Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained…
According to the Greek historian Plutarch (or maybe Hans Gruber, the villain from the original Die Hard movie from the 1980s), “And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.”
While I may not be Alexander the Great, the famed Greek general who conquered all the known world of his time in the third century B.C., one might wonder if I have any more worlds to conquer with my writing.
When I was staring out with our book, PLAGUE OF CORRUPTION, I had a target. The most popular virus book of the last ten years, Spillover, by David Quammen, (published in 2013) had at the time about 850 Amazon reviews. I remember many a day looking at that book on Amazon, thinking, “If only I could get to 850 Amazon reviews.” Well, I blew by that within about eight weeks of my release in April.
Then I set my sights on Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, published in 1994. It is the all-time best-selling virus book of all time. On Amazon it had about 1,200 Amazon reviews. Well, I blew past The Hot Zone as well. Another world conquered.
For about two years I’ve been listening to the daily Periscope shows of Scott Adams, learning how to become a master persuader. By a strange twist of fate, both of our book were originally scheduled to come out on November 5, 2109. His got published and mine got pushed back to April 14, 2020. I remember thinking, if only my book could match the success of his new book, Loser-Think. As of this writing, Loser-Think has 652 Amazon reviews. Loser-Think soon fell beneath the mighty army of my readers.
Loser-Think was not Scott’s most popular book. That designation belonged to How to Fail at Nearly Everything & Still Win Big, published in 2014. How many times have I heard him talk about how he gets emails about that book every day with people thanking him for writing it? Hundreds?
As of today How to Fail at Nearly Everything & Still Win Big has 2,014 Amazon reviews. Was I bold enough to think I could match that publishing juggernaut? Last week I realized I was close, and so put out a call for those readers who hadn’t yet posted an Amazon review.
The result? PLAGUE OF CORRUPTION now has 2,112 Amazon reviews.
I am now more popular than David Quammen, Richard Preston, and Scott Adams.
Should I now weep as Alexander did when he found he had no more worlds to conquer?
Or should I set myself up for one final conquest?
In addition to the Scott Adams book, another major release was scheduled on the day of what was supposed to be the original release date of PLAGUE OF CORRUPTION. It was Donald Trump, Jr.s book, Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us. That book has 3,605 Amazon reviews.
There’s a chance I may be at the same event as Donald Trump, Jr. in October.
At that time I want to be able to say to him, “Hey, Don, my book’s more popular than your book!”
Is it because I want to be a jerk to him?
No, it’s because when two alpha males square off against each other, that’s what we do. We broadcast our accomplishments. For good measure I might even throw in, “And the video I helped write has more than a BILLION views.”
I expect Don, Jr. to stop, give me that little Trump half-smile, and say, “Yeah, what book?”
And then we’ll start to have a conversation. Because when two alpha males meet, they want to take stock of each other. When Little John knocked Robin Hood off that log, did Robin Hood swear undying vengeance? No, he laughed, invited Little John to join the Merry Men, and made him second in command.
A true alpha male says to himself, “I’m one tough son of a bitch,” and when he meets another just as tough he says, “Wow, together we could be unstoppable. Let’s join forces.”
I tried this approach with Scott Adams, but he acted more like a beta male. He backed down. Now, in his defense, Adams is often like an alpha male, but sometimes he just reminds me of a sophomore.
You know what the Latin translation of sophomore is, don’t you? It means “wise fool.” At some points they are very smart, and at other times they’re very dumb.
How long did we have to listen to Scott talk about how the “Russian collusion hoax” was simply different perspectives, until he wised up and said, “people need to go to jail?” Was it a year? Two years?
Maybe Adams is a year or two away from getting these points. But if I can walk up to Don, Jr. in October and tell him I’ve sold books then he has, I might get an invitation for further talks.
Give me the ammunition I need and I will finish the job.
Opinion by Kent Heckenlively, JD
Be sure to order Kent Heckenlively’s new book with Dr. Judy Mikovits, PLAGUE OF CORRUPTION from Amazon which you can do RIGHT NOW!
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Kent’s book PLAGUE was released by Skyhorse Publishing, in 2014 and is now available in paperback with NEW material.
The book is co-authored with Judy Mikovits PhD. It is an indictment of the “Fake Science” we find so prevalent in the US.
Dear Kent
I am not so keen on one-up-manship. Please unsubscribe my email from your list. I was glad to buy your book Plague of Corruption, though. Keep up the good work.
If you’re such a hot persuader, where is the link to the book and the link to the review?
Being bombastic is, nowadays, a very American trait.
OK, “he” chose to be born in that culture in order to experience, amongst other things, precisely that but that does not make it “wrong”, Alex. The only disfunctional thing is YOUR assertion that his choice to make that experience is inappropriate for his soul development.
Blessed be
Karma Singh
Kent – Apparently some of our readers are not, these days, into seeing the humor in life…
Nor, I guess, do some see the value in friendly competition as in “You, and your army, attack from the left, We will attack from the right. Last ones into the castle buys dinner.”
Kent, considering the sheer enormity of events that have led you onto your present path, there is no way some harmless alpha male behaviour could be objected to.
When you are blocked on one path, you always seem to find another one.
You just don’t give up.
More power to you.
Talk about making your own very distinctive & praiseworthy brand of lemonade from all of those really bitter lemons.
I too was sadden by Scott Adams’ tin ear when you offered him a really noble way of fulfilling his avowed goal of being a high profile victim of cancel culture.
Probably it was a bridge too far leading to a too confronting destination.
Anyway I sincerely hope you are manage to achieve your goal & to ‘live’ up to the aspirations implied by your surname.
Competition. The very essence of the free market capitalist system that build America up from nothing.
Good job.
Want another world to conquer? Try those who are the masters of the pharmaceutical world.
The bankers. They are orders of magnitude richer. They print money from nothing. And they are the true owners of the pharma giants.
Want bigger game? Government itself. The bankers are the great harlot who lends to the kings of the earth. She is a harlot because she seeks protection from the kings of the earth, rather than the king of kings.
Want bigger game? Take on Satan. Even Satan himself will at one time be reduced to “government” and become the beast, which will turn on the harlot to destroy her.