Thursday, June 21, 2012

Review: Survivors by Z.A. Recht

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.


The Morningstar Strain outbreak first occurred in Africa, in which US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases expert Anna DeMilio begged the government to strictly isolate the infected, but instead they tried to isolate the continent resulting in the virus going worldwide, turning billions into zombies.

With Agent Mason at her side, Anna is escorted by General Sherman and his men to a top secret, hi-tech bio-hazard lab in Omaha, Nebraska, so Anna can work on a cure for the virus. Meanwhile, the Chairman orders Agent Sawyer and his rogue Reunited States of America army to track down Anna and bring her to him as he believes she already has an antidote. They are to capture her at any cost. Another small army led by General Shannon is looking for Anna too, as one of the soldiers may be immune to the zombie virus.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Review - Google Income


GOOGLE INCOME: How Anyone of Any Age, Location, and/or Background Can Build A Highly Profitable Online Business With Google
Written by: BRUCE C. BROWN
Published by: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING GROUP, INC.
ISBN: 978-1-60138-300-6
Pages: 504
Pub Date: 2009


    GOOGLE INCOME: How Anyone of Any Age, Location, and/or Background Can Build a Highly Profitable Online Business With Google is written with the purpose of educating businesses, authors, or bloggers with ways to use the internet for marketing for brand/product. Millions of people use the internet everyday, which can be potential customers/clients for you. The first step is performing a market analysis, increasing your public profile, and establishing the best marketing strategies.

    In chapter three, you’ll learn about how to generate website traffic and income by using successful search engines, meta tag definitions, title tags, description tags, search engine registration, and site maps. You’ll learn the importance of what the inbound and outbound links on your site has on your Google rank. The author brushes you up on pay-per-click advertising, aka Adwords, and how you can benefit from a Google Adwords Campaign.

Review - THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ADWORDS

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ADWORDS
Written by: LARISA LAMBERT
Published by: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING GROUP, INC.
ISBN: 978-1601383181
Pages: 288
Pub Date: 2011

    Whether you are a small or lager business owner, a writer, or even a blogger, Google Adwords is an easy and smart way to take your business into a whole new direction. I have seen the Adwords information on blogger, but I never actually knew what exactly it was about until I read The Complete Guide to Adwords that I received courtesy of Atlantic Publishing.

    Author Larisa Lambert consults on advertising, marketing, publishing, and other business endeavors, and has helped businesses grow by using Google Adwords. For any successful business, getting the word out about your company takes time and with the world-wide-net, you can successfully market your business.

Guest Post with author Patricia Yager Delagrange





My five favorite scenes in Moon Over Alcatraz.

#1.
Weston opened the front door of our house on Lauren Drive just a few blocks away from the hospital and I stepped through the threshold. Every chair, each pillow in the front room looked as if it had been reupholstered in drab, lifeless material. Walls, knickknacks, rugs took on an alien quality. I was seeing them for the first time with a new pair of eyes, filtered through a veil of tragedy and disappointment.

(Brandy has just returned from the hospital - without their baby. Her grief is so evident here. She feels like a totally different person. Her world has tilted precariously and nothing will ever look the same to her again. She’s not sure how she will be able to go on, after looking forward to having her first child.)

#2.
Weston nodded at the man standing next to Mr. Peralta and our baby was slowly lowered into the gaping maw. She reached the bottom, and a bird landed on the rich brown dirt piled next to the grave. It pecked around, chirping a little song then flew off - as if saying goodbye. My heart squeezed inside my chest.

(Brandy and Weston are so devastated over the death of their child, they don’t want to share their grief with anyone. Neither of them can imagine greeting people, hearing their well-meant words of comfort. They turn away from any solace they might have found from those who know and love them. They’re completely alone in their grief.)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Guest Post with author Ray Gorham



A New Author Looks at Reviews

Being a first time author, I’ve come to realize how important reviews are in so many ways for a writer. Prior to publishing, I would read through the message boards that Amazon provides for the writers who publish there. A lot of the stuff was on the technical elements of writing, but I was surprised by how many threads were posted by writers who were either celebrating a new review, or trying to solicit a fellow writer to provide them with a review.

“Don’t be so needy,” I would think. Then I published, and waited for the reviews to come pouring in. Didn’t happen. My first customers were friends and family, so after a few days I sent an email out saying it would be helpful to see a review (how long can it take you to read my book was, I think, the underlying message). Nothing. “I must stink as a writer,” I thought, “or everyone would post a review.” Then it happened. A friend posted a review. It was short and sweet, but 5 stars, and said good things about the book. Maybe I do have value as a writer.

Over the next weeks and months that one review has grown into a wonderful library of customer feedback. I’ve been blessed with some very kind readers who have encouraged me to continue on with this new endeavor, and I’m extremely grateful to them. As the process has unfolded, I’ve learned a lot about the value of reviews.

First and foremost, reviews give great encouragement to the author, especially self-published writers. I don’t know that JK Rowling obsesses over reviews, but from my experience and based on message board posts, I promise that self-published writers do. Reviews give legitimacy to a book. Sales of my book started at a trickle (to be polite), but once there were a dozen or so reviews, sales started to pick up. Reviews inform potential readers about the book. When authors submit their work to Amazon, we are limited to how much we can blurb about it (both by Amazon and good taste). A good review can give prospective readers information an author can’t.

Review - Lucy Come Home

Lucy Come Home
AUTHOR: Dave and Neta Jackson
PUBLISHED BY: Castle Rock Creative
ISBN: 978-0-9820544-3-7
RELEASED DATE: June 13, 2012
PAGES: 424



    Lucy Come Home is book one in A Yada Yada Journey of Hope series which is a spin-off of the authors Dave and Neta Jackson’s Yada Yada House of Hope series. This is my first read from the authors, but from my understanding there are a few recurring characters from their other books in this one including Lucy.

    Living on the streets of Chicago is the soon to be an eighty-year-old Lucy Tuckers, who is known to some as the crotchety old bag lady. Everyone may just see a homeless woman, but Lucy has a reason for being where she is and her tale begins to unravel as her life unexpectedly collides with a young woman and her aging mother.

    The novel flips back and forth from the present day to the 1940’s, where we get an understanding of why Lucy is the way she is, where she left home as a teenager, to later becoming a widow, to eventually living on the streets.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Guest Post with author D.D. Roy

 

Writing What Thrills You 

By D.D. Roy, author of Jinnie Wishmaker 

Jinnie Wishmaker almost didn't get written at all. In November 2007, I was preparing to write a completely different book for grown ups for National Novel Writing Month.

But just three days into the writing challenge, I found I hated the book. It was sad and dark. I remember sitting with my kids to watch the movie Meet the Robinsons. At the end of that movie I knew I wanted to write something amazing and magical with the craziest happy ending EVER.

Since my favorite writer of magical things as a kid was Roald Dahl, I quickly read my favorites, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda. Matilda especially intrigued me. I wondered what would happen if you granted someone a power that someone else tried to take away?

And so the book began. If you've read those books or seen Meet the Robinsons, you'll recognize one thing that I did just like them. All the kids in the book are practical and smart and, well, they act normal.