David Gaughran

If You Go Into the Woods Today contains two beautifully crafted short stories. The first, for which the book is written, has the all the sense and lyrical prose of a fairy tale. The second, The Reset Button, is more like science fiction. But, although different in style, they are similar in themes. Both have a sense of duality about them. They are both simple but incredibly complex, with themes which are both personal and universal.

The first story concerns a boy who is ' cruel with a show more sadistic streak but has a tender side only his mother sees'. His father has left his mother and him for another family and to the other villagers, the boy is trouble so he has no friends. The second is about a man who 'is always fastidious but invariably delayed while searching for his keys'. He has been left by his wife and son. He is surrounded by people but none of them can ever remember him although he sees them daily. In both cases, there is a profound sense of loneliness and quiet yearning for a connection with someone or something else.

This book is only fourteen pages long but author David Gaughran says more about the human condition in those fourteen short pages than most writers can say in four hundred. show less

I usually avoid short stories because they usually feel as if too much is missing, the characters are flat, and there is just not enough time for the willing suspension of disbelief to kick in. Not so with Transfection.

Author David Gaughran has a real gift for telling big stories in small spaces. Here he talks about the dangers of genetically modified foods, the willingness of some corporations to trade public safety for profit, and the equal willingness of certain 'industry' scientists to show more bend or fake their research to back the company line. And, at the same time that he is building suspense and a sense of paranoia in the reader about the issues, he introduces us to his protagonist, Dr Carl Peters, warts and all, and, what's more, he makes us care about him. And he does all this in 18 short pages - not a mean feat by any stretch of the imagination.

I read this story in one quick bite and all I can say is, I want more! show less

Having already read Decoding Amazon by David Gaughran, I already knew some of this book, so I did skim in some places.

I had thought it would be a detailed 'How to' but it was more discussion on all aspects of self-publishing and packed full of resources, about where to go for the 'how to' and listing the most important things to do to market and promote your books. I was very grateful for the lists of priorities, it made it all more achievable and doable, and actually infected me with some show more of David Gaughran's enthusiasm for marketing and the excitement at all the possibilities (I didn't think that was possible).

Starting from scratch (as I am) some of it doesn't apply: I don't have any budget or money to spend on anything, including my own domain name (and why always Wordpress? Never found it user friendly myself, despite trying several times), and things like BookBub - which I had never heard of before reading David Gaughran's books. It's where indie authors can pay to get their book into readers hands, and which seems to be a very important place to go for Indie authors. I can only hope that once I do have a mailing list, have earnt something from book sales and have more than 10 reviews under my belt I might qualify for such a step.

The main reason why this book didn't make 5 stars for me was the last 90-100 pages being devoted entirely to 30 stories from Indie authors of their self-publishing success and links to their sites. I think I might have read maybe 3 (5 of these would have been plenty). It also meant I skipped the 'end matter' that David talks about being important for all Indie authors to have in their books.

But despite those few drawbacks, I highly recommend this book: it is a must-have for all would-be Indie authors as it is packed full of necessary information on how to go about marketing and promoting your book, and will make you realise how limitless the possibilities are. I felt like I had stepped into a room where all the cool, successful Indie authors lived, and been made privy to tricks and tips I would never have been able to access otherwise. show less

Ideally, I would wait to write this review until my book sales have increased exponentially and I’m sitting on a tropical beach, having retired from my day job. But it seems a little unfair to saddle Mr. Gaughran with that responsibility.

So, with that caveat, I am impressed. This book delivered what I wanted, was clearly laid out, and did not seek to ‘pad’ itself with fluffy irrelevance. Great use was made, too, of links to web resources and I appreciated the occasions when Mr. show more Gaughran simply pointed us to information when he felt greater expertise was to be found elsewhere.

There are no magic bullets here, but the dissection of Amazon’s various lists is thorough and will appeal to you if you have an analytical nature. The material gave me a new perspective on ‘free’ and price pulsing and served to reinforce my belief that the best marketing is, in fact, to write (and publish) the next book.

However, I followed the advice and am now enjoying #3 bestseller position in a niche category. I'll be keeping this book handy for future tweaks, too.

Just to be clear, the content is almost totally directed at selling on Amazon. And don’t expect quick fixes: you’ll have to do your own research, digging and legwork to implement the strategies. But no-one said this would be easy, right? ;) show less