Just an observation that the nature of these letters that Willem Meiners is sending out after PublishAmerica got slapped with a nasty class action lawsuit has changed. He's writing jibberish now.. usless knowledge he calls it and he is correct. My advice would be to stop sending out these emails but he doesn't want to miss out on that $69 bucks these authors are paying for a "review" in each email and so he has to find something to say. I also think by now PA and their employees know they're on a sinking ship. Why, just after the summons was served, PA listed 50 new sales gimmicks. Yep. Trying to squeeze every last dime they can.
Letter from PublishAmerica's CEO: Always write about what you know
June 20, 2012
Good morning!
Every presidential election year is also a summer Olympic year, as well as a leap year.
That's easy to remember.
The nation has had 43 presidents so far. Not 44, as many say (Grover Cleveland governed during two non-consecutive terms, but that doesn't make him two presidents).
You'd think that, when dividing 43 by 12, there'd be roughly the same number of presidential birthdays each month.
Not so. June celebrates only one president. The elder George Bush turned 88 last week. And it's no coincidence.
In fact, let's look at the bigger birthday picture. You're in for a few surprises!
More after this book review, The Master's Memoirs: Vol. 1 Rebirth by C.D. Seidman (cdseidman@yahoo.com):
C.D. Seidman explores the universe and all of its possibilities. Readers can sit back comfortably and settle in for what first appears to be a memoir of a man, Charles, who grew up in the '60s and is beginning the next step of his life after college. Then it’s December 21, 2012, and Earth is obliterated while Charles watches from an alien ship how his planet is destroyed. On we go to other galaxies and planets, and we’re plunging full force into a science fiction novel filled with telepathy, intergalactic travel, and energy shields - with a spiritual twist.
Charles accepts planet saving assignments at the request of someone he affectionately refers to as "Friend". It comes with difficult choices, but his friend does not abandon him in his time of need. Written with wit and humor, Seidman provides just enough jargon to satisfy sci-fi readers, and not too much for those who are no genre fans. The Master’s Memoirs follows one man on a mission to save those who cannot save themselves.
Find The Master's Memoirs here: www.publishamerica.net/product43077.html.
I'll tell you what: there's something funny going on with presidential birthdays. 30 out of 43 were born in the cold months between October and April. That's seventy percent.
Only 13 presidents were born in May, June, July, August, or September.
We can only guess why that is, but there's a clue.
Of the 13 warm month presidents, more than three-quarters, 10, served in the past hundred years; the other 3 reigned somewhere during the 1700s and 1800s. Why? I haven't studied it. Maybe in the older centuries warm months made it easier to get in the mood for mating, and as a result baby presidents were more likely to be born in cold months. I don't know.
What we do know for a fact is that today it's the other way around. Most babies are conceived in cold months, especially around Christmas, causing birth rates to spike in the four summer months starting in June and absolutely peaking in September.
But it gets odder. Of those 10 warm month presidents, 7 are left-handed. Explain that! We're talking about presidents Hoover, Truman, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Sr., Clinton, and Obama. Four of them have birthdays within a timespan of five weeks, between July 14 and August 19. Weird? How's this: when Obama ran against John McCain, a southpaw in the White House was pre-assured since McCain is also left-handed. And when Clinton had two opponents, Bush and Ross Perot, all three contenders were lefties. Of the most recent five presidents, four were/are left-handed.
Why am I telling you this? Three reasons. One is that it took me only minutes to write it down. Useless knowledge about presidents is one of my few hobbies. I have those stats down pat. Ask me about any president, and I'll bore you to death with anecdotes and data. I started storing them to memory since I was a boy of sixteen.
One of my favorite books is Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. I love stories behind seemingly random numbers and statistics. That's why I read everything by writers such as Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point, Outliers, etc.), Steven Landsburg (More Sex Is Safer Sex), and others. I enjoy reminding people that 100 New Yorkers end up in hospitals every year because they have been bitten by rats, of which there are more than people. But get this: each year 1,200 New Yorkers are treated in hospitals because they have been bitten by other New Yorkers.
Stuff like that.
Reason number two is what they always say: write about what you know. It makes writing so much more relaxed and fun. And it's true. Authors don't become experts after they wrote their book; they wrote the book after they had become an expert. Two decades ago a Dutch publisher asked me to write a book about First Ladies. It took me only weeks to finish. I consulted many sources just to doublecheck myself, but it turned out that I didn't need to: I knew most facts already by heart. Writing about what you know makes for a relaxed style. Readers can tell immediately if the author is fully in command of his story.
The final reason why I bring up unevenly divided birthdays and left-handedness is to encourage you as an author to always look for trends and simple facts that go unnoticed until you pay attention. Because once you start spreading them, the audience pays attention to you. Watch the next few months: tons of babies are being born, something you have noticed before, but only subconsciously.
And the nation's largest minority? They say it's Hispanics. Not true. It's left-handed people, who have grown within one generation from ten to sixteen percent of the population. Why is that? My suggestion to you: figure it out and write a book about it. You'll have an immediate market of at least sixteen percent of the population. I'm serious!
I invite you to talk back to me. I don't guarantee a response, but I do guarantee that we listen. You can reach me by email at ceoletter@publishamerica.com. In the subject line write Attn. Willem.
Have a wonderful day!
--Willem Meiners
If you want to rent space on Willem's future Letters-from-the-CEO, go to www.publishamerica.net/service/Willem.html. Have your book reviewed for tens of thousands of people to see, or talk into the open mic!
All previous letters are here: www.publishamerica.net/ceoarchives
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