In which I celebrate by birthday by giving YOU presents! #BookGiveaway

I'm doing a Buy 1 Book, Get 1 Free Birthday Giveaway!

Until February 26th, 2013, I'm giving away a free e-book (mobi, ePub, or PDF) with every purchase (e-book or paperback from any store worldwide). And the best thing about this is, that you can even purchase the CHEAPEST book, and still claim a more expensive one as your free copy. Cool, right?

But think about this ... if you purchase String Bridge, you'll receive both its accompanying soundtrack, AND a free e-book! Even better, I say. That's almost 20 bucks worth of goods for only 3.99!

Feel free to share this with whomever you like. This deal is valid for everyone, worldwide, as long as the purchase is made between Feb 9th - 26th.

If you'd like to tweet about it, here's an easy copy/paste tweet for ya:
Jessica's giving away #books 2 celebrate her b'day! Learn how 2 get yours here! #BookGiveaway #GreatReads #FreeReads http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=17d5a09abac1d1b1f2599bedd&id=bb65e6fb96&e=8af3236a42

To claim your freebies, just forward me your purchase receipt to jessica.carmen.bell@gmail.com, with B'day Giveaway in the subject line. Easy-peasy!

To see the list of books available and their various purchase links, click HERE.

For those who subscribe to Vine Leaves Literary Journal, you may also claim the purchase of the 2012 anthology.

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PS: If you'd like to get offers like this direct to your inbox in the future, please subscribe to my newsletter.

PPS: My birthday is on the 26th, so don't go sending me b'day wishes just yet :-)

Though I didn't win, I got a pleasant surprise!

Last year I entered my poetry collection, Twisted Velvet Chains, into the 20th Annual Writer's Digest Annual Self-Published Book Awards. If you know me well, you know that I'm quite against paying to submit things. But when it's something as prestigious as Writer's Digest, even I can sometimes be swayed.

When I hit that submit button though, I fretted. Big time. I thought I had set myself up for some major criticism. I thought that the conservative judges (well, that was an assumption on my part), wouldn't "get me". Oh how wrong I was!

I didn't win, but I received the judge's feedback today. Here's what it said:

Books were evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5. This scale is strictly to provide a point of reference, it is not a cumulative score and does not reflect ranking.

Structure and Organization: 4

Grammar: 5

Production Quality and Cover Design: 4

Plot (if applicable): N/A

Character Development (if applicable): N/A

What did you like best about this book?
Twisted Velvet Chains by Jessica Bell is a soul-wrenching collection successfully focusing on the mother-daughter angst in most such relationships, yet she goes deeper, because the relationship goes deeper, through childhood and teen and young adult scenarios.

Poems like "Gothic Neanderthal" and lines like: Grey netting hangs / from naked papery breasts, / dark purple tulle / fastened round her waist / black smudges / smeared 'cross her face. / patterned like lace / wet stringy hair / sticks / to her brow / her neck / wet cotton / sweat / toxic breath / menstruation blood / the onion soup we ate for lunch / I dry-wretch" // ... are potent, visceral.

This is a strong and well-represented collection. Kudos to Jessica Bell.

How can the author improve this book?
Very little raised red flags. I suppose the cover could have been a little bit sharper. The interior was well done. Overall, a very nice book.

Oh. My. Gosh. I am so thrilled! A "proper" judge liked my work. Now this is enough for me to gain confidence in my poetry again. Recently I've been thinking that I'm crap, as you most likely know, writers' emotions are frequently in flux.

Will I enter again this year? Yup. But this time I'm going to enter my new novella.

How do you feel about competitions like these? Worth it? Have you had any good/bad experiences with writing competitons? What impact did these experiences have on you?

Twisted Velvet Chains: Free on Kindle Today!

CLICK ME TO DOWNLOAD

View the trailer:

PLEASE SHARE!

Wow. So I'm back. In full swing ... from a string that's strong, but wearing thin ...

Dawn and me in the back of her car
in -16 degree Celsius temperatures! :o) Can't
you see I'm all rugged up?

Right ... where were we?

Um ... yep ...

Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
oh I would still be on my feet ...

I had a MARVELOUS time with Dawn in Canada. No, we didn't leave the house much (except when going to her office to do some work -- yep I had to take it with me -- boo), but, oh my gosh, did we get along like a house on fire. Lucky, because we really needed the heat in the blizzardy weather :o)

Yep, it was blizzarding when I arrived and it was blizzarding when I returned. We had planned to go on a trip to Jasper and Banff but never made it because this (on the left) is pretty much all  I could see. We also didn't want to get stuck in the mountains when I had a plane to catch ... not that that would have really mattered, because my flight, due to maintenance issues was cancelled ...

TWICE!

And I was in Calgary. In an airport, four hours drive away from Dawn, (she lives in Edmonton) so I couldn't even go back to spend the time with her. :o( I didn't leave Canada until a full 24 hours later than scheduled and I'm really behind on my work, but ... ho hum, never mind, it was TOTALLY worth it.

For the past 1.5 years, Dawn and I have been chatting on Gmail EVERY SINGLE DAY. I knew our friendship was a very special one. I knew she would take up a big chunk of my heart for the rest of my life, but I had no idea the feeling could get even more special, until I met her face-to-face. Now the chats do not really suffice. We've got a taste of this friendship in "real life" now, and it's going to be very difficult to adjust to this "internet thing" again. Woe is me ...

Dawn, if only I could call you up and say, "Wanna meet at Tim Horton's for a coffee after work despite the coffee tasting like shit?" (Sorry, Tim Horton, but after drinking European coffee all these years, yours sucks.)

Dawn. I miss you! And you had BETTER make it to Greece this summer! Or ... or ... or ... I'll kidnap your dogs somehow and you'll just have to come and get them.

Have you ever met any friends you've made blogging face-to-face? How was it?

Stuff:

• Check out one of the most interesting interviews I have ever participated in over at Eight Cuts Gallery. Wow, this guy really knows how to craft a question!
• Also, I'm in the process of compiling my life's work in music to sell on Bandcamp.com. Well, whatever is friendly to the ears ... so stay tuned.
• And pretty please with a cherry on top, if you are on Goodreads, could you do me a quick favour and add String Bridge, and Twisted Velvet Chains, to this Listopia list? It will help people find it better! Thank you!

PS: I did have a reason for the title of this post, but I seem to have lost it ... hmm ... *rubs jet-laggy eyes*

*Lyrics: Joni Mitchell, A Case of You 

Kindle Direct Publishing Select: Is it worth it?

As many of you probably know, my poetry book was free on Amazon over the weekend. (Amazon finally sorted out the glitch!) Amazon didn't do this on their own. I did it. I did it because I registered my poetry book with KDP Select, the Kindle library service.

Initially, I was against this program because in order to be eligible, your e-book is not to be available via any other avenue. "What?" I screeched. "You've got to be kidding me. Bugger that."

But then I started reading more about it. You only have to commit to 90 days at a time. And with each 90 days, they offer you 5 days free promotion. "Hmm," I thought. "Maybe I should give this a go. My poetry isn't selling very well, because, you know, it's poetry, so what's it going to matter?"

So I did it. And I took advantage of a couple of my free days as an experiment.

By Sunday morning, Twisted Velvet Chains was downloaded 2080 times. It also hit the #1 spot in the Poetry Bestsellers list (ahead of Aristotle!), and #99 position among ALL free e-books (but only for one hour!). "Wow ... how? It's poetry! This is insane," I thought.

This morning, I have maintained my #1 "Poetry Bestseller" status, and also tallied up a total of 2900 downloads. Pretty amazing for poetry, innit?

Now, I know this is a quite an ego-booster, and of course this only happened because it was free, and I imagine I'd be lucky if even 50 of those purchasers read the thing. But still, it's damn good exposure. Those people now know my name, and, something even better happened ...

... String Bridge sales boosted, and the book made it to the #1 (paperback) and #2 (Kindle) positions in "Recently Popular Contemporary & Literary Fiction" list. I'm so excited! Because that means when people search for those specific genres, my book will be there! Again, excellent exposure.

So yeah, all in all, I have to say that YES, KDP Select is worth it. It's an excellent marketing tool, especially for the newbies like me who need to get their name circulating. 90 days commitment is not bad for those results, hey? I can give up 90 days. And when those 90 days are over, I'll put TVC on Smashwords. No skin off my nose! :o)

I don't think KDP Select is for everyone, and I do still have a few feelings about it being exploitative and degrading. Because what message does bringing down the price of books to zero give? That literature isn't worth the money anymore? I'm still kinda on the fence. But I do think it's a great tool for debut authors. That is a given.


What do you think?

Twisted Velvet Chains: Kindle edition FREE. Today only!

Finally sorted out the issue with Amazon. If you'd like to download Twisted Velvet Chains for free today, be my guest!


AMAZOM.COM
AMAZOM.UK


Please share! :o) And have a great weekend!

When the big people disappoint, give the little people a chance ...

Now before I get into what I'm really writing about today I'd like to tell you a little story ... (trust me, I have a point.) ...

Yesterday I had organised a free promotion for my poetry book Twisted Velvet Chains. Yes. The Kindle version was (supposed to be) free on Amazon yesterday. Why didn't I blog about it??? Because Amazon US never made it free on their site, but did on all of the others, which is ... can I say ... utterly disgusting.

Most of my audience is from the US, so I just wasted one of my allotted 5 free promotion days for nothing. And I'm still seething. In addition, I didn't even get the full 24 hours. It didn't start till 6 hours into the day, and then ended, when? You guessed it. Right on time.

What's my point you ask? My point is, despite thinking otherwise, we really have no control over what happens to our books ... even the self-published ones. The other day, Michelle's book True Colors was free on Amazon for a week and she didn't even ask for it. They just did it. Makes me kinda mad. But I guess, they're a bookshop. They can do whatever the blah they like with their books, right? We have no control ... BUT, I know a place where we do have control:








It's a bookstore that caters to the author. If you're an author, you SHOULD become a member. I sell signed copies of String Bridge and Twisted Velvet Chains there. And I must say I am so so so happy with their service so far. Wonderful, professional, passionate women who are authors themselves and treat you the way they want to be treated. With love. So hop on over and check it out. And why not become a member while you're at it?

Have a great weekend, folks!

FRIDAY UPDATE: I've sent Amazon THREE emails. Two polite ones and one fairly angry one. Still no reply.

If you really knew me ...

Thank you to Tess Hilmo for starting this little idea of "If you really knew me..." and to Michelle Davidson Argyle for bringing it to my attention!
_________________

If you really knew me, you'd know that I was bullied all throughout school, until I turned 16 and started to look like a bully myself. I wasn't one, but I think my Gothic appearance scared people off ...

If you really knew me, you'd know that it's an uphill vertical cliff face battle for me to get up in the morning, and it takes about an hour for my brain to start functioning properly.

If you really knew me, you'd know that I hardly leave the house because I work from home, and that I often work in my pyjamas. And I hate myself for not getting dressed and feeling like a slob.

If you really knew me, you'd know that sometimes I struggle in social situations, but you wouldn't see a struggle because I'm great at pretending I'm totally fine.

If you really knew me, you'd know that I say yes to everything and then figure out how I'm going to fit it into my schedule later, and then realise that I can't really fit it in and end up sitting at my computer until midnight. This is going to stop this year.

If you really knew me, you'd know that despite having 'accomplished' some great things, I still feel like I haven't accomplished anything, and therefore push myself too hard.

If you really knew me, you'd know that I break out in tears when I'm overtired. And I'm often overtired.

If you really knew me, you'd know that I want to help every single person who asks for it, and feel terrible if I can't.

If you really knew me, you'd know that when I'm hurting, I put up a wall which makes people think I'm heartless and cold and don't give a damn.

If you really knew me, you'd know how much I miss Christmas in Australia, and that because I can't have it, I'd rather not celebrate it at all.

If you really knew me, you'd know that I dread holiday seasons, and look forward to getting back to work. I think that must be an illness ... what do you think?

PS: My poetry book, TWISTED VELVET CHAINS, is now available on Kindle for only $0.99!!! (Amazon US, Amazon UK) Please, please, do me a favour and spread the word for me!?! Thank you!

If I really knew you ... what would I know?

Don't EVER write anything online that you don't want thrown back in your face. Trust me. Here's why ...

Source

I wasn't intending on posting today, but something happened to me yesterday which I need to share with you all. I can't let the freshness of this experience dwindle before writing it down for you all to read.

This month there will be an article about my poetry collection published online. A very long and in-depth article focusing on a variety of things including my background AND the background of my parents' music career. I did NOT provide the critic with ANY of this background. NOTHING. He found it all online. ALL of it.

Thankfully he was kind enough to let me read it before publishing it. Boy am I glad he let me read it. It's not all praise. And this is totally fine with me. I'm not out looking for only praise, especially when the criticism is coming form an extremely educated mind and from someone who has done their homework. I really truly appreciate how close a reading this critic gave my book. I was in absolute awe. Now. I'm rambling a bit. My point here is, he found something I had said online a while ago that wasn't very nice. I'm not going to say what that something was. I removed it from my blog. And I kindly asked him to remove it from his article too because it could very well end up being read by someone closely related to that comment and jeopardize a future endeavor I have planned. Not to mention turn a whole community of people against me. Yes, it was that bad. I did not think anything of this comment when I wrote it. BUT the context it was in, in the article, made it sound just ABSOLUTELY awful.

So, if you want a career in writing, trust me when I advise you to NEVER write anything you don't want repeated. The smallest of an 'off' comment can bounce back up and bite you in the face. Even in people's comments. You may feel like you're just chatting to a friend, but you're not. It's very easy to forget that anything you put out there--here--in cyberland, is available to the world for scrutiny. I'm lucky. I'm very lucky the person who wrote this article allowed me to review it first. Imagine if he didn't. I think I might have had a heart attack. I've learned from my mistake now. And I want you to learn from it too.

I think I might sift through all my old posts soon and make sure there's nothing else I don't want repeated!

Anything like this happen to you? Are you careful about what you say online?

I'm guest posting over at Operation Awesome!

Hi all! I'm over at Operation Awesome today talking about why I chose to self-publish my poetry book Twisted Velvet Chains.

Also, if you missed out due to the blogger crisis yesterday (just my luck!) please sign up to participate in my STRING BRIDGE BOOK & MUSIC BLOG TOUR!

So, it seems I use cigarette ash for deodorant and actually speak French ...

I have got so many things on my mind that I'm having trouble sleeping and having weird dreams to boot. But before I tell you about the dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ... I've been having, let me tell you what I have on my mind ...

1. In less than two months I'm off to Canada to teach poetry workshops to 11-14-year-olds at a summer writing camp (WordsWorth). I have to prepare my lessons. But I'm still waiting on info from The Young Alberta Book Society (the company running the camp) to find out exactly what kind of lessons they are after. So I'm feeling a little up in the air about the whole thing because I thrive on being well-prepared way in advance. I'm anxious to get myself organized, to say the least. Dream, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...

2. After Canada I'm heading to the USA to meet a few blogging buddies in Columbus, Ohio, before I head to Athens, Ohio to meet my publisher. So excited to meet everyone face to face! But ... my publisher is going to try to organize a few poetry readings for me while I'm there. Never done one before and all I can think about is the reason why I gave up playing live music: STAGE FRIGHT. Dream, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...

3. Today my edited ms of String Bridge is due in the mail from Lucky Press. A courier should be knocking on my door any minute. I have to review the changes and then email the document back to Lucky Press for galleys to be made so that the ARCs will be ready by July. I'm anxious about what people are going to say about it. Dream, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...

4. I'm anxiously (yes, this word is popping up a lot, innit?) awaiting for my String Bridge marketing plan to be emailed to me by my publicist. And again, I feel up in the air about that too because I have no idea what is going to be expected of me to pitch in toward promoting my novel. It makes me feel disorganized not knowing, not being able to prepare. I'm a bit anal like that. Dream, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...

5. I'm so close to finishing the first draft of my second novel. I've been so close for seven months now. I feel like I'm failing myself, but I've been busy, and every time I take five minutes for myself I feel guilty and mope around the house driving my partner nuts. Dreams, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...

6. My debut poetry book has just been released. Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews that have come in! You have no idea how much they mean to me! Why is this stressful? Well, poetry is hard to market. Still trying to find my footing and courage to promote myself more vigorously. If anyone has any advice regarding this, please shoot me a line. Dreams, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...
 
7. I'm running a writers' workshop/retreat on a Greek Island next year and there is a lot to organize! Won't make a list here, but I'm sure you can imagine ... Dreams, dreams, dreams ... stress dreams ...

8. Some nit-picky-bits:

• I need to apply for a US Visa waiver before I travel.
• I need to pick up my renewed Greek Residency permit before I can travel (queues in public services here are deathly ...)
• I need to book my flights within the USA, but I need my Canada flight details first (don't have them yet, makes me feel stressed).
• Have some books on order for ages, that haven't arrived. Might have to deal with post office. Post office guy has crush on me. Don't want to have to call!
• Our cleaner is sick. OMG, I have to clean the house myself!
• I have a ton freelance work, WHICH I LIVE ON, btw, and I seem to be fitting THAT into my schedule when it's supposed to be the other way around. So I'm paranoid I'm gonna go broke ...
• Um ... I'm sure there's more ...

 

*BREATHE*

Okay a few of my dreams just off the top of my head are:

• I book flights to wrong airports in the USA and miss all my events.
• All the guests that come to the retreat/workshop are people who are trying to kill my parents because apparently they have been mobsters all my life and I never knew it.
• When I roll on my deodorant in the morning I roll cigarette ash onto my underarms and then suddenly realise I can't speak English anymore, but I do speak French. (Do you think that has anything to do with the hairy armpit thing?)
• I'm in a cartoon version of Jurassic Park and every species of dinosaur communicates in song. One of them sounded like the Bee Gees, another like Tina Turner, another like Angry Anderson ...
• I'm in India. I give birth to a little girl. In a narrow alley way. Then I go shopping in a street market with a friend of mine from Australia. I drop my daughter on the ground to take a look at a pair of earrings and forget her when I walk off. (Whoa! Why? I love kids!)
• Moments before I get up in the morning, I've morphed into a concrete slab of footpath. People walk all over me and their footsteps echo through me. I feel heels stick into my ears and up my nose. It doesn't hurt. But it feels kinda numb, there's pressure. And I'm reminded of when my grandmother explained that she could feel the doctors sawing her bones when she had a hip replacement ...

So friends ... stress dreams, do you have 'em? Tell me about them so I don't feel so um ... stressed! :o)

How do you feel about writing content that might cause conflict within your family?

Clarissa Draper wrote an amazing review of my poetry collection Twisted Velvet Chains. And it poses a very interesting question that I'd like to discuss today. How do you feel about writing content that might cause conflict within your family?

Clarissa, in her review, said, "It's honest. Brutally honest. There were a few occasions I asked, 'Would Jessica's family read this?' or 'Should I read this?' or 'Should I know this?' But, I realized the answer is yes. For the same reason I write fiction based on real life. For the same reason parts of me go into my books. For the same reason writers tell stories."

I'd like to say I didn't think twice about writing this book, but I have to be honest here. I was SO scared to publish this book. Not because it reveals a few truths about me and my mother, but because the poems are very embellished, and I was worried (am still worried) that the people who know both me and my mother and our history are going to think that the way I depict our relationship is REAL. Well, it's not real. The poems may have been inspired by real events and triggered by real memories, but the fact of the matter remains, that after working at these poems, and making them the best they can be, they no longer represent my mother and me.

However, despite this, I'm still scared. Because when my mother reads these poems, she is going to recognize a few elements about her past. And she is going to be thinking, "Oh my God, Jessica, is this how you think of me? Like a monster?" No. I DO NOT THINK OF HER AS A MONSTER. But will she forgive me? Will she be worried that everyone is going to think it's her in this book? Is she going to be afraid to give it to people to read? These possibilities break my heart because that was not my intention at all. These poems may be dark and twisted, but they are also art. Art that I'm proud to say I created. And I'm proud to show it to the world. I hope that my mother can understand this and be proud of me too.

My mother is alive and healthy and we both have a wonderful relationship. I just have a dark mind and vivid imagination. Mum, you are a beautful, kind-hearted woman, who I love with all my heart. I do not blame you for anything. I know you suffered more than me. I love you. And I always will.

(PS: If you like to read poetry, you can now purchase a copy HERE or HERE. It will also be available through all fine bookstores in about six weeks.)