Review Yak

Water is integral to life and woven into our history through every tale ever told. Garry Law traces New Zealand history through his book, Abundance and Constraint: A Short History Of Water Use In New Zealand. As a water engineer, he has worked in most aspects of the modern dilemmas around water; ownership, allocation, supply, treatment, energy creation. Garry says it’s surprising how far back in history these conflicts go in our settlement, history, and law.

“Adding a little salt to the water”, says Garry is the background to his other book available on Bookhabit. Entitled Auckland, August 1908: A Stop on the Great White Fleet World Cruise, the book places the visit of the Great White Fleet to Auckland in its New Zealand context and its geopolitical context - that of great power rivalry over prestige, territorial Read the rest of this entry �

Lyz Russo is finishing her third book in the Solar Wind series. There are pirates, fugitives, musicians, and a world controller called Unicate. Flying is no longer permitted so the battle is fought at sea. But who can the pirates trust when their nationalities, histories and dispositions aren’t conducive to team work, and when they know there is at least one spy amongst them?

Then there’s a Rebellion in the South Seas, another organisation fighting for control. All of that power resting in the hands of so few just got dangerous. Read The Mystery Of The Solar Wind and The Assassin, and listen to Lyz here. Read the rest of this entry �

Thinking of Self-Publishing? Listen to This Interview to Find Out What to Look for in Self-Publishers So You Won’t Get Ripped Off!

Diane Eble interviews Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing: The Contracts & Services of 45 Self-Publishing Companies–Analyzed, Ranked and Exposed.

Listen to find out the biggest mistakes authors make when they self-publish (and how to avoid them), the number one way self-publishing companies gouge authors, and more. You will also discover how you can ask Mark Levine your burning questions about self-publishing, and how to attend the upcoming Virtual Book Tour on The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Listen and learn … formulate your question for Mark Levine … check out his book … and know that you don’t have to be ripped off by any self-publishing company if you’re armed with this knowledge. (Yes, there are good companies out there!)

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Yvette Shaw originally wrote her book, Alpha Female, to give the TV series L Word a run for its money. “There are not nearly enough Lesbian themed shows out there for us to choose from. We as Lesbians, have a very limited choice, when it comes to viewing our own self images on the screen. So I decided to write.” Read the rest of this entry �

Sam Moffie was frustrated with the publishing world so he decided on an experiment to test whether or not anyone was reading his manuscripts when he sent them to a publisher or agent. The fascinating results are available as a free download “God Bless You Mr. Vonnegut.” Moffie has also written three other books available on Bookhabit - Swap, The Organ Grinder And The Monkey and No-Mad.. He writes in a comedy style that he says is not the “Cookie Cutter style that sells so well these days”.

As a bar owner he’s had probably more stories and characters through his life than most writers. It has given him an excellent opportunity to observe Read the rest of this entry �

Running the desert Marathon des Sables is not an obvious starting point for an entrepreneurial book. That is where the inspiration came from for Jonathan Yates sports drink business. As his business outgrew the bedroom it was started in, he was asked more and more often for tips on how to start a business. Then the number of tips outgrew his speeches and his book Looks Good On Paper was the next obvious step.

Jonathan had a sales background and dreamed of owning his own business. This generated a number of questions: Where do you get the idea from? Where do you get the Read the rest of this entry �

Randy Davis entered the Bookhabit Unpublished Competition and then set about finding an agent and publisher. In less than a month he had a signed contract with an agent, two other offers, and a publisher keen on his book.

Randy took a very structured approach to marketing and promoting his book. He researched on the internet how to write a query letter and how to approach each agent, “There is an amazing amount of information of what agents want – all available on the Read the rest of this entry �

The Bookhabit Show talks to Matt Fullerty, author of The Pride and the Sorrow, the winner of the Bookhabit Unpublished Competition. The international competition received nearly 300 unpublished books from authors vying for the $5000 prize. Fullerty is “thrilled” with the recognition and potential that winning the competition represents. He discusses how he got an agent for his book and how excited his agent is for him to have won. The agent thinks the award will help promote Matt’s book to Publishers.

The Pride and the Sorrow is the story of Paul Morphy (1837-1884), born in New Orleans Read the rest of this entry �

Diane Eble interviews Jane Kirkpatrick, author of Mending at the Edge

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Habitat by Sean Monaghan is a young adult Science Fiction thriller. The book moves along at a fast pace, with telepathic aliens destroying the peace on a giant space station. The inspirations for Sean’s writing are varied. He probably reads more than most people, being a librarian and creative writing tutor. The many environments and mediums he works in provide additional stimulation as he explores how art, music and writing can forge together to excite the recipient’s senses and improve his Read the rest of this entry �