eBookGuru.org

It’s that time again, and we’re giving away our monthly eBook award. I’m posting this a couple of days early as I will be away over the next couple of weeks. Before we get to the award, I’ve got to say that this month choosing was harder than ever.

First of all, Trevas posted some unsolicited (he bought the books) reviews from some worthy e-authors, and we had to decide whether those qualified for this award or not. In this case simple copyright laws keep us from sharing the books amongst ourselves, and it doesn’t make sense for all four of us to buy a book just for the awards. With that out of the way you’d think we’d be ready to choose a winner, but then we had another problem.

When we decided to give away this award, our hope was to highlight one truly exceptional work each month, and give our readers one exceptional read each month. The problem this month is that we had four books submitted by authors that were outstanding and choosing between them was quite difficult. We did eventually come up with a winner though, and you’ll find it below. Be sure to check out the runners up as well. They were all excellent reads!

January’s eBook of the Month

This months eBook of the Month is The Chocolatier’s Wife by Cindy Lynn Speer. If you remember my own review of the book, it is a mystery suspense novel set in a fantasy world, and with a little romance thrown in. (read the original review here).

This book was completely original in it’s story line, expressively written, and it draws the reader into the story right away. When I read this one, I quite honestly couldn’t put it down. After conferring together, Trevas, and Clarice agreed with me that this one was the book to highlight this month.

You won’t want to miss this book, get the links to the book in the review, and you may want to visit the author’s web site to check out her other book as well.

Don’t forget to check out our runner’s up, which as I said were all great books

January’s Runners Up

Dark Nest – Leanna Renee Hieber

Dax Rigby, War Correspondent – John B. Rosenman

WyndRiver Sinner – Charllotte Boyett Compo

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed. We’ve got more great eBooks to review for next month, and we even have a few special announcements that you won’t want to miss.

Affiliate marketing has long-been the easiest way to get started making money online. For those who don’t know what affiliate marketing is – it’s basically getting paid to promote other people’s products.

As a way to build an online income, there is no better way to get started in the world of Internet marketing. To start as an affiliate all you really need is a web site or a blog, and a small amount of time to keep things up-to-date and promote the products you decide to sell. It really is the easiest way to make a little extra cash online, and for many of today’s big marketers it’s how they got started.

The problem for many is that with so many different sources of information on the topic, it really can be difficult to learn the right way to do things. I’ve long been given to the thought that the best way to learn something is to learn from someone who’s been there.

Today I am reviewing a book that will let you do just that. CB Inner Circle, by Chris Freville, is a book that teaches affiliate marketing. More than that it teaches you how to get to the Click Bank Inner Circle, by working your way to status of super affiliate.

As you would expect, this is an excellent guide to making money as an affiliate. Chris Freville well known in the world of affiliate marketing, and his book shares the real story of how to gain the same success yourself. It walks you through the steps you need to get started, and then takes you all the way to building relationships with the big guys and leaving the small-time profits behind.

A quick rundown of what you’ll learn with CB Inner Circle:

• The Basics – The book starts out with the information everyone needs to get started.
• How to Gain Super Affiliate Status – How to make your way to a large (passive income) in just 60 days
• How to build an affiliate site that really works.
• How to use blogging as a tool to boost your income.
• The Power of Web 2.0
• How to use email marketing in your affiliate campaign
• How to make your way into the inner circle
• Much more..

All of the material is laid out in clear, easy-to-understand, language, and it effectively teaches what it is intended to teach: How to build a large income in the shortest amount of time possible. The book also comes with some bonus materials that will help you on the road to affiliate success.

Now I don’t normally promote eBooks, I just review them.

With this one though, I think it is a book that those looking to build an online income need to read! Even if it’s something you never considered doing before – affiliate marketing allows you to build an income with only a small amount of time invested. With the current state of our economy – lay-offs, bankruptcies, and more in the picture – getting started now will ensure that if do find yourself like so many others, you have something to fall back on.

Get your copy of CB Inner Circle by Chris Freville

Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed. I have more great reviews to comes this month, and there’s a few other money-making and success building eBooks that you won’t want to miss! Clarice.

Here’s a historical-romance/adventure novel that you won’t want to miss. It is The Privateer by Danielle Thorne, and it will be available from Awe-Struck eBooks in April of 2009. The book is currently listed on Danielle’s site with a release date of April 17, 2009. Although these genres are a little outside of my normal reading tastes, I must say I really enjoyed this book.

Danielle Thorne has an eloquent and expressive writing style that will draw you right into the book. The characters are all well-rounded and likeable. The storyline is excellent. With the historical setting the book seems true to it’s era, and there is just the right amount of adventure/suspense to keep you wondering what happens next.

This really is one book that romance/adventure readers will want in their collection. At every turning point you’ll find yourself wondering what happens next, and as you read into the novel you’ll find characters that you can both love and hate. We will be highly recommending this one upon it’s release in April.

Since I am just previewing the book at this point, I’m not going to tell you a lot about the storyline. From the authors site, it is summed up as “Julius Bertrand secretly privateers for the British Crown. The former pirate thinks a wife will complete his masquerade, until a bounty is put on his head.” With that said, I have posted a short excerpt below to give you a little taste of what you can expect from the Privateer.

We will be posting an official review of The Privateer on it’s April 17th. Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed, so that you don’t miss it, and so that you won’t forget to add this one to your eBook collection.

Excerpt from The Privateer

The sun had yet to rise the morning the Specter was scheduled to depart for its routine passage. On deck a piping hurried men into formation. The harbor lay quiet, as the tide began to wash the shore.

The crew on the brigantine were solemn, a few faces morose. Smithy read over a paltry sum of charges and the cabin boy was escorted to the foremast. Given a choice, either termination of employment or the standard twelve lashes for a naval youth, McAllister had opted for the latter.

Captain Bertrand made no appearance as if this occurrence was routine, or worse, of little importance. He was not a Navy officer and the Specter was not a Navy ship. For a man with a history of defying organized services, he had acquired and applied some of the more rigid traditions of their societies. Perhaps the crew hoped a man with a past would run his ship just so, but new recruits quickly discovered Bertrand at sea was not a man of the majority.

No cries, but whimpers on the morning breeze and the sharp crack of leather. More than a few old tars knew they had done far more serious mischief under Captain Bertrand’s authority and paid nothing for it. The infraction was a ludicrous twist on the ship’s Articles of Agreement and nothing more than an excuse to publicly punish a boy for foolishness.

Although the harbor had not fully awakened, it didn’t take long for the amazing news to spread. Bertrand had never been known to use such discipline, his reputation more than enough to keep his crew in line. The tidbit traveled over the wharf, through the market, and into the morning foot traffic that meandered throughout the colony.

After reviewing Celestial Dragon by by Ciara Gold I thought I would review the only other novel that I think mixed Sci-Fi/Fantasy/and Romance as well (it still wasn’t as good as Celestial Dragon – but worth reading anyway). Ship of Fools falls a little more to the Sci-Fi side of the genre mix, but it still does well as a mixed-genre book.

As most of you already know, two of my favorite genres have always been science fiction and fantasy. These two types of books are often included together in bookstores, they don’t normally fit together in books. Fantasy books tend to be set in pre-industrial worlds (not always on earth) where the characters are magical or use swords to fight one another. Sci-Fi on the other hand, is futuristic and includes spaceships and lasers (and sometimes strange aliens). With ship of fools you get a good dose of both.

Ship of Fools is set on a ship, a big ship. In fact it’s the mother ship – humanities last hope as they set out across the galaxy in search of a new home. What makes this book completely different though, is what’s going on inside that ship. Inside of this particular ship is what’s left of the human race. The problem is though, that 99% of the population has forgotten that they are in space at all. They have regressed to a a more primitive society of blacksmiths and horses, and kings and queens.

Writing it that way may make it sound weird – but the reality is that this book does an excellent job of combining the two worlds. As always, I’m not going to give away the story line. I am, however, recommending this one to anyone who reads sci-fi or fantasy. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Quick Links

Get the eBook in Multiple Formats from Diesel eBooks:

click on eBook

Russo, Richard Paul – Ship of Fools

of Buy the Amazon Kindle Version:

Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo- For KINDLE

Buy the Book in Paperback:

Ship of Fools – From Amazon.com

For Sci-Fi readers who are looking for something truly unique, you won’t want to miss John B. Rosenman’s latest eBook. The book is titled Dax Rigby, War Correspondent and it is one eBook that is a must for any Sci-Fi collection. From about page 4 on, I was completely engrossed in this one and didn’t want to put it down.

On the Lyrical Press site, they list the book as a Sci-Fi/Adventure novel, and I think that classification fits this book very well. It’s a definitely Sci-Fi, but it’s also a novel full of action, suspense, and there’s even a little romance thrown in.

As you make your way through Dax Rigby, War Correspondent, At every twist you’ll find yourself wondering what happens next. What I especially enjoyed about this particular book (besides a unique, and truly excellent, storyline) was the pace. The fast pace of the adventures of Dax Rigby, will keep you on your toes from the first chapter on.

The book is set in a future world where Earth’s citizens are stuck in a war for power. To stop WWIII from happening, Dax Rigby must find out the truth behind the happenings on planet Arcadia. Being 900 light-years from earth Dax is forced to endure hardships as those around him try to kill him, and through it all he must figure out the real truth behind what’s causing the outpost colony and the other species on Arcadia to die off.

I’m not going to give away the story. What I will say though is that if you enjoy a good Sci-Fi book, you won’t want to miss this one. The storyline is excellent, and it differs from most of the other novels I read in this genre. It gives the reader something different without sacrificing the enjoyment of escaping to a whole new world. With John B. Rosenman’s first entry into the Sci-Fi world being this good, I for one expect many great books to come from this newer author on the scene. He’s definitely gained one new fan – me!

Dax Rigby, War Correspondent is available in multiple eBook formats from Lyrical Press, and I have even included the link for the Kindle version for those who own the Kindle.

Quick links

eBook Version from Lyrical Press – John B. Rosenmans’s Dax Rigby, War Correspondent – Multi-format eBook

Kindle Version from Amazon.com – John B. Rosenmans’s – Dax Rigby, War Correspondent for Kindle

With the two articles that I recently wrote on marketing eBooks with a blog – I thought that I should follow it up by reviewing a book that takes the ideas I shared a little farther. The book I chose is by Chris Freville, and it’s called Web 2.0 Traffic Stampede.

If you don’t know who Chris Freville is, he’s one of the bigger eBook marketers on the web. Specifically he releases a lot of information pertaining to affiliate marketing. More importantly though, before he ever sold his first eBook he was one of the top affiliate marketers around. He’s one of those marketers that when his sales page says “Learn how one underground marketer used whatever technique to earn $26,245 in one month”, I actually believe the figure.

In the book, Web 2.0 Traffic Stampede, Chris shares his traffic building secrets that helped take him to the top with his own marketing campaigns. If you read the last two articles I wrote, this particular book is the perfect follow up to building traffic using Web 2.0 methods. It does cover the power of blogging briefly, but more importantly it goes into other techniques to build serious traffic using the power of Web 2.0.

The book covers ideas like:

• The four P’s of Web 2.0
• How to Network to Build Traffic
• The Power of Syndication
• Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, and Selling it Socially
• VLogging, Podcasting, and More..

The reality is that this is one of the better books that I have read on traffic building, and more importantly it teaches many different techniques to build big traffic for free. If you’re looking to get a web site noticed, for any purpose really, I do highly recommend this book.

Specific to the last two article that I wrote on building traffic with a blog, this book is the perfect follow up to take your knowledge to a whole new level.

Get your copy of Web 2.0 Traffic Stampede by Chris Freville

With all of the review material we have received this month, Trevas had to send me some of the fiction books for review.

Today I am reviewing an eBook that was truly a privilege to have had the chance to read. The book is The Chocolatier’s Wife and it is written by Cindy Lynn Speer.

This book is a fantasy/mystery suspense novel; it is a murder mystery set in a fantastical world of magic, where romance, intrigue, and mystery will keep you stuck in the book and waiting to find out what comes next. This one is an excellent read for anyone who enjoys a good keep-you-on-your-toes suspense novel.

The book is set in the Kingdom of Berengeny. A world where all marriages are arranged, where the Northern Kingdom and Southern are set against each other (at least in spirit), and where magic is a part of daily life.

With animosity between the North and the South, you can imagine the surprise of William Almsley when the local southern wise woman announced that William was espoused to a child from the North. The southern people have long held the belief that the northern people are magic barbarians of a sort, and the Almsley’s aren’t at all pleased when their son is to be married to one of them.

I won’t give away the storyline (that would be taking the suspense out of a suspense novel), but I will say that the book will take you on a fantastic journey through love, murder, mystery, and even magic. Throughout the whole book you will find yourself wondering who committed the crime, and at the same time you’ll be drawn in with Cindy’s delightfully-descriptive writing style. You’ll find yourself both loving and hating the characters in this book, and when you finally reach they end you’ll discover it comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

The Chocolatier’s Wife is a must for anyone looking for a book that will keep you wondering the whole way through. I have included links below so that you can find the multi-format eBook from Drollerie Press, and a link to the eBook for Kindle.

Multi-Format eBook The Chocolateir’s Wife from Drollerie Press

For Kindle The Chocolatier’s Wife for Kindle

Make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed, between Trevas and myself we still have 4 or 5 more books that will be reviewed this month alone. There is something for everyone, Romance, a Horror, a Sci-Fi, and more. We always post reviews of the best eBooks out there, and many of them you won’t want to miss.

Amanda

This week we have something special for our free eBook. Multi-nationally published authot Lynn Viehl has written over 42 books. Her dark-fantasy books, the Darkyn Series, made bestseller lists in both the New York Times and in USA Today. In other words, if you haven’t read her books before, you want to!

Today she is offering one of her Darkyn novella’s for free. The newest addition to the Darkyn Series is called Incarnatio, and is publicly available on Scribd.

You won’t want to miss this one: Click Here to Read Incarnatio – A Darkyn Series Novella – by Lynn Viehl

The last time we talked about blogging, we covered the idea that simply getting involved in the blogosphere was the easiest way to get noticed and build traffic to your site. It really is just about taking the time to read what others have to say, leaving some comments around, and having some fun getting to know other bloggers.

Of course, that’s only half of the story, and if you really want to build a blog that’s valuable to you for getting noticed, there are some other things you should do.

If you take a look at our site, at the bottom of every post is a Share This button. Now the button itself isn’t what I want to point out – the networks that button connects our site to is. With a single click of a button anyone can add one of our posts to their Technorati faves, to Digg, to Delioco, StumbleUpon, etc. They can also post a portion of the content to their own blog, or then can email it to their friends.

The Share This button is a great tool, but it isn’t necessary for everyone (we use it because it makes it simple for authors to promote our reviews of their books). What is necessary is to get involved in at least some of the bigger blogging networks out there.

Every blogger should claim their blog in Technorati, and it will also be beneficial to use at least one or two of the other services I list below.

Technorati - Technorati is the biggest blog network out their. They are also the only site that ranks blogs. You should sign up on technorati and claim your blog. Once you do, you can add “fave” buttons to your posts, or you can use their sidebar widget to allows others to fave your blog. I also use Technorati to follow other blogs that I like to read.

Claiming your blog in technorati does two things for you. First it gives you a simple measure of how many other blogs link to you (which is your Authority ranking) and it also allows you to add fave buttons or even just links like the one below (Ask Dave Taylor has a simple explanation of how to do this):

Add eBookGuru.org to Your Technorati Favorites

Stumble Upon - Stumble Upon isn’t specifically a blog network, but it will build traffic if you add Stumble buttons to your site and to your posts. This particular site is one of our largest referrers, and all it takes is for a few pages to be Stumbled and you’ll have traffic coming on a daily basis.
When you use StumbleUpon, you can add buttons like the one below (the button will give our site a thumbs up) and allow your users to vote for your content. Occasionally your content will end up on the front page of Stumble, or in the top ratings for content related to your site, and suddenly you’ll get a few hundred extra hits over a short time frame.

Stumble It!

Blogged - There
are many different blog networks out there, one of the biggest is blogged. This particular site is the one that allows you to post buttons like the one I’ve shown below. You can allow others to rate your blog, and the more ratings you receive the higher you’ll climb within the blogged site itself. If you really get involved in this community it can be a big traffic builder.

BlogCatalog – BlogCatalog is the social network for bloggers, that is how they market themselves and in this case it really is true. There site is a huge network of blogs on any imaginable topic. It gives you tools to connect with other bloggers, and to promote your own blog. Again, if you take a little time to become involved with this site it will bring visitors to your site.

Bloglines – Is another big blogging network. This one focuses on sharing and favorites, but adding your own content to this network will help to build some traffic for your own web site.

FuelMyBlog - Fuel my blog is another social network for bloggers. This one is newer than BlogCatalog, but it is quickly gaining in popularity and you’ll see their logos on more and more blogs as they grow. A less mature site can sometimes be a great way to build traffic because there is a lot less competition (you get to grow as they do).

Digg and More – If you tend to post a lot of tips content that teaches others how to do something Digg buttons are an excellent addition to your blogging toolbox. Although content is key with this one, if you do have an article that becomes popular on a huge site like Digg, it will bring a lot of traffic and fuel your own growth.

There are really hundreds of sites that I could list that work to build traffic without costing you anything. If you have a big Twitter account, or a pile of friends on Facebook, those types of networks can also work to bring visitors to your blog. The most important thing is to get involved in at least a few of these networks. Most of us don’t have time to become active in all of them, but simply adding your blog to Technorati and Bloglines, for example, will add to the traffic you get from your own involvement in the blogosphere. Really most of these sites are just another way to become more active within the realm of blogging; which is the key to getting your own blog noticed.

Further Reading:

If you want to read more about blogging, I can recommend both of the following books. In reality, both of these books teach how to make money with a blog. But, because of that fact, they both teach the ideas behind marketing (building traffic, SEO, web 2.0 marketing, etc) which is the information you really need to grow a blog quickly.

1. Blogging to The Bank 3.0 by Rob Benwell – I have read this book in two different versions, and Rob Benwell’s latest book is well worth it’s cost. It’s likely the biggest-selling book on blogging ever, and they’ve done well keeping it up with the current state of technology/web marketing. (Clarice reviewed this one here)

2. Atomic Blogging by Alvin Phang – Don recommends this one. Personally I have never read it, but it does come with tons of bonus materials that likely make it a sound investment in learning material and in blogging in general. If Don recommends it, then I would imagine it’s just as good as the first one I listed (he’s more actively involved in the marketing side of information products, so he should know).

3. Instead of Atomic Blogging, you might want to read Web 2.0 Traffic Stampede by Chris Freville. I reviewed this book specifically for this purpose – after thinking about it, I remembered this one and thought it would be a more natural follow up to take your knowledge of Web 2.0 Marketing further. Read the review here: Web 2.0 Traffic Stampede by Chris Freville

I have been blessed with some very excellent reading material this month, and the book I’m reviewing today is no exception. Anyone who enjoys a good fantasy novel definitely won’t want to miss this one!

The book is Dark Nest, by Leanna Renee Hieber, and as she describes the book on her own site, it is “a futuristic fantasy with a psychic punch”. Personally I think futuristic fantasy fits this novella quite well. It does have elements of Sci-Fi, but would likely fit best into the fantasy genre since it contains elements of magic/romance that are more common in those types of books.

However you decide to class the book, one thing is certain. It’s an excellent read!

Right from the beginning you are drawn into a fantastical world full of fantasy, romance, and suspense. Once you pick this one up you likely won’t put it down until you’re finished. As you work your way through the story, you’ll find yourself waiting to find out what happens next, and then just when you reach that “ah, I get it” moment, you’ll suddenly be taken through another twist. The novel has an excellent story line, just the right amount of suspense, and the well rounded (and like able) characters.

To tell you a bit about the story: An unlikely couple in this dark vs. light world, Ariadne and Kristov are faced with the task of saving their people. As part of a new psychic race, that home world is trying to shove aside, you are taken through the couples adventures as they discover the real truth of things, and then have only a short time to make those truths known to their own people.

I am recommending this one to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy novel, those who enjoy Sci-Fi, and romance readers will likely enjoy it as well. Personally, with work of this caliber, I expect that this is just the first of many excellent works to come from this newer author on the scene. I, for one, will definitely be looking for the next novel from Leanna Renee Hieber.

Quick links:

Dark Nest is available in multiple eBook formats from Crescent Moon Press

or buy Dark Nest in paperback from Barnes and Noble

Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed, we still have many excellent eBook reviews coming up this month, with more great reads that you won’t want to miss!