Books Candidate Has Published Receive Side-Eye

Palm Desert Candidate Has Published Books that Offer Relationship Advice to ‘Sassy & Classy Gals’

PALM DESERT — A District 2 candidate has published a series of relationship-advice for women books that have some constituents raising their eyebrows.

Here are some of the titles:

• Ladies, No Hooking Up! Stop Getting Dissed by the Men you Desire
• Why He’ll Have Sex with You but Not Love You: Your Man’s Dating Secrets Revealed!
• Treat Him (Almost) as Good as Your Cat: 24 Kitty-inspired Ways You Can Attract the Purr-fect Guy
• Don’t Stop Dating Your Lover A 10-Date Plan to Heat Up Any Committed Relationship

Promotional material the 4-book collection states you’ll find answers to your most pressing questions like:

• Am I doing something wrong in bed?
• Is it me trying too hard or him not trying hard enough?
• What if I want a relationship when he just wants to “hook up?”
• How do I know if this guy is really worth the effort and not another loser?

Gregg Akkerman, 58, who is seeking a seat on the Palm Desert City Council in November, told Uken Report that he wrote the books as a way to earn income and help put him on a fast track to tenure.

“I was trying help empower women to make better decisions about relationships,” Akkerman, told Uken Report.

Akkerman, who has been divorced once, said he tried to “write books from a place of respect.”

None of the books did very well in a market saturated with books on relationship advice, he said.

He said he’s also written books for men, including, “Divorced and Dating: The Dude’s Guide to Starting Over and Attracting Wonderful Women (Men’s Advice for New World Dudes).”

Akkerman said he has self-published at least a dozen books; some under his name, some under a pen name.

“If me being a prolific author is the only criticism people have of me, I will gladly accept it,” Akkerman said.’

After we spoke, he sent a follow-up email to say, “I should add that under a pen name I have written my most successful books on how to navigate being in loving relationships with those who suffer from personality disorders. Those books, along with their related social media pages, have literally helped tens of thousands of people and I’m immensely proud (of) that work. Revealing that pen name to the public would risk outing many of the people I have written for and about and that is a trust I cannot betray but I mention it to describe the breadth and importance of my output as a writer.”

This will be Akkerman’s second run for a seat on the City Council. He also ran in 2022.