Book Giveaway May 2010 – Sweat & Crooked Moon

The May giveaway gives us the following two books:
“Crooked Moon” by Lisette Brodey and “Sweat” by Denise Krochta.

Sweat: A Practical Plan for Keeping Your Heart Intact While Loving an Addict

This is a signed copy of Sweat by Denise Krochta, a story of recovering ones life when your world is filled with addicts. Sally Rowland put the following in her review of Sweat:

“The basic message about how to take care of yourself first might sound obvious to some, but when you are in the midst of the turmoil brought about by addiction, sometimes your maternal need to help your loved one overshadows the obvious fact that you yourself are entitled to be healthy and yes, happy!”

If you would like your chance of winning this book, add your email address to the form below. You’ll be notified by email if you are the winner, and you will also be opting into a follow-up email to let you know when the next book in the giveaway becomes available.

This giveaway is closed. Check out the current giveaway.

Share the Book Giveaway with Others:
Share or or http://www.novelrank.com/book-giveaway (will always be current)

Crooked Moon

This is a paperback copy of Crooked Moon by Lisette Brodey. Crooked Moon, first and foremost, is a human drama, an emotional journey into the lives of two women and those closest to them. As children, Frankie Cavalese and Callie Mason were the very best of friends, growing up together behind opposite walls of a row home in a blue-collar neighborhood of Philadelphia called Rainytown. The friendship they shared was special – the kind that storybook heroines had – and neither ever considered the possibility of it not lasting forever. But after high school, life interfered and circumstances separated them as they each went on to live in drastically different worlds. Twenty-three years later, one hot unsettled summer, their lives come crashing back together when Callie, who has led a life of privilege, returns to Rainytown and finds her old friend still living in her childhood home, unmarried, and caring for her angry dying mother, Ruby. Frankie is faded. Her signature tenacity is threadbare as she routinely implores her playboy brother, Paulie, to help ease the burden of being their mother’s sole caregiver. As the two women reconnect, Frankie tries to forgive Callie for abandoning the friendship, while Callie wrestles with the guilt of having disappeared. To complicate the fragile reunion, Callie’s marriage to her husband, Jackson, is suddenly at risk, further muddled by the affections of (and attraction to) Paulie. Tensions and passions explode in the sweltering heat, and amid pain and tragedy, each woman not only ends up with a life-altering secret regarding the other, but the burning question of what to do with it.

This giveaway is closed. Check out the current giveaway.

Share the Book Giveaway with Others:
Share or or http://www.novelrank.com/book-giveaway (will always be current)

The Rules
Any email address that is not valid will not be accepted. Any email to a temporary mailbox service (e.g. mailinator.com) will be disqualified and may be publicly mocked. Unless otherwise stated, only one book can be won by any single email address. Multiple entries for a single book will not be accepted (you can enter to win each book if different books are offered in a given month). The winner will be randomly drawn no later than the 3rd of the following month and contacted via email to receive shipping information. Winners who fail to respond to the email within 72 hours will forfeit their win to another random winner.

For Authors: Getting Involved
For more information about donating your book to the book giveaway, check out this introductory announcement post on the book giveaway idea.

Biking 150 Miles to Support Multiple Sclerosis Research

MS generally strikes in the prime of life—ages 20-50, and 73% of those diagnosed are women. 9,500+ in Colorado are living with MS.

Last year I rode in Colorado’s BikeMS ride and raised a measly $400 for the event. I even wrote a full story of my BikeMS personal experience to share with others. This year, I want to ride faster, better, and raise a ton more money. See, I’ve spoken about supporting authors, supporting NovelRank, and recent troubles with Amazon. With all that, I still try and give back in my community and my world.

This year, I am extending my reach. If you know someone who has or had Multiple Sclerosis, and you believe in supporting research that could stop the daily needle pricks given by caregivers and provide air conditioning units that help sufferers keep their symptoms in check, then consider supporting my ride. I’m biking 150 miles over two days, and if I can, I’ll make it 175 total miles (100 miles on the second day). I try not to ask too much from NovelRank visitors that isn’t directly related to supporting NovelRank or providing a new free service, but in this case, I thought it was worth your attention. Thanks for reading and supporting Multiple Sclerosis research.

Improved Multiple Sale Tracking for Amazon Kindle eBooks

Thanks to author feedback from authors with access to Amazon DTP (Digital Text Platform) and thus real-time sales numbers for Kindle books, I was finally able to add more accurate sales estimates for Kindle Books. This includes tracking up to three sales per hour. For Kindle books selling as frequently as 7 books per day, the accuracy is up to 95% for sales estimates. For Kindle ebooks selling 30 or less per month, accuracy should be closer to 98%.

There is still room for improvement, but previously NovelRank’s accuracy was at 78% for books selling 3 or more per day or more specifically, multi-sale hours. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to retroactively run sales history through the new formulas, so the accuracy is improved as of today moving forward. In all cases, including the future, NovelRank is underestimated book sales estimates on Kindle Edition books. I feel this is a better route that overestimating sales by 5%. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks again for the great feedback from authors to improve the accuracy of NovelRank book sales estimates on Amazon Kindle books.

Update: May 30, 2010 2:01am MDT
The new formula has been retroactively applied to all Kindle books tracked prior to 5/1/2010. You may notice slightly different sales numbers for your Kindle Edition books than you did previously.

Overwhelming and Amazing Author Generosity

When I first asked authors if they would donate a book for a monthly giveaway, I was inspired by donating my own book to a different website’s one year anniversary. I sent out a quick tweet on Twitter, and with a ‘yes’ from 3 authors, I decided, “Good enough, let’s do this!”

I had no idea…

It’s been 2 months since the giveaway was first announced, and I’ve received over 32 books from authors and publishers all over North America and Europe. You probably noticed that this month, two books were being given away. Next month, it may be a new book every 2 weeks. All I know is that as the pool of individuals interested in books from amazing authors and publishers grows larger, I’ll try and get more and more books out to feed their voracious appetites for amazing works printed on simple pages and wrapped in beautiful covers.

Why am I sharing this? Because I picked up a 25 pack of padded bubble mailers today to ensure I could easily continue to provide this promotion for all the generous authors, with the highest of quality and with as much care and attention as each one of these books deserves. I’m glad NovelRank has served you so well over the last 6 months of existence, and I intend to keep it going with your support into 2011 and beyond. I haven’t always been in love with books, and I can’t say I ever give enough time to them, but for the amazing people I’ve written to and heard from because of NovelRank, I couldn’t be more attached.

Simply put, Thank You.