Lead Story | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Travels With My Hat by Christine Osborne

Christine Osborne is a travel photographer who has dedicated her entire life to capturing on film what it is to live on Planet Earth. Tracing a line through the Middle East and Africa, into countries that might be thought of by most to be “scary” destinations for a slim, blonde woman, Christine jumped in feet first with her Australian roots to help her along, in her trusty blue hat and a camera her constant companion.

This book is written so well because Christine has lived these details, these colors, these characters. There is no substitute for writing what you know, […]

Cate Baum2019-01-23T12:48:16+02:00May 5th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews, Travel Book Reviews|

Review: Bloom, Or, the Unwritten Memoir of Tennyson Middlebrook by Martin Kee

The SPR Awards 2014 Best Fiction winner Bloom, Or, the Unwritten Memoir of Tennyson Middlebrook by Martin Kee reviewed by co-founder Cate Baum.

When Bloom hit our judges it stood out immediately. When you open the first pages of Bloom it’s a tantalizing mystery.

From General Knowledge Extraction Subject: Name
Unknown
Estimated Age: —
Godstem Fragment: 5547896-33398b by 33388452d
PARTIAL
Bloom – See Science and Nature):
1. (Science and Nature) One or more flowers on a
flowering plant
2. (Science and Nature) Algal blo0m – A rapid
increase in the population of microscopic algae or
phytoplankton in an aquatic system

[…]

Cate Baum2019-01-23T13:07:53+02:00April 29th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: From Blood Reborn by Keith Soares

From Blood Reborn is the third part of the Oasis of Filth series by Keith Soares, following the unlikely hero of the nameless doctor in his continuing journey across the formerly United States of America. Years after the human race’s fall from grace with the outbreak of “RL2013” – a mysterious disease that causes a slow and maddening death to anyone who is infected, with no known cure – governments move their people more and more into sterile, utilitarian walled settlements where anything but absolute cleanliness and obedience is enforced with strict justice and regular “disappearances” of accused plague victims.[…]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T10:42:43+02:00April 11th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Apocalyptic Fiction Book Reviews, Zombie Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Last Falcon by Colleen Ruttan

Warning: Do not start reading this book until you’ve cleared your schedule. Take the dog out, make lots of tea, and have snacks available. Once you start, you won’t want to stop reading.

At the age of fourteen, Erynn Taylor witnesses her father’s murder. Luckily she escapes the same fate when a dragon suddenly appears and lunges at the attackers, providing Erynn the chance to slip away. Granted the dragon saved her, but the young woman is denied the opportunity to avenge her father’s brutal slaying.

Two years later, Erynn is King Wryden’s scribe and a helper in the castle’s […]

T B Markinson2019-01-23T13:07:35+02:00April 1st, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Dirtball: The Diaries of a Worthless Somebody by Eric Olsen

Dirtball: The Diaries of a Worthless Somebody is an autobiographical first novel by Eric Olsen. The book follows character “EO”, a reasonably average young American man who realizes his need to change his life after an incident with a friend who calls him the personally poignant name of a “dirtball”. What follows is a recounting of the author’s attempt to turn around from his built-up bad decisions and bad luck by starting fresh, despite his adversity in problems old and new.

Whether he really can is one of the questions the book aims to provide answers to, but by far […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T17:13:52+02:00March 27th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Men's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Favorite by Franklyn C. Thomas

Second chances are rare, no matter how much a person wants them. When Michael Dane is given a second chance he has to make the toughest decision in his life. What’s the decision? You have to read The Favorite to find out. It may shock you.

Michael Dane is a fighter who has a shot at becoming the IBF Light-Heavyweight Champion. He’s trained all of his life for this chance, but some mistakes almost ruined his shot. One blunder landed him in prison for eighteen months. Michael’s manager, Dante Alexander, helps Michael elevate his career and has helped him reach […]

T B Markinson2019-01-22T17:14:14+02:00February 24th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Men's Fiction Book Reviews, Sports Book Reviews|

Best WordPress Themes for Writers & Publishers

Setting up an author website is pretty much a given for all self-publishers. Given that blogging is also an important facet of author promotion, it can be easier to use a blogging platform for the overall website. It’s very possible to make a blogging template function as a commercial website.

The two biggest blogging platforms nowadays are WordPress and Blogger. Though there are very credible sites using the free WordPress.com service (see davidgaughran.wordpress.com), it can be slicker to have your own author.com (or book.com) URL using WordPress.org. With WordPress.org, you’ll have access to hundreds of different plugins, […]

Henry Baum2019-06-13T07:46:49+02:00February 10th, 2014|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|Tags: Author Blogging|

Self-Publishing with Integrity: An Interview with Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway is the author of the self-publishing manual, Self-Publish with Integrity, as well as the self-published novels, The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes, Songs from the Other Side of the Wall, and many others.

SPR: What is “Self-Publish with Integrity”? Is it more of a manifesto about self-publishing, as opposed to nuts and bolts info on how to self-publish?

Dan Holloway: I’ve written plenty of manifestos in my time, such as the retro-sensualist manifesto, but this isn’t one of them. It’s intended as a guidebook to help people steer a course through the […]

Henry Baum2014-02-22T12:56:48+02:00February 6th, 2014|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|