All about my book, THE MONEY BOOK FOR FREELANCERS...

THE MONEY BOOK FOR FREELANCERS, published by Random House. People don’t go freelance for the money, but they stop freelancing because of it.

After more than a dozen years of working as a freelancer, I realized I must know something other people didn’t about surviving the ups and downs of a freelancer’s income. It’s all here in a personal finance book subtitled, “The Only Personal Finance System for People With Not-So-Regular Jobs.” Find out how to banish debt, live within your means, save up for your dreams—and even your taxes.

The freelancer’s earning style is different from the traditional worker’s, yet every personal finance book on the market is written as if we’re all in the same boat. We’re not. This book gets it. The others don’t.

Two NYT Bestselling authors use our system. And one reader, a certified financial planner, wrote to tell us she was scrapping her longtime system for ours. That’s high praise.

PRAISE

“Through trial and error, veteran freelancers D’Agnese and Kiernan worked out a money-management system that allowed them to save for emergencies and retirement, pay off debt, buy benefits, cover their taxes and survive the droughts in business that seem an inevitable part of working for yourself. They convey all this in a book that’s irreverent and hugely entertaining.”—MSN MONEY

“It’s not often that I find myself enjoying a book on finances…but the authors of The Money Book make learning about finances fun….There’s a lot of good advice to take away from this book and having it all in one place is manna from heaven for your finances.”—FREELANCE SWITCH

“The other great thing about The Money Book for Freelancers is the writing style. D’Agnese and Kiernan are like personal trainers for your financial life. They’re constantly cheering you on to stretch your abilities and resources, while candidly holding you accountable for your choices. Whether you freelance or not, their attitude is refreshing. If you do freelance, you’ll likely find their life lessons and anecdotes eerily familiar.”—GET RICH SLOWLY

BUY

eBooks: Kindle Nook iPad Sony Kobo Diesel Google

Paperback: Indiebound Amazon B&N Powell’s

Autographed: Malaprop’s

What you need to know about my book, BLOCKHEAD, about Fibonacci

BLOCKHEAD: THE LIFE OF FIBONACCI is a charming picture book that is a fictionalized story of the real-life mathematician Leonardo of Pisa. He journeyed to Northern Africa to work in his father’s business more than 800 years ago. He was surprised to learn that the citizens of his new home didn’t use Roman numerals. He traveled the world of the Mediterranean learning all he could about the strange new Hindu-Arabic numerals. Then he wrote books to teach western Europeans how to calculate with them.

The man we now call Fibonacci is largely responsible for converting Europe from I-II-III to 1-2-3. But he’s mostly remembered for a series of numbers known as the Fibonacci Sequence, which describes how many objects thrive and flourish in nature.

PRAISE

“…the clearest explanation to date for younger readers

of the numerical sequence that is found throughout nature and still bears his name.” —BOOKLIST

“Charming and accessible…”—NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

* “The lively text includes touches of humor; Emperor Frederick called him ‘one smart cookie.’ O’Brien’s signature illustrations textured with thin lines re-create a medieval setting.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review

“Math lover or not, readers should succumb to the charms of this highly entertaining biography of medieval mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Learn more here!

Here's the deal on Signing Their Rights Away

SIGNING THEIR RIGHTS AWAY, the follow-up to my history title, features 39 biographies of all the men who signed the Constitution of the United States. It’s filled with anecdotes, quotes and a behind-the-scenes look at the squabbles and compromises that helped create the world’s oldest functioning Constitution.

PRAISE for RIGHTS

“Though Ms. Kiernan and Mr. D’Agnese clearly delight in noting the warts and blemishes of the Constitution’s signers, they maintain a refreshing reverence for the Constitution itself. Rather than ask readers to believe that an “assembly of demigods” (Jefferson’s words) wrote the Constitution, Ms. Kiernan and Mr. D’Agnese challenge the notion that the group that crafted this document of enduring genius was uniquely brilliant or visionary. If this raises the question of how exactly the miracle was accomplished, it should at least give readers some hope for our own seemingly uninspired political era.”—THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

* “…snappy…descriptive…entertainingly written…” —SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review

BUY SIGNING THEIR RIGHTS AWAY

eBooks: Kindle Nook Sony Kobo Diesel Google

Hardcover: Indiebound Amazon B&N Powell’s

Autographed: Malaprop’s

Here's the skinny on Signing Their Lives Away

SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY tells the story of all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock loved fancy clothes. Sam Adams really did own a brewery—and drove it to ruin. Ben Franklin was so rich he could retire at age 42. These stories and more. Yes, you could probably find and read a deeper, more profound, seriouser book about the Signers out there, but why would you? Published by Quirk Books, Philadelphia.

PRAISE for LIVES

* “With this work, Kiernan and D’Agnese present readers with astonishing individual portraits of all the signers in an attempt both to dispel some of the mythology surrounding the document as well as to establish a place in the historical discourse for those men not named Jefferson, Hancock, Franklin, or Adams.”— SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review

As seen in Reader’s Digest, heard on WOR and NPR radio.

BUY SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY

eBooks: Kindle Nook Sony Kobo Diesel Google

Hardcover: Indiebound Amazon B&N Powell’s

Autographed: Malaprop’s

Stuff Every American Should Know

Stuff Every American Should Know is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a nifty, “gifty” book of American trivia. Founding documents. The Star-Spangled Banner. Apple pie. Bicameral Congress. It’s the only book that dares to tell you what you need to know that you can actually fit in your back pocket. If you are not an American, you have our permission to skip this title.

As heard on NPR radio stations: WBUR Boston and WNYC New York City.

PRAISE for STUFF

“…a dandy little book you could put in your pocket or purse, Stuff Every American Should Know…would be an ideal gift for a younger member of the family next month on the Fourth of July… It is a very interesting introduction to U.S. history and fills in gaps in one’s knowledge. It entertains. It makes you proud and happy to be an American.” — BOOKVIEWS

“This compact little manual, packed with important information and entertaining trivia, is a joyful patriotic celebration.” — BAS BLEU

“Their latest literary effort is a little gem filled with facts Americans should know but probably don’t. In addition to facts, they also set the record straight on popular myths.” — TUCSON CITIZEN

BUY STUFF EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW

eBooks: Kindle  Nook  Sony  Kobo  Diesel  Google

Hardcover: Indiebound  Amazon  B&N  Powell’s 

Autographed: Malaprop’s

Readability & the Self-Published Author

Productivity guru David Allen says we all need to get handle on our “collection points” if we want to get organized. That’s why I love the Readability app—it helps me collect everything I want to read on my Kindle.

Every day I come across articles and blog posts I’d like to read more thoroughly or even a second time. I used to bookmark these, but I’d never go back to read them. I used the “reading list” feature on my Safari browser for a while but eventually stopped using it efficiently.

Then I signed up for Readability and added a “Send to my Kindle” button to my browser bar. Now, when I come across a post or longer article than I can’t just zip through immediately, I send it to my new collection point, my Kindle. The next time I settle in with my e-reader, I have a bunch of articles waiting for me. I’ll read them before or after I get into the book I’m currently reading. This way, nothing slips through the cracks.

There’s been some research to support that the notion that the ideal environment for digesting reading material is not the web, when you’re battling ads, work, and other distractions. Apps like Readability strip out the ads, the reader’s comments, and convert articles into mini e-books, so you can adjust fonts and point sizes easily. 

I downloaded the Readability app to my phone. Technically, I don’t need to do this, but my phone’s with me more often than my Kindle is. If I’m ever stuck somewhere without reading material, I can easily open the reading list on my phone and knock off a few more articles on my list.

I think GTD-master David Allen would approve. He argues that we feel overwhelmed the more collection points we have. Reducing those points helps us more efficiently process them. In the old days, I used to have a basket of unread magazines and newspaper clippings in the TV room. That basket is less and less relevant as I find more of my articles—typically about the book publishing business—online. The Kindle is now my virtual magazine basket.

This article at Moby Lives is somewhat incorrectly titled “The Ethics of Reading It Later.” They note that for all the reading we do online, we don’t really like the experience because it’s uncomfortable. We’d rather read on our own time, in our comfy chairs, under a comfortable light, and without ads. 

That raises issues for the people who put that content out there, people who are banking on us seeing those ads. 

And reading apps such as Readability, Instapaper, and Pocket pose an interesting dilemma for self-pubbed authors, whether we’ve noticed it or not.

Many writers post free short stories on their blogs. The implication is that you can read that story on the author’s site for free, but if you want the story on your e-reader, you need to buy it from a retailer such as Amazon or Smashwords. Scraping the text and converting it into an ebook has been regarded as unethical. It happens, but it’s not worth fretting about, we’re told, because it has historically been too much trouble to do.

But if all it takes is a click of a button to turn someone’s blog post to an e-book, and the whole culture is moving to this reading model, some writers are going to think twice about posting that story. 

Others will say: Who cares? If you care enough about my work to convert it, read it tonight on your Kindle, and save it to your library, huzzah to you.

I think I’d kill to have more readers like that. But I don’t know yet what they’re going to cost me.

---

Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!

That Gum You Like Is Going to Come Back In Style

Tod Fisher, the detective in my book The Mesmerist, apparently has a fondness for old-fashioned chewing gum, specifically the three brands now produced by Cadbury Adams. 

From what I understand, these gums aren’t hugely popular today, but they do sell enough for the manufacturers to justify making them in batch quantities every couple of years. 

Clove gum tastes like, well, cloves, the spiky spice you’ve tasted in Christmas wassail concoctions or else in various holiday ham dishes. Black Jack tastes like licorice or, more formally, anise. And Beeman’s tastes like wintergreen, the flavoring in birch beer.

I got hooked on these gums back in the early nineties when, if I’m not mistaken, Black Jack was referenced in the David Lynch’s TV show Twin Peaks. (See the video here.)

I enjoy them but I don’t find them in stores that often; when I do I buy a handful of packs. Yes, you can order them bulk online, but somehow that feels like defeating the purpose. These are gums that ought to bought from a barrel in a quaint general store, or a modern store that’s ably faking that milieu.

When I was writing The Mesmerist, I gave Fisher an affinity for “nostalgic” gums, since so much of his personality is about squelching things from his past. But the novelty gums quickly worked their way into the plot. At one point, the flavor of Clove gum triggers one of the cop’s sense memories. At another, the gum plays a critical role in an escape.

If you spot them anywhere in the real world, you ought to try them. They’re just plain tasty.

---

Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!

Amazon's emailing my friends and readers

This week I got four emails from readers and friends who reported that they’d gotten an email from Amazon alerting them that I had a new book coming out. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced this from Amazon, so I thought it was worth trying to analyze what’s going on.

First, the book in question is a small, stocking-stuffer-sized book published by Quirk Books, entitled Stuff Every American Should Know.

The Stuff Every…Should Know series sells well for Quirk, and they asked my wife/co-author and me to contribute a book of U.S. history trivia, as a result of our series for Quirk on the signers of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration. The signers books sell well in historic site gift shops, and Quirk thought it might be smart to do a “Stuff” history title. The book is really short—10,000 words—and lists for $9.99. The print edition is out June 5; the Kindle edition is already out. 

But look at what Amazon’s been sending to my readers. All of these emails were sent between 6:30 AM and 7:00 AM of the days in question.

On May 22, Reader #1, who has only bought my (traditionally published) children’s book—in other words, none of my history titles are in this person’s purchasing history—received this:

Notice that the ad features the new book but also has room for four more titles, in this case my book for freelancers (Random House); a history title (Quirk); my children’s history title (Scholastic); and my weeks-old, self-published novel, The Mesmerist. (Bang drums, blow trumpets here.)

On May 24, Reader #2, who has only ever bought one of my self-published books, The Scientist and the Sociopath, reported receiving this email:

In this case, Amazon dropped The Mesmerist and added my children’s book about the mathematician Fibonacci, traditionally published by Holt.

On May 25, Reader #3, who has bought my signer titles in the past as gifts, reported receiving this ad. Notice that it displays yet a different permutation of my titles. Clearly, the system omits from the ad any book which it knows the person has already has bought.

My wife heard from a fourth reader who has only bought our freelancer title. Reader #4’s ad promotes the same Stuff title but touts it as my wife’s book. This makes sense; my wife’s byline comes first on our freelancer title in Amazon’s system. 

I have no idea how many of these ads went out this week. My contact at the publisher confirms that this is a “new” thing Amazon is trying, but she didn’t know if it’s only for certain titles or authors. It’s also not clear if this ad went out to people who had bought books similar to the Stuff” title.

I was excited to get some attention for not one, but two of my most recent books. The big question here is what impact have all these ads had on sales of all of my titles? I’d say, Meh. Judging from the ranks of the “older” books that have appeared in the ad, I’d say not much. I can tell you that the ads had virtually no impact on The Mesmerist, which is the title I was most curious about. 

For about two seconds I wondered if they’d ever send out something like this to announce the arrival of one of my self-pubbed titles, but I think it’s clear that this is aimed at drumming up pre-orders and self-pubbed titles don’t get logged into the system the same way as traditionally published titles, which have on-sale dates. But the system does use sales data from self-pubbed books and isn’t above promoting self-pubbed books in the “more” section.

As for Stuff Americans Should Know, it is now solidly in the five-figure rank range, a far cry from the deep six-figures it was a week ago. In fact, on May 23, when I checked the hardcover book’s rank, I saw that it had hit three lists:

I just checked the title and the rank is slightly better and it’s still on the same three lists—all without racking up any reviews. I don’t expect this bounce to last long without the reviews.

So I guess we can say that the ad did its intended job, which was to drive sales and pre-orders for Stuff. I intend to check the sales figures of all the books that have appeared in this ad this week and report back if/when I learn anything interesting.

Some other news:

I’m looking into some other blog options because it’s becoming apparent that people actually do stop by to read this and I’d like the chance to interact with you in a manner better than this iWeb blog will allow. More on that as soon as I make a decision on platform.

I was surprised/delighted that The Mesmerist has picked up some reviews already from people I don’t actually know, which is gratifying. The most substantive review is here.

Both of my novels could still use some reviews, so I’m continuing my offer: If you’d like a free copy of either Jersey Heat or The Mesmerist in exchange for your honest review on Amazon and anywhere else you’d like to post, kindly contact me via my contact page and I’ll send you a file for your device. If you want to participate but don’t “do” devices, write me anyway and I’ll hook you up with a tidy PDF version. (Paperbacks coming soon; I promise.) And no, I’m not afraid that you might hate the books. I need reviews of all kinds, good and bad.

---

Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!

The Mesmerist is live! (Sort of.)

My new e-book, The Mesmerist, is live on Amazon. It’s been published to B&N and Smashwords as well, but will take a while to filter through to those stores. 

Both of my novels could use some reviews, so I’m making a limited-time offer: If you’d like a free copy of either Jersey Heat or The Mesmerist in exchange for your honest review on Amazon and Goodreads, kindly contact me via my contact page and I’ll send you a file for your device. If you want to participate but don’t “do” devices, write me anyway and I’ll hook you with a tidy PDF version. (Paperbacks coming soon; I promise.) And no, I’m not afraid that you might hate the books. I need reviews of all kinds, good and bad.

Here’s the pitch:

Are you a think—or an unthink?

On the streets of New York City in the 1970s, this is the only question that matters.

In the age of disco, the city has become home to an underground culture of gifted individuals who can kill with a glance or heal with a touch.

A vicious madman is sucking the life out of his victims—crushing their hearts, withering their bodies, and leaving their corpses old before their time.

All with the power of his mind.

Now a skeptical young cop and a federal agent obsessed with the occult must run the killer to ground before they find themselves facing the unthinkable.

An 85,000-word urban fantasy noir by the author of the eco-thriller, Jersey Heat.

This full-length novel is intended for mature audiences.

If you’re looking for more discussion on this, I can tell you that the book is set in New York, 1979, which was an interesting time in the city’s history. It’s the age of disco, the age of the city’s most famous serial killer (Son of Sam), and the time of America’s first great oil crisis. (A gallon of gasoline hit $1 for the first time that year, which had devastating knock-on affects for the American psyche.) 

New York City was in a fiscal nightmare. Trash littered the streets; graffiti was rampant. Most of the parks New Yorkers treasure today crawled with drug dealers. The city was a crime-ridden dump because the middle class was fleeing the island for the suburbs, taking their tax dollars with them. The disaster of America’s involvement in Vietnam had wrapped up in 1975, but the effects of that war were still impacting the nation’s politics. Nixon was out of office, and Americans had elected a mild-mannered peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, as their president.

And yet, at the same time, it was a time of great flowering for artists such as Warhol, Hockney, and Serra. Gehry and Pei were designing some of their greatest architecture, and the World Trade Center was nearing completion in lower Manhattan. Part of the novel touches on the art scene of the time.

And I intend to follow up this book with two others in a trilogy, featuring the book’s two occult detectives, Soul and Fisher.

As Fisher and Soul try to track their killer, they’re forced to make sense of the killer’s powers by researching books on psychic phenomenon. So there’s kind of a bizarre paper chase going on in the plot.

When I was a child my father was obsessed with psychic phenomenon, and I suppose I absorbed this stuff by osmosis. He devoured old books about men like Emile Coue, the father of autosuggestion; Edgar Cayce, a psychic who claimed to “read” books by sleeping on them; Edmund Shaftesbury, a quack and charlatan who tried to teach people the power of “personal magnetism”; and Thomson Jay Hudson, a skeptic who tried to make sense of these bullshit claims. 

In my book, of course, all this stuff is treated as if it is true. Fisher, the cop, is the skeptic; Soul, the FBI man, is a believer.

You can page through Hudson’s book here, and see some of those old-fashioned print block designs they used in books of that period, if that interests you…
Sample page 1

Sample page 2

Sample page 3

I hope this is a good introduction to the concepts of this book. I’ll be back in a few day or so to talk about the art world connections.

Oh—in the time it took me to write this post, I sold a copy on Smashwords. Yay.

---

Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!

Coming Soon: The Mesmerist

The Mesmerist is an urban fantasy noir novel that I’ll be releasing this month. The story is set in an alt-version of 1979 New York City, in an era when looks can kill and hands can heal. 

I’ll be posting some more details as they’re ready.

I bow, as always, to the incredible talent of book cover designer, Jeroen ten Berge.

---

Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!