Spend Christmas With A Half-Vampire! Giveaway!

Let's have another book-and-swag giveaway!  (Hey, it's Christmas.  Why not?)

Of all my books, the Half-Vampire ones have remained the most popular.  I guess there's just something alluring about a vampire....
Fortunately for all of you, I still have some Half-Vampire swag left to give away with books.  Let's start with this bundle here:

This prize pack will include a copy of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire by Lisa Shafer (that's ME!), a "Just another average half-vampire" tee-shirt (size XL), a bookmark featuring Confessions on one side and the sequel, All in the Half-Vampire Family, on the other, a button featuring the blood splatter and the Half-Vampire logo, and the "Vampire's Lair" scent pack from Adventure Scents tucked into a "frosted blood" jar with a silver lid.
(To learn more about the books, click on the titles or visit my "books" page.)

Are you age 13 or older?  Good.  You can enter.  Here's the giveaway:




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E-Book Sale! Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire

Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire is just 99¢ right now for the e-book.

Lurking in the nuclei of a few rare human cells is an as-yet unstudied gene. It is a gene that makes the inheritor crave mammal blood and faint in bright sunlight. It is a gene that prevents the bearer from appearing normally in digital or mirror images.
It’s a gene that makes your life heck if you’re in junior high and trying to fit in.

Eric Wright is a half-vampire with a problem. Several problems, actually. He can’t tell his bloodlust from his rollercoaster adolescent hormones. The cutest girl in first period English wants him to become a vegetarian. And the assistant principal suspends him when he refuses to explain why his skin appears translucent in a school security video.

Then Eric’s non-vampire mom, who’s definitely not telling everything she knows, takes him with her on a business trip. To Scotland, where it never stays sunny for very long. The perfect hang out for a vampire. Or several. If only Eric can find one to talk to before he makes any more stupid mistakes....

 

Want a copy?  Want to give a copy to a friend?  Just click right here.

Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire Makes The Top Five!

Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire is still quite the draw for junior high kids. :D

Book hook:

Eric Wright is a half-vampire with a problem. Several problems, actually. He can’t tell his bloodlust from his rollercoaster adolescent hormones. The cutest girl in first period English wants him to become a vegetarian. And the assistant principal suspends him when he refuses to explain why his skin appears translucent in a school security video. Then Eric’s non-vampire mom, who’s definitely not telling everything she knows, takes him with her on a business trip. To Scotland, where it never stays sunny for very long. The perfect hang out for a vampire. Or several. If only Eric can find one to talk to before he makes any more stupid mistakes....

(Interested?  You can read reviews and buy it here on Amazon.)
Yes, it made the top five this week!  It's right behind the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.

Oh, OK, so it's only in the top five at our school library, where all fifteen or so copies of the book got checked out within the first two days of school.  But, hey, at least I'm in the Top Five on our school's Destiny Media catalog.  It's good to be in the top five with my books anywhere.  :)

PS Becoming Brigid was completely wiped out in the library by day two also, but there are only 2 copies of that, and it's in the restricted section (for ninth-grade only, due to "mature subject matter"), so it didn't even crack the top ten.

Concept: The Illustrated Half-Vampire

So, awhile ago, I got this idea of putting together both of my Half-Vampire books and selling them as a set in e-book form.  I got the text ready, but I've been fiddling with the cover.  Nothing has really made me happy.  Thus, I haven't actually published the "boxed" set yet.
Then, this weekend, I had this brilliant idea.  Why not add photos?  I have tons that I've taken for research purposes while writing the two books.
So, this weekend, have I cleaned the house thoroughly like I should have done?  Well, I picked things up and did some laundry.  (Please don't look at the dust bunnies in the corners.)  Have I graded the tests I brought home?  Uh, nope.
Instead, I have worked on placing photos into the texts of my Half-Vampire books.  But, of course, now I realize there are many more photos that could be put in, but they're not yet in digital format, as I took them before I bought my first digital camera.  Thus, I think I'll be digging through scrapbooks soon and picking out more photos.  (Or do I just take PILES of pics to Inkley's and get them to digitize the whole thing?  Won't I want all those photos from my year of living in Scotland digitized anyway????  Wow.  Big, big, BIG project on the horizon.)
At any rate, while I'm taking a break from writing the first draft of The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook, I suppose this is a good thing to be doing.  I hope it'll spark renewed interest in the books.

Pick Your Prize Giveaway!

Let's have a giveaway to fill up those new Christmas Kindles!
Between now and New Year's Day, you can enter over and over again to win one of my e-books.  That's right; if you win, I'll contact you, and you can choose which book you want!  Fun, right?
Here are your three options:

Becoming Brigid.  Click on the link to read about it.

Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire.  Click on the link to read about it.

A Clockwork Christmas.  Click on the link to read about it.

You can tweet every day and pin every day (it needs to be a new pin onto a different board each time, though.  I WILL check.).

UPDATE 12/23/13:  I've already had to delete a cheater!  Look, people, I freakin' TEACH JUNIOR HIGH.  Do you honestly think I'm NOT going to check your entries?  Seriously?  Think again.
Play fair.  Enter honestly.  Or I will delete your entry.  Period.

Ready to enter?  Here you go:


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Help Me Decide On A Title -- Please?

Oh, for heaven's sakes!
So, I've put together a boxed set of my two Half-Vampire novels for e-book release for Christmas.  Everything's all ready to roll except the cover.
Tonight I chose the background pic variation and went to put the type on it.
And....
And I can't decide on a title.
Help!

So, if book one is Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire,

and book two is All in the Half-Vampire Family,

and the background pic for the cover is a variation on that same blood splatter and will use the same font, what do I call the boxed set?

Here are my ideas so far:
1) Half-Vampire: the boxed set
2) The Half-Vampire Boxed Set
3) It's In The Blood: the Half-Vampire boxed set
4) It's a Half-Vampire Thing: boxed set
5) some other less lame title ?????


Please, please, please tell me what you think!  I can't even make the cover until I have a title that doesn't suck.  (Uh, poor choice of words there.  Unless I can use THAT for a title: Life Sucks: the Half-Vampire boxed set.)

So, What's Happening Now?

1) My goodreads contest ended on Halloween.  There were 389 entries (significantly fewer than for any Half-Vampire goodreads contest I've done), and 180 people added Becoming Brigid to their TBR list.  A girl named Hannah won, and I mailed off the book Friday.  (I hope she likes it and gives it a positive review somewhere.)
2) This Thursday I'm scheduled to meet with the creative writing club of a high school across town from where I teach.  This should be fun, as they're older kids and I don't know any of them -- for a change. :)
3) Yes, I'm aware that NaNoWriMo is starting.  I don't do NaNoWriMo.  I believe that writing is a craft which takes time.  I suspect that it is extremely unlikely that anyone could write a whole novel from outline to finished first draft in thirty days and have anything that wasn't 90% crap.  (And I read LOTS of self-published fiction which came from NaNoWriMos past and backs up my suspicions here.)
4) I am working on several things right now.
4a) One of them is a 2-book set of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire and All in the Half-Vampire Family.

(Max in stereo with both HV books.)
I've finished putting them together -- and putting BACK all the italics which inconveniently disappear when I copy and paste.  But I've got to decide on and put in the "extras" at the back of the book and fix up a new cover.  I've been tinkering with variations on that original blood splatter, but nothing is jumping out at me as a good choice just yet.  (Yeah, I have about 15 photo aps on my iPad.)  At any rate, I hope to have this e-book only set ready to roll for Christmas sales.  :)

(A teaching colleague with both HV books.)
4b) I've had The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay on hold for months now, as I've been so busy with finalizing Becoming Brigid and working on the first draft of The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook.  But I hope to have some of these high school creative writing kids beta read if for me.  (I'm also still struggling with the cover of this one.)

4c) I've been pecking away at Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook, but I got stagnated and disappointed for a few days.  I then went back to my idea from last year of writing some short story prequels to introduce the world of the book, and I got another idea.  I decided I'd write a set of short stories as prequels to the prequels -- but Christmas stories!

I have 4 mapped out, and one and 3/4 of them written.  And tonight, I had Dad look over the covers I'd created.  He picked out the one he thinks is best, praised my color choice (usually very good), font choice, and letter placement (often where I have trouble).  Thus, the cover is set.  (Uh, I might add here that Dad spent his entire career as a commercial artist, the forerunner to today's graphic artists, so he knows what he's talking about.)
I hope to have a 99¢ story collection ready by Cyber Monday (e-book only).
5) I do have more contests planned and prizes sitting on my craft desk, ready to be sent out to winners.  I just keep hoping to get some more book reviews for Becoming Brigid, but they're not coming in very fast.  Perhaps I need to start the contest and see if that generates some interest????

6) I've certainly learned that posting photos on this blog (and on Pinterest and Twitter) REALLY increases my blog traffic.  I don't know that it's really increased book sales, but it certainly brings folks to the blog!

Writing Update 8/12/13

Naturally, Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire and All in the Half-Vampire Family are still for sale.  (Have you entered my Back-To-School Giveaway?)  Here's more about the rest of my writing:

Becoming Brigid:
1) I'm about to start my umpteenth edit on the book.  It's very nearly there.
2) I hope to be requesting hosts for my cover reveal (not the WIP cover seen elsewhere on this blog) and the book trailer very soon.
3) Besides editing the book, I've been making/gathering cool swag for giveaways.  So far, I've put together two swag bags filled with themed items -- and some that just have lots of girl appeal -- and I've been working on two Brigid-themed altered books.  And, yes, of course, I plan to give away copies of the book itself.
4) If all goes well, the book should be released on (fingers crossed) Sept. 13.

The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay:

(Work-in-Process cover only.)

1) This book has been on hold all summer, as I've been so busy with the other books.
2) It needs more beta readers, as most of my 7th graders were unable to finish it last year, due to standardized testing getting in the way.  Thus, only one 9th-grader and one high school junior have beta read.  However, I've got a whole new crop of guinea pigs potential beta readers with FIVE classes of seventh-graders starting up all too soon.  (Seventh-graders begin school this Friday.  No kidding.)  I will not lack for volunteers, so I'm not the least bit worried about this.
3) I still continue my Pinterest board for Nerissa, as the book may have sequels someday.

The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook:

(WIP cover, but I really like this, so the final cover may be very, very similar.)

1) I finished writing the first draft of chapter 3 last night, and I'm at just over 7000 words.  The rest of the book is in a rough outline stage, and I'm ready to write up a summary of chapter four -- just as soon as I finish this next edit of Brigid.  I hope to be able to finish the first draft of this book by January of 2014.
2) The set of short stories, called The Chocolate Chronicles: Scenes From New Penzance, has been outlined and tied into The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook.  The plan is still to release the stories in e-book form running up to the release of the novel.  The titles of the short stories (in order) are as follows:
a) "The Tale of London Sunday"
b) "The Tale of Agnes Braithweight"
c) "The Tale of Ellen Andersson"
d) "The Tale of Camilla and Oscar"
e) "The Tale of Captain Annie Lovelark"
3) I have no covers designed yet for the short stories, but I believe I will just use variations on the novel's cover, so as to have a visual tie-in to the main story.  After all, I took a couple of dozen different shots of that cover photo, with the pens and gears and ink all laid out in different ways.  It shouldn't be too hard to construct a few different covers.

So, that's the update.  Now, someone PLEASE help me not to get any more brilliant ideas for books until I can get caught up a bit on these!

Back-To-School Half-Vampire Giveaway!

Guess what, folks!  A new school year starts (for us, anyway) in about a fortnight!   And I will have five -- count them, FIVE!! -- full classes of seventh-graders!  (And one class of 9th graders and one that's still a mystery at this point.)  So let's do something fun to numb the pain celebrate!
A couple of weeks ago, I found some extra printed copies of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire and All in the Half-Vampire Family.  Now, it's true that I'm gearing up for the release of Becoming Brigid (AND editing The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay AND writing The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook), but I see no reason why I can't giveaway some copies of the Half-Vampire books at the same time.

Lurking in the nuclei of a few rare human cells is an as-yet unstudied gene. It is a gene that makes the inheritor crave mammal blood and faint in bright sunlight. It is a gene that prevents the bearer from appearing normally in digital or mirror images.
It’s a gene that makes your life heck if you’re in junior high and trying to fit in.

Eric Wright is a half-vampire with a problem. Several problems, actually. He can’t tell his bloodlust from his rollercoaster adolescent hormones. The cutest girl in first period English wants him to become a vegetarian. And the assistant principal suspends him when he refuses to explain why his skin appears translucent in a school security video.

Then Eric’s non-vampire mom, who’s definitely not telling everything she knows, takes him with her on a business trip. To Scotland, where it never stays sunny for very long. The perfect hang out for a vampire. Or several. If only Eric can find one to talk to before he makes any more stupid mistakes....

Think you’ve got a weird family?

Eric’s mother is clearly in love with Patrick, who just happens to be Eric's first cousin once removed.  And a vampire.  Eric thinks Patrick would be the world’s coolest step-dad, but Mom’s in no mood for matrimony.

Worse than that, Mom's side of the family hasn’t spoken with her in Eric’s entire lifetime -- at least not until Eric and his way-too-attractive cousin Ari both win a piano competition that takes them to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  And into the path of Eric’s biological father, a vampire who’s recently begun attacking the locals at night.

But things get really creepy when Eric's dad finds Ari to be... tasty.

Can an accidental family reunion get any stranger than this?  Eric doesn’t think so.  And neither does the self-proclaimed vampire hunter staying right next door to him in the dorm.

It’s going to be one heck of a summer vacation.

Both Half-Vampire books are geared toward young YA, ages 12-15-ish.

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There you go.  You have until school starts (here) to enter.  (And, if you don't win, you can always buy the books on Amazon.  The e-book prices are very low.)
Spread the news and enter the contest.
(PS  No, I won't share you contact details with anyone.  Really.  I hate it when people do that; I'd never do that to you.)
(PPS. Make sure you really do follow, post, pin, or whatever.  I do go through and check, and I will remove all fake entries when it's time to pick a winner.)

The Most Difficult Book Signing Ever

Last summer, when her adult son graduated from a university to start a second career, my long-time friend and colleague gave him a copy of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire, as he had always had teenage-like energy and enthusiasm (and also enjoyed my sense of humor).  He quite liked the book, so my friend bought him a copy of All in the Half-Vampire Family for a Christmas gift.
With the first book, she'd purchased it straight from me, so I happily signed the book to her son, who was a favorite of mine anyway.  But With HV Family, my friend purchased the book from Amazon, and it was shipped straight to her house, so I hadn't signed it.
Her son was in town for the holidays and had intended to return home on January 6, but, on a whim, decided he needed five more days with his family.  So, as he left his parents' home Sunday evening to go visit some friends, he put the book on the piano and told his mom, "Take that to school Monday and have Lisa sign it for me."
It was to be one of his last requests of her.
Very early Monday morning (January 7), he had a massive heart attack.  His friends, the paramedics, and the hospital staff all tried to save him, but it couldn't be done.
By that afternoon, I was standing with his mother at his hospital bed, rubbing his arm and listening to  the life support machines beep and whirr while we waited for the rest of his loved ones to say goodbye before they took him off the machines and let him go.
He was 33.
The family held a lovely celebration of life for him on Friday night.
Today, his mom came back to school.  And she brought me the book to sign for him -- because what mother could ignore her son's final requests, even if they involved something as simple as a book?
Oh my.
I managed not to let the tears splash all over the page as I wrote.

Dear [name],
I suppose this book may end up standing for many things you could not finish.  Nevertheless, I will write the words on the page as you wrote on our hearts.
Love you.
Miss you.
Lisa

End Of The Year e-Giveaway!

Okay, I tried this over the Black Friday weekend, and no one cared.
Let's try again.
It's that between-the-holidays letdown time.  How about a gift for yourself now?  Or how about a gift for a kid?  A gift that doesn't require any shopping on your part or any battling snow and slush for a parking spot?  Then I have a contest for you!  Both Half-Vampire e-books and a song.  (Remember, if you win this to gift to a kid, said teenager does not have to have an e-reader; there are free kindle apps for phones.  Most of my students like to read on their itty-bitty phone screens.)

Here's what the winner will get:

1) An e-copy of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire.

2) An e-copy of All in the Half-Vampire Family.

3) An MP3 download of Eric's (that's the protagonist of both books, if you didn't already know that) favorite Scott Joplin song, "Maple Leaf Rag."  (The song's very important in H-V Family.)

You must have an Amazon account and you must be willing to give me the e-mail address associated with that account if you want your prizes.  I will delete all your personal information after I send the prizes.  (If you're under 13, you must have your parent enter for you.  If you are 13-18, please have your parents' permission before you enter.  I am not responsible for computer or website glitches.)

Okay, that's the business end of it.  Are you ready to enter?  Go for it!

UPDATE ON 12/29/12:  People, I am a school teacher.  I LOATHE CHEATERS!!!  I've already checked rafflecopter and removed FIVE people's entries because they CHEATED.  Look, folks, I can check pinterest and twitter and goodreads and my blog to see if you're actually following.  And if you enter the contest saying you follow but you're lying, I DELETE you.  (And I'm seriously tempted to publish names.  Honestly, this disgusts me.  How hard is it to click a follow button?)
Enter honestly.  If you don't, you won't win.  Period.  I will delete all lying entries.

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Half-Vampire Fans, Young And Old

I got some new photos for my readers' gallery tonight, and, although I didn't realize it while I was taking the photos, I got shots of a pretty wide range of ages in readers.

Okay, my youngest fan here is probably not a reader -- yet.

We'll get there, though.
He's one of my grandstudents.  (Both his parents are my former students, so he's my grandstudent.)
Here's a bit more of the family (the parents HAVE read the book):

And we have a few more soon-to-be fans (+ one more devoted fan and former student):

Actually, the older boy in this photo is very excited to read Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire and will probably start soon. (Uh, that extra leg there belongs to the little guy photographed above.  He decided to play peek-a-boo just as I clicked the digital shutter.)

And, on the other end of the age scale, we have some retirees having fun with the books as well:

See?  Half-Vampires are for everyone!

Would you like to have your photo in my readers' gallery?  I'd love to post it!  You can go to the Contact Me tab at the top of the blog or just click here for details.  (Anyone under the age of 18 must be pictured with a parent so that I can avoid legal issues.)

This Weekend's Contest Is Cancelled

...due to lack of interest shown in the first 24 hours.
Obviously, everyone is out shopping and my timing was bad.  We'll try again another time.

More Pics For My Readers' Gallery

People are busy.  Too busy to remember to write book reviews and/or send me photos.
But they're not too busy to read my books!
Today I took matters -- or at least my trusty Cannon Powershot -- into my own hands and made some of my favorite readers pose with my books for my readers' gallery.

My writing is just so amazing that you can see it on their faces.  ;)

And here's someone who's purchased a fair number of my books:

Next week I will hunt down even MORE of my readers and post their photos!  Ah, ha!  My readers' gallery will soon be filling up.

Of course, if you'd like to contribute a photo, you can follow the directions on my CONTACT ME page.  (If you're under 18, I can't post your photo unless it's with your parent, which will prove the parent gave permission.)

Book Talk Video: Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire

This is SO, SO, SO fun.
Another teacher showed this to me today.  I am so amused.  :)

Feeling Famous In My Own Little Corner Of The World

So, last week, I dropped in to see Richard Frost at Frost's Book Store.  He agreed to take a couple of copies of All in the Half-Vampire Family to sell, and he was pleased with my bookmarks.  He took a stack to give away at the cash register, and he let me put a free bookmark in all his YA vampire books in the store (well, I refused to put bookmarks in Twilight books, of course).
Then, he moved Half-Vampire Family AND Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire to his current "local authors" table display.  Thus, for right now, my books are keeping company with the Junior League cook book (Salt To Honey) and Walking Salt Lake City.

And then I discovered that in our own school library, I'm a "featured author."  The librarian has framed a photo of me with my Amazon author bio.  He's put this with copies (8 of them!) of Half-Vampire Family -- and for reasons unknown to me, a black rose -- on an end table in the comfy-chair reading only section of the library.

Okay, it's not much.  But these things make me feel warm and fuzzy.  :)

Announcing The Winner

The winner of the Bag o' Swag, with both Half-Vampire books, tee shirt, pen, bookmark, "vampire blood" soap and hand sanitizer, fangs, and  bag is Alicia E.
Congratulations!
I've sent Alicia an e-mail to request her address.  If I don't hear back from her within 10 days, I will choose another winner.
Thanks again to everyone who entered!

Lend A Hand To Support A Self-Published Author

Want to help me out?
Sure, you could buy one of my POD Half-Vampire books.  Or you could buy one of the e-books.  (Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire is only 99¢.  Seriously, that's less than 1/3 the price of a gallon of gas.  It's the price of a candy bar in a vending machine -- but you freakin' get a WHOLE BOOK for that price!)
But even if you don't want to spend any money, there are ways you can help me out.

Do you have an Amazon account?  If so you can help me out by clicking the "like" button on my books: here, here, here, and here.  (This would be especially important on the 2 latter links, which are for the new book and don't have many "likes" yet.)
You can also click that the five-star reviews on any of the books are "helpful."  Here are links to the 5-star reviews for Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire e-book and POD.  And here are the links to the 5-star reviews for All in the Half-Vampire Family e-book and POD.  Pick any or all of the reviews and click "yes" to say they are helpful.
Have you already read one of the books?  You can write a review and post it on Amazon.  Just go to the pages linked above and click on "write your own customer review."

Do you have a Goodreads account?  If you do, you could "friend" me on Goodreads.
You could add Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire to your TBR list or write a review.  And All in the Half-Vampire Family is looking very lonely there; you could write a review or add it to your TBR list.  (Please?)

Do you have a Facebook page?  You could link to this post and ask your friends to help me out.

Are you on Twitter?  You could tweet a link to this post to your friends and ask them to help out.  You could also follow me on Twitter, if you like.

You could go to Youtube and watch my book trailer.

And you could always enter my current giveaway, which seems to be sorely lacking  in entries right now.

In Which Max Proposes A Toast

Max found this and thought of me.  :D

But I can't help but wonder why it isn't RED wine.......???
(PS. No, I don't drink.  The pic is of Max's table and glass, not mine.  I just like the picture and the idea.)

Half-Vampire Giveaway! Just In Time For Halloween!

Look at this lovely bag o' swag:

This is a big prize, worth over $30.00.
Here's what you could win: Paperback copies of BOTH Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire AND All in the Half-Vampire Family, a bookmark printed with both book covers, a "Just Another Average Half-Vampire" tee-shirt (size large -- I'm starting to run low on these), plastic fangs (because --hey, it's Halloween), a plastic "syringe" pen filled with fake "blood" (because that's how Eric gets the blood from animals) -- it writes with red ink, Bath and Body Works "vampire blood" liquid soap and hand sanitizer (both are plum-scented), and a plastic bat ring, all in a cotton draw-string Halloween print bag (suitable for re-use as a handy travel bag for socks or small items or for storing Halloween trinkets for next year).   That's quite a haul of stuff!  (I've been putting it together for quite a while now.)
Unfortunately, this is a US and Canada only giveaway, as I'm not paying more than the stuff is worth just to ship it across the globe.  Sorry.
Also, if you are under the age of 13, you must have permission from a parent or guardian to enter; that's the law.

Just enter here:  (This is my first time using Rafflecopter; I hope it works right.)
PS.  I WILL check your honesty.  If you cheat, I will remove your entries.  Seriously, I'm a school teacher; cheating annoys me.  (Why am I saying this?  Someone has already lied about an entry.  Geez. Grow up, people.)


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The contest is now closed.  The winner is Alicia.  Thanks for entering!