Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Friday, January 24, 2014

Best Advantage of the Big Six

As a follow up to yesterday's post about the advantages of self-publishing, I thought I'd relay the one thing that I think is the best thing the Big Six can do that POD publishers can't do, and most certainly, self-published authors can't do. And that is they get their books into bookstores. I mean chain bookstores, like Barnes and Nobles, and even stores like Walgreens, Walmart, and Costco.

And that's a huge thing. It's a big deal. After all, shoppers shop. And where do they shop? At stores. And if they are shopping for books, they shop at bookstores. Even at Costco, I've seen shoppers stop by the book section and browse, and then buy books that were there for them to browse. That's a major way of selling books. Having them in stores for buyers to buy.

Self-published authors can't do that. And POD publishers, like the ones who published my two  books, can't do that, either. Because a POD book has to be paid for to be printed, and that's not how bookstores or other stores operate. Not for books, anyway. And for that reason, the Big Six, and other publishers who aren't POD publishers have an advantage. They get their books into bookstores, and buyers buy their books.

Sure there are online shoppers, but how many of those buyers know about the many online publishers who sell online, as in their own websites, or Amazon, and other online sources. There is limited exposure doing it that way. And that's what it's all about. Exposure. Without exposure, selling will always be an uphill battle. Having your book in a bookstore levels the field.

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