James Minter's Blog: Writers do it in Public..., page 2

Excellently timed book for the current employment trends...

Because Money Matters: How to Earn More Money as a Freelancer in a Gig Economy by V.V. Cam

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Excellently timed book for the current employment trends...

For me “how to” books are the best and V.V Cam’s books are up there with the most useful. This book is the latest addition to her "Because Money Matters" series and is a very worthy addition it is indeed.

V.V Cam has a particular structure and style to her writing – honest, inclusive, and written from hard-won experience and knowledge presented in a concise, yet extremely readable style. She includes many self-check questionaries’ and dozens of links to really valuable websites for the reader to get extra information or guidance.

Although this book focuses on Fiverr.com as the platform on which to build your freelancing business, the breadth and depth of the content and lessons learnt make it suitable for any intending, new or recent person thinking of going it alone. Becoming your own boss sounds very glamorous, but the reality is, the buck stops with you every time: this fact alone makes many an individual think twice about going down this route. The truth is, with planning, preparation and a copy of V.V Cam’s book under your arm you will be off to a great start…and just in time.

The rise of the Gig Economy - an environment in which temporary positions are common and organisations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements, i.e. freelancing – is predicted by Intuit to account for 40 percent of American worker employment by the year 2020. This book is very timely, and for only the price of a cup of coffee, a very worthy investment. Hone your skills, develop your communication abilities and take control of your working life.




View all my reviews

A must read book for everyone, at any stage of life ...

Because Money Matters by V.V. Cam

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Firstly, I loved this book. I was hooked as soon as I started reading ‘How this book Began’ and when I moved on to ‘A Glimpse into a Chapter of My Life’ I was captivated by the author. She has real credibility and I wanted to learn all that I was able from her. Whatever it was she was about to teach me!

It' particularly well written with good language, beneficial and insightful exercises, and a layout which makes it easy to follow in a step by step manner. Anyone who is interested in taking control of their lives – and finance is an important aspect of anyone’s life – would benefit from reading this book. It covers the factual issues needed to be more financially competent and the capabilities required to make it work. But it also takes into account the huge emotional journey that taking control of one's finances requires.

This is a must read book for everyone, at any stage of life, but especially for young adults who have the luxury of time to follow the preparation and planning for their financial future. The tips on how to focus on earning as much as possible with the abilities you have is a real eye-opener for people who are on their career ladder and has excellent advice and tips on how to take responsibility for oneself.

Having shared all her knowledge, advice and experience with us, Ms Cam then goes on to give even more in the glossary of terms, a huge list of tools to help the reader on their journey and links to articles and blogs that cover a wide range of financial subjects.

There are self-help books and then there are excellent self-help books. I am privileged to have been given the opportunity to read this author’s inspiring and life-changing book on money and how much it really matters to everyone.

The author supplied a copy for review purposes.



View all my reviews

Making moral teachings accessible to modern youth...

24 Modernized Aesop Fables by Luke Christodoulou

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is close to my heart, and I have to applaud Luke Christodoulou for making these ancient stories accessible to modern youth. My preoccupation is with teaching positive values to children through storytelling in the Billy Books series. Morals and values are a part of the behavioural aspect of a person. Whereas morals are a system of beliefs that are taught for deciding good or bad, Values are personal beliefs that come from within. However, the two are emotionally related for choosing right or wrong.

Over and above rewriting the stories in contemporary language, for each fable, Mr. Christodoulou has included extra pages for parents to make clear the moral under discussion, and he’s proposed a number of activities parents can do with their children to help to reinforce the message. Also, he has also included suggestions for YouTube where children can see cartoon versions of each fable.

My only issue with the book is the extra ‘parent’ pages – Mr Christodoulou is an English graduate, and some of his exercises appear a little demanding. The book is an eBook I would have expected to see clickable links to YouTube versions, and some of the parent’s pages seem to be rushed making them light on content. Though this is still a very worthwhile read, I feel there is an opportunity to revisit it to make it easier to use in this digital age.



View all my reviews

Fear is something we create and isn’t true...

Gloria and the Unicorn by Wanda Luthman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Gloria is a six-year-old child with a facial disfigurement. Her mother died giving birth to her, and Gloria blames herself. She sees the disfigurement as a daily reminder of what she did to her mother. Keeping this belief a secret, she is sombre to the point where she feels she is unlovable.

Living in a children’s home, the owner decides it better not to send Gloria to school because she is different and feels she would be bullied. Though Gloria works in the home, she cannot find a real purpose in life. Her despair deepens, and Gloria invokes an imaginary friend – a Unicorn – with magic powers.

Besides reframing what happened with her mother and her disfigurement, the Unicorn introduces Gloria to the power of reading and learning. She decides to go to school but the inevitable happens – she is bullied. But as the Unicorn says “fear is something we create and isn’t true … and when others aren’t very nice, it’s because they are full of fear.”

The Unicorn points out love is stronger than fear, sadness and hateful things, and loving oneself is the greatest gift of all. The message is don’t let fear win, and focus on love. Love is the most powerful emotion, and with it, you can eliminate fear and sadness and build your own self-belief.
Everyone is different and goes through periods of self-doubt when growing up. Issue books like this are crucial to helping children and parents cope with these times. The messages are important, and Ms Luthman makes them very accessible to the young reader in a gentle story. I fully support such writing, but I would like to see a summary aimed at parents on the various issues covered to enable them to have a better-informed conversation with their child. Definitely worth a read and I think it would be a hit with young girls. I give this book 4.5 stars.

The author supplied me with a copy for the purpose of a review.



View all my reviews

Great help to tackle the bit authors don't like ... book marketing!

Because Self-publishing Works by V.V. Cam

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’m a self-published author of fourteen books, but my sales are lacklustre, to say the least. To quote V.V Cam “I’ve used sporadic marketing tactics: chasing after reviews, doing a few author interviews and throwing money at promotions with the hope of selling a few more books.” Like 95% of all self-published authors, I lack well-honed, professional marketing skills and knowledge.

For any new, or recent writer whose sales are in the doldrums, this book is for you. If you’ve Googled searched, you’ll know there are tonnes of marketing information on the Internet, but what is lacking is a decent structure to build a marketing strategy and plan. This is where ‘Everything I Learned About How To Market a Book’ scores highly. V.V Cam has a professional marketing background, and she has put her hard-won knowledge and experience to good use to drive the sales of her husband’s book ‘Because’ by Jack A Langedijk, to a respectable level for both paperback and Kindle editions. Now she is sharing all she knows in this very complete ‘how to…’ book. You only have to look at the Table of Contents to see how complete she is.

Note; this book is not for wimps. I love ‘How to…’ books, but it’s one thing to buy the book, another to read it, but it’s a totally different matter putting into practice all the ideas and suggestions. It’s at this stage many authors give up – tenacity, dedication, commitment and a realistic budget are paramount. As V.V Cam points out, there is no marketing silver bullet.

However, V.V Cam has come to your aid with predesigned, downloadable templates, self-analysis questions, a plethora of web links to useful resources, and a copious amount of hints and tips.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book to any serious self-published writer. And if you are a first timer contemplating writing the next best-seller, I suggest you read this book to understand the world you are entering into. You’ll realise writing a book is relatively easy! With Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, Draft2Digital, etc. listing over nine million books for sale, you soon appreciate it’s a formidable challenge to break into the top 20% where you need to be if you are looking to earn a living from writing. The only real chance you have of doing this is to adopt the strategy so comprehensively laid out in this book. And finally, does the strategy work? Only time will tell. I’m fully on board and will let you know in 12 months.

The author supplied me with a free eBook ARC for the review purposes.



View all my reviews

You are what you eat has never been truer for Hemochromatosis sufferers

Holistic Help For Hemochromatosis - A Guide to the Use of Diet and Supplements by Dr Eric Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As a person with the condition – diagnosed in 2004, and now on maintenance, I thought there was little else I could do to improve my lot. Having already given over 100 pints of blood, and now at the age of 65 being faced with the prospect of another 100 pints (assuming 4 per year and living for another 25 years), I was very keen to see what Dr Lewis had to say on the subject of food and nutrition.
You cannot eat your way out of the condition, but it appears you can significantly reduce your future iron loading and so increase the time intervals between phlebotomies. Ideally, I would like to reduce mine to 1 per year or less!
Before reading this book, I had already made a significant change in my diet – in October 2016 I moved to a totally whole food, organic, plant-based regime. This change in diet was confirmed as positive since non-heme iron (the iron found in plants) is less readily absorbed by the body. BUT, there is always a but, the body is extremely complex, and for a person with Hemochromatosis, it is even more of a mystery to be unravelled. It appears that diet is not about less or no meat, but more about combining plant-based foods which inhibit the iron absorption process, otherwise, you can make your situation worse!
Dr Lewis is a practising naturopathic physician with Hemochromatosis. He does not claim to be definitive—one of the great strengths of his writing is his honesty—as he is only drawing on what is known today. He substantiates his position by quoting on-going research supported by an extensive bibliography, and his breadth of coverage on diet, nutrition and supplements is to be applauded.
If you are looking for definitive answers from this book, remember we are all different, and at a microbiological level even more so. However, Dr Lewis does an excellent job of making a complex situation accessible to the person in the street. I highly recommend this book, but with the knowledge, must come practice – you need to apply what you learn to see the improvements. His website and the range of supplements on offer will help you significantly improve your Homochromatic life.




View all my reviews

You are what you eat has never been truer for the Hemochromatosis sufferers

Holistic Help For Hemochromatosis - A Guide to the Use of Diet and Supplements by Dr Eric Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As a person with the condition – diagnosed in 2004, and now on maintenance, I thought there was little else I could do to improve my lot. Having already given over 100 pints of blood, and now at the age of 65 being faced with the prospect of another 100 pints (assuming 4 per year and living for another 25 years), I was very keen to see what Dr Lewis had to say on the subject of food and nutrition.
You cannot eat your way out of the condition, but it appears you can significantly reduce your future iron loading and so increase the time intervals between phlebotomies. Ideally, I would like to reduce mine to 1 per year or less!
Before reading this book, I had already made a significant change in my diet – in October 2016 I moved to a totally whole food, organic, plant-based regime. This change in diet was confirmed as positive since non-heme iron (the iron found in plants) is less readily absorbed by the body. BUT, there is always a but, the body is extremely complex, and for a person with Hemochromatosis, it is even more of a mystery to be unravelled. It appears that diet is not about less or no meat, but more about combining plant-based foods which inhibit the iron absorption process, otherwise, you can make your situation worse!
Dr Lewis is a practising naturopathic physician with Hemochromatosis. He does not claim to be definitive—one of the great strengths of his writing is his honesty—as he is only drawing on what is known today. He substantiates his position by quoting on-going research supported by an extensive bibliography, and his breath of coverage on diet, nutrition and supplements is to be applauded.
If you are looking for definitive answers from this book, remember we are all different, and at a microbiological level even more so. However, Dr Lewis does an excellent job of making a complex situation accessible to the person in the street. I highly recommend this book, but with the knowledge, must come practice – you need to apply what you learn to see the improvements. His website and the range of supplements on offer will help you significantly improve your Homochromatic life.




View all my reviews

The mailing list is the ultimate book marketing channel ... find out how to get the most from yours.

The Complete Mailing List Toolkit: A box set by Barb Drozdowich

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For authors, the humble mailing list has been described as the ultimate book marketing channel. With an email list, you can promote and share new ideas, products, and services and then direct readers to a place where they can make the purchase – your website, Amazon, etc. Moreover, email is the fastest, cheapest, most powerful way to engage with your readers in large numbers. No other service, not even social media, is as personal as email, and if done right, you have the potential to sell way more books through email than you can any other way.
Ms Drozdowich has an impressive portfolio of author related “how to …” books and a well-deserved loyal following. With this latest offering, she provides help navigating this extremely important book marketing tool. Sold as a box set of four books Ms Drozdowich covers Strategies To Grow Your List, The Nuts & Bolts of MailChimp, Get Your Emails Delivered, and Newsletters That Rock. Although she focuses on the MailChimp software, many of the lessons learnt cover other popular mail handlers like AWeber email management.
I am a great fan of this type of book since most of the work has been done for me – it is now down to you to put this hard-won knowledge and experience to good use. It is not definitive, but it is another very useful addition to the toolkit for authors to achieve sales success and I believe well worth the price. Get your copy, work it, and see your book sales increase.
The author supplied me with a copy for review purposes.




View all my reviews

Self-publishing must read...

Because Self-Publishing Works by V.V. Cam

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Self-publishing is now a very accepted way to bring your novel to market – even the most successful authors like JK Rowling are using this approach. However, writing a novel to the standards demanded by readers is, in many writers minds, the biggest and principle issue they face. As a self-published author of twelve books, believe me when I say that writing an attention-grabbing story, though significant, is only one step to becoming a successful author. The demands of the self-publishing process are high, complex, time-consuming, frustrating, bewildering and at times, make you question is it all worth it.
Any author going down the self-publishing road needs all the help they can get. As V.V Cam says in her introduction, there is a heap of information out there on the internet, but what she has done is make a good attempt at bringing it all together into a single place. By doing so this she’s made the information more accessible, as well as presenting it in a logically structured style – you only need to read the Table Of Contents to see that. Moreover, it is heavily spread with her own hard-won knowledge and experience gained by going through the process with her husband’s book. That’s why I love “How to…” books. They capture hard-won knowledge and experience and make it available in an easily consumable form so saving you making the same mistakes or going off tangent.
People write for many reasons, but not everyone attempts to publish their work. A useful device V.V Cam employs throughout the book is self-assessment questionnaires. In chapter two she offers one appropriate to answer the question – is self-publishing right for you. I recommend you complete this since you will better understand why your writing and if you’ve the time/tenacity/money to bring you book to the general public.
Self-publishing is a big, evolving process, and a guide such as this cannot be complete or totally up to date. As with all eBooks, it can constantly be corrected, amended, or added to. V.V Cam makes a good use of live links to allow the reader to explore some of the software products and tools she mentions.
I’m a visual person, and for me, I would like to have seen a diagram covering the whole process. That way each chapter could reference the diagram as the book unfolds so you can monitor your progress. By its very nature the publishing steps are interrelated, and on a few occasions reference is made to an item like ISBN’s or Tax Identification Number but not discussed until much later. Also, some recommendations like grabbing your Author page on Goodreads and Amazon were weak suggestions rather than being presented as a must do. Additionally, I felt chapters 6, 7, and 8 were rushed/sketchy and needed more attention.
In conclusion, a book worth purchasing but there are gaps, but in fairness writing the definitive guide would be near on impossible.
The author supplied me with a copy for the purpose of a review.



View all my reviews

Funny, descriptive, serious and captivating all at the same time.

Just Call Me Spaghetti-Hoop Boy by Lara Williamson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Values are at the heart of our behaviour, and family values form the foundation of our lives. Lara Williamson, in her third book, continues with the theme of the importance of family life and successfully demonstrates how values matter.
In this adventure, her young hero Adam is eleven years old, and although he has always known he’s adopted, a school project on tracing your family tree brings it to the fore. Adam is growing up and has lots of questions about who his mother is, and why she abandoned him. Aided by his school friend he sets off on a mission to find her.
Life in his adoptive family goes on, and Adam is caught between what he has and what he thinks life might be like if he found his birth mother. The truth is quite different. When his adoptive family is threatened by illness and the potential loss of a loved one, he realises what he has and the unique place the heart of a family is.
The mood of the book is positive, and the tone comical. It’s a fasted paced story which addresses potent issues. A must read for tweens and adults alike. Thank you, Lara, for another splendid book.




View all my reviews