You already know it is possible that your music career can be in your hands. Of course, it is a given that an artist with information is an artist with a future, yes it will not be dependent on anyone else. I assume that you are already experienced enough to not need hype like this coming at you from people trying to sell their books. If you are an independent artist, I don't have to tell you that you don't want your career hooked into a record label or an big industry, or pushy agents who have no idea what your best interests really are. You are smart enough to know that your music has to be up to standards and you don't have to be told that it has to be deserving of an audience, you know this already and you already know you can find an online audience for anything.

I don't have to tell you that knowledge is necessary or tell you how to promote your music successfully online. You can get this information from any of the big hype sites that push books on how to promote and distribute your music online. Nor do you need me to tell you how straight shooting this book is or how to get your music out there without wasting your time on bad leads. These are all givens.

I will only tell you that I am a musician and sure I want you to buy my book but I am not into hype, you will buy the book or not. You will want the information or not. I will never push it on anyone because I am too busy singing online and making money to be bothered selling you on the concept.

I wrote the book basically for me, I had written many songs and someone told me might be a good author and since there are no other books on the subject of live online performing, I thought it might be a good experience for me to write everything I know about my live online singing career down for others, just in case it might be of interest to others that might want to do the same thing. There is no need for me to tell you that singing live online utilizes this great avenue for promotional purposes. After taking the time away from my career online I am happy to get back to performing, my time is better spent singing live to people all around the world from my own home now, so to spend my time promoting this and convincing you to buy it would only take me away from what I love to do, which is to perform.

So I won't tell you that this book is a great gift idea or that it is a good read or that it is a must to read or that it is the best musicians handbook on the net. It is simply my experience, it is the guidelines that I have used for my online music business. You might get something out of what I have written, I don't really know. You might be able to use some of the tips and tricks and knowledge that I have shared, put some of the inside information about my live online music career to good use for your own career. I am not the one that can answer this.

I can't tell you that my book has been largely publicized or had big book summeries written on it or had top critics give their approval nor does it need all that. It's simple, I wrote this book from a musician point of view, about working from home, in my own studio. It's about not losing what I love about music, finding a way to balance career and home life without sacrificing either. I don't have to lower myself to grovelling to agents, or record companies or tell lies just to market my music or my book.

The truth is, I simply love singing on the internet, I am a singer, songwriter, author, I play guitar and perform through my computer to a world wide audience, what could be more simple or peaceful than that and I am making money doing what I love to do at home. I tell the truth in my book because I don't believe in leading anyone down a wrong path. I write like a musician, I write for musicians, I know that musicians just want their music to be heard, I understand what artists go through and what makes us tick as artists. It's from a musicians point of view not someone who thinks they know something about music. Thats about as much hype as I have in my bag of tricks for you. I believe that music is a gift but every musician wants to make money doing it.

I don't have to tell you how many people listen to music online. Millions of internet goers, music lovers, musicians, sell and buy music, books, guitars, cds, mp3s, sheet music, music equipment, how to books, they buy promotional resource books, music gifts, friends and family buy christmas gifts online for themselves, for musicians or loved ones. They buy and sell and market to music lovers and musicians. There are books, Cds, mp3s, audio tapes on every subject going, on how to make money online, promote, get your music heard, get your music out there, how to market with little or no money, for starving musicians, books for every age, recording software, computer geeks coming up with ways for the musicians to step out on their own and make their own cds to promote online and off. The self starter, the do it yourself books, the books for dummies and so on all are at our disposal. I know you don't need another book like that and that is why I didn't write one like that. You know there are too many websites on subjects that suck you in and make you think you will be one of a kind, they hype their wares, their merchandise, their books and give you false hope, that take you down empty roads. You don't have to be told about the scams and the shrewd deals online or in the real world but of course I won't tell you that this is not what my book is about because you wouldn't believe me anyway. I can only tell you what I am not about, I am not about telling you this is easy, or hyping it to sell you on it. This is my book on my music career, a music career performing live online, that's it in a nutshell.

I don't have to tell you that musicians perform concerts, book concerts, have booking agents, sell tickets, sell their music and their souls to be heard. They spend years honing their art and most chose their careers with the hope of someday becoming a star. I won't lie, live online performing is not all that popular, however music online is popular, you know how popular it is. You also know how hard it is to get your music noticed online when selling your cds or mp3s.

Sure there are many books on how to market your music, get heard in the real world and there are millions of musicians reading and buying those music marketing books and using those promotional tools and there is nothing wrong with that, they are probably very good books and likely very informative. With that said however, I had to ask myself this question, if everyone uses the same method, how does that make a musician stand out from all the rest, in the marketing and the promotional department? If musicians spend that amount of time just getting noticed, that much time promoting and selling, when does that muscian have time to be a musician, wouldn't that musician become an online marketer rather than doing what a musician does best. Is there not better ways to get publicity and attention than a musician turning into an online marketer? Is there better ways to promote an independent music career? Is there a way to get out of selling and back to performing music, singing live to audiences?

Of course we know all careers in music can vary, it all depends on what you want to make of it, how creative you want to be and what your personal situation can handle. I will not tell you that a career in performing live music online is for all musicians because it probably isn't. All I know is that singing live on the internet works for this musician, it might work for others too but I am not in any position to say so. Working from home works for me, I don't like lugging equipment, fighting drunks in bars or playing on crappy stages with poor sound. You know what you want with your music, no one has to tell you what to buy or what to read or what direction you have to go in. You are an independent musician or artist and I don't, won't tell you to buy this book but I can ask you to consider buying it, perhaps only for the fun of finding out what the hell I am talking about and perhaps for the fun of having my book as good conversation material for your company when they drop by and you have nothing else to talk about. *grin* or perhaps for the loo when you are sick of reading that 1999 edition of Readers Digest. Ask for it at your local bookstore, school or public library.