April/May 2014
Welcome to Issue 43 of the SUPERIOR BOOK PRODUCTIONS newsletter!
If you’re a writer, one of the best things you can do is get involved in a local authors and publishers association. I don’t mean one of those writers’ groups where you share your writing, but an organization where the members are actively publishing and marketing their books. One of the better known national organizations is IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association), but I also recommend joining your local or state level organization. There is a list of these organizations at IBPA’s website: https://www.ibpa-online.org/resources/affiliates/
The advantage to joining a publishing organization is meeting people with experience as well as people facing the same hurdles as you are in marketing your books. From these people you can learn marketing secrets, what works and doesn’t work, stay current on publishing industry trends, and likely make friends for life.
As the current President of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association, I’m a firm believer in the value of finding fellow author and publisher friends and helping one another so you can promote your books. And if you live anywhere near Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, come to the 16th annual UPPAA conference on May 17th in Marquette. More information can be found at: www.uppaa.org
Now, as summer approaches, check out the great books below. Maybe you’ll find one to read on that well-deserved summer vacation.
And thank you for reading the Superior Book Productions Newsletter!
New Books
Jock Avery and his neighbors at Long Leaf Lake, Chip and Lynna, are back in this second fun adventure in the Mystery at the Lake House series by Laura Wharton and her eleven-year-old son, William.
Regardless of whether or not you read the first book in the series, Monsters Below, this book is a real treat not to be missed. The story begins when seven-year-old Chip is watching his ten-year-old sister, Lynna, and friend, Jock, racing sailboats. Imagine Chip’s surprise when he sees a mermaid in the lake and Lynna almost runs over it!
Jock is skeptical when Chip says he saw a mermaid, but Lynna thinks they should believe her brother. The three friends immediately begin trying to figure out how they can discover whether or not there is a mermaid in the lake—or as Jock believes, something else that made Chip think he saw a mermaid.
To read more, visit The Mermaid’s Tale.
I am given to much thought after reading Charles Locy’s new book I AM That that is in the Well.
Locy’s title may seem a bit like a mouthful or a tongue twister, but it is actually a word play on his previous book What’s in the Well Comes Up in the Bucket where he illustrated how who we are inside is how we approach the world.
In this follow-up book, perfectly able to be read by itself, Locy illuminates the importance of how we refer to or define ourselves by using the words, “I am.”
He embellishes upon this theme in chapters with titles like “I am what I say I am,” “I am the myth that I have created,” and “I am not what you say I am” until readers rethink how they think about themselves.
To read more, visit I AM That That is in The Well.
The title of Failure Is Not Final suggests a story of rising above adversity and overcoming all odds, but also with some heartache involved. But never would I have imagined it to be the story of a Baptist Church’s pastor.
While the media loves to report on clergymen’s downfalls, this story is the much more personal and private story of how Pastor Sam Rachal felt the call to the ministry, his honeymoon with his congregation, and then the breakup of his marriage as well as internal problems with his church, especially over a church building program.
Ultimately, it is the tale of a flawed human being who has decided not to focus on what went wrong in his life, but to keep moving forward.
To read more, visit Failure Is Not Final.
Helping Women Succeed in Business is a refreshing, personal, and honest book about what it takes for a woman to succeed in the workplace. Author Nina Baldwin has a matter of fact, tell it like it is voice that speaks from the heart about mistakes women make that hold them back and how they can work their way up the corporate ladder rather than be overlooked. Nina herself has been in the restaurant business since she was a teenager, eventually holding almost every position possible from waitress to Chief Operating Officer at various restaurants and franchises.
It is not exaggerating to say that she has basically “seen it all” in the restaurant industry and her experience and examples easily translate to any other business and level, from major corporations to entrepreneurship.
To read more, visit Helping Women Succeed in Business.
Bo Lange’s new book Authentic Faith looks at what it means to be a Christian and how one can feel confident that Christianity is based upon authentic truths.
Lange begins by discussing how he grew up in Sweden and saw how secularism was taking over the culture there. After immigrating to the United States, he saw the same issues affecting the culture here; people no longer know what to believe, having been taught to doubt and question anything having to do with religion and all forms of authority.
But Lange does not write about religion. He makes it clear that religion is full of rules and regulations that are largely unnecessary and simply complicate matters. The bottom line is that one must have faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and that is enough for salvation.
To read more, visit Authentic Faith.
Tammy Rimes’ new book Drink Fine Wine...Ride Fine Horses is no “head in the clouds” self-help book. Tammy manages to be both inspiring and realistic as she encourages people to live the life of their dreams, using her own life and other people’s encouraging stories as examples for how to make your dreams come true.
Tammy and her husband had a dream. She wanted to work with horses. He wanted to operate a winery. After years of working, saving, buying a ranch, and operating a small winery and wine-tasting room, they have made their dreams come true. And it wasn’t easy. It took a lot of hard work; in fact, I love that Tammy dismisses the idea that if you do what you love, you’ll never work another day in your life. You might get to work at what you love, but you will still do hard work.
To read more, visit Drink Fine Wine, Ride Fine Horses.
Actors and public figures can make public speaking look easy, but for many people, the thought of getting up in front of a room to speak to a group of people is terrifying. Even professional actors and polished speakers, as Jane Beard herself knows, can at times be defeated by nervousness and the fear of failure. That’s why Jane wrote Don’t Sweat the Talk Stuff: Instant Help for Nervous Speakers, a book filled with great suggestions for overcoming your fears and helping you succeed at giving a speech or presentation.
Jane Beard is herself an award-winning, professional actor. She has appeared in plays around the country, done commercials, and appeared in feature films and television. And while acting is her passion, she also knows what it is to be nervous.
To read more, visit Don’t Sweat the Talk Stuff!
A Day for Heroes, based on the life of its author with a little poetic license thrown in, tells the story of fathers and sons coming together to play a baseball game like no other.
These fathers, most of them World War II veterans, believed the boys, who had never lost a game, had had it easy because of them, and now it was time to teach them a lesson.
The novel’s early chapters detail Ray’s comical misadventures growing up and the rivalry that developed between him and his father as a result of the trouble he constantly caused. Ray just always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, which led to his paranoia (perhaps justified) that his parents, grandparents, and teachers were all out to get him.
To read more, visit A Day for Heroes.
At a time when television and movies are full of police stories, a father and son have come forth to present a real-life personal look into the lives of police officers.
We expect action, drama, grisly murders, and high-speed chases from a cop book, but we might not expect the tales of officers struggling with their personal lives, the hardships that the job brings to their families, the interrupted Christmases and missed birthday parties, the need not to think about your own children while investigating the murder of a child, or what it is like to lose a fellow officer in the line of duty or to suicide.
Walking a fine line between the sensational and the sentimental, On Being a Cop provides a balanced look at all aspects of a cop’s career and life.
To read more, visit On Being a Cop.
