Challenge Your Reading: Ebook Challenge

Now this is a reading challenge I think I can participate in since I've been reading ebooks more than print books now that I have a kindle. I could use an ipod touch for next to nothing (if someone knows where I might get one please let me know). Anyway - check out the different reading challenges on the page - E :)

Challenge Your Reading: Ebook Challenge: Host: Workaday Reads Goal: read ebooks Minimum Requirement: 5 ebooks Restrictons: none 2012 sign up

Book Review Friday - Haunted Destiny: A Midnight Dragonfly by Ellie James

amazon's description: Teenage mystic Rachelle Dugas knows to expect the unexpected when she fills in for a friend leading a Haunted New Orleans tour. But when she decides to check out a haunted house on her own, nothing prepares her for the secrets lurking in the shadows—or the twist of destiny about to unfold.

Anything related to butterflies or dragonflies, I'll give a chance. I also got this as a free download, so even better. Doesn't hurt to get something for $0.00, and something as well-written as "Haunted Destiny". I loved the setting of this story - New Orleans. I've not been to New Orleans but I felt like I was right there exploring with Rachelle or guiding the tour right beside her. Rachelle takes over the tour for one night due to her friend being injured. It also has been raining all day and some of the tourists felt that the tour would be cancelled. Rachelle knows all the places to highlight and does so with the expertise gifted to her. Of course, her mystic powers show her things she's not sure she wants to see or that she doesn't understand the meaning of until she gets caught in a bit of a downpour and all the tourists have left. When she enters the one house, not by the usual means of front door being opened, she finds that her dreams were more foretelling of her destiny than of anyone else's.

This is a very short story but a very delightful read. I recommend "Haunted Destiny" to everyone unless you don't like tales of fate or ghost stories (only kidding). I rate it a 4.5 stars.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 194 KB
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (November 23, 2011)
Sold by: Macmillan
Language: English
ASIN: B005T54NWC
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Find more on Ellie James here.

Writers On The Move: Self-Publishing: A Three Step Primer

A simplistic view of self-publishing - E :)

Writers On The Move: Self-Publishing: A Three Step Primer: The world of publishing is changing dramatically.  Every day it seems, there are new options on how to publish your book, and many of thes...

Priscilla the Great's book giveaway

My friend, Sybil Nelson, one-third of the SC Author Connection and author of the Priscilla the Great series, is giving away 100 ebook copies of her book, just for following her blog. Check it out and if you like what you see, how about following her. I told her since I already have copies of the first three books, I would let someone else have my copy, so really that is 101 followers that she needs. She is up to 74 right now, so she is very close. See ya'll over there - E :)

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY YOUNG WRITERS WRITING QUESTION (WWYWWQ)

From a student in Mr. Hughes' sixth grade class - How do you write onomatopoeia?

While working with Mr. Hughes' sixth grade class during writing time today, one of the students asked how she would write onomatopoeia - like the sound of a doorbell or things like that. Being the resident author for the class, Mr. Hughes threw the question my way. I've seen it written several ways, ALL CAPS or italicized usually with an exclamation mark following. I answered the young lady by saying that italics were frowned upon or using them extensively, so told her to put them in all caps. While they were working on their writing projects, I decided to do a little research. This is what I found, specifically the section about italics, number 5.

I did share this with Mr. Hughes and while I was reading it, I tried to think of an example of when I had used onomatopoeia in my writing. It came to me - in my short story "The Proposal". I start out with frogs ribbitting. Italicized and an exclamation point following. Ribbit! Ribbit!

Now you know the answer to the question. If it is at the beginning of the sentence, it would be capitalized or if it stands alone like I did and italicized. If it is within a sentence structure, you would italicize the "sound". An example they gave was like machine gun firing - you would write it as rat-a-tat-tat.

So how do you write onomatopoeia in your stories? Mrs. E :)

If you teach a writing class or have a writing club and would like your students' questions answered, please forward them to me at eeldering (at) gmail (dot) com. It's okay to send several questions at a time as I will be doing a "Wednesday Weekly Young Writers Writing Question" posting every week. I will not use students' names, but if you give me their initials, I can do that as well as the teacher's name (example E.E. in Mr. Hughes' class ask: ...) that is how my postings will go.

Keep checking my blog weekly for a new question and response. E :)

Followers = Readers?

Does this statement ring true for every author's blog you follow?

Do you follow blogs because you actually read them or the author's works? Do you follow blogs just to follow blogs?

Part of the strategy of having blogs is to build a web presence and to gain readers for your books. Authors should have blogs which are constantly changing as well as a website, which doesn't need to be updated as often but still needs to be updated, especially if you have new books, works in progress, and things that aren't going anywhere for the rest of your life.

In my social networks - FB, twitter, plurk and my two blogs/websites (one is for my JGDS series only and the other is for all my other writing plus family and life in general) - I have over 1000 followers combined (may be even closer to 2000 but this was my closest guestimate). By all accounts, I should have some pretty consistent page visits on my blogs. I don't. My book sales are next to nothing for everything I have published, but I'm at a loss. How do you increase sales? How do you get more followers to be readers of your books? This is a dilemma that has me perplexed.

This year I'm making some changes to my blogging schedule and hopefully will pick up more followers, which hopefully will mean more readers of my books/stories. I will do a Book Review Friday, every Friday throughout the year except for the month of July and probably the month of December. The last week of the month on Monday and Wednesday, I will have guest bloggers (and the schedule is still open as I've put a call out to librarians, teachers and authors but have had no responses yet, other than the two for February) and then will post announcements and writing related information on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be open for reposting things of interest to my readers from other blogs, so there may be several postings on one day if I feel there are postings from several other blogs I follow and read consistently that may be of interest to my readers. Hopefully by being a more consistent and almost daily blogger, I will draw in more followers and thereby more readers of my stories.

So I ask you the reader, why are you following my blogs and other blogs that you follow? Do you actually buy or borrow the author's books and read them? What is it that has attracted you to that person's blog? Feedback encouraged and welcomed. - E :)

Tomorrow, find out what book reviews have to do with readers and followers over on the Writers on the Move blog. They are all connected and shouldn't be exclusive of one another since writers need reviews as well as readers. E :)

Heather Paye

In case some of you aren't following my illustrator, Heather Paye, here is her newest posting and it's chock full of some great things going on. She is offering an e-course on creating in-depth characters for the low price of only $5. What's better than that low price is her "free" advantage. If you are one of the first ten persons to register for the course (using her code as specified in her post), you can get in for free. I hope you all take advantage of this and will support my illustrator, such an ambitious young person. - E :)

Cluster Map/Visits/Comments

Since putting up my cluster map Saturday and it is still early in the day Tuesday, I've had 42 visitors from varying places. As you can see from the totals below, visitors from the United States marginally win (so far), but I ask you - why are people from Russia, Malaysia, and some other countries I've never heard of visiting my page? If I have so many visitors in just three short days, why do I not have more followers on my blogs? It would seem if people are visiting, the least they could do is leave a comment and let me know they like certain posts or they have something to say about something I've posted (I like to think I have something of interest to offer and that's why I have a few followers).



Current Country Totals From 7 Jan 2012 to 10 Jan 2012.

United States (US) 22
(California (CA) - 6, Minnesota (MN) - 4, Massachusetts (MA) - 2, Illinois (IL) - 1, Michigan (MI) - 1, Washington (WA) - 1, New York (NY) - 1, Colorado (CO) - 1, Texas (TX) - 1, Georgia (GA) - 1, South Carolina (SC) - 1, North Carolina (NC) - 1, Florida (FL) - 1)

Germany (DE) 3
Sachsen 1
Thuringen 1
Baden-Wurttemberg 1
France (FR) 2
Ile-de-France 2
United Kingdom (GB) 2
Cambridgeshire 1
Hampshire 1
Russian Federation (RU) 2
Murmansk 1
Saint Petersburg City 1
Canada (CA) 2
Ontario (ON) 2
Spain (ES) 2
Madrid 2
Denmark (DK) 1
Syddanmark 1
Colombia (CO) 1
Valle del Cauca 1
Cambodia (KH) 1
Phnum Penh 1
Philippines (PH) 1
Manila 1
Brazil (BR) 1
Rio de Janeiro 1
Taiwan (TW) 1
T'ai-pei 1
Malaysia (MY) 1


So how do visitors to my blogs and comments translate into sales? Stop by tomorrow for a posting about "Followers = Readers?" which will segue way to my posting on the Writers on the Move blog Thursday.

As always, I encourage my readers/followers to leave comments and if you come by the blog accidentally, then please follow my blog. I really need followers. Thanks - see you all in the postings - E :)

Book Covers

I have a new cover! Psych! - lol. I guess that dates me. Back when I was in high school, we would say "Psych" when we faked out someone. I was really hoping to have a new cover for "Bride-and-Seek" by now to share with you all but I don't. I'm patiently waiting, trying not to push Heather too much since I know I'm not her only client and that she is getting ready to start back to school soon. I have a really clear vision of what I want the cover to look like but whether or not I've conveyed that to Heather is another question. I do know that once she gives me a first cover, if it isn't exactly what I had in mind, she will take my suggestions and go back to the drawing board and rework it until my vision comes to fruition.

Finally Home - mock up full cover first version

Finally Home - full cover final version

Case in point, Finally Home was originally the attic scene with the mirror and Kelly sort of looking to the mirror. I loved the mirror, wasn't too crazy about the attic, sent Heaher some pictures and a bit more description of what I pictured in my mind and she sent me back what is now gracing my book.

"The Proposal" - front cover - only and final version

"The Proposal" actually came to me almost perfect. I don't recall making any changes or asking that something be changed because it was just right for the story. I did have to change one little section in the story to fit the cover but it was a minor change; sometimes that does happen too.

"The Tulip Kiss" - front cover final version

"The Tulip Kiss" is another case in that the first one she sent me I loved everything about it save for the way the wording was getting washed out and the tulip was overpowering color wise. On the fourth attempt, she sent me now what is displayed on all the sites where the ebook is available.

So I have no doubt that when Heather sends me "Bride-and-Seek" it will either be almost perfect (there is always room for some improvement in everything) and what I pictured or it may need tweaking, so as soon as I've got a cover, I can then turn around and share with you all as well as get the story published on Kindle, Nook and Smashwords. Having the "just right cover" for your story is very important. I'm very thankful to have a talented young lady like Heather who is willing to work with me and create some very exquisite and eye-catching covers. Keep up the good work, Heather. See you all in the postings - E :)

Writers On The Move: Got Rhythm?

This is a great article by Heidi Thomas and something I could have used a couple of months ago when I did my writing session for the teachers, but I did touch on this a bit. Hopefully more teachers can use this advice when teaching writing to their students - E :)

Writers On The Move: Got Rhythm?: What does writing have to do with music? When you are in the revision and self-editing mode with your Work In Progress (WIP), it is helpful...

Writers On The Move: Forget Resolutions Go For Real SolutionsH- have ...

A different way to look at "resolutions" - using acrosting poems to come up with your goals and these are goals for all writers - in every aspect - E :)

Writers On The Move: Forget Resolutions Go For Real Solutions

H- have ...: Forget Resolutions Go For Real Solutions H- have faith in your abilities A- advertise and market P-post positive, handwritten no...

YA Authors You've Never Heard Of: Young Writers Conferences

I hope some of the young writers will take advantage of this and check out some of the conferences geared specifically for you. I'm going to look into them and see about being a presenter - E :)

YA Authors You've Never Heard Of: Young Writers Conferences: I've mentioned the sessions on writing nonhumans and aliens I present at young writers conferences before ( here ), but, since I'm writing t...

Book Review Friday - To Tell The Truth by Faye M. Tollison

My first book review of the new year. All books reviewed the first few months will be what I've read since receiving my Kindle last March. I have a list of books that will probably take me through at least nine months, plus all the books I'm reading this year all in my different collections. I'm reading mysteries, YA and thrillers and a little bit of everything in between. Hope you enjoy the Book Review Fridays, and hope it brings you a new list of things to read.

(SNEAK PREVIEW: In February, I will be reviewing Leslie Dubois' books and she will be a guest blogger the last Monday in February. She and one other author will be sharing a vendor booth with me at the SCASL conference in March and so I want to feature many of her books leading up to the event. She is a phenomenal writer and amazes me how diversified she is. Stay tuned for more on her.)

TO TELL THE TRUTH by Faye M. Tollison
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating: 4-1/2 stars

SYNOPSIS: Anna Kacey had faced many difficulties in her life and had carried some heavy responsibilities. When she met Senator Kenneth Levall, her world soared. At least until it collapsed. Until that fateful day when the gun she held fired, and the senator fell on the floor at her feet and died. Undercover cop, Detective John Mentz, came into her life and fell deeply in love with Anna. He gave her reason to question her relationship with the senator, whom he was investigating for drug trafficking. But as strong a woman as Anna was, she had to dig deep to find the strength to endure what followed: the murder of her sister, the destruction of her life, and lastly facing a courtroom full of people, a judge, and a jury in an effort to save the man she really loved. He had confessed to the murder of the senator in order to protect Anna from being charged with murder. It was now time for her to stand up and To Tell the Truth.

My Review: I saw this story from beginning to end. I even had a hand in editing it. This story had at one time been submitted to Harlequin Mystery or Suspense line (I've forgotten the exact name of the line) and Faye was told the story needed to be longer or that it wasn't a good fit. I really was hoping someone would pick the story up because it is a good story. The suspense is going through the trials and tribulation with Anna and John and really coming to root for them. Anna is a strong character and I believe this is because Faye really did know her well, like a real person whom she had known all her life.

The romance that starts between John and Anna is distant and is still in the budding stages, but that is okay, the romantic feelings do get rekindled in the next story in the series. If you like hot and steamy romance, this is not the book for you. If you like finding out what's going to happen next and a book that keeps you turning the pages to do just that, then this is the book for you.

To Tell The Truth is available in print and on the Kindle. It is part of the KDP Select program so is available to Prime members for free as part of the lending program.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Faye M. Tollison is a member of Sisters In Crime and has published a short story in Petigru Review, the anthology published by the South Carolina Writers Workshop, as well as numerous critiques in Printed Matters, the newletter published by the Greenville Chapter of the SCWW. She has been writing for many years and has now become serious enough to publish her first book. She has loved writing this book and is now working on her second book, The Bible Murders.

Book Clubs

Sunday night or Monday morning of this week, I thought about adding some discussion questions to my website for Finally Home. Why, you ask? So hopefully a book club will pick up my book and add to their calendar. My friend and author, Faye Tollison, was recently invited to come speak at a local book club in her neighborhood to discuss her book To Tell The Truth. Coming up with the discussion questions is a bit harder than expected. With my state books, it was easy to come up with the discussion questions and include them at the back of the book because everything is based on clues in the books - the study guide uses this technique to take some of the clues a bit further as deeper discussion questions or research projects. With my generalized fiction and this being my only other print book, discussion questions are really needed if the book is being used for a book club reading.

I'm looking at a new way to make folks aware of my stories and I hope that book clubs will be one of the ways. If you are interested in having Finally Home as a book club read, please let me know and I will offer a discount on books ordered directly from me and they will be signed copies. Drop me an email at eeldering@gmail.com with the subject "Finally Home book club" and how many books you need, when you need them by and if you would like me to visit your book club.

I've started a new story, tentatively titled Imogene - Innocense Lost and this one will have discussion questions because I just feel that there is a place for this story in a book club at some time in the future. I will keep you updated on the progress of that story as it happens. The main goal the first two weeks of January is to get as many of the four state stories to be published this year written. Then I will work on Imogene and keep you updated to her progress. If you would like more information on the state stories, please stop by the JGDS blog or the JGDS website and see what's available and what's coming up.

Workaday Reads: 2012 Self-Published Reading Challenge Sign-up

Here is another reading challenge and this is a good one - too bad I didn't know about this one last year - I would have read at least 25 and probably more by indie authors; oh well, hindsight is 20/20. This came to by way of Priscilla over at Prissy Fit. Stop by and see what it's about - E :)

Workaday Reads: 2012 Self-Published Reading Challenge Sign-up: I'm jumping right into challenge hosting next year, and adding a second challenge to my blog, that way there is a challenge to match each...

YA Historical Fiction Challenge

Here's a challenge for all of you out there who read historical fiction, specifically YA historical fiction. This came in my email this morning from Ren over at All By Myshelf.

This is a 3-level challenge of 5, 10 or 15 books. So easy enough since most of us voracious readers are reading at least a book a week - so shouldn't be a problem meeting the low level of books required to meet this challenge. Good luck to all who participate. Make sure you stop by the YA Bliss blog and sign up for the challenge (click the title of this posting to be taken directly to challenge blog).

Karen Cioffi's Writing and Marketing ebook Extravaganza

If you are a writer, a published author or just starting on your journey and are thinking about writing, here are some ebooks available to help you on your way. Karen Cioffi, the creator of the Writers on the Move blog and group is offering a plethora of information. Please stop by her sites and check out what she has to offer. - E :)



2012 Writing and Marketing eBook Extravaganza
by Karen Cioffi

To start the New Year with a BANG, from January 1st through February 28, 2012, Karen Cioffi is offering all her writing and marketing e-books (purchased directly from her site(s) using the Paypal SHOPPING CART) for $1.19 each. This will also include any new titles added within that time period.

Yes, that’s right, only $1.19 for each of these titles:

How to Write Books for Children: Writing, Publishing, and Marketing Children’s Books (nominated in the 2011 Global eBooks Awards – over 100 pages)

Editing Books Like a Pro: Self-Editing for Books and Articles

How to Create an eBook and Its Many Uses

Writing, Publishing, and Marketing – You Can Do It!

How to Start a Freelance Writing Business

How to Attract Customers With Informational Marketing

Learn How to Create and Sell Information Products From Your Own Site

New titles to be coming some time in 2012 include:
Webinar Marketing: Create and Present Your Own Webinars
Book Marketing: DIY Virtual Book Tours From Start to Finish
Book Marketing: Soup to Nuts
Marketing Information Products

If you’re reading this you’re probably an author or writer, and it’s no doubt you know how important it is to stay on top of your writing and marketing game, and the above e-books will help you do just that.

For only $1.19 each, get all seven titles for under $10.

Click on the links above to review what each book has to offer – each landing page will have a shopping cart on January 1st, for your convenience. Be sure to use the Shopping Cart Paypal Buy Button, otherwise you’ll pay full price.

For a complete ONE page list (with brief descriptions of each ebook) go here.


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About the author: Karen Cioffi:
Learn about writing and marketing with Karen Cioffi at here. Sign up for her free newsletter, A Writer’s World, and get TWO free site-related e-books for subscribing, and ONE more just for stopping by.

Babies, Books, and Signs: A-Z Challenge 2012

Here's another reading challenge. I'll keep posting them as I get them but that doesn't mean I'm participating in all of them. Pick and choose which ones you would like to participate in. This one seems easy enough but it will be difficult finding books starting with X, Y and Z - good luck if you decide to take this challenge - E :)

Babies, Books, and Signs: A-Z Challenge 2012: Attn: I apologize to all of those who already signed up in the previous linky, but it was deleted. I didn't realize that linkytools is now a...

Writers On The Move: Book Marketing: 20 Strategies to Broaden Your Reac...

For all you authors out there looking for some new marketing strategies - how about stopping by and see what Karen Cioffi has to offer and stop by Tuesday for a special offer that Karen is running through the end of February. See you in the postings - E :)

Writers On The Move: Book Marketing: 20 Strategies to Broaden Your Reac...: It's here! January 1st, 2012, and along with wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year , I have 20 book marketing tips you can use ...

Writing, Blogging and Sales Goals

With the new year upon us, I have come up with some goals for writing, blogging and sales. I have decided to forego the usual resolutions this year and set goals. My long-term goal is to be able to only work part-time or not at all on my now full-time job by the year 2015. That goal had originally been set for June of 2013, at the time my youngest would graduate but I don't feel at this time that this is an attainable goal. In other words, I need to have books supporting me instead of me supporting them in order to quit my job or cut back to part-time hours. So I have set the following goals for both my JGDS series (you can check out the JGDS blot here or the JGDS website here for more information) as well as my other writings:

1. Blog at least twice a week. (CORRECTED SCHEDULE)
(Blogging schedule will be something like this:
Mondays and Thursdays - Writing announcements and other info.
Tuesdays - open or repostings or linking back to other's blog postings of interest
Wednesdays - special postings from students (Wednesday Weekly Young Writers Writing Questions (WWYWWQ) - I will try to answer students' questions about the writing process or problems they encounter during their writing class, writing club or just in general to their personal writing.
Fourth Monday and Wednesday of month - Guest posts
Fridays - Book reviews

2. Have guest bloggers at least twice a month as well as appear on other's blogs throughout the year - (I'm scheduled to be on Barbara Ehrentreu's blog on the 26th of this month; will have a promotional post for Karen Cioffi up on the 3rd of January and am trying to have Leslie Dubois author of Ain't No Sunshine guest in February, who will also be an exhibitor with me at the SCASL conference in March. I'm trying to schedule the other who will be at the SCASL with Leslie (aka Sybil Nelson author of the Priscilla the Great series) author, Sarah Renee for February as well. This will be a bit trickier since I'm late on schedulding guests for January but hopefully starting in February I will have at least two guests a month.) Schedule will be guests the last week of the month, Monday and Wednesday, and I'll have librarians, teachers, YA and children's authors (hopefully).

3. Hold more contests to hopefully draw in readers and boost sales.

4. Write the next four state stories in the first three weeks of January (clear the table of what will be coming out for the year)

5. Write something every day - whether it be 15 minutes or an hour, but I will write every day. (I started a new story on Friday, December 30th, that I'm anxious to see where it goes, so that may be something I'll work through and possibly publish later this year).

6. Do whatever it takes to have consistent monthly sales of 15 of each title available. (This number seems low but considering my sales goals last year for the 10 titles available were extremely low, this is jumping point. I'd really like to see 25 of each title sell each month but I don't want to be disappointed too much when I don't meet my sales goal. The biggest problem with my numbers is that I can't accurately gauge my total sales since two of my books are still under 4RV Publishing and won't come out of contract until May of this year and June of next year, so the only sales I can depend on right now with those two titles are actual in-person/email/paypal sales directly through me. I'm hoping by having my QR codes available at live events for instant availability of the stories will help boost the sales some as well as offering a giveaway related to the book if purchase is made from the QR code at the event.)


I was shooting for five goals but ended up with six. This will be a start to the year and in six months, I can always re-evaluate and see where I need to make changes or adjustments.

What are some of your writing goals/challenges this year? Leave a comment and be entered for an ebook version of one of my non-state books - "The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), "The Tulip Kiss", "Bride-and-Seek" (available soon), or "Butterfly Halves" (available soon). Comments made through the middle of January will go in the random drawing. The more individuals who comment, the more drawings I'll do - up to 4 total. See you in the postings - E :)