The Masquerade Crew

Featured Follower: Limebird Writers In their own words: Limebird Writers is a team of 20 writers from the UK, USA and SA offering tips, advice and experience to beginner and professional writers. With backgrounds such as copywriters, authors, journalists, screenwriters and comic book writers there's something for everyone.

Morrigan's Harvest The War for Inisfail Written by Kaiya Hart Genre: Fantasy Book Synopsis Shea is living a simple, country life and is well pleased with it. Then Galen, the elf guardian Shea's mother chose for her, appears. Between the threat of being carried off by him and a vicious attack on her village, everything begins to change. Shea sets off on a noble quest, but what begins as only a rescue mission will reveal dark secrets buried deep within the heart of her magical world. Shea must discover a way to overcome the obstacles in her path while learning about her own capacity for hatred and love. If she cannot balance the two, she may lose more than just her friends. She might end up losing herself.

A guest post by Toby Neal I write crime/suspense/mystery/romance. I know, that’s not a genre. But it should be, and that’s the only string of words that really describe what I write. As a reader of such fiction, the experience the reader is seeking is that of a “page-turner” or in current technology, “page clicker.” How do you keep the reader turning the pages, compulsively staying up way past their bedtime, or calling in sick to finish the book in one day? (both are comments shared with me by readers of Blood Orchids) I don’t have a formula. But in writing the four books I’ve completed in the Lei Crime Series, I’ve happened on a few things that work.

To create some buzz for our new Twitter Marketing service, I'm giving away $5 worth of the service to one person. There are two different types of Twitter Marketing campaigns: recurring tweets and short term blasts. Five dollars will buy you a year's worth of recurring tweets or a day or two's worth of blasts. Just depends on what you are trying to promote. If it's an event, such as a blog tour or book release, I'd go with a blast. If it's a book that you plan on marketing and selling for the next year or so, I'd go with recurring tweets. Which gives you more bang for your buck? (If you were actually paying for it)

All of these and more can be found on our Tumblr blog .

What do you like to read when you browse online? Looking for some new people to follow on Twitter? One of the best ways to find new content is through Triberr , either by using the service yourself or simply connecting with the content on either Twitter or Facebook. Since one of my main goals is to network, both for my benefit and for yours, I present the following people from Twitter (and Triberr).

One of my biggest goals with this site is to connect with the right kind of people, and in case of the Internet, the right kind of blogs. I've been lucky a couple of times, stumbling into someone or a service that has greatly impacted what we do here. I want to share some of those with you, so I am introducing the Mask Awards. I will occasionally highlight blogs that I enjoy reading (even if it's just from time to time) or services that either help me or I imagine would help writers in general. Each time I do this, I will add a link to each of the award recipients at the bottom of the post. The list of links will be linked from one post to another, so it will be easy to check out every one of the blogs or services that I've ever given the award to. But, this isn't just for me. I want to continue to network with new people, new services, new blogs. To do that I need your help. Anyone reading this is welcome to nominate a few blogs or services for this award.

Playing on Cotton Clouds Written by Michela O'Brien Genre: General Fiction, Women's Contemporary Book Synopsis When Arty Livy falls for her sister’s boyfriend, she knows her dreams are unlikely to come true… Sensitive Seth thinks he has hit the jackpot when the girl of his dreams finally looks his way… While laidback Aidan is every girl’s hero. Fast forward twenty-five years as carefree youth turns into adulthood responsibilities, relationships begin and end, music and fashion change, and life moves on with its successes, failures and heartaches. As the friends grow up, they discover life rarely turns out the way you imagined it at fifteen. The rites of passage through years are eerily familiar to every 1980s teenager in this moving, heartfelt novel.

I'm looking for content and lots of it. Despite all the new kinds of blog posts that I've introduced recently, there are still days that I'm low on content. Why all the fuss? You might be asking that very question. After all, in recent history there has been a post from us every day—sometimes two or three a day. Why am I blogging so much?

Amazon Shout Outs Help spread the word about these books and these authors. Take advantage of the various tweet buttons. Genre/Theme : Thriller Authors @Craigt1 @chrisredding @tedparker2012

We're extending an open invitation: if you would like to be a member of our review crew, simply contact us via our contact form which can be accessed from the menu bar above. There's a public waiting list (via the Reviews menu) which will give you an idea of the kinds of books you will have at your finger tips. Q & A with Beth Sorensen How long have you been a book reviewer? According to my mother, since I could talk. I knew at an early age what I did and didn’t like about books and wasn’t afraid to tell anyone who would listen. However, I didn’t start putting reviews in print, or online, until about a year and a half ago.

Title: Small as a Mustard Seed Author : Shelli Johnson Website : Click HERE . Twitter : @Shelli_Johnson Facebook : Click HERE . Goodreads : Click HERE . Synopsis : As a child in 1960's rural Ohio, Ann Marie Adler finds herself caught between her father, Frank, a veteran who survived the war in Korea but with devastating post-traumatic stress, and her mother, Adele, who is blindsided by the mental illness that accompanied him home. In a series of escalating dangerous episodes, Frank confuses reality with soul-searing memories, believing he's still a soldier fighting for his life in battle-torn Korea. During the delusions, Ann Marie and her younger sister, Jolene, become the enemy, which leaves them fearing for their lives. Unable to fully protect her daughters, Adele scrambles to keep order while her husband's threatening and unpredictable outbursts slowly tear the family apart.

These are the first seven donation-sponsored ads being circulated in our Scroller Ad Space (which is just above the post). Have you seen all of these? You haven't? Well, you don't come to the site often enough, do you?

Title: Inside The Curio Case Author : Jill Albright Twitter : @isobelpoe Check out her book here:  The Black Boot History of Elizabeth Williams Elizabeth was a very pretty little girl whose parents wanted to provide all the best for her. As she grew up her parents began to feel that she was too beautiful, too special for the fellows who lived in her small town. They convinced Elizabeth that this was a fact.

Featured Follower: Constance Wallace In her own words: Right now I'm a non-traditional student (yes old) and working towards my PhD in History so I can teach the younguns. I am currently neck deep in a YA Fantasy Series called Legends of Green Isle. Book One is out, Book Two "The Mirror Sliver" will be released this Spring. My area of expertise is in French Revolution, WWI and InterWar Europe, Morroco. I've won a couple of literary awards for a poem and short story. :)

Embattled Written by Darlene Jones Genre: Science Fiction Book Synopsis A seemingly ordinary woman is transformed in to the Miracle Madame, a superhuman entity who travels the globe with the sole purpose of stopping war. The Madame, or Em in casual conversation, is, however, just a pawn in the plans of the Guardians and their deputy, a Drone named Yves. He guides her and protects her while hiding his forbidden love for her making for an engaging adventure story with just a touch of romance.

That's what great about blogging—it's interactive. A reader told me the Amazon Scroller Widget we were using loaded slowly. I noticed that myself, and as soon as someone said something, I was more than willing to make a change.

Name of Book:   Wings Genre:   Historical Fiction Author Name:  Pete Abela Website:  HERE Twitter:  @PeteAbela Facebook:  HERE "Wings" tells the story of Walt and his grandson Scott, who both have a fierce longing to fly albeit in vastly different circumstances. Walt - who grew up in the depression - found out first hand that becoming a pilot takes sacrifice and tenacity. When World War II broke out he pestered the RAF for eighteen months before they finally accepted him. Scott spent his childhood listening to tales of his Grandfather's aerial exploits and developed an intense craving to be a pilot. However, the number of people wanting to be a pilot vastly outweighs the limited opportunities on offer.

All of these and more can be found on our Tumblr blog .

I can only do so much for you. My traffic, though decent for the amount of time spent on this blog, is only so much. However, for a modest fee (donation), I will gladly invite other blogs to participate in your ad run to increase your exposure. I'm charging an additional fee since the blog tour participants get a small piece of the pie. For now, this blog tour option will only be an add on. In the future I may increase the options and opportunities. The two ad services that you will be able to add a blog tour to are the Novel Bits and Upgraded Amazon Shout Outs.

Let me start by saying that this isn't a get rich quick scheme. Let me also clarify that this doesn't involve making a lot of money. However, should you be a good fit, it should be an easy way to make a few bucks. Since our traffic is up, we're opening the floodgates of advertising. We're offering ad space in various areas, Twitter marketing packages, and sponsored posts of two different kinds. The two kinds of posts are Novel Bits and Upgraded Amazon Shout Outs . The option to add a blog tour will be available for both kinds. That's where you come in.

Since we're all about showcasing the Indie author, here's another donation-powered promotion. It's like the big brother to the regular Amazon Shout Outs and the little cousin to Novel Bits. It's a mixture of the two, in other words. The Lowdown Three posts in one week, each one linking to Amazon of course, and you may do what you want with them otherwise. Here are some things you could do with a post:

Amazon Shout Outs Help spread the word about these books and this author. Take advantage of the various tweet buttons. Genre/Theme : Romance Just one author this time. @debdebss

A few months ago when I first started contemplating taking this book review service into the stratosphere by offering more marketing choices, one of the first things I thought of was Twitter Marketing. After all, thanks to Twitter and Triberr, our traffic is what it is today. The problem has been figuring out what to offer and how much that would cost.

Title: Marcie's Murder Author : Michael J. McCann Website : Click HERE and HERE . Twitter : @MichaelJMcCann1 Synopsis : Stuck in a jail cell in a small town in Virginia, Homicide Lieutenant Hank Donaghue is surrounded by cops who are convinced he’s a murderer. Donaghue must find a way to free himself and find Marcie Askew’s killer before it’s too late. When he’s finally allowed to make a phone call he dials the number of the one person he knows can help him out of this mess - Detective Karen Stainer.

The short answer: advertising your book on our site by blogging a portion of it. The medium answer: we'll help you build an audience for your book by regularly posting bits of your novel . A link to purchase your book along with a brief synopsis will be included with each post. Because we are only going to have one such advertiser at a time, there will be a certain level of exclusivity. Think of it as Sample Sunday but extended.

Space will be available on every page, so when you donate/purchase from us, your ad will potentially be seen by every visitor that comes to our site. Our slowest days in the past few weeks have been above 100 unique visitors. Our best days have been above 300, and our average for last week (the last full week) was 253 visitors a day. Of course, most ad space is calculated by page views, not unique visitors. Our page views for last week according to StatCounter were 2,683 which would give us a monthly average well over 10,000 page views. I would love to keep up that number, but we haven't done it on a monthly basis yet. We had a little more than 6,000 page views last month, and we'll see where we land this month. The following prices are based upon us getting around 8,000 page views. I'm going to keep a strict eye on the numbers to make sure you get value for your donation/purchase.

Title: The Incredibly Loud Odyssey Author : A.M. Chenowith Twitter : @AMChenowith Website : Incredibly Loud Writing On the shores of Ithaca, Telemachus cast another stone into the Ionian Sea. Watching it skim, almost daintily, across the top of the rippling waves of foam, the young man sighed aloud.

It's been a while since I've blogged about our short story writing contest. The last time was March 15th when the prompt became public. There's quite a bit to read on the subject, which you can do starting HERE . Some of the information has changed since the original set of posts, and that's the goal of this post: bring everyone up to date.

I've been hinting about this for a while, both by tweet and blog post. Here I will outline a few details about the upcoming donation arrangement. I call it a donation arrangement even though it isn't. Our traffic is up enough that it is time to offer some targeted marketing packages (which will be paid for by PayPal donations). "I don't pay for advertising," you may be saying. But don't stop reading just yet—we will give you a BIG BANG for your buck. And what's more ... all of your donations get funneled back in to fund other Indie projects . I've got some ideas for things I would like to do, but I need a little bit of cash to do them.

Written By Mark Lee To read the first half of this story, click HERE . Over the next several weeks Matthew upped the adrenaline setting each morning to the next level. He couldn't wait to see what he could accomplish at the highest setting. There were certain things that had never made it to his To Do list because he knew when he was being impractical. Now, however, he had to think of extra things to do to fill his time. He was beginning to look forward to all the things he would be able to do now that his days were longer.

Nimpentoad Written by Henry Herz Genre: Children's Fantasy Book Synopsis A charming tale of the courageous and resourceful little Nimpentoad, who leads his tribe of Niblings through the perilous Grunwald Forest, overcoming obstacles and encountering strange creatures along the way. Kids enjoy the adventure and stunning illustrations. Parents appreciate a positive story that emphasizes teamwork, creativity, and leadership.

Featured Follower: World of My Imagination In her own words: I'm a writer who writers about writing! I've never been published, but I'm working on a ten year old novel that I'm hoping it happens for this year!

There have been a lot of changes to the site in the last few months. It started with the upgraded book review list. Thanks, Eric! Our upgraded book review list makes it easy to find one of our book reviews. You can sort by each of the columns. So, if you're looking for one of our 5 star reviews, simply click on Rating (one of the table headings), and the list will sort. It starts with the lower ratings, so you have to click it again to see the 5 stars. Of course, you may want to look at some of our 2 star reviews.

The Great Firewall Written by Michael C. Boxall Genre: Thriller Book Synopsis Daniel Skye, “Orson Welles with a laptop,” is a brilliant, unique, and vastly talented software developer. But he’s also obsessed, and he’s been driven to the verge of bankruptcy by the best idea he’s ever had. The Riding Instructor will be a completely new form of entertainment, an interactive movie/game hybrid to be played on tablet computers. As creditors close in he escapes to Shanghai, where his friend Pierre, a guilt-ridden photojournalist, knows people with money. But Pierre is helping protesters in their life-or-death fight against a ruthless property developer. Desperate to see Pierre’s address book, Daniel helps him send video of an execution over the Great Firewall of Chinese internet surveillance. With his career and his marriage and even his sanity on the line the last thing Daniel needs is distraction from his hunt for funding. But the more he sees of the dirty secrets behind Sh...

All of these and more can be found on our Tumblr blog .

Written By Mark Lee Matthew Freeman didn't like to waste time. Every minute - and sometimes every second - of his day from the moment he woke up in the morning to the very instant he went to bed that evening was scheduled and accounted for. He prided himself on finding the quickest and most efficient ways to get things done. Walking to work even at a brisk pace was too slow for him. He could run to work, take a minute and a half to spruce up in the restroom, and be in his seat ready to work faster than even if he drove. Besides, he didn't trust the unpredictability of city traffic, leaving it to chance when and where a delay such as an accident might occur.

I may be opening a can of worms, so bear with me. My long term goal is to work from home, helping authors in any way that I can, from the very beginning of their writing journey to the very end, including brainstorming, writing, editing, marketing and more. But to do that I need to make money. I could do it as a hobby as I am doing now, but that's not what I want. I don't want to HAVE to work outside the home. I want to get involved in publishing, so hopefully, I'll make a little money from that. With our site traffic up as it is, I might be able to start bringing in the cash a little earlier. I've got lots of ideas of how this might play out, so nothing is set in stone at the moment. Before I reveal any of that in any sort of detail, I'd like to get your opinion on a controversial side of it.

We're extending an open invitation: if you would like to be a member of our review crew, simply contact us via our contact form which can be accessed from the menu bar above. There's a public waiting list (via the Reviews menu) which will give you an idea of the kinds of books you will have at your finger tips. Q & A with Eva Warren How long have you been a book reviewer? Well, I’ve always shared my opinions, welcome or not, with my friends so I guess that means I’ve been reviewing books for a while. Formally, I’ve been reviewing since the beginning of 2012.

Amazon Shout Outs Help spread the word about these books and these authors. Take advantage of the various tweet buttons. Genre/Theme : Romance Authors @nicolamay1 @Sherri_Hayes @aljacksonbooks

Cemetery Street Written by John Zunski Genre: Young Adult Book Synopsis In a world where dreams are possible and nightmares come true, can you romance a memory? James Morrison thinks so. In a snowy cemetery, James reenacts a childhood ritual unleashing an avalanche of memories. Laugh, cry and blush with James as he recounts a late 20th century American life.