What's in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Ebooks (that you won't have to pay for) #LuckydaysIBCFreeParTay

Yesterday I hopped onto a blog I saw in the twittersphere by author Mimi Barbour on why book descriptions are important. 
Not only did I get some good insight on Amazon blurbs but I also found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. (Read: Free Books)
Mimi is offering up her Contemporary Romance (with paranormal elements) My Cheeky Angel. I love her writing style, I'm jealous of her writing style, I want to beat her and steal her writing style for my very own.
Click on the pic to download her book.

 

It's a more than friends story. I love those. So I clicked to download it, and got sent to the Free Partay website.
I love discovering new resources for free ebooks, I've got this post and this post and this post, oh and that post and that post over there on where and how to feed your e-reader addiction for zero dinero.

That's what this site and Free Partay are all about. Their tagline reads - Your Source of Quality Free Ebooks !!!. Did we mention Free???
While I think they went a little overboard with the punctuation excitement I still vow to be bestest friends with them.

They are hosting Lucky Days - OMG, it's like forty-two pots of gold and a handsome, hunky leprechaun boyfriend.
From March 14th-18th they have more free Romance ebooks than I can read in a month. (and you know me, that's a truckload and a half)

I downloaded two box sets, one historical and one paranormal, four other historicals, four romantic suspense, five contemporaries, one other paranormal and two urban fantasies. (There were about five other one's I already had) and they were all FREE!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. (and I don't mean it in the Irish sense)

So my friends, click away. Get yourself some free romances for St. Patrick's day. I'm sure he would approve.

Because I love free ebook resources so much, if you leave me a comment on where you feed your need to read for free here (and your twitter name) I'll tweet you for the whole twitterverse to share.

Lions and Tigers and Social Media, Oh My! #pubtip

It's a social media palooza out there. Which is arguably better than the zombie apocalypse. But it's only a matter of time before the two converge.

I'm a writer, and I'm pre-published. (That's the hopeful, inspirational, deluding myself way of saying nobody has published my book- yet)
Part of being a writer, published or pre in today's crazed gotta-have-it-now mentality is to have a platform. No, not the 'I want world peace and harsher punishments for parole violators," Miss America type of platform, or even the "I'm a chauvinistic, racist, rich, white man, but I'm going to pretend I care about you and your blue-collar uninsured family's issues so I can be president," platform either.
A platform for a writer means a presence in readers' awareness. And in the current publishing incarnation of disappearing brick&mortar bookstores that means being a social media queen.

I'm merely a princess on:
Blogger
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Triberr

I'm more of a lowly maid waiting for her knight in shining Armani on:
Tumblr
Pinterest
Linked In
Google +

I'm a bit of a pea on:
Personal Website
Ning
Wordpress
YouTube
GetGlue

I'm not even including small interest groups like:
Cut out and keep
Pocket After Dark

There are dozens and zillions of other social media sites out there. Flickr, FourSquare and umm, well, there are lots.

Thank goodness I missed the..wait, what was it called... oh, right, umm, MyFace, no YourSpace, no, whatever.

What's a girl to do trying to learn how to effectively use all these sites to hammer and screw together a platform tall enough and strong enough to hold her up while reaching for that Big 6 publishing contract?

Turn to books of course.

Here are some free reads I found to help get a handle on the big scary zombie (the fast running ravenous kind, not the slow-moving Romero kind) monster that is Social Media.


How to Create a Custom Email Address that Expresses the True You by Hugh Kimura

A very easy to follow, step by step process on setting up an email address at your own domain. Every professional author checklist puts having your own email addy at your own domain name (example: amy@amydenim.com) near the top. Get your asap using this book as your guide.
One-click this if you need to set up an email address and don't have a teenager or rocket scientist around to help you.


How to use Pinterest by Kristen Brady

A little harder to follow due to typos and writing style this book (plus, look at the cover...).  Still the author gives a good introduction on how to get on Pinterest (it's invite only and still in Beta) and some great marketing ideas on how to utilize your Pinterest account to generate some buzz about your brand.
As an aside, if you're a Romance writer, it looks like Pinterest's demographics are ripe with our readers according to the charts and graphs in this book.
One-click this if you have no, or little idea what Pinterest is and want to get in on the next big social media site while it's still hot and fresh (like this morning's cup of joe)

Get More Views on Flickr by Aaron Shanty

The first half of this book is great advice for using any kind of social media, like comment on others, be social, join groups. The second half is tips and tricks on photography and the site specifically. I don't currently have a Flickr account, but have heard that some authors use it for inspiration photos and book covers. So there is potential there for writers to get some notice.
One-click this if your into photography and looking for a place to garner interest and store your photos.


Push: 50 Secrets on How to Land a job by Creating Social Media Buzz by Nelson Wong

This little ditty really is for job seekers, but trying to get a book published or bought by readers is kind of like applying for a job. If you're a really creative thinker you can apply some of the author's ideas to marketing yourself and your book through social media too.
Or maybe you can use his advice to find a job to support your writing habit.
One-click this if you think you can use job-seeking advice to get your name and book out there, or if you actually need a job.

Smashwords Book Marketing Guide by Mark Coker

While this book is directed specifically toward Smashwords authors it has some valuable tips and ideas for any up and coming writer. The first section is all about utilizing your Smashwords profile etc., but then Mark Coker (the founder and CEO of this popular self-pub-your-book site) gives us book marketing 101. Thirty-one solid marketing tools for your promo garden. He includes a relevant how-to on press releases that I personally found fascinating. Too bad I'm not listed in tip #30 Promote your book on top ebook listing sites. Feel free to include Amy Denim's 365 days, 365 Free Ebooks in your marketing arsenal.
One-click this book if you are new to this publishing gig and want the basics or if you published your book on Smashwords.

 How to Profit from Social Media Trends by Praveen Kumar

Whew, this one flew a little over my head. You need a degree in marketing to understand most of what the author is talking about here, and it's mostly relevant to companies. There are a few ideas he shared that I thought relevant to writers.
Social Search - searches social media like search engines do on the internet. This could be handy for authors looking to see who is mentioning them on social media. Kumar says it's gonna be big in 2012
Measuring your social media efforts- We're all using social media, but is it doing us any good? Is it selling books? Is it getting our names out where we want them to be? The way to find out is through analytics. Google analytics (for your blog and website), Facebook Insights and Tweet Reach will help you figure these questions out.
One-click this if you have a background in marketing or, not there's no or.

I got some great knowledge about using social media from reading these books. But in the end, If you really want to be twitter, facebook and everywhere else smart I'd recommend checking out Kristen Lamb's blog (and/or her book We are not Alone: The Writer's Guide to Social Media - the Kindle edition is $4.99)

 

You may also want to read my blog post on using FREE as a marketing tool, inspired by Kristen's thoughts on the whole concept.

So my lovely bloggers and bloggettes, got any tips on using social media? Favorite resources, sites, books, blogs with tips and tricks? Let me know in the comments section below and if you leave your twitter name I'll tweet you and your tip for the whole twitterverse to see.

Ima teachu sum gramma! #writetip

This week in my critique group we had some schooling by our friendly neighborhood grammar nazi. (*waves* Hi, Libby)
She knows her stuff. Most of the seeds she plants in our brains are about improving our punctuation. Because of her, I know I've improved my WIP. Now agents and editors won't laugh at it. Well, not because of my punctuation anyway.
I think there are a lot of writers out there need help with grammar. Those of us educated in the good ole US of A, didn't get much tutoring in this area at school. Not a whole lot in my thirteen years at a variety of elementary schools, junior highs or high schools were spent diagramming sentences.
If you're like me you got some of your best grammar knowledge from Schoolhouse Rock. It took me five years of teaching to be clear on adverbs. Should've just watched this again.

Not even in the six (yeah, I said six) years I spent in college (that's University to you Commonwealth English speakers) did I have an English grammar class. And I was an English major.

I didn't learn my aspects and tenses until I went to Europe to become and English teacher. Now I know my present perfect from my past continuous and my third conditional from my butt.

Still, most of Eats Shoots and Leaves goes over my head. Punctuation is just not my thing.

One of my favorite resources for grammar-flub fixes is Mignon Fogerty's Grammar Girl series. I started listening to her podcasts about six years ago and now I know the difference between lay and lie.  Her example is the song Lay down Sally. Lay means to hold something and set it down. So if we take this song grammatically it means the singer was asking someone to go over, grab poor Sally and flop her down on the bed. Maybe he was a voyeur. But "Lie down Sally" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

I don't often have a problem with using the correct word. However, effect and affect continue to elude me no matter how many times grammar girl tells me some fun mnemonic to remember which to use when.
Here's a fun little chart I found for confused words.



Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger.


Triple points for including a zombie in their tips.


There are gajillions of other resources out there. If you don't have a go to, and you are a writer, get one.
There isn't a whole lot available for free from Amazon that wasn't used in say, the eighteenth century grammar school. This one isn't too bad.

I'm a transformational grammarian, meaning I believe the English language is figuratively a living, breathing organism, and thus changes, or transforms over time. Old grammar rules are lost or ignored over time and new uses for words and grammar are developed. For example - 'ain't'. 
Now, you know your mama told you this isn't a word and you shouldn't use it, right? Well in fact it is a word. It originally debuted in the English language as a contraction of 'am' and 'not', and was used primarily but the upper crust of society. 
"I ain't going to tell you how to speak correctly." but not "You ain't eating that pie." 
However over the past thirty or forty years 'ain't' has been used more and more as any form of the verb 'to be' (am, are, is, etc) + 'not'. A prescriptive grammarian (read: grammar snob who wishes we all still spoke Latin) would say you can not use the word ain't, but the rest of the world accepts it in slang and informal language.
How to Speak and Write Correctly is a bit outdated, and prescriptive, but lots of the rules still apply. If you're really hard up for a grammar guide, one-click this one.
I give it three stars.

Writing Craft books on Amazon #pubtip

There are katrillions of writing books out there. I generally don't pick them up unless someone I know, trust, and have read their writing or taken a writing course from, recommends it.

My go to writing craft book is Donald Maass's The Fire in Fiction. I was lucky enough to go to a workshop he gave at the RWA Nat'l conference two years ago. I got more out of that one-hour session than any other workshop of book I've ever read. So naturally I picked up his book. He signed it for me. The inscription reads: Tension on every page!!!


For some reason there seems to be a rash of writing advice books on Amazon for free this week.
After the coup of scoring Leigh Michaels On Writing Romance for free last month I thought I check some more out.
If you're not reading this the day of the post publication make sure to check the price. Freebies don't usually last very long.

Here's what I found:

One-Click this one.

Write Good or Die: Survival tips for 21st century writers, from best-selling authors Kevin J. Anderson, M.J. Rose, Heather Graham, J.A. Konrath, Gayle Lynds, Alexandra Sokoloff, Jonathan Maberry, and more. How to develop your craft, improve your writing, get an agent, promote your work, embrace the digital age, and prepare yourself for the coming changes in the publishing industry. Edited by Scott Nicholson.

Other contributors include Elizabeth Massie, Harley Jane Kozak, Douglas Clegg, Brandon Massey, Mur Lafferty, Dean Wesley Smith, David J. Montgomery, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Robert Kroese, and Adrienne Jones. Covering art, craft, and business, the ever-evolving manual supports the writing blog writegoodordie.blogspot.com.

All proceeds benefit the non-profit organization Literacy Inc., which promotes reading among teens.

I'm working my way though these short essays and so far they are fan-freakin-tastic. No wonder it has 4.2 out of 5 stars from 24 readers on Amazon.

And one-click this one too

So You Want to Write a Novel… was written for the many who’ve wanted to pursue the lofty endeavor of penning (typing) their very own opus, but for one reason or another got lost in the whole process, or perhaps were even a little intimidated. This writer’s booklet was designed to get the ball rolling, so to speak. It even offers proven story templates that have worked to help plot the many, or few, twists and turns, climaxes and conclusions along a writer's authoring journey.

If you’ve got great story ideas that need something to harness and channel them into a cohesive format that makes sense, then give So You Want to Write a Novel… a read and let the process begin.

This has 5 out of 5 stars from three Amazon Readers.

I one-clicked this one

Meet a Jerk, Get to Work: How to Write Villians and the Occasiopnal Hero

How to find material for murder mysteries under your very nose. USA Today Bestselling mystery author Jaqueline Girdner offers some ideas on harvesting a bumper crop of potential fictional homicides.

"I've always heard you should write what you know. I just take it a little further; I kill what I know. Every experience I've ever had is possible fodder for murder. And I've had a lot of experience: as a divorce lawyer, as a psychiatric aide in a mental hospital, and as a small-business owner. And of course, as a writer."

This book has 5 out of 5 stars from two Amazon Readers.

How I Wrote My First Book

Twenty authors tell amazing stories about the efforts that went into writing their first book.

Christine Amsden - "My Million Words of Crap" 
Darrell Bain - "The Story Behind The Pet Plague" 
Mayra Calvani - "Tips on Writing Your First Novel" 
Lee Denning - "Two Beginnings" 
Toby Fesler Heathcotte - "The Manuscript from a Mystifying Source" 
Darby Karchut - "Wings" 
Linda Langwith - "The Serendipity Factor"
Stephanie Osborn - "How a Rocket Scientist Becomes a Writer"

Along with articles by Bob Boan, D Jason Cooper, Susan Goldsmith, Ginger Hanson, Aaron Paul Lazar, Celia A. Leaman, Beverly Stowe McClure, Gerald Mills, Erica Miner, Bob Rich, Dorothy Ann Skarles and Dan Starr.

This has 4 out of 5 stars from nine Amazon Readers

How to Write a Great Query Letter 

I was kind of excited for this one, since I'm working on my own query letters now, but the reviews all say it's way out of date (we're talking dot matrix printer advice here) and no longer useful. So skip this one. It has 3.4 out of 5 stars from five Amazon readers

Romance Biggest Winner Part 2

I'm a romance writer, I'm a romance reader and I could stand to lose a few pounds. What's a girl to do to get motivated to lose some weight?
Join Romance Biggest Winner!
Yeah, it's a play on Biggest Loser, but who wants to be a loser? I wanna be a winner!


The challenge:
Six months of romancing the scale. Contestants get to choose their own goals, and part 2 even includes a fitness goal. The teams each week that lose the most weight get prizes. And because this is a romance lit lovers weight loss challenge the prizes are books!]
There will be two winners at the end of the six months. One author, one reader. Because I don't have a book published (yet) I'm a reader for the purposes of the contest. The winners get a big ole five hundred smackaroos.
I sure could use that money.
Last challenge's reader winner lost a hundred pounds! I don't know how she did it, but I'm gonna try to channel her until September 1.
I've got a great team of other readers and writers who are in this with me. *waves* Hiya team 6 - soon to have a cool name and team captain!


Everything kicks off today. 
I'll be following the Isagenix weightloss program and I joined my local Fitness 19.
My goal inital goal is to lose about about fifty pounds.
I'll blog about the journey on Thursdays every week, since that's our weigh-in day.


To celebrate the kick off of the challenge I've got a selection of four free books today. 


Title: Drop Three Dress Sizes in 30 Days
Author: Dr. Harry Jay
Genre: Self-Help, Weightloss
Publisher: Self Pub
Length: short


Review: This is not a diet book. (Although Dr. Harry Jay - I'm sorry, I can't help giggling every time I say that name!) does give a 'presciption' for a pretty extreme diet on the last couple of pages. This book is really all about focusing your mind to help you get what you want. His ideas could apply to anything in your life.  I've heard that meditation benefits a lot of people trying to lose weight and while Dr. Harry Jay (hee hee) gives a lot of psychology sounding terms explaining his ideas in a very academic sort of way, the idea is sound. I'll try his mind focusing ideas out and see if they don't help.


My recommendations:
One-click this if you're tired of diet books and want to change your thinking about losing weight, but don't expect a weight loss plan.
I give it three stars



Title: Top Raw Food Recipes
Author: Elon Bomani
Genre: Cookbook
Publisher:Papyrus Publishing
Length: Short


Review: Not a beginners guide to raw foods, that's for sure. I've eaten raw before (a vegan diet with no cooking or heating over 112 degrees so natural enzymes in the food stay active and alive), and felt the best ever in my life. But it's not easy to maintain unless you're Oprah and have a live in chef preparing everything for you.
If you can stick with all the preparation and craving for warm food it's great. Elon Bomani throws ya right in with foods that can only be prepared with complicate and expensive kitchen items, like a Champion juicer and a dehydrator.  While her dishes sound yummy, I know from experience you can eat raw without having to have the NASA of all kitchens.
I have no doubt if you take the author's suggestions and recipes and apply them to your diet you will lose weight and have a healthier happier body, but you'll also be spending a lot of time preparing all your food.


My Recommendations:
Skip this one and just look up some raw food recipes on the net. There are plenty that don't involve anything more complicated that a fork, knife and spoon.
I give this one three stars



Title: A Country Kitchen Christmas
Author: Leanne Tyler
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Christian Romance
Publisher: Books to Go Now
Length: About 50 pages


Review: I was pretty excited to read this short story.  This is my bread and butter (pardon the pun). I write romance with food!  The author made up a cooking network, a food blogger who didn't know how to cook and an impossible situation where the network wants to film a cooking segment at the heroine's farm, which is now owned by a never-have-been boyfriend. Sounded awesome, but it fell short of my expectations. Firstly I didn't know it was going to be Christian Inspirational. The romance of the story seemed to play second fiddle to the God message.
The author had scenes, like getting the Christmas tree, which I didn't need, but skipped scenes like the arrival of the guest winner, a soldier coming home from A-stan, and the filming of the cooking segment that I was looking forward to.
While the ending was HFN (Happily For Now) it was still unfulfilling. I didn't get a good sense of the developing feeling between the hero and heroine.

My Recommendations:

One click this if you're looking for a short inspi read where a confused couple turns to God to help them through a crazy situation. If you just looking for a cute contemporary Romance, skip it.

I give this one three stars

Title: XXXL Sex: The New Puppy (BBW Fat Girl Sex Series)

Author: Maeve Brooklyn

Genre: Erotica

Publisher: Page Zero Publishing

Length: about 20 pages

Review:

Ummm, well, oh. I totally think there is a market for BBW (Big Beautiful Women) romance and erotica, this book was, ummm, icky.

I, being a BBW myself, so did not connect with the character. She had like, half a second of insecurity about her weight, surfed for lovers on Craigslist and was really excited to destroy something beautiful, namely her sub's pretty pink bum.

The characters were unconvincing, the plot even more so, and the writing left a lot to be desired.

My Recommendations:

Oh, hell no. Keep shopping. 

I give this one star.