Happy 3rd Anniversary Musa Publishing...

COLOSSAL ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

with Musa Publishing

Grand Prize

$15.00 Musa Gift Certificate

6 Paperback Books

Baiting the Hook by Mary Palmer & David Wilton

Brothers in Crime by KM Rockwood

Legend of the Timekeepers by Sharon Ledwith

Indian Shirt Story by Heather Lockman

Pantheon by Josh Strnad Windy City Heat by Remi Hunter

1st Place Winner

$10.00 Musa Gift Certificate 6 Paperback Books

Baiting the Hook by Mary Palmer & David Wilton

Brothers in Crime by KM Rockwood

Legend of the Timekeepers by Sharon Ledwith

Indian Shirt Story by Heather Lockman

Pantheon by Josh Strnad Windy City Heat by Remi Hunter

2nd Place Winner

$5.00 Musa Gift Certificate 5 Paperback Books

Cairo in White by Kelly Ann Jacobson

Chasing Athens by Marissa Tejada

First Frost by Liz DeJesus

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit by Gary K. Wolf Windy City Heat by Remi Hunter

3rd Place Winner

5 Paperback Books

Cairo in White by Kelly Ann Jacobson

Chasing Athens by Marissa Tejada

First Frost by Liz DeJesus

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit by Gary K. Wolf Windy City Heat by Remi Hunter

Plus

Beginning October 1, 2014 we draw 2 winners a day and they will each receive 3 books

And

All participants receive a download of Cooking with Musa.

All entrants are eligible for Grand Prize and Other Drawings October 15, 2014

Winners announced October 16, 2014

Enter daily to win!

No particular order to the daily drawings for the books below

Random Survival by Ray Wenck TRUE blue by Susan Rae Chasra: The Homecoming by Joanne Hirase

Drowning Cactus by Carrie Russell To Catch A Fish by Mary Pamer & David Wilton Lies in Wait by Donna Del Oro

Question of Time by Mary S. Palmer Glass Frost by Liz DeJesus The Andersen Ancestry by Addie J. King

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Contest begins October 1, 2014 and ends midnight CST October 14, 2014. All winners announced October 16, 2014.

Winners who reside outside the Continental United States will receive their prize in e-book format.

All prizes must be claimed by October 20, 2014 or they are forfeited. Prizes will be shipped October 22, 2014.

Beat the January Blues with Musa Publishing's Month-long Giveaway...

Enter daily to win one of 17 promotional paperbacks  

Outlaws by William Weldy

Only A Hero Will Do by Susan Lodge

First Frost by Liz DeJesus

Glass Frost by Liz DeJesus

Trusting Sydney by Helen Hardt

Taming Angelina by Helen Hardt

Treasuring Amber by Helen Hardt

2012: The Rising by Joanne Hirase

Typical Day by Gary K. Wolf

Obsession by JoAnne Keltner

Stained Glass byMindy Hardwick

Grape Bubblegum by Beth Bowland

Dragon Drop by Jerry Ackerman

New Girl by Joan B. Flood

The Fox's Mask by Anna Frost

Unforgettable You by Marci Boudreaux

Storm’s Fury by Nya Rayne

And one of 30 e-books:

3.99 by Richard Satterlie

100,000 Midnights by Aaron Smith

A Company of Thieves by David Pilling

A Place to Call Their Own by L. Dean Pace-Frech

A Reason To Stay by L.S. Murphy

A Sense of the Ridiculous by Heather King

A Willing Spirit by Cindi Myers

Alaska Heat by Vella Munn

An Incident on MSR Tampa by SS Hampton, Sr

Apple of My Eye by Elizabeth Botts

Baiting The Hook by Mary S. Palmer & David Wilton

Between by Clarissa Johal

Black Widow by Lena Austin

Bring Me To Life by Scarlett Parrish

Captain Westwood's Inheritance by Lynda Dunwell

Contingency Plan by Anita Ensal

Crazy Greta by David Hardy

Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis

Deep Into The Night by Tracie Ingersoll Loy

Dragon Revealed by Nulli Para Ora

Enchanted Realms by Eleni Konstantine

Forget the Misteltoe by Lizzie T. Leaf

Her Goblin Prince by Thalia Frost

High Stakes by Chad Strong

ICE blue by Susan Rae

Identity Thief by Milo James Fowler

Keeper of Directions by L.K. Mitchell

Kojiki by Keith Yatsuhashi

Little Bird by Liza Gaines

Looney Dunes by Anne Skalitza

Masquerade by Sloane Taylor

All entrants are eligible for Grand Prize Drawing January 31

Grand Prize 

Warm Up for Winter Basket

Snuggly Blanket

$20.00 Musa Gift Certificate 

Starbucks Coffee

Coffee Mug

Specialty Chocolates

 PLUS  5 paperback books: 

Marissa's Choice by Kadee McDonald

The Dominus Runes by Peter Lukes

Walking the Dog by Linda Benson

Love Lies Bleeding by Laini Giles

For his Love by Nya Rayne

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Thank Goodness for eBooks…

Authors work hard. Really hard. Sometimes years and years go into creating a book. First draft, second, third, maybe more, the revisions, rewrites, edits, and so on. It’s a crazy journey from start to the finished product, and we authors are downright proud of our accomplishment. So when I asked a family member what they thought of the paperback version of my debut book, I was told that it was still in the process of being read (had it for a year), and was most-likely sharing space at the bottom of a child’s knapsack. My jaw dropped. Really? My book, my baby, my blood is where? I honestly had to pinch myself.

So this got me thinking…

Thank goodness for eBooks. At first, I was a little leery of eBooks. You couldn’t hold or smell one. People—myself included—really didn’t understand the value in these strange new book formats. It’s hard enough to promote, market, and sell eBooks to schools or libraries, though that is slowly changing. When I signed my first publishing contract it was with a brand new epublishing house. There was the promise of paperbacks of course, but their main format was eBooks. I, like many other people, wondered if books would go the way of DVDs or CDs, and in truth the traditional publishing industry has taken an arse-kicking because of this new publishing paradigm. I even think the trees are yelling ‘woo-hoo’ as I’m typing this.

The point of this post is this: the life expectancy of a paperback can vary, but an eBook lives on forever. Try leaving an eBook in the bottom of a knapsack. Can’t be done. Yeah, you can leave your ereader or computer or cell phone or tablet in a knapsack, but you won’t leave any these electronic devices in there for long. They’re what this generation craves, uses, and needs. Plus they’re far too valuable to leave sitting in the bottom of a knapsack. And you know what? The book that took me over ten years to create is valuable too. It’s all a matter of perception.

So, thank goodness for eBooks. No mildew. No mold. No dog-earred pages. No ripped covers. No funny smell. No missing chapters. And guess what? They live on forever.

Look Who the Cat Dragged In…

Recently, I wrote a post that showcased books featuring dogs as one of the central characters. If you happened to miss it, please click HERE. Today, I thought it would be only fair if I turn the tables and talk about felines who have made appearances in books and movies. Growing up, I was a huge fan of Disney’s Aristocats, and must have seen it at least a half dozen times. And those dastardly Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp turned me against the breed for a long time until my mom decided to get a Siamese kitten. I guess I couldn’t resist those blue eyes after all!

In my new yet-to-be released book, Legend of the Timekeepers I introduce my readers to a lion-human hybrid named Etan, who aids14-year-old Lilith and her newfound friends with the very first Timekeeper mission. In another YA series I’ve created, my book Lost and Found: Mysterious Tales of Fairy spotlights Whiskey, a cantankerous, old calico cat who helps 15-year-old animal communicator Meagan Walsh find her true path. So, keeping with the theme of this post, I thought I gather together a group of authors who have made it a point to have cats in their books. Let the purring begin:

Lisa Orchard: The Supers Spies and the Cat Lady Killer

In a small town in Michigan, fifteen-year-old Sarah Cole is stuck spending the summer at her Aunt and Uncle’s with her sister, Lacey. She’s not happy with the situation until she befriends a girl named Jackie. The three girls stumble upon the ruthless murder of a reclusive neighborhood woman and what's worse? One of the officers investigating the crime believes the girls are responsible for her death.

Fearing that this officer will frame them for the murder, the girls organize their own detective squad. They become the Super Spies and start their own investigation. The Super Spies can’t understand why anyone would want to murder the “Cat Lady” until they start digging into her past and discover a horrible crime that happened thirty years ago. They uncover a connection between the two crimes and attempt to bring this information to the police, only to be reprimanded for meddling in the investigation. Not only are the girls upset by the admonition, but they also struggle with the fact that their exuberant investigating could provide a legal loophole allowing the killer to go free. Frustrated by this turn of events, the Super Spies realize it’s up to them to snare the Cat Lady killer.

Or die trying...


Linda Benson: Six Degrees of Lost, featuring a cat named Rags owned by protagonist Olive.
Sometimes you have to take a journey to find out where you really belong.

Olive’s mother is headed to jail and her brother to join the Army, so thirteen-year-old Olive is uprooted from sunny California and dumped in Washington State like a stray. That's exactly what she feels like surrounded by her aunt’s collection of homeless dogs, cats, and horses.

Fourteen-year-old David’s future is already carved in stone. From a military family with two brothers serving overseas, he’s been pointed towards the Air Force Academy his entire life - but a rafting trip gone awry might ruin his chances.

When a runaway dog is almost hit by a car, the search for its owner leads Olive and David, two kids from entirely different backgrounds, to an unlikely bond. Will their growing attraction to each other be enough to keep Olive from a foolhardy journey to find her mother? Will David risk his family’s plans to save her?

PM Griffin: The Bastet Trilogy

Three cats, three incarnations of great potential, but terrible peril lies before each of them.

The Goddess Bastet has granted three cats the potential of greatness and happiness in their new incarnations, but each must face terrible peril to gain it:

Bast’s Gift is just accustoming himself to his new life when a deadly intruder threatens his assigned human. What can he, a small cat, do to defend her?

Firecat and his beloved Partner Eva are suddenly confronted with the overwhelming horror of a raging firestorm. Can human and feline, working together, manage to survive?

Pennyroyal returns to the time of her previous death to help save not only her chosen human but the better part of the human race. Can she and Flavia defeat a demon’s malice?

Eva Scott: The Reluctant Wedding Planner, featuring a cat named Manouche who has his own facebook page!
Not only flowers bloom...

Dr Camden James is a rural vet, not a wedding planner, so he quickly feels out of his depth when, in a fit of generosity, he offers to glam up his sister's budget wedding in a secret move designed to surprise her. With only six weeks to make this the wedding of his sister's dreams he needs to move fast.

Stumbling around in the largely female world of weddings he gets a lead on the go-to girl for wedding flowers - Georgiana Mac Intyre. Georgi, reeling from a very public breakup, is not interested in men in anyway shape or form. Not even super-cute vets - even when they are clearly interested in her.

Cam shamelessly uses his story to get her to help. It has all the elements; romance against the odds, true love, orphans (you can't have good story without an orphan or two), and a bride.

I thought we’d finish this post with an appropriate musical slide show, sung by none other than that rockabilly group, the Stray Cats. Enjoy!

 

Please Support Your Fav Author…

There’s much talk around the virtual water cooler in my publisher’s social media groups these days. The gist is this: an author gets more money (50%) when a reader buys a book or ebook from the author’s publisher’s website. When you make a purchase through other on-line book stores such as Amazon or Smashwords or Barnes & Noble, our slice of the pie becomes smaller.

So here’s my plea, as one of the thousands of authors vying for a reader’s attention: PLEASE SUPPORT A FAVORITE AUTHOR BY DECIDING TO MAKE YOUR NEXT PURCHASE AT THEIR PUBLISHER’S ON-LINE BOOK STORE!

I know, I know, you say you’ve got a specific ereader that takes you directly to the manufacturer’s virtual warehouse so you can wander though their vast shelves and get deals galore. Let me tell you, this book business is tough enough, BUT if you find an author who you connect to, love their prose, their voice, their platform, then wouldn’t it be justified to support these storytellers so they could earn a decent living and produce more of their written wares for you to read? I’d say that would be a win-win situation!

Below is a post written by author friend, Margaret Lesh, explaining about the misconceptions of ebooks, and the various types of ereaders out there:

http://www.storyrhyme.com/jcsblog/files/a4f95205f3cc0c0593dc80eaf091f014-229.html

Every respectable publishing company has all the formats available for different ereaders. Mobi (Blackberry), PRC (Kindle), Epub (Nook, Kobo, Android), and PDF (Window-based and Mac computers) to name a few. It’s a simple process, and may add one or two more steps when you purchase a book directly from a publisher. Don’t let that scare you off. Be brave. Grit your teeth. Download that book you’ve wanted to buy for so long, but have kept putting it off because the technology is a scary and new. Free programs such as Calibre make it easy-peasy to convert your ebook to be able to read on the specific ereader you own.

So there you have it. You’ve heard my plea. The choice, as a reader, is yours. And thankfully, it always has been.

Image: 123RF Stock Photo: 3244416