Eva Pohler's Blog, page 46
February 28, 2014
Win a Signed ARC of The Gatekeeper’s Secret (#5)
March is an exciting month for me. First, I’m giving away three signed advanced reader’s copies of the fifth book in my Gatekeeper’s Saga, due out on April first. You can enter the Goodreads giveaway here:
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Gatekeeper’s Secret
by Eva Pohler
Giveaway ends March 08, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Second, I’ll reveal the book trailer when I announce the winners of the giveaway.
And finally, the day before release, several Olympians will join me on my Facebook page to play games and award prizes! The event will be open to the public. I’ll post details on this site as we get closer to the date.
February 25, 2014
It’s a Great Time to be a Book Lover!
Whether you’re a reader or a writer or both, it’s a great time to be a book lover. Never before in the history of the world has reading and writing been so easy.
You used to have to go to a bookstore or library if you needed a book, and then, there was a chance the book you wanted wasn’t in stock. Now you can go on line and have the book delivered to your front door. Even better, you can click a button and have the book immediately downloaded to your reading device. These options are especially nice if you’re handicapped and have trouble getting out of the house. If you can’t see well, you can choose a larger font on your device. If you’re blind, nearly everything can be found in audiobook these days. And if you’re a voracious reader, you can download and consume the next book faster than it would have taken to drive to the library or bookstore in the old days.
And let’s not knock the bookstore, which provides a better experience for readers than ever before. Not only do you typically find a coffee shop attached with yummy sandwiches and pastries to consume while you read and browse, but you also have more choices in books. New genres, such as steampunk, continually evolve into being, and bookstores have whole shelves dedicated to them. The young adult category is a prime example. A genre that once was lucky to have a single shelf now has an entire section of multiple shelves in most stores.
And don’t even get me started on literacy. Suffice it to say that more people can read today than any time in human history. This certainly makes it easier to be a book lover!
If you’re a writer, you have a better chance of making a living at it today than any previous decade. First of all, the process of writing has been made easier with technology. Obviously, not having to write out the manuscript by hand in multiple drafts is a plus, not to mention the ability to add, delete, find and replace, and merge formatting, among other perks of using computer software. The research process is a cinch, too, thanks to the internet. It’s no longer necessary to travel to learn the intimate details of a specific location. Need to know about a particular date in history? Google it. Need a dictionary, thesaurus, style guide? Google those, too.
In addition to the process of writing, publishing is also easier than ever before. If you are not lucky enough to find an agent and a traditional publishing deal, you have more options than writers as recent as five years ago. Smaller publishing companies empowered by advances in technology can help you, or you can assemble your own team and do it yourself. Professional editors, cover artists, publicists, and other industry professionals can provide you with all the tools you need to succeed. And there’s so much free information on line that can tell you what you need to know to make it happen.
Once you produce your book, whether by traditional means or by self-publishing, you can help your readers discover it more easily than you could five or ten years ago. You no longer have to hope bookstore browsers find your books on the shelf or see your ads in a magazine. Social media and email help you reach readers. Services like BookBub and Ereader News alert their hundreds of thousands subscribers to your book, and, just like that, your book is out there, being read.
The fact that more and more people are making a go of it as a writer shouldn’t deter you, either. Because more and more books are more easily consumed by readers more quickly than ever before, the market can sustain a higher saturation point. In addition to the ease of consuming books, there’s also the cool factor. It’s fashionable to be a reader and to have read the book before the movie comes out. So even people who might not be natural readers are jumping on the bandwagon and buying kindles and nooks to keep up with everyone else.
More readers, more writers, more books. How can this not be a great time to be a book lover?
February 19, 2014
Sample Marketing Plan for Authors
Today I had the pleasure of presenting at the Johnson City Writers Conference in the beautiful Texas hill country at Lyndon B. Johnson’s family ranch, now converted into a memorial park and museum. The focus of the conference? You guessed it: marketing.
I’m no expert, but I have learned a thing or two from conferences, research, and trial and error. The result? Since July of 2013, when I first began applying the marketing tips I learned at UtopYA Con, I have been making the same amount of money as a writer as I make as a teacher, and my writing business continues to grow.
At the conference, I shared my marketing plan and a marketing tip sheet. Click here to see the marketing plan: Marketing Plan Sample
Click here to see the marketing tip sheet: Ongoing Book Promotion
I hope this information helps other authors to fulfill their dreams as it has me!
February 13, 2014
Happy Valentine’s Day from Aphrodite!
Aphrodite has joined Facebook (you can follow her here) and wants to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day with a giveaway on Goodreads. Click on on the widget 
below to enter to win.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Mystery Tomb
by Eva Pohler
Giveaway ends February 21, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
February is an exciting month for me. In addition to Aphrodite’s Goodreads giveaway, I have two other events: I am a presenter at a writers’ conference in Johnson City on the 19th (click here to read about the event), and I’m meeting with the Madison High School Book Club on the 25th. I’m looking forward to talking about books with my fellow book lovers!
February is exciting for one other reason. I’m running a promotion on The Mystery Box, 
and through February and March, it’s available for free in all ebook stores. So far, it’s been downloaded almost 100,000 times and is #1 in Free Kindle Suspense. Even more thrilling is the fact that the reviews have been great. Here are just a few:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, February 12, 2014
Geek’s Antiques (North Dakota, USA) - See all my reviews
The style was deceptively calm and quiet, the story captivating. I didn’t want to put it down but was kind of afraid of what would happen next. I picked this up for free on Amazon, and I was blown away by the quality of the writing. And it wasn’t just a tale – there was a message, motivation, warmth to my heart, power to my soul. Thank you, Eva.
5.0 out of 5 stars OMG, February 12, 2014
jane hewitt - See all my reviews
I got this book from bookbub because it was free and I figured what did I have to lose because the reviews were good. I started it and read it all in one day staying up until after midnight to finish it. I had no idea what I was getting but it was a thriller from the time Mona started telling her story. I envisioned several endings before I finished it but none like I found at the end.
4.0 out of 5 stars Strangely addictive, February 8, 2014
Patricia Kenworthy (Indiana, PA USA) - See all my reviews
As Mona’s story unfolds and Yvette identifies the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome, I felt like I was suffering the same symptoms. I felt I was being sucked into the insanity of this story and yet I couldn’t stop reading.
February 8, 2014
Party with the Olympians, Take Two!
If you can’t get enough of the Olympians, come join us again for more fun! More Hip! 
More Hades! More Athena! More Therese! And, this time, Than and Jen will also make appearances, each with a game of their own!
Where is all this fun to occur, you ask? The Violet Hour Book Reviews! (Click here to go there!)
As with last week, there will be plenty of
prizes, including a signed set of the first four books in The Gatekeeper’s Saga; a book club pack of ten “I’m a BOOK G[R]EEK” pens, buttons, and bookmarks; a $25 Victoria’s Secret gift card; a pomegranate gift basket; Hip and Than t-shirts; an Athena 
Locket; and more!
Hope to see you there tomorrow, Feb. 9th, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. CST on Facebook!
February 7, 2014
An Appearance by Athena: Friday, February 7th, 8:30 PM CST
Athena will be visiting a Facebook Event this evening, and she will be giving away prizes. She will only be there for thirty minutes, so be sure not to miss!
She will give away one of her lockets and a swag pack of “I’m A BOOK G[R]EEK” pens and buttons, among other things. So please join her here.
Hope to see you later tonight!
January 31, 2014
Party With the Olympians in the Gatekeeper’s Secret Cover Reveal!
The party will kick off with an appearance from Hypnos, who has three contests planned. As the god of sleep, he is going to ask you to tell about your favorite dream, to post pics of how you would like him to appear to you in your dreams, and to describe your favorite PG-13-rated fantasy. To reward you, 
he will give away a t-shirt with his graphic on the back and his brother’s on the front. He will also give away a $10 Victoria Secret gift card and an ebook edition of The Gatekeeper’s Challenge (#2).
During the second hour, Hypnos’s father, Hades, will take over. In addition to some Greek mythology trivia, Hades is going to ask you two questions: If you could go to the Underworld to visit any one person, who would it be? And, if you were condemned to Tartarus to suffer your greatest fear, what kind of torment would you be made to endure? Hades will give away a three-book charm bracelet, three pomegranate sachets, and an ebook edition of The Purgatorium.
After Hades, Zeus’s favorite daughter, Athena, will join us. Like the god of the Underworld, she plans to ask you some Greek mythology trivia. In addition, she’ll ask you to describe the bravest thing you ever did and to share your favorite words of wisdom. She will be giving away an ebook edition of The Mystery Tomb, “I’m a BOOK G[R]EEK” buttons and pens, and, wait for it…the Athena Locket. The inscription inside is just like the one on the saga: The most common way people give up their power is by believing they have none.
For the final hour, Therese, the heroine of the saga, will take over the party. She will ask you to post your favorite animal pics and ask you to tell what animal you would choose to be and why. Her last question will be to tell which god you would marry and why. Her prizes will include an ebook edition of the first 
three books in the saga, signed paperback editions of the first four books in the saga, and another t-shirt starring Hypnos and Thanatos.
In addition to all of these prizes, one lucky winner will receive an advanced reader’s pdf copy of The Gatekeeper’s Secret! The party is open to the public and can be found here.
If you can’t make it to this event on February 2nd, never fear! The crew is returning for a second act on Sunday, February 9th around the same time at The Violet Hour Book Reviews, which you can find here.
We hope to see you at one or both of these events. I’m so excited to show you the cover, created by the ever talented Melinda Vanlone, whose work you can find here.
January 29, 2014
A Question for My Subscribers
As I learn more about marketing a business, I’ve read lots of posts asserting that a newsletter is a must-have marketing tool. But I feel like my website is doing the same job as a newsletter. What do you all think? Should I create a newsletter specifically for announcing new releases and special deals? Or do you think the website is already performing that function?
January 26, 2014
The Mystery Tomb Cover Reveal
Introducing the second book in my Mystery Book Collection: The Mystery Tomb.
Meet Samantha Beck and Rebecca Nisha—two women born twenty-five years and hundreds of miles apart, yet joined together by a shocking family ritual. When Samantha discovers the remains of an ancient tribe in Pennsylvania , she expects to at last prove her grandmother’s Native American ancestry and to make a name for herself as a budding archaeologist. She does not expect to make an enemy and a lover of a fellow descendant—son of Rebecca Nisha—who unwittingly wears a necklace made of his dead mother’s bones.
As the novel unfolds, alternating between Samantha’s story and Rebecca’s twenty-five years before, Samantha becomes more and more determined to discover the devastating mystery that estranged Rebecca’s wealthy Pennsylvania Dutch father from her half-Native American son. Samantha gradually uncovers a troubling secret and decides to risk everything—love and career—to restore harmony to Rebecca’s family.
The book releases February 1st in ebook for $3.99 and paperback for $10.00. The audiobook will follow.
To celebrate the launch of this second book, The Mystery Box, the first book in my Mystery Book Collection, will be free in all ebook formats on Monday, January 27th (tomorrow). Here’s the blurb:
Soccer mom Yvette Palmer lives an ordinary life in San Antonio, Texas when a box is delivered to her by mistake, and in taking it to its rightful owner—a crotchety neighbor named Mona who shares her back fence—is drawn into a strange and haunting tale.
Mona’s ratty robe, mood swings, and secretive behavior all raise red flags, and Yvette is sure someone else is living there despite Mona’s claim to live alone, but Yvette is unable to break away as she listens to how Mona transformed from a young college woman about to be married to the odd, reclusive, ghost of a woman she is now.
As Yvette listens to her neighbor’s tale, she discovers a shocking connection, but doesn’t know whether Mona’s come to help or to harm her and her family.
So get ready to download your free book, and then check out The Mystery Tomb!
January 19, 2014
Facebook Romance Giveaway Hop!
Welcome to the FACEBOOK AUTHOR ROMANCE HOP!
Do you love discovering new authors? Well, this is a great way!
Over 30 authors have come together and are each hosting a giveaway on their facebook pages for readers!
Below you will find a linky list of author names. You can ENTER every contest!!!Good Choice Reading is hosting a special giveaway just because! 
Please read the links carefully. Some giveaways are US ONLY, US/CANADA, and INTERNATIONAL (INT). Also, the ones that are young adult are labeled (YA). Some are New Adult, and some are strictly for the older crowd.
This is a romance giveaway, so no matter that genre each book has some form of romance in it.You can find each authors giveaway under the giveaway tab on their facebook pages.
The giveaways are a mix of ebooks, paperbacks, ARCs, and gift cards.
Are you ready to have fun???
Get clicking!!!
Good luck!
Eva Pohler’s Book Page is giving away The Gatekeeper’s Saga in signed paperback, audiobook, and ebook editions!
