Archive for July, 2009

15
Jul

My First Blog Tour!

   Posted by: Lynne    in eBooks/Print Books, Guest Posts

I’ve heard of blog tours for authors before, but never quite knew how they worked. Well, there’s no better way to learn than by doing! So I’ve jumped right in and am a stop along the way for Tomi Akinyanmi, author of A Worthy Legacy. She kindly wrote to me about the process of publishing her book:

I didn’t realize that publishing a book was such a tedious task. I actually believed that the toughest part would be sitting to write. It wasn’t until I got down to the publishing part that it occurred to me that the writing was the easiest part of making a book.

Perhaps it was because it was the first time I would be doing this or perhaps it was the fact that I had three little ones to deal with during the day and the only time I could dedicate to this project was the time between when I got my babies to bed and the time it took me to get sleepy afterwards. I don’t really know which it was but I do know that it’s been quite a challenge. I must confess though that seeing “A Worthy Legacy” finally in print does give me a thrill.

Being a novice, I needed to do a lot of research and find information with regards to the book business. What this means is that for the last few months, I’ve spent a lot of time surfing the internet and reading all the articles I could find on authoring, publishing as well as marketing. I also picked up some books in my quest to learn all I needed to know. However, learning the whole process has been more tedious than I have imagined. Between cleaning up the house once the children are off to dreamland and getting the stuff for the next day ready in addition to learning the book business, I‘ve gotten little or no sleep most nights since I started the publishing project.

From obtaining an ISBN to getting the manuscript edited while working with an overseas designer to design the cover and finally sending the competed text off to the printers, it was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed working with my designer mainly because she was someone who took pride in her work. Because she was more concerned about the outcome of the project than the timing, she applied herself and that put us on the same wavelength. It was as much fun for me to work with her as it was for her to do the job which I could tell she thoroughly enjoyed. I felt I had chosen the right person for the job. Also seeing the responses to the cover tells me I was not wrong about this. What I learned from this is that “it pays to work with people who take pride in what they do”.

Anyway back to the book business, so far it seems that every new level is more challenging than the last. As much as I thought putting the book in print was tough I’m finding out that maybe marketing is even tougher. I am yet to make up my mind which part of the process of creating a book is the easiest. However, I can pretty much say that I’ve learned so much about this business now that I know the next time around, it would be much easier. For anyone out there considering self publishing, here’s what I can tell you – when you are new to the game, publishing is not easy but it sure is a lot of fun especially if you love to learn new things.

Read my review of A Worthy Legacy here.

Tomi Akinyanmi is the author of A Worthy Legacy, winner of the Silver Award in the Inspirational/Spiritual Category of The Young Voices Foundation’s 2009 Young Voices Award, Second position in the Inspirational/Spiritual Category of the 2008 Reader Views Literary Award, Second position in the Young Adult Non-fiction category of the 2008 Reader Views Literary Award, and Top Book Awards by Black Pearls Magazine sponsored by EDC Creations.

Learn more about A Worthy Legacy and Tomi Akinyanmi.
Buy A Worthy Legacy here.
Check out the book trailer on Youtube

eBook Reviews Online is just one stop on Tomi Akinyanmi’s blog tour!
Visit the other sites of the tour here:

BLOG DATE
Write for a reader July 5
Merry Weather Book Blog July 5
Drey’s Library July 6
Violet Crush July 6
A Bookworm’s World July 6
Lost in books July 7
Book Nest Reviews July 7
Mis(h)takes July 8
A Circle of Books July 8
Peeking between the pages July 9
Reading Frenzy July 9
A Book Blogger’s Diary July 10
Luxury Reading July 10
Bella is reading… July 11
Jenny loves to read July 11
Belle of the books July 12
The Unadorned Book Review July 12
Worducopia July 13
Poisoned Rationality July 13
Socrates’ Book reviews July 14
My thoughts…your thoughts July 15
eBookReviewsOnline July 15
Grace’s Book Blog July 16
Bookalicio.us July 16
The Friendly book nook July 17
Just Another New Blog July 17
I’m on a bookathon
Simply Stacie
Real page turners
Booksnake reviews
The Eclectic Reader
The Bookworm

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15
Jul

A Worthy Legacy

   Posted by: Lynne    in eBooks/Print Books, Fiction

Book Details
Title:
A Worthy Legacy
Author: Tomi Akinyanmi
Format: Paperback Print. Also available as Hardcover Print, Ebook, and Amazon Kindle.
Number of Pages: 101
Summary: The Harmattan wind scorches across Nigeria, and an old man lies dying. His community gathers to pay its respects; their haunting songs echoing in the warm twilight. Around his bed his family is gathered and they listen as he speaks his last words. Yet in the face of death this old man doesn’t talk of regrets, neither does he talk of petty grievances, instead he talks softly about life; how to survive, how to be happy and how to achieve self-respect.

A Worthy Legacy has won the following awards: Silver Award in the Inspirational/Spiritual Category of The Young Voices Foundation’s 2009 Young Voices Award, Second position in the Inspirational/Spiritual Category of the 2008 Reader Views Literary Award, Second position in the Young Adult Non-fiction category of the 2008 Reader Views Literary Award, and Top Book Awards by Black Pearls Magazine sponsored by EDC Creations.

Price
: $13.95 (paperback)
Author Bio: Tomi (aka Ibitomilade) Akinyanmi discovered her enthusiasm for writing at an early age, and has been writing for over twenty years. Though poetry is her first love, Tomi was inspired by personal experiences to create A Worthy Legacy as her first book.

Her works include Voices in the Wind winner of the inaugural Voices Anthology Contest sponsored by The Voices Anthology Network. Some of her poems have also appeared in Free Focus, Northern Stars and Soul Fountain as well as online on poetry websites.

A Worthy Legacy

A Worthy Legacy

***

In the eloquently written A Worthy Legacy, a granddaughter hurries home to her Nigerian village to gather with family as her grandfather lays dying. Although technically a work of fiction, the words of wisdom conveyed by the grandfather in the story are based on years of conversations the author had with her own father before his sudden death due to a car accident. She wrote A Worthy Legacy as a loving tribute to him, preserving his memory and the impact his teachings had on her life.

Akinyanmi sketches out the story’s setting, letting us feel the scorching sun and hot winds of the Nigerian village, but doesn’t dwell on the scenery. Characters are named but not fleshed out; their backgrounds and personalities remain untold. Instead, the focus is on the parting words and writings of the grandfather. At barely 101 pages, A Worthy Legacy promises to be a quick read, but the truths presented by the grandfather necessitate a slower pace to truly appreciate the insights imparted.

A Worthy Legacy should be viewed not so much as a novel, but as a book of poetry, quotations, and age-old wisdom. Much of the book reminded me of the Biblical Proverbs; filled with advice and admonitions from someone who’s lived and learned it the hard way–and who hopes subsequent generations heed the guidance.

Read Akinyanmi’s comments about getting A Worthy Legacy published.

Learn more about A Worthy Legacy and Tomi Akinyanmi.
Buy A Worthy Legacy here.
Check out the book trailer on Youtube

eBook Reviews Online is just one stop on Tomi Akinyanmi’s blog tour!
Visit the other sites of the tour here:

BLOG DATE
Write for a reader July 5
Merry Weather Book Blog July 5
Drey’s Library July 6
Violet Crush July 6
A Bookworm’s World July 6
Lost in books July 7
Book Nest Reviews July 7
Mis(h)takes July 8
A Circle of Books July 8
Peeking between the pages July 9
Reading Frenzy July 9
A Book Blogger’s Diary July 10
Luxury Reading July 10
Bella is reading… July 11
Jenny loves to read July 11
Belle of the books July 12
The Unadorned Book Review July 12
Worducopia July 13
Poisoned Rationality July 13
Socrates’ Book reviews July 14
My thoughts…your thoughts July 15
eBookReviewsOnline July 15
Grace’s Book Blog July 16
Bookalicio.us July 16
The Friendly book nook July 17
Just Another New Blog July 17
I’m on a bookathon
Simply Stacie
Real page turners
Booksnake reviews
The Eclectic Reader
The Bookworm

Tags: ,