October 2012 - New York Times Bestselling Author, J. Sterling

Halloween equals FREE books!

I freaking love halloween!  I do!  But this year, it hasn't felt like halloween time for me. Maybe because my brain feels like it's spinning constantly inside my head?! 

That's probably it.

I'm sure that's completely normal.  :)

Usually during the month of October I'm overwhelmed with feelings of magic and witchiness and spells and all sorts of halloween goodness (not to mention CANDY!!!!). I want my magic back! lol

So, in the spirit of halloween and books that are magical, filled with ghosts and mind readers, I want to share FOUR wonderful books with you that are all *FREE* right now on Amazon.

I've talked about them before, but I'm talking about them again. It's funny... they're all series (and lucky for you, if you get hooked after the 1st book, almost all the other books are out and so you don't have to wait!!!). 

The first one is called WANDER DUST - by Michelle Warren
As much as I enjoyed this book, the 2nd book is EVEN better! I cannot wait for her to finish writing the last book in this trilogy because I am dying to know what the hell is going on!
http://www.amazon.com/Wander-Seraphina-Parrish-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0063GW2WE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351615202&sr=1-1&keywords=wander+dust
What did I say about this book the first time I read it? "I've never read anything quite like this before and honestly, I think it would make an amazing movie. Think Harry Potter- new world, new kind of magic, great characters, great story..."

The next book is called RECKLESS MAGIC - by Rachel Higginson
I've read all four books in this series and I am seriously in love with all of them. I thought they were amazing and frustrating and so freaking good!
http://www.amazon.com/Reckless-Magic-Star-Crossed-Series-ebook/dp/B004S7EUJ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351615731&sr=1-1&keywords=reckless+magic
"This book was SO! FREAKING! GOOD!!! I loved the characters, the story, the mystery, the suspense, the reveals and all the questions i'm still left with. It was written richly and when I wasn't reading this story, I found myself thinking about it constantly."

Then we have THE MIND READERS - by Lori Brighton
I've only read this book of the series. The last 2 are out, I just haven't had the time to grab them and read them, but I really, really enjoyed this story!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mind-Readers-ebook/dp/B004FN1P1Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351616028&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mind+readers
"This was really entertaining- with a lot of twists and turns that even if you DO see coming, are still enjoyable."

And last, but certainly not least, we have THE DEEPEST CUT - by J.A. Templeton
I read all 3 books in this haunting series. I am a HUGE fan of past lives and reincarnation, so these books struck an additional chord within me!  Loved them!
http://www.amazon.com/Deepest-MacKinnon-Curse-novel-ebook/dp/B0058HTU0G/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351616189&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=the+hdeepest+cut
"Overall, I really enjoyed this book and loved being brought into a new world with castles, history and characters who believed in the spirit world and the presence of ghosts!"

So there you have it! Four very different books that you can lose yourself in for Halloween!! I hope you enjoy them!  :) :) 

My Mariaaaaah!

Um.

So I had Rafflecopter draw the FOUR names of the winners to the contest below that I started and then ended because of claimed doucheness. 

What did I learn about rafflecopter during this drawing?

rafflecopter is clearly a HE.

and HE clearly likes girls who are named Maria.
Or Marie.



LOL- do you see these names?!?!  HAHAHAHAHA.  Hilarious. And odd.   


So if you are said Maria, Maria, Marie or Jessica- please email me as soon as possible and i'll attempt to get my lazy ass off of this couch and mail you your gift card!  :)  email is jsterling@jennster.com

Get some!  :)



So...

I ended the contest below.

Don't worry, i'll still pick winners and announce who they are. :)

Thank you to everyone who already spread the word and was awesome.

I ended it because well.... I felt douchey. 


Seriously.


I woke up this morning feeling douchey about that post. Feeling like an asshole for asking you all to do MORE for me. To spread the word about paperbacks. 

It didn't sit well with me anymore, even if it was all in the name of funsies.  I know it wasn't greed motivated, but I think it could look that way. And maybe if it wasn't motivated for money greed, maybe it was motivated by WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO AMAZON greed?! 

So yeah.

I apologize for asking y'all to buy more of my crap. And for telling your friends and family to buy more.

I hope you all know how much I appreciate you and how awesome I think you all are.  And how i'd never take you for granted.

So....

I hope you still love me as much as i love you!!! :)  :)  :) 

i'll leave you with this photo of a hot "jack."  Let's pretend that's him. 

Paperbacks on Amazon!

Okay. I realize that i'm probably a little insane. But we're all a little crazy, right?  right.

I realized today that Amazon has a freaking rankings for paperback sales on books. And I'm sure I should have realized that like 100 years ago, but what can I say... sometimes I'm a little slow.  ha!

Anyway, I looked up the top 100 paperbacks on Amazon and I don't think (cause then again i don't know every single self published author in the world) that a single one of them is a self published author.

And that got me thinking (always dangerous)...

Has a self published author's paperback EVER been in amazon's top 100 paperback sales?!?! 

Well I don't have a freaking clue, so I thought that it would be REALLY fun to see how close we can get!  HAHAHAHAHA

I hope you know that I am giggling while I write this. Because half of me thinks that it isn't possible to get into that list for paperbacks- since they are all really well known, traditionally published authors with HUGE followings and fan bases...

But then the other half of me thinks- well, it IS all based on online sales. It's not like these paperback rankings are from book stores and stuff. So why can't a self published author get on that list?! 

Now before you think that this is some sort of greedy ass ploy- I'll have you know that I literally make like, I don't know, A dollar and some change on each paperback I sell through Amazon.  So it's not about the money.

At all.

But then again, I don't do any of this for the money.

I just thought it would be FUN! 

Fun to see if we could get on that list!  HA!  At least it would be fun to try- and you can win shit just for trying.

See? 

FUN!

Plus, how can you NOT want this gorgeous cover (thank you michelle warren) in your hot little hands?!?! I still want wallpaper of it made. LOL

Go to Rafflecopter to enter to win one of 4, $50 dollar amazon gift cards.  You have until Sunday night at midnight (est)... I'll post the winners on Monday- drawn by rafflectoperrrrrrr!

Let's see what magic we can make happen now!  LOL

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you doesn't seem like enough

I know I keep telling you "thank you" like every chance I get, but I wish you knew me in real life...

I wish you knew JUST HOW MUCH I SINCERELY MEAN IT.

How when I tell you thank you, my eyes glaze over, my chest and stomach tighten, my breath hitches... but most of all, I wish there was another flipping phrase other than "thank you" to express how truly appreciative I am for all of you.

I've told you before that The Perfect Game isn't my first book. And if you know anything about Self Published ("Indie") authors, you know that we work our asses off. It's one thing to actually sit down and write an entire book, but it's another thing to get people to not only read it, but like it enough to want to read more of what you write.

It's been a long road for me. At least it FEELS like it's been a long road. I put out my first book in August 2011 and ever since then i've spent countless hours online trying to reach an audience...my audience. I've researched other writer's blogs, newspaper articles on self publishing, articles on trends, what to do, how to reach people, how to market, i've joined groups, indie clubs filled with other authors trying to figure out the exact same thing... how do we get readers in this saturated market to FIND and READ our books?!  And how do we do ALL OF THIS, while still writing our next book?!?!?

It's a lot of work.

And trust me, i'm not complaining.

Not one bit. 

Because all of that hard work has brought me to where we are today. And I feel like it makes me even MORE thankful. I know what it's like to not experience what I'm experiencing right now. I know the other side of the coin. I've lived it. 

Which is why I tell you so freaking obsessively how thankful I am for you.  And when you tell me that my book touched your soul, your heart, your guts- I AM OVERWHELMED. And when you tell me that you're telling everyone you know that they have to read this book-  I AM GRATEFUL.  And when you tell me that you've written a review and posted about it on facebook, or tweeted about it- I AM APPRECIATIVE.

So I just wanted you all to know (again) that I don't take you for granted. I don't take this for granted. And I literally, physically and emotionally, appreciate you more than you can ever truly know. THANK YOU. 

I'm gonna give away more shit soon- cause that's a good way to say thank you. Need some action behind my words, riiiight?  :)

What i'm working on!

So a bunch of you are just now finding me and my books... which is flipping AWESOME, don't get me wrong.

I LOVE IT!

I LOVE YOU!!!

I can't tell y'all that enough!!! :)

But before you found me, I'd already written two books.  And one of those books is a YA series (in dreams)... it's not a cliffhanger type of series, it's just a series in the sense that the characters' story continues... or actually PREtinues. I know that's not a word. But basically, the second book in the series takes us to the past, in a past life where we experience the connection the characters have to each other and why we're drawn to particular people, or why we hate them for no reason, etc.  Basically, it will make In Dreams a much stronger book once you have all their past to take into consideration. 

So I really need to work on that story. I'd intended to release it this year, but at this point, there is no way that's going to happen. But I want to write it. I want to finish it. And in all honesty, I think i'll pick it up again tomorrow (it's half way done. eh, maybe a third).

And then I want to seriously think about writing a 2nd book in The Perfect Game. But I want it to make sense. I want it to be for the right reasons- and I want to feel PULLED toward the next story I want to tell for those characters.

Basically, I want to have a good story. And I don't want to rush it, or force it, or write something because everyone is demanding me too. I want to write it because my heart is demanding me too.  Because Dean, Melissa, Jack & Cassie won't take no for an answer. lol  I just want to do it justice.

But it has to make sense. And right now, I can barely think outside of the story I just wrote, so it's hard for me to think outside of the box creatively in continuing this story, or spinning it off.  So just bear with me.

I promise that when that lightning idea for TPG 2 strikes me, you'll be the first to know! 

Until then...keep reading books you love, and reviewing them, and telling people to read them. "Reading is dreaming with open eyes"

Did You WIN?

I sure hope so!!!  Please keep in mind that I won't have the books in my hot little hands until next Friday I think, so be patient!

But I chose TEN winners, cause y'all are so freaking awesome!!!!!  Thank you so much for reading this book, falling in love with Jack & Cassie's story, for telling your friends to read it and for posting reviews all over the place. I appreciate it more than you'll know! 

So here we go- I put in the number of blog comments and then had this online thing randomly choose 10 winners.

















In order of blog comments and random # drawn
#2- DANALOU
#3- KELLEE FABRE
#18- LORI
#22- NIKKI HUFF
#27- SARAH DAVEY
#28- ALLIE MATTHEWS
#29- LIZZY
(wtf randomizer??)
#43- are you kidding?  JACK WON?! LMFAO that would seriously only happen here.  well jack's not winning, so i'll choose someone else in a second!  HAHAHAHA
#44- JOHNNA SEIBERT
#49- TARYN- MY SECRET ROMANCE

**extra number**
how fitting, number f'n 23!  Jack Carter's #... this shit is hilarious! 
#23- LIZZY HENRIQUEZ

Congratulations to everyone who won a signed copy!!!!! 

Please email me your mailing address as soon as possible to Jsterling@jennster.com

WOOHOO! 

And if you would like to order a copy, they can be found here: https://www.createspace.com/3934411  as well as on amazon.  :)

Have I said thank you today? Eh, well it deserves to be said again.  :)

Perfect Game Paperbacks?

Why yes.

Yes.

Did you hear me? 

I SAID YES!

They're ready.

https://www.createspace.com/3934411

You can order your paperback from there. It will be beautiful. And glorious. And lickable.

I'll have a giveaway soon.

No. Forget it. I'll have a giveaway now.

Tell me your favorite line from the book (y'all can repeat each other) in the comments and i'll RANDOMLY choose some winners.

Ready?

Go.  :)

PS- WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN, BUT IF YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH JACK HE'S IN THE COMMENTS SOMEWHERE. lol

WOO HOO!!! YOU DID IT!!!!


And so I wanted to tell you THANK YOU! so much!!!

Thank you for writing those reviews on amazon and barnes & noble... for telling your friends they "must read" this book, for posting about it on facebook, for tweeting, for writing it on bathroom walls. oops. lol

Just thank you. Sincerely. Your good reviews, your excited word spreading, it's all I can ask for as an author. :)

Now i have to go babysit my friend's kid for a few hours. My life is tres glamorous. lol

ps- we WILL be having a dean carter discussion soon. and I want y'all back here for it! :)

Keep those reviews, posts and emails to me coming- I love hearing from you guys! Every.single.one of you!

hugs

xoxo
jenn

You are awesome!

So we didn't get on the Amazon Top 100 this weekend, BUT WE DID KNOCK THE MOTHER F'N SOCKS OFF OF BARNES & NOBLE!!!!!!  who knew?!  I'm definitely feeling the love for Barnes & Noble as I wake up this morning!  :)

I am still giving away the three $50 dollar Amazon gift cards!  Why?  Because it would be shitty if I didn't. And because y'all REALLY kicked butt spreading the word and you deserve it!!!!! Thank you for telling everyone to buy the book. I hope that if you loved it, you'll still continue to talk about it.

I am not giving up my dreams for the AZ Top 100 (and as of right now WE ARE SO CLOSE! holy cow #118!!!!!!!!!). I know it probably seems like i'm a tad "obsessed" with this whole concept, but you have to understand that this is my third book. It's not my first. And the last few years of my life have been somewhat difficult on the career front (I got fired and as a result of that we ended up losing our house).

So this whole self published road has not been paved with gold plated stones for me the second I hit "publish" a little over a year ago. It's been a journey that i've had to work through- flailing my arms like a wild banchee at times, but constantly growing and learning from all my mistakes. Trust me, I don't mind doing hard work- it makes the reward that.much.sweeter.  

:)

Thank you all for blowing my mind this past weekend with your love and support and words of awesomeness! I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to hear so many of you enjoying Jack & Cassie's story. I simply LOVED telling it.

The winners?  Oh, here they are!!!!! Drawn by Rafffffflecopter of awesomeness!
 
 
 
 
Ladies, please email me your address to Jsterling@jennster.com  and I'll get those in the mail to you!  CONGRATULATIONS and thanks again everyone!!!!!!  :) 
 
I freaking love y'all!  For reals!  

The Perfect Game and GIVEAWAYS!

OH EM GEE!!!!!

lovers! 

THE PERFECT GAME IS OUT!  RIGHT NOW!  RIGHT F'N NOW!!!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfect-Game-ebook/dp/B009OMPKTG/ref=sr_1_3_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349923822&sr=1-3&keywords=the+perfect+game+j+sterling


*deep breaths*

I have a goal.

I WANT THIS BOOK TO GET INTO THE AMAZON TOP 100!!!!! 

I'm pretending like it's opening weekend for my movie. lol  Every director, producer, actor wants their new movie to be successful in the box office charts- And since I clearly think like a movie person, here's what i'm thinking...

If TPG gets into the AT100 at any point during its opening weekend (between now and Sunday), i'll giveaway 3 $50 dollar Amazon gift cards (winners drawn by rafflecopter).

All you have to do is post about TPG being released on your facebook page, with extra entries earned via twitter blasts.

So let's do this! We can totally do this right? I think we can! No, I KNOW WE CAN!

Listen, when it gets there, we party. And the longer it stays in the Amazon Top 100, the  L O N G E R we party. With more gifts. Cause giving away stuff is fun!!!!  :) 

Love you. Thank you. Y'all are the best and I literally am nothing but someone who writes for her non-existant cats (dogs rule) and friends without you. 

xoxo

PS- i've NEVER used rafflecopter before so I really hope i've done this right and it works and you can enter properly. If i've screwed it all up, i'll realize it once i wake up. lol

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Being a Writer Means

That we don't really take vacations. There are no weekends, no holidays, no days off... There is working overtime, working nights, long hours...

Because our brain is ALWAYS thinking of the next story to write, or what we're writing now, or what we could write better.

There is no off switch on a creative mind.

Hell, even when we're sleeping we're usually dreaming about our stories or our characters.

It's funny because we work so hard on our stories and it takes us months to write them, edit them, send them off to the editor, make the changes, format them, go through last minute additions, etc... and you would think that once we released our book that we'd sit back, breathe a sigh of relief and ENJOY the moment.

But you know what most of us do?

Do you?

We fucking haul ass back to our computer and start working on the NEXT book.

Because we can't sit still.

Because we don't turn off.

Because we don't know how to relax and enjoy the moment.

And because if we don't start writing that next book, we feel like we're falling behind. Our books don't write themselves. Lord knows it would be much easier if they did. But they don't.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I remember releasing my first book a little over a year ago and thinking, "I just need to get ANOTHER book out there. I need to have two!" And then I released my second book and thought, "I just need to have another. I need to have a library of books for people to choose from!" 

It's never enough.

I definitely don't write fast enough.

Some days I feel like I don't write good enough (that's for damn sure). 

So basically, being a writer means that you're a crazy person. LOL  A crazy person who doesn't know how to stop, slow down, breathe, relax, enjoy, chill the f out, etc. 

I constantly WANT to be writing. I love the process of creating- even when it's stressful, painful, sleep depriving and anything but relaxing. When i'm not writing I feel like i'm not progressing. I feel like i'm being lazy. Like I spent the whole day at work, not working.

So yeah. That's what being a writer means to ME.  I really hope i'm not the only one.  lol

We're Partying!

With The Perfect Game exactly ONE WEEK AWAY from its release date, I'm having a sale on Chance Encounters!!!!

.99 cents right now!!!!

Tell your friends.

Tell your enemies. 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007V6IGCA


:)

Oh Chicago

Holy balls, Chicago was in the future... then it was ALMOST HERE... then it was here... and now it's gone.

*insert ugly cry*

























C-H-I-C-A-G-O

I loved ya.

For real.

I don't know where to start.
I don't know where to end.
I don't know how to attempt to "sum" up or "cliff note" the epicness that was the TFEIC  (thank you mollie harper for the website of awesomeness)!!!!!

I assume, I could start off thanking people. Like my incredible author soulmate, Colleen Hoover, whom without, we would have never had this event! It started out silly, then turned into something more real, then exploded like one of tara's vagina hands (or something like that). But really, thank you Colleen for hosting this incredible, incredible event. And thank you SARAH WHORE HANSEN!!!!!, Melissa Brown and in the beginning stages, Fred LeBaron for busting ass to put it all together, make it seamless (at least for us authors), and organize the hell out of this chaos! 

It was so worth it!

Thank you to everyone who had to take off work, leave your children in the hands of your husbands (lord help us all), travelled alone for the first time, saved your dollars to attend, saved your dollars to buy books, and everything else you had to do just to come meet some Indie (or ex-indie) authors. 

It is because of YOU readers that we are changing the landscape of the reading world. I know it wasn't easy to get there for some of you, but I hope it exceeded even your wildest expectations. 

My expectations are always low, so it blew the hell out of mine. HAHA But really, I didn't know what to expect- or what to plan for-  but it was amazing!

I had the best time meeting my fellow authors, meeting my readers, meeting people who weren't my readers, hanging out, molesting guys with weird pockets in their pants in elevators, grabbing fred's booty, long walks on the beach with becca, slumber party in everyone's pants with kellan kyle, making blow up dolls do inappropriate things to each other on sc stephens bed (appropriate, no?), dancing my ass off until my jeans ripped, cat calling professional ping pong players cause those really exist!!!, eating goat with some fellow goat lovers, realizing that every american who attempts to do their best jenny aussie voice will almost always sound british, finding my long lost little sister amanda, MEETING CHRIS PINE!!!!!!!... TWICE!!!!  lol, finding love in the hotel starbucks, harassing the local crew on their lunch break (poor guys), PHOTO SHOOT IN BLOOMINGDALE'S!!!! (not weird at all), holding mm's hand in the bar- for the love of god woman, do not let go of my hand! lol, trying to hail a cab on a clearly cabless friday night until you say fuck it and start walking..until you say fuck it again, and steal a cab, hanging out in a bar that calls itself a hotel, getting mini vibrator's as gifts, pretending that only dead people need sleep so you simply NEVER.DO.IT. 

You guys. Sincerely. I had so much fun with all of you. It wasn't enough time. There were people I never even got to see. There were people I only saw for a moment. I wanted more. I wanted to be able to hang out so much more... It's hard to organize chaos.

Words cannot express how much I love and appreciate every single one of you. I hope that everyone who attended and stayed had as much fun as I did. Thank you for EVERYTHING!

Everything.

Until we meet again!

xoxooxxoxo