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Showing posts from April, 2013

Weekend Special....

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To celebrate my first novel "The Bridge" being #44 on Smashwords Horror Bestseller list of books over 100K words, I'm taking 50% off the price.  It's now available there for $1.50 for this weekend.  So take advantage of it while you can.  There's 15 reviews on this page so you can get a good idea of what others have been saying about this strange blend of paranormal mystery and science fiction. Remember: Smashwords offers this book in the following e-reader formats:  Apple, Sony, Nook, Kindle, Kobo, EPUB, PDF (for regular laptops and desktop computers), and others. Oh, and if you're one of those people who already bought a copy and loved it, please help spread the word of this special promotion.  Thanks so much and have a great weekend everybody. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/272613

BIG NEWS!

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BIG NEWS! My novel "The Bridge" is #44 in Smashwords Bestselling Horror books (over 100K words). https://www.smashwords.com/ books/category/883/bestsellers/ 0/any/epic/40

Brand New Review On Amazon For My Novel "THE BRIDGE"...

All right! Another 5 star review for "The Bridge" on Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars  BUY THIS BOOK!, April 22, 2013 By Joe Hinojosa (Greenville, TX) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Bridge: Something waits (Para-Earth Series) (Volume 1) (Paperback) I admit that The Bridge was a bit of a surprise. I usually don't go for fantasy or anything paranormal, but I will confess that I became intrigued when I read about it on the author's blog. Took me longer than I would have liked, but I finally bought it. The beginning for me was a little slow, but it quickly progressed and hooked me. What I found to be most enjoyable were the main characters themselves. They were not all one-dimensional. The author tried to make them complex, but didn't complicate the story. He showed us what we needed to know as it related to the story. As far as the plot, it moved rather briskly as the story unfolded. The premise is great and it leave

Let's Talk Press Release Kits...

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For those of you (like me) who had never seen a press release kit, here's the one I managed to put together.  I got some great advice from  a friend, Gwen Bodhan, who used to work for a newspaper.  She also edited the original Press Release I came up with.  I have no problem admitting her version was better.  So here's what's in mine.  I've included photos and am only leaving out only the actual book itself.  I send e-copies with my electronic Press Release Kit.  I send physical copies along with glossy photos when requested to.  I hope this helps some other writers out there who are getting their first book ready to be unleashed. Oh, one more thing.  Research who would be interested in a press release about a novel and then query them before sending the packet.  They get tons of e-mails and there's a chance they may not even be interested in your genre.  Don't waste their time or your own.  A polite e-mail asking about sending a press release kit will go

Today's Special Guest Is Author/Blogger Brandy Nacole...

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      I have another treat for you all today.  Allow me to introduce author and blogger, Brandy Nacole:  Why book covers are so important.           There’s this saying, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ but let’s face it, it happens.  When searching for a book the first thing someone is going to notice is the cover.  The cover can then draw that person into reading the synopsis.  If the synopsis and the cover draw the reader in, they could possibly buy it or put it on their to-be-read list.                              My own personal experience with a cover design came with Uniquely Unwelcome.  The first edition cover was a hand drawing of a girl looking up at an eagle.  While it was a nice drawing, it just wasn’t up to par with other Fantasy covers.  It became very apparent to me, especially after a few readers recommended that I change the cover, that a change was indeed needed.            Why did I decide to use a hand drawing?   Well it was

Some Results From My "Hobbit Birthday Party" Last Weekend...

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Well, time for a little update.  Here are the results so far from my "Hobbit Birthday Party" last weekend. Total 40 free books were picked up. And so far 4 reviews have come back, which is great in my book. The fact that people went through it so fast and got back to me is terrific. I'm hoping with time, that as people get to read it and finish the book, they'll leave reviews too. Out of the 4 reviews I've gotten 3 were 5 Stars and the last one was a 3 star, but a very pleasant one mind you. They still encouraged people to check it out so I'm not going to complain. This first review is from Amazon.com: 5 out of 5 stars:   You'll think twice about going in the water!  April 5, 2013 By  Michael Drakich Format:Kindle Edition Exhilerating! The story kept me tense the whole way through. I normally don't read horror as I prefer science fiction and fantasy but after receiving a copy of the novel it is my habit to always read all the way th

My Review of John Wyndham's Classic "Day Of The Triffids" 4-stars

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I've wanted to read this book for some time. And as I expected it was quite different from the movie from 1962. I was a little surprised to see that most of the story seemed to focus on a post-apocalyptic Earth situation, where the Triffids were just another danger.  But I was fascinated by the behavior of the people our protagonist meets along the way. The good, the bad and the ugly do not really apply in this case. It was more the well-meaning, the determined, the foolhardy. Truly an insightful look at how people might behave and react to a world were 99% of the people have gone blind. How do you come to grips with the realization that so many people need help and you can only do so much?  I rather liked the author's use of the 1st person narration in this story as well.  He keeps in mind that the protagonist will only know so much and thus will only be able to share that information with the reader.  For most of the book the source of the comet-light show that blinds eve