Tag Archives: Books

Ready to Win 100 Paperback Books? It’s the #YASH 2017! Let’s go!

Posted on April 4, 2017 | 4 comments

Hey there!

My name is Jennifer M. Eaton and today I am hosting the YA Scavenger Hunt, where you can win a set of TWENTY paperback books!

There are five teams playing, which means you can enter to win all 100 paperback books that are up for grabs!

This year I have a special BONUS giveaway of my own!

Enter to win your choice of book from BookDepository.com (Value $10 or less)

Enter Rafflecopter HERE

YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for five days!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are FIVE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the Pink TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a purple team, and a green team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the pink team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by April 9, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT Bonus Material

I’m Not Her

9468234 “For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel envy…” Tess is the exact opposite of her beautiful, athletic sister. And that’s okay. Kristina is the sporty one, Tess is the smart one, and they each have their place. Until Kristina is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly Tess is the center of the popular crowd, everyone eager for updates. There are senior boys flirting with her. Yet the smiles of her picture-perfect family are cracking and her sister could be dying. Now Tess has to fill a new role: the strong one. Because if she doesn’t hold it together, who will?

Bonus material! This happens after “I’m Not Her”…

Almost three years after I’M NOT HER is over, Tess is graduating from high school and there are a few familiar faces joining her….

GRADUATION DAY

Teenagers in navy blue graduation gowns are swarming the main floor of the convention center.

“I just wish Tess could have worn something a little more appropriate underneath the gown,” Mom whispers to Dad as we make our way through the crowded room, but of course it’s loud enough that I hear it. I think half my graduating class and their families hear her.

I glance down at my grad gown. Against my better judgement and motivated only by the desire to make my mom happy, I’ve given in to social protocol. Underneath the gown, I’m wearing what has to be considered an extremely appropriate dress by every mother in this building. I’ve also allowed her to drag me off to her hairdresser and my ginger locks are shiny and wavy, the way mom likes them. I’m even wearing make-up. With a sigh, I lift a foot and admire my shoes. This is what she objects to, but this is where I quite literally put my foot down. I have a suitable dress and fluffy hair but I’m wearing my purple Converse sneakers. In my opinion, they’re the most appropriate part of my outfit.

“You look amazing.” Kristina links her arm through mine and narrows her eyes in the direction of our shared nemesis. “She looks perfect,” she calls to mom and she overemphasizes the word perfect as she squeezes my arm tight. Kristina smells delicious of course, she always does. We stop walking then, halted by the growing crowd. Kristina lets me go. “The shoes are perfect, too,” she says quietly. Her eyes twinkle because we’ve grown pretty fond of abusing that word over the last couple years.

Kristina is even more startling beautiful these days. Her blond hair glistens and she sparkles in a loose short dress, even though we both know Mom suggested she wear a nice pair of slacks. The dress kicks ass though and also shows off her new prosthetic leg.

“You girls,” Mom says from where she’s also stopped, just ahead of us. She blinks quickly and wipes away tears, dabbing under her eyes to make sure her make up isn’t ruined. “Giggling together like you did when you were toddlers. You both make me so proud.” She means it too. That’s part of her paradoxical charm.

I feel a big hand sweep in and take hold of mine, engulfing, and swallowing it up. My heart beats happily as I turn and look up. “Superman!” I say. “Wow. You look amazing.” And he does. The blue grad gown makes his floppy dark hair look dapper and kind of polished. I swoon a little, even though he’s been my boyfriend for over two years now.

“Lois Lane,” Clark answers with a nod of his head, his eyes dancing behind his dark rimmed glasses. “You look pretty amazing yourself. Especially the sneaks.” He squeezes my hand and bends down and kisses me on the cheek. “But everything else too,” he whispers before he straightens.

“I tried, Clark,” my mom tells him. “I tried to get her to wear heels like a normal girl, but she wouldn’t give in.”

“Nor would I expect her to,” Clark tells my mom and gives my hand another soft squeeze.

Mom rolls her eyes but steps forward to pat him on the arm. She’s grown fond of Clark over the last couple of years. At first when we were just friends, she didn’t really get him, but he’s grown on her. I think even more so since he filled out and got hot. She tries not to care about things like that, but she is who she is, and she does.

“Oh, my God, Clark,” Kristina tell him. “You look amazing. You guys are so freaking cute together. Put your arm around her and stand closer for a picture.”

Kristina’s iPhone is out and she’s snapping pictures of us while Mom finds a friend to gab with and Dad wanders off in search of something to drink from the bar.

“Jeremy would have loved this,” Kristina says when she’s done snapping photo’s. Her eyebrows push together and the old sadness that she used to wear like a sweater around her shoulders appears on her face.

“He would,” Clark agrees and then he lets go of my hand and puts both hands around my sister and hugs the shit out of her.

“Hey!” A deep voice calls, powering over the buzz of voices around us. “You making moves on my girl?”

The three of us turn towards Adam, Kristina’s boyfriend who’s hurrying towards us and Clark lets go quickly.

“You know I can arrest you for any number of reasons in my profession,” Adam jokes. He’s a cop, but he’s sweet and gets extra points for being madly in love with my sister. Kristina met at a cancer fundraising event a couple years before. He chased her for months before she agreed to go out with him.

Clark’s cheeks turn a little pink. Adam’s part of our lives now, but Clark is still adorably awkward around him sometimes. Adam’s only about five years older than us, but he just seems way more grownup.

Kristina smacks Adam on the shoulder when he reaches for a hug, and he laughs. “I’m just bugging you, Clark, don’t look so worried,” he tells him and turns to me. “Tess. You look great!” He smiles widely. “Congrats on your big day, guys!”

“High school graduation,” I tell him. “So, it’s not exactly the biggest accomplishment in the world.” “Graduating near the top of your class with honors and however many academic and art scholarships you have, is though,” Kristina says. “I barely even passed my Senior year.”

“You were going through other stuff,” I remind her. “And now you’re halfway through your Journalism degree and on your way to other adventures, so I think you’re doing just fine…..” I roll my eyes to show that she is, as usual, setting the bar pretty high.

Adam puts his arm around her. “Beauty and brains run in the Smith family. As well as good taste in men.”

Kristina smiles at him. “Whatever, Charmer. This is Tess’s day.” She smiles at Clark. “And yours too.”

She waves her hand in front of her face then and blinks fast. “God. I can’t believe you’re moving to San Francisco soon, Tess. Art College.” She blinks away tears. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

I reach for Clark’s hand and squeeze it.

There’s an announcement over the speakers for all grads to report to the Source Room. “It’s time,” I say to Clark. I glance at Kristina, to make sure she’s okay but she’s smiling again and I know the bubbling over emotions are probably due to her pregnancy, too.

Adam reaches down and pats her bump. Kristina is young, and the baby unexpected, but it’s a miracle baby and everyone is thrilled. After her chemo and surgery, the doctor’s thought she couldn’t get pregnant and yet, here she is only a few weeks away from giving birth.

“I’m proud of you, Tess,” she says. She reaches out and hugs me. “You’re going to have an amazing time in San Francisco. But you better not leave until this baby is out of me. You’re going to be the best Auntie ever.”

I hug her back hard. I haven’t told her yet. That I’m not going to Art school after all. Everyone I love is right here in Tadita. In Washington State. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what’s important to me. And what I want to do with my life. And I plan to tell everyone, soon starting with Clark.

But not tonight.

About Janet Gurtler

A Rita Award Finalist and Crystal Kite Award Finalist, Janet Gurtler’s young adult books have been chosen for the JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION and as BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS from the Canadian Children’s Book Center. Janet lives in Okotoks Alberta, Canada with her husband, son, and a chubby black Chihuahua named Bruce.

And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books from the participating authors! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 17. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the Pink team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

And Don’t forget

This year I have a special BONUS giveaway of my own!

Enter to win your choice of book from BookDepository.com ($10 value or less) CLICK HERE! Woohoo!

Are you all entered to win your choice of novel from BookDepository.com ($10 or less)?
Awesome! Carry on to the next author in the YA Scavenger hunt!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! [Gretchen McNeil]

Hello out there!

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

4 Comments

Posted in Marketing Madness

Tagged Books, free, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, scavenger hunt, TEAM PINK, Win, ya, YASH. #YASH, young adult scavenger hunt

What the heck is crowdfunding, and how can authors use it to fund their books?

Posted on October 1, 2016 | 7 comments

Crowdfunding.

I’ve heard of it, but I never really “got it.” I mean, asking for people for money BEFORE you write your book? Is that just plain weird, or is it revolutionary?

Today I asked author/publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail to stop by and explain all this insanity.

Danielle has successfully crowdfunded several books. Let’s see how this stuff works.

Here’s Danielle!

Not everyone gets crowdfunding. A lot of people do it, for various reasons, but the general public doesn’t have a concept of what goes into such a campaign or what motivates one.

Sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon, to name a few, are all platforms where individuals can learn about projects that meet their interests. Based on how well the creator has done their job, those individuals then decide if the project is one they want to support.

A lot of work goes in to a successful campaigns, from designing them, to explaining what they are about, to organizing the rewards backers can expect for their pledge and as bonuses when the goal is exceeded, and above all, promoting them. It is a long, exhaustive process that begins with an idea and is not done until all commitments have been met.

For me, I use crowdfunding to finance my efforts as a publisher. I have run seven successful campaigns as both myself and eSpec Books and am soon to wrap up an eighth. I have chosen crowdfunding as a part of my business model because I have been in the publishing industry for over twenty years as an employee and as an author. Over those years I have seen most of the pitfalls independent publishers get themselves into. The primary one being that they tend to overextend themselves. They start with a certain amount of capital (or credit) and race to see how many books they can get out (one of them, with hope, a runaway hit) before those funds are gone. For a while they do okay, but a few bad book choices or slow selling months, perhaps paired with heavy returns, and suddenly the publisher finds he doesn’t have the money he needs to sustain the rapid growth and pay the authors.
I don’t want to be that publisher. For this reason I steadfastly refused for the longest time even considering to be a publisher.
Then crowdfunding happened.
All of a sudden I saw a way to make books possible. See, for a publisher (or an independent author), crowdfunding is basically a way to pre-sell a book. It is also a way to build an audience and increase visibility. Some use it as a way to fund their creative efforts, but I would recommend against this. There are too many complications in promising something that does not exist yet, after all…life does have a habit of getting in the way when you least expect it.

By using crowdfunding as a part of the eSpec Books business model I ensure my projects are in the black from the get-go, instead of needing to earn back their production costs before making a profit. I also ensure I have the funding to pay professionals to do any of the work I am not capable of doing myself. Lastly, by reserving half of the money received in a separate royalty account, I ensure I have the money set aside to pay the authors what they are due. Our growth is slow, but steady, and the foundation we are building is solid. For most of our campaigns there has been little left over once everything is paid for, but everything we bring in after that is profit.

In addition to this, with each successful and completed project we grow our built-in audience as well as our credibility as a publisher.
The key is to go into the venture with realistic goals. To know what you can and cannot do, and be prepared to work your butt off to make it happen. This is important. Most publishing crowdfunding campaigns do not succeed. This is because individuals go into it thinking they are going to collect free money. That people are just going to hand it to them. They go into it thinking only of what they want to achieve, instead of what will make it worth a backer’s support.
Backers don’t care what you want. They want to know what’s in it for them. That is where your focus should be, making sure the backers feel they are getting good value for their support.
Yes, it takes a lot of work, but if you want to make dreams happen, it’s more than worth the effort.

Want to see a live crowdfunding project?

Check out the info and the link below. Interesting stuff.

eSpec Books is currently funding two novels by bestselling authors Jack Campbell (The Lost Fleet, The Lost Stars, and The Pillars of Reality series) and Brenda Cooper (co-author of Building Harlequin’s Moon with Larry Niven, and author of The Wings of Creation series). The two books are very different coming-of-age stories.
Jack Campbell’s The Sister Paradox is an urban fantasy turned epic adventure, where a teen boy crosses dimensions to fight dragons and basilisks and other manner of magical creatures beside the sword-wielding younger sister he never had.
Brenda Cooper’s POST is a post-apocalyptic journey novel, where a girl name Sage leaves the safety of the botanical garden she grew up in to discover the world outside and with hope, help rebuild it.
To learn more or to support their efforts, visit http://tiny.cc/Novels2016.

Hello out there!

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

7 Comments

Posted in Author Interview

Tagged Books, crowd funding, crowdfundinf, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, novels, publisher

An Analysis of my first try at Facebook Advertising

Posted on August 29, 2016 | 6 comments

Aliens, Armageddon, and Romance

Fire in the Woods is only $.99 on Ebook

For a limited time!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play

Last week, my book went on sale on Ebook for $.99. This was a bit of a surprise, and I wouldn’t have even known unless a friend happened upon it and let me know (funny how that happens in the publishing biz.)

Anyway… in a perfect world I would have had tons of marketing ready, but since my book was only going to be on sale for a week, I needed to act fast.

Instagram Posts
My Newsletter
My Street Team
Twitter
Tumblr
Facebook

When I hit Facebook, the app prompted me to boost the post. I figured, why not? It was the perfect chance to test the waters.

The process was insanely easy, and not really all that expensive.

I started with a budget of $7.00 total, for an add that would run for seven days. (A dollar a day. That’s not too bad)The results were interesting…At the end of the seven days, I had reached an additional 1,995 people, and 56 people had clicked on the buy links.

(more on WHO clicked below- stay with me)

Breaking that down, about 8 people clicked the buy link per day. NOT HUGE NUMBERS, but not that bad… because I know from research that you need to see the cover of a book at least three times before you consider buying, and then another 3-5 times before you decide to find out more or buy.

I had an “organic” reach of 150 people (that is average for me… these are the people who would have seen it in the feed without any advertising).

I asked the App to send the ad to women only in the USA between the ages of 13-50 who have shown interest in reading, science fiction, romance, young adult… etc.

Then I drilled down and found something REALLY interesting…

I looked at the demographic of the “clicks”. This was a real eye-opener. I know that my book is written for the 13-18 age group, but I went for the broader 13-50 range because I know a lot of adult women read YA as well.

But guess what?

48 of the people who clicked the buy links were in the 13-19 age brackets. My exact target audience! So sending out to a broad age range, I decided, might have been a mistake.

But the sale wasn’t over yet…

Then, I noticed that the sale had not ended on Saturday as scheduled. I decided to give my ad one last push. I was going to do one day for $1, but decided to try 1 day for $2 to send it to more people. I also adjusted the age bracket to 13-19 year olds (Sorry, adults… I was experimenting)

On that one day I received an additional 515 views and an additional 11 clicks

The final stats

So, at $1 a day I received an average of 284 views per day and 8 clicks per day

At $2 a day (On a Sunday, which might have skewed things) I received 515 views and 11 clicks

If you want to be really anal, for a total of $9.00 it cost $.00359 cents per view, or $.13 per click. Personally, I don’t only value the “click” numbers, because I know how important just the face time of the cover is.

How does Facebook stack up against other advertising?

I have purchased some other forms of advertising that cost $280 for just a few mentions. While those did provide great face time, I don’t think they were as good of a value as the Facebook ad.

So, to sum it all up, YES I would do this again, but with a few changes.

#1. I’d not shoot for such a wide age audience. If it went to more 13-19 year olds, I might have ended up with more clicks

#2. I’d taken a class on Facebook ads a few days before this happened, but I didn’t have time to create my own ad. Instead, I used just a picture of my book, and a friendly post about the sale. I’m going to experiment next time with the suggestions from the course I took. (Below is the Instagram version-same pic, same text as the Facebook Ad) Here is a link to the actual ad https://www.facebook.com/JenniferEaton.Author/

View this post on Instagram

You guyzzzz! FIRE IN THE WOODS is on sale for only $0.99 on ebook at most bookish places! Here's what it's about: FIRE blurb When a plane crashes in the woods near Jess’s home, the boy of her dreams falls out of the sky—literally. But David’s not here to find a girlfriend. He’s from another planet, and if Jess can’t help him get back to his ship, he’ll be stuck on Earth with nothing to look forward to but the pointy end of a dissection scalpel. Her father runs their house like an army barracks, and with an alien on the loose, Major Dad isn’t too keen on the idea of Jess going anywhere. Ever. So how the heck is she supposed to help the sweetest, strangest, and cutest guy she’s ever met? Hiding him in her room probably isn’t the best idea. Especially since her Dad is in charge of the squadron searching for David. That doesn’t mean she won’t do it. It just means she can't get caught. As they race through the woods with Major Dad and most of the U.S. military one breath behind them, Jess and David grow closer than either of them anticipated. But David has a genocide-sized secret, and one betrayal later, they are both in handcuffs as alien warships are positioning themselves around the globe. Time is ticking down to Armageddon, and Jess must think fast if she's to save the boy she cares about without sacrificing Earth—and everyone on it. . . . #fireinthewoods #YA #yalit #read #reading #yalovin #bookstagram #scifi #aliens #alienated #aliensrule #book #books #bookish #bookgeek #booklove #bookaholic #booklover #bookaddict #bookhoarder #AshesInTheSky #books #reader #page #pages #paper #instagood #picoftheday #alienbooks #romance

A post shared by Jennifer M. Eaton (@jennifermeaton) on Aug 13, 2016 at 8:54am PDT

State breakdown… In case anyone is interested…

The most “clicks” came from California. 11 clicks from 167 people who saw the ad.

Followed by Ohio: 7 clicks from 123 reached

Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania: all 4 clicks from 50-99 reached

Most of the rest were 50-ish views with 1-3 clicks per state.

Yes, there were 24 states who saw the ad, but had no clickers. [Sad face]

If you’d like to know anything else about the experience, please let me know!

Has anyone else tested out the waters of Facebook advertising? How did it work for you?

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

6 Comments

Posted in Marketing Madness

Tagged ARE FACEBOOK ADS WORTH IT, Books, Facebook, FACEBOOK ADVERTISING, FACEBOOKS ADS, fire in the woods, HOW TO DO A FACEBOOK AD, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, marketing, ORGANIC, REACH, SHOULD I DO A FACEBOOK AD, STREET TEAM, Twitter

It’s the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt! Are you ready to win a ton of signed paperbacks?

Posted on October 2, 2014 | 6 comments

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. And to make it even easier here is a special “how to hunt” Link.

There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GREEN TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the GREEN TEAM, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 5th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Today, I am hosting the lovely and talented Bree Despain for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

Bree Despain is the author of the Dark Divine trilogy and the Into The Dark trilogy. Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo.

Find out more information by checking out the Bree’s website or find more about Bree’s book here!

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

So, Ms. Bree, what are we going to be looking at, here?

This is an exploratory scene I wrote when I first got the idea for THE SHADOW PRINCE way back in 2007. I was trying to figure out who my characters were and what they wanted. This scene didn’t make it into the final version of the book–mostly because a lot changed since I wrote this initial scene (like Daphne lives in her father’s mansion not at a boarding school with a roommate, and the book is written in first person instead of third). However, it was the way I FELT when I wrote this scene–and how that feeling stuck with me–that caused me to return to write this book in 2012. Now I’m thrilled that seven years after writing this little exploratory scene, the story is a shiny real novel sitting on bookstore shelves.

Awesomeness! Let’s take a looksee!

Her scent was everywhere, circling Haden as he stood in her room. It was a sweet smell, but not too sweet, like fresh fruit just on the verge of being ripe. There was another scent also, much more bitter and distasteful to him. The roommate, he thought and shut and locked the bedroom door, afraid of being interrupted before he got what he came for.

He bypassed the bitter smelling bed and the track trophies and went straight to the side of the room that smelled the most like her. Her walls were bare, her drawers held nothing but clothes. Her bed was covered in the plain green bedspread provided by the school rather than something brought from home. He was hoping her belongings—pictures, posters, letters, anything—might give him clues about her. Help him know her. But her lack of belongings told him more than any picture could. She was alone, lonely. She didn’t belong here—just like him.

Her rumpled blankets were permeated with her scent. Haden crouched down to breath her in, letting the tantalizing taste roll over his tongue. His hands grew hot, his fingers burned red. He stepped back. He shouldn’t be here. How could he even think of inviting such pain and danger into her life? He was about to leave when he saw something that made him pause. A black case stuck out from under her bed. He pulled it out and placed it on top of her blankets. He popped the locks, sensing her hands had recently been in the same place. He pulled out the instrument he’d seen her playing. It had had a voice almost as beautiful as hers. He held it in his arms the way he had seen her do it and placed his fingers on the strings. The cool metal felt soothing to his scorched fingertips—that is until he tried to strum them the way she had. The metal stung his burned fingers and the pain radiated up his arm and pierced his shoulder. He almost dropped the instrument but caught it in his arms, cradling it because he knew it was important to her. Determined, he tried to play it again. He ignored the pain and strummed the strings and tried to pick out the song he had heard her play. Frustrated he tried again and again. He cursed when the notes came out sour, nothing like her music.

Most things came easy to Haden—it was his gift. Like how it only took one turn around the campus with Dax to learn how to drive a car or how he mastered the English language in a matter of days when it took others months of practice. But for some reason, mastering this instrument eluded him—just the way she eluded him. He had to find a way to her. A way to make her trust him.

He heard voices in the hall. That bitter scent wafted under the door. Haden realized he had stayed longer than he had intended. Classes were over now. He carefully put the instrument away and went to the window. As he climbed onto the sill, he saw something that could possibly help him sitting under the filmy green drapes. Haden tucked it into his pocket and opened the window. It was three stories down with thorny bushes directly underneath. There was a jangling sound outside the bedroom door that sounded like keys. Haden patted his pocket. With his prize secure he jumped lithely from the window.

And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Jennifer M. Eaton, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 5. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the GREEN TEAM and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! Elizabeth Holloway

Tweet #YASH
//

6 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged authro, Books, Bree Despain, contest signed, Elizabeth Holloway, free, free Books, green, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, paperback, scavenger hunt, team, YA scavenger hunt

What the heck is the YA Scavenger Hunt?

Posted on September 30, 2014 | 5 comments

Let the games begin!

Well, in a few days, anyway.

The YA Scavenger hunt is this awesome web-based scavenger hunt where you can win tons of signed paperback books from some really great young adult authors!

All you have to do is follow the links between the blogs, find the magic numbers on each post (don’t worry, we won’t make it that hard), tally up the winning number, and then enter to win a signed paperback from EVERY author on the team!

Yes, you read that right. If you win, you will receive TWENTY signed paperbacks (Including mine if you play for the green team) And you can follow the hunt for more than one team for the chance to win more great books. There are a hundred paperback books in all up for grabs!

Here’s the team breakdowns, and the books that you can win. So start planning!

The YA Scavenger Hunt begins at noon pacific time on Thursday, October 2nd and runs through Sunday, October 5th.

TEAM RED INCLUDES:

TEAM GOLD INCLUDES:

TEAM GREEN INCLUDES:

TEAM ORANGE INCLUDES:

TEAM INDIE INCLUDES:

TEAM BLUE INCLUDES:

There are so many books here I don’t even know where I would begin. I hope you all are as excited as I am! The YA Scavenger Hunt begins at noon pacific time on Thursday, October 2nd and runs through Sunday, October 5th. That means to get through the entire hunt you’ll need to go through 1.5 teams per day!

Leave a comment below to tell me which team you are the most interested in checking out!

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Books, fire in the woods, free Books, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, novel, scavenger hunt, signed paperback, Young Adult, young adult scavenger hunt

If you are skimming a book, why even read it? What the ease of self-publishing has done to the “great” novel

Posted on May 26, 2014 | 33 comments

I recently picked up a book that I was really excited about. The premise was new to me, and the cover was stunning. The five-star reviews on Amazon helped a bit too. So I nestled down with my E-reader and delved into this wonderfully imagined tale.

My bubble soon popped

The idea of this story was great… elves live among us. They look just like us, only a little shorter, and they are all quite beautiful. The story is about an elf girl who is predestined to marry a particular elf, but they cannot meet until her eighteenth birthday. (Of course that gets screwed up or there wouldn’t be a story.) There is also this great buildup of a huge battle between dark and light elves.

(In respect to the author, I am not going to reveal the title or author. No one likes a bad review. And everyone should form their own opinion.)

The story sounded so exciting, but as I read, I had to wonder where all these five-star reviews came from. Has the influx of bad novels stilted people’s reading so much that they would consider an average novel to be extraordinary?

I found tons of things wrong with this novel. Long, unnecessary conversations with friends that have nothing to do with the story, several typos in the first few pages. (missing words) Scenes that seemed placed into the text just for page count that had nothing to do with the story, and so on.

But I delved on. I figured all these stars had to come from somewhere. So I started to skim, and skim, and skim. Then all of the sudden, the hero (future husband) pops up and gets jealous of a drunk guy hitting on his future bride (who he has not even officially met yet)…

AND HE KILLS THE DUDE!!!!!

Yeah… cold blooded murder. And then there is a conversation with his Dad about how it really didn’t even bother him to have killed someone.

Whaaaat?

I sooooooo don’t like this guy anymore. And I should like him, because the main character loves him. Right? (Or am I an old fogey and it is okay these days to have a murderer for a fiancée?)

I was resolved to see how the author would write her way out of that one… but she never did.

At the end, when I reached the big battle, I stopped skimming, but continued to be dissatisfied.

When I was done I shook my head. How was this possible? Why did I dislike this book so much when the premise seemed so good?

I looked back and checked to see who published it. Yes, there was a publisher listed, so I looked up their website. Guess what? No website.

[[Smacks herself in the head]]

Yep, I was duped. This appears to be a self-published book with a fake publisher name to hide behind. And the author did a great job… good marketing and a gorgeous cover. I think they paid more attention to the cover and marketing than writing and editing.

Now… I am in no way shape or form saying that there is anything wrong with self-publishing. There are some great self-published books out there. I think I gave a four star review to Sweet Blood of Mine. It deserved it.

I know that many self-published authors paid their dues, learned their craft, and produced great works of art. The problem is, these people are getting swallowed by the influx of people producing skim-worthy… or just plain HORRIBLE books.

I don’t even know what my point is. I guess I would not have been so bothered if there weren’t something like 250 five-star reviews on this work.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you have never edited your manuscript, or had a beta reader other than your mother, or if you did have a few real beta-readers, and you ignored their shouts of “Show Verses Tell” or their requests to delete a scene, or NOT HAVE YOUR LOVE INTEREST KILL SOMEONE. (Yeah, that part really bothered me)

Anyway… If any of the things above apply, but you went out to query anyway, and your received rejections, you may not want to take the easy way out and self-publish. Maybe you should really look at your writing, and try to figure out WHY you are getting rejections.

This book could have been AWESOME. The writer just needed a heavy line edit, and a proofreader. A good developmental editor could have made this sucker EPIC. I mean seriously, this book could have been stupendous!

Was it that bad?

Well, no, but the work reads like little or no attention was given to make this story sparkle.

Yes, self-publishing may give you personal satisfaction. Yes, most of your friends will not know the difference and they will be excited for you… but all these books out there make it really hard to find a good novel these days. And with all those five-star reviews on this one particular book, I have to wonder if readers, in general, are losing their capacity to even notice a well crafted book when they read it.

It makes me sad.

Then again, maybe what a “good book” is has changed. Maybe I’m the one who needs to catch up with the times.

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Posted in Book/Movie Review

Tagged Arts, bad books. why are there so many bad book out there? What makes a good book? What makes a bad book?, Books, Fiction, Publishing, Reading, Shopping, Writers Resources

Keep it to yourself, jerk! — Rule #28 of 32 Simple Rules to the Writing the Best Novel Ever

Posted on November 12, 2013 | 10 comments

I’m dissecting the article Hunting Down the Pleonasm, by Allen Guthrie, using it as a cattle prod to search for little nasties in my manuscript. Yep, you can join in the fun, too. Let’s take a looksee at topic #28

28: If an opinion expressed through dialogue makes your POV character look like a jerk, allow him to think it rather than say it. He’ll express the same opinion, but seem like a lot less of a jerk.

Hmm. Depending on how this is used, he can still look like a jerk just thinking about it.

I’d like to expound on this and say be careful of making your main character unlikable. Period. I’m reading a novel for crit right now in which I really can’t stand the MC, and she has no concrete reason for doing the dumb things she does. If I had picked up this novel in a bookstore, I would have put it back by now.

The author said “It’s good that you don’t like her. I’m doing my job.”

This author just doesn’t get it, and is waiting with bated breath for rejection #215 on her queries.

You need to connect with the main character. No one is going to want to read about a character they do not care about. They can be a jerk, but you have to make them relatable, and your reader has to care.

If you don’t have that engagement with your reader, you don’t have an audience.

What I’ve Learned About Writing an Ongoing Series (carriev.wordpress.com)
“I Believe in the Power of STORY” (wordservewatercooler.com)
Robin Mahle – Finding Your Voice (blackwhitepages.wordpress.com)

10 Comments

Posted in Biggest Mistakes New Writers Make, General Writing Tips

Tagged Books, Fiction, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Literature, Online Writing, Protagonist, Reading, Shopping, write a great novel

Cut your weakest player — Rule #26 of 32 Simple Rules to the Writing the Best Novel Ever

Posted on October 29, 2013 | 20 comments

I’m dissecting the article Hunting Down the Pleonasm, by Allen Guthrie, using it as a cattle prod to search for little nasties in my manuscript. Yep, you can join in the fun, too. Let’s take a looksee at topic #26

26: When you finish your book, pinpoint the weakest scene. Cut it. If necessary, replace it with a sentence or paragraph.

I have contradicting views on this. If I was reading this with my first novel (that I pantsed) in my hands, I’d say “yes”… and to probably more than one scene. However, now that I am outlining and clearly plotting my novels, I’m not so sure this is true.

I’d agree to cut it is it has no conflict, or does not draw the story forward. That’s a given.

My fear is that if everyone follows this rule, they will take out important scenes, and replace them with three sentences of summary… which is a form of tell.

I’m going to put my foot down and NOT agree with this one.

What do you think?

Recapturing the Joy of Writing (gwenstephens.wordpress.com)

20 Comments

Posted in Biggest Mistakes New Writers Make, General Writing Tips

Tagged Arts, Books, Fiction, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Online Writing, Reading (process), write a great novel

Don’t Dump on Me! Rule #17 of 32 Simple Rules to the Writing the Best Novel Ever

Posted on August 27, 2013 | 10 comments

I’m dissecting the article Hunting Down the Pleonasm, by Allen Guthrie, using it as a cattle prod to search for little nasties in my manuscript. Yep, you can join in the fun, too. Let’s take a looksee at topic #17

17: When writing a novel, start with your characters in action. Fill in any necessary backstory as you go along.

Everyone PLeeeeeese read that again.

Yes, I am an admitted action junkie, but I’m not asking you to explode something on your first page (although I have been guilty of doing this)

Buuuuuttt… Your character should be doing SOMETHING when the story starts out… and even at the start of a chapter. You need to grab your reader right from the first line. That’s hard to do when nothing is happening, right?

Make it fast, make it clear, and grab your reader. Make them want to read on. You only have a page to make an impression. Make it a good one.

Pleonasms … (wordznerd.wordpress.com)

10 Comments

Posted in Biggest Mistakes New Writers Make

Tagged Books, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Pleonasm, Writers Resources, writing a great novel

The Little Blue Lady from Mars – Day After

Posted on May 10, 2013 | 12 comments

Yawn.

[Stretch]

There you are.

Where have you been?

Sleeping.

I’m tired.

Tired?

From what?

Do you have to ask?

Planning to take over the world, of course!

What have you been doing?

I started my new book, Optimal Red.

Oh, and I signed a contract

for Paper Wishes.

You need to get out more.

I mean, seriously,

you need a hobby.

Like what?

Taking over the world?

Yes!!!!! That’s the best hobby ever!

And then we can have tea and crumpets and make totalitarian plans!

Umm,

How about we just do an interview first.

Piff. You are just not fun.

But I guess I have no choice. Who’s here today?

Emi Gayle.

You’re gonna be nice, right?

What’s that supposed to mean?

I’m always nice.

Umm—

Yeah whatever.

Hello Emi!

Hello!

Do you know there is a little blue lady on your table?

Who are you calling little?

How dare you waltz your tallness in here and…

So, Emi,

I hear you have a new book out this week.

What’s it called?

Yes I do!

It’s called Day After and it came out just this Monday.

Piff!

I bet it’s a tall book about tall people who…

So, Emi, I know this is book two of a series. How hard is it to know that you’ve gotten it just right, and book two is good enough to follow book one?

An author never thinks her book is good enough, but sometimes, it’s time to let go and let the public have the story. I love the story, I love Mac and Winn, so now it’s time to share what’s been in my head.

Lame Response! Sounds like one of those lovey-dovey books.

Why would anyone want to read it?

Because it has a hot guy on the cover. Or a nerdy one.

Either way, *I* think he’s hot.

Well, I’ll give you kudos that he at least has a head.

I hate novels with headless men.

What?

Don’t ask.

Okay…

I’ll be deciding if it is okay or mot MISSY.

Does anything explode?

Only my head when someone compliments my book.

[turns to Jennifer]

She has an exploding-reappearing head?

Could be. You never know.

I have an alien on my table doing author interviews.

You never know what the stink is going to happen on this blog.

Hmm.

Okay Missy too-tall with an exploding head.

Tell me what this book is about.

I’m going to give you the blurb because honestly, it’s the best way to describe Winn’s side of things …

Demon crypts. Vampire lairs. Glowing angels. Sexy sirens. The stuff of fiction.

Or so Winn Thomas always thought. Since being accepted into the fold of the supernatural, he knows better. None of what he imagined is true, but everything he feared is, and binding himself to his Changeling girlfriend until her nineteenth birthday will give him an education far beyond what he’d get at his human high school.

Luckily, Winn’s not giving up, he won’t back down, and he definitely isn’t going to run away with his tail between his legs. After all, only werewolves have tails. Right? In this, the second of the 19th Year trilogy, Winn’s facing the challenge of one lifetime. If he doesn’t learn the truth about mythological creatures, his girlfriend Mac Thorne won’t either. That means, in six months, when she chooses her final form, she won’t know what to pick. Winn, though, has his own ideas about Mac’s final selection—plans she knows nothing of. He intends to have her pick human.

Hmmmm.

Well?

What do you think?

I think I’m angry,

Because I actually want to read this.

You do?

Yesssssss!

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Miss Too Tall and Exploding.

Let’s be real. Has your head actually ever exploded?

Well, no

But…

I thought Not.