5 good bets punting on #BYNR

For many of us, books are staple commodities, not luxuries.

I have invented a book race to see which of my five Bent Banana Books April Specials sells the most.

I am calling the race the Grand Notional Staplechase. I am against horses jumping over obstacles but new books have to do it all the time.

I will list the form of the five horses/ books as they appear in the official race-guide, http://bentbananabooks.com/

The race finishes April 30.

1.        

Well-bred by Bernie Dowling out of Pop Culture.

Runs a funny race with short sprints and seems to always want to chase Rock Music, Aussie Slang and Crime.

Had only two starts before review judges and scored first (5-stars) both times.

Lack of experience may hinder.

Discount cost $1.99

Odds 7-1

In the stables of Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google Kobo and others: Amazon stable http://geni.us/3mZH

2.        

Novel on aging, a horse some punters don’t like to look at.

By newcomer Christina Debi.

Runs on lines of comedy and drama.

Mixed performances in reviews, because of the topic???

Definitely a winner in the right race.

Discount cost $2.99

Odds 6-1

In the stables of Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google Kobo and others: Amazon stable http://geni.us/2QX5

3.

First horse to race from the Vision stable.

By Jane Sharp

Five short sprints in each race

Stablemate to the more fancied Vision Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations.

Excellent in reviews with 11 starts for 4.7* average.

Note recent stable change when moved exclusively to Amazon to make it free to punters of Kindle Unlimited.

Bit of a smokey if it attracts KU support.

Discount cost $1.99

Odds 5-1

Amazon stable only http://geni.us/3y7d

4.

Regular visitor to World’s Top 100 Psychic Suspense.

By Jane Sharp

20 short sprints make it a value runner

Marginally behind its stablemate in review stakes with 12 starts for 4.2* average

Short priced favorite.

Discount cost $2.99

Odds 1-2

In the stables of Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google Kobo and others: Amazon stable http://geni.us/1l36

5.

Cult favorite over many years

By Bernie Dowling out of Pop Culture, sibling to another runner.

Runs a funny race over a true course with darts down sidetracks.

Suited to Australian tracks so international punters, prepare for a wild ride.

Could take off at any stage.

Discount cost $2.99

Odds 3-1

In the stables of Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google Kobo and others: Amazon stable http://geni.us/3LXG

And they’re OFF.

Support your faves from the above field and follow their fortunes in the Grand Notional Staplechase.

Here is our song

Holy Bookmark Quest: Last Day of Reckoning

Author Jane Sharp challenges Stephen King

Noo Yawk is a city overlooking the mountain Popular Literary Olympus where Dean Koontz, Heather Graham and Stephen King live although they arrived on the mount from other parts of Americus.

The Literary Liberators, author Jane Sharp and her fans, are flying a gilded carriage in a circle around Popular Literary Olympus where Dean Koontz, Heather Graham and Stephen King live. The freedom fighters want to land on the mountain to farewell Jane so she can live there as an immortal. But Jane needs to find the Holy Bookmark Kindle Top 10 in Suspense/Psychics because it is the key to the portal into Popular Literary Olympus where Dean Koontz, Heather Graham and Stephen King live.

Holy Bookmark, Day 9: Forces of Niceness Gather

 Mr King is horrified Jane Sharp might fail in  her Quest 

to join him on the Heights of Popular Literature.

HERO of the written word, Jane Sharp, the Gran who would be King, is united with her fans.

The liberators fly in a gilded carriage through the sky of Kindle Kingdom towards the mountain Popular Literary Olympus where Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Heather Graham live. 

Six giant pterodactyls draw the carriage at full speed. But Kindle Kingdom is so large the party has been flying for two days ever since Jane landed on the mainland at eBay. OUR HERO had been exiled in the Island of Lowrankland but escaped by riding her Magic Bent Banana as if it were a canoe.

Quest Day 7 Hero Jane rises again

The Gutenbook Library emits signals to guide Questies

The story so far:

The Big 5 Giants of the Land of Publishing in Kindle Kingdom have banished their competitor and OUR HERO Jane Sharp to the island of Lowrankland.

The Sacred Script Vision: Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations http://geni.us/1l36 has challenged the power of the Big 5 and is being smuggled across Kindle Kingdom. Followers of Hero of the Written Word, Jane Sharp, the Gran who would be King, are gathered on the mainland waiting for their favorite author to cross the sea.

Jane spent the whole 6^th Day of her Quest for the Holy Bookmark, Top 10 Suspense/Psychics devising a way to reach her supporters.

NOW READ ON:

Holy Bookmark Quest Day 5: Disciples & Detractors

Standard reading on the Island of Lowrankland

The story so far:

The Sacred Script Vision: Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations http://geni.us/1l36 is being smuggled through Kindle Kingdom. Followers of Hero of the Written Word, Jane Sharp,  the Gran who would be King, are carrying the 20 psychic parables throughout the land and sea, hidden in their tunics. The followers have the tunics, not the land and sea though landlines can carry electronic books and many people read in seabed.

The books have to hidden. The Big 5 Giants of the Land of Publishing demand their Gatekeepers approve every book before the subjects of Kindle Kingdom are allowed to read it. They will not approve the Sacred Script which has to be widely read as part of OUR HERO's Quest for the Holy Bookmark, Kindle Top 10 Suspense/Psychics.

Jane is exiled by the Big 5 to the Island of Lowrankland where the Muse Urania is holidaying. The Muse has concocted an elaborate plan in which Count Down Deal will sell copies of 5 of Jane’s stories Vision the Reluctant Psychic http://geni.us/3y7d as bait to have the subjects of Kindle Kingdom crying out for more.

Jane wonders if the complicated plan is a ruse and the Muse Urania does not have OUR HERO’s interest at heart. NOW READ ON:

Quest for the Holy Bookmark Day 4: Message in a Big Bottle

HERO of the written word, Jane Sharp, the Gran who would be King, is banished to the Island of Lowrankland.

The story so far

Jane tried to convince the literate people of Kindle Kingdom to scorn the hegemony of the Big 5 Giants of the Land of Publishing.

Jane Sharp’s epic Quest for the Holy Bookmark is to climb to the top of Popular Literary Olympus where Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Heather Graham live. Follow Jane’s journey HERE

The Muse Urania appears to Jane on the Island of Lowrankland. She hands Jane a compass.

Urania tells OUR HERO to put 5 of her psychic parables in a Sacred Text called Vision the Reluctant Psychic http://geni.us/3y7d

“Put the manuscript in a Big Bottle and push it towards the Land of Americus,” the Muse says. “I will do the rest by the power of the stars.”

This was on Day 3 of the Quest.

Now read on . . .

Quest for the Holy Bookmark: Day 3

JANE Sharp’s epic quest to climb Literary Olympus, where Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Heather Graham live, is in Day 3

The Muses held Jane’s quivering hand as she wrote with a quiver the Sacred Script Vision: Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations. http://geni.us/1l36

But the people of Kindle Kingdom have failed to fall in love with Vision Complete as the Muses predicted they would.

On Day 3 Jane looks squarely at the camera and admits the Forces of Weevil look impossible to defeat. Follow Jane’s journey HERE

On Day 3, Jane’s name had been scratched from the Sacred List of Kindle Kingdom Top 100 in Psychics Suspense.

Our Hero Jane, is on the Quest for the Holy Bookmark, Top 10 in Psychics.

HUGE HACHETTE

The gremlin Grouchy has given Jane the Magic Bent Banana to protect her against the Big 5 in the Land of Publishing. The banana has proven no match for the arsenal of the Big 5 which includes the Huge Hachette (note: check spelling)

Jane has been exiled to Lowrankland where she is trying to organize a select group of warriors for another assault on Kindle Kingdom Top 100.

Follow Jane’s journey HERE

On the island of Lowrankland Jane discovers an ancient tome Vision: the Reluctant Psychic, written by her ancestor.

Jane places the book in a large sealed bottle which she puts to sea and pushes towards Kindle Kingdom.

Jane’s plan is for people of Kindle Kingdom to fall in love with Vision the Reluctant Psychic and in gratitude present Jane with the Holy Bookmark in exchange for her new Sacred Script Vision: Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations.

Vision the Reluctant Psychic is on a Kindle Countdown Deal at .99c/.99p until Friday, (February 13, U.S. time) for Amazon subscribers in the U.S. and UK. BUY  

Also on Lowrankland, Jane discovers, You, O Wise Reader, and you volunteer to be Jane’s Mentor, offering advice on how to climb higher and predictions of what glory Jane can attain.

We are giving away an eBook to each of the three readers who guess closest to the highest position Jane will reach before the end of the day February 15.

As we have bombed out of the Top 100, Jane’s highest position so far is 50. You can guess that if you like. Or you can accompany us on our quest and aim for the sky.

Add your guess as a comment.

Follow Jane’s journey HERE 

Our song

5 steps on Jane’s Quest for the Holy Bookmark

Everyone loves Jane's book 

Vision: Complete Jane Sharp Psychic Investigations

but they do not all know it yet

JANE Sharp’s epic quest to climb Literary Olympus where Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Heather Graham live, is in Day 2. Or it could be Day 3 in other parts of the world. These Herculean tales are the stuff of legend and hence are not always precise.

Follow Jane’s journey HERE 

If you are new to The Tale of Vision: Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations , you can catch up by reading my introductory blog.

Otherwise I have a bit of a story board here.

1.       The Hero

Jane Sharp is the Gran who would be King. The Muses have helped Jane write The Tale of Vision: Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations. HERE  

Tables are turned

WE all know what the expression "the tables are turned" means. It  says roles are  reversed. But why isn't it "the table is turned".
       I can think about stuff like this intermittently over a week or a month. I usually give up after a year if I have not figured it out.
       Anyway the table is turned here because I an giving an interview rather than taking one.

Book Launch and Oz Day Bargain

'

Iced VoVos & Roses: Christina Debi

Guest post 

by Christina  Debi, author of When Life Walks on Bare Soles.

                                                                                                                                                            

The eBook is available at all outlets reduced from $6.99 to $2.99 for a limited time only. 

Available in eBook from AMAZON GOOGLE PLAY APPLE STORE KOBO 

BARNES & NOBLE INKTERA

Available in print from AMAZON BOOKTOPIA FISHPOND

                                                                                                                                                               

IT’S not every day you get to do your debut (of my novel When Life Walks On Bare Soles) Book Launch on Australia Day weekend. I must be one of the luckiest authors in Australia.

Have a go at Aussie Day giveaway

I'M taking part in the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by Book'd Out.

If you have not been there yet, go to Book'd Out for the list of all the sites giving away wonderful books.

From me you can win one of two print copies of my Aussie-steeped noir novel Iraqi Icicle or one of two copies or my non-fiction collection of funny anecdotes 7 Shouts.

Enter by leaving a comment on this post or email me. I will not be using your email address for any other purpose. If you want to join my book review panel or receive more information about BBB, you will need to tell me.

Whatever you do  please say whether you would like to win a print or eBook and which title. Two books will be for Aussie residents and two to readers from other countries.

Learn more about Iraqi Icicle and 7 Shouts You can also check out some of my past blogs for info on #BBBooks.

Good luck! Go back to Book'd Out to keep hopping.

Before you go, here is our song.

Coincidence or fate: You decide

http://amzn.to/1GbfAgg 

http://bitly.com/1C9DWox 

AS the publishing guru at the helm of Bent Banana Books, I decided I would do a promotion for Jane Sharp’s first book, Vision  the Reluctant Psychic, of her ghost-mystery series   .

I decided I would do the promo with Kindle Book Review because they seemed good value and Vision  the Reluctant Psychic is exclusive to Kindle.

But the thing was to have another hook in addition to it being available for free to Kindle Unlimited and Prime subscribers.

I did not want to do a price discount as I am tired of small presses and indie author promoting around price while the major publishers merrily sell heaps of eBooks at $15 and upwards.)

Anyway, I told author Jane Sharp I had booked a promo for January 16 and she replied that it was her birthday.

And so it goes that I have hidden a message inside today’s promo at https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/

Pretty clever, eh? Please ask all your friends to see if they can find the message.

Do you reckon my alt to price-based marketing has any legs? Will it garner sales?

Give us your opinion and other suggestions on non-fiscal promos I might try.

I will keep you informed of the results.

Cheers

Bernie

When we sell heaps of copies of Jane’s books 
Vision:  the Reluctant Psychic (http://amzn.to/1GbfAgg) and Vision: the Complete Trudy Harper Psychic Investigations (http://bitly.com/1C9DWox ),

I will spend all of my money on bubbles, Bimmers and bling and I will have discovered the meaning of life.

Encourage Christina

EVERYONE needs encouragement along the path to accomplishment.

     Christina Debi is a debut author from the Australian seaside suburb of Redcliffe.

     Christina’s novel When Life Walks on Bare Soles is a realistic comedy drama.

Central character Maria has turned 55.

Book in the New Year

READERS around the world buy more books in January than any other month.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are the easily the two biggest book buying days of the year.

But January beats December on monthly sales.

Why so? Well, the predominant theory from those who theorize about such things is you, the reader, give indies and small publishers a go in January.

People with new Kindles or other eReaders in their hands on Christmas Day or Boxing Day are not inclined to take chances so they choose best-selling authors. By January they are more likely to flirt with a tempting book by a writer previously unknown to them.

But how do readers choose indie books or small publishers? How do they even find the good ones among the three million books Amazon alone stocks?

Good question and I do not know. How do you do it? 
(You might need to be a Google+ member to comment below. I am not sure but sometimes I can be a hard marker and I may have whimsically made that stipulation. Anyway, you can see my email link right of this blog so there is little excuse not to continue the conversation, admittedly one-sided ATM.)

I received a good review for my neo-noir novel Iraqi Icicle in Publisher’s Weekly which resulted in few sales. I received another good review in our State newspaper and a fellow author said that must have provided a sales boost. Nope. 
Professional reviews do not seem to cut it anymore.  Print media supplies book reviews less frequently than they used to. The reviews are shorter and harder to find.

I suspect the 80-20 rule applies to book buying as it does in many situations: About 20% of readers buy 80% of books, that is what I believe.

If you are a 20 percenter or know of one, please alert them to the books on my website. See if any tickle their fancy. Ask them to take a little time to read the reviews on Amazon. There are not a stack of them but they are authentic and should ring true to the reader. 

Tell me how you find books you wish to read.

Here is my Publisher’s Weekly review in case it might spark you into investigating my novel Iraqi Icicle.

PW Review 

AND here are all the wonderful books you can buy from #BBBooks retailers in January. Oh, and please pass on this post to other 20 percenters. I am sure they are lovely people unlike those nasty 1-percenters. No I am not talking about Hell's Angels.

Bent Books

OUR song is associated with a true story in the novel, Iraqi Icicle, which is set in Brisbane Australia, BTW, despite references to international cultures and conflicts.

The U.S. invaded Panama on December 20, 1989, to arrest that country’s president Manuel Noriega for drug and arms smuggling.

Noriega took refuge in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City. 

Armed Forces Radio launched a rock music attack of soldiers' requests on the Embassy. It is not quite as straight-forward as that and you will need to read the novel for the full story, or my version of it.

Noriega had been in the pay of the CIA for many years before he became a designated bad guy. One U.S. soldier certainly knew this because here’s his request for a war blast at the Vatican.

Buy 99 cent sample

Jane Sharp’s 20 psychic mysteries in the Vision series are available in a 312-page paperback, an eBook or as a reduced-price bundle of the two.

Readers can buy the series through the four eBooks in which it first appeared.