Great Endorsements, but Can't Post an AIS

I tried to post the attachment of the AIS to Second Chance here on the blog, but it wouldn't let me. It turned out that only photos or images can do that. It's more than an image. It has a lot of text on it, as well as the image of the book's cover. Too bad, too. Because I finally taught myself how to put the image on there. You have to insert a "text box" onto the document, and then you insert the photo or image. No sweat, really. I wish I can show everyone. It's a publisher's way of introducing their books to bookstores so the bookstore can decide if they want to stock it in their store.

I like my Knox Robinson Covers. Not only are they top notch cover designs, but they include the endorsements on the covers, which I think is very important. As Dana says, if those endorsements are to appear on a book's cover, it's vital that they are from nationally recognized authors who are published by well known houses. And you can't be more well known than the Big Six. (But now that Random House and Penguin have merged, they're more recently known as the Big Five.)

And the authors I have endorsing me are published by Random House, Hachette, and MacMillan. Those are three of the five.The other two are Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster. So, yeah.

Here's Second Chance, a Football Story. It's got the endorsement of two nationally recognized authors: Carl Deuker and John Coy. Carl Deuker is a great sports author who has written several great sports books, including Gym Candy, as listed in his quote there at the top of my book's cover. But he also wrote Payback Time, Runner, Heart of a Champion, and Night Hoops. Several more great titles are to his credit.

I must credit John Coy, however, as being the first great American sports author to support me. John Coy has also written several great sports books. Including Crackback, Box Out, Top of the Order, and Strong to the Hoop.

Both of these great authors seem to have a great range of sports understanding, meaning they don't just write about football. They have also written books about baseball and basketball. As for me? I'll stick to football, thank you. That's my sport. Will I write any more books about football?  I just might. I love the game, as I've explained very clearly in a recent post. So never say never.

Which brings me to my John Dunn book. I love history, too. I love learning about great empires. Like the Roman Empire and the British Empire. And the John Dunn book covers an episode in the history of the British Empire. It's actually also an episode in the history of South Africa.

Here's the cover to the left, and you can see that the endorsement of the great Ian Knight is now on there. Talk about nationally recognized. Well, Ian Knight's recognition goes way beyond that. His recognition is global. This great man is the world's foremost authority on all things Zulu and the Anglo-Zulu War. He's written several books on the subjects. I was remiss not to have read them. But I'm correcting that huge flaw right now. I've purchased and am now reading the book that is credited to him on the cover of my book. Zulu Rising; The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift. And I'm glad I am. I have found some new information in that book, and I've emailed Mr. Knight asking him if I should use it in my book, which is being edited right now.

So times are great for this small time author. Small time I may be, but with the endorsements I've received for both of my Knox Robinson Books, I couldn't be better supported. Here's to hoping readers and book buyers will also give me support. Fingers crossed.