This is my first post since I finished my successful Kickstarter Campaign on September, 28, 2022. I was teaching at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, when I started the campaign. In fact one of my students was the first pledge. My campaign ended during that same class. My students and I decided to do the countdown together, which meant a lot to me.

No the fun part and learning part begins. I have never self published before so there is a lot to learn. I am working with the company BookBaby who does this all the time and they have been very helpful. I reached out to them to let them know how money I had to work with to publish and they gave me a breakdown of all the things I could do and reassured me I was in good shape for a good launch of the book. The launch of the book btw is in March of 2023.

The Blurb:

When I spoke my rep at Bookbaby, they mentioned doing a ” blurb” for the back of the book. What’s a blurb you ask? It’s the summery of the book that is written out to excite the reader. It is the ” hook” that tells the potential buyer that this would be a book they would like to read. So here goes, my Blurb.

Knowing there must be more to his predictable life in Cleveland, Ohio, recent college graduate and aspiring photographer, Sam Cohen, stumbles into an unforgettable adventure in the heart of the New York City celebrity and art world in the 1980’s.  

After a year of apprenticing the “White Rastafarian” in his wacky commercial photo studio, Sam gets his break and becomes the photo assistant to the world-famous Izzy Teivel. 

It is an auspicious start for Sam but reality sets in and dysfunction prevails. Izzy who is revered by her fans, clients, and subjects but abusive to everyone else especially Sam who finds himself questioning his choices and sanity. 

 The pressure manifests as nightmares of his father’s past as a concentration camp survivor. Sam’s guilt of leaving his family behind is triggered through a photo assignment Izzy is given by Vanity Way to photograph famous Jewish writers, Elie Wiesel, and I.B. Singer. Morally conflicted, Sam has to decide whether to return to Cleveland to help his estranged father and over protective mother or to stay and pursue his own selfish dreams. 

Steven H. Begleiter from his upcoming book ©LEAVING CLEVELAND .

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Steven H. Begleiter