All That Matters | Youseph Tanha

Another Book Review

I had another review of ‘All That Matters‘ come in. I am still in shock by all the positive feedback I have been getting from my first book. I sometimes have to pinch from myself when I read reviews like this just to make sure I am not dreaming.

This time it was from The Bornean Bookworm. Vanessa, who reviewed my book gave me FIVE STARS review and had the following to say.

In terms of narration, the author had done quite a great job in delivering the story to its full potential.
at the end of the day, the simple but terrific story of undying devotion made me aching in sadness, yet swarm on the inside simultaneously from the purest of love that we all crave for in our lives.

So go checkout Vanessa’s review at The Bornean Bookworm and maybe leave her a comment.

My First Book Reviews

My first book reviews are coming in. Slowly, but surely I am starting to hear back from people who have read ‘All That Matters‘. It is really exciting hearing from people who don’t know me in real life and finding out they like my book. So far all of the comments have been positive and I want to share a couple of them.

Sherry Book Blogs gave me a FIVE STAR review and had the following things to say about my book.

The ending to All That Matters is honestly one of the best endings I’ve ever read!
Once every so often, I finish a book that unnerves something in me, the story will remain with me forever. All That Matters is that book for me. It is so painstakingly raw and shows some of the deepest and darkest parts of cancer, whether you have it or know someone with it. I found moments that were pure and full of life and than some that were empty and with no hope. The words were simple and nothing to jazzy. They made the flow of this story very easy to read and very enjoyable!

Sherry even asked me some interview questions. So, go check out her blog post and maybe leave her a comment.

Kelly runs The Bookscape Report blog and said the following about ‘All That Matters’.

I think the best thing about All That Matters is the conversational tone of the novella. While I was reading it, I felt like I was listening to someone tell me a story–like I was listening to my grandfather tell me about growing up in Ohio, or my dad telling me about growing up in our hometown. I loved that. It made the story so enjoyable for me.
I thought the story was great. It reminds me a little bit of Nicholas Sparks
I liked the fact that for the most part, Amanda and Ethan’s story wasn’t overshadowed by any subplots.

To read all of Kelly’s write up head on over to ‘The Bookscape Report‘.

Updates and the iBookstore

This has been an unusually busy work week for me. It is a real wonder that I can even find time to blog right now. I have had to create several “plans of corrections” this week for the state of Alaska who visited my facility a couple of weeks ago. That has been keeping me pretty busy, but I have somehow manage to find a moment here and their to make more progress on ‘All That Matters‘ and my second book.

The self publishing thing has been quite a learning experience. Most of it is fun, but some of it can quite literally make you pull your hair out. I have spent a good part of my evenings this week contacting bloggers who do book reviews and asking them to review my book. I have met quite a few great ones out their. Between now and the next few months blog posts should start popping up all around the net about my book. The other bit of amazing news is that those who have already read my book only have good things to say about it. I even got a five-star review on Goodreads.com saying:

Raw and beautiful. This book moves you in ways unimaginable.

When I read that I was left speechless. Someone out their really liked my book! It made me feel like all the time, money, and effort I have put into this project has been worth all of it.

The part about self publishing that makes me want to rip my hair out is related to getting my book in the iBookstore. As a self published author can not go to Apple directly and submit my book to their book store. I have to go through a third party. In my case Lulu.com. Lulu takes my book and submits it to Apple’s iBookstore. If your lucky, your book is accepted and you can move on with life. If you’re like me and your book is rejected, you are not told why. Most likely it is the cause of an ePub formatting issue. I have spent the last two weeks trying to figure out what is wrong with my file ePub file. Barnes and Noble was happy with it, but Apple is not. Apple also gives me no advice on how I could fix my ePub file. Just a note saying that I can try submitting again. That’s it. I am almost at the point of giving up on this. I will continue trying to make it work till I go on vacation later this month, but if I can’t get it accepted by then I think I am just going to walk away from the Apple iBookstore. The Kindle software is available for all Apple devices. I have read quite a few books on my iPhone using the Kindle software and I think it is a better reading experience anyway.

Another goal I have before I go on vacation is to make the physical copy of my book available for purchase from Amazon.com. I am pretty sure I can have this completed before I leave.

My second book has been taking shape rather well. I have an outline and a cast of characters. This week I managed to get a couple of hundred of words written which completed the fourth chapter. I would love to have written more and normally I can, but with these ‘plans of corrections’ due at work I have just not had the time or the focus. Which is sad because I really like posting on my Twitter and Google+ account how many words I write a day.

I’m On The Nook

Well, It took a little bit of work, but I was finally able to get my book on the Barnes and Noble Nook. As of right now you can go over to Barnes and Noble’s website and download ‘All That Matters’ for 99 cents. You can even download a free version of ‘All That Matters’ for your Nook that contains the first three chapters. You can find the free version on the books website AllThatMattersTheBook.com. So please check it out and let me know what you think!

‘All That Matters’ Is Now Available On The Kindle!

I am so excited to tell the world today that my first book ‘All That Matters‘, is now available for the Amazon Kindle (US, UK, DE) e-book reader. The book is free of all DRM and only costs $0.99!

‘All That Matters’ has been the result of ten months of hard, but incredibly fun and creative work. Staring late last September I wrote multiple drafts of the story to get the right flow and timing down. Hired a proofreader to go through the book and make sure all the ‘I’ where dotted and ‘t’ were crossed. Gave out several copies of the book to willing readers to make sure it was an enjoyable story. Formatted the book for various e-book readers. Designed a book cover. And created a website for the book at www.AllThatMattersTheBook.com. There anyone can learn more about the book and download the first three chapters for free!

I have a little bit more work to do before the book will be available for the Barnes & Noble Nook, or from Apple’s iBooks store and others ebook retailers, but I will make an announcement the moment they are available.

‘All That Matters’ also has a listing on GoodReads.com which is a great website for people who like to read books, track the books they read with their friends, and follow authors. Think of it like Google+, only for books. So please be sure to check it out along with my GoodReads.com author page and Amazon Author page.