June 10, 2016
Gary’s Guide to Life
How I Am Going to Achieve Phenomenal Success, and How You Can Do the Same
Additional Info for Reviewers & Staff
We published "Gary's Guide to Life" as an e-book through Amazon, Kobo, and (via Draft2Digital) Apple and B&N and some other channels. Additionally we published the paperback edition via Createspace. We chose the indie route so as to retain a maximum of control over the destiny of the book; we felt that going with a traditional publisher was an unattractive proposition given the low royalty percentages and obligation to surrender our rights to the book.
We passed the book to a number of beta readers, went through their feedback and made amendments where we felt it was necessary, and then paid a professional copy editor (Richard Sheehan) to copy-edit the manuscript.
Hi Lynne, I've chosen you because you appear to be a discerning individual with a well-developed sense of humour. My co-author and I have written a book featuring a self-deluded but endearing protagonist, a book which we hope is funny, indeed laugh-out-loud funny - but a book, also, that tells an engrossing story and has (I'd say) some real substance to it.
Amazon e-book: $5.14
Amazon hard copy: $14.95
Editing, Production, Marketing & Sales
Scheduled for review – the information below will be filled out slowly. It will not be visible to the public until it is published on our magazine.
Gary Speedwell is nothing if not a man of action. He has a plan to become wealthy and successful–modeled after his hero, the self-help guru Marshall Brewster: he’s writing a book “unveiling the strategies that are going to lift him out of ordinariness and set him – and you – on course for phenomenal success.” Although that sounds utterly ridiculous, in this day and age of nobodies being famous for being famous, why not? Forget the conventional wisdom that one should be successful in order to write a book about becoming successful, just put that cart before the horse.
And Gary does–with gusto. The reader will cringe as Gary, with complete naiveté and total belief in himself, pursues his dream. At the start, Gary tells his readers that, “If you pay close attention to what I’m going to teach you, and put into practice what you’ve learned, then, before you know it, success will be within your grasp–every bit as much as it is within mine.” It doesn’t take long for the reader to realize that’s not a promise so much as a warning. With an ex-wife seeking for “closure,” a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend (and mother of his son, Jack) seeking to give him a wake-up call, and a landlord seeking the rent, all in hot pursuit, Gary forges ahead, writing with soul-baring candor and cringe-inducing honesty about his plan and the obstacles he has to continuously overcome.
Perhaps the greatest appeal in Gary’s determined and wholehearted belief his dream is within his grasp (despite all evidence to the contrary) is how close his wisdom-turned-upside-down comes to what goes on in the real world. We all know a Gary. Many of us have been a Gary, although few with such aplomb. Whether he’s pursuing the right woman (a successful man needs a successful, powerful woman, of course, and so Gary is determined to hook up with his boss, Louise, and spends many working hours attempting to woo her, rather than, you know, actually work), or attempting to manipulate his landlord into forgetting about that pesky rent that’s past-due, Gary is always 100% convinced that he has succeeded. Until his failure turns around and slaps him upside the head. Even then, we can’t help but hope Gary finds his way back to what his anecdotes and tangents make perfectly clear to everyone (except Gary and his mother) is the path to success for him.
Hilarious in its complete embrace of faith-over-substance approach to success and wealth, Gary’s Guide to Life will have readers cringing and laughing at this witty sendup of the Self-Help aisle. If you’re a fan of Dr. Phil types and take your self-help gurus seriously, you might not appreciate this rollicking satire. For everyone else, you’ll want to step in and give Gary a good shake for being so very blind to what’s blatantly obvious to the reader, but you’ll also root for him to succeed at being successful because he is so endearingly naive.
The Rundown
Gary Speedwell is nothing if not a man of action. He has a plan to become wealthy and successful–modeled after his hero, the self-help guru Marshall Brewster: he’s writing a book “unveiling the strategies that are going to lift him out of ordinariness and set him – and you – on course for phenomenal success.” Although that sounds utterly ridiculous, in this day and age of nobodies being famous for being famous, why not? Forget the conventional wisdom that one should be successful in order to write a book about becoming successful, just put that cart before the horse.
And Gary does–with gusto. The reader will cringe as Gary, with complete naiveté and total belief in himself, pursues his dream. At the start, Gary tells his readers that, “If you pay close attention to what I’m going to teach you, and put into practice what you’ve learned, then, before you know it, success will be within your grasp–every bit as much as it is within mine.” It doesn’t take long for the reader to realize that’s not a promise so much as a warning. With an ex-wife seeking for “closure,” a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend (and mother of his son, Jack) seeking to give him a wake-up call, and a landlord seeking the rent, all in hot pursuit, Gary forges ahead, writing with soul-baring candor and cringe-inducing honesty about his plan and the obstacles he has to continuously overcome.
Perhaps the greatest appeal in Gary’s determined and wholehearted belief his dream is within his grasp (despite all evidence to the contrary) is how close his wisdom-turned-upside-down comes to what goes on in the real world. We all know a Gary. Many of us have been a Gary, although few with such aplomb. Whether he’s pursuing the right woman (a successful man needs a successful, powerful woman, of course, and so Gary is determined to hook up with his boss, Louise, and spends many working hours attempting to woo her, rather than, you know, actually work), or attempting to manipulate his landlord into forgetting about that pesky rent that’s past-due, Gary is always 100% convinced that he has succeeded. Until his failure turns around and slaps him upside the head. Even then, we can’t help but hope Gary finds his way back to what his anecdotes and tangents make perfectly clear to everyone (except Gary and his mother) is the path to success for him.
The Recommendation
Hilarious in its complete embrace of faith-over-substance approach to success and wealth, Gary’s Guide to Life will have readers cringing and laughing at this witty sendup of the Self-Help aisle. If you’re a fan of Dr. Phil types and take your self-help gurus seriously, you might not appreciate this rollicking satire. For everyone else, you’ll want to step in and give Gary a good shake for being so very blind to what’s blatantly obvious to the reader, but you’ll also root for him to succeed at being successful because he is so endearingly naive.
The Rating
Top Pick! 5 Stars (out of five): Freaking amazing. Any agent or publishing house that passed this one up made a big mistake. It was selected by our reviewer as a personal favorite. This is also a nomination for our Novel of the Year award.
The Pros & Cons
Pros: Believable, Characterization, Dialogue, Humor, Page TurnerAuthor’s Summary
Gary’s Guide to Life tells the story of Gary Speedwell, who is writing what he is convinced will be a best-selling self-help book despite his own conspicuous lack of success.
Most people would give anything to be as successful as Gary imagines he’s going to be. In his book, Gary aims to put that dream within your reach by unveiling the strategies that are going to lift him out of ordinariness and set him – and you – on course for phenomenal success.
Conventional wisdom holds that only people who have attained some measure of success are qualified to write self-help books, but Gary begs to differ. Brimming with self-belief despite mounting debt, tricky personal relationships and a life seemingly spiralling out of control, Gary is a self-help expert like no other.
Short Description
Gary is writing what he is convinced will be a best-selling self-help book, despite his own conspicuous lack of success.
Catchphrase
Self-help from a virtuoso of self-delusionYou might also like...
Contact Us Visit the original Underground
Quality reviews of independent literature from 2011 - 2018
Quality reviews of independent literature from 2011 - 2018