One Leaf in the Forest Screaming for Attention!

Updated October 2013
Imagine you are one leaf in a forest of 10,000 trees. How do you get noticed? That is the challenge each new indie writer faces.

Here are some sobering stats found on blogs and news websites:

• In 2011, Amazon had 950,000 ebooks for the Kindle, out of a total of about 1.8 million titles.
• Almost 2.8 million non-traditional books, including ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks, were produced in the United States in 2010 (says Reuters).
• US publishers of all types produce over 300,000 traditionally published books per year with about 210,000 more in the UK.
• In October 2013, the American ISBN agency Bowker stated that 391,000 self-published titles were added in 2012, a 59% increase from 2011.

The world is awash in books with more every year.

Symbiotic Nature of Indie Books

Updated December 31, 2013
After just a couple of months as an indie author, I groked an unspoken truth that any author needs to know who still wants to sell paperbacks (along with their e-books). Your best friend is the independent bookstore owner, and you may be that owner's edge against the big book chains. Eighteen months later I am even a bigger believer.

New Publishing Paradigm Unfolds as Foretold

In January 2012, the flagship in Canada's fleet of traditional publishers became a small cog in a foreign business empire. Random House, a subsidiary of the international publishing conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, bought out the remaining shares of McClelland & Stewart. (The purchase passed federal government scrutiny, proving that Canadian culture gets less protection than Canadian potash.)

Books on the Raider and Rebel Theme

Updated December 2019
Shaun J. McLaughlin began this blog/website to promote his writing and to engage readers and fans.

The books described on this blog deal mainly with 19th-century history, either fiction or non-fiction. A major theme is Canada-US border wars and skirmishes, such as the War of 1812 and the 1838 Patriot War.

Shaun is not limited to history. He has or will offer stories that are science fiction or contemporary fiction.