Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/7

I put in a few hours today on posting my next novel, Killing, to Kindle. Unfortunately, I encountered some problems, two of which were corrected easily. The first involved the formatting of the title and dedication pages, which were spaced incorrectly. The second was basic. I assumed both a front and back cover would be needed. Since that is not the case, I decided to use the image from the back cover, which shows the 18th Av./Cristoforo Columbo Blvd. street sign more clearly. The third problem has me worried. When a page begins with a new paragraph, there is no indentation. This may confuse readers in some cases, and make me look like an incompetent. I checked my file and, as I expected, the formatting was correct. I couldn't have screwed it up so many times. I just sent a note to Amazon. Hopefully, there will be a simple solution. I tried to upload an html correction file, but my laptop didn't recognize it. Other than that, the Kindle file looks great. If there's no solution, I will post as is and hope readers realize the format transfer was the problem and not me.
At the risk of jinxing them, I've under-rated the Giants. It seems they've lucked into another good TE in Jake Ballard. I expected them to lose by at least ten yesterday and wouldn't have been surprised if they lost five in a row, given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. It also looks as if the Jets have  found their mojo. Maybe the shortened training camp affected them negatively. It's only halfway, and the NFL power grid seems to shift every few weeks except for the one constant - the Packers, and injuries are such a big part of success, although Green Bay disproved that too last year, so there's no telling what will happen in the long run.
Thanks to the kind folks who bought and donated books today, especially the elderly couple who gave me a bag o' books in Russian, several of which sold.
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Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/6

In my final two years at the Exchange, a dread-locked young man was hired to work data entry  under my supervision in the gold futures pit. Carlos was an original, his life filled with drama. There is a bullet lodged near his heart, inoperable, from his wild years. Even though he drove me crazy with his careless errors, I found it impossible not to like him, especially after he bought and read my first novel, Close to the Edge. Just about everybody liked him. One day as I was checking the sign in book, I noticed that he had an Italian last name. His family's origins are in Ethiopia, which was once conquered by Italy. When the Hughes brothers, two brokers whom I had the pleasure of knowing and ridiculing for 20 odd years, found out Carlos had Sicilian blood, those Irish dogs never let me hear the end of it. Anyway, Carlos would frequently show up carrying a notebook. He had many filled with his writing. I read some of it. It was good but sloppy, just like his work reporting trades. I encouraged him to attend open mike poetry readings. He was intimidated by it.
When the Exchange adopted electronic trading and the need for floor staff diminished, Carlos was in the first wave of those let go. I lost track of him, although I heard he'd had some luck and moved south. 18 months later I was given the boot. Some time last year I had a friend request from him on Facebook. He has adopted the moniker WrittenInPain. He sent me several of his poems, which I enjoyed despite the spelling errors. He even worked up the nerve to appear on blogtalkradio.com. And now he has issued a CD. I bought it about two weeks ago and have listened to the tracks several times. I am so impressed. It is so professionally done, beautifully recited in the way the pieces are meant to be heard - without the distraction of spelling errors - and accompanied by appropriate music or effects. And the profanity is at a minimum. I remember three cuss words in the eleven tracks, and there was not even a single use of the N word or bitches or ho's, which impressed me more than anything else. Of course, I disagree with the politics and worldview, but that's no different than how I view most of the stuff that comes out of the arts. And some of the rhymes are clever rather than logical, but, overall, the disc is wonderful, teeming with sincerity and passion. I particularly enjoyed the pieces on Jesus and Grandma. Kudos, cugino.
Sample the Final Warning track here:
http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/10730183
Thanks to the three kind folks who purchased books today on Avenue U.

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/5

I broke a long winning streak today. It had become a sort of game. I hadn't visited an ATM since March 2nd thanks to the employment Arlynn and Bob threw my way, and the dollars I earned running the floating bookshop. I doubt the next streak will be longer than two months, unless my latest novel, Killing, brings in more dough than I expect once it is posted to Kindle. It will probably follow a familiar path, an initial burst of sales to family and friends, and then largely indifference, an occasional sale here and there. There's only one way to find out - try.
According to an article on FoxNews. com, wind farms disrupt radar, causing blank spots in national defense and the forecasting of weather. Millions have been spent to solve the problem. This further illustrates that everything has some kind of drawback. I thought wind energy had great potential, although it eats up a lot of land and kills thousands of birds. Now I'm not so sure. We're still many miles away from finding sources of energy that work as well as oil and natural gas. That doesn't mean new sources shouldn't be sought, but it would be nice if in the meantime the traditional ones were given carte blanche. Of course, greeniacs fear that lower prices will doom innovation. I don't know why that should be. Any genius that comes up with a viable source of alternative energy will be rich and famous. That seems to be plenty of incentive, especially when many in government are willing to pick up the tab for the research.
Thank you to Jack, Chase employee, who bought five thrillers today on Bay Parkway. I ran into Vinnie, a former employee of that same bank, who is now in web design. A customer asked if he missed the bank. "Hello, no," he said, "just a minute inside brought back the bad morale."
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Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/4

Someone posted the above chart on Facebook yesterday. I imagine the divide will become wider as OWS becomes more and more absurd each day. Let's just hope no one is killed.
RIP Matty Alou, 72, who had a lifetime batting average of .307 and won the NL batting title in 1966 with a mark of .342. His brother Felipe finished second. Jesus also played in the major leagues. The three were in the first wave of the influx of Dominicans in MLB. They hold unique records as a combination: they occupied all three outfield positions in the same game in 1963 for the San Francisco Giants, and all three came to bat in the same half inning against the Mets that same year, the only time a trio of brothers has accomplished these things. They also hold the record for hits by brothers. The DiMaggios, Joe, Vince and Dom, are second.
I must have listened to the wrong weather forecast last night. It was brutal outside today thanks to a strong wind. I cut the session short by an hour. I was fortunate to sell a novel in Russian to an elderly couple, who asked if I would accept books from them in the future. Spasibo, folks.
I finally finished the third round of editing of Bob Rubenstein's second novel, The White Bridge. What a relief! Now I can concentrate on posting my own novel, Killing, to Kindle. I began the process this afternoon. It is not going to be as fast as I'd hoped. Since my laptop's writing program is Works, I will have to convert the file, which I had saved to PDF, to Word. Kindle works best with Word. I also had to create title and dedication pages, which was easy. Fortunately, Amazon has a guide on how to do the requirements properly. The conversion caused huge gaps between the pages. I have to close them. And the paragraphs require indentation, which I should be able to do in one swoop. A lot of publishers want no indentation. I will still have to go through the entire manuscript. I consider it my best work and I want as few errors as possible. I have no idea how long it will take, but it should be nowhere near as long as it took me to do Bob's book.
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Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/3

Thank you to Michael and Abdul the Friendly Porter, who each donated books in Russian today. I sold about ten and still have five left to attract customers tomorrow. Among Abdul's donation was a huge textbook on World History, which a young man purchased. He also took Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Another young man bought a book on healing, Viktor the Ukrainian's female companion selected a pocket dictionary, and a teenager heeded my advice and opted for Jack London's The Sea Wolf.
And keeping on a positive note, it's time to introduce another of our All Things That Matter Press family of writers:
Just Who is Sandy Cohen, Anyway?
When’s the last time a novel made you laugh out loud?  When’s the last time you fell in love with a character?  In Revelations by Sandy Cohen you won’t be able to help yourself, you’ll do both.  Join Abis, trickster-god or mad man, you decide, as he guides Manny Markowitz, and you, through the wilds of Greece and the bogs and barrier islands of south Georgia, and ultimately back to life as they search for Abis’s boss, Willy Love.  Goofy, wise, and ultimately enchanting, this is the guidebook not just for anyone who has gone through one of life’s great tragedies, but for anyone who wants to return to the pure joy of living.  There are three ways to learn the meaning of life, namely reason, intuition, and revelation.  In Revelations, you’ll learn Abis’s, and your, great lesson—that life has no meaning any more than a flower has meaning, or needs to.  It is the beauty and fragrance that enchant.  Life is simply an experience to enjoy and exalt in.  For here, and now is your eternity to enjoy. 
Check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/Revelations-Sandy-Cohen/dp/0984621695/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320360700&sr=1-1

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/2

The beautiful weather did not help sales today, but the floating bookshop did get visits from several of its friends, and one scary drunk. The guy, who one minute said he was 50 and another 47, was in prison for 25 years. He worked as a roofer yesterday, his first day on the job, and called in sick today, sore from head to foot. He once owned his own business but drank it all away. He spoke of two fights he'd had that very morning. His conversation was sprinkled with colloquialisms: bro', weed, whack, and the most common profanity. He referred to himself as Ant', short for Anthony to those of you outside NYC. His girlfriend passed away a year to the day. She was considerably older than him. He'd met her in rehab. Although he didn't say how she died, I imagined the worst. He's mad at his sister, who evicted him from the basement apartment in her home in Gerritsen Beach, where he grew up, for a single incidence of drunkenness, he claimed. He's fed up with her "tough love." Imagine how she must feel. He kept sipping from a large can of beer and told me all about jet skiing, pulling his pants up and showing the scar across his patella, which he'd torn completely loose when he crashed into a wave and banged his knee against one of the handle bars. He went on for at least a half hour. I said as little as possible, hoping he'd get tired of talking. I hope he doesn't become a regular, and I hope he gets his stuff together. It was similar to talking with Jack, who is busy with the Occupy Wall Street movement these days, in that nothing of what is being said may be true, only Jack is not remotely scary. He was wearing an FDR button yesterday, placard in hand. Ant', on the other hand, seems an accident waiting to happen. Good luck, sir.
I caught up to Unknown (2011) last night, courtesy of Netflix. It stars Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aidan Quinn and Frank Langella. It was as effective as thrillers get. I am always leery of how mystery is resolved. Too often it is ludicrous. This time it was as intelligent as could be. I was clueless, although in retrospect there was at least one hint. The only drawbacks were the far-fetched participation in action by one of the characters, and the question of another's conversion.  Kudos to director Jaume Collett-Serra, a Spaniard, and screenwriters Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell. On a scale of five, four.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 11/1

The temperature was higher today than yesterday, but a stiff wind made it a lot colder. I sold the last four of the 20 Ed McBain thrillers Joanne donated months ago. A young man bought Dr. Spencer Johnson's best seller on adapting to change, Who Moved My Cheese? Another guy purchased Judge Judy's Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, which is one of the worst book titles I've ever heard. It didn't matter - the Judge is a gold mine. Finally, Al came by using a wheeled walker and donated two Tom Clancys and a non-fiction on the Pacific Northwest. When he showed interest in a large atlas I'd put out for the first time today, I told him it was his, fair exchange. He said he realized his ex-wife no longer loved him when she lined her bird cage with his cherished Rand McNally Atlas, the first book he'd bought after cashing his initial check as a city employee. Ouch. Thanks, folks.
Another green energy company, Beacon Power Corporation out of Massachusetts, has gone belly up. This time the taxpayers' price tag was only 43 million. As Ralph Kramden would say: "a mere bag of shells" compared to Solyndra. Meanwhile, thousands of jobs in oil and gas exploration and extraction are blocked by environmentalists.
The only ones surprised at the Yankees re-signing of C.C. Sabathia are the New York sportswriters given to sensational speculation. What other team could afford such a contract? And why would the Skanks let a terrific pitcher still in his prime get away?
Kudos to Tony LaRussa for going out on top. I do not like him, but no one could argue with his success. Although he lost two World Series as an overwhelming favorite while managing the A's, he won two as an underdog with the Cardinals. And he is leaving a team that figures to make another serious run next year if their offensive prowess proves to have been more than a hot streak and stud pitcher Adam Wainwright is as sound following surgery as reports state.
And special kudos to golfer Erik Compton, who has had two heart transplants, for finishing in the top 25 of the Nationwide Tour, which qualifies him automatically for the next year's PGA tour. Wow!
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