Stephen Isabirye

[Ming]

Glad that I am that your book can be bought from India, Stephen, I certainly would not buy it for 1304 rupees, which would roughly be 2550 tk in my currency. Blimey - that is the cost of my most expensive textbook and I only bought it because a secondhand one wasn't available!

Perhaps you could consider reducing the price? Who knows, you might be lucky enough to sell some.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Further to what others have said, I noticed that a Famous Five paperback is priced at 95 rupees on Flipkart. The UK price is £4.99. The Famous Five: A Personal Anecdotage is more than thirteen times that amount at 1304 rupees. That would be like paying over £65 in the UK! But I think the price is usually decided by the publisher, not the author? I may be wrong about that, but I remember David Rudd complaining that his publisher priced his book, Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature, at £40, meaning that many Blyton fans wouldn't be able to afford it. Luckily (for me, not for David Rudd!), I managed to get a copy second-hand for a lot less.

[sixret]

Anita is correct.Authors do not have the right to decide the price of the book.It is a decision made by their publishers.Unless,the authors publish their own books.

[Enikyoga]

Ming, Tony, Anita, sixret etc, thanks a lot for your input in the pricing of my book. The pricing of books is complex and in mnay instances beyond what an author can do about it. For self-publishing books like mine, at times the author has a say in the pricing of the book. however, he/she is given price guidelines that the author can adhere to or ignore. In my context, I adhered to the publisher's price guidelines in which I fixed the price of my book according to the amount of pages in the print draft manuscript I had submitted to the publisher. Oftentimes, non-fiction books are often relatively more expensive than fiction books. This may explain why David Rudd's book, Enid Blyton and The Mystery of children's Literature may have been quite expensive and Rudd may have had no say in determining the price of his book since traditional publishers, unlike their self-publishing counterparts, have no say in determining the pricing of their book or books. This, to a great extent could also be applicable to those authors that self-publish like myself, especially when dealing with online retailers like Amazon.com, who slash prices at anytime, which to some extent could be good. For example, Amazon.ca (Canadian Division) has slashed the price of my book from $18.67 Canadian dollars (CDN) to $13.54. In fact, those people that have say credit cards or have access to international currency, i would advise them to purchase the book via Amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), which is far cheaper than purchasing it at the regular Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). As for dealing withinternational vendors, oftentimes, they justify the hiking of pricing on a number of factors sich as international currency conversion fees, postage and handling, etc, thoughi find the book being priced at amazon.co.uk at Br. pounds 28 and India RS 1304 quite excessive. Anyway, at times the pricing of books in international markets is beyond the control of the author or writer. However i ma hopeful that the prices will eventually go down as the Canadian experience suggests. Even McLaren's book, Looking For Enid, that had originally priced at $16.95 9fewer pages than mine) is now $11.54.
Stephen Isabirye

[Enikyoga]

I am glad to inform you that an article, titled," Local writer launches first book," has appeared in the April issue of our local bilingual English-Spanish paper, Que Pasa. I was interviewed on what motivated me to become a writer and it has a photo of my book plastered in the middle of the article. This is the first time I have been interviewed by any paper on my book. Unfortunately the news sector of the paper is not yet linked to the web, though the business sector is. I have talked to the editor about it, and he says, he will "think about it." Luckily, I bumped into the editor again this afternoon and he says his 11-yar-old son is getting into Enid Blyton books (I left him a complimentary copy of Five On A Treasure Island, as well as a copy of Mr. Galliano's Circus in anticipation that he may introduce it to the Hispanic/Latino community, since the book contains a couple of Spanish characters). Anyway, I was very encouraged by the interview, and let us hope that, this will be a beginning of the local community's interest in Enid Blyton and her books.
Stephen I.

[Lucky Star]

Thats excellent news Enikyoga. Slowly but surely the word will get around. If that interview ever gets put online do post a link for us.

[Enikyoga]

Last weekend, I was awakened by BBC's program (relayed this part of the world via its affiliates such as National Public Radio/Public Radio international), "From Our Own Correspondent." One of the segments discussed the disappearing lighthouses on coastal England, with a special emphasis on the east coast. The segment argued that some of the lighthouses that had existed on coastal England had now been submerged. Thus, this segment reminded me of the lighthouse in Five Go To Demon's Rocks. Even at the time of first publishing that book in 1961, one cannot feel the way the waves were pounding at that lighthouse, that sooner or later, it would be damaged and put the lives of the Five as the ever-wise Anne had alluded to in the book, an aspect became true in Five Are Together Again when the kids cannot go back to the lighthouse due to some damage. In retrospect, as I re-read Five Go To Demon's Rocks, I could not but feel that Enid Blyton may have unconsciously and incipiently alluded to the current global warming phenomenon, although, it may not have been phrased in that manner. Most probably, the lighthouse at Demon's Rocks as first described almost half a century ago, most probably would not be in existence at this time due to the relentless waves that would have destroyed it by now due to the contemporary climate change.
Stephen Isabirye

[Moonraker]

...as I re-read Five Go To Demon's Rocks, I could not but feel that Enid Blyton may have unconsciously and incipiently alluded to the current global warming phenomenon...

Would Enid (or anyone else, for that matter) have been aware of global warming in 1961?

[Daisy]

I think the "relentless waves" have been affecting our coastline for centuries regardless of what the climate has been doing! I also think that Enid would have been unaware of any suggestion of a changing climate in the 1960s.

[Lucky Star]

I can well imagine that we have lost a goodly number of lighthouses due to erosion etc. The east coast is particularly vulnerable to this apparently. Something to do with crumbly soil or something I believe. The same has happened opn the south coast where the famous chalk cliffs are very prone to erosion. The Belle Tout lighthouse near Beachy Head actually had to be literally picked up and moved a few dozen feet inland a couple of decades ago to prevent it falling into the sea.

[pete9012S]

...as I re-read Five Go To Demon's Rocks, I could not but feel that Enid Blyton may have unconsciously and incipiently alluded to the current global warming phenomenon..

Yes I think you may be on to something there Enikyoga....Enid had a love and knowledge of nature,animals,plants,flowers and the workings of the human phsyche that was almost precsient.

Don't forget she lived in the days without the insidious backlight we now have in the UK and would have been much closer to the rhythms and cycles that provide order to our universe.

Add to this her deep spiritual leaning and her inbuilt intuitive love and understanding of the things that motivated both man and beast and you begin to see her as a lady endowed with the most amazing abilities.
Perhaps it is just as well that a lady gifted with such finely tuned sensitivities and the great foresight which you rightly refer to passed away before the enormous maladies that threaten planet earth befell her own generation.

Regards
Pete

[Enikyoga]

I am glad to inform you that my book has been mentioned in Baylor University Alumni Association's "Baylor Line."

http://www.bayloralumniassociation.com/ ... _under.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stephen Isabirye

[pete9012S]

Stephens book gets an even more extensive mention here....

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Famous-Fi ... id=4118121" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wonder Stephen, if you have considered uploading audio selections of the book to youtube that you feel capture the essence of your Personal Anecdotage,these audio selections actually being read by you, the author himself.

This personal reading could then conclude with links to places the book can be purchased by those all over the world who would like to buy a copy.

Perhaps a link to another pdf book reading online site could include a flavour of the opening couple of pages to really let people get into the grist of it....I know personally,I myself have gone on to purchase many books this way,after being able to check them out online..
Regards
Pete

[Lucky Star]

Well that reviewer certainly speaks very highly of the book. That youtube idea is a good one Pete.

[Tony Summerfield]

I think perhaps that we are forgetting that the review that Pete has given a link to is the same one that is on Amazon which we were discussing in January. When asked about the review Stephen said - 'The reviewer of the article is an old acquiantance from my childhood days.'