To All Things An Ending…

After two years of writing two blogs, an online column and a book (that no one appears to want to buy!), it appears I have to accept my limitations.

I hate to admit it, but The Hook is only human.

And so this is the last post I’ll be filing on this particular page, folks. You’ve Been Hooked! will remain open for business, but between my failed attempts at marketing The Bellman Chronicles and trying to be a decent husband and father – and a full-time bellman to thousands of ungrateful travelers – I’m burnt out.

I started my blogs as a way to build an audience for my book, but the sad truth is this: I have over one thousand subscribers but I’ve barely sold thirty books online.

Even my giveaway – 6,059 downloads in total – hasn’t resulted in any sales.

Am I giving up? Not really, but I’m only human and as such, I’m fed up and so its time to take step back and rethink my strategy. Thank you to everyone who has supported this blog. I’ll see you over at You’ve Been Hooked!

Take care, folks.

MOVING ON…

I have the best readers in the world.

• When I asked you to read my blog, you answered: I have over 1,000 readers between both blogs!
• When I asked you to download my book, you did so: 6,059 downloads in total!
• You even sent your good wishes my way when I was stricken down with the flu.

Now I need your help again. I know, I know, I’m needy…

Steven and Chris is a Canadian talk show that covers all the bases, from cooking, home decor (both hosts are design gurus), fashion, health to the usual celebrity appearances. Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman never acknowledge it on-screen, but they’re a couple – and it shows! Their chemistry sets the show apart from the pack (it seems like there is a million talk shows out there these days, right?) and millions of Canadians – of both genders – love them.

Naturally, an appearance on their show would breathe life into my barely-breathing writing career. And so I turn to you.

I need your help to convince the powers-that-be at Steven and Chris that The Hook would make a worthwhile guest. I may not seem like an ideal fit for their genre, but I guarantee every single member of their audience has stayed in a hotel at least once in the past. My work appeals to EVERYONE. I just need to convince Steven and Chris of that!

stevenandchris@cbc.ca is their e-mail address and I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a short statement that you can “cut and paste”. I can be very thoughtful sometimes, right?

I am a fan of the Canadian bellman/author Robert Hookey, also known as “The Hook”. I think his particular brand of humor would appeal to your audience. His first book, The Bellman Chronicles, contains subject matter that everyone can relate to. Not only that, he’s housebroken, which is always a plus…

Appearing on this show would launch me to a whole other level – and hopefully allow me to sell more than 100 books! Perhaps I could even eat at a restaurant that doesn’t have a drive-thru window… Maybe.

I’d also like to extend an offer to anyone who decides to give me a few minutes of their time; if you can spare some time to help me out, I’d be open to hosting a guest post. If anyone has a tale of a vacation gone awry, or anything funny, let me know!

Thank you in advance, folks. You rock.

TIME FOR OTHER BUSINESS..

A shout-out to my newest blog buddy, Kristen Lamb and her best-selling tome, We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. Give it a try, folks. You won’t be disappointed…

CHECK IT OUT!!

Related articles

• Want To See The Hook on Steven and Chris? The Hook Does… (youvebeenhooked.wordpress.com)

Ten Terrible Things About… Kim Kardashian

Time for a new format, kids!

And who better to kick off this “love-fest” than everyone’s favorite vapid, dead-eyed debutante, the L’il Kim of the tabloids, Kim Kardshian? Here we go…

1. First she made her father’s corpse spin itself right out of the grave, now she makes his ghost cry every day. 
2. She Tweets things like, “Mom- want any coffee? Me- yes please Mom- how do u take it? Me- half coffee half milk. Just make it the color of what my kid would be”
3. Her Twitter account has 16,240,155 followers. People won’t vote, but they’ll log onto the ‘net to see what Kim K has to say..
4. She enjoys being photographed  with her sisters in semi-incestuous poses… 
5. Paris Hilton used to be her best friend and is directly responsible for unleashing her upon the world. Kardashian followed Hilton’s “career” to a “T”:  hit the socialite scene, release a tape depicting a nobody violating you in a variety of poses and score your own reality show. This yet another reason that historians will view Paris Hilton as one of history’s greatest monsters…
6. Along with her family she has starred in eighteen different reality shows (at least it feels that way!), each one worse than the last.
7. She released her own fragrance, thus ensuring females all over the world  could walk around smelling slutty – and stupid.
8. She is a role model to millions of little girls. Just think about that for a moment. Most kids don’t even know who Rosa Parks is, but they want to be like Kim Kardashian.
9. Fueled by obvious jealousy of “Wills and Kate”, she married NBA player Kris Humphries after a four-month courtship and convinced people it would be an event worth watching. She pulled off one of the biggest and most commercially successful television scams of all time by convincing E! network execs to film a  two-part TV special showing both the preparations and the wedding itself.  After 72 days of “marriage”, Kardashian filed for divorce from Humphries on October 31, 2011, citing irreconcilable differences – and severe boredom. Okay,  I may be wrong about the last part, but I stand by my statement…
10. She is one-half of one of the worst celebrity couples of all time. Not only has she stroked Kanye West’s already out-of-control ego to Godzilla-like proportions, but now there are reports that she wants to become a wife for the third time! A friend of West told HollywoodLife.com: “Kim is really showing Kanye she’s his perfect bitch. She’s been down for him, doing everything for him. Ironing his clothes, cooking for him, pampering the man!” Isn’t it funny how these supposed “friends” are always available to talk to tabloids and websites?

MOVING ON…

I have the best readers in the world.

• When I asked you to read my blog, you answered: I have over 1,000 readers between both blogs!
• When I asked you to download my book, you did so: 6,059 downloads in total!
• You even sent your good wishes my way when I was stricken down with the flu.

Now I need your help again. I know, I know, I’m needy…

Steven and Chris is a Canadian talk show that covers all the bases, from cooking, home decor (both hosts are design gurus), fashion, health to the usual celebrity appearances. Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman never acknowledge it on-screen, but they’re a couple – and it shows! Their chemistry sets the show apart from the pack (it seems like there is a million talk shows out there these days, right?) and millions of Canadians – of both genders – love them.

Naturally, an appearance on their show would breathe life into my barely-breathing writing career. And so I turn to you.

I need your help to convince the powers-that-be at Steven and Chris that The Hook would make a worthwhile guest. I may not seem like an ideal fit for their genre, but I guarantee every single member of their audience has stayed in a hotel at least once in the past. My work appeals to EVERYONE. I just need to convince Steven and Chris of that!

stevenandchris@cbc.ca is their e-mail address and I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a short statement that you can “cut and paste”. I can be very thoughtful sometimes, right?

I am a fan of the Canadian bellman/author Robert Hookey, also known as “The Hook”. I think his particular brand of humor would appeal to your audience. His first book, The Bellman Chronicles, contains subject matter that everyone can relate to. Not only that, he’s housebroken, which is always a plus…

Appearing on this show would launch me to a whole other level – and hopefully allow me to sell more than 100 books! Perhaps I could even eat at a restaurant that doesn’t have a drive-thru window… Maybe.

I’d also like to extend an offer to anyone who decides to give me a few minutes of their time; if you can spare some time to help me out, I’d be open to hosting a guest post. If anyone has a tale of a vacation gone awry, or anything funny, let me know!

Thank you in advance, folks. You rock.

ONCE UPON A TIME… A NEW FAN PAGE WAS BORN!

It must run in the family. The Hook’s daughter has developed a taste for sci-fi/fantasy and so she has launched her own Facebook fan page for the ABC drama Once Upon A Time.

Fans of Once Upon A Time is a labor of love – and it shows. Check it out: fans of Tom Welling – and I know there are quite a few of you out there – will be pleased to see he’ll be making an appearance this season.

The bottom line is this: my daughter wants to rack up as many “likes” as she can, so help her out, okay?

TIME FOR OTHER BUSINESS..

A shout-out to my newest blog buddy, Kristen Lamb and her best-selling tome, We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. Give it a try, folks. You won’t be disappointed…

Related articles

• Is Kim Kardashian Pregnant? (gossipcop.com)
• Kim Kardashian Names New Cat Mercy After Kanye West Song (hollywoodlife.com)
• A “Queeb tax”? What’s Next? A “Courtesy Toll”? (youvebeenhooked.wordpress.com)

Never Mind The Middle East, a REAL Crisis is Looming…

Bacon and eggs plate 4 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s a tough time to be a modern Alpha Male. There are challenges around every corner. And now even breakfast is poised to change, perhaps forever…

A British farming organization is predicting a worldwide shortage of bacon and pork next year. The National Pig Association says global drought conditions are driving up the price of grain, a major staple in hog feed. This has caused farmers to thin their herds in order to cover their rising overhead.

For some bacon lovers, the end result is too terrifying to consider…

• No more “Bacon and Eggs” on restaurant menus?
• No more chocolate-covered bacon at state fairs?
• No more bacon vodka?

What has happened to the world?

Governments are actually reacting to this looming crisis: the US government has introduced a pork-buying program in a bid to keep its pig farmers in business, and the Chinese are putting pork into cold storage, as a buffer against shortages and high prices next year. There are millions of homeless people all over the world, but the possibility of a bacon shortage has governments scrambling.

I love humanity.

MOVING ON…

I have the best readers in the world.

• When I asked you to read my blog, you answered: I have over 1,000 readers between both blogs!
• When I asked you to download my book, you did so: 6,059 downloads in total!
• You even sent your good wishes my way when I was stricken down with the flu.

Now I need your help again. I know, I know, I’m needy…

Steven and Chris is a Canadian talk show that covers all the bases, from cooking, home decor (both hosts are design gurus), fashion, health to the usual celebrity appearances. Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman never acknowledge it on-screen, but they’re a couple – and it shows! Their chemistry sets the show apart from the pack (it seems like there is a million talk shows out there these days, right?) and millions of Canadians – of both genders – love them.

Naturally, an appearance on their show would breathe life into my barely-breathing writing career. And so I turn to you.

I need your help to convince the powers-that-be at Steven and Chris that The Hook would make a worthwhile guest. I may not seem like an ideal fit for their genre, but I guarantee every single member of their audience has stayed in a hotel at least once in the past. My work appeals to EVERYONE. I just need to convince Steven and Chris of that!

stevenandchris@cbc.ca is their e-mail address and I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a short statement that you can “cut and paste”. I can be very thoughtful sometimes, right?

I am a fan of the Canadian bellman/author Robert Hookey, also known as “The Hook”. I think his particular brand of humor would appeal to your audience. His first book, The Bellman Chronicles, contains subject matter that everyone can relate to. Not only that, he’s housebroken, which is always a plus…

Appearing on this show would launch me to a whole other level – and hopefully allow me to sell more than 100 books! Perhaps I could even eat at a restaurant that doesn’t have a drive-thru window… Maybe.

I’d also like to extend an offer to anyone who decides to give me a few minutes of their time; if you can spare some time to help me out, I’d be open to hosting a guest post. If anyone has a tale of a vacation gone awry, or anything funny, let me know!

Thank you in advance, folks. You rock.

TIME FOR OTHER BUSINESS..

A shout-out to my newest blog buddy, Kristen Lamb and her best-selling tome, We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. Give it a try, folks. You won’t be disappointed…

Related articles

• Want To See The Hook on Steven and Chris? The Hook Does… (youvebeenhooked.wordpress.com)
• Group warns of looming world wide bacon shortage (1045wfla.com)
• Group warns of looming world wide bacon shortage (schnittshow.com)

Want To See The Hook on Steven and Chris? I Do!

I have the best readers in the world.

• When I asked you to read my blog, you answered: I have over 1,000 readers between both blogs!
• When I asked you to download my book, you did so: 6,059 downloads in total!
• You even sent your good wishes my way when I was stricken down with the flu.

Now I need your help again. I know, I know, I’m needy…

Steven and Chris is a Canadian talk show that covers all the bases, from cooking, home decor (both hosts are design gurus), fashion, health to the usual celebrity appearances. Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman never acknowledge it on-screen, but they’re a couple – and it shows! Their chemistry sets the show apart from the pack (it seems like there is a million talk shows out there these days, right?) and millions of Canadians – of both genders – love them.

Naturally, an appearance on their show would breathe life into my barely-breathing writing career. And so I turn to you.

I need your help to convince the powers-that-be at Steven and Chris that The Hook would make a worthwhile guest. I may not seem like an ideal fit for their genre, but I guarantee every single member of their audience has stayed in a hotel at least once in the past. My work appeals to EVERYONE. I just need to convince Steven and Chris of that!

stevenandchris@cbc.ca is their e-mail address and I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a short statement that you can “cut and paste”. I can be very thoughtful sometimes, right?

I am a fan of the Canadian bellman/author Robert Hookey, also known as “The Hook”. I think his particular brand of humor would appeal to your audience. His first book, The Bellman Chronicles, contains subject matter that everyone can relate to. Not only that, he’s housebroken, which is always a plus…

Appearing on this show would launch me to a whole other level – and hopefully allow me to sell more than 100 books! Perhaps I could even eat at a restaurant that doesn’t have a drive-thru window… Maybe.

I’d also like to extend an offer to anyone who decides to give me a few minutes of their time; if you can spare some time to help me out, I’d be open to hosting a guest post. If anyone has a tale of a vacation gone awry, or anything funny, let me know!

Thank you in advance, folks. You rock.

TIME FOR OTHER BUSINESS..

A shout-out to my newest blog buddy, Kristen Lamb and her best-selling tome, We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. Give it a try, folks. You won’t be disappointed…