Review: Rabbit's Feet - Trista M. Borgwardt

I have to admit that this genre of book isn’t my typical reading material; however, Rabbit’s Feet by Trista M. Borgwardt had me hooked from the very beginning. In the opening chapter the reader will be introduced to the two of the main characters: Eric and Tempie; I found the characters likeable and the relationship between them was believable.

Sarah and Tom, the best friends of Eric and Tempie also play a major role in the early this book and I enjoyed the interactions between the two couples as they reminded me of my teenage/ pre- college days.

In many ways, Tempie’s life seems perfect, but then as the book develops, it becomes increasingly complex. First there are the dreams and the nightmares, and then the news that her friend Andaya has been attacked. Next comes the news that Tempie’s Mom has been involved in a serious accident and her life is hanging by a thread; Tempie soon becomes aware of other strange occurrences in her day-to-day life.

Following the tragic news, Tempie leaves behind her idyllic life in Hawaii and moves to South Dakota to live with her grandmother. In South Dakota, Tempie finds her life taking a sinister turn, and it soon becomes a battle for life or death.

From the dialogue, I got the distinct impression that the book was aimed at older teenagers/young adults. However, I found the book engrossing and easy to read, and I have to admit to being quite a bit older than the book’s target market.

Trista M. Borgwardt has managed to create an intriguing, compelling vampire story, which will keep the reader gripped right to the end, while every twist and turn is guaranteed to entice the reader to want to know more. 

Vampires, good pacing, action, and a love story; this book has got the lot. Rabbit’s Feet makes an excellent read no matter your age and it’s perfect for some early evening or Sunday afternoon escapism.

Rabbit's Feet is part of a series, so look out for the next book when it becomes available.

Rabbit's Feet is available in Kindle format:

http://www.amazon.com/Rabbits-Feet-Trista-Borgwardt-ebook/dp/B00BNVNOCG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1388876248&sr=8-3&keywords=rabbit%27s+feet

You might also like to read:

http://writingandpublishingonline.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/rabbits-feet-trista-borgwardt.html

Amazon announce this year's best selling books

Amazon has announced the top twenty best-selling books for 2013. Once again, it has been a great year for James Patterson and lawyer-turned-author John Grisham can celebrate a place in Amazon's best selling books of the year as well. James Patterson had three books in the top ten: Alex Cross Run, 12th of Never, and Second Honeymoon.

There are many other familiar names in the top ten, including Harlen Coben, Lee Child, Jodi Picoult, Stephen King and Dan Brown/

Amazon's  top twenty adult books for 2013 looks like this:

1.		Inferno by Dan Brown					11.		Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson
2.		And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini					12.		Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
3.		The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith					13.		12th of Never by James Patterson
4.		The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty					14.		Damaged: The Ferro Family by H.M. Ward
5.		Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg					15.		Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O’Reilly
6.		The Hit by David Baldacci					16.		Second Honeymoon by James Patterson
7.		Sycamore Row by John Grisham					17.		Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts
8.		Entwined with You by Sylvia Day					18.		The Billionaire’s Obsession: The Complete Collection by J.S. Scott
9.		Never Go Back by Lee Child					19.		Surrender Your Love by J.C. Reed
10.		The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult					20.		Six Years by Harlan Coben

And the top twenty childrens/teens books looks like this:

1.		Allegiant by Veronica Roth					11.		A Quest of Heroes by Morgan Rice
2.		The House of Hades by Rick Riordan					12.		The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore
3.		Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney					13.		The Day the Crayons Quitby Drew Daywalt
4.		Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans by Rush Limbaugh					14.		A March of Kings by Morgan Rice
5.		Never Too Far by Abbi Glines					15.		The Grimm Diaries Prequels volume 1-6 by Cameron Jace
6.		Out of Breath by Rebecca Donovan					16.		The Elite by Kiera Cass
7.		Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare					17.		A Feast of Dragons by Morgan Rice
8.		Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines					18.		Dork Diaries 6: Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker by Rachel Renée Russell
9.		Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines					19.		Confessions: The Private School Murders by James Patterson
10.		The Son of Sobek by Rick Riordan					20.		Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Which book is your favourite for 2013? Leave a comment or write a review and see it featured on this blog.

FREE BOOK NOVEMBER 11TH AND 12TH!! title - Kill Daddy *

Trauma from the past becomes a part of who you are. It weighs down on the present, suffocating life and preventing you from healing and moving on. If you continue to carry this baggage around long enough, you will eventually become who you are not. Believe in the essential goodness of your true self, however, and you will accept the past, but let go of the burden and finally become the real you. This is the story of one man's struggle to accept the past and move on before it destroys everything he is and could ever hope to be. In desperation Gerry flees society to save his sanity and ends up in the remote villages of East Africa. Midst the poverty, he encounters hope and more love than he could imagine. Will it be enough to save him? Can he repair the damage done to him in his childhood or will his abusers win in the end?

I was inspired to write Kill Daddy after I returned from my roller coaster ride In Kenya and Uganda where I spent almost 2 years living with the local people.Everyone was asking me-What is Africa like? I couldn't sum it up into an adequate enough reply. Then as I began writing about the journey I realized I was leaving out an important part of the story, which was- Why did I go there in the first place? Writing about myself and exposing myself to you all is honest but a little difficult. However, if I am to inspire and connect with people and find those who can identify with my journey, then I believe that writing is like art and must come from the heart.

The book has already received some good 5 STAR reviews, so far, from complete strangers and serious reviewers. *Courtesy of Gerry Aldridge Find the book at

: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FQQBV2O/

Kindle MatchBook

Amazon is offering writers the chance to make more money from their books with Kindle MatchBook. Kindle MatchBook offers buyers the opportunity to buy the Kindle version of a book at the same time that they purchase a printed book - something that should help writers increase their sales.

The new programme began in early September; since the launch more than 700,000 sellers have signed up.If a writer has their work published on Amazon, they can visit the site and see which of their books qualify for the MatchBook promotion.

In a press release, Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content., said:

“It’s been great to see the positive response to MatchBook from both readers and publishers.”

“MatchBook enrollment has grown from 10,000 to 70,000 titles in just a few weeks and we expect it will keep expanding rapidly in the months ahead.”

As detailed in the press release, the features of Kindle MatchBook include:

• Kindle editions at a great price: Amazon customers who purchase or have purchased qualifying print books can get the Kindle edition for prices that are $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free.
• For book purchases dating back to 1995: Print purchases all the way back to 1995—when Amazon first opened its online bookstore—will qualify once a publisher enrolls a title in Kindle MatchBook.
• Easy discovery: Readers can easily look up their entire print book order history to discover which of their past purchases are enrolled in Kindle MatchBook.
• Popular Kindle-only features: As with regular purchases, Kindle MatchBook titles have unique features such as Whispersync, Popular Highlights and X-Ray.
• Read anywhere capabilities: In addition to Amazon’s best-selling Kindle devices, customers can download a free Kindle reading app for iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and phones, PC or Mac and start building their Kindle library today.

My first book

It has taken me forever, but now I finally have a copy of my debut novel in my hand. It still needs some formatting before it can go up for sale, and then I am going to have to wait and see where my book writing journey takes me.

The novel is called Then he left me and will be available via Createspace and Amazon to begin with. The book will be available in both paperback as a Kindle download.

Other the coming months, I am going to have to learn an awful lot about book promotion, but I am willing to learn and will share everything on here.

If anyone reading this has any tips on book promotion that they would like to share then please feel free to contact me on jane.fazackarley@gmail.com

Amazon's Kindle Singles

I received an email on Friday afternoon from Amazon about Kindle Singles. Kindle Singles has been running in the US for awhile now and was introduced to the UK last year.

Kindle Singles has taken over from Amazon Shorts and gives writers a platform to publish their short stories, essays, news articles etc.

Kindle Singles can be written by new or established writers; Stephen King has made the headlines recently for publishing his gun essay on the singles format. Amazon states that Singles have to be 5,000 - 30,000 words long.

Any writer who wants to contribute has to submit their Kindle book to kindle-singles@amazon.com. If the work is yet to be published, the writers have to send a manuscript or pitch to the same email address.

Kindle Singles will go through a submission process first before being published and writers can expect to hear from Amazon within four weeks.

Books will be made available via Kindle Direct Publishing and will need to be priced at £0.99 - £1.99. More information is available here.

Jennifer Crystal Johnson gives tips about publishing on Kindle

A few days ago I wrote about Jennifer-Crystal Johnson's new book  co-written with N. Jones called If you're human don't open the door which has recently been published on Amazon's Kindle.

With Amazon announcing that Kindle books are now outselling physical books, and given that Kindle is a free and assessable resource that can be used by anyone wishing to self-publish their own work, I thought that some advice on publishing on Kindle would be useful to readers of this blog, I emailed Jennifer and asked if she had any advice for people considering publishing on Kindle. Here are a few tips from Jennifer on formatting for Kindle:

 "As far as having advice on self-publishing for the Kindle, I would say that the most important aspects of having a professional eBook out are editing and formatting. Word can be tricky to do formatting with because it adds so much unnecessary html into the document that it gets to be pretty confusing for the Kindle to display quickly; for example, if you have something in bold and then take the bold formatting off, the html will keep the tags in front of the word or phrase but it won't show up bold. I get pretty OCD with that kind of stuff because I went to college for website design, so looking at html and having it appear messy is a "thing" for me."

"Since the Kindle only has one font face, if I want to make a title appear in a specific font style, I save it as an image and then put that into the document as a title. You can do this with opening paragraph letters, too, although you cannot wrap text around images in the Kindle yet."

"For now, I'll say this: one of the best investments for formatting eBooks that I have ever made is buying an eBook by Joshua Tallent entitled Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide. It outlines everything from reducing your file size to spacing, line indentation, inserting images, and the pixel aspect ratio of the Kindle screen so you can make the most of the images you include."

 And some tips from Jennifer on editing:

"Once you have the formatting down, the other aspect of self-publishing that is important is to have an editor; not just someone to proofread, but having someone who can help with technicalities as well as suggesting minor changes in sentence structure and word usage. You can often hire editors through freelance web sites like oDesk, a site that provides me with clients on a very regular basis. I write, edit, and work on other random projects in graphic design as well, so I work entirely from home and write fiction when I'm not preparing publications for authors signed under Broken Publications."

Finally, for any out there writing short stories or poetry, here is a chance to submit your work for two anthologies:

"Broken Publications is open for submissions for two anthologies: Soul Vomit, focusing on domestic violence, and the Apocalypse Project, featuring end-of-the-world stories of all kinds (zombies, disease, natural disasters, planetary collisions, you name it!). I'd like to invite people to submit their work for one or both of these projects =)."

You can find out more about Jennifer's work by visiting: http://www.jennifercrystaljohnson.com/index.html

New horror ebook available free for five days

Fans of horror fiction have until Friday to download a free eBook entitled "If You're Human Don't Open the Door", written by author Jennifer-Crystal Johnson and co-author N. Jones.  The book is published by Broken Publications, an independent publisher.

The eBook -which features a selection of short stories - has already proven to be a success with rankings increasing in the Kindle store.  The book currently stands at  #28 in the Occult sub-category of Horror eBooks.

For a synopsis of the stories, and to find out more about the author, visit: http://www.jennifercrystaljohnson.com/published-books.html

Free Kindle Downloads

As from Tuesday, my two Kindle books - on a compilation of news stories and another the first chapter of a book about RMS Titanic - will be available for free via Kindle. Usually, they sell for 99 cents. 

If you'd like to contribute to my news site or to the Titanic book then please use the contact link on here to let me know and I'll get back to you.

Here are the links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007UJWYD0

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007I8RVBS

Hunger Games most popular in Sunnyvale, California

The popularity of Hunger Games, the novels aimed at young adults and written by author Suzanne Collins, continues to grow and on Friday Amazon revealed the top twenty cities that have brought the most copies.

Coming in at the number one spot was Sunnyvale, California, followed in second place by Salt Lake City, Utah and Tallahassee, Florida.  Amazon carried out the research by analyzing the sales data from all versions of the books and counted both print sales and Kindle sales, figures were calculated on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents; the research also showed that Suzanne Collins is the number one best selling Kindle author ever.

Jessica Schein, Amazon.com Young Adult Books Editor, said:

“There’s no denying that the Hunger Games has become a worldwide phenomenon, and we love that it all started with a great book."

“These books appeal to customers of all ages – adults and teens alike – and you can see from our Top 20 list they’re captivating readers across the whole country. All three books in the trilogy are best sellers in print and on Kindle, and now our customers have made Suzanne Collins the best-selling Kindle author of all time.”   

This is the year I'm going to read the books on my shelf

Over the last three or four years, I've brought an absolute ton of books.  Some of them from charity shops, some from companies with special offers such as ten Harlen Coben for ten pounds, plenty from Amazon, and most of them have ended up collecting dust on my bookshelf.

This year I've decided that there is no point having all of these books (and it's not just thriller type books, there is come classics among them) and not finding time to read them so I've started by getting 2-3 of them going and I'm going to make time to read them.

When I've finished reading them, I'm going to review them on here and on my other writing blog at http://writingandpublishingnews.blogspot.com/

I love reading and enjoy books from most genres so if you have a book you'd like to recommend or a review you'd like to include on the blog then please contact me.

Is Knoxville the most romantic city?

According to Internet giant Amazon it is.  Amazon used sales data from romance novels and relationship books, romantic comedy movies and Barry White albums, which can always be relied upon to get people in a romantic mood.

Amazon counted both Kindle books and print books, digital movies and DVDs and CD and MP3 sales to work out the winner.

Amazon used figures dating back to January 1 this year and counted sales on a per capita basis in cities with over 100,000 residents.

Last year's most romantic city, Alexandria, came second this year and Springfield came third.  Las Vegas is way down the list at 18. 

There wasn't a lot of romance going on in New York City if the list from Amazon is anything to by with the Big Apple coming out as the least romantic according to the purchasing habits of Amazon customers.  Also flailing in the romantic states were Patterson, New Jersey and El Monte, California.

Amazon announce Kindle now outsells printed books

In a recent press release Amazon.com announced that Kindle books are now outselling printed books.

Hardcover and paperback books were first introduced to Amazon in 1995; in 2007 the Kindle was introduced.

It was in July last year that Kindle started to outsell hardback books. Six months on and Kindle is outselling paperback books as well and has become the sites most popular format for buying books. For every 100 printed books sold, 105 books are sold in the Kindle format.

Priced from around $114, or from £111 in the UK, the Kindle allows people to store up to 3,500 books.

Commenting in a press release, Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com, said:

"Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly - we've been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years.”

"In addition, we're excited by the response to Kindle with Special Offers for only $114, which has quickly become the bestselling member of the Kindle family. We continue to receive positive comments from customers on the low $114 price and the money-saving special offers. We're grateful to our customers for continuing to make Kindle the bestselling e-reader in the world and the Kindle Store the most popular e-bookstore in the world."

950,000 books are now available via Kindle and the books are often cheaper too.

The popularity of Kindle looks set to grow and it has proved popular in the UK as well with Kindle now outselling hardback books.

Self Publishing Ideas

If you've come to the end of your book and you're thinking it's time to start finding out more about self-publishing then you've probably done a Google search by now and found some of the different options available. I'll go into more detail about the publishers that I've found another time but here I'll detail some of the options for publishing your book, and how to make it affordable both to you and your buyer.

I've noticed some of the Print on Demand publisher's fees aren't too high but then you'll only get a commission per sale. This can amount to just a few dollars. If you were to list this on somewhere like eBay or Amazon you could easily end up losing money on every copy you sell or just making a few cents which I'm sure for most of us isn't the idea.

While I want more than anything to get my book out in a proper hard copy format the difficulty of finding affordable publishers will mean it won't prove too easy but if I just want to get my book out there and start selling it myself until I can find a suitable publisher then I've found a few other options.

I know of one person who sells his book on eBay just by making it available on two discs to his buyers. In my opinion, it's not the idea format for selling it but people don't seem to mind it that way and that is all that matters. He sells it for around £8-£10 each time and and as far as I know the only outlay he has is the cost for the discs,which is hardly expensive, and the postage. If he ends up with £5-6 profit or maybe a little more per sale that's still better than you'd get from most publishers whether your work is self-published or not.

The other idea is to sell it as an e book. There are plenty of sites out there where you can sell an e book. There are plenty more sites where you can format your e book and design covers. Some sites don't require an ISBN either which means you can get started straight away.

I've also been looking at Lulu as an option for publishing my book in paperback format and from the estimated prices I've obtained it could just be feasible and affordable to publish it that way. I just need to finish the first manuscript so I can work out the exact page numbers and the precise costs.

The last option I've found and perhaps the most promising is Kindle on Amazon. They have recently said that their sales of Kindle have overtaken sales of books in other formats which came as a surprise to me because I'm not too keen on reading off the screen but plenty of other people seem to like it. Publishing in this format couldn't be much easier. If you already have an Amazon account then all you need to do is go to the Publish on Kindle option. Click the Kindle page and you'll find a link which takes you to a 73 page PDF guide which tells you how to start selling in that format. The Kindle service does not cost anything to publish your work. Follow this link for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=gw_br_dtp?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621&pf_rd_p=74672262&pf_rd_s=left-nav-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=507846&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0BA0C16Y7P9CAFKETN4Y