An author bought his own book to get on bestseller lists. Is that fair? - The Guardian

Today as Panzer was cleaning out the Panzermobile, he discovered a post under the floor mat on the passenger side. Flattening it out, our fastidious kitty discovered it was a post from The Guardian site about British author Mark Dawson.

According to the post by David Barnett, author Mark Dawson recently made the Sunday Times bestseller list in the UK. Mark Dawson explained how he managed this feat in his Self Publishing Show podcast. When he saw his sales numbers weren't high enough to get his new book into the top 10 at the Sunday Times, he devised a plan. He sent out an email to his U.S. readers asking if they would be interested in buying copies of his book directly from him. When he had 400 people interested, he bought 400 copies of his book. That added enough book sales to the already generated sales to put his book on the bestseller list at number 8. That's how his book became a bestseller. Apparently, in the UK there's no rule against an author buying his or her own book. Several links are included in the post, including one to the author's podcast.

With enough money you can buy anything.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... He was so proud of what he did, he made a podcast about it. Now other authors in the UK can do it to."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links, bring another cup of tea and another muffin. (Don't tell anybody if you listen to his podcast and then do what he did.)

To read the post tootle over to bestseller lists

Amazon 'hunting for high street sites in London' - The Bookseller

Today, Panzer made a quick trip into the Catosphere. Our adventurous kitty stopped in at The Bookseller site. There he found a post about Amazon's rumored foray into the U.K.

A mouse, a bug, some catnip ...

According to the post by The Bookseller's staff, Amazon is looking at expanding its physical presence to London. Quoting from a post on the Sunday Times site, The Bookseller reports Amazon is looking for a location for one of their Amazon Go grocery stores. Patrons of the Amazon Go store give Amazon access to purchasing information as they shop in the store. When they exit the store the money for their purchases is automatically deducted from their account. There is no mention of a bricks-and-mortar book store. A link is included in The Bookseller post to the Sunday Times post.

Panzer says, "Umm ... Do you really want everybody to know what you eat?"

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection. If you follow the link to the Sunday Times, add a muffin.

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon