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 the Book The Collectible Card
$5Ebook
$15Paperback
$20Music Card

Two things to take home

Read it. Hold it. Tap it.

The same sixteen chapters as an ebook or a paperback, and the sixteen songs on a collectible card you tap with your phone. Buy one, or all three — each is its own checkout.

The book

The Long Way Home

Sixteen chapters, part memoir, part manifesto, part roadmap. Read it on a screen tonight, or hold the real thing.

  • Sixteen truths, one per chapter, each with its own song
  • The ebook lands in your inbox straight after payment
  • The paperback is printed when you order it and posted to you
Ebook$5 · sent by email
Available soon
Paperback$15 · plus postage
Available soon
Secure checkout by Stripe
Collectible music card

Storm & Star — The Long Way Home

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

  • All sixteen songs, written by Paul K Saunders
  • Music, stories and exclusives behind the tap
  • A TrueFans CONNECT exclusive, made and shipped by TapTunes
The card$20 · plus postage
Available soon
Secure checkout by Stripe

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 — the sixteen tracks and a note from Storm & Star
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 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.

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.

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.

How long does the paperback take?

It is printed to order rather than stacked in a warehouse, then posted to you. Printing and postage time depends on where you are; you will get a confirmation when it ships.

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.

Can I buy the book and the card together?

Yes — each is its own checkout, so add whichever you want, one after the other. The ebook lands immediately; the paperback and card follow in the post.

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