The Curable Romantic
Katharine Miller
ISBN 978-0-557-06535-6
KLM Design
Copyright 2009
100 Pages
Paperback
$17.50

The Curable Romantic is an amusing and insightful look at relationships and the people silly enough to have them. It’s harder to write humor than just about any other genre. Humor has to connect to an absurdity that other people can relate to and find a common ground. Luckily human relationships are imbued with enough silliness that poking fun of them usually strikes a chord.

In her book, Katharine Miller does a great job of not only writing funny essays, but also illustrating them with clever pictures. Her essays reminded me of the insightful humor of Erma Bombeck and I found myself turning the page to see what the next illustration would be.

The book started life as a series of articles and blog posts that Miller penned over the years, starting in her High School days. Loosely assembled as a “How To” book for navigating the rapids of dating and mating, the book also contains lists such as ‘topics to avoid on the first date’ (quantum physics, your sister’s failing marriage) and a guide to pet names (good – tiger, bad – dodo, questionable – platypus).

Throughout the book is an undercurrent of cynicism as seen in this introductory paragraph to considerations about moving in together:

After an unspecified amount of time – and countless walks of shame – you’ve finally decided to try living together. But cohabitation is more than being able to tolerate his morning breath and no longer needing to slather on a face full of makeup before dawn. There are things to consider before loading up the moving truck.

Most of the articles are written from the perspective of a female who is dating a man. Although Miller says right up front that she isn’t a professional therapist or psychologist, she does offer up nuggets of common-sense wisdom. Here, she gives advice about how to get to the second date:

Keep the conversation current and relevant. Don’t delve too much into your past and do not discuss previous relationships. It is common to have a first date with someone following a breakup, but your new beau doesn’t need to hear all the gory details of the old one. He does need to hear how his shirt complements his eye color.

Practical snippets of advice, humorous observations of the human condition, and clever illustrations combine to make The Curable Romantic a quick but enjoyable read. I recommend it for anyone who is in a relationship or may be at some point. In other words, just about all of us.

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I first got a taste of Billy Young’s writing in October 2008 when I read his book Banshee Angel of Judgement.  Having been an avid fan of horror in high school, I still enjoy the occasional read that can send shivers up my spine.  Mr. Young has a talent for not falling into horror stereotypes where it’s easy to guess who will die first and who won’t die at all.  His writing also appealed to me because he actually concentrates on building a strong plot rather than focusing on the fear factor of the story.  His latest book, Bublos, is no different.

Bublos traces the journey of a hidden scroll from the Book of Revelations and the effects it has on those who come in contact with it. Going all the way back to WWII, Mr. Young takes the reader on a detailed account of those who have had the scroll in their possession. When it’s recent possessor dies, two men – Joe and Toby – help clean out his flat and find the scroll.

Joe is immediately drawn to it, but doesn’t know why.  Upon taking the scroll, he soon discovers it comes with serious repercussions when it costs his friend, Toby, his life. Joe soon discovers he is being followed and the plot really begins to pick up as a battle between good and evil breaks out.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bublos because of the history that Mr. Young uses to introduce the scroll and the power that it actually holds, although it’s not really mystical or haunted.  In the end, it’s just a bunch of codes written on paper.  Authors have used inanimate objects for years as the center of attention in their narratives, and Mr. Young does a fine job here.  He begins with a nice slow, but detailed, account of something that is real and can be related to easily and builds into forces that beyond our world.

Introducing each chapter with a quote from the Bible also added a nice touch.  The biggest downfall of the novel is that sometimes Mr. Young can get carried away and be a bit over descriptive.  His use of adjectives can slow the book down in parts.  There’s also a lot of foul language, but I didn’t mind it so much.The book is also much deserving of a better book cover.

Reminiscent of such great books as The Amulet by Michael McDonnell or The Talisman by Peter Straub and Stephen King, Bublos was a good read for me.  Despite its minor flaws which I’ve mentioned, it has great potential.  Part Dan Brown, part Tim LeHaye, and yes, part King even, Mr. Young weaves a tale rich in history, religion, and suspense.  Good job!

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Worth a look!

Great taster at the beginning to spur the reader into turning the page. Such mastery of words, painting glorious pictures. Observant too – with such lines as (about death) ‘…is a clumsy thing of the darkness…discovered in the dawn.’ Terrific. Mystery from the onset, this is a story of action and surprise. ________________________________________________________________________________________

Realm of the Dead by James Stewart

Intriguing from the first, providing a dark tale.

Great atmosphere…can really feel Isa’ terror in a strange and violent world.

Good command of language.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Rise of the Queen by Katie Jones

“A Good Start”

Some good description, e.g. ‘…the ageless sky, twinkling with far off diamonds…’ and some great names.

An interesting beginning to a promising story.

I’d love a portal of my own!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Buy Julie’s Books!

Visit Julie on the web!

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Kanapolis Fog Publishing Emporium (October 2009)
$ 5.95 Paperback
$ 1.99 eBook
146 pages

Reviewed by Linda Welch, author of Along Came a Demon and The Demon Hunters

When Henry watches news of a coup in the small territory of Jartanzia and sees (what could be) the picture of a hedgehog, he knows the end is near. He dispassionately murders his mother and takes off for a secret rendezvous. After all, when the world as we know it is in ruins, she’ll be dead anyway, because when the dust settles only members of the Underground Hedgehog Revolution Network will survive. Via their website, Henry—a member for 15 years—has been providing information to the Grand Hedgehog. He’s pretty sure he’ll get a Captaincy, or even governorship of one of the new states.

So begins Elmore Hammes’ Not Fit For Human Consumption, with a cast of fully-fleshed-out characters, each with their own story and personal agenda, in some way involved in the fate of life as we know it on good old planet Earth.

We meet Henry again as he flies to his destination and follow his obsession with a beautiful fellow passenger as he becomes convinced she is his soul-mate. I enjoyed Henry’s imagination as he endows her with glowing attributes and schemes to meet her. Unbelievably, his plan actually works, and I waited for him to tell her about the Hedgehog Network and ruin his chances. But that conclusion would be obvious, and Hammes does not do “obvious.”

Hammes calls his book a comedic farce, and it is indeed funny; but farce is often associated with the superficial, while the human characters engage you and have depth. I can’t say the non-humans have quite the same depth, but it’s a close thing. They do have history and personality, which makes them real, and not as far down the food chain as we like to think.

Mr. Jamison is a dedicated teacher of 25 years, musing on his life past and present and trying to figure out what motivates his students. Alice mourns her dead husband, but discovers she was not the only woman in his life. Morgan Stanwyck is a survivalist who knows something bad is coming.

Some are bystanders dragged in from the sidelines. You won’t want to miss the fate of t-shirt guy.

Then there is the ironic tale of young Brandon and Jacob, who concoct and implement a plan to convince two girls that the world is coming to an end and they must go into the family’s shelter (built by Dad for when the clock struck 2000 and everything would stop working) They just want to get laid. The irony is, the story the boys tell is not far-fetched.

Peter the cockroach calls his fellow roaches together to tell them they should rule the world. Unfortunately, only Sarah joins him in his quest for world domination, and that’s because she fancies him. Loretta the rabbit escapes her cage and forms an unlikely friendship with Mittens the cat. Lazarus the super-rat was abandoned in a laboratory.

And Arax the Annihilator, who is NOT a nice guy. Arax comes to Earth from another dimension with one objective, to destroy our world. Nothing can stand against him. Or so it seems.

This is well-written, well-crafted storytelling, a really fun read with a clever finale. Believe me, when you finish this book, cockroaches with aspirations will not seem bizarre. Read it. You won’t be disappointed.

Preview Not Fit For Human Consumption

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© How do you make that “C” in a circle? ©

We’ve all seen the copyright symbol in books before, but do you know how to make one?  You should if you are self-publishing and completely formatting your manuscript yourself.  Here are simple instructions on how to create the symbol for your copyright page:

On a mac: option (alt) + g = ©

On a pc: hold down the ALT key and then type 0169 on the ten key pad to the right (make sure your number lock is on) = ©

or hold down CTRL and ALT at the same time and then type C = ©

or depending on what version of Microsoft Word you are using, click on Insert, click on Symbols, and look for the © there.

Where does the copyright page go?

Most books place the copyright page on the back of the title page, whether that be the soft title page or full title page.  Both are acceptable.  Whichever you choose, the copyright page should always fall on the left side in your front matter. The copyright information should never be on the very first page as soon as you open the front cover. The information contained in the body of your copyright should be justified to the left or it can also be centered.  Again, either is acceptable.

Depending on the length of your copyright information, the body usually starts half way down the page and ends right at the bottom of the page.  If you examine textbooks or nonfiction-type books, you may find that the copyright fills up an entire page.  Also, if you use a lot of quotes with special permission, these are often cited on the copyright page which can also make the body take up more of the page.  Need a good example of this?  Examine any book by Stephen King.  He is notorious for quoting songs and they are always given credit on his copyright page.

No matter what, the copyright page of a fiction book should be limited to one page or half of one page.  If you have too many quotes to cite, move these to the end matter of your book (more about that in a later post).

What information does a good copyright page contain?

For the sake of most books we review here at LLBR, without song quotes or other citations, I’m going to examine a very simple copyright.  The first line of your copyright, again either justified to the left or centered half way down the page, contains the year and either your name or publishing company:

Copyright © 2010 by Shannon Yarbrough

There should be a single space after this line.

For the next line, you have several options.  Most authors put the title of their book, or the name of the publisher. I’ve also seen people include the format of the book and what edition it is.  I would probably not include the edition, unless this is NOT the first edition of the book.  This is also a good place to put your ISBN. You can also incorporate all of this information into the second line if you want. Here’s an example of the second line incorporating all of these options:

Sitting Next to Nothing
Second Edition, Paperback – published 2009
ShanLian Wordlit Press
ISBN: 123456789

There should be one single space after this body of information. If your book had a previous edition with a copyright as well, cite it on the next line.  For example:

Sitting Next to Nothing, 1st Edition Hardcover -  Copyright © 2007  Shannon Yarbrough

If this is your first edition, you can disregard this line.  I would also probably delete the “Second Edition, Paperback – published 2009″ line from above as well.

All rights reserved.

Your “all rights reserved” text should come next.  What does this mean, you ask?  For copyright purposes, it means you as the author (and publisher) hold all the rights to the book such as distribution, creation, marketing, etc.  If you are completely and totally formatting your own book and not using the formatting services of a print on demand company, then it is perfectly okay to include an All Rights Reserved notification in your book.  Most copyright laws in most countries no longer require such notices.  In my opinion, it still gives your copyright page a professional feel.  Here’s an example of how this text should be worded:

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

I’ve seen several versions of this statement, and for those who prefer something a little more simple, just the words “All Rights Reserved” will do.  This is usually followed by “Printed in the United States of America.”

All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

You can also break this into two lines if you prefer, with a space between.

The Countdown.

You may have seen a row of numbers on a copyright page as well, that look like this:

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

If so, the smallest number to the right is what edition you have of this book.  So if you see a 1, then it means this is a first edition.  This system is usually used in textbooks, but it is completely acceptable in fiction books as well.  The row of numbers should stand alone though.

Is this real life?

You’ve all read this before or something like it:

This book is a work of fiction.  Any similarities to real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.  All characters and events in this work are figments of the author’s imagination.

There are several ways to word this, and this statement is optional unless you are worried that someone might actually try to sue you for using their persona, even if you didn’t intend to.  So, I’d probably included it just in case.  Here’s the version I like which I use in my own books:

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

What else can I put on my copyright page?

I prefer to have nothing else on the copyright page, however, to save pages I have seen self-published authors (and some traditionally published books as well) put their acknowledgments and dedication at the top of the copyright page. If you do this, I suggest you put these in italics to create a distinction between them and the copyright information at the bottom of the page. For a good example of this, check out LK Gardner-Griffie’s copyright page of Nowhere Feels Like Home.

What should a copyright NOT contain?

For the most part, in books I review, the copyright page usually contains most of the information I’ve reviewed above.  The one thing I see the most which should not be on your copyright page is the “stripped book” statement that says if you bought this book without a cover, then the author and publisher have not been paid. You usually find this statement on the copyright of mass market sized books.  The reason is because if you pick up one of these books and open the front cover, you’ll notice a UPC bar code printed on the inside cover.  Because of the small cost of these books, publishers usually allow bookstores to strip off and return just the cover of the book for credit.  The rest of the book is intended to be discarded.

A self-published book is never printed in mass market, so while this statement may give your copyright page a traditional feel, it is actually a false statement in regards to a trade paper or hardcover copy of your book.

Quick Review:

• Your copyright page goes in the front matter, usually on the back of your title page on the left side.  It should not be the first page in the book.
  
• Your copyright information should either all be centered or justified to the left and should start half way down the page.  It should not cover more than one page.
  
• Your copyright page should contain the year, your name, and the publisher’s name.
• Your copyright page should contain the ISBN of your book.
• Your copyright page can contain citations of quotes used in the book, or these can be moved to the back matter of your book and cited there.
• Your copyright page should mention what edition this book is.  You can spell it out or use the line of numbers.
• Your copyright page should list previous copyrights if your book has any.
  
• Your copyright page should contain an All Rights Reserved statement.
• Your copyright page should tell where the book is printed, although this is optional.
• Your copyright page should contain a “This Book is Fiction” statement if your book is fiction.
• Dedications and acknowledgments on a copyright page are okay as long as they are separate from the copyright information.
• Your copyright page should not contain a “stripped book” statement if your book is self-published.

My best advice for good examples of copyright pages, if you need them, is to go to your bookshelf or bookstore or library and examine the copyright page of several books. Take note of where they start on the page, what they have in common, and what is different. You can also use the “Search Inside” feature on Amazon.com to take a look at copyright pages of books as well.

Now, all of this information above is good and makes for a nice copyright page with a traditional feel, but when it comes down to actual copyright laws, the information you have on your copyright page can be minimal at best and still protect you.  Here’s a (made up) example of a very simple copyright page which still contains all the pertinent information:

Copyright © 2010 by Shannon Yarbrough

Are You Sitting Down?
ShanLian Wordlit Press
ISBN: 123456789
First Edition

All Rights Reserved.
Printed in the USA

This book is a work of fiction.

That’s it!  As you can see, copyright pages can be complex if you want them to be and if you want to use the examples I’ve spelled out above, or they can actually be quite simple.

In next month’s Book Synthesis post, we’ll take a look at the Table of Contest, Acknowledgment, and Dedication Pages.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them to this article or email us.  See you next month!

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by Joseph Pfeiffer
Outskirts Press (October 2009)
ISBN: 1432723146
$11.95 Paperback
100 Pages

Joseph Pfeiffer’s book has been on my reading list since he queried us last December.  After reading it, I’d love to save it for a Father’s Day review because the book would be very appropriate for that time, but I didn’t want to make the author wait another four months to read my review.  That being said, take note of this book because it would actually make a great Father’s Day gift.

Eyes in the Rearview Mirror is a brief collection of the wisdom that only a father can provide.  There are 13 chapters in the book, each titled after quotes that Joseph’s father used to always say. So there are fun titles like “When buying a Christmas tree, look to see if there is a knot on the bottom” or “There are three types of people in this world – ones who can count, and ones who can’t.”  There are also more simple and heartfelt titles like “Don’t bring your work home, and don’t bring your home to work” or simply “Never Quit Learning.”

What follows is an explanation of why Joseph’s father said that laced with real life stories and Joseph’s reflection on the matter.  Often humorous and always touching, Joseph’s “back porch sitting on Papa’s lap” approach to telling the stories definitely makes this a book anyone can relate to when it comes to reminiscing about your parents. Joseph admits that he didn’t always know what his dad was talking about at the moment, but it somehow all made sense.

Joseph also perfectly captures his father’s generation of  generous attitude and humble thinking that does not exist anymore.  That’s pretty evident in a chapter called “You Are What You Do, Not What You Say.”  Joseph’s father was a church volunteer and working in a soup kitchen and steps up to help a family with four children who are on the lam and trying to get far away from troubles haunting them in another town.

I nodded my head in agreement with my father and said, “I understand, but I am still a little concerned. Why don’t you just take up golf, like everybody else who is retired?”

Dad said, “Well, I don’t like golf.”

“But you’re a good giving person – you don’t need to put yourself in harm’s way to be a good person,” I replied.

Dad looked back at me and said, “You are what you do, not what you say. This may not be the ideal
situation, but this family needed help, and I was able to give it.”

Too many people today look the other way when people are in need. In my observation, most people would much rather not get involved. I understand many of the concerns of involving yourself with someone else’s troubles; I include myself in the category of not wanting to be bothered by something that doesn’t directly affect me or my family.

I could definitely relate to this incident since my father was well known for stepping up to help others.  He was always a giver, and still is today.  I can recall him spending hours in his greenhouse during the winter and planting three or four gardens come spring, only to raise more vegetables than our family of five could ever imagine consuming.  It didn’t matter.  He gave fresh vegetables to everyone in the neighborhood who wanted any whether he knew them or not.  In the end, nothing went to waste.

Overall, this is a nice “feel good” book that is obviously very personal for the author and his family, but definitely has the appeal to be a great gift book for anyone’s parents and contains “life lessons” we can certainly all relate to.  At just 100 pages, it’s a quick read and while I read the PDF of it, my only real complaint is that the book’s cover feels too much like a textbook.  I’d love to see a “family photo” or memory on the cover instead to give it a warmer touch.

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I Miss Your Purple Hair

I Miss Your Purple Hair is a good book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I’ve read 100 page books that felt like they’d never end, but this was a 300+ page book that was over before I knew it. I became invested in the characters and was genuinely curious how they would overcome their dilemma.

As dilemmas go, this is a big one. As our heroes and heroines visit the zoo one day, the world ends. Earthquakes and Tsunamis wipe out most of the coastal regions of the earth and 3/4s of the earth’s population is wiped out. Instead of taking a holistic view of the carnage and destruction, Chandler gives us a snapshot of 14 individuals caught in an undamaged valley surrounded by newly formed mountains, volcanoes, and more than a few newly released zoo animals. When the bottled water and animal crackers give out, it becomes obvious that no one is coming looking for them.

So what would you do? I can almost guarantee that you wouldn’t handle it as calmly as these folks. They pitch in, take each setback as it comes, and … well, you’ll have to read the book to find out the ‘and’. There is an undercurrent of new age philosophy that pervades this book, but it’s not overdone. The main characters are Mateo and his 15 year old daughter Veronica, or Violet as she is also known. As we meet more individuals, we have to piece together how they all fit. All is eventually revealed.

Better than the story is the story telling. Chandler’s writing is fluid, smart, and literate. In this short paragraph, a character named Mia leads a group to explore their surroundings:

They moved on, with Mia in the lead. The stainless steel walking stick she employed had been acquired from the wreckage of the snack bar. A distasteful hint of sulphur merged with the pleasant aroma of indigenous foliage to create a unique scent. It had become oddly familiar, this mixture of perfume and poison, stinging the sensitive tissue around their eyes, noses and mouths and irritating their throats. It laced the breeze that snuck in from the northwest, passed over the rocky barriers that formed the perimeter, and then swooped down across the basin they traversed.

I had several pages earmarked to share with you because this phrase or that turn of a word amused or delighted me. This description of aftershocks begins chapter eighteen:

The tremors arrived unannounced, and like a band of oafish trespassers, rudely left chaos in their wake. Obscured behind the sound of the rolling thunder, they caught the huddled survivors off guard, sending them reeling across the concrete floor. While they were flung about the room, the tremors did what they were designed to do. Succinct and purposeful, the seismic waves reshaped the geography, continuing the work initiated by the earlier quakes.

The mechanics of this book are excellent. Often self published books feel raw or a little rough around the edges. This one isn’t like that. Each chapter starts with a quote, be it from Jung or Ayn Rand or Albert Schweitzer. Unlike some books where these quotes feel like an afterthought or distraction, I found myself reading them for hints about the upcoming chapter. The cover looks professional, the editing is impeccable, and even the business cards Chandler stuck in with my copy were well done.

At $17, this book also points out the down side of self publishing. The more pages, the more cost. To produce a substantial work of fiction and to make a couple of dollars from your hard work, the price is high. Still, I Miss Your Purple Hair is worth the price of admission, and I look forward to reading more books from Robert Chandler.

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Null_Pointer
by Ken McConnell
ISBN: 978-0-578-02613-8
GB Press
Copyright ©2009
218 Pages
$12.96 Paperback
$4.00 E-Book

Having been impressed with Ken McConnell’s first book, Starstrikers, I was more inclined to give his next book, Null_Pointer, a look.  But after reading the blurb and the preview, I was immediately impressed with the subject matter and anxious to read it regardless of how much I enjoyed his first work.

The subtitle of Null_Pointer is “A Joshua Jones Mystery.”  I have to admit I’m leery of  any book that is any character’s mystery.  For self-publishing, that often means this is part of a never ending series, will be too long, or too cliché.  Most often we are about to follow a detective, ex-cop, vampire, or professor on some big save-the-world-save-the-country-save-the-white house-or save human kind adventure that’s already been done by some other Dan Brown copy cat, and NOT done better.  Mr. McConnell, fortunately, did NOT fall into that stereotype.

Joshua Jones is actually a programmer stuck in a cubicle.  When his co-worker drops dead in the cube next to him, authorities brush it off as a heart attack, but Jones thinks its something much more complex, like a serial hacker reaching his victims through the internet. Jones’s programming skills are about to be put to the test as he steps up to solve the true technical mystery before someone else, possibly even Joshua, dies.

As in Starstrikers, McConnell has a true talent for utterly confusing the heck out of a reader by filling the page with elaborate technical jargon thanks to his brilliant imagination, but it all  just somehow begins to make sense to even the most computer illiterate person once you are drawn into the storyline.  I’m not a genuine fan of science fiction, space odysseys, or electronic mysteries, but I actually wouldn’t force Mr. McConnell’s work into any of those genres. So, don’t let the setting or subject matter of this book scare you.

McConnell’s prose are oddly quite simple and not a word seems wasted.  Although it sounds a bit bland (forgive me), his characters are very approachable and his writing his matter-of-fact. He is to be commended for giving his characters a definite voice without drowning them in needless back story or detail.  Case in point, the introduction of Jones and the facts that shape him.  Here’s a bit of description from early on in the story:

He had the kind of likable face that women called cute and immature men liked to beat up. He wore a brown jacket with a hooded dark blue sweatshirt underneath. The dress standard was pretty lax at the tech company and he wore the same faded blue jeans and black Cons that got him through his college years.

Joshua’s mind was not on the music. He was thinking about how to handle a tricky array construct and the music helped him to concentrate, and keep out the bad dreams. His father used to say he was part of Generation Multi-task, and always gave him a hard time about it. Joshua just shrugged it off, a body does what a body needs and his body needed music to concentrate.

Like a good mystery should, this story moves along at a nicely quipped pace and definitely keeps you guessing.  The book actually starts with Chapter 0 (zero) which I thought was a nice touch. At 218 pages, I found it to be a quick read.  The manuscript itself is polished and formatted quite nicely, and although I read the e-version, I think the cover of the book is perfect and really accents the book’s style.  The only true qualm that stuck out at me was in the first chapter when McConnell kept referring to the first victim as “the programmer” over and over again.  It was almost a bit too third party and very repetitive for me but a lot of this book and its secrets is based on identity.  So, intentional or not,  repeating this character’s position in the story over and over again instead of using pronouns actually “codes” a bit of mystery into the writing itself.  Well done!

There’s lots of programming and amateur radio language that technical junkies will find very appealing.  McConnell is either well versed in this community or definitely did his homework, or like a good writer should be cable of, he fooled me into thinking he knew what he was talking about!

Null_Pointer is another tight, concise, attractive, appealing, and enjoyable read for me that new authors considering self-publishing should buy and use as a reference!  This is how it’s done!  Congrats to Ken on such a near perfect book!

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I have to admit that I’m not usually a fan of historical fiction that takes place in time of war.  Battle scenes and descriptions of armory bore me, but I decided to give Luke Jackson’s book, The Wrong Choice, a read mainly because I’ve been researching the Civil War a lot lately for a project of my own.  I thought reading something else from that genre might help or inspire me.

The Wrong Choice centers around Jean-Pierre, a French Canadian student, who has agreed to spy for the Confederacy believing the Confederates will help free Quebéc from its English oppressors if the Confederate army wins the war. Posing as a reporter, Jean-Pierre witnesses a first hand account of what its like to be a Civil War Soldier.  Distraught by the everyday scene of death and destruction, he begins to question if he’s made the right choice or not.

This book is basically his reporting and presents a nice point of view from an outsider. Jean-Pierre becomes caught up in several small story lines which cause him to stray from his main goal, including a love interest in a Kentucky girl who he meets after following a Confederate deserter in the hills. Civil War buffs will enjoy following Jean-Pierre on his journey because Jackson has penned several historical locales into his book. From the Battle of Bull Run to Shiloh, to a raft trip down the Mississippi echoing the tales of Twain and then a trip through New Orleans on a steamboat, setting plays a huge part in this book as the war plays out. I was impressed with the lead character and not bored by his travels or descriptions of the war taking place before him, and felt the “coming of age” tone to Jean was well written.

However, that cannot be said for the physical book itself. It could use a complete overhaul as far as editing and formatting goes.  The front cover is a drab brown color and contains a grainy black and white picture of a solider camp. The blurb on the back cover is fuzzy and contains a red wavy line under one of the words from where Microsoft Word thought the word was misspelled.  There’s also a blue cursor that’s been captured in the text from where the blurb was probably copied and pasted as a picture. The first page of the book serves as a title page and copyright page, and also contains the word count.  There are no page numbers throughout the entire book.  And the right margin has not been justified.

Also, there are black and white images throughout the book which add a nice touch when they were used to introduce chapters and were high resolution.  There is a picture of barges on the river and of an old depot that I found to be mesmerizing and really set the tone for that part of the story.  However, there are also stock photos, probably from Word, such as cartoon images of arrows, music notes, and letters scattered in the text which feel like anomalies, serve no important purpose in the story, and only distract the reader.

Overall, I think The Wrong Choice is a good read, and just suffers from too many wrong choices as far as formatting and design goes.  With an extreme rework, new cover art, and good manuscript formatting, this book could have quite a “historical” impact.

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The publishing industry is undergoing change in how books are delivered. It is not unreasonable to presume that in a decade electronic devices such as the Apple tablet or the Kindle will be the premiere platforms delivering text to millions of readers. On the other end of the spectrum there is the democratization of the publishing process itself. Once reserved only to a chosen few, publishing has become available to anyone wishing to publish his or her book either through traditional means or as an ebook.

The purpose of this symposium is to assess the state of self-publishing and speculate on its future. Is it Utopian to believe that self-publishing can become anything more than what the publishing mainstream sees it to be, essentially a slush pile? Can self-publishing become a realistic publishing option and produce recognized names?

I’d like to ask you to speculate about the present and the future of self-publishing…The questions below are intended to start the conversation.

And here are my answers…

How does self-publishing differ from traditional publishing?

This is a question that by now, I’m sure most already know the answer to. I could first post the obvious which pretty much defines what self-publishing is in general:  The author is mostly responsible for the editing, formatting, and marketing of his own work.  Self-published books usually cost more and are sold nonreturnable.  Self-published books are not usually stocked by traditional bookstores unless specifically ordered for an event or special order. But, by these definitions alone, someone considering self-publishing would probably frown upon it. These days, thanks to e-publishing, the expense and retail cost is much more affordable, and often free. E-publishing bypasses the brick and mortar bookstores all together, and puts the self-published author in the electronic forefront where bookstores are losing their customers anyway.  Authors also  keep the rights to their work which means they don’t have to pay a big publishing house, editors, and agents, so they can keep more of the profit to themselves.  Those margins might still be small, but most self-published authors still find it to be just as rewarding.  In the end, we have a slush pile just like traditional publishing does.

Do self-published book review blogs help to raise the reader awareness of self-published books?

Since I founded LLBR (www.llbookreview.com), I would certainly say yes to this question. But generally I find more authors visit the site than readers who are non-writers.  Now, we all know that when authors aren’t writing, they should be reading.  So, hopefully it’s a win-win situation.  Authors, new and old, learn more about the POD experience from these review blogs.  And they also find books to read and can support other authors like themselves. Most non-writing readers don’t care about the emphasis put on self-publishing; they just want a good book to read. I think sometimes we put too much emphasis on the self-publishing part because we think POD fans are the only ones reading us.

How do you respond to the following statement? –Self-publishing is not a serious way to get one’s work into print now and never will be.

I would probably respond by saying, “Did you ever hear of a book called The Joy of Cooking? It was first self-published. Or do you know who Upton Sinclair, James Redfield, Oscar Wilde, E.E. Cummings, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Walt Witman, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Edgar Allan Poe are?  Do you know what they all have in common?  Yep, they self-published.”  Self-publishing is not taken seriously only because of the stigmas that surround it, most of which were created by the traditional publishing companies anyway. But that is changing.

Has the golden age of self-publishing already passed or is it yet to come?

I think it has yet to come, but we are getting there. As E-publishing becomes the norm, and more people buy into e-readers, it’s only going to get better.

What about the challenges posed to the self-published writer by having to promote and edit his or her own book?

Well, anyone who is considering self-publishing seriously should know they can’t do it alone. A lot of POD companies offer editing and formatting services.  There are also a ton of reputable editors-for-hire out there. I’m guilty of trying to do it all by myself, and my biggest advice to anyone out there who wants to is don’t take that “self” part literally.  Get some type of professional assistance whether that be with formatting, your book cover, or editing.  Hire someone. Take a writing class. Join a writing club. Or take advantage of your POD company’s extra services if you can afford them.

Why is it that a self-published author has yet to emerge into national recognition as a self-published author? (As opposed to being given a mainstream publishing contract after a self-published book attracts attention.)

They have.  You just don’t hear about them. But it’s because Americans are guilty of all reading the same thing. There are millions of books out there and millions more being published every year.  Ask any non-reader to name a popular book though and they will probably say Harry Potter, or Twilight, or the latest by Stephen King, or whatever has been made into a movie this week.  That’s because as a society, we’ve always wanted what our neighbor has.  We want to fit in.  We want to do what everyone else is doing.  So in the end, we are also all reading the same books.  And so our society as a whole has an effect on what we see on the news or read in the papers.  Because that’s what is making money.

Take Christopher Paolini’s book, Eragon, for example. He began writing it when he was fifteen. Few people probably know it was first self-published.  But fewer probably even know it was a book at all because Hollywood made it into a movie. I’m sure Mr. Paolini still cashed some nice paychecks though; today he’s only 27 and has published a whole series of books.  Still Alice by Lisa Genova is another self-published book picked up by the mainstream that has done very well.

My point is that most self-published authors don’t have the finances or collateral that’s needed to get that national recognition. If you could afford a massive marketing campaign, then it might happen for your self-published book.  Still, it might not.  For now, the self-published author is lucky to get the local color page in the community paper or a signing at their B&N, and for some, that’s recognition enough.

Has the experience of self-publishing changed the way you write? (If you have self-published.)

Absolutely.  I tend to format a new Word document to a 6×9 page right from the start, leaving blank pages for the front matter.  I also format the margins and page numbers.  All this even for a first draft!

What are the dangers of self-publishing? Are self-published authors, in other words, more likely to be attacked for writing material that is challenging or outside of mainstream?

Well, self-publishing has always been the scarlet letter of the writing world. Self-published authors are attacked for more than their content.  I think the freedom from traditional publishing restrictions is exactly why authors self-publish.  I’ve seen and read a lot of non-traditional books as far as design, content, and even illustrations go.  That’s one of the beauties of self-publishing that I enjoy.  It’s artistic freedom in a way that has broken the mold on  not just the way we publish, but also the way we write and read.

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These are my personal opinions and don’t necessarily reflect the views of LLBR or my fellow reviewers. Questions or comments are welcome.  And if you wish to read others’ answers to the Symposium questions please visit The New Podler Review of Books.

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