The Long Way Home by Paul K Saunders
A book and an album, written together

The Long
Way Home

Sixteen truths about building a music career that lasts.

The rules have changed. The gatekeepers have changed. The money has changed. But one thing hasn't: music still matters, people still matter, and the long way still works. Sixteen chapters from something close to forty years inside the business — and sixteen songs, performed by Storm & Star, written to carry the same road.

Get All Three — $30 The Collectible Card
$30All three
$5Ebook
$15Paperback
$20Album card

Three things to take home

Read it. Hold it. Tap it.

The sixteen chapters as an ebook and a printed paperback, and the sixteen songs on a collectible card you tap with your phone. Take all three together, or any one on its own.

The Long Way Home paperback The Long Way Home collectible music card
All three

The book, the paperback and the album

The ebook tonight, the paperback and the card in the post. Everything on this page in one checkout.

  • Ebook, sent by email straight after payment
  • Paperback, printed to order and posted
  • The sixteen-song album on a collectible NFC/QR card
$30$40 bought separately · plus S&H on the paperback and the card
Available soon

Or one at a time

The Long Way Home ebook cover
Ebook

The Long Way Home

Sixteen chapters, part memoir, part manifesto, part roadmap. Read it on a screen tonight.

$5sent by email
Available soon
The Long Way Home paperback
Paperback

The Long Way Home

The same sixteen chapters in print, for the shelf and for lending to the bass player.

$15plus S&H
Available soon
The Long Way Home collectible music card
Album card

Storm & Star

The sixteen-song album on an official TapTunes card. Tap it with your phone to listen and collect.

$20plus S&H
Available soon

Secure checkout · the paperback and the card ship to the US only, each with its own shipping and handling — $5.69 on the paperback, $2.95 on the card, added at checkout · included with every paid tier of the program

The book

My experience can draw you a new road to follow.

The Long Way Home is for every music artist who has ever felt the odds were stacked against them. In sixteen chapters Paul K Saunders shares what he learned as a major-label insider, indie label owner, artist manager, promoter, pirate radio DJ and mentor to thousands of independent artists. This is not a book about overnight success. It is about building something real — on your own terms — with the people who believe in you.

  • The sixteen truths every independent artist needs to know
  • Why the old industry map is broken — and how to build a new one
  • How to turn casual listeners into true fans who support your career
  • Real-world strategies for sustainable income, direct support and ownership
  • The power of small rooms, repeat markets, house concerts and community
  • How technology and AI can work for artists — not replace them
  • How to protect your rights, your music and your future
"Paul K Saunders has lived the entire evolution of the music business. Now he's handing artists the playbook he wishes he had." Artists. Fans. Venues. Believers.
The Long Way Home — back cover The Long Way Home — front cover

Sixteen roads

One chapter, one song. Sixteen times.

The book and the album were never meant to be separate. Each chapter has a song written to carry it, from the first road to the last. Read a chapter, play its song, and you get more out of both than either alone.

  1. I'll Take The Long Way Home
  2. Somebody Else's Road
  3. Waitin' to Be Discovered
  4. Everybody Takes a Cut
  5. A Million Ain't a Living
  6. The Ones Who Stay
  7. Forty People on a Friday Night
  8. I Know Your Name
  9. Don't Build on Rented Land
  10. Pass the Hat
  11. Leave the Light On
  12. A Thousand Strong
  13. This Town Still Sings
  14. Nobody Owns This Song
  15. Take It Back
  16. We're Not Done Yet

Part of the book is memoir — the cardboard box at Decca, the A&R man who taught Paul to listen, one night with Sugar Lime Blue. Where a lesson needed a life to live in, it lives in Jesse: not any one artist, but a career built from patterns Paul has watched play out across dozens of real ones over four decades. The book tells you which is which as it goes.

The Long Way Home official music collectible card — front The back of the card — tap with your phone or scan the QR code to listen and collect
Storm & Star — The Long Way Home album artwork

What the tap opensStorm & Star — The Long Way Home, sixteen songs, plus the stories and exclusives.

The collectible music card

Storm & Star — The Long Way Home

Songs about the people, places and second chances we collect along the way. Sixteen tracks, all written by Paul K Saunders, performed by Storm & Star, on an official TapTunes collectible card — a physical thing you can hold, that opens the whole album when you tap it with your phone.

  • Tap to listenHold the card to the back of your phone and the album opens. No app to install. There is a code on the card if your phone would rather scan than tap.
  • CollectThe card is yours to keep — the music, the stories behind the songs and whatever gets added later stay behind it, ready whenever you tap.
  • Music, stories, exclusivesThe sixteen songs, the story behind each one, and what only card-holders get.
  • A TrueFans CONNECT exclusive on TapTunesMade and posted by TapTunes. Each card is a physical, collectible object, not a download code.

The author

Paul K Saunders

Music marketing maverick. Artist advocate. Road warrior.

Paul K Saunders

Paul has worked at every level of the music industry — a pirate radio voice off the English coast, a teenage A&R runner in Soho, a BBC broadcaster, a festival promoter, an artist manager, an indie label owner — behind the scenes, in the trenches and on the road with the artists, helping build careers, break rules and create communities that last.

His radio years ran from the BBC to KQMT in Denver and nationally syndicated Rock Hall of Fame programming. Off air, he managed artists, ran tours and produced events — the unglamorous machinery that turns talent into a career.

Forty years on the label side also meant forty years of watching artists sign deals that gutted them. That is why this book exists, and why he now works the other side of the table: helping independent artists build the leverage never to need that deal.

He founded New Music Lives and TrueFans CONNECT to give artists the tools, technology and support he always believed they deserved. He lives in Arizona with his wife Katie and their cat Lovejoy.

Major Label Experience Indie Label Owner Artist Manager Tour Manager BBC & US Radio Event Producer

Make the music. Know the people. Own what matters. Keep going.

Questions

The practical bits

How does the ebook arrive?

By email, to the address you give at checkout, straight after payment. If it has not landed within a few minutes, check your spam folder first, then get in touch and it will be re-sent.

Can I get it as a paperback?

Yes — $15 plus shipping and handling on its own, or as part of all three for $30. It is printed to order rather than stacked in a warehouse, then posted to you. For now it ships to US addresses only, and shipping and handling is $5.69. You will get a confirmation when it ships.

Why are there two shipping charges on all three?

Because they come from two places. The paperback is printed to order by Lulu and posted from there; the card is made and posted by TapTunes. Each parcel carries its own shipping and handling — $5.69 for the paperback, $2.95 for the card — shown at checkout before you pay. Both ship to US addresses only for now. The ebook has none — it arrives by email.

Does the card work with my phone?

Any recent iPhone or Android phone with NFC will open the album when you hold the card to it — no app needed. If yours would rather scan than tap, the QR code on the card does the same job.

Who makes and ships the card?

TapTunes, who make the official cards. It is a TrueFans CONNECT exclusive on their platform. Your card is posted to the address you give at checkout — US addresses only for now, with $2.95 shipping and handling.

Can I buy everything together?

Yes, and it is the better deal: the ebook, the paperback and the card together are $30, against $40 one at a time, plus shipping and handling on the two physical items ($5.69 and $2.95, US only). The ebook lands immediately; the paperback and the card follow in the post, separately.

You don't need the whole damn world.

You need your people. Start with the book, then let the songs take you the rest of the way.

Take the Long Way Home