BREAKING NEWS: How John Coltrane Changed My Life - A Jazz Journey is now available on Amazon and for the next five days, you can download, with no charge, that’s right FREE, the Kindle e-book.
An author gives away a Kindle book for free to lower the barrier for readers to try it, which increases the chance they will leave a review. Reviews act as social proof and influence buying decisions far more than descriptions or ads. On Amazon, books with more reviews rank higher in search and recommendation algorithms, which drives visibility and sales.
If you don’t own a Kindle device, you can download the free app to read the book on your phone, table, laptop, desktop or smart glasses.
(I have seen the future and in several years, smart glasses will have replaced smart phones, and men will marry robots.)
Seven months of relentless dedication have brought me to this moment. Day and night, I immersed myself in writing, with only a brief respite during three and a half weeks in April and May when we explored Spain and Morocco. Every other waking hour was consumed by the work itself and the countless tasks that come with self-publishing.
Yesterday marked the global launch of, How John Coltrane Changed My Life - A Jazz Journey. It is now available on Amazon in multiple formats: a Kindle edition with multimedia elements, hardcover, and paperback. A Spanish edition in all three formats will arrive in December, with an audiobook following before year's end.
This marks my return to self-publishing after two decades. My previous book, "How to Make It Big in the New Music Biz," was published twenty years ago in a completely different landscape—before Amazon entered self-publishing and before ebooks existed. The transformation of the publishing world has been remarkable. What once required navigating complex logistics now offers unprecedented creative control and global reach.
The challenges, however, are significant. The literary landscape has shifted dramatically. Considerably fewer people engage with books today, and literature no longer holds the cultural influence it commanded just decades ago. Information and ideas now flow through countless digital channels, fragmenting attention across platforms and formats. Reading habits have adapted to shorter bursts of content, and while dedicated readers persist, they increasingly favor brief, digestible pieces over extended works.
Perhaps most troubling is the cultural shift toward sensationalism and self-absorption, particularly pronounced in the United States. This trend has contributed to a broader intellectual decline and fostered an environment where complex, nuanced subjects—especially those exploring non-mainstream cultural traditions—face resistance or indifference. For a book celebrating the profound artistry of John Coltrane and jazz's transformative power, these currents present real obstacles.
If I had written this book three decades ago, a specialized work would still have faced considerable challenges, but the literary landscape wasn't saturated with sixty million competing titles vying for attention. Today's publishing environment presents entirely different obstacles. The sheer volume of available books, articles, blogs, and digital content creates an overwhelming marketplace where even exceptional works can easily become lost in the noise.
Despite these formidable challenges, I remain undeterred in my conviction. This is not merely about publishing success or commercial recognition—this has become my mission, my calling to champion the transformative power of authentic artistic expression in a world increasingly dominated by hollow spectacle. I am committed to deploying every skill I possess, every talent I have cultivated, and every ounce of creative energy at my disposal to ensure this message reaches those who need to hear it.
This mission places me firmly on the side of what nurtures the human spirit rather than what diminishes it. I stand with Coltrane and all artists who have dedicated themselves to elevating consciousness through their craft, as opposed to the destructive forces that dominate our headlines and inflict suffering upon the world. Where contemporary culture celebrates violence, sensationalism, and the degradation of human dignity, I choose to amplify voices that speak to our highest potential.
While news cycles perpetually cycle through stories of division, hatred, and literal destruction of human life, Coltrane's music represents the opposite impulse—the desire to build, to heal, to transcend the limitations that keep us trapped in cycles of pain and ignorance. His saxophone became an instrument of spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness that would have us believe that meaning is impossible, that beauty is irrelevant, that transcendence is a delusion.
My commitment extends beyond this single book. I will continue to use my voice, my research abilities, my writing skills, and whatever platform I can build to counter the narrative that presents destruction as entertainment and spiritual emptiness as sophistication. Every interview I give, every essay I write, every conversation I engage in becomes an opportunity to redirect attention toward what actually matters—the cultivation of wisdom, beauty, and genuine human connection.
The message within these pages transcends current market dynamics and speaks to something fundamental and enduring. Coltrane matters because he refused the cheap currency of distraction. In an age where sensation eclipses substance and spectacle devours silence, his devotion to sound as spirit offers a counter-script. He taught that practice is prayer, that music is not entertainment but a discipline of the soul, a path to liberation.
To invoke him now is to resist the tabloid mentality that reduces everything to its lowest common denominator. It is to insist that meaning still exists in rigor, that beauty still arises from struggle, and that transcendence remains possible through human effort aligned with divine intention. Coltrane is not nostalgia—he is proof that another order of truth stands against the noise.
This confidence doesn't stem from arrogance but from a deep understanding of the work's value and its potential impact on readers who discover it. I have witnessed firsthand how Coltrane's music can transform consciousness, how engagement with authentic artistic expression can awaken dormant possibilities within people, how the pursuit of transcendent beauty can provide an alternative to the cycles of violence and destruction that dominate our collective attention.
Quality content has a way of finding its audience, even in oversaturated markets. It just takes more time. Word-of-mouth recommendations, genuine reader engagement, and the inherent power of meaningful ideas can cut through the digital clutter more effectively than any marketing campaign. Beyond finding an audience, this work serves a larger purpose—it becomes part of a cultural resistance movement against the forces that would have us believe that nothing sacred remains.
The very challenges that make publishing more difficult today also create opportunities for authentic voices to stand out. In a world filled with superficial content designed merely to capture clicks and views, work that offers genuine substance becomes increasingly valuable to readers hungry for depth and meaning. Those who have grown weary of the endless stream of negativity are actively seeking alternatives that nourish rather than deplete their spirits.
This mission will continue long after this particular book finds its readership. I am prepared to dedicate whatever time remains to me in championing the forces of creation over destruction, meaning over emptiness, love over hatred. Whether through future books, speaking engagements, educational initiatives, or whatever platforms emerge, I will persist in advocating for the values that Coltrane embodied—discipline in service of transcendence, rigor in pursuit of beauty, and unwavering commitment to the belief that human beings are capable of something far greater than the violence and despair that dominate our headlines.
Purchase the Kindle (free until Sunday)
Read a chapter from the book, watch Coltrane videos, listen to rare live recordings, and learn more about the Coltrane Code here.
Can't wait to read this!!
Thanks, Bret. Downloaded your book for my Kindle. ❤️