The Bookie

As you (probably) know, canine rescue is a passion of mine. In learning to care for the dogs we’ve fostered over the past 8+ years, I often encountered dietary and nutritional challenges. Finding solutions to those challenges opened the door to a LOT of research into dog food and the differences between food for humans and food for canines. I even started making my own dog food!

This is today’s batch of doggo stew coming together: Chicken, sweet potato, spinach, oat meal, and assorted nutrition additives. All proportioned according to the recipe plan set out in my latest book: Questions and Answers About Canine Cuisine available at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NDRBWGG

Q&A Canine Cuisine — Written with Dr. Sandra Manes DVM

But it’s much more than a cookbook.

This is a concise compendium of nutritional information to help you keep your fur baby healthy. Don’t want to do the cooking? That’s fine, it covers what you need to know to find a commercial diet that is safe and healthy. Want to know about the new fad diets? Dr Sandra Manes DVM and I cover those too. All in a handy 7×10 paperback with full color photography.

This book covers all aspects of canine nutrition and discusses everything from choosing a good commercial kibble to cooking your own dog food (including recipes). We also cover raw diet, grain free, all-meat, boutique meals, and we have a hard look at proper nutrition for dogs dealing with diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. Tons of useful information presented for the average person in a lighthearted writing style. This is one of those books you’ll refer back to often because it offers so much great expert information.

ALL proceeds from this book support Piney Mountain Foster Care, a GuideStar gold seal rated 501(c)(3) rescue. EIN: 84-3593563. Do your dog a favor, and support PMFC’s life-saving efforts: buy this book!

A Simple Formula for Book Review

I love to read. And after I read a book I often post a book review of it at the major book buying sites and at GoodReads.com. If I like the book, I like to say so. If I didn’t like the book, I need to be able to say why I didn’t like it. In order to facilitate my reasoning in either case, I’ve developed a simple formula for reviewing a book on the 5-star scale. This is primarily for fiction, but non-fiction can be done the same way, you just have to substitute presentation and knowledge for dialogue and characterization.

Here is my formula for scoring a book review on a five star method: Continue reading “A Simple Formula for Book Review”

Writing for Profit or Pleasure: Where (and how) to Publish

Why publish?

You have a desire to write; to make your thoughts and inspirations known to others. Perhaps you are knowledgeable and wish to share your expertise with others, passing what you know to another generation. Maybe you are creative and enjoy entertaining others with stories of fiction. Or perhaps you are insightful and like telling factual tales about places, people and events; helping others to understand.

Whatever your particular bend is, to share your work with others means acquiring a means of publication. These days, publication comes in many forms, but some forms are better suited to different tastes, depending on your expectations. Particularly the expectation of payment for your efforts. Continue reading “Writing for Profit or Pleasure: Where (and how) to Publish”

Book Review: The Heretic

The Heretic by Lucas Bale is a lead-in novel to his Beyond the Wall series. Surprisingly, it is also Bale’s debut novel.

The story takes place in a distant future, a time when Earth: a planet once teeming with billions of souls is a vague legend at best. The remnants of humanity are now scattered across the galaxy and ruled by a body called the Magistratus: an evil empire that rules through force and subjugation.

The Heretic is set on a planet called Herse, a galactic equivalent of an impoverished third world nation, far from the powerful elite of The Core. Local governance is corrupt, of course, and cruel. The main characters are a boy: one of a handful of survivors from a village that had been “cleansed”, a man known as The Preacher: the reason for the cleansing who teaches heretical precepts about freedom and individuality, and a spaceship captain named Shepherd. The Preacher wasn’t always a preacher and gives hints of a dark background. Shepherd pilots an old, worn freighter as a freelance contractor and seems a combination of Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds. Not all of the jobs he takes are entirely honest. Shepherd is drawn into the lives of the villagers as they attempt to flee Herse and in so doing, learns some astonishing things about his ship.

There are shades to the story borrowing from many classic sci-fi works but the one I found most clearly was a pattern from Josh Whedon’s Firefly. Bale acknowledges that influence in his remarks after the end of the novel. If one must borrow, you might as well borrow from the best.The result is a smart, well written novel that clips right along and keeps the reader fascinated. The characters are strong, the world-building is solid, yet never expository, and the editing (often a sore point with indie publications) is excellent.

If this is Bales debut novel, I can only look forward to the rest of the series with much anticipation. This fella has talent!

The Heretic: Beyond the Wall book 1 is available
for Kindle
and in paperback.

Espresso Book Machine: Print on Demand Bookmaker

espresso, print on demand, books — No, not THAT kind of espresso!

P.O.D. (Print on Demand) book machines have been in use in companies like CreateSpace and Lightning Source for years. Using these machines they are able to print your books as they are sold – one at a time if need be – instead of having to do print runs of thousands (or tens of thousands) of copies as a traditional offset press would. That means you, the author/publisher, don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on printing costs up front and don’t have to pay for storage of the books while waiting for them to be sold. Print them as you need them: what could be better?

A recent development in the world of Print on Demand brings this capability to a wider variety of businesses; even libraries. Continue reading “Espresso Book Machine: Print on Demand Bookmaker”

When (and Why) to Print your eBook

books, print, paper, hardbound There are now vast legions of new authors who are published in eBook form only. Self-publishing allows an author to publish their manuscript directly to distributors such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Store, Kobo, and Smashwords for use on one or more reading devices. All of these will handle eBook versions, Amazon and Barnes & Noble can handle print books as well. But there are other markets where print gives you an edge over eBook. Should you consider publishing to print?

Why Print?

There are still a large number of people who like the feel and smell of an ink on paper book in their hands. Many prefer eBooks for novels but paper books for reference materials. So if you write non-fiction, you need to be considering paperback at least. Book discussion groups also tend to favor paperbacks.

Brick and mortar book stores and libraries specialize in print books – where most of these do not handle eBooks. Yet. Distributors can use price comparisons between print books to make them appear attractive, price-wise.

But, rushing out to produce a paperback book to coincide with or follow closely on the heels of your eBook is not a great idea for several reasons. Continue reading “When (and Why) to Print your eBook”

How to Start a Publishing Company

There has been a fair bit of discussion in the forums lately about authors who open a publishing company to self-publish their work. Much of that discussion centers on whether that practice is ethical: is this author trying to deceive the readers into thinking a publishing house picked them up or simply doing business in a business-like manner. I contend the latter. I make furniture, no one questions my decision to sell my furniture as a woodworking business. Similarly, as an author who produces and sells books I see nothing wrong with my doing business with book retailers under a publishing business name. Some distributors demand this: they will not deal with the author as the publisher. Continue reading “How to Start a Publishing Company”

Avoiding Self-Publishing Scams

The recent class action lawsuit filed against Publish America is just one more reminder that Indie authors need to be careful about whom they do business with in the process of publishing their books. What follows is a list of red flags that may indicate caution is required if they pop up in your dealings with a so-called “publisher”.

Many so called self-publishing houses are what are referred to as “vanity publishers” because they offer to get the author’s books in print for a fee. These often advertise that they “need” or are “seeking” new authors. If you’ve ever tried dealing with a reputable publishing house you know that rejection is the normal order of things; they will put their imprint on and marketing efforts behind only those books that meet their standards. Vanity publishers accept anyone and charge unsuspecting authors to publish their work, often producing books that are poorly written, have not been edited, have awful covers, and are (for all intents and purposes) virtually worthless in the commercial book market. Worthless, to everyone except the vanity publisher, who makes thousands of dollars from the author. Beware of these signs: Continue reading “Avoiding Self-Publishing Scams”

Why publish?

Chronicles of Chaos

The Tengu Scrolls

About the Author:

Product Details

Available at Amazon/Kindle $3.99

Why Print?