Books Flying Through the Air

Do you remember how amazed we all were when we sent our first fax to someone? Knowing that somehow that piece of paper was floating through space to get to its destination.  Another office received our document while our original document remained steadfast in the fax in our office. We didn’t have to physically put it in an envelope and send it through the mail, yet somehow it got there.

That was the beginning of a whole new age of productless products.  Sending something to someone without actually sending anything.

Nowadays, we buy things that no one had to pack and ship to us – online music, ebooks, webinars, etc.  They ship nothing and we receive nothing, at least nothing we can actually hold in our hands. Then, we pay for it without any actual currency exchanging hands.

The computer age has done more than open up our world and broaden our horizons. It has enabled us to buy and sell productless products. We buy products with no actual money and receive in return a two dimensional nontangible item that we can’t touch, smell, or taste. And the demand for these phantom items is growing.  Amazon says eBooks are bigger sellers than print books. I don’t believe iTunes would stay in business if they weren’t so popular with people who want music piped in to them (without pipes, by the way).

I first appreciated this paradigm in selling when I wanted to make my song “Mary’s Christmas” available to the public but didn’t want to have to cut a lot of records, store them, and ship them out to buyers.  (Full disclosure: since I have no musical ability whatsoever, the song is performed by my very talented son-in-law, Curtis Willey.) By offering the song on iTunes, I could sell the song without having to ship anything. What a concept!

Now, my book, Stop Procrastinating – Get Published! is available through this phantom method of commerce. You gotta love it!  Of course, people can buy the print version and hold the book in their hands, but they can also get the eBook version that will arrive instantly on their Kindle or computer with just a few clicks on Amazon. Oh look, it's flying through the air to you!

To continue this subject of productless products, if you would like me to send you a free book (of course, without MY actually having to send it to you), go to Amazon and click on Waterbeds and Wedding Vows. The eBook will be sent to you immediately. And when you get it, you will find inside that book a place to click and get the second book in the Cranky Seniors Series, Hamburgers and Headaches, for free. They can both be read on computer, Kindle, Nook, and ePub. I can send it to you while I sip coffee in my robe, unaware that I'm sending it. What a life!

One can only guess what the future holds. It could be just a click away.

Quote of the Day: ". . . Striding the blast . . .upon the sightless couriers of the air." William Shakespeare

From White Sand to White Snow

April is almost over and with May comes summer!  It can't come too soon, even though I live in an area that never really sees winter.  In the winter months, if I want to see snow, I only have to "Lift my eyes unto the hills" and see white along the ridges.  And believe me, that is as close as I want to get to snow.  In this area around San Diego, people go crazy when snow falls in the mountain regions.  They bring snow back by the truck load so they can dump it in their backyard and play in it.  One day I even saw a truck bed full of snow with a surf board sitting on top.  Not having a shovel, they scooped the snow up with a surf board.  That's Southern California for you!  Even as a kid in Vermont, I hated to go outside and play in the snow.  I haven't changed.

Fred and I may be heading back to snow country.  Our house is on the market and our plans are to move to North Carolina.  They don't get as much snow as New England, but we will get a bit now and then.  We are both retired so looking for a job is a non-issue.  I can write there as well as here.  And speaking of writing, I told you all that I published Mishaps and Miracles, from the Cranky Seniors Series, on Kindle, and last week I received my first royalty check from Amazon (maker of Kindle)!  The check covered January and February and was for a whopping sum of $11.82, not enough to get rich on, but enough to tell me that people are actually downloading my story and paying for it!  I couldn't be happier!

In about a week, I'll be downloading the second story in the Cranky Seniors Series--Waterbeds and Wedding Vows: Two Cranky Seniors Get Married.  Here's a short exceprt:


Fred’s boss gave us a trip to Cabo San Lucas in Baja, Mexico for a wedding gift, telling us we could stay at his condo near the beach. We took advantage of his lovely offer six months after the wedding.  On Christmas Day we flew down to Cabo and spent a beautiful week. It was certainly a white Christmas--white sand everywhere reaching out to touch the white foam of the sea!  We had breakfast and dinner at a restaurant on the beach with table and chairs outside, our bare feet buried in the sand. A very tacky multi-colored foil Christmas tree was nearby, reminding us that it was, indeed, Christmas. And here we were with warm air, blue sky, white sand, and gentle breezes. What a life.

At one point during the week, I went parasailing and Fred enjoyed time on jet skis. Then he said, “Let’s go scuba diving!  You’ll love it. I‘ve done it before and it‘s so much fun. You get to see things under water you can‘t see from land.”
 
     I tentatively agreed, even though I don’t like to get my hair wet. Or my face. Or go under water. I’ll go as high in the air as you want, but I’m not fond of going under water. I’ll sky dive, just not scuba dive. Turns out, we needed a doctor’s okay in order to go scuba diving. They called a local doctor and while waiting for his return call, they gave us a quick rundown of the dos and don’ts of scuba diving. Forget learning how to use the air tank and practicing rolling over the side of the boat into the water, I couldn’t even get the rubber jacket on. No matter how I tugged and wrestled with it, that tiny thing was not going on me in any way that could be zipped up.

I turned to Fred and asked, “What have I ever done to you that you should want to put a heavy tank on my back and throw me overboard?”

He ignored my sarcasm and said, “You’ll love it once you get down under the water.”

I said, “No, I won’t.”

As it was, the doctor called back and reviewed both of our medical histories and declared us both unfit to go scuba diving. YES!  God and the doctor were on my side!

Quote of the Day:  Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to his own marriage, he rarely, or never, takes any such care.  Charles Darwin.