Timothy's Thoughts

I purchased 42 Months Dry after seeing a request from the author for top reviewers to review the book. I am not a top reviewer, but I thought I would review the book anyway. I can only hope that the author will return the favor. The thing that made it stand out is that it is a retelling of a biblical account of the life of a prophet in a modern setting. I used a similar approach when I wrote the book For the Love of a Devil . Mine was based on Hosea, but in this book Zach Bartels tells the story of Elijah. 42 Months Dry is different than you might expect because Bartels puts a gun and a cigarette in his main character’s hand and the character is known to curse in fits of anger. That may be offputting for some readers. The tone of the story is rather dark and the body count is high, but for people who like that kind of story, I don’t think they will be disappointed. Bartels is a skilled storyteller and it is obvious that he studied Elijah before writing the story. That is more ...

T here are a number of terms in the publishing industry that have very little meaning when we start talking about self-publishing. remainered - A book is remaindered if the publisher is overstocked. At some point, the publisher decides that it will cost more to hold on to the books than what he will get from selling them. The books are either sold in bulk at a discount or they are destroyed. Most self-publishers won’t run into this situation if they are using POD to print their books. But if the author has several boxes of books in his garage or living room, the day may come that his wife says, “you are going to have to get rid of those books.” At that point, his book is going through the process of being remaindered. sell in - This is the number of books that are ordered by retailers. We would like to see this as a large number, but most self-publishers will have a low number. If a book is selling well, you will find that Amazon.com or any other store that is getting a lot of re...

W e’ve had more ice and snow in north Texas than what we’re accustomed this year. Following one storm, KTVT showed a couple of guys out in subfreezing temperatures helping people who were stuck on the ice. They had high praise for these guys and their willingness to help, but when they saw someone pass them some money, they backed off their praise. Somewhere along the line, we’ve picked up this idea that if someone is getting paid to do something they don’t deserve praise for it. This same notion carries over into publishing. If an author visits someone’s blog and mentions a blog post that is related to the subject that is on his blog, most people will see nothing wrong with that. But suppose the author mentions a book he is selling that is related to the subject. Many people would frown at that because he is getting paid for it. I agree that people who do things without compensation deserve recognition for that, but it shouldn’t be considered a bad thing when people ask for compen...

W e know,” the radio announcer said, “that it is harder to save money than ever before.” With that, he introduced some program designed to teach people to manage their money. Have you noticed how many things fit into that blank? It is harder to raise children than ever before. It is harder for couples to stay together than ever before. It is harder to get to know your neighbors than ever before. Everyone seems to have something they believe is harder or worse than it has ever been. Particularly in Christian circles, it seems that we want to make things more difficult and worse than they’ve ever been. “Why look at how bad the public schools are,” someone will say. “Or look at how bad our government is.” “Look at how evil the world has become. The Lord’s return must be close.” I should point out that some scientist use similar techniques. Global warming is an example. A few decades ago, they were talking about global cooling. Don’t get me wrong, I realize there is much need for im...

E sther has been described as the Cinderella of the Bible. There are some similarities in the story, a common girl being chosen as queen from among the best looking virgins in the kingdom. There are also differences and there are other stories in the Bible that are similar as well. For that reason, I hesitate to say that Esther is the only Cinderella story in the Bible, but I’m not going to disagree with people who want to compare it to Cinderella. I think the stories of Ruth and of David are also Cinderella stories in their own way. Let’s look first at the similarities between Esther and Cinderella. They both have humble beginnings. Esther lost both of her parents, though she was staying with a loving uncle, Mordecai, rather than a wicked stepmother. I suppose Mordecai combined with the keeper of the women is similar to the fairy godmother in the Cinderella story. Because of her beauty, Esther was chosen as queen. Also similar to Cinderella is the fact that Esther did not reveal who...

C urrently, the DiscipleGuide Sunday school quarterlies are taking us through the books of the Bible over a period of twelve months. Last Sunday’s lesson was on Esther. I had the privilege of teaching the class, but I did something I’ve never done before for a Sunday school class. Typically, we will have a text to read and we will discuss how to apply that text to our own lives or we might discuss the historical significance of something. What I did instead was to read the book of Esther to the class—all ten chapters. It took about forty minutes to read the book aloud. I believe we need to understand the importance of reading God’s word, as is, without commentary. I’m not saying the commentary isn’t useful and important, but the words of the Bible can stand alone. We often get too caught up in trying to explain what God has already stated clearly. In the case of the Book of Esther, the book is written as a story. God understands the power of a story. There is much in Esther that is w...

I don’t get it. Just days after Book Cover Design Wizardry became available on Amazon.com, one book seller listed two used copies of it for $34.64 + $3.99 shipping and $35.35 + $3.99 shipping. I can kind of get why some of the other sellers are listing new copies starting at $23.19 + shipping. They are attempting to undercut Amazon.com, but I don’t see why a selling would raise the price of the book, especially when I know for a fact that they don’t actually have a used copy of the book in hand. I won’t go into how I know that, but I know that. What we have are several sellers who are making money by listing books they don’t own, hoping that buyers will choose the lower price over the Amazon.com price. When the order comes in, they order the book from the distributer, reship the book with their required packaging material and collect the lower price. I imagine it works fairly well, though from an outside view it looks really silly. But makes no sense at all for someone to list a ...