Self Published Book Review of the Week: Searching for Salvation

Searching for Salvation

by Albert L. Pike, Jr.

This self-published book was recently reviewed by ReaderViews:

“Searching for Salvation” is a poetry book that shows just because someone may appear to have it “all together” doesn’t make that fact. The author, Albert L. Pike, Jr., is a former public school teacher and administrator who became a priest in the Roman Catholic Church after a series of physical and emotional battles.

The poetry Pike writes in “Searching for Salvation” vividly shows his battles with depression, bipolar disorder, and seeking validation in other people such as his wife. His belief in God and his desire to serve, which he states in a narrative began at age seven when he felt called to the priesthood, shines through most of his work.

Most poetry books do not have narrative essays explaining the progression of the poems or even an introduction, but Pike does this without ruining the fact that “Searching for Salvation” is primarily a book of poetry. The explanations work well and help support the theme of his work, which is going from spiritual brokenness to spiritual enlightenment.

I am not Catholic, but I still feel “Searching for Salvation” has a lot of validity especially for those who are trying to go from emotional darkness into emotional sunlight. There are a number of Catholic themes noted in the book, especially once Pike enters the priesthood. Thus, those who are staunchly against the Catholic Church or other forms of Western religion may not wish to pick up a copy of this book. However, it is not necessary to be Catholic or Christian to enjoy the message of “Searching for Salvation” or the pain and then joy reflected in Pike’s words. This book is ideal for anyone who is interested in poetry, prose, self-help, and general spirituality and is appropriate for a wide range of age groups.

What I found most valuable out of “Searching for Salvation” by Albert L. Pike, Jr. is that a priest can admit a history of serious challenges, even note that the church to which he has devoted the remainder of his life had “innumerable scandalous activities.” Pike also beautifully illustrates through words the importance of even painful experience as perhaps life’s most lasting teacher.

For more information or to order the book, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/searchingforsalvation

Book Marketing, Networking, Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing: Books that sell in the digital age

This doesn’t speak at all exclusively to self-publishing/published authors. But, something every self-publishing author should take a moment to absorb: Building books that sell in the digital age

– Karl Schroeder

Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Networking, Self-Publishing

Ezines: Promote your Self-published Book

The digital age brings us a virtually unlimited number of ezines straight to our computer screens and finger tips, each with a specific niche or category. With so many free and competing factions most are voraciously hungry for content. Ezines are a great way to generate content AND promote your book (either before it is published by building a “name” for yourself) or after it is published.

Rather than seeking them out individually, you can place your articles into databases that ezine editors frequent for content. They use your article free of charge, and in exchange, include your biographical byline, which includes information about you and your book.

Here are some to check out:

http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.ebooksnbytes.com
http://www.connectionteam.com
http://www.netterweb.com
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.knowledge-finder.com
http://www.articlecity.com

Don’t send them the same article you published last week. Instead, write another chapter of your book first (since finishing your book IS the main goal, after all.)

– Karl Schroeder

Have fun and keep writing

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self-Published Book Review of the Week: Riddle of Berlin

Riddle of Berlin

by Cym Lowell

A recent review submitted by this self-published author:

An arms dealer orchestrates acts of terrorism throughout the world, vexing international authorities.

Mark Anton is an Internet wunderkind living in Germany, a 27-year-old Californian who went abroad to take advantage of the wild free market conditions in Eastern Europe. Little does Anton know that his empire has caught the attention of an international terrorist mastermind. The Lion, frequently posing as an old German frau, is a sophisticated and cultured criminal holdover from the Old World who orchestrates attacks from a plush library in his suite at Berlin’s finest hotel. The shadowy international financier decides to frame Anton—as well as his unsuspecting mother—as the perpetrator of a series of attacks on NATO intelligence and civilians in Germany, using Anton’s online venture, an auction site for sports memorabilia, as a coverup for arms dealing. Anton’s only hope of escaping this nefarious web—one that also includes the American vice president (who is a friend of his mother’s) Chinese militants and the FBI—is an investigator named John Jaëgerman, a decorated war hero and skilled soldier who somehow knows to warn Anton a few days before the first attack. Jaegërman, however, jumps off the Notre Dame Cathedral into the Seine shortly thereafter, in hopes of meeting a mysterious female entity who resides in the water. He is rescued by a Slovakian nurse driven by her own carnal and spiritual desires. For such an integral character in the book, Jaegërman is touched upon too infrequently and without enough emphasis. His relationship with the Slovak Carmen is distracting and even unnecessary in light of the tremendous amount of action going on elsewhere in the book. These disparate storylines eventually come together, but the novel as a whole feels overly plotted. The European settings are top-notch, a Jason Bourne-like mix of sex, immense manses and fast cars. However, NATO seems like a prosaic and harmless target for such a skilled criminal to focus on, and more so, the ability of The Lion to repeatedly defeat the authorities is not entirely plausible.

A dense amalgam of genre elements, but fans of international thrillers will be pleased.

Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing Advice Update: Google Book Settlement

To opt in or out? With court developments arising last week, the implications, at least as they stood, may be moot.

The AP released an article last week noting the Justice Department’s, deem of the current agreement as a threat to give Google the power to increase book prices and discourage competition, though it said a renegotiated settlement might obey U.S. copyright and antitrust laws.

In his subsequent adjournment order, US District Judge Denny Chin noted that “the current settlement agreement raises significant issues, demonstrated not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that the objectors include countries, states, nonprofit organizations, and prominent authors and law professors.” However, “the proposed settlement would offer many benefits to society, as recognized by supporters of the settlement as well as DOJ…if a fair and reasonable settlement can be struck, the public would benefit.”

If you’re published and chose to opt-in. Still writing and have this topic on the radar, this is good news. While the settlement probably won’t affect any of us directly, that we are taking the democratization of important materials into collective is a step in the right direction.

Have fun and keep writing

– Karl

Searching for Salvation

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Riddle of Berlin

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