I Write Like ...

According to the site, I write like

I write like
Harry Harrison

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

. I've never heard of him. This was analyzed on a story I just started today, but I'm going to throw a couple more pieces in there to analyze and see who I really write like.

The first two chapters of Finally Home gave me this result:

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

and this is funny in that I've never read anything written by the man. I wonder what it will say for my other stories or my state stories - lol.

For "The Proposal", I write like

I write like
Lewis Carroll

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

now that is really interesting; would have never thought this was similar to Alice in Wonderland writing style.

"The Tulip Kiss" is written like

I write like
Douglas Adams

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

- another writer I've not heard of or read so couldn't really say I write like him or not. His most notable work is The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy which I have heard of but not read.

Okay for a state story: State of Successes has me writing like - Douglas Adams again - guess I should take that as a compliment. Someone I can relate some of my writing to. Guess I should read the Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide ... to see if my writing really is like his. Enough playing around, must return to work. Thanks to one of my plurk buddies for sharing this site. - E :)

January giveaways in exchange for reviews

I was going to post this on LibraryThing but it wouldn't let me post, so I'm going to post as a blog on both my blogs. I will start taking requests January 2. I hope that all the librarians and teachers out there will take advantage of this. This is the same message on both blogs, sorry but the message needs to be out there so that I can hopefully get some reviews and some sales.


JANUARY GIVEAWAY POST
I have six titles in my state series available for review as well as three other titles available. I will offer 100 copies of each title in exchange for reviews.

The state series is geared for 3rd through 5th grade level, would make a great supplement to a US History social studies curriculum or an individual state social studies. Each book comes with its own study guide which supplements the book and should not be used without first reading the book or it makes no sense. The books are written like a handheld game that gives the kids clues (facts and trivia) about a state and the readers and characters have to guess the state being described. Each book is one state and all the clues will pertain to that specific state. There are bonus clues highlighting one of five US territories (Washington DC, US Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and US Samoan Islands) as well as discussion questions. The study guide takes some of the clues in the book and turns them into deeper discussion questions or research projects, either a science project or map/math skills project or social studies project or ELA project, and then there are bonus things like secret message puzzles (state motto is the secret message), a craft idea (based on clues but not in every study guide - only as the clues are fitting), and a trivia game that is designed to show that the students or child read the book.

Titles available are State of Wilderness (ID), State of Quarries (AR), State of Reservations (OK), State of Successes (SC), State of Heights (CO), and State of Nature (WY). I will send a PDF file to the 100 persons requesting any of the titles available. You can request more than one.

My other titles include Finally Home (a YA paranormal mystery), The Proposal (an April Fools Day Story, a humorous romance ebook), and The Tulip Kiss (a paranormal romance). Available in January will be Bride-and-Seek (a paranormal romance ebook) and Butterfly Halves (a YA fantasy ebook). Again, I will take 100 requests for the three titles available in exchange for reviews.

Please email me at eeldering (at) gmail (dot) com and put "free books in exchange for review" in the subject line. In the body of the email please list the titles you would like to review or if you want all of them, just say All books.

This promotion will be valid for the month of January only. Once the 100 requests per title have been met, no other requests will be taken. I may offer this later in the year, but it will depend on the success of the first "free books in exchange for reviews" campaign. - E :)

Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal mystery ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal mystery ebook (coming in Janaury)
"Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook (coming in January)
Elysabeth's other blog
Elysabeth's non-JGDS writing website

Ma America, The Travelin' Maven
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series and "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story and predecessor to the JGDS, state series)
Where will the adventure take you next?
JGDS blog
JGDS website

6 Degrees Reading Challenge

I found out about this challenge from Priscilla the Great's blog who found it on Ren's All By Myshelf blog. The challenge sounds pretty cool. I've signed up but haven't picked out my books yet. Getting books connected is the biggest challenge. For the complete challenge and rules, please drop by Ren's blog and see if this is something you would be interested in. If so, I'd appreciate it if you would link back to my blog as well as Ren's blog (like I did with how I found the challenge - first on Priscilla the Great's blog, taking me to Ren's blog). Happy reading - let the challenge begin - E :)

(Example of connected books from Ren's blog):

Make a list of at least 6 books, connected by similar themes, covers, characters, etc. Just make sure the books have unique connections. In other words, you can't just read 6 books that have similar covers, or all have a character named Amy. Here's an example (part of my 2011 list):

Lockdown
{based in a prison}
Incarceron
{arranged marriage}
Matched
{scheduled deaths}
The Giver
{drowning victim}
Generation Dead
{undead character}
Once Dead, Twice Shy

You get the picture.

PUTTING WORDS DOWN ON PAPER: Upcoming 2012 Education Wants to Be Free Classes

A few writing courses my fellow authors may be interested - stop on by and check out the deals comings up - E :)


PUTTING WORDS DOWN ON PAPER: Upcoming 2012 Education Wants to Be Free Classes: Four new courses are being offered at Education Wants to Be Free  in February 2012. They are: Write Your Novel YOUR Way in 100 Days. ...

Writers On The Move: RESUSCITATING YOUR CHARACTER

Interesting article about bringing your characters to life by my friend and author, Faye Tollison, author of To Tell The Truth. Stop by and check it out - E :)

Writers On The Move: RESUSCITATING YOUR CHARACTER: To Tell the Truth , my first novel, started with a character, and from that character a story began to develop. I wrote the whole story diss...

Romancing the Genres: FAIR SALES--FOR THE BIRDS?

A little insight in doing a Holiday Fair where books are not the main component of the fair or festival - posted by our local Sisters in Crime chapter president, Linda Lovely. The other two people mentioned are also members of the local Sisters in Crime chapter - and all the books are great reads, although I haven't read Ellis's yet but I have read a book by her. Come have a peek and see if this rings true for you - E :)

Romancing the Genres: FAIR SALES--FOR THE BIRDS?: Fair Selling—For the Birds? The three-day Holiday Fair in Greenville, SC, attracts substantial crowds, people who buy all manner of Chris...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Wishing you and your family a blessed, joyous, Merry Christmas and happy holidays whichever you celebrate. As you travel this holiday season, stay safe and return here in the new year for some special deals and possibly some contests. Also, please don't forget to follow the JGDS blog for new releases and contests. See you in the new year - E :)

24 hours left

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I hope you all have your Christmas shopping done. There are only 24 hours left in the Finally Home half-price Christmas sale with it ending at noon tomorrow. Get your copy today or buy a copy and gift it to someone you know who would enjoy a story written in the Nancy Drew mysteries style. Here are the QR codes to get your copy today.

Finally Home QR code Kindle edition:

Finally Home QR code Nook edition:

3 Days left!!!

Only 3 days left in the Finally Home half-price Christmas Sale for Kindle and Nook. Don't forget to pick up your copy today or give a copy as a gift. Both Nook and Kindle now allow you to gift ebooks to someone else. Here are the QR codes to the direct buy links for Finally Home:

Finally Home Kindle edition:

Finally Home Nook edition:

QR codes

What is a QR code? Defined it is a quick response (QR) 2-D code for instant access to an indefinite amount of information. They can be used for anything from a way to enter contests to direct links to buy merchandise and everything in between. I've created QR codes for my ebooks' direct buying links, which I'll be placing on the back of my printed covers for my display when I'm doing events. I'll also print up some business cards to hand out for each of the covers that are available as ebooks. I'm hoping this will boost my sales. I would love to see more folks requesting kindlegraphs for ebooks they purchase or books they brought from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble or even my createspace pages, but I guess that will come in due time.

To make your own QR codes, there are many places to generate them from but this is the one I used. I also created a business card QR code with this website. You can create a number of different links. Try it out for yourself.

The business card didn't work so I will work on how to get that to work and post at a later date.


Here are the QR codes for the three books available as ebooks:

Finally Home QR for Kindle:

Finally Home QR for Nook:

"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story) QR for Kindle:

"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story) QR for Nook:

"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance QR for Kindle:

"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance QR for Nook:

If they don't work for you all, please let me know. See you all in the postings - E :)

Writers On The Move: Setting Writing Goals for 2012...How are Your Goal...

Writers On The Move: Setting Writing Goals for 2012...How are Your Goal...: Writing takes planning and implementing, reviewing and revising. In nursing we learn to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate for a patien...

Terri has some very informative information here. I will probably post my 2012 goals on this blog (Elysabeth's Emerald City) next week, once I've had a chance to sit down and really think about what it is I want to or need to accomplish next year. Please stop by and comment if you are a writer and need some guidance on goal setting. - See you all in the postings - E :)

Finally Home Kindle and Nook half-price sale is on

Finally Home is now half price on Kindle and Nook (regular price $3.99; now $1.99). Download your copy soon because this price won't stay up for long. I will return the Kindle and Nook to regular price about noon on December 24. Nook now has egifting so you can purchase a copy and give as a gift to a friend's Nook; Kindle has already had the option of making your purchases gifts. So give a book to someone you know who likes reading something written like a Nancy Drew mystery.

If you do get either a Kindle or Nook copy or you gift a copy to someone and you would like me to send them a personalized message and e-signature, make sure you stop by kindlegraph and request your free kindlegraph or have the person receiving the gift request a kindlegraph.

Also, remember print copies are on sale for $10 with free shipping anywhere in the United States and shipping to be calculated for sales outside the United States at the time of purchase. Print copies can only be ordered via email (eeldering @ gmail . com - no spaces) with the subject of "Finally Home sale". I sign all my print books that I send out, so if you are ordering this as a belated gift, please indicate in the body of the email to whom to make the book and where to send (if outside the United States so shipping can be calculated). I will send you an email directing you on payment. Books will be sent out after Christmas so they should arrive to you or the person you are giving to before Januar 1st but no later than the following week.

Writers On The Move: The Writer’s Block – tips for smashing through you...

Writers On The Move: The Writer’s Block – tips for smashing through you...: Writers are writers because they write.  Sounds simple enough, but the reality is they write because they can’t not write.  It begins in ma...

Some interesting points to help writers - E :)

Writers On The Move: Have You Considered Writing Greeting Card or Fille...

Writers On The Move: Have You Considered Writing Greeting Card or Fille...: As authors, we struggle to balance writing time, marketing time, and family life with paying the bills and bringing in adequate income. Have...

For all you poets out there - this might be an avenue for you to explore - E :)

Following blogs versus Subscribing by email and following comments

I have both a follow this blog (for blogger users) and a subscribe by email on both my blogs. I have very few folks who have signed up to receive emails of my blog postings. I have even fewer folks who comment on my blogs.

My questions to you are this: Why does one follow a blog? When you do just a follow, how often do you actually read what is posted on that blog? If you subscribe to follow via email, why? When you get the emails, do you make a note and come over and comment occasionally? When you do leave a comment on a blog, even if you are not following the blog at the moment but just got there by way of a forum or other means, do you subscribe to receive the followup comments via email? If not, why not? Are you not interested in learning what other folks have to say on the topic you have commented on? Do you not want to be involved in conversations that may arise from those comments?

What are your reasons for clicking on the "follow this blog" or subscribe via email? What are reasons you leave comments on a blog posting and do you continue to follow the comments? When you leave a comment, do you also include a signature line? If you are a published author and don't include one, why not? Isn't visibility the reason for being on blogs and leaving comments? Don't you want to drive potential new readers to your sites?

Here are some of my thoughts on the topic: When I follow a blog because there is no email subscription, I am less likely to read the blog very often. I try to follow blogs that are of interest to me, my writing/marketing/et cetera or of folks that are in groups or forums I belong to. If I subscribe by email or the RSS feed (which I don't too many of those because that means I still have to go an extra step to find out what's new with that person), I get the notifications and I can see what's new. I check my email first thing every morning and do what I call "slogging" before going to work. This process includes scanning the email notifications, filing them in their respective folders and if warranted, leaving a comment on the blog. Sometimes the topic is of interest but I don't have time to leave a comment that particular day but I mark those emails and will go back to them and go to the blog to comment when I have a few minutes. (My slogging also includes checking out all my sites (websites and book sites) for how many page views or visits I've had or how many sales I may have had (not as many as I would like) and doing my socializing. I belong to plurk and post the TDIH (This Day In History) plurks as well as the daily birthday (most of my friends on that network are teachers or librarians and from there I have participated now in several Skype visits with various grades during a writing time or lunch time for a writers' club). I've set my plurk to go to my FB page and my twitter account so I'm actually posting on three accounts by plurking every day. I like plurk but sometimes get caught spending too much time answering plurks, posting new plurks, et cetera.) When I leave a comment, I try to make sure I click the box that says "be notified of followup comments via email" or click the subscribe by email link or whatever is available; some blogs don't offer this option. My feeling on this is that I've taken time to comment on the blog and am interested in the topic and therefore, am interested in knowing what others feel or have to say on the topic. I also have a signature line I put at the end of all my comments. I use the following signature line, and depending on the blog I'm commenting on, will reverse the order my two different personas are listed.

Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Homea, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal romance ebook (coming soon)
"Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook (coming soon)
http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com
http://eeldering.weebly.com

Ma America, The Travelin' Maven
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series and "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story, predecessor to the 50-state series)
Where will the adventure take you next?
http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://jgdsseries.weebly.com

Of late I've left off the JGDS part of the signature and I've not included the two ebooks that aren't published yet in the first part, but I do try to make sure I put my website and blog so that I can hopefully gain a few more readers. I've found many a new, interesting blogs from following the comments or checking out some of the other persons' profiles from the comments. Obviously when responding to comments on my own blog, I leave the signature line off because the person who commented has already found my blog - lol.

If I'm promoting my state series, I may leave off the generic writing information and just do the JGDS info on my signature, but either way, I leave a signature with the hopes of driving traffic either to my websites or my blogs or both.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. Why do you follow blogs? Do you subscribe to follow via email? Do you get the followup comments via email? If not, why do you even leave a comment? What drives you to check out other people's blogs from comments?

Leave a comment and be entered in the drawing for a free ebook of one of my published short stories. Remember to at least leave your email addy in the comment so that I can contact you if you have won. I will run this until the end of December (December 30th) with the random drawing to be done on December 31st. If more than 25 persons comment, I will do two drawings - your choice of one of the ebook published short stories (by the end of December the other two should be published unless Bride-and-Seek wins the contest it is currently in). See you all in the postings - E :)

The Chick Friends Rules - Freshman Year by Vici Howard

The Chick Friends Rules - Freshman Year by Vici Howard

Stop by and find out about this new series by another blogger friend of mine, Vici Howard. Enter for a chance to win a copy on the website - See you all in the postings - E :)

A Holiday Gift from Writers on the Move

As our appreciation gift to our readers and followers and those who are just now finding Writers on the Move, we have put together a holiday gift ebook for you. The contributers to the Writers on the Move blog have collected some writing and marketing tips to present to you in this ebook. We really do appreciate your continued support and we hope you will follow us in the new year. If you would like more on what the group has to offer, you can stop by the Writers on the Move blog and follow the postings via email. Please also check back often for new workshops/webinars that we will be presenting. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. May all your wishes come true.

The Tulip Kiss is up

I shared the cover with you all last week. I've posted the story on Kindle and Smashwords with the Nook version to come as soon as I have the cover sized for the Nook (apparently has to be different pixels compared to the smashwords and kindle version. It is only 99 cents.

Don't forget to stop by my kindlegraph page and request your free kindlegraph. E :)

CHRISTMAS SALE - one week only!

My Christmas present to all my faithful followers and readers is that for the week starting December 17 and ending December 24, Finally Home will be half price for Kindle and Nook readers (regularly priced at $3.99, now $1.99). Ebook copies can be e-signed via kindlegraph. Merry Christmas and enjoy.

For print copies of "Finally Home", through email orders (eeldering at gmail dot com) only, copies will be priced at $10 and that will include shipping, this is a $3 savings plus the cost of shipping saved. Print copies will be autographed and sent anywhere in the United States. Merry Christmas and hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday season. - E :)

Writers On The Move: Revision – What Works for Me

Writers On The Move: Revision – What Works for Me: Whoever said revision is what makes your book is, in my view, correct. I like to write the book quickly. I do plan the plot first, but I ...

I posted a revision posting last month - so come check out the differences between the two writers - E :)

Writers On The Move: To Splice or Not to Splice

Writers On The Move: To Splice or Not to Splice: I recently edited a manuscript that was rife with sentences combined with the word “then.” Like this one: She pulled the lever, allowing the...

This is great advice, especiallys for teachers teaching writing to students. In Mr. Hughes' class, we basically tell the students not to use the word "then" because their story tends to become a grocery list of events instead of showing the reader what the story is really about - hope you stop by and leave Heidi a comment - E :)

Writers On The Move: Find your passion.

Writers On The Move: Find your passion.: It seems that, as humans, we can’t help but compare ourselves to others.   His plots are so well constructed Her character development i...

Stop by for a few words of encouragement and leave a comment - happy posting - E ;)

Writers On The Move: Is your Novel Attractive to Reading Groups/Clubs?

Writers On The Move: Is your Novel Attractive to Reading Groups/Clubs?: There are as many types of book clubs as there are people to belong to them. When setting up a book club, one should keep in mind one's tar...

This has me now thinking about book clubs for my newest release, Finally Home. What do you all think about this? Leave a comment - E :)

The Tulip Kiss - new cover

Some of you may remember when this story was first published as it was the first place winner in Echelon Press's Fast and Frigid contest in January of 2007 as an ebook only. Since the story was unpublished about June of 2007, I've just been letting it sit for a bit, not really thinking of republishing myself. These past few months, I took on revisions/rewrites of Finally Home and decided it was time to put out a few of my old stories as well (hopefully boosting sales for all my stories out there). I've already republished "The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story) as an ebook and now with a new cover for "The Tulip Kiss" will be putting this out in the next few days.

Below are the two covers of "The Tulip Kiss" for comparison (the new cover first, the previously published cover which was done by Karen at Echelon Press) and the cover for "The Proposal". All my covers done from June of 2010 through the present (to include State of Wilderness (the reprint version), State of Successes, State of Heights, State of Nature, "Train of Clues", State of Acceleration (to be published the first part of 2012), Finally Home, "The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), and "The Tulip Kiss") are by Heather C. Paye and her work can be found here. Check her out if you are in need of a cover or any type of graphic design work. She is young and aspires to one day work for Disney/Pixar and with her talents and the portfolio she is building I believe she will end up with them. I can't say enough good things about Heather's work because she is such a wonderful young lady to work with that words can't do everything she does justice. I will let my covers speak for themselves.

The Tulip Kiss - 2011 version

The Tulip Kiss - 2007 version

The Proposal - released 2011 as an ebook - available on kindle, nook and smashwords


For the State of ... covers, please visit the JGDS website and click the "books in the series" tab.

Be on the lookout for a special sale the week before Christmas; details will be posted next week. E :)

Finally Home review

My first review for Finally Home - check it out here. Thank you Ms. Faye for the great review. Anyone else who has done a review and would like me to share, please let me know. Thanks - E :)

Finally Home - 1 week stats

Finally Home was officially released last Thursday (Thanksgiving day) morning as both a print and ebook. It is available on smashwords, kindle and nook as well as on amazon.com and createspace in print. As of 12/01/2011 the following stats are what I've seen: Smashwords' views = 24, sales = 0; Nook views = ?, sales = 2; ranking = 247,000 (not exact but I don't remember what the number was); kindle views = ?, sales = 0; no ranking on amazon as I've not had any sales and no sales from any source showing on my createspace account. This is disheartening to say the least since I've been posting for quite a while now that Finally Home would be released soon and I've spent the last two months (maybe a few more than that) talking about this book.

So I'm thinking I need to follow suit with Sybil Nelson (aka Leslie Dubois, author of YA novels with a dark edge to them), Author of the Priscilla the Great series, in her posting from either 11/30 or 12/01 and that is "take the McDonald's approach" to marketing. Sybil states in her posting (you can view the full article here), and I'm paraphrasing here, that everywhere you go you can see McDonald's ads, billboards or even McDonald's themselves. So why not as an author take the same approach? Obviously McDonald's is a billion or trillion dollar company and can afford to place ads everywhere (and those 30-second spots aren't cheap nor are the billboard placements) to make sure their name is out there, so some of the marketing approach for authors wouldn't be cost-effective or even feesible since we are in general poor and need other jobs to supplement our writing, but why not do some marketing that gets your name out there.

It isn't enough to just blog every once in a while or update a website every once in a while but we as authors have to stay in the limelight so to speak; we need to place "ads" everywhere to get known.

Within the next 2 weeks or so, I will be re-releasing three more stories that have been previously published and have placed in various contests, winning small monetary awards and other prizes. I've decided that after the first of the year, once I can get back on track with my state series (for more on the JGDS series, please visit the JGDS blog or the JGDS website) that I'm going to do a major marketing campaign.

I've done a few Skype visits with classes other than Mr. Hughes' to help with some writing aspects (one in Indiana for the Lunchtime Writers' Club and one in Washington state during NaNoWriMo) but that isn't enough. Hopefully, my marketing campaign will help some other writers as well.

I need to start seeing my books taking a turn because my job is getting frustrating and I would love to start traveling to all the states within the next couple of years or so (before I get too old to really enjoy the travels). I had set a goal to have my state stories supporting me by 2013 but that doesn't look like it is going to happen. I may have to move that goal to 2015 and by then I should have at least half of the states published along with my five other stories, oops - six (forgot about a children's story I will probably ebook publish too).

I'd like to know what some other authors out there are doing marketing wise. I also would like to see half the followings of some of my fellow authors (I still only have less than 100 folks following this blog with only a handful, less than a dozen, actually subscribing to receive the blog notices in their emails. I have half the number of followers on my JGDS site as I do on this site, which means I'm not reaching the audiences like I need to, so any suggestions from my fellow friends and authors on how to reach more people would be greatly appreciated.

I follow over 1000 blogs but don't read all of them on a daily basis and I comment on blogs that I've signed up for the email postings a good bit of time; I leave my links in my signatures on most places (some of them won't accept the comment with hyperlinks so I have to just hope that folks are stopping by my websites on those blogs) and yet I hardly see any traffic on my blogs or websites. I wonder how many of those 1000 blogs I follow actually take time to read their comments and respond back to the commenters or even check out the blogs or websites of the persons who leave comments on their blogs. I wonder how many folks who comment on blogs take the time to actually look at other commenters' blogs and websites. The answer is probably less than a dozen or so.

Vici Howard is running her 1-year marketing plan here. Of course, you can always follow Sybil's postings here. If you know of any other authors who have a marketing campaign going on and would like to share, please leave a comment with the link to that person's blog or website.

I definitely would love to hear from you all and hope you will spread the word to your friends. Let them know about some upcoming authors who are trying to get their name out there. E :)