Finndragon's Amazing Amazon 10% Giveaway!

Well, after much sweat and too many tears, The Tales of Finndragon - 1500 Years in the Making Blog Tour starts today, Wednesday May 15th. I have gone to great lengths in organising and planning this tour, and I'll be glad when it's over, so I can finally get some sleep. The Legend of Finndragon's Curse, will be on sale at just 99c/77p until the end of May. During the tour, my second book, Return to Finndragon's Den, will be published on May 29th and both books will be released in print.

There will also be a US version of The Legend of Finndragon's Curse available shortly, giving readers in North America the option of reading the new version or the original. I have Scott-Robert Schenkman to thank for 'translating' it for me. He has put in many hours, and if you are thinking of offering different versions of your books, it would be worthwhile talking to Scott.

There will be giveaways of ebooks on most of the participating blogs and I'm running an original and exciting competition. The first prize will be 10% of my 2013 Amazon royalties, with 5 runner-up prizes of signed copies of both my books. There will be 10 questions spread across the blogs I visit, with the answers to be found in one or more of the blogs or in my books.

Details of how to enter will be posted during the tour. So make a note of the questions and your answers.

Please support all the blogs who have been kind enough to host one of my stops. Each and everyone of them have been absolutely brilliant.

Here's the schedule, which is subject to change as there are a couple of blogs yet to confirm dates.

May 2013

Wednesday 15th

Orchard BookClub Guest post - Gwayne's Story

Saturday 18th

TheIntrepid Book Moth Review :The Legend of Finndragon’s Curse

Monday 20th

SecondBook to the Right Review: The Legend of Finndragon’s Curse

Wednesday 22nd

Orchard BookClub Review: The Legend of Finndragon’s Curse

Friday 24th

Rabid Readers Too Review: Return to Finndragon’s Den

Sunday 26th

The Big Nerd of Three Review: Return to Finndragon’s Den

Lily TheNovel Nerd Review: The Legend of Finndragon’s Curse

Monday 27th

SecondBook to the Right Review: Return to Finndragon’s Den

Tuesday 28th

Blood SoakedLips Review: The Legend of Finndragon’s Curse, Character Interview

Wednesday 29th

Aside from writing Indie Author Month

Thursday 30th

Orchard Book Club Review: Return to Finndragon’s Den

June 2013

Saturday 1st

Coffeeand Characters Interview

Wednesday 5th

Orchard BookClub Interview

Saturday 8th

Three Nerds and a Book Club Review: Return to Finndragon’s Den

Tuesday 11th

Thoughts by J ?????

Thursday 13th

Zoe’s Corner Guest post

Thursday 20th

Rai29BookReadNReview Interview

Thursday 27th

Woman on the Edge of Reality Thursday Throng Interview

Friday 28th

Blood Soaked Lips Review: Return to Finndragon’s Den

The first stop is at Orchard Book Club where you can read my guest post, from the point of view of Gwayne. He's a young apprentice wizard and descibes how the Kingdom of Morgannwg became cursed.. 

There will also be the first question of the competition.

I hope the tour will be fun and enjoyable, giving everyone the opportunity to get involved. I'd love to hear from readers, writers and bloggers, and will be available to answer questions throughout, although I can't guarantee an immdeiate response. I've still got to get up for work every day - that's what pays the bills!

As you can see, there are some free dates in June. If you're a book blogger (however large or small) and want to host a stop, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Your Starter For Ten

There's just seven days until my first ever blog tour starts and I'm crapping myself, for want of a more appropriate phrase. I've spent weeks planning and emailing, seeking out hosts and reviewers. I've completed interview questionnaires and written guest posts, and planned what I hope will be an original and successful competition.

Apart from giving ebook copies of The Legend of Finndragon's Curse and Return to Finndragon's Den away on each stop, I have something bigger in mind. I'm going to give 10% of my 2013 Amazon royalties away as a first prize. I don't know if anything like this has been done before, or if it will be tried again, but I've never been afraid of trying something different. There will be a runner-up prize of signed copies of both books.

I want to make this competition interesting and exciting. There will be ten questions, relating to Tales of Finndragon or myself, spread across the blogs I visit. The answers will also be found in the blogs or in my books. To allow time for everyone who wants to enter, the competition will run until the end of November.

Has this been tried before? If you know of any similar competitions, please let me know.

I'll post the full schedule of the Tales of Finndragon - 1500 Years in the Making Blog Tour shortly - watch this space.

Has Beanpole's Team Fallen Victim to Finndragon's Curse?

The Crafanc Chronicle can exclusively reveal that Billy Beanpole and his team have not been seen for a week. The last time we had any communication from Billy, his team had located the Needle's Eye and were closing in on Finndragon's Gate, our reporter Susan Snoop reports.
The only clue appears to be a rope, which can be seen dangling from a cliff.
A police spokesperson stated that a crack team of Crafanc cavers have been brought in to search for the missing team.
"We have spared all expense in bringing in a specialist team of volunteers," said PC Percy Plonker. "We're sure that there is a logical explanation, but we're not ruling out the possibility that the curse has struck again."

There has certainly been some strange goings on in Crafanc y Ddraig recently. Other headlines in the Chronicle this week are:

"Large Black Cat Spotted on Taff Trail Was Just a Badger."

"Unusual, Unexplained Orange Glow Seen Over Old Steelwork Sites."

"The Paraglider Who Claims to Have Been Attacked by Huge Bat-Like Creature, recuperates in Hospital."

Needle's Eye Located

Amid great excitement, the Crafanc Chronicle can today exclusively reveal that Billy Beanpole and his crack team think they've cracked the location of the rock which looks like the eye of a needle. The Chronicle would also like to apologise for any lack of grammar in this post which is being written on a portable communication device.
Beanpole's team only had the following verse, extracted from Richie Earl's fantasy novel The Legend of Finndragon's Curse, to go on.

Ye shaft cast through a needles eye
Touches ye creeping claw of fate
When ye moon is full in ye northern sky
And points to olde Finndragon’s gate

"We scoured the mountains for 6 days without a trace, until Dai Dipstick spotted this tall rock with a hole right through the top of it," Beanpole said excitedly. "He was so excited that he nearly soiled himself!"
Dipstick explained, "It was a stroke of luck, to be honest. If I hadn't had that curry last night, I never would have seen it. I was just looking for a place where I could have a good sh...."
In the interests of good taste, the Chronicle is not able to print the rest of Dipstick's interview.
Beanpole is currently leading his team in search of 'the creeping claw of fate.'

Blog Tour On Track

I can't say that it's been easy, but at last I feel like I'm getting somewhere. The dates for my blog tour are filling up fast and I now have over ten confirmed hosts. Would it have been easier to have a blog tour service manage it for me? You bet, but would that have made the tour more successful? We'll never know, but at least I've been in control.

This week I've been preparing both books for paperback with Lulu. Now I'm no whizzkid when it comes to these matters, but I think I've done okay. Converted .doc to PDF, selected page size, mirrored and set the margins, added page numbers. Then it was time to inset Lulu's ISBN bar code and I just can't do it! Guess I'll have to ask my cover designer, the brilliant Gemma Newey at Dark Phreak Arts for her help again.

Have you published with Lulu? Or is Createspace a better option? I'd love to hear some words of experience.

The Search is on to Find the Cursed Kingdom of Morgannwg

The legend of Finndragon's Curse has long since been believed to be a myth, except by a small group of locals in the town of Crafanc y Ddraig. Recently there has been fresh discussion. First @DerekTheWeather revealed new evidence suggesting #Finndragon never cursed the Kingdom of Morgannwg, claiming that a tsunami had caused the kingdom to sink into the earth 15 hundred years ago.

Derek's claim comes in light of a book written by Richie Earl, who says his information comes from a reliable source. In his book, The Legend of Finndragon's Curse, Earl describes the events which led to the kingdom being swallowed up.

The local newspaper, The Crafanc Chronicle, has today revealed there is a crack team of archeologists being put together at no expense. This super team will investigate the hills and mountains surrounding Crafanc y Ddraig, searching for any evidence that the mighty kingdom ever existed at all. The team is being headed up by ex-collier Billy Beanpole who is very excited to be involved in the project.

"I've been out of work since all the mines closed down," he said in an excited state of excitement. "There's not much call in the valleys for ex-miners these days!"

The Chronicle understands that Beanpole and his team will start their quest on the foothills of the Brecon Beacon National Park. "The first thing we need to find is a rock that looks like the eye of a needle," he said.

Meanwhile, local historian Ivor Egghead scotches the idea and claims that the legend is just that. "If there had been a castle around here, there would be lots of evidence, but none has ever been found," he told one of our reporters. "This project is a complete waste of tax-payers money!"

Egghead, though doesn't think Derek's theory holds up to inspection. "There's no way a tsunami could have caused the kingdom, if it existed, which it didn't, to sink into the earth. We're at least 20 miles from the coast! Derek is out of his depth here, he should stick to forecasting the weather. Actually he always gets that wrong too!"

When asked about Earl's book, Egghead dismissed it as a 'load of old codswallop' saying that it's a 'pure flight of fantasy.'

The Crafanc Chronicle will bring all its excited readers any breaking news as it happens.

SmallTownBoy

Over the past two weeks I've contacted over 70 blogs looking for hosts for my upcoming blog tour promoting the release of my second novel. So far I've had nine responses and I'm sure that there'll be more, but it has taken up an awful lot of my time.

Today I came across a great blog offering free blog tours. I had already sent Forever YA a request, but then found a post on Goodreads. So if you write in this genre and you're planning a tour, make them your first stop. It could save you many hours of your precious time.

Then I came across something that made me sit up. I have spent hours searching twitter, Goodreads and Google for book bloggers, particularly YA to host a leg of my tour. I have lived in a small South Wales valley town all my life. Wales has a population of approximately 3 million and Merthyr Tydfil about 50,000. So almost all of my connections on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter are from other parts of the world.

So to find someone from my home town was quite a surprise. Robin Jones has a story to tell on his blog SmallTownBoy. He tells about his addiction to heavy drugs which very nearly cost him his life and how he has since managed to turn his life around. Now he is trying to write a book about his life and is looking for some practical help and advice.

Merhtyr Tydfil has a rich heritage. It is the home of the railway - Richard Trevethick's steam locomotive made the first ever journey on a track and started 500 yards from where I live. It was at one stage the steel producing capital of the world and an industrial giant. Times change and sadly for Merthyr not always for the better. The town suffers from the same economic and social problems as many other towns across Wales, the UK and probably many other towns and cities across the world.

If Robin's story can help to inspire other young people who find themselves in a similar situation, then it is a story that must be written.

You can follow Robin's story on his blog and follow him on twitter. Let's give this SmallTownBoy some support! It might just save a life.