Hi All I know it's been a long long while since I last posted an entry. Well that might because essentially no one has bought any copies of my award winning children's book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me." This is in spite of the fact I had offered 15% - 20% discounts on it, if anyone would buy it through my e-store which had been set up for me by CreateSpace.com [the company I used to self-publish its re-released. I feel enough time has past since I last posted anything on the internet to really promote this book, that I'm going to start anew trying to promote my first children's book. I've already found a few sites where I've never posted before; and I'm going to Tweet to new places as well. I'll going to specifically point out the fact that it had been a runner-up in the 2011 Smart Writ Awards - Children's Books Category. I feel sooner or later there has to be an increase in people finally buying it for their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. As I've stated in the above I'm going to increase my presence on the internet again; and one of the ways I'm planning to do this is by searching bloggers who do interviews on their sites. One reason for my doing this at this present time is I finally sold another copy of my two about two days ago on Amazon.com My book is available on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Lesson-My-Cat-Taught-Me/dp/1452810885 Hopefully this year my book will do better that it has since it's been published, and since I decided to self-publish it when my contract had ended with my publisher in March 2010. THANKS for having stuck around during my long period of inactivity here and elsewhere on the internet.

The best laid plans of mice and men oft time go astray. In the past two weeks I've suffered through one distraction after another after an another. And for the past several days while I might be retired, my wife's still working; and right now she's on vacation, which needless to say this has left me without any time to any writing. Right now she still has five days left. I finally made the decision last week to go and try my hand at selling my first book at a street fair. The fee is $200, this includes a one-day license fee to sell my book, the base fee, but also includes $50 for the rental of a tent, table and two chairs. Hopefully with people able to actual hold the book in their hands, my reducing the price so when I add in the required sales tax, the new price is an even dollar amount, eliminating the need to have any loose change. I just hope that next week, that Saturday will be a beautiful day.

It's been about twelve days since my last post and I've only written a total of ten pages. Too many things keep popping up and getting in the way. Today, I'm schedule to participate in a paid survey so there goes about four hours. Tomorrow, in an attempt to sell more copies of my award winning book, I'm heading to a flea market about 70 miles away. Hopefully I can sell enough copies to finally make a small profit so I can finally proceed on publishing my other writing endeavors. But I hestitate in doing this because as far as I see, I need more people buying book online to give me a sense they're ready to see my next one coming out. I can also use these funds to pay for some good advertising in some newspaper, but that too is also a gamble. Or well, my goal is to complete 45 double-spaced pages of pure typing by the end of next month before I start editing and deleting portions.

Sorry for the LOOONG DELAY since my last post, but after weeks of having a blank as to what to write as my fourth book a light bulb has FINALLY COME ON inside my head. I've been a member of the CWA [Cat Writer's of America] since 2010 and I felt it was time for me to write another children's book. probably another early reader that has a cat has the main character. And today I was at loooong fast able to time my first double-spaced page on my computer. I'm not going to rush in writing this as I still have two other manuscripts I would like to start the process of getting it published through CreatSpace, but I still need to generate sales on my first [award winning] children's book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me." to create the necessary funds to begin. I'm setting an easily attainable goal of two double-spaced pages a page. I'm taking it nice and easy, as the old saying goes "HASTE MAKES WASTE". So welcome back on board as I begin journey through this writing endeavor.

With everything I've been involved with for the past few weeks, I've neglect to take care of my blog here on blogspot.com. I went to the "Books Without Borders" event in Yonkers, NY yesterday I like I had planned, but unfortunately the weather [light showers on/off] kept everyone away. At least, I had enough people buying my award winning children's book to cover all of my costs for the event, with a few extra dollars to take my wife, who had occuppied me there, out for a late lunch. [we left about 2:15 PM]. And wouldn't you know it, when we arrived at our lunch destination the sun finally came out. I'm still trying to start writing my fourth manuscript for an early reader children's book. I'd like to write my second book with a cat as a main character, but every time I do, I hit a point where I can't take my story any further. It's not a matter of writer's block, because I've tried everything I know to overcome it. Maybe it's about time that I should move on to a different type of storyline. What I'd love to happen is for someone, anyone to give me a one to three word idea for a story so I can start my fingers moving across my keyboard again. Just as I wanted to get typing again for my fourth manuscript again, I got called for Grand Jury, which I've already served one week, with three more weeks to go. Perhaps I'll be able to sell a few copies of my book to my fellow jury members. If I don't, at least I can asked them for an idea. On a brighter note CreateSpace, which is owned by Amazon, has opened up the UK and several other European countries for free. This now means spending A LOT of time trying to find sites which deal with children's books, cat lovers, etc. It has also lowered the threshold for receving a royalty check from $20 to $10. So from now on I'm going to post on a more regular basis. Which means increasing the number of followers I get here and my website/blog at http://www.saweb22.webs.com. I also will have to increase my followers on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/catlesson.

It has taken me until now to get back into here. I just forgot my password.
I'm OK now and I've got my logon/password coded in such a manner I can instantly recall it.

Anyway, I've decided after numerous rewrites to ditch my fourth early reader, a story revolving around a cat. I just couldn't get anywhere with it. It reached a point where no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't find the crucial sentence which would take me beyond where I'm stuck, to the light at the end of the tunnel.

So here I sit searching for a key word, phrase or idea which would ignite my flow of words again. For those who have decided to stick with me as followers of my blog here. I'd like to offer everyone here, a 10% discount on my award winning children's book, until April 30, 2012 when the code G3LQ6VCM is entered when checking out. Feel free to pass this offer on to your friends / family.

I've finished reviewing the manuscript for one of my completed book.
The tentative title is The Magic Jumping Bean and it tries to convey
the idea of gaining self-confidence.

I've still need no increase in the sale of my 1st Early Reader - Children's Book which was a runner-up in the 2011 Smart Writ Awards - Children's Books Category.

I should be starting the review of my other manuscript which is also
an early reader before the end of the week.

After not doing any real writing for the past few months. I'm going back to the two
children's book [early reader] manuscripts I've already completed to take a look at them with a set of "totally new eyes" and see if there's anything I need to change
I need to sell about 500 more copies to get enough funds to self-publish at least one of them
]

Hi Guys,

I just received an email from one of my follower reminding me I haven't posted anything since last August. I can't believe a half of a year has gone by since then.

All I can say is. I've been most forgetful of late. Perhaps being a young senior citizen has gotten to me. With all the things which were coming up for me to take care of I kept putting this blog off for the next day. The next day became yesterday. Anyway in recent months I rewrote two early readers children's books, and I currently working on two more.

THE IMPORTANT NEWS I HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE IS THAT
My children's book 3rd Place in the 2011 Smart Writ Awards - Children's Books Category The contest is organized by Smart Book Lovers whose membership is comprised of individuals who are members of MENSA and other Hi IQ associations. http://book-lovers.net [Please be advised somehow they used the old cover for my book, which I had while being published by a small press publisher]

My children's is entitled "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me" and is available through Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Lesson-My-Cat-Taught-Me/dp/1452810885

Please pass this information on to your family & friends.

Started anpther blog at http://www,sweberuno.wordpress.com

I've received a final date for my book signing @ SPCA of Westchester County

Once again I've forgotten to post here. In oder to remind me I've set up a spreadsheet with all my blog info, etc. No more I not forget to blog for days/weeks at a time. Part of the problem is that I've been spending hours surfing the net to find places I can do something with my book.

And in order to keep up with my schedule for promoting my book, I set up a schedule in EXCEL.

Right now I have the following:

AUG 22 - Interview for a local cable talk show.
AUG 29 - Interview on Authors Speaking
SEPT 9/17 or 9/24 - Book Signing with the SPCA of Westchester County
OCT 22 - Blog interview on Highlighted Author

I'm going to fill out a questionaire from Children's Radio Author Show
I had sent in a request to be on the show by giving them links to my book.
If I get accepted I believe it will be for some time in late September or October.

I now have an account on TWITTER = CatLesson.
I'm also have a blog on AuthorsDen.com/saulweber which I'm also starting up again.
And I've found the website I had with freewebs.com while I had a contract with my
publisher until my contracted March 2010. I've torn down the site, and I'm
starting anew. freewebs.com/saweb22.

Yes. I admit it. I've neglectful regard my posting new blogs.

I had an old computer which was over 9 years old, which kept on freezing up.

Now with my new computer all hooked up. and files trasferred over; I'm ready, willing and able to start writing my blogs on a regular basis.

As far as my writing ia concerned I just finished doing a total review of the my two completed manuscripts for children's books. And I've finished [if I haven't mentioned it before] entering all the changes I made for my paranormal/contemporary romance manuscripts in WORD, and need to write 4 - 5 more chapters.

Moving on to my current writing I've got 16 pages written for another children's book involving a cat [I'm a member of the CWA - Cat Writers of America] with a goal of 28 - 30 pages when complete.

And I've got 13 pages out of 125 - 130 written for a YA [young adult] manuscript.
Because this story has a girl as the main character, the only decision I need to make is whether I should write this using a more feminine name, sinced it has sort of a "young romance" storyline.

Several things are happening with all my writing endeavors, and I need to set a definite schedule to get everything done.

1 - I just finished entering all the changes into WORD [word = reduced by approx.
5,000 words. And I now need to add 2/3 chapters in the middle and 2/3 more
at the end.

2 - My fourth manuscript for a children's book is being totally rewritten [story was
not going the way I wanted it to.] This one is the second cat story I'm writing.

3- Got 2 Yound Adult Stories in the beginning stages, and have plans for a fifth
children's book, this one also involving a cat.

If 5 projects underway, I must set up a definite scheduling which also includes my
website and various blogs, as well as following all of my LinkedIn Groups, and managing my own there. My goal is to write at least a total of 5 pages a day.

Hope to give an update in about a week.

I gotten five pages done for my manuscript for fourth children's book. It should be smooth sailing for the rest of the story.

I'm looking forward to a possible TV appearance next month.

I've finally started my manuscript for my book children's book. Hopefully this year I will get enough royalties to pay for my being able at least one of my other manuscripts if not both. At this point I know this fourth book will revolve around a cat [since I am a member of the CWA = Cat Writers of America), which path it will go as far as a story line goes I haven't decided yet. With about 1,000 words written so far I've changed the first four pages several times already. Once I've formulated more of the storyline I should be two pages each day I'm going to work of it. It is suprising how much can be written in a few days by keeping to a committed goal of these two pages a day.

At this time I've completed entering half of the latest set of changes to my paranormal romance manuscript. Once this is completed, one more read through before I begin writting the final four to five chapters of the book. I anticipated that I will at loooong last complete the story by the end of July.

I will then have the entire manuscript proofread [provided I have the funds].

I did my last post on December 1st. December 4th I had been scheduled to do a booksigning for the Westchest County SPCA. On that I had gotten into my car, drove out of the garage, went about 2 blocks had suffered a major heart attack. Luckily a Public Safety vehicle saw my car moving every slowing, when it stopped, they approached my car and saw I had passed out. They broke the window and opened the door of my car, pulling me out and started CPR, and then used a defibrillator to start my heart again. I then spent about 2 1/2 months in two hospital and a nursing home for rehab.

When I got home in the middle of February, I had over 2,500 emails in my various accounts/screen names. Once that got done I proceeded to re-read and re-edit the manuscripts for my two other children's books.

My children's, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me" came out as self-published on October
2nd and I started to promote it at the same time. My heart attack brought an end to my promotion efforts which I didn't start again until the beginning of March. I knew I had more email accounts that the ones I had already gone through, and I knew at least two blogs but I could not remember what they were, etc.

Just "googled" myself I found I had this blog today I felt I had to try to do an update on my status. Anyway I just received my first royalty check as a self-publised author...nothing to talk about it's a start.

Anyway, tonight I've got back to entering the changes I've done to my paranormal romance since my last set of revisions, once I've completed that it's back to another set re-reading/re-editing, since I will now be looking at the manuscript with a "new set of eye."

I am a member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the RWA (Romance Writers of America). Towards the end of last year I also joined the CWA (Cat Writers of America).

Lastly, I am being to formulater a fourth manuscript for a children's book which will be revolving around a cat.

FOR QUICK BLURP OF WHAT I'M DOING FOLLOW ME AT
www.twitter.com/sawebbooks

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy writing / editing / rewriting / and entering the changes in WORD on four different manuscripts.
3 children and 1 paranormal/contemprorary romance.

Since my book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me", in part deals with pet adoption and rescue I have decided to donate a portion of each sale on CreateSpace to one of five NO-KILL animal shelters. The following is what I've been posting =

Books make a wonderful gift for children, especially when there is something they can learn from reading it. Given the topics which my book, “A Lesson My Cat Taught Me”, book deals with, and this being the holiday season, I will be donating $ 0.70 [70 cents] for each copy of my book sold through www.createspace.com/3447169 , until the end of February 2011.

I have listed 5 animal shelters from throughout the country with their websites, for you to decide where you would like the donation portion from your purchase of my book to go to. In order for the donations to be properly allocated to your selection YOU MUST enter the appropriate code provided next to each shelter in the discount code field when you check out.

The Cat House on the Kings, Inc Parlier, CA
http://www.cathouseonthekings.com SKLUW8D9
[please be sure to watch the YOUTUBE video on the group’s homepage]

North Shore Animal League of America, Inc Port Washington, NY
http://www.animalleague.org JXE954KW

S P C A of Westchester County Briarcliff Manor, NY
http://www.spca914.org 943VBC2K

Dutchess County S P C A, Inc. Hyde Park, NY
http://www.dcspca.org 85ZEYX5U

Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctusry, Inc. St. Pauls, NC
http://www.blindcatrescue.com WLKRK7FL

If for some reason the link does not work, please copy and
paste the link, otherwise “Google” the shelter involved.

I'm getting ready to donate 70 cents from the sale of each book purchased through CreateSpace.com to one of about 5 animal shelters when the specific code for that
shelter is entered while checking out.

I will be posting the list shortly here and on all the groups I belong to.

With all the discussion of bullying going on these days, I have decided to change and enhance one of the aspects I had in my story. We have to remember that bullying is not only physical, but can also take many other forms.
So I'm off to the rewrite.

My children;s book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me" just got it's first review, since I decided to self-publish it after the contract I had with my publisher ended in March. It got reviewed in a wonderful blog about pets and wildlife.

http://petnewsandviews.com/?36ca8950

I've been quite busy the past three weeks.

I now have an event book signing scheduled for the beginning of December, where, if someone buys a copy of my book from me, I will be donating $1.50 to the shelter from the book signing is taking place.

I'm in the process of sending emails to about 5 animal shelter, sanctuaries, etc asking if they're interested in sending out emails about from book, and that I would be giving them 10% of each sale their emails produced [ $.70 / 70 cents ], provided the book would be ordering through the e-store I have on createspace using a special discount which I would provide.

The first thing I need to do is the contact these animal shelters to see if they are willing to accept my offer.

I just got the date that a local cable station will interview for one of their programs. The date for the taping is December 8, 2010 @ 12 noon.

I also got the approximate date for my online internet talk show interview, it will be for a Sunday evening, between 9PM - 10PM, and should be in the first half of the month.

I sent a copy of my book out for a review in at least one pet related blog and a few pet related columns.

And I'm still surfing the net to find addition places to post about my book.

Yes. marketing and promoting your book can become a full time job, especially if you are serious about doin it,
.

Just received my first order of my book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me" [110 copies]

I've set aside 10 copies for "promotions". One copy {the version I had with my publisher] has gone out to a woman who works as the EVENTS MANAGER for a radio station. I originally spoke to her it concerned purchasing tickets for an event, I found out she has a cat...Anyway, when I emailed her concerning who she would like me to autograph a copy, she said her child's teacher's class. Since the autograph copy is going to a teacher, I also enclosed pictures of my two cats who inspired to write the book, and the citation about my book being made a recommended resource by Teaching Tolerance [updating the information to show my current book], which reminds me to send them a copy as well to update their web site for my book

I also gave the web sites to purchase a copy.

Now I can finally send a copy to someone who wants to do a book review for a major online site for pets, which goes out to other sites. I can also fulfill a promise to send a someone who said he wants to interview me on his online talk show,

As can be seen from the above you need to keep the promises you made while you were promoting your book. Remember you're giving "away" a copy of your own book, which you purchased at a greatly reduced price. The cost of each copy of your book, let's for argument sake is $5 + $2 for postage. For $7 for you are reaching hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, people can now see and hear you, instead of merely reading

I envelope done for today, one/two to go. Remember to keep the receipt you get from the post office for each book you mail out [document your expenses]. Once they're done, it's a quick walk to the post office.

I've already posted items on the groups I belong to on LinkedIn.com
I've created an account on Facebook, and have research for and joined several
appropriated groups for me.
I've started to use an old screen name on have on YAHOO, deleting the groups I
had there and have begun joining new ones involving chrilden's books, cats,
humane society, etc. and begun posting items there. All these groups pertain
to the genre of my book and what my book is about

Of course all this is time consuming, and if you're truly interested in getting your book promoted and marketed, that is what you must be willing to do. No one will come to you, and no one will know about what you have to offer, unless you take charge and do something on your own.

Without question TIME = MONEY. You must be willing to put in as much time as you can in this endeavor. But then, of course, you can always pay someone else to promote/market your book. However, paying someone else will not guarantee that you will get any better results.

Sam Levenson, once stated [or restated some advice he got from his parents] that if you should ever need a helping hand you can find one at the end of your arm.

Well, I'm back off to searching for more groups to join. One of the groups I joined on YAHOO, back me another kind of group I could join. You to take every idea that comes along and run with it.

Right now I'm going back to reading my emails [another time consuming task], and replying to those which might help promote my book. Then it's back to the search/search anew for more groups to join/post. I know, and you must remember that enough though a group might have 5,000 only a portion will actually read your post, and only of portion of that will actually go to the link you provided.

Finally, in doing what I've discussed here, don't believe that this will be the pot at the end of a rainbow, you must remember that in "blind marketing" [where you receive unsolicited offers in the mail] the returns are only about 2% - 3%, and in a few incidents somewhat more

In the past few days I did my last set of postings on the LinkedIn.com groups I belong to. So far I've received=

1 - 3 requests to do a blog interviews [one of them in Australia]
2 - 1 requests to do a book review [a book of advise = = stay away from
people who say they'll do a book review for you, but only
after you pay them.
3 - Some offers to do postings on my behalf on different sites, etc

It's been quite hectic around here, I've been putting in 12 - 14 hours a day.
I've also been a "hard-nosed' editing my paranormal romance novel and I am now down to my last 47 pages

On my way to my union's office, I'm a Co-Vice Chair of their retirees, I found a new thirft shop which is for CAUSE FOR PAWS , spoke to a woman there about doing a booksigning. Now I'm waiting for them to get back to me.

I've also been busy creating a facebook account for my book, and doing postings to groups which pertain to me or my book.

AND OH YES
My book finally became available on Amazon.com [one marked published Oct 2, 2010] it's also on www.createspace.com/3447169