BookBuzzr interviews Michele Brenton – Author of Alternative Poetry…

A few months ago, we had the swine flu scare in India. Everywhere I went, I saw people wearing masks. And everybody kept cleansing their hands with hand-sanitizer. You could practically cut the fear in the air with a knife. At this point, I stumbled upon a BookBuzzr book with the words "Alternative Poetry - Lite" in the title. Intrigued, I flipped through a few pages. And before I knew it I was smiling ... and then laughing! Then I came across this little verse which was so relevant to the "lets-keep-everything-clean" mania that had enveloped me and all other people in my immediate surroundings:

Where There's Dirt There's Life
Nothing good comes from sterile and pure.
The best things in life spring up from manure.

I was able to draw my own conclusions from this poem and more importantly it lightened my heart and made me understand that the fear that people were feeling at that point in time did not mean anything. So when I recently got the opportunity to interview the author - Michele Brenton - I jumped at it:)

So here goes:

Hi Michele ... Can you tell our author community of readers, a little about yourself?
Hi Vikram... I'll try.
I read fluently when I was two years old and became known to friends and neighbours as 'The Professor' and as 'Bossy Boots' to my immediate family! I was extremely pompous and enjoyed telling everyone how to behave and lost my temper if I wasn't taken very seriously indeed!
'The Professor' would be quite disgusted at the fact that I am now known as banana_the_poet – but I'm quite happy about it. :)
As I grew up I found I was much happier standing on the sidelines, observing and writing rather than trying to control everything and everyone around me. I suppose the simple fact nobody ever did what I told them might have had something to do with that change of tactic LOL


And can you tell us about your book (in verse form if at all possible :))
Alternative Poetry Books - Yellow edition
It's yellow and red and will sit on your shelf
waiting for its friends;
There will be another six
before this series ends.

It isn't exclusively funny and it isn't entirely sad
like life my poetry series
will lead you through
times good and bad.

Each Alternative Poetry Book
will be of a different hue,
To send a rainbow message
of hope from me to you.

I don't expect to change the world
or even cause a riot,
But I'll know I got my message through
If you care enough to buy it.

On opening your book, I see the Tai Chi circle in a few places. What does this mean?

I love that symbol so much! It combines opposite/reflecting images to create an eternal harmonious circular completeness. Life is made up of good and bad, happy and unhappy, dark and light, night and day etc
Balance can only be found by using both sides of every equation.
I hope my poetry books embody balance by alternating fun, light, amusing and silly poems with serious, dark, earnest and thoughtful ones.



Any tips for someone looking to write funny poems?
Always put as much thought and care into writing funny poems as you would into a serious one. Just because a poem is intended to be amusing doesn't mean it needn't be a 'good' one. While I play with meter, cliches and rhymes etc I always do it purposefully. I believe that every facet of a poem should always have been chosen for a reason and if asked I should be able to justify each and every choice.

I noticed that you've got over 10,000 widget views and nearly 700 full screen views on BookBuzzr. Any tips for author looking to market their book on the Internet??
The BookBuzzr widget is a fantastic little gizmo and I love it! It has a few places where it could be improved – but nothing is perfect straight away and I am confident it will eventually be pretty close to perfect due to the marvelously responsive attitude you guys have to feedback.
I put my widget on my blogs for my visitors to preview the little sample e-book I put together as a precursor for my full 84 page paperback.
I also use my Twitter presence to point people at my BookBuzzr pages and have told people about it (with the link of course) on the various forums I frequent. I recently posted to a poetry genre forum on Amazon and included a link to BookBuzzr on that – I would have been mad not to as unfortunately the 'look inside' option on my Amazon listings proved to be rather disappointing.
I've been impressed by the recent addition on the BookBuzzr format of a page at the end of the widget that highlights other BookBuzzr books for readers. That's a great idea and means that for each BookBuzzr author that gets reads a group of other authors have a chance to be spotted as well. A win win situation for readers and writers.
This is the first book I've ever tried to market and so I am very new to how this all works but I was very pleased to find Freado and BookBuzzr – it has streamlined things considerably – and most people seem to like playing with the flippy pages :)
I also started a Blog Tour to promote my book – this being one stop on the Tour for which I am very grateful. I had no idea what a Blog Tour was a month ago – but now here I am doing one – and I still don't have much of an idea, but it seems to be a GOOD THING TO DO – so I am doing it and so far it has been a lot of fun.
Time will tell if it was useful in the marketing scheme of things, but as long as we're all having fun and it isn't costing anyone anything but time – it is worth a try.


Do you market your book on Facebook? Why or Why not?
I haven't ever been able to get into the Facebook vibe. Not sure why. Maybe because it feels very complicated to me and I like simple things best. Twitter is very simple so I quickly got hooked. BookBuzzr is quite simple to use and so I found it accessible to use, similarly the Blog.co.uk blogging community I use is simple and easy to make sense of – and that is why you'll find me there.
But Facebook – I joined but I haven't been back more than twice. I have asked friends and family who are Facebook members to mention me on there – but I don't know if they have, or if anyone has taken any notice if they have.
I have a nagging feeling I ought to do more on Facebook – but I spend so much time already on Twitter, my blogs, the forums I participate in and I am busy with putting together the next books in the Alternative Poetry Books series AND I have to fit real life in somewhere too – so Facebook is lost in the 'might have been' box at the back of my brain.

You are also offering 50 embossed signed certified limited editions of your book. I think it's an absolutely fantastic idea because it's like buying a souvenir. In fact, I feel like ordering one for myself! How should people go about getting a copy?
Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly
http://TheAlternativePoetry.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/alternative-poetry-books-yellow-edition-here-it-is-7181615/
This is the direct link to the 'buy it here' page on the blog I set up specifically for the Alternative Poetry Books series, where the special signed copies can be purchased.
This link can also be found on the 'BUY' button on the BookBuzzr widget - which lists ALL the various purchasing options/links including for standard copies via the usual online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble and will soon carry details of local bookshops which will stock or order the books for you. I update the 'BUY' information regularly as the situation develops and once all 50 embossed signed copies are gone I will remove the link from the widget.

And finally, can you make up a verse / poem / limerick about BookBuzzr?
Behold the BookBuzzr widget!
It is so small and neat;
if you were out of your mind
and the oddball kind,
you could work it with your feet.

You'd have to take your socks off
in the privacy of your house,
and soon you'd be flipping pages
as your toes clicked away at your mouse.
But you might find one small problem
though the widget would work with ease,
If you use your feet to access it
your mouse might smell of cheese!

(Note: This interview with author Michele Brenton is part of her blog tour. She was previously featured on Dan Holloway's blog. Her next blog interview will be with Tom the Seasideman.)

BookBuzzr Interviews Chad Lilly - Founder of Inner Circle Publishing

Your book - uncommon sense - has a unique style and touches the reader in a very different way. Can you tell us a little about the book?
"uncommon sense" was my second book and contains poetry focused on the development of our intuitive process. It seems as if universal wisdom has always been written in this sacred language of metaphor: Poetry. Thus the reason why all 'sacred' books were penned by Poets (and later called Prophets). Touching on topics like: Inner Learning, The Power of Day Dreams, Manifestation, and Awareness ... 'uncommon sense' was written for those with eyes to see and ears to hear the Mystery of life, through this charade of living."

What inspired you to write this book? Can you share the story behind your book?

"I believe the more we listen to that still, small voice within ... the more it will tell us. My desire to share this process with others via the words / ideas presented in 'uncommon sense' is what inspired me to write it. I think the more people directly connected to source and receiving their inner visions INSIDE ... the clearer our outer world vision will become, and the faster our dreams will manifest into the lives we live. Poetry opens our soul to hear and feel the intangible aspects of life, and I wrote 'uncommon sense' to help others hear and feel for themselves."

Chad, Your books have received a great amount of interest on BookBuzzr and Twitter. What are the reasons for this interest?
"It feels as if we're moving into a time when spirituality and awareness are becoming more common place, than taboo. We're all searching for meaning and reason, and currently, I believe we're starting to see more value in these intangible realities. In other words, perhaps people finally OWN enough to 'stuff' to know there's much more to life than just owning 'stuff'. This shift in our collective 'line of sight' may be one reason why many are now seeking insight and understanding with that same degree of passion they once sought 'stuff'. What we offer in our books (over 70 of them) ... is awareness. And it seems the interest we are receiving now (after 10 years) is party due to a conscious awakening that's rapidly spreading around the world via the most powerful of all magic: Words."

Do you have any tips for authors to get the kind of views (over 2,000 full screen views on BookBuzzr) and interest that your books have generated?
"More coffee ... less sleep. ;-) Those seeking to gain exposure for their work need to understand how to induce cooperation. It's just that simple. The problem is ... we've been too busy competing with one another to [co]operate effectively. Especially authors and artists. If you are the only one promoting your work, then you will only procure the number of views YOUR immediate network can reach. However, if 10 people are promoting the same work ... that work will receive 10X's the views with 1/10th the work. So, if you want 1 million people to see your book, which method would be more effective ... personally contacting 1 million people and telling them? Or having 1000's of people cooperating to share it with 1000's of others? (And using social media, such as Twitter ... we have this at our fingertips and can produce it TODAY, using only cooperation.)"

You also run two publishing companies - InnerCircle Publishing and Revolution Press. How are these publishing companies different from other publishers out there?
"My wife Sonja and I own and operate InnerCircle Publishing and Revolution Press. What makes us different from other publishers? ICP/Rev-Press Authors retain 100% of the net sales on every copy sold. Our Authors retain creative control over the final production of their book (Page and Cover Design), while providing world-wide distribution to every bookseller via Ingram. And while no other publisher has ever offered either of those ... what really makes ICP/Rev-Press unique is how it has been designed to market and promote the books we publish ... you see, ICP was designed to function along the same lines as Nature, via symbiotic relationships and cooperation, where the actions of one organism contribute to the benefit of the whole, and vise versa. So EVERY title published by ICP/Rev-Press receives the exponential exposure provided by each and every author actively promoting their work daily. And working together, we can produce more than any one working alone."

You also have a very strong presence on Twitter with over 10,000 followers. Do you have any tips for authors looking to use Twitter as a platform to market
their books?
"Again, learn to induce cooperation. Twitter is a great example of the real-time power of cooperation. For instance, let's say you have 1000 followers on Twitter, and I'm one of them. And you post this message in the stream to @icpchad (or DM): 'The world awaits the next level, and this is another step [YOUR BOOK LINK].' You will have just posted a promo link for your work to potentially 1000 people. And if I ReTweet it again to my 10,268 ... now we've put your work out to a combined total of over 11,268 (with only two clicks) ... what if 100 people RT this? <---- Cooperation produces exposure, and the greater level of cooperation you can produce, the greater exposure your work will receive."

Are there any other avenues that authors should keep in mind when marketing their books online (Amazon, Facebook etc.)? Do you have any other marketing tips for authors?

Put your book in front of as many people as possible ... using every possible avenue ... everyday. Social media sites offer a tremendous marketing value for those seeking to connect and promote ideas, products, or services to the masses ... provided they are used as tools to induce cooperation and they are procuring actual views to your book. To date, I have found nothing that procures more actual book views than BookBuzzr. Just getting people to go to a link and to view the description and book cover does not always result in sales, while getting people to actually READ the material the book offers has proven to be much more effective. For instance, in just over a month of using BookBuzzr, my books, 'A Day in the Mind' and 'uncommon sense' both climbed to record sales rankings on Amazon. It seems the more people who read them, the more they sell ... once people know about the books and their content. BookBuzzr is the best way to get people to actually read books online. So use ALL of your social media sites and networks as a way of placing your BookBuzzr widgets in front of more people ... while encouraging others to SHARE it. Thank you BookBuzzr for making this possible."