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Audiobook Released!
Just after the Trump-Kamala debate, just in time to help you decipher the endless streams of disinformation coming from the candidates, just as the parties’ surrogates and the Red News and Blue News analysts tell you what to think, I am proud to present the completion of this labor of love.
Written and read by yours truly, in the hopes of spreading truth, clarity, compassion, and knowledge, this is an audiobook that unpacks corporate media lies and points out a path to a deeper understanding of our world.
Let me read to you, at your own preferred pace and time:
» Red White & Blind (the audiobook at Audible) «
» Red White & Blind (the audiobook at Awesound) «
Awesound.com is an alternative audiobook distributor that enables you to purchase the book outright and listen to it on any platform you like. I’m running a promo there currently.
From Bernie to Biden, from Covid to Epstein, from wars to elections, I’ve investigated dozens of recent and historical events in order to illustrate the ways we are deceived. It’s an insidious minefield out there, but I never leave you wallowing in despair over the mountains of disinformation that confront us. The book offers insights and tips from myself and others on how to develop the savvy to discern the truth behind each story—what I call media consciousness. We are in the early phases of a great unveiling, an internet-birthed era that I believe is a New Enlightenment in which we are all gradually awakening to the actual truth about many, many things.
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Want to learn Mandarin? Channel your inner baby.
Learning to speak Chinese can be challenging for native English speakers. The grammar and vocabulary pose obstacles, to say nothing of the unusual sounds and the semantic tones.
The problems posed by the new grammar and vocabulary are more or less the same as those posed by learning any foreign language, so I’ll leave them aside for this post. But if you want to learn to speak Chinese, the unfamiliar sounds that exist in Chinese that don’t exist in spoken English, and the semantic tones that distinguish one word from another will be the most critical and difficult challenges.
One way to learn the new sounds is to practice assiduously, to enunciate them over and over, and to listen to them repeatedly until you can differentiate them. You can practice, for instance, the essential tight ü sound, over and over, with words like lǜ (green). And you can repeatedly practice speaking and hearing the differences between mā (mother) and mǎ (horse).
Practice is crucial to climbing the mountain towards competency and, eventually, fluency. But with only practice, you won’t get there. (more…)
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7 Things To Do if You Publish Your Book Independently
If you want to publish a beautiful and popular book using the powerful publishing tools available to authors today, here are seven things you need to do to succeed.
(This is Part III of an Indie Pub Trilogy. Part I is an overview of the pros and cons of independent and traditional publishing. Part II recounts my personal journey to publishing independently rather than via a literary agent.)
- Write a great book. First, and most importantly, before we talk about anything else, you need to write absolutely the best book you can. Pour your talent and your time into it. Stop reading this article, and go write your tour de force. Right now.Or right after reading this article. You do need to know a few more things.
The truth is, despite any cynicism you might hear on the interwebs about uneducated readers, dwindling attention spans, or a glut of writers, this is a fabulous time to be a good writer. Both readership and book sales per reader are growing and will continue to grow. Good writing will rise above mediocre writing every time, and exquisite prose that sings like poetry will always rise to the top. Fabulous writing will also make everything about promoting your voice, getting your word out, and selling your book infinitely easier.
Read, write, revise, repeat. It is the way, it will always be the way. We humans have been telling each other stories at least since there was fire. Storytelling is here to stay. Feel free to get really good at it.
- Promote now. That said, start promotion today. Many people told me this, but still I sort of dabbled and waited until I felt done with my book. I finally did start this blog and write occasional articles, but I could’ve and should’ve been doing a lot more via social media and via a newsletter.You don’t have to do everything; don’t get overwhelmed and then never start. See #6, “Focus on you,” below.
But do something to promote your voice or your writing today, and keep it up. Then do something else. Here are some ideas: (more…)
- Write a great book. First, and most importantly, before we talk about anything else, you need to write absolutely the best book you can. Pour your talent and your time into it. Stop reading this article, and go write your tour de force. Right now.Or right after reading this article. You do need to know a few more things.
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‘Delightful’ Double Happiness highlighted in San Francisco Bay Area magazine
Take a trip to the Middle Kingdom,” opens a short feature review of Double Happiness in the East Bay’s Alameda Magazine.
Go to China “with Tony Brasunas as your guide, in this memoir-travel tome about his experience as a 22-year-old teaching English to ninth-graders at Peizheng High School. Brasunas is there in 1997, before the interconnectedness of the Internet, when ‘the motives of Americans in particular were suspect.’”
“The delightful chapters read like short stories.”
Read the full review: Tony Brasunas Finds Happiness in China
The review closes:
Brasunas pulls it all together for a retrospective that deftly and lovingly depicts the country responsible for his spiritual awakening.
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My Long Sweet Journey into Print
(Part II)After a long journey during which I considered many options, and not just the main two options we’re discussing here, I realized something: It was going to be hard. It was going to be a lot of work. And I was at a fork in the road.
(This is Part II of my Indie Publishing Trilogy of posts. See Part I for the pros and cons of independent and traditional publishing. This post covers how I made my choice. Part III lists Seven Things You Need to Do if You Publish Your Book Independently.)
I knew it would be a lot of work either way I went — whether I sold the manuscript to a publishing house, or published my book independently. I was intimidated, but I was optimistic and determined as well. I decided, first, that while writing Double Happiness — during the years of rewrites and revisions — I would also approach literary agents in the hope of landing a publishing deal.
I was right. It was a lot of work. I ended up spending almost as much time writing query letters, synopses, proposals, and chapter summaries as I did revising the book. It turns out, you have to know a lot about the industry just to write a decent cover letter.
For all of my work, I did receive significant interest, and many agencies requested partials of my manuscript. Some agencies showed enthusiasm and requested the whole manuscript. Still, all eventually led to rejections.
After nearly a decade of work, as I was completing the final, final revision of Double Happiness, I leapt into exploring the independent route.
What I found was exhilarating and daunting. I still had so much to learn. But I was thrilled and, armed with a manuscript I knew was great, I felt ready to do it. I was ready to publish my book myself.
A Strange Coincidence
Coincidentally, just as I decided to go indie, I was approached by several literary agents who showed real interest. Two agencies went all the way and offered to sign me. It was mystifying. Did they want me now only because I wasn’t seeking them? Had my manuscript improved so much? Were they paying attention to me because I had started blogging?
I had my theories, but I really wasn’t sure. (more…)
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Independent Publishing vs. Getting a Traditional Literary Agent
(Part I)Are you a writer interested in publishing your first book, your labor of love, your masterpiece, your tour de force? Or are you perhaps a writer who has published with a small or large private press and is curious now about independent publishing?
What once was called “self-publishing” with a dismissive sniff is now known as Independent Publishing and accounts for a rapidly growing share of books published and sold worldwide. There also certainly remain many advantages to getting a literary agent and selling a manuscript to a large corporate publishing house.
There’s a lot to explore on this topic. For the sake of brevity, I’m splitting this post into three parts, a “Trilogy of Posts,” if you will. In this first post, I will outline the advantages both of independent publishing and of going the traditional literary-agent route.Let me know in the comments what I’ve missed.
(Update: I’ve now added Part II of this trilogy of posts, in which I explain which route I chose, and how it’s worked out. Update: And now Part III is done too: It lists Seven Things You Need To Do If You Publish Your Book Independently.)
Advantages of Independent Publishing
This is the new paradigm, the way to “own your content” immediately and forever. We can boil down the advantages of going indie to these three primary benefits: creative control, profit, and speed.
With creative control, you get to create the book you’ve envisioned, the masterpiece that inspired you from the start. No months or years of rejection from gatekeeper agents and condescending editors; no crucial paragraphs, pages, or chapters inexplicably removed by a squeamish or distracted junior editor in a shrinking editorial department; no changes to the book’s cover ordered at the last minute by a clueless faraway advertising department who doesn’t understand your book. You have the creative vision, you have the creative power, you have the creative control.
The profits you can potentially receive as an independent author outstrip what can be made under a traditional publishing contract. (more…)
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“Trust Yourself” Tee for Free
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I have a few extra book tour t-shirts on hand right now. The shirts are soft, high quality American Apparel cotton in a hot happy red. On the back are the dates and places of the book tour.
I’ll be throwing in one shirt for each signed book you order while supplies last. So if you would like to wear trust over your heart, order a signed copy of the book now.
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San Jose Mercury-News Feature Interview
Maggie Sharpe, a journalist for the Bay Area News Group, interviewed me for a feature piece in the San Jose Mercury-News. After asking me a dozen rather harrowing and open-ended questions, she told me to be patient.
A week later, I discovered that she put together a marvelous piece. I don’t know quite what to say. I have to admit it’s the article I imagined someone would write about the book someday.
Read it here: Author to talk about life-changing time in China
The piece appeared shortly before my event at the Alameda library, and I believe it brought out quite a few extra readers, travelers, and curious armchair adventurers.
Ms. Sharpe begins the piece:
When Tony Brasunas left U.S. soil for the first time to teach English in China, he had no idea what a life-altering experience it would be — nor that 15 years later, he would write a book about his teaching, traveling and the transformation he experienced.
She describes the time I fell miserably ill, exploring the niceties of that near-death experience, and digs deeper into what illness meant for my time in China.
Brasunas said that even negative experiences such as getting sick, getting ripped off at the markets and even being ignored or ridiculed by some of his students only increased his learning.
“I followed the thread of my instincts to what I wanted and to who I am,” said Brasunas. “This led me often to experience even ostensibly negative things in a positive light — that the negative moments and the positive moments were both a part of the magic of learning and of life.”
My gratitude to the newspapers that ran this piece (the Contra Costa Times and Alameda Journal also ran the feature), and, above all, to Maggie Sharpe for her excellent questions and even better writing.
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Wonderful Event at the Alameda Library
Alameda Library EventIf this is the way I close my Book Tour, I might have to open it up again just to close it again.
One of my favorite reading events of the tour took place earlier this month at the Alameda Free Library. What I had called the final event was an event that had it all.
Karin, the librarian who hosted and organized the event, embarrassed me with an introduction. Then I greeted and thanked the 45 or so folks who filed in and took their places. I read the book’s prologue and first chapter.
There was so much curiosity and interest in the room that when I took questions from the audience, I actually had to insist people take turns. It was just delightful and fulfilling to share the story of Double Happiness with so many people.
I’m fairly certain I owe the nice turnout to the excellent article Maggie Sharpe wrote in the local paper that came out just a few days before the event.
Hardcovers & T-shirts
As for the sales of books, that was probably due to these facts: 1. the great nearby bookstore, Books, Inc., sent a representative to handle sales, and 2. I was signing the books, and 3. each new reader went home with a brand new “Trust Yourself” Double Happiness book tour t-shirt.
If you would like to get a signed book and a new t-shirt (while supplies last), you can do so easily right now by Joining the Journey.
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Trust Yourself: T-Shirts have Arrived
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Concert t-shirts for a book? Absolutely. What started out as a bit of humor has turned into an inspiring and creative side project.
To commemorate the Book Tour, during which I wandered for months and had so much fun seeing so many of you at places all around the country, I’ve created t-shirts with a list of the venues and dates.
In addition, the back of the shirt features the words “Have Fun, Take Chances, Enjoy the Journey.”
On the front are the words “Trust Yourself.”
Free at the Alameda Free Library
In gratitude to my Bay Area friends who have helped me so much along the way, to support Alameda’s great libraries, and to mark this final* event of the tour, I’ll give one of these American Apparel beauties to each and every human who comes to the event next Tuesday at the Alameda Free Library.
How Else Can I Get One?
While supplies last, I’ll include a “Trust Yourself” concert t-shirt when you order a signed book here, from Torchpost, the publisher.
Also, if you write a review, I’ll happily give you a shirt by hand, or mail it to you for the modest cost of shipping.
* Well, OK, I thought the last events of the book tour occurred in January, but here we are going strong into May. So hey, there could be another event I don’t yet know about.
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Audiobook Celebration
To celebrate the fresh Springtime air, the new design of this website, and the launch of the audiobook of Double Happiness, I’m having some fun and giving away copies of the audiobook.
Here’s how to win one of
eightfive free copies of the audiobook:- Comment on a recent entry in this blog. Tell me something you like, give me design feedback, or just say hi. (If you’re having trouble commenting, send me an email).
- Like the book on Facebook and share one blog entry on Facebook by clicking on the “share” icon below an entry.
That’s it! Two little things that let me know you’re out there, and I get to share the audiobook with you for free. If you’re not on Facebook, you can send out an email to your community.
The Audiobook – For the Pleasure of Listening
If you’re one of many who prefer to hear a story rather than read it, if that’s more pleasurable or convenient for you, or if you would simply like to hear my story in my own voice, give the audiobook a try. I’ll send it to you — a code and instructions to get set up. That’s a $29.95 value.
If all eight giveaway copies have already been given away, I’ll mention that here, so you’ll know.
And if you’re curious, here’s the page for the audiobook >
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