Month: August 2014

Thrifty Thursday: Free Falling

tom pettyOf course Tom Petty looks happy! He is thinking about all the free and discount eBooks he can get right here on Thrifty Thursday.

Readers: look in the comment section below. If you see one you like, click over and buy it. How easy is that? (If you don’t see the book covers, adjust your browser’s adblock settings.)

Authors: if you have a book priced at 99¢ or less (that’s right, post your free eBooks here, too!), follow the instructions below and post it right in the comment section. Got more than one bargain book? Go ahead and post them all if you like, but only one book and ONE link per comment please!

We will convert your link to a clickable book cover. Do not attempt to insert an image in comments on your own. Just put the following information in the comment section:

1. Book title

2. Author name

3. A one sentence blurb (not a Faulkner sentence, either. Be reasonable.)

4. ONE link to download the book (only secure retail sites – Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Kobo, Apple/iStore, or Sony)

5. Whether your book is free or 99 cents (and for how long/what dates)

Then let your friends and fans know your book is available here today. Use the share buttons below, or copy the link in the address bar above and share the news on your favorite social media platforms. The more, the merrier, right?

So let’s give it a try, shall we? Please make sure to follow the RULES above. Now, go ahead and tell the world about your cheap read. IU is a safe-for-work site. PLEASE do not post links to erotica, religious, or political titles.

(Post your FREE eBooks here, too!)

[Note: if the book cover images below do not display properly, please check your AdBlock settings.]

Whose Story Gets Your Vote?

Vote5Which story do you think deserves to win this week? There are so many good entries. We leave it up to you, IU readers, to choose which story should win the honor.

Remember, the winning entries will all be included in the next edition of the IU Flash Fiction Anthology.

Check out this week’s entries here. Make your decision, then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

Voting polls close Thursday at 5 PM Pacific time.

Whose story gets your vote this week?

  • J.R. Hershberger (40%, 25 Votes)
  • AL Kaplan (21%, 13 Votes)
  • TD McKinnon (11%, 7 Votes)
  • John Kenny (8%, 5 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (6%, 4 Votes)
  • K.L. Kelso (5%, 3 Votes)
  • Necwrites (5%, 3 Votes)
  • Lois Nelsen Lewandowski (3%, 2 Votes)
  • Mathoska (2%, 1 Votes)
  • T. (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 63

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll. ONE VOTE PER PERSON, please. Duplicate votes will be deleted. The results displayed above are unofficial until verified by administration.

Why I Went from HarperCollins to Indie Publishing

Becky WicksGuest Post
by Becky Wicks

Signing with a mainstream was my breakthrough, but it was also my downfall. I was signed to a three book deal with HarperCollins. A dream-come-true you might be thinking? Well, kind of.

I was young and naïve, with no clue about book marketing at all. I thought HarperCollins would make me a superstar. Not much happened. I waited some more. The international rights were sold but still, not much happened. Because no one did any marketing. Continue reading “Why I Went from HarperCollins to Indie Publishing”

August Barnes & Noble Nook Fest

Barnes & Noble LogoWith all the to-do about Kindle Unlimited, everyone seems to have forgotten about Barnes & Noble. I bet they feel really left out. How about we make up for that right now by having a Barnes & Noble book page fest?

This is how it works: If you are an author with a book listed on Barnes&Noble.com, in the comments below, write a SHORT one sentence blurb about ONE of your books, then paste in your link to that book below it. (If you post more than one book, to be fair to everyone else, we will delete all except for the top link, so please behave and post only ONE book link! And please do NOT paste your author page.) Make sure you show some love to the links in the comments above yours, and check back throughout the day to catch up.  If you’re a publisher, editor, librarian, or reader, please check out these book pages – you may see something you like!

Just so there is NO question about what should be clicked or shared where, check out this screen capture:
Mr Pish Goes to the Farm on Barnes & Noble

[Don’t forget, if you right-click the links, you can choose to have them open in a separate tab so you don’t have to worry about navigating back and forth to pages.]

This should be fun and should generate a lot of likes for everyone’s books. Let’s get things moving – and here’s a book to get you started: http://tinyurl.com/UPGRADEtheNovel

To those with concerns about the ethical implications of “liking” a book you have not read, we regard  likes as more analogous to a “high five” than a rating or review. We do not support the idea of rating or reviewing a book you have never read.

PLEASE be sure to reciprocate by liking the other pages. This is give and take. If everyone plays by the golden rule, we all benefit.

IU is a safe-for-work site. PLEASE do not post links to erotica, religious, or political books.