₦airaland Forum

hi all, please check out my new website http://www.segilolapublishing.com/submit-your-manuscript/

would love your feedback

many thanks

Book Launch Event – Abiku: A Battle Of Gods

To coincide with the release of Abiku: A Battle Of Gods in paperback, author Elizabeth Salawu is having a book launch event at the prestigious Park Plaza hotel in London.

Synopsis

Abiku: A Battle Of Gods follows Dayo, the only child of her parents.

She was called an Abiku, an evil spirit sent to this world to lure men to their doom.

Dayo is a bi-racial twenty something year old with a German mom and a Nigerian dad. She has a semi bougie lifestyle, always jetting across the pond between Africa and Europe.

She starts dating her father’s driver in secret after seducing him.

On her return from her cousin’s 21st birthday in Manchester, she tries gbana for the first time. She finds herself in an alternate realm and thinks she’s hallucinating from using gbana, an illegal drug. She doesn’t take anything that happens there seriously as she thinks she’s having a vivid dream. That is until she couldn’t wake up from getting married to a ‘man’ she met in that realm . . .

Ticket Types

Free Entry – Join us at the Park Plaza Hotel for free, simply pay for any food and drink you take at the time of purchase.

VIP Entry – Included in the VIP package is a 3 course meal, half a bottle of wine, half a bottle of mineral water, a goodie bag that includes a paperback copy of Abiku: A Battle Of Gods amongst other things.

To book your ticket, visit event page http://www.segilolapublishing.com/product/book-launch-event-abiku/

The Venue – Park Plaza Hotel, London Victoria

ADDRESS:
239 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SW1V 1EQ United Kingdom
LAT: 51.494317 LONG: -0.141320
View and Explore

RESERVATIONS:
+00 800 814 70000 (Europe Toll Free)
+1 (800) 814-7000 (US Toll Free)
+44 (0) 84 4415 6752 (Hotel Direct)

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 84 4415 6750 FAX: +44 (0) 84 4415 6751

About: Four-star Park Plaza Victoria hotel near central London sights

The four-star Park Plaza Victoria hotel in London is situated within walking distance of Victoria train, coach, bus and Underground stations. It provides an excellent transportation link to London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports. The hotel is also centrally located to some of the city’s main tourist and shopping attractions, including Buckingham Palace, Harrods, the Houses of Parliament, Theatreland and Oxford Street. The Park Plaza Victoria London is also a non-smoking hotel.

Great, I hope you enjoy reading it . . . would appreciate a review so I know what you think

thanks again for your support, much appreciated

Lynette2cute:
Thanks. I just downloaded it

please try again, I just tested it and it is working fine.

when you add the title to your basket, you need to checkout. on the checkout page, there's a box for the coupon code. simply type in abiku an following the instructions to checkout properly. you will get an email confirmation with the books to download

Lynette2cute:
I tried it and it didn't work

Abiku: A Battle Of Gods by Elizabeth Salawu

Excerpt:

With a sign of contentment, I replied “yes, my Lord, ọmọ Ṣango” before drifting off to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a strange place. I struggled to lift my head up to look around. I saw my parents and Henry sitting next to me. I was in a hospital bed with all sorts of monitoring equipment attached to me.

I coughed and everyone jumped “Ah Dayo, you're awake, thank God. You gave us a scare” they more or less all said at the same time.

Holding onto my splitting head “what happened?” I asked confused.

“You've been in a coma for three days now” mother cried. “Your flat mate called us when she tried to wake you up, but you didn't respond. Well, you opened your eyes once, but became unconscious again. So we had to bring you to the hospital. The doctor said that there were some illegal substances in your blood. What is strange is that the doctor said there wasn’t enough of the drug in your system to put you in a coma, but somehow, you ended up unconscious” mother continued.

Before she could say anything more, the doctor walked in “Hello Dayo, how wonderful, you're awake. I'm the doctor on call today, I'm Dr Davies. How are you feeling now?” He asked

“Thirsty” I replied

Henry poured me a drink of water from the bottle by my bedside table and handed it to me. Our fingers brushed for a second. I took the cup from him and offered my thanks.

“When can I go home?” I asked the doctor

“We'll observe you for another 24 hours. If everything is OK, you can go home the day after” Dr Davies replied.

At first, I thought everything that happened in the dream world, was just that a dream, until later on that night when my parents and Henry had gone back to my apartment. The doctor had refused to let mother spend the night with me.

Whilst everyone was around, I didn't have the time to fully process that I had been in a coma for three full days.

When I was finally alone, thinking I had the time to process my thoughts, I saw Akin standing at a corner smiling at me, looking as dashing as ever.

“YOU! How are you here? I'm not asleep” I said to him, I turned to pinch my wrist to make sure I wasn't actually asleep. It was then that I saw the tattoo on my wrist.

With shock on my face, I turned to Akin “it wasn't a dream?”

“Don't be silly my love, of course not. Why are you in a hospital?” He asked.

“It seems that when I was dreaming, my flatmate tried to wake me up and when I didn't respond, she called my parents” I said

“By the way, you said this time around, time flows slower between your world and the real world, so why did three days pass by here?” I continued. I wanted to scream at Akin, but I knew that would be a one way ticket to a psych ward.

“When someone tried to drag you out of our world, it messed with the flow of time. Time was reset as a result. Do you remember who you are?”

I looked at him confused for a moment, then it ALL came back to me . . .

“Yes I do, I am . . . well you know we cannot say our true names out loud . . . I am Ọsun's daughter, the goddess of love. You are Ṣango's son, the god of thunder” I said smiling with a knowing look in my eyes.

“My love, you had me worried there for a second” Akin said. With that, he walked over to me and gave me a most electrifying kiss. Just as I was returning the kiss, there was a knock on the door and it opened before I even replied.

The nurse looked at me weirdly, probably wondering what was wrong with me and why my hand was raised and my lips puckered.

“Hi Dayo, I am the night nurse on duty. My name is Ṣola. I've come to check up on you. . .”

Akin was sat on the chair next to me smiling (he seems to always be smiling), but ordinary mortal nurse Ṣola couldn't see him.

The day after I was discharged from hospital, I was in my room relaxing and chatting with Akin. He was teaching me how to control my ability to move from the mortal world to the immortal world whilst I was still trapped in my human body.

Can you believe this? I am a powerful goddess and didn't know it. Those kids that mocked me growing up don't know how lucky they were.

I used every trick I knew to get my parents to return to Lagos, saying that I was OK and only needed a little rest. My parents conceded only after I agreed that Henry could stay back to drive me to school and back or anywhere else that I needed to go to for at least the next one month. I was also to visit the hospital for rehabilitation with a substance abuse doctor.

The door to my room was only half closed and it creaked a little. Both Akin and I turned to look at the door as it opened. It was my flatmate, Kemi.

“Hey Dayo, who are you talking to?” Kemi entered asking

“What do you mean who am I talking to? Who else do you see here?” I retorted.

“Sorry oh, I just got back from school and I heard voices so I thought there was someone here with you” Kemi continued

“Well as you can see, there's no one else here. Surely there isn't anything wrong speaking out loud to myself now, is there?” I snapped, annoyed.

Before she could reply, I asked her about her day, coyly changing the topic.

Two days later, Henry arrived from Lagos for his babysitting duties. He had had to drive my parents back to Lagos and also pick up some essentials he would need whilst here. Oh my gosh, he looked so handsome . . . I hadn't realised how much I had missed him until then. At that moment, I instantly forgot about Akin.

'Awakening' did not stop my mortal heart from beating extra fast at the sight of Henry.

After our initial passion was spent, Henry held on to me like he never wanted to let go of me.

“Dayo, you can't imagine how scared I was when Kemi called me. What possessed you to start taking drugs?” Henry asked

I didn't have an answer for him, so I simply sighed and kept mute. I looked straight ahead of me and there was Akin with a frown on his face. What am I saying frown? In fact, he looked murderous like he was about to kill someone. I thought I saw flames come out of his nose, but when I looked properly to make sure that what I thought I saw was actually what I saw, it was gone.

Moments later, Henry offered to give me a massage. He had bought some fancy orange fragrance massage oil. I hesitated at first . . . you see, every time we were together, I always ensured that my back was never to him. Whenever he tried to grab my bum, I stilled his hand and did something else to distract him.

At the back of my mind, I always wondered if he would find me less attractive if he discovered that I had no bum. Would a man as gorgeous as him still desire me?

Lots of musicians have written songs dedicated to praising the beauty of a woman's backside . . . so what does that make me? A woman not worthy to be called beautiful?

***

Download a FREE copy of the novella here http://www.segilolapublishing.com/product/abiku-a-battle-of-gods/ using coupon code ABIKU

you're the best

will do so now

radragan:
Okay. Shoot me an email with any ideas you might have and we can go from there.

ahahahahahahah I wanted to dump it all at your feet eheheheheheheheh let you take charge

radragan:
Understandable. Editing a wordpress theme isn't something I recommend everyone do. Especially if they aren't familiar with editing/writing PHP.

I would be willing to help, but doing it on my own will take a considerable amount of time, given that I have my own sites to run/manage and also a business. But I would be willing to help when I can. What did you have in mind?

congrats on finishing your site

re the last points you made, something you can add is a little personalisation

if you are sharing how something is beneficial, the reader would benefit from knowing how you utilised said solution and the results you got.

radragan:
Well, she's finished!

The framework for my author platform, Genesis Covenant, is complete and after doing a round of double-checks and editing, I am free to use the site whenever I wish. I managed to finish a full day and a half ahead of schedule. My deadline was August 1st.

Though the site was completed early, I may wait until the 1st before I begin pushing content and promoting the site. I want to spend some time today mapping out what I call an "article flow chart". Meaning, I will need to figure out a way to not just post content to the site, but to do it in a way so that each new post either complements or links to at least one other piece of content on the site.

It's about establishing cohesion. Which is something many bloggers fail to do.

At least once a week, I'm contacted by someone who wants help with his or her blog, and when I take a look at the site, the first thing I notice is the inconsistency in their posts. There is no central theme, only a collection of articles whose only relation to one another is that they fall under the same general niche.

For example, I recently worked with someone who was running a blog on dieting. Reading the headlines for his articles and I swear it was as if I was looking at a search results page for the word "dieting".

Though eat post was in some way related to some aspect of dieting, their only relation was that they were about dieting. My suggestion, was that he choose a specific type of individual, to which he chose middle-aged men with active lifestyles, and focus on providing dieting and nutritional information for that readership.

Why? Because depending on a person's age, sex, height, current weight, physical health, lifestyle, and a number of other factors, their dietary requirements will differ. So in turn, this blogger needed to identify what type of dieting he wanted to promote, and then curate content and material suited to that particular individual.

Before, his site's scope was too broad and too general, and thus, it failed to attract much of any interest from readers. Now with a better focus, he's beginning to see more positive growth.

From my experience as a web consult, the most trafficked sites are those with either 1.) massive budgets for advertising, or 2.) not only promote content around a specific idea, but also provide a unique perspective and/or branding to their content. In other words, they differentiate themselves from everyone else.

There are 3 ways to build a readership online:

1. Educate - which means to teach someone something they do not know, or don't understand well enough to do it on their own.

2. Inform - which means to make them aware of something -- usually factual or statistical data -- they have not hear or have not received the most recent information.

3. Entertain - which means to appeal to some emotional or psychological need.

Do one or more (preferably at least two) of these through your site, and it's only a matter of time before you're not only seeing consistent growth, but increased conversions and revenue bumps as well.

Be blessed!

thanks for the explanation but as I am not skilled enough to know how to customise a template, I will leave it to the likes of you. I own my limitations

so will you be so kind as to do it for me? pretty please

radragan:
In reference to the backdoor, it's basically a vulnerability in a web application -- be it a plugin, a theme or the core files of a site's setup -- that would allow a hacker to exploit, manipulate, and gain access to your site. For the most part, these are very hard to detect unless you know what you are looking for. And often times, you won't know the vulnerability is there until after you've been hacked.

But not all hacks are the same.

The reason I asked if you knew how the hacker gained control of your site is because if this person found a way in by manipulating parts of your theme's code, I would suggest you stop using that theme. Because even though you've reinstalled your site, you're still using the same theme with the same vulnerability, which means the hacker can take control of your site once again.

The best way around such attacks is to not use old and outdated themes and plugins, or using resources from unfamiliar resources. Just because it's in the WP depository doesn't mean it's safe.

As for customizing your theme, I personally go through and remove any code or functionality that I know I will not need when managing my site.

For example, the theme I'm using now has a membership plugin built into it. I've not only removed the the files from the theme, but also the scripts and php code that would allow a user to create an account. Will this prevent hackers from ever taking over my site? No, but it does make it a little harder by removing an entry point myself and my readers will never use.

I also change the usernames of my admins, and use plugins and scripts that only allow certain users to access the back-end of my site. So even if someone were to gain access, because they are not on the list of approved admins, they are immediately redirected to the homepage of the site.

Another tactic I employ is to hide the admin users of my site. Whenever I create content, I attribute all posts to a specific user without admin capabilities. Most users almost always create post and content using the admin of their WP sites, and if a hacker can discover your admin user ID, they can more easily find ways of hacking your site.

But if the user ID is NOT an admin, and they manage to hack the site anyway, there is very little damage they can without the proper access to certain files and functionality of your site.

Two plugins that I find extremely helpful are All-In-One WP Security and Wordfence. I've used both and have had little to no problems.

Having your site hacked is no fun, but it doesn't have to be something that completely ruins your site or your brand online. It's just a matter of learning all you can about the various types of attacks that are out there, and safeguarding your site as best as possible to minimize an attack.

Ra dear, I know that I act like I am very tech savvy but I am so not. How do I find that out? the back door i mean

the rest of what you wrote went over my head but I am open to learning. So how do I customise a template?

radragan:
Thanks. I'll start on it over the weekend, and let you know my thoughts in the coming week. I'm sure it's good though.

And a custom built site isn't necessarily better. It does make it harder for people to hack since it's built on a unique core, unlike WordPress which uses the same setup for every site it's used on. Assuming you don't customize your install.

You can also customize your template if needed. It's what I do. The layout I'm currently using is a template I acquired a year ago. I've since stripped it down and rebuilt it to my liking.

Also, do you know how your site was hacked? That may help you prevent future attacks if you can find a way to safeguard whatever backdoor they used to enter your site.

OK I'll email you a copy of the book. It would be interesting to know what a guy thinks of it

re my website, I deleted the infected version, re-installed wordpress with a new admin that is not admin then restored the backup. The backup reverted all the changes back to what it was at that point. so the new admin I created was not registered.

hosting expires in Sept.

I use medium to compliment my blog as I republish to it. I still need a website to put my books and podcast details on that has my name and is self hosted.

I think a custom built website would be the way forward rather than templates but this is all new territory. I need something simple to manage

radragan:
Thanks for the compliments. I was a bit worried it looked too generic so I changed a few things and added color. Several people have told me the new header makes a difference.

Concerning your site, it sounds like the hackers may have corrupted or altered the core files of your site. If you are currently using WordPress, this is a common problem with hackers. Not that they frequently hack WP sites, but that when they do, they almost always corrupt the core files, which causes the site to perform in unexpected ways.

The best way to handle this is to back up your posts, pages, comments, etc, then re-install WordPress with new admins, passwords, etc, then import your posts and pages, reinstall and reactivate your plugins, and you should be set.

Self-hosted WordPress definitely has no support, and is minimal. It's essentially moderated by more "advanced" users. They don't actually have their own dedicated customer support team. But I suppose if they did, WordPress wouldn't be free.

And what happens in September? Is that when your current hosting plan will expire? And if you won't be using WordPress, will you move to another platform such as Blogger or Medium? Just curious.

And I wouldn't mind reading the book. I think that it's from a woman's point of view will make it that much more interesting.

Ra darling . . . sweetie pie . . . if I butter you up enough will you do my website for me too?

What you are doing looks amazebals

radragan:
Well, I've managed to complete the custom 404/Error page. It looks good, and will work for now. I will go back later and do a better customization after the site has been active for a few months.

Here's the before:
https://www.genesiscovenantsaga.com/ra/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/404before-1024x308.jpg


And here's what the page looks like now.
https://www.genesiscovenantsaga.com/ra/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/404-1024x499.jpg


Nothing major, but a noticeable change nonetheless. Once I have a few ebooks and/or products to sell, I will use this page to promote them.

The 404 page is among the few pages users should never see, or at worst, see very rarely. However, when they do seem them, I think it's important for webmasters to use the space to further enhance their brand or offerings, rather than only display a boring wall of text informing them that their search has resulted in a dead end.

Today, I will continue work on the homepages for the Developer Blog and the Story Bible sections of the site.

I would have been done sooner, but I didn't like the earlier version of the sites, so I'm re-doing them. Hopefully, I can have them both completed by tonight. I still need to review and publish more of the content pages for the site. Some of the pages will no longer be necessary on account of everything being consolidated to single domain/site. It's taking a little longer than anticipated, but at least it's not hindering my overall progress with the site.

All in all, things are still progressing ahead of schedule. I'll follow up with another update later this evening.

Thanks for reading!

Be blessed!

well done, that's nice to hear

meant to say it looks better

yes and no re my website

Yes I have recovered it from the hackers but there seems to be something not quite right with it. for starts I can't upload files greater than 8MB event though the settings has been put at 100MB. The images I uploaded in July aren't showing in blog posts. Not really sure what's going on.

I wasn't pleased with the way my hosting company handled things, so when my hosting expires I will move to a UK based one. Which I am yet to decide.

I feel my website is due an overhaul. Would love to give it a go myself but not sure where to start. Don't want to use wordpress as they have next to no customer support. I have between now and Sept to sort it all out. At the very worst I will get a web designer

What do you think?

The only light in my dark tunnel now is that I have finished my first adult fiction book. Sent a copy to my beta reader. Fingers crossed as long as she can't see anything drastically wrong with it, I will pass it to the editor.

I would love to share it with you but it was written from a woman's point of view and I think your eyes would get burnt if you read it

Let me know if you would like to take the risk ehehehehehehheheheh

radragan:
Thanks.

I don't know why, but I believe this project will ultimately turn out to be the most fruitful of all my personal projects and endeavors this year. Things have been coming together quite serendipitously. I'm already a few days ahead of schedule. At this rate, the site will be complete within the next 2-3 days. A full 48 hours before my original deadline. I just pray things continue coming together as they have.

Speaking of building sites, were you ever able to resolve the issue you were having with your site?

it likes better I think too

OK thanks

[quote author=expertix post=47897482][/quote]

Hi all,

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with an author based in Nigeria on twitter.

To summarise, he wanted me to help him publish his books/poetry collection and make it available worldwide on retail outlets like Amazon, itunes etc etc

This then reminded me of a conversation I had with an aspiring author, also living in Nigeria, on a similar topic.

So my question now is, for the authors based in Nigeria, how do you self publish your books?

I recently found out that you cannot download ebooks from the Amazon store if you are in Nigeria. Does this also stop you from uploading your ebooks to sell on Amazon?

Would you patronise a publisher that not only facilitates self publishing but makes your books available to over 30,000 retails outlets all over the world including Amazon, itunes, sainsbury's, barnes and noble etc etc?

With the market the way it is, there are considerably more authors than there are traditional publishing houses. Would you rather let your books gather dust whilst waiting for a traditional contract or would you self publish?

There are too many comments to read through and there's a possibility what I am about to say has been said already.

First of all, what you did was lie about who you are. Trust is very easy to break but hard to build. I take all forms of lies/deception very strongly. I find it difficult to ever fully trust someone who has lied to me once. At the back of my head, there's always going to be that little voice that asks me if the person has told other lies that I am yet to find out

I personally believe there's more to being with someone than loving that person.

Are both of you in the same place? I know someone who is very religious and was happy to date anyone of any belief as he knew he was not yet in a position to get married. When he chooses to get married, the person would have to go to church with him and their kids would be brought up religious.

So where are you in life now? Is your girlfriend the one you want to spend the rest of your life with? How do you feel about your children being brought up with a belief system that contradicts yours? If there was a church event would you be willing to go with her?

You alone can answer whether or not your girlfriend is worth fighting for

I hope this helps

Blaqsmith:
I am bringing up this issue here because I don't trust the environment I live and the people I co-habit with. They would open up the bible for me than tell me some truth I need to hear or advise me to go for brain evaluation. I am well ok.

I've been an atheist for some years now, but due to beliefs of people around, I make it a closed affair. Though I raised questions which theists always fail to convincingly answer, I still agree with them that there is god.

I live in this denial of who I am just to satisfy my loved ones and make them happy. They see atheist as a mad man.

All these years, this is what I battle inside of me, but what choice do I have than just to play along? I don't wanna lose loved ones 'cause of my belief.

I muster some courage and decided to reveal my real self to my girlfriend who is also religious. She's told me her love for me is unconditional and I tried to believe her.

She went berserk when I told her am an atheist... She wouldn't just believe it. Since then, she's been looking at me like I'm under some spell.

I'm losing her and I don't ever wanna lose her. If for anything, not because I don't believe there is God who looks by while toddlers die.

I highly recommend you listen to this interview with bestselling author Evan Pickering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMfGpk2nNTM

I can assure you, everything he says is relatable to any type of business

After listening to it to the end, please share your thoughts below