A Day in Paradise

As you, my regular readers know, I have a soft spot for self-published authors, and when I find an autographed advance copy of “An American Hedge Fund” written by Timothy Sykes and self-published under the “Bull Ship Press” imprint, you know I’m going to take off with it and tear through it on a lazy Saturday morning.

Tim Sykes tells his own story of how he starts off with just over $12,000 and during his years at collage turns it into over $800,000. Read the book to find out the details of how he does it. After he leaves college he creates the “Cilantro Fund” and starts looking for investors to invest in his shiny new hedge fund.

The book doesn’t go into great detail about exactly what hedge funds are, so let’s talk about that for a minute. A hedge fund is generally a limited partnership which is formed to allow investors to become limited partners with the fund manager (or an LLC formed by the manager) as the general partner. The LP is used as an investment vehicle and the gains and losses of the fund are passed directly through to the investors after the fees. Generally the manager takes a 2% management fee, and 20% off the top of all profits.

This elaborate structure is set up to avoid having to deal with the SEC and bypass the restrictions that other money management structures, such as mutual funds, have to deal with. There is a catch. Only “Accredited Investors” can invest, you can’t advertise, and before an investor can invest you need to have a pre-existing relationship (of at least six months).

Many of the established hedge funds manage well over $100 million, have a two to five year track record and a 50+ person staff, so finding accredited investors is difficult. For the Cilantro Fund and their comparatively tiny $1.1 million, finding investors and fighting to stay afloat became a substantial challenge. The second half of the book describes the downward spiral in detail.

While many of the other reviews of “An American Hedge Fund” call the book “inspirational”, I am going to go with “spirited” as by the end of the book I was more exhausted than inspired. The book is a great read, and takes you through the ups and downs of a small player in an industry where the deck is stacked in favor of the Goliaths.

Since writing the book, Timothy Sykes has closed his hedge fund and started a website which is dedicated to inform the public and cut through the secrecy that has shrouded the hedge fund industry.

If you’re interested in Hedge Funds check out this article on what a hedge fund is.

Currently at #7 on Amazon’s best seller list! This thing has momentum!!!

It’s time to bumrush Amazon, and push Ancestor to the #1 place! Before I bought my copy it was in the 4000s then it jumped to 1076, then 138, and is currently at 93 and fourth place in the New Releases section, and 1st place in New SciFi.

As an aspiring author, I value Scott Sigler’s success not only as the personal success of a friend, but much more important as a sign that independently published books and new media can be just as popular as books published through traditional publishing houses.

So get out there and buy the book now!!!

Short version – Awesome cinematography, interesting action sequences and CGI – the demonization of the Persians and underlying political rhetoric make the movie hard to watch.

spoilers and ranting ahead… click through at your own risk

(more…)

Gearing up for the Amazon.com release of the Ancestor Novel, Scott has convinced Jian and Rhumkorrf to start blogging!

This is a part of a larger guerrilla marketing campaign which focuses on making Ancestor an Amazon.com best seller on April 1st. So if you have a minute, throw a couple links on your blog, and make sure you’re in the virtual line to grab Ancestor as soon as it hits the virtual shelves!

FT.com / World / UK – First audio-only novel tells new story for authors

Now we have a “First audio only novel.” How is that different from what cavemen did around a fire?

Journalists these days… anything for a press release I guess.

When I first started listening to podcast novels, I had a hard time getting used to the fact that unlike dead tree books, unless the author decides to tell you how much of the book is left, you have no idea how many chapters are left. When Matthew Wayne Selznick’s performed the final chapters of his first book and brought the podcast novel “Brave Men Run” to a close, I along with several thousand listeners were left at the edges of our seats waiting for more.

Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign Era, is hard to describe. As a sci-fi story, set in an alternative version of the early 80s, BMR introduces us to the “Sovereign Era” and the politics surrounding the revelation that amongst humans live “Sovereigns” each of whom weilds extraordinary abilities. As a character study, BMR looks at this monumental event through the eyes of Nate Charters, a teenage Sovereign who fights to deal with the sudden realities of who he is and the past which has been hidden from him.

At it’s core, Brave Men Run is not about spaceships, action sequences or any other elements which are commonly associated with science fiction. BMR is about it’s characters, and the character development and dialog which takes place between the characters is masterfully done.

While Brave Men Run is a complete book and satisfying read, the author has left many questions open in regard to the “Sovereign Era” as well as Nate’s character and the history of “Sovereign” people. The premise could very easily support several more “Sovereign Era” books.

Matthew Wayne Selznick has released the audio versions of BMR for free on Podiobooks.com and has made the electronic versions of the book available for the cheap price of $5. As an independant, self published author, Matthew has placed the future of the series in the hands of the readers.

I throughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend it not only to sci-fi fans, but to all bookworms who are interested in a good read and the growth of independent authors. In support, I’ve set up a page through which you can subscribe to the podcast or buy the ebook or paperback version.

So visit my Brave Men Run page, subscribe to the feed, buy the ebook, blog about it, and tell your friends to do the same. You won’t be disappointed.