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.




Thursday, February 27, 2014

Marketing/Promotion Must be a Priority

Talking about the competition that involves publishers and books these days, really brings home the importance of marketing and/or promotion. There are hundreds of publishers nowadays. Maybe thousands. And there are literally millions of books. The strange thing is, and I've heard this talked about, and joked about, and it seems to be true that there are more writers than there are readers!

From  my experience, I think that all these writers do not read. At least, they are not interested in reading anyone else's book. I'm guilty of that, so I'm not complaining. But the point is that the majority of people who are writers are competing with each other for the minority of people who are readers. That is to say that the writers are in a competition to have their books read by the fewer people out there who actually buy and read the books.

And that is why promotion or marketing your book is a number one priority. You might think that just writing the book is the priority. Writing a good book. A great book. And it's arguable, at least, that it is, but what good is a book, even a great book, that no one reads? And how can anyone read it if they don't know about it.

The best way to promote your book is to have it in bookstores. That's what the people at Absolute Write will say. And I don't doubt that it's true. But POD publishers can't do that, for the reasons I've already posted in earlier posts on this blog. Word of mouth is a way for it to happen, but if no one knows about your book, then no mouths will be spreading any words.

Some self published authors, those people who didn't even get a small POD publisher to publish their books, have found success through word of mouth. But from what I've read, they didn't just sit back and wait for that to happen. They got out there and made it  happen. Kudos to them. I'm trying to do that. It's not easy. Just have to keep trying. You don't sit back and wait. That's what I'm sure of. Nothing will happen if that's your plan.

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