The Lonely Oak’s in Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 5!

Once again, I am honored.

The glorious, wise, and beautiful folks at Sixth Elem6ent, home of Harvey Duckman Presents and many awesome, independent books, published The Lonely Oak in Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 5.

 
(and they want more of my work!)

Whoa!

Other fine authors are in HDP5 as well. (you should read them all)

(have to see if i can get a few more links in that opening paragraph…)

Join EU actress @Sabine_Rossbach and author @JosephCarrabis for Episode 2, “Massively Scarred”, of The Augmented Man Video Series

As in Episode 1 “Good Run, Trailer?”, Sabine and I discuss the book’s meaning and our decision process in creating this new book video trailer format.

Prepare for Episode 2 “Massively Scarred”

 
Learn about the research leading to this new format.

Watch Episode 1 “Good Run, Trailer?” .

Follow The Augmented Man video trailer series.

Shaman Story Chapter 7 – Sensing

Read Shaman Story Chapter 6 – Friends.


Shaman Story Chapter 7 – Sensing

 
Ascolta il gattina, Gio. Riesci a sentirlo camminare?” Listen to the kitty, Gio. Can you hear it walking?

A favorite game Grandpa plays with me. I close my eyes, pay attention to my ears. I clap my hands. “Yes, Buppa! I can hear it walking.”

Dove sta camminando, Gio?” Where is it walking?

I listen, my eyes shut tight. I cock my head, right ear up, left ear up, right ear up. “On Mrs. Gianelli’s fence. The one on the Caputo’s side.”

Grandpa smiles and kisses my head.

“Now look, Gio. Where is Grandma?”

It is hard not to hear. I cover my ears with my hands, open my eyes wide. “She’s talking with Piantedosi the baker, Buppa. She says — ”

“No listening. What’s she doing?”

“She’s getting bread for dinner.”

“Anything else?”

Grandma looks in the dessert cases. She points to ricciarelli, struffoli, and cannoli.

Grandpa licks his lips and pats his belly. “Yumm.”

***

David sits across from me. It is his day, his weekend. He’s travelled far for his training. Not far enough but he doesn’t know that yet.

I look up and to the right, away from him, My eyes focus and I smile. “Oh, Shannon’s talking with one of our neighbors. Our dogs are playing in the park.”

David watches me. His eyes flick to where I’m looking. There’s nothing there. “What are you looking at?”

I point where I’m looking. “Shannon and Debbie, Cowan and Boxer. They’re in the park. Cowan and Boxer are playing. Shannon and Debbie are sitting at the picnic table under the roof shelter.”

***

“Use your hands to taste, Gio. Don’t touch with your hands first. Send your hands. Make sure it’s safe.”

Grandpa teaches me to detect poisons, food turned bad, mushrooms, when milk will sour.

“Smell from here. Don’t go there. Not yet.”

“Okay, Buppa.”

“Walk with me in the forest. Tell me what we can eat.”

We never leave my room. I hear the forest floor, leaves and pine needles, long grasses pushed over as we walk. The evergreens greet me with the heavy scent of pine. The oaks roll some acorns in our path. A maple sends a little helicopter seed spiralling beside me.

Grandpa puts his hand on my shoulder. On my bed I see him pointing. “Do you see that, Gio?”

On a birch tree, at face level and clinging. A huge creature, cousin to Spider, bigger than any spider I’ve ever seen, and not familiar to me. Eight legs, not a spider, and blind.

“Walk slowly, Gio. It is telling us something. This is its land.”

Each step brings us closer. The wind brings scents of fox and deer. Crows fly overhead. Raven lands on an elm branch and squawks at Grandpa, “Be careful. Gio doesn’t know.”

Grandpa nods. “Thank you. Yes. I’m teaching him now.”

Crows caw at us. Raven hops from branch to branch, always over us, always a little ahead.

The creature grows smaller as we approach. Smaller and smaller.

Raven squawks, “Careful, Gio.”

We stand beside the birch. The creature is so small. I reach for it and Grandpa pulls my hand back.

“Safe passage for me and mine, Friend Tick?”

I hear a voice of “S”s. “Yesss. Sssafe passsage.”

“This is Tick’s land, Gio. Always ask before you go. And if Tick says “No,” then stay away.”

“Yes, Buppa.”

“Remember the smells, the sounds, the feels. Remember what you see, if it’s safe, remember the tastes.”

“Yes, Buppa.”

He rubs my head. “Let’s get home before Grandma knows we’re gone.”

I open my eyes. I’m on my bed. Grandpa is sitting next to me, looking at me, smiling.


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Join EU actress @Sabine_Rossbach and author @JosephCarrabis for Episode 1, “Good Run, Trailer?”, of The Augmented Man Video Series

Sabine and I discuss the book’s meaning and our decision process in creating “Good Run, Trailer”, a unique, 2m #video #book #trailer premiering on YouTube Monday, 15 June 2020, 9amET.

Some History
I spent five months studying video trailers, talking with authors who use them, checking results, determining various forms of ROI, et cetera.

Prices varied from homebrew to several thousand dollars for a “professional” trailer. Regardless of time, effort, and money, few experienced a direct link between their video trailer and book sales.

Simultaneous to that study I did 1-2 book signings/month (prior to the Covid pandemic) and talked with many book buyers about what got them to purchase a book and documented their comments.

Two factors dominated purchase decisions: 1) a trusted friend’s recommendation and 2) Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature.

The book buyers I interviewed did not find video trailers interesting, and few led directly to sales. Comments included “I see pictures and blurbs but one’s just like another. They don’t really tell me what the book’s about”, “I see lots of trailers and get numb to them” and “A trailer really has to stand out to interest me.”

Asked what would work, the most repeated answers were “Tell me the story”, “Let me experience it”, “Give me an idea what it’s about and maybe I’ll get interested.” Some booksigning venues let me read from my work. I consistently sold more books when I read from them than when I didn’t. All of these items correlate to Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature; giving the reader an idea of book content, not marketing content. Readers know immediately if they’ll enjoy a book or author’s style.

Gifted and accomplished EU actress Sabine Rossbach (also a regular reader who loves my work) contacted me wanting to promote my work. She took my short story “Cymodoce” and did a dramatic reading.

Sabine knows how to do dramatic readings (she’s done voice-overs, commercials, dubbings, staged readings, been a corporate spokesperson, is an accomplished stage and film actress …). I shared her video with 1) a test audience and then 2) some test markets and got results in 15m. Test audiences commented that her reading gave them a much better idea of 1) the type of story, 2) what it’s about, and 3) my writing style than any traditional video ever could.

#Authors, #Writers, and any others in the #WritingCommunity, Sabine is available to do similar videos for your books (she’s already done some for EU-based authors). You can view her demo reels (English starts about 35s in) and and IMDB.

Please note I do not guarantee results, I only offer that current data indicates dramatic readings (I suggest Sabine do them) produce recognizable, attributable results.

Enjoy, and please come join us on YouTube for “Good Run, Trailer”


Episode 1 – “Good Run, Trailer?”
Episode 2 – “Massively Scarred”

Sabine Rossbach
Joseph Carrabis
The Augmented Man

Shaman Story Chapter 6 – Friends

At one point the following was Chapter 6. It’ll still be in the finished novel, simply not sure where at this point. Enjoy

Read Shaman Story Chapter X – The Wild, The Shadows.


Shaman Story Chapter 6 – Friends

 
His last few years Grandpa and I traveled. Not far, though. I don’t remember it as “far.” He took me to meet his friends and we talked about what Grandpa was teaching me. They loved to have me show them. I made mistakes, most of them harmless. Others, not so harmless. I didn’t understand. Grandpa wanted me to learn and knew something I didn’t; he didn’t have much time left.

Hence taking me to his friends, knowing they’d take over, they’d continue teaching me when he passed. They were my training wheels.

Everything to them was joyful. Everything came with a laugh. And always with you, never at you. Never arguments, never disagreements. Never “do it this way” or “do it that way.” Their corrections took the form “It might work better this way” or “What happens if you do it that way?” Always the encouragement to find your own way to do it, to find your own path, and always happy to have you for a while on their path or take part in your path for a while.

Each visit dealt with a lesson. Grandpa often said “We need to see John. John knows about this.” or “We should go visit Running Water. She knows how to do this.” or “That’s something Chan does better than me. Let’s ask him to show you how it’s done.”

Grandpa knew he didn’t know it all. He had no problem admitting ignorance. He said not knowing is a great gift; if you know you don’t know, you can decide to learn. If you know you know, you’ve already decided not to learn. “Never be afraid and never be ashamed if you don’t know something, Gio. When you admit you don’t know, that’s when you learn.”

Each of them did the basics pretty much the same way. There’s some variation, but Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe is Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe is Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe. I thought there was one door and learned there are many. Some people always go through the same door to start and then there’s other doors on the other side. Some people go through their Childhood Door only when they need to. They find other doors to different places they need to go. Some people can control their doors so that one becomes many and many becomes one.

But you never let someone enter your door and you never follow someone through their door, even if they ask. You can, I’ve met some people who’ve done so. I’ve met some people who were pulled through someone else’s door. That’s a defense and usually used by the weak, those who don’t know more or other.

When it’s an accident, someone has to go find them. Hence Grandpa playing Hide-and-Seek with me.


Greetings! I’m your friendly, neighborhood Threshold Guardian. This is a protected post. Protected posts in the My Work, Marketing, and StoryCrafting categories require a subscription (starting at 1$US/month) to access. Protected posts outside those categories require a General (free) membership.
Members and Subscribers can LogIn. Non members can join. Non-protected posts (there are several) are available to everyone.
Want to learn more about why I use a subscription model? Read More ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes Enjoy!