This Week on Books Direct - 28 July 2013

This Week on Books Direct - 28 July 2013

Here's a list of the articles you may have missed this week:

"Homemaking" - Brought to you by Bundle of the Week.

A little organization and pre-planning goes a long way when you’re managing a home, and this week’s bundle will help you get organized, tame the paper clutter and simplify your home. Plus, discover the secrets for throwing a party without the stress and get all of the printables you need to set up your home management notebook today! This week only, get all 4 ebooks plus more than 300 printables for just $7.40, a savings of more than 75%!

"CREATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES (Part IV): Everybody Is Creative. How to enhance our creative personality." - Article by Cinta García de la Rosa.

Creativity is not a talent that only some chosen ones possess and others can only envy. It's an ability and, as such, you can learn it, develop it, and use it. And everybody can learn to be creative.

"Free Ebooks" - Article by Janus Gangi on Books, Bikes, and Flying Machines.

Janus comments on a disturbing trend happening in the writing world that not only affects her but all her fellow authors. What do you think?

"Four Critical Writing Tips For Quick and Easy eBooks" - Article by Ellen Violette for Authors and Speakers Network Blog with Larry James.

When people have trouble writing an ebook they are usually making at least one, if not more, of these critical mistakes. Avoid them and you'll find writing an ebook much easier than you ever thought possible!

"The Self Publishers Marketing Starter Guide" - YouTube video by Matthew Dawson.

Learn the secrets to publishing with success as a self-publishing author. This video is a starter guide that designed to help the self-publishing author gain marketing success. Learn the tricks of the publishing trade in this 45 minute tutorial video.

"The Self Publishers Road Map To Success" - Article by Matthew Dawson on Hubpages.

Self publishing your own book is not as easy as one may think it is. For a writer to successfully self publish their book the writer must have a well thought out plan that has many strong strategies that will outwit his/her competitors within the industry.

"Market Your Book: Cheap" by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones for Book Shelf.

Kathryn shows you how to market your book on the cheap.

"Guide to Writing Science Fiction" - Article by The Writing Café.

The Writing Café gives us some tips of writing science fiction.

"Knowing Your Genre" - Article by Kathryn E. Jones for Idea Creations Press.

Do you feel as if you know your genre?

"The Six Problems With Being a Self Published Author And / Or Freelance Writer" - Article by D. J. Lowbridge.

Being a self published author or freelance writer can be hard at times. Sometimes the world just doesn't understand what it's like being a writer. There are many problems as to why people think that self-publishing and freelance writers are badly portrayed but most of them aren't true.

"A Writer's Journey" by Sue Cross.

No experience is ever wasted and authors often draw on their own life stories in order to write colorful and authentic tales.

"Write It Now, Part 13: Novels and Novelability" - Article by Matthew Price.

In this series Matthew has been exploring writing in all its forms. Today he takes a detailed look at one of the most popular forms of writing – fiction.

"Writers: You Might be Doing It Wrong If ... " - Article by Chuck Wendig for Terrible Minds.

What more can I say? Read on.

"From Idea to Ebook Course" - Brought to you by The Ebook Emporium.

Do you have a fantastic idea, just waiting to be shared? Are you ready to maximize your earning potential with an ebook? Do you know what you want to write, but aren't sure where to start? Are you overwhelmed with formatting and distribution questions? Creating and selling your own digital products is perhaps the best way to monetize your online presence, but it’s one that’s underutilized because the process can be overwhelming. Join The Ebook Emporium for the initial launch on July 29th for just $10 with coupon code LAUNCH! (That’s just $1 per week, including lifetime access to all of the content.)

"Sydney's Song" by Ia Uaro

ON SALE for $0.99

Sydney's Song

by Ia Uaro

The Kindle edition of this heartwarming story is ON SALE for $0.99 to 31 July. It would make a perfect gift for someone you love. 


Description

Fictionalized true stories set in Sydney and Boston, where heartbreaks are juxtaposed with humor, Sydney's Song is a young girl's courageous journey to adulthood and a love story. A work of fiction based on real events, this novel with an Australian accent also shows the world that living with disabilities does not prevent a person from attaining happiness.

Olympic fever runs high in the Australian summer of 1999 and 17-year-old Sydney has caught it. Little does she know taking a holiday job in the beehive that is the Olympics' public-transport call center will be life altering. Shaken by her parents' divorce, the sheltered Aussie is further plagued by abusive callers, obnoxious government agencies, constrictive office rules, and liberated friends. She is trying to negotiate these challenges as her own personal Olympics when Pete finds her. Pete, Boston's former child prodigy whose soothing voice floats across her workstation, sees through Sydney's tough outer shell. Pete knows what it takes to present a dignified front when all you want to do is howl at the moon. Treating their friendship like an art, he invests time and creative effort to pull Sydney out of her despair.

Tragedy strikes when an accident leaves Pete with a major brain injury in a Boston hospital. When the going gets very, very tough, will you abandon the one who's promised to love you until he dies? An undefeatable heroine. A hero to live for. A love no reader will ever forget...

Book Trailer

Excerpts

Review

By Uvi Poznansky

It took me time to write this review because I was too busy laughing and crying at every twist and turn of this story.

Let me tell you what the title meant to me: Sydney, who is a girl barely 18 years old at the opening of the story, is ashamed of her voice, thinking she is tone-deaf, and only when inhibitions are lifted, only in her sleep, does she dare to sing. But events in this story cause her to mature fast, so it is with great urgency that she finds her voice. This book is a love song; a song of songs to her beloved, to whom with amazing devotion she dedicates her life. What better quote for her transformation than the one at the opening: "You’ll know who I am by the song that I sing." The soul and the voice are one.

It is hard, if not impossible, to fit this work into a literary genre, because the first half reads like an adorable girl-meets-boy story, only to take a sharp turn when Pete, the man Sydney falls in love with, has a bicycle accident on his visit to Boston. At the same moment, half a world away in Australia, Sydney senses a strong, inexplicable fear in her heart, and collapses. It takes weeks for her to learn his whereabouts. Lying in a Boston hospital, arm and leg broken, he is diagnosed with brain injury, and it is unclear whether he will ever regain consciousness. This is where the real fight, the fight for his survival begins; this is where you will get completely hooked with the Sydney's character.

The author of Sydney's Song is an artist as well, and her stylized black-and-white illustrations appear at every chapter heading, looking like a little window through which you can view events. Inspired by real events in her life, this story is a tribute to her spirit, her voice, and her song.

About the Author

Ia Uaro is an Australian author. She was born in the beautiful and remote, world’s widest tea plantation by Mount Kerinci in Sumatra where her dad was the plantation’s accountant, her mum a teacher. Her dad died when Ia was 13, and Ia moved across the ocean.

She proceeded to become the busiest teen ever: playing in a drum band, tutoring maths, learning languages including English as the fifth language, and, at 17, a teen magazine published Ia’s first fiction as a serial. Inundated by her fans’ letters, the publisher printed it as a book, which was subsequently bought by the Indonesian Department of Education for high-school libraries.

Ia used the proceeds to help fund her university studies, during which time she was active in aero-modelling, martial arts, mountaineering, speleology... and studied petroleum seismology among her music-playing friends. After her graduation Ia worked with French, Norwegian and American geophysical companies, besides being a volunteer translator.

In Sydney since 1995, Ia is a mum who does several kinds of volunteer work for the community, assesses manuscripts, and writes real-life socio-fiction. Her husband, who suffers permanent partial brain damage, says Ia now sleep-talks in English. Part of Sydney's Song's proceeds will be donated to the Brain Foundation.

Links

Amazon US Paperback

Amazon US Kindle

Amazon UK Paperback

"The Find" by Gregg Bell

The Find

by Gregg Bell

Description

What can a mother do when she has no money and a dangerously sick kid?

She can make a mistake.

In a moment of desperation, cleaning lady Phoebe Jackson tries to pawn the diamond-bejeweled Rolex she found in a mobster's locker. Turns out the watch is a fake, but the mobster isn't - and he's on to her.

Excerpt

The wind from the thudding helicopter was pushing Phoebe this way and that. The sirens were getting louder. Phoebe’s shoulder burned. She was starting to lose consciousness. But with a shaky hand she kept her pistol on Michael.

            Michael straightened up, his arms up in the air, fingers extended, the helicopter whipping his hair. “There,” he yelled, “you’ve got them both now. It’s what you wanted. It’s over.” He took another step down the stairs but stopped at the second to last stair and held his arms wide. “You’ve won, Phoebe.”

            She shook her head. His lawyers. His owning the police. His vendettas. His lies. He’s like a mosquito. The only way you’ll be rid of him is to move away or kill him.

            She wasn’t moving away.

            Michael read her eyes. “Don’t, Phoebe,” he yelled. “It would be your worst move ever. Do you really want your girls to grow up without their mother? You’ll spend the rest of your life in prison. I can promise you that.”

            Phoebe swallowed and lowered the gun. “Maybe so.”

            “That’s right.” He nodded aggressively. He stepped down to the last stair. “That’s the only way to go.”

            “Then again maybe not.” She raised the pistol, fired, and the bullet ripped into his chest. He fell, landing solidly on his butt on the last step, almost like he’d meant to, his feet dangling like a little boy sitting on a pier. He coughed blood and tore at his shirt. Then he looked at Phoebe. And he kept looking at her.

            Phoebe didn’t look away, her eyes staying on his until like a slow-falling oak he tumbled hard onto the tarmac.

Review

By MyTwo Cents

The story started out well, and I expected a lot of suspense. However, it settled into a fairly predictable, almost romance-type novel, with a main character that can't seem to decide between a safe, solid, nice guy, and a hard, abusive, but to her, exciting crook. Other than the main character, we don't learn much about the other characters, what drives them, their backgrounds, etc. The main character will do anything for her kids, and I mean anything. Many of the events in the story provide no context, and leave the reader with a lot of questions that never get answered.

For me, I would have preferred more mystery and unexpected turns, but I think this book would appeal more to women.

From the Author

When I was ten, a drunken guy almost drowned me in a swimming pool. It was in Miami Beach at the Chateau motel. The guy was a pool hand and he was wrestling (playfully, for the most part)with us kids. Then he said, "I'm going to show you a good hold" and he got me in a headlock and took me under. It was a good hold all right. He held me there and held me there and held me there. I struggled but this was a powerful man. There was nothing to do. I would either die or I wouldn't.

That experience gave me an appreciation for life's tenuousness. If you think about it, we're only alive as far as our next breath will take us.

So I write novels and stories about characters like you and me with their heads underwater. (Figuratively speaking of course.) Characters under so much duress their brains are about to burst. They're at the end of it all. No way out of this one. But I also write with a sense of humor. (You have to have a sense of humor, right?)

I was born in 1956 in Chicago. A lifelong Illinois guy. Married once. Divorced. No kids. No pets. Passionate about things: people, classical music, golf. And I always seem to be on the side of the underdog.

Links

Amazon US Kindle

Amazon UK Kindle

iTunes

Kobo

Amazon US author page

Amazon UK author page

Blog

Facebook

Goodreads

Google+

Mailing list

Twitter @GreggBell1

Website

"Homecoming King (Diary Entry #1)" by Luke Mallory

NOTE: This book is for adults only

INTERVIEW

Homecoming King (Diary Entry #1)

by Luke Mallory

Description

Diary Entry is a hilarious series of quick-read novelettes charting the life and times of Luke Mallory, a twenty-five-year-old, hot-blooded 'lad'.

In episode 1, Homecoming King, Luke flies back to his hometown of Dublin, Ireland in response to a family emergency and immediately suffers a number of embarrassing incidents. Unbowed, Luke does his best to carry on and deal with the bigger issues at hand...despite the fact that all eyes are on him.

Colorful, contemporary and full of real-life characters, each Diary Entry episode is told in the first person by Luke Mallory in his own inimitable style! Diary Entry episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 are out now!

About this book: Reading time ~30 minutes. Approx. 20 pages. Contains strong language and scenes of a sexual nature. Contains Chapter 1 Preview to Luke Mallory's novella, Singleton. You can also get all five of Luke's books in one volume, Naughty Box 1.

Excerpt

‘Orange juice please.’

How I regretted those awful words! Orange juice please. It had seemed like such a harmless choice when the flight attendant flashed an insincere smile and asked what I’d like to drink. But now, barely two minutes later, I realised my mistake. The turbulence had been quite unexpected – and quite severe. I watched in horror – slow motion, actually – as the plastic cup slipped off the frictionless tray table and emptied its contents all over my lap. If only I’d ordered water…

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ the airplane’s loudspeaker blared, ‘the captain has switched on the fasten seatbelt sign as we may experience some turbulence…’

Now they tell me!

The same flight attendant who had taken my order – a blonde in her mid-twenties – breezed down the aisle again, inspecting the seatbelts of all the passengers. Poker-faced, she did a double-take when she looked down at my, eh, juicy lap. The poker face quickly disappeared…

‘Oooooooohhh,’ she said, grimacing – the smile was a sincere one this time. It even caused her makeup to crack. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Never better,’ I replied, smiling back. I held up my empty plastic cup. ‘It’s the orange juice…’

‘Wait there,’ she added and skipped away – evidently the threat of turbulence was over.

I leaned my head into the aisle, for I was sitting in an aisle seat, and watched her disappear – her big ass kept bumping into stray heads. Wait there, she had said. Where was she expecting me to go?

‘Here you are,’ she said now, landing beside me shortly after and pushing some paper towels onto my lap. She awkwardly watched as I went about mopping up the damage. ‘Oh, it really got everywhere…’

‘Thanks…’ I gave her a few nervous smiles as indeed I felt the orange juice spread…everywhere. ‘At least it wasn’t something scalding hot.’ Another nervous smile.

She laughed, took one final look at my crotch and then continued on her rounds. The poker face was firmly in place again.

Just then, the elderly American husband and wife team sitting on my right chimed in.

‘Soda water will get that right out,’ they said in unison, with matching southern drawls, pointing at the spilled juice.

‘Maybe,’ I replied, ‘but right now I’m not sure if I could stand another soaking.’

‘Suit yourself,’ the husband said, laughing at me.

I grinned. Well, smirked might be more accurate…

Review

By Elizabeth

An entertaining entertainer. Perfect. Luke has a fantastic voice for storytelling, engaging, cute and oh, so naughty. I enjoyed this tale from start to finish and am just about to download his next. His short trousers have their own part to play and almost take on a life of their own. I'm familiar with Dublin and enjoyed the descriptive, short journey from the airport, but it's the last line that has stayed with me since I closed my Kindle. I laughed so much I think my face fell off.

Interview With the Author

Hi Luke, thanks for joining me today to discuss your Diary Entry series.

Which writers have influenced you the most? Probably Robert Ludlum. I’m a big thriller and action reader … though I have yet to write anything like it.

What age group do you recommend your books for? Adults over 18!!

What sparked the idea for these books? I’ve had some interesting adventures in my life … especially when it comes to women … so I thought I’d write them down.

Which comes first? The character's story or the idea for the novels? Well, since these books are about me, I guess I came first…!

What was the hardest part to write in these books? Writing about all the stupid things I’ve done. One particular scene (from the fourth book in the series) in a nightclub still gives me cold sweats at night.

How to you hope these books affect the readers? I hope people can relate to them. Maybe they’ve had similar experiences. Or hoped they had, I don’t know! Either way, I hope they laugh at me – I’ll laugh with them.

How long did it take you to write these books? It took a few months to write the series of four short books.

What is your writing routine? I work in an antiques shop and that gives me time to write during the day (unfortunately we don’t sell much these days!) and then I write when I get home too.

How did you get your books published? I begged people to read them. A small team finally did.

What advice do you have for someone who would like to become a published writer? Never give up. Ever.

Great advice! What do you like to do when you're not writing? I used to play rugby at university. Injury has ruined that, but I still like to keep in shape. I read and run. I do like a pint of Guinness.

What does your family think of your writing? They don’t know anything about it – I haven’t told them! However, my Dad always told me I was good at writing back in school – I won a few short-story competitions.

Please tell us a bit about your childhood. Basically I was dragged all over the world as my father worked for a multi-national oil company. It seemed like a pain at the time, but in hindsight I was very lucky. My mother is French too – so that was interesting. My grandparents are from New Zealand.

Sounds a bit like my life! Did you enjoy school? No – I was the guy firing rockets at the teacher and getting into fights.

Did you like reading when you were a child? I did, actually. But I didn’t boast about it!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? By accident really. Something happened in my life last year (which I talk about a bit in the books) and I was encouraged to write some things down. I haven’t stopped writing since then.

Did your childhood experiences influence your writing? Absolutely.

What was your favorite book as a child? Anything by Roald Dahl.

Who were your favorite authors as a child? I was reading Jeffrey Archer and Ludlum and Tom Clancy when I was a kid.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say? Not yet, but I’ve had some very nice messages of support and some reviews that have brought me to tears – in the good way. It has been a long road.

What can we look forward to from you in the future? Well, my next novella will be out in August 2013 and then I can get back to work on my first full-length novel. I can’t wait!

Thanks so much for the chat, Luke. Best of luck with your writing!

About the Author

Luke Mallory was born in Dublin, Ireland. After completing his university degree (some businessy thing) he meandered over to Paris, France and briefly worked as a trader. Unsure as to why he did this, he made his way back to Ireland, took off his shirt and started writing books. Following the launch of his debut novella, Singleton, Luke has put his shirt back on - something his employers are particularly happy about.

Luke is currently working in an antiques store while he plans his first full-length novel. Indeed, he can often be seen scribbling away at an unsold Victorian writing desk in the store, much to his employer's annoyance. After work, Luke regularly walks the famous pier in Dun Laoghaire. He definitely does not do this during work hours.

A fan of Girls, Guinness, Rugby, Girls, Nightclubs and Dayclubs if there is such a thing, Luke Mallory's modus operandi is to make the most out of life. If he can make a few others smile and laugh at the same time, then it's all the better!

Links

Amazon US Kindle

Amazon UK Kindle

Amazon US author page

Amazon UK author page

Blog

Facebook

Goodreads

Google+

Twitter @LukeMallory1