Cliff Ball's Blog, page 10

February 12, 2013

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Published on February 12, 2013 06:00

February 11, 2013

New Book Review of Times of Trial

Christian blogger LaTawnia Kintz has reviewed Times of Trial for me, and gave it four stars on Amazon. She reviewed Times of Trouble last year for me too. I could use more reviews for either novel, so if anyone is willing to review the novels, please contact me and I’ll send you a Smashwords coupon to download it for free.

LaTawnia Kintz Book Review Blog

‘Times of Trial can be read as a stand-alone or with Times of Trouble. Like Times of Trouble, Times of Trial is about the end-times and persecution of Christians in the United States.

The president of the United States is a hater of Christians and Jews and will stop at nothing to make sure he remains the president. He and his equally power hungry goons implement Agenda 21. (Now if you don’t know anything about Agenda 21 – which is very real check it out here. There are also lots of other listings about it.)

Cliff has again written a very insightful novel involving end-time prophecy and current events. This is a very easy book to read but don’t let the ease of it detract you from the reality of what could actually take place.

All right, now I have a couple of critiques… though Cliff has done better in filling in the plot with detail, his dialog is still a bit choppy and stilted. I only say this, because I know how difficult it is to write dialog. So Cliff, this is just to encourage you to write your dialog more fluidly. That is probably the only thing I can think of that may be a distraction for the reader.

I appreciate Cliff’s dedication to get his work out for the public to read. Since he is a self-publisher, it can be a bit harder to get the word out. So I am more than thrilled to review for him.

Thank you Cliff for providing me with a free ebook copy for me to review.”

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Published on February 11, 2013 12:47

February 10, 2013

Works in Progress….

As I’m currently working on the prequel to Times of Trouble, which is taking me a whole lot longer to write than anticipated because of having to replace a computer part, causing me to re-install Windows 7, with everything else on my computer, then not having an updated version of Word, since it was at my brothers’ house (who is my IT guy), and finding out that I’m doing more research than I had originally anticipated, I had an idea pop into my head as I was watching the “Gospel Music Showcase” on Daystar (I enjoy Southern Gospel) the other day. It’s an idea that I have no idea if it’s been done before, so I’ll share it with you, my readers.

Here’s what I wrote down in a notebook I have for such occasions:

The novel starts off with a narrator on a TV show focusing on the life of a once famous musician, I guess like what they do on, I think it’s on VH-1, sort of a “Where Are They Now” kind of thing and how they got to where they were at. Then, the story will go back to the time when this musician was only known to his friends, family, and fellow church members, because he sings in church. He’s discovered, is asked to show up on a national singing competition, sort of like “Star Search” or “The Voice,” and he wins the competition. As he begins recording music with a record label when he gets the contract, the singer begins experiencing various temptations. He also ends up with an agent that will eventually convince him to leave Christian music behind because no one important listens to it and he’ll make more money in secular music (shades of Amy Grant, Whitney Houston, or Katy Perry). So our singer begins recording secular music (not sure which kind of rock yet). At a party, he’s introduced to a girl, who the singer eventually marries, but she is most definitely not a Christian. She introduces him to drugs and alcohol, while his agent gets the singer into all the right parties, eventually giving him enough visibility to win awards, like a Grammy.

He gains the attention of President-elect David Collins, who invites him to sing the national anthem at the inauguration, followed by an invite to the NFL to sing at the next Super Bowl, and an invite by NASCAR to sing the anthem at the Daytona 500. Our singer’s on top of the music charts, along with being the most popular singer on Earth, when tragedy strikes. His whole family dies in a plane crash on the way to wherever he was touring. Unfortunately for him, he had an argument with his wife over his gambling and all sorts of other things he shouldn’t be doing, and he went on tour without apologizing or patching things up. The singer feels guilty, but instead of praying and trying to get right with God, he responds by drinking more and more. His grief and general drunkenness gets to be so bad, he gets dropped by his record label and agent, his expensive cars get repossessed, and house gets foreclosed on. In an attempt to help him, his home church tries to reach out to him, but he angrily rejects their help, because he’d rather rely on his worldly friends, but they reject him. At his lowest point, when he’s living in a broken down car, he prays for the first time in years by asking God to forgive him for going down this path. He feels a peace come over him, when he hears a trumpet sound, and is taken up along with thousands of other Christians.

The novel ends with the TV show saying they hope the singer is happy wherever he is.

So, what do ya’ll think? Would you read something like this? Or back to the drawing board?

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Published on February 10, 2013 21:53

February 3, 2013

Book Blast: Winter's End by Rebekah Lyn – Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Cliff Ball - Christian Author - The website of indie author Cliff Ball

Title: Winter’s End (Seasons of Faith)

By Rebekah Lyn

Book Two of the Seasons of Faith Series

Musician Michelle Burton just had the best night of her life. Her band Tangled Web opened for Wonderland in downtown Orlando and the crowd loved them. Too excited to sleep she makes a fateful decision to go to work early. The best night of her life turns into the worst day of her life.

Nearby, at boutique Hotel Lago, Stephen Longbottom, acting concierge manager, is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the board of directors for Silken Pleasures, a multimillion dollar company based in New York and specializing in high end cosmetics, fragrances and lingerie. Their incessant demands before they even arrive are driving him to distraction. Meanwhile Lizzie Reynolds, his boss is on a romantic ski trip in Vermont leaving him to manage his first solo event.

Hope, forgiveness and love are an integral message throughout the book and like a fine tapestry the threads of God’s master plan for the character’s lives are woven into a fabric of great storytelling, conflict and humor.

Readers who came to know and love the characters of Summer Storms will enjoy catching up with Lizzie, Stephen, Michelle, Jeffrey and Ian.

Kindle | PaperbackRebekah Lyn

Scan Rebekah is a Christian with a heart for new beginnings. She is a Florida native and a graduate of Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Fl. A love of history, research and journaling led naturally to a passion for writing. She enjoys travel and has traveled extensively across the United States and Canada as well as Europe and the Caribbean. Her reading taste run from the classics to light fiction. When she is not working or writing, she enjoys cooking,baking and sharing recipes on her blog, http://rebekahlynskitchen.wordpress.com

Her current works include, Summer Storms and Winter’s End, books one and two in The Seasons of Faith series, and Julianne the first book in The Coastal Chronicle series. She is currently working on the, as yet untitled, second book in the Coastal Chronicles set in coastal Florida during the early years of the space program.

Rebekah currently resides in Florida along with her “attack” cat, Mia. They would enjoy meeting with you on her Facebook page.

Follow Rebekah Lyn

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Enter below to enter a $25 amazon gift card, sponsored by author Rebekah Lyn!

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This book blast is hosted by Crossreads.

We would like to send out a special THANK YOU to all of the CrossReads book blast bloggers!

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Published on February 03, 2013 04:00

Book Blast: Winter’s End by Rebekah Lyn – Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Title: Winter’s End (Seasons of Faith)

By Rebekah Lyn

Book Two of the Seasons of Faith Series

Readers who came to know and love the characters of Summer Storms will enjoy catching up with Lizzie, Stephen, Michelle, Jeffrey and Ian.

Rebekah currently resides in Florida along with her “attack” cat, Mia. They would enjoy meeting with you on her Facebook page.

Follow Rebekah Lyn

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Enter below to enter a $25 amazon gift card, sponsored by author Rebekah Lyn!

[image error]

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This book blast is hosted by Crossreads.

We would like to send out a special THANK YOU to all of the CrossReads book blast bloggers!

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Published on February 03, 2013 04:00

January 24, 2013

Books and Word of Mouth

You find a book, let’s say you randomly pick it up at the library while browsing the shelves for something new to read, or you do it at the bookstore, and its from a author that you never heard of, and more than likely, most people hadn’t heard of either, but the book’s description makes it sound like something you’d want to read. So you read it. You find that you enjoyed it so much, you tell your friends, family, co-workers, and others about it. Eventually, you read every book this author puts out. You might like some of the novels, you might dislike others, but this once unknown author to you now has a loyal reader all because you decided to try something new.

Or, like many others these days, you see a book mentioned on Facebook, Twitter, or on some message board somewhere online(unless its mentioned on TV and then its an instant bestseller, especially if Oprah mentions it), you ignore what seems like spam a few times, but one day you’re convinced to try it out. You read it, like it, and then tweet about it, like the book’s page on Amazon, like it enough to review it, and even share your new find on one of your many social networks. You do the whole digital word of mouth thing without going anywhere and your small amount of influence convinces others to take notice of those books, who influence others, and so on. Plus, you like the author so much, that you sign-up for the author’s newsletter or blog, follow them on Twitter, and join their Facebook page, where you buy every single novel hereafter.

For a lot of authors, Word of Mouth is the only way they find readers.

Here are a couple of ways to spread the word about a novel you enjoyed and helping the author out at the same time (which you’ve probably seen in one form or another on various authors’ blogs):

1. Mention the book online, like on Myspace (if you’re still there), Twitter, Facebook, message boards, or wherever you frequent that allows you to mention books, and include a link to the store or author’s site.

2. If you have Pinterest, create a board, like a “Favorite Books,” or “Book You Read Recently,” and link it to either the author’s site of store where you bought it from. The author might even be on Pinterest, so you could also follow their boards and “like” the book board they created for that particular book.

3. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, church members, etc through e-mail, phone, text, or talk to in person about the book. Include what you liked and why you think they might enjoy it. If you want, give them a copy of the paperback to read if you have a paperback copy, or even lend them the ebook version, depending on your e-Reader.

5. Leave a review on Amazon, B&N, or wherever you bought it from, you can even leave a review on all the sites if you want. If you’re on Goodreads, Shelfari, Librarything, etc, you can leave a review there.

So reader, how have you been influenced to buy a book? Through Word of Mouth or by way of something else?

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Published on January 24, 2013 10:07

January 4, 2013

My Experience Building Websites

Recently, an author, Shelley Hitz, held up one of my websites as an example of how an author should design their sites for their books. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. My motto is to “keep it simple” because I dislike really busy website designs, with colors bursting out all over the place, random spots for links, and no rhyme or reason for the design. I’ve spent a lot of trial, error, time, and patience figuring out how to design a really good website that looks somewhat professional so I can get readers interested in reading my novels. I’ve found that a lot of people over-think the whole website design thing, along with obsessing over keywords/SEO, but as long as you submit your site to the search engines, like Google, using their webmaster tools or their analytic tools, they’ll visit your site (or crawl) and you’ll be listed on those search engines anyway. After while, people will find your site through Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines, because it takes to time to filter everywhere.

When I first started publishing my novels in 2008, I had been using Xanga or Livejournal to do a little bit of blogging before that, but I found that neither one received very many visits, mostly because I had absolutely no idea about keywords or SEO. When I published Out of Time in 2008, I knew I needed to create a website since I did a little research on the subject, and found that people were using Geocities for their website host. Unfortunately, a couple of months later, Yahoo bought out Geocities and closed it down, so I had to search for another host. I tried out Blogspot (or Blogger as it’s known now), which I still have, but I found the design mechanics to be kind of odd at the time and kind of limiting since it seems like it required a high learning curve. Blogger also seems kind of buggy and really slow at times, so I searched for something else. I did some more searching and found WordPress.com, so I tried it out, and found that I liked it better, but I still found it better suited as a blog more than anything. I use a lot of different blogging platforms mostly to get seen on Google, Yahoo, and other search sites for those random hits I tend to get when they search for a certain keyword.

I finally found out about freewebs.com (now webs.com) in 2009. Having only two novels at the time, I questioned the idea that author’s needed a website, mostly because I had no idea about optimization. At first, I put the picture of the novels on one page and the descriptions along with them, and a link to Amazon. Around this time, I researched how to get hits, and found many, many references to SEO and software that would submit your site to all the search engines and even sites that send you hits if you paid for them, because they said it was all about getting those thousands of hits so you could be ranked on Google. Talk about being one of those suckers born every minute. You pay for hits all right, but they’re random, and nothing happens as a result, and you’re out a couple of bucks. Frustrated, I researched some more, and found out about lacing your site with keywords that will get hits by people searching for those particular keywords, so I tried that, basically putting all the keywords at the bottom of my page, thinking that was how to do it. Wrong! One day, I was looking around the dashboard of my site, where I found the settings, which had the site information for the site tagline, site description, site tags/keywords. I put in everything I needed, and hit save. Then I saw that there was a spot for the Google webmaster tools, so I “googled” the term, and found out that Google had ways of submitting your site to their search engine, so I signed up for that. Once my site was officially seen by Google, they crawled it regularly and I slowly began to get hits from various searches. If you want detailed stats, I found that Statcounter.com works really well. You add your “project” and it gives you the install code for the site you’re using, most of the time it’s HTML, but they have different install guides for various websites. You can see where your visits come from, where they go on your site, countries, visit length, and other various activity.

In 2011, I was taking a Technical Writing class where we had to create an e-portfolio. The instructor used Weebly for her site, so she had us create our e-portfolio on there. I found Weebly was incredibly easy to use and that I could create a site that fit what I wanted. By this time, Webs.com, for me, was really clunky. The way you had to install HTML code was kind of dumb, their templates were sorely lacking, and customization in general was frustrating for me. I ended up with a site that looked kind of unprofessional, to me anyway, and I couldn’t get various things to work correctly. Plus, if you aren’t paying for a premium package, there are only so many pages you can add, which limits an author who has more than a handful of books. I took to creating separate sites on Webs.com for each novel, but I never liked the way they looked, so when Weebly came along, I decided to try that. I like how Weebly is really easy to customize: from landing pages to having headers with pictures or no pictures, and even creating links to various pages your way instead of the default links at the top of the page.

If you want to create a site using Weebly, here are some of the things you can see when setting up the site:

You can customize your themes, even if you know nothing about HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Just select a theme and then you can customize it to your heart’s content. There’s ribbon at the top of the webpage that has “Elements,” “Design,” “Pages,” “Editors,” and “Settings.” Click on “Design” to take you to the themes page. From here, you can choose a basic template, and under “Design Options,” you can customize the font, link colors, social media icons, etc. If you’re the type who likes doing everything from scratch and you have lots of patience and time, you can build a really customized site through the “Edit HTML/CSS button on the right hand side of the Design screen under “Favorites.” From there, it’ll take you to the theme editor so you can plug in all the HTML you can stand.

Once you’re done with themes, click on the “Pages” button. This will take you to the page where you can create pages for your site. You can customize the page layout, so if you want a landing page, there’s an option for that. You can create a main menu and sub-menus. You can link a page to another website if you choose not to create a specific page or links on your page. So, if you’re an author who doesn’t feel like creating multiple pages, you could skip creating individual links on a page to using a sub-menu that could link to the various stores for your novels. It’s all up to you.

Also on this page, you’ll see the “Advanced Settings.” When you click on that, what you see in the picture is what will come up. You see the page title, page description, meta keywords, footer and header codes. As you can see from what I entered in my own site settings, it’s fairly straightforward. If you’re using Statcounter, you put the code in the Footer area. When you come to the “Site Settings,” you’ll have to make sure that your page title doesn’t interfere with the site title, because through my own experience, I’ve had “Cliff Ball – Author” repeated at least two times on the site description when I posted a link somewhere, so pay careful attention to that.

Now we come to the “Site Settings.” As you can see from the picture, there’s the settings for “General,” “SEO,” “Ecommerce,” “Mobile,” “Archive/Un-publish.” Under the “General,” you can change your site address to a domain name if you own one. But, if you have a domain name, it has to be parked somewhere else, like GoDaddy or some other hosting site. Weebly doesn’t do hosting. You can change the site title, decide whether you want extra pages to be under a “More” tab, link to a Facebook page of your own choosing, and three other things that require a “pro” account.

Now we come to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) settings. As you can see, you enter the site description, all of your meta keywords for the site in general, the footer code from whichever tracking site you use, the header code from Google Webmaster Tools, the option to hide your site, and the option to do 301 ReDirects if you’re migrating from one site to another.

After this, you have the “Ecommerce Settings.” It gives you the option of Paypal or Google Checkout, but I don’t think you can use both on the site. This is good if you want to sell something directly from your site.

Next is “Mobile” settings. You enable this so when someone using a mobile device visits your site, they can see it. You can choose whatever color that you choose for that visitor to see your site in.

Lastly, you see the “Archive/Unpublish” link. You can archive your site in zip format or un-publish your site altogether. Once you’re completely done, designing your site, click “Publish” at the top right of the screen, and your site will be published.

I hope this helps you with your website decisions and helps to show you what you can do or what not to do.

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Published on January 04, 2013 10:17

January 1, 2013

Novel sales stats for 2012

First off, Happy New Year 2013 to everyone and a big thank you to all those out there who bought/downloaded a copy of one of my novels. I thought I’d blog again this year about how many sales/free downloads my novels had this year. My marketing/promoting consisted mostly of using Twitter, Facebook groups/pages, joining up with a couple Christian author groups to Tweet, and going to message boards. I did some giveaways for ebooks, like on Librarything, and sent some personal acquaintances/relatives paperback copies of Times of Trouble (which actually did help some with visibility), along with a little more than a handful of review copies to a couple of book bloggers, two of which actually gave me a review. I also tried blog interviews early in the year, along with the occasional paid post about my books, but overall, I’d say 99% of my sales would probably be from word-of-mouth. My sales on Barnes and Noble increased by a lot this year, up to 40-50 ebooks sold a month compared to 2 or 3 a month in 2011. My number one seller is the United States, followed by the UK, Canada, Australia, and then everyone else, mostly Western/Northern Europe, but I did manage to get an Amazon Kindle sale from Japan, which was a borrow for Beyond the New Frontier, and 2 sales on Diesel from South Africa. This is without the updated numbers from Smashwords concerning Apple, Sony, or Diesel from December.

Here’s the numbers for each book in order of publication:

Out of Time

Kindle(ASIN B006GDO3BC): 1107

Barnes & Noble Nook: 37

Kobo, which includes WH Smith, Angus & Robertson, and Chapters Indigo: 42

Apple: 51

Sony: 4

Smashwords: 2 paid, 64 free

Paperback (ISBN:1453896961) : 8

Don’t Mess With Earth

Kindle(ASIN B005OOKZJI): 52

Nook: 39

Kobo: 2

Apple: 5

Diesel: 1

Smashwords: 2 paid, 47 free

Paperback(ISBN 978-1602643413): 2

The Usurper

Kindle(ASIN B007K9WDA4): 92 paid, 518 Select downloads (January – March)

Nook: 47

Kobo: 4

Apple: 14

Smashwords: 1 paid, 18 free

Paperback (ISBN 1453702725): 12

Shattered Earth

Kindle(ASIN B006M2U3O8) – 8 sales, unpublished it, but will bring it back this year

Nook: 48

Kobo: 20

Apple: 52

Smashwords: 1 sale, 61 free

Paperback (probably only available on Amazon, since I retired it on Createspace): 3

Dust Storm (western short story) – plagued by Smashwords’ meatgrinder, so it wasn’t published to Apple or Sony until later in the year. Sold on Kobo once I uploaded there myself.

Kindle(ASIN B006KH7H4E): 9

Nook: 7

Kobo: 1

Apple: 1

Sony: 1

Smashwords: 2 paid, 12 free

Voyager and the Aliens (sci-fi short story)

Kindle(ASIN B005NK19MU): 14

Nook: 2

Kobo: 5

Apple: 9

Diesel: 1

Smashwords: 1 paid, 27 free

New Frontier

Kindle(ASIN B006ONBPVU): 99

Nook: 58

Kobo: 2

Apple: 7

Sony: 1

Smashwords: 5 paid, 62 free

Baker & Taylor Blio: 1

Paperback (ISBN 1468119540): 18

Times of Trouble

Kindle(ASIN B0075CNFFI): 309

Nook: 343

Kobo: 1

Apple: 0

Sony: 0

Smashwords: 128 free

Paperback (ISBN-10: 1469964791) 43

Times of Trial

Kindle(ASIN B00824G5UA): 99

Nook: 120

Kobo: 3

Apple: 0

Sony (for some reason, not available on Sony): 0

Smashwords: 31 free

Paperback(ISBN-10 147745327X): 5

Final Frontier – published in October

Kindle(ASIN B009ORP5U0): 26

Nook: 22

Kobo: 0

Apple: 0

Sony: 0

Smashwords: 0

Paperback (ISBN-10: 1481192191): 0

Beyond the New Frontier – combo of New & Final Frontier, available on Amazon to borrow for free or buy for $3.99

Kindle paid(ASIN B009NVH76M): 28, KDP Select: 724, Borrows: 2

Paperback (ISBN-10: 1480185590): 1

The total equals 1694 free and 2858 paid sales. My goal for 2013 is to double the paid sales without having to rely on free giveaways as much. I’m also working on a prequel to Times of Trouble, most likely called “Times of Turmoil.” I also re-designed a whole new author website on weebly. I was using webs.com, but it was way too clunky, but Weebly seems to be pretty user-friendly. Please check it out http://cliffball-indieauthor.weebly.com when you have time. Now, I just have to figure out how to transfer my domain name over to it.

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Published on January 01, 2013 18:53

December 18, 2012

20 Free eBooks for Christmas

Merry Christmas

FREE Downloads

(Note date each book is Free – dates vary!)

MAID FOR MURDER: Deadly Business

FREE Dec. 24 – 25

Genre: humorous inspirational mystery

http://ow.ly/g9frP

Author: Susette Williams

Bailey inherits her grandfather’s business, Maid For You, but cleaning up dead body parts wasn’t part of the job description. Bailey hopes to wipe out crime with the help of Nate, her computer hacker assistant, despite protests of their involvement in the case from Detective Max Wellington.

When Bailey catches the culprits arranging to dispose of another body, she’s out to help the two of them dig their own grave and if she’s lucky, Detective Max Wellington will keep them from arranging her funeral.

Maid for Murder is a trilogy that begins with Deadly Business. The story continues throughout the trilogy as Bailey uncovers deception, corruption and a few secrets that may forever change her life. As the threads of deceit unravel, the murders begin to break out like a case of Bubonic Plague.

Bailey is a Christian, struggling to keep on the path she knows is right, fighting the temptation of the hunky Detective Max Wellington who would like nothing more than to take her into protective custody, for more than just interfering in police business.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ACCIDENTAL MEETING

FREE Dec. 21 – 22 & Dec. 24 – 25

Genre: inspirational romance

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Author: Susette Williams

Abbey Martin isn’t willing to be the kind of ‘player’ her boss wants her to be. When he threatens to not promote her because she refuses to get in ‘compromising’ positions, she quits.

If a day can go from bad to worse, it does for Abbey. She runs into Bruce Harrington on her way home—literally.

Bruce Harrington was on his way to a very important meeting. That was until a raving lunatic with brown, bouncy hair spiraled towards him in her car and then on foot. Maybe he should count it a blessing that when she sent him cascading over the side of the embankment—he wasn’t in his car.

To make amends for causing Bruce to break a leg, Abbey becomes his chauffeur and helpmate until he recovers.

When his cast is about to come off he has to face losing Abbey. There has to be some way he can keep her from walking out of his life forever. If a job offer won’t do it then perhaps it’s time for a proposal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FALLING IN LOVE

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: inspirational romance

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Author: Susette Williams

Katie Morgan has her future planned. It doesn’t include becoming serious about anyone before she achieves her goals, not even her handsome boss. Just because she does not have time to date, doesn’t mean her boss shouldn’t. Her new mission…to make her boss happy, whether or not he wants to be.

Wade McAlester fell in love with Katie the first day she walked into his clinic looking for a job. He hired her, content to settle for friendship until she lives out her dream of becoming a vet. Against his better judgment, Wade allows her to fix him up with a couple of her friends. The dates are disastrous. He can’t believe the kind of women Katie seems to think he’d enjoy spending his life with. However, when Wade’s old colleague, Dr. Laura Redmond shows up, Katie is rethinking how happy she wants her boss to be, and with whom. Definitely not the gorgeous doctor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ON MY OWN

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: middle grade fiction

http://ow.ly/fR7GG

Author: Susette Williams

On My Own is the second book in the Life With Stef series. In book 1, The ‘In’ Crowd, Stef learned about forgiveness and friendship.

In book 2, On My Own, Stef realizes that being alone for the first time can be scary. When Stephanie’s parents trust her to be on her own and even baby-sit for her brother and sister, there’s more than shadows spooking her and what about the mysterious phone calls and the man outside?

Stephanie finds out that being On My Own isn’t that easy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HELL’S CHRISTMAS

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: fiction

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Author: Cynthia P. Willow

Monika Hell seemed to have it all. She was gorgeous, owned a nice condo, an expensive car, an endless wardrobe, and had a great job as a store manager in the mall. But, she was mean, miserable, and worst of all, hated Christmas. Kidnapped from the mall parking lot on Christmas Eve, her life is turned upside down. Now, on Christmas morning, she finds herself in a freezing alley with nothing but the tattered clothes on her back. With no identification, no money, and no one willing to help, Monika is forced to start all over. Could losing everything she’d worked for all her life lead her to find what’s been missing all along?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CRY FOR THE MOON

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: young adult Christian fantasy

http://ow.ly/g9gQC Kindle

http://ow.ly/gbmzb (Other formats)

Author: William Woodall

Zach Trewick has a hard choice to make. His family expects him to become a werewolf on the night of the next full moon, whether he likes it or not, and he’s got only three days left before time runs out. Scrambling to find a way to stay human, Zach quickly makes a bold plan to run away from home and find his uncle Justin nearly a thousand miles away in Texas, the only person he can think of who might take him in. Stowing away in a septic tank, sleeping in a library, and living in a dog house on a vacant lot are among the adventures he encounters along the way. But the werewolves have no intention of letting him escape so easily. For although he doesn’t know it yet, Zach is the Curse-Breaker, the long-foretold boy who can crush the wolf curse forever, and his family will stop at nothing to prevent that.

Nominated for the 2010 Texas Lone Star Reading List for excellence in young adult literature and scoring 4.3 stars from 39 reviews on Amazon, Cry for the Moon is the first book in the Last Werewolf Hunter series. The series is suitable for middle-graders and up, since it contains only mild violence and little to no gore. It has more to do with Zach’s ultimate choice to become the last werewolf hunter in the world, and to break the Curse forever.

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UNCLOUDED DAY

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: young adult Christian fantasy

http://ow.ly/gbmy7 Coupon Code: QU39K

Author: William Woodall

Brian Stone’s life isn’t easy. Abandoned by his father, abused by his alcoholic mother, and mocked by his classmates, his only treasures are his beloved little brother and his old guitar. Then Brian finds a magical amulet in his attic, and things begin to change. Soon he has more power and wealth than he’s ever dreamed of, and for a while all seems to be well. But Brian has made a terrible mistake which may cost him everything, and his only hope is to seek out the Fountain at the Heart of the World, wherever that may be. And if he fails, then it will mean the death of every person he loves, and maybe even his own. This book is a tale about the glory of God’s love; the life-giving Life, and the Beauty that makes beautiful.

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TYCHO

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: young adult sci-fi

http://ow.ly/gbmwW Coupon Code: AL44G

Author: William Woodall

In the year 2154, sixteen year old Tycho McGrath is an advanced genetics student at the prestigious John Brooke Academy in Tampa. Life seems fairly dull, until he accidentally discovers that in less than a week, a recently designed bacterium known as the Orion Strain will almost certainly wipe out every human being on earth. Tycho and his friends quickly form a desperate plan to steal an experimental spacecraft and flee to the partially-terraformed Moon, hoping to ride out the plague until it’s safe to come home. But the survivors of Earth soon discover that the Moon has its own dangers. Horrific storms, radiation poisoning, and mutant insects all lie in wait, and worst of all, they must soon face the betrayal of one of their own. Will Tycho and the others find their way back to Earth, or will they be trapped forever on the dying Moon?

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LYCENTIA: Harrak’s Scrolls

FREE Dec. 21 & 22

Genre: historical fantasy

http://ow.ly/g9ib5

Author: Dave King

Patrik, the recalcitrant innkeeper and Galena, his younger daughter, load up the wagon, lock up The Lonely Fox Inn and head east for Lycentia. The goal? To hand-deliver Harrak’s scrolls, the ones Patrik discovered in a musty cave, to Oliver III, the Netherene High Priest. The problem? The scrolls are not what Patrik thinks they are! But how, if at all, can Patrik discover the truth before it’s too late? Lycentia: Harrak’s Scrolls – book two of The Land of Betrovia trilogy

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The 15th Star

FREE Dec. 21 – 23

Genre: historical adventure

http://ow.ly/g9iwo

Author: Lisa Grace

Set during the War of 1812:

In the fall of 1809 Grace Wisher, a young slave girl, escapes the plantation to live her life in the port city of Baltimore, Maryland. She is indentured to Mary Pickersgill who teaches her the skill of sewing flags and standards. Yet Grace is hiding a terrible secret, one men will murder for even hundreds of years later.

In the present, Keiko Zorben is finishing her master’s degree by working as an intern at the Smithsonian Institute. While archiving mislabeled letters, she finds a clue to the whereabouts of the missing star from the Star Spangled Banner. For over two hundred years its location has been a real-life mystery, until now.

Keiko asks the handsome Dr. Julian Lone Wolf, the head of the American Indian Studies Department, to join her on her search for the missing star.

When a docent is murdered and an attempt is made on their lives, Keiko and Julian realize finding the missing star and the secret it holds, is their only key to survival.

“The 15th Star” has been compared by first readers as a mix of “National Treasure” meets “1776″.

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Nadia’s Hope

FREE Dec. 24 & 25

Genre: Women’s Fiction, Inspirational romance

http://ow.ly/gbiEC

Author: Lisa Buffaloe

The nightmares continue.

Memories won’t heal.

Nadia must make a choice.

Nadia Minsky fled Israel to escape her past, but she can’t outrun her nightmares. The throbbing scars along her hip and stomach are cruel reminders of shattered dreams. Even though surgeons mended her body, her spirit still bleeds. Friends claim only God can heal her. For Nadia, trusting a God who allowed her to suffer is inconceivable.

Can close friends, a wild roommate, and a handsome medical student help Nadia learn to trust? Or will her past forever cripple her future?

Nadia’s Hope Awards

2010 Women of Faith Writing Contest Finalist

Runner-up for Women’s Fiction, 2010 (ACFW)

American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Contest

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Grace for the Char-Baked

FREE Dec. 21 – 23

Genre: Christian Romance

http://ow.ly/gbiLm

Author: Lisa Buffaloe

A light-hearted novella where a self-avowed-worst-cook-ever accepts a challenge to hold a bake sale and cooks up love instead.

With “Char” as a nickname, Charlotte Wilson’s cooking skills are more incendiary than culinary. Charlotte is the last person on earth who should run a bake sale. But when her plans of running in a charity marathon are side-lined by a broken foot, her old flame’s suggestion becomes a challenge midst her friend’s simmering doubts.

Luke Hammond has spent the last five years studying and preparing to travel overseas as a medical missionary. When his high school sweetheart unexpectedly comes back in his life, Luke wrestles with what he feels God calling him to be and what he wants to do. His reappearance rekindles an attraction that could char Luke and Charlotte’s heart or cook up the perfect romance.

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TIMES OF TROUBLE

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: Christian Futuristic

http://ow.ly/gbmvG Coupon Code: EU28Q

Author: Cliff Ball

Told in first person point of view by Brian Atwood, who is our main character and works for the FBI. His work involves potential cases of terrorism. Recruited to become personal bodyguard for the President. His faith as a Christian is tested daily working for the President. We follow Brian as the U.S. slowly disintegrates around hm.

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“Guitar String Logic”

FREE Dec. 24 & 25

Genre: Music Theory and Guitar Instructional Book

http://ow.ly/gbmuE

Author: Skysun Stambaugh

A beginner’s guide to the guitar from the music shop to writing solid songs with fundamental music theory principles. Includes text, diagrams, explanations, examples, and tips.

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TRUSTING GOD WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN

FREE Dec. 21 – 23

Genre: Christian nonfiction

http://ow.ly/gbmto Coupon Code: HB95F

Author: Shelley Hitz

“This book has Biblical answers to the ‘Why?’ we are hearing so much today after the shooting tragedy in Connecticut. Thank you, Shelley, for the timeliness and wisdom.” ~Barbara

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CHASING THE TEXAS WIND

FREE Dec. 21 & 22

Genre: Historical Romance

http://ow.ly/gbmsa Coupon Code: TH56W

Author: Mary Campagna Findley

“Wounded war hero” Hamilton Jessup married celebrity singer Maeve Collinswood without realizing her marriage of convenience proposal would plunge him into a personal and patriotic crisis. Texas faced war with Mexico. A mysterious “Endgame Scenario” set Ham to puzzling Texas’ future. Maeve drew him into a passionate alliance, a deadly confrontation, and a reliance on God he had never imagined.

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ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM

FREE Dec. 21 & 22

Genre: Nonfiction Contemporary Issues and Scientific History

http://ow.ly/gbmob Coupon Code: EY42F

Author: Mary Campagna Findley

The Bible is a Book of Science Secular Humanism is a Religion of Mythology Antidisestablishmentarianism. As the title of a book it is a little cumbersome, a little intimidating, except that it’s absolutely essential to the discussion of Secular Humanism as America’s Established religion and how we can disestablish it.

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NEHEMIAH, LLC

FREE Dec. 21 & 22

Genre: Science Fiction

http://ow.ly/gbmmZ Coupon Code: LX33P

Author: Mary Campagna Findley

The surface of Mars is swept by violent storms but the Nehemiah Group lives almost idyllically beneath the surface in “Glop-dropped” parks and sandblasted living quarters. Life support has failed on the balloon ship Sojourner. Joan, bioneural specialist and Anthony Lewis, an engineer and something more, must tread a fine political and diplomatic line to meet the launch window.

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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL – THE TEMPTATION

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: young adult fiction

http://ow.ly/gbjPK

Author: Paul Swearingen

A black teenager is forced to move to a small town but realizes that with the help of new friends he may be able to leave the bad influences behind and concentrate on football. But part of his past catches up with him. Then temptation, in the forms of a potential burglary and a till-tapping opportunity, presents itself – and he knows he has tough choices to make.

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BABEL

FREE Dec. 21 – 25

Genre: romance/Biblical fiction

http://ow.ly/gbmlN Coupon Code: CG74G

Author: Sherry Chamblee

Her secret could doom the world. His honesty could save it.

Jaiyl grew up alone and afraid, feeling the emotions of everyone around her as if they were her own. Being part of a nomadic tribe meant she came in contact with many different people, but was connected to none of them, until she met a family that was different; people who knew God in a way she had never thought possible.

She must come to trust God, or doom the world.

Van knew there was an entire world out there beyond his mountains, but he could never quite bring himself to get up and go see it. Then someone from out there came to him. He gets thrown into a fight he didn’t start, with powerful people who don’t want to be found. He has to figure out what really conquers all, before it’s too late.

Jaiyl is all secrets and fear, Van has nothing to hide, nothing to fear. Together they must fight for the freedom of those they love.