Mover Mike

Here's advance notice on a Wednesday Post. Mover Mike will be posting an interview of Terry Krohn author of Eye of the Pyramid. Books can excite, intrigue, inform, educate and take me to a whole different place. They can enhance existing interests or start me off into a whole new area of exploration. For me, Eye of the Pyramid was such a book. So come back Wednesday night late for the interview and there will be a special bonus.

I have become fascinated by the economics of the book publishing business. I had a conversation with published author Ron Franscell about this subject not too long ago. Ron says couple years ago, this was the rough breakdown on a typical $25 hardcover book:

--Amazon will earn about $13.50 as the bookseller (traditional booksellers actually earn slightly less.)
--The publisher keeps $8.50 to $10;
--The shipper/distributor will make about $2.50;
--The author will earn $1.25 to $2.50 (roughly 10% of the net or retail price, depending on the size of the publisher and/or the author, and their deal.)

Everybody pays their own expenses, of course. Amazon has employees, big servers and warehouses; publishers have skilled employees, printers, equipment, etc.; and distributors have trucks and shipping costs. Nobody is making an easy buck.

But the author has the worst cost/benefit ratio. He pays for all his own equipment, supplies, travel, phones, a 15%-off-the-top agent, a publicist, etc., too -- although he earns the smallest share from his art.

Today, publishers require (not ask ... require) authors to shoulder most of the promotion of their books, too. If an author does a book-signing in your town, it's likely he's there at his own expense. Publisher-underwritten book tours are reserved for only the biggest- and best-sellers ... yes, exactly the people who need LESS promotion.

The great bulk of "successful" authors are selling 3,000 to 5,000 copies, and pocketing $10,000 to $15,000. Four of last year's five National Book Award nominees reportedly had sold fewer than 5,000 copies.

So tune in Wednesday to my interview with Terry Krohn. I promise you some excitement!

Eye of the Pyramid Terry Krohn Mover Mike

To mark the first anniversary of the publication of Eye of the Pyramid by Terry Krohn, Axiom House, the publisher is offering bonuses to those who purchase the book via a special Amazon.com Internet link on Thursday, Dec. 1.

As part of the anniversary Terry Krohn has graciously spent considerable time talking with me on a whole wide range of subjects; subjects that are an integral part of this rip-roaring, can’t put it down story that spans over 2000 years and ranges from Egypt to the Alps to Homestead, Florida.

This is Terry’s first published novel. He spends his time in the Washington D.C. area with his wife and two children. He likes to get up early in the morning to write and may continue into early afternoon. Before he stops for the day, he would sketch in what might occur in the next day’s writing and allow his mind to ruminate over the evening. Many times he would think, “Oh, that’s what I thought would occur, but what happened to this character? Several chapters would evolve that were not mapped out before.”

There is always a “pad and pen handy” – he actually most often uses a word processor. Sometimes a thought will occur to him, but the writing is not ready for the event. If he doesn’t write it down, it could be lost to him.

“Eye of the Pyramid really took on a life of its own. I would set the scene and then embed myself and let things happen... and then take great pains to make sure the scene were realistic and properly resonated with readers.” In his 40BC period, he would start by imagining the lighting, the sounds, who was ruling Egypt, what would a shepherd be doing, the architecture, as well as the life style. He describes writing as being similar to reading and is surprised at times, by what “comes from the ether” or flows from the end of his “pen”.

I asked how he does his research and he said the “Net” is fabulous. “I try to strike a balance between enough information but not too much, because the reader’s imagination is far superior to my ability to describe. You give the reader enough detail to fill in the picture.”

Terry holds an MS in mathematics as well as an MBA, and has written extensively on the markets as PMTrader. I said that the great thing about Eye of the Pyramid is (as in Crichton’s books or Dan Brown’s books) not only is there scientific information that teaches, but a great story.

I asked how does the reader discern fact from fiction? For example: Was there a race that lived 50,000 years ago that lost the advanced technology that was found by the young Esau in 40BC? He said math has at its core (like good fiction), axioms that are arguable... not universal truths. (For example: Euclidian theory says that parallel lines never intersect; non-Euclidian theory says parallel lines intersect an infinite number of times.) You can see the mathematician operate in the book: an advanced race existed 50,000 years ago is the axiom and all actions flow from that premise.

The conversation with Terry is wide ranging. We talked about religion, for part of the story occurs at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Esau is asked to probe the mind of Christ and he describes the wonder of the man. Esau is very gifted, but he says

“Master, my power is but a grain of sand and His all the sands of the Earth, my thoughts a drop of water and His all the oceans of the world. The tides would stop; the sun would hide its light, would He but ask. The very air He breathes is loath to leave His body; the food He eats nourishes Him with unbridled joy.

He sees my thoughts through mine own heart, mine own mind, my very soul; His presence in me is benevolence incarnate, my ecstacy at His spirit's gentle touch beyond humble words. I am but a man; He is so much more.

Even had I the power to act against Him, I could not, His kindness is so strong, His compassion a force far stronger than the greatest of mountains, the whole of the earth.”

One big difference between the DaVinci code and Eye of the Pyramid: Eye of the Pyramid exalts the wonder and love in Jesus Christ rather than trying to show he was an ordinary man who married.

We talked about Edward Leedskalnin, a man five feet tall, 100 pounds who built the Coral Castle in Homestead, Fl., single handedly out of 1,100 tons of coral and his block and tackle equipment only checked out to 2,500 pounds. Folks say he found a way to levitate the rocks. In order to properly convey the look and feel, Terry had to visit it. So much of what Malone goes through is Terry’s take on his visit. Our conversation roamed to Nikola Tesla and the Hutchinson Effect and “blackholes” in people’s thinking.

We also talked about the destruction that has occurred to our money. I asked why is there no outcry over the debt we have piled up, no outcry over 5 Billion ounces of silver gone, no outcry over the use of fiat money in the world?

In the book Dr. Paul Malone is meeting with the Secretary of the Treasury. As the meeting is concluding, Malone says:

"Let me ask you a question. Are you aware that there are four large firms with a paper obligation to deliver silver on the Comex exchange which is bigger than all known above ground reserves? This could be a derivative time bomb in the making. And are you aware that the regulating authority, the CFTC, appears to be turning a blind eye to the matter?"

Terry thinks that the reason there is no outcry is that with fiat money, there is a “time disconnect” between the action and the reaction. Issuing authorities can be irresponsible with our money for years and years, but by the time the effects of overly inflating our fiat money supply finally show up in higher prices to the consumer, the people – and or the action – responsible are often long gone. With a hard money standard, there is no such time disconnect – inflation is immediately felt and we know who is responsible. “In a very real sense, a fiat money standard takes away a measuring stick from the people – a measuring stick which judges the efficacy of monetary policy.”

Today, there seems to be a disconnect between labor and money as well. With a hard money standard, something of value – which requires labor to produce – backs our money. With a fiat standard, one side of the transaction is labor-free. This disconnect can cause dislocations in the monetary system.

It made me think of derivatives. In a normal course of events, shortages of a commodity bring higher prices, which lead to greater production, which leads to lower prices. It is quite an elegant system and leads to ordinary results. When you have a world filled with players who manipulate prices through the use of derivatives in a product that is becoming dearer, there will not be an ordinary end.

I also thought of the forests around Yellowstone or Yosemite. There was an active fire suppression system in place. Then when the inevitable finally happened, the fire was so much bigger than normal, that it ruined the forests for years and years. In light of the devastation, changes are finally being made to forest management regarding fires.

Terry hopes that readers enjoy his book for both the mystery/thriller entertainment, as well as the historical content that it presents.

For myself, I hope messages such as this will exert pressure to change the system before we have a monetary fire that consumes us all.

Now to celebrate the one year anniversary of Eye of the Pyramid, Axiom House is running a special this Thursday. If you buy a copy of Eye of the Pyramid from Axiom_House on Amazon.com, you will receive a long list of special gifts. Including

• Free Poetry by Mike Landfair - Original poetry never before published and kindly offered by Mike Landfair.

Did I tell you Terry Krohn is working on a sequel? Power of the Scepter is scheduled for release in the summer of 2006. There will be more on the discovery of Leedskalnin and The Hutchinson Effect: A way to control a very real effect – in general it seems to arise when radio waves are passed through a strong electrostatic field. The combined field acts as if energy keeping atoms apart is broken down. I can’t wait for another discussion that ranges far and wide!

One of the bonuses includes the first three chapters of the new book. Here is a complete list of the bonuses: http://www.axiomhouse.com/offers/bonuslist.htm

Mover Mike has posted a number of times about Eye of the Pyramid:

Eye of the Pyramid

"Silver" means "Derivatives"!

$80 Trillion

Searching for Amber...

What Happened to Our Silver?

Terry Krohn Eye of the Pyramid gold Mover Mike