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It’s a safe bet that any book flogging a “marketing system” will contain a few nuggets of hard information surrounded by thousands of words of padding. John Locke’s how-to is no exception. It sticks closely to the business self-help template, which goes something like this: Page 1 In this book, you’ll discover the secrets of… [more]
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I decided to publish a short story in ebook format and give it away for free, partly because I think it’s fun and partly because it might help promote Coffin Dodgers. Unfortunately Amazon won’t let you price books at zero any more (it’s apparently part of Amazon’s so far unsuccessful plan to stop book spam),… [more]
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I’m told that ebook trailers are important, so I had a go at one. I’m easily amused. [more]
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Cheery news on the book front: Malachi at allmetaphor.com has given Coffin Dodgers a really good review, and Smashwords has published the book to both Barnes & Noble and iBooks. The latter is a bit cheaper than everywhere else, and I have no idea why. When I find out, I’ll let you know. For now,… [more]
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A new study on behalf of KPMG suggests that the UK’s getting the hang of this ebook malarkey. Some interesting numbers: consumption of e-books has doubled since September 2009 as people increasingly purchase these products to use on tablets and e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. According to the research, monthly spend on these goods is… [more]
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Oh yes it is. Me on Techradar: Social networks also benefit from lock-in. I hate Facebook: I hate its horrible UI, its overly complex privacy settings, its photo albums, the algorithm that seems hell-bent on hiding important and interesting updates. Given the choice, I wouldn’t use it. Unfortunately I don’t have a choice, because for… [more]
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Probably not one for lunchtime, but here’s one for the men: why one man has decided that he’s going to start washing his hands after he urinates. Fidopiastis says he’s heard all of my hand-washing protestations before, and to all of them he has the same response: “Perianal sweat.” Fidopiastis’s message isn’t getting much attention,… [more]
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This really made me laugh: take one shoebox and one iPad and you’ve got everything you need to make a concert venue. Skip the pics and go straight to the video. [more]
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I’ve blogged about fly on the wall documentary series The Scheme a few times here, but the news that it’s now going to be broadcast in the rest of the UK made me want to add another bit. Having seen the whole series now – including a final episode that made it very clear that… [more]
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This looks like fun: a free iPad app that lets you browse the British Library’s collection of 19th Century books. From the press release: The app takes advantage of the form and function of iPad, bringing a renewed sense of wonder to the discovery and enjoyment of antiquarian and historical books. Currently the app features over a thousand 19th Century books, but it… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
