A blog that isn't about gravy or Def Leppard.
December 9, 2011 Leave a Comment
Exciting news, me-fans. My incredible book, The Best of The World Of Sherby: Vol 1, now has a 5 star rating on Amazon! Wow! There’s also an emotional, heartfelt review of the book, it’s almost as if I wrote it myself….
Why not check out the review for yourself:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-World-Sherby57-1/dp/1445742187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323429954&sr=8-1
October 25, 2011 1 Comment
iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners rejoice!! My book, the seminal The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1, is now available on iBooks! I know. I bet you can barely contain your excitement.
It’s available for the bargain price of just £1.99 by clicking here.
Non-iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners don’t despair! The book is available for download in a non-Apple eBook format (for the same price) by clicking here.
People who don’t like eBooks because they like to feel a nice bit of paper between their greasy mitts, say “YEAH!” You can still buy a real-life physical copy of my book on Amazon, by clicking here.
What’s it about? Well, here is the official blurb:
The World of Sherby57 is one of the most loved blogs on the whole of the internet. Well, it is to me because I wrote it. I can’t speak for anybody else.This book is a collection of the best posts from the first two years. They’ve mostly been rewritten so there is a point to buying the book and not just reading them online.Plus there is a new conclusion to the epic Fireheart! tale. Thrilling stuff. Read it today. Please.
See. I say “please”. You’ve literally not got an excuse not to buy a copy.
And won’t somebody please leave a review on Amazon or iTunes!! (Only positive comments need apply).
Thanks ever so much for listening.
December 17, 2010 Leave a Comment
Are you struggling to think of the ideal Christmas gifts for your nearest and dearest? Why not purchase them some officially-sanctioned Sherby57 merchandise?
For the measly sum of just £8.27, you could own your own copy of the fantastic book, The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1. It’s brilliant. I know that I might be a bit biased because I wrote it, but I once read it and pretended that I wasn’t me, and I thought it was amazing. Anyway, I assume that you’ve already got a copy of it, but why not get another for Sunday best?
When I asked an imaginary friend what they thought of it, they immediately said, “This is perhaps the best book that I’ve ever read. It’s literally changed me as a man, a woman, a mother, a father and a homunculus forever. I can’t thank you enough for bringing this wonderful work of literature, not only into my life, but giving it as a gift to the world. In the words of David Cassidy, ‘I think I love your book.’ (I’m paraphrasing).”
Remember, they’re not my words. They’re the words of an imaginary friend.
Perhaps reading isn’t enough for you. Maybe you like wearing clothes too. Sure, clothing is often frowned upon in today’s dog-eat-cat-eat-mouse world, but I’m not here to judge you and your fashionistic decisions.
If you do decide to plough on and wear stuff, why not look uber-chic-cool while you do it, and wear one of these t-shirts.
They’re pretty special, aren’t they? Who wouldn’t want to have Team Extreme or The Rutter emblazoned on their chest? Only morons and cretins, that’s who.
Anyway, I think there’s some kind of law in which you have to buy one or all of these products. Don’t blame me, I’m not the government (yet). So, you might as well get them as presents. Sure, it’s virtually guaranteed that they won’t arrive before Christmas, but you can always give the recipient a slip of paper detailing what they’ll be getting. They won’t mind waiting.
Happy shopping!
August 19, 2010 Leave a Comment
I’ve never really seen myself as a stubborn person, but as you’re reading another edition of Reading Habits, it seems that I’m actually as stubborn as a mule. You can probably gather by this statement that I’ve not had a sudden road to Damascus style transformation and started reading again. I’ve not even been to Damascus. I should probably just accept that I don’t read any more and that I’ve joined the massed ranks of philistines.
Never! I will never accept this! I’ll carry on saying that I enjoy reading until my dying breath, even if I never read another book. I certainly hope that I will read another book one day, but at this stage I’m far from convinced.
Anyway, in June I didn’t read any books, even though I only had 40 pages of a comic book to go. This constitutes the laziest I have ever been in my life and I feel totally ashamed. I did acquire a book through Bookmooch, though: The Complete Short Stories by Ian Rankin, which now means I own all of the Rebus stories. Whether or not I’ll ever read them all is another matter entirely.
Cover of Fool's Gold Volume 1
July saw me finally get around to reading those 40 remaining pages of Amy Reeder Hadley’s Fool’s Gold Volume 1. As I mentioned in June, I bought this on a complete whim and so I didn’t actually know what it was about. Perhaps I should have checked. Fool’s Gold is the story of a high school girl (who is a talented dressmaker) who forms a club to identify all the cocky boys in school (the Fool’s Gold of the title) and to all swear never to date these dicks.
Ahem. I think it’s safe to say that I’m not exactly the target demographic for this book. As such, I don’t feel at all able to give any opinion at all without sounding like either a) an old man or b) really creepy.
And that’s all the book news I have from the last two months. I’m pathetic.
Result: Match abandoned.
June 26, 2010 1 Comment
Sadly, I’m just completing Reading Habits as a formality again. I didn’t read any books in May. Would it be weird for me to go and see a hypnotherapist to get me to start reading again? I’m getting pretty desperate now. The bookcase full of unread books in my spare bedroom is starting to talk to me. It really hates my guts.
I did acquire one book in May. I was reading through the Comics news on DigitalSpy, which I read even though I’ve not bought a comic for years, and I read this story. It was about artist Amy Reeder Hadley being named as the new cover artist for Supergirl. Being totally out of the loop, I had no idea what Hadley’s work was like, so I did a quick google. I loved what I saw. I had a look on Amazon to see what books she had available, and spotted that her Fool’s Gold was available for about £3 delivered. It’s safe to say that I made an impulse buy. Perhaps I should have read what it was about first. Find out more next time.
P.s.
This month constituted a 1-0 reading defeat. Boo-hoo.
June 22, 2010 Leave a Comment
It’s been a while since I’ve bored you about my book, so you’re all way overdue. If you’re a new reader to my blogs then you’ve really missed out on the thrill of my book launch. These books are potential collectors items of the future, so make sure you buy your copy quickly. Obviously, there’s an overwhelming probability that they’re not going to be collectors items, but why take that risk?
In an attempt to make the purchasing of your copy easier, those good folks at Lulu.com are offering free shipping if you use the code: FREEGROUND305. Don’t delay, the offer runs out on the 30th June.
You can buy the book here:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-best-of-the-world-of-sherby57-volume-1/6558616
or, here:
Speaking of Amazon, they’ve still not published the 5-star review that I gave myself. This kind of suggests that they actually do read through all submitted reviews. They’re so mean to me. If anybody would like to give my book a lovely review then I’d be ever so grateful.
If you’ve no idea what my book is about, then have a read here.
May 26, 2010 10 Comments
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, I recently self-published a book based on my other blog, The World of Sherby57. Despite only selling two copies to people other than myself, it’s been an interesting experience. Mainly because it’s nice to have a real book with your own name on the front. I’m easily pleased, I know.
Well, today saw another exciting milestone in my life as a best-selling author, as the book is now available to buy on Amazon. In previous posts, we’ve already established that I’m fully aware that I am participating in vanity publishing, so I’m happy to say that my vanity has definitely been well and truly tickled by being available from the world’s largest book retailer. It sounds impressive to be able to tell people that I have something they can buy on Amazon. Hopefully they won’t then go on to ask how it’s selling.
Folks in the UK can check it out here:
Our American cousins can have a look at it here:
You can also, obviously, find it on the Amazon iPhone app. It gives me a special thrill that it’s available on an iPhone app. I’m very sad. Here’s a photo of my glory:
Anyway, if anyone would like to leave a (positive) review on either of the sites then I would be eternally grateful. Although it’s safe to say that most of you haven’t read the book, I think that if you’ve read my blog then you’re fully justified in writing a (positive) review on that basis. After all, we’ve all read reviews on Amazon by people who have seen a TV programme but not bought the DVD of that same programme. That’s only my own biased opinion, though.
You could also just buy the book. That would be great.
May 6, 2010 4 Comments
Exciting news! I have now sold a grand total of 2 copies of my book to people who are not me. I’m not sure what the rules are, but I’m pretty sure that I’m now allowed to use the phrase “best-selling author” on my CV. Genuine thanks go out to Joanne and Joe (aka JLS from Team Extreme) for actually bothering. I’m sure that you’ll both get your just rewards for being such fine, upstanding members of society. I do expect them both to write glowing reviews of the book that I can publish on here as testimonials. I also expect a similar review from Dr Angel who has her own copy of the wonderful work of literature. She earned her complimentary copy of the book by being the only person who’s ever shown any sustained interest in The World of Sherby57. I couldn’t have done it without her.
Anyway, enough with the sentimentality, let’s carry on with some more tedious book related news. It probably isn’t a good marketing technique to mention this, but I did learn something valuable about self-publishing with Lulu.com: make double sure that you’ve picked the most appropriate paper size for your book.
There are several options of book size on Lulu and I settled on “pocket” for no particular reason. Many of the sizes were so similar that I pretty much picked at random. However I had a few formatting problems when trying to upload my ‘manuscript’ to the web-site and so, out of frustration, I decided to re-format from a different template. I picked A5, simply because it was the one I had heard of. Luckily, this time I was able to upload and publish successfully.
However, at a later date, I was browsing on Lulu and spotted a book with a similar number of pages to mine that was significantly cheaper. I investigated to see how they had achieved it and it was simply down to the paper size. I don’t really understand why such similar sized books should vary so much in price. For example, the manufacturing cost of a 100-page A5 book is £7.35; the price for a similar 100-page Pocket book is £2.98. The size of A5 is 5.8″ x 8.2″. The size of Pocket is 4.2″ x 6.8″. It doesn’t make any sense to me either. Just make sure you choose wisely.
Anyway, I can only apologise for my crapness. If I’ve not completely put you off, you can buy a copy of my book from here. There’s a very nifty preview of the first 12 pages, so go and have a nosy.
May 2, 2010 Leave a Comment
Those of you who have been following Reading Habits will know that I’ve not read any books for a few months. Last time, I set myself the challenge of reading at least one book this month. Would I be able to accomplish this gargantuan feat?
Well, I did start reading McMafia, as I said I would, but only managed to get about 25 pages in. It’s not that it was a bad book, I just seem to have forgotten how to read properly. I can’t remember getting a bang on the head, but I can only assume that something like that must have happened. With this impaired literary ability, I was starting to think that even reading one book was going to be impossible.
Then I went into HMV to buy some headphones and made an impulse buy of Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita JR. Yes, it’s the graphic novel that has recently been turned into a hit film about an average American teen, Dave Lizewski, who decides to become a super-hero. Unlike most comic books, however, Lizewski hasn’t trained for years and doesn’t have an arsenal of high-tech weaponry. No, in Kick-Ass, he gets his arse kicked and ends up in hospital. You all probably know this anyway, as the film has been very successful.
Like one of Millar’s previous books, Wanted (also a hit film), I didn’t know exactly what to make of it. Part of me thinks that it’s an interesting critique on the super-hero genre, played out as an uber-violent satire. Another part of me thinks that they just think its cool to have a 10-year old girl call some gangsters cunts before chopping their heads off with a samurai sword. It’s quite possible that I’m misunderstanding it. I’m not very good with sub-text. As for the art, I’ve always liked Romita’s style and I’ve seen a lot of praise for his work on Kick-Ass, but is it just me that thinks that too many of his panels feel rushed?
Anyway, I’ve not seen the film, so I’d be interested to hear what other people think who have seen it or read the book.
P.s.
I’ve not totally given up on McMafia. I’m going to give it another try this month.
Books Acquired
Kick-Ass by Mark Millar & John Romita JR – See above
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book by Dierdre Dolan – British Heart Foundation shop – As I’m not totally insane, I’ve not been into any charity shops since I stopped reading. On Friday, however, I felt the urge to pop my head in and see if there was anything interesting on offer. I was quite surprised to see the Curb Your Enthusiam book in there. It seems an odd book to end up in a charity shop and it was almost as if it was calling me to come and buy it. So I did.
The Result
Books read 1 – Books acquired 2. A defeat, but an acceptable one.
April 20, 2010 Leave a Comment
OK, I know you’re probably not interested, but I have to try anyway. If you were thinking of purchasing a copy of my book then you can use the code FREEMAILUK305 at the checkout at lulu.com to get free shipping (up to the value of £2.99). Here’s the link, just to make it a bit easier for you:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-best-of-the-world-of-sherby57-volume-1/6558616
You’ve really not got any excuse not to buy a copy immediately. Other than not wanting to, of course, but please don’t let that stop you. Thanks for listening.
P.s.
The offer is valid until the 5th May, so don’t think about it for too long.
Buy The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1
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