A deal alert for the writers among us

A couple of years ago my friend Anne R. Allen, a fellow author and publishing industry blogger, collaborated with me on a book for writers. It's not so much a book about how to write. We figured the market was saturated with those. No, this is more about how to get where you're going in this tough industry, and how to survive the challenge with relative good cheer.

That, we figured, needed addressing.

It's called How to be a Writer in the E-Age: A Self-Help Guide. And until March 27th the Kindle edition is on sale for only 99 cents. I think you will agree when you read it--it's a whole lot of useful advice for under a dollar. In the UK, the Kindle edition is on sale until the 29th.

Anne is the award-winning voice behind Anne R. Allen's Blog, and has a new book blog called Anne R. Allen's Books. This week she celebrated the price deal on How to be a Writer by reprinting an interview we did together about her blog and her work. (And other interesting and useful topics such as dealing with internet bullies and trolls, and the pressures of social media.) Stop by her book blog and check it out.

And I guess in this case I should say... happy writing!

Another big thank you to you, my readers!

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My new publisher, Lake Union, has done an amazing job of matching me up with the right readers. And by that I mean people who want to read the hopeful, character-driven stories I want to write.

It started with When I Found You, and I would venture a guess that a huge number of those reading this blog post found me through that book. Then there was Walk Me Home, Take Me With You, The Language of Hoofbeats, Worthy, Ask Him Why.

Yesterday the UPS guy brought me this amazing commemoration of the fact that you have now purchased and read more than a million of these combined titles.

What can I say except "Thank you"? When I say I couldn't have done with without you, I could not mean it more literally.

Physical book deal alert for When I Found You

For the rest of this month, and until the 12th of March, the paperback edition of When I Found You is on sale for only $6.99 in the U.S. marketplace.

It's part of Amazon's Physical Book Deal, which includes select books at up to 50% off.

If you haven't read it, or would like to add it to your library, now is a great time. And I'm sure I don't need to remind you that books make wonderful gifts. (Of course not!)

Happy reading!

Anyone read in Estonian?

If so, I have a free book for you.

Leave a comment if you do, or know of someone who does. We'll see how this turns out!

Deal alert: The Language of Hoofbeats

Just a quick post to let you know that When I Found You and Walk Me Home are off their monthly deals... and The Language of Hoofbeats is on!

Hoofbeats is a Kindle Monthly Deal for February at only $1.99. So if you missed this one, now is a great time to catch up.

Please pass it on, and happy reading! 

Happy book birthday to "Der Klang der Pferdehufe"!

I've been waiting patiently (okay, not really--impatiently) for the 26th of January and the release of Der Klang der Pferdehufe in Germany. Literally translated, it means "The Sound of Horse's Hooves" and it's the German translation of The Language of Hoofbeats.

Now I know you might be thinking, "But it's only the 25th." But by late afternoon Pacific Time on the 25th here in the US, it's the 26th in Germany. And the ebook should be dropping onto Kindles even as we speak.

For those of you who don't know, German readers have really stepped up and embraced these books, and they are doing very well on Amazon.de, especially in Kindle. As of this writing, I have three books in the German Kindle Top 100: Ich Bliebe Hier, which has been in the Top 100 for 382 days, Als Ich Dich Fand, which has been in the Top 100 for 308 days, and Wir Kommen Mit, more recently released, at 44 days.

If you're one of my German readers, I hope you enjoy the new one, and I hope to hear from you. Thanks for making these books such a success!

Gratitude giveaway with a twist

So this is something a little different.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a nice guy named Jeff at a company called USB Memory Direct. They supply USB flash drives in bulk that can be customized with any logo or cover art. Jeff offered me a small shipment of these personalized flash drives absolutely free, suggesting that I could give them away to readers, possibly loaded with a digital copy of one of my books. Who am I to say no to something that I can give away to you lovely folks absolutely free?

So here's where the gratitude comes in.

The Kindle edition of my photo book 365 Days of Gratitude: Photos from a Beautiful World is quite affordable, but usually ends up being viewed on small devices. The coffee table-size paperback has full color photos in a larger format, but it's pricey because it's expensive to produce. It struck me that this is the perfect book to view on your computer monitor, where the photos are crisp, bright, and huge. And free. And no ebook software required.

Take a look at what I mean. And this is just on a 15" laptop and not viewed full-screen.

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So I loaded ten of these lovely personalized flash drives with a .PDF file of the photo book, and I'm ready to give them away. There's a ton of space left on these drives, by the way, so you can use them to store other things as well.

Short version of how to enter: LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in the comment form (a space for it will come up after your first click) or I won't be able to notify you if you win.

Happy photo viewing!

Giving away Leaving Blythe River ARCs!

Look what the UPS guy brought me today! Ella was happy because it's her favorite delivery guy, the one who keeps dog treats in his pockets. I was happy because he brought me these.

I have here a lovely carton full of advance reader's copies of Leaving Blythe River, my next novel to be released. This is not available for purchase until June, so you will really be the first on your block to have one of these babies. And not all of my Lake Union ARCs have the final cover. This one does, and what a cover it is! This is in my top three favorite covers of all time. So, if I may be allowed to say so, this is a nice looking ARC.

I'm putting five of these up for grabs.

NOW--PLEASE READ! Every time I have one of these giveaways, people make basic mistakes that get their entries disqualified, usually not leaving an email address so I can notify them if they win. I ask people to read to the end of the instructions, but a percentage of people don't. Please! Read this! I'm trying to give you free books! :)

Leave a comment below to be entered. Please DO leave your email address in the comment form (even though it will say it's optional). I promise I won't use it for any other purpose but to notify you if you win. Please DON'T leave your email address in the body of your comment unless you want everybody to see it. (It will seem there is no place for your name and email. But when you hit "Post Comment," you'll see those fields come up.)

 And if you're reading this on Goodreads, please click through and leave your comment on my original blog. Otherwise I worry I'll forget you when the time comes to draw names.

I'll leave this open for a week to ten days. Good luck!

Deal alerts for the New Year!

What a great way to start 2016!

The Kindle editions of both When I Found You and Walk Me Home are only $1.99 for the entire month of January. They are part of Amazon's January Kindle Holiday Store Deals.

This is in the US market.

But before the month is out there may be more. Keep an eye on this blog, and I'll keep you posted.

Happy New Year, and happy reading!

For my German readers...

...first of all, I'm grateful to have so many of you! And I particularly appreciate those of you who have taken the time to get in touch, either by email or on Facebook. 

Second, here's what's coming up next. It's called Der Klang der Pferdehufe and I just received my copies yesterday.

It's the German translation of my English novel The Language of Hoofbeats, and it will be released on the 26th of January.

Happy reading!

Here's what's next! (With a cover reveal!)

This is lovely timing. Around midnight tonight (Pacific time) my new novel Ask Him Why will begin to drop onto the Kindles of readers who preordered it. And on this very same day I get to do a cover reveal for what's next.

And what a cover it is! This is right up there with my favorite covers... ever.

The novel is called Leaving Blythe River, and it will be released by my publisher Lake Union/Amazon Publishing on June 14th, 2016. You can read more about it here, on the new Leaving Blythe River page I just added to this site.

It's available now for preorder in Kindle, in paperback, and as an unabridged audio CD.

I know June sounds like a long way off, but look how fast Ask Him Why came up. It'll go by in no time! And hopefully Ask Him Why will keep you busy while you're waiting. (And if you think you're caught up, check my Books page--you might be wrong!)

Happy reading!

Aaaannnd... the deals keep flowing!

I just found out late yesterday that both Worthy and Take Me With You are included in Cyber Monday Deals Week's Deals in Kindle Books. 

The ebooks are only $2 each.

Why am I thinking of a pre-loaded Kindle as a holiday gift? Maybe because I did that once. Bought a Kindle and loaded it up with my books and a bunch of free classics and gave it to the nursing home Ella and I visit. (The one that was featured in Paw It Forward.)

Well. Just thinking out loud. :)

Happy holiday reading!

Deal alert for two paper books!

Wow. There's a lot going on today! I'm not sure I've ever had two blog post announcements in one day before.

This I think is a good one, though, because it's just in time for the holidays.

Both Worthy and Walk Me Home are included in Amazon's Cyber Monday Deals Week. The paperback editions of the books are on sale for only $7.99.

Stocking stuffers for the readers on your list?

Happy book birthday to the Spanish "When I Found You"

Look what just arrived in the world!

For those who read in Spanish, "Cuando te encontré" is here.

It's available here in the US at Amazon.com, in Spain at Amazon.es, and in Mexico at Amazon.com.mx.

I'm linking you to Kindle editions in each country, but the paperback edition is also available and is only one more click away.

Feliz lectura!

Deal Alert for UK readers

Okay. You know how I'm always announcing these great price promotions, and they're usually for the US market? And my UK readers (of which there are many, and I appreciate you!) moan or sigh when they learn the deal is not for them?

Well this time it's just for you.

The Kindle ebook edition of The Language of Hoofbeats is included in "40 Kindle Books Discounted to £1 Each on Amazon.co.uk." This deal starts 12/1/2015 and runs through 12/31/2015. 

Tell your friends who like to save money on books. And happy reading! 

A big thank you to my readers

If you are one of the more than 500,000 people who read When I Found You, or one of the more than 250,000 people who read Take Me With You, or both, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for this honor.

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These two lovely commemorations arrived yesterday from my publisher, Lake Union (Amazon Publishing). And of course I'm very grateful to them for their thoughtfulness. But I'm even more grateful to you, because none of this would have been possible if you hadn't taken a chance on my books.

Look closely at the left and right vertical edges of these awards. They're not just big rectangular slabs. They're books!

I feel very fortunate today. Probably because I am.

Thank you for being my reader! 

Gratitude giveaway

The other two books are shown here to give you a sense of scale.

You know... I seem to recall that many months ago, when I ordered two big cartons of the huge paperback "coffee table book" of 365 Days of Gratitude... I promised I'd give them away regularly.

And I did. For a time. And then life intervened.

Now I have a new way of sharing the photos in that book on social media. And it helps when others join in the sharing. And when you do, I'll put you in the running for a drawing of one of three of these big paper beauties.  

Here's what to do. And this is all different, so please read!

Go to THIS LINK to access its "AHA book" for sharing onto social media. Choose one you know you like (this method is best for those who have seen the ebook or some of the photos I've shared) and click the button to tweet it onto Twitter. Or copy and paste the the text into a Facebook post. You shouldn't need to sign in or create any kind of account unless you come back again and again.

Or, if this is easier, if you're a Pinterest person, go to the 365 Pinterest account and share to your own Pinterest boards, or to Facebook.

And then come back and tell me you did so in a comment. This is the honor system. You don't have to prove it. And please, please, (PLEASE?) remember that if I don't have your email with the comment, I can't enter you, because I can't contact you if you win.

Not sure how people will feel about a giveaway with a little more effort involved, but these are $35 books (and even at that price I just break even) and I think if you win one you'll feel it was worth the trouble.

We'll see how it goes. Comment with any questions or problems.

Happy posting and pinning!  

Wunderbar! Wir Kommen Mit!

My wunderbar journey with AmazonCrossing continues with today's release of Wir Kommen Mit (We're Coming With, a slightly altered translation of the title Take Me With You) in Germany. It's available for German readers in a Kindle ebook and in paperback on Amazon.de.

It will be exciting for me to watch this title, because it's my fourth book translated into the German market by AmazonCrossing, and the last two have done hearteningly well. Ich Bliebe Hier (Don't Let Me Go) spent 19 days at #1 in Kindle on Amazon.de and, 305 days later, is still in the top 100! Als Ich Dich Fand (When I Found You) has been in the top 100 for 232 days!

A heartfelt thanks to my German readers, and I hope you'll enjoy the journey of August and the boys as much as you enjoyed the books that came before! (And don't be surprised if there is more fun to be had early next year.) 

Gute lese!

Buone notizie! Affetti Straordinari!

For those who don't know, Buone notizie is "Good news!" in Italian. (All right, I admit it, I wouldn't have known it if not for Google Translate.) And the "Affetti Straordinari" is the title of my newest language translation, released today--November 3rd--on Amazon.it!

It's the Italian-language translation of When I Found You, retitled to "Extraordinary endearments." And it's already jumped into the top 200 of Kindle, which is not bad for the morning of its very first day in release.

I also have a new title releasing in Germany on the 10th of November. It's called Wir Kommen Mit and it's the German translation of Take Me With You. (We're Coming With!)

Not sure how many of you speak either of those languages, but I'm exciting about the books spreading out to a wide world market, and I'm keeping you up to date with the news!  

Hardcover giveaway

Gabriella from my wonderful author team at Lake Union recently told me she had a small carton of large print editions of The Language of Hoofbeats. She asked me if I wanted them. I said absolutely. I'll do a blog giveaway. So here goes.

These are beautiful hardcover large print books. I'll give away five.

PLEASE read the info below. (PLEASE?) A bunch of people consistently don't, and make some huge mistake like not leaving me any way to contact them, and miss their chance to get in and possibly win. So, seriously. It only takes a minute.

Leave a comment below to be entered. Please DO leave your email address in the comment form (even though it will say it's optional). I promise I won't use it for any other purpose but to notify you if you win. Please DON'T leave your email address in the body of your comment unless you want everybody to see it. Those familiar with my old website might be a little confused by the new comment system. It will seem there is no place for your name and email. But when you hit "Post Comment," you'll see those fields come up.

 And if you're reading this on Goodreads, please click through and leave your comment on my original blog. Otherwise I worry I'll forget you when the time comes to draw names.

I'll leave this open for a week to ten days. Good luck!