A Heart Breaking Tale That is A Must Read. June Spears Featured Author of the Month

 Heart breaking is the only way to describe the book that is being featured today. With that said I want to commend Ms. Spears for her courage and honesty.

 June Spears

My Hero Is My Monster

  I stood in the tenth story window, my eyes bloodshot and tears flowing. The monster in my bedroom had tormented me day and night for the past ten years. The police placed him in handcuffs while he stared up at me with hatred and sinister grin. I knew him too well. I knew what kind of cruelty he was capable of. Knowing that his memory would haunt me for the rest of my life, the only way I could get him out of my mind was to end my life right here, right now. My mother screamed at me from below that she would never forgive me for what I had done. I had broken her delusion of a happy home. Rage and resentment swelled my body and soul. She was my mother. Wasn’t she supposed to love me, protect me, from monsters like him? I could not understand why, why she let him hurt me, why she sat back and did nothing? I bowed my head in shame as the neighbors stared through their windows and gossiped to themselves. A crowd had formed and people were stopping and pulling over to the side of the road, watching with utter disbelief. I could not face seeing anyone ever again. Not with them knowing the truth. What would they think of me? I will be the talk of this small town forever. My hands were sweaty and my knees became weak beneath me.My heart raced so face it felt like it would explode inside of me. Before I could convince myself to turn around, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, spreading my arms out wide as if to fly I turned and fell backward off the window sill.

Bio

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, June E Spears had spent her early years writing mostly poems and school songs. However, she could not escape the allure of storytelling and quickly began studying to become a novelist. She began by reading every chance she had. Mostly Fantasy and Romance novels, June's love of writing was uncontrollable. Once she began typing, she never stopped.

June is best known for her Fantasy Novelette Series "The Blood Moon Chronicles". She is a single mother to her only daughter Isabella Rose.

Economic Collapse? What about the Future of Ebooks?

 by Damien Darby

The latest deluge of economic data has swept through and it doesn’t look good - how will this affect the future of ebooks? Austerity measures are creeping over the modern western world, and yet Spain is the next runner-up in sovereign nations on the edge of default. Europeans have been consuming ebooks and their corresponding technologies voraciously, and their employment struggles are as intense as ours here in the states, if not worse. On the other hand, huge new markets are set to open in the near future. One example is the Kindle’s debut in China set for next year. Another is the up and coming consumers of India and Australia.

I bet right now in some deep dark nerd dungeon, there are a lucky few engineering 21st century translation software tailored for ebooks that are destined to be the billionaires of the next decade. Something palpable and malleable that will be used by online distributors from Bangkok to Boston.   

Many ebook authors find themselves wondering what the future of ebooks looks like given the mainstream media’s harping on ever more dangerous fiscal realities. Many of us ebook authors in the trenches have seen our sales dip after the last holiday season and rightly so. Since then too much about most people’s money has become unstable, unsure, and unpredictable. Big name titles are still making it to Hollywood, and recently guests on popular talk shows are there to promote their “ebook” finally, but what can the average author expect?

What the Future of Ebooks Will Bring

• The unflinching domination of print books by their digital counterparts will stay the course, unless for some reason we go back to the Stone Age.
• Handheld technology and eReaders will be distributed and used by a third of the human population within the next decade.
• Quality control is going to begin hammering down, putting more pressure on aspiring ebook authors to polish their work in order to compete.
• Readers will form increasingly powerful niche groups online that most likely promise more sales than traditional social networking today. Sorry Facebook and Twitter.

Time to Take Stock

A fair amount of authors today got in the digital gold rush of ebooks around the middle of last year. Like a herd, discouraged workers, college students, and the unemployed sought to be the next big thing to hit the digital scene, and make a killing. However, the recession has worsened, and some of the hype didn’t pan out. Perhaps now is a good time, in light of the future of ebooks, to sit back and take stock of what you’ve done. Furthermore, what you can do to ensure a higher degree of success in the near future.

• Get your works edited/proofread as soon as possible. Filling the shelves is great, and needs to be done, but make sure that the products can compete.
• Go over the small details and make sure everything is as it should be. One big example is categories. Too many authors skim the small stuff thinking it doesn’t matter. Tip: Get your books out of any “general” category, and put them in something more refined.
• If things are squared away, do some digging and see if there isn’t another new ebook distributor looking for titles. Do your research, but sticking to the Big Six isn’t practical anymore.

Discouragement is really Encouragement

I myself have published 14 ebooks, and I’m not quite at the point of a smashing success yet. I wholeheartedly, from balls to bones, believe in the future of ebooks. It’s been a rough road. The countless hours writing, formatting, and self-editing/re-reading made my shoulders and elbows ache, my lower back throb, and my eyes sore. However, the outlook is bright, as long as we consider our ebooks as what they are: long term investments not short order satisfaction.

3 Easy Things You Could Write for $$$

If you would like to see some quick sales, I advise people in my sphere to compose shorter articles between 4k-10k words long. They are less time consuming in terms of the editing and formatting departments, and the quick reads seem to be really popular right now. The last one I did was a mini biography in the owner of SpaceX, Elon Musk. Here’s five good ideas from me to you.

• Do an article on how a family could construct and maintain a small herb garden say, on the deck of a one or two bedroom apartment.
• Write one that in some aspect will appeal to the large swaths of “renters” that have taken over the depressed American real-estate market.
• With the end date of Dec 21st 2012 just around the corner, a “prepper” article would be a good shot. Give it a fascinating twist.
• A short zombie story that has to do with the “bath salts” drug would probably get some good hits. Be Quick!
• Figure out something you would love to learn, something small, simple, and then teach someone how to do it in 5k words.

Here’s to the future of ebooks, Cheers!

Damien Darby

Flaminget's Top Choice Award Winner, Rebecca Weinstein

Today  Rebecca Weinstein author of the Redstone series takes the front page. With multiple awards and five star reviews under her belt, you're sure to find a great story with Rebecca!

Noshoga

Winner of ePublishing Consortium Writers Award of Merit
                        AND
Flamingnet's Top Choice Award!

Nashoga, the alpha of the Redstone Pack, has been run off. While in exile, Nashoga meets Buck, an elk with an attitude, and the two are thrust into a dire situation. Will the two be at each others' throats or will they learn to work together to defeat this new threat? Will Nashoga reunite with his pack and his love? Only time will tell in this story of power struggles, love and friendship.

The series continues with Blood Moon (Redstone Series)

Yokai 

An Amazon Exclusive 

Free Promo 6/11/2012

 Sixteen-year-old Kit Maguire has never met her mother, made lasting friendships, or had a permanent home, and she's always known that she was a little different from others. When Kit and her father move to Kyoto, Japan, her father insists that this time will be better, but Kit is reluctant to give it a try. The kids in Kyoto seem to be the same as everywhere else: judging her for her looks before they get to know her. She figures it's just one more short stop that she won't make friends, so why bother?

With the appearance of her thought-to-be-dead mother, Kit yearns to find out more about her mom, their family, and why she has the ability to conjure green fire. When a girl named Yoriko insists on becoming friends and two of the hottest guys in school vie for her attention, things get complicated. Kit learns just who she is and what she's capable of, but with that knowledge comes the realization that she may never be able to have a relationship with Riku; as their clans are bitter enemies. Kit hopes that their love will bring the clans together and that she'll get everything she's ever wanted: family, friends, and a place to call home.

 

Bio

Rebecca Weinstein lives in central New Jersey with her husband, daughter and two pesky rabbits, Cream and Double Stuf. When she isn't writing, she can be found painting, cooking, or at her day job: teacher, moderator, and coach.