Cheryl Rainfield's Blog, page 105
May 18, 2011
Franklin the Turtle now available as ebooks!
Franklin the Turtle books (by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark) are now available as ebooks (individual ebooks and a multiple-collection ebook)! I LOVE Franklin In The Dark (I think it's best in the series–sweet, beautifully written & illustrated, touching), so I'm excited they're now available for many more readers as ebooks.
Readers can get the following extra content:
Behind-the-scenes author commentary & videos at www.openroadmedia.com
Never-before-seen archival material within Franklin in the Dark ebook, such as an excerpt of the first manuscript and original sketches that reveal how the text and art evolved
Check out the video below with Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark talking about how they work!
Follow Franklin the Turtle online at http://www.Twitter.com/Franklin, where you'll hear news about your favorite green turtle regularly!
May 15, 2011
Win 1 of 10 Copies of SCARS, 1 of 3 $10 Amazon giftcards May 15-June 15
In celebration of SCARS coming out in paperback May 25, I'm having another contest.
You can win 1 of 5 signed paperback copies of SCARS by entering the contest at GoodReads. It's simple and fast to enter. Contest runs from May 15 til June 15, 2011.
You can also enter to win 5 more *signed* copies of SCARS right here (your choice of paperback or hardcover) AND 1 of 3 $10 Amazon giftcards (or to an online bookstore of your choice). Contest runs from May 15 til June 15, 2011. Open worldwide. I will personalize each book for each winner.
How to enter:
Leave a comment on this blog post = 1 entry.
Post about this contest on FaceBook, your blog, your site, etc = 2 entries PER post.
Tweet about Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself http://ht.ly/4UFJR = 1 entry PER tweet
Post a link & short comment about Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself on your blog, site, or anywhere you can post it where it's not spam = 5 entries per post
If you did one of each of those, you'd have 9 entries to the contest. You can get more entries by tweeting or posting more.
If you tweet or blog about this contest or Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself, please leave a comment here.
You'll see by the way I rated the entries that I'm trying to get Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself out there. Why? I think it can help make a difference. It's something I needed, and that I'll still turn to as a reminder when I'm having a hard time–and I think it's something other people may need, too. All those things are also true of my book Scars, but Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself is fast and easy to read and free for everyone.
Good luck!
May 14, 2011
Free & Cheap Children's & YA ebooks (week of May 14 2011)
Free and cheap children's and YA ebooks; nothing above $5.00, most $2.99 and under. Please check prices before you buy; free and on sale books do not remain indefinitely at that price.
Free
Rowan of the Wood
Directly from the author on her site
Price: FREE formats: PDF, ePub, html, mobi (for Kindle), and others.
Starfire Angels (Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) by Melanie Nilles
Price: FREE
Next in series Broken Wings (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 2)
$2.99
Cheap Reads
Children's Books: Picture Books, Easy Readers, & Middle-Grade Books
The Tawny Scrawny Lion (Golden Books) by Kathryn Jackson, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren
Price: $3.99
Big Dog, Little Dog (Dr Seuss I Can Read It All By Myself) by PD Eastman
Price: $3.99
A Treasury of Curious George (8 Stories) by Margaret & HA Rey
Price: $7.24 ($0.91/story)
Big Egg (Step Into Reading) by Molly Coxe
Price: $3.99
Judy Moody Was In a Mood by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Price: $0.99
Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows
Price: $3.74 (Most of the others in this series are the same price.)
Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb by Francesca Simon, illustrated by Tony Ross
Price: $0.89
Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Price: $3.89
Amber Brown Sees Red by Paula Danzinger
Price: $4.99
Tween
The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Price: $4.46
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Price: $5.00
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The War of the Ember by Kathryn Lasky
Price: $4.49
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Price: $4.46
YA Fiction
Tender by Valerie Hobbs
Price: $2.99
Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez
Price: $2.99
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
Price: $4.88
Season of Ice by Diane Les Becquets
Price: $3.85
May 12, 2011
Free and Cheap eBooks For Writers
There are three free ebooks for writers on Amazon right now, that you may want to snag for yourself. Free ebooks don't stay free, so please check the prices before you download.
How to Write a Great Query Letter: Insider Tips and Techniques for Success by Noah Lukeman (a literary agent)
Price: FREE
Write Good or Die by various authors including MJ Rose and Douglas Clegg
Price: FREE
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide: How to Market any Book for Free by Mark Coker
Price: FREE
There are also some cheap ebooks for writers that look like they could be good deals–nothing over $4. You can download a sample before paying to see if it interests you:
Writing Technique & Inspiration
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland (I love this book!)
Price: $3.99
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Screenwriters by Alexandra Sokoloff
Price: $2.99
A Book Inside: How to Write, Publish, and Sell Your Story by Carol Denbow
Price: $2.99
Writing Fiction For All You're Worth: Strategies and Techniques for Taking Your Fiction to the Next Level by James Scott Bell
Price: $2.99
The Story Engine by Matt Schutt
Price: $2.99
The Story Book: a writers' guide to story development, principles, problem resolution and marketing by David Baboulene
Price: $1.55
One Way to Write a Novel by Vicki Hinze
Price: $2.99
How to Swat the KILLER BEs Out of Your Writing: A Writing Skills Handbook on How to Write in Active Voice by Nancy Owens Barnes
Price: $2.99
From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn
Price: $0.99
Book Promotion
From Book to Market: Internet Marketing, Sales and Promotion…For Your Book by Joanna Penn
Price: $0.99
100 Ways to Market Your Book For Free (or Really Cheap) by Carol Denbow
Price: $0.99
My Book Isn't Selling! The Chargan Book of Marketing Ideas by Philip Ragan
Price: $0.99
Reference & Prompts
The Elements of Style by William Strunk
Price: $0.99
3 Simple Words: Prompt-like Phrases To Get You Writing by David Stoddard
Price: $0.99
1000 Creative Writing Prompts by Bryan Cohen
Price: $2.99
What do you think? Do any of those books interest you? Would you like to see more posts like this?
May 11, 2011
An easy way to encourage reading
I saw a tweet on Twitter about a program that puts books in doctor's waiting rooms to increase literacy. And I realized–I already do that, although on a smaller scale. When I go to my doctor's or dentist's office, I leave behind picture books for the children who will wait there. Not every time, but I make sure that they have books. It's one of the ways I help encourage reading, and it feels good to me. I know I would have loved to find a bright picture book in a waiting room I didn't want to be in as a child!
I think it's an easy way to encourage reading. If you have an extra copy of a book you love, why not leave it in a waiting room next time you're there?
I also encourage reading through writing books that I care about and that I hope others will care about, hosting book contests, reviewing books I love, and talking about books I love. Books are such an integral part of my life, and it's important to me to share that joy.
Do you encourage reading in others? What do you do? I'd love to hear.
May 9, 2011
If you love a book…
then consider supporting it (and the author) by helping to get the word out. It means so much to authors when you help to get the word out about the books we put so much into.
There are a ton of ways you can do that–by tweeting about the book, writing a review and posting it on Amazon, GoodReads, and other book sites, telling friends about the book. There's also some things you can do that are super fast, such as adding to the tags of a book on Amazon. Check out some more great ideas on this fantastic post by author Jody Hedlund.
May 8, 2011
Buying Picture Books as a Treat
I went to one of my favorite Toronto indie children's bookstores yesterday–Mable's Fables–and bought myself two picture books as treats: The Umbrella by Ingrid & Dieter Schubert–a beautiful, imaginative, wordless picture book of a dog that goes on a journey through an umbrella, and When a Dragon Moves In
by Jodi Moore, illustrated by Howard McWilliam, of a boy who has a dragon move into his sandcastle and no one believes him, but he has a lot of fun with the dragon any way. The only thing I'd change in that last book is the teasing of his sister, though I guess that's what siblings do. Both books made me feel good to read; they both sparked my imagination, and made me feel hopeful.
I buy myself picture books as treats. Not only for the incredible artwork that lies between the pages, and the masterfully told stories, but also for the joy, the hopefulness, the encouragement, the hugely wonderful flights of imagination. Picture books made me feel good, period. Of course, I like to choose carefully, make sure that the story fits me, the text is well written, the illustrations beautiful–but when they do, picture books feel like treasure to me.
Do you buy yourself picture books? Or buy them for someone you love? Do you like to read them?
May 6, 2011
Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself
Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself
by Cheryl Rainfield
Because you do not deserve to be hurt, not by anyone, not even yourself;
Because you deserve the same compassion, kindness, and love that everyone else does, and that you would give to a friend;
Because if you hurt yourself, you are repeating and reinforcing what your abusers or people who put you down told you, and none of that is true;
Because any relief you may get from hurting yourself is only fleeting and will not last, and because you will need to keep hurting yourself more frequently and worse to get that tiny bit of relief, and may end up doing permanent damage or may even inadvertently kill yourself;
Because you have already been through so much pain and do not need more pain added to that;
Because you have a voice and have a right to be heard;
Because you deserve to have compassion for yourself, the way others have it for you;
Because there are safer, gentler ways to find some relief and you deserve to find those ways;
Because even if you do not believe it, hurting yourself will hurt the people who truly love you;
Because you deserve to be treated gently and with love, not with hate;
Because you are not to blame for anything that happened to you as a child;
Because you will hurt your body and your body is not to blame for anything;
Because hurting yourself is abusing yourself, and you do not deserve to be abused;
Because it's better and kinder to reach out to others and get support, or to find inner resources to rely on, rather than to add to your own hurt and torment;
Because one day you will see the beauty in yourself and know that you should be treated with care;
Because you are lovable and loved, and deserve to be treated with love; and
Because things will get better, and you will find more of what you need.
By Cheryl Rainfield, author of SCARS
Drawing by Cheryl Rainfield, part of the Love Yourself affirmation cards
May 5, 2011
Gender bias in children's books has not improved
Have you seen this? Gender bias has not much improved in children's books from 1900-2000, with most books focusing on male characters. Since children's books are a part of what tells children about the world and what they should value, I think that is scary.
What do you think?
Free and Cheap YA Reads on Kindle
I love good books. And I love getting good books cheaply (though I'll pay a lot for books and authors I love). Here are some of the current cheap and free YA novels available on the Kindle.
Note: Most of these ebook prices are for US only. And, as always, check the price before you buy; some of the free or low prices are only low temporarily.
Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton.
Price: FREE
Songs For a Teenage Nomad by Kim Culbertson
Price: FREE
Cat Calls by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Short Story)
Price: FREE
Girls to the Rescue: Book #1 by Bruce Lansky
Price: FREE
The Middle Passage by Julia Golding (Short Story)
Price: FREE
Dust by Arthur Slade
Price: $0.99
Glimmerglass by Jenna Black
Price: $2.99 (normally
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Price: $5.00 (normally $14.99)
