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Jim Cox Report: March 2026
Dear Publisher Folk, Friends & Family:
In an email pitch I recently received from Running Wild Press there's something I want to share with you all because I can attest (based on more than 50 years of personal and professional experience reviewing thousands of books) that I fully endorse every word!
What makes a book unforgettable?
Is it the plot twists? The prose? The characters?
Yes. But there's something deeper.
Great stories make you feel something.
They transport you. They challenge you. They linger in your mind long after you've closed the cover.
Running Wild Press
https://runningwildpublishing.com
I was also sent the following by Genesis Publishing House (a British POD company) as part of their pitch for possible clients. I think it a fascinating little take on 'three different kinds of writers'.
Which one are you?
Not everyone who wants to write a book is called to steward one. That may sound strong -- but it’s true. Over the years, we’ve noticed there are generally three types of authors who reach out to us.
1. The Dreamer
The Dreamer has always wanted to write a book.
It’s on the bucket list.
It feels meaningful.
There’s nothing wrong with that. But the motivation is often personal fulfillment — not responsibility.
The book is about achievement.
2. The Hobbyist
The Hobbyist enjoys the creative process.
They want the experience.
They want to hold the finished product in their hands.
Again - nothing wrong with that.
But the goal is the project itself.
The book is the destination.
3. The Steward
The Steward feels entrusted.
There’s a weight to it.
A sense that the message didn’t originate with them.
A quiet conviction that obedience requires action.
The Steward isn’t trying to “become an author.”
They’re trying to faithfully deliver what they’ve been given.
The book is not the goal. -- Impact is.
Stewards ask different questions:
Who is this truly for?
What transformation is supposed to happen?
How do I position this so it reaches the right people?
How do I honor the message by executing it with excellence?
That kind of author understands something important:
If the message is sacred, the strategy must be intentional.
Genesis Publishing House
https://www.genesispublishinghouse.com
The main subject this month is about posting reviews on Barnes & Noble. Because if your book is available on Barnes & Noble you should post all favorable reviews there.
Here are direct links to some online tutorials that will show you how to do just that:
How do I leave a Barnes & Noble review?
https://support.booksirens.com/article/143-how-do-i-leave-a-barnes-noble-review
Author Tip: How to Post Reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
https://thebookshepherd.com/bookreviews
How to Leave a Book Review on Barnes and Noble (YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2rQWj_6qfw
How to Review on Barnes & Noble
https://help.booksprout.co/article/188-how-to-review-on-barnes-noble
How to Post Book Reviews on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads and the iBookstore
https://www.trainingauthors.com/post-book-reviews
Quote of the Month
"Your words change the world when you're brave enough to share them." -- Laura Di Franco
Website of the Month
Forgotten Books
https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en
Here are reviews of books that will be of special interest to authors, publishers, and hardcover bibliophiles:
Harry Potter and the Cedarville Censors
Brian Meadors
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476674971, $29.95, PB, 217pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Cedarville-Censors-Precedent-Setting/dp/1476674973
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/harry-potter-and-the-cedarville-censors
Synopsis: In 2002, the Cedarville School Board in Crawford County, Arkansas, ordered the removal of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books from library shelves, holding that "witchcraft or sorcery [should not] be available for study."
The School Board picked some formidable adversaries. School librarian Estella Roberts, standing on policy, had the books reviewed (and unanimously approved) by a committee of teachers and administrators that included a child and a parent.
Not satisfied with the School Board's half-measure permitting access to the books with parental approval, 4th-grader Dakota Counts and her father Bill Counts sued the school district in Federal court, drawing on the precedent Pico v. Island Trees to reaffirm that Constitutional rights apply to school libraries.
Written by Drian Meadors, the lawyer who prosecuted the case, "Harry Potter and the Cedarville Censors: Inside the Precedent-Setting Defeat of an Arkansas Book Ban" details the origins of the book ban and the civil procedures and legal arguments that restored the First Amendment in Cedarville.
Critique: Brilliantly written, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Harry Potter and the Cedarville Censors: Inside the Precedent-Setting Defeat of an Arkansas Book Ban" by Brian Meadors must be considered essential reading for anyone with concerns about the growing trend of book banning in school and public libraries for political, religious, or racial discrimination motives on the part of book banners.
"Harry Potter and the Cedarville Censors" is a fascinating and informative case study in how to deal with those who deny to the neighbors the right to read whatever they wished and for librarians to make their acquisition decisions on the basis of unbiased literary merit alone.
While a highly recommended (and essential) addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Censorship & Constitutional Law collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, political activists, authors, publishers, and non-professional readers with an interest in the subject that this paperback edition of "Harry Potter and the Cedarville Censors" from McFarland & Company is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.99).
Editorial Note: Brian Meadors (https://www.meadorslawfirm.com) is a former U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer. After his naval service, he attended Georgetown University Law Center, graduating cum laude. He practiced in Washington, DC, for a few years before moving to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was a trial lawyer for ten years. He is currently in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 corporation.
City Lights
Gioia Woods
University of Nevada Press
www.unpress.nevada.edu
9781647792398, $59.95, PB, 306pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/City-Lights-Ferlinghetti-Biography-Bookstore/dp/1647792398
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/city-lights-gioia-woods/1147411409
Synopsis; On a San Francisco street corner in 1953, aspiring painter and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti shook hands with sociology instructor and magazine editor Peter Martin. Their handshake sealed Ferlinghetti’s five-hundred-dollar investment in a small retail space above a North Beach flower shop that would become City Lights Bookstore and Press.
Since the mid-twentieth century, the bookstore and its press have continued to shape the way literature is produced and consumed. As the first-ever all-paperback bookstore in the nation, sponsor of the Beat Movement and the San Francisco Renaissance, home of the Pocket Poets series, torchbearer for free speech movements, and promoter of global comparative literature and human rights, City Lights has continuously been at the avant-garde of literary experimentation and cultural revolution.
Critique: Fascinating, informative, engaging, exceptionally well written, "City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore" is the seminal and absorbing history of an iconic bookstore, its press, and the inimitable Lawrence Ferlinghetti. This must be considered essential reading for those whose favorite pastime is browsing through independent bookshops and/or those who have an interest in learning the part that bookstores play within the publishing industry and popular culture. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $56.95), this trade paperback edition of "City Lights" from the University of Nevada Press is a unique and compelling pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Book Publishing Industry, Journalist Biography collections, and supplemental Censorship/Politics curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Gioia Woods (https://in.nau.edu/ethics/117-2/woods-bio) is Professor of Humanities and Chair of the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies at Northern Arizona University. She is also the author of the Western Writers Series monograph Gary Paul Nabhan, coeditor of Western Subjects: Autobiographical Writing in the North American West, and editor of Left in the West: Literature, Culture, and Progressive Politics in the American West.
Making It Up As You Go Along
Patricia Forde, author
Mary Murphy, illustrator
Little Island Books
https://www.littleisland.ie
9781915071903, $16.99, HC, 296pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Up-As-You-Along/dp/1915071909
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/making-it-up-as-you-go-along-patricia-forde/1147055665
Synopsis: "Making It Up As You Go Along: A Children's Guide To Writing Stories" by author Patricia Forde is a fun and practical illustrated guide for young writers seeking to learn the art and craft of writing from some of Ireland's most beloved authors, including Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) Catherine Doyle (Twin Crowns), Padraig Kenny (Stitch) and Derek Landy (Skullduggery Pleasant)
"Making It Up As You Go Along" reveals how to:
Find inspiration to start your story
Craft and develop twisty plots
Create brilliant characters
Build spectacular new worlds
"Making It Up As You Go Along" also includes a variety of imaginative exercises, accessible explanations of writing terms and engaging B/W illustrations by beloved Irish artist/illustrator Mary Murphy.
Critique: Original, deftly crafted, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization, presentation and style, this hardcover edition of "Making It Up As You Go Along: A Children's Guide To Writing Stories" from Little Island Books is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended pick for family, elementary school, middle school, and community library Writing Instruction collections for children ages 8-12.
Editorial Note #1: Patricia Forde (www.patriciafordeauthor.com) lives in Galway, Ireland. She has published many books for children, in Irish and in English. She writes for all ages from picture books to books for young teenagers. In another life, she was a primary school teacher and the artistic director of Galway Arts Festival. Two of her novels with Little Island: The Wordsmith and Mother Tongue, are Library Association of America Notable Books for Children, and were awarded White Raven awards by the International Youth Library. She is currently Laureate na nÓg. (2023- 2026)
Editorial Note #2: Mary Murphy (https://www.marymurphy.ie/home) is the author and illustrator of the children's board book "I Like It When..." (1997). Since then she has written and illustrated about 50 books, mainly bright, strong books for preschoolers. Her first novel, "The Minute Minders", was published by Pushkin Press (2024).
"The Midwest Book Review Postage Stamp Hall Of Fame & Appreciation" is a monthly roster of well-wishers and supporters. These are the generous folk who decided to say 'thank you' and 'support the cause' that is the Midwest Book Review by donating to our postage stamp fund.
Farooq Husayn
Oleksandr Gerasymchuk
Joy V. Smith -- "Taboo Tech"
R. C. Zhang -- "The Hidden Swarm"
Janyre Tromp -- "The Scorpion Thief"
Kate White -- "I Came Back For You"
Keith M. Spence -- "The Judas Saints"
Pria Dee -- "Me, and My Long, Long Hair"
Paul Kaplan -- "The Thingy That's Stringy"
Juergen Barbusca -- "No Overnight Parking"
Kristen A. Peters -- "The Modalities of ISA"
Jane Haltmaier -- "The Secret of Spirit Lake"
Tayeb Nema Alireza -- "The Chemistry Trap"
Stanley Livingstone -- "Your Story Told by Another"
H. P. Blavatsky -- 'The Book of the Golden Precepts"
Cecelia Helwig -- "Mars, Mommy and the Forever Home"
Chuck Walsh -- "The Isolate: The Saga of Nick Grindstaff"
P. K. Edgewater -- "Passages: A Voyage from War to Peace"
Elyse Cregar -- "Mews and Views for the Curious Cat Lover"
Micheline Brewer -- "Life Is Terminal: And So Is This Cold Sore"
Paul Kaplan -- "The thingy That's Stringy (and Other Ridiculous Poems)"
Chris Dickon -- "A Rendezvous with Death: Alan Seeger in Poetry, at War"
Sonic Media
Spence Automotive
Dancing Robot Press
Elizabeth Frazier -- Waldmania! PR
In lieu of (or in addition to!) postage stamp donations, we also accept PayPal gifts of support to our postage stamp fund for what we try to accomplish in behalf of the small press community.
Simply log onto your PayPal account and direct your kindness (in any amount and at your discretion) to the Midwest Book Review at: SupportMBR [at] aol.com (The @ is replaced by "[at]" in the above email address, in an attempt to avoid email-harvesting spambots.)
If you have postage stamps to donate, or if you have a book you'd like considered for review, then send those postage stamps (always appreciated, never required), or a published copy of that book (no galleys, uncorrected proofs, or Advance Reading Copies), accompanied by a cover letter and some form of publicity release to my attention at the address below.
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So until next time -- goodbye, good luck, and good reading!
Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI, 53575
www.midwestbookreview.com
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
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