New Indie Book Release: Through A Mother's Eyes (Jackie Barreau)

New Indie Book Release:
Through A Mother's Eyes - Jackie Barreau
Poetry (72 pages - March 2013)

"The Book deals with a difficult subject, that of the death of a child, but is handled in a very simple, poignant and honest way. Beautiful images and quotes accompany this book. An inspiring story about a mother and the love she shows for her two sons through verse."


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

A glimpse into how one mother has learnt to cope with the loss of her two sons, and support a third child through a rare genetic condition.

This book deals with the subject of grief and loss, and features a collection of poems, interspersed with quotes and breathtaking images.

It will inspire and move you, as you are taken on an incredible journey of love, hope and courage.

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Link to the eBook Through A Mother's Eyes on Amazon with Excerpt

Should You Self-Publish Your First Book ?

Seen on Scott Berkun's Website:

Scott Berkun, author of four popular books on creativity, leadership, philosophy and speaking, answers the question from one of his readers "Should you Self-Publish your first book?"

[...]

I don’t have a single answer. It depends on the author and the book.

Publishing a book no matter how you do it is best thought of as a entrepreneurial experience. You have an idea for a product, in this case a book – how much of the work of making and selling the product are you comfortable doing on your own?

From this view a publisher is a business partner. They provide funding, expertise, co-ordination and guidance. They have in-house editors, designers and proofreaders who will help you. For those things you will pay them a fair share of the possible income the book generates. This is a good deal if you don’t want to find those experts on your own, or have no interest in co-ordinating the entire project yourself.

[...]

Common mistakes authors make when working with publishers:

• Assuming you are a rock star. It’s exciting to have a publisher make you an offer, but remember, to them you book will never be as important to them as it is to you. To them your book is #56 of 120 they will put out this year, wheras to you it might be the only book you will ever write. Publishers rightfully prioritize among all of their books each month to decide which will get more of their marketing and PR attention.
  
  
• Believing the publisher will do all the marketing for you. Many authors assume the burden of marketing is on the publisher but that has never been true (unless you are Stephen King or J.K. Rowlings). The author is always at the center of marketing and PR for books. It will be up to you to find speaking engagements, to be available for interviews, and to use your networks and connections to promote the book. Good publishers assist you, but the burden is always on the author. If your book is deemed more important than others you will get more support, but the burden is still on you.

[...]

Common mistakes with self-publishing:

Featured Indie Book: Chaperones (Megan Karasch)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Literary Fiction / Humor Chaperones by Megan Karasch.

Chaperones gives the reader a hilarious adventure story of a soul-searching girl while also taking the reader on a journey through England. The book has twists and turns that are difficult to predict, but once they happen, they all make sense. Chaperones has unique and interesting characters who have naturally flowing dialogue that's also witty and cleverly highlights the differences between the British and American cultures.

The Book has been published via CreateSpace and is available as eBook and Paperback - 260 pages - released in June 2013.

About the Book

For Andrea Lieberman, life began at 26. Growing up with parents so protective they made a convent seem like a Sandal’s resort, she developed a catalog of phobias so large, even going into a church seemed risky business. Finally, Andrea had had enough; she wanted to live rather than fear dying. Without hesitation, she accepts a photography assignment for a magazine traveling through England and packs up her camera, her pepper spray and every insecurity she accumulated since birth. Excited but petrified to reveal the news to her boyfriend, he intercepts with news of his own – a marriage proposal, which leaves the lingering question of impending nuptials as she travels abroad.

Upon touching down in England, Andrea flops around like a fish out of water. The magazine’s staff – the idiot, the slut, and the mute – offer little comfort outside of a pint of beer until she’s assigned two blokes as travel companions – a tight-arsed copywriter and a drop-dead gorgeous art director with movie star charm. These two men help Andrea push herself beyond her comfort zone while testing the limits of her fortitude and her relationship with her boyfriend. The photographic journey becomes a comedy of errors thanks to unforeseen obstacles at every turn. As Andrea struggles to complete the assignment, she discovers the most revealing picture she develops will be of herself.

Click to Read an Excerpt

Indie Author Interview: Linda A. Cadose

Indie Author Interview with Linda A. Cadose - Author of the YA Mystery Adventure The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx.

Linda A. Cadose is a retired respiratory therapist who is now a children's book author. She likes to travel, enjoys reading and love libraries. She has been to Egypt and have visited all of the historical sites she discusses in her book.

Interview with Linda A. Cadose

Author Linda A Cadose

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
Linda A. Cadose: I hold a Masters degree in Technical and Professional Writing from Northeastern University. I obtained the degree to assist me in writing technical articles for respiratory therapy journal which I was writing at the time.
However, when my nephew was a boy, he was a reluctant reader. I was very concerned about this because I knew reading was essential for success in school I began to write adventure stories for him which I hoped would entice him to read. I happy to report that it worked. Today, my nephew loves to read and he is especially fond of literature on the Civil War.
I discovered that I loved writing fiction and began to write fiction full-time beginning in 2011.I wrote The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx in 2011. Then, in 2012 I wrote The Underwater Pyramid in the Bermuda Triangle. In my second book, Dr. Cliff Post travels to Bimini with his friend, Dr. Kyle Wilson.
Dr. Wilson discovers a sunken city off the coast of cuba, which is 14,000 years old. Together they discover an antimatter engine and royal mummies.

Who are you favorite writers, your favorite books and who or what are your writing influences?
I like Maurice Sendek and I thought “Where the Wild Things Are” was excellent.
I also like Rick Riordan especially his book “The Red Pyramid”
“The Red Pyramid” gave me the idea to set my first book, “The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx” in Egypt. I have been to Egypt and I have visited all the sites I mention in my book. My rip to Egypt was fascinating and I learned about Egyptian culture, history and archaeology.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
Although I began to write to encourage my nephew to read, I realized that I loved writing fiction. It’s fun to create a plot out of your imagination and to bring characters to life. In 2011, I decided to end my career as a Registered Respiratory Therapist and to begin my career as a full-time children’s book writer. I prefer to write for older children. I write for middle grade and Young Adult audiences.

"I always write a summary of my book first."

Tell us about you writing process. Do you have a writing routine?

New Indie Book Release: Acting Normal (Alison Wilhelm)

New Indie Book Release:
Acting Normal - Alison Wilhelm
Contemporary Romance (238 pages - June 11, 2013)

"Abby is a great character and her inner turmoil over her feelings for Logan makes this contemporary romance very interesting. I love their love/hate relationship. It's explosive."


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Twenty-eight-year-old Abby Wood loathes celebrities. Unfortunately, she lives in New York City, where the flashes of their perfect smiles are everywhere. All she wants to do is write a novel and live a relatively drama-free life.

While spending another weekend at Lou's Café typing on her trusty laptop and dreaming of a better life, Abby crosses paths with drop-dead gorgeous actor Logan West. Desperate to escape a pack of screaming female fans, Logan comes into Lou's to hide and then sits down at her table. Before she knows it, Abby is being whisked off in a car with a man who soon makes it clear that he is attracted to her. Although Abby does her best to keep Logan at arm's length, it isn't long before he works his way into her life-and her heart. Now she must decide whether she can remain true to herself and her passion for writing while becoming involved with a man who embodies everything she dislikes.

In this contemporary romance, a novelist standing at a crossroads in life faces the biggest choice of her life as her destiny awaits her next move.

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Link to the eBook Acting Normal on Amazon with Excerpt

Featured Indie Book: Oh Brother! (Kimberly Sentek)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Children's Book Oh Brother!: A Nico and Tugger Tale by Kimberly Sentek.

The amazing Children's Book Oh Brother!: A Nico and Tugger Tale is told from both characters' points of view, so this helps children understand that each person may see the same story differently. The Book features color pictures, and the story is in rhyme. The story is about how my two dogs became brothers, and it is told from both of their points of view. Children, especially those with siblings, can relate to the story.

The Book has been published via Trafford and is available as eBook and Paperback - 28 pages - released in October 2012.

About the Book

Meet Nico and Tugger, two dogs that became brothers. Their story is an endearing and fun look at sibling rivalry--from two points of view.

Two stories in one–double the reading fun–is what you get in “Oh Brother!: A Nico and Tugger Tale.” In the first of a planned series you will meet Nico, an only dog that likes it that way, and Tugger, the pesky puppy that changes Nico’s life when Tugger is brought home.

The book provides both dogs’ versions of the same tale, illustrating that even with these canine brothers there is more than one side to a story.

Click to Read an Excerpt

Featured Indie Book: Stay Calm and Content (Cat Williams)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Self-Help Book Stay Calm And Content: No Matter What Life Throws At You by Cat Williams.

Stay Calm And Content: No Matter What Life Throws At You is a jargon free, compact self-help book to help you in times of stress, whatever the source of your stress may be e.g. work, relationships, family, divorce, affairs, bereavement, bullying, low-self esteem, financial worries, parenting etc - more than 25 different 'every-day' topics covered.

The Book has been published via AuthorHouse and is available as eBook and Paperback - 148 pages - released in October 2012.

About the Book

Are you sometimes stressed, anxious, or emotional?
Do you ever feel something is missing, even when you think you should be happy?
Are there people with whom you don’t get on well but wish you did?
Have you ever wondered why you behave a certain way, do or don’t do certain things, or have done something you now regret?

This is not a typical self-help book, because self-help books are usually read by people who have a particular problem to solve. This book is for everyone.

Using straightforward jargon-free language it discusses many of the difficult issues of life, most of which are likely to affect us or someone we know at one time or another. It includes short discussions of stress, relationships, love affairs, work, parenting, sibling rivalry, motherhood, divorce, weddings, Christmas, teenagers, arguments, criticism, depression, communication, childhood, bullying, chronic pain, self-harm, addiction, suicide, bereavement, kindness, abuse, the battle of the sexes … and more.

People who can stay calm and content no matter what life throws at them all have a 'secret' which can be learnt by anyone. The central theme of this book is self-esteem and how it is affected every day by our circumstances and the people we come across. We are usually unaware that it is our self-esteem that drives our emotions, thoughts, and actions.

The author’s clients suggested this book be written so anyone could learn how to stay calm and content no matter what life throws at them. Personal stories highlight how you can control or change how you feel about yourself, and how you can positively influence your life and the lives of everyone around you.

Click to Read an Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: Cross the Ocean (Holly Bush)

New Indie Book Release:
Cross the Ocean - Holly Bush
Historical Romance (85,000 Words - May 31, 2013)

Cross the Ocean is the ultimate in ‘opposites attract’, pitting an aristocrat holding onto centuries’ old traditions against an American Suffragist.


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

1871 . . . The very proud Duke of Wexford was about to have his orderly world blown apart. At the age of nineteen Blake Sanders had wed a beautiful, dutiful wife and she had borne him three children. But now as mid-life approached, the Duchess had the unheard of temerity to leave him! Too mortified by her behavior to mix in ton company, Blake sought companionship with his best friend and neighbor, Anthony Burroughs and his wife Elizabeth. But Blake had forgotten the Burroughs were entertaining a houseguest, Elizabeth’s distant cousin, a spinsterish ‘Amazon from America’.

Gertrude Finch, a champion for women’s rights, had long ago decided most men were pretty useless other than Uncle Fred who’d raised her on his horse ranch near Chicago. While traveling with other Suffragists, Gert lectured women on the perils of passion and the value of independence but thought of neither when Blake kissed her. While opposite in nearly every way, other than an attraction neither could deny, their one night of passion would change her world, and send Gert scurrying her way back home across the ocean.

When Blake discovered his heir had stowed away on Gert’s ship, he set out on his own adventure to America, to bring the boy home and to see Gert once again. Traversing America’s vast wilderness, Blake discovered that this tall, loud Suffragist had changed his life. Whether riding the rails or meeting common folk, Blake saw a whole new way of living but most of all, he realized something about love. He found he was not immune, and his heart could love, and love deeply.

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Link to the eBook Cross the Ocean on Amazon with Excerpt

Featured Indie Book: October Snow (Jenna Brooks)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Thriller /Suspense - Women's Fiction October Snow by Jenna Brooks.

Jenna Brooks wrote October Snow for abused mothers because in her experience, the Family Court often takes up where a batterer leaves off. Like the character of "Josie Kane", many of these women are every bit as injured by a paternalistic - even oppressive - Family Court system as they are by an abuser. Their experiences in the court are simply another betrayal. As a society, we pay little attention to the outcome of battered mothers - both legally and culturally.

The Book has been published via CreateSpace and is available as eBook and Paperback - 382 pages - released in November 2012.

About the Book

Josie spent twenty years as a battered wife, dying for a hero.
Now, she's dying to become one.
- - -
Josie Kane is a "difficult" woman, a pure enigma - one who survives her abusive husband by honing her unnerving talent for playing mind games: she knows exactly how to manipulate a bully.

Finally divorced, she thinks the abuse is over, and she's free.
She's wrong. And her cynicism is building.

Click to Read an Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: The Champagne Diet (Cara Alwill Leyba)

New Indie Book Release:
The Champagne Diet: Eat, Drink, and Celebrate Your Way to a Healthy Mind and Body! 
- Cara Alwill Leyba -
Self-Help / Health (June 2013)

The Champagne Diet is not your traditional diet book. Instead, it's a book for women who are done with dieting and ready to learn to eat for their health, and most importantly live their lives. This is a feel-good book, meant to empower women with knowledge to live healthy, happy lives.


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

This book is for the woman who wants to feel good about herself and her body, and learn how to start incorporating healthy habits into her life.

It's for the woman who doesn't want to trade in her champagne for skinny jeans. It's for the woman who is done with dieting, and ready to start paying attention to her health before that number on the scale. It's for the woman who is ready to stop letting her weight define her, and is ready to understand why it always did.

This is not a diet book. This is a lifestyle guide.

This book will change the way you view your weight and yourself forever. You will walk away feeling empowered, inspired, and downright sexy (and probably craving a glass of bubbly). You will learn how to celebrate yourself and your body. You will learn to make your health a priority, always. And most importantly – you will learn to love yourself, exactly as you are.

So get ready to embark on a complete dieting and lifestyle overhaul, sister. You are now on The Champagne Diet!

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Link to the Book The Champagne Diet on Amazon with Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: Whatever It Takes (L. Maretta)

New Indie Book Release:
Whatever It Takes - L Maretta -
Adult Contemporary Romance (June 2013)

Whatever It Takes is different from the common romance novels we've seen lately. It's not a "they meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after". This is a story about when you have that happily ever after and it's all taken away.


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Gavin Fitzgerald is the perfect husband.

His wife, Emma, was always able to brag to her friends about how caring, loving, helpful, and successful he was. Having been married five years, they have just put the finishing touches on their dream home and are ready to start a family.

Everything seems ideal until one day Gavin confesses to Emma that he was unfaithful, turning their entire relationship from perfect to a total disaster. Suddenly Emma's carefully controlled world is chaotic and her future uncertain as she struggles to determine if she is able to forgive Gavin or have the strength to move on.

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Link to the eBook Whatever It Takes on Amazon with Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: Faces (Diane Winger)

New Indie Book Release:
Faces - Diane Winger -
Suspense / Crime / Medical (May 2013 - 238 pages)

Faces is a story about faceblindness which really describes what it's like to have that condition. It is a story of overcoming obstacles and finding internal strength. The story is unusual but realistic, suspenseful, and intriguing.


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

What if you could no longer recognize faces?

Following a head injury from a rock climbing accident, Jessica faces a disturbing future where everyone looks like a stranger.

When a team of embezzlers stumbles upon her diagnosis of prosopagnosia – face blindness – they seize the opportunity to entangle her in their scheme.

As she discovers the scam and alerts the authorities, she becomes a target in a masquerade far more dangerous than the extreme sports she loves.

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Link to the eBook Faces on Amazon with Excerpt

Indie Author Interview: Anne Leigh Parrish

Indie Author Interview with Anne Leigh Parrish - Author of the Short Story Collection Our Love Could Light the World.

"Anne Leigh Parrish is in possession of such precise prose, devilish wit, and big-hearted compassion that I couldn't help but be drawn into the hijinks and mishaps of the Dugan family. I found myself one moment laughing out loud, and the next, overcome with emotion. I'd compare these linked stories to those of George Saunders, Elizabeth Strout, or perhaps even Flannery O'Connor, if Parrish's voice weren't so clearly and wonderfully her own." - Ross McMeekin, Editor, Spartan Literary Review

Interview with Anne Leigh Parrish

Author Anne Leigh Parrish

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
Anne Leigh Parrish: I'm a fiction writer – I'd say strictly except for the fact that I had one non-fiction piece published almost ten years ago. I've been writing since my late twenties, when I gave up a career in economics consulting to pursue fiction. I've published around thirty short stories both in print and online, and I've got two story collections out.

Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
Oh, that's easy! As the reviews come in about my new collection, Our Love Could Like The World, I'm compared to those favorite writers – Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Alice Munro. My favorite book, which I'm re-reading now, as a matter of fact, is Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury. I also adore Raymond Carver, and have been compared to him, too.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
At a very young age, actually. When I was six, my family lived for a while in France. My parents were professors at Cornell, and they took their sabbatical at the same time. Anyway, my mother had family there and they rented a charming property out in the country during the summer. My French had gotten very good, the result of total immersion, no doubt, and I gathered my cousins around me and told them a long, rambling story about the perils of walking barefoot in the grass and coming across an angry bee. The adults were charmed, or so they said, not only because of my excellent accent, but my apparent ease with spinning a yarn then and there.

"I've learned not to sweat the times when I'm not very inspired [...]"

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?

Featured Indie Book: Any Road Will Take You There (David W. Berner)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Memoir Any Road Will Take You There: A Journey of Fathers and Sons by David W. Berner.

Any Road Will Take You There: A Journey of Fathers and Sons is unique in its perspective. It’s a personal memoir any lover of road trips will find appealing, but especially fathers and sons, as it combines the love of the iconic road trip with the triumphs and struggles of fatherhood. The book celebrates the imperfect ties that bind us in a unique and compelling way, through something so innately American – the road journey.

The Book has been self-published via Little Big Man Press and is available as eBook and Paperback - 285 pages - released in May 2013.

About the Book

A father sets out on a 5000-mile road trip, the one he never had the guts to take as a young man, the one he hopes will spark a new chapter in his life. But the once-delayed journey now takes on new meaning when he’s forced to confront his family’s unsettled past, and face the reality that every man, including his own two sons, will eventually compare his life with the fathers who came before him.

Chicago writer - David W. Berner - takes to the road for a journey he hopes will rekindle a level of inspiration. After re-reading Jack Kerouac’s On the Road - the iconic American road trip story and the book he cherished as a teenager - he finds himself confronting an unexpected examination of his place in the world and the most important role of his life - fatherhood.

Any Road Will Take You There: A Journey of Fathers and Sons is a heartwarming and heartbreaking story told with humor and grace, revealing the generational struggles and triumphs of being a dad, and the beautiful but imperfect ties that connect all of us.

Click to Read an Excerpt

Featured Indie Book: The Diabolist (Layton Green)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Religious Thriller The Diabolist (The Dominic Grey Series) by Layton Green.

The Diabolist touches a lot of different genres: suspense, thriller, religious mystery, as well as history and philosophy and theology and occult esoterica. The Diabolist will appeal to anyone who likes international thrillers or suspense novels, with a bit of the quasi-supernatural (think X-files) thrown in.

The Book has been published via Thomas & Mercer (Amazon Imprint) and is available as eBook and Paperback - 388 pages - released in June 2013.

About the Book

In this gripping thriller, the bizarre murder of a Satanic priest in San Francisco draws Dominic Grey and Viktor Radek, private investigators of cults, to the scene. Witnesses claim a robed figure, seemingly able to appear and disappear at will, set fire to the priest. When the leader of another Satanic cult in Paris dies under similar circumstances, the case only grows stranger… and more dangerous.

Convinced that a charismatic New Age prophet is behind the murders, the investigators undergo a perilous journey into the world of the occult as they try to penetrate the prophet’s inner circle. From the catacombs of Paris to London’s nefarious East End, from the haunted walls of York to a monastic fortress in the Sicilian wilderness, the case plunges Viktor and Grey into a vortex of black magic, ancient heresies, and the dark corners of their own pasts.

Click to Read an Excerpt

The Diabolist is a chilling novel that not only pulsates with action and suspense, but also mines a trove of fascinating historical, philosophical, and paranormal research to probe some of our closest held beliefs. From the opening pages to the astonishing conclusion, this latest installment in one of today’s most original new thriller series is not to be missed.