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Now you can start reading your new iBook. In the novel that won her the Booker Prize and established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new vocabulary for framing the eternal question 'Why love?' It tells the story of Edith Hope, who writes romance novels under a pseudonym. When her life begins to resemble the plots of her own novels, however, Edith flees to Switzerland, where the quiet luxury of In the novel that won her the Booker Prize and established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new vocabulary for framing the eternal question 'Why love?' It tells the story of Edith Hope, who writes romance novels under a pseudonym. When her life begins to resemble the plots of her own novels, however, Edith flees to Switzerland, where the quiet luxury of the Hotel du Lac promises to resore her to her senses. But instead of peace and rest, Edith finds herself sequestered at the hotel with an assortment of love's casualties and exiles. She also attracts the attention of a worldly man determined to release her unused capacity for mischief and pleasure. Beautifully observed, witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive. A very slow, mournful novel set in an end-of-season hotel which may - just may - be a metaphor or sumpin. ![]() ![]() ![]() Everything happens in slowmo - walks, meals, coffee, tea, cakes, clothes (pages of those), more walks, mothers, daughters, gloomy memories, walks, talks, a small dog, gauntness, autumnal colours, pallor, crepuscularity, more damned walks, more wretched meals, the god damned dog again, more clothes, and on p 143 this: 'my patience with this little comedy is wearing a bit thin' It's a ghastly vi A very slow, mournful novel set in an end-of-season hotel which may - just may - be a metaphor or sumpin. Everything happens in slowmo - walks, meals, coffee, tea, cakes, clothes (pages of those), more walks, mothers, daughters, gloomy memories, walks, talks, a small dog, gauntness, autumnal colours, pallor, crepuscularity, more damned walks, more wretched meals, the god damned dog again, more clothes, and on p 143 this: 'my patience with this little comedy is wearing a bit thin' It's a ghastly vision of humanity presented here to be sure, bitter and defeated. In this world we swim slowly in a social fishtank constantly judging and appraising each other's sexual, sartorial, social and financial status. The women relentlessly and mercilessly judge all other women they encounter, the men likewise. ![]() Our heroine says 'the company of their own sex was what drove many women into marriage'. Some kind of bleak view of women, I say. But generalisations like this pop up all over - 'women hide their sadness, thought Edith. Their joy they like to show off to one another.' Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Hotel du Lac at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Hotel du Lac is a 1984 Booker Prize-winning novel by English writer Anita Brookner. It centres on Edith Hope, a romance novelist who is staying in a hotel on the. You don't need to own a Kindle device to enjoy Kindle books. Download one of our FREE Kindle apps to start reading Kindle books on all your devices. Or 'men like the feeling they have had to fight other men for possession [of women:]'. Wow, this is so pre-feminist. It was written in the 80s but reads more like the 40s. And it won the Booker! I was expecting something acrid and memorable, but I got this wallow in antique stereotypes and fake psychological insight. Typical sentence: This banal and inappropriate excursion seemed to her almost perverse in its lack of attractions; she had supposed that they might be going on another walk. This review contains spoilers. 1984 Booker Prize Winner. Edith Hope, a successful romance writer, has made some mistakes, two of them actually; she is having an affair with a married man, and she walked out on her wedding to another man at the last minute. So her friends suggest that she take a change of scenery, another way of saying, get out of town for awhile. So she gets away to Switzerland, and the luxurious Hotel du Lac. But it's later in the story when the reader is told the reason for her This review contains spoilers. 1984 Booker Prize Winner. Edith Hope, a successful romance writer, has made some mistakes, two of them actually; she is having an affair with a married man, and she walked out on her wedding to another man at the last minute. So her friends suggest that she take a change of scenery, another way of saying, get out of town for awhile. So she gets away to Switzerland, and the luxurious Hotel du Lac. But it's later in the story when the reader is told the reason for her trip. For some, this novel is slow to start, there is just not a lot of action. But Brookner is slowly building the foundation for her characters and the story. Her detailed descriptions of everything; the characters, the hotel, her own history and feelings. It's very much in the style of Henry James, I think, just shorter sentences and paragraphs than the great man was famous for. What Edith finds when she gets to the hotel is a group of very eccentric inmates. But this group helps her find the bearings for her own life's course, helps her decide between love and security, because at this point in her life she knows she can't have both. This story is her journey through the icebergs of her life and the Hotel du Lac. And the writing is excellent, as you would expect in a Booker Prize winner, and it has to be in a novel structured like this, it's simply the difference between success and failure. 4 solid stars. I knew I was going to like this book the minute I read Edith's description of her hotel room, decorated as it is in shades of overcooked veal. There are so many moments of humor in these pages, but it is quiet, blink-and-you-might-miss-it humor. 'People feel at home with low moral standards. It is scruples that put them off.' 'The company of their own sex, Edith reflected was what drove many women into marriage.' The first 100 pages or so of the novel, Edith is more of a narrator of the characters I knew I was going to like this book the minute I read Edith's description of her hotel room, decorated as it is in shades of overcooked veal. There are so many moments of humor in these pages, but it is quiet, blink-and-you-might-miss-it humor. 'People feel at home with low moral standards. It is scruples that put them off.' 'The company of their own sex, Edith reflected was what drove many women into marriage.' The first 100 pages or so of the novel, Edith is more of a narrator of the characters in the hotel. There are hints of a mistake she has made, ending in her retreat (either a rejuvenation or a running away) in this fine but non-flashy hotel in Switzerland. The hotel itself is a character, as are the people working and staying there. She muses on them and as she gets to know them, has to change some of her opinions. In the second half, more is known of her back story while her present day moves forward. Without spoiling anything that happens, I want to say that I find I am far more empathetic to a woman in literature who is alone but self-possessed over a woman who lets life be decided for her. I enjoyed the character of Edith very much!! And another one bites the dust. Another moping, myopic, single, disconsolate, unfulfilled, disenchanted woman shuffling the mortal coils resignedly and patiently waiting for until her numbers up. Ok, but I am racking my brains: is there ANY book out there about a male spinster? Not a bachelor: that image implies a certain Sherlock Holmsean contentedness with the regularity of life, a smug sense of quiet self satisfaction that all is alright with the world, at precisely the moment when a woman ISN And another one bites the dust. Another moping, myopic, single, disconsolate, unfulfilled, disenchanted woman shuffling the mortal coils resignedly and patiently waiting for until her numbers up. Ok, but I am racking my brains: is there ANY book out there about a male spinster? Not a bachelor: that image implies a certain Sherlock Holmsean contentedness with the regularity of life, a smug sense of quiet self satisfaction that all is alright with the world, at precisely the moment when a woman ISN’T present. An open book, a crackling fire and the languid smoke sonorating from a veal coloured pipe induces images not of pity for the sad old codger, but endorsement of quality and order. Take a spinster, Edith Hope, and the same singleness of purpose is translated into failed possibility, the non crystallisation of purpose, gross irregularities in the order of the cosmos and staleness. Do men ever consider it a life unlived without the redemptive qualities of femme feng shui? And what makes women wither without a man? Edith Hope is a spinster. She has professional success, but.no man. So, she is empty inside. Go on:, laugh, cry, deride, acquiesce about it. True or false? And she is apologetically staunch: Prince charming or none at all will do. Well, lady, at your age, you should be thinking about who can serve, instead. A perfectly handsome, successful, erudite, considerate man proposes to her: he promises a life of shared interests, social standing, security, and his support and friendship ad nauseum. But, he doesn’t promise her love; he is too jaded for that. Have your dangereous liasions, he says, and I will have mine. But you will never hear about them or be embarrassed by them. In return she can, however, expect respect, consideration, financial security and friendship. Edith can’t do that. Its all or nothing, right, ladies? Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Edith Hope is from La-La. Edith Hope may be a moderately successful romance novelist, but her own love life is a shambles. After leaving a poor chap at the altar back in London, she goes on a sabbatical to a Swiss hotel to take stock of her life and spend some time working. Instead, she ends up absorbed in the lives of her fellow guests, especially elderly Mrs. Pusey and her daughter, and attracts an unwanted suitor. The choice before Edith is between safety and passion, and right up until the last few pages it’s unclear Edith Hope may be a moderately successful romance novelist, but her own love life is a shambles. After leaving a poor chap at the altar back in London, she goes on a sabbatical to a Swiss hotel to take stock of her life and spend some time working. Instead, she ends up absorbed in the lives of her fellow guests, especially elderly Mrs. Pusey and her daughter, and attracts an unwanted suitor. The choice before Edith is between safety and passion, and right up until the last few pages it’s unclear which path she’ll choose. Brookner has some lovely turns of phrase (“her daily task of fantasy and obfuscation”; “Most of my life seems to go on at a subterranean level”) but the quiet story is unlikely to stay with me. The style reminded me most of Penelope Fitzgerald and Barbara Pym, with touches of Continental writers like Thomas Mann and Stefan Zweig. I'm almost sure the title of this book is a pun (which gets it points from me; I can't resist a pun) as every character in the book, especially the protagonist, is definitely lacking something or other. If you're the sort of person who tends to complain that 'nothing happens' in a book, I would avoid this one. This is an introspective, reflective novel; it's all about the inner journey, not the physical one. Our protagonist, Edith, is an author, specialising in romances (quite low-brow romances is I'm almost sure the title of this book is a pun (which gets it points from me; I can't resist a pun) as every character in the book, especially the protagonist, is definitely lacking something or other. If you're the sort of person who tends to complain that 'nothing happens' in a book, I would avoid this one. This is an introspective, reflective novel; it's all about the inner journey, not the physical one. Our protagonist, Edith, is an author, specialising in romances (quite low-brow romances is the suggestion) who has been packed off to the Hotel Du Lac on the Lake Geneva shoreline (yes, I had 'Smoke On The Water' running through my head the entire time I was reading this book) by her friends and family after her life goes a bit pear-shaped. We don't find out the precise occurance that has prompted her exile until the third act, but the hints and clues are there right from the start. While her stay at the hotel isn't exactly voluntary or planned, Edith nevertheless tries to see the silver lining and determines to use it as a chance to get on with writing her latest novel in solitude. It's the off-season, after all, so there shouldn't be too many other people around. That's the plan, anyway. What actually happens is that she starts people watching. And gets sucked into the various trials and tribulations of the handful of other guests, most of whom are. Let's say 'eccentric'. This novel is about love, solitude and what it means to be a woman in this modern age. The themes are deep and almost universal but the book never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously. Brookner actually has a bone dry wit that reminded me a bit of Oscar Wilde and the novel is often funny. Not laugh out loud oh-god-my-sides-are-actually-splitting funny, but gently funny, in a manner that reminded me of a 1970s-80s sit-com like 'The Good Life' or 'Ever Decreasing Circles'. (That last comment wasn't intended as a negative. I quite like those shows.) I'm not quite sure how this book managed to win the Booker in 1984, but it's definitely not a bad book. I found it to be quite a good read and very touching in places. This novel is the perfect balance of quietly beautiful and quietly sad. Our narrator is a single woman on the edge of spinsterhood who is taking refuge in a Swiss luxury hotel during the off season to ride out an embarrassing breach of social expectations. In this quiet setting populated by eccentric cast-offs from love, she is surprised by what she comes to realize about herself. The atmosphere and characters are so vivid that I was easily drawn into the Hotel du Lac and became one of its resid This novel is the perfect balance of quietly beautiful and quietly sad. Our narrator is a single woman on the edge of spinsterhood who is taking refuge in a Swiss luxury hotel during the off season to ride out an embarrassing breach of social expectations. In this quiet setting populated by eccentric cast-offs from love, she is surprised by what she comes to realize about herself. The atmosphere and characters are so vivid that I was easily drawn into the Hotel du Lac and became one of its residents where I developed a tender spot for each of these fragile individuals. Edith Hope is a romance novelist who is banished by her friends to the Hotel du Lac on Lake Geneva in order to atone for a transgression, the details of which we don't learn until well into the second half of the book. At the hotel, it is approaching the end of the season and only a handful of long-term guests remain. Edith establishes a routine of writing and spending time with the other guests. Then along comes Mr Neville. I am quite bemused that this won the Booker in 1984. It's such a simple, Edith Hope is a romance novelist who is banished by her friends to the Hotel du Lac on Lake Geneva in order to atone for a transgression, the details of which we don't learn until well into the second half of the book. At the hotel, it is approaching the end of the season and only a handful of long-term guests remain. Edith establishes a routine of writing and spending time with the other guests. Then along comes Mr Neville. I am quite bemused that this won the Booker in 1984. It's such a simple, slow tale that really doesn't go anywhere. Some have described it as a romantic story - a love story even - but I felt it was almost the opposite. Yes, there was a love in Edith's life, but it was one that society and the other party would not allow her to acknowledge. Maybe I missed the point, but I saw this as a story about relationships of convenience rather than passion. A brief, well-written, sometimes humorous diversion, but not in the same class as other Booker Prize winners I have read. I ate dinner at an historical park once, and when I think of that meal I always remember being pleased with the place setting and the table linens. The table cloth was crisp and white, the silverware was highly polished, but I can't remember the feel of the fabric or the design of the forks and spoons and knife. What little I remember accumulates into nice. It was all nice. Nice but mostly forgettable. And that's all I'm left with when I think of 's Booker Prize winning. It wa I ate dinner at an historical park once, and when I think of that meal I always remember being pleased with the place setting and the table linens. The table cloth was crisp and white, the silverware was highly polished, but I can't remember the feel of the fabric or the design of the forks and spoons and knife. What little I remember accumulates into nice. It was all nice. Nice but mostly forgettable. And that's all I'm left with when I think of 's Booker Prize winning. I remember a likable woman moving amongst mostly likable folk in Geneva. I enjoyed the niceness of the experience, and then it was forgotten. I'll never read it again, though, because nice doesn't keep me coming back. Something that has won a prestigious literary award should leave us with more than a feeling of niceness. But that's all has to offer. But then maybe it wasn't nice at all. Maybe it was the antithesis of nice. But if it was, and if there was an element of the not nice that I missed.well, Brookner didn't do a very good job then did she? I shouldn't be remembering nice all these years later, should I? Now isn't that nice? I am sorry I waited so long to read a book by the great British author, Anita Brookner. If you haven't read her works, you are in for a treat. Next up for me is reading her book 'Making Things Better' (The Next Big Thing) which was longlisted for the Booker prize. 'Hotel du Lac' won the Man Booker prize in 1984. It deserves it. The novel is about a woman who is exiled to a Swiss hotel to let things die down after a scandal. After bittersweet interactions with other hotel members, she begins to s I am sorry I waited so long to read a book by the great British author, Anita Brookner. If you haven't read her works, you are in for a treat. Next up for me is reading her book 'Making Things Better' (The Next Big Thing) which was longlisted for the Booker prize. 'Hotel du Lac' won the Man Booker prize in 1984. It deserves it. The novel is about a woman who is exiled to a Swiss hotel to let things die down after a scandal. After bittersweet interactions with other hotel members, she begins to sort out who she really is. I understand there is a BBC film made from the book and I am curious to see it. I gave this book five stars and consider it a classic. About how being coupled allows one to relax and behave badly, and the good behavior expected of single women. The main character is brittle and lonely, and the tenor of everything is like 'overcooked veal' but still there is something about the way the character feels uncomfortable in the world, the way she is constantly constructing an edifice to protect herself from it, that is universal. There is also a remarkable perception about the ways women engage in frippery to exclude men, for example: About how being coupled allows one to relax and behave badly, and the good behavior expected of single women. The main character is brittle and lonely, and the tenor of everything is like 'overcooked veal' but still there is something about the way the character feels uncomfortable in the world, the way she is constantly constructing an edifice to protect herself from it, that is universal. There is also a remarkable perception about the ways women engage in frippery to exclude men, for example: 'It occurs to me.that some women close ranks because they hate men and fear them. Oh, I know that this is obvious. What I'm really trying to say is that I dread such women's attempts to recruit me, to make me their accomplice. I'm not talking about the feminists. I can understand their position, although I'm not all that sympathetic. I'm talking about the ultra-feminine. I'm talking about the complacent consumers of men with their complicated but unwritten rules of what is due to them. The right to make illogical fusses. The cult of themselves. Such women strike me as dishonourable. And terrifying. I think perhaps that men are an easier target. I think perhaps the feminists should take a fresh look at the situation.' Such clarity is all over the place, and so even though it's a sort of brutal book to read, it's worth it. It's also a hotel book, a venerable genre. I can't believe that this book won over J. Ballard's (4 stars) in 1984's Booker contest. Or I just expected too much from this book because I first read and tremendously enjoyed that Ballard? So the last time I was in Ohio in 2009, I decided to buy this brand new copy of Hotel du Luc because this made Ballard asked the question why the 5 judges, led by, denied him of that year's Booker. Maybe Cobb was a historian? Maybe he thought that ther I can't believe that this book won over J. Ballard's (4 stars) in 1984's Booker contest. Or I just expected too much from this book because I first read and tremendously enjoyed that Ballard? So the last time I was in Ohio in 2009, I decided to buy this brand new copy of Hotel du Luc because this made Ballard asked the question why the 5 judges, led by, denied him of that year's Booker. Maybe Cobb was a historian? Maybe he thought that there were too much inconsistencies in Ballard's depiction of Shanghai during World War II? Or maybe he found the sadness that Edith Hope is experiencing being ditched by a lover and finding solace in the silent and eerie Swiss hotel, Hotel du Lac melancholic enough and it brought back memories of lost love? Cobb was 67 years old when he gave his nod to Hotel to win over Ballard's Empire or even Julian Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot. What an upset, right? The beauty of Hotel is inside Edith Hope's mind. The moment she enters the hotel she is bringing with her the pain of being ditched by a lover and the advice that her friends gave that she has to stay away for a while to find her self. I did not have a close female friend who got ditched so I wasn't able to readily understand what's the need to be alone to find one's self. I did have an experience of being crossed by a girlfriend who was a two-timer (me being the original) but I just went to a bar and drank myself till I vomited the alcohol out. But the day after, I was okay and just silently nursed myself back to reality. In other words, although that major part of the plot was something so alien to me that I had to sigh several times in disbelief in the first half of the book. This lonely-woman-in-a-hotel plot is also not new to me. There is Sasha Jensen of Jean Rhys' (3 stars) whose loneliness and grief were far above that of Edith Hope because aside from unhappy marriage her child also died before she books herself in a hotel. There is also Madeleine who is abandoned in Paris by her lover and there is even a world war going on outside in Irene Nemirovsky's (1 star). So this plot is nothing new really. But what made this worth my while was how beautiful Brookner wrote in a melancholic way. I have no words to describe how she was able to capture the mood by using the hotel's surroundings to reflect the sadness and hopelessness that Edith has in the first half of the book. When the plot thickens towards the second half, the magic was lost however. The unbelievably caricaturist sort of portrayal of the other characters particularly the duplicitous Mr. Neville was just too artificial for me. It was like having a villain too obvious like you know right there in the first scene (if this is a movie) upon seeing Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter that he is the villain to Jody Foster's Clarisse Starling. This writing of Brookner here for me is comparable to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Although of course, Woolf is Woolf and nothing compares to her writing. I have not read Julian Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot so I can't be the judge if it is better than this. But over Empire? I thought it was absurd. Hotel du Lac, by Anita Brookner surprised me. The first forty or so pages, while beautifully written, were a tad tough to meander through at times. But then, oh then, all of a sudden, and at some point I can't recall, I was quite happy -- it pulled me in and although it's a quiet and contemplative story, it was really quite interesting and I felt at home with it. Edith Hope is a romance writer who writes under another name -- she's accomplished, but to be honest, she writes about feelings and eve Hotel du Lac, by Anita Brookner surprised me. The first forty or so pages, while beautifully written, were a tad tough to meander through at times. But then, oh then, all of a sudden, and at some point I can't recall, I was quite happy -- it pulled me in and although it's a quiet and contemplative story, it was really quite interesting and I felt at home with it. Edith Hope is a romance writer who writes under another name -- she's accomplished, but to be honest, she writes about feelings and events that she's never sure she'll ever have, or at least have forever. She's withdrawn, and doesn't fit with her 'friends.' Edith is sent away from 'civilized' society in London to a quaint and quiet hotel in Switzerland following a scandal that it has been deemed should not occur amongst polite and learned men and women. While there, she encounters a sad variety of characters that initially seem almost so uninteresting, that they are interesting. Eventually, you are drawn into each one, into their nuances, their sad or internally destructive personalities. While one character, Mrs. Pusey initially impresses upon Edith that she is kind and lovely, it soon becomes evident that she's really just lacking in the same things that most of the hotel guests are without as well -- after all, why are they all sequestered in this hotel, away from family and friends, during a quiet time of season? It seemed to be that they all were suffering in some way. Do not expect a flurry of events in the winner of the Man Booker Prize of 1984. Expect instead a quiet discussion, a studied review of a writer's perspective of those she meets and interacts with, amidst the background of an incredible hotel. There is not a hurry from one thing to another. It is a slow exercise of evaluation and word usage to describe each scene, moment, person. Could it be considered tedious and boring to some? Could it also be viewed as deceptively pleasing, slowly building the undercurrent of anticipation for something, something brilliant and cunning to breach the water line and unfold its secret? At times, it was a bit humorous, but I found it to be an overall sad book, about people who were sad and who either were forced to be in exile by others, or simply had nowhere else that they could go. It's an insightful and thoughtful novel on love, loss, and regret. Although I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, I would say that if you like a quiet novel that delivers an introspective view on one's own life, then this sad little beauty is a book for you. Every word is quotable in this beautiful and very short book, but this one I found delightful: He was a man of few words, but those few words were judiciously selected, weighed for quality, and delivered with expertise. Edith, used to the ruminative monologues that most people consider to be adequate for the purposes of rational discourse, used, moreover, to concocting the cunning and even learned periods which the characters in her books so spontaneously uttered, leaned back in her chair and smiled. The sensation of being entertained by words was one which she encountered all too rarely. People expect writers to entertain them, she reflected. They consider that writers should be gratified simply by performing their task to the audience's satisfaction. Like sycophants at court in the Middle Ages, dwarves, jongleurs. And what about us? Nobody thinks about entertaining us. I look forward to reading more Anita Brookner novels. Particularly when I learned from Thomas at My Porch that Ms. Brookner is now in her eighties and has written a book a year since her first published fiction novel in her early fifties. I promised myself I'd go into a bookstore and buy a book I'd never heard of before, by an author I didn't know, since I never ever go into a store and buy a book I wasn't always planning on reading. Which is a shame. The result was the purchase of this slim Man Booker winning novel. And it wasn't a bad random pick, although I'm a little uncertain what it was REALLY trying to do. See, I honestly don't know about this book. I found it very charming, and was easily swept into its languid prose, slo I promised myself I'd go into a bookstore and buy a book I'd never heard of before, by an author I didn't know, since I never ever go into a store and buy a book I wasn't always planning on reading. Which is a shame. The result was the purchase of this slim Man Booker winning novel. And it wasn't a bad random pick, although I'm a little uncertain what it was REALLY trying to do. See, I honestly don't know about this book. I found it very charming, and was easily swept into its languid prose, slow moving plot (if you can call it a plot) and the eccentric existences of Hotel du Lac. But on the other hand, I have no idea what it really gave me in the end. Edith Hope is sent to Swiss Hotel du Lac, and told to think about her life and her choices, and only to come back when she's repented. As it's almost out of season only very few guests occupy the hotel, and they're all women. Edith soon becomes part of their daily life, with its small dramas and controversies. She observes the other women, and tries to work them - and in turn herself - out. And this is where it gets a little uncertain. Because I can't decide if it's too stereotypical in its portrayal of women, or if it's confidently complex and subverts the tropes it gives us. I'm leaning towards the latter, but I think a case can be made for the former too. Because while it's a story with a sharp focus on women, it's also all women who are measured, in small ways, by their relationship with men. Either because their husbands died or they've been abandoned by them. Or they're the other woman. So they're left on the fringes of society, slightly outside what everyone else thinks is acceptable and they've come to Hotel du Lac. Neville, a man who arrives at the hotel later on, vehemently tries to convince Edith that the life she's been living isn't worth it, and that he can give her a comfortable position inside the societal norm and all the freedom that come with it. But it's also a novel that, I think, insists there is nothing wrong with Edith's life at all, with none of these women's lives. Neville is a total d-bag who simply assumes he knows what Edith needs, without actually understanding her inner life and passions at all. And Edith may be prejudiced against her own sex, she may accuse them of some ridiculous things, but this is also because she's incapable of turning this judging eye towards herself, and that she has to learn too. I don't know if she does, but I think the experiences lends her a sympathy towards herself and her gender. I just don't know. I'll have to read it again someday. But for now I found it had a nice melancholy charm, and I loved its focus on women and their inner and outer lives. Other books have definitely done it better, but this one I liked too. For a random pick in the bookstore it was definitely not bad at all. A novel that seems to play out like some forgotten old black and white European film projected a few frames a second slower than it should be, so every gesture and every word seems to bear a heavy, languorous weight. Indeed, one might be tempted to call it a parody if it for even for a moment wavered in it seriousness, but it never does. Brookner writes in dense, lengthy paragraphs that seem like blocks of ice that must be fastidiously chipped through, reflecting the general mindset of the intro A novel that seems to play out like some forgotten old black and white European film projected a few frames a second slower than it should be, so every gesture and every word seems to bear a heavy, languorous weight. Indeed, one might be tempted to call it a parody if it for even for a moment wavered in it seriousness, but it never does. Brookner writes in dense, lengthy paragraphs that seem like blocks of ice that must be fastidiously chipped through, reflecting the general mindset of the introverted, melancholy protagonist, a romance novel writer named Edith. As she 'endures' a self-imposed exile in a stately hotel on the Continent sparsely populated by expected 'types'--eccentric aristocratic sorts that seem to exist solely to make appearances in such places--she begins a process awkward interactions and grudged introspection that slowly gives way to difficult realizations and eventual decisions. If this review has seemed to be a bit dismissing in tone, it's not entirely intended to; I actually enjoyed reading it quite a bit. But I discovered it didn't live up to the cryptic and austere opening chapters, where I found myself oddly relishing the elegant stasis. I admire that Brookner resolutely avoids sunshiny, transcendent revelations, instead attempting something more difficult and diffuse (even though I remain, I admit, not entirely convinced). (I stayed at the Hotel du Lac in Vevey for work once and nicked as much stationery as I could, then set to reading this after ages looking for a second hand copy. Finally got to reading it after many months). Small but super-concentrated. For something so short, it asks big questions about ideals and compromises. It's a pretty profound meditation too on what it is to be a women (like I'd know) and full of strong portraits of different ways of doing that. We've got a spectrum here, from the ‘kept (I stayed at the Hotel du Lac in Vevey for work once and nicked as much stationery as I could, then set to reading this after ages looking for a second hand copy. Finally got to reading it after many months). Small but super-concentrated. For something so short, it asks big questions about ideals and compromises. It's a pretty profound meditation too on what it is to be a women (like I'd know) and full of strong portraits of different ways of doing that. We've got a spectrum here, from the ‘kept’ Pusey senior and junior; the elderly Madame (a brilliantly drawn, very touching character) the jaded and cynical Monica and the ruthless buddy back home. The plot also really delivers (though say no more for fear of spoiling). Much has been said about the strong characterisation. Believe it all. Madame de Bonneuil has got amazing pathos and is so well observed. A couple of moments jumped out for me: Mme slowly raising a champagne glass for a toast (suggesting a lifetime of stolid ceremony); her reading 'small portions' of the newspaper with a magnifying glass (they do that! Looking at the world from a distance in selective disgust). And the inscrutable, slightly Mephistophelian Mr Neville. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, Hotel du Lac won the 1984 Booker and it is superb. Its central question is: what kind of woman should one be? In 1984 we were exploring feminism, but this is not quite what Brookner is on about; her female characters are always circumscribed by their lives and are never able to exercise much in the way of choices. Edith Hope, in her late thirties, is a very respectable writer of romantic fiction, but she has scandalised her friends. Having drifted into accepting a widower's proposal, she has ji Hotel du Lac won the 1984 Booker and it is superb. Its central question is: what kind of woman should one be? In 1984 we were exploring feminism, but this is not quite what Brookner is on about; her female characters are always circumscribed by their lives and are never able to exercise much in the way of choices. Edith Hope, in her late thirties, is a very respectable writer of romantic fiction, but she has scandalised her friends. Having drifted into accepting a widower's proposal, she has jilted him at the altar. Geoffrey was a nice man, a good catch and her 'last chance'. She meekly agrees to a 'holiday' at a small hotel in Switzerland while the scandal dies down. What seems not to be acknowledged by her friend Penelope, is that Edith has a career and an independent income. She doesn't need a 'good catch'. She has a pleasant home and a settled life which brings quiet satisfactions: sunshine, gardens, lunch with her publisher and her agent. She also has, unknown to anyone, a lover, David, who is the light of her life although she sees him only once or twice a month. He is married and has a family that he does not intend to leave. What she does not have, not in 1984, is social position. She is invisible, adapting herself to others, and pitied by them for apparently being 'unwanted by a man'. Marriage to Geoffrey would have ameliorated that, but there was too much to lose. She realises, as she rides around the block in a taxi to the Registry Office, that she would not be able to write, and she would lose her treasured routines. Her small pleasures and the identity she has suddenly seem more valuable. Were she to become a wife, she would have a different role to play, a house to keep and a social position to manage. At this crucial point, she decides to remain herself, as she is, with her life unchanged. But the proposal and abortive marriage means that her life cannot remain unchanged. At the Hotel du Lac, she meets Mr Neville. He points out these things to her, that she is too self-effacing and that she should try behaving badly. More selfishly, less romantically. Unexpectedly, he proposes. He wants companionship, without demands. He expects, since they are not in love, to have affairs, and so should she. She almost accepts him. She writes a farewell letter to her beloved David, from which we learn from mild traces of bitterness, that she knows that she really means very little to him. On her way to post it, she sees Mr Neville exit from Jennifer Pusey's room - poor, pathetic and very rich Jennifer, indulged by her suffocating mother, and for whom life is passing. In this she is like Edith, except that Jennifer doesn't have the dignity of a profession or worthwhile pursuits. Edith is quietly outraged that Mr Neville uses women like Jennifer; she does not want to marry a man like that. What kind of woman should she be? She will go back to England, but her life will not be quite the same. People are very cross with her, and although she tore up her letter to David, she may continue with him - if he offers. He may not, since he has not bothered to write to her. Does she want him? Like Mr Neville she wants companionship, but on her terms. She likes her house, her way of doing things. It would seem that she cannot have what she would really like, not in her social situation, because marriage brings social obligations that would interfere with the parts of her life that she likes. Perhaps today she would be able to resolve the dilemma. She would be seen as a successful single woman, with no need of a man to place her. But her self-effacing personality, her shapeless cardiagsn and her inconspicuous dresses? Do they represent the real Edith, or do they symbolise the times when marriage was a woman's only destiny? I finished reading this book and journalled it on 21.1.2004. Cross-posted at The Complete Booker. In college, the women in the Chamber Singers group I belonged to sang: 'An ape, a lion, a fox and an ass, Do show forth man's life as it were in a glass. For apeish they are till twenty-and-one, And after than lions till forty be gone. Then wicked as foxes till three-score-and-ten, And after that asses, and so no more men.' I can think of no comparable rhyme for women. Traditionally, a woman's life is divided into three stages: the maiden, the wife, and the crone. Yet compare these three stages to the In college, the women in the Chamber Singers group I belonged to sang: 'An ape, a lion, a fox and an ass, Do show forth man's life as it were in a glass. For apeish they are till twenty-and-one, And after than lions till forty be gone. Then wicked as foxes till three-score-and-ten, And after that asses, and so no more men.' I can think of no comparable rhyme for women. Traditionally, a woman's life is divided into three stages: the maiden, the wife, and the crone. Yet compare these three stages to the four animals of a man's life: the man, in each stage, stands alone and self sufficient. A woman's stages are all dependent on men: she is a maiden, ripe with possibility, until she marries and has children, and then after her man is dead and gone and she is alone, she becomes a crone. And what of those women who are neither maiden, wife, nor crone? The old word is 'spinster.' Anita Brookner's Booker Prize-winning novel, Hotel du Lac, tells the beautifully written story of a woman, Edith, who is too old to be a maiden, who is no one's wife, but who is not yet a crone. She makes her own living as did spinsters of yore; she 'spins' tales and therefrom derives her living -- she is a romance novelist. Edith -- having behaved badly -- is sent by her friends to rest, recuperate and perhaps repent, in a sleepy hotel in Switzerland. She is surrounded by women who unconsciously transgress the boundaries of maiden, wife, and crone: Jennifer is middle-aged and no virgin, yet portrays herself as ingenue and maiden. Monica is a wife who rather passive-agressively fails to bear children. Pusey is old enough to be a crone, but comes across as a vital and vivacious wife. In this hotel Edith meets a man, Mr. Neville, who is wicked as a fox. Neville seems to know Edith better than she herself, and imparts to her some very welcome and unwelcome truths. And it is Mr. Neville, who, accidentally, drives Edith to consciously reject for a second time these false and confining categories of maiden, wife, and crone. Brookner wrote this book more than twenty years ago. I can think of two new categories that women fit into these days: 'bunny' and 'cougar.' Both of these new categories, however, only serve to prove the rule; women are still defined by their relationship to men. This book affirms Edith's choice to reject all of these categories -- ancient and modern -- while recognizing that such a choice is neither easy nor respectable. Pretty much a novella, but I will say a well-written one. I have not read Anita Brookner's work before, so the immersiveness of the text, as well as the poetic descriptions were unexpected. The story is very simple, yet Brookner does not make it seem so. She even manages to create suspense around the reasons for Edith's mysterious exile. Although that was innovative, it was anticlimactic for me to discover it all came down to Edith not having been married at her age & not walking to the alta Pretty much a novella, but I will say a well-written one. I have not read Anita Brookner's work before, so the immersiveness of the text, as well as the poetic descriptions were unexpected. The story is very simple, yet Brookner does not make it seem so. She even manages to create suspense around the reasons for Edith's mysterious exile. Although that was innovative, it was anticlimactic for me to discover it all came down to Edith not having been married at her age & not walking to the altar on her wedding day. The characters at Hotel du Lac is what makes the novella; after all, it is what becomes Edith's existence for the few short months addressed here. And Brookner has obvious talent in describing the nuances, often overlooked details, & emotional layers in this multiple character study. I did lose a little interest for a short time at the end of the story, but the last two pages, literally, made up for it. Although not entirely unpredictable, in the last several paragraphs, as Edith takes a stand in her life to stick to her beliefs, her philosophy, her loves, as opposed to giving into societal pressures, gives Edith's existence a whole new meaning for what seems will be the final time. The meaning of such places as Hotel du Lac is confirmed, as is the need for not necessarily exile, but whatever it takes to be alone to consider life away from ordinary, everyday pressures. The uselessness for living in others' expectations is confirmed. It is her life, after all. Who shall she live it for but herself? A most ingenious proposition we shall all be glad to remember. A woman arrives at a hotel and is gradually introduced to the other guests. She makes the rounds talking to each of them, gets the low down on some from others, hears a bit about their background. For the first half of this book, I thought I was reading a Miss Marple mystery. I was waiting for a scream and a dead body. I did get the scream at one point, which, for me, was the highlight of the book because it seemed like the author knew the impression she was creating and then joked about it with A woman arrives at a hotel and is gradually introduced to the other guests. She makes the rounds talking to each of them, gets the low down on some from others, hears a bit about their background. For the first half of this book, I thought I was reading a Miss Marple mystery. I was waiting for a scream and a dead body. I did get the scream at one point, which, for me, was the highlight of the book because it seemed like the author knew the impression she was creating and then joked about it with the reader. But, in fact, the rest of the book left me rather cold. I found it rather pretentious: there are a lot of words used in this book that aren’t necessarily completely obscure, but they aren’t what normal people would say and, to me, they sit uncomfortably in the book. I won’t list them here, but the use of “crepitate” did annoy me. At one point, Edith felt the hairs on the back of her neck begin to crepitate”. Now, I understand “crepitate” to mean crackling and popping noises (in my advancing age, one of my knees crepitates when I walk down stairs). If the hairs on the back of my neck crepitated, I think I would see a doctor. Or join a circus. Plus, crepitate seems to refer to a noise, not something felt. Anyway, that’s just a personal thing: there were just a few too many pretentious words and phrases. I’m sure there are subtleties in this book that have passed me. The trouble is, I don’t really care because I didn’t find it interesting enough to want to care or to invest any effort in it. I didn’t engage with any of the characters and, to be honest, I was glad when I could say goodbye to all of them. Not my kind of book. A slow-burning, beautifully described, intelligent and introverted novel - Edith is an author spending time at the titular and strange Hotel du Lac in the wake of some kind of (later detailed) social catastrophe, and during her stay she is brought to consider various aspects of self-image and romance and behaviour. It's a wonderfully uncertain sort of novel, which feels important yet somewhat intangible - very believable as a Booker Prize winner in the same way that some others (i.e. 'The Sea' a A slow-burning, beautifully described, intelligent and introverted novel - Edith is an author spending time at the titular and strange Hotel du Lac in the wake of some kind of (later detailed) social catastrophe, and during her stay she is brought to consider various aspects of self-image and romance and behaviour. It's a wonderfully uncertain sort of novel, which feels important yet somewhat intangible - very believable as a Booker Prize winner in the same way that some others (i.e. 'The Sea' and 'The Sense of an Ending') have been - thought provoking. Had it been much longer I might've started to tire of the lack of 'action', but as it was. I found it very interesting, attractive and incisive about people's thoughts and actions. Anita Brookner published her first novel, A Start In Life in 1981. Her most notable novel, her fourth, Hotel du Lac won the Man Booker Prize in 1984. Her novel, The Next Big Thing was longlisted (alongside John Banville's, Shroud) in 2002 for the Man Booker Prize. She has published over 25 works of fiction, notably: Strangers (2009) shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Fraud (1992) Anita Brookner published her first novel, A Start In Life in 1981. Her most notable novel, her fourth, Hotel du Lac won the Man Booker Prize in 1984. Her novel, The Next Big Thing was longlisted (alongside John Banville's, Shroud) in 2002 for the Man Booker Prize. She has published over 25 works of fiction, notably: Strangers (2009) shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Fraud (1992) and, The Rules of Engagement (2003). She was also the first female to hold a Slade Professorship of Fine Arts at Cambridge University. “My idea of absolute happiness is to sit in a hot garden all, reading, or writing, utterly safe in the knowledge that the person I love will come home to me in the evening. Every evening.' 'You are a romantic, Edith,' repeated Mr Neville, with a smile. 'It is you who are wrong,' she replied. 'I have been listening to that particular accusation for most of my life. I am not a romantic. I am a domestic animal. I do not sigh and yearn for extravagant displays of passion, for the grand affair, the world well lost for love. I know all that, and know that it leaves you lonely. No, what I crave is the simplicity of routine. An evening walk, arm in arm, in fine weather. A game of cards. Time for idle talk. Preparing a meal together.” —. HOTEL DU LAC By Anita Brookner. New York: Pantheon Books. AT a crucial point in 'Hotel du Lac,' the winner of England's 1984 Booker Prize, a rich and attractive man leans toward a woman and says, 'You may feel better if you tell me about it.' ' ' 'Oh, do you think that is true?' She enquired, breathing rather hard. 'And even if it is, do you guarantee that the results will be immediately felt? Like those obscure advertisements for ointment that help you to 'obtain relief.' One is never quite sure from what.' ' It's a conversation that might have come straight from a Barbara Pym novel: the man all intensity, the woman devastatingly down-to- earth. In fact, Anita Brookner has often been compared with Pym - less because of style, one supposes, than because of her cast of players. Her central character is invariably a mild-mannered English spinster, pleasant to look at, if not very striking, and impeccably dressed. She is so correct, so self-controlled and punctilious, that weare surprised to learn how young she is - not yet out of her 30's. Not too old to look up in a quick, alert, veiled way whenever an unattached man wanders past. But what she sees when she looks at the man - well, till now, that's where she differed from most of the women in Pym's books. Pym's heroine would generally see someone appealing but comically flawed (as all men are, she would reflect with a smile). Miss Brookner's always saw a rescuer. Pym's heroine would be rueful, self-mocking. Miss Brookner's was seriously hopeful, and seriously cast down when her hopes failed to materialize. In Miss Brookner's first novel, 'The Debut,' the heroine was induced by a literary tradition of filial duty to give up all claims to a personal future and settle dismally into the role of faithful daughter. In 'Look at Me,' an unmarried librarian befriended by a glittering Beautiful Couple was eventually dropped, abandoned to a lonely middle age. In 'Providence,' a woman in love with a professor discovered that the professor did not love her back, and the story ended abruptly with her disillusionment. The final mood has always been bleak, even accusatory - a sort of 'Why me, God?' ' that left the reader slightly alienated. But in 'Hotel du Lac,' Miss Brookner's most absorbing novel, the heroine is more philosophical from the outset, more self-reliant, more conscious that a solitary life is not, after all, an unmitigated tragedy. Edith Hope receives two proposals of marriage during the course of the story. Both would-be husbands are flawed - one is too dull, one too pragmatic - but the earlier heroines, we suspect, would have settled for one or the other nonetheless. Edith ends up accepting neither. Ironically, it is she, the producer of pulp novels ('a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name'), who is the first of Miss Brookner's heroines to arrive at a nonromantic, wryly realistic appreciation of her single state. The hotel of the title is a conservative family establishment on the shore of a Swiss lake, and it is here that Edith has been packed off to reassemble herself after committing an 'unfortunate lapse.' ' What this lapse was we're not told immediately, but when it is revealed - at just the right moment - it turns out to be entirely in keeping with her character, as well as with the tone of the book: oddly detached, very small-scale, faintly humorous. Edith's real sin, when you get right down to it, is that she has failed to adhere to the path that officious friends have mapped out for her. At any rate, there she is in the Hotel du Lac, a genteel woman who resembles Virginia Woolf and dresses to suit the part. In the mornings she works on her new novel, or she writes to the one true love in her life, a man whom she has no chance of marrying. The rest of the day she fills conscientiously with walks, with tea, with dinner. Edith has a peculiarly remote style of observation. The view from her window seems as precise and all- inclusive as a primitive painting when she describes 'the dense cloud that descended for days at time and then vanished without warning to reveal a new land-scape, full of colour and incident: boats skimming on the lake, passengers at the landing stage, an open air market, the outline of the gaunt remains of a thirteenth-century castle, seams of white on the far mountains, and on the cheerful uplands to the south a rising backdrop of apple trees, the fruit sparkling with emblematic significance.' ' It is by means of this very remoteness that Edith manages to hold our interest throughout this achingly uneventful holiday, with its empty chasms of time, its murmuring respectability, its dining room scattered sparsely with people who mean nothing to her. But two of these guests are more significant than they seem at first glance. Pusey and her daughter, Jennifer - two aging, voluptuous blondes who have made a vocation out of shopping - come to stand for all that Edith has missed (or dismissed) in her life. Their every appearance is a grand entrance, with the hotel owner fluttering around them as they rustle their elaborate costumes and rattle their heavy jewelry. They are flirtatious, boastful, self-indulgent. Pusey adopts Edith as an audience - mere witness to her monologues - and criticizes her drab clothes, causing Edith to realize that 'she had failed to scale the heights of consumerism that were apparently as open to her as they were to anyone else.' ' But when Edith obligingly goes shopping on her own, she finds only clinics and cafes where the Puseys found lace-encrusted hand-embroidered lingerie. EDITH may be fascinated by the Puseys, but she is not surprised or, in the long run, taken in by them. They are a type she has often observed from afar - hares leading in a field of tortoises. And, as she remarks to her literary agent, the fable of the tortoise and the hare is her stock in trade. 'People love (that story), especially women. Now you will notice, Harold, that in my books it is the mouse-like unassuming girl who gets the hero, while the scornful temptress with whom he has had a stormy affair retreats baffled from the fray, never to return. The tortoise wins every time. This is a lie, of course.... In real life, of course, it is the hare who wins. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game. The propaganda goes all the other way, but only because it is the tortoise who is in need of consolation. Like the meek who are going to inherit the earth.' ' Bitter words, yes, but they have a certain humorous twist to them. As does this book, come to think of it. For in its own way 'Hotel du Lac' itself is a 'Tortoise and the Hare' story, and the tortoise does win - in her own way. There are some uncomfortable patches. Edith's chatty, affected letters to her lover, reproduced verbatim, seem highly unlike her. And at several spots the point of view shifts (to that of a male fellow guest, of all people) for only a single sentence or two, giving the sense of a momentary lapse rather than a deliberate literary strategy. But generally, the writing is graceful and attractive. We tortoise readers can close the novel feeling well-satisfied - not least by Miss Brookner's intimation that it's sort of silly even to run the race, let alone to win it. Photo of Anita Brookner. In this eBook we cover: • How selling a home in NZ works • Tips on how to get your financial ducks in a row • Expert advice to help you decide whether to go with an agent or go it alone • The best strategies on how to engage an agent • The ins and outs of the selling process • How to get ready for your first open home • Hands-on strategies when things don’t quite go to plan. Whether this is the first time you've sold a home, or maybe it's been a while, this eBook is packed with professional advice, useful tips, checklists and fun infographics, to prepare you for the journey ahead. Most of the self-publishing success stories we hear revolve around selling books on Amazon, and for good reason: authors like and have used the platform to bring home six-figure salaries. But if you’re considering self-publishing, you should know there is another option: selling ebooks on your own site. If you’re able to carve out your own little corner of the Internet, this route, too, can be incredibly lucrative. Each method has its pros and cons, and that’s what I’d like to cover in today’s post. When does it make sense to sell your self-published book on Amazon, and when should you forego the giant and sell on your own website? Here’s what to consider when making this decision. Sell on Amazon? Or on your own site? Your pricing strategy, and the type of books you write If you sell on Amazon, you’re expected to price ebooks like everyone else does, generally between $2.99 – $9.99. ![]() But if you sell on your own website, you can set your price however you like, from $2.99 all the way up to $59 or more, which can mean earning a lot more per ebook. Of course, you only want to sell at a high price point if potential buyers see that much value in your ebook. Often this depends on the type of ebook you write. ![]() If you’re writing novels, as a lot of self-published authors do, you’re kind of cornered into that less-than-$9.99 window, because that’s what people expect to pay for fiction. But if you write non-fiction, especially how-to or advice-heavy guides (also known as ) readers will typically pay a much higher price. Because they’re accessing your brain, your experience and your guidance, all of which is worth more than a story. And while the help-you-make-money niche has earned a scammy reputation, if your ebook helps people make money, they’ll be even more willing to open their wallets to read it. My ebooks are a good example., the first ebook I ever wrote, sells for $24. Sells for $59. And my other two informational ebooks are priced somewhere in between. I could never get away with pricing those ebooks beyond $10 if I sold on Amazon, because everyone prices their ebooks low on the platform. But readers get tremendous value from these resources, value that helps them quickly earn back what they spent on the guides. Because of that, it’s easy to justify the price when I sell them on my own website. ![]() ![]() Dec 16, 2014 A Step By Step Guide To Selling Your Own Home is a free eBook for FSBO sellers. Written by Christopher Dilling, a successful advertising executive. How To Sell Your Home for More [Ray Wood] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Bestselling author and real estate marketing expert, Ray. In addition to being able to charge more when I sell on my own site, I also profit more on each sale. When I sell an ebook on AlexisGrant.com, I keep almost 100 percent. My expenses are minimal: I pay $5 to each month to deliver my ebooks — and yes, that’s a static fee no matter how many ebooks I sell — and 2.9 percent plus 30 cents for each transaction to PayPal for collecting the funds (and slightly more for international purchases), which works out to about $1 for each $24 ebook. I also pay one of my team members to answer emails from potential buyers and anyone who has questions after reading the guides, which counts as another expense. ![]() Still, earnings from my ebook sales have an amazingly because they require so little maintenance after I publish. Now look at how much you profit if you sell on Amazon — I do have, so I’m speaking from first-hand experience. If you price your ebook between $2.99- $9.99, you. If you price below $2.99, you earn only 35 percent royalties. If I were to sell even my lowest-price informational guide on Amazon, I’d probably need to price it at $9.99 to get any traction, and then I’d take home about $7 for each sale. Compare that to the $23 I earn on my own site for the same ebook! It sounds like a no-brainer, right? Except there are other factors at hand too, and some of them favor Amazon. Your reach online If you’re going to make money from your self-published books, someone has to buy them. This is the tough part for a lot of new authors; they simply don’t know how to get the word out about their book. That’s where Amazon comes in. If you self-publish on the platform, you can leverage the millions of people who shop there every month. You have a world of potential buyers at your fingertips! A number of factors go into whether Amazon actually shows your book to those potential buyers, but if you learn how to optimize for the Amazon search engine and get good reviews, you’ll likely be able to reach readers outside of your friends and family. If you sell on your own website, however, it’s entirely up to you to drum up buys. If no one reads your blog or visits your website, you’ll never sell a single book. Interestingly, most of the successful self-published authors we hear about use the same tactic to rally their reader base, regardless of whether they sell on Amazon or their own site: an email list. Is the best way to grow a loyal following that will buy your books. Amazon also gives you an advantage if you sell more than one book on the platform, as it recommends your subsequent books to buyers who already purchased an item with your byline. This referral engine is gold for cultivating a community of repeat buyers, and it’s one of the big appeals of selling on Amazon. You can replicate this in some ways on your own site, but likely not at the same scale. For example, readers who purchase my guide on how to build a social media business get funneled onto an email list, where they receive several helpful follow-up emails via a MailChimp autoresponder. In one of those emails, I also let them know about another ebook they might be interested in, one that’s directly related to the guide they already bought: my ebook on how to create a social media strategy. I purposely created the second guide as a spin-off of the first, and beefed the strategy guide up to 90 pages so I could sell it for a higher price than the business guide. This allows readers to buy the $24 guide, see that I offer awesome information and gain trust in what I deliver before purchasing the higher-priced ebook. It took me a while to get that funnel in place; it’s not something I implemented right when the first guide launched. It was only when the first guide did well that I realized there was a need for more information, so I wrote the second, related ebook and set up the funnel to send buyers to it. Now that I have this system in place — it’s all automatic! — most of the people who buy my social media business guide later purchase my strategy guide, too. (Another interesting note that might be helpful if you’re looking to sell via your own website: many of my sales come directly from search, from people who find my ebooks through Google. This is the power of solid SEO, back-links and offering tons of free information through blog posts that show my expertise.) The bottom line: Even if you grow your email list to thousands of people, you’ll still have the potential to reach more people on Amazon. But if you have an engaged and loyal email list (my list for AlexisGrant.com, for example, is only 6,000 strong), and you sell your ebook on your own site at a higher price point, you can sell far fewer books and still make an awesome profit. Your technical know-how Some writers tell me they sell their ebooks on Amazon because it’s too complicated to sell them on their own site. This might be true if you’ve never blogged before. But if you know how to blog in WordPress, you can easily set up your own shop on your website. Use a combination of e-junkie and PayPal like I do, or check out another platform that sells and delivers ebooks like. (I’ve heard excellent things about Gumroad, but the downside is they take 5 percent plus 25 cents per transaction, in addition to PayPal’s fees.) Because I have experience selling digital products, I find it’s much easier to get that set up than to figure out how to (though to be honest, this is something I’d outsource). On my own site, I typically only sell PDF versions, though I’ll probably introduce Kindle versions in the near future because so many people prefer to read ebooks that way. Whether you crave autonomy How important is it to you to have complete control over what you sell? Amazon offers a lot of options for customizing not only your book itself, but the book’s sales page, too. But you still have far more control over the sales process if you sell on your own site. On your own site, you can see who’s buying, information that might help you make decisions on what to create and how to sell in the future. On Amazon, you have to make do with their limited metrics. On your own site, you can collect buyer’s email addresses and funnel them directly onto your newsletter list, then use those emails to offer another related product or other information that might turn that reader into a loyal fan. With Amazon, you don’t get access to any buyer information, so you have to hope readers will notice a inside your ebook and take the time to sign up for your list. I love being able to get my hands dirty in buyer details and metrics and use that information to improve my business. But if you’re not that kind of geek and would prefer to spend your time writing, Amazon might be a better choice for you. (Although I’ll caution that as we discussed above, you’ll need to learn how to market your work to succeed on Amazon.) Questions to help you decide In summary, if you’re trying to choose where to sell your ebooks, here’s what you should think about: 1. What type of ebooks do you write? • Fiction or memoir: Amazon might be the better choice for you, though it depends on other answers below • How-to, informational guides: Sell ’em on your own site, and set the price high! Can you build your own loyal community of readers and buyers? • Yes: Consider selling on your own site, though you’d likely find success on Amazon, too • No: Sell on Amazon. And start growing your community now, because you’ll still need it! Do you understand the technical side of how to run a blog? • Yes: Consider selling on your own site, depending on your other answers here • No: Might be better off with Amazon (or hire someone to set up an online store for you) 4. Do you care about autonomy? • Yes: Sell from your own real estate, where you have complete control • No: Don’t worry about handing everything over to the giant! As you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m a fan of selling on my own site because it’s more lucrative for my advice-heavy ebooks and I appreciate the autonomy. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t wade deeper into Amazon waters for other types of ebooks or to gain access to a wider audience. There’s one other option here: You could sell both on your own site and Amazon. Amazon has some rules about when you can sell your work elsewhere, but so long as you adhere to those, you could give your community several options for getting their hands on your books. The pro here is you’ll earn more money for any books you sell from your own site, because you get to keep all the profits. The con is that Amazon’s referral engine works best when you send as much traffic and buys to it as possible, so encouraging some readers to buy from your site might hurt your book’s Amazon rankings in the long run, which means less reach on that channel. Self-publishing success stories So you can see these points in action, here are a few self-published authors who are doing well selling books, either on their own site or via Amazon. You’ll notice that in every case, the author has made an effort to market their work via a blog and online community. Steve Scott: I mention him first because not only has he been successful selling ebooks on Amazon, he shares lessons for doing so, as well as insightful income reports. His advice is highly valuable. Ali Luke: She sells high-quality informational ebooks on her own site, including a guide to. Her ebooks usually sell for $29 each, but it looks like they’re on sale while she’s on maternity leave. Chris Guillebeau: He offers a number of guides on his own site, including the. His guides typically come with additional resources as well, which allows him to use a tiered pricing structure — a smart move for the reasons. James Chartrand: This writer offers a number of ebooks through her own site, including one called. Joanna Penn: She used to rely on a hybrid model, selling some ebooks through her website and others on Amazon. Now it looks like she’s as she transitions to writing fiction. Joanna’s site is a wealth of information on how to market your work and grow an online community. Update: Joanna got in touch to say she’s multi-platform (also sells on other platforms besides Amazon), but is no longer selling direct in part because of the new, which affects online entrepreneurs. Kim Dinan: I haven’t read her ebook on, but I thought it was cool that this travel writer makes it available both on her own website and on Amazon. My ebooks: You can browse the. You’ll notice that while most of my ebooks are available only through my website, You Deserve to Love Your Job is exclusively on Amazon. Hungry for more information? If you want to create and sell your first ebook through your own website, I offer a free webinar on that topic.. Great post, Alexis. I chose to self-publish my novels via Amazon (and Smashwords) and sell my nonfiction writing book via both Amazon AND my own website. I’m hopeful that, as you said, the more my website is visited the more sales I will make via the site itself. I use Gumroad and LOVE it, despite the higher fees. Formatting an ebook can be so easily outsourced to a responsible professional who knows what they are doing (and saves the author lots of nervously nibbled fingernails or pulled out hair) and book covers can be found for a good rate, too. Did you find with nonfiction books that when you hit a certain number sales tended to go up more quickly? I know with fiction the magic number seems to be five (according to Joanna Penn and others). I wonder if it’s the same with nonfiction–having that magic number. You brought up some fantastic points in this post, and they all explain why I plan to sell my info book through my site instead of the almighty Amazon. But as much as I love your ideas here, there’s one thing I just can’t let go: You said that our “brain, experience, and guidance” are all “worth more than a story.” No offense, but I think you’re wrong. Fiction authors are trapped in a lower-priced selling model, I’ll give you that, but it doesn’t mean that the stories they create are worth less than an info product. In many cases they’re even worth more. A fiction writer DOES put their brain, experience, and guidance into their work—they just do so in a different format. A good story is a vehicle for delivering truth and practical life lessons in a way that’s much more fun and easily digestible than just another “self-help how-to” guide. The power of a story extends far beyond that of an info book. And—dare I say it—I’m willing to bet most fiction authors put twice as many hours into their books as info book authors, especially when you consider that many fiction authors also have education and experiences that informs their writing. From a purely numbers-based standpoint, you’re right: info books can sell at a much higher price point than a novel. But to say that an info book is worth more than a story is dead wrong. *Steps off soap box.* Anyway, this WAS a great post overall... I just couldn’t let that comment slide. ? Ashley Brooks recently posted. I don’t think self-publishing should be a question of either on your site or Amazon; the two can co-exist. Most people are successful on Amazon because they have a funnel, whether that’s a fiction series or a non-fiction book that leads readers to your site for other services. (And I think “ebooks” sold on sites tend to hold way more multimedia and interactive activities than ebooks you download to your ereader. So a book on Amazon could easily be a pared down version of the ebook on your site, and a good CTA in the back of your ebook could lead your Amazon readers to your site for more info.) And as long as you don’t go KDP Select, you can (and probably should) put your book in other stores, like Kobo (for international readers, since Amazon really only dominates the US/UK market) or Apple (who, I’ve heard, also has a great search engine). Amazon does have the majority of the market, but they’re not the only players. If you use Scrivener to write your ebook, you shouldn’t have to outsource formatting for Kindle. With the compile option, it’s super easy. Javier Quinones. I think you’re a great example of someone who makes selling on her own site work. Your site is very appealing and chock full of very useful info. I happened upon your site a few weeks ago when looking for the type of info you offer in one of your books. I read a couple of your blog posts and was convinced right then and there that your book would be worth my money. I think one has to assume that on a personal site the testimonials displayed aren’t going to include any lukewarm ones, which is an area where Amazon wins. But honestly, it was the rest of your site that convinced me. I don’t know if reviews would have made a difference when really all I care about is that the info you offer will be relevant to ME. Your post ensured me I made the right decision to have my own website. My website is not yet operational but in the works in sandbox environment. I just found out I couldn’t get a PayPal Payments Standard account. That means I can’t offer my buyers of my ebook (geared toward Chinese buyers) the choice of paying by credit card through PayPal if they did not want to pay with a PayPal account. My ebook’s price is $49. I thought of perhaps re-directing buyers using credit cards to Gumroad but they probably don’t have their website available in Chinese. Maybe I can still do well enough with just Chinese using their PayPal account and later qualify to have PayPal Standard. Andrew Drury. Is it possible to sell your first eBook on Amazon and then sell any follow ups on your own website? – I am writing a series of how to books on all my crafts, I am also writing a series of Adventure stories for children, working on a five year plan. I need all the help and advice I can get as I am completely self taught in all I do, I never even attended regular school. I am taking a mentor ship course at the moment with a leading publisher to help with my spelling and grammar. Hopefully next year I will be Ready to release something, I do not have a lot of money, So I am soaking up all the free help I can get. Thank you for that which has been given here. Hi Misty I’m just starting out. It seems to me that to sell from your own site you need to steer your own traffic to that site. So if you had a link at the end of your how to books (sold on Amazon) to point readers to your site then those who liked your book would follow that link. But then you’re only getting a percentage of your Amazon readers finding your site. Maybe sell your series of how to books on Amazon but link to your site for the ‘plus’ projects that are fun and appealing – these would be thin books with a big margin of profit. As for the series of adventures, I hate reading one book then finding out the sequel is five times the price. But if the sequels were on your site, a little thinner but same price, you would still take the higher profit. Same thing put your site at the end of your ebook. That’s your free advice From someone with no credentials! Ryan BigPictureSmallSteps.com. I joined a publishing start up in China by the name of Fiberead. They handle everything including translation, promotion, listing on all the various sites, keep check of of sales and for free ( the royalty split heavily in their favour ) It can be a bit of a slow burner from uploading your original manuscript through to the final translation being completed but you will get there in the end, it was an overall quicker process on my 2nd book that I uploaded compared to the 1st attempt. The royalty split is normally 70/30 in their favour, but I think I would have never sold any books in China without their help so in my humble opinion, 30% is better than zero”¦ Shane. Hi Alexis, Great article, but I had a question about something you wrote: “When I sell an ebook on AlexisGrant.com, I keep almost 100 percent. My expenses are minimal: I pay $5 to e-junkie each month to deliver my ebooks “” and yes, that’s a static fee no matter how many ebooks I sell “” and 2.9 percent plus 30 cents for each transaction to PayPal for collecting the funds” Why do you use e-junkie as well as Paypal? I have very limited exposure to either so please correct me if I’m wrong or missing something, but having both seems redundant. Don’t they both provide shopping cart services? So you would need one or other other, not both? There’s no one. We do work sample tests and ask structured interview questions. Do I need a computer science degree to be a Google software engineer. Book information and reviews for ISBN:,How Does Earth Work? Physical Geology And The Process Of Science (2nd Edition) by Gary Smith. Showing all editions for 'How does Earth work?: physical geology and the process of science' Sort. Buy the e-Study Guide for: How Does Earth Work: Physical Geology and the Process of Science by Smith. EBookMall is a recognized leader in eBooks. With its unconventional yet highly effective approach, How Does Earth Work? Demonstrates the process of science as a vehicle for investigating physical geology. Smith and Pun connect readers to the evidence behind the facts, instead of reproducing known facts—sparking interest in how science is practiced and how we know what we know. Like geology detectives, readers learn to think through the scientific process and uncover evidence that explains Earth’s mysteries. Chapters open with an essay that places a curious investigator in a realistic field or lab setting to observe and ask questions about geological phenomena. Integrated real-world connections link topics to issues of societal concern or relevant experience to increase appreciation of the value of discovering science; and annotated illustrations with thoughtful descriptions help readers observe the hypotheses presented. Why Study Earth? With its unconventional yet highly effective approach, How Does Earth Work? Demonstrates the process of science as a vehicle for investigating physical geology. Smith and Pun connect readers to the evidence behind the facts, instead of reproducing known facts—sparking interest in how science is practiced and how we know what we know. Like geology detectives, readers learn to think through the scientific process and uncover evidence that explains Earth’s mysteries. Chapters open with an essay that places a curious investigator in a realistic field or lab setting to observe and ask questions about geological phenomena. Integrated real-world connections link topics to issues of societal concern or relevant experience to increase appreciation of the value of discovering science; and annotated illustrations with thoughtful descriptions help readers observe the hypotheses presented. Why Study Earth? ![]() ![]() |
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