Author Jen Meyers

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Pre-release Giveaway

Reviews help sell books. Both good and bad ones. (I’ve sometimes bought books based on what was said in bad reviews. Have you?) With the release of Intangible only a week away, I’d like to launch it with as many early reviews as possible.

Therefore I’m offering to give you a free ecopy of the pre-release* version of Intangible in exchange for an honest review posted within the next couple of weeks on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and/or LibraryThing. If you would be kind enough to post it in more than one place, I’d very much appreciate it.

Also? If you get a free ecopy and read it, please tell all your friends about the book. :-)

Here are a few quick Q&A’s about it.

Q: How do I get a free  pre-release ecopy?

A: Email me at j (at) jmeyersbooks (dot) com and tell me what format you’d like it in: mobi (for Kindle), epub (for Nook and everything else), or pdf.

Q: What if I don’t have an e-reader?

A: You don’t need one to be able to read the book. You can download a free Kindle app from Amazon or a free Nook app from Barnes & Noble to be able to read the book right on your computer, smartphone, or ipad.  Nifty, huh?

Q: When will I get my free ecopy?

I will send you the book by the end of the week.

Q: How quickly do you want me to review it?

Please read it as soon as you can and post a review within a week or so of Intangible’s release—the sooner the better! (Please note: there will be no listing for Intangible on Amazon or Barnes & Noble until the book is released on January 31, so there’s no way to leave a review before the release date. Intangible is listed on both Goodreads and LibraryThing, so you could leave a review on those sites anytime.)

Q: I’ve never written a review before. What if I don’t know how?

If you’re nervous about writing a review, don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just write a couple of lines about how you felt about the book, what you liked or—gasp!—didn’t like. Be honest. Your review will help other readers decide whether they’re likely to enjoy the book. It will help to get Intangible into the right hands.

Q: What is Intangible about?

A: Twins Sera and Luke Raine have a well-kept secret—she heals with a touch of her hand, he sees the future. All their lives they’ve helped those in need on the sly. They’ve always thought of their abilities as being a gift.

Then Luke has a vision that Sera is killed. That gift they’ve always cherished begins to feel an awful lot like a curse. Because the thing about Luke’s ability? He’s always right. And he can’t do anything about it.

Q: When can I get a paper copy?

A: February. I don’t have a date yet, but I’ll post it everywhere as soon as the paper version is available.

 

Happy Monday! I’m off to work on finishing touches . . .

 

*Please note: As INTANGIBLE has been released as of 1/31/12, the free pre-release ecopy is no longer available. Thanks!

By jen | January 23, 2012 | Blog |

Release date and Intangible teaser #5

We have a release date: Tuesday, January 31! I can hardly believe that’s only a week and a half away. Can you?

To celebrate, I thought it would be nice to put up another teaser, since I haven’t shared one for a few weeks.

“You have visions, too?” He turned to face her, surprise splashed all over his face.

“No. Nothing like that.” She thought for a moment. “Not like a ‘vision’ vision. It’s just an image I thought of or that came to me. It’s not like a vision of the future or anything.” She looked him in the eye. “I don’t have visions.” She glanced back over at the dark figure. “You do.”

 

Hope you have a great weekend!

 

By jen | January 20, 2012 | Blog |

A fleur de lis to fall in love with

So, I told you I have bookmarks to show you, and I do. But I’m not going to show you today.  :-) Instead, I wanted to show you a symbol that is used in the book that I’m very excited about. It’s a fleur de lis that I’ve planned to use from the very beginning of writing this story, and I originally wanted to use it for the cover design. But when I started designing the cover, I didn’t know how to get it on there.

So I kind of gave up on using it anywhere. I figured I’d need to get someone else to draw it on a computer, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to afford it. (I totally blanked on the fact that I have a good friend who does that sort of thing. *face-palm*)

But just recently I decided to give it a try myself because I was thinking it would look really nice to have it up on the website (see it up there in the banner?). Also, a few months ago I came across a stockpile of temporary tattoos that I’d lucked into about twenty years ago. My kids were thrilled when I pulled them out, and they’ve been covering their bodies with them on a weekly basis ever since. I realized as we were pawing through them that the fleur de lis that gets drawn on Sera, Luke, and Fey would be perfect as a temporary tattoo.

And it would make a great giveaway for when the book comes out.

So I did some drawing last week (I do that from time to time), photographed it and opened it up in my photo editing program and started cleaning it up. I think it’s come out pretty cool.

I’m not a big fan of the fleur de lis symbol in general. I mean, it’s okay, but nothing that I find particularly interesting. But it carries special meaning for my characters and when I came across a design similar to this, I just fell in love.

Also, since I’ve figured out how to get it digital, I decided I would put it inside the book, too!  It’s going to appear on the title page (I think) and at the start of each chapter. I can’t wait to get the book back from my proofreader just so I can start formatting it, slip this into the chapter heads, and then see how lovely it looks on my Kindle. :-) (Really. It’s the little things that get me so excited.)

So I’m now trying to put the finishing touches on it, and figure out how many temporary tattoos to order. (Which, of course, I have no idea about.)

Hope you’re having a great week, everyone!

By jen | January 18, 2012 | Blog |

Britain’s Biggest Comedian

Is it just me or is Ricky Gervais one of the funniest people on the planet? Did you see his opening monologue last night at the Golden Globes? No? Well, then here:

 

 

I’m no fan of award shows (it’s nothing personal, Golden Globes—I don’t like any of them, they’re just not that interesting) but we’d heard Ricky had been a bit controversial last year as host, and so naturally we were itching to see him in action, so Steve looked it up online last night as the show was on. And I have to say that we were richly rewarded for our efforts.

You know what I think I love most? (Other than his biting humor, of course.) The nervous laughter and sometimes uncomfortable smiles of the audience. That just makes it funnier somehow.

Speaking of last year’s Golden Globes, Ricky went on Conan afterwards and told him about a joke he was not allowed to tell. Oh, it’s very bad, incredibly inappropriate, and unbelievably offensive.

 

 

Seriously. I think I love him.

Hope your week is starting off with lots of laughs!

 

By jen | January 16, 2012 | Blog |

Oh my.

I’ve been working on changing this site all day long. As in for the last 12 hours. I have a very strong appreciation now for people who design websites. (Of course, I’m sure it doesn’t take them nearly as long as it’s taken me. There was a LOT of trial and error, I can tell you. More error than anything else. *sigh*) But I’m mostly happy with what I have at the moment. (That’s no guarantee that it won’t change over the next few weeks. Because that’s just the way I am.)

But for the moment a few more tweaks is all I’m going to commit to.

Warmly,

j.

 

By jen | January 14, 2012 | Blog |

On the Move

My official website is going to be down in the next day or so in order for me to switch webhosts. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  If you are trying to get on the mailing list, you can either wait until I have the site up and running again or you can shoot me an email at j (at) jmeyersbooks (dot) com and I’ll add in your address myself. I’ll send you an email to confirm I’ve done it, so if you don’t hear back from me, please check in. (It’s possible I may lose an email or two with the switch over. I have no idea.)

This blog will be unaffected for the time being. Once my new site is up and running, I’ll transfer this blog over to it. But for now, I’ll be right here.

Hope you have a great weekend.

 

By jen | January 13, 2012 | Blog, Uncategorized |

Things Done and Things to Do

I’m done! I finished the book last night and sent it off to my proofreader at 12:06 am. Then I spent the next hour vacillating between panic and exhilaration. Just a preview as to what I’ll feel like when the book is up for sale, I’m sure. :-) But I have to say that I’m beyond thrilled with the book, and have so many people to thank for that. While my proofreader combs the manuscript for typos, I will be working on my acknowledgements page. It’s truly been a team effort.

So, I say I’m done, but there are still a few things to do before you all get to see the book. (Like the proofing, of course. And there are little things like formatting it once I get it back, so it looks all pretty and is easy to navigate on an e-reader.) So the release is set for the end of January for the ebook, with the paper version to follow as soon as possible in February.  When we’re closer I’ll give you an actual date, if I can.

Over the next couple of weeks my website is going to get an overhaul and I’m going to move my blog over to the site itself, rather than keep it here on WordPress. I’m looking forward to having a more seamless feel to my site and blog, and to having everything in one place. It should make upkeep a lot easier.

Also, I have had bookmarks made and will be showing them to you soon. They’re beautiful! I’ll be doing giveaways of bookmarks as well as the books in the coming weeks. And I’m seriously considering getting temporary tattoos made of a symbol used in the book because it’s just so right for the book. And it would be way too much fun to have and give away. Once I have finalized the design of that symbol, I’ll show it to you. (I’m a little bit excited about it!)

On a last note, my brother had surgery today that didn’t go as well as planned. He had a tumor on his spinal column that was causing a lot of pain and making it hard for him to walk, and the surgeons were unable to remove the whole thing. As you can imagine, this is not great news, but we are hopeful that what they were able to remove enough to offer relief. So if you’d send good thoughts his way, I know he’d appreciate it.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay healthy.

By jen | January 12, 2012 | Blog, book news, Intangible |

A Big Thank You

Bit by bit readers have been leaving reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes. If you happen to be one of them, then I wanted to tell you how very much I appreciate you taking the time to tell others what you thought, regardless of whether you liked it. Thank you for the reviews!

Also, Cate Dean wrote an absolutely lovely review of Intuition on her blog. I’m still smiling about it four days later.

A crazy side effect of these reviews is that I’m feeling nervous about the release of Intangible—not because people are not liking Intuition, but because they are liking it so much and are anxious to read Intangible. That’s amazing. And thrilling. And absolutely terrifying to me. (I have no doubt that on release day at the end of the month, I’m going to be giddy and panicked simultaneously, hoping desperately that Intangible lives up to people’s expectations and petrified that it won’t.) (I should probably start stocking up on chocolate right now.)

But I am excited about letting Intangible go out into the world, and I do hope you will like it. Thank you again for the reviews you’ve written, and thank you if you’ve told anyone about it. (Now, back to work with me. A bit more polishing to do, you know.)

Have a great day, everyone!

 

By jen | January 9, 2012 | Blog, book news, Intangible |

You had me at Portlandia

This last week I followed a couple of links to read this blog post and then this one (or, actually, I may have read them in reverse, and then had to go get the back story, because, you know, I like to be well informed).

And it all led me to Portlandia. Have you heard of Portlandia? Have you seen it? You should. You totally should.

I’ve mentioned before that we don’t have tv, and I like not having tv . . . but this show . . . Oh my, if I couldn’t catch it online . . . Portlandia, you could woo me back. I just love your wackiness.

Portlandia, you’ve totally won my heart.

Thanks to the Bloggess for spreading the Portlandia love.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

By jen | January 6, 2012 | Blog, TV |

The Problem with e-Readers

I bought a Kindle over the summer. Its purpose was two-fold: I wanted to read (and recommend) other indie books and the most cost effective way to do that is on an e-reader (sometimes it’s the only way to do that) AND I wanted to see what my book looked like on it to make sure the formatting was perfect. Bright idea, yes? I certainly think so. And, honestly, it has been a great tool for figuring out how I want to format my book as well as being able to test it to be sure I get it right.

But I’ve stumbled upon a *slight* problem.

I keep buying books. (Don’t tell Steve.)

And my digital to-be-read pile keeps growing. (Just like my paper book tbr pile, which I keep well stocked thanks to our local library book sale every spring and fall.)  Because the thing about a lot of e-books is that they aren’t very expensive. (Oh sure, there are plenty of $10+ e-books, but I don’t buy those. If I’m going to spend that much I’d rather have it in paper.) And Amazon regularly runs specials on books so you can often get them at really amazing bargain prices.

So I thought I’d list a few of the titles I’m very much looking forward to reading when I send Intangible to my proofreader in another week or so.

Oh! But first. Over the holiday I took some time to read one of my recent e-book purchases and wanted to tell you how much I loved it: A Modern Witch by Debora Geary. Really good, well-written story, combining traditional witchery with modern technology. A very original idea, and very well done. Book one of a trilogy. I highly recommend it. (And it’s on sale right now as a part of an Amazon promotion, so get it soon!)

So, just for fun here’s a small smattering of what I’m looking forward to reading soon, in a mishmash of genres:

Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman
I previewed just a few lines of this and instantly knew I had to read it. The writing is sparse and compelling. I cannot wait to read this book. It may be the first one I click on when I finally have the time. Very excited about this one!

The Detachment by Barry Eisler
I’ve heard great things about it and am looking forward to finally reading an Eisler novel.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
A really great review inspired me to buy this book. Can’t wait!

Alice in Deadland by Mainak Dhar
Heard really good things about this author. Vampires as part of a Alice in Wonderland inspired tale. Need I say more?

Portal by Imogen Rose
Another writer I’ve heard good things things about and I’m anxious to read this.

Meets Girl by Will Entrekin
Just go read the description of this and then preview the beginning of it. I fell in love on the first line and am so looking forward to reading this book.

Those are just a few of the gems I have awaiting me. I’ll be sure to let you know about the ones that I loved. What about you? What are you reading or looking forward to read? What’s in your tbr pile?

Have a great day, everyone!

By jen | January 3, 2012 | Blog, books |