Iowa Writers' Workshop grad. Order my novel HERON RIVER at your local bookstore. Contact me for editing your novel, stories, or memoir: [email protected].
Ancaster, ON
Joined December 2011
- Tweets21.7K
- Following108
- Followers506
- Likes9K
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
Mailed a copy of the book to every #downsyndrome organization in Canada this morning. #thytendercare #caregiving @Herald_Press
I've received a number of these sales pitches as well. The first question I ask, when they praise my last novel, is whether they have read it. Of course they have not. They simply quote some copy from the back cover.
A Message to Fellow Authors, Followers, and Those Offering Promotional Services
I'm going to be blunt because, quite frankly, I'm tired of it.
I genuinely do not appreciate people who follow me on X, send friend requests on Facebook, or connect with me through other social media platforms only to immediately send unsolicited messages disguised as genuine interest.
You know exactly the messages I'm talking about. The ones asking what inspired me to become an author, what genre I write, or how my writing journey began. Then, after a little back-and-forth, comes the inevitable sales pitch for book marketing, promotions, reviews, or some other service I never asked for.
And my personal favorite? Someone messages me about how wonderful one of my books is, proceeds to explain what makes it so great, and then offers to help me improve its visibility. The problem? They haven't even read the damn book. They've simply skimmed the description and turned it into a sales pitch.
Please, spare me.
Let me make something perfectly clear: I am an INDEPENDENT AUTHOR, and I intend to remain one.
Why? Because I don't have the luxury of throwing money at promotional services that promise the world and often deliver absolutely nothing. I've been down that road. I've paid for services, listened to guarantees, and watched those promises lead precisely nowhere. I'm not interested in repeating that experience.
I work a full-time job. I write my books. I manage my website. I handle my own promotions. I do my best to connect with readers and support other independent authors when I can. Is it exhausting? Absolutely. But it's my choice, and I'm perfectly fine with it.
If you follow me because you enjoy my books, appreciate my writing, want to have a genuine conversation, or simply want to support another author, you're always welcome. That's what social media connections should be about.
What I don't appreciate is someone sending me a message at 3 a.m. asking what inspired me to start writing, only to eventually reveal that they're trying to sell me something. Seriously? Do you honestly believe that approach isn't painfully obvious?
I follow fellow authors because I enjoy seeing their work, learning from their experiences, supporting their accomplishments, and occasionally sharing helpful advice. I don't follow someone just to invade their inbox with meaningless questions that eventually turn into a sales pitch.
Not every independent author is looking to become someone's next paying customer.
Some of us are simply trying to write good books, reach genuine readers, and enjoy the process without constantly being targeted by people pretending to care about our work.
So, to those who use fake compliments, scripted conversations, and manufactured interest to sell promotional services: Please stop. You're wasting your time and mine.
And to the genuine readers, fellow authors, and supporters who are here because they actually want to be here, I appreciate you more than you know.
Respect the author. Respect their time. And above all, stop confusing genuine connections with potential sales opportunities.
โ S.K. Ballinger
Independent Author
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
A rabbi's response to our President calling Jews "lacking knowledge and disloyal" if they vote Democratic:
Rabbi Danny Maseng writes:
As a Jew
Since you called me out as a Jew, Mr. President, since you thought to call me disloyal or lacking knowledge by not voting for you, Iโd like to respond to you personally, even though I have no illusions you will read this.
As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to love the stranger who dwells among us no less than thirty-six times in the Bible you claim to treasure. I am commanded to have one law for the stranger and the citizen. No exceptions.
As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to pay my employees on time, including undocumented workers at casinos, construction sites, or golf courses.
As a Jew, I am commanded to repay bank loans and investors.
As a Jew, I am commanded to never bear false witness.
As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to guard my tongue and speak no evil.
As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to never embarrass my fellow human being in public, lest I be accused of spilling their blood โ including Ted Cruz or the late Senator and war hero, John McCain.
As a Jew, Mr. President, I take great offense in my president attacking Denmark, a country that gallantly saved its Jews from the Nazis, while most of Europe fell asleep.
As a Jew, Mr. President, I take umbrage in my Grandfather, the sainted Dr. Rabbi Harry S. Davidowitz, who inhaled poison gas in the trenches of WWI as a US Army chaplain, being called disloyal because he voted Democrat.
As a Jew, born and raised in Israel, I take offense at you calling me disloyal to America AND to Israel because I oppose your inept, ghoulish, uncouth, deceitful, inhumane farce of leadership. How many tours of duty have you performed for Israel during wartime? Or, for that sake, the USA?
As a Jew, Mr. President, I reserve the right to oppose Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (neither of whom called upon the help of a former KGB operative to help them in their election to office), while simultaneously condemning your divisive, racist rants and policies.
As a Jew who has proud Republican family members who I love and cherish, I am ashamed of what you have done to the Republican party; to conservative ideals โ even if I do not share all of those ideals.
As a Jew whose Christian uncle fought heroically at the Battle of the Bulge for our country and for the salvation of Europe โ I am ashamed by the mockery you visit upon his sacrifice.
As the son of a Christian pilot, later converted to Judaism, who led American pilots to glorious victory over Nazi Germany, I am outraged by your embrace of neo-Naziโs and racists in America (that same pilot, who became a squadron commander in the Israeli Air Force, and fought for Israelโs independence).
As a Jew, I am disgraced by your fawning adoration of the worst dictators of our century โ you violate Christian and Jewish values by doing so.
As a Jew; as a well-informed Jew who loves and cares deeply for Israel and for America, I condemn you and call you out for the divisive fool, the ogre, the ghoul that you are.
May my soul not enter your council, let me not join your assembly.
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
Good news in the book industry:
-Sales of print books have increased nearly 25% from a decade ago
-Number of independent bookstores in the US has increased 75% since 2020
-Global book market is expected to grow 5% annually for the next several years
newyorker.com/magazine/2026/โฆ
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
President Donald Trump lost his temper after The Independent's White House Correspondent Andrew Feinberg questioned him on his new anti-fraud program on Tuesday (20 October).
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
As an 18-year-old this passage from C.S. Lewis completely blew up my agnosticism. I remember exactly where I was when I read it for the first time.
I wood add American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
Thriller lovers rejoice! The New York Times recently polled nearly 300 crime novelists, editors, booksellers, librarians, and other book lovers to compile its list of the Best Thrillers of the 21st Century. If you love spine-tingling whodunnits and psychological horrors, consider these picks required reading! penguinrandomhouse.com/the-rโฆ
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
ูุงุฏูุฉ ูู ู
ูุฑุฌุงู ุฃูุชูุจุฑ ุจุฃูู
ุงููุง ุชุฎูุทู ุงูุฃูุธุงุฑ ุจุนุฏ ุญู
ููุง 13 ูุฃุณูุง ู
ู ุงูุจููุฑุฉ ุฏูุนุฉ ูุงุญุฏุฉ ูุชุญูู ุฃูุซุฑ ู
ู 42 ู
ูููู ู
ุดุงูุฏุฉ ุนูู ุชูู ุชูู๐ฅ
Scriptoria offersย workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. scriptoriaworkshop.org/home
It'll be held June 21-25, 2027 in the stunning Freswick Castle in the Scottish Highlands!
freswickcastle.com/
I'll be leading the fiction workshop. I hope to see you in bonnie Scotland!
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
Congratulations to Anne Carson on receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature. A poet, essayist, and translator, she has reimagined the classics with wit, imagination, and a style all her own. Canada is proud to celebrate this extraordinary achievement. pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/โฆ
ALT Anne Carson at the 2024 National Book Awards finalist reading in the NYU Skirball Center. Photo by Jay Dixit used under CC BY-SA 4.0
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
"Girl with a Pearl Earring"
Delft, circa 1665. Johannes Vermeer painted a portrait with no name, no known history, and no specific patron. She is simply a girl. Just a moment captured as she turns her head.
To this day, we still do not know who she is. Dozens of theories have been put forward: the artistโs daughter, Maria; a maid; an anonymous model; or perhaps no one in particularโmerely a *tronie* (a study of a face), a type of painting produced by the hundreds in the Netherlands.
Yet, it is she who has endured above all others.
And so, to this day, people still queue for hours in The Hague just to gaze at her.
For she looks at you as if she recognizes you.
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
On October 7, 1919, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, better known today as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, was founded in The Hague, Netherlands, marking a defining milestone in aviation history.
Over a century later, @KLM holds the remarkable distinction of being the world's oldest airline still operating under its original name. From its early days pioneering commercial flights across Europe to connecting global networks today, the airline's enduring legacy highlights both the rapid evolution of air transport and the lasting strength of heritage in modern business.
#KLM #sarinlaw
Hugh Cook ๐จ๐ฆ retweeted
Maybe it's the algorithms or something, but I'd have thought that BookNotes column reviewing almost 20 memoirs would have gotten more attention. Anybody out there notice it? heartsandmindsbooks.com/2026โฆ
Notice how many posts we're seeing just like this one? Exactly the same format. All fake.
The HOA threatened to fine my uncle for building an eight-foot fence, so he agreed to remove it.
What they didnโt realize was that he had already found a way to make them regret forcing him to take it down.
My uncle has always been an extremely private person. He rarely talks about his personal life and prefers to keep to himself. So when an incredibly nosy couple moved in next door, he quickly realized that the flimsy four-foot fence he had originally installed for his dog wasnโt going to give him any privacy.
The couple constantly looked over the fence into his backyard.
One afternoon, I asked him about it.
Me: Are your new neighbors really that nosy?
Uncle: You have no idea.
Me: What are they doing?
Uncle: Watching everything I do in my backyard.
Me: Seriously?
Uncle: Yesterday, they commented on what I was having for lunch.
Me: Okay, thatโs creepy.
Uncle: Exactly.
So my uncle decided to solve the problem.
He hired a fence company and had an eight-foot privacy fence installed around his backyard.
A few days later, the HOA came knocking.
HOA Representative: Your new fence violates HOA regulations.
Uncle: Which regulation?
HOA Representative: Fences cannot exceed six feet.
Uncle: I wasnโt aware of that.
HOA Representative: Youโre required to remove it immediately or youโll begin receiving fines.
Uncle: Understood.
HOA Representative: You canโt simply ignore HOA rules.
Uncle: Iโm not ignoring them.
HOA Representative: Good.
Uncle: Iโll have the fence removed.
The HOA representative seemed satisfied.
My uncle didnโt argue.
He simply called the fence company.
Uncle: I need you to remove the fence you installed last week.
Fence Company: Is there something wrong with the fence?
Beauty!
New big bowl in tornado sky and Mediterranean blue. Happy October, friends.๐๐ฉต๐๐ #pottery
I'm reminded of what Mark Twain said in The Innocents Abroad about this: โ...isn't this relic matter a little overdone? We find a piece of the true cross in every old church we go into, and some of the nails that held it together. I would not like to be positive, but I think
