Friday, May 29, 2015

Ken Dunn Reveals How You Can Write a Book in 2 Hours and His Reader's Legacy Social Network for Authors and Publishers

Ken Dunn talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com about his book, Learn How to Write a Book in 2 Hours and the launch of Reader’s Legacy, his new social media platform for authors and publishers.



When you have a vision to do something, it needs to consume you, it needs to take over you.” ~Ken Dunn


Ken Dunn started out as an investigative police officer, which included interrogating suspects in such crimes as murder, child abuse and drug abuse. It was when he learned of the impending birth of his child in 2000 that Ken decided he didn’t want to raise his children around the negativity related to police work and so decided to leave the police force.


Ken admits that he wasn’t a book reader at that particular time, and he was “lost” for awhile. He was told, “Read a book, dummy!” and he was given a copy of Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World, and it was after reading that book that Ken got the inspiration that the skills he had learned as an investigator were the same ones that top salespeople used. He then set up a mortgage company, which was so successful that, within three years’ time, he left his job as a police investigator and embarked on his present path as a salesman and entrepreneur, which has resulted, in the past fifteen years, in his establishing four different companies in four different industries.

From being a non-reader, Ken had since read over a thousand books (mostly business) and this collection in his will. He’d written three books prior to writing Learn How to Write a Book in 2 Hours, and it was his experience with the publishing industry for eight years that inspired him to author it. He mentioned that a lot of publishers were more after getting a book published than anything else and he wanted to “set the record straight” so that new authors would know what they were getting into. This resulted in an inspired book which encompasses Ken’s learning experiences and best practices.

Reader’s Legacy is a dream of Ken that’s brewed for four years and now launched as a website community into which Ken has invested a million dollars and whose infrastructure was created by nine highly experienced programmers and architects who came from IT companies with advisers instrumental in building the social media platform industry. Reader’s Legacy is not like Wattpad. He was inspired to create this in 2011, while he was setting up two different companies, and after one of his friends joked that Ken had never read an e-book (Ken prefers hard copies), despite the fact that he owned a publishing company that sells e-books and despite the fact that e-books now make up a large percentage of book sales). It was at this time when Ken read an article which mentioned that, in August 2011, e-book sales exceeded sales of traditional hard-copy books, and Ken then realized the experiences he has had when reading books in his library. He then realized that there were others who felt the same way about their book collections and was then inspired to create a website where he could recreate the same kind of experience, in a virtual/social media environment, he has had with hard copy books and with e-books, which he estimated would make up most book sales within ten to fifteen years’ time - an experience where people could create their own library of e-books and comment on these, as well as gain the opportunity to buy real books through a virtual currency called “litcoin.”

Ken mentioned that people now want an experience, and he commented that the companies who have partnered up with Reader’s Legacy had likewise realized that things have changed for good, and that Readers Legacy wasn’t just a mere store but offered the kind of experience that people look for - an experience that is far different compared to those of existing websites like Goodreads. Moreover, a Reader’s Legacy library will live on even after its original owner has passed on, making that library a legacy on its own. Moreover, Ken has set up a charitable aspect of his company, wherein ten percent of the cash value of litcoins spent within a year will be donated to charitable non-profit causes related to advancing literacy throughout the world. Related to this, Ken will set up an incubator program for authors. Ken’s creation of the annual Reader’s Legacy Choice Awards, will recognize exceptional authors. help new authors learn what experts in the industry know, and to create and market salable books. His reply regarding his creations was, “When you have a vision to do something, it needs to consume you, it needs to take over you.”

Ken is very interested in salesmanship, starting companies and growing these, and these will be the focus of the next books he will author. He stated that he wants to create an impact in his world and the world out there. “Everything we learn in our lives is a stepping stone. It’s like a pebble in a river… Through our experiences, we fill up that river with pebbles, and the culmination of all of those pebbles is our experience, and we use our experience to make our next days better for our family and ourselves. We honor God in the process and we move through that journey.”


Inspired? Ken Dunn invites you to connect through his websites

Friday, May 22, 2015

Ramani Durvasula Helps You Decide What to Do with a Narcissistic Partner

Dr. Ramani Durvasula talks to Alexander "The Engineer" Lim of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com on the writing of her book, Should I Stay or Should I Go? Surviving a Narcissistic Relationship.


"I've had the most divine, glorious, perfect life a person could have... I'm so fortunate... The best is yet to come!" ~Dr. Ramani Durvasula


Ramani Durvasula is a clinical psychologist, professor of psychology and a media commentator. She prides herself in bringing a fresh, real, and authentic clarity to befuddling psychological issues which come down to just three things: food, love, and lust.

Alexander's first question during the was: "Why food, love, and lust? These three things seem disparate, so why bring them together?" Author Ramani answered by saying she's interested in the things that make up day-to-day life and what people in society struggle with. In her career, she'd established that people struggle with issues that deal with things like appearance, weight, and health, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to "love" - whether it's self-love, love of another, love of a child, or love of what you do. So, they're all in that space where her private practice and field of study is built on.

Ramani's primary interest is human relationships, which have so much to do with how people feel about themselves, the things they strive for, and how supported they feel in the world. Her bottom-line interest in all of this is the quest of each human being to be the best they can be and this covers how they treat themselves in their individual disparate journeys. Her latest book, Should I Stay or Should I Go?, tackles one of these journeys which is sometimes taken by women in general - getting into a relationship with a narcissistic partner.

According to Ramani, narcissism in a relationship is not something that is often acknowledged by the affected party. There's the sense that changing with, or adapting to the narcissistic person can allow things to get better, but therein lies the problem. For Ramani, it's something that can't be changed, thus the affected person is actually in a position to make a choice on whether to stay in the relationship or go break away from it.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? is where readers can find essential tools they can use to be the winner in such a relationship wherein narcissism is a debilitating factor. Ramani has gained plenty of insights from people who've had to deal, or are still dealing with a narcissistic partner. The contents of the book are based on real-life stories of clients (their privacy maintained) and case study researches. It's both a how-to book and a survival guide for those affected to be the best they can be and live the life that they've always wanted in spite of their partner's narcissism.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? reflects Ramani's passion in helping women. She has this tremendous desire to work in regions of the world where vulnerable women and girls do not have support they need. She is drawn to India where she sees herself helping give a voice to women. Her family is from India so the country has always had a pull for her, but she's interested in Asia in general and sees herself backpacking in different countries and helping people. A 9 to 5 job? Not her kind of thing!

Writing has given Ramani her freedom and has allowed her to set such an interesting path for herself being a mother and all. It's something that she highly recommends to other women with children who have the same passion. "I honestly think I'm not quite there yet," she admitted. "I have loved, loved, loved being a mother, however, I'm kind of good with not doing that day-to-day anymore. It's sort of going to the next phase, watching my daughters blossom wonderfully but now focusing on some of the work that matters to my heart, so I have a feeling that the phase of my life that I want to live is coming in five years... I've had the most divine, glorious, perfect life a person could have... I'm so fortunate... The best is yet to come!"

Watch: Dr. Ramani Durvasula's interview on AuthorStory

Purchase on Amazon: Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving a Narcissistic Relationship