The Author's Life Preserver by Sean Michael Paquet

Hello everyone! So today, I felt compelled to write about success and failure. I think these are concepts that everyone can identify with, whether you are a writer or not. What is success? How is it measured? For that matter, what is failure? So let's face it, we live in a very materialistic society. Such is the case no matter where on the planet you dwell. Success is based in terms of value. How much money do you have? How many toys do you've? How many friends? To a point, yes, having lots of money and toys and friends can be viewed as a sign of success. The same can be said for failure, lack of money due to poor business decisions, or the loss of friendship over often trivial matters. Perhaps failure can be viewed as the loss of a job or the loss of a close relationship. Someone who mattered more than anything in the world to you. The loss of a loved one. All of these can be viewed as failures in life. We look at challenges in life that we cannot overcome as failure...

What makes you Valuable?   OK, this post will be a little more about the self than it does about business, but the concepts still apply.  What makes you valuable? What do you value about yourself? What do other people that know you appreciate about you? Value. We can go on and on about friendship, love, partnership, and other similar concepts, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to value. What is your value to yourself, to other people, to the community? We all want to feel valuable. We want to know that we matter. Not just to ourselves, but also that our presence is valued. We want to know that somehow we contribute to the communal consciousness. What makes you valuable are your strengths. Those qualities about you that make you stand out from the slowly moving herd of humanity around you. Your strengths are what make you unique. That is your value. Firstly, YOU must see YOU as valuable to YOURSELF. This requires a great deal of self-reflection. You have to take a ha...

Hello everyone! So I just wanted to take a minute and give you some insight into what it took to get "A Game of Gods" from raw free writing to submission copy. This is by no means an easy process, and I will try to explain step by step how I did it. Ok, so maybe I am unique in this concept, but I do ALL of my raw freewriting on my phone. The notepad on my phone lets me roll with ideas as they come, instead of being tied to my computer. So what do I do with all of that material as I finish it? Well, I usually do the raw free writing throughout the day and send it in the evening to my Alpha Reader. Now some of you may laugh at this, but my Alpha Reader is my Mom, Dianne Paquet. Why did I choose her? Well, for me, it was elementary. I am weird; my writing is weird, and so are a lot of my concepts. My Mom gets me. She understands where I am coming from and the direction I want to take with my stories. Furthermore, she is a meticulous reader with an eye for perfection when it come...

Hello everyone. Just to make sure you know. The E-Book version of A Game of Gods will be available on 1 August, 2020. I will do a couple of reminder posts as we get closer to the E-book debut. The E-book is flat rate priced at $3.99 and will be available for purchase on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/GAME-GODS-Sean-Michael-Paquet/dp/1647185939/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ISBN-13%3A+978-1647185930&qid=1594259531&s=books&sr=1-1

A Game of Gods by Sean Michael Paquet First a confession, this is not my normal genre, fantasy lands filled with strange creatures doesn’t usually  buzz my buttons. But this one did, and how. The story grabs you on the first page and doesn’t let go until you are thrown out at the end, wanting more. And as for concepts, this book is crammed full of them, and they all work. I think this is why I enjoyed it more than other book I have read of similar genres. Sean Michael Paquet paints pictures with words and the world he describes is a fascinating multi-layered construct that is extremely believable. The characters are strong and well formed, and as for the creatures called the Grognaw, it is a truly horrific creation(Or so you are led to believe). In a nutshell this is a well thought out and written book full of mysterious creatures, some good, some bad and some somewhere in-between. Well done Sean, a great read all round. More please? Five stars….. Links are below. https://www.amazo...

Hello everyone! Due to the overwhelming e-mail response I received as well as some very good advice from several authors: I have placed a button on my website where anyone can download chapters 1-3 of A Game of Gods FREE. Please see the picture below for details. Please be advised that the full version is still only in Paperback format. I will be submitting a post soon about when the E-book is available. Here is the link to my website: https://www.author-sean-michael-paquet.com

Hello everyone! So if you haven’t already seen my post on my Face Book Business Page where I offered up three free chapters of my book “A Game of Gods,” please check it out. Now I will explain why I did that. Do I think it’s a good book? Yes. Does it have a beautiful artsy cover that conveys a message? Yes. Do I hype it up a lot and talk about my product? Absolutely! However, dear reader, often that will matter very little in the business of writing. Why? I am a relatively unkn own writer in a genre that is saturated with books just as good as if not better than my own. I freely admit that. So what makes my product unique? Why should you spend your hard-earned money to buy it? Enter a concept known as “product sampling.” Any reader who expresses an interest in my book can get a free sample of its contents before buying it. This is a common and reasonably useful promotion and marketing tool. You, as the writer, want to give your prospective audience a taste of what your product is all a...

Hello everyone! May I please have your attention! In the interest of promotion and to expand my list of faithful readers, I am offering a PDF copy of the FIRST THREE CHAPTERS of “A Game of Gods FREE to everyone who e-mails me. Here's how it goes: Send me an e-mail to: paquetsean@yahoo.com In the Subject line please copy/paste the following: A Game of Gods Chapters 1-3. In the Body of the e-mail, please express your interest in reading the first three chapters. Limits and boundaries: This is copy-write material and intellectual property. It is for you, the reader. Not for some hack who wants to steal my idea. I have people and bots all over the internet watching the movement of my book. If it leaks without my knowledge and/or permission I will know within 24 hours exactly who leaked it. If you like the first three chapters, please e-mail me back and let me know. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement. As in all things... Blessed be the Balance!

Hello everyone. One of my fellow writers asked me today why I always say "Blessed be the Balance." That is a very difficult question to answer so perhaps an excerpt from my new Work In Progress titled "The Jarl's Shadow" will lend some insight into part of what the Balance is all about. “What you have done is nothing to be proud of.” Amra’s eyes opened wide with shock and incomprehension. “Master Shivnr, I did everything you said to do. Everything you taught me! It was so easy.” At this, Shivnr slapped his hand upon the table causing the playing pieces on the board to jump. Amra jumped as well. Shivnr never displayed emotion. Often he was so cold that Amra wondered if he was even human. “There is nothing easy about what you did! You snuffed out two lives! It is nothing to take pride in!” For the first time in as long as she could remember, Amra felt tears welling up in her eyes. What had she done wrong? “If you wish to be proud of something, be proud of the skil...

So something happened today, which I was unprepared for. A screenwriter approached and expressed interest in turning my book into a screenplay (movie). Wow! What a great opportunity! Unfortunately, I had to turn him down. I will explain why. It is not because I lack confidence in my work. I wrote A Game of Gods just like I was watching a movie in my mind. That’s how it works for me. So yeah, I feel it would adapt well to a screenplay. However,  let me give you a piece of advice I always try to follow in business. Never spend what you don’t have in your bank account or in collateral to cover an investment. Secondly, screenplay’s are speculative ventures. Anything I am speculating on goes through two mathematical processes: A Risk Matrix and a Probability Analysis. I believe in raw data and numbers. So I made a quick statistical hypothesis on the probability of success for a screenplay by a relatively unknown screenwriter for a book that so far has minimal exposure. I was not too fon...

So a fellow writer asked me this question “Why are you giving away all of your knowledge and experience for free? You could make a course and sell it.”  🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 Let me regale you with my opinion on people who sell knowledge and experience. I feel that ones knowledge and experience are priceless. Therefore I don’t subscribe to buying “Get Rich on Kindle by following My Nine Step Program.” Schemes. I feel that it’s the wrong way to go. I prefer to put my knowle dge and experience out there where everyone can benefit from it. I learn about writing and the business behind it everyday. I have a lot of knowledge and experience already when it comes to writing, marketing and promotion. I look at knowledge as more of a free exchange. I give you my knowledge and experience. In return I learn from you also. In my opinion the knowledge and experience I gain daily from readers and other writers far outweighs the amount of money I could make by putting together a program that is usual...

Ok, folks another touchy subject. I always get the most interesting questions out on Twitter, and one person asked how to write about a character's personality disorder or phobia. Ok, so first of all, you have to understand that phobias are based on fear. For instance, my main character in "A Game of Gods" is severely Claustrophobic. So am I for that matter. The feeling of being trapped in tightly enclosed spaces scares the absolute shit out of me. For my main character Jon Raynecksson, the fear is so overwhelming that it takes on a tangible meaning. So if you choose for your character to have a phobia, then write about the fear. What emotions will a phobia cause a character to feel? How will it affect their thought process? Is it something they have a handle on and can cope with, or is it so overwhelming for them that they have physical responses such as anxiety/panic attacks. Now personality disorders are a bit different. From my own experience and tons of research, I h...

Hello everyone so here was an odd question I was asked when I revealed that the main character in my second novel “The Jarl’s Shadow” (work in progress) was female. The very first question I got asked was “Wow! Is she LGBT?” Ok folks. No, Amra Raynecksdottir does not identify with a sexual orientation. She is a human weapon with a lot of childhood childhood trauma that was resolved by embracing her dark side. Her Shadow Self. Now  as far as identifying sexual orientation in stories. I do what feels like the right thing to do for the character. So far I have not seen a need to put a sexual orientation to any character. I feel that such things are perceived already based on the characters themselves. Now this is my opinion only so I apologize if it offends some people: a persons sexual orientation is a rather small facet of the overall human self. Some authors choose to make a big deal out of it and in some cases that is very necessary for story progression. It all depends on the sto...

First you begin with a base of professional and masterful writing. Add in a dose of the macabre. Throw in a handful or two of romance. As well as a few spoons of the paranormal. Stir in a dash of mystery and investigation. Top it off with some grisly in-your-face humor. Serve with a fine chilled vintage. That is Alfred Jones and Son, Bros. The adventures of two very unusual Undertakers who end up signing a contract with the Devil in exchange for what they think is a good deal. While not my genre, I was very impressed by such a well written story. Bob’s use of rustic and country English add a surprising depth to the characters and gives the reader a real feel for the time period and location of the story. The descriptions of his characters most certainly stand out, and paint a very realistic picture of Old Alfred, and Alfred Junior. Bob’s use of symbolism took me into the world of this story, and I was captivated. I was immersed in the story from page one, and by the time I had finished...

Hello everyone. A weird thing happened today. Another author by the name of Jennifer Shepard told me she loved my book and that she had bought it just today on Amazon in E-Book format. I was of course elated because I thought my E-book was finally available for purchase. So what did I do? I contacted BookLocker (my publisher). They informed me that my book was not yet available in E-book format. So I of course asked Ms. Shepard if she could provide me the link she used to pur chase the E-book or at least the transaction of purchase receipt. No answer. Nothing. Bottom line folks. I check on my book several times a day on Amazon because like you I am waiting for the E-book to become available. That means I know whats going on with my product. Same as when I found out that  californiabooks.com  was trying to sell my books at a higher price than advertised on Amazon. I also contacted them, and told them to knock it off. The paperback is $20.99 new + shipping and handling. Period. ...

For anyone interested in free promotion, these are the FB Book Promotion Groups I subscribe to. A word of caution when you decide to utilize this many groups. Don't hit them all in one day. There are 58 of these groups and some of the Admins and Moderators overlap. If you use the same pitch, the Facebook Secret Artificial Intelligence will kick in after about 5 posts and will you get called out for spamming. Have several different pitches for your posts to different groups. Here are the pitches I am currently using. Notice how each one is set up to do a quick copy/paste into whatever social media platform you choose. Pitch #1 A GAME OF GODS CHAPTERS 1-3 AVAILABLE FOR FREE FROM MY AUTHORS WEBSITE.   https://www.author-sean-michael-paquet.com   EBOOK VERSION OF A GAME OF GODS AVAILABLE FOR $3.99 FROM AMAZON STARTING 1 AUGUST, 2020. What if… What if a world existed where ancient civilizations still thrived? What if prehistoric creatures roamed the land freely side by side with wa...