Tag: Books

Giveaways

Facebook 2K Likes Rafflecopter Giveaway

AuthorAngelaS

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The Rafflecopter giveaway to celebrate 2,000 likes on my Facebook page is underway!  Starting today, 6/6, you have a chance to enter to win some great books and prizes until 6/27.  Up for grabs is a signed paperback copy of Vampire Next Door.

There is an option to tweet about the giveaway, and you can do that once a day to gain points.

Follow the link below to check out the giveaway.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/a4cf9e3/

Mobile-friendly link: http://tinyurl.com/la36wrf

The authors participating in the Rafflecopter are:

  • Deirdre Riordan Hall – To the Sea
  • Morgan K Wyatt – Escaping West and Perfect Stranger
  • Loren Weaver – Havoc’s Cry
  • Katharine Sadler – The Reaping
  • Jen Minkman – Island series (The Island, The Waves, and The Deep)
  • Lane Hart –  Wild About You and Wild & Out
  • Mary Bernsen – Healing The Bayou
  • N. R. Champagne – Prodigal Angel
  • C.E. Black – Cursed Desires
  • Emma McCoy – Not Your Choice (Releasing in June)
  • Jordan Locke – The Only Boy
  • Setta Jay – Ecstasy Claimed

You can find all of these books on Amazon.com and other book retailers.  Support an indie author.  Buy a book and tell your friends.  Word of mouth is one of the best things you can do for an author.

Giveaways

Rafflecopter Giveaway

AuthorAngelaS

Update:  This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks for everyone who participated!!

GiveawayBanner

To celebrate 2,000 likes for my Facebook page, I am hosting a Rafflecopter giveaway.  I have a dozen of very talented authors who donated books to the giveaway.  There are signed paperback books, e-books and more.  Up for grabs is a signed paperback copy of my book, Vampire Next Door.

The giveaway starts on Friday, June 6 and ends on Friday, June 27.  Don’t miss out on these great books!

Follow the link below to check out the giveaway.

A Rafflecopter giveaway

Mobile users use this mobile-friendly link: http://tinyurl.com/la36wrf

Giveaways

Calling All Indie Authors…

AuthorAngelaS

Update:  The form is now closed.  Thank you to all the amazing authors who are participating in the giveaway!

I am almost to 2,000 likes on my Facebook author page.  To celebrate, I want to have a huge Rafflecopter giveaway.  I’m inviting all you indie authors out there to donate a book, ebook, swag, Amazon gift card, etc., to the giveaway.

What’s in it for you?  In order for participants to enter the giveaway, they have to like your Facebook page and/or follow you on Twitter.  It really is a win-win for all of us indie authors.  With everyone involved sharing on Facebook, Twitter, etc., it gets all of our names out there, our book covers visible and hopefully can boost some sales and notoriety.  I’m sure some of you have questions.  I’ve tried to answer them below:

  1. What can you donate?  E-books, signed or unsigned paperback books, Amazon gift cards, swag, etc.  Please specify when filling out the form what you are donating, i.e., title of the book, what kind of book/donation it is.
  2. How do you donate?  It’s very simple!  I will send you a link to a Google docs form.  All you do is fill out the info, and I take care of the rest when I make the Rafflecopter giveaway.
  3. When is the giveaway taking place? Soon.  I would say within the next week or two (beginning of June).  I want to get enough authors together to make this worthwhile.  I am almost to 2,000 likes, which is what I am celebrating, but I will start the giveaway as soon as I’m ready.  I will email you with the exact date and a link to the giveaway so that you can share it via social media.
  4. How do you contact the winner/winners?  Once the winners are picked by Rafflecopter, I will email you with the winner(s)’ information.  You will then have to deliver the winner(s)’ prizes to them either electronically or by mail.  We are working on the honor system here.  Do not fill out the form if you are not intending on sending the prizes to the winners!

If you have questions or if you’re ready to fill out the form for the giveaway, feel free to contact me on Twitter @AuthorAngelaS or www.twitter.com/AuthorAngelaS or via private message on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaSnyder

 

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Review for Vampire Next Door by My Bookshelf Is Yours

AuthorAngelaS

Léatitia over at My Bookshelf Is Yours reviewed Vampire Next Door.  I am very honored to say she gave it a five-star rating!

Here is a little preview of her review:

Vampire Next Door is the story of a woman left for dead who wakes up from a coma. She has no memory of her past and is called « Jane Doe » since no one came for her. Scared and broken, she quickly understands she never was alone thanks to her doctor, Jack Walker. At the beginning of the book, Jane Doe is lucky and loved, and after months of being in a hospital, she finally is happy. She had found her balance. But unfortunately, tragedy strikes again and she is once again lost and broken. But something or should I say someone arrives and gives her something to smile for. Here he is : Sebastian Alexander, her mysterious and handsome neighbor, living next door, who seems to have some secrets of his own. Jane is falling for him but at the same time, she is confused by how this new man in her life is capable of getting her so quickly, always here when she needs someone so bad. She also starts to wonder if he is really a stranger or someone she could rely on to find out who she was before the « accident » and above all, who wants her dead.

First I have to say, I love vampire stories and movies so I was really excited to read Vampire Next Door. But maybe I should warn you, this is not a novel 100% about vampires. I mean, the way I understand and love the plot makes me think this novel is more than just about a sexy and dangerous vampire. I loved the pace of this novel, which I found was different from what I usually read, and loved the characters. This is the kind of books I’m beginning to love more and more each time I read one like Vampire Next Door. There are actions, romance ( oh yeah!), humor and suspense. It is a really an efficient writing that made my reading active and amazing. Sure, it’s a slow process to get to know the main character. And I also wanted to know more about this mysterious visitor. But then characters like Jack Walker are here and we get to know Jane through his eyes. And it’s something I really appreciated. Something else I enjoyed is how easy I felt close to Jane. Who wouldn’t feel sad about her ? But who wouldn’t want to take her place at some point too ?

Léatitia then goes on to break down the characters in the book, their traits and what she liked about each one.  What a review!  And don’t worry, Léatitia, I am planning a sequel some day! 😉

Please visit her blog for many more book reviews, and make sure you check out the post on Vampire Next Door.

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Review by Run & Read That

AuthorAngelaS

Sherry over at Run & Read That posted a review of Vampire Next Door yesterday.  I thought I would share it with all of you and link over to her site, so that you can check out her other reviews and the rest of her blog.

You can find the review here and also read it down below.  A big thank you to Sherry for writing a review on Vampire Next Door.  I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😉

 

 

Vampire Next Door by Angela Snyder

(Review from Run & Read That)

“What can I say about this novel by Angela Snyder besides it was pretty darn good?!?! I was pleasantly surprised at how this novel grabbed my attention and held on to it until the very last page. I have had case of book hangover after reading about the life and loves of Jane Doe, the heroine of the story. The novel begins with a hunter finding an unconscious woman in the woods with no identification and once she awakens after being in a coma for three weeks, she doesn’t have a single memory of the life she lived before her mysterious accident.

Fortunately for her, she is cared for by a very compassionate man Dr. Jack Walker whom she begins to rely on to get her through her recovery as her only friend. However, she cannot shake the occasional feeling that being watched. But luckily for her and us the readers, she is being watched by the sexily mysterious Sebastian Alexander, who only wants her happy.

Nevertheless, the relationship between Jane Doe & Dr. Walker grows, they get married and it appears a happily ever after is on the horizon until tragedy strikes again. Dr. Walker is mugged and killed on or around their anniversary. As Jane is slowly recovering from her loss,  the mysterious Sebastian moves into the house next door. She feels a pull in his direction however; she is being dragging in another direction by her deceased husband’s twin brother. Now, I just thought that was a bit creepy and fortunately for me, I wasn’t the only one because the thought never quite sat right with Jane.

This book had its fair share of suspense, drama, and swoon worthy moments without reading like the cliché paranormal vampire novel. Not that I have read all that many, it was not overdone; just enough for you to know that a vampire was in the storyline. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves a good and well developed story that moves over time as in years and months instead of days and weeks. Well done Ms. Snyder!”

Sherry’s reviews are honest and funny, so definitely check out her blog!

 

Publishing, Writing

Indie Author Facebook Tips

AuthorAngelaS

Indie Author Facebook Tips

 

If you are an indie author, social media is definitely a tool you are going to want to utilize.  In this blog post, we’re going to discuss Facebook.

You are going to link your Facebook page to your personal account. Now, if you write under a pen name, you might want to consider making an entirely new personal account. You personal account will come into play when exchanging likes with fellow authors. I will discuss more about that later on this blog post.

When you are ready to create your page, you will see that Facebook offers a lot of categories. I chose author for my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaSnyder  They also have a category for books.  As you can see, I created another page for my book: https://www.facebook.com/VampireNextDoorBook

It is very easy to switch between your personal account and your page(s).  There is a drop-down menu (arrow) in the top right corner of your Facebook. The heading will read “Use Facebook as:”, and you will choose your page. To switch back, go to the menu again and select your personal account.

So now that you have your Facebook page set up, you are going to need some likes. A lot of people do not realize this, but if a page likes your page — it does not count! Only personal Facebook accounts will count as a like. So if you are exchanging likes with a fellow author, please make sure you are both liking from your personal accounts and not from your pages. You don’t want to get shorted, and you don’t want to short your fellow authors.

You need to get more than 30 likes before you can see your page insights. Your page insights let you see a lot of information such as likes, unlikes, how many people are viewing your posts, demographic info, page visits and much more. It’s very useful to see what time most of your followers are on Facebook, so that your posts can reach the maximum audience.

Now, how do you get likes? Getting likes can be a painstaking task, and it takes time unless you have a big following already. There are many ways that you can get likes, but most of them involve exchanging likes. Exchanging likes means exactly what it implies — I will like your page if you like mine. This is a great way to help out your fellow authors and get yourself some page likes at the same time.

There are some groups on Facebook you can join where you post your Facebook page link and exchange likes with fellow group members. Here are two groups:

You must join the group before you can post your Facebook page. Like with any group, read the rules before posting. The rules will be over on the right-hand side of the group under the banner.

There is another group that indie authors should be utilizing, and that is a retweet group. If you ever see indie authors posting a lot of RTs (retweets) on Twitter in one day, that is because they have probably joined one of these groups. The idea of the group is simple — You retweet (RT) another author, and they RT you. Everybody wins by helping each other out.

A way to find RT groups on Facebook is by utilizing the search. Type in RT, author, indie author, retweet group or any other combination of words. Usually when you join one group, more group suggestions will pop up. I will share one group that is great for indie authors who want to RT: https://www.facebook.com/groups/181934298640498/ As I said above, please read the rules before posting in the group.

The last tip I am going to share when it comes to Facebook is using other pages for your own promotion. Did you know you can post a link to your book once a week on Amazon Kindle’s Facebook page that reaches millions of people?

If you go to the page https://www.facebook.com/kindle, you will see (near the top right) a section that says “Recent Posts by Others on Amazon Kindle”. You will see the same thing (Recent Posts by Others) on other pages. Go to the left of the page where you can post and say something about your book and include the link. When you refresh the page, your post will show up under the “Recent Posts by Others” on the right.

Most pages encourage promotion, but do not go overboard. Once a week or once every two weeks is a safe bet that you won’t get banned from the page.

Do not post on fellow authors’ pages unless you are given permission. Would you want someone posting their book info on your page? I didn’t think so. 😉

Whatever book your category is in, search for a particular page in the Facebook search. If you write paranormal, search for pages that promote paranormal books.   Paranormal Reads is an awesome Facebook page that even has an author day once a week that encourages authors to share all of their info and links for their 20,000+ audience.  You can find them here:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paranormal-Reads/210602165622398

If your book is not paranormal, find another page that can help you.  There are pages for Amazon Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook and many more that you could post on to promote your book.  Tip: If you see other authors posting in the “Recent Posts by Others”, you can post there too.

There are two Amazon Affiliate Facebook pages that promote authors/indie authors when the author/reader submits a form.  These pages have 30,000+ and 80,000+ likes.  That’s a lot of potential buyers for your book!  Read the rules on the page before submitting the form.  It’s very simple.  If you need help, contact the page for more info.  I’m sure they would be happy to help!

If this blog post was informative, please hit the like button below and share it on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

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Reviews

AuthorAngelaS

write-a-review

   Today I’m going to talk about reviews.  Any indie author you talk to will say the same thing…a review is one of the most important things you can do for them.  A review lets other potential readers know what they can expect from the book they are about to purchase, and it can also be a deciding factor between someone passing up a book or purchasing it.  Even if you leave a few words in a review like “I loved it!” or “I liked it!” and leave some stars, you are amazing in the indie authors eyes!  If you think that your review won’t matter, TRUST ME, it does!  So if you have a favorite indie author out there, please leave a review.  They will be very grateful for it!

Every five-star review I receive is like a dream over and over again.  Never did I dream that I would publish a book that so many people would tell me time and time again that they couldn’t put down and that they fell in love with the characters.  Vampire Next Door wouldn’t be where it is today without my small, but increasing, group of fans!  I love each and every one of my reviews and each and every one of my fans.  It’s so nice to be on Twitter and Facebook and have people retweet and favorite/share and comment things that I post.  So for that, I say thank you!!

My newest review is five stars, and it is from fellow writer, Joseph Forte.  You can find Joey’s review on his reviews and recommendations page on his blog: http://www.josephfortewriting.com/?page_id=22

His review is on the Amazon (Canada) website, and it reads:

“Vampire Next Door is an edge of your seat, romantic, paranormal thing of beauty that will have your eyes screaming for more. I was hooked before I cracked the book open as the cover, as plain and simple as it once was, gave an eerie, dark feeling of what was to be expected. The cover was spilling with anticipation and this novel clearly delivered in all aspects. From the onset, the author reels in her readers by using imaginative and figurative language in addition to a writing style that leaves a sweet craving in the reading mind, always wanting to turn to the next page and read, just one more chapter. The story line is fabulous and character development is wonderful as they both keep the reader in suspense as the words fall off the page with ease. If you’re looking for a romantic, suspenseful novel with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end, then Vampire Next Door by Angela Snyder is a book to engage in. Be sure to pick up a soft cover or eBook right now as it is well worth the money invested.”

Read Joseph’s review on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Next-Door-Angela-Snyder-ebook/product-reviews/B00EV69622/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

    You can find out more about Joseph and his book, At the Window, at his website:

http://www.josephfortewriting.com/

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Book Giveaway

AuthorAngelaS

1000 facebook fans pic

In celebration of 1,000 fans on Facebook, I am holding a giveaway on my Facebook author page.

www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaSnyder

There are two prizes up for grab:  A signed copy of Vampire Next Door and an e-book copy of The List, my new novella.

So go like the Facebook page, and find the giveaway post at the top of the page.  You have to be a fan of the in order to be qualified to win.  The winners will be chosen at random.  Like the post and comment with your choice of the two prizes.  That’s all there is to it!  The giveaway ends March 8th.

Good luck!

Writing

Vampire Next Door

AuthorAngelaS

Vampire Next Door

    I recently published my first novel, “Vampire Next Door”, on August 29th, 2013.  On that day, I remember having such a surreal feeling.  My lifelong dream had been to publish a book.  And I had just done it.

   My passion for writing came at an early age.  I can remember writing songs and poetry when I was in second and third grade.  I remember writing entire plays by fifth grade.  I started my first novel when I was fifteen.  That novel is still a work in progress, and I believe it will be my masterpiece, so to speak.  And, of course, it is about vampires.  My obsession with vampires started in the year 1994.  Interview with a Vampire and “The Last Vampire” series by Christopher Pike were at the top of my list of things to obsess about.  The more I watched and the more I read, the more I wanted to write about vampires.

    “Vampire Next Door” was initially two separate stories.  The first story was about a battered woman who was married to a rich, powerful and evil man.  There was a vampire living next door who was in love with this woman and saved her life after her husband had gone too far.  The woman reminded him of a long lost love from his past.  It was really a fairytale kind of story.  At the same time I was developing that story, I had another story in my head.  The other one was about a woman who had amnesia.  While trying to adjust to a new life without a past, she fell in love with her doctor, who had an evil twin brother.   Now, the plots for these books were not complete in any sense.  I honestly would have never finished each one individually.  They were missing something…a lot actually, and I was too busy working on several other books to pay them any mind.  They were just ideas.  And that was that.

    I often hear from authors about their characters speaking to them, almost as if they’re begging for their story to be told.  Well, Sebastian wouldn’t get out of my head.  I thought about him.  I dreamed about him.  He was everywhere.  One day while I was looking through my many, many, many (did I say many?) documents with all my stories on my computer, something just clicked.  Combine the two stories that were going nowhere and come up with a brand new story.  And so Sebastian Alexander became the main character for “Vampire Next Door”, and he became my obsession for the few months while I wrote the book.  Sebastian had finally found his home in “Vampire Next Door”.

    My method of writing is not methodical, to say the least.  I tend to think of my method as a jigsaw puzzle.  I get ideas for chapters, and I write them down at a feverish pace while the idea is still in my head.  Now, I could be working on the beginning, the middle or the end at any given time.  And, hell, I work on several different books at the same time as well.  How all of those chapters come together at the end into one big story is a mystery.  I like to think I have the entire story in my head and that I planned the whole thing from the beginning, but I don’t know if I honestly believe that sometimes.  But I also give a lot of credit to my “jigsaw puzzle” method, because I think that’s how my stories get so much action.  I’m writing each chapter individually and giving it everything I have, and it makes for  a great story in the end!

    The characters were easy to come up with.  I never have a hard time with the characters actually, and I usually create them before I even come up with a good plot.  Sebastian Alexander is based on real-life actor Colin Egglesfield.

Colin Egglesfield aka Sebastian Alexander
Colin Egglesfield

    And the ladies out there can see why I didn’t mind having that image stuck in my head for months.  😉  Whenever I have a book idea, I create a folder and keep the character’s pictures in it.  It helps me when I’m trying to imagine a certain way they would act or look in different situations.  I even keep pictures of houses, cars, etc., just to help with bringing the characters, places and things into reality while I write about them.

    Although the characters were not hard to come up with, the blurb was.  The blurb for “Vampire Next Door” was not a simple task.  In fact, I think it was harder than writing the entire book.  I made about a hundred drafts of a blurb and edited and edited and edited until I thought it was near perfect.  “Vampire Next Door” has such a complicated plot (most of my books do) that it was difficult for me to pinpoint the real drama that would catch the reader’s attention and not give away any spoilers.  Here is the blurb:

After being left for dead in the woods, a woman wakes up from a coma. With no memory of her past, she is given the name Jane Doe. While trying to adjust to her new life, tragedy strikes again. However, this time a mysterious and handsome next-door neighbor is there to help her pick up the pieces. But is he really a stranger, or does he hold the key to unlocking her past and finding out who wants her dead?

    Not bad, eh?  It only took me two days and about a hundred revisions and the advice from a few friends.  All that work for just a blurb!  I’m thinking for future novels that I’ll write the blurbs first and then the book! 😉

    If you would like to purchase a copy of “Vampire Next Door”, you can find it on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EV69622  There you can find the e-book for your Kindle or the paperback.  I also have an eStore through CreateSpace – https://www.createspace.com/4153084