Monthly Archives: October 2014

I am very happy (and a bit nervous) to announce that I have accepted my very first lunch-time book talk to members of another department in my company in 2 weeks’ time. I told them that there is no obligation to purchase my book after (or before) the talk but I will bring some copies […]

I presented my book in French in my French cinema class tonight. It was very kind of my teacher Karin to let me have a 5-minute presentation and distributed my promotional postcards. It went well and my classmates were very encouraging and supportive. By sheer coincidence, today’s featured film was Irma Vep directed by Olivier […]

I was in a 3-day first aid course from Monday to Wednesday this week. I have passed the exam and am officially qualified as a first aider despite asking my instructor the following questions: “Do I really need to touch the causality’s lips when I apply mouth-to-mouth CPR?” “Isn’t the best way to get water out of […]

I am still on the topic of marketing, so the second M is Marketing.  Let me put together some initial thoughts on marketing. 1) Word of Mouth — It has worked well so far. Thanks to all my supporters. 2) Independent Bookstores — Most of them are speciality bookstores. Difficult to locate those focusing on self-help books. […]

Similar (loosely) to the American classic Dial M for Murder by Hitchcock, M (Marketing) is a matter of life and death for the success of my book like many businesses. I have made 2 decisions on the marketing of my book recently. First, I will put all the profit back into the marketing effort. Second, […]

After a bit of pondering, I have made up my mind on this. I am NOT going back to Paris… until next year. Yes – it was a tough decision for me being a big Paris fan.  I was planning to go one more time before the end of this year.  However, given some much […]

A few of my regular blog-readers asked me why there were no dramas mentioned in yesterday’s blog regarding my friend Gary’s farewell party that I attended last Thursday. Well – they have known me very well. Since they asked, I would not hold anything back then. After I had accepted Gary’s invitation to his party, […]

Last night I attended my good friend and honorable executive assistant Gary’s farewell party.  It was a lovely party. After 20-plus years at a major UK bank, he has decided not to hide from “the big corporate desk” and seek the public by working for a major UK department store John Lewis.  He wants to explore […]

Another milestone has been reached! Early this week I placed another order to print 50 copies of my book. The first batch of 200 copies has almost gone and Christmas is coming up, not to mention Halloween, Thanksgiving and my birthday (in that order). Maybe I need to do another batch before the turn of […]

Hope this is the beginning of a series of good news! As mentioned before, the first circle of readers is composed of my colleagues, friends and family. I think I am close to “exhaust” that circle. I was aiming and hoping to reach the second circle which is the friends of the first circle by […]