Writer puts book on the Kindle and gets a book deal!

I came across an article which I found quite amazing and an inspiration to all aspiring writers out there... don't give up!

A struggling writer landed a book deal with a major publisher after putting her novel online for 96p a copy and promoting it by using social networking.

Louise Voss, 42, shot to the top of the Kindle charts after publishing the book in digital form herself after being rejected by literary agents.

It attracted the attention of publishers HarperFiction, which offered her a six-figure, four-book deal.

Read the full article here!

REVIEW: Mommy May I - A.K. Alexander

This was another book that I saw that interested me on the kindle, up to now, I had been buying chick lit/romantic books but this looked an interesting thriller and one genre that I would like to read a little bit
more of.

The description of this was: Helena Shea is putting her life back together. Once a highly paid supermodel and now the owner and CEO of her own modeling agency, a recent bitter scandal that nearly destroyed Helena and the daughter she gave up for adoption years ago seems to be settling down. With a chance to have a relationship with her daughter, Frankie, and the development of a center for wayward young mothers that Helena is funding, it looks as if life is turning around for mother and daughter. However...

A killer raised amidst evil and seeking revenge is targeting Helena. Leaving a trail of blood in his wake, this sadist plans his return into Helena's life. When the madman abducts Frankie, Helena fears she might never see her daughter again. Seeking help from the journalist who almost destroyed her, an FBI agent with suspicions toward her, as well as her ex-lover who is also Frankie’s father, Helena must find the strength to fight past addictions and see her daughter back home again—alive.
Prepare to lock your doors. This eerie thriller will have you up late into the night looking over your shoulder. It is as equally compelling as it is disturbing.

 This was on the whole, a good read, it did take me a little time to get into but once I was there, I was captivated at what was going to happen next. The story was told in a very believable fashion and you could empathise with the characters.

The only negatives I had with this book were that I felt it was not proofread very well, there were spelling mistakes and when you got to the end of the chapter, you had to press next several times, in order to get to the next chapter but the book is cheap and well worth a buy.

This is the cover:

It is available for 86p in the Amazon UK store and $3.51 in the Amazon US store. 

Amazon Kindle v Regular Books

I have often had it discussed that reading books on the kindle is not the same as reading a regular book that you can buy from a bookshop or an online retailer, or that ebooks are going to shut down bookshops, publishers etc.

In my opinion, bookshops need to wake up and realise that they are charging too much for books. A few weeks ago, I was trying to find a Fathers day present for my Dad and I went into a city centre retailer in Dublin to buy a book, I had a good look around the shop but all the books were expensive and in the end, I just had to accept that I had to pay more and in the end, I bought a book which was not a hardback and it cost me €19.99 and I came out of that shop thinking there is no wonder that the book retailers are in difficulty. Nearly 20 Euro for a book, that to me is just plain madness!

I want to be able to buy books for my Kindle on Amazon and I don't want to illegally download them and I have no issue whatsoever in paying for them but I can't believe that shops are still charging ridiculous amounts for these books!

I have bought several books on Amazon for my kindle and the most I have ever paid is £2.99 and even when you convert that to Sterling (the currency in which I buy my books), it is a bargain. I refuse to pay 20 Euro and the likes for a book anymore, nothing in my opinion is worth that.

Until the bookshops wake up and see how much they are ripping us all off, nothing will change and shops will continue to go out of business. There is no reason to charge as much as they are and if you want people to use your shop, you have to give them a valid reason to do so!

Getting back into reading after a long time away...

Growing up, I was a very keen book reader, I loved to read and I was very fast at learning, I was a member of a mobile library. It was a library that was in a truck/van and it went from area to area once or twice a week. It was a lovely feeling getting a new book and reading it right through.

In recent years, I have neglected reading, the thought of having to carry a heavy book in my bag to and from work, put me off reading, combined with the expensive price of the book. I am ashamed to say that I stopped reading.

For the last few months, I made the decision, I wanted to get back into reading. I bought myself an Amazon Kindle (wifi version) and have got right back into reading and am loving every single second. I am now on my fourth book and look forward to picking up the kindle and reading away! It is a fantastic gadget and one of the best (if not the best) that I have ever had!

Buying books on the Kindle is so easy and so straightforward and I get my book in seconds, it is like being a child in a sweetshop! I find it so easy to put my kindle in my bag and have the option to have thousands of books stored on the one gadget, it is perfect for leisure reading, reading in bed, on the sofa, anywhere you like and it is a pleasure reading again!