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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Today's Deals 2/27

Thru February 28, members at Audible can take advantage of the Buy One Get One Free Sale, doubling the values of your credits. There will be a different selection every day, so be sure to stop buy and see what is new.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Dead Asleep ($0.99), by Jamie Freveletti [HarperCollins], an author that is new to me. At 99 cents, though, it looks like it may be worth taking a chance on. Be careful clicking on her other titles - there is a novella split into 3 "books" at 99 cents apiece. I have no problem with charging $2.99 for a novella of around 120 pages, but why clutter up our libraries with three entries?
Book Description
A former Chicago trial lawyer-turned-critically acclaimed thriller writer, Jaime Freveletti hit the ground running with her debut novel, Running from the Devil—winning a Thriller and a Barry Award and nominations for the Macavity and Crimespree Awards as well. With her fourth novel, Dead Asleep, Freveletti proves she hasn't let up for an instant, plunging her brilliant, tough-as-nails series protagonist, biochemist Emma Caldridge, into a Caribbean island nightmare of voodoo superstition, terrorist plots, and deadly plague. Dead Asleep is intelligent, action-packed suspense fiction—rich in invention and frightening scientific plausibility—that will enthrall fans of Lee Child and Daniel Silva, and Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen readers equally.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Whole Lotta Trouble ($1.99), by Stephanie Bond. Romance fans will need no introduction (just to go check their libraries - I picked this up on a KDP free promotion last summer).
Book Description
Sometimes the best laid plans go sideways . . .

Three female mystery book editors in Manhattan have personal and professional problems galore--which intersect with one bad-boy agent. When they set out to humiliate their problematic playboy, their plans go horribly awry. The women suddenly realize that when it comes to friendship, flirtation and felony, they're in a WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE!

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Investigation ($1.99), by Stanislaw Lem [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]. We've seen several of his titles in Daily Deals recently and I see that one of them, Return From The Stars, is currently marked down to $2.99, only a dollar over the Daily Deal price, for those that missed it.
Book Description
A young officer at Scotland Yard is assigned to investigate a puzzling and eerie case of missing-and apparently resurrected-bodies. To unravel the mystery, Lt. Gregory consults scientific, philosophical, and theological experts, who supply him with a host of theories and clues.

Stone Maidens (£0.99 UK), by Lloyd Devereux Richards, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK. A Daily Deal in the US earlier this month, the US edition is $4.99/KLL Eligible and the companion audiobook is $1.99.
Book Description
As the chief forensic anthropologist for the FBI’s Chicago field office, Christine Prusik has worked her fair share of bizarre cases. Yet this one trumps them all: a serial killer is strangling young women and dumping their bodies in the steep, forested ravines of southern Indiana. With each victim, the killer leaves a calling card: a stone figurine carved like the spirit stones found among the primitive tribes of Papua New Guinea—the same tribes from whom Prusik narrowly escaped a decade earlier while doing field research. The similarity is eerie and, frankly, terrifying; Prusik still carries the scars from the tribesmen’s attack. But is the connection real? Or have the dark details of Prusik’s nightmares finally wormed their way into her waking life? Displaying the expertise of a veteran writer, debut novelist Lloyd Devereux Richards skillfully builds layers of psychological suspense and terror into a compulsively readable whodunit.

Hemingway's Girl ($9.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Erika Robuck [Penguin], is the Nook Daily Find. This is an Agency pricing publisher (the lone holdout, I think) and should have already been price matched on Kindle, so wait for it to drop.
Book Description
“She remembered when Hemingway had planted a banyan tree at his house and told her its parasitic roots were like human desire. At the time she’d thought it romantic. She hadn’t understood his warning.”

In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father’s death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.

When Mariella is hired as a maid by Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, she enters a rarified world of lavish, celebrity-filled dinner parties and elaborate off-island excursions. As she becomes caught up in the tensions and excesses of the Hemingway household, the attentions of the larger-than-life writer become a dangerous temptation...even as straightforward Gavin Murray draws her back to what matters most. Will she cross an invisible line with the volatile Hemingway, or find a way to claim her own dreams? As a massive hurricane bears down on Key West, Mariella faces some harsh truths...and the possibility of losing everything she loves.

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Touch ($0.99), the first novel in Jus Accardo's Denazen YA series [Entangled Teen]. Probably not suited for younger teens, as I've glanced thru a review copy and it starts out with a drunken high schooler party, with skateboarding off of a barn roof (at least they land in hay and don't have too many injuries), followed by more drinking. From there, though, the story veers off of a manual on how to upset your parents (although is a tiny bit of a cautionary tale on walking home, alone, thru the woods, afterward). In any case, it seems well written enough that I've sent it to my Kindle to see if it still hooks me when I finish my current re-read of The Scent of Shadows (which, by-the-way, is still on sale for 99 cents, as are the other 5 titles in the series!).
Book Description
When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

Amazon has priced matched B&N (finally) on Otherkin, by Nina Berry, for those who wanted to get it on Kindle or to get the discounted companion audiobook.

If you have any of the $1 MP3 promo amounts on your account (from buying an Android App), the can't be combined on a single MP3 purchase (at least, my two didn't), so if you are getting one of the $1.99 MP3 albums on sale today, the other 99 cents will come out of your gift card balance or default payment type. If you want to confirm the payment details before buying (which you can't do with one-click), send the album to yourself as a gift; the confirmation page before your send it has all the payment types that will be used.

Skies of Fire ($0.99), the first novel in the urban fantasy/steampunk Ether Chronicles series by RITA® Award-nominated romance author Zoe Archer [Avon Impulse/HarperCollins]; the publisher is also discounting the second book in the series, Skies of Steel ($2.99), so you might want to pick it up now, too.

Skies of Fire
Captain Christopher Redmond has just one weakness: the alluring spy who loved and left him years before . . . when he was still just a man. Now he's superhuman—a Man O' War, made as part of the British Navy's weapons program—and his responsibility is to protect the skies of Europe. If only he could forget Louisa Shaw.

Louisa, a British Naval Intelligence agent, has never left a job undone. But when her assignment is compromised, the one man who can help her complete her mission is also the only man ever to tempt her body and heart. As burning skies loom and passion ignites, Louisa and Christopher must slip behind enemy lines if they are to deliver a devastating strike against their foe . . . and still get out alive.
Skies of Steel
In the world of The Ether Chronicles, the Mechanical War rages on, and appearances are almost always deceiving . . .

The prim professor
Daphne Carlisle may be a scholar, but she's far more comfort-able out in the field than lost in a stack of books. Still, when her parents are kidnapped by a notorious warlord, she knows she'll need more than quick thinking if she is to reach them in time. Daphne's only hope for getting across enemy territory is an airship powered and navigated by Mikhail Denisov, a rogue Man O' War who is as seductive as he is untrustworthy.

The jaded mercenary
Mikhail will do anything for the right price, and he's certain he has this mission—and Daphne—figured out: a simple job and a beautiful but sheltered Englishwoman. But as they traverse the skies above the Mediterranean and Arabia, Mikhail learns the fight ahead is anything but simple, and his lovely passenger is not entirely what she seems. The only thing Mikhail is certain of is their shared desire—both unexpected and dangerous.

Night of Fire ($0.99), the first novel in the Ether Chronicles series by Nico Rosso [Avon Impulse/HarperCollins]; the publisher is also discounting the second book in the series, Night of Steel ($1.99), so you might want to pick it up now, too. I know what you are thinking ... isn't that the series in the post above? Well, almost. Aren't the titles awfully close to the same? It turns out that Nico is Zoe's husband and both are writing for the same publisher. They each have out two books in the same series, but the two series don't interweave, from what I can tell. His series is a bit more western in flavor, too, from the synopsis, and the second in his series is quite a bit shorter (Zoe went for longer in her second title).

Night of Fire
Night of fire, night of passion

US Army Upland Ranger Tom Knox always knew going home wouldn’t be easy. Three years ago, he skipped town, leaving behind the only woman who ever mattered; now that he’s seen the front lines of war, he’s ready to do what he must to win her back.

Rosa Campos is long past wasting tears on Tom Knox, and now that she’s sheriff of Thornville, she has more than enough to do. Especially when a five-story rock-eating mining machine barrels toward the town she’s sworn to protect.

Tom’s the last person Rosa expects to see riding to her aid on his ether-borne mechanical horse. She may not be ready to forgive, but Rosa can’t deny that having him at her side brings back blissful memories . . . even as it reignites a flame more dangerous than the enemy threatening to destroy them both.

Tom’s the last person Rosa expects to see riding to her aid on his ether-borne mechanical horse. She may not be ready to forgive, but Rosa can’t deny that having him at her side brings back blissful memories . . . even as it reignites a flame more dangerous than the enemy threatening to destroy them both.
Night of Steel
Return to The Ether Chronicles, where the skies above the American West are about to get wilder than ever…

Bounty hunter Anna Blue always finds her fugitive. But her latest mission is filled with mystery: a high price for an eccentric inventor. And her biggest rival, Jack Hawkins—a startlingly handsome, entirely unsettling man whose abilities match her own—is hunting the same bounty. Neither will back down.

When a rogue Man O' War flies his airship into the California skies, guns blazing, Anna and Jack are forced to team up or die. But it isn't the danger that has them ready to flare like gunpowder. They've circled each other for years as competitors only. Fighters and outsiders, they never thought they'd find a kindred soul. As hot passion and raw need draw them together, can they survive this mission long enough to track the most elusive fugitives…their hearts?

I bought my copy of Anathem ($1.99), by Neal Stephenson [HarperCollins], quite some time ago, but those who missed it last summer now get a second chance (and at half the price it was last time). If you like getting a bargain, per page price, you'll love this at over 1,000 pages (and will be more glad you aren't lugging it around, as I did the first time I read it, long ago).

If you pre-ordered The Mongoliad, the third title in The Foreworld Saga, of which Stephenson is one of the co-authors, then you should see it your library today. For those in the UK, check your invoice, as there was apparently a price drop today (to £1.99), but after the initial release at midnight (UK time); you can return it in your MYK page and then buy it again at the lower price, if you were overcharged.
Book Description
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable -- yet strangely inverted -- world.

Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside -- the Extramuros -- for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates -- at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros -- a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose -- as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world -- as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.

Hellhole ($2.99), the first (massive) novel in the HellHole Trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson [Macmillan], is another one you'll be glad you aren't lugging around in hardcover. Both are past Nebula Award nominees and Herbert was nominated for a Hugo for his biography of his father (Frank Herbert).
Book Description
Only the most desperate colonists dare to make a new home on Hellhole. Reeling from a recent asteroid impact, tortured with horrific storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and churning volcanic eruptions, the planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits, and charlatans…but also a haven for dreamers and independent pioneers.

Against all odds, an exiled general named Adolphus has turned Hellhole into a place of real opportunity for the desperate colonists who call the planet their home. While the colonists are hard at work developing the planet, General Adolphus secretly builds alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds, forming a clandestine coalition against the tyrannical, fossilized government responsible for their exile.

What no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides an amazing secret. Deep beneath its surface lies the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization and the buried memories of its unrecorded past that, when unearthed, could tear the galaxy apart.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

The Devil's Star ($1.99), by Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett [HarperCollins], is the fifth title in his bestselling Harry Hole series. My mother liked the series so well that we already have them all (well, except The Bat, the first in the series, which will finally be released for the US this summer and The Redeemer, #5 in the series, which I'm now seeing as a pre-order for May, but only in Hardcover so far) This is a good price for those who are catching up. The second and third in the series are also currently discounted under $5.
Book Description
Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram—a five-pointed star—is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers—and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice.

Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see.

One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil's Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Coyote Blue ($2.99), by Christopher Moore, is a standalone novel that you should have on your TBR list, if you are looking for a light-hearted read (just don't read it someplace where laughing out loud might be embarrassing). I'm pretty sure this is less than I paid, back when Fictionwise was an option (long ago). Another discounted choice from the same author is Lamb ($1.99), although it might be a bit too irreverent for some.

Coyote Blue
From master of subversive humor Christopher Moore comes a quirky, irreverent novel of love, myth, metaphysics, outlaw biking, angst, and outrageous redemption.

As a boy, he was Samson Hunts Alone -- until a deadly misunderstanding with the law forced him to flee the Crow reservation at age fifteen. Today he is Samuel Hunter, a successful Santa Barbara insurance salesman with a Mercedes, a condo, and a hollow, invented life. Then one day, destiny offers him the dangerous gift of love -- in the exquisite form of Calliope Kincaid -- and a curse in the unheralded appearance of an ancient god by the name of Coyote. Coyote, the trickster, has arrived to reawaken the mystical storyteller within Sam...and to seriously screw up his existence in the process.
Lamb
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Today's Deals 2/26

Thru February 28, members at Audible can take advantage of the Buy One Get One Free Sale, doubling the values of your credits. There will be a different selection every day, so be sure to stop buy and see what is new.

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is 20 MP3 Albums $1.99 Each. Save on music by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Tegan and Sara, Muse, Passion Pit, Fiona Apple, Aerosmith, and others.

Just a reminder for those with Amazon Prime that you have only two more days to borrow your February title.

For those in the UK only, if you sign up as a new subscriber to the Kindle Daily Deal, thru Feb 28, you'll get a free Kindle book as a welcome gift (there are 16 to choose from).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Quilter's Homecoming ($1.99), by Jennifer Chiaverini [Simon and Schuster], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.
Book Description
A Roaring Twenties adventure unfolds in Jennifer Chiaverini's latest bestselling Elm Creek Quilts novel, another in "a series that neatly stitches together social drama and the art of quilting" (Library Journal).

Newly wed in a festive yet poignant ceremony at Elm Creek Manor, bride Elizabeth Nelson takes leave of her ancestral Pennsylvania home. Setting off with her husband, Henry, on the adventure of a lifetime, Elizabeth packs the couple's trunk with more than the wedding quilts she envisions them dreaming beneath every night of their married lives. They are landowners who hold the deed to Triumph Ranch, 120 acres of prime California soil located in the Arboles Valley, north of Los Angeles.

"Triumph Ranch," says Mae, a traveling companion whom Elizabeth has let in on the promise of the Nelsons' bright future. "That sounds like a sure thing." But in a cruel reversal of fortune, the Nelsons arrive to the news that they've been had, and they are left suddenly, irrevocably penniless.

They are hired as hands at the farm they thought they owned, and Henry struggles mightily with his pride. Yet clever, feisty Elizabeth -- drawing on her share of the Bergstrom women's inherent economy and resilience -- vows to defy fate through sheer force of will. As her life intertwines with Rosa Diaz Barclay, native to the Arboles Valley and a fellow quilter, their blossoming friendship sheds light on many secrets that have kept each of them and their families from their rightful homes.

In the cabin where Henry and Elizabeth are living on Triumph Ranch, Elizabeth discovers quilts belonging to Rosa's mother, and in their exquisite patterns recognizes a misplaced legacy of love, land, and family. But her newfound understanding of the burden of loss that Rosa shares with the mysterious Lars Jorgensen places her in mortal danger. Only by stitching the rift between the past and the future can the inhabitants of Triumph Ranch hope to live in peace alongside history.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Mistress of My Fate ($2.99), by Hallie Rubenhold [Hachette].
Book Description
Set during a period of revolution and turmoil, Mistress of My Fate is the first book in a trilogy about Henrietta Lightfoot, a young woman who was abandoned as a baby and raised alongside her cousins, noble children of a lord and lady. At just sixteen years old, circumstance and a passionate love affair tear Henrietta away from everything she knows, leading to a new life fending for herself on the streets of 18th century London as a courtesan, gambler, and spirited intellect of the city.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Ladies of Mandrigyn ($1.99), the first novel in Barbara Hambly's Sun Wolf and Starhawk Fantasy series [Open Road].
Book Description
A brilliant mercenary must lead his army against the forces of the most powerful wizard alive

Gifted with courage, strength, and the intelligence to know when to fight, Sun Wolf is the greatest mercenary in a land overrun by war. With his first lieutenant, Starhawk—a woman more deadly than any man—at his side, he has laid waste to countless cities, taking the best of their treasures for himself, and distributing the rest among his bloodthirsty crew.

Then a woman comes to him, an emissary from the town of Mandrigyn, a lush port city recently sacked by a powerful, mad wizard of unmatched abilities. She offers Sun Wolf untold riches for the use of his army, but the captain is not fool enough to wage war against a magician. He refuses her offer, but that is not the end of it. The women of Mandrigyn can be very persuasive.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Barbara Hambly, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: How to Make Changes that Stick (£1.19 UK), by Jeremy Dean, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.10, with a companion audiobook for $3.99).
Book Description
Why is it so difficult to get in the habit of something good? Most of us would love to adopt a new positive habit – an evening run, eating more veg, clearing the email backlog by the end of the day – but canʼt quite muster the self-control to make our resolutions stick. Now, psychologist Jeremy Dean shares the new brain science of routine that can improve any personʼs life, every day. Habits are powerful, Dean explains, because of the way in which the brain runs automatically. Amazingly, we spend a third of our waking

hours falling into habits without even realizing it – ruminating over past events, or clicking through web sites trawling for updates. Such unconscious thoughts and actions can, however, be steered to our benefit. Drawing on hundreds of fascinating studies, Dean reveals how to take control of your brainʼs “auto-pilot” to transform willpower into reality.

Otherkin ($7.19 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Nina Berry, is the Nook Daily Find. No price match yet on Kindle, but if it does, you may also want the companion audiobook for $3.49.
Book Description
I thought I knew myself. Then I met Caleb.

Dez is a good girl who does as she's told and tries not to be noticed. Then she rescues a boy from a cage, and he tells her secrets about herself. Now inside her burns a darkness that will transform her.

Everything is about to change--and neither Caleb, nor the Otherkin, nor those who hunt them, are prepared for what Dez will unleash.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Guinness World Records 2013 ($2.99).
Book Description
The Guinness World Records 2013 eBook features thousands of brand new inspirational achievements and exclusive pictures chronicling Guinness World Records from all over the world! With more than 4,000 records and over a dozen chapters Guinness World Records 2013 is the must-have eBook of the year for aspiring record-breakers of all ages. From Wacky Vehicles and Animalympics to special pages devoted to a world tour of superlatives and an exploration of the extremes of record-breaking, Guinness World Records 2013 is fully designed and brings to you the world of record-breaking like you've never seen before!
This book requires a Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android app.

Bargain Book Trio

I ran across Mad Mouse: A John Ceepak Mystery ($0.99), by Chris Grabenstein, in the Audible BOGO offer that is still going on. Since the companion audiobook is only $1.99 on this one, buying the two outright is significantly cheaper than any of the prices paid on credits. Previously published by Carroll & Graf (in multiple editions), this is now self-published (later titles in the series are with Pegasus Books) and currently he has the first three titles in the series at only 99 cents apiece (and the linked audiobooks for $1.99)! The formatting on the samples looks pretty good and you can pick up all three at a steal.
Book Description
The Anthony Award Winning series continues...

It's almost Labor Day, and the end of summer could mean the end of someone's life in this exciting sequel to Chris Grabenstein's TILT A WHIRL.

Young Danny Boyle, the part-time summer cop "down the shore" in Sea Haven, New Jersey, gets taken on a wild ride when he and his longtime beach buddies become the unwitting targets of a mad-man's twisted scheme for revenge. Fortunately, John Ceepak, the cop with a soldier's unshakeable code of honor, stays at Danny's side to help him negotiate the quick twists and turns that threaten to destroy his life, his friends, and everything about the world he loves.

Whipping from the boardwalk to the beach and back again, MAD MOUSE, like TILT-A-WHIRL, keeps zigging and zagging at a breakneck pace, all the way to the surprising finish.

Kirkus named Mad Mouse one of the ten Best Mysteries of 2006!

You can pre-order Frank Tuttle's Markhat Files ($4.40) at a discount right now. This is the seventh novel in his Markhat Files series (and you can still pick up the first novel, The Mister Trophy, for free as I write this). As you might guess from the content warning, this is published by Samhain and is a part of their non-romance line of books. All of the titles in the series are $5 or less, although some are novella length.
Book Description
When the banshee howls, start looking for the lifeboats....

Take a simple, three-day cruise on a lavish steamboat casino, they said. Just keep an eye out for trouble while the Regent rolls the dice, they said.

Markhat should have known the maiden voyage of Avalante’s vampire-crewed Brown River Queen would be anything but a finder’s dream job. Especially when he charges a ridiculous fee—and gets it without a peep of protest.

Then a pair of identical murderous maidens attack him and his lady love, and it doesn’t take a banshee’s howl to confirm his sinking suspicion he’s about to earn his fee the hard way.

As the heavily guarded steamboat casts off, Markhat is forced to navigate shoals of old enemies, treacherous political undercurrents, and rogue waves of assassins. All to keep the walking dead from turning the Brown River Queen’s decks red with blood.

Warning: This is a work of fiction. Please stop trying to apply it as a cream directly to your forehead. The characters depicted herein are quite real despite this disclaimer and will be deeply hurt if you peek ahead to the ending. This prose is certified gluten-free. Not intended as an emergency substitute Flight Manual, no matter what the nerds at Popular Mechanics claim.

Devil's Bride ($1.99), the first novel in the Cynsters series by Stephanie Laurens, was offered at the same price as a Daily Deal a few months ago, and a Bonus Edition was briefly offered for sale late last year also, so be sure to check your library before buying. The companion audiobook is $2.99, though, so audio listeners may want to get this edition too, just for the companion edition discount (which you don't get with the Bonus Edition); I read a review by one fan of the narrator, Simon Prebble, that said she would pay to listen to him read a phone book!
Book Description
When Devil, the most infamous member of the Cynster family, is caught in a compromising position with plucky governess Honoria Wetherby, he astonishes the entire town by offering his hand in marriage. No one dreamed this scandalous rake would ever take a bride. And as society mamas swooned at the loss of England?s most eligible bachelor, Devil?s infamous Cynster cousins began to place wagers on the wedding date.

But Honoria wasn?t about to bend society?s demands and marry a man "just" because they?d been found together virtually unchaperoned. No, she craved adventure, and while solving the murder of a young Cynster cousin fit the bill for a while, she decided that once the crime was solved she?d go off to see the world. But the scalding heat of her unsated desire for Devil soon had Honoria craving a very different sort of excitement. Could her passion for Devil cause her to embrace the enchanting peril of a lifelong adventure of the heart?

Monday, February 25, 2013

Changes Afoot!

Some of you may have heard rumors that Amazon is making changes to the affiliate program (which is how sites like this make money, as I've mentioned in the past) in regards to how free books will affect earnings. They dropped the bomb on everyone via a midnight email a couple of days ago and many sites are scrambling, to accomodate the new rules. Any site that Amazon determines "primarily promotes free books" and has more than 20,000 free books purchased and if less than 20% of all books are paid purchases, will lose all their income for that month, starting March 1.

That sounds like a really big number, 20,000, until you break it down by day (about 670/day) and by books (on an average day, the big publishers might have 2-3 free books and the smaller publishers another half dozen; that's ignoring the probably thousand free books added in the KDP select program for indie authors). So, a site like this one that mentions 7 books a day would lose all income if 100 people bought each of the books mentioned. This can easily happen to a site with a much smaller readership than I have. Note that affiliates don't lose only the referral income due to the free books (there isn't any income from free books, of course, but sometimes there will be a small amount if someone goes on to purchase something else in the same session), but all referral income for the month (and across all of the affiliates sites: many other bloggers have multiple sites with different focuses, but share a single Amazon affiliate account).

What none of us know, right now, is how many free books are being credited to our accounts right now, because Amazon doesn't share that information with us (they hope to have reports available for this by March 1, when the new rules take effect). Another complete unknown is how many free books will get added to our accounts due to people who go on to buy more than one free book once reaching Amazon (in the above example, if 50 people went to buy those 7 free books and also bought another free one they saw on the bestseller lists or the "also bought" ad under each book, then that would be enough to hit that 700/day level; you can see how even a very small blog could end up exceeding these limits if they keep promoting free books).

I've read on some sites that they will shut down or charge for listings, as some of the large freebie only sites now do (authors pay to be featured on the site or emails, often scheduling far in advance) and a rumor of one that will charge for a daily email of free books. I've never accepted author advertising for free books and don't plan to start. But, I will have to make some changes. Right now, I am setting up a second site for free book postings (it's sort of up now, but I still need to set up the related RSS feeds, twitter, facebook, etc). If that site can continue without impacting the main site, it will keep going and the books mentioned there will be the same ones that had been mentioned here. After March 1, the main Books on the Knob site will only feature bargain books, daily deals and reviews; no free books, the same as many other sites have decided. Free MP3 music and Android Apps are not affected by the upcoming changes, so will continue to be highlighted on a daily basis, here on the website's homepage.

I don't know how this will effect those who subscribe to Books on the Knob on their Kindles - I may be able to combine the RSS feeds there, since there are no affiliate tags in the feed (and the Kindle doesn't let you click on links for blogs, anyway). There will be separate feeds for those using an RSS reader or email delivery. For the next few days, there will be no changes and I'll give you the links for the new site, just as soon as I get everything sorted out.

Outside of changes here on this blog (and across the web at other sites), I expect to see some changes in the KDP Select program, which authors use to offer free books, as well, in the next few weeks (although perhaps Amazon believes that cutting off their avenues for advertising will be enough to rein in the flood of free books and some of the resulting problems, such as Kindle Libraries that are so large they don't function well and the costs that Amazon no doubt incurs from delivery). At least one thread mentioned an author selling over 40,000 free books when mentioned on just one high traffic blog (not here! I'm nowhere near that big); that's enough to affect sales rankings at Amazon and may still be worth the advertising fees the larger sites are charging (which may go up, once they lose their Amazon earnings). A lot of indie authors are talking about leaving KDP and hope that readers will go back to paying for content, as they've run into readers who now want the entire series free, rather than just the first in a series. Of course, it isn't just the indie authors that have been gaming the system - I just read an article on how much you can pay to guarantee a #1 start on either The Wall Street Journal’s or NYT's Bestseller lists (think $70K and up) and how some agencies are gaming the sales numbers by ordering multiple singles, rather than dealing with distributors for the books for the events they arrange.