Tag: rant

You Do NOT Need To Write That Book

John Guillen1 Comment

How many times have you read online that “everyone has at least one book in them”? Honestly. Probably more times than you dare to admit. I know it’s plastered all over writing blogs like no tomorrow. I just stumbled across an article on Quartz that says precisely the opposite. Finally.

Only in the digital age would this be a reality. Can you imagine Hemingway telling some random guy in the street that everyone has at least one book in them? Or Jane Austen? Bradbury? Agatha Christie? I can’t. Because it’s ridiculous.

What’s worse is this mindset is embraced by so many people who really have no reason to write a book. Not talking about quality here, I’m talking about people who have never had an interest in writing until discovering this notion online that everyone with Microsoft Word should be writing a book.

I wrote one. But it had nothing to do with anyone besides myself and my reading. I had no idea this was something people blog about when I first started my writing. Four years later and writing another book couldn’t be further from my mind. My entire focus is on my career. My actual career. I’m fortunate to work for a company with nearly endless opportunity. I plan on taking full advantage of it.

Am I Rich Yet?

John Guillen4 Comments

Y’all know I hate every kind of book list. Every kind. I just came across one that may take the top spot in the worst kind of way. “7 Books You Should Read If You Want To Get Rich”.

Let’s say I read the books. Then take whatever advice or guidance they supply. That obviously guarantees riches are coming to me, right? Nothing unreasonable there.

Book lists rarely do much more than play on our desires and/or fears. Books do this on their own. Do we really need reputable news sources or websites throwing g together a list to do exactly the same? I don’t think so.

Amazon is Still Causing Heartache for Publishers

John Guillen7 Comments

We’ve all used Amazon. Some of us more than others. I imagine most of us are aware of the site’s option to buy with 1 click, right? I never use it, but I know it’s there. Now Amazon is allowing third party sellers to bid for the buy with 1 click option. Which isn’t new at all. Amazon has allowed this for other products but had excluded books. No longer.

What this means is that a third party could potentially be the first option to buy on the product page rather than the copy of the book Amazon purchased from the publisher.

My problem with this whole thing isn’t with Amazon. It’s with book publishers thinking they’re so much better than every other business. I’ve bought so many different products on Amazon when the first option is a third party seller and there was an option to buy from Amazon too. Publishers publish books to make money. THE END. Let’s not be fooled by their crying over not being the first option on Amazon.

How come publishers aren’t attacking Half Price Books? Their books are being sold by the hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions, and they aren’t seeing a dime from those sales. But Amazon is the bad guy. Like always.

In Defense of Books

John Guillen7 Comments

Some things are said much too often.

“Books aren’t what they used to be.” “Books are boring.” “I’d rather do any thing other than read.”

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that books and reading aren’t for everyone. Much the same as NOTHING is for everyone. But in recent years I feel like books have been given this odd labeling. 

Cable TV. Smartphones. Blockbuster movies. Social media. All things vying for our attention right alongside books. But since when is variety and choice a bad thing?

The first thing I usually tell new acquaintances is that I’m a die hard Houston sports fan. I could move to Tokyo and that wouldn’t change. It’s simply a part of who I am. The second thing I mention is how much I love books. I’ve gotten a lot of “Really?” responses because I guess people don’t think those two can coexist within a single being.

Do you see my point here? People find it surprising that I can be obsessed with baseball and also with The Hunger Games. But so what? This is the same thought I have when I hear someone speak negatively about books. SO WHAT? I won’t suddenly hate books because someone else doesn’t find them important.

Libraries and bookstores are the printed versions of the internet. Knowledge and stories everywhere. Bound in BOOKS. Some may not believe in the importance of books, and that’s okay. But there’s nothing wrong with filling them in on how important they are to you.

So fill me in! What makes books so important to you?

Write Things Down

John Guillen9 Comments

This post has no point. Except to remind you to write things down. Because every one of us is constantly aging. And our ability to remember things is slowly disintegrating.

I had a really interesting topic to write about today. A young girl is doing something really special with her artistic ability, but I can’t seem to find an article about her now that I want to read it a second time. Welp.

Write things down, people. Even something as unimportant as an idea for a blog post.

Is Reading Dorky?

John Guillen5 Comments

I haven’t read a single page of any book since I started my new job less than two weeks ago. It goes without saying that I’ve finally shown you all of the videos I’ve made so far this year. But I bet you’re tired of those damn reviews, right? Heck, I’m a bit tired of them myself. So I took this opportunity to talk about something I’ve been wanting to address for YEARS. Seriously. One of the things I see everywhere on BookTube, Bookstagram, and book blogs is people telling me how nerdy or dorky reading is. I just had to set the record straight in my latest video. It’s less than four minutes! A quick watch!

Now tell me what YOU think! Do you think reading is dorky?!

DON’T BELIEVE HER

John Guillen12 Comments

Sue Grafton is one of the most respected authors today. She’s written the Kinsey Millhone series of books set in California. I’ve read five or six books in the series, which I found underwhelming. And now she’s making THESE statements? No.

“…I’d like to remind you that a book is a perfect gift.”

“One size fits all and no calories…”

BOOKS ARE NOT THE PERFECT GIFT. NO MATTER WHO SAYS SO. And signed books are meaningless in today’s world. The only positive from this post is that the books are free, but even then I wouldn’t force any book onto any other person.

Ugh. I’ll keep saying it until I no longer can. Books are terrible gifts. THE END. Especially books that have been on bookstore shelves for more than a year.

What I’m Thankful for

John Guillen2 Comments

Tricked ya.

I’m not going to list or explain the things I’m thankful for. Because my list is likely very different and very similar to yours. There are things every one of us should be thankful for, whether we recognize it or not. But we should be thankful for most of the things we have every single day, not just when the calendar tells us to. Otherwise we’re taking things for granted.

My message today is to think of your own life experience and decide if you are thankful each day or if you wait for the rest of the country to tell you to be thankful. That’s it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Everyone Thinks They Know What you Want to Read

John Guillen5 Comments

As readers we are constantly bombarded with book recommendations. Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Goodreads. PEOPLE. That random guy in the bookstore who saw you glancing at that book on President Reagan. Book bloggers. The list never ends.

And now there’s a new player in the game. Shelfjoy. Which is so pointless it makes me laugh. Shelfjoy is absolutely no different than any other recommendation you’ve ever gotten. It recommends books based on topics you’ve already shown an interest in. Which is exactly what every other site or person does because obviously if you’re interested in a particular title, then you MUST be interested in what I think is “similar”.

They claim every book is hand-curated, but my understanding is it amounts to a bunch of lists on different topics. It isn’t creative. It isn’t groundbreaking. And it isn’t new. And it’s only available on Facebook Messenger, so there’s that. I think you can send them a message and they reply with a book for you to read. How grand. 

I’m convinced every book recommendation is someone somewhere trying to infiltrate my brain. What do you think?

All I Want for Christmas is…

John Guillen15 Comments

For it to be over.

The decorations can go back into the garage. The music can stop playing. People will stop questioning why I have a different opinion (gasp!) than just about everyone else.

People will stop complaining about it being so hot here. I’ll finally be able to do a little more at work because the store won’t be full of people. And I’ll see my family the one time this year. How fun. But hey, my birthday is coming up. So it isn’t all bad.

What’s your least favorite part of the holidays?