A MONSTROUS SUMMER GIVEAWAY!!!

Firstly, I hope all those in the US had a great long weekend and did lots of long-weekenderly stuff, like eat a crazy amount of food that one would normally avoid in fear of putting on the pounds! Was it good? Still feel bloated?

Secondly, if you subscribe to my newsletter, you are going to receive the following in your inbox this Friday.

Not a subscriber? Want a chance to win something from this amazing list? It's not too late. You can sign up now!

Want to donate something to the giveaway? For every prize donated I will give 50 cents to BuildOn.org. Email me with the following info:

item(s) + link (Amazon if book) + format + personal website/blog

Hey Everyone!

It's SUMMER! And what do people like to get in summer? FREE STUFF!!! I'm going to make that happen for you.

As a token of appreciation to you all, I'm hosting a monstrous summer giveaway. There are lots of books up for grabs, a few services such as manuscript edits and book cover design, and even some music and really cool T-shirts!

So, this is how it's going to work:

• If you are a subscriber of this newsletter, your name will be put in the hat.
• If you become a subscriber upon hearing about this giveaway, your name will be put in the hat.
• Winners will be chosen randomly and announced in two weeks time via this newsletter.
• Prizes will be allocated randomly, but you may email me with your preferred category prior to Friday, June 14. (i.e. Services, Poetry, Young Adult, etc). 
• If you win (one prize per name drawn from the hat), and your prize is digital, you will receive it automatically via email. If you win something physical (i.e. paperback, CD, T-shirt), your donator's email address will be forwarded to you, so that you can contact the donator with your postal address. If you win a service, your donator's email address will be forwarded to you. It is your responsibility to follow up on your prize.

See below for the list of fabulous prizes up for grabs!

*All items are linked to a product page, and all names are linked to authors'/donators' websites. Just click on them to check them out!

Services

$40 Morgan Media Voucher (author services), by Rachel Morgan

10 chapter (up to 25,000 words) developmental edit, or a 20 chapter (up to 50,000 words) copy edit. A $1,000 value, by Amie McCracken

Free book cover design for paperback and/or eBook. by Virginia Haenni

Apostrophe Apathy and Comma Chaos (a writing workshop), by MM Pollard (PDF)

Poetry

Fabric (Goodreads Choice Awards 2012 Semi-finalist), by Jessica Bell (eBook, PDF)

Twisted Velvet Chains, by Jessica Bell (eBook, PDF)

Muddy-Fingered Midnights, by Laurel Garver (eBook)

i cannot bring myself to look at walls in case you have graffitied them with love poetry, by Dan Holloway (PDF)

Romance/Historical Romance

Ripper, My Love, by Glynis Smy (eBook)

The Role of a Lifetime, by Jennifer Shirk (eBook, PDF)

A Love Rekindled , by Myne Whitman (eBook) 

Young Adult

Rouge, by Leigh Talbert Moore (eBook)

Bestest. Ramadan. Ever., by Medeia Sharif (eBook)

Shifting Pride, by Laura Diamond (eBook)

Neverlove, by Angela Brown (eBook, PDF) 

The Breakaway, by Michelle D. Argyle  (eBook, PDF)

Transcend, by Christine Fonseca (eBook)

Lacrimosa, by Christine Fonseca (eBook)

EleMental: A First-person Shooter, by Steven O’Connor (eBook)

Escapement, by Ciara Knight

Battle for souls series: Rise from Darkness, Fall from Grace, Ascension of Evil, by Ciara Knight (eBooks)

Thriller

The Mistaken, by Nancy S. Thompson (eBook)

Oracle, by J.C. Martin (eBook, 2 copies avail)

Inceptio, by Alison Morton (eBook or paperback)

Literary/Contemporary Fiction

The Book, by Jessica Bell (eBook, PDF)

String Bridge, by Jessica Bell (eBook, digital soundtrack included, Melody Hill: On the Other Side)

Black Cow, by Magdalena Ball (eBook, PDF, 5 copies avail)

Never Gone, by Laurel Garver (eBook)

Up So Down, by Briane Pagel (eBook)

Just Exactly How Life Looks, by Briane Pagel (eBook)

Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves, by Dianne Ascroft (eBook or paperback)

Science Fiction/Dystopian

muted: a short story in verse, by Jessica Bell (eBook, PDF, or paper chapbook)

Debt Collector (Vol 1-3), by Susan Kaye Quinn (eBook)

Eclipse, by Briane Pagel (eBook)

Santa, Godzilla, and Jesus Walk Into A Bar, by Briane Pagel (eBook)

Lyon's Legacy, by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan (eBook)

CassaStar, by Alex J. Cavanaugh (eBook)

Becoming Human, by Eliza Green (eBook)

Fantasy

The Faerie Guardian, by Rachel Morgan (eBook)

Letters to Psyche, by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan (eBook)

Fireseed One, by Catherine Stine (eBook)

To Carry The Horn, by Karen Myers (eBook)

Ghost

The Glass Guardian, by Linda Gillard (eBook or paperback)

Despite the Angels, by Madeline A. Stringer (eBook)

Nonfiction (Writing/Publishing)

Sell Your Books!, by Debbie Young (eBook)

Nail Your Novel, by Roz Morris (paperback)

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression , by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi (PDF)

Nonfiction (Self-help)

Keeping Your Spirits Up, by Sarah Dale (paperback)

This We Know, by Tom Evans (eBook)

The Zone, by Tom Evans (eBook)

Horror/Speculative

River of Bones, by Jodi Cleghorn (eBook) 

The Scariest Things, You CAN'T Imagine, by Briane Pagel (eBook)

the After, by Briane Pagel (eBook)

Children’s

Zeb and the Great Ruckus, by Josh Donellan (eBook)

The Secret Lake, by Karen Inglis (eBook or paperback)

Eeek!: The Runaway Alien, by Karen Inglis (eBook or paperback)

Anthologies

The Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2012, donated by co-editor Jessica Bell (paperback)

Spirited, donated by contributing author Dawn Ius (paperback or eBook)

The set of Literary Mix Tapes anthologies, donated by eMergent Publishing (4 x eBooks) 

Music Albums

Melody Hill: On the Other Side, by Jessica Bell (CD, 2 copies)

Bitter Delicious, by Lola Demo (MP3s)

T-Shirts

Ithacagreece.com T-shirts, donated by Erika Bach at Ithacagreece.com

NOTE: This is just a heads-up for my Friday newsletter announcement, if you want a chance to win one of these items, please sign up to the newsletter. It's also possible that additional items will be added to this list before I officially send it out.

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.

________________________________

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 :-)

The 20p e-book, paid 5-star Amazon reviews and tags, Facebook bollocks and disappointments ...

There are a few things on my mind today. I could probably write a whole post about each, but I think, for my own sanity, I'm just going to gloss over them all so I don't get too worked up ...

1. The 20p e-book is starting to reshape the e-book market. You can read about it here. I'm scared. I'm scared that this will go on longer than just a marketing ploy and it will become the new 99 cent-er. Why am I scared? Not because of the price itself, but because of what the price represents. I feel that the industry is destroying the whole magic of buying and reading a book. With these prices, it's not special anymore. All it is, is competition. I feel the beauty of literature is being destroyed by greedy corporations. It's devaluing what we do. My opinion. There are many that would disagree with me.

2. There is a corporation that is selling 5-star Amazon reviews. You can read the full email Jodi Picoult received, on her Facebook fan page. But I shall copy and paste bits here. I quote:

"Hello. We’re an advertising studio Star5Amazon. ... We’re ready to work towards creating and maintaining an impeccable reputation of your books that will allow you to increase sales and attract new readers by means of excellent reviews. The price of one published review is $50. ... We know how to make the way of your book to five-star rating without causing suspicion. ... Neither automatic filter, nor people can tell where a review is written by a real user, and where it is written by our employees. If the review was banned, it will be replaced by a new one, free of charge. ... all activities are performed secretly, and no one will know that you are buying reviews."

I. AM. DISGUSTED.

3. Amazon seems to be removing tags from books. This is not good. Tags help readers find books. If there aren't any tags, then it's Amazon dictating the keyword searches, not the readers.

4.  Facebook have new advertising rules in place that are absolute bollocks. This is the email I received yesterday after trying to promote a post.

"Your promoted post wasn’t approved because more than 20% of your image is covered by text. As of 1/15/2013, this violates our Advertising Guidelines. Photos with too much text can be disruptive in news feed, where people are used to seeing photos of their friends and places in their lives. Use text sparingly to brand your image or add emphasis to what it’s showing."

What the HECK?

5. My contract with my small press has fallen through due to some unforeseen circumstances on their end. I am not lucky when it comes to publishing my books. So I'm back to square one. And I feel like crying. Seriously thinking of embracing the self-pub route completely. But I might just try my luck with a few more agents first ...

6. Now onto something a bit more positive. Check out this video of a brilliant Newfoundlander who has worked out how to make powerful solar panels out of soft drink cans! Maybe there's hope for us after all ...

Any thoughts on anything I've mentioned here? How do you feel about the 20p e-book? Buying 5-star Amazon reviews? Amazon removing tags? Facebook and all its illogical glory? This brilliant Newfoundlander? Tell me. I want to hear ...

Please don't get angry at me ...

So, um, I'm thinking of getting an e-reader.

• For those who know me well, know I hate them.
• For those who know me well, know that every time someone posts about them, I go on and on about how I couldn't give up paper because I love the smell and the feel of turning pages.
• For those who know me well, know that I vowed to never buy one.
• For those who know me well, know that ... aw, shucks ... I DO NOT WANT AN E-READER ...

But I think I need one.

People are putting out books I want to read that are only available in e-format.
Bloggers are releasing debuts I want to buy and review to show encouragement and support.

NO!

Do NOT tell me to download the PC application. I already have. A long long time ago. But I haven't used it because I sit at my computer 15 hours a day for work and writing and blogging and Facebooking and tweeting and watching um ... America's Next Top Model on YouTube *cough* ...

I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and get one aren't I? I can't avoid them for the rest of my life, can I? Oh I feel sick. I don't want to abandon the paperback. The paperback was my first ever love ...

So. Here's where you come in. I know nothing about e-readers. What kind do I get?

REMINDERS: Have you signed up for my String Bridge Book & Music Blog Tour yet? If not, and you'd like to, just click HERE.

Over at All 4 ALABAMA, my poetry book, Twisted Velvet Chains is up for grabs. Head on over and bid on it for a worthy cause!

STRING BRIDGE IS NOW ON GOODREADS!!! WOOT!!!