Giveaway and Book Signing!

I'm running a giveaway in honor of my third book in the Toby the Trilby book series, "Toby the Trilby and the Forgotten City. Enter in the Rafflecopter for a great priza package! (Note: some of the prizes can only be redeemed locally, in Bastrop Texas. The prizes that can be shipped will be the angel, the three books and the CD only. These items will not be shipped outside of the United States)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review of "Vignette, Glimpses of Mysterious Love."

I'm a Coffee Drinker.

I look forward to that moment every morning (which I'm sure many can relate to), where I take that first sip fragrant java and slip into my day. And a good devotional can only make that time better. 

Vignette by William and Traci Vanderbush is not your ordinary devotional. You won't go sailing along on inspirational passages to lull you to dreamland. These short pieces will challenge you and bring new perspectives about love into your life. 

The passages don't follow a specific pattern. Some are shorter than a page, some are a few pages. Some are prose and some are beautifully crafted poems that will leave you breathless. Woven through each section is a common thread; the idea of love. Married love, love from the Father, and brotherly love through relationship.

If you are looking for a new morning devotional, give Vignette a try.

Amazon Description:

William and Traci Vanderbush were childhood sweethearts who decided to plunge into the wild adventure of marriage as teenagers. After more than two decades of doing life, ministry, and child-rearing, they have been inspired to share their insights on love, mercy, grace, and sexuality. Learning the art of falling in love with each other more than once, join them on the journey into the depths of love and the limitless abilities of the human soul. For more information about William and Traci, please visit www.billvanderbush.com.

For a Short Time: Smashwords Book Catalog Promo!

I was alerted to this special by Metilda Leland at Scribophile. If you have stories or books on Smashwords, this is a great opportunity to get your books promoted. Until the end of July, you can go to this link here and include whichever books you like in their catalog. You must offer the book at a discounted percentage (you choose the amount) or for free. The discount coupon will be displayed on the book's listing. This is a great offer for family and friends on social media as well.

I am very excited to announce I will be re-issuing my collection of short stories and poems, "Hidden Pictures," at the end of July. You can have a sneak peek at some of the stories for free if you go to my author dashboard at Smashwords, here. You can also download a FREE copy of my book for kids, The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Trilby. These will be free until the end of July.
Do you have books you have included in the Smashwords free catalog? Feel free to add them to the comments below! (Please no horror or erotic).

Writing for a Purpose

What is your purpose as a writer? Are you writing for fun? Money? Because your head will explode if you don't keep writing?
It's good to sit down and write out a list of reasons, because there will be days when you question your sanity. When you receive that tenth rejection letter or when your Kindle book receives a not-so-great review, you might start wondering "Is this really worth it?"
I write lists for each one of my projects. It's a good way to generate ideas for blurbs and descriptions, to work into review requests, and to tell people when they ask, "Why should I buy your book?"

Here's a list I put together for my website about my series, "The Adventures of Toby the Trilby."

The kind of books I set out to write when I started the series:

• Books that kids will want to pick up and read, especially boys. Even though lots of girls like my books, I wanted to write books with lots of exciting adventures that boys could get into and enjoy.
• Books that leave kids (and adults) encouraged about life. So many books in the futuristic genre leave people (at least me!) feeling depressed and hopeless.
• Stories that don't talk down to kids, but rather encourage them to find out what larger vocabulary words mean. The best way to teach kids big words is to expose them to them in a context where they can figure it out for themselves, or say "Hey. Mom, what does this mean?"
• Books families can read together. Yes, there are some deep ideas in my books, and some extremely intense moments. I hope that families can read and discuss these books together, even though they are fine for individual reading as well!
• Books that bring people closer to God. Yes, they are simplified, and no, they don't teach the entire gospel message. I wanted to explore a few, simple truths in each book, like "What is my purpose?" "How do I know God loves me?" and "How can I forgive that person?" I'm hoping to encourage kids to want to find out more about the Giver of Truth, to be excited to seek new ideas for themselves. 

The great thing about having a list like this is you can go back and check to see if you are meeting your goals. I have had great feedback from kids about my book, especially boys. I have had many people tell me the book has helped them understand more about God. So even if it's never a bestseller, I feel like I have, at least partially, accomplished what I set out to do.

So what's your process? Do you write a list of goals for each book? I would love to hear any thoughts you have in the comments!

Publicity... Worth Paying For?

As most self-published authors learn a few months after they have nudged their literary child out of the nest to flutter its way into the Kindle world, sales don't come easy. A great deal of time and effort, perhaps even more than was put into writing the book itself, must be put into marketing the book. It would be nice if all you needed was a good product, and then people would be attracted to it like a BBQ stand in Texas, just by the scent of a delicious new story. Unfortunately, the internet is not scratch and sniff.

I published my Christian Sci-Fi story, "The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Trilby" in November of 2013. 

I worked very hard to get good reviews from friends and strangers and list it for free anywhere I could. Currently, I have 13 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon. (You can read them here)

So where to list it? I currently have the book for 99 cents, in hopes that people will read the first one and want the sequel (You can find it here)

I found a good list of places at this link and began researching them to find the best places. 

Most of them are pretty pricey. I also went to Fiverr and found a few gigs that advertised putting Kindle books on their blogs or FB pages, or they would do the work and submit your book for you. Here is the list of gigs I have tried so far: 

http://www.fiverr.com/authorbookbuzz

http://www.fiverr.com/ryuken

http://www.fiverr.com/bknights

So far, I have only seen results from bknights, and I only sold two copies during their promotion. I am not saying they didn't do a good job, I'm sure other people have had better results depending on genre. Just saying what worked for me.

But there is one place I had spectacular results, and that was eReader News Today. (website here) In order to list with them, you have to have at least 10 ratings on Amazon and at least 4.0. They charge you a small percentage of sales made on the day your book is listed, but they are only paid if you make sales. I made 56 sales with them in two days during my promotional period, which was spectacular for me! They also promote free Kindle books as well.

I have heard from other authors that https://www.bookbub.com/ and http://www.bookgorilla.com/ are good places to promote as well, but so far, though they made sales, I haven't talked to anyone that made back the 40.00 to 300.00 it costs to list with these sites.

I have spent about 20.00 advertising my FB author page (you can see it here) but saw no sales and very few likes for my money.

Do you have any experiences to share about book marketing web sites? A great gig on Fiverr or a free Facebook page worth listing on? I'd love to hear about it, after all, we are here to help each other!

"Tamer," Free Short Story

I love vintage circuses and early twentieth century entertainment, so the idea for Tamer just grew and blossomed until it became what it is, one of my favorite short stories. I can now offer it to you for free if you download it on Smashwords. I would love it if you could leave me a review after you have read it! Please note: Yes, this is a sad story. So is Romeo and Juliet, folks.

You can download it for any e-reader format (including smart phone and computer) from Smashwords here:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/437932

While you are there, you can check out a bunch of my other stories as well at my Smashwords profile here: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/fairygirlbooks

Are you a writer with short stories on Smashwords? Feel free to add your link below! No erotica or horror, please!

Book Review: Affinities, Chris Hollis

I put it out there that I would do periodic reviews on my blog, and I've had lots of requests, but I didn't take into consideration that most of my reading time is done in the bathtub, (sorry if TMI), and most writers submit Kindle books. Since I can't risk waterlogging my phone, these reviews will come further apart than I intended, but I did finish this exciting book by Mr. Chris Hollis and wanted to share it.

Andrew wakes up at the same time two nights in a row, disoriented, with no memory of how he passed his day. He begins to fight for lucid moments, his weariness keeping him captive in his own home. This is not Andrew's first taste of hardships, he experienced a devastating car wreck two years before that caused him to have to learn to walk again.

This psychological thriller is definitely an exciting page-turner, well written and edited. You find yourself sympathizing with the main character and hoping he will win in the end. There were a few moments that didn't quite fit in with the flow of the book for me, and the ending was pretty far-fetched, but it was unexpected, which is rare for me. All in all, very good read from a self-published author.
For those interested in content, this book contained a few mild profanities, quite a bit of thriller-style
violence, and a few suggestive secenes. I would rate it PG-13. I give it four stars.