Rachel Thompson

Lara Nance – Why Book Covers are So Important

Book covers help convey the story as much as your blurb. Those are the two things most readers have to consider when deciding to purchase a book or not. Make sure your cover relays the flavor and genre of your story and imparts some element of the tale that whets the reader’s appetite to learn more.

Don’t offer something with the cover that isn’t fulfilled in the story. For instance, don’t put half naked people on the cover in a hot embrace if the book is a sweet romance…and vice versa. Readers will be angry and they will tell you about it, too. Usually in the form of a bad review.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Paranormal Romance

Rating – R

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Lara Nance on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.laranance.com/

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More Than Magic: Snow Bound ~ Elizabeth Kirke

 
More than Magic Swag Giveaway
 
Chat live with Urban Fantasy author Elizabeth Kirke 
Twitter TODAY at 11 AM EST
use hashtag: #SnowBound
 
 
After learning how to use magic and fighting vampires, anyone would be bored going back to normal college life. Worst of all, Jen misses the friends she made over the summer. Naturally, Jen is all too happy to accept an invitation to go skiing with the gang during winter break.

She gears up for two weeks of snow, magic, and fun. Just when everything seems to be going great, an uninvited guest turns up. Soon the skiers aren’t the only things going downhill. Jen thought that vampires were just about the most dangerous thing the magical world could throw at her. Unfortunately, she’s about to learn that people with no magic at all can be just as deadly...

Buy the Book at Amazon
 
Enter to win a More than Magic Swag Pack:
Signed paperback of Semester Abroad (More than Magic #1)
Limited Edition More than Magic Calendar (filled with exclusive trivia)
2 signed bookmarks
$25 Amazon Gift Card
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by Anchor Group Publishing

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Orangeberry Book Tours – March Specials & On-going Giveaways

OB-MARCH-SPECIALS

All special offers are valid on a first come first serve basis until Sunday, 31st March 2013.

OB Power Pack

ALL 3 (THREE) of the Orangeberry packages listed below for only $50

1. ORANGEBERRY PAINT THE TOWN is a 15-day book tour. It consists of 10 blog stops, 2 Twitter Views and 2 Twitter Blasts. (Usual price is $50.00)

2. ORANGEBERRY SPREAD ME sees to it that you and your book receive long-term exposure on the web with 5 blog stops in 5 weeks. (Usual price is $30.00)

3. ORANGEBERRY BOOK OF THE DAY is a sweet tool if you want your book to appear on the same day on at least 50 different blogs. (Usual price is $49.99)

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1.Upon sign-up you will receive a starter kit with more details about your guest posts and interview questions.

2. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

Next available date - We will need at least three weeks to finalise your book tour.

Strawberry cake

ORANGEBERRY SPREAD ME sees to it that you and your book receive long-term exposure on the web.

What will you receive? 20 blogs will feature your book over 20 weeks.

What will it cost you? It will cost you $50.00 for 20 blog stops (20 weeks)

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1.Upon sign-up you will receive a starter kit with more details.

2. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

Next available date - We will need at least three weeks to finalise your book tour.

ORANGEBERRY PHOENIX

ORANGEBERRY PHOENIX is a 30-day virtual book tour that offers you and your book an extremely sweet spot at some high traffic blogs.

How will you benefit? - You’ll have the opportunity to share your thoughts, be interviewed, receive book reviews and daily social media presence.

What will it cost you? Special offer for March 2013 – Promoting your NaNoWriMo book or if you are a female author (in conjunction with International Women’s Day)  the Phoenix tour will cost you $75.00 (Usual price is $100.00)

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1.Upon sign-up you will receive a starter kit with more details about your guest posts and interview questions.

2. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

Next available date – We will need three weeks to finalise your book tour.

Terms & Conditions

*Any sponsorship received from your book tour or the other options listed on the Orangeberry website is NOT refundable.

*We have the right to reject any sponsorship or book tour request for which you will receive a full refund.

*All tours & promos need to be booked at least 3 to 4 weeks in advance. Any tour or promo booked with less than this lead time cannot be guaranteed the number of stops quoted on this page.

Ongoing Giveaways

(click ON image)

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Orangeberry Blast Off - Lessons from the Lemonade Stand by James Berman

Lessons from the Lemonade Stand explains investing, stocks and bonds, risk, diversification, commodities, and other sometimes mystifying topics in the context of that most classic of all American businesses: the corner lemonade stand.

Rooted in the fundamental truth that common sense is the best investment tool, this book slices important concepts into simple sections, sweetening them with folksy, easy-to-read language.

The trials and tribulations of lemonade stand owner Lucinda highlight every concept from interest rates to retirement accounts to leverage. Readers learn investment basics as they follow Lucinda Lemonade Inc. along its sweet (and sometimes sour) journey as a start-up, from the squeeze of the first lemon to its initial private equity deal and its eventual foray into tech, all in the tidy town of Lemonville.

Lessons from the Lemonade Stand simplifies investment concepts without watering them down. A stock, for example, is not defined in financial gibberish but for what it truly is: a slice of the business that entitles the stockholder to a little drop of every dollar Lucinda Lemonade Inc. earns.

The book introduces ten simple Lemonade Laws:
1) Every topic in the investment world can be broken down to the basic concept of supply and demand.
2) If someone claims an investment is risk-free, run the other way.
3) Bigger returns mean bigger risks.
4) Hedging may help, but there’s always a cost to it.
5) As Warren Buffett says, “If you’re smart, you don’t need leverage; if you’re dumb, it’ll ruin you.”
6) You may not be able to count on your stocks, but you can always count on your taxes.
7) By the time you invest in a foreign country, it shouldn’t be foreign to you.
8) Owning a home is (still) the best investment of all.
9) Investing without work is gambling: treat the market like roulette, and you’ll land on zero.
10) Counterintuition, not intuition, is the investor’s best friend.
Entertaining and fun, Lessons from the Lemonade Stand supplies readers with the ingredients they need to become savvy investors.

“By abstracting out the ‘hard’ stuff about investing and focusing on the most simple of businesses, Berman (a finance prof at NYU and an investment advisor) is able to gradually introduce more complicated concepts without overwhelming the reader with jargon. Really, Lessons from the Lemonade Stand encompasses much of an introductory finance curriculum in book form that reads, well, more like a book of fiction than one on investing.”

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Business & Investing

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with James Berman on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.lessonsfromlemonade.com/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Orangeberry Book of the Day – 44 Holistic Tips For Peaceful Sleep by Keri Nola

44-Holistic-Tips2-200x300

In this book, Author and Holistic Psychotherapist, Keri Nola, offers a collection of 44 diverse, holistic tips, tricks, and techniques that support you in discovering and relieving the environmental, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical and energetic influences keeping you from peaceful sleep.

Are you tired of tossing and turning, struggling with unfulfilling sleep?

Have you tried everything you can think of to help yourself get a good night’s rest with no success?

If you are ready to empower your sleep cycle with simple, easy to implement ideas, this book will be the resource guide you return to night after night to get the rest you deserve and desire.

44 Holistic Tips For Peaceful Sleep will benefit people who:

-appreciate natural remedies for resolving sleep challenges
-have difficulty falling asleep
-have difficulty staying asleep
-experience restless sleep
-feel tired upon waking
-have low energy at points during the day
-fear bedtime because of a history of sleep difficulties
-have difficulty relaxing the mind at bedtime
-have difficulty relaxing the body at bedtime

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Self-Help

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Keri Nola on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.pathtogrowth.com/

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Rachel Thompson – 10 Things I Wish I Knew

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before

by Rachel Thompson

When I first started writing my author blog (about four and a half years ago), I had NO idea the extent of marketing I would have to do once I published my first book.

Now that I’m three books in (all bestsellers), I’ve developed a system that works for me. It’s not brain surgery, it’s not impossible, but it is hard work.

And it all starts with having an author platform.

Lots of people have written about author platforms; but back then, I had no comprehension of what that meant (and while I have a fairly extensive sales and marketing background, publishing was all new to me).
So what is an author platform and how can knowing this help you? I’m drawing on my own experiences, what I’ve read and learned, as well as the business clients who do what I recommend.

Let’s deconstruct.

The primary components of any platform include:

  • Social Media
  • Website
  • Blog
  • Ads
  • Digital copy.

I’ll break down each one with an additional tip on how I do things.

  1. Social Media: Everyone knows you have to be on (at the very least), Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. That’s kind of a given. What people don’t tell you is that you need a Facebook page, separate from your personal Facebook account (however you can manage it from there). Why? Facebook personal accounts (where you ‘friend’ people) were not created for selling. Also, they limit you to 5,000 friends, which sounds like a lot, but once you get more well-known? Not so much.
  2. Success: For the best chance at success, be sure to not go into social media thinking, ‘Hey this is awesome! I’m just gonna link to my own books all the time, in every share, message, and tweet!’ Not only will people unfollow/unfriend you, it’s also extremely counterproductive to doing any actual selling. Tip: Use keywords that connect to your subject/genre. Glean articles from the Net and share those. RT/share others. Be generous in supporting people. Add visual formats like YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. And above all else, have a presence on G+. Google owns it. Google is the largest search engine in the world. You do the math.
  3. Website: I had NO idea until I finally convinced myself to switch from blogger to WordPress.org that my SEO/SMO was in the tank. Why does this matter? Paying someone (not a lot) to optimize my site (and then coaching me on how to do it) has made a huge difference in my Google ranking and Alexa.com score. What does that mean? I’m more visible, more exposed (in a good way!), and I’ve made it easier for people to find me.
  4. Optimization: It’s okay if you don’t understand what it means. Hire someone who does. I truly had no clue how important it was to optimize my site or what all was involved. I’m grateful to @SugarBeatBC for her knowledge and patient help.
  5. Blog: A natural extension of any author is your blog. Again, use your keywords to come up with subjects or a theme to your writing, and update your blog at least once per week. Google’s algorithms look at how fresh your content is. If you don’t post often, your ranking goes down. Boo.
  6. Topics: Confused on what to blog about? Find blogs you really like, and see what their focus is. Write about what you know. Share excerpts from your book(s). Have guests (remember, be generous?). Tip: post on the weekend for more comments, during the week for more shares (Source: Dan Zarrella).
  7. Ads: Many authors don’t want to tangle with the beast that is Google AdWords. I didn’t either! I tried to learn many times but looking at cost per keyword makes me think of algebra class and hey, writer here. Math is NOT my forte. So I make my husband do it. Ha! (In fact, he’s become so proficient at doing AdWords, he hung up his shingle at The AdWords Guy, and helps other authors learn, or manages their campaigns for them.)
  8. Keywords: Yes, again. Even if you don’t get how AdWords works, at least you can use their Keyword Tool to run your words through (ie, I use relationships, grief, loss, love, romance, etc.). It’s free and fairly easy to use.
  9. eBook or Digital Copy: Is it really necessary to have an eBook version of your book? In a word: duh. Of course it is! Report vary, but anywhere from 50-70% of all books purchased over the last year were in eBook format; of those, 50% were purchased from Amazon.

(People are still somewhat confused about this. You CAN purchase eBooks from Amazon without a Kindle. All you need to do is download their free apps for smartphone, computer, tablet, or cloud. It’s SO easy! Even Nook readers can read Amazon books (not on their Nook of course. Barnes and Noble isn’t stupid.), but from the free apps.)

10) Embrace Technology: No matter what your personal opinions are about eBooks, digital content is our future – right now. As baby boomers age, purchases made from home have skyrocketed. Younger people have become used to the instant gratification from gaming and social media, which makes eBooks perfect for your younger demographic.

Okay, that’s it! Almost every single one of these points I learned during the process of publishing or after. I hope they help you to be successful but remember, first and foremost, write a terrific book first!

Check out my books on Amazon: A Walk In The Snark, Mancode: Exposed, and my latest, Broken Pieces. Find me on Twitter at @RachelintheOC or my business @BadRedheadMedia. Look up the same names on G+, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. I’m everywhere!

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – NonFiction

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Rachel Thompson on Twitter & Facebook

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Orangeberry Book of the Day - Rogue Alliance - Michelle Bellon

 

 

Rogue Alliance - Michelle Bellon

Trying to escape a horrific past, Shyla has immersed herself in life as a tough, sassy cop in the bustle of LA. When the case of a lifetime takes her back to her hometown of Redding, she is thrown into a world of organised crime, deceit, and bitter reminders of her childhood.
As Shyla’s path crosses that of Brennan, an unwitting and troubled sidekick to the ringleader she’s intent on taking down, she is forced to re-evaluate everything she believes about herself, her job, and what she knows about right and wrong.
Can she face the demons of her upbringing and learn to trust again? Her life will depend on it.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller, Romantic Suspense

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with  on Facebook and Twitter

Website http://www.michellebellon.com/

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