Bring In The New Year With Prizes And A Blog Hop Celebration!

Charlene Blogs welcomes you to a 

New Years Blog Hop Celebration!  

Beginning December 23rd and going until January 1st, every blog on the hop is giving away great prizes! So be sure to visit everyone listed below and get your contest entries in on all of them!  

Here's what you could win on Charlene Blogs!

  AND 

A PDF copy of Cornerstone Deep and a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card!

There are a few things you need to do to qualify for the drawing. *wink*

1. Leave a comment
2. Include your email address (example: santa[at]yahoo[dot]com)
3. FOLLOW Charlene Blogs 
4. LIKE the Chronicles of Shilo Manor series Facebook Fan Page on the side bar.  You'll be the first to know about what's going on!  New releases, tours, giveaways, freebees, insights, and more!  

That's it!  You're done!  Entries will be taken until midnight January 1st.  Winner will be announced January 2nd!

Just get started by entering my contest then begin the hop! 

*Hint* If when you click on the next blog you're not taken to a new window, right click on the next blog and open in a new tab. Close that window after you've finished their contest requirements, come back here and right click the next blog. *wink*

Have fun!  And Happy New Year Everyone!

Do you have the Oprah Disorder? -- Book Promo

Do you have the Oprah Disorder? I heard book publicists joke that their lives are much easier because Oprah is off the air—at least the old format of her show—and the first question publicists often used to get from authors was “Can you get me on Oprah?”

The Oprah Disorder is the obsession of wanting only the biggest media opportunities like national TV, national magazines, etc., and nothing else. This attitude is a recipe for promotional disaster. Every media opportunity is important, from the smallest local newspaper to the tiniest radio show, because you never know who is reading that paper or listening to that show!

We need to keep in mind that book marketing is more a marathon than a sprint. Success won’t happen over-night and there are going to be ups and downs.

Dan Smith of Smith Publicity says, “It takes time to achieve and sustain promotional momentum, and it typically takes at least two months to see book sales materialize from a promotional campaign. Authors often spend years crafting a book. The most successful then spend at least a year promoting their book in one way or another.”

Stay focused and don’t give up! I try to accept all invitations that will call attention to Cornerstone Deep that come my way.  We need to be open to them…even if it’s that guest post on that little blog with only a few followers. The biggest and best selling tool in the world is word-of-mouth.  And you never know when a jabber jaws will run across that little blog, be hooked, love your book, and spread the word.

BBCN Radio Interview - Part Two

As you know, last Thursday I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Donna Brown on Book Bags and Cat Naps BlogTalk radio show.  We had a bit of technical difficulty and weren't able to finish so we met again yesterday to continue our discussion.  She's such a great hostess.  This time her sleeping cats napped around the room while we visited. Lol.  Thank you Martha for asking your question, "Where did you get the ideas for your series?"  Funny how both the Chronicles of Shilo Manor series and the Aumelan series happened to evolved from the same type of source.

We dove more into who the characters of Cornerstone Deep are and how they became who they are. We also went into more detail about the upcoming Cornerstone Deep Echoes blog tour and prizes that are going to be offered through the month of February to celebrate its release. Starting in January, I'll have a whole page dedicated to the tour and prize giveaways with lots of ways to win. So watch for that!

Listen in on the player below to join us.  We expected a few "meows" to join in, but her kitties were happy and warm snuggled around her.  Good luck with that Christmas tree and your all those playful paws, Donna!  Lol.

Listen to internet radio with Donna M Brown on Blog Talk Radio







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BBCN Radio Interview

I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Donna Brown on Book Bags and Cat Naps BlogTalk radio show today.  What a great hostess she is!  She had me jabbering. *blush*  I think the highlight of the conversation was the question asked by Lilac.  "Why does Cole love butter so much?"  Oh my word!  Of all the questions someone could ask, that one caught me off guard. Lol!  But it was great fun.  Thank you Lilac.

We talked a bit about Cornerstone Deep and Cornerstone Deep Echoes upcoming release in February.  We even gave a peek into what's coming up with my Aumelan series.

Listen in on the player below to join us.  There was a moment when Skype dropped me...*bumped my head good*...but Donna handled it with grace and we got right back on track. : )  Also, we had a bit of a mishap at the end and didn't get to finish.  But we'll be getting together on Tuesday at 9am CST to continue our discussion.  Yay! :D

Listen to internet radio with Donna M Brown on Blog Talk Radio

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Are You Hiding Yourself?

I've been looking for ways to make it easier to find my books and realized, though I have information on my websites about them, I could do better at making them more visible and reach more people.

I ran a post a while back about reviews.  I like quality reviews, and the more I read about their impact, I see they do hold sway.  People like what other people like.  I list several on my Author and Series sites but right now, they're on a special page dedicated them.  I receive a newsletter from a promotional agency that recommended putting clips of them in my onsite store.  I'm setting one up, so I'll be adding that to my page.

They also advised me to make getting to the buy page easy.  I didn't realize it, but it looks like I'm hiding myself. A quick-click button should be on my home page.  Buy-Now!  Yup.  I have work to do.

Seriously, people are bargain hunting these days.  So, I'm putting together some special offers and incentives to pull them my way.   I need to give them a reason to shop from me instead of Amazon.  Why not get the sale instead of giving Mr. Bezos a big cut? 










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The Library--Of Course!

I've realized, and I don't know why it's just now striking home, but libraries are everywhere.  And in this slow economy, people are checking out what they have in stock when the budget doesn't allow them to buy.

If you can get your book listed in a library, it generates automatic orders to any area library. At least that's what happened when Penny C. Sansevieri dropped a copy of her book off at the main library.  I'm definitely going to donate a few copies of Cornerstone Deep and, once it's released in Feb, Cornerstone Deep Echoes.  According to the American Library Association, libraries buy nearly $1.8 billion in books annually.

Have you had any experience with this?  I'm all ears!






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Christmas Party - Romance Realm Style

It's that time of year again.  Twinkling lights, bright bows, big smiles, friends, and family...  That's right.  The Christmas holiday is here and we at Ravencraft Romance Realm are going to celebrate it in a big way! 


Mark your calendars.  This weekend we're all gathering at the Realm--elf shoes and all!  And we're giving away the best romance stories.  So be sure to join us!


Here's your special invitation in the words of Danielle Ravencraft herself. :D

~ * ~

I hope everyone in the United States had a great Thanks Giving and a fun Black Friday. Now the time has come to bring out the Christmas tree and the twinkly lights…and join Ravencraft’s Romance Realm in our first ever Christmas party! 

When:  December 10^th 2011.

Where:  Ravencraft’s Romance Realm blog.

What:  Your lovely hostesses and romance authors Danielle Ravencraft, Deanna Jewel, Charlene Wilson, Bri Clark, Kay Dee Royal, and Sharon Hamilton bring you a day of holiday fun as we chat about our favorite holiday traditions, which hunky hero we’d like to invite for Christmas dinner, how to stay warm (and sexy) on Christmas night, and more!

We’ll be on all day sipping wine and chatting it up in the comments section, so join us. We’d love to hear from you, and as always, there are prizes involved…. ;-)

Prizes:  eBook copies of “Glazier” and “Scent of a Witch” by Bri Clark ~ “Heavenly Lover” and “Underworld Lover” by Sharon Hamilton. ~ “A Trace of Love” and “A Trace of Passion” (set to release in January 2012) by Danielle Ravencraft.

 
PDF copies of “Big Girls Don’t Cry Wolf”, “Seducing the Myth”, and “One Plus One” (set to release December 2011) by Kay Dee Royal. ~ “Unleash your Inner Strength” by Deanna Jewel. ~ “Cornerstone Deep: The Chronicles of Shilo Manor” by Charlene Wilson.

               
Signed Print copies of “Never Surrender” and “No Turning Back” by Deanna Jewel.

                     (You can view all of these books at our Facebook page.)              

How to win: Easy, just join the party on December 10^th and leave us a comment with your name and email address. The more you comment, the better your chances are of winning one or more of the above books. The prizes will be raffled off to our commenters on Sunday, December 11^th.

See you there. :) 

Click here and enter the Realm!

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