Kindle Unlimited

As an author, I’ve never been all that sure how to feel about Kindle Unlimited.  I’ve heard mixed reviews.  Some authors love it and think that the pay-off is great.  Others think it is Internet robbery and claim that their sales and royalties have taken a major hit.  I didn’t have any books enrolled in KU, so I had no idea if or how it would affect me.  I chose to keep it that way.

Then I published the Cemetery Tours Series Box Set.  The set includes the first three books in the Cemetery Tours Series: Cemetery Tours, Between Worlds, and After Death.

I knew I was only going to post it to Kindle.  I haven’t had a whole lot of luck formatting for Nook and sales haven’t been at all good enough to make the effort worth it.  So I uploaded the box set exclusively to Kindle.

Yesterday, on a complete and total whim, I thought, “You know… I’m going to give Kindle Unlimited a shot.”  At this point in the game, I’m curious.  It will be a learning experience if nothing else.  It’s not permanent.  It’s only for six months.  If I decide I don’t like it or that it’s not worth it, then I simply won’t re-enroll.

However, for the time being, the Cemetery Tours Series box set IS available on Kindle Unlimited.  That means that if you have a subscription, you can read ALL THREE novels in the series for FREE.  It’s over 700 pages, but then again, it’s three books.  It should be a bit lengthy.

Read the Cemetery Tours Series for FREE!

So if you have Kindle Unlimited, hop on over and download the Cemetery Tours Series.  I don’t think you’ll regret it.

In other exciting news, the new Lurking Anthology, Lurking in the Shadows, has an official release date!  It will be available on June 28, 2016!  We don’t have a cover just yet, but I’m super excited about this anthology.  My contribution, An Empty Building, is by far the darkest thing I’ve ever written.  I had to write it in short increments in order to keep my own sanity.

Have a happy Thursday, y’all!  Keep reading!  Keep writing!

Fiesta

After a rather busy weekend, it’s time to get back in the swing of things.  Okay, that’s kind of a lie.  Yesterday, I did nothing.  But the day before actually was busy.  Went to support a few friends at a book signing, then a girls’ night complete with wine and Mario Kart.  See, I actually do have a life!

One of the friends I went out to support, Paula Walker Baker, has a new book coming out at the end of the month!  I’m delighted to announce that I will be interviewing her here on my blog within the next week or so, so stay tuned!  In the mean time, stop by and check out her blog: https://paulawalkerbaker.wordpress.com

It’s funny.  I met Paula at my camp, the same place I met three of the most important people in my life.  I know I mention my camp a lot, but honestly, that place and those people changed my life.  And it was all because of one postcard in the mail.  One that my friend Terri, one of those people, sent!  Life is amazing.  It’s so weird to think how different my life would be without them.

Anyway, before I dissolve into a sentimental spiral of destiny and fate, let’s try to steer this blog post back to books.  Books!  Yes!  My favorite things!  Books are awesome!  That’s why I’m writing two at the same time!  That, or I’m just crazy!  It’s probably that second one.

In all seriousness though, if Sam Morneau accidentally turns up in the next Cemetery Tours book, I apologize.

Speaking of Sam and The Kind of September, please remember that my Become a Character Raffle and Giveaway is going on until the end of the month!  https://jackiesmith114.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/becomeacharacter/

Finally, I’ve been promising and promising, well now I’m finally delivering!  Here’s the second Boy Band short story!  Again, it hasn’t been professionally edited because my editors are too busy with the next Cemetery Tours book.  Nevertheless, enjoy!

Fiesta

One Week!

Hello, friends!  It’s Tuesday!  This time next week, Boy Band will be available on Amazon, Kindle, and Nook!  It will also be available on BarnesAndNoble.com eventually, but I’ve discovered that it usually takes a week or two before it shows up there.

 

This is just your friendly reminder that I am hosting a Goodreads Giveaway.  I am giving away FIVE signed copies of Boy Band.  There are still seven days left to enter!  If you know someone who loves Young Adult fiction, Boy Bands, or both, this is the perfect read for them!  And yes, I am fully aware that I am 100% completely biased, but as I’ve said before, I would never publish a book that I did not feel 110% proud of.  I just wouldn’t.  Publishing doesn’t work that way.  Not to me, not to any independent author.  I love this book.  I want people to read it, and I really hope that they love it too. So please enter and help me to spread the word!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/129034-boy-band

Here they are!  These are the five books.  One of them could be yours!  Not signed yet because I like to personalize them.

Also, huge thank you to The S.M.A.R.T. Book Club Blog, who featured Boy Band in their What-To-Read-Next post! I’m honored!

http://thesmartbookclub.blogspot.com/2015/04/what-to-read-next-12.html

Keep reading, everyone!  It’s going to be a good week.

Live and Learn

Yesterday, I woke up fully prepared to make it a hugely productive day, and the first few hours were.  I was feeling pretty good about everything.  But then life, as it sometimes tends to do, threw me a curve ball and as usual, I had no idea how to respond to it.

I’m not going to go into detail here, because in the end, it really wasn’t a big deal, but at the time, I thought my entire world was ending.  That’s the kind of melodramatic nonsense you get to put up with when you are or you know a creative mind.  My first response to this traumatic event, of course, was to cry and call my dad.  He’s my go-to guy for crises, mostly because he is very calm and rational and lets me know exactly how I need to respond (which is often the exact opposite of how I planned to respond).

Again, this wasn’t that big a deal.  It had nothing to do with my books or business.  But still, it had me very worried and unfortunately, I let it get me down the entire day.

Today, I’m feeling better, but I’m still a little worried (what can I say, I’m a dweller).  Mostly, however, I’m disappointed that I let almost an entire day get away from me due to circumstances beyond my control.  However, it’s not the first time it’s happened and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last, because that’s just the kind of person I am.  It’s not something I particularly like about myself, but it’s there and I have to learn to live with it and hopefully work through it.

In other news, there are rumors circulating the world wide web about the possible return of Harry Potter?!  Oh, be still my heart and please, please, PLEASE let them be true!  JK, you tease us so!  If that’s not a sign from the universe that everything is going to be okay, I don’t know what is!

Also… Don’t forget to enter my GoodReads Giveaway! I promise my books are a lot more fun to read than this blog post! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/109579-between-worlds

Have a magical Tuesday, everyone!

The Second Annual Cemetery Tours Halloween Giveaway

Tis the Season to be Spooky!

In honor of Halloween, I’ve decided to do another giveaway!  This year, I am giving away two signed copies of BOTH of my books, Cemetery Tours and Between Worlds.  To enter, please visit GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/109579-between-worlds

You can sign up to enter until October 21!  I’m ending it then in the hopes that the two winners will receive their books by Halloween.

Let the festivities begin!

Stalking the Demon – Advance Review EBOOKS by Ciara Ballintyne

STALKING THE DEMON ~ Advance Review EBOOKS by @CiaraBallintyne #HighFantasy #FREEBIE

Available for a limited time

FREE Advance Review ebooks (Review Copies only)

STALKING THE DEMON

(Book 2 in the Seven Circles of Hell)

by Ciara Ballintyne

Date of Publication – 22 September 2014

Genre:  High Fantasy (Adult)

About the Book

Alloran lost his hand to thwart his renegade friend–but the world is still going to hell.

Six months after Ladanyon’s defeat, Gisayne is fading away from a baffling illness. Alloran is desperate for a cure, but he has a secret–the seven circles of hell are unstable. His worst fear is that the terrible mirror spell cast upon Gisayne has wrought some connection between her and the demon dimensions.

As everything Alloran loves races toward destruction, he does the unthinkable and refuses to obey the council of wizards. The only people who can help him are the two research assistants assigned by the council–but he knows he can’t trust them.

All the answers are locked away in the last place anyone wants to go: hell.

Add it to your Goodreads TBR here (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23156116-stalking-the-demon?from_search=true).

eARCs may not be identical to the final published version and therefore may contain some minor editing and typographical errors prior to the final proofread. eARCs are expected to be available 2 weeks prior to the publication date. Interested? Sign-up now!

ALL REVIEWERS PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RZLV37Y

Cemetery Tours Ranks #92 on the Kindle Store’s Best Sellers in Contemporary Fiction

This is so incredible and a little surreal! Thank you all so much for the love and support. Remember, Cemetery Tours is still FREE on Kindle until Midnight tonight! Happy Halloween!

Click on the picture to download!

Free for Halloween!

It’s official!  Cemetery Tours is FREE to all Kindle readers today and tomorrow!  Get your copy now!

http://www.amazon.com/Cemetery-Tours-ebook/dp/B00F7CHQ08/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383161969&sr=8-1&keywords=cemetery+tours

So far, over 100 readers have downloaded Cemetery Tours!  Do not pass up this opportunity!  

Along with promoting the heck out of this deal, I will be continuing to read all the books I bought from my indie author friends (I’m loving it!  Indie authors rule!), carving a pumpkin, straightening my hair, and watching every Halloween movie I own in preparation for tomorrow!

Happy Haunting!

The Blood is the Life

So… I watched the premiere episode of the new Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and I have to say…

I loved it.

I love Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic, but let’s be honest here.  JRM is a lot sexier than Gary Oldman.  Not that I’m shallow or anything.  I am a woman of great depth and substance.

Anyway, it really was beautifully done.  It’s the same classic tale with the same characters, but with a slightly more modern edge.

The newly resurrected Dracula masquerades as promising young entrepreneur Alexander Grayson, and he is just as seductive, conniving, and dangerous as ever.  After years of the Twilight Saga, it’s pretty refreshing to see a vampire burn in the sunlight, grow fangs, and drink some real human blood.

Needless to say, I was left very eager for next week’s episode.  It also got me back into the “vampire” craze.  I was never a Twi-Hard, though I will admit, I enjoyed the books when they first came out.  Like all paranormal enthusiasts though, I’ve always had a thing for vampires.  What’s not to like?  They’re cool, they’re historic, and yeah, okay, they’re sexy.  That was something I realized when I read my first vampire book, Salem’s Lot by Stephen King.  I read it back in high school and one of the scenes was all about this vampire climbing through the window of someone’s bedroom.  Now, under any normal circumstances, this would be very creepy.  It would actually have scared me out of my wits had it not been for the description that followed.  Mr. King describes this guy as being extremely attractive.  Like, hot enough to be a Greek god.

Okay, Stephen King.  How am I supposed to be afraid of this guy?  Seriously?

So yeah, it’s stupid, and deep down, I hope most girls realize that stalking or crawling through windows is never attractive.  I can’t stress that enough!  Never date a stalker!  I’m pretty sure I have nothing to worry about.  I think most girls would freak out if a guy crawled through their window or if they woke up to find someone staring at them, no matter how hot they were.

But somehow, vampires can pull it off.  Probably because we all know it’s not real… It’s just a story, ergo we can enjoy it.  And boy, do we enjoy our window-creeping stalker vampire boyfriends.

I recently started watching The Vampire Diaries, and I’m seeing a lot of similarities between Stefan Salvatore and Edward Cullen.  I like Stefan a lot more, by the way.  But still… the resemblance is there.  Self-loathing, “vegetarian diet,” crushing on small-town brunette, watching her when she doesn’t realize it.  Thank God he doesn’t crave her blood or else I might have to walk away from the show.  But to be honest, I’m really enjoying it.  I like to think that I’d pick Stefan over Damon, but it’s really hard to resist Ian Somerhalder.  Those eyes?  That smirk?  And he’s actually really funny, which is my ultimate weakness when it comes to guys.  Well, that and dark hair + blue eyes combination and guess what?  He’s got that too!

Anyway, I’d like to formally apologize to all the men who read my blog.  Unless you’re gay, in which case, you’re welcome.  This new vampire craze has inspired me to take another glance at the vampire novel I started back in college.  I might give it another go.  Which would make… four novels that I’m now working on.  Awesome.

In other news, I made a Google+ account for Cemetery Tours.  I’ve got to be honest.  I’m not really sure what Google+ does exactly.  I’m guessing it’s yet another social media side.

https://plus.google.com/100214466010311253135/posts

Also ONE DAY LEFT until the Cemetery Tours Free Halloween Giveaway!  Remember on October 30 and 31, Cemetery Tours will be FREE to all Kindle readers!!!

That’s all for now.  Gonna go write and watch some more Ian Smolder-Holder.

Good night, all!

Weekend Update

Hello, friends!  

Well, it’s the weekend.  Just a few quick updates.

1.  I was invited to join the National Association of Professional Women for my work as an author and publisher!  That’s pretty exciting!  I’m not sure I’ll join just yet.  I still have to do a little more research, but it’s such an honor to be asked! 

2.  My friend Jerry is a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the US Navy. He is Repair Officer onboard the USS John S. McCain.  And he bought the book! 

 

Pretty cool!

3.  I just wanted to leave another reminder that Cemetery Tours will be free on Kindle on October 30 and 31!  Yay!  

Okay, that’s all for now.  Hope you all are well!  🙂