The bigger you are, the harder you fall

The Bookseller online edition reported about 2 weeks ago that the now infamous Amazon had removed the buy buttons on books published by the UK's largest publishing group, Hachette Livre, and now it seems that Hachette CEO Tim Hely Hutchinson has upped the ante by sending a strongly worded letter to authors affected by the embargo.

Amazon are reported to be doing to Hachette what they have been doing for some months now to print on demand publishers in America, namely demanding extortionate terms, and when the publisher refuses to give in, using Peter to rob Paul by going to the next publisher, and claiming that the first has given in, in order to make sure that the second one follows suit. Their plan has though been rumbled, as in publishing news travels fast, and it is if nothing else an industry built on communications, communications which I feel will ultimately prove to be Amazon's undoing.

Hely Hutchinson's letter, a copy of which has been sent to the Bookseller (although not published on their site) explains Hachette's position in regard to this dispute, which has seen Amazon remove the buy buttons from key front and back list titles published by Hachette, including Kate Mosse's Labyrinth, Stephen King's Duma Key and James Patterson's The Sixth Target.

The letter reportedly tells authors that Amazon's actions could "prove to be a catalyst for Amazon starting to lose its popularity with the public" because it is reducing its range and service to customers. It goes on to say that despite advantageous terms, "Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours", before affirming Hachette's intention to stand firm against these bullies.

The response from Amazon was predictably lukewarm with them refusing to comment and insisting as always, that they are committed to offering the broadest range possible to their customers at the lowest possible price, through a range of outlets, both direct on their own site and through re-sellers.

Agents are also expressing their angst, since this affects the careers of many of their authors, whose careers they oversee. It also of course affects their own income, since they take a proportion of what their authors earn. Anthony Harwood, who represents Chris Manby, said his client has been dealt a "double whammy", as both her new hardback Spa Wars and her first book written under the name of Olivia Darling, were affected. Anthony said "It's incredibly frustrating; the author suffers while these disputes rumble on."

The Economist, which has had some interesting articles on publishing in recent weeks, pulls no punches when it says that those in the publishing industry are running scared because of the rise in new technology brought about by the Internet, but also through the rise in print on demand and electronic publishing (e-books). Amazon is of course also at the forefront of this, in America at least, with the Kindle e-book reading device and their attempt to control the print on demand sector through demanding that print on demand books be printed by their own printing arm, Booksurge in order to be listed directly on Amazon's site.

From the outside, to the author at least, book publishing seems like a closed shop, which is impossible to penetrate. The author has to jump through many hoops and pass through many gate keepers on their journey to publication, and on the way, most of them do not pass go and do not collect £200. 411,000 new titles were published in America last year, and more than 3 billion books sold. The industry saw a growth rate of 4.3 percent in the adult sector, yet reading as in other westernised countries, is actually down. Since 1985, books' share of entertainment spending has fallen by some seven percent.

Paper book sales may well be in decline, but sales of e-books are reported to have tripled since 2005. Some say that they may eventually surpass printed copies, although personally apart from academic titles, I cannot see this happening. There are though advantages to this method, especially to the author, least of all, the removal of all the middle men who are all too keen to take a slice of our hard earned cash. E-books after all are a direct route to customers that have the potential to bypass both traditional book stores and online ones, as the author can publish them for relatively low cost and sell direct to the public via either their publishers website, or their own, as indeed I do. All books published by Authors OnLine are also available as e-books; that is why they chose the name Authors OnLine, as that is how their business began. The paper copies came later, after the introduction of print on demand into the UK 10 years ago.

It is in my opinion, print on demand that has the potential to change the industry much more than e-books could ever do, for not only does it enable authors to publish their own works at low cost, circumnavigating the gate keepers, but the costs also continue to come down. The cost of paper and shipping has gone up so much in recent months that it is now cheaper to print 1200 books via print on demand that it is by traditional means.

The article in the Economist wisely says that publishing has only two indispensable participants: authors and readers. Like the music industry, any technology that brings these two groups closer makes the whole industry more efficient, but hurts those who benefit from the distance between them. Those that stand to gain the most are therefore the small players traditionally left out of the loop by practises that prevent their books from being stocked on the same terms as those issued by the larger publishing houses. Those that stand to lose the most are those who have helped to support a system that encourages this to happen, which seems to include just about everyone except the independent authors and publishers themselves. Our time it seems has finally come, as the big boys are now learning that what goes around does come around, and what you do to others does have an effect that comes back to you in hard lessons to be learnt. Whether they will see this and understand remains to be seen. For what it is worth, the response from Hachette does seem to be encouraging, and I applaud them for taking the stand that they are. I just hope that it doesn't come back to haunt them, as the bigger you are, the harder you fall. Amazon would be wise to remember this.

What goes down, must go up!

I know there is hope for the world, and in particular the book world, when I see comments such as those on the blog of Neil Denny, editor in chief of The Bookseller magazine. On his blog, Neil calls for an end to the practise of high discounting in these times of economic uncertainty, in order to protect the interests of both publishers and book sellers. He points out that the price of books, like anything else, can go up as well as down.

During the last decade, since the abolition of the net book price agreement, we have seen the prices of books plummeting, with both book sellers and publishers, not to mention of course authors, working harder and harder for what seems like less and less. When I did my own accounts yesterday, I was shocked to see that despite all my hard work, my income from book sales for 2007-8 was just over £800, which is not a lot to show at all for all that work. Of course it would have been a lot more had the book not been on sale or return for such high discount, but then again, would I have sold as many books as I did? Somehow I think not, and so in the scheme of things, I am still better off, as although I earn less now per book sale, at least I have the chance to make some sales!

Perhaps though for the book trade as a whole, it is time to have a re-think on the discounting issue and begin to charge cover prices again, or at the very least, reduce the discounts that we have in store to a more reasonable level.

Since 2001, the date at which the sales figures first became truly comprehensive, the average sale price for books in the UK has fallen from £7.81 to £7.57. This may not sound a lot, but by the time you factor in inflation, it is clear that the price of books has fallen way less than it should be. In real terms, prices have dropped by almost 20 percent.

It may seem strange to be discussing this move at a time when consumers are already struggling with higher bills and fuel costs, yet as Neil Denny points out, increases such as these are creating a climate where consumers actually expect prices to go up, across the board.

If other businesses pass on the cost of their higher bills to the consumers, then why should the book trade be any different? Books after all need to be printed and shipped around the country (if not the world) and with the way that oil keeps going up, sooner or later, these costs will have to be passed on.

Companies are under pressure, as staff push for wage increases in order to compensate for higher prices. By increasing their own prices, and thereby their profit, book sellers will be in a better position to give their staff that raise, at the same time injecting life into their business which they can use to invest in training and better facilities all round.

Books are vastly underrated in our western society, and absurdly cheap. In a climate where some paperbacks cost less than a pint of beer, a cup of coffee or a magazine, then what does that say about the value that we place upon them? Customers at the store that I work in think nothing of spending £1000 on certain items, yet baulk at the price of books. I can imagine a world without much of what we sell, but I cannot imagine a world without books. Books educate and make us think, they make us laugh and cry, they take us outside of the ordinary realms of our existence, guiding and inspiring us with their wisdom and their insights. The world would be a much poorer place without them.

Lower discounts would be good news for the industry all round, not least of all the small independents, many of whom are struggling to compete with the chains, and let's not forget, are vital to the success of the book trade as a whole.

While the cover prices of certain types of books have crept up in recent years, the cynic in me says that this is in response to high discounting. If a publisher sells to book stores at 50 percent discount, it is in their interests to set higher cover prices, as 50 percent of £8.99 is a lot more than 50 percent of £5.99.

If books were not so heavily discounted and under valued in the first place, then this would not be necessary. It would be far better to control the level if discounts, keeping this to a sensible level, and allowing new releases at least a few weeks to be sold at full price. It is increasingly common though to discount at launch.

The solution then is not to increase cover prices, but to lower the discounts offered at point of sale. Of course some would say that consumers will just buy online instead. Although online book sales are increasing year on year, the majority are still bought in stores, as nothing can replace the feel and atmosphere of a book store, browsing the shelves. If customers truly want a book, then they will find the means to buy it - we cannot hold back doing what we know is right simply through fear of the competition. Someone somewhere has to make the first move, and personally I will be straight through their doors buying all their stock when they do - as like attracts like, and if I wish to be abundant, then I have to support others. That is the way of the world.

The rise in print on demand

I have become aware this morning of two articles extolling the virtues of print on demand, in two of the UK's most influential publications, The Economist and the Sunday Telegraph. Both make interesting reading, and are worth detailing here.

The first article in The Economist, is entitled Hard Pressed. The author, whose name is not mentioned, states that he has spent 35 years working in the publishing industry listening to the moans and groans of printing presses at work. Most commercial presses he says, these days use offset printing, but that is rapidly changing to digital (for this read print on demand). As distribution costs have sky rocketed, publishers have set up satellite printing plants to deal with regional markets (this is actually how Booksurge who are at the centre of the Amazon debate began). The economics of offset printing do not lend themselves well to short print runs. This is where print on demand comes in.

These machines, despite their advantages do not come cheap, with the author quoting a figure of around $750,000 for one 60 foot machine. Despite the initial cost, they have several advantages. Firstly, they do not have to print thousands of copies of the same image; the
impression made on successive sheets of paper can be entirely different. This allows publishers to tailor output for different markets - say for example Sydney, London or New York.

Second, unlike the wet inks used by traditional presses, the toners in digital printers are not absorbed into the paper, but form a layer on the surface instead. The images remain crisp and clear around the edges. It also means that they can be used to print on a variety of different mediums - such as packaging, fabrics and metal foils.

The disadvantage is that the cost per page remains the same no matter how pages are printed - against offset printing, where the more you print, the cheaper it becomes.

It has also led to the rise in print on demand publishing, where authors can choose to print their own books, bypassing the traditional agent, publisher route. This is no longer confined to the self publisher, as publishers both large and small also embrace this technology.

The advantages are obvious - you no longer have to guess how many copies to print, but can have them printed 'on demand' as and when the orders come in. It saves time and money, in terms of warehousing, shipping and returns, offsetting the initial higher print costs. At a time when everyone is trying to save trees, then this has to be a good thing.

Xerox, who are according to the article, the leader in digital colour printing, have upped the ante with their new generation of high-end presses, the iGen4. This xerographic leviathan can handle runs of up to 7 million colour pages a month. Their nearest competitor, the Indigo 7000 colour press from Hewlett Packard can handle just 4 million pages a month.

While you cannot tell the difference with books, such machines the article states, do not come close to matching the performance of traditional printing for newspapers and magazines.

The Economist prints about 1.65 million copies a week, with around 122 pages per issue, using eight printing plants around the world. On average, each of these plants handle 100 million pages a month - within a few hours of each other every Thursday, so that as many copies as possible can be delivered to news stands and newsagents first thing Friday morning. The best of today's digital printers would need a fourteen-fold increase in speed in order to match this.

What they lack in speed, the new generation of digital printers more than makes up for in quality. But this too could change, as waiting in the wings are some nifty ideas for applying ink-jet know-how to commercial printing.

Earlier this week, Xerox unveiled plans for a new gel-ink technology, with the consistency of toothpaste. When jetted from the print heads, this turns rock hard when exposed to a pulse of ultra-violet light. Because they are not water or alcohol-based like conventional ink-jet materials, they do not bleed into the paper and will cling to almost any surface, just like the digital inks.

This clever technology pioneered by Xerox's research centre in Canada could provide digital printing with its biggest chance yet to crack open the $400 billion offset market and break into the newspaper and magazine market. Watch this space.

The second article, on the Sunday Telegraph website says how 'new' print on demand technology is revolutionising the publishing industry, since it means that for the first time, publishers can bring back into circulation those classic out of print books that have a relatively small audience.

A new imprint, Faber Finds is soon to be launched with this aim in mind. There have been various impediments along the way, not least of all the industry's somewhat hostile attitude towards POD. It seems that even in these so-called enlightened times, agents and publishers are fearful of what this revolution will mean, and the very real threat that this presents to the industry, as if writers can publish their own works at such low cost, why would these agents and editors be needed at all? The article does not of course state this, and there will be always be a place for such people, but the fear is still there, and needs to be addressed.

Authors though were also concerned, especially given what happened with Simon and Schuster last year, where the company attempted to lock in authors whose books were available via POD, by stating that they were contracted to S&S for as long as the book remained in print, even though they may do nothing at all to promote it, and the author could earn more money from publishing themselves via a POD provider like Authors OnLine Ltd.

To overcome these issues, Faber and Faber put the authors at the very heart of this experiment, by approaching them and actually asking them to select titles for the new imprint. Initial talks were with P D James and John Lanchester, both of whom grasped the potential with great enthusiasm. This was mirrored by the many other writers who were approached, many of whom have written pieces for the new imprint's website and are championing books and writers that they cherish, but which are no longer conventionally (for this read via book shops for large discount via conventional offset printing) available.

Faber realised that authors are also readers, and that, according to Chief Executive Stephen Page, was the final piece of the jigsaw. Faber Finds will have a thriving online community who will be able to suggest books for the list as they buy them, review books and discuss their passions and interests with other visitors to the site.

In this way the technology of online life has been married to printing technology, creating an opportunity (perhaps) that has never existed before. This will bring together many excellent books, as well as writers, readers and the wider literary community to coax life back into some of the more fragile books in our culture.

The books will be available via all the usual channels, from either book stores or online.

This does sound, I must admit, like a imprint which will be very much going places, and will add a lot to the literary world, where publisher, author and reader work together to create a unique community designed to preserve and enhance our literary masterpieces. Whether it is truly unique is as always, open to debate.

The new Genesis of Man

It has been a week now since Ed called, and still it seems I am waiting for something, anything to happen. I watch my mind at work sometimes, and can almost laugh at the stupidity of it all. The mind does its best to tick away with all the 'it's not fair', 'I can't stand this job', 'I wish they would hurry up and shut this store down!' (there have been plenty of the last two of late), but none of it is real, and none of it really matters.

I won't deny that this job has been challenging in lots of different ways, but still I recognise that I did choose to be here (quite literally, as within two days of being offered it, I was also offered and turned down, interviews at least for two other jobs). Somewhere, on some level, it was as if I knew that I had to see this through. The logical part of me was screaming on my first day that this was not right, that I would not be happy here, that I was not interested in what we sell, but I knew that I had to see it through, and so I have, regardless of the challenges and the tests, and there have been lots of them - the late lunches, the heavy lifting (some of the larger items are almost as big as I am), the constant noise bombardment, being the only female (living with Coran, I am not used to being around 'typical' males).

I get round the noise bit by shutting myself in the ladies loo at regular intervals, and by sitting in silence at lunch time, I get round the lack of interest by trying to learn, and I get round the lifting bit with hot baths and massages. As for the masculine bit, I have discovered that you cannot judge a book by its cover, as my Manager, who looks every bit the stereotypical male, with his deep voice, big muscles and bald head, is actually a pussy cat in disguise. I don't think he realises this himself, but he is actually a very sensitive and deeply spiritual man. It is the fact that he does not know this that makes him so spiritual, and also his many years of management.

You cannot be a Manager in retail after all, without knowing a thing or two about human nature, and what makes people tick. If I am honest, I do not care much for what I see of the nature of our typical customer - especially the young ones, who seem more concerned with how things look and how much they cost than whether or not they actually work and do a good job. My Manager said the same thing, when we were talking last week.

Reading some more of Eckhart Tolle's wonderful book 'A New Earth', he says that "unhappiness or negativity is a disease on our planet. What pollution is on the outer level is negativity on the inner level". When I watch my mind and observe the unconscious behaviour of others, I know that he is right. It is a disease indeed, and the biggest threat facing our planet. The problems we face are spiritual, not political, for if we could really look inside and consciously examine our thoughts and our motivations, then we would see the madness that we are living in that is created by our minds, and we would bring ourselves into the present moment, making conscious efforts to change. This would be the new Genesis of Man.

All the problems that we face, famine, war, intolerance, etc, etc, are all caused by what we perceive as lack, and if you go deeper still, then you realise that ultimately the solution lies not in filling the void with unnecessary stuff, and not in worrying our lives away about what we should have and do not have, but in accepting the situation that we have and fully embracing the now. Now is after all the only moment that we have. The past is over so cannot affect us, the future is yet to happen, so the only moment is now, we should strive to grasp that moment and live life to the full, as that one moment goes on forever into infinity.

When Jesus said that those who followed him would be reborn to eternal life, this is what he meant, that if his teachings were followed and understood, then we could learn to live in the present moment, which is eternal and everlasting. We would therefore be literally reborn to eternal life. What an interesting discussion that could make with some Christians that I know - and as I write this I am aware that the mind is there again, wanting me to be right, so that they are then wrong. There is no right and wrong, it is all just differing opinions. The problem begins when those differing beliefs are made 'exclusive', and when we confuse our beliefs with who we are, so that others of differing opinions are wrong. This unfortunately, is something that we all do, and I am no exception to this, I realised this when I watched myself becoming angry last night, as I watched a programme on fundamentalist Christians in Britain.

No matter how many different forms life takes, no matter how many dramas we create to fill the 'time', bodies, egos, events, situations, thoughts, emotions, desires, fears and so on, it is all fleeting and none of it has any more meaning than that which we choose to give it. Another second passes and we think another thought, dream another dream, and so it goes on, until the world is filled with dreams, we have dreamt our lives away, and nothing has been accomplished.

Work I have then discovered, is the perfect and yet most challenging place to play this scenario out - exhausting though it sometimes is, both physically and emotionally. I did choose this path though, and so I will continue to follow it for as long as the universe deems that I need to be here. My ego can still hope though that it won't be for too long!

Did George Lucas read Genesis of Man?

I knew that the new Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would be important, as it was so much anticipated, but having seen the film on Thursday (the opening night), I was struck by just how similar much of the plot line is to my own book. It could almost be a mirror for what I have written, so much so that I felt compelled to write an article detailing the similarities.

I cannot deny that the resurgence in skulls that the release of this film has spawned has helped sales considerably. I have a long association with crystal skulls, having been first introduced to them back in 1999, shortly before my mother died. A few days after she died, I attended a workshop with Edwin Courtenay (having booked my place some weeks before), and it was here that I purchased my first skull Daniel, made from blue obsidian. In the weeks that followed, it seemed that almost everyone I encountered was somehow involved with the skulls, either working with them or selling them. The universe was clearly trying to tell me something, but at the time, I was not quite ready to listen.

My working life has always created drama, with various jobs, none of which have truly made me happy. Following my mother's death and a small inheritance, I decided to take time out to figure out where I was heading. I have long been interested in complimentary health, and was already a qualified massage and Reiki practitioner, so one of the first things I did was enrol on a course in crystal therapy. Halfway through the course, we were asked to write a thesis on a crystal related subject to be presented to the rest of the group. I chose to do mine on crystal skulls. The more I began to write and research, the more links I began to find between the skulls and other areas of interest, until it became clear that this was to be a book, linking all the different subjects together. I never did end up practising crystal therapy, and I believe now that the only reason I did that course was so that I could write the book.

I kept on writing, on and off for five long years, all the time trying and hoping for that elusive publishing contract. After two years I returned to work with a major supermarket, and during this time I wrote only sporadically. When my partner became seriously ill with IBS, I changed my hours to full time, as he was unable to work. As he began to get better, I began to feel the stress, eventually leaving that job in August 2005. I then worked flat out, doing a complete edit and re-write in less than five months, and finally published the completed book, Genesis of Man in June 2006.

A second edition followed eleven months later, with a new cover, added text and the same ISBN. I soon discovered that the publishing world presented challenges all of its own.

The release of this film, and the resurgence of interest in skulls has then for me been more than welcome, as it has also led to interest in my book. The question though is ...

Did George Lucas read Genesis of Man?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has been hailed as the most anticipated film of summer 2008, but can it live up to the hype? It has been 19 years since we last saw Indy, and the film has been a long time in the making.

As a crystal skull guardian, and author, whose book began life as a thesis on crystal skulls, I wanted to see this film as soon as possible. I was not disappointed. While there is a lot that was left out, the important seeds are all there, pointing us in the right direction, as Jesus said, “for those who have ears that listen and eyes that see”.

The more I began to watch, the more similarities I saw between my book, Genesis of Man, and this film. So much so that I began to wonder if George Lucas or perhaps Steven Spielberg himself may have read it.

The main themes are all there – not least of all the skulls themselves. Lost civilisations, alien contact, intrigue, abuse of power, the opposing forces of light and dark, and how in the end, neither triumphs, but instead they cancel each other out.

Many believe that the crystal skulls are Atlantean in origin, but the film indicates that they are extra terrestrial. This may be disappointing to some but is closer to the truth than we realise, for the Atlanteans themselves had extra terrestrial ancestors. Only man could be arrogant enough to believe that we are truly alone in the universe, using this as comfort blanket to maintain the status quo, and the ego.

The ego has a vested interest in maintaining this belief, since if we realise that we are not alone, and are connected to not just each other but also other life forms then it has to cooperate and stop creating drama as a means to incite conflict. The irony is that it is through drama and conflict that we grow and learn who we are. We cannot experience what we are until we have experienced what we are not, as there is nothing to compare against.

Against this backdrop of spirituality are the usual thrills and spills, high jinks and capers with Indy on top form. The setting for the film has moved on by 19 years, as has Harrison Ford, the actor who plays our hero. This gives the film a more realistic feel, although I doubt if many almost pensioners could pull off the stunts that this man did. Ford faced a gruelling schedule to get in shape for this movie, training for up to 3 hours a day.

The film is set in 1957, 10 years after Roswell. The opening scene is of a group of teenagers who are racing a convoy of soldiers travelling to a top secret base in the Nevada desert (assumed to be Area 51). This scene is reminiscent of Lucas’ first major success, American Graffiti and is indicative of how we are the sum of all of our experiences. This theme is echoed in the skulls themselves, which are believed by some to contain a record of all that has occurred in Earth’s history.

The soldiers we realise are not American, but Russian. In the boot of one of their vehicles is Indy with his companion Mac, played by Ray Winstone. The Russians, led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), are seeking a top secret box containing alien remains from Roswell. Irina like Hitler is a collector of psychic artifacts, believing their power will help to accelerate her own.

Following the discovery that his colleague Mac is a double agent, Indy reluctantly leads the Russians to the box. When the box, stamped Roswell 1947 is prized open, we see a grizzly alien looking hand stretching forth.

After his escape, Indy returns to Marshall College, where his Dean, played by Jim Broadbent, explains that Indy’s association with Mac has made him the object of suspicion and the college are suspending Indy from his post. On his way out of town, Indy is approached by rebellious teenager Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who claims to be friends with Oxley, an old colleague of Indy’s, whom the Russians have kidnapped.

It seems that Oxley had been looking for the legendary crystal skull at the centre of the Akator mystery, with the intent of returning it to its rightful place within the temple. Akator is synonymous with the legendary El Dorado, the city made from gold which was sought by the Spanish Conquistadors. The Russians have kidnapped Oxley hoping that he will lead them to the skull.

Indy and Mutt travel to Peru, where they find the remains of the missing Conquistador's wrapped in shrouds. It is here that they find the crystal skull, in one of the shrouds.

The Russians though are hot on their tail. Indy and Mutt are captured and transported to the Russians encampment where both Oxley and Mary (Indy’s old flame Marion Redwood and Mutt’s mother) are being held. We learn later that Indy is Mutt’s father. The Russians have done something to Oxley, as he appears to have lost his mind, making strange utterances that they hope will lead them to the skull.

The Russians hook Indy up to a psychic device and force him to gaze into the eyes of the skull in the hope that he will then be able to interpret Oxley’s mutterings. A series of spectacular chases then ensue, as Indy attempts an escape. Oxley guides Indy and his group to Akator, where they are met by hostile Natives. When Oxley shows the Natives the crystal skull, they bow down in veneration and allow the group to pass.

Inside the temple, they are greeted by a spectacular sight of thirteen clear quartz skeletons, one of which is missing its skull. The implication is that these are crystalline skeletons from star beings which seeded the Akatorian civilisation, as the shape of the skull closely matches those in depictions of the Mesoamerican gods. These appear to be the same beings that crash landed at Roswell in 1947.

As the skull is put back into place, the skeletons activate and the room starts to spin. Irina stands in the centre of the room and commands that the skulls download all their information into her. As the room begins to spin, so does she, eventually combusting as her limited form cannot contain such vast knowledge and power. The darkness in her has been neutralised by the skulls light.

Indy and friends make their escape, and the closing scene is of Indy and Marion’s wedding.

I first became interested in crystal skulls in 1999, and rapidly acquired several of these fascinating objects. In 2000 I enrolled on a course in crystal therapy. Halfway through the course, we were asked to write a thesis on a crystal related subject. I chose to write mine on crystal skulls. I kept on writing, and found to my amazement that it was developing into a book, which I published in June 2006.

The book includes information on lots of different subjects, not just crystal skulls, with a whole section on Atlantis and Lemuria, from where I believe the skulls originate.

Lemuria was the first advanced civilisation upon the Earth, founded almost 1 million years ago. The skulls were gifted to the Lemurians by the Divine to act as a sentient repository of information and knowledge.The early Lemurians lived beneath the Earth in underground cities and caves. As time went on, the Lemurians formed various colonies, or daughter Empires, including amongst others, Atlantis, Egypt, Mexico and Peru. Of all of these, Atlantis played the most pivotal role in Earth’s history.

Independent archaeologist David Hatcher Childress states that Akakor (note the slightly different spelling) was an ancient South American Empire near Machu Picchu, Peru, whose inhabitants also lived beneath the Earth. The Akakorians were said to be a super race similar to the Atlanteans.

In March 1972 German archaeologist Karl Bruggar met an Indian chieftain named Tatunca Nara, who told him the history of Akakor. This began in the year zero, (10,481 BCE in our calendar). Tatunca told Bruggar that his tribe, the Ugha Mongulala, were chosen by the gods 15,000 years ago (around 13,000 BCE), long before traditional academia dictates that humans first set foot on American soil.

3000 years before the year zero (16,000 BCE) glimmering golden ships appeared in the sky. The pilots looked like humans with fine features; white skinned with bluish-black hair and thick beards. Quetzalcoatl, who according to legend was the founder of both Aztec and Mayan culture, and is sometimes known as the feathered serpent, was also described as a white man, with a broad forehead, large eyes and flowing beard.

In the year zero, following a catastrophic war, the gods left. This seems to have caused a global catastrophe, reminiscent perhaps of the destruction of Atlantis, after which the surrounding tribes lapsed into barbarism.

In year 13 (10,468 BC) the great flood came – the rivers changed course, mountains suddenly elevated, and there was a rapid and devastating climate change as regions which had previously enjoyed a warm climate were thrown abruptly into the cold.

The inhabitants of the Takla Mahan region of China and Mongolia are known as the Uighurs. Chinese legends state that the Uighur civilization reached its height around 17,000 years ago – which roughly corresponds to the destruction of Lemuria. The similarity between the two names of Uighur and Ugha Mongulala are obvious and should need little explanation.

The first advanced settlements sprang up around the area of Mesopotamia (Iraq) during the fifth millennium BCE, seemingly from nowhere. Ancient texts that these people left behind state that gods came to Earth from another unknown planet and taught them the arts of civilisation. This planet is known as Nibiru, and is depicted on several of their cylinder seals. The tale of gods who came from another realm is by no means limited to Mesopotamia but is repeated in various cultures throughout the world, including ancient Egypt, the Olmecs and China.

Scientists believe that man evolved completely on his own, with no outside interference from God or gods. However, evidence suggests that we were created through the genetic engineering of our ancestor Homo erectus and extraterrestrial DNA. This goes a long way towards answering the question of the ‘missing link’ that scientists and archaeologists have spent many years searching for. It also explains the 223 genes whose origins the Human Genome Project has been unable to account for.

We are not the only race in our galaxy, as two were created - Humans and Reptiles. The Reptiles are not shape shifters or vampires, but are merely playing the role that was assigned to them. They are neither good nor bad, but simply are what they are.

The two races were given contradictory creational myths in order to incite conflict, thus helping us to grow. The Reptiles were told that they had the right to colonise any planet or star system within the galaxy and destroy any non-Reptilian race already living there. The Humans were told that could also colonise other stars and planets, but if they found another race living there, they were to negotiate a peace treaty and co-exist alongside them.

A war between the Humans and the Reptiles led to the formation of the Galactic Federation, when it became clear that there was a need for an organisation that would oversee the various human colonies, and broker peace between the warring races. It also became necessary to create a permanent patrolling force to act as both deterrent and peace keeper. This peace keeper and battle star was named Nibiru, the missing Planet X, as depicted in the ancient Mesopotamian texts. Its inhabitants are the same beings that were credited with teaching the Mesopotamians the arts of civilisation.

Following a second war, the Reptilian home world was destroyed. The surviving Reptiles who refused to side with their Government were given refuge and taken aboard Nibiru. As a means of broking peace, the commander Anu took a Reptilian wife, who gave birth to a son Enki, the Mesopotamian god of water. Anu’s elder son Enlil by his chief spouse Antu was god of Earth. The Atlantean civilisation, which was the most important of all Lemurian colonies, flourished for 200,000 years, and finally came to an end around 10,500 BCE, around the same time as the Akakorian great flood.

By this time, the Atlanteans had begun to acquire delusions of grandeur. No longer satisfied with being a daughter Empire, they believed that they could and should be mother. They therefore began to plot the destruction of Lemuria. They began to form alliances with renegade Reptiles led by Marduk, chief god of Babylon (and Enki’s son).

Under the command of Marduk, the Atlanteans harnessed the power of a giant crystal. To begin with it was used to power various forms of transport. Marduk began to infiltrate their scientific community with the aid of his Reptilian allies, so that the scientists soon became the dominant force in Atlantean society. He then began to infiltrate the ruling class, which caused a division between the spiritual and scientific communities. Eventually, it got to the stage where Marduk himself was Ruler, in everything but name. Things rapidly degenerated until disaster seemed inevitable.

At that time, Earth had two Moons, each of which was roughly two-thirds the size of our present one. The Atlantean Rulers harnessed one of these Moons in a tractor beam from the Great Crystal and threatened to use it against any civilization that opposed their plans. The Moon was imploded by means of particle beam weapons shortly before reaching the Lagrange Point of critical mass. This set off a catastrophic volcanic eruption causing the gas chambers beneath Lemuria to implode, sinking the entire continent.

Following the destruction of Lemuria, the Atlanteans were faced with the prospect of rebuilding Earth and restoring order within the remaining Lemurian colonies. Some supported the Atlanteans, fearful of their power, but others opposed them.

The Atlanteans harnessed a comet, holding it in a tractor beam and threatening to use it against those who opposed them. When Nibiru came back into orbit, it disrupted the tractor beam, sending the comet crashing down on Atlantis. A collision of this type although catastrphic, is not though sufficient to sink an entire continent.

Author Herbie Brennan came to some interesting conclusions during the research for his book, The Atlantis Enigma. According to Brennan, the only force that could destroy a continent is the remnants of a supernova. A supernova is a star that explodes so violently that it destroys itself, creating a large amount of gas and debris in the process. Only four supernovas have been identified in Earth’s recorded history, one of which, Vela, exploded approximately 14,000 to 11,000 years ago, around the time that Atlantis is believed to have sunk. Brennan surmises that a planet-sized chunk of debris from the Vela supernova must have passed within the orbit of the Moon. But what if this planet- sized chunk was not a supernova, but the missing planet X, in other words, Nibiru?

The closer this chunk came to Earth, the more it affected conditions on the planet. The first thing to occur was a series of violent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. As the supernova or planet approached closer, the Earth was bombarded with meteorites. Finally, the gravitational pull created a mammoth wave, up to 1600 feet high which devastated everything in its path, including Atlantis.

The tilt in Earth’s axis caused a catastrophic shift in world climate. The north lands were moved from a temperate zone away from the warmth of the Sun. The explosion of dirt and debris into the atmosphere blocked the Sun’s heat further still. As the intruder grew closer, it added its own radiation to that of the Sun’s, generating further heat. The heat causmelted water droplets in the atmosphere to fall as rain, a driving deluge driven by hurricane force winds. This deluge fell as snow in the north. Earth was abruptly thrown into a new Ice Age.

At the same time, Marduk’s son Seth (this is the same Seth who in Egyptian mythology killed his brother Osiris) destroyed the Firmament, adding to the devastation. The Firmament was a band of moisture about three miles thick surrounding Earth that maintained its lush, green environment. Millions of gallons of water fell from the sky in a great deluge that lasted for forty days and forty nights.

We can see clear parallels here between the history of Atlantis and Akakor, in that both were subject to a great war following which the gods left. The decided not to warn the Humans of the impending disaster, as they reasoned it was only a matter of time before they destroyed themselves anyway. Enki disobeyed the order and instructed his son Noah and his family to build the ark. The rest as they say is history.

It seems to me that the main theme of the film is the light and the dark. This is mirrored in our own lives, and indeed throughout the universe. The more I look around me and examine my own life, the more I see this in action.

It must be remembered that it is only through adversity and through confronting our pain that we can grow and evolve. Someone has to kick over the ant hills and play the dark role in order for us to learn and be challenged. When I look around me at recent developments within the publishing world, and my own community, it becomes clear as well that the dark can sometimes masquerade as the light, as this is the only way to get our attention. The light knows that the media feed off negativity and use it fuel the need for change.

A perfect example of this would be the women who earlier this year complained at injured servicemen from the rehabilitation unit at Headley Court, using the public swimming pool free of charge. This was brought to the attention of the national press, who then used the publicity in order to raise funds for the Help for Heroes campaign aimed at improving the facilities.

Everything has a value, even if it is not obvious, through teaching or showing us what we need to change. It may take several years to see what that value is, but it is always there. If you look in the mirror, is the reflection that you see truly representative of who you are? The truth and our perception of ourselves changes as we grow and evolve. Take what you will then from this article, and know that if you do not understand it now, then you can always come back to it in two years time when your perception has changed.

In the meantime, if you are eager to know more and are ready to embrace that change, then I recommend a very good book, called Genesis of Man …

The universe is holding its breath

I am in a very calm and relaxed space tonight, after a very busy and very exciting day.

I have got into the practise this week of carrying my mobile phone in my pocket at work. I know that this is not ideal, but everyone else does it, and when I explained to my Assistant Manager what was going on with regard to the book, and how I was trying to capitalise on the crystal skull resurgence, he actually suggested that I do this. Am I glad that I did, for this morning I had a phone call from the same journalist who helped to kick start sales of the Yoof Shakespeare book - To Be or Not to be Innit by Martin Baum, which is now Richard's best selling work.

That may though be about to change, as after a very interesting 10 minute conversation where Ed asked me all about the book, all about crystal skulls, and all about the market I am trying to reach, he said that he would do his best to try and get some of the national papers interested.

He cannot of course promise, and I realise that it may take a little time, but I really feel now that the time is right, and I am ready for this. I can feel and I can sense that change is about to happen, and that that change, when it comes, will be very much for the better.

So tonight, for maybe not the first time, I am holding my breath in anticipation of what might be. It feels as if the universe is holding its breath with me too.

Booklocker files class action lawsuit against Amazon.com

As I mentioned last night, Booklocker.com, the print on demand company that started the whole Amazon thing off by bringing it to the awareness of others within the industry, has filed a class A suit against Amazon. The following article is re-printed with permission and in its entirety from the Booklocker website.

"BookLocker.com has filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com in response to Amazon’s recent attempts to force all publishers using Print on Demand (POD) technology to pay Amazon to print their books. You can read the complaint here.

Amazon began their clandestine effort earlier this year by phone (nobody there seemed to want to put anything in writing), approaching POD publishers, and telling them they must pay Amazon to print their books or their active “buy” buttons would be turned off at the Amazon.com website. What this means is Amazon customers won’t be able to purchase those books directly from Amazon.com (and would not qualify for free shipping), but only through third-party resellers on the site.

Under the Amazon/BookSurge contract, Amazon:

* Controls the printing price of the POD books - The prices can change at anytime, at Amazon’s discretion, with 30 days notice.

* Controls the retail price of the POD books across the board - Publishers would not be able to sell their books for a lower price through “any other channel” (including other bookstores), and would not even be able to sell their books for less to their own customers under any circumstances.

* Controls the wholesale price of the POD books - Amazon’s new contract demands a 48%-52% discount (different contracts have been sent to different publishers). Many small, independent publishers can’t afford to offer this discount to bookstores and would be forced to raise their book prices, which will ultimately hurt book buyers.

* Controls the digital setup and scanning fees for each POD title - After the initial dump of current books, publishers would be charged approximately $50 per title (again, different publishers are receiving different contracts) in setup fees and/or varying scanning fees payable to Amazon/BookSurge. These fees can change at anytime, at Amazon’s discretion, with 30 days notice.

* Controls the formatting specifications - Many publishers can’t absorb the massive number of man-hours required to reformat every single book interior and cover file in their inventory to match Amazon’s specifications.

* Controls the quality of the books - Refer to THIS ARTICLE for details and links. It’s no secret that BookSurge has a poor reputation for quality, including complaints about pages falling out of books, upside-down pages, and more. If a publisher pays Amazon to print their books, their reputation could suffer due to any possible BookSurge quality problems with that publisher’s books.

* Attempts to control the public’s knowledge of who has signed the Amazon/BookSurge contract, along with the details of that contract, through a confidentiality clause, so that publishers signing it may feel they can’t talk about it at all.

* And, Amazon controls the golden nugget - that coveted “buy” button that book buyers want (so their order can qualify for free shipping).

In a public statement, Amazon offered only one alternative to publishers, which is their “Advantage Program.” However, they did not divulge in the public statement that the terms of the Advantage Program are even worse than their printing contract. The Advantage Program requires POD publishers to give Amazon 55% of the list price, pay them $29.95/year, and pay the shipping costs for books going to Amazon.

STRONG DISSENT FROM INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVESThe Author’s Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), The Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN), YouWriteOn.com (the U.K.’s leading writer’s website) and the National Writer’s Union have all issued strong statements denouncing Amazon’s attempted power grab of the industry.

OUR STORY After hearing rumors of Amazon’s alleged activities, we spoke to an Amazon/Booksurge representative by phone on March 26th. You can read what transpired that day HERE.

After reviewing all the materials presented to us, and after talking on- and off-the-record with publishers, authors and industry representatives at all levels of this controversy, it is our opinion that Amazon may be positioning itself to directly print and control every book it sells. By forcing publishers to sign their extraordinarily oppressive contract, Amazon gains the power to charge publishers whatever printing and distribution costs it desires, as well as controlling the retail, discount and wholesale prices of the books it prints, and, through this contract, automatically positions itself to control the market.

We cannot say for certain if what Amazon is doing is legal or not at this point; that is for the Federal courts to decide. However, in our opinion, the seemingly covert manner in which Amazon has conducted itself in this matter seems to make their actions highly suspicious.

WHAT’S NEXT? Amazon has already taken control of publishers’ ebook sales on the Amazon.com website by requiring ebooks to be available for their ebook reader, the Kindle. Now, Amazon is attempting to take control of the printing of all POD books. We wonder if traditionally published books are next. Some are speculating that Amazon won’t stop until they are being paid to print every book they sell.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION You can read more information about this situation HERE, including a time-line of the events that have transpired. You can comment on this situation HERE.

ARE YOU AFFECTED? According to Amazon’s public statement, ALL POD books will be affected. If you are a POD publisher (this includes self-published authors who publish their own POD books through a printer), or a traditional publisher using POD technology for some or all your books, and would like more information, please contact:
Angela Hoy, PublisherBookLocker.comangela@booklocker.com"

Most of what Angela says is unfortunately from what I can tell, is pretty much true, apart from the obvious anomaly, that Amazon cannot remove books from their site without a lot of hard work on their side ! Titles are fed to their site via a direct feed from the ISBN agency, and the only way to remove a book and its buy button from the site, is to completely withdraw it from the distribution network, or for someone at Amazon to go through and systemically remove all POD books from their site - I cannot see this happening.

There is also one more exception. It does NOT affect all print on demand books - just those whose publisher originates in the United States. For the moment at least, overseas authors (that is to say, authors whose publisher is not based within the United States) are safe - one more good reason to keep the business in our country, and support the British book industry !