Contest Winners and SPAM

 I am so excited to announce the winners of the Race to Reviews contest for Dirty Blood!! Just yesterday we reached a total of 20 reviews between the three major retails sites (Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and Amazon). I tallied entries and have your winners so the grand prize winner is ... *drum roll*.....

TEE!!!! 

Tee will receive the following books in her prize pack: a signed paperback of Dirty Blood, an ebook of Across the Galaxy, an ebook of DreamKiller 1 and 2, an ebook of Sleight by Jennifer Sommersby, an ARC ebook of Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace, and an ARC ebook of Cold Blood, due out this fall.

The two runner ups, who will receive two books of their choice from the list above are....

Heather at Nightly Reading

A Book Vacation

All winners must contact me by Thursday at midnight to receive their prize. You can email me at heatherhildenbrand@yahoo.com. Otherwise, we will go to the next runner up. *All winners were selected randomly with www.random.org.*

Congratulations!!!

Also, stay tuned for the announcement coming soon. I am in the process of uploading the 2nd installment of DreamKiller, my urban fantasy mini-series. DreamKiller 1 is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords for .99 and is a short story of about 5000 words. You can read about it by clicking on the DreamKiller tab above. The story follows Marlena, a 'special' with the ability to literally make her dreams come true, as long as she plays it out exactly as she dreams it. So far, she's been forced to use it to silence her enemies...

DreamKiller 2: Fight or Flight is longer (11,000 words I think) and should be available by the end of this week. I am making it available on its own first and then I will be offering a combined version for $1.99. I will let you know when it's available.

The Race to Reviews contest for Across the Galaxy is still running, so as I mentioned in my last post, if you would like a copy of it in exchange for an honest review, please email me and let me know. (ebook format only)

Also, just a quick headline I want to share. I read an article recently that even your Kindle is no longer safe from SPAM! There have been reports of people buying books, only to download it and open it on their Kindle and find it was an ad for something or a blank file. Here's what the article said:

"Reuters reports that spam has taken form on the self-publishing platform for several factors - namely how cheap and easy it is to republish another work already available, or to just make something else up altogether:

Aspiring spammers can even buy a DVD box set called Autopilot Kindle Cash that claims to teach people how to publish 10 to 20 new Kindle books a day without writing a word..."

You can read the entire article here. It's something to watch out for and honestly, makes me a little nervous. But I also think that Amazon is well aware and expect a solution or at the very least, some sort of tweaking or tightening up of their KDP publishing process very soon. What do you guys think?

Giveaways and the definition of stupid

I wanted to be sure and announce this giveaway going on now. Not just because my books are being included, but because there are so many awesome books being given out. You won't want to miss this. The giveaway is being hosted by Mindy in honor of her 30th birthday and you can enter on her website at magicalurbanfantasyreads by filling out the form. Good luck!

A quick update on my Race to Reviews giveaway. We are inching closer to 20 reviews for Dirty Blood. Currently, we have a total of 18 combined between Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Amazon. If you want to get entered between now and the drawing, all you have to do is post a review OR click on tags and email me which tags you've used and you'll get an entry.

*Side note: For whatever reason, Barnes and Noble seems to only be showing star ratings instead of the reviews I know were once there. Not sure if this is a change to the site overall or what. I am still counting the two reviews that are there, because I know who they are from, and because I did see them with my own eyes when they first went up. Going forward, if you want to be entered for Barnes and Noble, you can click and give a star rating. Just email me and let me know.

Now, to review the prizes:

Grand prize: signed paperback of Dirty Blood, ebook of Across the Galaxy, ebook of DreamKiller part 1 and 2 (part 2 is not out yet but its ready enough that I'm adding it to the list!), ebook of Sleight by Jennifer Sommersby, an ARC of Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace, due out later this summer.

Across the Galaxy is lagging behind in the review department, with 8 total reviews between the three sites. I blame myself, since I've been so caught up in Dirty Blood's release these past few weeks. So- I am having a reviewer call. If any bloggers would like to receive a complimentary copy of Across the Galaxy in exchange for posting an HONEST review, please contact me at heatherhildenbrand@yahoo.com. I am also thinking that Across the Galaxy needs some more love since its been neglected for awhle, so I will be thinking up some giveaway ideas and stuff to make it feel better.

BTW - personal update: Still no news about the job situation. My hubby found out they have given him one more look-see in the magical fate-deciding computer, so we will have to wait another month to see what will happen with that. We were originially told that June WAS his last chance and so we braced ourselves, but now, at the eleventh hour, we find out that July will actually be his last chance. Apparently that's standard procedure, though the person in charge of knowing this information didn't actually know this information. At least not until last week. So, we are going back through the whole process again and hoping we get picked up to stay in the Navy, because in an economy like this, job security is highly coveted. Personally, I wonder if any one of them knows all the ins and outs of this process we're going through, including the guy whose job it is to know.

Now, I know what you're thinking, but I can't say it. I cannot sit and say, or type, that the Navy is stupid because as a military wife, that could get me in trouble. And that could get my husband in trouble. No seriously. If your smiling like I'm just being funny, I'm not. Sailors have lost a paygrade for wives that broadcast their personal, and not always exactly positive,  feeling of the military. So, I won't say the Navy is stupid. Even though the official definition is this:

stu·pid  (stpd, adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est

1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.

2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.

3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.

4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

See number one? Slow to learn? Yes, and number two. Well, anyway, I just wanted to refresh myself of the definition. No particular reason. Nothing to do with the Navy. Nothing to do with the fact that I'm frustrated about having to wait another month. Or the fact that lots of my stress could've been avoided had I known we HAD a whole other month to wait. Nope. Not me.

Alright, so we'll all wait with bated breath until mid July. *sucks in huge gulp of air, hoping to make it last*

New cover for one of my favorites....

One of my favorite books, Sleight, by Jennifer Sommersby, just got a new cover and its gorgeous! But then again, so are the words inside. As you may know, Jenn and I are both a part of Accendo Press, along with Angeline Kace, so I'm sure I sound biased when I say this book is one of my favorites, BUT -

I read this book before Accendo Press was born. Before I knew Jenn, really. And I loved it from the very first page. I am one of her biggest fans. She really is an amazing writer. Don't believe me? Download the free sample and you WILL be hooked, trust me. So I don't feel like a cheater when I say, you NEED to read this book. And the new cover is so amazing, how can you resist?

Now, I'm out the door to shop for sundresses with my mommy so I will be back later....

I'm out like an ugly chic at a beauty contest!

Dirty Blood... at last.

Wowzer, peeps. LOTZ going on in Heather-Heather land!

But it's bound to be that way after a book release, right? And I'm having so much fun. It feels like Christmas and my birthday because I'm getting so much love about Dirty Blood AND Across the Galaxy today, AND I just bought Cassandra Clare's: City of Fallen Angels, which I'm about to dive into, so yeah, good times.

Oh, and for those of you that checked, yesterday: Amazon was trying to make me look like a liar! Dirty Blood was uploaded on Saturday afternoon; PLENTY of time to go live on Amazon by Monday. At least, in my experience. Apparently, they had issues, though? Because, according to my computer, it didn't go live until this morning. So yeah, launch day was kind of a tease. But it's there now. Click here to check, if you don't believe me. And buy it, too. That'll put me in my place. Hehe.

Here's the 4-1-1 on my books:

Andrea over at The Bookish Babes is reading Across the Galaxy, and will be reviewing when she's done. She's posted a teaser on her site here. I have to be honest, I read the excerpt, and was like "I wrote that?? Huh, not bad." Seriously... I don't mean that to be egotistical, I just really had forgotten. Anyway, she's got Dirty Blood on deck, as soon as this one is done, so she's a doll. Thanks Andrea!

Also out today is an Author Spotlight post by MD Christie - one of my #TGNO girls. Check it out here. She's awesomesauce.

In the works:

A giveaway, forthcoming on this blog. Stay tuned for deets.

A review/author interview by Wenona Hulsey.

Goodreads giveaway (paperback version!), coming soon.

OH- and coming as soon as she gets her butt in gear: a guest post by Jennifer Sommersby, author of Sleight. Awesomest book I've read in forever! Her kids were out of school all last week, and if you know anything about kids, you know that means she had her hands full. Back to work, Jenn!!

Exciting times, people, Exciting times.

 Just incase you haven't noticed, and we'll pretend that you had, I've been noticeably absent from blog posting and such this past week. Well, ALOT has been going happening!

First - The BIG news:

Two of my very bestest, most awesome writer friends - Angeline Kace and Jennifer Sommersby - and I have formed an indie publishing group called Accendo Press. You should definitely check out our site at http://www.accendopress.com/ because its awesome, and then you should bookmark it because it will only get better as we add stuff for new releases and giveaways - but we'll get to that in a minute. So, Accendo.

Accendo came about as a result of how much the three of us already help each other out, with our writing, and marketing, and whatever else we need. So, we decided, let's go one further, and start a press. Basically, publishing our books under the umbrella of Accendo Press gives the reader a guarantee that we've put in the time and elbow grease to make that book a quality peice of literature. AND if you like one of our books, you know you're going to get similar quality in any book put out by us. So, while you're waiting on Jenn's sequel to Sleight to come out, like I am, you could pick up my novel or short story, because you know it's going to be great, too. We're really excited about this, and would love the support of other indies, as we will definitely continue to support you. Creating our own Press is something new and very forward-thinking in the digital publishing market, so we're exciting to be taking an exciting step forward in our careers with this idea.

And we're serious about our mission. Accendo, a Latin word, means to ignite, inflame, or kindle. Which is exactly what we strive to do, in the imagination of each of our readers. Here's Accendo Press' logo:

We love it!

Also:
*Before I go any further, I must say this: To all our fellow indies, we love you so so much but at least for now, we aren't adding any more authors. Mainly because of all the help we do give each other, and if we added to the list, we'd have no time left for writing our own stuff. So, we do still love you, and we will get Twitter Tipsy with you any time you want. Just say the word. I'm sure you guys understand. =)

The other big news, which is more of an update, really, is Dirty Blood. I've been editing like a crazy woman for a week now, and it's almost there, really, it is. I'm working on it today and then need to do another read through, because I really want to catch any misspellings and such. So, should be uploading it Sunday maybe? Will definitely post an announcement and let you know the when of it all, as soon as I figure it out. It's exciting, though, because this book is definitely my best yet, and its such a fun story.

Check back here for Chapter One to be released, possibly Saturday. Oh- and one more thing. New cover for DreamKiller. Thank you Angeline. I love it!! Ir's so perfect. And I just uploaded it, so its on its way to Amazon and B & N's estores as we speak.