The Great Expert Blog

Choosing the right images for your ebook is important to convey the message you want. Stock photography is an effective tool for your ebook covers.

Here are some tips to help you find and choose stock photos.

1. Photography agencies have many selections. Stock photography is more cost effective than custom photography and will work for most ebook covers.

2. Be flexible. Don’t expect to find the exact image you want. For example, if you provide information about home schooling, you may want to find an image of a women with a child. The images you’ll find may not be the size, color, or position you’re looking for and the child may not be the right age for your topic. Determine what message you want to convey. Then search for an image that conveys that message. If you don’t find the right image, you may want to take your own pictures with a digital camera or hire a photographer.

3. Use a free comp image to try out the image. Most stock agencies offer a free comp image for position only so that you can try it and see if it’s going to work for your purpose.

4. Buy the size and resolution you need. Don’t pay more than you need to. So don’t pay for 300 dpi resolution when you only need 72 dpi resolution for an ebook cover image.

5. If you don’t find what you need, contact the web site. They may have images that are not featured on the site.

6. Know how to search. Try different keywords. If you are looking for a women in the woods, try keywords like “women woods, women trees, women forest.”

7. Consider combining two or more images. Sometimes you have to put two or more images on top of each other to create the image you want. You can use a graphic program to do this.
In the example above, you may find a great image of a forest without a women. You may want to put a picture of a women on top of the forest image.

8. Check the “Terms of Use.” Some sites only allow you to use their images for personal use, while others allow commercial use (which is what you will want for your ebook that you are selling). Other sites let each contributor of the images determine what kinds of usage will be allowed. If you’re using the image for an extended period of time, you may have to pay every year.

Adding a quality ebook image representing your book or software topic is one of the easiest ways to instantly increase your credibility and sales.

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Author: Irene Watson

ISBN: 1891386492

Exploring the cause and effect of addictions is a tricky proposition, as it is a term that is often tossed around in such a manner that most of us assume we clearly understand it. However, after reading Irene Watson’s The Sitting Swing, you realize that it can connote much more than dependence on drugs or alcohol. It can likewise mean a form of behavior where you are constantly trying to please others. According to Watson, whom I interviewed, she indicated that ten or so years ago this addiction was coined as co-dependency, however more recently the National Mental Health Association is terming it as “relationship addiction.” It is a learned behavior that is often passed down through the generations by watching other family members display the behavior.

Watson’s retrospective memoir and episodic narrative, as a child growing up in a two room log cabin without plumbing in a small town in Alberta, candidly reveals how she had been shaped by her many nasty experiences with her family and relatives, and in particular her relationship with her mother.

The first part of this candid narrative focuses on Watson’s early childhood years. She was born to Ukrainian parents, both of whom had only a third grade education. A brother was born before her, however, sadly the baby died after living two months and twelve days succumbing to colic and dysentery, as well as rectal bleeding. As a result of this tragedy, her mother was blamed by her relatives and friends for the child’s death. It was believed that her mother’s young age and weakness were the root causes of the child’s death.

Watson was constantly subjected to an extremely over protective and somewhat cruel mother, who continuously found fault with her and was impatient with her shortcomings. A swing had been built that she couldn’t even swing on-the prime purpose being that she would be watched and monitored by her over- bearing mother. Her first year in school was quite traumatic, as she was unable to communicate in English with her teachers or her classmates, and as she recounts, “mouths were moving, sounds were made, but I hadn’t a clue what was going on.” She was nearly raped and her mother, who heard her screaming, didn’t even try to help. When she tried running away from home, he mother unmercifully beat her. She even blamed herself for a hail storm that resulted in considerable damage to the family’s property. It was her belief that God had punished her because she stole a cookie from the cookie jar. After all, her mother did say that hail storms were caused because God was angry with someone. The wearing of jeans was out of the question, as her mother ridiculed her physique.

The second half of the book concentrates on Watson’s desire to understand herself and her inner feelings. Consequently, for twenty-eight days she attended the Avalon Retreat Center in Quebec. The principals of this center believe that recovery is a process, not an event. According to Watson, their model is based on the premise that dependencies and addictions are anchored in an exaggerated need to self-medicate as a result of the person’s inability to access their inner strength.

Watson is an intelligent and observant narrator and readers will be pulled in by her astute understanding of the nature of addiction, that at times are filled with many psychological complexities. The result is a moving narrative providing the readers with a superb snapshot of one woman’s quest to free herself from self-defeating repetitive patterns and dependencies. The author succeeds in explaining and articulating the “big questions” pertaining to “relationship addiction,” and thereby gives her readers a firm foundation for further study and analysis.

Norm Goldman is editor of the book reviewing and author interviewing site http://www.bookpleasures.com and the travel site http://www.sketchandtravel.com

Bookpleasures is a global Internet book reviewing and author interviewing village. Reviewers come from all over the globe and review all genre. There are over 6500 sites that link to Bookpleasures and many of the reviews are listed within the first 3 pages of the Google Search Engine.

Norm also offers his own personalized express review service where you can have a quick review within 15 business days from the receipt of your book. To learn more about this service go to bookpleasures.com

Norm is ranked among the top 1000 Amazon reviewers and he contributes his reviews to several other Internet sites.

In addition, Norm and his artist wife Lily meld words with art focusing on romantic and wedding destinations, inns, and other hospitality properties. You can read Norm’s travel articles and view Lily’s art work that is always for sale at sketchandtravel.com

“Sorat’s evil will be spread by his infernal army of soulless followers, willing to give their lives for his pleasure in subjecting mankind to horror of the ultimate magnitude.”

The above mentioned quote summarizes one of the main themes in Hearne’s political thriller, “Hulagu’s Web”. The book suggests that much of the horror, destruction and mayhem that happen in the contemporary world are explained by the endeavors of Sorat, Lucifer’s terrifying accomplice. It is said that Sorat incarnates every 666 years. 1998 would therefore be the year of his last manifestation. Coincidently, it is the same year that Usama Bin Ladin and his associates publicly declared their Jihad against the West with blatant orders such as “We - with Allah’s help - call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.”

In his “Book of Revelation and the Work of the Priest”, Rudolf Steiner describes Abaddon’s attack on humanity. Abaddon (translated ‘destroyer’) is a demonic being born out of the abyss to lead an army of locusts with human-like faces. Rudolf Steiner explains the occult significance of this picture by suggesting that Abaddon’s army consists of human beings who have been completely deprived of their ego. Sorat can rule on Earth by populating the empty shells of such people with the spirits that serve him. This infernal army would subject mankind to trials compared to which all the horrors of the twentieth century would pale. Coincidently again, Abaddon is referred to in Revelation 9-11, the same date that is now synonymous with the destruction of the twin towers and the attack on the pentagon.

Sorat is described as the strongest power against good. To accomplish his desire of destroying the earth, Sorat would manifest his evil in the social evolution. The wars and mass murders of our time are evidence of his corruption.

The fanatism and the everyday hatred of man against man are evils often disguised as religious dedication and nationalism. Sorat would bend people to his will by using the influence of leaders, be them political or religious. Sorat’s alleged power lies in the ability to make followers believe that what they do for their fanatic leaders is right. As David J. Hearne says “the goal of this demon is to strip humans of their souls, egos and all goodness.” Sorat could make horrible acts virtually impossible to eradicate once people become unable to recognize actions as evil.

The video of a hostage being beheaded in Iraq is an example of the horror mankind is subject to. It shows how much influence such a leader can have over others. He would stay back from his disciples, as he directs them to behead the hostage. Whenever the men holding the prisoner looked uncertain, the leader would convince them that what they were doing was the just thing. The scene appears to be a struggle between the leader (persuading) and the followers (resisting). The film shows how the power of evil can pervert people’s senses to such a degree that destruction and horror replace the goodness and compassion in their souls.

The seductive powers of darkness act by using people’s vulnerability and weaknesses against them. Terrorists claim their actions are for their love of God. Most of them believe that what they are doing is right. Someone who they see as a prophet or a messenger leads them to believe that they act in God’s will. This messenger is trusted and considered more important than their own lives. Sorat would exploit these people to “give their lives for his pleasure in subjecting mankind to horror of the ultimate magnitude,” as mentioned in Hulagu’s Web.

It is difficult to understand why well-intentioned, logically thinking people fall into such traps. How can one induce another to become a suicide bomber willing to die for some obscure cause and kill other innocent people? How can the human mind become so clouded and susceptible to such evil and debasing acts? The answer lies in the fact that many people need something or someone to believe in. Sorat and his progeny would use this weakness to lead those susceptible to their influence. The reasons for their acts are masked, people follow because they need to believe and fail to ask themselves a rational explanation for what they are made to do. Nevertheless, if people saw the true intentions behind these schemes they would not follow. Evil exists as long it disguises itself.

Sorat could only maintain his power by distorting the way people perceive what is good. He would reduce each individual to his level - an entity without soul or conscious. His ultimate objective is to alter the human existence by spreading destruction and misery. Eradicating mercy, benevolence, compassion and humanity (most needed qualities that Christ himself advocated) is the only way Sorat can achieve his goals.

Becherete Adrian (is currently studying management marketing…) believes in the unlimited potential of the human mind and that constant evolution is impossible without striving to understand reality and distinguishing between the meanings of good and evil.