Happy Monday! Whew, that was an exiting weekend, following the launch of Cupid’s Way. I’m pretty bushed so I’m going to be taking a few days off – (Yay! cheers my husband) – so I thought I’d leave you with a chance to win a personally signed copy Cupid’s Way in paperback.
All you have to do is enter the Goodreads Giveaway to be in with a chance. This offer is open to everyone, in any country, and the winners are picked randomly by Goodreads so I have absolutely nothing to do with it 🙂 There are three copies to be won, and the giveaway ends on 9th July. Click here to go to Goodreads and enter.
Thanks to everyone who downloaded Cupid’s Way over the weekend, and to everyone who shared the news, blogged about it, mentioned it on Facebook or Twitter, or just told a friend. At the weekend I’ll bring you photos of my book signing on Saturday, along with news of how the launch of Cupid’s Way went and how well it matched my expectations 🙂
It’s Day 9 of the virtual tour and today you can find me over at ‘rantin ravin and reading‘ guest blogging about How To Keep A Series Fresh. You can also read Kate’s fabulous review of Murder at the Maples – 4 and 1/2 stars, guys! Not bad.
Oh, you want to know about the Kindle Fire giveaway? Right – I should have known that was the only reason you carried on reading 😉 Running from October 15th to 31st over on The Kindle Book Review is this brilliant competition:
They are also giving away $200 worth of  Amazon vouchers, and it’s easy to enter – click on the screenshot above to go to their site and follow the instructions. As you can see, Murder at the Maples is one of the 24 books sponsoring the giveaway, and I’ve already had lots of new Facebook likes, which I’m pretty sure are down to people entering the competition.
What did it cost me and why did I sign up?
My, you’re inquisitive today aren’t you? 😉 Well, it cost $15 to sign up for the promotion, which included a Tweeting package. I was happy to say yes – The Kindle Book Review is one of Jeff Bennington’s sites, and I’ve long been a fan of Jeff’s. It’s a popular resource, very pro-active in finding readers, and this is an attractive competition that will draw lots of eyes to the page – and my cover is right up there on the second row! Marketing isn’t just about finding a reader right now, it’s also about getting your name or book cover image in front of people so it becomes something they’ve seen around – if they don’t buy it now they might the next time it appears on their ‘Recommended list’ or pops up on Facebook. Plus there’s the extra likes on FB, Twitter followers, and possibly the odd book sale too – I really can’t lose.
Now, I must check with Jeff whether I’m allowed to enter the competition too … I really want a Kindle Fire! See you tomorrow for another exclusive interview x
Today on the blog I’ve got – you guessed it – lots of news! Some exciting, some interesting, and some not-so-great. But first of all an apology: I haven’t posted anything for over a week due to a really bad chest and throat infection and generally being forced to rest (hubby can be very forceful at times). But I’m back now, ready for the big day on Thursday, and here are some of the things I have to tell you about before it all kicks off for Flora Lively …
My great friend and author Martina Munzittu is launching her new website today, and you can take a look here. Martina has a new and exclusive free ebook called Incompatible Twins – all you have to do is sign up to her newsletter. And here’s a good reason to sign up to it – you’ll get news of her upcoming series, The Broken Heart Refuge, and as someone who is lucky enough to have already read an early draft of the first in the series I can tell you it’s worth a look.
Back to matters closer to home – my new summerhouse/writing room finally arrived last Thursday. Remember Thursday? Sunny, warm, ideal weather for sitting around in a … summerhouse! And then on Friday, autumn arrived. Ah well, I plan to insulate the garden room and make it snug and cosy for year-round writing. Here are the before and after photos:
Just a pile of rubble – this is where we used to keep our chickens!All we had to do was build a nice level base …And now here is the new garden room! Brilliant 🙂
I am really chuffed to bits with it and I have BIG plans … The biggest of which is my intention to wire it up myself (!) and then insulate and clad the inside myself (double!!). Painting and fitting it out with fab furniture won’t be too hard, but that will have to wait a while too. Photos of the inside coming when it’s all done.
Now to Flora Lively and the launch of Murder at the Maples. I’ve got some fun competitions planned for Thursday’s launch, which I’ll be running simultaneously here and on Facebook – here is the FB event page if you’d like to join in over there. If my throat recovers in time I’ll be reading out the first chapter on video, but if not there’ll still be lots of excerpts and previews, plus the chance to win a Flora Lively mug and notebooks, and lots of other giveaways.
If you’d like to WIN a signed paperback copy of Murder at the Maples, there’s plenty of time to enter my Goodreads Giveaway. I’m offering 2 copies, and the winners will be picked at random by Goodreads – click here to enter.
Well, I promised some not-so-great news. On Sunday I had tickets to go and see the Morrissey25Live film in Shrewsbury. This was recorded during his recent tour, at an intimate gig at Hollywood High School. We saw him in Manchester during this tour, so I knew it would be an amazing film to watch. I couldn’t go because I was too ill. Here is a clip (just made myself cry watching this – I wish, wish, wish I’d gone anyway, no matter how rough I felt).
So, there’s a note to end on. Please, please, please let me get what I want this time. And what is that? Good health, and peace of mind. Millions of readers for my new cozy mystery series – and fantastic reviews. And maybe, just maybe, next year a publishing contract. Because as much as I love being indie, it’s starting to take it out of me, doing all this work myself.
See you on Thursday – and I promise to be a hell of a lot more cheerful then!
Joanne Phillips 