Latest Articles from The Vandal AKA Derek Haines

Self Publishing – It’s About Breaking The Rules

There are no self-publishing rules The rule book governing the publishing of books has been thrown out of the window, been burnt on a sacrificial fire and converted into a Kindle ebook that no one will ever bother to read. Self-publishing is a new form of anarchy, which will change the face of publishing, reading and consumption of text for some considerable years to come. It will, and I could probably say, already has changed the way books are written, bought, read, marketed and sold. Why does a novel need to be 110,000 words? Who made that rule? Well, it was fine when books needed to look nice and uniform

A Cure For Insomnia

When someone comes up with a cure for insomnia, they’ll make a fortune. However, until then us night crawlers will continue to be driven mad by the sound of the ticking clock. Two AM Two in the morning, It’s quiet ‘round here. Two in the morning, There’s no one to hear. Two in the morning, I’ll not make a peep, Two in the morning, I wish I could sleep. Two in the morning, The clock moves so slow. Two in the morning, Some memories won’t go. Two in the morning, There are secrets I keep. Two in the morning, I wish I could sleep. Two in the

What Is The Problem With Satire?

It’s satire. Go on, laugh! I don’t know how many comments, Tweets and Facebook comments I have received regarding a few of my blog posts, complaining about mistakes or errors I have made, when the commenters have completely missed my point. I hate to be pointed here, but there are those, who seem to have next to a zero concept of the notion of satire, or irony. Let me start here. I wrote a blog post recently about grammatical errors, and the title was: Writters Who Should Of Done A Grammar Check Now, in my mind, it was very clear that this title was satirical, ironic and tongue in cheek. But boy, you wouldn’t believe the number

The Hard Grind – Marketing Your Self Published Book

10 tips to help you with marketing your self-published book. While self-publishing has given authors and writers all the tools necessary to publish a quality ebook or paperback, there is one element that remains a stumbling block. Getting a book to sell. Marketing your self-published book is tough, hard work, competitive and cut throat. If that’s not enough, it can also be very expensive. Of course, we all hear about the ‘outliers’ that have got lucky such as Amanda Hocking and E L James, but these are rarities. However in saying that, they didn’t achieve success without a lot of hard work, and hard marketing, either. Self-published authors have no