New! New! New!

by Malena Lott

Sorry. I couldn’t help myself with that headline. Blame on my daily life as a marketer and advertiser. I’m always looking for the sparkly object to promote to my client’s target market. In the case of Book End Babes, we do have a lot of new on the horizon. You may have seen some tweets asking for more bookettes and book dudes. We’re switching to a once a month post per blogger format and leaving some spaces open for author guest posts. We’re also going to restructure the site and fold it neatly into the fold of the Athena Institute properties – my branding, creative and multimedia firm I founded in 2006.

It just makes sense that with the wild west of publishing these days I’d mesh my worlds. I hope that readers and authors will love what we’re doing. The indie multimedia division, Buzz Books USA, is going strong, with the recent announcement of new team members (publicist Cyndy Hoenig, senior editor Mari Farthing and communications manager Dani Stone) and writing contracts for new authors in several categories.

In addition to providing blogging opportunities for authors, we’ll also be adding advertising space and creative services for writers and businesses. I’m going to be honest and say all the “badvertising” I see being offered on the Internet made me want to offer a higher quality solution. Branding matters.

You’ll also be seeing more multimedia in the way of workshops, videos and podcasts. The Hive with Buzz Books just completed our first interview with film critic Phil Bacharach. You can listen to it here and will be able to get a feed through iTunes. Next week our guest is our own film to books bookette Michelle Langston who is a film publicist.

Yet the mission of BEB remains unchanged – get people reading. Talk about great books. Inspire new ideas and thinking. Reading makes us more empathetic, smarter and not quite so bitchy. Hey, it’s science! I’m going “behind the scenes” at BEB, but I’ll be posting once a month and relishing in getting to be a part of this savvy book community. Dani is taking the reins at BEB and long-time bookette Heather Dearly (and new Buzz Books author) will be the co-editor. Heather will handling our 4 monthly Top Picks. I know they’ll catch me when I fall, which I’m eternally grateful for. :)

I’ll leave you with a bookish gift – a free promo that ends Monday for my short story, Snowflakes and Stones, available on the Kindle. It’s from the winter anthology, Sleigh Ride. I’d love to hear what you think.

Stay tuned for our trumpets and ‘tinis, announcing our new look and new book bloggers.

Real babes read books. (gals and guys!)

xo,
Malena

Stuffed Sleigh Contest

While many of you may be over the stove cooking up something delicious for Thanksgiving, I am thankful my mother in law said I don’t have to BRING A THING. (Except for my beautiful family, of course.) Now, my MIL has known me for 17 years and she’s grown to accept that I don’t like to cook, am not very good at it and I’d be happy eating a turkey sandwich for T-day, let alone a big fancy meal. But fancy we shall have! So it gives me great pleasure to offer one of our Sleigh Ride readers a “thank you” gift for purchasing the anthology that’s sure to get you in the mood for the holidays. It even has a fruitcake! And it wouldn’t be a sleigh ride without hot cocoa, right? And some hot guys? So, without further ado, I present to you SLEIGH RIDE: A Winter Anthology and the awesome BIG STUFFED SLEIGH contest. Remember, you can always gift it to a friend, too.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

All this plus a cozy throw!
Package includes:

Michael Buble “Christmas” album (Target edition with 3 extra songs) ~ $17 value

Lady Antebellum “A Merry Little Christmas” album ~ $7 value

ILU “text” Coffee mug, in honor of Dani Stone’s, “No Place Like Home” story and her crazy coffee cup collection ~ $7 value

Cozy throw to cuddle up and read Sleigh Ride with! ~ $30 value

Box full of books including:

FALLING TOGETHER by Marisa de los Santos (hardback, $26 value)

YANKEE DOODLE DIXIE by Lisa Patton (hardback, $25 value)

RECKONING FOR THE DEAD by Jordan Dane (mass market paperback, $8 value)

AND SHE WAS by Alison Gaylin (mm paperback, ARC, no retail value)

SLICKER by Lucy Jackson (trade paperback, $15 value)

SPIN by Catherine McKenzie (trade paperback, ARC, no retail value)

THE ATLAS OF LOVE by Laurel Frankel (trade paperback, $15 value)

DRAGONSWOOD by Janet Lee Carey (trade paperback, ARC, no retail value)

How to Enter:

Send (forward) your receipt from the purchase of SLEIGH RIDE by end of day Nov. 30th, 2011 to buzzbooksusa (at) me (dot) com. A confirmation e-mail in return will confirm your entry in the contest.

Where to buy Sleigh Ride: (as of 11/11/11)

print book from our Buzz Books site here

for the nook: BN.com for nook

or the print book or ebook for the kindle: Amazon

Sleigh Ride includes short stories by Samantha Wilde, Maria Geraci, Maggie Marr, Megan Barlog, Malena Lott, Dani Stone, Jenny Peterson.

I Think I’ve Been Converted: Why I Love My Kindle

While I usually love to share my latest read with you all, today I’d like to share why I’m an e-reader convert.

For my birthday this year I got a Kindle. For a long time now, I’ve been telling everyone that it just wouldn’t be the same as reading a book. I grew up in the library and love the musty smell of a book just taken off the shelf. I thought I would miss the feel of a book and the turning of the pages.

I’m a convert. The cover I ordered makes it feel as I’m holding a real book, which has made the transition easier. The idea of having a new book right at my fingertips is amazing. I also love the idea of being able to share books with my best friend because she has a Kindle too.

But my favorite part of my Kindle is discovering new authors that I may not have come across if I didn’t have a Kindle. I also love the thought of supporting authors who are just starting out. I am also happy to give back to those who I have met through social media and have afforded me the opportunity to share my thoughts with all of you.

My first download was Jamie’s Let Us Prey. Everyone who loves a strong female character and a good mystery should pick this up immediately. I’m only about halfway through and I love it. A book has to be good to make me almost miss my train stop to and from work on multiple days.

Malena and Vivi you are next!

I’m really glad I embraced this new technology, but I can’t say that I won’t pick up a real book now and again.

Final Week: Fixer Upper Contest

To celebrate the launch of Fixer Upper, I’m hosting a special contest each month. In January, the prize package includes:

a RENEW Starbucks mug

a $10 Starbucks gift card

a Paradise Beaches calendar

a philosophie pink luggage tag

a LUXE cherry blossoms spa set

the Courtyard Hounds CD
($45 value)

To be eligible to enter, just forward me your receipt of the purchase of Fixer Upper from Amazon or Smashwords.com for other formats or as it becomes available on Sony, nook and the iBookstore to:
malenalott (at) me (dot) com by January 31st. The winner will be selected randomly from all qualified entries. (Sorry, U.S. only.)

The winner will be announced on my website on Feb. 1st.

THIS LITTLE PIGGY Contest

Special thanks to Julie (@bookingmama) for hosting this fun contest NAME THAT PIG for FIXER UPPER, my upcoming ebook about girl power and power tools.

Hop on over this week and submit the name you recommend for the piglet featured in the cover. The pig is a pet spotted piglet in the book. As Macy, my protagonist, explains in the book:
A normal piglet would prefer to live with her mama and siblings in the barn, eating slop and rolling in the mud. Dixie preferred to stay in the house and chase the cat. She was an outlier, an anomaly, a freak. No wonder I liked her.

If your name is chosen, you’ll win a copy of the book + a pink toolkit!
Enter here and good luck!