Flying Away For A While

I'm getting ready to fly up to Vancouver B.C. to see my husband for the first time in about 7 months. I'll be leaving later this morning and I can't wait!

Unfortunately I will be a bit of a zombie seeing as I just finished up a stretch of working 7 days in a row.

Although it won't be a long trip, just six days,  I'm super glad to get to spend time with him for at least a little while. This whole long distance marriage thing is hard. I probably won't read a whole lot while I'm there, but I do have plenty of books on my Kindle if I do decide to take a reading break.

I have one upcoming post scheduled that includes a giveaway being hosted by the publisher so be sure to keep an eye out for that.

What are your weekend plans?

Review+Giveaway: Candy and the Cankersaur

Title: Candy and the Cankersaur
Author: Jason Sandberg
Publisher: Jason Sandberg E-Books
Published: June 12, 2012
Format: Kindle
Pages: 32
Date Read: April 20th, 2015
Source: Received from the author
in exchange for an honest review.
Add It on Goodreads
My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
This is the sweet and funny tale of a young girl named Candy and a Cankersaurus Rex! Candy receives a dinosaur as a gift and is determined to train him to be a good pet.

Melissa's Musings:

I don't often read children's books, but I'm glad to have read this one.

Just as the synopsis says, this is a sweet story. Candy is a little girl who's father is a busy man. He buys Candy lots of toys, but he knows that her toys don't make her happy, so he buys her a dinosaur to be her companion. 

Candy also has a neighbor named Chucky, who wants her to notice him, so they are always in competition with each other about who can get the biggest and best toys. Chucky is very jealous of Cank, so he sells him to the circus. Candy is very upset and they go on an adventure to rescue him. 

The story has a lot of different lessons embedded in it. First and foremost, money can't buy happiness. Even though Candy has all the latest and greatest toys, they aren't making her happy. Her father realizes theat as well, which is why he knows she needs a friend. Although, what Candy ultimately wants is to spend time with her father, which is something that many kids have experienced in today's hectic times, where either one or both of their parents may work.

Chucky learns that he needs to think before he acts, because in selling Cank, he hurts Candy's feelings, when all he really wants is for her to notice him. 

And, there are general rules that are good for little ones to learn at a young age, like "No biting!"

This is an adorable story with lovely illustrations. I'd especially recommend it to any child who loves dinosaurs.

And now, lets have a giveaway!

Mr. Sandberg is kindly giving away 10 Kindle copies of Candy and the Cankersaur.

Some rules to note before you enter:

This giveaway is open to US Residents Only

Winners will be notified within 72 hours of the giveaway ending, and will have 48 hours to respond before alternate winners are chosen.

Mr. Sandberg, not Melissa's Midnight Musings, will be responsible for the sending of the prize. A list of the  winners will be sent to him, so that he can send out the copies.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feed Your Reader Kindle Giveaway!

Inspired Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer has launched a new site aimed at bringing you the best Kindle Ebook Deals and Steals.

Each day on feedyourreader.com you'll find a new list of available ebook deals (most for under $3).

And of course there will be lots of  Featured Freebies too!

To celebrate the launch of the new site she is giving away a Kindle Fire, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash.


Win a 7" Kindle Fire (US only)




Or $100 Amazon.com Gift Card (International)

Or $100 in Paypal Cash (International)

Giveaway Details 
1 winner will receive their choice of a Kindle Fire 7" (US Only), $100 Amazon Gift Card or $100 in Paypal Cash (International).
Ends 5/5/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Prize value $100-$159 US.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Black Lion Tours Presents: Alaina Claiborne Book Tour-Interview and Giveaway

Hello fellow readers! Today I'm happy to be hosting a stop on the Alaina Claiborne Book Tour. Read on to learn more about the book, and read an interview with author M.K. Mclintock. In addition to the tour wide giveaway listed below, there is also a giveaway for an e-book copy as a part of this stop on the tour. All you have to do to be entered to win is leave a comment on this post! Be sure to follow along with the rest of the tour and enter the tour wide giveaway as well.

The Sunday Post: 27th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I took part in a Cover Reveal
• I conducted an interview with Loren Deshon, author of Redemption on the River
• I reviewed Heaven or Hell by Roni Teson
• I interviewed Paulette Mahurin, author of The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap
• I reviewed Beautiful Wild Rose Girl by B. Magnolia. I'm also holding a giveaway for a hand bound copy of this great children's book. Be sure to stop by the post to enter.
• I talked about my lack of New Year's Eve plans in my Behind the Blog post.
• Melissa's Midnight Musings had it's one year blogoversary The giveaway attached to that post is INTERNATIONAL, so be sure to enter to win.
• I reviewed The How and What of Gift Giving by Antonio Hajden. This has good ideas for every kind of gift giving occasion you could think of.

Coming Up This Week:

• Review of Broken Christmas by David S. Henderson
• Review of Volunteers for Literacy by Gretchen Elhassani
• Review of Christmas in Wine Country by Addison Westlake
• Review of Cupid's Christmas by Bette Lee Crosby
• Review and Giveaway of Keeping Score: A Guide to Love And Relationships by Marc Brackett
• Mini Review of Silver Bells by Sadie Hart
• The theme for Behind the Blog this week is Holiday Traditions: 
• Christmas traditions are wonderful. They are unique from family to family and they can build some of the happiest memories of one’s life. What are some of your favorite Christmas/holiday traditions? Or, what are traditions that you hope to start in the future? In relation to books: Are there any books or movies that you absolutely must see or re-read during the holiday season? Are there any books or movies that you’ve seen/read that have some unique or unusual traditions?
• Review of Cadence Beach by Linda Juliano
• Review of A Christmas Miracle by Willow Cross
• Review of My Happy Birthday by Mary Ryan
• Review of We're All Different But We're All Kitty Cats: First Day of School by Peter J. Goodman

It's another jam packed week! I hope you'll all stop by and check some of them out.

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions

*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

I had a very light book haul this week (not a bad thing at all) and only one print copy so it's not really worth taking a picture of

For Review from Author/Publisher:

The Keeper and the Rune Stone by Paige Pendelton

Virtually Yours by Joanne Huspek

And that's it! What did you get this week? Be sure to leave links so I can see your hauls!

The Sunday Post 26th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I reviewed Four in the Morning by Christi Goddard
• I reviewed Last Chance Christmas by Hope Ramsay
• I hosted a tour stop for the book Crazy for Cowboy by Roxy Boroughs
• Author Addison Westlake stopped by to share her thoughts on baking for the holidays
• Faye of A Daydreamers Thoughts stopped by to Talk YA, Be sure to check out her video for Round 2 of the Mira Ink competition for a paid blogging position!
• Author Marc Johnson stopped by for an interview. There is a giveaway going on for 2 E-copies of his book, Catalyst.
• For Behind the Blog I talked about True Crime

Giveaways and Other Important Notes:

As I mentioned above, be sure to enter the giveaway for Catalyst by Marc Johnson

There will also be 2 additional giveaways posted this week! Details to follow in the "Coming up this Week" section.

I just wanted to forewarn you guys that I have A LOT of posts coming up in the next few weeks. I've been picking up a lot of Christmas freebies in addition to my regular reading schedule, so there will probably be a lot of times throughout the rest of December when I'll have two posts in one day so that I can keep up with these holiday books as well as the other books I need to review. I'm going to try my best to limit it to no more than two posts per day so that you all don't get bombarded with posts from me.

Coming Up This Week:

• I'll be announcing the winners of the What I Did on My Midlife Crisis giveaway, and the giveaway for The Man Who Loved Jane Austen and Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen.
• Review of Heaven or Hell by Roni Teason
• Cover Reveal
• Interview with Loren DeShon author of Redemption on the River
• Author Interview with Paulette Mahurin, author of The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap
• Review of Beautiful Wild Rose Girl by B. Magnolia +Giveaway
• Behind the Blog: This week's theme is still being decided on, but once it's available I'll post it to the Melissa's Midnight Musings Facebook page and twitter. Faye, Kathe and I would love to have more bloggers join us for BTB so feel free to check out the tab at the top of this blog to learn more about it and join in if you'd like to.
• Melissa's Midnight Musings Turns ONE! My blogoversary is on Friday so I'll have a recap post and a giveaway. I've tried to do something a little different with the giveaway and some of the entry options, so hopefully you guys will enjoy that
• Review of The How and What of Gift Giving by Antonio Hajden

It really doesn't need to be said, but this week is so full of great posts. I hope you'll stop by and check them out!

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions

*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

Free* Amazon Kindle Download:

*I'm not sure if any of these are still  free, be sure to check the price before you download them

Silver Bells by Sadie Hart

A Christmas Miracle by Willow Cross

All I Want For Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello

Bah Humbug! A Romantic Comedy Novella by Heather Horrocks

How to Host A Holiday by Katleen Kitson

You Never Called Me Princess by Elaine Babich

Received for Blog Tour:

Deep Connections by Rebecca Graf

Received From Author/Publisher for Review:

Starting at top left:

Newspaper Diapers* by M.T. Johnson

*Link goes to Amazon

Background Noise by Peter DeMarco

Hoodie by S. Walden

Spare Change by Bette Lee Crosby

Caarina the Cooking Fairy by Julia Dweck

A Parent's Playbook for Learning by Jen Lilienstein

I want to say a huge thank you to all the authors/publishers who sent me books this week!

From the Library:

Shadows of Night by Deborah Harkness

I am beyond excited to read this!

Have any of you read any of these? Or are you planning to?

Be sure to leave links to your hauls so I can check them out!

The Sunday Post 23rd edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I reviewed Catalyst: The Passage of Hellsfire by Marc Johnson
• I reviewed 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues
• I interviewed  Carol Cassada, author of the Westmore series
• My one year blogoversary is next month, so I asked for some input about what you would like as the giveaway attached to that post.
• I announced the winners of the giveaways for Love and the Living Dead and The Ghosts of Nagasaki 
• For Behind the Blog I talked about what I do to Get in the Holiday Spirit
• I reviewed Scrambled by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones.
• I hosted a stop on the Death by Bourbon book tour

It's been another jam packed week on the blog and the upcoming week is just as busy! Before we go on to what's coming up for next week here are a few other posts to keep in mind!

Don't Forget!

Don't forget to Enter The Giveaway for 2 sets of 2 Jane Austen inspired books by Sally Smith O'Rourke. The giveaway is open internationally.

Also, if you would like a holiday card from me, go to This Post to fill out the request form.

Coming Up This Week:

• Review of Moonlight Dancer by Deb Atwood
• Book Blast: Imperfectly Beautiful by Diony George
• Review+Giveaway of What I Did on My Midlife Crisis Vacation by Debbianne DeRose
• Review of Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
• Behind the Blog The specific prompt questions are still being worked out, but it's likely that the theme is going to be Road Trips 

So, as you can see, it's going to be another jam packed week here at Melissa's Midnight Musings. I hope you'll all stop by and check out these great posts I have lined up. 

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions
*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

Won:

Under Her Spell by Eliza Daly 

I won this in a book tour giveaway for this book.

Amazon Free Downloads:

Death By A Honeybee by Abigail Keam

The Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown

Recieved from the Author:

Zane (The McKades of Texas #1) by Kimberly Lewis

Kim sent this to me as a thank you for helping promote the book when it first came out. 

For Review:

Cycle by Jay Amberg

The Living Room by Bill Rolfe

Chief Complaint: Brain Tumor (link to Amazon) by John Kerastas

Marking Time by April White

What Once Was One by Marc Johnson

Image Credit to Amazon

A Walk on the Darkside by Corinna Underwood

So many awesome books to look forward to! I want to say a big thank you to all the authors/publishers who have sent me books this week!

What did you get? Be sure to leave links so I can check out your hauls!

The Sunday Post 21st Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• I reviewed Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I finally finished the series, but I have to admit this fell flat.
• Author Sally Smith O'Rourke stopped by to do a Guest Post and Giveaway for her two Jane Austen inspired books. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL
• I reviewed Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman. If you haven't read this book yet, you definitely should!
• I wished everyone a Happy Halloween/Samhain/All Hallows Eve/Wednesday
• I posted a Giveaway for Ghosts of Nagasaki by Daniel Clausen. The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL
• In my Behind the Blog post, I talked about Fireworks
• I reviewed Sebastian's Poet by Kevin Craig, which is a very powerful read.
• I announced the winners of the giveaways for Unforeseen by Lauren Grimley and the It's All in the Numbers giveaway.

It's been another jam packed week on the blog and the upcoming week is just as busy!

Coming Up This Week:

• Review of Twelve Months by Steven Manchester
• Review of Anthology I: The Other Side by Hamidah Gul
• There will be a book promo. It's under wraps until later this week though so I can't give more detail than that, you'll just have to wait and see!
• I also have a fun little project that I want to take on to spread some holiday cheer, so I hope you guys'll stop by for that.
• Behind the Blog: This week's topic is Mental Health Here's the prompt for anyone who'd like to join up with BTB :  Unfortunately, in this day and age, there are still a lot of problems surrounding mental health. A large amount of the population are under-educated and ill-advised about mental illnesses and can often make some situations worse. Mental health is something that affects a large proportion of society but many will be too ashamed or worried to seek help because they fear their peers will not understand what is happening. So this week, to help support everyone with a mental illness, we’re asking you to talk about the subject in relation to your life. How has it affected you or your loved ones?  In relation to media, are there any books or films that you feel highlight specific mental illnesses well or seem to damage their reputation?

So, as you can see, it's going to be another jam packed week here at Melissa's Midnight Musings. I hope you'll all stop by and check out these great posts I have lined up.

Fun Search Terms:

Since there were some interesting search terms that helped people find this blog this week I thought I'd share a few:

"calories in tim horton's cherry chee" I'm guessing they wanted to know the number of calories in a Tim Horton's Cherry Cheese Danish. I don't know, and honestly I don't care because they're just too good.

Charmed Cole sex I do talk about Charmed a lot on this blog but I have never mentioned Charmed in relation to sex, I'm pretty sure.

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions
*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

Won:

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Here Comes the Bride

I won this in a blog giveaway over at Becca's Backyard

From Author For Review:

Starting from the top left:

The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap by Paulette Mahurin

The Ghosts of Nagasaki by Daniel Clausen

Redemption on the River by Loren DeShon

Dearest by Carole Marshall

Angela's Coven by Bruce Jenvey

(photo credited to amazon.com)

The Great Northern Coven by Bruce Jenvey

I got a whole lot of review books this week!

What did you get? Be sure to leave links so I can check out your hauls!

The Sunday Post 20th edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly Meme hosted by

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. 

It's a chance to share news, 

a post to recap the past week on your blog,

 showcase books

and things we have received and

 share news about what is coming up 

on our blog for the week ahead

Last Week on Melissa's Midnight Musings:

(Click Links to be taken directly to the posts)

• Ilana Walters, author of The Adventures of Stanley Delacourt stopped by for an interview
• I reviewed An Imperfect Wife by Grace Wen. A good story, but I was disappointed by 
• I hosted a stop on the Stories of Chance Romance blog tour
• I reviewed With Honors by Grace Wen. Another good story, but again I was disappointed by the ending
• In this week's Behind the Blog post, I talked about some Halloween Traditions
• I hosted a spot for the Mything You Book Blast
• S. Harper, author of Love and the Living Dead stopped by to do a guest post on zombies. Be sure to enter the giveaway to win 1 of 3 copies of the book

It's been another super busy week on the blog and the upcoming week is just as busy!

Coming Up This Week:

• Review of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
• Guest post by author Sally Smith O'Rourke with giveaway
• Review of Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman
• Giveaway of  The Ghosts of Nagasaki by Daniel Clausen
• Review of Sebastian's Poet by Kevin Craig
• Behind the Blog: The particulars for this week's topic haven't been decided yet, but it's likely going to have to do with Bonfire night. Once the questions are decided, they'll be posted on twitter and the blog page.
• I'll announce the winners of the giveaways for Unforeseen and the It's All in the Numbers Birthday giveaway

So, as you can see, it's going to be another jam packed week here at Melissa's Midnight Musings. I hope you'll all stop by and check out these great posts I have lined up.

This Week's Book Haul:

Clicking the links will take you to Goodreads' descriptions
*all book cover photos and links credited to Goodreads unless otherwise noted

Won:

I won a copy of The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle Mcquerry in a blog giveaway from Lisa @ Turning Pages She also sent an awesome note.

I won a copy of The Hiding Place by David Bell in a giveaway from Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

I won a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Boost Your Brain Power! by Marie Pasinksi with Liz Neporent in a giveaway over at Simply Stacie

From Author/Publisher for Review:

From the top, left to right:

Peach Creek: A Briarcliff Lane Novel Volume 3 by Adler Duncan (link goes to Amazon)

Strike: Dawn of the Daybreaker (The Strike Trilogy, book 2) by Charlie Wood

Rally Round the Corpse by Hy Corland

Broken Christmas  by David Henderson (link and photo credited to Amazon.com)

The Rainbow Stick Boy by Michael Santolini

E Learning 101: It's Not As Tough As it Looks by Dr. Liz Hardy

Hera: Queen of the Gods (Goddess Unbound #1) by T.D. Thomas

From the Library:

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I can't believe this one came to my turn in the hold line as quickly as it has.

That's all for me this week. A big thank you to all the authors, publishers, and bloggers that I received books from this week. What did you get this week? Be sure to leave links so that I can check out your hauls!

Stories of Chance Romance Guest Post and Giveaway

Hello fellow readers,

Today I'm happy to be part of the Stories of Chance Romance Virtual Blog Tour This supports a wonderful cause.

There is also a tour wide giveaway! Be sure to check for entry details at the end of the post!

Stories of Chance Romance Tour Stops

About the Book:

Release Date: September 28, 2012

​Genre: Contemporary Romance Anthology (11 short stories)

Formats: Kindle

Synopsis:

Here’s to finding love in any place, at any time!

This collection of eleven short stories of chance romance reflects the hope that comes with the first bloom of romance, whether you find it in your youth, midlife, or the twilight years.

We dedicate Stories of Chance Romance to all the women who face breast cancer and to the teams of family, friends and medical professionals who support them on their journey.

Like so many woman, we have been closely and personally touched by this disease. Roxy was diagnosed and successfully treated in 2010—the same year Brenda lost her very dear friend, Mary Beggan, to breast cancer.

All authors’ profits from the sale of this anthology are being donated to advance the research, education, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

About the Authors:

Roxy Boroughs got the acting bug in elementary school, creating skits at recess and performing them for the class, thanks to her very indulgent teacher. She went on to study theater in university, met the love of her life there, and spent many years performing in movies, commercials and on stages across Canada and the US. Soon, portraying one character wasn’t enough. She wanted to be them all. So she poured her years of drama experience into writing plays and novels.

Look for her award-winning romantic suspense A STRANGER’S TOUCH, as well as its sequel, A STRANGER’S KISS, along with a sweet, romantic comedy called CRAZY FOR COWBOY. Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her website http://www.roxyboroughs.com/.

 

Brenda M. Collins has wanted to write romance since she was twelve years old. At the age of twenty, she spoke to an editor in Toronto, Canada, who expressed an interest in her story; however, she soon realized it takes more than an idea to be an author. She joined a number of writing groups to learn about ‘the craft’ and completed two mystery manuscripts. To help her fellow writers develop strong business skills, Brenda has published articles, and delivered workshops to hundreds of writers, on career planning, professional networking and presentation skills. Her most recent article, entitled How to Improve your Presentations, is in the 2013 Writer’s Market (Brewer, R.L., ed. F&W Media Inc. p. 153).

Brenda’s debut novel, WITCH IN THE WIND, starts with a murder, but comes to life with witches, warlocks, a canine familiar and a magical dimension called The Otherland. For upcoming titles in The Otherland Chronicles, and other stories, keep an eye on Brenda’s website www.brendamcollins.com and follow her on Twitter.

And now, lets look at the authors' thoughts on how indie authors can improve self publishing:

Three Ways Indie Authors Can Improve Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing has been a key topic in blog posts, podcasts, e-zine articles, and just about every other forum where the publishing industry is discussed. The key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is that the author has decided to publish their work independent of a traditional publishing house. These pioneers of the industry, myself and my writing partner, Roxy Boroughs included, are most often refer to as INDIE AUTHORS.

That push by authors to take control of their product continues to grow in leaps and bounds and, at this point, I doubt that anyone will argue that this new era of publishing is here to stay. But, with power comes responsibility as the saying goes, and that’s where some early innovators in the drive to self-publish have made some missteps. We’ve also gained a greater appreciation of what services the publishing houses were providing, such as expert editing and marketing prowess.

Between us, Roxy and I have self-published seven pieces of work. With each one, we’ve learned something new that we’d love to share with you.

1. Your Editor is a Goddess

If you have one, treat her accordingly, buy her chocolate, sing her praises to every other indie author you know, and follow her wisdom. As the author you may think you rival Shakespeare, but the reality is, you are just a tad biased. So is your mother, sister, best friend and anyone else who knows and loves you. Before you release your manuscript on an unsuspecting public you need to give it to someone who will read it with a clear eye and tell you how to make it the best it can be. That person must be able to recognize the elements of a good story —structure, character development, pacing, etc. — when they see it, and more importantly when they don’t. If you are not blessed with a critique partner of Roxy’s caliber, find one or hire one.

2. You are a Marketing Guru

If you thought writing the book was the hard part, you are in for a BIG shock when you self-publish. There are almost 1.5 million ebooks available for sale on Amazon.com today. If you upload your book and assume your readers will just find it, your total sales will equal those of your family and friends who have an eReader. As you finish your final proof, you should also be putting the final touches on your marketing plan and be gearing up to transfer your energy from writing your story to ‘talking it up’ on a blog tour, pushing for reviews, researching online advertising, and doing anything else you can think of to get your book and your name out to target readers.

3. Be Prepared for a Bad Review

Even Nora Roberts has her detractors. If you look at the top ten bestsellers on Amazon, you will see that they all have negative reviews. You can’t please all the people all the time. Don’t take it personally but do look to see if there is any kernel of truth in what the reviewer said. If they stopped reading because the formatting or spelling mistakes bothered them, then go back in and fix it. For the one person who took the time to write that review, how many simply stopped reading and told all their friends not to buy your book. What you can also do is encourage those who do read your book and enjoy it, to tell others about it on their blogs, through Twitter or Facebook and especially through reviews on Amazon.

Roxy and I could teach a class on these three points and add another ten without breaking a sweat. Roxy was more accomplished in her writing career than I was when we published, but I can tell you we both had to hustle to keep up with everything that we needed to learn over the last year to self-publish successfully.

Self-publishing was a Big Deal for both Roxy and me.  But, without the freedom and control that  self-publishing put in our hands, we wouldn’t be able to publish Stories of Chance Romance and donate all our author proceeds to support the fight against breast cancer.

Thanks for inviting us to visit your blog.

Giveaway Details: 

The authors are giving away one copy of  "Crazy for Cowboy” by Roxy Boroughs (a sweet romantic comedy) and one copy  “Witch in the Wind” (a sweet paranormal/fantasy romance) by Brenda M. Collins. There will be a giveaway for one of each  of the books. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment!

Be sure to check out the other stops on the tour as well! The link to the tour list is under the banner at the top of the post.