Win a Free Kindle Fire!

Win a Free Kindle fire and other great prizes in this years Kindle INDIEpendence Day Giveaway.

There are lots of ways to enter including tweeting about the contest, following the authors on facebook or Twitter, blogging about the contest and even purchasing the participating books. Just fill out the rafflecopter form below!

This is also a blog hop. Be sure to visit the other blogs on the list and learn more about Indie authors of YA and MG novels. You can add your blog and get extra entry points as well!

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The Aussie Zombie Reviews Super Zombie Juice

The Aussie Zombie

I always get a little nervous when sending SZJMB to hard-core zombie sites for review, as it isn't your traditional zombie novel. Fortunately, Kat at The Aussie Zombie, was open to the idea of a zombie book for kids and seemed to really enjoy it.

"...I really enjoyed this one. It's a zombie story, but more appropriate for kids around the 8-10 year age range, although it doesn't hold back on the realities of what would happen during a zombie apocalypse."

Read the full review and find much more Zombie related stuff at (including tons of Zombie book reviews) at The Aussie Zombie.


In other news I recently sold my 10,000th children's book. it took a couple of years, but it's a major milestone. After having flat sales for at least six months, my sales have been steadily increasing for the past three or four months. A lot of the thanks has to go to the reviewers who take the time to get the word out. But, I've also had a run of luck with Amazon as well. Here's crossing my fingers that it keeps up--that's a drawback with Amazon, sales can spike or plummet at any time.

Happy Release Day: Michaela's Gift!

Michaela's Gift is a MG/YA novel about a 12 yo girl who gets a birthday gift with magical powers. It's by Cordelia Dinsmore, whom (it's whom, right) you may remember did a review of Super Zombie Juice a while back.


You can pick up a copy right now at the low, low introductory price  (okay, I don't really know if that's an introductory price or not) of just $2.99:
Amazon
Barns and Noble
Musa Publishing


Carla is a great blogger and this is her debut novel, so take a minute and download the sample right now!

The World's Greatest Living Science Fiction Writer - No More

I remember like it was yesterday, picking up a book, not even reading the title, just looking for that marketing phase, "The World's Greatest Living Science Fiction Writer." When I saw those words, I picked it up.

As a kid, Ray's books were always checked out at my library. Even today, check your local used bookstore for anything by Ray Bradbury--they sell the same day the come in, and rightfully so. I still have my paperbacks I read as a teen. Even though my writing style is nothing like his, no other writer has influenced me more than Ray Bradbury.

This may sound like the beginning of an obituary filled with praise and glowing words for this master craftsman of the written word. And I had considered writing an essay explaining Ray's disdain of books and the internet.

But alas, it is not to be. For even if I could dig up any words from the hollow pit in my belly, they wouldn't do him justice.

My only solace is I know we will speak again soon, the next time I open any of his works.

“And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn’t crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again...”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Zombie Apocalypse Spreads -- Miami Police Officers Show Signs of Infection

Stores are starting sell Zombie Survival Gear

Who would have guessed "Bath Salts" are what's causing the real zombie Apocalypse? And who would have guessed it would spread so quickly? Reports of zombie-like behavior are coming in from all around the country. It's gotten to the point where the CDC has been forced to deny the outbreak stating,
"CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead."

When the government starts denying the outbreak, that's the first sign it's real! Now, Alex Marin, the editor of Policymic.com has reported that Miami Police department has started eating off faces and shooting unarmed (in this case naked) suspects. Here's the exact quote:
"In Miami, police shot a naked man after eating the face of another man on the side of a highway."

This will make me think twice before I speed on our nation's highways!

I suppose it's possible that the what the writer meant to say was that the naked man was eating the face of another man, before the Miami Police shot him. After all we know that an incident like this happened last week. But that is clearly not what the sentence says.

Really which is more likely, that the editor at PolicyMic (and a NYU alumni) doesn't know how to compose a sentence, or that the police who arrested the first face-eating zombie became infected and are now thirsting for brains themselves?

I think you know the answer.

If you are still not convinced, then consider this. A PolicyMic reader did report the possible error via their online messaging system, but PolicyMic has not recanted the statement (see the comments section on their site).

Yes, the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us. The only question now is: Who will survive?

My Book Breaks Out -- Or 100 Agents CAN Be Wrong!

Before I decided to self-publish, I submitted my manuscript to 100 MG agents and got 101 rejections (yes, one agent felt the need to let me know she wasn't interested in representing me twice). Actually, I did get 10 requests for fulls or partials and some had nice things to say about my writing (a couple even asked to see my next manuscript) when they sent the dreaded Rejection.

Still, I was convinced I had a book that some kids would love. Today, I'm glad to announce that I was right--I just sold my 500th copy of SZJMB this month.

Now, 500 copies a month may not sound like a lot, but it's very good for a Middle Grade ebook. In fact it's good enough to rank as  the number #1 most popular Children's Humor ebook on Amazon and the #1 Bestseller as well.

I don't know how long this will last, Amazon rankings change all the time. But it's been #1 for a week (occasionally it goes to #2 or even #3 for a few hours before bouncing back) and I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I realize this isn't the same thing as selling a million books, or winning a Newbery, but it does prove that the agents missed a great book. No hard feelings though; I still plan on submitting my newest manuscript to them. But, I'm not going to spend a year querying and rewriting. If they don't like it, I have faith I can find kids who'll enjoy it.

Speaking of which, while I'm being self-indulgent, I might as well post some of my favorite kid reviews:

From Apple:
"i ♥ this book
this was the best book i have ever read"
"This was the best book ever
I could not put this book down I really hate reading but this book I could read it 1000 times if I could"

From B&N:
"You have to read this book
This book was one of the best books ive never read and im one of those kids that always reads that is saying a lot so read the damn book!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Omg
I couldn't put my nook down, it was just too good! It's thrilling, exciting, and in some cases sad. But i loved it when nate ran over the zombies! Usually girls don't like that stuff. Oh, by the way i finished this book in 3 days!"
"Best book ever!
I could not put this book down i read it all in on day it was so good. Everyone should read this book,i think anyway. I could read this book mutipule times plz write some more books like this one. If i could i would give M.J.A Ware an award for writeing such a good book!"

I do realize these reviews are so good, they almost read like fakes--honestly, unless my Mom posted them, they are real (and my Mom wouldn't do something like that--she probably can't figure out how to post a single review, let along a bunch of fake ones). It's really just that these are the best of the lot. If you want to see reviews from people who didn't like it, try Goodreads--hey, it wasn't written for them anyway.

That's all the blatant self-promotion I can stand for one day. I'm just so excited about my recent success, I had to share the news.

More Reviews and a Mini Sales update

So, I'm way behind in posting reviews, again. Sorry reviewers, I really do appreciate  the fact that you graciously give your time to help struggling authors. I'm just not very good at keeping up with you.

First up (and most belated) is a review from Kitty Bullard at Great Minds Think Aloud. Kitty loved SZJMB, well her exact words were, "I absolutely, 100%, loved this book!"
She's also the first person to spot a little Easter Egg in the print version of the book. I won't spoil it here, but if you are interested, check out her great review.

Cordelia Dinsmore frequents Absolute Write, a great writer's community and contacted me on there about getting a review copy. She's not a zombie fan and was a little worried SZJMB might not suit her taste, but I think the characters won her over as left a great review, "I think MJ has nailed the middle grade voice. I have a young son, so we read a lot of middle grade books around our house. We also watch quite a bit of kid-friendly television. The characters in SZJMB think and act quite similarly to many of the kids, both real and fictional, with which I am familiar."

Cordelia has her own MG/YA book, Michaela's Gift coming out next month, so keep an eye on her blog.

Last, is my shortest review ever (not counting iPod/Pad reviews), but it's still a great one, from Trisha at Passing Through. This also happens to be my first Tumblr review, which explains why it's just three (great) sentences.

Now for the mini sales update. Well, they've been great. I'll try to post an in-depth update in the near future, but for now, let me just say that in April I finally broke 500 books sold in one month. And--I hope I'm not jinxing myself here--but it looks like I'll do the same in May as well!

Thanks to everyone who's helped make that success possible (especially the reviewers).