May Celebration: Moms, Soldiers, First Responders by @JoanReeves #RomanceGems

Happy by Terri C. #2220481, Pixabay.com

I'm happy because it's May, and the sun's shining, the flowers are blooming, and the trees finally stopped dumping pollen all over my piece of the planet.

I'm also happy because we had such a great response to our April Easter Egg Hunt.

We appreciate everyone who follows our blog. We'd like to break 100 this month on Followers, and you can help us achieve that.

See on the left sidebar where it says "We Love Our Blog Followers?"

Do us a favor and click Follow and fill out the little form that opens. Then your tiny picture will pop up so we can see your smiling face. Or your dog's smiling face since a lot of people use their pet's photo.

May Celebration

Making each month's book, author, and reader promotion better than the last is difficult, but I think we may have done it with May's Celebration of Moms, Soldiers, and First Responders.

There is no better month to celebrate Moms since Mother's Day is this month. By the same token, there's no better month to celebrate the Heroes and She-roes of our world than May, the month in which we celebrate Memorial Day in the U.S.

We salute and honor all of the Heroes and She-roes, from our precious Moms to:

the men and women of the Armed Forces, active duty and retired, who sacrifice and often pay a high price for defending our freedom

the police who have a daunting job and are in the line of fire on a daily basis

the firefighters who put themselves in harm's way to protect lives and property.

the Emergency Medical teams who race to save lives, and the Emergency Room Doctors and Nurses all across the world.

Heroes and She-roes Celebration

Maya Angelou, an unofficial Poet Laureate of America, may have been the first to refer to women as She-roes rather than as heroines. I like the word Shero because it sounds as if it should be the female counterpart of hero. Heroine always makes me think of leading ladies in novels and movies.

Part of our May Celebration is a Rafflecopter that goes "live" on May 4 so be checking the Blog and the Monthly Giveaway page to see if the Rafflecopter is there and "alive."

The Grand Prize is one (1) $20.00 Amazon Gift Card.

2nd thru 5th Prizes: Ebook Bundles by our bestselling authors. The books being given away are shown on the Monthly Giveaway page.

How To Enter?

You have multiple opportunities to enter.

When the you see the Rafflecopter or the link to it, simply click over and start clicking buttons on it and do the tasks. That's one entry. You can click all the buttons, and you can enter multiple times.

Our policies concerning Promotions and Giveaways, Eligibility, and Prize Award Procedures are shown in detail on our Policies Page. Please read. We strictly adhere to those policies.

Blog Updated

We've done some spring cleaning on the blog. You'll see some new books covers framed in the right sidebar plus some new images scattered around.

New Blog Page

We've added another page to Romance Gems Blog. Click on Listen to Romance or click the tab for it on the Menu Bar.

We have 12 audio books on display. You can click each book and be taken to the audio book webpage where you can hear a sample of the book.

There's nothing like hearing a wonderful romance performed by a talented voice actor.

We hope you like the books so much that you'll buy one of course. *LOL* But, if you don't, you'll have fun listening to a romance novel read aloud.

Pop-Up Giveaway

Do you listen to audio books? If so, what device do you use?

If you don't, what's stopping you? It's the fastest growing part of the publishing industry.

Maybe you don't know how easy it is to download an audio book and listen to it?

No problem. I'm blogging again tomorrow. I'm going to give step by step instructions on how to claim a free audio book from Audible. What's better than free? Nothing!

That means I'm going to give away an audio book today. All you have to do to be entered is to leave a comment with your email address.

I'll choose a winner by random draw and announce the name tomorrow when I blog. this weekend. Sorry, I didn't think this impromptu giveaway through. I'll announce both winners' names in the Comments section of this post and the May 2 post as well as contact them by email.

But Wait, There's More

I'll also give away an audio book tomorrow too! So go to Listen to Romance and look at my 3 audio books on display.

Click on the link to go to the audio webpage and listen to the samples. Sound like fun?

Come back tomorrow and have another chance to win!

Now, kick back and relax, enjoy that golden sunshine. Take a book with you.

I love my Kindle because it can be read in bright sunlight, and the battery stays charged for days.

Maybe we should give away a Kindle on a monthly promotion.

Do you think readers would like that? I asked a lot of questions so give me some answers in Comments.

Do you #Read your books or #listen to them? by Peggy Jaeger #RomanceGems

I was the first person I knew who bought a Kindle back when the retail price was $349.00.

Now they're what? $39? 50 dollars? Since I flew so much and always had 3 or four books packed into my luggage, adding to the cost per pound of air travel, I figured the investment was worth the convenience. And it was. I lovelovelove my Kindle, still, to this day. Ereaders are still, apparently, popular even though real honest-to-God-books are making a comeback.

But...

I was recently exposed to the world of audiobooks and I have to tell you, I think the future in books is in this rapidly growing industry.

Have you heard of AUDIBLE?

I never had until one of my publishers, The Wild Rose Press notified its authors they were offering us the option to have our books uploaded to audio. At first I resisted. After all, I wrote books. Book were made to be, well, read. Not listened to. And besides, I arrogantly asserted that no narrator but myself could do my words justice. I wrote them. I was the one who knew how they should sound, not some anonymous narrator who wouldn't do the work any justice.

Arrogant, thy name is Peggy.

Then, one day, I met a woman who changed my opinion forever. A patient of my husband's, the woman was sixty-eight, housebound for the most part, and blind since birth. She knew I was a writer and asked if any of my books were available on audio tape. She was a great "reader" of books in Braille, but she'd been afflicted in the past few years with debilitating arthritis and could no longer use her fingers to read. Her daughter had gotten her a subscription to Audible and now she could enjoy her favorite author's again by listening to their newest books.

It's not often I am struck speechless. I think I can count of the fingers of one hand and still have 4 left over the times I have been. So, I did what I usually do when I'm exposed to something I'm unfamiliar with: I researched.

According to a report issued by the Audio Book Publishers Association, audio sales jumped 22.7 % in 2017 to just under $2.5 billion in sales. Another published in AP, states that book publishers are embracing the format more and more. Then I spoke to several of my author friends. Unanimously they agreed that offering your books in audio was a great way to get your books in front of people who couldn't read in a conventional way.

So...
I have now begun offering my titles on audio. Next month I'll explain the process, but for now, I'm thrilled to announce the following titles are currently available on Audible.

During the next few months, two more titles will be added:

I hope to have the rest of my books uploaded within the coming year as well.








Next month for me: what goes into getting your book available in Audio. Until then, don't forget the March Romance Gems giveaways:
 There are three different ways you can win. See all the prizes on the Monthly Giveaway page. GOOD LUCK!

Comment & Win:

Leave a comment on any post in March + Your Email Address—written out, i.e. Mary at yahoo dot com. (We need your email to verify you are who you say you are and to contact you.)

The more comments you make; the greater your chance of winning. Winner selected by random draw from eligible entries.

Prizes: $5.00 Amazon Gift Card at the end of each week beginning March 8 for a total of 4 Amazon Gift Cards.

Friends Tell Friends:

To enter, send your friends to visit us. When your friend visits and reads a post, she should (1) leave a comment with her email address written out (2) leave the name and email of the friend who referred her. (Readers, coordinate this with your friend.)

Both names/emails will be entered in Friends Tell Friends Giveaway. The more friends you bring; the greater your chances of winning. Winner selected by random draw from eligible entries at end of March.

Prizes: Romance Readers Tee & Audiobook by Nancy Fraser

Luck O' The Irish Rafflecopter:

1st Grand Prize Winner

The Honor of Naming a Female Character in an Author's upcoming Book plus $10.00 Amazon Gift Card.

2nd Grand Prize Winner

The Honor of Naming a Male Character in an Author's upcoming Book plus $10.00 Amazon Gift Card.

Other Rafflecopter Prizes are shown on the Monthly Giveaway page.

Enter the Rafflecopter and the other Giveaways often. The more you enter; the better your chances to win.

Click to enter LUCK O' THE IRISH Romance Gems Giveaway