Book Giveaways in Blogworld (3-19-11 edition)

NOTE: A reminder that you are free to email me about any giveaways that you are having, if you want me to blog them, and I'll be happy to try to post them even if I am not entering them. Just include a link to the giveaway, what you are giving away, how many copies are being given away, and the deadline in order to assure being included. Email me at nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com.

Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:

Eleusinian Mysteries is giving away a copy of The Goddess Test. Deadline is March 19. International!

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a copy of The House of Six Doors. Deadline is March 19. US only.

Amethyst Daydreams is giving away a preorder of City of Fallen Angels. Deadline is March 20. International!

Pensive Bookeaters is giving away a prize pack of your choice! Deadline is March 20. 

Dystopian Desserts is giving away your choice of dystopian novel. Deadline is March 20. International!

Hooked to Books is giving away $15 to Book Depository and a copy of Darkness Becomes Her. Deadline is March 20. International!

A Little Hope Amidst the Chaos is giving away gift cards! Deadline is March 20.

Suko's Notebook is giving away $60 to CSN Stores. Deadline is March 21. US/Canada only.

My Bookish Ways is giving away a copy of Afterlife. Deadline is March 23. US/Canada only.

My Book Reviews is giving away 2 copies of The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady. Deadline is March 26. US only.

Y(A)? Cuz We Write! is having a 200 followers giveaway for readers and writers alike. Deadline is March 26. 

My Bookish Ways is giving away Enclave. Deadline is March 27. US/Canada only.

Mystifying Paranormal Reviews is giving away Enclave. Deadline is March 27. US/Canada only.

Splash of Our Worlds is giving away City of Fallen Angels. Deadline is March 27. International!

At Home with Books is giving away your choice of a couple of books. Deadline is March 27. US only.

My Bookish Ways is giving away a copy of Shadowspell. Deadline is March 30. US/Canada only.

A Moment with Mystee  is giving away $25 to Book Depository. Deadline is March 31. International!

Once Upon a Book Nerd is giving away I Am Number Four. Deadline is March 31. International!

Super Mom Writes is having a Blogoversary celebration! $15 cert to online book retailer of your choice, or preorder of Where She Went or Supernaturally. Deadline is April 1. International! 

Booking it with Hayley G is giving away a Summoning prize pack. Deadline is April 1. US/Canada only.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a signed copy of The Bird House. Deadline is April 2. US/Canada only.

Planet Print is giving away your choice out of six books. Deadline is April 4. International!

Zombie Girl Shambling is giving away 5 copies of The Zombie Autopsies. Deadline is April 13. 

I Swim for Oceans is giving away Awaken. Deadline is April 15. International!

Musings of a YA Reader is giving away an ARC of Memento Nora. Deadline is April 18. US/Canada only.

Sparkling Reviews is giving a color Nook! Deadline is whenever 1100 followers is reached. International!

Eli to the nth Power is giving away $25 to Amazon or Book Depository. Deadline is whenever 100 followers are reached. International!

*Courtesy Note: Please keep in mind the many, many hours of work that goes into me compiling this list each week. Please be courteous and thoughtful, and do not steal my text. Either recreate your own list, or link to this list and direct your readers here for giveaway information. Thank you so much for your consideration.

The Weekend Sillies

A farewell Weekend Sillies...















... because I will be in Oregon for a while, helping take care of my mother's house. She went into assisted living last fall, and my stepsister and I need to clear out the house so it can be sold.

I will return by April 1 and in time for the A to Z Challenge.

The Weekend Sillies WILL run as usual on the 26th. Don't want anyone to experience withdrawls...

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Okay, any excuse to post a picture of Kermit. I love Muppets!!

And when you are finished reading, go HERE to see what Kermit the Frog and Christian Bale have in common - it’s a riot!

Some updates:

I’ve been working on my next book. Wow, it’s been so long! Finished Book V of my series two years ago and made plans for another non-fiction book, but it just didn’t happen. Now I have purpose again as a writer. And it was the easiest outline to create. Gotta love that!

For those of you who can’t physically attend BEA, the Armchair BEA will be back! Visit their SITE for details.

And I folded to the pressure and signed up for the A to Z Challenge. Pits! At least I have a theme in mind.

And, Tamara at Get Your Giggle On gave me the Stylish Blogger Award. She has a great blog and a wonderful spirit!

Passing it on to:

Susan at Susan Says
Lynette at Crazed Mind
Angela at My Poetry and Prose Place

Mailbox Monday (03-14-11 edition)

Image licensed from bigstockphoto.com

Copyright stands

Mailbox Monday is brought to us by The Printed Page.  Here is what I received over the last week or two:

The Headhunter's Daughter by Tamar Myers
Won from My Guilty Pleasures

From Tamar Myers, author of The Witch Doctor's Wife, comes a spellbinding tale of equatorial Africa and a child torn dangerously between two worlds.

In 1945, an infant left inadvertently to die in the jungles of the Belgian Congo is discovered by a young Bashilele tribesman on a mission to claim the head of an enemy. Recognized as human—despite her pale white skin and strange blue eyes—the baby is brought into the tribe and raised as its own. Thirteen years later, the girl—now called "Ugly Eyes"—will find herself at the center of a controversy that will rock two separate societies. 

Young missionary Amanda Brown hears the incredible stories of a white girl living among the Bashilele headhunters. In the company of the local police chief, Captain Pierre Jardin, and with the witch doctor's wife, the quick-witted Cripple, along as translator, Amanda heads into the wild hoping to bring the lost girl back to "civilization." But Ugly Eyes no longer belongs in their world—and the secrets surrounding her birth and disappearance are placing them all in far graver peril than anyone ever imagined. 

Room by Emma Donoghue
Won from Read, Write and Live

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
Won from Thirty Creative Studio

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder
Won from Squeaky Books

Me?

A leader?

Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew.
That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion—between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again—while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there's outside and then there is Outside.

And something from Outside wants In.

Eli the Good by Silas House
Won from There's a Book

In his timely YA debut, a best-selling novelist revisits a summer of tumult and truth for a young narrator and his war-torn family.

Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former warprotester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war — a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and a powerful sense of place.

Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli
Received from Read it First

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Long isolated from industrialization and just beginning to open its doors to the modern world, Bhutan is a deeply spiritual place, devoted to environmental conservation and committed to the happiness of its people—in fact, Bhutan measures its success in Gross National Happiness rather than in GNP. In a country without a single traffic light, its citizens are believed to be among the most content in the world. To Lisa, it seemed to be a place that offered the opposite of her fast-paced life in the United States, where the noisy din of sound-bite news and cell phones dominate our days, and meaningful conversation is a rare commodity; where everyone is plugged in digitally, yet rarely connects with the people around them.

Thousands of miles away from everything and everyone she knows, Lisa creates a new community for herself. As she helps to start Bhutan’s first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a country that had been shielded from its effects. Immersing herself in Bhutan’s rapidly changing culture, Lisa realizes that her own perspective on life is changing as well—and that she is discovering the sense of purpose and joy that she has been yearning for.

In this smart, heartfelt, and beautifully written book, sure to please fans of transporting travel narratives and personal memoirs alike, Lisa Napoli discovers that the world is a beautiful and complicated place—and comes to appreciate her life for the adventure it is. 

What an awesome haul! Thanks to everyone for the great books! 

Finding and Pitching to the Media

There were a million books released last year - the media doesn’t care about the fact you are yet another author with a book! The media is looking for interesting stories, but not from the angle of an author promoting a book. They are more interested in the subject of the book and you as the expert. Do you present new information? Tie in with a current event? Do you show their listeners/viewers/readers how to solve their problems? What is your unique angle?

There’s many ways to locate the media and reporters, but here’s a few basic ones to get you started:

Online Newspapers
On the Radio
Media Post

Happy pitching!

I also posed the question - is it the end of bookstores and author signings? - on my site, The Circle of Friends.

Book Giveaways in Blogworld (3-12-11 edition)

NOTE: A reminder that you are free to email me about any giveaways that you are having, if you want me to blog them, and I'll be happy to try to post them even if I am not entering them. Just include a link to the giveaway, what you are giving away, how many copies are being given away, and the deadline in order to assure being included. Email me at nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com.

Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:

Book Flame is giving away a copy of Angelfire. Deadline is March 15. US only.

Amused by Books is giving away a copy of The Bird House. Deadline is March 15. US only.

The Book Chick is giving away a copy of One Bird's Choice. Deadline is March 18. US/Canada only.

Eleusinian Mysteries is giving away a copy of The Goddess Test. Deadline is March 19. International!

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a copy of The House of Six Doors. Deadline is March 19. US only.

Amethyst Daydreams is giving away a preorder of City of Fallen Angels. Deadline is March 20. International!

Pensive Bookeaters is giving away a prize pack of your choice! Deadline is March 20. 

Suko's Notebook is giving away $60 to CSN Stores. Deadline is March 21. US/Canada only.

My Bookish Ways is giving away a copy of Afterlife. Deadline is March 23. US/Canada only.

Y(A)? Cuz We Write! is having a 200 followers giveaway for readers and writers alike. Deadline is March 26. 

My Bookish Ways is giving away Enclave. Deadline is March 27. US/Canada only.

At Home with Books is giving away your choice of a couple of books. Deadline is March 27. US only. 

A Moment with Mystee  is giving away $25 to Book Depository. Deadline is March 31. International!

Once Upon a Book Nerd is giving away I Am Number Four. Deadline is March 31. International!

Super Mom Writes is having a Blogoversary celebration! $15 cert to online book retailer of your choice, or preorder of Where She Went or Supernaturally. Deadline is April 1. International!

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a signed copy of The Bird House. Deadline is April 2. US/Canada only.

Planet Print is giving away your choice out of six books. Deadline is April 4. International!

Sparkling Reviews is giving a color Nook! Deadline is whenever 1100 followers is reached. International!

Eli to the nth Power is giving away $25 to Amazon or Book Depository. Deadline is whenever 100 followers are reached. International!

*Courtesy Note: Please keep in mind the many, many hours of work that goes into me compiling this list each week. Please be courteous and thoughtful, and do not steal my text. Either recreate your own list, or link to this list and direct your readers here for giveaway information. Thank you so much for your consideration.

The Weekend Sillies

Because after Friday, we could really use a smile...



















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