John Y. Brown, III’s Musings from the Middle — Now Available in Paperback

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Musings in paperback!!

Anyone interested in a softcover copy of my book “Musings From the Middle” ….well, you can be the very first to make a purchase.

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From the Author

We decided…OK, I decided…that we needed (OK, I needed) to have a paperback edition. First off, I’m 50 years old and don’t really get the whole digital book thing. It’s my fault. No big deal. But figured there were others like me who didn’t feel like they were reading a book unless there were pages to turn. Second, a lot of people buy books with the intention of reading them but they eventually end up as coasters on a coffee table. That doesn’t happen with eBooks but does with paperback books. And…if you look closely there is even a stain as part of the book cover art showing a good place for a cup of coffee.

From the Inside Flap

It’s pretty much white with nothing else on it. It’s good for doodling and quick notes when you can’t find your notepad. Otherwise, not much to write about this part of the book. Some, I should disclose, found this blank page preferable to many of the pages with black type on it. If enough testimonials about the positive feedback about this blank inside flap page are reprieved, we’ll post those testimonials.

From the Back Cover

“Musings from the Middle” came about by happenstance. My good friend Jonathan Miller was launching a blog titled “The Recovering Politician” and needed regular contributors. I wrote a column for the inaugural week and then promised a follow up column every week – and then after missing my first deadline – every two weeks. After missing my new deadline several times, I confided in Jonathan that I felt like I had let him down but had too much going on to meet a regular writing deadline on serious policy matters–and I added I wasn’t in the frame of mind at this point in my life to write about political issues. I wanted a break. Jonathan graciously understood but, always the creative entrepreneur, a few days later had a new idea. “You know those random posts you put on Facebook every day?” Jonathan asked. “Yes,” I said. “What if I used them? You don’t have to write on public policy or politics and can write whatever you want about anything you want. Just keep posting on Facebook and at the end of every week I’ll pull down my favorites and post on the Recovering Politician blog the next week. I was stuck. What could I say except yes? So I said yes. And am forever grateful I did. At first we did one post a week and then three and then five. Jonathan dubbed it “Musings from the Middle.” And that was some 400 posts and 400 pages ago. So he suggested this book. Who am I to argue with this guy? Hope you have a fraction of the fun I have had in writing this!!

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OK. I just bought one (a copy of Musings in the Middle) a few minutes ago.

And then about five minutes later bought another one!

This is great! Two sales in just 5 minutes!

At this pace….over the next two hours, I will own 24 paperback copies!! Exciting!!

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A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is 376 pages long.

Why is that important. Because Musings from the Middle by me is 366 pages long—almost identical to Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities.

Granted Moby Dick is 576 pages long but it’s about a whale and frankly I never got past the first few pages. Herman Mellville was really, really in to that whale story and probably made it as long as he did to impress people. And so it would be much longer than Charles Dickens books, who was kind of a competitor. (footnote–David Copperfield was actually longer than Moby Dick. Even though it wasn’t about whale stuff, it was pretty boring and probably Dickens trying to one-up Herman for making Moby Dick so much longer than his other novels).

Anyway, I say all that to make the point that Musings from the Middle (the paperback edition) has got a lot of pages in it. Just like Charles Dickens and Herman Melville’s better books that weren’t written just to show off.

So, if you are about to buy Tale of Two Cities or Moby Dick, you may want to think twice about that and consider Musings from the Middle instead. (It is shorter and easier to read. And doesn’t dwell on whales.)

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Breaking!! “Musings from the Middle projected to hit 1 million in sales!!”

At this rate, 3 sales (admittedly I bought all three myself but my mom is “thinking about buying one as I type this,” but let’s stick with just the numbers for now), that is 6 per hour. And 144 per every 24 hours. That’s 52,560 in the first year! Unless this is a leap year and then it’s even more! And over 20 years…..it’s over 1 Million sales!!! Pretty cool, eh?

Wow!! I can’t believe I did it!!!

Always believe in yourself!!

And always use poetic license with sales projections!!

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Here for fun…is my “Author’s update” I just gave to Amazon and will be my official plug. (This is not another plug. I swear. Not at all. Just a post about a plug. So don’t confuse them and decide to buy a book. That would not be understanding the point of this point. Buying because of the previous post is OK because that was a plug. But not ok to buy because of this one.
Also, I found out last night that to date I have earned $5.11 from all sales. I am using conservative estimates to project a “total net revenue” of about $26.74. After subtracting that from the costs of the book, about $200, that is a net profit of negative $173.26.
Not bad. Not bad at all!

From the Author
I am supposed to tell you why you should buy this book. Really, there are three reasons that come to mind. (Actually four because I thought of another one while I was writing and just stuck it in. It’s not numbered like the other three but it’s there and if you read closely enough you may be able to find it)

First off, I’m 50 years old and don’t really get the whole digital book thing. It’s my fault. No big deal. But figured there were others like me who didn’t feel like they were reading a book unless there were pages to turn. This paperback edition has pages to turn and I like that and some of you may too.

Second, a lot of people buy books with the intention of reading them but they eventually end up merely serving as coasters on a coffee table. That doesn’t happen with eBooks but does with paperback books. And…if you look closely at the cover of my book there is even a stain where a coffee cup was placed as part of the book cover art —showing a good place to put a cup of coffee when you use the book as a coaster. You don’t get that with most paperback books. But you do with mine.

Now we get to the meaty and most esoteric part of my pitch. Third, Musings from the Middle seems to have the makings of a literary classic in some ways. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is 376 pages long. Why is that important? Because Musings from the Middle by me is 366 pages long—almost identical in length to Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities.

Now, I’m not getting into the whole quality versus quantity argument. We’ve all got our opinions on which one is most important but for my purposes here I’m going to leave that issue off the table. Let’s just all agree that both quantity and quality are pretty important and just call it a toss up for now and leave it at that.

Now back to the subject at hand. Literary classics. Moby Dick is another literary classic–and it is 576 pages long— but almost all of it is about a whale. Seriously! I like Herman Melville’s short stories but never got very far into Moby Dick because it went on and on about mostly whale stuff. He probably made it as long as he did to try to impress people. And maybe so it would be longer than Charles Dickens books—who I think was kind of a competitor at the time with Melville. Authorwise.

Charles Dickens had written David Copperfield about the same time and it has even more pages than Moby Dick AND Musings from the Middle combined–and more boring than both, if you ask me.

Frankly, when Dickens wrote David Copperfield he was probably trying to one-up Herman Melville for making Moby Dick so much longer than Dickens other novels. I don’t know this for a fact, I just know if I had been in Melville’s shoes I would have made Moby Dick that long for that very reason—just to spite Charles Dickens and let him know what he was up against if he wanted to write on and on about not much of anything at all. I can do that about as well as anyone I ever met –write on and on and not much of anything at all, that is. I really can. I swear it. Just buy my book and see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed. I promise. Heck, I’m kinda proving that point right here and right now as part of my pitch to get you to buy the book. But hold on. Don’t stop reading. I’m not finished with my sales pitch yet.

Oh, and before we go any further I want to make sure no one is confusing the book David Copperfield with David Copperfield the magician who does magic tricks on television. They are two totally different people. The magician named David Copperfield came much later in history–by over a hundred years. And is American not British. I don’t even think the two David Copperfields are related. In fact, the newer and real David Copperfield is probably a little more interesting than the older made up one. And for all I know he may even have a thin book written about him– but if he does, I can’t really recommend it. After you’ve seen his a few tricks making something big disappear. Kind of a one trick pony, if you know what mean.

Anyway, sorry for digressing but I’m a stickler when it comes to literature and history and just calling it like I seem it. Let me sum it up this way. The point is that we’ve been talking a lot here about the pros and cons of Moby Dick, David Copperfield and Musings from the Middle (the paperback edition). All three books have things to recommend them. No doubt about it. And arguments about quality aside (which we agreed to leave out in the sixth paragraph above), we can all agree that Musings from the Middle, written in 2013, has got a lot of pages in it –so you get a lot of bang for your buck, so to speak. A lot of pages for the money –about 3 cents a page, in fact. (I did the math.) Granted, you get more to read for 3 cents a page with Moby Dick and David Copperfield, but as I have said I can’t recommend either book and I think Dickens and Melville wrote them mostly just to show off and one-up each other. And that’s not a good enough reason to buy any book in my opinion.

I wasn’t trying to one-up anyone or show off with Musings from the Middle. I take that last part back. I probably was showing off a little bit when I wrote a lot of the posts in it. I’ll admit that. But still…. if you are about to buy a Tale of Two Cities or Moby Dick, you may want to think twice about it and consider buying Musings from the Middle instead. I did and have no regrets. (Full disclosure: a got a discount on mine I couldn’t get for the other two.)

I don’t think you’ll regret it either. Even without the discount. Musings from the isn’t about whales and old Englandly stuff. It’s about everyday stuff you can relate to. Like losing your car keys and funny family stories and how to get through the day without worrying about your weight and still eat an apple fritter that morning. And how if you just look honestly at the things in life that bug and worry and embarrass you the most they actually become funny instead of something you fear. And you may even start posting about them on Facebook and make your own book. And how listening to the Grateful Dead when nothing else makes sense in the world can make things a little bit better. The world still doesn’t make sense, of course, but at least there’s a nice beat in the background. And much more. I’m not telling you the whole book here. You’ll have to just buy it and read it for yourself.

And one more thing. (Here is the fourth reason I said at the top that I thought of while I was writing and that I stuck in at the end without numbering. I decided to number it anyway so it wouldn’t drive you crazy.)

Here’s the fourth reason to buy this edition. Don’t discount the fact that you’ll meet a lot of people in this world who claim they’ve read David Copperfield and Moby Dick but really haven’t. Anybody can do that. It is a moment of truth for you. A defining moment. Are you a follower or a leader? If you buy my book instead, I’d say you were a leader. Why? If you buy my book you can be one of only several dozen people in the world who can claim to have read it even though they didn’t!! Don’t just pretend to read what everyone else does from the past. Pretend to read new and modern books that no one has ever heard of or will read. Like Musings from the Middle. Think about it that way and buying this book kinda makes sense.

I will stop now. I’m just trying to help you think through this purchase in a rational and sensible way so you are ready when you have to explain to your spouse or friend why you have a brand new paperback book you are using as a coaster for your coffee cup.

Now you have a ready answer.