Amy Denim

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Digital Book Today: Sweet Resource for a #FreeEbook fiend

Man, I love finding new places to find out about free ebooks. I've written a bunch of posts on this subject so near and dear to my Kindle heart.

My latest find is the Digital Book Today website. They had me hooked when they said they try to " inform readers of these limited time offers while weeding out the “we are selling something” ebooks which seems to increase in numbers every day."
Awesome.

They've got a best of free Kindle books list every single day that weeds out the losers like Bankruptcy Laws in Nevada (I swear that's a real book on Amazon) and present to you books like Forbidden Mind by Kimberly Kinrade (which I featured on right here yesterday.)

Click here to access their list for today--> The Best Free Kindle Books

Then book mark it. They update daily. Sweet.

Here are the books I picked out from their list for free today:

101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters by Karl Iglesias
True Devotion by Dee Anderson

Superman's Cape by Brian Spangler

Click on the covers to get them for yourself. Be sure to check the price to since they are probably only free for a few days at most.

Let me know of any books you choose from them in the comments section and I'll tweet you and the book to share some author/book love.

I stumbled upon another possible resource today for free books -
I swear, before I clicked a link I found on twitter saying The World Bank has 1400+ books, I didn't know about Scribd.
Is it like SmashWords? Is it another social network? What's the dealio here? I'm skeptical. Weren't there some reports about pirating? I'll play around over there before I get too excited.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Ecletomania reading #Freebooks for all

Some readers find a genre that lights their fire (c'mon baby) and they stick with it. There's Romanceaholics, Mysterymamas, YAMinions, Classicophiles and Mangamaniacs. Then there's me (and probably you). Romance is definitely my drug of choice these days, but if you take a glance at my Goodreads currently reading list you'll see a mix of non-fiction humor, childrens' bedtime stories, romance, psychology and writing books. I call it eclectomania reading. I love it all. My home library proves it.

The freebies available that I thought looked good today cross some genres. Of course I'm still a sucker for a happily ever after, so it's mostly romance I've picked out. But getting to eat your fill of brains is a happy ending too isn't it?

Here are my picks for today. Click on the cover to go strait to Amazon to download any of these books. Make sure to check the prices before you download and a bunch of these are a one day freebie promotion. (You go on with your bad self, Evolved Publishing)

Wanted: Dead or Undead by Angela Scott
I haven't read this book yet, but I love Angela Scott's blog. She's the one who turned me onto Stephanie Mabey's Zombie Song. I'm super siked to see this book on the free list. It's going somewhere near the top of my TBR pile (if I can reach that high). How can she miss with a category of YA Horror Zombie Western? (Obviously she can't. This book is getting great reviews)

Perfect for You by Kate Perry (no, I don't think Katie Perry has stopped writing love songs and started writing love books. There's no candy or fireworks on the cover, so it can't be her. Right? Damn, now I have that California Gurlz song stuck in my head.)
This contemporary Romance hasn't yet been rated by any Amazon readers, so judging a book by it's cover, this one has a pretty good one. The description sounds cute and well, the author has a black belt in some unpronounceable martial art, so you better read it or she'll kick your butt.

A Hidden Desire (The Harmonists) by Lisa Greer
Amish Romance is hot. No, not that way, I mean it's a really big deal these days. The Harmonists don't make awesome quilts you can by on ebay, but they do have strong religious convictions. They too fall in love. If you're up for some Inspirational Romance here's a new twist on a hot new trend for you.

Allegra's Song by Alicia Rasley
I promised you Historical Romance and here it is. A Regency novella from a RITA award winning author. Need I say more? (Fine, I'll say one more thing. One-click this.)

Ireland Rose by Patricia Strefling
Tired of Regency (I'm not sure how that could happen, but maybe you went on a Regency binge and need a little break?) This Inspirational Romance is set in the 1880s, not in England, but in Am-er-i-ca. Gasp. I know. There's a bit in Ireland too, so don't worry, this historical will get you closer to mother England before the end of the book.

If I'm a sucker for anything besides Regency and Zombies (have you read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?) than a second close is anything having to do with Norse mythology. I want to be a Valkyrie when I grow up, and I don't mean the nazi-betraying Tom Cruise kind. Come on, really? Getting to usher in and hang with dead Viking warriors. Sweet.
Plus, everyone is saying that this YA heroine, Bryn, is kick-butt.

What? What's that I see? The silver foil medallion of an award winner? Why, yes it is. Forbidden Mind by Kimberly Kinrade won the 2011 Forward National Literature Award. And lucky you, the sequel to this book comes out today so you don't have to wait around months and months like me to see what happens next. You get to experience mind reading Rent-a-Kid Sam and her hottie crush Drake in all their angsty YA-ness and just keep on reading instead of trying to send mental telepathy messages to Kimberly K urging her to hurry up and finish the next installment of the Forbidden guilty pleasure.

Ah, you know I couldn't resist, right? You mix Classic with Zombie with Free and I am so there partying like it's 1919.

Let me know which books you picked. If you follow me on twitter I'll mention you and your pick there so we can share the love with the whole twitterverse.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Get inside the insane(ly funny) brain of a copy editor #pubtip

If I wasn't a writer I'd be a copy editor. Except I never have known the difference between and em dash, an en dash and a hyphen, so I probably wouldn't ever pass the copy editor test at any reputable publisher.
However, since I am a writer, it's fascinating to me to get a glimpse inside the heads of all the people who are someday going to make my book great. I get some flashes inside the brains of agents by following Sara Megibow's #10QueriesIn10Tweets by reading Rachelle Gardner's blog and by sleeping with Donald Maass's Fire in Fiction under my pillow. I've got similar stalker tendencies for editors too. Luckily Angela James hasn't taken out a restraining order on me yet so I can still go fawn over her at the CRW-HOD mini conference in May.
But I hadn't really thought much about your common garden variety copy editor until today.

Title: Moonlight Blogger
Author: Carol Fisher Saller
Genre: Non-fiction Publishing Blog
Publisher: Self pubbed

Review: You might think a some blog entries from a copy editor might be dry and bland like your mom's meatloaf, but Carol F Saller is one juicy mama. She's funny, clever and pretty darn likeable. I want her to be my copy editor some day. (Do you do Romance novels Carol?)
Her techie tips are invaluable. Hooray for ctrl+z. Who knew?
But mostly I liked this little book for the tips I gained in being a writer and being a critique partner. My own manuscripts will likely be much more polished when I (finally) send them in. As a bonus, the changes I track to my critique group member's will have less gratuitous meddling. A time saver for me and an re-writing saver for them. Although possibly just less time swearing at me under their breaths.

My recommendations:
One-click this if your a writer or anyone else who aspires to have zen with the publishing world one day.
I give this four stars (I'll up it to five when Carol edits my book.)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Celebrate the Titanic Centenary with a #FreeEbook

In a few weeks the world will attend art exhibits, walking tours, memorial concerts, take a cruise and of course go to the movies to mark the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the titanic.

Me? I'll be reading.

I've always been fascinated with this story. One of the earliest romance novels I ever read was a Teen Romance in the Sunfire series called Nicole.

It was pretty much the same story James Cameron turned into his movie. I always figured he must have read it when he was a teenager too.

Click on the book cover to go straight to Amazon to download these free ebooks. Check the price if you're not reading the blog the day of the post as most books are only free for a few days.

I'm just sure I died floating away on an iceberg in a past life. No, salvaged door and whistle for me. Maybe I was Maggie Murphy, an Irish immigrant seeking a new life in America.

Nah, she's fictional.

But her story is based on that which makes the best stories that last throughout time. Real life. The characters and fictional Irish village in The Girl who Came Home are all based on a real people, the Addergoole Fourteen. These lost souls came from a village near Killala in Co Mayo.

Hazel Gaynor fictionalizes their tale through the eyes of Maggie Murphy, with flashbacks, flashforwards, letters from a lover, Maggie's private journal and actual telegrams from the ship.

Trapped on the Titanic by Tammy Knox

Callie Elizabeth is a typical eighth grader. While at a Titanic exhibit she finds herself alone, staring into the eyes of a crying photograph of a girl who looks remarkably like her.

Callie seeks out answers about the girl in the photograph, finding herself engulfed in family secrets, haunting visits, and espionage. What really happened as the majestic Titanic sank to its watery grave?

With the help of a good friend, her grandmother's love of history, and her own keen perception Callie discovers that things are not always as they seem. Learning from the past, Callie is able to find treasures that have been hidden away for almost 100 years.

Ooh, You bet this one is on my TBR pile. I bet Callie is the cyring photograph girl re-incarnated!

Titanic: The Sinking of the Unsinkable by Dean King

This interesting little book is chock full with facts and figures plus a day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute of Titanic's fateful voyage. It has bunches of pictures and drawings to bring the ship to life. It's perfect non-fiction, especially if you need to do a report on the Titanic for school. Being a Titanorak myself, I learned all kinds of bit of interesting trivia I hadn't known before. The first few pages might trick you into thinking this is Hollywood hokie, but it's well researched and informative. It does have quite a bit of speculation by the author and some grammatical errors and typos, but they didn't detract from me learning more about this topic.

I give this one four stars.

I'm totally siked to find free books that are well researched historical fiction and nonfiction in the upcoming weeks to celebrate my own Titanorak-ness. I probably go to the movie too. I'm a sucker for that 'I'm flying scene.'

Friday, March 16, 2012

Wanna Get Lucky?

My followers are lucky leprechauns. They get to hear about FREE e-books all the time. You know who else is lucky? You, because you're about to follow my blog too, right?

I'm very excited to do another blog hop. Thanks to I'm a Reader, Not a Writer, Aspiring YA Author Cindy Thomas and Books Complete Me for hosting. This one is pretty darn big and I'm so glad you made it all the way down to little number 109 (or where ever my blog is listed now - at least halfway through the list. Phew!)

Click here for the linky to all the other hippity hoppity blogs.

--> Hop Hop Hop to another blog

For most of you this is your first visit to Amy Denim's 365 days, 365 Free E-books.
So here's the gist.

I'm poor.

I'm a reading addict.

I got a Kindle for Christmas.

I download free e-books for it.

But there are A LOT of free ebooks available, not only from Amazon, but other places too. How is one to choose which books to get and which to skip?

That's where I come in.

Almost everyday, I download around ten-ish e-books from various sources. I read one and put up a review letting you know whether to One-Click it (which is the fast and easy way to download from Amazon) or to skip it.

I pepper these posts with advice for authors, recommendation on whether to check out other books, and my own personal rants.

The days I don't review a free book I post resources to find free e-book, like this one, and this one, and that one, and that one, oh, and here's another one (Did you know you can get them from your local neighborhood library too.) I've even guest blogged about where to get free ebooks. Sometimes I post my own downloads of the day, so you can grab a bunch if you want.

All you have to do is click on the photo of the book cover that interests you, check to make sure it's still free (most are limited time offer promos) and then one-click to get it. You'll have your e-book reader filled up in no time.

I'm a Romance writer (proud member of RWA, my local Colorado chapter and Rainbow Romance Writers), so most of the books featured are in my favorite genre. I like to throw in some YA, general fiction and even a couple of non-fiction books just for fun every once in a while.

I also try to do at least one giveaway a month.

The nature of free ebooks is here today gone tomorrow, so a majority of my giveaways are spur of the moment. Best way to find out about them...subscribe. (surprised aren't you?)

The giveaways so far were:

A paperback copy of Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear

(I'm and Earth's Children Ambassador)

5 Kindle copies of SEAL of my Dreams by a truckload of Romance Authors

(proceeds benefit Veterans Research Corporation,

a non-profit fundraiser for veterans' medical research)

A Kindle Copy of Marie Sexton's Cinder -

A CinderFella story--it's all fun and games until somebody loses a shoe...

A two-pack of Jenn LeBlanc's groundbreaking illustrated romances

The Rake and the Recluse: Freedom & Found

So, you wanna get lucky? Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm not offering that... I'm giving away to you, my lovely new readers, or possibly one of my lucky already-a-follower followers, a choice of one of the newest releases from some of my favorite Romance authors (who all happen to be chapter mates of mine)

PRIZE: Your choice of one of the following Kindle books/two pack:

Click on the book covers to go straight to Amazon for description (or if you can't wait and wanna buy it right now)

A Contemporary Cowboy

Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy