Aussie and Californian Offer Love Poetry to the World

Valentine’s Day may be the holiday best made for poetry.

Trouble is, the poetry often found on the inside covers of commercial greeting cards is often corny and cliché laden. Carolyn Howard-Johnson and I are once again coming to the rescue with Cherished Pulse, a chapbook of poetry just right for tucking into an envelope or sending off as an e-mail attachment to loved ones.

Right now, Cherished Pulse is available free for a limited time.  All you do is go to http://bit.ly/Vs07hV on Jan 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15^th and click (or click on the book cover above).

There is plenty of time for you to share with someone you care about before February 14^th.

It's a mini-gift and greeting card in one.

Cherished Pulse includes many of the science-inspired poems I have a tendency to write (yes, science love poems...), as well as Carolyn’s nostalgic poetry.

Chapbooks in the Celebration Series have won many awards including MWSA’s highest honor of gold and several from USA Book News.

It’s you who had me dreaming lilacs, 
breathing April’s sweetest 
tears…

For more information on the Celebration Series chapbooks, contact either of us, or visit media rooms at or http://magdalenaball.com. Vicki Thomas contributed the beautiful watercolors used on the cover and interior. To see her selections of her work, go to http://www.vickithomasartist.com

 Free Kindle books are available for about any format or reader you prefer, even if you don't have a Kindle, including PC, iPhone, Android, Mac, etc. Just download the appropriate free app. The one for PCs is at http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

Another Kindle Freebie gift: Black Cow!

I've been guest blogging about the traps about KDP Select, which I've been trying out.  All last week the Christmas themed poetry book I co-wrote with Carolyn Howard-Johnson was free on Amazon, and this week, my novel Black Cow is free (until the 24th of Dec).  In case you aren't familiar with KDP Select, it's Amazon's program for authors who are willing to make their e-book available exclusively on Amazon for 90 days. KDP Select has a number of benefits, including allowing authors to give away their ebooks for 5 out of the 90 days. Why would I want to give my books away free? There are a few reasons. The first and simplest one is that writers write for readers, so getting more readers is always a worthwhile exercise.  The second is that, if people like the book, the word begins to spread, and that's the best way to get new readers, which may ultimately become buyers, sharers, promoters, reviewers. It's all good.

Does it work?  It certainly worked for Blooming Red, which hit #1 in its category several times during the free period, and also got a number of sales after the free period - maybe people who downloaded it liked it and bought it as gifts for their friends. Maybe it was just the additional buzziness around our names. We also got a ton of publicity, including being a hand picked best free book of the day on OneHundredFreeBooks, lots of retweets (thank you everyone!), and recommendations.  Above all, it was fun, because I love giving books away (ask anyone).  Please go and help yourself now (just click here: Black Cow), before the promotion ends. Happy holidays!

Rational poetry freebie for the holidays

My writing partner Carolyn Howard-Johnson and I figure nothing is more meaningful at any holiday than a poem—a real poem, not sing-songy impersonal verse from the shelves of card shops. We also noticed that many folks remember people they forgot when it may be too late. To remedy that, we are offering you our "rational" Christmas chapbook. Enter the KDP Select free e-book feature. All you do is go to http://amzn.to/BloomingRedKind (or click on the cover to the left) on Dec. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 and click.

Anyone can send a copy free to anyone they'd like to have a thoughtful—and fast—Christmas gift with a click of a mouse (no not the same mouse that's in "The Night Before Christmas" poem). The booklet Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational was honored by the Military Writers Society of America and USA Book News award. It's a mini gift and greeting card in one!

Blooming Red includes my somewhat science-inspired and Carolyn’s nostalgic poetry. It also includes some humorous poems for fair measure and has artist Vicki Thomas' gorgeous painting on the cover. For more of Vicki's work, you can go to http://www.vickithomasartist.com.

I do hope you'll take the opportunity to share around a little poetry this year, to wish all of your friends and colleagues a happy poetic and meaningful holiday.