

The Rolling Stones as far as I’m aware are still touring. The sixties were not ruff collars and Elizabethan England. ‘Can you imagine arriving back on a time machine in the 60’s with the quick, ready banter from the 21 st century while everyone’s still laughing at a pie in the face?’ ‘…To use piss-taking humour to bring to the fore situations that don’t stack up.’ ‘Oh, the banter,’ as comedian Ford Kiernan as Jack in Still Game is apt to say, before raise his eyebrows to signal dramatic irony to the camera. Jane Austen get your tits out for the boys. I’d be inclined to follow humourist like Twain and his suggestion: ‘Any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen.’ Take him or leave him, Karl Wiggins is the equivalent of Bernard Manning talking about those coloured chaps with big lips is all he asks. She published her work anonymously and little is known about her life. What advice would the budding Socrates give Jane Austen, for example? No Facebook page or profile. ‘Publishing is easy, but you need to get your name out there.’ The line between selling books and self-aggrandisement, where does it begin or end? Karl Wiggins tells the reader he is no Mark Twain, but he also tells us several times he has been compared to Socrates and Bukowski. ‘…Best not to read this book on the train if you have a full bladder.’ ‘…Due to the laughter you owe my secretary one pair of knickers.’ ‘…you will have a damp patch in an embarrassing place.’ ‘…Anyone who …doesn’t mind peeing slightly when they laugh too hard…’ Someone is falling over and pissing themselves laughing. The problem with Karl Wiggins is Karl Wiggins.Ī typical blurb features in the same format several times. And he is generous in the praise of other self-published authors.

He has gained the experience necessary to give aspiring authors such as myself advice. Karl Wiggins has according to Amazon listings self-published seven books. Linda Cresswell and Denise Marr and the chief executive of ABCtales Tony Cook also get air-kissed.

Joe Lawrence and East End Butcher Boy is mentioned, which is a terrific book. I was familiar with some of the names featured.

I dutifully followed all the links to some impressive Amazon sites that featured self-published authors have set up to sell their novels. This book cost less than a pint of beer and more importantly I spent about five hours reading it. I’m not sure why Self-Publishing should have an exclamation mark! But I’m not going to argue with an exclamation mark.
