Cover Reveal next week!

Just a heads up, Winter Queen's cover will be revealed on the 8th. I'll be posting sneak peaks and little tidbits about the book every day until then. Who's excited???

Witch Born ebook for Free

From Dec 26th to 28th, Witch Born will be free on Amazon.  

Some of you might wonder why I'm doing this. After all, Witch Born and Witch Song are selling really well. Basically, it's a marketing strategy. If Witch Born rises high enough in the rankings, the sales will shoot through the roof after it goes back up for purchase (that's what happened when Witch Song was offered for free last spring). 

The hoped for gains are increased visibility and sales, which gets me closer to my goals of growing my fan base and becoming financially independent. 

But it is kind of a risk, because if the rankings don't go high enough, it doesn't do much good.  Here's two ways you can help (Just copy and paste):

• Twitter:  Witch Born by @amberargyle is #free! Pls retweet http://goo.gl/qA2vV #Freebook  #FreeEbook #Kindle #BookGiveaway #Amazon #Giveaway #Freebies
• Facebook: @AmberArgyle's newest book is free. http://goo.gl/qA2vV
• Blog posts, ect. are always appreciated!

I'll update the rankings as the days go on. 

Also, I recently sent out an email with a subscribers only sneek peak at some of the fairies in Winter Queen. If you'd like to subscribe to my newsletter (no more than ~5 emails a year), sign up below. 

Subscribe to our mailing list

Hashtags for (author) Idiots

I suck at Twitter. So I've been doing some research in hopes of getting better. Here's some helpful hashtags I've found. 

Connect With Other Authors -

• #AmWriting
• #AmEditing
• #WordCount
• #WriterWednesday (or #WW)
• #WritersLife
• #YALitChat
• #LitChat (every M/W/F)
• #MemoirChat (every other Wednesday at 8 pm ET)
• #BookMarket (Thursday’s at 4 pm ET)
• #WritingParty
• #IndieAuthors
• #WriteChat

Connect By Book Genre -

• #RomanceWriter
• #SciFiChat
• #KidLitChat
• #RWA (Romance Writers of America)
• #ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers)
• #MGLit (Middle Grade Lit)
• #SCBWI (Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators)
•  #MemoirChat

Get Industry Information -

• #WritingTip
• #WriteTip
• #GetPublished
• #PromoTip
• #SelfPublishing
• #Publishing
• #AskAgent
• #AskAuthor
• #AskEditor
• #EBooks
• #IndiePub (or #IndiePublishing)
• #BookMarketing

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

• #WritingPrompt
• #StoryStarter
• #WordAThon
• #Creativity
• #WIP (work in progress)
• #1K1H (write one thousand words in one hour)

Connect With Readers

• #FridayReads
• #BookGiveaway
• #MustRead
• #LitChat
• #StoryFriday
• #MustRead

What are some of the hashtags you use? 

Guns, the media, and mental illness

My last post was on my family's personal experience with a mass shooting (my grandmother and aunt were shot). I usually avoid any political conversations on my blog. But I have an opinion, one born of my experience with an immediate family having a mental illness, a mass shooting, and a bunch of gun-loving family members.

You are welcome to disagree with my opinions, but if you don't do so in a respectful manner, I will delete your comment and block you.

I think we can all agree that mass murders are on the rise in our country. So much so that we can now expect one ever six months. So why is mass murder on the rise? You can't blame it on guns--they've been around far longer than mass murder. You can't even blame it on mental illness. It's been around even longer than guns. And the treatment and social understanding for the mentally ill is better than when I grew up. 

The answer is fairly simple: The media's attention to the murderers, doing complete life stories and smearing their names in every household in America. Don't want to die alone and forgotten? Go shot up a public plac--instant celebrity status. The more people who die, the better the coverage will be. Want to really get the media's attention: go kill a bunch of little kids. 

It's not the deciding factor in EVERY mass shooting. But I believe it is one of the factors in many of them. 

And I'm going to make a prediction: mass murders will continue to increase unless and until we do three things:

1. The media must take responsibility and stop spinning stories and start simply reporting the facts. If these murderer's names were never even mentioned, if they were forgotten and pushed aside, they would die alone and forgotten. And then there would be no point in taking anyone down with you. 

2. Mental health care needs to be accessible to everyone. We can't wait until someone does something violent before we intervene. Read these two inspiring posts by Dan Wells and Robison Wells. 

3. We need tougher gun laws. The waiting period needs to be longer, certain types and caliber need to be restricted, and the punishments for people who illegally sell/provide guns needs to be stiffer. This is where people get all riled up. "We might as well restrict knives and baseball bats too!" Not the same thing. The guy in China who knifed up an elementary school didn't kill a single person. Me and my pepper spray have a chance against a guy with a knife. I can't do anything against someone with an assault rifle. 

My family's personal experience with a mass shooting.

My aunt and my grandmother were both shot in a mass shooting. This is really hard for me to talk about. My hands are shaking, and I have sick waves coursing through my body. Even thinking about it takes me back to that day. 

It was 1999. My mom and I went to Utah State's campus to find a place for me to live that fall. On the way home, we came out of the canyon and searched for a country radio station to sing along to. On every single station, the same person was talking about a shooting at the Salt Lake City Genealogy Library. 

I remember my  mother's stillness. The kind of stillness that is so heavy it becomes a physical presence. "Your grandma and aunt were at the library today." 

I quickly reassured her that everything would be fine. What are the chances they were in the lobby when that a shooter walked inside? But I pushed down harder on the gas pedal all the same.

We were only 15 minutes from my grandmother's house. The moment we walked through the backdoor and saw my other aunt on the phone, I knew. 

She held her hand palm out toward my mother. "Now, Alice." She was already crying. 

My mother collapsed. I couldn't help her. I couldn't move. I just stood there while she sobbed on the floor. Someone had shoot my white haired grandmother? My aunt? My brain refused to accept it. 

But it was true. My grandmother had been shot in the face, just below her left eye. My aunt in the back, puncturing her lung. Both were in critical condition.

I was the one who went to the junior high and picked up my cousin--my aunt's daughter. 

We were fortunate. I call it a miracle. Both my aunt and grandmother survived. My grandmother's wire rimmed glassed deflected the bullet enough that it entered her face at an angle instead of straight on. That isn't to say it didn't take months of physical therapy for my grandmother to heal. That she didn't suffer debilitating dizziness afterward (it's where Senna's dizziness in WS comes from). My aunt still carries pieces of the bullet in her shoulder. 

It doesn't change the fact that I've never felt quite safe ever since. 

The man who shot two of the matriarchs in my family was mental unstable--as is anyone who would intentionally kill masses of innocent people. 

What really shakes me is that this is a relatively new phenomena. And it's becoming more and more common. It can no longer be called an anomaly. God help us, it will happen again. Our society is degrading, unraveling from the inside out. I'm frightened. Places that are sacred for the innocence that abounds inside are becoming targets for the deranged. 

And I don't know how to stop it. 

I pray for the children and their families involved in the shooting today. Your life will never be the same. I'm sorry for that. 

I am so done with crap

I mean that literally. For the past 10.5 years, I've had diapers to change or bums to wipe (TMI?). But my 3.5 year old daughter is finally taking care of wiping herself. 

This news is so monumental, it deserves it's own blog post. 

Yes really. For over a decade, I have been taking care of other people's bowel movements. This is big people. Very, very big. 

Help pick the cover of Winter Queen

*both options have been removed. Thanks for your input!
Option 1

Option 2

Vote below. Keep in mind that these are mock ups, meaning they are only meant to convey basic mood and positioning. In other words, it's a draft! We're looking at body positioning, colors, concept. Don't worry about the faces. Keep in mind that option 2 is more polished than 1. That's it. I will be taking this down in a few hours.

Witch Born on Amazon Prime

Please share the word on your social networking sites (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc). 

If you leave a link in the comments, I'll come visit your post/tweet. My goal is to cut one "0" off my ranking. Think we can do it?

While you're there, click the "Like" button.

Thanks, guys!

Hardcover, paperback, or both?

I've come to the point where I need to make a decision  I plan on doing paperback either way, but should I throw a hardcover into the mix? **It'll be more money for readers to buy, so I'll have to price it as less. Meaning I probably won't make as much on the hardcovers as I do the paperbacks. Plus, it costs more money to produce them. Another ISBN, another cover layout, upload fees . . .

But there's something to be said for having your book in hardcover. 

I'd probably release them pretty close to around the same time, so people could choose which version they'd like to have.

So, dear fans, do you want a hardcover version for Winter Queen? Would you shell out the money for one? Or should I just stick with paperbacks?

*I just price it all out. I'd have to sell the book for $26 to make a profit. Yikes. That's a lot.

**If I lower my retailer discount, I can lower the price to 19.99. What do you guys think? 

I want an enchanted pig!

Bridget's Zinn's Poison has all the right ingredients to make your heart ache for more. 

In the beginning, I had a hard time connecting. Great hook. Strong action from the get go, but what kind of story focuses on a main character who killed her best friend and princess? It doesn't take long before we realize that only Kyra knows that the princess has to die or the kingdom does. Murdering the princess will surely cost Kyra her life, but what choice does she have? 

And then the girl who never misses, missed. Now she has to hide from the king's army, her ex-boyfriend and fellow potioner, witches, and criminals. All while plotting the death of her best friend. 

Did I mention that there's romance? Cause there is, and I loved it. Poison had the light, sweet kind of romance that tugs a sigh from somewhere deep inside you. 

I finished the book and tried to find more of Bridget's books so I could immediately buy them. There are none. Bridget died last year. I had to work really hard not to cry. Bridget was a talented new writer with a long and beautiful career before her. I want to hug her. I'll settle for hugging her book and sending my love upwards instead. 

Also, there's an enchanted pig, which I was admittedly leery about. But the level of cuteness for this pig was off the charts. Also, it was kinda badass. I have no idea how a pig manages all of that, but this one did. Now I want one of my own. 

A must read!

Indonesian Cover

Atria published the Indonesian version of Witch Song. They used the same artwork, but changed the font. Looks like they also lightened the background. It turned out very pretty. Apparently, it went up for sale in August (no one tells me anything, lol). I wonder how it's selling . . . 

 I hope I get a copy in the mail (that was part of the contract). I'd love to see it in person! 

So, what do you guys think?