Post Your Book on the Kindle, but Make Sure You Promote It

By Anthony S. Policastro

If you have written a book, you can now post it on Amazon's Kindle eBook reader for free. A simple four-step process is all it takes and within 12 to 72 hours your book will be on the Kindle right next to James Patterson, John Grisham, and other literary luminaries.

Amazon's Digital Text Platform allows anyone to post a book if you have never published before with or without an ISBN number. Amazon will assign your book its own tracking number called an ASIN number.

The best part of listing your book with the Kindle is that you are free to set your own price and Amazon will give you 35 percent of your sale price even if they discount the price on their site. I listed my thriller, Dark End of the Spectrum, for $5.99 and Amazon discounted it to $4.79. Amazon will still pay me 35 percent of the $5.99.

The other great feature is that your book can be found globally on Amazon.com. Just put in your name or title in the search field and your book will come up just as if you searched for Nicholas Sparks or War and Peace.

While Amazon has not released the number of Kindle owners, another advantage to listing is that people who purchased the $359 Kindle are avid readers so you have a devoted, captive audience. But don't get excited yet, the hard part is promoting your book.

With more than 240,000 titles on the Kindle and growing every hour, your book might as well be a grain of sand on the California coast. The Kindle does not list new releases as a separate category and ranks books by their sales on Kindle. When you go to the book list the current best sellers come up first. I listed my book in the suspense and thrillers category and soon learned my title was among 2,420 listed there. The other disadvantage is that you cannot go to the last page of the listing on the Kindle nor can you see titles listed by publication date.

You can search Kindle books on Amazon.com by category, price, publication date, customer reviews and bestsellers, but you will not find your book easily. I searched my title by category and publication date – the most common search metrics among readers looking for a new book and found the dates out of sequence and a large number of advanced releases in front of my publication date.

The other search method is by the search tags you assign your book, but this too is daunting since the search will pull up thousands of titles with the same tags. The best thing to do is put your name in as a search tag. This will filter out just your books.

Despite these drawbacks, it is better to list your book on the Kindle format. I've had some sales with little or not promotion. So get the word out.

Is the Kindle 2 Infringing on Writers' Rights?

By Anthony S. Policastro

Sometimes you just want to smack someone on the side of the head and say, “What sa madda wit you!”

This is how I feel about the Authors Guild claim that Amazon’s new Kindle 2 text to voice feature is infringing on writer’s audio book rights. (See the Wired blog by David Kravets.)

"Until this issue is worked out, Amazon may be undermining your audio market as it exploits your e-books," the guild told its members in a memo, according to Kavets.

Amazon responded with, "these are not audiobooks. Text to speech is simply software that runs on devices and reads content," according to a report in the Publishers Lunch newsletter.

Now would anybody in their right mind pay extra to hear a book read to them by a scratchy, robot-like synthesized voice as is the case with the new text to voice feature on the Kindle 2? NOT.

Audio books are rich, professionally created productions with great sounding voices, all the right intonations, flourishes of music and sound effects, and the ability to play them on any CD or MP3 player. These productions are well worth the money and the full protection of the US copyright laws.

The Authors Guild is acting like the greedy music industry executives who went to Gestapo-like tactics to prevent people from downloading free music by suing kids.

If the Authors Guild takes this issue further and some ill-informed judge rules in their favor, it will hurt writers mostly because their ebooks will cost more. And if anyone remembers marketing 101, the higher price will decrease sales and it will be a lose-lose situation for everyone.

So You Think You Can Write a Book?

By Anthony S. Policastro

The Jenkins Group, an independent publishing services company, says four out of five people they surveyed said they believe they have a book to write. Even fewer actually sit down and write a book and even fewer get published. Many established literary agencies in New York and elsewhere get upwards of 500-email and snail mail book queries a week and less than one percent of them are considered for representation.

So how do you get published with those odds?

It is easier than ever to get into print with the magic of print on demand and do-it-yourself publishing web sites like Lulu.com, Lulu is one of the few sites where it is free to upload your manuscript, design your cover or pick a pre-designed one and publish your book complete with an ISBN number and distribution on Amazon.com. There is no minimum number of copies to purchase, no hidden, we gotcha fees, and no secrets about how much you will make on each sale, what Lulu makes and what print and distribution costs amount to for your book. You keep all your rights and you set the price and the royalty.

A recent article in The New York Times reported, “In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker. The company attributed a significant proportion of that rise to an increase in the number of print-on-demand books.”

So what are you waiting for? Change your odds of getting in print. Go to one of the self-publishing online sites and publish your work! What? You’ve done that already? Okay, now comes the hard part - the marketing and promotion of your work.

If you wanted to sell homemade jewelry on the web, you would put up a web site complete with a storefront and check out cart and sit back and hope one hundred or more orders a day came your way. Now, would they? Most likely not. You have to promote your site, its market advantages like price, quality, brand, and ensure you are reaching people who are interested in buying homemade jewelry.

It’s the same when publishing a book. If you write a romance novel or a technical manual on how to tune the engine of a 737 you have to reach the right market with your message. One of the great advantages to using Lulu is that you can choose between doing everything yourself or buying the marketing services of publishing professionals from Lulu.

Here a few cool tricks I use to market my Lulu books . And they are free. Go to Google Blog Search and search for blogs pertaining to the subject area of your book. When you find some, read a few posts and leave a comment with a link to your book on Lulu or to your web site. This takes time and you must leave a comment with some substance for it to work. But if you hit the right blog with the right audience, it’s like winning on a slot machine in Atlantic City. One post increased traffic to my site by six times in one day! You can also do a search on Google, but you will get mostly web sites and often you cannot leave a comment.

Offer a free download of your book for a limited time. After all, if someone is willing to read your entire book on a computer screen they must be pretty interested in your work. What usually happens is if they like your book enough, they will purchase the print copy out of convenience since it is easier to read a book in print than on a computer display. This is also helpful when you send out press releases – you can direct the media to download your book for review. This is the preferred method of distributing your electronic version to the press and reviewers. If you attach a copy to an email, press people most likely will not open it for fear it may contain a computer virus or Trojan horse.

By the same token, send emails with links to your book to people involved in your book’s subject matter and ask them to review your work and write a short review. Mention that you can include their comments in your book if they want.

If you want to market your book as an eBook check out Smashwords. It’s free to upload your book and you make 85% of the price you set. The most significant advantage of Smashwords is that the site automatically converts your manuscript into ten different electronic formats so that your book can be read on a standard PC, iPhone, Kindle, Sony Reader or Palm Pilot. Readers can also view your work directly on the site using a web browser or standard word processor.

If you have never written a press release, Lulu offers an excellent template that walks you through the process so you can produce a professional release that the press will read and hopefully follow up with you. I used to be a journalist and it was nearly impossible to read every piece of mail that came into the office. But a professionally written press release always managed to get read.

And if you want to write your next book rather than market your current one, you can easily purchase Lulu’s many marketing and distribution services created and offered by professionals in the publishing business.

If you are considering self-publishing, my good friend and colleague Henry Hutton just started publishandsell.com, a supermarket of author services that will greatly help you navigate through the complex world of self-publishing. He is also one of the founding members of Lulu.com and extremely knowledgeable about the industry.

Just keep in mind you are the best sales person for your work – you are closest to the content and you are passionate about what you wrote or you would not have made the effort to create a book.

The Gift of Giving and Gratitude

By Anthony S. Policastro

At sixteen I knew I wanted to be a novelist. But when I sat down to start my book, the page remained blank. Writer's block at sixteen? Hardly. My pages remained blank for another dozen years or so, but my dream stayed with me. Then one day I was able to type "The End" on a page and I knew I accomplished the first step of my dream.

Years later I realized that when I tried to write a novel at sixteen, I had not experienced enough of life to form an opinion, a viewpoint, a voice. I needed to live life more, experience all of its intricacies and continually search for my voice. Maybe, this is what they call maturity. Maturity as a person, maturity as a writer.

That revelation stayed with me and is still with me and I am always open to trying new things, going to new places, meeting new people. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to climb Mount Everest or ride in a gondola in Venice to effectively write about those experiences – there is plenty of information in books and on the Internet to allow you to virtually experience them. You just have write so your readers can experience whatever comes out of your imagination.

So when my wife suggested that we volunteer our time at the Helping Hand Mission here in Raleigh on Christmas Eve to help distribute food and toys to the less fortunate, I was thrilled. Not only because it would be a new experience, but mostly because we would really be helping people less fortunate than us. And here's another important epiphany of life…perspective. You really get a reality check on your life when you see others who have much less than you. You become very grateful for what you have and you feel lucky. (You can experience a bit of what we did by viewing my photo stream on Flickr.)

It's the same with writing. When you constantly compare your writing to luminaries like Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants) or Jodi Picoult, who writes fiction about real issues that are pertinent today, you think your work is substandard because it doesn't sell and you are not a full time writer. Well, you should never imitate any writer; you should be your own writer. Yes, always shoot for the stars, but don't be undaunted by the success of others. And when you find your true voice, you should be grateful because many writers never find it. You should feel lucky and grateful like I did on Christmas Eve when I handed boxes of food and a turkey to fellow human beings who had a lot less than most of us.

Giving a Helping Hand

Take a look at all the other wonderful volunteers who gave their time during this season of giving in the following photo essay on Flickr.

Or visit the Helping Hands Mission web site to see how you can help.

It Really is a Wonderful Life

Now that it is Christmas Eve,

I thought I would re-post my piece on the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" from last year. The film aired on NBC TV Saturday night (12/13/2008) and you guessed it my wife and I watched it and enjoyed the airing all over again.Anthony S. Policastro

In light of the current US economic situation, the film is a testament to the dire consequences of greed.

It Really is a Wonderful Life

By Anthony S. Policastro

I thought I would re-post my piece on the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" from last year. The film aired on NBC TV Saturday night (12/13/2008) and you guessed it my wife and I watched it and enjoyed the airing all over again.

In light of the current US economic situation, the film is a testament to the dire consequences of greed.

My wife and I were watching Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” on NBC the other night for the 100^th time or so. We both have seen the movie so many times we can recite the actor’s lines as they say them. We watch it every year just as we put up a Christmas tree every year. Although we have seen the movie many times, we both thoroughly enjoy watching it again often saying, “This is one of my favorite scenes,” or “I can’t wait to see this part.”

I started thinking about this film and why it is still popular and why it is so timeless. After all, the film debuted in movie theaters on December 20, 1946, it is in black and white and the lifestyle and mores of the era are those of our parents and grandparents depending how old you are. Some of the actors and scenes are corny by today’s standards, but the film remains highly popular. In addition, it was considered a box office flop because it did not generate the anticipated revenue.

As I watched it I could see that the film was made like a well written novel. Great characterizations, conflict, drama and George Bailey’s (played by Jimmy Stewart) self realization that his problems were nothing compared to all the things he had done and all the people his life had touched. All the plot points are resolved in the end and two major themes emerge: self sacrifice to help others and that family and friends are all that matter.

This is the stuff of great novels like GONE WITH THE WIND, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and others that speak a universal human truth that lives on through each generation. A truth that is not anchored in time and relevant to the values of any era. This is the kind of story telling all writers would love to write and it is the universal thread that keeps us writing against all odds.

If you have never watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” it is one of those films that should be required watching to become a member of the human race. It’s a film you should watch if you are writing a novel because it has all the elements of great story telling.

Here are links to additional information on the film.

A great review by Tom Dirks on filmsite.org

Photos and videos on The Internet Movie Database

Photos and information at Reel Classics

It Really is a Wonderful Life

By Anthony S. Policastro

I thought I would re-post my piece on the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" from last year. The film aired on NBC TV Saturday night (12/13/2008) and you guessed it my wife and I watched it and enjoyed the airing all over again.

In light of the current US economic situation, the film is a testament to the dire consequences of greed.

My wife and I were watching Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” on NBC the other night for the 100^th time or so. We both have seen the movie so many times we can recite the actor’s lines as they say them. We watch it every year just as we put up a Christmas tree every year. Although we have seen the movie many times, we both thoroughly enjoy watching it again often saying, “This is one of my favorite scenes,” or “I can’t wait to see this part.”

I started thinking about this film and why it is still popular and why it is so timeless. After all, the film debuted in movie theaters on December 20, 1946, it is in black and white and the lifestyle and mores of the era are those of our parents and grandparents depending how old you are. Some of the actors and scenes are corny by today’s standards, but the film remains highly popular. In addition, it was considered a box office flop because it did not generate the anticipated revenue.

As I watched it I could see that the film was made like a well written novel. Great characterizations, conflict, drama and George Bailey’s (played by Jimmy Stewart) self realization that his problems were nothing compared to all the things he had done and all the people his life had touched. All the plot points are resolved in the end and two major themes emerge: self sacrifice to help others and that family and friends are all that matter.

This is the stuff of great novels like GONE WITH THE WIND, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and others that speak a universal human truth that lives on through each generation. A truth that is not anchored in time and relevant to the values of any era. This is the kind of story telling all writers would love to write and it is the universal thread that keeps us writing against all odds.

If you have never watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” it is one of those films that should be required watching to become a member of the human race. It’s a film you should watch if you are writing a novel because it has all the elements of great story telling.

Here are links to additional information on the film.

A great review by Tom Dirks on filmsite.org

Photos and videos on The Internet Movie Database

Photos and information at Reel Classics

For All Writers - There is Hope

I highly recommend reading my post on authors who self published:

With all the doom and gloom with the economy and Wall Street, I wanted to share some light and hope with all the struggling writers out there who dream of becoming a published author one day.Anthony S. Policastro, The Writer's Edge, Nov 2008

Someone was Playing with my Head

I awoke to something tickling my nose. When I scratched it, I snagged a daddy long legs spider crawling on my face. I instantly swatted it away and jerked up to a sitting position. The vertigo was next and the snow white clouds swirled in the crystal blue Carolina sky as if they were in a giant mixer. I still had the neural bracelet on (See The Neural Bracelet for more on that). Actually, I couldn't get it off – it seemed like it was crazy-glued to my wrist. My head had that empty feeling like an echo chamber.

The hollowness was suddenly filled with a voice that seemed to be nowhere, but everywhere.

"Just think about what you want to say," the voice said.

"Huh? Who is this? Where are you?" I thought.

"Jake Stone. Just think of something!"

I wondered if I were dead. They have mental telepathy in heaven, right?

"You're not dead. Now get up and walk to the front of your house. I want to see if buildings interfere with the transmissions."

"You heard that!"

"All you have to do is think of something and your thought gets transmitted to me."

"What are you talking about?"

"The bracelet is a communications device connected to your nervous system and directly connected to your brain."

"I did die or this is a some crazy dream."

"It's not a dream. Now go to the front of your house. Just do it."

As I walked, I could feel the grass swat my sneakers so I made a mental note to cut the grass over the weekend.

"You're going to cut your grass over the weekend. You just decided you would," Jake said.

"This is getting really scary. How do I get the damn thing off?"

"Tap it twice and it will release."

As I approached the driveway that ran along the side of the house, I caught something in the corner of my eye. It was black and veered out into full view – a para-military type dressed in black and holding an Uzi with a long barrel. With my brain already on red alert, I instantly darted back into the woods behind my house. I could hear things swishing past me and then a basketball-sized hole blew out of an old oak tree in front of me. Pieces of hot bark hit me in the face.

"Run! Run! We've got you covered!" Jake echoed in my head.

"Bull!" I thought.

This was my land and I knew every nook and cranny of the 1.4-acre lot. I headed for a hollow, fallen oak tree large enough to crawl into, but then I thought, it would be the first place he would look.

"Head for the highway! The tree is a coffin," Jake said.

"Damn!"

I ran to a thicker part of the woods that would lead to the highway and give me additional cover. The only problem was the thorn bushes were slicing my hands and arms as I plowed through the underbrush. I looked back and he was closer. I ran faster and looked back again, but when I turned I saw a tree coming at me. I slammed into the trunk; the pain was excruciating. I felt myself falling and then there was nothing. I opened my eyes and everything was blurry. I was laying in a small gulley on a bed of rotting black leaves. The pain in my head intensified when I saw him standing over me.

"Jerk! What are you running from?" The voice was faintly familiar.

He pealed off the black ski mask and went for the Uzi. I'm dead, I thought. This is it. My whole life flashed in front of me like a never ending slide show.

"Oh my…you idiot!" I shouted. "What are you doing dressed like that?"
"I wanted to show you my cool Halloween costume I got at the thrift shop." It was my friend and neighbor, Dennis, who often plays practical jokes on any unsuspecting victim. "I got this new paint ball gun, too." He brandished it like it was a trophy.

"You were shooting me with that?" I said. I touched my face and my fingers turned red from the paint ball that hit the tree earlier.

"I wanted to test it."

"You're such an idiot!" I shook my head and looked down at my wrist. The neural bracelet was gone.

"Hey. Help me look for a silver watchband I think I lost. I just had it. It must be around here somewhere."

We looked all around the area and even back-tracked where I had been, but never found the bracelet.

The Neural Bracelet

I decided to work from home today because of my near death experience the previous night. (See my earlier post, "I Just Sat There…Stunned" for that adventure.

Later in the afternoon I went out to the mailbox and pulled a pile of mail out. Heading back into the house, I noticed a sealed envelope by the front door. "What now?" I thought. I knew instantly who it was from – the envelope was blank so it had to be from Jake Stone, the covert operative who has been feeding me sensitive, classified information for this blog after reading my thriller, Dark End of the Spectrum. So he claims.

I was about to pick it up when I thought it could be laced with anthrax or some other deadly substance. I went into the garage and put on a pair of workers gloves and proceeded to pick up the envelope. It was thin so I immediately ruled out a bomb, but still. I went back into the garage and put on a facemask I use when I paint rooms. I slowly opened the envelope holding it as far away as possible. It held a single piece of cream-colored paper and I could tell most of it was blank. I opened the page and lettering instantly appeared.

"Check the fourth rock in the back." It said and within seconds the lettering faded away. It was from Jake Stone. He had sent me an earlier note that also faded. (See the Starbucks Caper) This is the 2008 version of Mission Impossible, but he's no Mr. Phelps.

I walked to the back of my house to where I have several stepping stones sloping downward with the grade of the land. I stopped at the fourth stone. It didn't look disturbed, but I wasn't taking any chances. I picked up a rake near the tool shed and went back. I carefully placed the tines of the rake under the edge of the stone and lifted. At the same time I ran towards the house in case there was bomb. Nothing happened and I hoped none of the neighbors were watching. I slowly approached and looked at the indented earth where the rock had been and saw something shiny. It was an anti-static bag – a gray silver metallic bag used to protect electronic components from static electricity and X-rays. The bomb was in there, I thought. Then again why tell me where it is. Was I being too paranoid? I opened the bag and spilled out the contents. A flexible silver watchband bounced onto the brown earth except it didn't have a watch. A small sticky note on the band said, "Try it."

Ok, was I dumb enough to slip it on? Was it the neural bracelet Jake had mentioned in his earlier note that connects directly to your brain through your nervous system? I was too curious to let it go. It would gnaw at me. I slipped the bracelet on. Nothing happened. I'm thinking who buries a sophisticated piece of electronics under a rock in my back yard? Was I really expecting something to happen? I suddenly felt like I was being watched. Worse yet, my thoughts were more vivid – they echoed in my head and I thought I was floating. Everything around me, the trees, the plants, the grass appeared virtual like they were a passing thought. My thoughts took on more significance. And then it struck – a white noise that took the color out of everything with the fury and sounds of a hurricane. What was once my colorful reality turned into a white liquid swirl that slowly numbed all my nerves. The last thing I remembered was someone calling my name.

I Just Sat There…Stunned

I just sat in my car trying to clear the fog out of my mind when my cell buzzed and danced in the cup holder where I forgot it before entering the Japanese restaurant. (See my last post, Drugged, Kidnapped and Left to Ponder my Fate about that harrowing episode.) I knew instantly who it was from the familiar ring and photo displayed.

"I'm so glad to hear from you," I said to my wife.

"Where are you? I called the police and they are ready to file a missing person's report!" Wow, I didn't realize how loud my phone could be. I tried to turn down the call volume, but I couldn't remember where the buttons were located.

"I'm sorry, but they put something in my beer and I passed out. Then they took me to some dilapidated farmhouse where there was a gun fight…

"Are you drunk? Are you having an affair?"

"No! No! Are you nuts?"

"I can't imagine why it took so long to meet a guy about your book, who you've never met, never seen and who sounds really dangerous…people disappear all the time…you should have called…" I could hear the tears falling in the background.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." I let out a deep breath. "I'll be home in few minutes. I didn't have my phone; everything happened so fast. I'll be right home."

"Okay." I could barely hear her, but I heard her pain.

I started to drive out of the parking lot and the phone came to life again. There was no caller ID.

"Hello."

"You're lucky to be alive," the voice said. "Now you can work with us and stay alive or take your chances with them."

"I'm not dealing with this bullshit!" And I hung up.

As I drove home I noticed a car that I thought was following me, but then again maybe I was being a little too paranoid.

Drugged, Kidnapped, and Left to Ponder my Fate

The next thing I remembered was being violently pushed forward and the tightening of the seat belt on my shoulder and chest. My head hurt and I'm thinking how I could have a hangover on one beer. I had a hard time focusing on any thoughts. In my last post, Is Jake Stone a Hoax? I passed out in a Japanese restaurant and now I suspect there was something in the beer. The last thing I remembered was a Japanese businessman rushing towards me and then everything went black.

I looked around and the blackness of the night surrounded everything except for a faint yellow bug light about 100 yards away burning on the front porch of a small house. Suddenly, the blackness seemed to escape out the driver's side door as the dome lights sprayed the inside of the car.

"Let's go," said a clean shaven, military type guy dressed in black. He grabbed my arm and helped me out.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I managed to get out through the fog in my mind. The man ignored me.

As we approached the house, the bug light revealed that it leaned to the right. Now, I'm a lot more alert as I feel the adrenalin seep through my body.

"It is safe to go inside?" I said assessing my options to make a run for it.

"As safe as it will be," the man in black said.

We walked up three creaky steps to a small front porch with a gabled roof. The multiple coats of white paint curled away from two narrow pillars that supported the roof. The military type knocked on the door five times and five more knocks came from the other side.

The door opened and a thirty-something man with a crew cut appeared wearing a black flack jacket and a shoulder holster with a 9mm tucked inside. The two nodded.

The house smelled musty and the floor moaned as we walked through the narrow kitchen into a small, dark hallway that opened into a small living room. A single lamp with a dented black shade dimly lit a brown, worn sofa with a large jagged hole in the middle backrest. A robust man with deep wrinkles and lines in his face sat on the end of the sofa next to the table lamp. His eyes were in shadow.

"Sit down," the man said in a raspy, crackling voice. The military type next to me pointed to a worn and smelly recliner facing the sofa. I sunk so low that my butt touched the floor and I instinctively gripped the armrests. The man in shadow smiled slightly.

"I'm Jake Stone," the man in shadow said.

"How do I know?"

"I left you a Starbucks gift card with information that faded away within three minutes," he said.

(See my post, The Starbucks Caper – Is This for Real? about that incident.)

"About a cyber terrorist plot to take over the cell phone network and the power grid. The barista gave you the gift card with the information."

"Okay, so you are real?"

"Your book..."

"Dark End of the Spectrum?"

"…is too accurate."

"It's fiction."

"Where did you get the information?"

"I made it up."

"Some of it's true. You must have a connection."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I wrote a book and that's it!"

Jake Stone took a sip from a tumbler on the end table.

"You know a lot of people pawn off the truth as fiction."

"Oh, really?"

"This could get dangerous. You sure you want to continue running my information?"

"How dangerous?"

"Your family."

"I'm not convinced. I don't even know if people are reading it. I don't get much traffic."

"You will and then things could change."

"I'll deal with it."

"You won't be able to once it starts."

"You sound like you don't me to run your stuff."

"I just want you to know what you're getting into." He took another sip from the tumbler.

"Okay, fair enough."

He got up and extended his hand. I took it and we shook.

"Thanks," he said revealing his cold steel blue gray eyes. They made me shiver.

The two military types appeared behind me like unpleasant shadows. We headed for the kitchen, but never made it – two booms erupted so loud they seemed to stop time momentarily. The military types slammed me down and I hit the floor hard. I thought the house exploded. The gunfire shattered the windows in the living room and destroyed most of the wall. We crawled into the kitchen and one of the guys in black went out. I heard others join him and then we rushed into the black SUV parked close to the house. Another military type jumped in and the driver hit the gas hard. We took off down a dirt driveway and skidded onto a paved road nearly toppling the SUV. The guy next to me grabbed my face and held his hand over my mouth and nose and I thought this was the end. Everything vanished. I woke up in my car in the mall parking lot where I left it to go to the Japanese restaurant. It was three am and my head pounded in pain.

Is Jake Stone a Hoax?

It's been ten days since I last heard from Jake Stone, and now I'm thinking this whole thing was a farce. Maybe one of my friends pulled it off as a joke and is laughing his a-- off right now. I'm even thinking of un-publishing my earlier posts to avoid further embarrassment. Until I got a phone call on my cell and the number was all zeros. I pushed the call button and listened. (If you've read my earlier posts, you'll know Jake Stone is an alleged covert operative who claims he has information that will shock the world. See my earlier post Operative Reveals Cyber Terrorist Plot for the details.)

"This is Jake Stone. We need to meet now. Can you get to Kanki in Crabtree in twenty minutes?" The voice is disguised by one of those electronic voice scramblers. He sounds like Stephen Hawking.

"Yeah, I think so. It's rush hour so…"

"Sit at the Hibachi bar. Order a Kuronama. I'll find you."

I rushed out of work and headed towards the mall thinking he'll never show – he doesn't exist. It's one of my friends pulling this off. And what's a Kuronama? I didn't know until I got to the Kanki grill and ordered one.

The young bartender placed a long tapered glass in front of me filled with black liquid and a golden head. I took a sip. It's Japan's version of dark beer. Asahi makes it and it has a smoky taste with hints of honey. I'm hooked on it.

I look around for Jake and see only one other person, a middle-aged Japanese man in a blue suit sitting several seats away. He's drinking a light beer. Now I realize how Jake would find me – the dark beer. It serves as confirmation that I am who I am. Clever. But, I'm still not convinced Jake Stone is real. I imagine a bunch of my friends will pop out any minute laughing like hyenas at what they pulled off. In any event, I'm in a nice restaurant with a great tasting beer.

I check my watch and fifteen minutes have passed. Half the beer is gone and I'm feeling pretty good. Actually, too good for only a half a glass of beer. Another ten minutes pass and I finish the beer. I'm feeling pretty buzzed and wondering if the alcohol content of the beer is higher than most. I usually don't get this buzzed on one glass of beer. Now my head feels really heavy and I'm having a hard time holding it up. I put my hands on my head trying to steady it. This is so weird, I'm thinking. I just need to rest for a short time and I'll be alright I tell myself. I place my head down on the bar. Actually, I can't hold it up anymore. The rest feels really good and my eyes are slowly closing. The last thing I remember was the businessman coming towards me with a hurried look on his face. I try to put my hand up to stop him, but I can't feel it anymore. Something lifted me from under my arms and then there was nothing.

All of this started with the introduction of my novel, Dark End of the Spectrum.

Mysterious Text Messages, Neural Bracelets, and Direct Brain Communications

So I receive a text message on my phone at work and I don’t know who is it from because the number is ten zeros. I open the message and it says,

“Call 555-4237 as soon as you receive this message, JS."

Now I know who is it from – Jake Stone, the mysterious, covert operative, who has claimed that a secret group of powerful and well-funded individuals have hacked into the cell phone network and taken control. See my earlier post Operative Reveals Cyber Terrorist Plot for the details. Naturally, I call the number thinking it’s not going to work. Numbers with 555 prefixes are not assigned. My phone connects instantly no rings. A computer-generated female voice with a French accent says:

“Go to the fax machine, code 4237.”

Now, I’m thinking how does Jake Stone know my office has a fax machine? I guess you can assume most do even though most business communications are done with email.

I walk over and peer down at the gray display. The machine is sleeping. I linger there for a short time and then the machine awakes. The display says, “Internet fax – enter password.” I enter 4237 and wait. Seconds later, the machine rolls out a fax. It’s blank except for my name on the top in faint gray type. I wait some more thinking another sheet might come out. Nothing. Ok, another Mission Impossible message with appearing and disappearing type. I go back to my desk and drop the fax next to my phone and I notice there is blue fuzzy type where my fingers held the paper. I gently rub my hand over the paper and more type appears. Ok, its heat-activated text. I quickly start typing the information into my computer.

“Our government has developed a wireless device, a wrist band that connects directly to your neural system and communicates directly with your brain sending communications over your neural network. When connected, transmissions sound like voices in your head and you cannot know who’s speaking until they identify themselves. You just have to whisper to communicate back. The wireless frequency it uses is undetectable and comes across the radio spectrum as white noise. You must get one to stop ICER.”

I barely finished typing and the text begins to fade. I rub my hand over the paper again, but it doesn't work anymore. Within seconds the paper is blank and I’m thinking I don’t want any part of this. And I discover that that 4237 spells ICER on a telephone keypad.

Maybe, I shouldn't have written Dark End of the Spectrum.

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What is the secret society called ICER?

In the last piece of information I received from Jake Stone, the covert operative, he wrote that a secret group of powerful and well-funded individuals calling themselves, ICER, have hacked into and taken over the cell phone networks. He wrote that they took control of a special device installed by Homeland Security after 911 that can reprogram any computer wirelessly from aircraft to PDAs. Well, I was curious about ICER and did Google and Ixquick searches.

Curiously, ICER stands for the International Computing and Educational Research Workshop held every year at a major university in different countries since 2005. The first workshop was held at the University of Washington in Seattle and this year’s conference will be held this weekend (Sept 6-7) at the University of Newcastle in Sydney, Australia.

Here’s the mission statement of the workshop from the 2005 ICER workshop web site:

“Computing education, as a research discipline, is the study of how people come to understand computational processes and devices, and how to improve that understanding. As computation becomes ubiquitous in our world, understanding of computing in order to design, structure, maintain, and utilize these technologies becomes increasingly important both for the technology professional, but also for the technologically literate citizen. The research study of how the understanding of computation develops, and how to improve that understanding, is critically important for the technology-dependent societies in which we live.”

I don’t think Jake Stone was referring to this ICER. First, they are not a secret society; they are an open educational organization of computer professionals, educators and developers. Besides, I don’t have any proof what Jake Stone says is true. For all I know, he could be making this stuff up from my novel, Dark End of the Spectrum.

Interestingly, Wikipedia also has a listing for ICER. It is image compression software used by NASA on the Mars rovers, “Spirit” (MER-A) and “Opportunity” (MER-B).

From Wikipedia:

“ICER is a wavelet-based image compressor that allows for a graceful trade-off between the amount of compression (expressed in terms of compressed data volume in bits/pixel) and the resulting degradation in image quality (distortion). ICER has some similarities to JPEG2000, with respect to select wavelet operations.

The development of ICER was driven by the desire to achieve high compression performance while meeting the specialized needs of deep space applications.”

I also could not find the meaning of the photo-enhancing ICER acronym, if it is an acronym.