More about familiar books in unfamiliar places

     Writing a book is like starting a snowball rolling down a hill—you never know exactly where it’s going or who it might bump into along the way.  I am astounded at the places my books have surfaced.  Last week I talked about my first book showing up on a medical books site.  This week I found my second novel, Refugee Without Refuge, on a website about weight loss.  Amazing—check out http://letslim.info/products/Refugee.html#  and see for yourself.

     I racked my brains for a while trying to figure out why this might have happened.  I didn’t come up with any answers, but I decided not to worry about it.  The important thing is that I now have more exposure AND the customer rating was FIVE STARS!  What could be better?  The way I see it, this gives me a lot more exposure.  Having another website where people can run into my book is a big deal, and this one has a potentially large readership (no pun intended, really).  If everyone who wants to lose weight sees my book I could have an audience of millions.  It is entirely possible that the number of people who are trying to lose weight outnumber the people who browse through Amazon books!  It is a little hard to pin down numbers, but some studies estimate that as high as 86% of Americans could be overweight—I just hope they browse the web and find my book.

     Writing a book is a tremendously satisfying accomplishment.  It is especially satisfying if the book also tells the reader something important.  I wrote my books about refugees to help people understand that Palestinian refugees are very much like the rest of us.  They have hopes and dreams, they want better things for their children, and they love their families. 

     It gives me great pleasure to know that my books are getting wider and wider distribution on the internet.  Readers have given the books excellent reviews, calling them haunting, compelling, fast-moving, interesting, and a must-read.  I hope that wider web coverage means wider readership and just maybe a wider understanding of some of human issues involve in the Palestine problem.

     You can find links to my books on my website: http://www.hallajs.com 

Finding Familiar Books in Unfamiliar Places

It is a cold snowy day and I was browsing the internet looking for inspiration, or maybe I was looking for distraction.  Just for fun, I decided to search for my second novel, Refugee Without Refuge, to see if it has been pirated like my first one.  Before I build the suspense too high, if it has been pirated I didn’t find it.  What I did find surprised me—a lot.

I expected to find quite a few online book stores, and I did.  Some of them had descriptions in languages I didn’t recognize, while others started with the explanation that it was a book, libro, or Buch written in English, inglés, or englisch.  What I never expected was to find my books, even the books in which I have contributed only a few pages, listed in a Medical Books Center.  There are many Medical Books Centers on the web, but this one is sponsored by echocardiology.org.  You may be reassured to know that this is not a brick and mortar store that has my books on its shelves, sandwiched between medical tomes.  The “buy now” links click through to Amazon. 

While I am a doctor, I’m not that kind of doctor.  My medical knowledge is a mixture of old wives tales (I am an old wife after all), common sense, and odd bits of real science gleaned from sources I can no longer remember.  Whenever I write about an injury or other medical problem I always run it by my youngest son (who is that kind of doctor) before I release the manuscript for publication.  Even so, I love being listed on a Medical Books Center.

The internet is so much fun!  Why would anyone want to censor it?  It would not be half so delightful if the apparent mismatches of information, non sequitur answers to questions, or the incredible wealth of misinformation as well as information were somehow limited and ordered.  The internet just “growed like Topsy,” and I, for one, think it is better for it.

How should I react when my book is stolen?

This morning I found a website that offers a free download of my first novel, BORN A REFUGEE in Kindle format. What? Someone is pirating my book? I must admit my first reaction was one of surprise, maybe even shock. Of course I want people to read my books--why else would I write them?  I want people to understand more than they see on the news. My Refugee novels take the readers into the crowded and often violent world of the Palestinian refugee camp and show how people survive under military occupation with the support and love of the family. I wrote the novels to show Palestinians as I know them—not as the media shows them. I want the world to see the miracles of love amidst violence.

Why would someone want to steal my book and offer it for free, considering how affordable the book is online? It’s been 99 cents for months now, although that was a temporary price for the Indie Book Blowouts. Anyone can afford that, can’t they? Maybe not. I write about refugees. I know that not everyone has the ability to pay for online products. I know not everyone has a credit card or even a bank account, but may have computer access in libraries, schools, community centers, etc.

Okay, so I admit there are people who might benefit from a free book, but I don’t think that’s why it was done.  Piracy is really shoplifting. The pirates are stealing something I spent a year of my life to write. Not only are they stealing this book, but they undermine my reputation as a writer.  A writer’s reputation depends on selling books. When I approach an agent or publisher with a manuscript, the first question is “How many copies of your books have sold?” I price my books as low as possible so more people will read them. I wrote them so people would read them. If you download a pirated copy, that never gets into the statistics.

If you really can’t afford 99 cents, send me an email dixiane (at) hallajs.com and let me know your circumstances.  I’ll send you an ebook for free.

The English author Charles Calem Colton (1780-1832) said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Is piracy also flattery? or is it just plain theft?

It's MANUARY

It's all about equal rights...
Men who support Manuary do not shave for the month of January.  At the slightest provocation they will tell you it's the manly man way to raise awareness, support research, and work toward a cure for prostate cancer.  Did you know that the chances of a man getting prostate cancer is 100%--if the man lives long enough? 
Hey, we ladies have Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, why can't the guys get a month for their own problems?
One place to look for details is www.manuary.org