Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "blog-hop"

Last year, Darcia Helle, Stacy Juba, and I, launched the message board BestsellerBound

In one year we gave accomplished so much that looking back on it, it's quite astounding. Here are just a few of our joint projects/successes that show what an awesome place it is:

1. Towards the end of last year we launched the BsB Cutting Edge campaign to try to get Darcia Helle's book The Cutting Edge to #1 in the Amazon kindle charts. We managed to get the book into the top 100, and were invited to The Indie Book Collective (IBC) to take part in a radio show talking about the campaign. Our original campaign inspired IBC to run their own series of campaigns to get indie authors into the top 100. I have noticed other websites doing a similar thing. BestsellerBound was the first website to do this; it's great to know that others are following our lead.

2. At the end of last year, Jason McIntyre and I wrote the online novella, Cutting The Fat, which started off as an online exercise in writing a novel together as a team and ended up as a successful book, now available on kindle.

3. One of our top members, Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick, put together the BsB Annual Sample Anthologies, including chapters from members' novels, and short stories. It's free to download and is very popular across the globe, this helps to spread the word about our members' books to all corners of the world

Here's a link to a Youtube video, made by one of our multi-talented members Magnolia Belle, introducing the anthologies:

You Tube trailer

4. We have published two short story anthologies containing top quality fiction in all genres from our members. Both volumes are available to download free at Amazon on kindle. Both are very popular having entered the top 100 downloads!

Bestseller Bound Anthology
BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology Volume 2





5. We were a top 10 finisher in the Preditors and Editors poll 2010 for best writers' discussion forum! (We came 4th! Not bad for a forum that had only been running for 2-3 months at that time!)



BestsellerBound continues to grow, with more members joining each month. We really do seem to attract the cream of the crop of indie authors.

We have also attracted quite a few readers of independent books, and they are valued members. We would love it if more readers would join, as our original intention was to create a forum where indie writers could chat to their readers. We're a bit top-heavy with authors at the moment. This is not necessarily a bad thing as most authors also love reading. But if you're just a reader and not a writer and wondered whether you could join, please do! We would love to welcome you.

As we are now celebrating our 1st Anniversary, we decided it would be nice to have a blog hop where we give away some prizes donated by our members. Here is a list of what you could win:

1. 1 coupon code for a free ebook copy of The Dream, my latest novel, from Smashwords.





2. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of any one title by Darcia Helle.





3. The Choice by Sydney S. Song from Smashwords giving free e-book coupon.





4. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of Echo Falls by Jaime McDougall.





5. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of any one title by Gareth Lewis.





6. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of The Other Room by James Everington





7. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of any one title by Susan Helene Gottfried





8. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of Nexus Point by Jaleta Clegg





9. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for a free eBook copy of "2010 Hindsight: A Year of Personal Growth, In Spite of Myself," by Sharon E. Cathcart





10. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for a free eBook copy of "Caraliza" and also "Breathing into Stone" by Joel Kirkpatrick







11. 1 free hardbound, signed copy of Joel's secret 5th novel, shipped the week it is released.

12. 1 coupon code from Smashwords for a free eBook copy of 'Sink or Swim' by Stacy Juba.






Over the next few days, there will be more promotional blog posts about this competition. I'll try to keep you updated here.

If you want the chance to enter to win a prize, please leave a comment here or in one of the other blog posts relating to the competition. At the end of the blog hop, all the entries will be counted and put into a hat.

The Rules:
1. These are adult books. Please know that by entering this contest, you are agreeing that you are 16 years old or older.

2. You can enter more than once if you leave a comment on each blog hop post!

3. Deadline for entries is September 17th at midnight!

4. Winners will be picked at random on the 17th and announced at the participating blogs. Good luck!

BestsellerBound is a wonderful community of indie authors. Created by Darcia Helle in the late summer of 2010, I'm lucky enough to be a resident author along with Stacy Juba. The community has grown and now boasts over 500 members. Quite a few of the members are active on the forum. The group wanted to celebrate one thing that has kept them all going over the past two years: friendship. Many friendships have been formed on the board. In fact, one of the most common things our members say is that BestsellerBound is the friendliest group of writers they have found. We pride ourselves on that.

To celebrate not only a successful 2 years as a popular indie writer forum, but also the friendships we have made on the board, a few of the regular members have organised a blog hop. The theme for this blog hop is of course, Friendship. If you follow the tour, you can read blogs by each of the participating authors based on the theme of friendship. Some of the authors will be writing about fictional friendships in their novels, others will be writing about real friendships. We are sure it will be an interesting and varied blog hop. We are also offering a big prize! One lucky winner will win the following prizes:

Secrets by Darcia Helle (Print)
Haunted by Maria Savva (Print)
Priestess of the Eggstone by Jaleta Clegg (Print)
Belkin Mod Standing Cover for Kindle Fire
Nexus Point by Jaleta Clegg (ebook)
Sink or Swim by Stacy Juba (ebook)
Alaskan Healing by Lana Voynich (ebook)
Harmony's Passing by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick (Print)

** This is a tour-wide giveaway, so you can enter from any one of the blogs. Use the Rafflecopter form and follow the instructions for multiple entries. Each author has included a simple question as a way for you to earn bonus entries. The answers can be found within that author's friendship blog post. You can answer all the questions on one form, or answer from the form on each author?s blog.

This giveaway is open to everyone 16 and older, everywhere in the world. Enter between Monday, November 12 and midnight, EST on Monday, November 26. **

Here's the link you need to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



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Friendship

The subject of friendship appears again and again in my novels and stories. Friendship is something that is important in all of our lives. In this blog, I'm going to highlight a few paragraphs and quotes from my novels and short stories that say something about friendship.








Friendship can survive over time and distance.

In my novel, Coincidences, Stephanie meets her friend Rita again after 20 years apart. They swap telephone numbers and talk later:

"After the telephone conversation, Stephanie mused that although she hadn’t spoken to Rita for nearly twenty years, she had been able to talk to her as if they’d never lost touch."

I often find this is the way when I meet an old friend again after a period of absence. You can talk to each other as if there was never any time in between your last meeting.

In my short story, The Reunion, from my collection, Fusion, four university friends make a pact to meet again when they are 40, and in this story, which has a twist in the tail, I wanted to make the point that nothing would have stopped them getting together again.

"‘Robert!’ Susie ran across the park towards him. Had it really been over 18 years since she’d last seen him? The run towards her friend felt almost like a flashback, or a run through time and space to where she used to be. She recognised him immediately, even though his hair was now grey. As she drew closer, she noticed he had wrinkles on his once fresh face. Back in their college days, Robert, Susie, Gail, and Charles had been inseparable."

"The four friends enjoyed a pleasant picnic in the park. Gail had brought a cake, and a bottle of champagne, to celebrate her birthday. The initial awkwardness soon disappeared as they reminisced about their college days.

Friends can help you through difficult times

In Coincidences, Jenny, Alice's friend, helps her in her search for her father, and is always there for her.

She suggests a way Alice could try finding her father:

"She was pleased that she’d spoken to Jenny about it; Jenny was always so practical and positive about things. Over the past few days the confusion in Alice’s mind had made it hard for her to concentrate on anything..."

She also finds out some information to help Alice secure a meeting with her father:

"Jenny read out the address and a telephone number, and Alice wrote them down. Her mouth fell open as the realisation hit her that she had her father’s address and telephone number..."

In Second Chances, James helps his friend Tim who is going through a difficult time in his marriage,

"He had been confiding in James a great deal recently, about his marital problems, as if he were crying for help."

Later in the novel, Tim helps James when he finds himself out of work:

"He [James] took a deep breath, and stretched his legs, feeling happy. Reaching into his shirt pocket, he pulled out the two business cards that Tim had given him. One was Tim’s own card. He smiled to himself, and placed it back into his pocket. The other was Kenneth Hipplethwaite’s card. Looking at the gold- embossed card: ‘Hipplethwaite’s Solicitors’, he felt gratified; that was where he would be working, starting from next week. He couldn’t believe his luck.
Tim had felt sorry for him, when he had told him that he’d been sacked..."

Friends will stand by you

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
― Elbert Hubbard

In my novel, Haunted, Nigel's best friend, Mike, always stands by him, even knowing that Nigel is an angry young man who often gets them involved in fights:

"Nigel never did understand why Mike continued to stand by him as a friend, but he was genuinely grateful for that friendship; it was the only thing that kept him sane in an otherwise confusing and turbulent childhood."


Age is not a barrier to friendship

In A Time To Tell, Penelope becomes friends with, Steve, one of the counsellors from the Women's Refuge. She is in her early thirties and he is in his fifties.

"'Yes, dear,’ said Cara, slightly concerned that she might have developed some sort of crush or infatuation over Steve; he seemed old enough to be her father, perhaps in his late forties or early fifties.
‘Oh, he is, he helped me so much. I can’t wait until the kids see him again. They really got on well with him... He’s like a dad to me; a proper dad, not the lousy one I had. He’s just such an inspiration to me.’"

In my short story, The Legacy, from Fusion, Barry becomes friends with the man he looks after for a living:

"Barry had been Arthur’s carer for the past three years. Arthur was almost eighty years old and had arthritis, which made it difficult for him to look after himself, especially in the winter months... He often telephoned Barry in the middle of the night, asking him to come over and help out in one way or another. Barry was always pleased to be of assistance.
Barry had been made redundant the month before, due to cutbacks at the company he worked for. He had continued to visit Arthur as usual, while he was looking for another job. They had become good friends over the years."

This poignant story of a friendship is one of the most popular ones in my collection; it really seems to strike a chord with lots of people.

Friendships can be made online these days

With the Internet, many friendships are being formed online. I have found that I have connected with many people who I consider friends, but whom I have never met. I find that the support given by online friends can sometimes be just as strong as our 'real' friends and help us through some tough times. Some of my stories, though, take a look at the other side of online friendships i.e. people can pretend to be who they want to be online.

In my story, A Virtual Affair, from Fusion, Angela meets Jake online and becomes good friends, but when she meets him, is he really who he says he is?

Finally, in my story, Speed King, from my collection: Love and Loyalty, George meets Sarah L. online and they seem to have a lot in common. His wife Amelia seems boring in comparison.

"He had made many ‘virtual’ friends on the speed racing website. One of his favourites was ‘Sarah L’. She was about his age, but unlike Amelia, she seemed to understand him."

Would she turn out to be the same in real life?

Friendship is a fascinating subject as it means different things to different people.

Check out the following blogs by BetsellerBound members, for some wonderful stories about friendship!

BestsellerBound Recommends (http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...)
A Word Please (http://quietfurybooks.com/blog/2012/1...) - Darcia Helle
The Far Edge of Normal (http://jaletaclegg.blogspot.com/) - Jaleta Clegg
The Tale's The Thing: http://thetaleisthething.blogspot.com... - Joel Kirkpatrick
Stacy Juba's One Stop Reading: http://stacyjuba.com/blog/2012/11/12/...
Scribblings from my mind (http://www.lanavoynich.com/blog-2/) - Lana Voynich