Tell us a little about your book.
No Pain = No Pain is about avoiding pain in any form and enjoying life in any form. Life can be painful. Everyone has ups and downs. But using a bicycle analogy, if you stay on your path, your ride will be less bumpy and low maintenance. Friends will be happy to join you in your travels. And you will enjoy the ride. Like learning to ride a bike, life is all trial and error — not an easy process. But it works for millions of people each year. And once you can do it — you can do it. You will avoid the potholes and pitfalls. You will ride to purposeful or fun destinations. You will enjoy every moment of your trip. Life is also filled with choices — some people like trail bikes, some like cruisers, some like three-wheelers. What you drive and where you go is up to you.
What inspired you to write this book?
No Pain = No Pain wrote itself. I am not a guru. It’s really based on my wife Laura’s world viewpoint. I always admired her outlook, which was much more sensible than my own. If I had written a book on my philosophy of life (which I did not), it might have been entitled Kick Butt = Butt Kicked or something like that. However Laura’s calm, sensible life-view began to creep into my being, and one day about eight years ago, the book wrote itself very quickly — and then sat quietly for many years nestled between the bits and bytes on my hard drive — until I ran into my architect colleague and friend, A. T. Olsen. He happened to see a rough draft, and he sketched some delightful illustrations featuring a little No Pain penguin. At that moment, “fish” met “chips” and we had a book.
What are you doing to market your book?
For this ebook, I have jumped into the world of Amazon Prime (KDP Select) rather than placing it in all the outlets. But so far it hasn’t done much for this book’s sales. So No Pain = No Pain will be available everywhere starting in May. Most of my marketing efforts are directed toward creating an awareness of my author blog site at www.wgreen.me. Both the book and the blog site are only a couple of months old, but I believe that approach is starting to bear fruit. Self-help books like No Pain are a difficult sale unless you have a “flock”. As I said I am not a guru and I am flockless. But —I like the book. I think the ideas are very valuable and the illustrations are playful and telling. I hope others will agree.
How have sales been? Where have you had the most success?
Free books fly out the Amazon door — several hundred of them to date. But so far these have not resulted in the coveted “reviews”. I have settled in at a $2.99 price that makes sense to me considering the length of the book, the information and the illustrations. I think it will take time to build a “word of mouth” audience. We shall see.
How are readers/reviewers reacting to your book?
Preview readers have enjoyed it. It has not been formally reviewed yet. There is plenty of room for discussion, comment and review of the topics covered in the book: life, death, birth, infinity and everything in between. I really believe this book could make anyone’s life journey more enjoyable. As they used to say: “You only go around once,” to which I might add: “but don’t waste your time going around in circles.”
What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book and how did you overcome it?
As I said, this book wrote itself. I think it was a case of knowing the topic and also knowing my wife. I’ve also been around for a while so I have gathered a few useful chestnuts myself. I have always been interested in the “why” behind the “what”. Life is full of so many distractions and deceptions. The reality of life is pretty simple: life is for living — go out and live it. Goals, successes, ego-pluses and ego-minuses are all part of the game, but unless you are enjoying life and living the life that was intended for you, you will have squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a human being living on the greatest planet in the universe.
What are the future plans for you and this book?
This book is a one-time project for me — it is done. I hope people read it, enjoy it and find it useful. On to the next project.
What is your next project?
I have begun work on the second book of the Time Travel Twins series. The “twins” Emma and Ethan will get back into the time machine and try again to fix their world of the future by tinkering with the past. I want to build an audience of readers from the base of the initial book, Saving JFK. My goal with this series is to increase awareness in people of all ages (but particularly young people) of the other side of the coin. One side of history is “obvious”; the other side is “deception”. The No Pain = No Pain book promotes knowing reality. The Time Travel Twins books attempt to expose historical, political, and societal reality in an entertaining but serious manner. The young people of the world face formidable systematic forces that by their nature confuse, dominate, minimize and control the lives of billions. As they say: knowledge is power.
Have you published anything else?
I have published books and articles on retail store design and two novels. These are featured on my blogsite: www.wgreen.me .
Any advice for other writers/indie authors out there?
This is the greatest time for writers to write. The publishing/writing pyramid has been flattened. The Internet is an easily accessible worldwide platform. Distributors like Amazon, Smashwords and others have done all the hard work. They provide a “free”, fully operational franchise. Digital creating and self-publishing today offers a fantastic opportunity, unknown to all the previous occupants of the earth. Jump on it. Write, create, and live the life you were designed to live. Do it now.
Also, In recognition of the LL Book Review and its many readers, I will be running an Amazon KDP Free Book (for No Pain = No Pain: Enjoying Every Moment of Your Life) Promotion on April 4th and April 5th.
