I am proud of myself for making it through this week. Since returning from Chicago, I have felt jet lagged because of the time change and have experienced some pain.
For those who don’t know, I live with a steel plate in my right thigh from being hit by a car when I was ten. Occasionally, it causes pain with the weather changes. No worries. It’s not as intense as it used to be. At least now I can predict when it will rain—little ole me, a superhero this whole time.
But as much as I wanted to stay in bed all yesterday, I got my butt up, put something on my stomach, and took my vitamins. I didn’t have it to do my walk so I finished reading a book.
Not only did I finish the book, but I wrote and drafted the review that I am scheduling for next week. (Ya’ll are gonna like this one!)
Next, I edited a video of a podcast I did weeks ago and posted a reel to one of my Instagram pages. I also drafted a post for my second page and drafted this blog post.
After responding to some emails and checking on some clients I closed my laptop, showered, and snuggled up with hubby for a movie.
Moral.
Just because you didn’t do everything on your to-do list or work yourself into an early grave does not mean you are not being productive. All those little things add up.
I fully intended on taking the day off. Instead, I just took baby steps.
Title: Born this Way Author: Tammy Ferebee Publisher: Tammy Ferebee Published: January 11, 2018 Page: 135
Young, Black, and gay, Joseph feels rejected by his father, the local pastor of the small, southern town in Tammy Ferebee’s novel Born This Way. Joseph struggles with his self-esteem and worth as he faces judgment from his community after being manipulated into a scandalous relationship with an older white man, Bruce.
Joseph’s father wants nothing to do with him, and his mother is silent, choosing to support her husband. While residing with his aunt, the boy feels alone and battles despair, and abandonment. In light of this, he explores Craigslist and comes across Bruce, a man who serves as both a lover and a father figure.
Bruce uses his cleverness to slither into Joseph’s mind by telling him how wonderful he is and how much he is cherished and adored. Above Joseph’s head, the recognizable red flags flitted about like kites. The boy’s naivete is evident as this superb manipulator and pervert woo him. Bruce is a 56-year-old white man with no business flirting with young Joseph, but the boy’s sense of abandonment from his own family is blinding. For Joseph, Bruce is his first boyfriend.
This is a sad story with heavy topics. For this, I appreciated the light Nikki, Joseph’s best friend, brought to the table. She gave him positive words he could use to boost his self-esteem, told him the truth without sugarcoating, and gave him a safe space to vent. Nikki also makes an appearance in Still Black and befriends Malachi.Â
Interested readers should read Born this Way before Still Black since it has a twist that is disclosed in this book’s ending.
Ratings:
Plot Movement / Strength: 4/5
Entertainment Factor: 4/5
Characterization: 5/5
Authenticity / Believable: 5/5
Thought Provoking: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/ 5 stars
To have your book reviewed on this blog apply here. The registry is open for a limited time.
Stay tuned for our next dope read. Dark fiction fans hold onto your seats!
Yecheilyah’s Book Reviews is a reputable review service that features writers from all over the world, both traditionally and independently published. We are listed on Kindlepreneur as a top-tier book review blog and Reedsy as one of their vetted active book blogs that provide insightful, excellent book reviews.
There is a reason why you cannot edit your own book, even if you are an editor. This is because quality editing involves more than fixing spelling and grammar mistakes.
These days, there’s an AI for that.
Professional editors also help you to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism – to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
Most people don’t purposefully copy others works. They do not intend to use another person’s ideas or words as their own.
But this is exactly what occurs without mentioning the source of your material.
You are in danger of plagiarism anytime you present an idea, words, or quotes you got from someone else without citing them.
Suppose your work becomes popular—what we all hope for—and someone discovers that you have purposefully or carelessly used their words without their consent or crediting them. In that case, you could be subject to legal action, ruining your image as a writer.
A professional editor protects against this by noting where a citation is needed in your work.
On social media, this frequently occurs and without repercussion. However, if you do this in your book and then publish it, you can suffer grave consequences.
Solutions
Use end notes or footnotes to guide the reader to the back of the book, where you would have a notes section. In this notes section are your sources.
Remember that some sources require you to get permission before you print them. If you cannot get permission, consider removing the source altogether.
Also remember that nonfiction books intended to teach are not about personal opinion. It is about facts, proving and supporting those facts.
Just because self-publishing makes book publication quicker than traditional publishing, it does not absolve the self-publisher from the penalties associated with committing such literary violations.
Be sure to employ a qualified editor to prevent you from publishing a work rife with typographical, grammatical, and plagiarism errors.
Title: Still Black Author: Tammy Ferebee Publisher: Tammy Ferebee Published: February 22, 2022 Page: 182
Seventeen-year-old Malachi is young, Black, and albino, and has always had the support of his parents, his older brother Andrew, and his beloved community. Their love has shielded him from the whispers about his pale skin and rumors about his alleged curse.
But this does not stop him from enduring the tragedy of racism’s impacts in his southern suburban town.
Things change when the Dickson family, who have a Confederate flag draped over their door, moves in. The formerly friendly neighborhood becomes cold, and a run-in with Bennett Dickson turns tragic. Malachi’s family is severely affected by it, and his skin cannot shield him from the excruciating suffering he will soon feel. Bennett makes it clear that Malachi is still Black.
There are some tragic circumstances that I cannot discuss without giving the plot away, but this novel was well-written, impassioned, and realistic. Being a Black woman, the author does a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of a young Black male with her poetic voice. When the author conveys the depths of the family’s agony, the emotional intensity of what it is like to endure as both an albino and a Black person oozes from the pages. This book bleeds.
This young adult novel is perfect for teens, but adults will also enjoy it.
Ratings:
Plot Movement / Strength: 5/5
Entertainment Factor: 4/5
Characterization: 5/5
Authenticity / Believable: 5/5
Thought Provoking: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5 / 5 stars
To have your book reviewed on this blog apply here. The registry is open for a limited time!
Book reviews help encourage readers to purchase a book, act as social proof, help with an author’s amazon ranking, and increase the book’s visibility.
Yecheilyah’s Book Reviews is a reputable review service that features writers from all over the world, both traditionally and independently published. We are listed on Kindlepreneur as a top-tier book review blog and Reedsy as one of their vetted active book blogs that provide insightful, excellent book reviews.
Because of such high demand, I only open the registry once a year and for a limited time. Act now if you want to get in before I close it again!
Your written content your voice copy blog posts texts, captions the way you capture feeling on the page contextualize thought empower us through emotion breathe life into the human experience remind us what it feels like to live to remember minister to our memory and most sacred truths the way you poet your words, spoken or written is, power.
A historical document your grandchildren will one day cherish resist the urge to withhold words hold them like you once held your babies precious and true their bodies snug in the crook of your arm and the warmth of your chest Wrap your arms around this text: Your intellectual scholarship has merit.
Let it be a legacy for the next generation Gift them this birthright. So we may have a right to a better future. Let no one censor you into silence.
Being on your own timeline is one of the tremendous benefits of self-publishing. The days of waiting ten years for a major publishing house to approve your work are long gone.
But how much time do you spend on your book before you Self-Publish it?
Sure. You can self-publish a book you wrote in two weeks, but is this wise? Has anyone seen the manuscript outside of yourself? Has it been properly edited? Formatted? And how’s that cover looking?
Remember, writing and publishing books are two separate processes.
There’s a reason books take a long time to release in traditional publishing, and while we self-publishers have the privilege of not having to wait as long, we should take our time.
I’m sorry to tell you, but being published on Amazon is not the flex it used to be. The platform is oversaturated with mediocrity. You don’t want your book swimming in this sea.
We can all agree Washington is a phenomenal actor, but exceptional people don’t just happen. Extraordinary people are birthed from hard work, practice, and study.
This is your reminder that you are not running late or behind in today’s immediate gratification society. You don’t have to publish your book right away just to be able to say you did.
By now, we know how important it is to have a dope book cover for our Self-Published book.
But it’s not always the book cover that gives a book away that it’s Self-Published. Sometimes, how the book looks inside makes it look homemade.
Typesetting: the spacing between words and letters, the font type & size, the page’s trim size, margin, and overall layout.
Grab a book that has been traditionally published (or professionally Self-Published!) and look over the pages. Take note of how it appears on the inside. Look at how tidy the words are! How are the left and right edges aligned, the typefaces are the same, and the paragraph spacing is perfect?
This is the result of expert typesetting.
Many Self-Publishers skip this stage. We don’t realize it because we submit the Word or PDF file we used to compose the book to our preferred print-on-demand.
But what’s wrong with that?
There is nothing wrong with that, except our manuscripts do not print exactly as we type them in Word, Google Docs, or Scrivener. The document requires proper typesetting and formatting for print and digital devices like Kindles and Tablets.
The cover of your book may suffer from a poorly formatted book. Take a look at book two in The Stella Trilogy, first edition.
I actually like the initial cover image. The problem is with the rest of the book.
Do you notice how the spine is twisted? Because the book was too short to have a spine, this occurred. Giving it one, nonetheless caused it to wrap around and face the front.
I didn’t realize the book needed more pages for a full spine because I’m not a graphic artist or skilled book cover designer.
While this cover image doesn’t pop as well as the first (IMO), the book is professionally bound. The alternate ending made the book long enough for a spine in the revised edition. The book features a more professional cover, professional formatting, and professional editing.
Recommendation. Before having your entire cover designed, wait until your book has been edited and properly typeset. Your graphic artist will require the precise number of pages and trim size to create a cover, back, and spine that perfectly matches the book.
Moral. Before hitting publish, make sure to hire a skilled typesetter to correct the placement of your text on the page.
If you want to try it yourself, here are some sources:
Reedsy Book Editor
Adobe In-Design
Microsoft Publisher
Vellum *Fiverr. Note: Professional typesetters can be found on websites like Fiverr. Make sure they are typesetting rather than just typography, though. Typefaces and other decorative elements make up typography. That’s not typesetting. Additionally, if they are only using Vellum, you can do it on your own by simply purchasing it.
The PBS Blog 