Book Blogger Spotlight: Savannah Mae

SavannahMae-LogoMeet Savannah Mae, of Say What? Savannah Mae and  Say What? Savannah Mae Kids. She started reviewing books with her son in 2010 with Reader Views for their Kids website. Savannah had always loved books as a kid, and wanted to get her son involved really early on. “After we starting reviewing the kids books, I figured that I should read and review myself and be a living example that reading is cool. There isn’t anything better than teaching my child that books are a world of fun and learning.”

She was skeptical when a friend first suggested Savannah start her own review blog. “I thought, oh that is silly. Why would I blog? Who reads blogs anyway?”

She threw the switch on March 15, 2013, and began began her blog for kids books shortly afterward. “Now I laugh at myself because almost a year later, I am consumed with my blog and my interactions with Indie Authors. I am not sure why I didn’t do this much earlier in life. It is so much fun and it is rewarding when an author quotes me somewhere on their publication.”

Say What? Savannah Mae was a finalist in the 2013 Indies Unlimited Excellence Awards for the best review blog category. Continue reading “Book Blogger Spotlight: Savannah Mae”

Blogs Vs. Newsletters: What’s the Diff?

difference between blogs and newslettersWe’ve published several posts about newsletters recently, including how to put one together and grow an email list. This past week, one of our IU friends, Jacqueline Hopkins-Walton, contacted me in regards to the differences between blogs and newsletters. The basic question posed was “Can they be the same?”

It’s a great question. We spend a lot of time with our blogs and newsletters. Wouldn’t it be great if you only needed one or the other? Continue reading “Blogs Vs. Newsletters: What’s the Diff?”

Book Brief: The Lost Book of Anggird

The Lost Book of AnggirdThe Lost Book of Anggird
by Kyra Halland
Genre of this Book: Fantasy
Word count: 130,600

For Perarre Tabrano, who intends to live her life as an independent woman, the chance to work as a translator of ancient books for the renowned Professor Roric Rossony is an opportunity she can’t pass up. Professor Rossony is as famous for his difficult personality as he is for his scholarship, but there’s far more to him than meets the eye, and Perarre quickly finds herself fascinated with her employer.

Professor Roric Rossony is the Vorunne Dominion’s greatest expert on Magical Balance. He has been entrusted with the vital task of discovering what is going wrong with the Dominion’s powerful magica. With Perarre’s assistance, he begins investigating the origins of the magica – and finds that truths taught for hundreds of years might not be true at all.

Then Professor Rossony goes too far in his research, digging into lost and forbidden books. Magical disaster strikes and he is transformed overnight from respected scholar to the most-wanted criminal in the Dominion. Together, he and Perarre embark on a journey to discover the roots of an 800-year-old conspiracy, a journey that will change the way magic works, and their own lives, forever.

This book is available from Amazon and Smashwords. Continue reading “Book Brief: The Lost Book of Anggird”

Marketing with Freado and BookBuzzr

BookBuzzr LogoThere’s no shortage of websites and services purporting to assist self-published authors with gaining exposure and increasing sales, but as an extremely frugal self-published author, I prefer the ones that give me the most bang for my buck. Free with a bang is even better.

Freado.com and BookBuzzr.com are websites owned by BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and I think of them as two sides of the same coin. According to the Freado.com FAQs page, “Freado is a website where you can win prizes while discovering interesting books. We also conduct occasional online festivals, fairs and carnivals around themes (such as Hunger Games, Summer Romance or Halloween).” Continue reading “Marketing with Freado and BookBuzzr”