Lela Michael | Self-Publishing Review

Too Cheap to be Popular? – Amazon Algorithm Changes

If your self-published eBook is featured on Amazon, you are keenly aware that the only thing constant is change. For those grappling with last month’s ranking adjustments, one of the best explainers is offered at Indie Jane, where Jennifer Becton walks us through the confusion:

One of the advantages indie authors have over our traditionally published counterparts is that we can choose to sell our ebooks very cheaply. Setting a price of $.99 has proven not only a great deal for readers, but writers still earn 35 percent of the list price, which is much more than what authors of

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Lela Michael2012-12-20T11:52:45+02:00June 26th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: Amazon Algorithm|

Review: To Kill the Duke by Sam Moffie

After World War Two, the United States of America began rebuilding but missed the opportunity to enjoy the peace it fought hard for by establishing a Cold War with the U.S.S.R. Against such a backdrop, To Kill the Duke juxtaposes the inner circle of spies and assassins serving at the pleasure of Leader Stalin in Communist Moscow with the cast and crew of a Hollywood movie being filmed in a Utah desert in 1954.

The plot is centered around The Conquerer, starring John Wayne and made famous in part for inspiring debate whether it is one of the worst […]

Lela Michael2019-01-22T17:57:44+02:00June 15th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Men's Fiction|

Review: I, Dwayne Kleber by James Connor

For an eighth grader Dwayne Kleber has a lot of stuff going on. His teacher is one of only three at his school who are white and a few of his classmates are trying to run her off. Nonetheless, Dwayne approaches her with an important question: he wants to write a book, but can’t decide what to write about.

That evening at home, Dwayne finds out his Mom, who is pregnant, is leaving her job. Dwayne and his brother are told by their Dad that, since they are fourteen now, they have seven days to find a job and come […]

Lela Michael2017-03-24T09:31:50+02:00June 1st, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Young Adult|

Review: Hillwalking by Katy Ridnouer

Ten years after moving to Ireland with her husband, Heather loves her family but realizes she’s at an impasse. As the novel opens we find her in a reflective housework session. While pining for the hills of her native North Carolina, Heather hits upon the idea of organizing a hillwalking group of just three members and her journey is under way.

The two women who answer Heather’s ad are also Americans. Jamie, married with two children, is from Texas and Christy, married with no children yet, is from Virginia. Gradually the three women learn to trust and care for one […]

Lela Michael2014-05-19T21:49:03+02:00May 25th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction|

Review: Cephrael’s Hand by Melissa McPhail

Fans of epic high fantasy are a resilient bunch, having decided long ago to reply to detractors of the genre with, “You read in your world, I’ll read in mine.”

Cephrael’s Hand is Book One in a series called A Pattern of Shadow & Light and is the first novel by Melissa McPhail. Our story is set in the mythical realm of Alorin, three centuries after a massive war which almost wiped out an entire race called the Adepts. A three-continent map of Alorin is included, as are a Glossary of Terms and Dramatis Personae.

I consulted the front matter […]

Lela Michael2014-05-19T21:40:20+02:00April 25th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy|

Review: The Player Piano by G. Charles Cook

What a pleasure this book is to read, thrilling without being a thriller, mysterious without being a mystery, of another time without being nostalgic.

We are introduced in this novel to many characters, large, small, and interesting alike, including “The Wooten Bunch” of Water Wells, Alabama, consisting of six students. Most of the focus is on four particular boys in this bunch as they transition from sixth grade in 1954 through the end of high school in 1961. While The Player Piano at times a coming-of-age story, it’s more than that. This is a tale of the very survival of […]

Lela Michael2014-05-19T21:44:22+02:00April 13th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction|

Review: Railway Confessions by Carolyn Moncel

Much of this collection, a trio of short stories and extra material to boot, features characters with previous appearances in the short fiction of Carolyn Moncel. Following the three stories there is an Epilogue, a Mini-Interview of the author, some handy Book Club questions, an excerpt from Carolyn’s forthcoming novel Geneva Nights, and blurbs for Carolyn’s two previous publications Encounters in Paris and 5 Ways to Leave a Lover.

The setting for the three stories in Railway Confessions is a train ride from Paris to Geneva, during which three pairs of strangers share intimate details of their lives […]

Lela Michael2014-05-19T21:45:42+02:00April 11th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Short Stories|

Review: Clips & Consequences by Beth Myrle Rice

Imagine being invited to lunch by your ex-husband and his wife to discuss what to do with the hard-to-manage teenager you all have in common. Imagine that, instead of actually going to lunch, they simply stay in the car, turn to you as you sit in the back seat, and accuse you of providing drugs to said teenager. “They were looking for a confession,” writes Beth Myrle Rice of that day in 1995 when the incident happened to her.