Wednesday, February 08, 2006, 20:17
Our Christian Book Club needs "Christmas in Dairyland!"
I got a letter last week (an undated letter, by the way) from Perfect Heart Books that started out with the phrase Our Christian Book Club needs Christmas in Dairyland!
Too bad it's a scam. I have gotten a half a dozen letters from the parent company, Airleaf Publishing, as well, also for Christmas in Dairyland.
I know it's a scam because various writers on various discussion boards have issued warnings about both companies.
One lady, who wrote a game rule book for a computer game, received the same letter from both companies. Another person received the same letter regarding an e-mail newsletter that she publishes.
The only thing that seems to differ from letter to letter is the amount of money that they are asking for -- either $2,700 or $5,600 to "put your book in bookstores across the country."
Jeepers. Everybody knows that putting books in bookstores does not mean the books will sell. Just ask all of those authors whose books were "remaindered" -- that is, returned to the publisher, with their covers ripped off, because the books did not sell.
Among the other things they are offering for $2,700 is to "feature your book on our book club website: perfectheartbooks.com."
Hah! I did a page rank calculation on http://mygooglepagerank.com and found out that their website has a page rank of 3. The lower the number, the worse the rank; the top page rank is 10; Google itself ranks at a 10. The other website, Airleaf.com, has a page rank of 4.
A Google search also reveals that Perfectheartbooks.com has one reference on the entire Internet. One! Airleaf.com has about 9,000 references to it.
My own website, http://ruralroute2.com, has a page rank of 5 and has nearly 17,000 references. A search for my name, "LeAnn R. Ralph," reveals nearly 32,000 references.
Hey! Maybe I should attempt to sell advertising to Perfect Hearts Books and Airleaf. After all, I DO have more of a "web presence" than either of them!
Seriously, though. Those people ought to be ashamed of themselves, trying to take advantage of poor, hard-working authors.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, February 07, 2006, 19:11
Anti-Oxidant Protein Bars
I made a batch of Anti-Oxidant Protein Bars this morning for Randy to take to work for his mid-morning snack, for dessert at lunch and for his mid-afternoon snack.
In other words -- I made a batch of brownies!
My husband is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds, so he could use some extra snacks. And seeing as he does not go into work (he's a computer tech) until 9:30 a.m. and works until 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had plenty of time to make the Anti-Oxidant Protein Bars.
Personally, I prefer calling them Anti-Oxidant Protein Bars rather than just plain old brownies. After all, I have been hearing and reading quite a bit lately on how good cocoa is for a body. Cocoa contains as many antioxidant nutrients as tea, they say. The recommendation is to eat something every day with cocoa in it for the antioxidants. The darker the chocolate, they say, the better it is for you. So, brownies would be better than a milk chocolate bar, for instance.
My brownie recipe calls for 1/3 cup of cocoa (heaping), as well as four eggs. I am figuring that anything with four eggs in it counts as a protein source. Therefore, I am going to think of them as Anti-Oxidant Protein Bars after this.
Here's my recipe for Anti-Oxidant Protein Bars --
1/3 cup cocoa (heaping) (or make it a 1/2 cup if you really want the bars to be dark chocolate)
2/3 cup Canola oil
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)
Measure all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Spoon into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes (or until bars have pulled away from the pan slightly).
Cool. Cut. Serve. Enjoy!
LeAnn R. Ralph