Christmas Giveaway Special!

As a thank you to all of my blogger friends and faithful fans, I have a special giveaway for you.

There are two parts to the giveaway:

1 - Comment to win a free book -

Must be a follower & comment - 2 points

Tweet this giveaway #SpunkyChristmas - 5 points

Post giveaway with button in sidebar of blog - 5 points

Post giveaway on Facebook - 5 points

Blog post about giveaway - 10 points

Three physical books and three ebooks will be given out to six random winners - the more points, the more times you are entered! Book is winner’s choice.

Contest runs until December 16, 2011 - winners announced on December 19, 2011

2 - Purchase a book to receive free book -

Buy any book from the list below and receive free books!

Purchase a print copy and receive ONE free, autographed copy of your choice.

Purchase an ebook copy and receive TWO free ebooks of your choice.

Books must be purchased between December 1 -16, 2011. Send copy of receipt from any retailer to wolferock@earthlink.net and let me know which book(s) you want. Don’t forget a snail mail address for print books!

Qualifying books:

Overcoming Obstacles with SPUNK! The Keys to Leadership & Goal-Setting

Non-fiction - self-help/inspiration

Print ISBN 978-0-9816210-2-9  $13.95
Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-2-1  $1.99

The Circle of Friends series -Fiction - YA:

Book I…Lori

Print ISBN 978-0-9816210-0-5  $20.95

Ebook ISBN 978-0-9816210-8-1  $1.99

Book II…Sarah

ISBN 978-0-9816210-1-2  $20.95

Ebook ISBN 978-0-9816210-9-8  $2.99

Book III…James

Print ISBN 978-0-9816210-3-6  $19.95

Ebook ISBN 978-09827139-0-7  $2.99

Book IV…Mike

Print ISBN 978-0-9816210-4-3  $19.95

Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-1-4  $2.99

Book V…Heather

Print ISBN 978-0-9816210-5-0  $19.95

Ebook ISBN978-0-9816210-7-4  $2.99

Books available retail and online and in all ebook formats.

For a full description to all books, click the tab above marked ‘Books’

You have until December 16 - now go!

And Merry Christmas! (Doesn't Spunky look festive and happy?)

Promotions That Don't Break The Bank

Promotion special today as I welcome Bob Sanchez to share some ideas with you. Book promotion takes time, effort, and money - but it shouldn’t take A LOT of money. Bob has some great ideas for you. 

Thanks for inviting me to guest post, Diane.

I thought I’d share some promoting ideas that work and some that don’t. The past couple of years have given me a different perspective on promotions. I spent $150 on a mass mailing to a half million addresses of book buyers and experienced a tiny blip in my book’s Amazon rankings. A friend reported a similar experience, having shelled out more money for a larger mailing.

Someone made money, but not the writers. There is a whole industry profiting from writers’ hopes, with publicity campaigns that include press releases, interviews, and shilling your wares to Hollywood. All of that is money out of your pocket, with no guarantee and little likelihood of getting your investment back. The result is that I, who am normally an affable fellow, am fast becoming a curmudgeon on this topic.

My attitude has become this: Spend little to no money, and do as much as you can on the Internet. Here are a few things you can to increase your book’s exposure:

1. Set up a web site or blog that features your work. You can get a free blog through Blogger and other places. You could hire a web designer, but try doing it yourself with free templates. It’s easier than you might think.

2. Visit other writers’ blogs regularly and leave comments. Often those people will visit your blog in return, and you’ll see what their posts are like.

3. Be sure to get your book reviewed at Midwest Book Review which reviews self-published and small-press books. Your only cost is mailing them a couple of copies, and your chances of getting reviewed there are high.

4. Offer to post reviews of other writers’ books on Amazon in exchange for their reviewing your book. In fact, you can start with me (desertwriter1@gmail.com).

5. When you get a nice review, tell people about it. That applies to Midwest Book Review as well. Most of the world doesn’t read book reviews without a little prompting. Where to brag? Your own blog, Twitter, Facebook, and any writing or book discussion groups you might use.

6. Is your novel available as an ebook? If so, then see if your potential reader would accept an e-copy. That will save you time and money.

7 .If your novel is available on Amazon, let people know, and remind them with a link in your email signature. My own signature, for example, reads:
Bob Sanchez
http://bobsanchez1.blogspot.com (links to my blog)
http://tinyurl.com/bobsanchezauthor (links to my Amazon page)

These are just a few ways to build up your Internet presence as an author. Do you have more ideas? Please share them here, and we can all benefit in 2012.

P. S. My latest novel is Little Mountain, and I will be glad to trade Amazon reviews with you.

Thanks for sharing those ideas today, Bob!

Refreshed and Ready to Move Forward

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. Our trip to see my husband's parents was wonderful and I enjoyed ten days away from home. And the Internet. I think I checked my email twice and that was it.

But it was wonderful to share it with my husband's parents, who were thrilled with our visit:

We didn't do much, but that was fine with me. Went out to eat, went to downtown Little Rock and rode the Trolley, went for some walks, went to a movie. And, we went to see the Big Dam Bridge:

It's one of the largest footbridges in America and it goes across the Big Dam - thus, the name! And we did walk all the way across and back.

And no road trip that passes through Memphis would be complete without a shot of the defunct Pyramid, a really bad idea for an arena. (Too small to be of any use - what was the owner thinking?) I remember a weekend trip to Memphis over twenty years ago and seeing it in the process of being built...

All in all, it was a wonderful time. I so appreciate my husband's parents. Now that my mother is gone, they are my only family. The trip put some things in perspective, too. Going to make some changes next month and make 2012 a better and less jam-packed year.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't lose an eyebrow during the Black Friday sales. I have a special guest this Thursday and then the Weekend Sillies return!

Finding Your Own Publishing Path

Today Stephen Tremp talks about publishing and why he chose his current path.

Hi everyone. Thanks for stopping by. And thanks Diane for hosting me! Today I’m discussing why I’ve gone the self-published road rather than hooking on with a publisher.

Of course, I want one of the New York Big Six (Hatchette Book Groups, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Penguin Group, Random House, and Simon & Schuster) to publish my books, or at least one of their subsidiaries.

But I feel that with publishing, it’s all or nothing. Perhaps I’m missing the point. But I’m not sure what a mid-level publisher can do for me. After querying hundreds of agents and publishers for my novel BREAKTHROUGH, I received interest from a number of mid-level publishers. At first, I was very excited. However, after listening to their pitch, I realized signing on would not be a win-win situation.

Example: First, I would have to do most if not all the marketing and promoting. Isn’t that what self-published authors do? Second, I would have to sign on with them for three to five years (depending on the mid-level publisher). I don’t want to give up that control, unless it’s with one of the New York Big Six. Third, why give someone else a chunk of my money when I’m doing all the work?

I admit I made the terrible, horrendous, bone-headed mistake of originally paying over a thousand dollars to have iUniverse publish BREAKTHROUGH. The problem here is iUniverse makes their money by selling services rather than selling books, and selling books is the name f the game. And their services, from the initial sign-on, to editing packages, to marketing packages (that can cost $7,000 to place your book on a shelf with hundreds of other books at a book fair) are an outrageous rip-off.

I finally woke up and smelled the coffee and left iUniverse for CreateSpace, which was free and gives me a far larger profit than iUniverse could ever do for me. I’m too embarrassed to state what I made off each sale with iUniverse. Needless to say, my commission is far higher with CreateSpace.

Okay, so I’m still querying agents and subsidiaries of the Big Six in hopes someone will pick up OPENING. But I’m under no false illusions. I’m doing just fine self-publishing with CreateSpace, thank you very much. The market has shifted so much the past few years. Little guppies like me swimming in a vast ocean of published and self-published books and ebooks can actually be somewhat successful.

Example: I can buy books directly from CreateSpace for less than $6.00 (including shipping) and sell them for $10.00 - $12.95.  Out of the back of my SUV, to local books stores, and through family and friends across the country and around the world. I’m even working with scores of hotels up and down the southern California coast to carry my book on consignment. And I’m working with the vendors who place books in grocery stores, airports, and pharmacies like Ralph’s (Krogers) and Walgreens. So there is a lot I can do on my own to sell my books at a very mice profit.

How about you. Are you with one of the New York Big Six or their subsidiaries? How about a mid-level publisher? Or are you self-published? I’d like to hear your story and how you got to that place. Again, thanks for stopping by!

Thanks, Stephen! I learned the hard way about subsidy presses such as iUniverse, too. We learn and move on!

Visit him at his blog, Facebook, and Twitter Purchase Breakthrough at Amazon and Smashwords