Happy Dance - New Amazon Reviews

12/18 by Jenn:

I was captivated with this book, as it left you wondering what exactly Charity is and why her and her family had to continuously move around. This was absolutely an awesome read, and I suggest anyone who enjoys paranormal romance to read this! The author clearly has talent, she could paint a picture in my mind with her words. Her characters were well rounded and very like-able, each with a story to tell. You could feel their anger, their passion, their love, their humor. Every book has similarities, but this was different in so many ways. It brought together all kinds of supernaturals, which made it so much more interesting! I loved the connection between Charity and Link, and definitely did not see that twist. I'm excited to see what comes next for all of them, and cannot wait until the next book to this series! ** A bit of a spoiler: I love that Charity is a virgin(very old on at that), and plans to wait until marriage. It is a unique take, and they simply enjoyed each others company without the pressure of sex. Don't get me wrong, I love a good sex scene..but this makes me feel like a virgin again awaiting to lose my virginity.

12/20 by Terriermom:

I loved this book. It was very well written. It was just a great, entertaining story. I am definitely not of the YA demographic so this book should appeal to people of varied ages. Only one negative I can find is that the book ended too soon. I wanted a longer story. More, more please LOL. Hopefully, the author will oblige by writing a sequel soon. If not a sequel, another book would be wonderful.

You can't go wrong by buying this book. It is a steal at the current price, but would have been a steal at a higher price.

THANK YOU GUYS - THIS MADE MY DAY!!

Just a few days left - free Kindle Copy of my Novel

Just a quick reminder... The Free Kindle Copy of A CHANCE FOR CHARITY ends on Dec 18th... enter today! :D

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SL-Baum-Author-The-Immortal-Ones-Series/129575477098126

Goodreads Giveaway has Ended!

Goodreads selected the winners of the "Paperback Giveaway" at random.

1062 people entered!

Congrats to Tobyann and Erin... they are the two winners!!!

Yay - Your copies of the novel will soon be on their way :D

I still have a contest going for a free Kindle edition of A Chance for Charity... check my FB author page for details!

My Novel in Telluride Magazine

My book is definitely being featured in Telluride Magazine... YAY!!!! The pdf of the page was emailed to me and a copy of the physical magazine will soon be on its way.

A Big THANK YOU!

I just want to say thank you to everyone that downloaded a copy of the novel over the weekend!

$0.99 sale - A Chance for Charity - Kindle edition

Visit amazon.com now through Sunday night and purchase - A Chance for Charity - for $0.99
It is a Thanksgiving weekend sale!

Kindle Edition Giveaway!

If you would like to win a Kindle Edition of A Chance for Charity... visit my Facebook page for details!
Click here to go to Facebook and my author page!

I Made Pink Ones!!

Cruddy picture... but the kiddos were begging for marshmallows again (it's been months since I made them last time). So I started them last night, cut them this morning, and today we have vanilla/almond flavored...
PINK MARSHMALLOWS!!

Self Promotion - And Crafts - Ooohh fun!

So I decided to combine my crafty-ness and my need for self-promotion! Vinyl letters (for the back window of my car) were calling to me ;-)

So, I ordered Vinyl sheets off of amazon.com, basically because I was too cheep to buy them directly at the craft store. And, this way I got a pack of multi-colored sheets - Yay future projects !!!

Then I got out my handy dandy CRICUT machine
(I actually have two of these things - is that wrong -
older & newer versions) and chose a lovely shade
of shiny silvery gray. Then I picked my font cartridge and played around with the size of letters that I wanted.

I cut some bigger... some smaller... changed
cartridges for the .com part of my lettering...
decided to use a heart for the O in novel...
and then I was ready to apply.

My back window was in desperate need of a cleaning...
Windex to the rescue... so after it was shiny(er)
than the rest of the vehicle (which is still in need of
a wash - any volunteers - ack, I didn't think so)
I was ready to stick 'em on. So then, all that
was left to do was peel off the backing
and stick... one letter at a time.
Yeah, it took awhile... but look how
lover-ly it looks!

Now I need to figure out where else I can use
all this vinyl. Actually that's a lie... I already know...
gonna put some cool saying on the walls in the house.
But, that's a project for another day!

Goodreads Paperback Giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Chance for Charity

by S.L. Baum

Giveaway ends December 04, 2010.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

There are two Paperback copies of the novel available for this giveaway!

First Giveaway for A Chance for Charity

A mousepad with my favorite lines of banter between Charity and Link is available to win through my facebook promotional giveaways. If you are interested then please check my facebook page for details.

www.facebook.com/S.L.Baum

"I've got Powers."
"Awesome powers!"


Edit to add - the winner was Katherine Evans!!

Photo Tour of Telluride

I just uploaded a photo tour of Telluride to my Facebook account! If you want to see where Charity and her friends hang out... check it out.

www.facebook.com/S.L.Baum

Promotions

I will begin having promotions on my facebook account soon. If you are interested... go to www.facebook.com/S.L.Baum and become a FB friend!

October Sale - Kindle Edition

In honor of Halloween, the paranormal, and supernatural... the Kindle edition price of my novel - A Chance for Charity - has been lowered to $2.99 for the rest of the month. Download it today!!

The paperback copies are selling well. They are selling for $11.99 on Amazon. I also have copies that I am selling in town (in fact I just had to order another batch, as I am down to 4 copies).

Thanks to all my readers!

Cover Change and Paperback Copies

I recently redesigned the cover of

A Chance for Charity

to better match the paperback version that will be coming soon. I figured there would be less confusion that way. I think we are about a week away from having the novel available on amazon.com in paperback form. It is currently available for digital download to Kindle or a Kindle ap.

Now available in the UK

A Chance for Charity is now available for download in the UK - pretty cool.

Book Sales

Book sales are up - I started out slow in June - and they have doubled in July - now I just need to keep that trend rolling!

Book Trailer

So, YAY! My book trailer is up on You-Tube. I gave myself a crash course in book trailer creation and I have to say... I've impressed myself. I am very happy with the end result!



It can also be viewed at You-Tube with this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB11WvUzUtI
for viewing that is a little larger and has better clarity.

Granola!

Granola!

How to turn Oats, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, and Caramel sauce into yummy. yummy, granola!

2 c oats
1/2 to 3/4 c brown sugar
1 to 2 Tbsp Cinnamon

Put in a pan - heat and mix over
med/high heat. Careful, there is a
fine line between tasty and burnt.

Once heated through - the brown sugar gets a tiny bit melty looking.
Take it off the heat and add in about
5 Tbsp of Caramel Sauce - mix it all
together and then spread on wax paper.
Sprinkle with white sugar and let cool.
Then crumble it up and put it into a container.

I'm adding nuts to my next batch!

This was sooooo great sprinkled on vanilla ice cream!

Novel News

So my Google and Yahoo Ads are up and running. That's a good thing! But, I still need to increase awareness about the book. I'll keep on trucking and figure out a way to get the word out there. Choosing a digital platform for my novel definitely limits the customer base. Some people are reluctant to try reading on a computer screen, iPod/iPad screen, Kindle, etc... they want those pages to physically touch and turn.

Marshmallows!

Amazingly, I decided to make marshmallows! This was a great and wonderful task (oh yeah - yummy too). Like any good person who is willing to share, I documented the process step by step!

Here is the end product!

So if you look to the picture slides at the bottom of the blog you'll see the photos that correspond with the instructions!

START THIS PROJECT AT NIGHT OR EARLY IN THE MORNING. THE MARSHMALLOWS MUST REST FOR ABOUT 12 HRS BEFORE YOU CAN CUT THEM.

To start - put 3 pkgs of Knox in your KitchenAid with 1/2 cup of cold water. Let that sit while you continue on with the following steps.

Butter a 9x13 cake pan and then dust with powdered sugar - set aside.

In a large pot on the stove - add 2 cups of granulated sugar, 2/3 cup of Lt Karo syrup, and 1/4 cup of water. Heat to boiling - stir often - and increase temp to 240 - 250 degrees F (use a candy therm).

Once the sugar mixture has reached it's desired temperature - bring the pot over to the mixer. Turn the mixer on but keep the speed low - then slowly start pouring in the hot sugar mixture (you don't want 200+ degree sugar flying around the kitchen!) - once the sugar is all in then increase the speed to high. Mix for a few minutes until mixture turns white and starts to thicken then stop, scrape the bowl down, add 1/4 tsp of salt, and turn mixer back up to high. Keep mixing until it really starts to look like marshmallow creme - it'll keep thickening and increasing in volume - the whole mixing process should take around 8 minutes.

Once the volume has stopped increasing - add 1 tbsp of vanilla and mix for no more than one minute longer. Turn mixer off and pour contents into the prepared 9x13 pan. It'll be crazy sticky but do your best to flatten it out. Then dust a bit more powdered sugar onto the top. Place paper towels on top and let it sit on the counter overnight (or for 12 hours).

Powder the counter (or a cutting board) with sugar and then overturn the pan of marshmallows and gently pull out the contents. Cut the large rectangle of marshmallow into smaller squares using a pizza cutter! Have a bowl of powdered sugar next to you and lightly dip each sticky side into the sugar and then gently roll in your hands (like a meatball) to remove the excess sugar!

Yummy, amazing, vanilla, marshmallowy goodness awaits!

My Novel - So happy to have it out there!

I wrote a book and let it sit in my computer for awhile. A collection of key strokes and imagination and hours spent in front of the screen. A few months ago I decided it was time I self-edited again (for the umpteenth time) and figure out what to do with it. Ta-daaaaahhhh (the clouds part and the heavens open) - I'm looking for books on amazon.com one day and see the tab for Kindle self-publishing. Hey! I could do that! So I did. I have read the text so many times by now that self-editing is probably not the greatest idea... but do I have the money to hire an editor? Not so much!

I upload the book, start a website, a FB page, a twitter page, design a Goodgle and a Yahoo Ad... I'm sure there is more I should do! Self-promotion of a Self-published work is an amazing challenge... but I'm up for the challenge. What else could I do? Blogging sounded like an easy next step. But, hey - no one wants to visit a blog every day to see how my book is going. And, I have so much more going on in my life than just the book. So, lets see where this goes!