REVIEWER WANTED FOR HIGH TRAFFIC SITE

 REVIEWER HAS BEEN FOUND. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.

The Deepening World of Fiction is looking for a lover of books who, with a discerning eye and fundamental honesty, can evaluate novels for our readers. We do not shy away from criticisms, but we do try to make them useful to both author and reader.

The position is with our Book Review page/blog. We will expect just one review per month from you, unless you wish to post something from your own collection of books. The position is unpaid with the exception that you are welcome to keep any book you review.

Authors: if you think you would like to try your hand at reviewing, you will also have the privilege of posting your own book promos, publishing novel excerpts and/or short stories. Editorials are welcome but must be approved by me.

Clayton Bye
Editor-in-Chief (email)
Book Reviews at The Deepening World of Fiction

Turning Clicks Into Customers.

Let me share some honest, insider information with you...

About a year ago, I decided to sell books on the internet. Unique customer visits to my website will break the 100,000 mark this year. Of those 100,000 visitors, only 4,000 will go on to visit my secure, on-line store. And virtually no one is buying.

Up until this time, such things haven't bothered me: my main focus was to increase visibility on the internet (which I have done) and offer prospective customers a place they could visit to preview my products.

Today, when I looked at the numbers provided above, I decided something must change. If I were to compare internet buying to mail-out numbers, the industry tells me I should expect approximately the same results. Well, mail-outs generate 1-2% sales, on a consistent basis. I haven't sold a single book through my on-line store this year, and sales made as a result of visits to either website or online-store are definitely not in the 80-2,000 book range.

What's going on? Frankly, I have no idea. My prices are as good as you'll find in any store. My products are of excellent quality. I've accumulated some terrific reviews. Shipping & Handling are free in Canada and the US. I've even tried 2 for 1 sales: no luck. And, this is a big one, my books have traditionally sold well through channels other than the internet.

So, here's today's effort: Any book you buy from my Online Store now comes with a Money-Back, Satisfaction Guarantee.

Finally, if you have any ideas or insights to share, I would gladly look/listen.

Clayton Bye
September, 24, 2010


For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

PROMO: What I Found In The Dark

What I Found In The Dark
Clayton Clifford Bye
Chase Enterprises, 2010
ISBN 9780978177423
eBook, PDF, 70 pages
Poetry

Purchase exclusively at ClaytonBye.com Online Store

Blurb

The mystery of the veil, of the dark curtain between this life and the next, between past and future or between mind and matter haunts all of us at one time or another. Yet... there is beauty in what we can’t see and must imagine.

Like most people, I’m certain my life won’t come down to What I Found in the Dark: there’s too much light for that. Yet... I peer through veils of the past and the future yet to be, and I take what glimpses come my way.

Share those glimpses with me. Some are sweet; some bitter; and some will hurt: my hope is you will find all interesting and instructive.

Clayton Bye
May 22, 2010

Excerpts

The Town of Me

My days have been
the passing of dreams,
not quite real clouds
built of smoke and dust,
marking each pained
but gritty footstep
with rasping laughter
to steal away
the life-blood of
this aging ghost town,
while colourless
thoughts raised without form
walk through my halls,
echos of silence.


Loss

A crystal passage from here to there
but no light with which to see.
"So what?" He asks with bitterness,
that door is closed to me.


Hole In The Clouds

Radiant beams,
a hole in the clouds,
gossamer strands
speak out loud.
Warmed heart,
a child's eyes aglow:
soul is livened,
I drive slow.

Reviews

Author D. L. Keur | 5 out of 5 Stars!
31/05/2010

This resonating collection of poems by Clayton Bye takes you into the deepest stirrings of the psyche. It plumbs a true fathom of passion, yearning, and acute self-discernment, from the center of the Self. The soul's quest, its essence responding to the visceral reality--the joyous, the lovely, as well as the ugly--this is the journey upon which you will embark within these pages.


Poet Cynthia Baello | 4 out of 5 Stars!
31/05/2010

Regarding the poem "A Hole In The Clouds." Very refreshing and the lines though brief say a lot of emotions.


Poet Edwin Hurdle | 5 out of 5 Stars!
31/05/2010

Regarding the poem "Headpins." Great poem, very well written.


Poet Gillian Jane Sims | 5 out of 5 Stars!
22/06/2010

Your poetry is just unbelievable.


Author John B. Rosenman | 5 out of 5 Stars!
13/07/2010

By all means, be sure to read Clayton Bye's What I Found In The Dark.. It's nice to see a poet with a sense of structure and restraint. When it comes to poetry, restraint magnifies freedom. The brief introductory comments are great, too. They tell us just enough without spoiling it for us. I like their thematic tie-in with darkness, love, and related emotions. Most of all, this is a volume you can read repeatedly without exhausting its richness.


Reviewer Lucille P Robinson | 4 out of 5 Stars!
13/07/2010

The Black Veil

I don’t always understand poetry. Sometimes I read a poem and wonder what the author is trying to say. Sometimes I have to read a poem several times to get any meaning. Clayton Bye has included in his book of poetry brief introductions to each poem that will help the reader understand his poems.

The poems move me like other books of poetry have not. Perhaps it is because I feel a connection to the ideas Clayton Bye uses, perhaps it is a mutual understanding of things that lie in the Black Veil present between two people, between this life and after death, between this world and the possibility of one in another dimension, or the veil between our waking and sleeping moments. To me the Black Veil could easily be the subconscious mind because it is so alive and yet so hidden and still it plays such an important part in our lives.

It is difficult to review a book of poetry because of the different ideas presented, but I found the following truths about Clayton Bye’s What I Found in the Dark poems. They make you wonder, ask questions, imagine, and, yes, feel sadness, joy, discomfort, and perhaps a yearning for love, for understanding, for a close mate to share your life with. Yes, these poems are deep, some rhyme, some don’t, some are clear on their own, some become clear from the introduction that comes before it.

The poem ‘The Town of Me’ strikes a certain chord in me, almost like Clayton Bye knew what makes me a person. ‘The Farm’ evoked many memories of farm life for me. The chickens and gathering eggs, the pig, lol, the milk cow and calf, and what we called the ‘truck patch’; a larger plot of garden than a usual kitchen garden which was planted to provide not only food to can or freeze for later, but to provide fresh produce to sell. Those were wonderful days. ‘Crazy for you Baby’ read like a song lyric complete with a chorus and reminded me of the country song ‘Mama, he’s crazy, crazy over me’ which is probably not the title of this song. ‘One Forever’ is so lovely, yet so sad. This poem seems to speak of a yearning for another despite the other’s inability to offer more than friendship. These are just a few of Bye’s poems that moved me so much and gave me back so many memories. On the downside, there are a few poems having an excruciating sadness about them, yet a reader could feel the optimism hiding beneath the sadness. These made me wonder if Clayton Bye wasn’t talking about himself.

Buy this eBook ($3.99 CDN). When purchasing, mention this blog in the comments box. I will send you a free copy of The Bare Knuckle MBA eBook ($120 CDN).  NOTE: The promotion may end any time at my discretion.

For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

A look at the real deal: Author John B. Rosenman's "Here Be Dragons."

Here Be Dragons
by John B Rosenman
eBook ISBN: 9781926640624

Price: $ 2.50
Genre: Science Fiction
Sub Genre: Horror
Short Story of 5500 words
Heat rating: 1
Edited by Lauren Gilbert
Cover Artwork by Dawné Dominique
Print ISBN: 9781926647388
Buy Here

About the book:
From space, the planet Mira looks safe and peaceful, but mysterious “dragons” slaughtered the fourteen members of the first expedition. Captain Jordan, leading the second expedition to investigate this tragedy, will do anything to avoid more bloodshed.
After their ship lands, they discover a lovely Eden. While there is no sign of the previous crew, soon a deadly snake enters the garden. Crew members start to die in horrible ways, and Jordan fears his officers have been replaced with clever imitations by an unimaginably alien monster with supremely evil powers.
The question is, what will happen when Jordan and the monster finally come face to face?

Excerpt:
He smiled. The lieutenant was such a gentle, honest man, that she couldn’t imagine him hurting a flea. With Rob Adams, what you saw was what you got. Unlike other men, he’d never hurt or disappointed her.
Still, if they were caught, their affair would probably bring them both a court-martial. So she had to be careful even with him.
Troubled, she turned back to the scope while his hands gently began to massage her shoulders. One descended and caressed her breast. She pulled away. Ordinarily she would have liked it, but something about him seemed wrong.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
She shivered. “I…I’m not sure. You seem different somehow.”
“Different? What do you mean?” His hand found her breast and started to caress it again.
“I can’t explain it. You’re just…not the same.”
His hand froze. He hissed, a strange sound that made her skin crawl. “No matter how hard I try,” he said, “you never accept me.”

For samples of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

A Wagon Wheel of Wonder

 

Title: Wagon Wheel of Wonder
Author: Joshua Lamb
Publisher: Unedited Manuscript
Download: htm torrent
Length: 96 pages
Genre: Philosophy

 

 

Dear readers,

Should you come across the document listed above toss it in the nearest garbage receptacle!

This “manuscript” was either written by someone with serious mental issues, or it’s some kind of prank I don’t understand. In fact, that is my review in a nutshell: Wagon Wheel of Wonder is impossible to understand.

Prospective writers: you should know that reviewers, just like any career-minded person, live very busy lives. If you send “crap” to be reviewed, expect it to end up where all such material meets its fate.

I'm so inundated by review requests I now accept only print versions for review. And the book had better be good. My reviews are based on a full read of the books sent to me. You should also be aware that I always say exactly what I think, good, bad or, as in today’s offering, ridiculous.

I don’t understand, and probably never will, why anyone would ask me to review anything but the very best work they are capable of. Keep that in mind, will you?

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

Winners of the February Giveaway at The Deepening World of Fiction

Hello everyone,

I would like to thank all those who participated in the February Giveaway at The Deepening World of Fiction.

The winners of a free copy of my fantasy novel, The Sorcerer's Key, were: Lisa Lane, Kate Leger, Casey Wolf and Laura Diamond.

Clayton Bye
The Deepening World of Fiction


For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

February Give Away

 Hello everyone,

During the month of February stop by my novel review blog or my horror blog and comment on any of the reviews.

(http://reviews.thedeepening.com/)  

(http://www.thedeepening.com/horror)

Your name will go in a draw for one of four copies of my mass market paperback, The Sorcerer's Key.

Should you win, I will contact you for your mailing address.

Enjoy!

Clayton Bye
The Deepening World of Fiction




For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.

Voter Based Book Awards

I'm going on a short rant today.

For about 2 weeks now I've been inundated with requests to vote for numerous books, authors and artists. It's that time of year again: voting deadlines for spring book contests are looming on the horizon. This type of spam also occurs when someone is in the running for a website award. I've even been approached to give referrals to businesses I've never heard of.

Look, if you know I've read or reviewed your book, by all means ask away. But what gives you the right to spam everyone in your address book or those who happen to belong to the same association as you? The decent thing to do is post a notice with your various groups (as per their guidelines) and contact only those individuals you know who have bought your book.

And don't tell me you can't do what I've suggested: I have a record of every person (outside brick and mortar bookstores) who has ever bought one of my books. You, as a business person, should have a similar data base.

Besides, what's the real worth of an award granted to the best schmoozer? If you want recognition of lasting value, then earn it; don't turn your opportunity into a popularity contest. It not only cheapens you, it's dishonest.

I vote in these contests (I'm not a fan of them, and I don't participate) when an author who knows I've read their book(s) or have seen their art or have done business with them asks me to. It's important to lend a hand up when you can, to support your colleagues. But I say this: it's more important to be honest.

The whole thing comes down to a choice between right and wrong. Make the wrong choice (and you already knew which choice that was) and you reveal desperation and dishonesty. Believe me when I tell you: in the long run you'll do more damage to your credibility than any award can compensate you for.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010


For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.