Interview with the Author

D. A. Welch

Debra A. Welch, author of Flashback, currently resides in South Carolina. She has worked in several related computer programming and management fields. Her first novel is set with the beautiful island Low Country as a backdrop. Deb Welch has been quite successful with the location tie-in promotion of her book. Read the interview to discover how she did it.

Tabitha: What inspired you to write Flashback?

Deb: Hypocrisy… it angers me, harms people and damages our world. Regardless, I’m an optimist with a creative streak. Writing is an outlet for my feelings; I envy artists and musicians.

Tabitha: Were you at all concerned that potential customers might confuse your book’s title with Timothy Leary’s famous book?

Deb: Confusion with Timothy Leary’s autobiography never dawned on me; Flashbacks was written in 1983. To some, he was a thought-provoking man. To others, he was just provoking, but he forced us to think outside the box. I admit that Timothy Leary fell off my radar screen along with his orbiting ashes.

Tabitha: Define for us exactly what constitutes The Low Country.

Deb: The coastal region of South Carolina is called The Low Country. Here is a passage from Flashback that explains the term: "From Hilton Head Island to Myrtle Beach, the entire coastal area of South Carolina is known as the Low Country. It’s named for the topography. The region is flat, and much of it is wetland that gently melds into the sea. The terrain includes marshes, tidal basins, and estuaries flowing eastward toward the sounds that separate the barrier islands from the mainland."

Tabitha: I would expect that the obvious tie-in with an actual geographic locale would generate interest and, hopefully, spur book sales. Have you reaped any specific benefits from your subject matter and/or subtitle?

Deb: Despite the distribution challenge faced by POD authors, brick and mortar bookstores in Charleston, Beaufort, and Hilton Head Island have stocked Flashback in the local literature sections. Along with intense promotion and sincere groveling on my part, the Low Country subtitle helped put Flashback on their shelves. The area is a tourist destination and visitors gravitate to books featuring the Low Country.

Tabitha: I see from your Authors Den page that you had a local television interview last August. How did you secure such an interview and how was the experience? Do you think it helped your book sales?

Deb: In August, I appeared on WJCL/Fox 28 News in Savannah, Georgia. A press release announcing a Beaufort book signing triggered the interview. Trish Hartman, the anchor and producer of a morning news program, invited me to appear on her show. The interview went very well and it had to create interest in my book. Here’s a frustration many POD authors experience. Two weeks before the interview, I sent publicity kits to three bookselling chains in Savannah announcing my television appearance and I followed up with phone calls. The day before the interview, I visited the bookstores to sign their Flashback stock. No one had ordered the book. During this live broadcast, I couldn’t tell Savannah residents where to buy my book locally; the stores and I missed sales opportunities. Where have all the entrepreneurs gone?

Tabitha: The brief descriptions of the weather or scenery of coastal South Carolina add a nice touch to the beginning of each chapter. Have you envisioned Flashback as a screenplay?

Deb: Absolutely! I’d love to see a movie version of my book. With adaptation, the location, plot, characters and dialog would make a great screenplay. Your review stated Flashback could be a Lifetime Channel movie with an R rating. Nora Roberts did it with Carolina Moon and others. Why not D. A. Welch with Flashback?

Tabitha: In my reviews of Flashback, I commented on the beautiful cover. Who designed the cover? Did iUniverse create it strictly from your ideas, or did you supply the artwork or other elements? Are you satisfied with the cover?

Deb: The Flashback cover image was a collaborative effort between my husband and me using two different photos. I submitted the front cover design to iUniverse and received positive feedback. When the iUniverse Publisher’s Choice committee became involved, the problems began. I received a proof that I flat-out rejected. The font had become over-stylized, unreadable and sissified. The title and subtitle had been moved into the sea oats at the bottom of the cover. After much debate and correspondence, we compromised. I approved the cover design you see to gain the coveted Publisher’s Choice designation, but I still believe the title font is weak and the subtitle is too obscure.

Tabitha: Have you expended much effort seeking out an agent, and have you had much success in that regard?

Deb: Flashback was my first attempt to write a novel and I had much to learn about the process. I made a conscious decision to minimize the pain and maximize the lesson. Based on Flashback feedback, my efforts were not in vain and I’d like to find an agent for my next book. Right now, I’m learning how to find one. Any suggestions?

Tabitha: Flashback has received three honorary notations from iUniverse: Publisher’s Choice, Editor’s Choice, and Reader’s Choice. Do you feel as if any of these has aided your book’s success?

Deb: When I decided to publish my first novel, I had no literary credits so I needed every iota of recognition. The iUniverse honorary notations gave Flashback and me legitimacy. The awards are tiered and I earned them sequentially.

Editor’s Choice was given for outstanding editorial quality. After submitting my initial manuscript, I received honest, painful, and valuable feedback from iUniverse editors. Within four months, I completed two major rewrites and shortened the manuscript considerably before earning Editor’s Choice. I’m proud of the result. I’ve read books released by traditional publishers that would not meet the standards set by the iUniverse Editorial Review Committee.

Publisher’s Choice was awarded for cover design. The honor gave my book an eight-week spot on a local Barnes & Noble New Release table. During those eight weeks, Flashback appeared on the local fiction table instead of the New Release table. Regardless, my book was in a Barnes & Noble store and that is not an easy feat. I advertise Flashback’s availability at my local Barnes & Noble and visit the store frequently to sign copies of my book. When the store runs out of stock, which they often do, I ask them to reorder.

Reader’s Choice was awarded when 250 books were sold, one-half through non-author purchases. It proves a smidgen of commercial success, one achieved by authors who pound on doors and promote their work. I refer to these honorary designations in every promotional piece I create. I’m aiming for the iUniverse Star program: 500 books sold and a Kirkus book review.

Tabitha: From reading certain statements on your various web pages, it appears that you like to express your opinions concerning certain hot-button political issues of the day, and there is an undercurrent within the theme of Flashback. Have you received any particular feedback, of either a positive or negative nature, from the political views you have subtly expressed?

Deb: In the initial draft of Flashback, I was not so subtle with my opinions. The iUniverse content editor strongly suggested I tone down the rhetoric to avoid alienating readers. Apparently, I took his advice to heart, because no reader has taken issue with any political, religious, or feminist undercurrents. What fun is that?

Tabitha: Did you attend writer’s classes or workshops before releasing the book? Did you hire a professional editor or proofreader?

Deb: I did not attend writing classes but I read Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White sits on my computer desk. I purchased content editing and proofreading from iUniverse. The content editing service greatly improved the quality of my book. The proofreading service added to the quality, but iUniverse and I missed some errors.

Tabitha: Your bio pages indicate that you are quite computer literate, and I would think this skill has helped you immeasurably in your various book marketing endeavors. Would you care to elaborate on this issue?

Deb: I use my computer skills to create flyers, event signs, mailing lists (e-mail and snail mail), publicity kits, press releases, bookmarks, ad layouts, bookstore lists, and promotion plans. I’m a techie to a fault. The mechanics of word processing, Web design, graphic layouts, Internet research, and data management are my comfort zone. I spend too much time on easy tasks when I should be writing my next novel or pounding on new doors for Flashback sales.

Tabitha: Did you consider other publishers before you selected iUniverse?

Deb: I compared LuLu and BookSurge services and pricing before I chose iUniverse. I did not seek a traditional publisher for Flashback.

Tabitha: How satisfying has your experience with iUniverse been?

Deb: This was my first attempt to publish a book, so I can’t compare iUniverse with other publishing organizations. Overall, I am satisfied with their service and feel positive about the company. I’ve already mentioned iUniverse plusses and minuses. Add a plus for professional, courteous, and responsive employees. Printing and binding quality is top notch. I’d recommend iUniverse to other self-publishing writers.

Tabitha: What is the most significant thing you have learned as a POD author? Do you have any advice to offer to new or prospective POD authors?

Deb: First, I learned that retail bookstores don’t want to stock or sell POD books. Second, I learned that retail bookstores don’t want to stock or sell POD books. Third, I learned that retail bookstores don’t…. So I advertised for bookstores, negotiated to get shelf space, and followed up incessantly to maintain a presence in a handful of stores. I also learned that Amazon.com is great. Despite POD fulfillment, Amazon delivers and delivers quickly. The challenge is attracting buyers. I have several direct links from various Web pages. Along with retailers, Amazon appears on my bookmarks and all printed and electronic material.

Tabitha: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What genres do you like to read?

Deb: Wow! I could go on for pages. I dislike the term genre because it pigeonholes books. Flashback is classified as romantic suspense; I read books by several authors within that genre, but I gravitate to authors beyond the category. J. D. Robb’s In Death series is a favorite. The Plum series by Janet Evanovich is entertaining mind-wash. Vince Flynn novels are favorites for political intrigue. Every John Grisham novel teaches me another lesson about our flawed legal system. I read novels by David Baldacci, Michael Connelly, Michael Crichton, John Sanford and Tom Clancy. I’m not a James Patterson fan. Laurell K. Hamilton became too grotesque and I tired of her ramblings. A very long time ago, I read every Ian Fleming novel; all Bond movies pale in comparison to Fleming’s thrillers. Some favorite classics are Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fountainhead, Stranger in a Strange Land, Tale of Two Cities, Gone with the Wind, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Tabitha: What have you been reading lately?

Deb: I just finished Lone Survivor by Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson. It was a great book, but a sad and frightening account of our involvement in Afghanistan. Recent noteworthy reads were Kite Runner, Water for Elephants and Innocent in Death. I plodded through God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and I’m working on Black Swan, but I keep falling asleep. Theoretical non-fiction writers should take a lesson from John Stossel. A few years ago, I ripped right through Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity.

Tabitha: Yes, I admire Stossel’s style, too. What sort of educational experience do you have, and is it relevant to your writing or the subject matter you have chosen?

Deb: Having attended parochial school, I could diagram complex sentences by the fifth grade. I was the editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper and took electives in creative writing. I graduated with honors, began working full-time, and took undergraduate courses in business administration and advanced writing. I don’t have a college degree.

Tabitha: What about your work career? Has your choice of profession influenced your writing?

Deb: During successful careers in retail, information science, and property management, I developed important business and expositive writing skills. I also learned by doing: computer programming, systems analysis, managing budgets, directing projects, solving problems and leading people. I didn’t wait for someone to teach me; I just learned. In March 2005, I put an item on my ‘to do’ list. Right after balance bank statements, I added write novel. Once it’s on the list, it becomes a goal. I started writing a book that had been swirling around in my head for two years. It became Flashback: A Low Country Novel.

Tabitha: Are you currently working on another book? When and where will the next release by D. A. Welch be available? Will it be a sequel to Flashback?

Deb: I’ve started a Flashback sequel and it must become a higher priority. A few chapters have made their way into my word processor and my mind is constantly churning through plots and sub-plots. I hope to finish a manuscript and find an agent by June 2008.

Tabitha: Do you have any further books in the pipeline?

Deb: After I write the Flashback sequel, I must decide if the characters deserve another novel. Much of the future depends on my publishing options. I can’t finance a writing career forever.

Tabitha: What’s next for Debra Welch, the writer?

Deb: What’s next for Deb Welch, the writer, is still uncertain. As a person, I’ll continue to enjoy my Low Country life, travel with my husband and spend time with family and friends. I’ll read voraciously. If I don’t write other novels, I might try short stories and see where that takes me.

Tabitha: Do you have any final remarks to address to your readers or our audience?

Deb: Keep reading… anything and everything. Visit my website!

St. Hubert's Stag

St. Hubert's Stag

by John Richard Lindermuth

(iUniverse / 0-595-32869-5 / September 2004 / 144 pages / $11.95)

John Richard Lindermuth's second novel has earned five stars by just a whisker of antler velvet. The cover, a slightly annoying lapse in proofreading, and the lack of a statement of time and place for the setting of the story are its only faults. The error count could be somewhat lower, but it is not large enough to cause serious damage. There are several deer on the cover; however, they are all does. The star of the show is a massive black buck with a large enough rack to impersonate Bambi's dad. A photo or other image of a lone buck standing proudly in the moonlight would be far more appropriate to fit the storyline. When I began reading St. Hubert's Stag, I thought the setting could have been in the 1930's, but by the time I got to the mention of a $50 down payment on a computer, I wondered if the author had placed the deer hunters in The Eighties, or even The Nineties. Anyone needing a computer now would just put the $498 on a VISA card at Wally-World! Mr. Lindermuth told the readers they were in 1830 in Pennsylvania as his earlier Schlussel's Woman begins. Why not at least name a state and a decade? This unnecessary mystery left my mental imagery out in the cold!

That's enough complaining. John Lindermuth has improved upon his first novel. He still revels in that special ability of his to display a highly developed vocabulary that so fluidly accompanies dialogue spoken by uneducated hicks. Whatever the time period, St. Hubert's Stag is definitely set a century or more later than the mystery developed in Schlussel's Woman. This book is a slow potboiler of family secrets and emotions. The story takes place in an unidentified small town in which Americana is personified by the importance to the residents of the first day of deer hunting season. Since this is much like the small Southern town in which I grew up, the meanings behind the story's backdrop were quite easy to follow. The book surrounds the lives of a very traditional American family whose past is meticulously unveiled as the story progresses. Think of it as American Beauty for rednecks. An experienced deer hunter goes out on the mountain in search of one last kill. Before the story is over, the grandson has been lost in the woods, the sons have a few important issues to mull over, and the local Catholic priest tells the story of St. Hubert's Stag.

See Also: Tabitha's B&N Review

Tabitha's Author's Den Review

The Waiting List

Please note: The Waiting List is closed as of 12/22/07. Thank you for your support.

As suggested by an enterprising author, I have set up a waiting list for reviews. The last thing I want to do is to commit to reading and reviewing books that may gather dust on my bookshelf simply because I never find the time to read them. I would feel distinctly guilty if someone sent me a book in good faith and I never fulfilled my promise of a review. Therefore, a waiting list has now been added to iUniverse Book Reviews. If you request a review, I shall research your book to decide if I want to accept it for review, as always in the past. Instead of sending you an address to which to send the book, I shall reply to your message, and you can reply back if you want your book placed on the list. If so, your title will be added to the queue, and I shall notify you in plenty of time in the future as to where to send your book. This will assure that those on the waiting list will get their proper place in line, even while the submissions are offically closed. Until such time as I get at least somewhat caught up on my reading, this will keep your books, and my guilt over commitment, from stacking up on my bookshelf. Thank you for your support of iUniverse Book Reviews as the leading source of critical, honest reviews of iUniverse books.

Not a Phoenix

Attention! A new POD blog has recently (September 2007) been launched that at first may mislead you into thinking the infamous POD-dy Mouth has arisen from the dustbin of blog history. This new Poddymouth blog offers a perspective that I think all current and potential POD authors should read. This new blog is not a review site. It is a discussion of the business side of POD, a side I think a lot more new authors should heed. Watch out for the slap-fighters!

Update: As of 4/17/08, this blog has been removed by the author.

The Valley of Death

The Valley of Death

by Gwynne Huntington Wales

(iUniverse / 0-595-41889-9 / March 2007 / 418 pages / $23.95)

Getting right to the point, this is one of the more professionally composed and edited books reviewed on this site. Gwynne Huntington Wales is a fan of spy fiction from the cold war era. Two examples would be John le Carre's The Spy Wo Came in from the Cold (1963) and Smiley's People (1979). In my other reviews of the book, I compare it favorably to Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October (1984) and Ian Fleming's James Bond series (1953-66). For the record, the Clancy and Fleming books still reside on my bookshelf, but I have been less enamored of the le Carre style. As you might imagine from reading my own material, I tend to fly far off the left wing with Kurt Vonnegut and Hunter S. Thompson. I like Denny Crane better than Captain Kirk simply because Kirk is just so straight-arrow military in his disposition. As with many other books I have reviewed, the main reason you may want to read The Valley of Death is that I give it such a high rating even when the subject matter and style are a little too dry and right wing for my taste. I have to say overall that Gwynne Huntington Wales has made the grade. He's a member of the club. You won't mistake The Valley of Death for one of those stinky old POD books you have read so much about.

As a critic, I have to tell you what I found wrong with the book. I have exactly three complaints, four if you count the adjectives dry and military stated above. The title should have been Aardvark or Agent Aardvark for many reasons: (1) The Valley of Death is too generic and it may cause readers not to be able to find it in search engines; (2) the secret agent lead character has such a memorable name; and (3) Aardvark needs to have many more adventures, just like Jack Ryan, Smiley, and Bond. My second complaint is with the cover. It does nothing to cause me to buy the book. The red on black text in the marketing blurb is difficult to read (sound familiar?). At least you can see from the photo on the back that Gwynne is not a girl. My third complaint is far the most serious of all; however, fans of the genre may tell me to get back on the bus to Hunter S. Thompson's ranch. I found the compositional style in the consistent, matter-of-fact, third-person, past-tense to be a bit boring. Remember that I don't like Captain Kirk much, either, so you may have every right to feel that I am just full of it, that this sort of story needs that official, military precision. You may very well be correct in this context. I hope you know that I am protesting too much with my complaints. This is the most professional-looking book I have reviewed that has been published utilizing the optional editing services of iUniverse. The error count is commendably low, I love the lead characters, and the plot is so topical that most readers will wallow in the realistic possibilities of the storyline.

Remember that episode of Seinfeld where they went backwards through the timeline? That's what this review is doing. CIA Agent Vandermeer, code named Aardvark, has been sent to Iraq in November 2002 to track the path of a canister of nerve gas discovered by a British intelligence agent. The story begins in what Aardvark nicknames The Valley of Death because it is a hidden valley in which nothing seems to be alive: no animals, no plants, no bugs. The canister has been stashed by the bad guys at the bottom of a lake, which of course, contains no fish. The villains are bringing the canister up from the lake bottom for an obvious purpose. The question is who are they going to use it against and where are they going to use it? My favorite part of the story is that Aardvark has been participating in an abstinence-only program for the past ten years, and now the CIA introduces him to a new girlfriend of Middle Eastern descent who is a double agent. The adventures of Aardvark and Sophia make Bond look like a promiscuous rake, and this is where the author really shows us his magic. Gwynne Wales has created a new American Bond for contemporary America.

See Also: Tabitha's B&N Review

The Future of POD

After my extended rant last week, it may seem as if things have quieted down a bit here at iUniverse Book Reviews. The lull is simply because I have been reading a 400-page book and my reading time has been somewhat limited lately. The Proofreading Police walked off the job in boredom and disgust as I delved deeper into Gwynne Wales' The Valley of Death. I suppose I'll soon be denigrating this book's title and cover because that's about all that's wrong with it. The book's about as topical as a CNN Special Report, and it's not badly written, either. Look for the reviews to appear over the next few days. The interview with Deb Welch should follow soon after the review of The Valley of Death.

What's with this business of stating A Novel on the cover of many of the iU books I have been reading? Do you think the buyer might be a little confused? Maybe he thinks it's a hamburger. I know: it's a DVD wearing a thick, bulletproof vest! Am I supposed to read this thing? It looks sort of like it might be some sort of fictional reading material. Have you seen those stupid chrome taillamp surrounds on the latest new cars? What's up with that? Hey, Maybelle, it's a taillamp! Golllleeee! Do you think maybe I can open this thing up and read some sort of story? If we don't have a subtitle, do we have to just make one up? Gollllleeee!!

I know that many of you probably cringed as you read Dreams For Sale. The truth is not always pretty, but, as they say, it does set you free. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? When iU offers one of their better promotional offers of free books, the legendary Select Package may remain the best choice for most authors. This is particularly true when the book in question is a large one, and the deal strengthens if the author has an event in mind at which he can kick off the sales of his new release. The current offer from iU is a measly $50-off and five free books. Big woo. This is not much of a bargain. When the company has offered twenty free books, the choice has been much more tempting. One of the things that spurred me to post Dreams For Sale is iU's steady price increases, not only for their packages, but for the books themselves. When I saw that latest $599, that was the last straw for me. The price eight years ago was only $99. My first book, released in December 2000, was 368 pages for $18. My fourth, released in June 2006, costs $22 for less than 300 pages. See what I mean? For now and always, the worst thing about iU is its corporate greed!

Not only is the company making far more per author, the number of books released annually has multiplied, making it tougher and tougher to promote and market your POD book. The el cheapo methodology introduced so successfully by Lulu is adding massively to the number of competing POD books for sale. I call the whole thing a rotten deal multiplied. The publication cost, retail cost, number of competing books, and limited access to marketing that actually works have conspired to grind a POD author into despair. The stinky horde of smart-mouth slap-fighters isn't helping things, either. What's an unknown author to do?

One of the points I wanted to make in Dreams For Sale is that Amazon sells such a huge percentage of the total POD books sold. Why not just let them be your only retailer? I cannot think of much of a reason not to do just that. CreateSpace could be the new wave of the future for us all. I am not a fan of Lulu for several reasons. First of all, I think authors have quite enough to do without spending time and effort on issues of formatting and production. Secondly, if you calculate all the nickel-and-dime options you have to add to sell your book at Amazon and reach other results offered by iU in their one-shot price, there is not that much difference. My third reason to avoid Lulu is that you still face that booger of a too-high retail price when you sell from anywhere outside the company website. Yes, with every stinking price increase, iU's greed quotient steps further into an unacceptable level. My personal answer to myself has always been that if I am going to spend a ridiculous number of hours on something with my name on the cover, I prefer to pay a little more to have it look as perfect and professional as I can. That's why this blog is called iUniverse Book Reviews.

I hate corporate buyouts. I hate downsizing, outsourcing, Wall Street, Alan Greenspan, and every ridiculously overpaid CEO in this once great country. I love Michael Moore and populism in general. I am probably the only certified car nut in America that loves both Ralph Nader and Joan Claybrook! That's why you need to read my first book, Plastic Ozone Daydream. You have never read about or thought about Corvettes in that way before! AuthorHouse does not have a sterling reputation, and I shudder to think what they might do to my beloved iUniverse. iU has always been the Mercedes of POD. Remember that the Daimler Chrysler marriage didn't work out so well, did it?

CreateSpace deserves a much closer look, at the very least. From what I have been able to ascertain from their website, the royalty paid works out to about triple what you would get from an iU book, and you have the option of pricing it lower, if you desire. Better still is the notation that Amazon may choose on their own to discount your book while still paying you the officially agreed upon royalty. That in itself is quite a bit better deal than iU offers. When iU cuts the price to Amazon, the author takes the hit. The leading negative for me at least would be the formatting issues. I am not sure that I would ever want to get involved in that. If I did choose to do my own formatting, I can tell you that I would lean heavily toward CreateSpace and away from Lulu. I say this purely because Amazon is the #1 sales outlet. The details of the production process as they apply to Lulu and CreateSpace would be of little consequence to me. The big deal is having your book for sale at Amazon for a good price. The second most important issue should be the amount of royalty the author receives from each sale. I understand that if an author plans to sell his book mostly outside the confines of the major online retailers that Lulu may be worth considering. For me, it isn't.

Yes, I do think it is next to impossible to get your book released by a major, traditional publisher. You may snare a small, boutique publisher without the necessity of winning the lottery, but the little guys generally offer deals a lot closer to those of the subsidy publishers than you might think. You still need to do your own marketing at your own expense. You can at least maintain total control of your book's editing and content at iU. Why not release exactly the book that you want, when you want? Is this not the best reason on earth to utilize the services of iUniverse? For the time being, I am currently working a lot harder at being a book critic than I am an author, so I am not currently working on a book project. If I was, I would be researching the hell out of CreateSpace.

Dreams For Sale

This is the article more POD authors will want to read more than any other on this site. The key word is want. There have been far more significant articles posted here, but this is the guilty pleasure most of you seek. You want to know the details about the sales figures of your books, and this is the straight poop, at least to the best of my knowledge of the subject. I may cover familiar ground here from past articles I have written, as well as details posted elsewhere by other authors. There will be many links to follow in order to get the complete story. If a link sends you to all too familiar territory, just return to this page and continue. Surely there will be something new for every one of you dreamers and schemers here.

Back in the previous millennium, iUniverse had an online sales and royalty reporting system. By the time my first book was released in the last days of December, 2000, the iU page of sales reporting was nothing but history. The management repeatedly promised that they were developing a newer, more sophisticated version, and several years later, it actually appeared. If you have already released your first iU book, you can currently access that page. The system is probably better than that of any other POD publisher. It may not be as fast-acting as the headache relief you would prefer, but I have little doubt as to its accuracy. Let me define little. You may have noticed on the Sales Activity page that most of the important retailers show a first of the month sales date, but you know your books were not sold on that date. Face the fact that that date is many weeks old. B&N sells a copy of your book, but they don't actually pay for it until many weeks later, and then they don't actually report that sale to iU until weeks after that date. It's not cheating; it's just corporate bill paying taken to an absurd art form. A good example of this phenomenon is that I received a sales ranking number for one of my books at B&N online a couple of months ago. I have no idea how long after the sale I noticed the number change because my membership has expired in the Check Every Day POD Author Sales Club. This is actually one of the reasons you should monitor your sales rankings daily. Since I don't know exactly when this particular ranking blip occurred, I have less accurate information on which to base my opinion on this issue right now. The point is that B&N has seemingly had time to post that sale to iU showing the infamous, old as a bag of warts, sale date of the first of the past month. Let's not forget that B&N still owes me for the local book signing I did many months ago, so all this foot-dragging should not be a shocking revelation. The point is that B&N has seemingly already had enough time to report this sale to iU. The question is whether or not the company has lost one of my little royalties, or are they just setting a new record in late bill-paying? I strongly lean toward the latter answer. This is what I meant by little. We all live with these nagging little doubts, but my final opinion is that neither B&N nor iUniverse is trying to cheat me out of $2.30!

Back in that past millennium, iUniverse also hosted an author message board. As you might imagine, questions of sales and royalties were the most persistent of issues discussed by the authors, but not by iU personnel. Believe it or not, it took me years to fully realize how completely iU does not now, and never has, given an author's leaky fountain pen about the sales performance of their authors. They make their money almost solely off the authors themselves. As naive as I once was, this came as a somewhat shocking revelation to me. The more copies of a particular title they sell, the more money they make. What could possibly be the flaw in that business model? It isn't a flaw: it's a dirty little secret. We'll come back to this issue later in this article. First we have to follow the track of the iU message board.

The short version is that iU wanted to visit bear country in a salmon suit more than it wanted to discuss POD book sales, which might have allowed its dirty little secret to escape from its dark closet into the open minds of the iU authors. Authors pounded the iU message board with questions. When was the new royalty page going to be published? Why did it take so long to show the sales and pay the royalties? Why did the sales and royalties always seem to be so shockingly low? One author and another would post the secret Ingram sales line phone number on the board, and iU personnel would remove it as fast as it appeared. Whenever someone asked politely why they could not phone Ingram, there was always some WMD, the terrorists will just follow us here, sort of nonsense reply from iU. The company's official response was that the Ingram, non-toll-free number was supposed to be for publishers, not authors. That may have been true in 1997, but iU opened the door and let the dogs out. We just did the barking! You can keep several thousand new authors a year quiet for only so long. The management, tired of deleting the secret number and inquisitive authors' messages, finally pulled the plug on the iU message board.

Now it's time for a little side trip to hell, where we meet the infamous Lord Satan, aka Solomon Tulbure. This author from the pioneering days of iU and POD history was like Ralph Nader, Al Sharpton, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Moore, a bad suit, a telemarketer, an insurance salesman, a case of the trots, a plague of locusts, and a bat out of hell, all rolled into one big mouth at a computer keyboard. Everything about this POD author is an anacrhonism, an oxymoron, a scam, a sham, and an imposter! He was reviled by practically everyone from his readers to his publishers to his many spamees. Lord Satan is no longer with us. According to him, he was murdered, assassinated for his religious beliefs. According to everyone else, he was a nut and a pain in the butt. No matter what your opinion of the deceased may be, if you have followed his POD adventures as I have, you have to call him a pioneer for all of us. He called iU's bluff long before any of the rest of us. He understood what really sells POD books by unknown authors, and it ain't compositional or editing quality. You could call him, in the vernacular of this blog, the first successful cheater who chose to share his secrets rather than quietly benefit from them. Practically all the other cheaters live in the land of denial with Larry Craig. They don't want to face the truth, and they certainly don't want you to know about it. Lord Satan was a con artist who broke all the rules, and without my close scrutiny of his activities at the time, I may have never learned all that I have learned about the secret world of Print On Demand Publishing. Solomon Tulbure was a young punk who knew then about as much as I know now about computers and publishing and marketing on the internet. He was one of the first authors to discover the dirty little secret of POD publishing, and no matter how much whining denigration of his methodology we read, we all owe him at least a little respect.

How about a little corporate poop? iUniverse was not the very first of the new generation of POD publishers, but iU grew rapidly into the #1 spot in its early history by buying other small publishing companies. B&N has owned variously large and small segments of iUniverse at different points in time. In earlier days, the B&N website was a separate corporate entity from the B&N store chain. If you shopped on the net back then, you may remember how much more efficient the website was when it was run entirely by nerds. When the B&N store chain took the reins a few years ago, the online operation went to hell. This issue has plenty to do with where you should buy your POD books, but nothing to do with getting your POD books onto B&N store shelves, which has always been the elusive fantasy of iU authors. None of the corporate entities has ever officially lied about this issue, but they haven't actively popped the bubble of the fantasy, either. If you want to see your iU book in a B&N store, you may have to wait for the cows to come home. On the other hand, as you can see from this link on my site, my books have always been stocked by a local store in Austin TX, and that store is owned by B&N! You have to get out there and beat your own bushes. Hell will freeze over and Lord Satan himself will arise from the grave and read your book aloud in The Rose Garden before B&N will put it into their store ordering system for on-the-shelf stock in their national store chain! Just get over it, already.

Most iUniverse books are printed at Ingram within a warehouse in suburban Nashville. Lightning Source is just a part of Ingram. Sometimes your iU book will be printed at some location other than Nashville. I don't think there are any rules about this. I think they just print it wherever it is most convenient at the time, according to how booked up the POD printing machines are or the location where the printed copy of the book is going. I cannot tell you how accurate or up to date the stated Ingram numbers are that you hear spilled out from the phone line. I can tell you that, at the very least, the great majority of iUniverse books sold to individual buyers are printed by Lightning, sold at the wholesale level through Ingram, and sold at the retail level by Amazon. The numbers sold by all the other retailers combined amounts to a very small hill of beans.

Let's visit the bean hill, shall we? The big gonzo bean is, of course, B&N online. I bet they sell 80% of the iU books not sold by Amazon. There are a bunch of others, though. Most of the others know absolutely nothing about your book. They don't have one; they have never seen one; and even if you ordered one from them, they still would never own or see a copy of it. These small retailers are nothing more than a computer server. They have no warehouse and they have no inventory. The only ones with warehouses and actual inventory are Amazon and B&N. This is most likely the truth, no matter what it looks like on your computer monitor. There are many websites that will connect you to this multitude of little beans. Some are included here for your entertainment. Just keep in mind that entertainment is all they are. The despicable truth is that they are just capturing the information about your book from Ingram and splattering it like birdshot all over the internet. The best book locating site is Addall. The information found there is up to date and somewhat more real than that offered elsewhere.

For your guilty pleasure, here are some more of these weasels in the ether. FetchBook is one such site. Note that AllDirect is featured right on their home page. AllDirect is somehow connected to Ingram, quite possibly only by simple proximity, but I have never been able to discover exactly how. At one time they offered the best price on my books. I ordered several, but the books never arrived. Several e-mails were never answered. Thank goodness my credit card was never billed. Notice when you click the link, they are now closed. Good riddance. Best Book Deal is far better than FetchBook, particularly for its entertainment value. Your current Amazon and B&N ranking numbers are listed right there on the page, and this is one of the few places you can see how many books you have not sold at Amazon in Japan! There are many more of these booksellers flying around the batcave. All you have to do is go look for them. The bottom line is that you should always look for bats overhead, not stars.

The sales rankings at Amazon and B&N are computed and posted somewhat differently from each other. You can go to Foner Books to read a detailed explanation of the Amazon rankings. I do not know how accurate or up to date the Foner version is, but I want to present a brief overview here. (Notice also that I have added a new link to the Foner Blog in the Significant Links Department.) You do not have a ranking number at Amazon until the first book is sold, and after that first sale you have a ranking forever. You do not have a ranking at B&N until the first sale, but the number drops off after a period of no sales activity. I think that period is about two months, but I am not sure. The number at Amazon can be over 5,000,000, but the number at B&N will probably not exceed 750,000. Used and new copies sold through Amazon, as well as those by Amazon, will affect the ranking. I have read that copies special ordered through B&N stores will affect the ranking, but I have never been able to verify this issue. Your number will never go down at Amazon without a book being sold, but the numbers fluctuate wildly at B&N while your book just sits there, looking pretty on the page. I do not know why this is true. Individual sales from different individual buyers will make the numbers pop more than a bulk sale in one order. Multiple, individual sales in a short period of time will pop the numbers with the greatest velocity. All the glowing reviews posted by your friends and McReviewers will do nothing directly for your ranking.

You can't handle the truth! iUniverse doesn't sell books. They sell dreams. The earliest iU authors had a much better road to drive on than you do now. It was easy to shine from the muck before the slap-fighters got a grip on their rabid egos and began spewing their venom for their own pleasure. It was easier before POD entered the language of our popular culture. It was easier before every punk with a genre novel in his head discovered iU. It was easier before iU was pumping out more than 4000 of these punk fantasies annually. We all think that if Britney can sell ten million copies of How I Forgot My Panties in the first day of its release, surely we can sell a thousand copies of our novel over a period of five years. We all think if some nut can become famous for fifteen minutes with a YouTube video, we can see our great novel in B&N stores nationwide. Is it so unreasonable to think we can work for years polishing a book project and see it get the rave reviews from legitimate reviewers it deserves, and for word of mouth to spread our fame? Yes.

The dirty little secret is that our culture has long ago been farked. Our leaders, both political and corporate, have no goals other than to gain as much power and profit as possible, in as short a time as possible, with as little effort as possible. They have been breeding ignorance like mosquitoes at a Betta splendens farm. The public doesn't read. The public doesn't do much of anything except watch television. The book market is shrinking daily, while the number of POD books published is exploding. The corporate entity of iUniverse knows all of this. They know you cannot reach into a brain full of Paris and O.J. and pull out War & Peace. You're lucky to find Harry Potter in there. As I have stated repeatedly on this blog, most iU books that sell decently well do so either because cheating is involved or the title and subject matter are both obvious and searchable by obsessors of that particular genre and subject. Compositional quality, writing talent, editing, or proofreading have nothing to do with the book's success. Of course these things have plenty to do with many other valuable issues. Sales just isn't one of them. Believe me. I used to be as naive as you are now. I thought, how can this be? It makes no business sense. It makes no logical sense. Wait a minute. It makes the same sense as Britney's panties, O.J.'s exploits, and Paris' outstanding level of intelligence and accomplishment. Just like these clowns, iUniverse is selling dreams.

Interview with the Author

D. H. Schleicher

Dave H. Schleicher, author of The Thief Maker (available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com), currently resides in New Jersey. He is the author of three earlier books, Crematorium and Carabolia (both iUniverse 2002, and both no longer available for sale), and An Accidental House (Xlibris 2003, available only direct through the publisher). I have not read or reviewed these first three books, so we shall concentrate on the fourth book in this interview. Note: the links to Amazon from the book covers above are to be used for information only. The author has stated that these can no longer be ordered from Amazon.

Tabitha: What inspired you to write The Thief Maker?

Dave: The Thief Maker was unique for me as I had the title before anything else. A “thief maker” refers to a medieval bounty hunter who conned other people into committing a crime and then turned them in. As soon as I heard this term used in a criminal justice class I took in college, I knew it would be a great title for a novel. From a later class I took on the psychology of aging, I knew I wanted to set a story in a nursing home where a con man was taking advantage of the residents. Then 9/11 happened, and I knew I wanted to create a psychologically complex novel of intertwining stories that revolved around this type of tragic backdrop. Later ideas and stories combined over the years and the novel was born.

Tabitha: What sort of educational experience do you have, and is it relevant to your writing or the subject matter you have chosen?

Dave: I have a BA in Psychology and minored in Criminal Justice at Elon University in North Carolina. This background provided me with endless story ideas and a plethora of research materials. I also took multiple courses in philosophy, literature, and film that influenced the type of ideas and themes I wanted to address in my writing. One philosophy course I took discussed looking at the cyclical nature of life in terms of the four seasons-each with unique themes and issues to work out. That inspired me to write The Thief Maker non-sequentially in a thematic chronology divided into four seasons.

Tabitha: What about your work career? Has your choice of profession influenced your writing?

Dave: Not in the least bit. My “other job” in the corporate world has no bearing on my writing, at least not yet. Ideas can bloom anywhere.

Tabitha: Are there particular, actual persons who inspired your lead characters?

Dave: No. My characters are occasionally inspired by people I know or have read about in psychological case studies, but I usually combine so many different aspects from so many different people into the fiction that the character becomes totally unrelated to the inspiration.

Tabitha: I understand that a few of the subplots of The Thief Maker were based on real-crime events you discovered. Would you like to elaborate?

Dave: This is not entirely true in the case of The Thief Maker. Some of the character details, like Billie Tolliver losing her sense of proprioception, were based on actual case studies I read about, but none of the events or crimes depicted in the novel were based on anything in particular from the real world spare for the obvious 9/11 terrorist attack backdrop. The basic premise of my previous novel, An Accidental House, however, was directly inspired by an actual unsolved mystery surrounding a missing girl from my hometown of Burlington, NJ that haunted me as a child.

Tabitha: The single most impressive element of The Thief Maker is the plotting of the unusual and unexpected relationships among the characters. What exactly provided the inspiration for the intricate storyline?

Dave: I always loved episodic stories with multiple POV’s and subplots where story arcs were developed and sometimes not directly related. I wanted to create a story like this where secrets would be revealed and all the plot lines would slowly intertwine building into a crescendo of suspense ending in a monumental tragedy.

Tabitha: The interplay of characters reminds me of William Castle’s 1961 movie, Homicidal and the more modern epic, Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon of 1991. Have you envisioned what a movie version of The Thief Maker would be like?

Dave: I am a huge movie lover and amateur film critic. It is a dream of mine to see my novels adapted for the big screen. I imagine The Thief Maker could translate well into a film similar to 21 Grams (told non-sequentially and emotionally nihilistic) or perhaps be translated in the mosaic, hot-button-issue style of a film like the Oscar-winning Crash.

Tabitha: The characters in your book come to life in my mind as I read their conversations. Have you envisioned certain actors playing the lead parts?

Dave: Naomi Watts is my favorite actress, and I always seem to write a role for her: Catherine Fowler would be a great character for her to play. Though the physical description doesn’t quite match, I always saw Don Cheadle as Frank Morrison. I imagined a Halle Berry or Thandie Newton type as Felice Morrison. I could see a Ryan Gosling type playing William Donovan, though I never had anyone in particular in mind for him. As someone who loves movies as much as I love books, it’s always fun to fantasize about this type of thing and create a picture in your mind of the character you created.

Tabitha: The Thief Maker reminds me of Grand Canyon in the way seemingly unrelated characters bring their stories together. It reminds me of Bonfire of the Vanities in the darkness of its morality play and the psychodrama of the characters. What sort of impressions were you trying to present with The Thief Maker?

Dave: I wanted to juxtapose personal tragedy with communal tragedy. I wanted to show the raw intimacy of human interactions in the wake of these horrific events and how crimes can leave scars that last generations. People are often connected with others in ways they never imagined when these tragedies occur, and crimes can bring some people together while tearing others apart.

Tabitha: I saw on your website that you are a fan of David Lynch. The obvious omission in my previous mentions is Twin Peaks, which I found just a bit too strange and dark to offer as a comparison to The Thief Maker, although I loved that television series. Were you influenced by Twin Peaks, or by other Lynch favorites such as Blue Velvet or Eraserhead?

Dave: Most definitely. Thematically and tonally, Lynch is a huge inspiration. There’s always a sense of decay or evil bubbling underneath picture-perfect settings in his work. This is a powerful theme most people can relate to and are in tune with in some way. I’m not sure if anything in The Thief Maker was presented in an idealistic way, but the idea of everything falling apart after uncovering some dark secret is played out many times during the course of the novel. I also think I touch on the idea of corrupting innocence in the book, though I would make the argument that no one is innocent in The Thief Maker, not even young Rex Thomas Gail.

Tabitha: I know that you previously released two books with iUniverse and one with Xlibris prior to The Thief Maker. What would you like to tell us about your Xlibris experience? How did it compare with your experience with iUniverse?

Dave: Xlibris is very similar to iUniverse in terms of the services provided, contracts and royalty rates. The major difference is the pricing of the books. They overprice the books out of the market. They also have questionable interactions with distribution channels. People had trouble ordering the title I published with Xlibris through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. iUniverse titles have no such issues.

Tabitha: In my reviews of The Thief Maker, I mentioned a few reservations about the cover design, particularly the nondescript look and the small red text on the back. Who designed the cover? Did iUniverse create it strictly from your ideas, or did you supply the artwork or other elements? Are you satisfied with the cover?

Dave: I see your point, and I’m not a fan or red text either. iUniverse designed the cover based on my ideas and their recommendations. Though it is rather vague and nondescript, I think it looks comparable to any book out there on the new release shelves. Honestly, I’m rarely impressed by any cover design for any book I scan on the shelves, so I was just pleased it looked professional.

Tabitha: How satisfying has your experience with iUniverse been? You have previously indicated that some of your interaction with iU has been less than stellar. Would you care to enlighten us?

Dave: I don’t mean to bad mouth iUniverse. I think they do a great job of providing exactly what they say they will provide in their agreements. If you know what you are paying for and know what to expect, they do a commendable job. However, to be more specific, I was not pleased with their proofreading/editing services. Overall, I would still recommend them to people thinking of using a POD outfit as they provide the best distribution and widest breadth of services when compared with other companies.

Tabitha: What is the most significant thing you have learned as a POD author? Do you have any advice to offer to new or prospective POD authors?

Dave: Be realistic. Do your homework. Don’t plan on making a profit. Know exactly what you are paying for. Don’t expect miracles. And no matter what path you take for publishing, make sure your writing has reached a certain level of quality. I can honestly say that the quality of the writing was not there with my first three “experiments” in self-publishing. But I had to write those novels and fail miserably so I could learn how to write something truly compelling and worthwhile. I think the quality is there with The Thief Maker. Write something you will be proud of and don’t publish something through a POD outfit just because you can.

Tabitha: I understand that you reeaaally want to leave Print On Demand behind and find a traditional publisher for your work. Have your efforts produced any results in this quest?

Dave: I’m just focused on my writing for now. I’m knee deep in my next novel with no end in sight. I will focus my efforts when this project is completed and polished and ready for submission. It’s an arduous struggle on the road to traditional publishing, but I hope to stick it out and avoid the POD route in the future. However, I would be a fool to say I would never ever do it again. The quick turnaround time and level of control is always alluring when considering using a POD publisher.

Tabitha: Have you expended much effort seeking out an agent, and have you had much success in that regard?

Dave: Again, I am totally focused on my writing. I have this crazy notion that an agent will someday find me… but I know that will never happen, so I’m prepared to search and do my homework and find someone when the time comes.

Tabitha: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What genres do you like to read?

Dave: I love historical non-fiction, especially anything dealing with the World War II era. I enjoy harvesting ideas from collections of psychological case studies. In terms of fiction, I enjoy reading suspense thrillers, spy novels, historical fiction, literary fiction, and mysteries. My favorite novel of late was Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. My favorite writer is Graham Greene: I love the crisis of faith, moral ambiguities, and deep psychological complexities he displays in his characters and stories, and he’s equally good at literary fiction and suspenseful entertainments.

Tabitha: What have you been reading lately?

Dave: I tackled three of William Faulkner’s novels this summer. It was a grueling but rewarding task, and he’s someone every fiction writer should read. I’ve also been reading more Graham Greene and the short stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Tabitha: Do you have any further books in the pipeline?

Dave: As I stated earlier, I am totally lost right now in a new novel, and I have two very strong ideas plotted for when I am done with this one. It’s always good to have at least three book ideas in the pipeline, so if one doesn’t work out, you know you have some fresh ideas to turn to and play with. I like to let my ideas gestate and evolve in my mind for years before hashing them out and turning them into a novel.

Tabitha: What’s next for Dave Schleicher, the writer?

Dave: Who knows? I feel my style is finally coming into its own with this new novel: it’s as twisty and convoluted as The Thief Maker, but more disciplined and evocative, I hope. I think the key to becoming a successful writer is reading as much great writing as you can, and writing as much as you can until something finally clicks and you know yourself as a writer. I think something definitely clicked when writing The Thief Maker, and I hope to continue to build and improve on that in the future.

Tabitha: Do you have any final remarks to address to our audience?

Dave: If you want to be a writer: Read, read, read. Then write, write, write. Don’t be afraid to fail. Make mistakes, lots of mistakes, and learn from them. If you plan to publish: HIRE A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR. One day, I will.

Schlussel's Woman

Schlussel's Woman

by John Richard Lindermuth

(iUniverse / 0-595-29929-6 / October 2003 / 204 pages / $14.95)

Schlussel's Woman is a carefully composed and edited little murder mystery set in a small, pioneer town in Pennsylvania coal country in the 1800's. This historical fiction novel was written by a retired newspaper editor, and the maturity of its development is well displayed. John Lindermuth has obviously been a long-time student of the era of which he writes. The dialogue is reminiscent of the time and the characters are aptly drawn.

The plot surrounds Isaac Schlussel as he lies mortally wounded by a bullet in a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania in 1830. The story is told in flashbacks through the early 1800's up to the time of the mysterious gunshot. Schlussel had been a greedy man of overt ambition and very little scruples. He had founded the town in which his gunpowder plant employed most of the residents and supplied the blasting force for the nearby mining operations. This carefully dated character study meticulously unfolds the life of a man many wanted to see in his grave. The mystery, which is aptly exposed in the final pages, is the question of who shot Schlussel and why. As in most every episode of Murder, She Wrote, practically every major character had a good reason to pull the trigger. It's up to the reader to ascertain the truth.

Mr. Lindermuth is a very professional, accomplished author. There are too many typos, of course, but they are definitively of the miniscule, missing-comma variety. The front cover of the book is elegantly designed and a pleasure to the eyes. Unfortunately, the pink text is carried over to the back cover, on which the all-important blurb is in pink text on a white background, and is therefore difficult to read. This may be a particularly poignant complaint, considering the geriatric age bracket of which this book should hold much appeal. Schlussel's Woman is not a book for impatient young whippersnappers. The mature plot and period dialect are intended to languish through the reader's mind like a slowly brewing pot of strong coffee headed for a boiling overflow. iUniverse and the other POD publishers need more authors like John Richard Lindermuth to improve their credibility. I hope St. Hubert's Stag, his next novel, is as good as this one. Look for a review here in the coming weeks.

See Also: Tabitha's B&N Review
Tabitha's Authors Den Review
Review of St. Hubert's Stag

Submissions are Closed

The fateful day has arrived, folks. I really must close the blog to any further submissions at this time. I want to retain the high level of detail and personal service I offer to authors. Assuming that all the books already accepted for review arrive, I am probably booked up at least until Thanksgiving, and maybe until Christmas. It mostly depends on how much reading time I have in the coming weeks. Many helpful articles and author interviews will still be scheduled for the remainder of 2007, but any additional books for review will not be accepted at this time. Thank you.

Coming Attractions Update

These are busy times at iUniverse Book Reviews. There is so much happening at once that I cannot decide if I want to step back and organize everything or just forge ahead, completing one task at a time until I no longer feel overwhelmed. Not only do I have a lot to say on this blog, but I have mostly ignored my other two websites for far too long. In this update, I shall take a brief stab at organizing everything, at least within the confines of this blog. Here we go, in no particular order of significance.

Author Solutions, Inc., has bought out iUniverse. I am uncertain what I think about this in all the long-term ramifications, but I doubt that it will have a positive outcome. I say this based simply on the history of corporate buyouts, which are almost never good for anyone but the CEO's and stockholders' bottom line. I have noticed that iU's basic package that includes distribution has risen to a greedy $599. Is this latest price increase related to the buyout in some way? I don't know, but the chance of this is certainly likely. What else do they have in store for future authors? Knowing as I do how corporations operate, I shudder to imagine.

On a somewhat related topic, we have the launch of Amazon's new CreateSpace. Will this be Lulu's most serious competitor? I haven't studied the details of CreateSpace's publishing plan yet, but I suspect that Lulu is about to face a real threat to its easy money. Only time will tell how the POD market shakes out its dust as these two changes infiltrate the digital airspace.

I want to reiterate the comments I made about offering my services as a proofreader in the Coming Attractions post. One of the patterns I clearly see developing is that many online entities are offering editing, proofreading, and other book doctoring services to authors. The problem is that these are very labor intensive services and the prices border on the outrageous. If you do the math on the page count or word count fees, you will quickly ascertain that the utilization of any of these services will double or triple the cost of releasing your POD book by an unknown author. How many books with incomplete proofreading will CreateSpace add to the Bad Book Ozone?

Look for reviews of the following books, generally in this order. The one and only reason there may be adjustments made to the order is that I have more than one book by a single author received at the same time, and some books by different authors have arrived on the same day. This allows for a bit of flexibility if I want to separate the reviews of books by the same author without allowing any author to cut in line in the queue.

Schlussel's Woman by John Lindermuth
The Valley of Death by Gwynne Wales
St. Hubert's Stag by John Lindermuth
Scarecrow in Gray by Barry D. Yelton
Beyond the Cayenne Wall by Shaila Abdullah
Cibolero by Kermit Lopez
Bound by Amy Lane

The following requests for reviews have been accepted, but the books have not yet arrived:
The Confession of Piers Gaveston by Brandy Purdy
Pirate Spirit by Jeffery S. Williams

Author interviews are also in progress with Dave H. Schleicher and Deb A. Welch. Dave's interview should be up before the end of September. Deb's should appear sometime in October.

I have recently posted notice of this blog's existence at two forums, one at Absolute Write and another at Amazon. Anyone who wishes to comment on my job performance on these boards is encouraged to do so. My tightrope seems to be stretching tighter with every new online source of POD information that I discover. I do not want to have to close submissions for reviews, but that consequence seems to creep ever closer. Piers Gaveston, where are you?

Wounded

Wounded by Amy Lane

(iUniverse / 0-595-37914-1 / January 2006 / 362 pages / $20.95)

Subtitled The Second Book in The Little Goddess Series, Amy Lane's Wounded continues the saga of Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick and her merry band of elves, vampires, and what-nots. Cory's giant elf boyfriend sent her off to college in San Francisco at the conclusion of the first book, Vulnerable, and most of the action in Wounded takes place in that liberated city. It's a good thing it does, too, because the book kickstarts off with a homoerotic scene between an elf and a vampire, and then proceeds to go where no small-minded human would dare. The action quickly mellows into a smoother, more introspective work than the more jarring first book. Wounded is primarily a story of love, relationships, and Cory's recovery from the loss of her vampire lover, Adrian, in Vulnerable. Ms. Lane constructs the storyline in a manner that trades a little of the spunkiness of Cory as she enters the supernatural underworld in Vulnerable for a dose of a wizened Cory who has fully accepted her unusual new lifestyle. Fans of Amy Lane's innovative Little Goddess series should be quite pleased with the result.

All is not roses in Goddessland, however. For a perfectionist like me, the meticulous reading of Wounded developed into quite a chore. For some reason that is a mystery to me, Amy overused ellipses throughout the book, particularly within the dialog, to a point that goes far beyond a distraction. If all the punctuation near these numerous ellipses, as well as the punctuation in general, had approached a flawless level, I could ignore the problem, at least to some degree. There is hardly a mistake in Wounded that could not have been caught through repetitive proofreading, but obviously the book's title is all too apt for its own good. Amy, please, next time leave the great majority of the ellipses on the cutting room floor and don't be so paranoid of commas. They are just little marks that help convey your story accurately to your readers. The snakes on the plane are ellipses, not commas!

As I stated in my reviews of her first book, Amy Lane is a very entertaining writer. She has enough spunky imagination to give some of it away to the many needy, boring authors out there, and still have enough left over to hold her Queen of Spunk title! If you like the way Anne Rice opened up the depth of realities and emotions for vampire tales back in '76, you may like The Little Goddess Series, because Amy's work does much the same thing. You quickly come to like the characters, even though polite society would call them dangerous, perverted monsters, and Miss Stephanie would say, Eeewwwww! There is a certain element of erotic fantasy for those girls who were never cheerleaders, too. In fact, I could say that this is probably the reason why Amy's books have outsold all of my own, to say the least. Stockard Channing starred in a little-known television movie in 1973 entitled The Girl Most Likely to... that effectively mined the same emotions. A homely girl has plastic surgery and the swan murders all the guys who had mistreated the ugly duckling. When a little-noticed goth chick with relatively low self esteem meets a vampire and a giant elf who show her the joys of becoming a sex goddess, Cory Kirkpatrick turns into the swan. This is essentially the basis of Amy's stories, and I can see how young women lap it all up like kittens. More power to 'em....
See Also: Tabitha's B&N Review (not yet posted)