Grandfather style tea, and some promo

I drink tea all year long. This is all I make at work, and that involves an Irish Breakfast tea I like. It comes in teabags, and that makes it easier at the office.

With the changing seasons, I make tea at home more often. When I'm home, I prefer some of the quality loose leaf teas. Now I know about a teapot and all the paraphernalia that goes along with it. I even own some of this stuff, but these days I prefer Grandfather style tea.

To make tea this way, you need to pay attention to which kind you buy. Many great teas go acrid if you leave them in the water too long. I love a good Darjeeling, but it won't work here. I have one called Golden Monkey that works great. This time I chose Dragon Pearl Oolong, because it also works great and lends itself to more photos.

First you need a cup. I like a big mug when I make tea this way. I just happened to get a new one yesterday.

This is a BIG mug. First thing you do is add your loose leaf tea directly to the mug. For Golden Monkey it's like a big three fingered pinch. In this case I'm using five pearls.

See why they call it Dragon Pearl Oolong.

Boil your water and pour it right in the cup. The pearls will unravel and coat the bottom of the cup with leaves. These leaves remain in the cup the entire time.

When it looks like a decent cup of tea, enjoy.

Loose leaf teas can be expensive, but I really like them. By making it Grandfather style, I can get three quality cups from one pinch of tea. After that, I chuck the leaves in the flower bed. I could probably add one pearl and keep it going, but I don't

I ordered ten of these mugs for promotional purposes. I chose an image where I also make an appearance, even though Lisa will get all the attention. My plan is to give them away over time.

I learned that most promotions involve a giveaway of some kind these days. I'm an ebook guy, and winning an ebook doesn't exactly fire anyone up. I've seen a lot of Amazon gift cards too. We gave away a gift card during the book blast, and we're still giving away a card on the extended Paranormal Bar & Grille tour. We're still doing our scavenger hunts and there are ten gift cards plus five ebooks at stake. Since I'm mentioning it again, you can get in on the scavenger hunts here.

I'm trying to figure out something different, and these are good mugs. Lisa always makes a great graphic, but I added the link to my Amazon author page on the back. Lesson learned, I would use a link shorter the next time. A QR code might work too, but didn't want to work on the site I used to build these.

Questions for you guys: Would you ever try Grandfather style tea? If you have, do you like it? Would you be more inclined to enter a giveaway if one of these mugs took the place of an Amazon card or an ebook? Would you ever type in the link on the back, or am I expecting too much? Either way, I have nine more of these and I'm going to try it on my next promotion. I'm keeping this mug for myself.

Did some work late last night

I spent a considerable amount of time goofing off yesterday. Two baseball games, a movie with my son, and the last half of the Boise State football game. (Who tries three onsides kicks in a row? Colorado, that's who.)

I went ahead and setup the Amazon Giveaway for Will O' the Wisp. The 99¢ sale for The Playground didn't give me much confidence, but the Amazon contest might generate some interest.

This one is probably the most Halloween-like story in my catalog. That's why I waited for late in the month. I pulled out all my suspense techniques and used them here.

This is the story of a fifteen year old girl, Patty Hall, growing up in a small farming community in the 1970s. I've gotten nearly as many positive comments about the trip down memory lane as about the rest of the story. This setting resonates with a lot of people.

It's also a coming of age story. The character arc is strong in this one, and responses to this part of the tale are also positive.

Aside from the window dressing, there is a pretty good paranormal tale involving an ancient curse, and the strong possibility that Patty might not survive.

This book is not aimed at the young adult market, but it is suitable for them. It's more Goosebumps than Stephen King.

This is the book I'm pushing as part of the blog tour the Story Empire authors are going on this month.

To support all of that, I set up the Amazon Giveaway. This means I bought five copies of the book, all you have to do is enter and you might win one.

Honestly, this is more about getting the title in front of fresh eyes. My regulars already know about this one, and most of you bought it and read it. Still, contests are fun, and maybe you want to share it with someone.

This is the link to enter the Amazon Giveaway. I set the odds at one in seventy, and when I woke up one book had already been awarded.

On the other hand, maybe you don't want to delay your Halloween reading. Maybe you live outside the USA and can't participate in the contest. I published two different versions of this book, because one uses copywrite protected song lyrics. I could only obtain a license in North America. Believe me the difference is about one paragraph.

Here are the purchase links:

North American Continent http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UPH6BNS

Rest of the world http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UQNDT2C

That's the new event for this week. If the trend continues, I should award all five books in five days. I ran the promo until the 30th, but I may have to come up with something else if they all award this week.

The Scavenger Hunts are still going on for the Paranormal Bar & Grille promotion. There are ten Amazon gift cards and five ebooks at stake here, so get into the hunt. This is the link to the Scavenger Hunts. I have enough entrants to award all my prizes, but the odds of winning are incredible right now. Scroll to the bottom of the page and use the individual author links to enter. Enter all of them and your chances of winning go through the roof.

While you're there, the link to the tour is in the middle of the page. Click that one and scroll to the bottom. There is a rafflecopter for a $30 Amazon gift card you can enter too. This doesn't even require the effort of a scavenger hunt.

I have a new Lisa Burton Radio victim and need to start that process today. I may also check into the Steelers Game and the Cubs are playing the Dodgers today too.

Does anyone know of some additional promotion I could do for next week. I've already used free days for Panama, 99¢ sale for The Playground, the contests for Will O' the Wisp. What's new out there that I haven't tried?

 

Don’t get left out

Lisa Burton, the robot girl here tonight. As Craig's personal assistant, I am the one who put together most of his current promotions. I'm also the spokesmodel for his writing career, but there is no new poster to go along with all the stops he's been making. Although we do have a poster for his Macabre Macaroni stories.

I decided to put my insane sign shaker skills to help with the promotions. Craig thinks I'm silly, but I can toss this thing in the air, spin around and catch it. Robotic precision baby.

First, let's talk about The Playground. This is Craig's latest novel, and it has a decidedly Halloween vibe going for it.

Basically, some nutjob created a social network that targets children. He's brainwashing them to create his own homegrown army. To speed things along, he turns to the occult.

There is this girl who becomes one of the victims, and you get to follow her through the story as her life gets darker, and more desperate.

Then there is the doctor lady. She's a cancer survivor, and is avoiding a return to work by helping end-of-life patients. She takes a job with this goofy old guy, and catches a parasite. It's not just any old parasite though, this one allows her to see into the world of shadows. She has the ability to talk to ghosts, see demons, and that kind of thing.

The next generation software goes missing, so the crazy business guy sends this huge thug after the culprit. This guy is kind of a force-of-nature, and is not to be taken lightly.

The whole thing becomes a chase for the missing software, but in a dark paranormal kind of way. You know, good guy chasing bad guy to fetch the prize before the little girl does something she can't recover from.

Anyway, Craig has The Playground on sale for 99¢ through Friday. Get it now, at the sale price, just in time for Halloween.

Craig also had a story chosen for an anthology called Macabre Sanctuary. There are ten short stories from some incredible authors, and they all have a freaky paranormal thing going on.

Miraculously, there isn't a single werewolf or vampire in the whole book. I told you these are some creative folks, and there are other things out there that are just as spooky, maybe even more so.

Macabre Sanctuary can be read in small bursts, like coffee breaks or while picking up parts for your own robot. At the price of free, what are you waiting for?

But wait, there's more! Craig and several of his friends formed a new blog called Story Empire. They are on a huge blog tour right now called The Paranormal Bar & Grille.

To drive interest in the tour, each author is running a scavenger hunt. I know, crazy right? All you have to do is go to The Paranormal Bar & Grille and click the author links at the bottom of the page.

These links will take you to the individual scavenger hunt for whatever author you choose. It's about too easy. Just answer a few questions on each site to enter. All the answers are found in the Story Empire Book Library.

There are a bunch of Amazon gift cards to win, and the occasional e-book of the winner's choice. Odds are pretty good right now too, so get your entry in.

But wait, there's more. Oh, I already said that. But wait, there's even more than more.

On The Paranormal Bar & Grille page, you will find a link to that massive blog tour I told you about. If you click on it, you can see all the stops along the route, and there will even be book reviews. At the bottom of that page, there is a Rafflecopter for a big old honkin' $30 Amazon gift card.

You have a pretty good chance of winning, but you've got to enter to win.

Goodreads Book Giveaway: A Thousand Yesteryears by Mae Clair #mystery #suspense #Mothman

Hey gang, Mae Clair is releasing her book, A Thousand Yesteryears very soon. I've been excited about it for some time, because it includes the Mothman. Here is your chance to win a copy of the book by entering a Goodreads giveaway. I'll let Mae tell you about it. Just look at that wonderful cover.

A huge THANK YOU to Craig for allowing me blog space to share some exciting news. Kensington Publishing is doing a Goodreads Giveaway for a paperback copy of my upcoming release, A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS. There will be two—count ‘em two—winners. The giveaway is open now through February 29th (how cool, a leap year). If you’re interested, you can enter here: Goodreads Giveaway!

A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS is a tale of mystery and suspense centered around events that took place in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. You’ll discover a small river town plagued by tragic history and rumored sightings of the Mothman—a terrifying creature said to haunt an abandoned WWII munitions site.

The characters are everyday people facing extraordinary circumstances—secrets, betrayal, murder. I hope you find the blurb intriguing:

Behind a legend lies the truth…

As a child, Eve Parrish lost her father and her best friend, Maggie Flynn, in a tragic bridge collapse. Fifteen years later, she returns to Point Pleasant to settle her deceased aunt’s estate. Though much has changed about the once thriving river community, the ghost of tragedy still weighs heavily on the town, as do rumors and sightings of the Mothman, a local legend. When Eve uncovers startling information about her aunt’s death, that legend is in danger of becoming all too real…

Caden Flynn is one of the few lucky survivors of the bridge collapse, but blames himself for coercing his younger sister out that night. He’s carried that guilt for fifteen years, unaware of darker currents haunting the town. It isn’t long before Eve’s arrival unravels an old secret—one that places her and Caden in the crosshairs of a deadly killer…

~ooOOoo~

A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS releases on April 26th, but the ebook version is already available from Amazon and all other major book sellers. If you’d like to pre-order you can find a complete list of links here.

In the meantime, I invite you sign up for the paperback giveaway at Goodreads and tell your friends! The Mothman Cometh!

Author bio:

Mae Clair has been chasing myth, monsters and folklore through research and reading since she was a kid. In 2013 and 2015, she journeyed to West Virginia to learn more about the legendary Mothman, a creature who factors into her latest release.

Mae pens tales of mystery and suspense with a touch of romance. Married to her high school sweetheart, she lives in Pennsylvania and numbers cats, history and exploring old graveyards among her passions.

Look for Mae Clair at the following haunts:

Website

Blog

Twitter (@MaeClair1)

Google+

Facebook Author Page

Amazon Author Page

Goodreads

Pinterest

Newsletter Sign-Up

 

 

Consider the Rave Reviews Book Club

Regular readers know that I am a member of the Rave Reviews Book Club, and have been for some time. I joined to broaden the exposure for my books. Today they are holding a membership push. I usually post something on Wednesday night, but held off until today.

If you are an author, I encourage you to read this to the end. I'm about to tell you how I personally benefitted.

The club was established to help indie authors accumulate reviews. These are honest reviews, and not all of mine are five star reviews. It's grown into so much more. They promote across all kinds of social media, and schedule some fun events from time to time.

Those who participate more get more support. This is as it should be. Many clubs devolve into a few folks who do all the heavy lifting, while others benefit from their efforts. This isn't one of those clubs.

They provide enough opportunities for everyone to participate at their own pace. I'm not the most supportive member of the club, but I try to pull my weight.

Every week we support one author on what we call Push Tuesday. The club makes a massive push across all social media to boost that member's book. I always support via Twitter, and they send me a nice email reminder. My first benefit came from being a Push Tuesday recipient. They decided to push Panama. I sold books that day, and they really didn't stop pushing until Friday.

Last year they held an event similar to this one. We were all asked to promote the club on our blogs. They turned it into a contest, and I won it. My prize was a member of the week slot. This included a week long blog tour, and an interview with Nonnie Jules, our President. We moved a bunch of books that week.

I chose to participate in the Rave Reviews Book Club Back to School Book and Blog Block Party. This involved picking a day and hosting a party where we promoted our wares and gave away prizes. Regular readers might remember Lisa and I hosting a party at the writing cabin. My blog stats spiked that day, there were reblogs galore, tweets, and I'm sure other social media were involved too.

This was just before the mid-point of my own big push. Lisa was all over cyberspace promoting my Experimental Notebook. During this push, I was chosen as member of the week. The support that week was phenomenal. It couldn't have happened at a better time.

I was invited to appear on a blog talk radio program last week called Beyond The Cover. This is something relatively new for members. The club has +/- half a dozen shows, and invite supportive members to promote their wares. It was easy, it was fun, and I'm sure I reached readers. Since the show is archived and available to anyone, I'm sure I'll reach more.

Just this week, The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack was chosen as the President's Pick book. This involves singling out four special books, three books of the month and one President's Pick. Members are encouraged to read, review, and push these books. I've already seen a bunch of Twitter action, and noticed a few sales on Amazon.

All of this is for a guy who considers himself a moderate supporter. We are going to be voting on the annual Rave Awards very soon. The cover for Arson was nominated last year, but didn't win. I have hopes that someone nominated Will O' the Wisp, or Experimental Notebook this year. I think their covers are incredible. Even better would be a nomination for the writing inside one of them.

They produce an anthology every year, but I've never submitted. They also have the occasional writing competition, and I've not participated in one yet. I do what I can, but don't have time to take advantage of everything they offer.

I signed up to host authors who get a promotion week like the one I had. This brings blog traffic, and I benefit by helping others with their promotions. It isn't hard at all. The club sends me the data and I post it.

They offer an extensive catalog of member's books on the website. I will occasionally tweet out the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal link. I have six books in that category. It's a good source for readers too.

I think very highly of this club, and I've expanded my footprint because of it. If any of you think you might benefit, please check out these links:

About the Rave Reviews Book Club

How we Profile, Promote, & Propel

Paranormal/Sci-Fi/Fantasy category. Because why not? I'm trying to take over here.

Join here! Tell them Craig sent you.