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2019 Holiday Gift Guide - Give the Gift of Reading!

11/25/2019

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Holiday Gift Guide 2019

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Book 3 in the award-winning series! For Western, History, and Action fans.

Book 2 in the series follows William, our unique hero.

A gunslinger with Tourette's and a quick draw . . .

Award-winning paranormal historical fiction. For thriller and history lovers.

Pulse-pounding action for military thriller fans. Great for guys!

Book clubs take note! Award-winning historical fiction for fans of family and culture.

Sweet vacation romance for anyone who loves love! Great for the women you love.

Great for teens! Fantasy and romance collide in this island of magical creatures.

Your tweens and middle-graders will love this award-winning magical adventure!

Book 1 in middle grade mystery series for all the young sleuths on your list!

Book 2 is great for boys and girls ages 8-12 who like ghost stories with a twist!

Fun picture book about friendship and inner strength for ages 2-6.

For boys who love animals and motorcycles! Or any kid struggling with today's challenges. Book 1 in series.

Book 2 in the series takes Benny on a Vision Quest and into the racing finals. For kids ages 8-12.

These animal spirit cards are for the nature lovers on your list. Native American wisdom for every day.

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Fall into social media -- change of leaves, change of heart

11/4/2019

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We've talked much in our blog about the importance of social media and building an author platform through an online presence. As the leaves change color, consider changing your approach as well. It can be a challenge to make time to keep up online presences but as the leaves go on falling, the world of social media goes on spinning. We get feedback from partners all the time on how important it is that an author have a strong presence online when searched for. An author's social media platforms are used in marketing programs, book awards programs, blog tours and reviews, and even purchasers can find you if you put yourself out there where you can be found.

This fall, we encourage all authors to take a fresh look at their platforms by following three simple steps.

Pick 3.

Pick 3 platforms that you'll commit to keeping fresh. We recommend that all authors start with Goodreads and Amazon Author Profile. These are the first places that reviewers and purchasers will find you. After that, pick at least one social media platform you will keep updated (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.).

Post 2 times a week.

Commit to posting new content on your platforms twice a week. You can re-use content if you like, just tweak the format for the platform. For instance, create an Instagram posting with a cool photo of your book and comment with hashtags that support your brand (#yalit #authorname #authorsofinsta #paranormallit #middlegradereads... there are many ...) and then select the 'share' option on the post to instantly share the post to Facebook or Twitter.

1 blog post per month.

Setup a blog and keep it fresh. At least once a month will help show you are an active writer that cares about their platform. Think about topics that relate to your book, your professional expertise, or a special interest that ties into your brand (mystery writer creates a post on being a back-yard-detective; fantasy writer expands on the real-life setting of the novel, etc.). The simplest way to do this is to create a Goodreads blog. They make it very easy to setup. You can then include your Goodreads blog on your Amazon Author Central profile.

Even if you are not a pro at this, what matters is that you stay active. It really is about connecting to other people which may include other authors, readers and fans, or groups that you are interested in.

A few pro tips

Set aside a half hour each week to search for authors and books you enjoy. Follow them.
Scroll through your Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook feed and "like" or "heart" content in your feed from those you've followed.
Review books on Goodreads and follow other members' and authors' reviews.
Follow your favorite authors on Goodreads and check your Goodreads feed once a week.
Join a Goodreads group that interests you.
Make sure your author photo is up to date across all sites.

Lastly, if you don't have the desire, interest, or time in doing all of this, search for and hire a virtual marketing assistant to help you do all these things . . . and it won't break the bank! You can specify marketing assistants or social media assistants and hire someone to help build your brand, keep your sites fresh, and work with you on connecting to followers. Search on LinkedIn or Google for people in your area (if you want someone local) or work with people around the globe offering their services. You can also find students at local colleges that may be interested in the job or just through people you know and already work with. Ask around!

Images by Pixabay

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New story, old soul . . . Clown William rides again in the Wild West

10/11/2019

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There’s something inherently classic about a story set in the Wild West. Guns slinging, spurs spinning, cowboy hats casting a shadow on the dusty ground. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Robin Elno’s Clown William series has been so successful.

The first book, Clown William, was the Silver Winner of the 2018 IPPYs & Winner of the Arizona Literary Award, as well as a finalist for the 13th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards in Western Fiction.

The second book, Clown William and the Lincoln County War was the winner of the 13th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards in Western Fiction, and the series, as a whole, was the Bronze Winner of the 2019 IPPYs Best Fiction Series.

William's latest ride – Clown William and the Wind of Vengeance – will be released December 1, 2019 and continues our hero's journey from clown to friend to hero.

Sometimes our greatest strengths can come from what we view as our greatest weaknesses. Robin Elno says this idea was a huge inspiration for him when he was writing the Clown William series, which is about a young man, William, who suffers from a physical ailment we now know as Tourette's Syndrome. After being kicked out of his house by his father in the first book of the series, a self-defense situation teaches him that he has astounding accuracy with a six-gun.

The book series follows this unexpected hero through Colorado and New Mexico as he defends himself and those around him with this unexpected talent. And now, Elno has the third installment in the series ready for readers.

Picking up where book two left off, Clown William and the Wind of Vengeance finds William still in New Mexico. In the book, he is obsessed with tracking down and finishing his war with the man he blames for his life turning out the way it has – Jesse Evans.

As always, William is a target for many. He battles an inner conflict, as well, deciding to wait until Jesse is out of a compromising position before making his attempt on Jesse’s life. William is in a race against his own inner tornado . . . Will he beat it before it takes him out?

Robin Elno brings his experience as a retired army colonel and semiretired psychiatrist to this book series. He says he was also inspired by neurologist Oliver Sacks’s work about the unusual speed and accuracy often displayed by people with Tourette’s syndrome. The third installment in this series, Clown William and the Wind of Vengeance, is now available for pre-sale at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. And, until then, here’s a little sneak peek . . .

An isolated cabin in the New Mexico wilderness, February 1878

A bullet splintered the wood window casing of the cabin where William waited to kill Jesse Evans. William ducked lower. Things had not gone as planned, though one of Jesse’s men lay dead on the snow-covered ground a few yards in front of the cabin. Jesse hid in the tree line fifty yards away, cracking away with his rifle at William.
“You’re a damn fool, William,” Jesse shouted and fired again. “I know you’re fast, but a six-gun against a rifle?”
“This d-d-day has been coming for three years.” William watched the trees, trying to spot Jesse’s position. “Hoot. Ever since you first put a gun in my hand.”
“Seems more like God’s act than mine,” Jesse bellowed. “He’s the one made you defective with your jerks and mumbles. It was me helped you discover the gift that came with that curse.”
“It is no gift.” William fired at the trees. “I hate being a gunfighter. But you and God made it so I have no other choice. I despise you both for it.”
“Your hatred addled your brain. You let yourself be caught under my gun like this.” A shot, the bullet digging another splinter from the cabin wall, punctuated the statement.
The muzzle flash marked a spot in the trees, creating a perfect target for the next time Jesse fired—provided the outlaw didn’t shift to a new spot. William goaded him into another shot. “Your men killed my friend. You drove away my girl, Emily. Sheek, poot. You ruined my chances for a real home in Lincoln.”
“Well, when it comes to killin’, your Regulator pals ain’t any better. How many of Brady’s men have they killed? And locked Sheriff Brady up in his own jail. This war ain’t personal. Hell, I offered you a job on my side.”
“This is personal. I am not riding with those murdering Regulators now. This is about me f-f-finding a place to settle down, in peace.”
“Why're you gunnin’ for me?”
“Because God is out of my reach.”
“And so am I.” A muzzle flash just where it had been before.

William snap fired. And waited.

The sun climbed the sky, and the branches of the trees shed their white sleeves. Ice crystals glistened in the receding snow banks. The air lay still and cold as the top of a frozen stream. The dead man he’d shot that morning sprawled in front of the cabin. The man’s horse stood in the open, its head down, nuzzling snow aside as it pulled at tufts of dry grass.

The waiting dragged on. Was there some way to draw Jesse out? With one eye on the tree line, William threw a side of bacon onto the griddle of the potbelly stove heating the rough-hewn cabin. A pot of coffee simmered beside it—a nice welcoming scent to torment a cold and hungry man. He hoped it would make Jesse act rashly. Come and get it, William thought, revolver ready in his hand.

The bacon crisped and the coffee boiled. Jesse did not take the bait.
William ate the bacon and drank the coffee.
There had been no more shots. All was quiet. Too quiet.

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2019 Holiday Gift Guide - Give the Gift of Reading!

Holiday Gift Guide 2019

Fall into social media -- change of leaves, change of heart

New story, old soul . . . Clown William rides again in the Wild West

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