Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

As part of the 90 day exclusive Amazon listing of Worth the Effort: Ella's Story , I get to offer it for free.  I want people to TALK about Ella's Story, so I am offering it for free today and tomorrow! June 27 and 28, 2014. Please help me spread the word by sharing this post using the handy social media buttons at the bottom of this post above the comments. Or share the buy link for Ella's Story:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K4F0C18, just be sure people know it is only free through the 28th! If you download it I hope you will be inspired to write a review when you finish reading.  Thanks for your help to spread the word.

Today, thanks to Pump Up Your Book, I'm shining a spotlight on Book of Dreams by Sylvie Michaud. Thanks for letting me share your book with my readers, Sylvie!  Title:  Book of Dreams Author: Sylvie Michaud Genre: Children’s bedtime stories Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: Crafty Canuck, Inc. (March 28, 2012) ISBN-13: 978-0-9782955-8-5 (Print Soft Cover) Kindle: B00BTPBX0Q About the book: Book of Dreams sees Baby Raccoon’s parents use clouds to share their dreams of a better future. In the story, Mama and Papa use clouds to share their dreams about a healthy planet and vibrant future for Baby Ringtail. In the book, Baby Ringtail asks Mama and Papa, “Why is every cloud a different shape?” “Clouds are pictures in the sky that help us dream,” Mama Ringtail replies. Purchase at: Amazon soft cover: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dreams-The-Ringtail-Family/dp/0978295587 Amazon digital: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dreams-The-Ringtail-Family-ebook/dp/B0...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love introducing my readers to new authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the children’s publishing industry. Today’s guest is author, Krysten Lindsay Hager. Thanks for joining us, Krysten. Please tell us a little about you. I'm a writer and an obsessive reader and I absolutely love bookstores. I get more excited when an author I love, "friends" me or follows me on a social media site now than I did when I got asked for my phone number by a cute guy back in high school. I've worked as a journalist and humor writer, and I also write middle grade, YA, and adult fiction. I’m originally from Michigan and I’ve lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and Southern Ohio. My debut novel, TRUE COLORS, is from Astraea Press. Congratulations on the release of your book! (Throws confetti!) Tell us about it, please. My first novel, True Colors, is about Landry Albright, an eighth grader who enters a modelin...

It’s Friday! Time for my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought plays host to the shy, but strong main character from Unstoppable by SR Johannes. Unstoppable is book three in the Nature of Grace series. If you like the greater outdoors and/or action and adventure – the Grace series is for you. Welcome, Grace. Can you tell our readers a little about yourself, please? I am Grace Wells. I love nature and animals. Probably because they are easier to mingle with than people. I'm not real great with people. I grew up in the North Carolina woods - my whole life - and there aren't many people there. And when there are, it's not always a good thing. Tell us about your best friend. Well, this is kind of easy because I only have 2 friends and one of them I kiss whenever I can.  Now that’s interesting! Go on....

Today is the release day for a new novella by Mary Waibel. I don't do reviews very often, because I'm not very good at them, but Mary's stories are worth a shout out. Full disclosure, Mary is one of my fabulous critique partners. Her input on my work in invaluable and I LOVE being able to see her work before the world does. I'm a true fan of her writing and blessed to call her friend. Congratulations Mary on your newest book! The Mystery Prince by Mary Waibel Princess Zoe must find a prince to marry. Instead of an arranged marriage her father has agreed to allow her time to find someone she might possibly love. The eligible princes are invited to a masquerade ball in order for her to meet each of them. Prince Rand is ill and his father sends Rand’s guard, Tristan, in his place. Tristan and Rand grew up together and even look alike. I loved this aspect of the story, because I have a life long friend myself and, yes, we look alike and are always mistaken...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love introducing my readers to new authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the children’s publishing industry. Today’s guest is author, Sandra Bennett. Thanks for joining us, Sandra. Please tell us a little about you. I am a self-confessed book-a-holic who can’t walk passed a book shop without diving in to purchase just one more book, even though my shelves at home are already jam packed. At school I was the one who always had my nose in a book, this continued into my teaching career which came naturally along with my love for literacy. I became a Primary School teacher in my early twenties and juggled teaching with raising my three boys for close on 25 years. I have taught in Sydney, on the Central Coast of NSW, overseas in Thailand and lastly in our nation’s capital, Canberra. I have had experience from Pre-school through to Year 6 and in the early years even taught in a few high schools. Some of my favourite expe...

The responsibility of a book's promotion lies with the author. Even an author who has a publisher that promotes or a huge following of readers who automatically buy every newly released book, has to keep their finger on the pulse of their book's success and step in when sales flag. Because of that, we often search for new ways to spread the word. That is exactly what I did when considering how I wanted to approach promotion for POLAR OPPOSITES, book 2 in my Super Villain Academy series. I collected votes about supers and super powers before my book signing for King of Bad . I wanted to collect more votes through my website for the second book, but knew I would have to do something to drive people to my site. I got a new tablet for Christmas and that gave me the idea to take my promotion to the streets and record an interview series that I could post through YouTube. But I knew nothing about making videos. Turns out there is an app for that (thank goodness!). My tablet has W...