Mindy Hardwick's Blog, page 43

Audio Book–STAINED GLASS SUMMER

It’s here! The audio book of STAINED GLASS SUMMER is available for purchase and download at:

Itunes,

Audible,

Amazon.

The audio book can be listened to on ipods, ipads, tablets, computers, and Mp3 players.

You can listen to a sample here. This is an amazing retelling of Jasmine’s story on the island and I’m so pleased with the narration by, Sarah Newswanger. Now……in order to celebrate the release of the audio book, I’m going to give away TWO audio book copies of STAINED GLASS SUMMER. This giveaway is open to both U.S. and International readers.

In order to enter the giveaway, all you need to do is leave me a comment about why and/or how art is important in your life. It can be any kind of art–writing, music, dance, drama, visual arts.

The two winners will be selected randomly on Friday, January 18. The audio book will be sent to you as a MP3 file which you can transfer to your ipod, ipad, tablet, computer, or MP3 Player.

WEAVING MAGIC Goodreads Giveaway WINNER

Congratulations to EVA who won a print copy of WEAVING MAGIC on the Goodreads Giveaway.

There were over 588 people who requested WEAVING MAGIC on Goodreads.

Eva is starting a new blog for teens and tweens. She will be reviewing WEAVING MAGIC for her blog, and I will post a link here soon!

WEAVING MAGIC Giveaway Ends Friday

The Goodreads giveaway for a PRINT copy of YA novel, WEAVING MAGIC, ends on Friday. Anyone can enter, simply follow the link below.

Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Weaving Magic
by Mindy Hardwick

Giveaway ends January 12, 2013.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

New Year’s Blog Hop Winners!

The New Year’s Blog Hop was great fun! There were over 200 blogs participating, and I had 59 comments on my blog! Now, without further ado…the winners….

Congratulations to Jamie Miller who won a PDF copy of my contemporary, sweet romance, LOVE’S BID! An email has been sent with the PDF. I hope you enjoy the story and this helps with your New Year goal of reading 130 books!

Now for the Grand Prizes of the New Year’s Blog Hop. These winners were drawn from all of the names of people who commented on the 200 blogs participating in the hop! Each time you commented, your name was entered in the drawing. So, for those of you who got around to all the blogs, you increased your chances a great deal!

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet (International and U.S.)–Shadow

2nd Grand Prize: A $300 Amazon or B&N Gift Card (International and U.S)–Hannah Miller

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more! (Only U.S. Entries for this prize)–Veronika

All Grand Prize winners have been notified at this time.

For those of you who like blog hops, I’ll be participating in a couple more over the next two months.

Love is In the Air Blog Hop on February 7-14  and Lucky in Love Blog Hop,  on March 15-18. There will be more great prizes and books to be won!

Happy New Year!

Young Writers Markets and Opportunities

If you work with young writers, please share these with them!

WRITING FOR PEACE CONTEST

http://writingforpeace.org/2013-young-writers-contest-guidelines/

Writers, ages 13-19, are welcome to submit once in each category,

but must complete a separate form for each entry. Deadline for

submission is March 1, 2013. All submissions must be written in

English. All submissions (even fiction) should be about a real

country, although it could be a country that no longer exists.

Fiction Division:

Submit an original unpublished short story of 800-1,000 words in

the voice of a character from another country or culture.

Poetry Division:

Submit one to three poems totaling no more than 100 lines in the

voice of a character from another country or culture.

Nonfiction Division:

Write an 800-1,000 word essay about a social, political,

environmental, or familial challenge faced by individuals within

a cultural group, or a personal experience with another culture.

First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded in fiction,

nonfiction, and poetry categories.

First place winners will receive $50.

Second place winners will receive $25.

Third place winners will receive $10.

All winners will be published in DoveTales Literary journal, a

publication of Writing for Peace.

New Year’s Blog Hop

Happy New Year! To kick off the New Year, I’m participating in the New Year’s Blog Hop!

There are over 200 blogs participating on the New Year’s Blog Hop and at each blog you can win a prize!

Plus…..there are three grand prizes you can win in this blog hop. In order to be entered in the drawing for any of the grand prizes, all you have to do is leave ONE comment including your email address at any of the 200 blogs participating! 

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet (International and U.S.)

2nd Grand Prize: A $300 Amazon or B&N Gift Card (International and U.S)

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more! (Only U.S. Entries for this prize)

So, what’s this New Year Hop all about? It’s about the New Year! When we talk about the New Year, we always mention New Year’s Resolutions. But, I’ve never been a big fan of the New Year Resolution. To me, the New Year seems to begin more when school starts in September than in January. That’s the time I’m more likely to be looking at goal setting and planning. I do like goal setting and planning.  As a child, my Dad liked to have “Family Council.” We’d all gather around the living room and discuss household rules, chores and goals. Dad wrote it all up on yellow tablets of paper and posted it on the refrigerator.

So, looking at the New Year, and thinking about goals, I have one goal--at least for the first part of the year…

Write. Yes. I know this sounds basic and some of you may be saying, but you already write! Yes. I do write.  But, after a year of many, many new releases and learning social media and promotion in the digital age, I really need some time to write again. I need to restock that store!  I’m looking forward to digging into a series of holiday stories in my short, contemporary romance stories (yes–there are more holidays than Christmas, New Years, and Valentine’s Day!) as well as working on that post-grad semester where I’ll be writing narrative non-fiction about the juvenile detention workshop.

So, what can you win on this blog….as a part of the New Year’s Blog Hop?

I’m giving away a PDF copy of my sweet, contemporary romance novella, LOVE’S BID.  This is one of the stories in my sweet, contemporary romance sailor series.

All you have to do to enter the giveaway for both my story, LOVE’S BID, as well as the Grand Prizes, is leave me a comment below and tell me one goal you have for this year.  Please include your email address with your comment. This blog’s prize is open to both International and U.S. residents.

Then once you leave me a comment, don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the New Year’s Blog Hop. You can find all those blogs listed here.

Good luck!

STORY BLURB: Cassie Richardson enjoys serving as President of the Sailing Club Foundation Board and overseeing the smooth running of operations. But, when former boyfriend, Eric Atkins, steps in to fill the role of Board Treasurer, things begin spiraling out of control. Soon, Cassie and Eric are tossed together in an auction and find themselves bidding on love. But will a bidding war be enough to overcome the past?

First Book Donation

Happy One-Year Birthday to STAINED GLASS SUMMER.

In order to celebrate the one-year anniversary of STAINED GLASS SUMMER, I will donate all proceeds from today’s sales of STAINED GLASS SUMMER to FIRST BOOK.

Who is First Book?

First Book is a non-profit who provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, each year First Book distributes millions of free and low-cost books to disadvantaged children and the programs that serve them. Funds raised by First Book enable program leaders- teacher, daycare administrators, and after-school workers- to put brand new books directly in the hands of the children who need them most.

There are many places children can find used books, but to have a new book in their hands is priceless. Can you imagine growing up and not having a new book of your own? I can not!

To learn more about First Book go here.

So what can you do to help?

If you or someone you know has a new ereader or tablet for Christmas, buy STAINED GLASS SUMMER today! You can gift them the book if you’d like!




Tweet and share this challenge on your social media accounts–Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn. You can use the button at the bottom of the blog post to help you share.


Consider donating to First Book. For every $10 donated, four new books can be donated to a child in need. You can donate here.

Thank you for helping bring new books to those who might not otherwise have access to a new book of their own.

Kaitlin Bevis YA Author Interview

I’m very happy to host young adult author, Kaitlin Bevis, on the blog! Kaitlin’s new book, DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY is published by Musa Publishing. The book is releasing today and is available at Musa Publishing here.

DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY will also be available at Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Amazon in all ebook formats.

Can you tell us a little bit about your new book, DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY?

Sure! It’s a sequel to my other YA novel, Persephone.

(You can find PERSEPHONE at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Musa Publishing. Visit Kaitlin’s website here to find out more)

DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY picks up a few months after the events of book one, and Persephone is learning to balance her normal life with her goddess responsibilities while dealing with the consequences of something she did in book one. It’s hard to write this without spoilers!

Things get complicated when she meets another daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite. Aphrodite sees the world a bit differently than Persephone which causes some friction between Persephone and her human friend Melissa. Meanwhile, Zeus is using his agents to chip away at Persephone’s life. If she doesn’t find a way to stop him she’ll have nothing left.

Your YA books, PERSEPHONE, and DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY as well as your short story, SIREN SONG incorporate mythology.  Why is mythology important to you and in your stories?

Mythology resonates with people. We like the fantastic, the impossible. I for one crave it. I remember when I was little reading books about magical worlds, and squeezing my eyes shut thinking if I just wished hard enough it could be real. I’m not the only one, Persephone predates Ancient Greece. Stories of fantastical brings have been around as long as people have been evolved enough to tell them and we’re still talking about them! I wanted to tap in to that. To make it my own.

What did you find the most challenging about writing DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY?

Actually this book practically wrote itself. My biggest problem was typing fast enough to get it all down. I wish the third book would come that easily!

What authors inspire you?

Kelley Armstrong, L.J Smith, and Scott Westerfeld. Fantastic writers, all of them. (well, 80′s LJ Smith, I haven’t read much of her new stuff). Love their work.

What words of advice do you have for teen writers?

Join a writers group and don’t take the criticism personally. You HAVE to be able to handle negative feedback if you want your work to go anywhere. It can be really hard to hear negative things about your work, but it makes your writing better.

Thanks so much, Kaitlin!

Find out more and connect with Kaitlin at her website.

Twitter: @Kaitlinbevis

Facebook:

Audio Book Stained Glass Summer

I have received, reviewed, and approved the AUDIO book of STAINED GLASS SUMMER! The AUDIO book is read by voice over artist, Sarah Newswanger. It will be available at Amazon, Audible, as well as Apple’s Itune Store.

So how did this audio book happen? First, the Musa contract does not ask for audio book rights nor many other types of rights such as movie and film. However, Musa Publishing was extremely kind in they designed my cover for the audio book to match the ebook and print versions.

I had heard about the ACX Exchangewhere an author can list their book and voice over artists can audition. There is no guarantee your book will be picked up, nor that you have to accept one of the auditions. A part of the ACX Exchange is also setting the terms and conditions of the contract with the voice over artist. There can be a flat fee paid to the voice over artist or it can be a royalty contract where the royalties are split between the voice over artist and the author. I chose the royalty contract.

Then I waited.

It didn’t take long before I had notice that there was an audition waiting for me.  In the ACX Exchange listing I preferenced that I wanted someone with a “teen” sounding voice. The first audition did not fit this requirement. So, I politely thanked her for her time and declined the offer.

I received another audition a few weeks later. Again, this voice wasn’t quite right.

A few more weeks went by and then I received Sarah’s audition. I knew right away she was Jasmine’s voice. I sent an acceptance email through the ACX Exchange with due dates for each section of the book to be finished. In all, it was about a three month time period for the book to be recorded.

Once Sarah sent the finished files back to the ACX Exchange, I sat down to listen to them. I was amazed! As I listened, I found myself lost in the story and forgot I was the one who wrote it. Sarah captures all of Jasmine’s emotion about her Dad leaving, her new life on the Island, Cole, and the struggle to fit in on the Island. Sarah also captures the other minor character in a voice that at times, made me laugh out loud for how well they fit each character.

The AUDIO book of STAINED GLASS SUMMER will release soon and I will post here the links for Amazon, Itunes, and Audible.

I do hope you will buy it and enjoy the story told in this new format as much as the written format.

I Light This Candle

I light this candle for the young students and educators who lost their lives on Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

May each of us find a way to help stop the violence in our schools.

Peace be with you.