Musa Publishing Anniversary

Celebrate with Musa Publishing on its first anniversary--Visit the websites of its authors, register to win books and other prizes, and maybe even win a Kindle Fire!

 

One year ago Musa Publishing began operations, offering novels and short stories in electronic format. It held a promising outlook in a less than certain industry, starting small yet dynamic, with an uncompromising goal of getting good stories into the hands of readers at fair prices. They have since gone on to include dozens of authors and hundreds of works, even expanding into print editions, carving out an ever growing and resourceful presence in the world of books.

It was just over a year ago that I was offered a contract for publication of my novella "Day Dreamer" and learned that it was to be published during Musa's inaugural month. Although it wasn't my first publication, it was my first sale, and I shall remain always grateful to Musa and its directors for believing in the story and in me.




Here is a list of links to various interviews and features regarding "Day Dreamer" during the past year:

http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/2011/10/meet-devin-hodgins-author-of-day.html
http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/2011/10/character-thursday-with-steve-wespers.html
http://www.amaleenison.com/?p=207
http://jkbooklover.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/writerly-questions-with-devin-hodgins/
http://laurahardgrave.blogspot.com/2012/06/featured-musa-book-day-dreamer-by-devin.html
http://www.casperjournal.com/arts/article_1638511c-d9a6-5fcc-8b22-7a816b7c0898.html

Please check them out and let me know what you think.


CONTEST:
To help commemorate Musa's anniversary, I will be giving away a few free downloads of "Day Dreamer."
All you have to do in order to enter is join to follow this blog, like my facebook page at www.facebook.com/DevinHodginsOfficial, and leave a comment here, perhaps describing a dream that came true for you (or whatever else you wish to say), along with your contact information in case you win. I will draw the winner at the end of the week.
Good Luck!

Be sure and hop through the websites of Musa Publishing's other authors. Many will be giving away copies of their books as well.


Again, congratulations to Musa Publishing. May she celebrate many more anniversaries of realizing her dreams.

Equality State Book Festival

Friday and Saturday, September 14th and 15th, the Equality State Book Festival will celebrate "books, authors, and the written word in Wyoming." Craft talks, seminars, readings, signings, even a luncheon will all be taking place. Also, the Wyoming Arts Council will be presenting this year's Creative Writing Fellowship awards. (One of these years I hope to be a recipient--if I could just remember to send in that dang application before the deadline.)

Pat Frolander, Wyoming's current Poet Laureate, will be presenting during the festival at the college Friday morning as well as reading at a poetry slam to be hosted by Metro Coffee Co. Friday evening. She's a great lady--kind, courteous, not to mention a pretty good poet.

Also presenting, from the Universtity of Wyoming, will be Alyson Hagy, author of "Snow, Ashes" among other books. I attended a presentation she gave at the Natrona County Public Library on her collection "Ghosts of Wyoming" a couple years back. An impressive speaker, reader, and writer. She was kind enough to sign a copy of her book for me, but beyond that she also let me meet her the next day so that I could give her a copy of a little story I wrote set in Wyoming. She gave me an honest critique and some genuine encouragement, and I will always be grateful to her for that.

Anyhow, I plan to catch at least a few of the events. I'll have flyers and bookmarks available at the book tables at the college and hopefully down at Metro. I look forward to the festivities, and I hope eveyone who wishes gets a chance to participate in the celebration.

http://www.equalitystatebookfest.com/

Lucky Bookmarks or Not-So-Lucky Bookmarks?

I'm afraid I must revise one of my marketing strategies.

The two bookmarks I labeled with codes good for one free download of my novella "Day Dreamer," along with instructions on how to redeem the prize, so far remain unclaimed.

The first one was for the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference back in June. I was not able to fully participate at the conference because of work, so I left it to be found on the merchandise tables. The stack of bookmarks leftover at conference's end, which I assume still contained the one lucky bookmark, was taken to "Tomcats" in the Sunrise Shopping Centre. Last I checked, those bookmarks had not yet been set out for customers.

The second one I made for the Natrona County Library, and in particular, for a class held there last month on how to download e-books from the library collection. Again, I was not able to fully attend because I was working, but I left a stack of bookmarks--including one marked with a redemption code--with the instructor before the class. I'm pretty sure he neglected to pass them out as I had requested.

Now, as nonsensical as it seems to promote a book whose sole means of being handled by readers is electronic through the dispersion of physical strips of printed card-stock whose implied purpose of place-holding is virtually useless to any reader (except maybe the cartoon hero "Freakazoid"), and despite the lack of success I've had in awarding a free download of my story to any serendipitous redeemers of either of the marked pair of page-keepers, I still believe it's a worthwhile idea. Bookmarks are a simple method of spreading the word regarding available titles, of promoting an author's works, and of helping to get books into the hands of readers--whatsoever the format.

However, I have resolved to cease passing out any more "lucky bookmarks." At least, for now. Those two that are yet unclaimed shall remain redeemable; I will honour them, if and when they are ever found and their instructions followed, for as long as I operate this blog. Nevertheless, I still think a "lucky bookmark" is a cool, little idea; therefore, I have decided that I will make more. But when I do hand out more bookmarks redeemable for free books, I will hand them out myself, making certain that they really do end up in the hands of readers.

I honestly hope to award some fortunate finder of a lucky bookmark a free download of my story someday--sooner or later.

Downloading E-Readers --plus-- Another Lucky Bookmark

The Natrona County Library is holding a class on Monday, July 2nd, at 2p.m. on how to download e-readers from its collection.
For more information, here is the link: http://www.natronacountylibrary.org/event.php?id=2836.

The class is free to attend and ought to prove interesting as it heralds a shift in how libraries handle their collections and how people interact with them. I know our library has been busier than ever with all of its various services, and by encouraging the growth of electronic lending it promises to remain a valuable resource for people well into the future--or as long as folks wish to read.

To support the library and this class, I will have bookmarks available at the Circulation Desk and at the Tech Centre. Once again, one lucky bookmark will hide amongst them. The finder of that bookmark shall win one free download of "Day Dreamer." Just follow the directions on the back. By the way, the first bookmark from the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference has so far remained unclaimed--it just might be lurking at Tomcats in the Sunrise Shopping Centre. Nevertheless, the code on the back of it is still valid. So now two lucky bookmarks await their fortunate finders. I look forward to awarding the winners.