lockdowns.

No offense or disrespect is intended, but I thought that since things seem to be settling down a bit in some areas of the world, and some countries are over their peaks of mass infection, that maybe it was acceptable to post some new info about my books.

Amazon.com has informed me that free updates are available for all three of my e-books.  In order to access the updates, readers who purchased my books in the past can go to their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page in their Amazon account to download the updated and most recent version.  I assume (you know what happens when we do that) that the updates will translate to all Amazon versions of my books no matter what country they were purchased from.  If you have information to the contrary, or would like to chime in with any comments about the updates, then I would be more than grateful and open to them.  Unfortunately, as of the date of this post, the updates are not available for anyone who purchased my books from Amazon.jp here in Japan where I live.  Sorry about that.  I hope it changes.  Perhaps it just takes time for word to spread throughout the entire Amazon kingdom.  That is completely understandable considering the current situation.

As mentioned in previous posts, after I published my first novel, I revisited both my nonfiction book and my short story.  Basic technical changes were made, but I made no changes to the stories.  I just updated and improved the appearance, format and user-friendliness of the books.  I changed some of the front matter to back matter, and made the layout and flow more consistent across all three books.  I also reformatted the photos in my March 11, 2011 nonfiction book among other changes.  I feel that the changes make for a much better reading experience overall.

The free updates are my gift to the readers of my books.  Thank you all very much.  I hope that you will enjoy the improvements.  For those of you who have not yet read my books, then be assured that you will be getting the most current editions and the best possible reading experience that I can offer at this time.  Thank you for your future patronage.

Again, please forgive my selfish post at such a difficult time as this.

I ask your continued prayers for the world.  We are all in this together regardless of gender, race, religion, creed, political ideology, socioeconomic status or income.  Hang in there, everybody.

 

 

 

 

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Happy New Year, an Important Notice and an Update!

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authors, book, editing, illustration, important notice, new, Progress, Publishing, revising your unpublished e-book, update, writing

Happy New Year!  I hope that 2019 began well for everyone.

I’ll first get the formalities out of the way.

Officially, this blog, Brad’s Books, is no longer a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.  All product links associated with the program have been removed from this blog.  Although, products that may be available for purchase on Amazon, that is, books and movies, etc. may still be mentioned in this blog.  However, no links or banners to, or images of, these products will be provided; only information about the products may be available in this blog in the form of recommendations, reviews, etc.

The images and links for the books that I have written, as they appear on the My Books page of this blog, will remain, since they are not affiliated with the Amazon Associates Program.  Thank you for your cooperation and for understanding.

O.k., with that out of the way, I would like to happily let everyone know that the prices for my non-fiction e-book and my fiction e-short story have dropped.  I feel that the new price adjustments are more appropriate and will hopefully make my books more appealing, and will encourage, not discourage, potential readers.  Amazon still reserves the right to fluctuate the pricing, but the new price points, in general, are quite lower than before.  Thank you for your consideration.  “Yoroshiku, onegaishimasu!” as the Japanese say.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m closer than ever to finishing my first novel!  A pair of eyes, other than my own, are now reading the story and critiquing it.  I am getting very positive feedback from the source, who is also making some wonderful suggestions about how I can improve the overall readability and flow of the book, (chapter arrangement, etc.).  It’s valuable insight that is much appreciated.

Year-End Update

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Amazon, authors, book, Buddhist, Christian, Happy New Year, Holidays, Japan, Merry Christmas, Progress, Publishing, Shinto, Short stories, writing

Well, it’s been a whirlwind end to the year here in Japan.

I haven’t been able to pay as much attention to finishing my novel as I had hoped, but I manage to chip away at it here and there when breaks in daily life and work allow.  Alas, my self-imposed year-end deadline for publication will not be met.  On the bright side, my school will be closed for the New Year’s holiday, so hopefully I’ll have a few days, at least, to fuss over the book.

I’m happy to announce that I have reduced the price of both my non-fiction e-book, and my fiction e-short story on Amazon.  Amazon still reserves the right to fluctuate the pricing, give or take, however.  You can access direct links for both books from this blog.

New Year’s is a big deal here in Japan.  Many businesses will be closed for several days on average, starting on or around New Year’s Eve.

My school is open today, Christmas day, because Christmas day is a regular business day here in Japan.  Less than 1% of the population of Japan is Christian.  Most are Shinto and Buddhist, so the Japanese celebrate Christmas differently than the west.  It’s strictly a secular celebration here with no religious meaning.

Please have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Best wishes for a safe, happy, healthy and peaceful 2019.

Brad

The Paralympic Games: Emotional, Motivational and Inspirational!

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appreciation, athletes, authors, Brave, Challenging, compassion, Courageous, Emotional, hope, humility, Inspirational, March 9-18, Motivational, Paralympics, PyeongChang Paralympic Games, respect, sympathy, The 2018 Paralympic Games, tolerance, writers, writing

As many writers know, inspiration for writing can come from anywhere.  Of course, finding inspiration for new story ideas can be tough.  Maintaining motivation and inspiration for stories we may be currently writing isn’t easy either.  It can be a two-way street.  Writing is challenging.  Becoming a successful writer is even more challenging.

I encourage everyone to watch the 2018 Paralympic Games from Pyeongchang, South Korea from March 9th to the 18th if you can.

When we watch the Olympics, we all cheer and support the athletes from our respective countries, but with the Paralympics nationality doesn’t matter.  All of the Paralympic athletes are winners and heroes regardless of whether they win a medal or not.  They remind us of our common humanity, rather than our individual nationality.

The challenges they face on a daily basis, in other words the day-to-day tasks that many of us take for granted, are beyond comprehension.  Factor in the effort that it takes for them to make it to the Paralympics in spite of those daily challenges, and it is a truly remarkable achievement.