Tag Archives: giveaway

Win a mini spy kit!

If you missed it in my last huge post, Julie Coulter Bellon and I celebrating our new releases by hosting a Facebook & Twitter party on Tuesday (tons of prizes!), and a giveaway on our blogs. In our blog giveaway, we’re giving away our books, but also some cool gifts! Julie’s offering a book lover’s basket with a handmade lap blanket, Canadian chocolate and one of my hostage books your choice!

I’m giving away the “spy-on-the-fly” kit. What’s this? It’s a kit of small things that would come in handy for spies (and also non-spies, because nobody needs junk just sitting around their house). Check it out:

spy kit

Top row, left to right:

  • Zebra print zippered bag. Always stylin’.
  • Nonslip shoe pads. Normally, these go inside your shoes, but if you put them on the bottom of the soles, you can creep around quietly!
  • Electronic cleaning cloths. Get rid of your incriminating fingerprints.
  • Dual function mini flashlight. This tiny keyring flashlight doubles as a laser pointer. If you’re really in a pinch, it could even be a laser sight for your gun. (Not really; don’t even try that; it won’t work.)

Bottom row, left to right:

  • USB drive concealment. It’s not invisible, but it’s pretty darn good: carry (hide) up to four USB drives easily!
  • Window alarm. Protect your spy lair with an alarm that sounds when your window is opened!
  • Super glue. For breaking and entering without actually breaking.

Not pictured:

  • Quick disguise kit. Give your pursuers the slip with a quick change. (The winner can specify a favorite color, and I’ll see what I can come up with

Retail value: can you put a price on your life?!

How to win


Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway! Be sure to join me and Julie on Facebook & Twitter for more fun and prizes on Tuesday!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goodreads Giveaway!

Still need a copy of I, Spy? I’m sponsoring a Goodreads giveaway of an autographed copy! Enter now—it’s only open through Sunday! (US residents only this time.)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

I, Spy by Jordan McCollum

I, Spy

by Jordan McCollum

Giveaway ends August 11, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

TBR Tuesday: Dene Low Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for one Kindle e-book by Dene Low last week as part of the INDIEpendence Day blogfest! Our winner is . . .

Elle Strauss!

Congratulations!

Can’t get enough free books? Linda Weaver Clarke interviewed me & is giving away a copy of I, Spy this week!

What books did you discover during the INDIEpendence Day Blogfest?

TBR Tuesday: INDIEpendence Day Blogfest

Happy INDIEpendence Day!

The book

I thought and thought about what indie published book I could highlight today, and finally I remembered ones that I just recently got during their free promotions. I heard about them direct from the author, Dene Low, who happened to teach the one creative writing class I took in college. Years later, I ran into her at a writers’ conference and looked up her books.

When she mentioned these freebies on Twitter, I snapped them right up! They’re regularly $3.99 on Kindle, so even full price, they’re a bargain!

Crimson Blues Write Like Your Brain Works
Thirty-year-old lawyer Amanda Taylor moves to a small town after winning a sensational criminal case that got national attention. She’s tired of criminal law and just wants to settle into private practice in a place that will allow her to recoup her energies and her belief in human beings. However, although she loves her new home, after she meets her handsome neighbor, Kevin Blakely, she realizes that something isn’t right in the town. Kevin has been brought in from another state to be the new county school district supervisor. He thinks it’s so he can bring the school district into the technological age, but he becomes suspicious when the district budget doesn’t add up and certain members of the school board, who had welcomed him with open arms, begin to distance themselves from him. When he realizes he has been set up to be the scapegoat in a case of fraud and embezzlement, he goes to the only lawyer who isn’t part of the good old boy network in town—Amanda. As the case becomes more complicated, so do Amanda’s and Kevin’s feelings for each other. Learn how to write more easily, more creatively, and more effectively by taking advantage of the way your brain is hardwired to use language. You can write thousands of words a day by using this system and knowing the strategies that will appeal most effectively to your readers. You can learn how to revise easily and with purpose. I’ve done the research so you can have access to my knowledge and thirty years of experience without having to go through all of the work I did. By using my writing system, you can be more productive and inventive and strategic as you write.

I’ve previously read Dene’s trade published MG novel, Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone: The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival. It was nominated for an Edgar Award (I can hardly believe someone I sort-of know was nominated for an Edgar!), and it’s absolutely adorable! It also happens to be $3.99 on Kindle. I’m really looking forward to both of Dene’s books on my electronic TBR!

The Giveaway!

I’m giving away your choice of one copy of Dene Low’s Kindle e-books! You must leave a comment on this blog post AND fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter, and additional entries are available through the Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You may enter through July 8th; winner will be announced here July 9th & contacted via e-mail.

Join the blogfest!

Want to join in the INDIEpendence Day blogfest? Here’s how it works:

  1. PICK A BOOK: Pick an indie (self-published or small press) book that you either HAVE READ AND LOVED or WANT TO READ.
  2. WRITE A POST: On INDIEpendence day (July 2nd), write a post about that book. It can be a review, an interview with the author, or simply a post highlighting the book. In your post, be sure to include: 1) HOW you found out about the book and 2) WHY you liked it (or WHY you want to read it). Make it easy for people to sample your indie author by providing buy links as well.
  3. DO A GIVEAWAY (optional): You can give away swag, or a copy of the indie book you’re highlighting, or don’t do a giveaway at all – it’s up to you!
  4. IMPORTANT: you may NOT highlight your own novel or one of the Indelible’s novels (this is a Pay It Forward event!)
  5. GO TO GOODREADS (optional): Add the Indie book or books you’re featuring to our ever-growing INDIEpendence Day List.

Which of Dene’s books would you pick? What indie published books are on your TBR??

More secret sauce!

Three fun announcements!

I, Spy is on sale here on my site! Get $2.99 off Mr. Nice Spy and/or I, Spy ebooks through June 30!

Donna Weaver and I switched places this week! Today I’m blogging for her on Motivation-Reaction Units. Come comment!

Also, I think I forgot to mention that my guest post on Darlene’s Book Nook also came with a giveaway with several prizes—a print copy (US & Canada) and two e-books. There’s still time to enter!

TBR Tuesday: Giveaway winners!

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes and entered my birthday giveaway! Here are the lucky winners!

#1
Variant
by Robison Wells (hardcover)

Variant Winner: Emily Gray Clawson!

#2
Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
(paperback)

Carrier Winner: Gaynell!

#3
Fool Me Twice by Stephanie Black
(Kindle)

Fool Me Twice Winner: James Duckett!

I’ll be emailing the winners to get delivery information today!

TBR Tuesday: Birthday party giveaway!

It’s my birthday! It’s the big 3-0! And this year, I want books. Lots and lots of books. Library books, ebooks, new purchases—books books books.

But it’s not just about me today. I’m ready to share the wealth! In honor of that new first digit of my age, I’m giving away three novels in three formats to three lucky winners! (That’s just three prizes, not nine, and definitely not twenty-seven.)

#1
Variant
by Robison Wells (hardcover)

Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.

#2
Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
(paperback)

Their love was meant to be.

When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she’s surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRís.

But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction.

#3
Fool Me Twice by Stephanie Black
(Kindle)

When it comes to pleasing her twin sister, Megan O’Connor is an easy touch. She’ll do just about anything to gain Kristen’s approval, including trading places with her. After all, Kristen’s plan promises to get Megan out of a dead-end job and make them both rich. It will be a nice reward for a little genealogical investigation — something that couldn’t have happened without the help of Kristen’s new LDS acquaintances. And who could blame the twins for using a tiny bit of deceit to manipulate an inheritance out of someone as demanding as their estranged Aunt Evelyn?

All Megan has to do is pretend to be Kristen, move into Evelyn’s house, and take care of the wealthy old woman until her failing health kills her. It shouldn’t take too long. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Megan’s the nice one. Except for the lie, the task is a natural fit. Everything would be perfect if she could just ignore the guilt — a feeling that only grows stronger as she spends more time with the new friends Kristen arranged for her.

But soon Megan discovers that there is more to worry about. She’s living in a house of illusions where she isn’t the only one playing a part. Someone has developed a new plot line that ends with a death scene — and in this version, the victim won’t die of natural causes.

Beneath the surface of the sleepy New England town of Britteridge, deceit weaves a deadly web where turnabout is anything but fair play.


Join in the party, and the giveaways! That’s right, three separate giveaways, three chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Not-so-fine print:

  • You can enter more than one giveaway.
  • A comment is required to enter, but one comment will suffice for all three giveaways.
  • The giveaways will end at 12:00 AM MDT April 8.

Oh, and I neglected to announce our winner from my last giveaway: Tonette de la Luna!

TBR Tuesday: Giveaway!

If you enjoyed Marketing Mondays last year, today’s giveaway is for you!


Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook
by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo

More about the book:

The rules of marketing have changed. Savvy marketing professionals know that they must engage with individuals directly on the Web, and smart businesses know that customers can become friends—with benefits. Friends With Benefits shows you how to get into the online marketing game. A guide filled with tips, tricks, and real-world case studies, Friends With Benefits shows how you can increase your company’s online visibility and Web traffic and win over online influencers.

Friends With Benefits explains how to:

  • Connect with potential customers and join their conversations
  • Tweak your website to support your social media marketing campaigns
  • Promote your products or brand and manage the toughest negative online feedback
  • Track marketing campaigns, monitor discussions, and measure success

With viral videos racking up millions of views and Twitter mavens influencing thousands of their friends, social media marketing is an essential new tool for every marketer’s toolbox. The expert authors of Friend With Benefits guide you through the social media landscape, where authenticity and connections are more important than the size of your marketing budget, and real results can be just a few clicks away.

FWB came out over three years ago (an eternity in Internetdom), and while some of the more specific advice is a little dated, the overall principles endure. It’s not tied to any particular platform, but focuses more on the high-level strategies to find potential customers and promote yourself online.

What do you have to do to enter?

  • You MUST leave a comment on this blog post AND fill out the Rafflecopter giveaway form (which will display below, I hope!)
  • Extra entry: Like my page on Facebook
  • Extra entry: Follow me on Twitter
  • Extra entry: Tweet about the giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What are your favorite marketing resources?