 "I wasn’t kidding; you can see more with your eyes closed than you can when they are open. But you can’t, can you?” Not waiting for a reply, she answered her own question. “You can’t, but you can see through the dark when you close your eyes. Maybe not at first because you don’t expect to. Trust that you will, and you’ll soon be able to. Try it. You will see all you need to see.”
The above is an excerpt from a conversation Raymond had with a girl he didn't know while sitting on a University of Washington campus lawn on a late spring day. Or at least he thought he was. Raymond has many experiences he later questioned. Having put Raymond there with her, he attempting to 'see through the dark', I thought I would give it try. Initially, and many times since, all I saw was 'dark'. But she did say, 'Maybe not at first because you don’t expect to. Trust that you will, and you’ll soon be able to.' There's a lot of truth in that. We often close our minds to things we don't understand. Like the reaction I get from many people, explaining the Unlived Lives concept. Next time you are confronted with something that seems completely without reason, close your eyes and trust that you will ultimately see through the darkness. You may find you will see all you need to see. As for me...I'm still looking, still dark.
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 Only the closest followers of the Unlived series will notice what is wrong with some of the above AI-generated Unlived ads.
I've been auditioning apps that use AI to create my own fixed image and video Unlived ads. As of today, I've tried four of them with similar results. Very simple to use, I uploaded summaries of The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn and The Unlived Lives of Shelly Bennett, along with copies of the book covers. I created both fixed image and video ads in separate tests, hit 'Enter', and with one exception, I had a result less than two minutes later. The one exception was a half hour of video processing time. The video results were laughably bad. Cartoonish, appearing to have paid little attention to the book summaries. In one case, AI actually changed the images in my book covers to something it thought would be better. (Look for it in the above image.) Some, but not all, of the fixed image ads were reasonable, but nothing as good as an experienced creative person would produce. It's possible that some AI apps can accommodate active URL links, taking the person who clicks the link to more information about the product. If so, I didn't find them. I can include a static URL link, but that would have to be copied/pasted/clicked in a search window by the person viewing the ad. That's too big an 'ask' for most. The examples I saw in the ads for AI ad generation apps looked great. But most, if not all, of those products were commodities, none for books, music, or movies. Conclusion: Hands down, AI wins on a budget basis, while human creativity is best suited for representing the product most effectively. AI ad generation is more effective for commodities than for creative products. Hopefully, that will improve quickly. Like most everything with new technology, currently, when it comes to creative products, AI marketing writes 'checks' AI ads can't 'cash'.  My book page posts are evolving to include both The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn and now The Unlived Lives of Shelly Bennett. Along with that, the comments about these posts are changing as well.
The biggest difference is a significant increase in the number of people who answer the question, "Where would you be today had you made different choices in the past?" I appreciate it, please keep it up. It helps me come up with story lines for future books. There is also more about individual characters, Shelly in particular. Some like her, some don't. I intentionally wrote Shelly, hoping that would be the case. Part of making the book a 'word maze' is creating characters readers see differently. For continuity's sake, read Raymond's story first, followed by Shelly; you will meet several characters throughout both. Comment on them, what you like about them, what you don't. What you say impacts what I write about them and others in future, unlived books. In the meantime, where would you be today had you made different choices in the past? #psychologicalthriller #multiverse #paralleluniverse #fictionbooks  The Unlived Lives of Shelly Bennett is now available as an ebook, with print coming in the next few days.
Shelly's audiobook is in production as well. I reviewed the first 37 chapters today. I will complete another 25 to 30 chapters tomorrow, and depending on JT Farrell, the narrator, the balance will be finished early next week. After that, it's in the hands of Audible. Some of you may recall that it took 14 days to publish Raymond's audiobook, which was longer than anticipated. Hopefully, that will not be the case with Shelly. Thanks to all who have read or listened to Raymond's story. For those of you who haven't, if you plan to read or listen to Shelly's, I strongly suggest you first read/listen to Raymond's. It sets the stage for Shelly, and for The Unlived Lives: Reckoning due out in early spring 2026.  Some who have read Raymond's story have asked about the locations in the story.
Have I been to all of them? How did I pick them? Why so many places? The setting where a story takes place is as interesting as the characters in the story. Sometimes more so. If you deconstruct Raymond's story, you'll find that much of what happened to him could have taken place in Seattle, where the story begins. Shelly didn't have to be from Zimbabwe. How boring would that be? Different locations force characters to act differently, which makes writing about them easier and more enjoyable for me. You're not the same person at home as you are on vacation. At home, you are (usually) comfortable, predictable, but on a train passing through East Germany from West Berlin... Have I visited all the locations in Raymond's story, and the soon-to-be-released sequel, Shelly's story? No, many but not all of them. How did I pick them? Much research about those I haven't visited, and personal experience from those I have. Why so many? To give everyone reading the story a shot at 'visiting' a place and time they've never been to. "Familiarity breeds contempt" may be a little harsh, but not when it comes to books you pay good money to read.  Discussions about unlived lives cause some to insist there is no such thing; we only live one life.
I get it; there's no proof that unlived lives are a thing. But it's also true there is no proof they aren't. None of which matters to me. I'm just a guy who writes fiction books as though unlived lives are real. And now that we're on the subject, it occurs to me that saying we only live one life is not true. Take me, for instance.
Ten distinct lives, demanding that I meet the very different requirements of each of them. It's me throughout all of them, just a little different each time. Kind of like frogs without the tail.  I frequently hear from people who see blog posts here and/or ads for Unlived Lives on Facebook and Instagram. (If yours is one of them, thank you for the interaction.) The overwhelming majority of what is said is positive.
There are patterns in the replies, some of which I've mentioned previously. With more than 2,000 responses to date, it's time for an update. The question that gets the most reaction is: "Given the option, would you visit lives you would have lived had you made different choices in the past?" The largest categories of responses to that are:
Number 1 is the reaction I hoped for. Readers find Raymond's story, and soon, Shelly's, to be entertaining, causing them to think about their own past choices. Numbers 2 and 3 suggest they don't understand that they would only be "visiting", not giving up what they currently have. You can only live one life, but you can think about those you would have lived had you made different choices. If that's you, and you're not happy with what is, why not think about what might have been? Doing so might lead you to a better what could be. Would you like to visit lives you would have lived had you made different choices in the past?  Did you ever have that feeling where you knew you could do a better job if you just took a little more time?
That was a big problem for me all through school. I'd tell myself I couldn't do my homework assignment any better, ignoring the little voice inside me telling me I could. More often than not, that little voice was right, and so, too, (sigh 😐️) is it now with The Unlived Lives of Shelly Bennett. I decided the manuscript was as good as I could make it; time to publish, no more edits! I would review the PDF one last time, approve it, send it back to Paula, and that would be that. Until I got to page 20 this morning, seeing a lot of little things I could improve. 😑 Damn, you little voice! 😠 So it's back to Grammarly for one more (please, God, I'll be good, make it the 'last' 🙏) edit. That will take at least another two weeks, due to commitments all next week. Apologies to those of you waiting patiently for Shelly's story. I hoped to have it out sooner, but it now looks as though it will be the end of September, early October, better than it would be if I had ignored the little voice.  "I have a writing question for you: When you write, do you read other books? When you're not writing, do you prefer fiction or nonfiction? If fiction, what kind, what author, etc.?"
Technically, that was four questions, not including the etc. They came from a friend who read The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn. I haven't responded yet, but I will, and when I do, I'll use what you see below. "When you write, do you read other books?" I read every weeknight from 6:30 to 8:30, at which time I put aside my tablet (all my recreational reading is on my tablet) to allow my eyes/brain to adjust. If I don't do that, I don't sleep. (I know, turn on the blue light filter. I did, it doesn't work for me.) I do read other books when I'm writing, mainly because these days, I'm always writing, editing, and doing things related to my unexpected writing career. So, do I read books when I'm writing or when I'm not? Yes! "When you're not writing, do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?" The latter. Early in my recreational reading career, some 50+ years ago, I did read both. In terms of fiction: Hemingway, Steinbeck, Vonnegut, Michener, Crichton, and a few others. I didn't pick them knowing I would like what they wrote. I picked them because I knew they were famous writers. I didn't like all of it, but I always finished what I started. I also read nonfiction and became an avid NF enthusiast, having read Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. An incredible story, because of an even more incredible Pulitzer Prize-winning writing job. I've almost exclusively read nonfiction ever since. "If fiction, what kind, what author, etc.?" I'll assume this was answered in the above question. In its place, I'll answer a question not asked, below. "Since you no longer read fiction, why did you attempt to write it?" I still read some, but not much. There is an unlimited number of actual events involving real people whose stories are extraordinary. The trick is finding those written by extremely talented authors. When I do, for me, most fiction pales in comparison, and I'm in I-can't-put-this-down city. That's me; read whatever appeals to you, you'll be a better person having done so.  Disclosure: Another post for those thinking about or who are writing a book.
You need a book marketing plan, one that includes essential marketing mix elements that apply to selling books:
You might get some traction with just that last one, but it's unlikely that many people will be looking to interact with you unless you advertise. Other than friends and family, they won't know that you or your book exists. How you do that is covered in some of the previous posts in this blog. If you have questions, message me; I'll be happy to help you however possible. Once you're doing that, there are two metrics you want to follow closely:
The graphic in this post is a month-long website traffic summary for The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn book page on my website. An upward trajectory for both page views and unique visits, with a slight drop in the average number of pages visited on my website. So was June bad, mid-July onward, good? If so, what made the difference? For starters, there wouldn't have been a 'trajectory' had I not advertised. I did, and both Views and Visits were relatively flat from June 28 to July 16. Seeing that, I reviewed my advertising, turning off underperforming ads completely, reducing budgets for those that were doing okay, reallocating the money to ads that were performing well above average. The result is an increase in traffic with sales trending upward as well. An oversimplification, but you get the idea. You have to pay to play. Just make certain that what you pay for is producing. |
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