The Newbie's Guide to Publishing (Everything A Writer Needs To Know)

Are you a writer?

This book was written for you.

It doesn't matter if you're just getting your ears wet and learning your craft, or if you're a seasoned pro with an extensive backlist. The Newbie's Guide to Publishing contains all of the information you need to understand the writing business and maximize your sales and success.

There's over 370,000 words of writing advice, tips, tricks, and observations. That's more than 1100 pages. It's the biggest book on writing and publishing ever put together, featuring hundreds of essays on the following topics:

WRITING - More than forty essays, covering everything you need to know to craft fiction.

BREAKING IN - Over forty essays on how to find an agent and sell your writing.

PUBLISHING - More than twenty essays about the publishing business, and how it works.

PROMOTION - Over fifty essays on marketing, advertising, and self-promotion.

TOURING - Extensive, in-depth details on how to do book tours and signings.

INTERNET - Dozens of essays on how writers can effectively use the world wide web.

EBOOKS - Speculation and real-life examples of digital publishing, the Kindle, print on demand, and self-publishing.

MOTIVATION - Over fifty essays guaranteed to enlighten and inspire your writing efforts.

Plus many, many more.

It also includes a foreword and several bonus essays by bestselling author Barry Eisler.


About the Author

J.A. Konrath has written dozens of novels and hundreds of short stories. His work has been published in over a dozen countries, and there are millions of copies of his fiction in print.

His blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, has been named one of Writer's Digest Magazine's Best Web Sites.

In a 12 month period, he sold over 35,000 self-published ebooks on Amazon Kindle.

He's been featured in Writer's Digest, Forbes, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Book Page, Entertainment Weekly, and The Huffington Post.

Konrath is known as the hardest working author in the business, having toured more than 1200 bookstores. He's done successful blog tours, sent over 7000 letters to libraries, and has been flown all across the country to speak on the topics of publishing, marketing, ebooks, and self-promotion.

Under the pen name Jack Kilborn, he wrote the horror novels Afraid, Trapped, Endurance, and Draculas. The Jack Daniels thriller series has houndreds of thousands of books in print around the world. The latest is Shaken, published by AmazonEncore.

GRAB A FREE COPY!
The Newbie's Guide to Publishing (Everything A Writer Needs To Know)

Barbary Point [Kindle Edition]

Barbary Point [Kindle Edition] by Alan Nayes

Product Description

When Kelly English flies back to Oshkosh,Wisconsin, to close out her father's estate, the last thing on her mind is falling in love. Again. Kelly is twenty-eight and engaged to an older man who is quite wealthy. She's happy, and only desires to make the trip back brief, sell her deceased father's place, and return to her stable life in Los Angeles. However, while taking care of business in Oshkosh, Kelly meets a fishing guide, launching her on an emotional journey she never could have predicted or foreseen. BARBARY POINT is Kelly's story of what happened that one magical week in May on the shores of Lake Winnebago when the ducklings hatch and the walleye run.

Alan Nayes is the author of the critically acclaimed biomedical thrillers
GARGOYLES and THE UNNATURAL.

About the Author

Alan Nayes was born in Houston and grew up on the Texas gulf coast. He lives in southern California.

An Unwilling Baroness

An Unwilling Baroness [Kindle Edition]

by Harris Channing

Three years ago, Chloe allowed her heart's desire to leave her. Now Jude is back, but between his mother,her father and the Baron von Richter, is she destined to become an unwilling baroness?

The Book of Lost Souls [Kindle Edition]

The Book of Lost Souls [Kindle Edition] - Michelle Muto

When teen witch Ivy MacTavish changes a lizard into her date for a Halloween dance, everything turns to chaos. And when no one is powerful enough to transform him back except Ivy, it sparks the rumor: Like father, like daughter. Ivy has heard it all before - that her father, who left when she was seven - was involved with the darkest of magic.

Making the rumors worse, someone uses an evil spell book to bring back two of history's most nefarious killers. Ivy's got a simple plan to set things right: find the real dark spell caster, steal the book, and reverse the spell. No problem! But she'll have to deal with something more dangerous than murderous spirits that want her and her friends dead: the school's resident bad boy and hotter-than-brimstone demon, Nick Marcelli. Nick's offering Ivy more than his help with recovering the missing book - he's offering her a way to ditch her scaly reputation as a lizard-lover. Demons are about as hard to handle as black magic, and as Ivy soon discovers, it's going to take more than a lot of luck and a little charm if she wants to survive long enough to clear her status as a dark witch, get a warm-blooded boyfriend, and have her former date back to eating meal worms before the week's end.


Full length novel: 83,500 words/approx 324 pages.

$1.99

On Writing [Kindle Edition] - Stephen King

On Writing [Kindle Edition] - Stephen King

Long live the King hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

Low Priced Ebooks - .99 eBooks In The Top 20 Of The Best Sellers in Kindle Store

There is a lot of debate going on about having .99 as an ebook price. The main concern is that at this price, .99 devalues a book. Some critics say that the hard work placed in a book should reflect in the price. This low price even depresses some authors. (see article below)

An author may feel they are just whoring themselves out by having such a low price for a book. But there are people making a lot of money by having cheaply priced books. (Theresa Ragan - Sales Update: Five Months Later...)

Create a price strategy for your books. Have a couple books priced at .99 and others at 2.99. You will have a better shot of making more sales if you are an unknown author by having a lower price.

Observe the trends and follow your instinct. Don't be afraid to experiment with the price but remember to have long term goals. The odds are that you will not be an instant success, so have a plan and do your research.

And as always, write...write...and write some more!


Why 99-Cent e-Books Are a Bad Deal -- For Authors

Zoe Winters on E-book Pricing: Does Low-balling Attract the Wrong Kind of Reader?

99¢ ebooks Good or Bad For Us???


Proof that .99 is a good price...Six books are in the top 20 Of The Best Sellers in Kindle Store and they are .99.

Mile 81 (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition] - Stephen King

Mile 81 (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition] - Stephen King

With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, Mile 81 is Stephen King unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs...

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded up rest stop on a highway in Maine. It's a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It's the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother, who's supposed to be looking out for him, heads off to the gravel pit to play "paratroopers over the side." Pete, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out.

Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn't been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says "closed, no services." The driver's door opens but nobody gets out.

Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls "the ultimate insurance manual," but it isn't going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.

Ten minutes later, Julianne Vernon, pulling a horse trailer, spots the Prius and the wagon, and pulls over. Julianne finds Doug Clayton's cracked cell phone near the wagon door — and gets too close herself. By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are a half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. Two kids — Rachel and Blake Lussier —and one horse named Deedee are the only living left. Unless you maybe count the wagon.

Price: 2.99

One word review for Apolo Drakuvich

‎One word review for Apolo Drakuvich!

3 star rating on Goodreads.com for Apolo Drakuvich ---- "Odd."

Eddie's Shorts - Volume 1 [Kindle Edition]

Eddie's Shorts - Volume 1 [Kindle Edition]
by M. Edward McNally

The first volume of short stories written by M. Edward McNally, circa 1991-1997.

Contents: Bedlam - "The Saturday after my dad first shows up, Walter makes his break for the woods, and vanishes."

7:00 C/M (Seven, Central and Mountain) - Let's see what's on tonight, shall we?

FREE!

Requiem for Darkness - A Paranormal Romance Featuring Fallen Angels, Demons, and Witches (Requiem Chronicles) [Kindle Edition]

Requiem for Darkness - A Paranormal Romance Featuring Fallen Angels, Demons, and Witches (Requiem Chronicles) [Kindle Edition]

Betrothed by her mother to a demon before she was born, and forced into a marriage with a man she has never met, eighteen-year-old half witch Beth Hall crosses paths with a fallen angel named Malachai.

Malachai is tormented by the choices that led him to fall from grace, and she befriends the heartbroken angel, convinced he is truly redeemable. She believes she can help him return to Heaven and reclaim his place among the angels.

When things get hot, Beth must choose between her budding love for her demon husband, and doing what is right by the fallen angel who trusts her with his life.

Requiem for Darkness - A Paranormal Romance Featuring Fallen Angels, Demons, and Witches (Requiem Chronicles) - .99

Jurassic Park [Mass Market Paperback]

Jurassic Park [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Description
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy....
"Wonderful...Powerful."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

Jurassic Park


Great book! I had to read it in High School...very entertaining. If you enjoyed the movie you will really enjoy Jurassic Park

Hey, your book sucks.

"After comparing with this item..." is a dumb feature that Amazon has brought out. Don't get me wrong, I love Amazon! My books are sold by Amazon. But this feature isn't that great. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong but I get the feeling that with this feature it is like Amazon is saying "Hey! HEY YOU! This book sucks but here are two others you might like even more!"

If a potential customer does scoll down my page and sees this won't they want to buy the other two books instead???

Anyway, here are the stats:

84% bought Crossing The Bridge ($3.19)
8% bought Apolo Drakuvich ($.99)

70% bought Megan's Way (FREE!!!)
15% bought Apolo Drakuvich ($.99)

So, after reading the three different blurbs I've come to the conclusion that these three books share something in common...they are all sad and depressing.

The price for Apolo is at .99 and that is a great price for 33k words. :)

Crossing the Bridge

Product Description

Hugh Penders has been stuck in neutral for nearly a decade since his brother Chase died in a car accident. He carries with him two secrets that he has never been able to share with anyone: that he believes he might have been able to prevent the accident, and that he was deeply in love with Chase's girlfriend, Iris.

When Hugh's father suffers a debilitating heart attack, Hugh must return to the New England home he's been running away from for the past ten years. One day, he encounters Iris, who has long since moved away, on the street. They begin a friendship and Hugh believes he's falling in love with Iris all over again.

But the ghost of Chase haunts both of them. And when each reveals a truth the other never knew, their lives, their vision of Chase, and their chances for a future together will change forever.

Charged by the power of desire and the impact of loss, Crossing the Bridge is a soulful, romantic novel that will speak to you deeply

Megan's Way

Product Description
**PLEASE READ BEFORE REVIEWING**

If you downloaded the Kindle version of Megan's Way prior to 10pm EST, 8/17/11, then you have a file with conversion errors (which mimic editing errors). PLEASE REDOWNLOAD the corrected file (now available) before reviewing** Read about conversion errors on the authors website.

**We apologize for the inconvenience**

What would you give up for the people you love?

When Megan Taylor, a single mother and artist, receives the shocking news that her cancer has returned, she'll be faced with the most difficult decision she's ever had to make. She'll endure an emotional journey, questioning her own moral and ethical values, and the decisions she'd made long ago. The love she has for her daughter, Olivia, and her closest friends, will be stretched and frayed.

Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Olivia's world is falling apart right before her eyes, and there's nothing she can do about it. She finds herself acting in ways she cannot even begin to understand. When her internal struggles turn to dangerous behavior, her life will hang in the balance.

Megan's closest friends are caught in a tangled web of deceit. Each must figure out how, and if, they can expose their secrets, or forever be haunted by their pasts.

Apolo Drakuvich

Product Description

G.W. Jefferies' Apolo Drakuvich captures the life of a petty criminal on a strange ride ranging from bizarre and senseless to utterly tragic. Revolving around parasitic journalism, media and government corruption, and a ruthless, conniving judge who milks the citizens out of millions of dollars, Apolo Drakuvich can be described as a compilation of untamed and sheer madness--captivating the readers' attention from beginning to end. With its raw descriptions, penetrating dialogue and crisp writing, this book is like no other.

Within all the madness that so epitomizes the life of Apolo, G.W. Jeffries presents a life of regret in epic proportions. Sitting in a jail cell, Apolo reflects, "One thing is for sure, I let it all slip away...so many opportunities lost." Apolo sadly examines the events and decisions of his life, and the paths he took and should have taken. Apolo seeks peace of mind and justice, but flashbacks of his past continuously haunt him; moreover, he seems to be victimized by a corrupt justice system everywhere he goes.

As an offender, Apolo discusses pertinent issues of today's society, where it is next to impossible for offenders to live normal lives, despite the desire to do so. Essentially, law enforcement and authorities seem to systematically destroy the offender by placing constraints on the offender such as restrictions on where to live, GPS monitoring, registering as offenders on websites, and more.

Apolo Drakuvich is a microcosm of numerous real-life issues encompassing the wild, the bizarre, and the tragic.

Business cards

I'm not sure how many indie authors use business cards but I think it's a good idea. You never know who you might run into and having a few in your wallet or purse might be a good idea.

Business Cards: A Great Idea for Branding

There is so much that you do in order to promote your business and attract potential customers. You come up with innovative marketing strategies, exciting offers, schemes and what not! However, have you ever given this sort of importance to your business card. Probably not, and that is the reason you have not been as successful as you would want to be. All that you do to promote your business is called branding, so that your brand remains in the customer's mind for a very long time. And business cards can be a potential branding tool too.



If you are not going for a calling card at all, or worse, going for a clumsy card, you need help! And you can take this help from a business card designing software to create amazing cards on your own. As an entrepreneur, you definitely understand how important branding is for your business. And missing out on any bright idea to promote your business will be foolishness. Therefore, taking your visiting card seriously is advisable if you want to leave an impact on the prospective clients. You might have a small business or a huge enterprise, maintaining customer-relationship is essential and business cards can help you in doing so. Let's say, for instance, you met somebody at the supermarket or a metro, and you start talking about various things. You find out the person is a potential customer, and you might get a chance to slip in your business card at the right moment. However, if you don't have one, the person might as well forget you. Well, not if you are carrying a business card and hand it over to him. The person will definitely remember you whenever he needs your services.



Another important thing is how you design your card using the right software so that it does the perfect branding for your business. A simple-looking card with the required elements can leave a lasting impression on the minds of the customers. It should not look overdone in terms of design and should be able to speak for you in the market. The most successful business cards are those that make your presence visible in the marketplace. Therefore, going for an apt software to design a calling card is essential. You can create the right impact and grab the attention of the targeted customers with the right card. In addition, you don't have to pay hefty amounts to designers to get your card designed if you have the perfect software to design one.

The World According to Garp (Modern Library) [Hardcover]

The World According to Garp (Modern Library) [Hardcover] by John Irving

The World According to Garp is a comic and compassionate coming-of-age novel that established John Irving as one of the most imaginative writers of his generation. A worldwide bestseller since its publication in 1978, Irving's classic is filled with stories inside stories about the life and times of T. S. Garp, novelist and bastard son of Jenny Fields--a feminist leader ahead of her time. Beyond that, The World According to Garp virtually defies synopsis.

----"Nothing in contemporary fiction matches it," said critic Terrence Des Pres. "Irving's blend of gravity and play is unique, audacious, almost blasphemous. . . . Friendship, marriage and family are his primary themes, but at that blundering level of life where mishap and folly--something close to joyful malice--perpetually intrude and disrupt, often fatally. Life, in Irving's fiction, is always under siege." Time magazine commented: "Irving's popularity is not hard to understand. His world is really the world according to nearly everyone."

----This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the author.

The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editons of impor-tant works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoringas its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.


The World According to Garp (Modern Library)

Mad Gods Redux (Predatory Ethics) [Kindle Edition]

Mad Gods Redux (Predatory Ethics) by Athanasios

Kostadino Paleologos is a descendant of Byzantine emperors and lives with honour, duty and sacrifice. Every year he returns to Istanbul and sends trapped souls to their deserved rest. The final soul in this solemn task sends him on a quest to the mythic, ancient Library of Alexandria. There he finds the Idammah-Gan Codex, a unique book which convinces him to abduct the infant Antichrist and raise him as his own. They live life on the run pursued by Satanists, Catholic Church & Dark Nobility, who want the baby back or dead.

What I liked about Mad Gods was that the author started the reader out on a journey right from the onset of the book--the plot was well written, easy to understand, and thought provoking.
Cheryl Bradshaw

Mad Gods takes its reader on a spellbinding journey that spans different continents and time periods. The author seamlessly weaves an intricate plot that connects an array of fascinating characters that propel the momentum of this wonderfully ambitious narrative.
Aman S. Anand


Mad Gods Redux (Predatory Ethics) - $2.99

Books by G.R. Yeates

Shapes in the Mist (A Vetala Cycle Novel) [Kindle Edition]
G.R. Yeates (Author)

London’s most notorious murderer walks its streets once more.

Whitechapel, 1917. Jerry Reinhart, an American fighter-pilot, returns to London to convalesce after losing an aerial joust with the German ace, Baron von Richtofen. Sick and unstable, he loses himself in the seedy streets, unaware that he has brought back something unspeakable with him from the Western Front. Something that begins to take on the shape of a killer who was never caught. As the bombs rain down on old London town, a man named Jack is being reborn.

This work is DRM-free and lendable.

Shapes in the Mist (A Vetala Cycle Novel)

The Eyes of the Dead (A Vetala Cycle Novel) [Kindle Edition]
G.R. Yeates

Vampires are loose in the trenches of the First World War.

Passchendaele, 1917. Private Reg Wilson is a man with a name but no memories. A soldier who remembers nothing of life before the fighting began. Until he comes to Black Wood, a tainted place that knows him intimately. There, he will discover a darkness buried long ago by time and dust. An appetite that has been awoken by war. A hunger that will feed upon his blood, his regrets and his worst fears. It will show him what he has forgotten. It will show him nightmare made flesh. And, before he dies, it will make him look deep into the eyes of the dead.

This work is DRM-free and lendable.

The Eyes of the Dead (A Vetala Cycle Novel)

Naughty Little Schnitzel [Kindle Edition]

Naughty Little Schnitzel [Kindle Edition]
PJ Jones (Author)

Ted Ledbetter has dreamed of becoming a porn star, just like his late father, Thunderhead Ted. Unfortunately, Ted’s got one small problem preventing him from making it in this cut-throat industry. With the help of his beautiful, yet frightening assistant, Ted’s determined to produce his own adult film and prove to the world that he’s man enough to be a Naughty Little Schnitzel.

Also included is a sample chapter from the sparkly parody, The Vampire Handbook.

Grab a FREE copy

Naughty Little Schnitzel

That Bear Ate My Pants! [Kindle Edition]

That Bear Ate My Pants! by Tony James Slater

There comes a time in every man’s life when he says to himself, “Holy Sh*t! I’m about to be eaten by a bear!”

Tony James Slater went to Ecuador, determined to become a man.
It never occurred to him that ‘or die trying’ might be an option...

The trouble with volunteering in a South American animal refuge is that everything wants a piece of you. And the trouble with being Tony, is that most of them got one.

Just how do you ‘look after’ something that’s trying it’s damnedest to kill you and eat you?
And how do you find love when you a) don’t speak the language, and b) are constantly covered in excrement and entrails?

If only he’d had some relevant experience. Other than owning a pet rabbit when he was nine. And if only he’d bought some travel insurance...

That Bear Ate My Pants is the hilarious tale of one man’s quest to better himself. Whether losing a machete fight with a tree, picking dead tarantulas out of a tank of live ones or sewing the head back on to a partially decapitated crocodile, Tony’s misadventures are ridiculous, unbelievable and always entertaining.

Long before Sky One got involved, there were already plenty of Idiots Abroad. This is the story of one of them...

That Bear Ate My Pants! - $2.99

Animal Farm: Centennial Edition [Paperback]

As ferociously fresh as it was more than a half century ago, this remarkable allegory of a downtrodden society of overworked, mistreated animals, and their quest to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality is one of the most scathing satires ever published. As we witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, we begin to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic organization; and in our most charismatic leaders, the souls of our cruelest oppressors.

Animal Farm: Centennial Edition

GEORGE ORWELL (1903-1950) was born in India and served with the Imperial Police in Burma before joining the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was the author of six novels as well as numerous essays and nonfiction works.

Kill The Trees - Is Print Dead?

First a link from the Indie King J.A. Konrath
Is Print Dead? by J.A. Konrath

I find this article a bit extreme and odd. Konrath says books are dead. Print is not dead! Paper will still be around. We can still kill the trees. By the way, trees are grown specifically for paper. We don't just go in to the rain forest and kill all of the trees. We are moving in a new direction with books. Ebooks are gaining popularity fast but the future will find a balance between print and digital.

Apolo Drakuvich is available as a paperback but I haven't sold any copies of it. Why? Perhaps I'm not well known. My guess is that it has to do with the price of the paperback. It costs more to print on paper, bind it and ship the book to a new home. The ebook version is only .99 and the book will last forever (or until the end of 2012 when the world ends)!!

So why not just go with digital books? Well, because people are still buying paper books. Just go to Barnes & Noble and you will see a book store filled with books.

But...what about Borders? Well borders went under do to bad business practices. There are still other book stores around with plenty of paper books being sold.

Print is far from dead.

The Help [Kindle Edition]

The Help [Kindle Edition]

Review

“The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a story that made me weep as I rejoiced for each of humanity’s small but steady triumphs over hate and fear. I will never forget this wonderful book.”
—Dorothea Benton Frank

“A magical novel. Heartbreaking and oh so true, the voices of these characters, their lives and struggles will stay with you long after you reluctantly come to the end.”
—Robert Hicks, New York Times– bestselling author of The Widow of the South

“I love The Help. Kathryn Stockett has given us glorious characters and a powerful, truth-filled story. Abilene, Minny and Skeeter, show that people from this troubled time came together despite their differences and that ordinary women can be heroic.”
—Jill Conner Browne, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Sweet Potato Queens series and resident of Jackson, MS

“Set in the rural South of the 1960's, THE HELP is a startling, resonant portrait of the intertwined lives of women on opposite sides of the racial divide. Stockett's many gifts – a keen eye for character, a wicked sense of humor, the perfect timing of a natural born storyteller – shine as she evokes a time and place when black women were expected to help raise white babies, and yet could not use the same bathroom as their employers. Her characters, both white and black, are so fully fleshed they practically breathe – no stock villains or pious heroines here. I'm becoming an evangelist for The Help. Don't miss this wise and astonishing debut.”
–Joshilyn Jackson, Bestselling author of Gods in Alabama

“A wonderful book. A compelling and comically poignant tale about three women, and a time and a place that is in many ways very much still with us.”
—Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize– winning playwright of Crimes of the Heart

“Lush, original, and poignant, Kathryn Stockett has written a wondrous novel. You will be swept away as they work, play, and love during a time when possibilities for women were few but their dreams of the future were limitless. A glorious read.”
—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of the Big Stone Gap series and Lucia, Lucia

“Full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it.”
— PW starred review

“This heartbreaking story is a stunning debut from a gifted talent.”
— Atlanta Journal

“It's graceful and real, a compulsively readable story of three women who watch the Mississippi ground shifting beneath their feet as the words of men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Bob Dylan pervade their genteel town. When folks at your book club wonder what to read next month, go on and pitch this wholly satisfying novel with confidence. A-“
— Entertainment Weekly

"[A] wise, poignant novel...You'll catch yourself cheering out loud."
—People Magazine (3.5 out of 4 stars)

"[A] story with heart and hope...A good old fashioned novel"
—New York Daily News

"This book was sitting on my desk and everyone kept coming in and when they’d see it they’d gush about it, “I love this book”. So I brought it home and it didn’t disappoint. It’s very much a book like you would imagine Oprah would pick for her book club. Set in the early sixties, it’s about female friendship and race relations and it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.”
—John Searles, The Today Show

Product Description

The wildly popular New York Times bestseller and reading group favorite.

Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who's always taken orders quietly, but lately she's unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She's full of ambition, but without a husband, she's considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town...

About the Author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. This is her first novel.

New reviews for Apolo

This is from a satisfied reader on Amazon.

5 Stars from "coveredforlife"
"He doesn't just spill all of the plot mechanics and details in the first chapter like so many amateur authors mistakenly do. He builds the story and the plot in a interesting and fun to read fashion. I can honestly say this book is worth both your time and money!"

This book may not be for everyone. Dystopian fiction and counter culture themes don't always sit well with people.

This is a portion of a 3 Star amazon review from F. Murrell
"This book is hard to describe. From the description I was expecting a crime novel or at least a memoir type book. But this book appears to be just the rambling thoughts of a drifter who can't decide how he wants his life to go. I finished the book and was still wondering what the whole point of the story was supposed to be."


More reviews can be read...here.

"well, i finished it"

I'm reposting this "review" because it just doesn't make much sense to me. The review isn't about my book.

---

This review is from: Chop Suey (A Darby Stansfield Thriller) (Kindle Edition)

well, i finished it, August 3, 2011 (3 Stars) - by seedlady

i'm not a teenage boy. i don't read teenage boy books. i'm pretty sure if i was an 18 year old boy i'd have liked this.

my review copy took a long time to get through. the idea is ok, but editing by 1000 cuts might have sharpened it up some. the premise didn't last nearly as long as the book did.

i give it a 3. you can dance to it.

----
This review really wasn't much help to me. The reader comments about editing but she can't seem to form a proper sentence or a rational thought herself. This was just a strange review.

George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle: (Kindle Ed.)

George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle: A Song of Ice and Fire Series: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows [Kindle Edition] by George R.R. Martin

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series has become, in many ways, the gold standard for modern epic fantasy. Martin—dubbed the "American Tolkien" by Time magazine—has created a world that is as rich and vital as any piece of historical fiction, set in an age of knights and chivalry and filled with a plethora of fascinating, multidimensional characters that you love, hate to love, or love to hate as they struggle for control of a divided kingdom. It is this very vitality that has led it to be adapted as the HBO miniseries “Game of Thrones.”

This bundle includes the following novels:
A GAME OF THRONES
A CLASH OF KINGS
A STORM OF SWORDS
A FEAST FOR CROWS

[Bargain eBook] Apolo Drakuvich by G.W. Jefferies

[Bargain eBook] Apolo Drakuvich by G.W. Jefferies

Apolo Drakuvich made it on the Pixel of Ink website! Thank you Pixel of Ink for the add!

Lizards and Mice....oh my!

I killed a lizard today. The little guy must have been taking a nap in my printer at work when I decided to print him out on my page. I think it was a dude but I couldn't tell. I just saw some sort of lizardly body remains and lots of blood smeared all over my paper.

I thought it was food remains or there was something wrong with the ink. Upon closer inspection I figured out it was a dead…something. Anyway, my point is...it was gross.

I've been having problems with mice in my house. Last Saturday evening, I awoke to hear a mouse munching away at my trash. There was a box of cheese crackers from like a year ago. Okay, let me stop here. I'm not that messy...I just forgot the box was under the night stand. Traps were set up and sightings of a mouse were found in the early mornings in the bathroom while I was taking care of business.

The mouse (just one at this point) had not been seen for days and none of the traps were set off. Finally, some dumb mouse walked across the kitchen floor last night. I threw some poison around the kitchen and outside of the house and ten minutes later a couple of mice were having a feast. I don't know how many creatures are living in the kitchen but I kept hearing a lot of noise last night. I don’t know...I just know I haven't had much sleep this past week and these mice...rat bastards must die....THEY....MUST.......DIE!!!!

An update to follow soon.

Survivor: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Survivor: A Novel [Kindle Edition] by Chuck Palahniuk

“A wild amphetamine ride through the vagaries of fame and the nature of belief.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Tender Branson—last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult—is dictating his life story into Flight 2039’s recorder. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child to an ultra-buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah. Unpredictable and unforgettable, Survivor is Chuck Palahniuk at his deadpan peak: a mesmerizing, unnerving, and hilarious satire on the wages of fame and the bedrock lunacy of the modern world.

From the Inside Flap

From the author of the cult sensation Fight Club (now a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter) comes Survivor.

"A turbo-charged, deliciously manic satire of contemporary American life." --Newsday

"The only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage," according to the "been there, done that" wisdom of Tender Branson, last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult. At the opening of Chuck Palahniuk's hilariously unnerving second novel, Tender is cruising on autopilot, 39,000 feet up, dictating the whole of his life story into Flight 2039's "black box" in the final moments before crashing into the vast Australian outback.

Not since Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night has there been as dark and telling a satire on the wages of fame and the bedrock lunacy of the modern world. Wickedly incisive and mesmerizing, Survivor is Chuck Palahniuk at his deadpan peak.

From the Back Cover

"Mordant...one's sympathy for the improbable, doomed hero is fully engaged." --The New Yorker

"A wild amphetamine ride through the vagaries of fame and the nature of belief."--The San Francisco Chronicle

"Convoluted, maniacally comic, partaking deeply of the America that streams towrd us in the dead of night from the cable channels--that place of outrageous expectation, slavish idolatry, fanatic consumerism, and mind-stopping banality." --Sven Birkerts, Esquire

About the Author

Chuck Palahniuk, the author of many novels including Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Diary, Lullaby, Choke, Pygmy, and Survivor, lives in the Pacific Northwest.

The Revolution: A Manifesto [Kindle Edition]

The Revolution: A Manifesto [Kindle Edition] by Ron Paul

Product Description

This Much Is True:
You Have Been Lied To.
The government is expanding.
Taxes are increasing.
More senseless wars are being planned.
Inflation is ballooning.
Our basic freedoms are disappearing.

The Founding Fathers didn't want any of this. In fact, they said so quite clearly in the Constitution of the United States of America. Unfortunately, that beautiful, ingenious, and revolutionary document is being ignored more and more in Washington. If we are to enjoy peace, freedom, and prosperity once again, we absolutely must return to the principles upon which America was founded. But finally, there is hope...

In THE REVOLUTION, Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has exposed the core truths behind everything threatening America, from the real reasons behind the collapse of the dollar and the looming financial crisis, to terrorism and the loss of our precious civil liberties. In this book, Ron Paul provides answers to questions that few even dare to ask.

Despite a media blackout, this septuagenarian physician-turned-congressman sparked a movement that has attracted a legion of young, dedicated, enthusiastic supporters . . . a phenomenon that has amazed veteran political observers and made more than one political rival envious. Candidates across America are already running as "Ron Paul Republicans."

"Dr. Paul cured my apathy," says a popular campaign sign. THE REVOLUTION may cure yours as well.

About the Author

Ron Paul, an eleven-term congressman from Texas, is the leading advocate of freedom in our nation's capital. He has devoted his political career to the defense of individual liberty, sound money, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Judge Andrew Napolitano calls him "the Thomas Jefferson of our day."

After serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s, Dr. Paul moved to Texas to begin a civilian medical practice, delivering over four thousand babies in his career as an obstetrician. He served in Congress from 1976 to 1984, and again from 1996 to the present. He and Carol Paul, his wife of fifty-one years, have five children, eighteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Ron Paul, the New York Post once wrote, is a politician who "cannot be bought by special interests."

Thunderhead: A Paranormal Romance of the Guardians of Man [Kindle Edition]

Thunderhead: A Paranormal Romance of the Guardians of Man [Kindle Edition] by Melissa A. Smith

Product Description

What if you did nothing more than fall in love?
What if they have the ability to make you give up?

A new year brings new friends and new adversaries to contend with. New challenges with old enemies. And all the while can they make it to the end? Can they stay together or will they finally be torn apart by the one Guardian who seeks to destroy them?

PRICE: 2.99

good advice

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
- Benjamin Franklin

Let's make a name.

Let's make a name. Help me create my full and complete author name. What do the letters G.W. stand for???













So far the names are...

Geronimo Weatherwax
Got Words
Grant Wilson
George Dubya
Gritty Winslow
Great Whatis
Gordon Wahanassatta

Feel free to vote on the names listed above and/or add your own name. You can have multiple votes...multiple names.

Follow the link...here.

Deadly Intent [Kindle Edition]

Deadly Intent [Kindle Edition]
by Laura Eno

Product Description

Death stalks the small town of Wood Park after a violent thunderstorm wreaks havoc on the population and drops a stranger in its midst. Police Chief Jonathon Brier chases after clues, always a step behind, as citizens become more irrational with tragic consequences.
When the town is abandoned to its fate with no hope of any outside help, Jonathon must figure out how to combat the evil presence that taunts him before time runs out for everyone.

About the Author

Laura Eno lives in Florida with a very tolerant husband, three skulking cats and two absurdly happy dogs. She has a pet from the Underworld named Jezebel and a skull called Mr. Fluffy who help her write novels late at night. Please visit her strange imagination at http://lauraeno.blogspot.com and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lauraeno

The book launch is today. :)


Price: 2.99

Choke: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Choke: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
by Chuck Palahniuk

Amazon.com Review

Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. All of these statements about the protagonist of Choke are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk.
"Art never comes from happiness." So says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich.

Thematically, this is pretty familiar Palahniuk territory. It would be a pity to disclose the surprises of the plot, but suffice it to say that what we have here is a little bit of Tom Robbins's Another Roadside Attraction, a little bit of Don DeLillo's The Day Room, and, well, a little bit of Fight Club. Just as with Fight Club and the other two novels under Palahniuk's belt, we get a smattering of gloriously unflinching sound bites, including this skeptical bit on prayer chains: "A spiritual pyramid scheme. As if you can gang up on God. Bully him around."

Whether this is the novel that will break Palahniuk into the mainstream is hard to say. For a fourth book, in fact, the ratio of iffy, "dude"-intensive dialogue to interesting and insightful passages is a little higher than we might wish. In the end, though, the author's nerve and daring pull the whole thing off--just barely. And what's next for Victor Mancini's creator? Leave the last word to him, declaring as he does in the final pages: "Maybe it's our job to invent something better.... What it's going to be, I don't know." --Bob Michaels

Product Description
Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him. When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.


From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Inside Flap
From the author of the international sensation Fight Club, a powerful (and hilarious) novel about love and strife between mothers and sons, the addictive power of sex, the terrors of aging, the ugly truth about historical theme parks, and much else...

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk's controversial and blazingly original debut novel, introduced a fresh and even renegade talent to American fiction, one who has retooled the classic black humor of Terry Southern and Kurt Vonnegut for the lunacy of the millennial age. In his new novel, Choke, he gives readers a vision of life and love and sex and mortality that is both chillingly brilliant and teeth-rattlingly funny.

Victor Mancini, a dropout from medical school, has devised a complicated scam to pay for his mother's elder care: Pretend to be choking on a piece of food in a restaurant and the person who "saves you" will feel responsible for the rest of his life. Multiply that a couple of hundred times and you generate a healthy flow of checks, week in, week out. Between fake choking gigs, Victor works at Colonial Dunsboro with a motley group of losers and stoners trapped in 1734, cruises sex addiction groups for action ("You put twenty sexaholics around a table night after night and don't be surprised."), and visits his mother, whose anarchic streak made his childhood a mad whirl and whose Alzheimer's disease now hides what may be the startling truth about his (possibly divine?) parentage. An antihero for our deranging times, Victor's whole existence is a struggle to wrest an identity from overwhelming forces. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.

From the Back Cover
Praise for Chuck Palahniuk:

"Palahniuk is one of the freshest, most intriguing voices to appear in a long time. He rearranges Vonnegut's sly humor, DeLillo's mordant social analysis, and Pynchon's antic surrealism (or is it R. Crumb's?) into a gleaming puzzle palace all his own."
--Newsday

"Palahniuk displays a Swiftian gift for satire, as well as a knack for crafting mesmerizing sentences that loom with stark, prickly prose and repetitive rhythms."
--San Francisco Examiner

"Even I can't write this well."
--Thom Jones

"Palahniuk's language is urgent and tense, touched with psychopathic brilliance, his images dead-on accurate....[He] is an author who makes full use of the alchemical powers of fiction to synthesize a universe that mirrors our own fiction as a way of illuminating the world without obliterating its complexity."
--L.A. Weekly

"Maybe our generation has found its Don DeLillo."
--Bret Easton Ellis

About the Author
Chuck Palahniuk's three novels are the bestselling Fight Club, which was made into a film by director David Fincher, Survivor, and Invisible Monsters. Portions of Choke have appeared in Playboy, and his nonfiction work has been published by Gear, Black Book, The Stranger, and the Los Angeles Times. He lives in Portland, Oregon.


PRICE: 11.99

Deceitful Moon (The Second Manny Williams Thriller) [Kindle Edition]

Deceitful Moon (The Second Manny Williams Thriller) [Kindle Edition]

Detective Manny Williams and his partner, Sophie Lee, are called to the scene of a disturbing and gruesome murder at Lansing’s local adult playhouse, the White Kitty. The circumstances surrounding the ex-con’s murder rocket deeper into the bizarre as the forensic evidence reveals more questions than answers.
As he begins his investigation, Manny is interrupted by a phone call that shakes his world. His nemesis, serial killer Dr. Fredrick Argyle, has killed again, and sent the evidence to prove it. Argyle’s heinous actions force Manny and Sophie back to the Caribbean. All the while, the body count rises in his city.
Two serial killers. Each threatening to change his life forever. One succeeds.

(This is the second Manny Williams Thriller)

---

My thoughts: If it were me...I would change the blurb and the cover. However, this book is ranked #11 in the kindle store...so what do I know??

Oh yeah...Price: .99

Slave Auction [Kindle Edition]

Slave Auction [Kindle Edition]

Product Description
Included in the short story collection Trouble Down South and Other Stories, Slave Auction, a 7753-word short story, will bring you to tears as you learn the fate of Horatio, a four-year-old slave boy who is sold from the arms of his mother in this tearjerker of a story.

Customer Review

Slave Auction - No! It can't end there! I must know how Horatio (cool name) is going to fare! I want to see if Norris is going to take advantage of Aunt Virginny! What about Uncle Joe!'s feelings? And what about Clareene? Ack! I MUST know!!! *Ahem* Uh... sorry for my outburst... but it was such a good story! Love the writing style! Epic

Price: .99

Jack Wallen's books

Jack's a cool dude and one heck of a writer. I've always enjoyed his blog which has a lot of good info about his books and the publishing world. Check out his blog and his books.

About the Author
Jack Wallen has been many things during his adult life. Among those many things, Jack has been an actor, hair stylist, computer engineer, bike mechanic, radio personality, and of course a writer. Over the past decade Jack has written thousands of technical articles (mostly about the Linux operating system), theatrical scripts for young audiences, as well as thriller, horror, and other forms of fiction. Jack now concentrates on horror, thriller, and fantasy fiction. Jack lives with his incredibly wonderful wife, three step-children, and six (count 'em...six) cats! For his inspiration to begin reading and writing, Jack thanks the ever-incredible Clive Barker for words that words can not describe.

BLOG - Get Jack'd: http://monkeypantz.net/
Amazon Author Page for Book Links