Marilynn Dawson's Blog, page 3
January 30, 2015
Welcome to Songdove Books Newsletter: January 2015
Well look at that!
We've already made one major success this year! We completed the month of January 2015! You read that right, the first month of the brand new year, 2015, is now OVER! How does it feel? What goals had you set for this month? Did you reach them? Did you get half way? Did they get written down? Did they peak into your thoughts on New Year's and then dash off as fast as they could run?
Reaching the end of January 2015 has been a mixed bag for me. Prayer cards for "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" had some glitches to start out the year, ironed out those glitches and then ran into hard drive space problems resulting in only getting scheduled to February 19th. If all goes as offered, that storage issue might get resolved by the end of the February, perhaps early March, and then the prayer cards can resume. So there might be a few weeks when nothing gets shared at 7am every morning via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The hard drive issues really reared their ugly heads when I began recording the audio sessions for "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey", in earnest! I got to the end of Chapter Three of Volume One, when space suddenly reached premium status! So that project is on hold now as well until we approach the month of March.
Praying about paying down my debt load resulted in interest-dodging taking the form of a new van consolidating a number of my debts into a single payment taking place every two weeks. Now the prayers for regular income need to step up, because that bi-weekly payment is the equivalent of my previous car payment, plus one of the major debt's monthly payments cut in half! Don't worry about the math, I'm not giving you any figures anyway.
However, income for the month of January picked up to the point where I've now had more work this month, than at any time this past Fall! Pray this continues going forward so that I can maintain my financial obligations. If this all works out, I'll have the vast majority of my debt-load paid off in 8 years. A separate debt will be paid off in just under 3yrs now. Yes, you can guess by now that my New Year's goal was to get more work, finish the prayer cards, and finally get my series into audio format! Oh! And lower my debt load! That lowering so far has taken shape in the form of lower interest rates! 
As if that wasn't surprising enough, being able to engage in interest-dodging via a 2014 Dodge Minivan, (ha ha, get it? interest-dodging, dodge. . . ) a client call related to my "day job" as a computer repair tech, ended up with me coming home with a Blackberry Playbook! Thanks to learning about a Chrome playbook management extension, I now have it set up to read my own ebooks! I finally get to see what YOU see when you purchase my ebooks and put them on your ereader! Up to this point, I could only use emulators such as Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre to view my ebooks on my computer. While that let me know the books worked as designed and looked reasonably how I wanted them to, emulators still are not the real thing. I also observed that my latest paperback, "A Year in Prayer With Jesus", reads fine as an epub on the computer, but on my ereader app at least, the center portion that contains the actual daily prayer sessions, is blank. It won't load. . . too big a section I'm guessing as the book is over 700 pages in printed format. The PDF on my Playbook for this particular book reads just fine. So it might be an ereader thing, or limitations of the hardware.
So this geeky author got just a little more geeky this past week!
If you're looking for a new way to spend your quiet time this year, let me suggest picking up your own copy of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" whether in paperback, PDF, mobi or epub formats.
This is an undated book so that Day One can begin literally on any calendar date of the year!
Check out this video to get a feel for how to engage with The Lord's Prayer at a deeper level this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2DhnE5f7QU&feature=youtu.be&list=PLsfmoQFz615pJIdjL-3_429_cSbSNQkXA
As February is also considered "the love month", learning about the Church's role as the Bride of Christ and how God chooses to clothe her in the Scriptures may be just the right read. Perhaps you have a loved one interested in the ancient world, or a friend interested in scents or a sibling who just LOVES clothes. This book would make a great Valentine's Day gift for any one of them! If you order directly from me (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/) or New Christian Books (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/new-christian-books/), you get the paperback at roughly $20 off the regular retail price of other online retailers. The ebook sells for $9.99 at the various online retailers carrying it
In just three month's time, another big milestone is going to be upon us! Graduation season!!! Why not consider beating the rush, and getting one or more copies of "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate" now instead of later? It goes for roughly $12.00 at most online retailers. Eight graduates received it as gifts last year.
BECOME A SONGDOVE BOOKS AFFILIATE!!!
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Wrap-up
I think that's all the news available for this month.
Take a moment to check out the blog post entry below entitled "Praise and Peace". If I were to leave you with one particular thought going into 2015, it would be that particular blog post. As the days get darker on the world stage, the concepts discussed in this blog post will hold true.
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View past newsletters and sign up to get this in your inbox every month.http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/
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Latest Content on the Songdove Musings Blog:
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Songdove Books - Isaiah 40:28-31
Praise and Peace http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2015/01/23/praise-and-peace/
January 19, 2015
Using Pinterest Analytics to "See the Numbers"!
A relaxed mind is a creative mind! For those of us who are both creative and analytical all at the same time, a relaxed mind can find itself taking pleasure in checking out statistics too. As some of you may know, I had created a 13min video not long ago, showing authors how to begin using Pinterest to promote their books. You can watch that video here:
As I sat here relaxing tonight, I decided to look at my stats since January 1st. Pinterest for Business, which I urge every author to sign up for from within their Pinterest account settings, gives analytics that can be used to show how well pins are doing around Pinterest. Main tabs include "profile", "Audience" and "website". I decided to click on "Audience" and received the following stats about my pins:
This first image above shows how many views my pins have had since January 1st, and how many average views per day. Below that, Pinterest shows me the general demographics of my viewers.
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This second image is an interesting one. The information on this page can be used, if I wish to do it, to tailor my pins to the interests of my regular viewership. This page of statistics shows the common interests of my regular viewers, where viewers tend to find my pins, and I don't recognize a number of these boards. It appears there are some viewers regularly repinning my pins to boards I am not part of nor follow. This image also shows the kinds of businesses or organizations that my regular viewers stay current with. Because I have articles on hubpages, videos on youtube, have my profile on Authors Central filled out, and am on Twitter, this means my viewers and I are not far apart. If they wish, they will look me up on those sites and possibly engage with me there too.
Demographics are just one type of analytic that can be observed and noted when dealing with marketing and promotion on Pinterest.
How are your stats doing? When was the last time you looked? Have they influenced how you engage with Pinterest?
December 23, 2014
Christmas Edition - Songdove Books Newsletter December 2014
Merry Christmas!!!
As of the time of writing this newsletter, the calendar reads December 23rd! That means today is the Eve of the Eve before Christmas Day! Are you excited??? Are your kids excited while you are worn out already??? Have you literally dropped because of all the preparations, services, shopping, etcetera that were on your todo list this year?
If it weren't for a handful of newsy items, this particular newsletter would have written itself with the last three entries added to my blog this month. It's always good every so often to just turn off from the noise of such a busy season, and remember why this season even began in the first place, what our role is in it, and to be reminded that God still works miracles today. You can find those three themes in the "latest content" entry at the end of this newsletter.
However, before you head to the end already, let me welcome more subscribers to the Songdove Books family! It's great to have you with us!
This newsletter is coming to you a few days early for two reasons:
• First, because of the holidays. Between Christmas eve services, Christmas Day celebrations, visiting family, and a daughter exercising her horse, I just wanted to know that my monthly communication with you has already been looked after. Normally I send newsletters out near the 27th or so each month, but not this month.
• Secondly, because of word of an ebook sale going on for 7 days at four online retailers. I wanted you to know about this a couple days in advance. Because of time zones and datelines, the sale actually begins in my timezone on Christmas Day, but if your Christmas Day is actually on my Christmas Eve, such as for those living in Australia, then your Boxing Day week begins the day I'm having my Christmas celebrations. So the sale starts on the 25th for me, and the 26th for anyone on the other side of the dateline. Make sense? Don't you love international planning??? lol. . . It gives some of my friends headaches just thinking about it.
So without further adieu, lets get into December's news. . .
Amazon Added Another Domain in November!
This tidbit of information didn't quite make it into November's newsletter, so I do apologize. Amazon last month, added the Netherlands to their list of official websites. At this time, you can only find ebooks there, but that means if you live in the Netherlands and click: https://smarturl.it/MarilynnDawson you will see all four of my current ebooks! It's great to see all the locations around the world where Songdove Books can be found and the new locations popping up every now and then too.
Boxing Week Sale!
As already mentioned in the opening paragraphs, Songdove Books is having a 50% off sale from December 25th to December 31st at four participating retailers online:
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Ms.%20Marilynn%20Dawson&c=books
(note: sometimes Google Play will list other books after mine in this search string)
Gumroad:
Select ebooks with coupon code: Boxingweeksale
Excluding Dressed for Eternity, both e-courses, and Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey
https://gumroad.com/songdove
Smashwords:
Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author: coupon code: TD37B
A Year in Prayer With Jesus: coupon code: GH89M
Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!): coupon code: QL99U
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/songdove
Tomely:
coupon code: Boxingweeksale
http://songdove.tomely.com/
So if you missed the 12 Days of Christmas Discount Tour at the beginning of the month, you have another opportunity following Christmas to take advantage of this 50% off sale on e-books only. No paperbacks are on sale this week, which is why they are excluded over at Gumroad.
BECOME A SONGDOVE BOOKS AFFILIATE!!!
YES! As of the month of December, Songdove Books has ventured further into the affiliate space (read more about that under "Affiliate Sales" below) by not merely becoming an affiliate to the bookstores listed in that section of this newsletter, but by becoming an affiliate vendor myself! Both publishing e-courses have been added to the Click2Sell affiliate platform to create the Songdove Books Affiliate Program! The price for each course continues to be $15 USD, but that is in rough estimate now as I have everything in Canadian funds, which makes that price $17.50 Canadian.
If you choose to join this program, you will earn 20% of each sale generated through your affiliate link, or $3.50 per course sold.
For the new people in our list today, each e-course comes to you via your email inbox, once a day. Each daily session is relatively short with step-by-step instructions to learn how to use suggested tools in preparing your book for print or ebook distribution. These courses are aimed at those venturing into the self-publishing arena and who perhaps don't have the funds to hire out a professional formatter for themselves. I've been told I could price both courses at much higher rates than $15, but I am keeping them this low in order to appeal to authors and writers who are struggling just to get by, let alone publish what God has gifted them to write.
Information about the affiliate program, with links to more information about each course can be found at this url here: http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/become-a-songdove-books-affiliate/
So if you've been wondering how you can help other authors get their manuscript ready for printing digitally or physically, check out this program, check out these courses, and consider joining the team. It would be great to have you!
Affiliate Sales
Various bookstores around the 'net, such as Kobo, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble and others, offer affiliate programs. An affiliate program is where you sign up, and you're given promotional links. If a person buys a product through your promotional link, then you get paid a commission for having facilitated that sale. If you follow my blog, you'll have noticed a number of squarish banners showing up down the right-hand side of the blog. Those are all affiliate programs.
Some of those banners have a text link under them. Those text links go to pages on my site where I have linked to any Songdove Books that those affiliates carry, so that you can find them immediately. This has been done for New Christian Books (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/new-christian-books/), Smile Amazon (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/smile/) (so you can support the charity of your choice when buying from Amazon's website), Barnes & Noble (http://wp.me/P3IQLk-rf), and Kobo Writing Life (http://wp.me/P3IQLk-ro).
In addition to these banners and pages, sometimes affiliate programs offer time-sensitive deals. In order to make sure that visitors to my site can access these time-sensitive deals, another page was created, simply called "Bookstore Deals" (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/events/).
"Bookstore Deals" (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/events/) currently has a raft of promotions from Barnes & Noble, but in a day or two will also have some from Kobo Wrting Life as well.
Sharing discounts and sales with you is important to me, because I myself am one for counting pennies! If I can buy something for less than retail, and if the money and the time are available to make that happen, then I'll do it. With so many families struggling to make ends meet, especially around Christmastime, it doesn't make sense not to fill you in on ways you can do any desired Christmas shopping in a manner that may save you money.
This kind of thinking tends to make me a bad promoter, because I'd rather see you save a penny than spend it. I get in trouble for this kind of thinking offline by people who tell me I charge too little for my day job rates. I finally raised my going rate from $40 over the past 5 years to $45 per hour for most services that I offer in my day job as a computer repair tech. I just can't justify high prices when so many around me are struggling.
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Wrap-up 
Sheesh, even when I think I have nothing to say, I still have quite abit to say! Perhaps its a good thing I wrote this today instead of trying to figure it all out on Boxing Day or the weekend.
As you'll see in the blog posts below, this time of year gets me contemplating. As with any form of contemplation, it comes out through my fingers. Blogging lets you be privy to those thoughts and musings as we prepare to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Every year since my youngest was three, we have a birthday cake for Jesus just as we do for any other birthday in the home. A picture of it is here to the right.
We don't do a tree every year either, we broke with common tradition and have our own tradition in the form of our own depiction of the Cross over the Manger. The painting I had seen as a child has resurfaced as an online graphic that I am having trouble tracking down the source for. Whenever I learn whether this online version is of the original painting or a custom-drawn image, and when I finally learn of it's copyright status, I may start using it in my blog posts in the future. Ever since first hearing of this painting as a child, I've always wanted a copy of it. Pray I find out the origins of this image and its status.
Let me close for now by wishing you an extra special Christmas holiday greeting. May God truly be welcome in your home this Christmas. May He sit with you as you open gifts and may you feel His presence around the festive dinner table. May the grown Son of God be welcome in your festivities as that of every other adult in your midst.
Lastly, may you look forward to the soon return of our Heavenly Bridegroom, the King of the Universe, and the Lover of your Soul, Jesus Christ! Are you ready?
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View past newsletters.
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/
Latest Blog Posts
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2014/12/23/its-the-eve-before-the-eve-of-christmas-subtitle-it-happened-this-past-weekend/
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2014/12/18/christmas-thoughts-when-little-annoyances-contain-big-messages/
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2014/12/08/the-season-of-advent-what-are-you-waiting-for/
December 20, 2014
Ways that Authors Can Move Forward on Facebook in 2015
I've been seeing a fair bit of information lately, opinions and pundits all renumerating on what may happen to authors, artists and other small business owners, contractors, and entreprenuers when Facebook implements major newsfeed changes after January 15th, 2015. Some have already decided they are going to close down their business fan pages, while others are wondering where exactly they'll go if they do.
One thing's already been clear to many authors, and that is the loss of eyeballs on their various posts in 2014. My own author page has always had low-to-no regular interaction, which has always been a disappointment. It was because of no interaction that I ceased looking for things to repin on a regular basis. No one was responding to them outside of a handful I could literally count on one hand.
What I have discovered gets the eyeballs, is the manual promotion of posts that I think need to be seen, to other groups around Facebook. Occasionally this has spiked the number of views from 0 or maybe 10 to as much as 60 or more depending on the subject matter.
Tip #1:
Therefore, tip #1 from me directly, is to manually promote the posts you want seen, to the groups where people will have the greatest interest in seeing it. This means searching Facebook for groups that fit the keywords you expect to reach toward. There are so many groups, many public, many closed, some private. Join the groups that match the content you wish to share, then when you create a post that would fit those groups, share them to those groups. It does increase the number of people who will see your content.
Tip #2:
Remind your fans periodically to use the "Pages Feed" link in the left-hand panel of their newsfeed. While this link unfortunately is not sortable by top or most recent the way your newsfeed is, it is still a great way to keep up with the pages you have chosen to like. In this manner, I myself keep up with the pages I want to stay current with. The more I click like on a page's post, the more I comment on a page's post, and the more I reshare content that pages I like share with me, the more often they show up in my actual newsfeed instead of staying in the pages feed only. Educating your fans about this link will go a long way to maintaining and maybe even increasing fan interaction, allowing your posts to grow their viewership organically, because Facebook rewards interaction with fans.
The next few tips are gathered from a few blogs that I've also linked to in case you wish to read the rest of each blog article. I agree that it's time to change tactics, and now I'm glad that I scheduled promotional posts via hootesuite for just one per day going into the new year. In keeping with the first shared point below, I will need to come up with creative ways of sharing content that is not overly promotional in the future. I am slowly gaining ideas for that and we'll have to see how they play out.
Don’t focus on selling on Facebook
One of the main reasons why Facebook is changing its algorithm is because more and more businesses are posting sales-driven content, as opposed to resourceful content that will provide value to their audience. Facebook is trying to steer away from this model, as they want to make Facebook’s user experience more enjoyable. Therefore, if businesses are prompted to change their Facebook marketing strategy, there will be more valuable content given to their audiences.
Post your best content on Facebook
Facebook wants people to see only the best content on their News Feed. Which means that in order for a business to see engagement on their posts, choose content that has been successful on other social media channels or your business’ content marketing platform. Content that has the most retweets, clicks, and traffic will more likely also do well on Facebook (and remember the golden rule: the best content is the content that provides your followers value).
http://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-marketing-tips/
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#1. Give real value. Post content that serves your followers and fans
You can still try and make an effort to create incredible valuable organic updates on your Facebook page. Facebook “promise” if your content is relevant to your followers it might show up. So one solution is to experiment with “what it takes” to create good content for Facebook. No one knows how much of these organic posts will end up in people´s news feed – most likely none. But if you are low on cash in your marketing budget this is worth testing in January before you make a new strategy.
#2. Boost your business on other social media channels
It´s time to think in alternatives; Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, 500px and Flickr are all suitable options for photographers and other creatives. And if you make good use of google+ it will rank your website much higher when it comes to search optimization.
http://christinagreve.com/new-2015-facebook-page-rules-what-it-means-for-your-business/
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7. Keep your details up-to-date
Even if you decide to scale back your Facebook posting in 2015, don’t overlook the value of using Facebook to help new customers find your business.
Review your business information like hours and location, and make sure you’ve completely filled out your bio so that new customers can find the information they are looking for!
http://blogs.constantcontact.com/facebook-organic-reach/
December 16, 2014
Become a Songdove Books Affiliate and earn $3.50 per sale!
You are invited to join the Songdove Books Affiliate program via Click2Sell.com.
Each product offered by Songdove Books through the Click2Sell Affiliate system, will earn you a 20% commission minus any processing fees Click2Sell may levy. You will need to create an account at Click2Sell.com (http://songdovebooks.join.click2sell.eu/), but doing so is free. There is no cost to you.
Click2Sell assigns you an affiliate ID automatically, allowing all commissions to be tracked in the system. Your affiliate ID will continue to track sales from each person who clicks your link, for up to 6 months by way of a cookie set in their browser. You will be able to log into your account and view your traffic and earnings at any time.
Payment of commissions earned will take place roughly 2 weeks following the end of each month in which they were earned. In order to receive your commissions, you will need to provide a paypal account. If you do not have paypal, it is also free to set up and use.
Currently, the products being offered to affiliates from Songdove Books, are e-courses.
To get started earning $3.50 per course sale, complete the following steps:
Ensure you have a paypal account at paypal.com (http://paypal.com/) and have your email address used to sign into paypal handy.Create an account at Click2Sell: http://songdovebooks.join.click2sell.eu/Once you have an account at Click2Sell and your paypal information is entered in your payment settings area:
Click the following links to join each course’s affiliate program:
22-Day e-Course based on “Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author”
https://www.click2sell.eu/login_details.do?pid=37717
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“Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author” Creating
Your Very First E-Book!
https://www.click2sell.eu/login_details.do?pid=37734
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Each of these courses has a sample email with three different subject lines to choose from, graphics that you can use on your site and in your promotional campaigns, and signature lines that can double as tweets with very little manipulation on your part.
I look forward to working with you as we help other authors learn about self-publishing.
December 5, 2014
Tomorrow We Will Be Half-way Through the 12 Days of Christmas Discount Tour!
Man time goes by fast! Can you believe we are almost half-way through the 12 Days of Christmas Discount Tour already??? Tomorrow is Day 6!
If you've missed the link to the event, it's right here: https://www.facebook.com/events/670947293023533/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
Let's take a quick recap of where we've been so far. Remember that this tour is featuring 12 books across 12 blogs featuring 12 online retailers, for 12 days.
On Day One, we introduced Volume One of Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey, over at my own author blog: http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2014/12/01/1789/ The featured retailer that day was my very own blog store: http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/ where everything is currently 60% off until December 12th.
On Day Two, we introduced Volume Two of Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey, over at my Goodreads profile blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7451951-on-the-second-day-of-christmas-day-two-of-christmas-discount-tour The featured retailer that day was Storenvy: http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com where everything is 20% off with coupon code: 12DaysofChristmas until December 12th.
On Day Three, we introduced Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!), over at LinkedIn: http://ow.ly/FgMSp The featured retailer that day was Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/songdove where everything minus the e-courses is on sale at 45% off with offer code: 12daysofChristmas.
On Day Four, we introduced Volume Three of Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey, over at Inkbok: https://inkbok.com/blog/fourth-day-christmas-day-four-christmas-discount-tour where the featured retailer was Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/songdovebooks/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg= Each book is being featured on eBay for 5 days and then cycling off. A few books have already cycled off, so if you want to get them via auction, don't waste any time!
Today, Day Five, we featured Volume Five of Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey, over at Createspace: http://ow.ly/FqWRL. The featured retailer today is also Createspace, the company that made my paperbacks possible. Discounts here range from 5% to 10% with coupon code: BRSCUSL8.
We have seven more books to feature, seven more blogs to feature, and seven more online retailers to feature as well. If you are looking for new reads for the New Year, perhaps something more challenging in your devotional or prayer life, or wanting to shop early for that graduate next year, be sure to check out the deals. They all come to an end on December 12th!
December 1, 2014
"On the Second Day of Christmas" Day Two of Christmas Discount Tour
View Today's Slideshare Presentation
Today's featured online retailer is the Songdove Books Storenvy shop!
Everything in the shop is 20% off from December 1st to December 12th with coupon code: 12DaysofChristmas
Here you'll find book titles, descriptions, prices, and occasionally options as to which format you prefer. You'll also find pens and notebooks to match some of the books if you like to be coordinated in your reading and writing. All paperback books are dropshipped to you from the printer's warehouse in North Carolina. Notebooks will dropship from cafepress.com and pens will dropship from Vistaprint.
Please be sure to specify where you want to receive your package, or where to send your gift so that your gift recipient receives your package in good time.
Because storenvy.com is a place where anyone can sell just about anything, why not take a look around to see if someone else is selling that perfect gift for that special loved one in your life this Christmas.
Be sure to enter today's rafflecopter contest for your chance to win a copy of today's featured book in the slideshow link above. If you have already won this book in a previous contest, please refrain from entering again.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
November 26, 2014
Welcome to the Pre-Holiday Edition of Songdove Books Newsletter: November 2014
As I prepare to write this month's newsletter, all my American readers are preparing for their Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow. So to all of you scattered around the US, Happy Thanksgiving!
Welcome to our latest newsletter subscribers! Did you take advantage of your free gift yet?
November was a crazy month in so many ways, and this past week has been even crazier! This author still needs to be gainfully employed to put food on the table, and with my health being what it is these days, finding low-stress employment isn't the easiest thing in the world. So I've been looking at what avenues are already open to me, and then acting on them. THAT has caused life to go a little nuts recently! For any of you in my friends list on Facebook, or in my fan page on Facebook or Twitter, Pinterest or LinkedIn, you will have been seeing some of this craziness showing up on a regular basis. I was going to write out a personal note about it all on Facebook when I realized that I should really just fill in everyone, including those that may not yet follow me in social circles yet.
So below, you're going to find information on a Christmas discount blog tour, greeting cards, photo products, affiliate promotions, and more! Scripture says the worker is worthy of his hire, so these are all methods I have tapped into.
Just because you are receiving this newsletter, doesn't obligate you to change your shopping habits. If something I am offering fits into your shopping habits however, it would be great to have your support in the same manner you might support a small business owner downtown in your local community. Christians helping Christians via support of their businesses and efforts to be self-sustaining allows blessings to continue flowing. I have been blessed with the ability to write, and to fix computer-related issues, so it is my desire to offer those at reasonable rates to others who need them.
In addition, if I share something here that would interest a friend or family member, pass this newsletter on to them. There are currently 43 of you on this list, giving any of what follows here, a chance at 43 additional directions this newsletter can go.
Ready to dive in?
12 x 12 x 12 x 12 Christimas Discount Tour!
12 Days, 12 Books, 12 Blogs and 12 online retailers featuring a range of discounts from 5% to as much as 75% off!
Word is now going out about December's major book promotion. All the details can be found here: (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/2014/11/24/welcome-to-a-totally-new-rendition-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas/) With more and more people getting upset over how Black Friday has encroached on Thanksgiving in the US, I did my best to ensure everything begins either on December 1st, or in the case of one site, technically beginning on Thanksgiving but not purchasable till December 1st. For that to make sense, you'll want to follow the blog posts happening right now introducing each part of how this tour will work. So far we've introduced the books and the blogs, and Thursday we introduce the retailers who will be participating. Save your money however, because nothing actually begins on tour until Monday December 1st. Monday also happens to be Cyber-Monday in the online world of retail, so if you want to do your Christmas shopping on a budget but want to skip the Black Friday madness, you'll find many more deals than just my tour on the 'net that day.
Photos for Sale!
Sometimes I like to play around with a camera. I rarely if ever take pictures of people, which might be one reason why I'm so bad at capturing moments with the family, but I love landscape or cityscape photography. I realized earlier this Fall, that one of the features people can create on places such as cafepress.com or zazzle, are greeting cards and prints.
Thanks to a website plugin called Fotomoto, I am now able to offer some of my photos in the four seasonal categories, for sale in the form of either 5x7 prints, greeting cards, postcards/invitation cards, downloads for use in screensavers or desktop wallpaper, and even for use in sending free e-cards to your friends. http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/songdove-books-photos-for-sale/
When you click this link here, choose the season you wish to browse. When you see an interesting thumbnail, click on it and give the page a moment to load. Once the page has finished loading, you'll see the fotomoto bar under the image with options to purchase or send an e-card. The fotomoto purchase screen has a "more sizes" button that will let you see all sizes currently available.
Photo and Book-related Items For Sale on Cafepress!
Depending on when you open this newsletter, Cafepress.com is having a pre-Christmas sale that ends on Thanksgiving. I didn't know this was going on, so I apologize for the news now. They are offering 20% off a wide range of products. The Thermos items pictured here would not qualify however, as they are among those items not qualifying for the sale.
I also made a very big discovery today! (November 26th) Cafepress gives it's members profiles that look quite nice! Click this link to view my own profile that I finally set up! (http://www.cafepress.ca/profile/songdove) What I like most about this public profile, is that unlike the stores that users can create, and which I did create (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks), my public profile actually shows you the sales, coupons and discounts that are currently happening! My profile also gives you a quick idea of how each photo or image looks on three available products. Clicking on that image reveals all the products currently sporting that image or photo. So I spent a good part of my morning tweaking my profile and adding descriptions to most of my images so that you have a better idea what is available.
Affiliate Sales
Various bookstores around the 'net, such as Kobo, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble and others, offer affiliate programs. An affiliate program is where you sign up, and you're given promotional links. If a person buys a product through your promotional link, then you get paid a commission for having facilitated that sale. If you follow my blog, you'll have noticed a number of squarish banners showing up down the right-hand side of the blog. Those are all affiliate programs.
Some of those banners have a text link under them. Those text links go to pages on my site where I have linked to any Songdove Books that those affiliates carry, so that you can find them immediately. This has been done for:
Barnes & Noble, http://wp.me/P3IQLk-rf and
Kobo Writing Life. http://wp.me/P3IQLk-ro
In addition to these banners and pages, sometimes affiliate programs offer time-sensitive deals. In order to make sure that visitors to my site can access these time-sensitive deals, another page was created, simply called "Bookstore Deals". http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/events/
"Bookstore Deals" currently has a raft of promotions from Barnes & Noble, but in a day or two will also have some from Kobo Wrting Life as well.
Sharing discounts and sales with you is important to me, because I myself am one for counting pennies! If I can buy something for less than retail, and if the money and the time are available to make that happen, then I'll do it. With so many families struggling to make ends meet, especially around Christmastime, it doesn't make sense not to fill you in on ways you can do any desired Christmas shopping in a manner that may save you money.
This kind of thinking tends to make me a bad promoter, because I'd rather see you save a penny than spend it. I get in trouble for this kind of thinking offline by people who tell me I charge too little for my day job rates. I finally raised my going rate from $40 over the past 5 years to $45 per hour for most services that I offer in my day job as a computer repair tech. I just can't justify high prices when so many around me are struggling.
Sales over the Weekend
I am not allowed to share the link until it goes live at 9pm EST on Thursday, but one location where my books are sold is having a weekend sale that begins Thursday night and ends Monday at midnight. Storenvy.com is a hub of small business owners, similar to Etsy, but for much more than hand-crafted items. My books are there along with matching notebooks and pens whenever I could make them look good. Starting Thursday evening after everyone has enjoyed their Turkey dinner and are all but sleeping off the endorphins from a big meal shared with family and friends, Storenvy will offer a 30% discount on all marketplace products sitewide!
If you want the link to that sale, you'll need to be sure you're following me on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Twitter. You may be able to get word on g+ if you let me know to add you to my circles. I'll try to remember to make it public there however as well.
On the Book-Writing Front. . .
If you've been wondering what's happening with the prayer card concept that I began talking about this Fall, the decision has been made to offer it as printable card sets. The first set is now up on Gumroad.com and is available for $20. This gets you 210 full-colour/full-bleed 5x7 300DPI prayer cards that will fit two to a sheet of card stock. Instructions for printing and assembly are included in the zip file that you receive upon completion of your purchase. Instructions aim to guide Linux, Mac as well as Windows PC users. I've begun the second set, but am not getting very far with everything going both at home, with work efforts, as well as on the book front.
A new, smaller book is in the works offering children's ministry workers an alternative to Halloween if engaged in during October, or a way to further exemplify and teach the concept of gratitude during the US November Thanksgiving focus. I've had it reviewed by several people so far, and will be working further on the rough draft going into the New Year. I will need one or more Children's Ministries to offer to put this book's contents into practice before I can finally offer it for sale. Hands-on practice ideally in a small and large setting would greatly aid in ensuring that what I publish will be workable. As an organizer, coordinator, and former Sunday School teacher myself, I believe I have a workable concept here, but different people do things differently, so pray that I can find leaders willing to take this on and give me feedback.
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Wrap-up
I think that's it for now. As I said at the beginning, there is a lot going on. I've tried to remember everything.
After the 27th, it will be safe to say that we are entering that time of year known as the Christmas season. The choir I am part of has two events this coming weekend already, the 29th at a Christmas craft fair as part of the entertainment, and the 30th hosting a Christmas fundraiser. At one point this season, the choir will be singing in our local mall! Pray for us as we do our best to present the gospel in song in a venue that normally frowns on religious expression within it's walls. We'll be doing at least two events every weekend until the middle of December.
Christmas is seen by some as being a very controversial time of year. Some say we shouldn't celebrate it because in the time of Christ's birth, they didn't celebrate birthdays. Others say we should celebrate it because although it used to be a pagan holiday, it has become Christendom's largest yearly opportunity for saving souls.
What has made Christmas controversial for me personally, has been the Western over-emphasis on consumerism and materialism. In this regard, I'll be glad to have my 12x12x12x12 Christmas Discount tour over and done with by December 12th! I don't know what the varioius affiliate programs will be doing, but at least I'll know for myself that any focus on Christmas shopping coming direct from Songdove Books, will end early enough to allow people the opportunity to focus on the greater importance of why Christ came, family, and community outreach.
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, and if there was anything here that anyone you know might be interested in, pass it along. Thanks in advance.
---
View past newsletters and/or sign up to receive this in your inbox
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/
October 28, 2014
Welcome to the Thanksgiving Edition of Songdove Books Newsletter: October 2014
Thanksgiving was a very lean affair for us this year. Even moreso than in some years in the past, due to how lean work has also been this Fall. I thought we could try an o'dourve-style meal this year, with our usual spinach salad, a couple dipping sauces, and some apple-cinnamon store-bought cake for dessert. My body told me that was too little in the way of nutrition. I don't think we'll be doing that again in the future. The lack of carbohydrates and proteins totally did me in that evening.
But the celebration of Thanksgiving is about so much more than food. . . isn't it? Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving later in November, so I wanted to spend a little time in this newsletter just sharing some of the things I'm thankful for.
Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Learning to find the blessings in the midst of want goes a long way to helping my kids and I understand that we have been blessed by so much more than material goods. Over the years God has brought surprising blessings our way, from boxes of gifts at Christmastime when the kids were smaller, to homes within walking distance of the lakefront. We've sorted through bags of clothing and purchased very few coats as a result. God has led us to surprising deals while grocery shopping, and we're positive He's gone ahead of us to the Salvation Army Thrift Store on more than one occasion. I've watched the gas tank needle occasionally travel much farther up the gauge than what I knew I'd just paid for at the pump.
This Thanksgiving season, I am thankful for understanding landlords as I've struggled to pay the rent. I am thankful for their prayers and their encouragement in the Lord. I am thankful for two grown kids with jobs who are paying room and board. Without them, I'd be really bad off! One's room and board helps ensure rent is covered while the other's room and board ensures we have groceries through the month. I call her my walking wallet now. I am thankful for the ability to walk to most locations where I need to do business. This gives me the exercise I need so badly, as well as saving gas in the tank. I'm thankful for the work that has come in, although I am desparately praying for more. I'm thankful for the strides in my health, and praying that the setback I experienced this fall won't last. I'm thankful for a community gospel choir to sing in, and for the outreach opportunities we've landed for the upcoming Christmas season.
Is life perfect? Do we live in material or financial abundance? No to both those questions. But as Paul said above, the key to being thankful is not in how fat your bank account is or how many possessions you have to look after (there is another verse that talks about being a slave to your possessions), the key to being thankful is found in your ability to look around you and see all the ways God has blessed you that money can't buy.
Why not reply to this newsletter and share what you are thankful for this season? I may share your comments either in a blog post, or on my social media feeds with just your initials to keep you anonymous. It would be great to hear from you!
Photos for Sale!
Sometimes I like to play around with a camera. I rarely if ever take pictures of people, which might be one reason why I'm so bad at capturing moments with the family, but I love landscape or cityscape photography. I realized earlier this Fall, that one of the features people can create on places such as cafepress.com or zazzle, are greeting cards and prints.
Thanks to a website plugin called Fotomoto, I am now able to offer some of my photos in the four seasonal categories, for sale (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/songdove-books-photos-for-sale/) in the form of either 5x7 prints, greeting cards, postcards/invitation cards, downloads for use in screensavers or desktop wallpaper, and even for use in sending free e-cards to your friends.
When you click this link here (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/songdove-books-photos-for-sale/), choose the season you wish to browse. When you see an interesting thumbnail, click on it and give the page a moment to load. Once the page has finished loading, you'll see the fotomoto bar under the image with options to purchase or send an e-card. The fotomoto purchase screen has a "more sizes" button that will let you see all sizes currently available.
Photos For Sale Part TWO!
While I was promoting my little recipe ebook, "Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!)", I realized I could have some fun and make household or office-related items that featured the pumpkin theme! (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/11619392) Then as I was preparing my fotomoto area of the website, I realized I could turn those photos into products too. (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/11700848) Not all photos looked good on all potential products, so some photos have more of a representation than others. I haven't done the summer photos yet either. So this is still a work in progress. But some of the photos honestly did surprise me with how well they took to being applied to various household items. It was the same level of surprise I got when adding artwork related to
"Dressed for Eternity" (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/10504511) and "A Year in Prayer With Jesus". (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/11558639)
If I could afford it, I'd have my entire bathroom and maybe even my bedroom, done up in "Dressed for Eternity" while having my kitchen and office done up in Fall photos! I also discovered that the Thermos brand products are at par or cheaper than two stores I shop at in town here in Canada. So that was encouraging. Check them out and if you see something worth sharing with others, go ahead. If you see something worth buying for yourself or as a gift for someone else, jump in! Cafepress has a 60 day return policy if you are ever unsatisfied, so I don't get paid till almost 3 months after you make your purchase, just to be sure you like what you bought.Website Updates
Photos and cafepress were not the only updates and discoveries happening this month. When you visit my blog next, you'll notice the right-hand sidebar has expanded and some things have been moved around. This is due to the discovery that many of the places where my books are sold online, have affiliate programs. I've done my best to give equal representation where possible down that right-hand sidebar. If an outlet that you normally shop at is present in that sidebar, feel free to throw me a few pennies by clicking through that link before doing your shopping next time. Perhaps Canada got rid of the penny, but it only takes 5 fictitious pennies (only paid by debit/credit/online transaction) to make a very real, physical nickle, and nickles add up.
While I was in the process of discovering these various affiliate programs, I also discovered a few more places where my books are being sold online. As a result, the Where to Buy Around the World page (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/where-to-buy-around-the-world/) has been updated with a few more locations not just on the North American Continent, but in Australia and other places as well. So if you haven't checked out that list in awhile, you might want to do so in case your favourite retailer is now carrying my books.
---
Wrap-up
So it was a quiet front as far as any book promotions, book sales, etc were concerned. It was a quiet front as far as work went as well. I managed to get three weeks worth of the "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" prayer cards. This is a tedious task copying and pasting. I'm creating a tweet list while I'm at it, as the book is quite tweetable.
I am grateful for a couple book sales this month, two of my ebook "Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author", one of "Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!)", and a paperback copy of "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey Volume One". If you were one of those buyers, I want to offer you a HUGE THANK YOU! I'd love to hear what you thought of the book you purchased. The "Where to Buy Around the World" page also has a list of places where you can leave reviews about the book you purchased. This not only serves to encourage me as an author, but also lets others know what you thought of the book. Your words may encourage someone else to pick up a copy.To all my Canadian readers, a happy post-Thanksgiving! To all my American readers, a happy early-Thanksgiving! Tell me what you're thankful for!
---
View past newsletters and sign up to receive it in your inbox here: Get a free gift in the process. http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/
Welcome to the Thanksgiving Edition of Songdove Books Newsletter: October 2014
Yes, I did just put October and Thanksgiving in the same heading. The reason for that, is due to continuing to run into people across the US that I meet online, who don't know that Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October.
Thanksgiving was a very lean affair for us this year. Even moreso than in some years in the past, due to how lean work has also been this Fall. I thought we could try an o'dourve-style meal this year, with our usual spinach salad, a couple dipping sauces, and some apple-cinnamon store-bought cake for dessert. My body told me that was too little in the way of nutrition. I don't think we'll be doing that again in the future. The lack of carbohydrates and proteins totally did me in that evening.
But the celebration of Thanksgiving is about so much more than food. . . isn't it? Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving later in November, so I wanted to spend a little time in this newsletter just sharing some of the things I'm thankful for.
Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Learning to find the blessings in the midst of want goes a long way to helping my kids and I understand that we have been blessed by so much more than material goods. Over the years God has brought surprising blessings our way, from boxes of gifts at Christmastime when the kids were smaller, to homes within walking distance of the lakefront. We've sorted through bags of clothing and purchased very few coats as a result. God has led us to surprising deals while grocery shopping, and we're positive He's gone ahead of us to the Salvation Army Thrift Store on more than one occasion. I've watched the gas tank needle occasionally travel much farther up the gauge than what I knew I'd just paid for at the pump.
This Thanksgiving season, I am thankful for understanding landlords as I've struggled to pay the rent. I am thankful for their prayers and their encouragement in the Lord. I am thankful for two grown kids with jobs who are paying room and board. Without them, I'd be really bad off! One's room and board helps ensure rent is covered while the other's room and board ensures we have groceries through the month. I call her my walking wallet now. I am thankful for the ability to walk to most locations where I need to do business. This gives me the exercise I need so badly, as well as saving gas in the tank. I'm thankful for the work that has come in, although I am desparately praying for more. I'm thankful for the strides in my health, and praying that the setback I experienced this fall won't last. I'm thankful for a community gospel choir to sing in, and for the outreach opportunities we've landed for the upcoming Christmas season.
Is life perfect? Do we live in material or financial abundance? No to both those questions. But as Paul said above, the key to being thankful is not in how fat your bank account is or how many possessions you have to look after (there is another verse that talks about being a slave to your possessions), the key to being thankful is found in your ability to look around you and see all the ways God has blessed you that money can't buy.
Why not reply to this newsletter and share what you are thankful for this season? I may share your comments either in a blog post, or on my social media feeds with just your initials to keep you anonymous. It would be great to hear from you!
Photos for Sale!
Sometimes I like to play around with a camera. I rarely if ever take pictures of people, which might be one reason why I'm so bad at capturing moments with the family, but I love landscape or cityscape photography. I realized earlier this Fall, that one of the features people can create on places such as cafepress.com or zazzle, are greeting cards and prints.
Thanks to a website plugin called Fotomoto, I am now able to offer some of my photos in the four seasonal categories, for sale (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/songdove-books-photos-for-sale/) in the form of either 5x7 prints, greeting cards, postcards/invitation cards, downloads for use in screensavers or desktop wallpaper, and even for use in sending free e-cards to your friends.
When you click this link here http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/songdove-books-photos-for-sale/), choose the season you wish to browse. When you see an interesting thumbnail, click on it and give the page a moment to load. Once the page has finished loading, you'll see the fotomoto bar under the image with options to purchase or send an e-card. The fotomoto purchase screen has a "more sizes" button that will let you see all sizes currently available.
Photos For Sale Part TWO!
While I was promoting my little recipe ebook, "Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!)", I realized I could have some fun and make household or office-related items that featured the pumpkin theme! (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/11619392) Then as I was preparing my fotomoto area of the website, I realized I could turn those photos into products too. (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/11700848) Not all photos looked good on all potential products, so some photos have more of a representation than others. I haven't done the summer photos yet either. So this is still a work in progress. But some of the photos honestly did surprise me with how well they took to being applied to various household items. It was the same level of surprise I got when adding artwork related to "Dressed for Eternity" (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/10504511) and "A Year in Prayer With Jesus". (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks/11558639) If I could afford it, I'd have my entire bathroom and maybe even my bedroom, done up in "Dressed for Eternity" while having my kitchen and office done up in Fall photos! I also discovered that the Thermos brand products are at par or cheaper than two stores I shop at in town here in Canada. So that was encouraging. Check them out and if you see something worth sharing with others, go ahead. If you see something worth buying for yourself or as a gift for someone else, jump in! Cafepress has a 60 day return policy if you are ever unsatisfied, so I don't get paid till almost 3 months after you make your purchase, just to be sure you like what you bought.
Website Updates
Photos and cafepress were not the only updates and discoveries happening this month. When you visit my blog next, you'll notice the right-hand sidebar has expanded and some things have been moved around. This is due to the discovery that many of the places where my books are sold online, have affiliate programs. I've done my best to give equal representation where possible down that right-hand sidebar. If an outlet that you normally shop at is present in that sidebar, feel free to throw me a few pennies by clicking through that link before doing your shopping next time. Perhaps Canada got rid of the penny, but it only takes 5 fictitious pennies (only paid by debit/credit/online transaction) to make a very real, physical nickle, and nickles add up.
While I was in the process of discovering these various affiliate programs, I also discovered a few more places where my books are being sold online. As a result, the Where to Buy Around the World page (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/where-to-buy-around-the-world/) has been updated with a few more locations not just on the North American Continent, but in Australia and other places as well. So if you haven't checked out that list in awhile, you might want to do so in case your favourite retailer is now carrying my books.
---
Wrap-up
So it was a quiet front as far as any book promotions, book sales, etc were concerned. It was a quiet front as far as work went as well. I managed to get three weeks worth of the "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" prayer cards. This is a tedious task copying and pasting. I'm creating a tweet list while I'm at it, as the book is quite tweetable.
I am grateful for a couple book sales this month, two of my ebook "Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author", one of "Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, sort of!)", and a paperback copy of "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey Volume One". If you were one of those buyers, I want to offer you a HUGE THANK YOU! I'd love to hear what you thought of the book you purchased. The "Where to Buy Around the World" page also has a list of places where you can leave reviews about the book you purchased. This not only serves to encourage me as an author, but also lets others know what you thought of the book. Your words may encourage someone else to pick up a copy.
To all my Canadian readers, a happy post-Thanksgiving! To all my American readers, a happy early-Thanksgiving! Tell me what you're thankful for!
---
View past newsletters and sign up to receive it in your inbox here: Get a free gift in the process. http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/
