Maria Savva's Blog, page 62

All my ebooks are only $0.99/£0.72 for December!

I have reduced the price of my kindle books on Amazon to just £0.72 (UK) $0.99 (US) for the Christmas period.

Hopefully this will ensure that anyone who wants to read my books can get them at an affordable price (I know how tight money is these days for most of us).

Also, kindle books can now be given as gifts. So because it's an expensive time of year, I'm offering my books at a lower price to help out if you want to buy them as gifts.

Remember that kindle books can still be read without a kindle ereader. There are free apps on Amazon which anyone can download so that they can read kindle books on other devices: ipad, iphone, android, blackberry, mac or pc.

Here are the links to my Amazon author pages:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Merry Christmas, everyone.

BestsellerBound: The Cutting Edge Campaign - proceeds going to charity

I just wanted to remind you all that the Campaign date for the 'BestsellerBound Cutting Edge Campaign' is drawing nearer.

Please let all your friends know about it.

For further information about the campaign, please visit BestsellerBound

Click on the badge below to visit the Facebook page.

BestsellerBound: 'The Cutting Edge' Campaign

Promote Your Page Too


We are asking you to download The Cutting Edgeby Darcia Helle on 20th December 2010 from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Darcia has agreed to reduce the price of the book to $0.99/£0.72 on the day of the download. All proceeds from downloads on the day will go to Darcia's local church which runs a food bank to feed the homeless and poor.

I hope you will join us and support indie authors.

Stacy Juba, one of my fellow resident authors on BestsellerBound, will be taking part in a radio interview on 14th December 2010, talking about the campaign on Indie Book Collective
This will be followed by an interview on 21st December 2010 with author Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick, one of our most active members on BestsellerBound. Joel will be talking about the campaign and discussing how successful it was. Please tune in.

Buy a story to help the charity 'Feeding America'

Author Craig Lancaster is writing a special Christmas story this year, and all the proceeds will go to the charity Feeding America

You pay $1.00 through Paypal and the story will be delivered to you by email by 15th December 2010.

Buy the story

'No Hope For Gomez' by Graham Parke - after party

Author Graham Parke has asked me to let you know about the after party he is having following the online birthday celebrations for his novel No Hope for Gomez!

Here's the official invite from Graham Parke:





“Instead of heading for the big mental breakdown,
     I decided to have a little one every Tuesday evening.” -- Gomez Porter

You are cordially invited to Gomez' online after party. It starts right now and runs till December 10th. You'll receive:

- ‘Activated Carbon’ exclusive short story collection
- Making of Gomez: behind the scenes eBook

A kindle will be raffled off. Extra prizes for those who bring friends.

Simply purchase your copy of "No Hope for Gomez!" from Amazon and forward your receipt to nohopeforgomez@gmail.com. Find out the details HERE

Indie Books Holiday Giveaway!

Visit author Darcia Helle's blog and you will find all the details for this great giveaway! 47 authors are giving away a total of 76 books!

I am participating. One signed print copy of my short story collection Love and Loyalty is up for grabs.

Fill in the entry form and let your friends know about this event!

Good luck everyone!



Indie books Holiday Giveaway




[image error]width="200" />

Vote for your favourite authors and books on Goodreads

Many of you will already know from reading the Goodreads December Newsletter that you can vote for your favourite books from 2010 and also your favourite Goodreads authors.

There are several books which have been nominated by Goodreads, which are of course those published by traditional publishing houses, but as we all know there are so many fabulous books by independent authors that are often overlooked in these type of awards and nominations.

I would ask you to vote for your favourite indie book or indie author in these awards to show support for indie writers. You can write in your nomination on the voting form, so you don't have to automatically choose one of the books suggested.

It would be wonderful if an indie author won an award in at least one of the categories this year. I have met so many amazing indie authors over the past couple of years and they are all so deserving of some recognition.

Make a difference and vote indie!

Goodreads Awards

Book reviews

I love to read. As well as being a writer, you will always find me reading a book whenever I have a spare moment. Over the past couple of years I have begun to review books for my fellow authors too. I have come to like reviewing books. However, lately I have realised that there is a very nasty flipside to this. I seem to have gained a reputation as someone who writes well thought out reviews, and when I like books I will give them 5 stars and rave about them and promote them even more than I do my own books. This has led some people to try to win me over so that I will do a free review for them and help them with publicity. I am writing this after a particular bitter taste has been left in my mouth by an author who shall remain nameless.

I would just like to set the record straight for future reference, if you send me a book to review, I will give an honest review. Yes, if I love it I will tell the world and promote it for free, but if I don't really like it, I will also give an honest review and explain what I didn't like.

If I am to give the book less than 3 stars and you've sent me the book I will refer to you before I post the review anywhere.

Getting 1 and 2 star reviews is not nice, and I know how it feels, but I have also learnt over the years that not everyone is going to like my book, and I think it would be cruel to send a book to someone expecting them to give me a five star review just because I sent it to them. Integrity is important to me.

You will also see from my reviews that I am also very fair and will always point out what I do like as well as what I don't like. I will not be held to ransom by someone who wants me to give them a good review for free.

Some reviewers charge a great deal of money to write the types of reviews that I write. It takes time to read a book and write a review.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this off my chest as it has been bothering me.

I don't like being seen as a mug who will give great 5 star reviews for free and then promote books for free. Grrr...

End of rant.

Read my latest interview with Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick

I was very fortunate to meet a wonderful fellow author recently on BestsellerBound
Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick is the author of Caraliza,Breathing into Stone,Harmony's Passing,and Shared (all currently on special promotion at Smashwords for $0.99 each!

Joel is a wonderfully giving author who does much to help promote fellow indie writers. He is also hilarious. Please take a moment to read my latest interview on his blog...


The Tale is the Thing

Buy your friends' books, please...

I saw this blog post and unfortunately I could relate to it... it seems that when you write a book those closest to you —- the people you think of as friends -- and even your own family, are the last people who would actually go out and buy it. I can really sympathise with the author's experience in this blog, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Mysterious Matters

Give Kindle books this Christmas

Amazon have now made it possible for customers to buy kindle books as gifts. The books can be sent to your loved one by email. Perfect timing for Christmas.

Gift a kindle

If you have friends who love to read, you can now purchase bargain books on kindle. In these tough economic times it's great that there is now a cheaper alternative for book buying. Many books on kindle are as low as $0.99/£0.72, and you can always find free books listed there as well. All the popular and bestselling books are now available as kindle books, as are many wonderful books by independent authors.

You don't have to worry about your friend or family member not owning a kindle ereader either. They will be able to read the kindle gift book on their pc or mac, ipod, iphone, blackberry or android by downloading a free app from Amazon.

So, when you're looking for gift ideas this Christmas, have a look at all the books available on Amazon kindle. There's something for everyone.

Here are some suggestions (including links to my own books on kindle):

My books Amazon US:

A Time to Tell

Second Chances

Pieces of a Rainbow

Love and Loyalty (and Other Tales)


My books Amazon UK:

Pieces of a Rainbow

Love and Loyalty (and Other Tales)

Second Chances

A Time to Tell


Here are some kindle books I recommend, written by my author friends:

Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools by Victoria Twead

Crooked Moon by Lisette Brodey

The Day The Flowers Died by Ami Blackwelder

Enemies and Playmates by Darcia Helle

Cry for the Moon by William Woodall

Musical Chairs by Jen Knox

My Schizophrenic Life by Sandra Yuen MacKay

Twenty Five Years Ago Today by Stacy Juba

The Safety Factor by Jerry Travis and Josephines Mayes