Win a Kindle Fire and up to 40 Kindle books!

Win a Kindle Fire and up to 40 Kindle books!

Welcome to the May Free Kindle Giveaway! Every month, FreeKindleGiveaway.com gives away free kindles to one or more lucky giveaway winners. Entering is simple–just follow the directions on the rafflecopter at the bottom of this post! But first, take a moment to learn about an amazing book from one of our giveaway sponsors!

The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton is a full-length Paranormal Fantasy novel that will appeal to lovers of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, witches, vampires, ghosts, paranormal mystery, and paranormal horror.

A Cult. A Murder. A Curse.

Sophia's family has skeletons, but they aren't in their graves...

At twenty-two, practicing Wiccan Sophia Parsons is scratching out a living waiting tables in her Rocky Mountain hometown, living under religious prejudice, the shadow of her bi-polar mother, and an unsolved murder.

Sophia can imagine lots of ways to improve her life, but she'd settle for just getting rid of the buzzing noise in her head. When the spell she casts goes wrong, the static turns into voices. Her personal demons get company, and the newcomers are dangerous.

One of them is a man named Charles, a centuries-old shape-shifter who Sophia falls for despite her better judgment. He has connections that can help her unveil the mystery surrounding her ancestor's hanging, but she gets more than she bargains for when she finally decides to trust him. Survival in his world, she learns, means not asking questions and staying out of the immortal council's way. It's a line she crossed long ago.

If Sophia wants to survive the council and save the people she loves, she must accept who she is, perform dark magic, and fight to the death for her freedom.

Rebecca Hamilton writes Paranormal Fantasy, Horror, and Literary Fiction. She lives in Florida with her husband and three kids, along with multiple writing personalities that range from morbid to literary. Having a child diagnosed with autism has inspired her to illuminate the world through the eyes of characters who see things differently.

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The Giveaway

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Deals from Our Sponsors

Embers at Galdrilene

Tears of War

Together Apart

Let Me Go

Captured Again

Rise of the Goddess: Divine Awakenings

A Prescription for Delirium

The Forever Girl

Summoned

Chasing Azrael

The Forgotten Ones

The Reading Lessons

The Making of Nebraska Brown

Ready For You

Shadow Wolf

The Survivors Book I: Summer

Darwin’s Children

A Ranger’s Tale

The Bo(d)y Next Door

The Seance

Desires (A Legacy Novel)

Frostwalker

The Boy From the Woods

Charmed Vengeance

Thunderstorm

Empath

The List of Five

Eating Sarah

The Zodiac Collector

The Raie’Chaelia

Sworn To Raise

The Extractor

Wings of Shadow

Mad for You

Call Sign Karma

Fragile Bonds

The Forgotten Ones is FREE 7/16

The Forgotten Ones (The Danaan Trilogy #1)

by Laura Howard

FREE 7/16!

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

What some reviewers are saying:

“This book is so amazing! It’s one of those that speaks so vividly in your mind that you can’t help but get lost in!”


“5 Stars and a fantastically beautiful read. I definitely recommend to all who love fantasy, romance, or are just looking for a book to escape into for a while.”


“Enter another type of world you never knew existed but secretly wished it did. I can’t wait for book 2! Keep em coming out like pure gold Laura ”

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

The Forgotten Ones is 99 cents This Week!

The Forgotten Ones

The Danaan Trilogy

Book One

is now available exclusively on Amazon!

And until May 19 it's only 99 cents!

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

About Laura Howard

Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

Connect with Laura:

Blog | Twitter | Facebook |

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Six Questions with Alicia Wright Brewster

Bonjour, and Happy Saturday! This is my first Saturday as a Published Author! Yes, you did read that right. In case you didn't hear, I went ahead and published The Forgotten Ones on Monday. I am so excited and it's all been great. Especially the reviews that have been coming in. 

Today I have Alicia Wright Brewster, author of Echo, in the hot seat for Six Question Saturday. Welcome to Finding Bliss Alicia!

Six Questions with Julia Hughes

Happy Six Question Saturday, readers and writers! Today is special because it's my 11th wedding anniversary. Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?

Today I'm happy to invite back to Finding Bliss, Julia Hughes! Julia has offered to give away two paperback copies of her latest release The Griffin Cryer, make sure to check the Rafflecopter at the bottom.

The Best of Both Publishing Worlds

Today's post is written by a friend I met on Facebook, Becca Ann, whose self-publishing debut, Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend is a hilarious break from some of the angsty reading I typically go for.

Becca is here to share her publishing stories from both sides of the proverbial fence- Traditional Publishing AND Self-Publishing.

KDP Select Layering Strategy

Here is another fabulous recommendation from super woman Laura Pepper Wu.

I asked who could give us some insight on maximizing the KDP Select Program and she immediately suggested Kathy Lynn Harris.


I know some folks think the KDP Select program is no longer garnering the results it used to, but I’m still a big believer.

In fact, the KDP campaign for my debut novel, Blue Straggler, which was founded on invaluable advice from publicist Laura Pepper Wu of 30 Day Books, turned out to be a very good one. Thanks to a huge bump from the free days, Blue Straggler became an Amazon #1 bestseller in its category, and stayed in the top spot, for weeks. (More on the results in a bit.)

Here’s a snapshot view of the strategy, which Very Wise Laura called “layering.”

First of all, the book was released as an ebook in August 2011, and in paperback in March 2012. Between August and mid-March, positive reviews began coming in. By the time we launched our free promotion game plan, the novel had more than 40 reviews and a 4.5 star rating. I think this was paramount to the success of the campaign. That volume of reviews and a high rating snagged readers who had never heard of me or my work before.

I also had a modest fan following by the time of the paperback release, as well, which only grew in the weeks after the release. I was able to reach out to those followers via social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) and via my established email list to alert them to the free promotion coming up. Many of those followers were awesome about sharing the details to their networks.

On April 8, I posted a funny, quirky essay on my blog (You can take the girl out of Texas, but …) about how I’d suffered not one, but two, “midlife” crises — one when I turned 30, and then one more recently when I turned 40. At the bottom of that post, I promoted the upcoming free days on Amazon. The post was one of my highest-ranking ones ever, and I wrote it strategically; it had some of the same themes as Blue Straggler. Laura and I thought it would resonate with the same type of audience.

I scheduled my first two free days on KDP two days later, beginning on April 10. I promoted those free days everywhere I could — blogs, Twitter accounts, websites, Facebook pages — anywhere that listed free Kindle books. I got a pretty good smattering of coverage. (Note to authors: This takes a huge amount of time, so plan on buying coffee in bulk, and apologizing to your family for neglect afterward.) I wish I had kept a running list of all the places I posted or submitted the information because I’d love to use it again myself. But I was working so fast and furiously, I didn’t keep great records. Those who know me well will tell you this is not a huge surprise.

I followed up after the two free days with another blog post on April 11 — another funny one that I’d hoped was share-worthy, about Texas women — another solid tie to the novel.

On April 12, we advertised on Kindle Nation Daily and reduced the book to 99 cents for 24 hours, which gave another boost to the plan.


On April 13, I attended a book-signing event in Denver (my “hometown”) and got some media coverage prior to the event in local newspapers and major metro web calendars, with links to the book on Amazon.


On April 16, I began a weeklong blog tour of women’s fiction blogs.


And finally, during the mid-point of the blog tour, I scheduled another KDP Select free day, and the free deal was again announced on a variety of blogs, social media pages, and websites, including Chick Lit Plus.

The results? Here you go:

30,000 downloads from April 10 – April 30


Reached:


#6 in Top 100 Free
#1 in Kindle Store – ebooks – Fiction – Comic Fiction
#1 in Kindle Store – ebooks – Humor
#8 in Books – Humor & Entertainment


The book remains in the top 30 in Comic Fiction, 8 months later.

            

  

We want to know about YOUR experience with the KDP Select program! Did you have a plan, or did you just go free and sit back and see what happened?

Which E-reader is On YOUR List?

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

A new e-reader is on the top of my list for the Holiday Season. With so many choices, I decided to ask some of my favorite authors what THEIR favorite e-readers are and why.  Hopefully you'll find this list helpful, too!

Priceless by Shannon Mayer now on Amazon

I was asked by my friend Shannon Mayer to announce her newest release, Priceless.

It's an honor to reveal this to you, and also share this fun contest!

When Life Hands You Lemons, Self-Publish with Kendall Grey

Kendall Grey is the author of Inhale- released May 1, Exhale- released June 1 and the soon to be released Just Breathe.

I have to tell you- I think this is my best interview yet! I hardly made any mistakes, and despite the fact that the video aspect didn't record Kendall and I had a great time!

Things we talked about:

• Writing a full length novel, how many words are enough/too much?
• Pulling your passions together to create a great story- in Kendall's case Whales and Science, Australian Folklore, and Sexy Australian Rock Stars :)
• The correct way to say Gloucester
• Kendall's roller coaster ride of Querying and Submitting
• Her ultimate decision to "Choose Herself" and Self-Publish
• Delegating cover design and editing
• How sales have been since her release
• Coming up with a Marketing Plan
• Paying for reviews, Google ads and Goodreads ads
• Building a back list and a LONG TAIL
• The cause Kendall supports- a group that teaches kids about whales

I highly encourage you to follow Kendall on Twitter, she's a hoot! Also, check out her Facebook page, fair warning: You Will Be Entertained! 

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

I just finished Laiden's Daughter last night, and I can't stop thinking about the characters today. For the first half of the book, I found myself wanting to strangle the protagonist Aishlinn, she was a tad too self-deprecating for my taste. But, luckily for her she was redeemed in the end.

I have a special place in my heart for the Scottish Highlands, so when I saw that this book featured fierce Highland warrior Duncan and his clan- I knew I had to read it. There's something irresistible about a burly Scotsman!

Aishlinn suffers endless tortures before being taken in by the MacDougall clan. She has been beaten to near death when they find her, and her spirit is near broken. Through time and love, she is able to regain a strength she didn't even knew she possessed.

Of course, my favorite part was seeing the transformation through the eyes of her champion, Duncan. He is honorable and gives her time and space to heal, all the while falling deeper and deeper in love with her.

Their love story is sweet and slow to unfurl, which is just the way I like it. When they finally come together, it's like a double hot fudge sundae, all rich and sweet and you never want it to end!

No More Starving Artists with Beth Barany

On today's interview, my guest is author entrepreneur Beth Barany.
Beth started her career helping writers get there message out into the world. As a certified Creativity Coach, she has a passion for helping authors build successful careers. She teaches through speaking, coaching and consulting with authors. Her non-fiction includes a book for authors- The Writers Adventure Guide.

Beth also loves creating strong female characters who empower women and girls to be the heroes in their own lives. Her fantasy novel Henrietta the Dragon Slayer is available now, with Book 2 coming out this summer.

Some of the topics we discuss in the interview:

• Her beliefs in strong marketing practices online and offline as well. 

• Every author needs to have a home on the internet, whether they are involved in Social Media or not.

• An author website or blog plus a newsletter are important tools for all authors.

• No matter where you go, carry a copy of your best work. 

• Nobody wants to be sold to- develop real relationships and people will naturally be interested in what you do.

• Speaking, coaching and consulting engagements are great ways of meeting new people while providing multiple income streams, nobody needs to be a starving artist anymore.

• Some exciting new speaking opportunities she has coming: How to Pitch to Agents and Editors with her husband, author Ezra Barany;The Women's Fiction Festival in Italy; Creativity Pays keynote speech.

• While she has self-published her books, she has partnered with a publisher to distribute some index cards to accompany her Writers Adventure Guide. The publisher can put her product in places she might not be able to reach on her own.

• Beth is a strong advocate of writing and critique groups. It's important to have accountability and feeback from other writers.

Beth can be found at her website www.bethbarany.com and also on her blog writersfunzone.com/blog where she posts tips for writing and marketing for authors as well as inspiration and creativity. Visit to get a Free Self-Guided Journaling Course for Writers.  For Author Entrepreneurs, visit ArtistEntrepreneurship.com

Summer Reading List

One of the brilliant aspects of social media is that you can interact with authors in a way you never could before. I've gotten to be friends with some writers, both published and not, and many of them I look forward to speaking with weekly or even daily.

In celebration of some of my new author friends, my friend Allie and I have decided to dub our summer reading lists My Indie Summer! We are dedicating our summers to some of the up and coming writers who are breaking the stigma laid on self-published authors for centuries now. These authors have gone through rigorous editing, formatting and design to bring truly gorgeous books to the table.

We'd like to celebrate Independent authors and their willingness to be open and generous to us as newbies in the publishing world. Whether it's offering advice or friendship, we totally appreciate them and hope to be able to do the same for others who come after us.

Allie has a lovely line up listed at her blog, be sure to check them out before we officially kick off the summer next Friday. We'll be talking about what we read on Twitter with the hashtag #myindiesummer  There are no rules. Just good reads by great authors. If you have some Indies on your TBR list, why not pick it up and chat with us?

Here's my tentative list:

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

Becoming by Raine Thomas

Inhale by Kendall Grey

 Hybrid by Vanessa Wester

 Twixt by Diane Reed

  Central by Raine Thomas

 The Selkie Spell by Sophie Moss

 Molly Hacker is Too Picky by Lisette Brodey

Pentecost by JF Penn

 Blood Orchids by Toby Neal

 Witch Song by Amber Argyle

Angelfall by Susan Ee

 Foretold by Raine Thomas

Allie and I are open to ideas- if you have something super special in mind leave a comment and we'll see what magic we can conjure up. And, of course we'll keep you posted with any new developments.

The Virtual Book Tour with Ali Luke

Book tours can get expensive, with booking venues and all the driving. Add that to the time away if you have family or a day job and it can really be a problem. 

When I saw that Ali Luke was taking her book, Lycopolis on a virtual blog tour, I thought it sounded like a great idea. It's the best of both worlds: you get people interested in reading your book and visiting your own blog, plus you can do it all from your own home.

I've been wanting to try a video interview for a while now, so I asked Ali if she'd be game, and luckily for me she agreed. Imagine getting to chat with a writer in the UK in real time-what a treat! 

If you haven't heard about Ali, she has a fantastic blog and also frequently posts on some of the top blogs in the writing industry like Problogger, Copyblogger and Write to Done.

In the interview we talk about:

• Her book Lycopolis and writing what you know. She has a background in the roleplaying community and it inspired her to write the story of a group on online roleplayers.

• The virtual book tour she's done throughout April and May and the benefits of touring from your home by writing guest posts and doing interviews for other bloggers.

• Although this is her first published novel, she also has published a few short stories and a fantastic set of ebook guides specifically for bloggers. She's also working on the upcoming Publishing Ebooks for Dummies, which I am looking forward to.

• Some tips on coming up with new ideas for blog posts. With the constantly changing publishing industry, she always has a long list of ideas for blog posts such as ebooks and the digital publishing world. If you haven't already, I recommend visiting her blog for excellent tips on the writing craft.

• The many publishing options available for the independent author. Ali has Lycopolis on Amazon, and also Smashwords which distributes it to other vendors (Barnes & Noble, Kobo etc.) She also used CreateSpace for the Print on Demand version. Since she's in the UK, the shipping rates for UK customers were too high, so for those readers it's also available from Lulu.

You can find Ali at her blog, Aliventures or on Twitter.

Grow a Long Tail

Have you daydreamed recently of selling your book? Did that dream consist of you being praised by adoring fans and media over your beautiful writing and amazing imagery?

Me, too.

When we think of publishing our books, it's fun to imagine instant success. Even if you don't want to admit it, the thought has probably crossed your mind.

Of course, underneath the fairy tale, we are all aware that the chance of stardom is pretty slim. After all, how many books are published each year? Since Amazon has made it so easy for writers to upload their manuscript, it's not a secret that there is a LOT of competition.

So, we attempt to build a platform, render a following. But, if you really want to be an Author, not a one-book-wonder, what can you do to become a prolific force in the industry?

I have recently been introduced to the term "Long-Tail". Have you heard it?

www.longtail.com

In Joanna Penn's guest post by J. Daniel Sawyer,  he discusses the Long Tail of the fiction business and a  list of "best practices" to be successful over time.

For your reading pleasure, I would like to share the most important stuff I gleaned from the post:

 Build a Back List- When I read and love a book, I look up the author's other work. I just purchased the entire backlist written by Juliette Marillier. **love**

 Be Patient- One book does not a career make! **usually**

 Connect  with those who actually read your book. It's easier to keep a reader than find a new one!

I am now a firm believer that the best marketing tool you can acquire is a Long Tail. It makes sense that when you advertise or promote your newest book, people will see that you have a series of other books to enjoy. I for one love a series that I can really get lost in!

Do you have any thoughts on the significance of a Long Tail or Backlist?

 Oh, and by the way- did you notice that I've added a newsletter sign-up? Make sure you add your name!