Today it seems nearly impossible to open a newspaper without finding a story of corruption, cover-ups, or ethical lapses in judgment from prominent figures in positions of authority. With corporate and political scandal rampant and executives headed to jail in record numbers, the unbridled pursuit of wealth and abusive use of power are no longer options. Now, as an instrument of change, Bestselling co-authors Vicky Therese Davis, William R. Patterson, and D. Marques Patton step forward to present their new book, The Baron Son, as a revolutionary road map to ethically guide leaders and remake America’s organizations.

After completing The Baron Son, I found it to be as promised, a challenging and insightful work with a life-changing power. For those with no interest in the subject of leadership, not to worry, the teachings of The Baron Son reach far beyond the genre, adeptly covering such areas as building wealth, entrepreneurship, marketing and salesmanship to name a few.

The Baron Son is an instructional tale that reveals the wealth-building secrets of an oil merchant who through a string of successes and failures becomes the richest man the world has ever known. Having started from nothing, this wealthy Baron uses his life as the blueprint for the ethical attainment of riches both in material and non-material form. With many unexpected twists and turns, the story alone makes for a fascinating read, but the valuable leadership, financial, and business lessons formed into 11 “Supreme Principles” propel the book into an entirely different realm. Its archaic style is reminiscent of such classic works as The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clayson or The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino. In my opinion however, the story and depth of content in The Baron Son easily surpass both earlier books.

The authors do an excellent job of weaving their insights on a number of pertinent and diverse topics into a colorful and inspiring story. There are countless ideas that entrepreneurs will benefit from whether they are starting a new business or growing an existing enterprise. Investors will also notice subtle points that can help them improve their returns and avoid bad investments. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there is a clear road map for ethical leaders to help them direct their actions with vision, integrity, and passion to create the greatest value for all those they serve. Recent history has proven this to be a lost ideal.

As with all things, there will be some people who will not appreciate the book or realize that they are the ones that need it most, but for those individuals with creative vision, there will be no limit to what he or she can achieve through its teachings. It is one of those few unique works that will reveal a new understanding each time it is opened. A book of wisdom for all seasons of life, The Baron Son truly is, as the authors would say, one of the “Seedlings of Empires.”

Rating: 5 Stars

THE BARON SON: VADE MECUM 7
By Vicky Therese Davis, William R. Patterson, and D. Marques Patton
Long & Silverman Publishing, Inc.
ISBN - 1595753575

Buck Bradley is a leadership business consultant and contributing writer to over 130 business publications across the U.S. and Europe.

“You can see what I’m thinking, mate,” Gus said.

Fenton could. And it was madness. The windows were about two-thirds of the way up the roof’s face. A brief sill or ledge ran along the bottom of them. And from there, the great slope of steel came down on a rampant grade of considerably more than forty-five degrees, sluicing an endless flood of rain into the gutter that ran along its near edge. In some places the guttering was full, and rills of overspilling water surged from it to the sodden turf.

Gus went to one of the metal poles that held up the veranda. He gripped it, tried to shake it. He seemed pleased by the results. He came back over to Fenton’s side.

“If one of us clambers up there,” he said, “we could gain access through one of them windows.”

“It looks,” Fenton said, “a little dangerous.”

“You could be right.” Gus looked up again, soberly regauging the slope.

“For a biggish bastard like me, it could be a little hairy.”

Oh no. Fenton wasn’t having that.

“For a biggish bloke like me,” Gus repeated.

He just wasn’t.

“More a job for a lither bloke,” Gus said.

“Yes,” Fenton deadpanned.

“A bloke like yourself.”

Fenton looked at his watch.

“Jesus, Fent. How many hints do you want me to drop?”

“Sorry?”

“I reckon you should get up there mate.”

“Oh.” Non-committally. “Right.”

“Fair dinkum, Fent! You can see why I can’t get up there, surely?” Gus’s smile was forced. Time was a factor. Rain matted his beard. “I’m heavier than you, mate. And I’m carrying a frigging axe. And I’m meant to be the fucking boss.”

Here Gus reasonably paused.

But Fenton simply wasn’t having it.

“All right you fucking woman,” Gus said savagely. “I will get up there.” He stalked petulantly back to the metal upright. Shaking with rage and hurt, he tucked the hatchet under his arm, and grasped the pole at head height. He raised the sole of his right boot and held it bitterly aloft.

“You can at least give me a boost, you twat!” he yelled through the rain.

If Lego hadn’t called the police by now he had to be stone deaf.

Kirk Kinbote, operating from behind at least a brace of pseudonyms, was the key creative and design force behind http://www.adancingbear.com, home of the novel “A Dancing Bear.”

Choosing the right fonts is an important decision you will have to make when designing a quality ebook cover. You will want to choose a font that is readable and appropriate for your audience.

The following general information about fonts will help you to make the right choice:

Size: An ebook cover image is usually a rather small image. Therefore, you have to be sure that the font you use will be readable on the small image. A lot of fonts just don’t work well at very small sizes.

Weight: The term “weight” refers to the thickness of the elements that make up each character in a font. Most fonts have a regular version and a bold version. The bold version has greater weight because the letters are thicker. A bolded font stands out more, even at smaller sizes. Some fonts also offer a “heavy” and a “black” version that is even thicker than the bold version. Arial black, Helvetica black, and Impact are just some examples of popular fonts that are used to create titles and headlines. These fonts also work well for ebook covers.

If you look at book or article titles, you will notice that they tend to be “heavier” and larger in size than any of the other text. This is because the author wants to emphasize the title/subtitle.

Serif vs. Sans Serif: Take a look at the letters in the Helvetica font and Times New Roman font. Helvetica is a sans serif font, while Times New Roman is a serif font. The difference is the extra flourish at the ends of each line in each character in a serif font. The term serif refers to these flourishes. Compare the letter “I” in both of the fonts mentioned above and you will easily see the difference.

Sans serif fonts tend to be more readable when used in titles, subtitles, captions and headlines. They also tend to be more readable at the smaller font sizes. Serif fonts, on the other hand work better where there is a large amount of text (a paragraph or more).

Appropriateness: It’s important that you choose a font that is appropriate for your audience. For instance, if your book is targeted for women, choose a more feminine font. If your book’s focus is children, then it would be appropriate to choose a font that conveys a sense of playfulness. However, regardless of age and gender, if your subject is serious then you would want a font that conveys a serious tone.

Keep in mind that there are no hard and fast rules in this area of font selection. What seems appropriate for a masculine subject in one situation may not be so in another situation. The point here is simply to pay attention to what message and feeling you’re communicating with your selected font.

Here are some more font tips for ebook covers:

• Use one or two fonts. Never use more than three different fonts. Better yet, use different weights of the same font. For example, use Arial Black for the title and Arial Bold for the subtitle.

• Don’t use too much text on your cover. It won’t be readable anyway. The less text you use, the larger and more readable your text will be. You may want to consider using a shortened version of your actual book title for the cover image.

• Use the largest, boldest font for the book title, a smaller size for the subtitle, and even smaller sizes for author name and any additional text.

• Use text colors that contrast with your background to make your title stand out. However, make sure that the color of your text does not clash with the background color. Depending on your background colors, red, white and yellow often work well.

• You can bold, italicize, or underline words and phrases for emphasis. Use italics and underline sparingly. If overdone, you’ll loose the affect and reduce the readability.

• You can make your text stand out with special type effects such as drop shadows and outlines, but use these effects sparingly.

• Use capitals only for short headings. Sentences or paragraphs in all capitals letters are hard to read. For longer headings, use upper/lower case.

• Consider placing the author’s name and the web site URL as a watermark on the cover graphic to make it harder for people to steal your images.

• Put your book title on the spine of large book and box images.

There are literally thousands of fonts to choose from. Build a small collection of fonts that work well for ebook cover design. This collection will probably include the standards like Impact, Arial Black, Arial Bold, Helvetica Black, Helvetica Bold, Times New Roman, Garamond and other fonts you like that are readable and practical in smaller sizes.

Like just about all rules, most font rules can be broken. The bottom line is, if your prospects can not read your book title, or if your ebook cover conveys a message that is not appropriate to your subject, then your choice of font can result in a loss of sales (or free downloads).

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