Welcome to Songdove Books Newsletter: September 2014

October 1st, and I royally missed sending out the September newsletter!  Will you forgive me?  September was a strange month for both me and Songdove Books.  On the day job front, work was the slowest it's been in months!

My latest book, "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" launched on the September Long Weekend.  It's available in a wide range of online locations in both paperback and various ebook formats.

As of this newsletter, no one has signed up on the calendar to publicly begin Day One in a bid to cover the various prayer points in this book every single day for an entire year.

Pumpkin Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, Almost!)

An ebook was also launched in September that shares my own recipe from picking out a pumpkin to breaking it down and turning into pie filling that everyone who's ever sat around my table at holiday meals has raved about.  It is a departure from what I usually write, but it was a fun project and can be offered as a paperback booklet if requested.  This book is entitled, "Pumpkin Pie from the Ground Up! (Well, Almost!)" and yes, the humour in that title continues throughout the book.

One Thought Leads to Another. . . and Another. . .

Towards the end of the month, an idea came to me about tweeting, "A Year in Prayer With Jesus".  As it turns out, most of the book is quite tweetable with very little tweaking to make most prayer prompts fit into 140 characters.  Songdove Books is also on Pinterest, so the thought progressed into making each prayer prompt into it's own image based on the book cover's background image.  The result actually turned out quite well, which led to a third thought!  Amazing how one thought leads to another eh?  My goal now is to create 7 prayer cards for every day of the book's year and make them available for purchase.  Unfortunately, most places I could go to have prices that to me, are prohibitively high if I wish to resell them to you.  

I am therefore working on a system integration with my website that would let you buy each card one at a time at a price point that would bring a month-long sampling down a bit more than what I've been quoted to date.  The beauty of buying one at a time is that you don't have to buy ALL the prayer cards necessarily, but can pick and choose which cards you wish to purchase.  Prices go down with bulk purchases as well.  The service that lets me do this offers a wide range of options, but I've narrowed them down to greeting cards, flat cards (postcard size), image downloads and ecards (which are free to send to anyone you wish).  This service isn't live yet on my site because I'm currently not happy with the gallery presentation.  You're welcome to give me feedback after looking at this page here:  http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus-daily-prayer-cards/ Clicking an image will open it up full-size and once everything on the page has loaded, the various buy choices will appear across the bottom of the image.  Presentation options include the basic gallery thumbnail presentation, or a tiled mosaic presentation so far.  Lightbox presentations or slideshow presentations don't work well with the buy choice links.  But so far, all gallery options have the thumbnails quite close together. . . If you as my mailing list are ok with that, then I'll go live with one of the two presentations that work.  But if you have critical thoughts as much as I do about it, then I'll have to keep looking for something that works a bit better before taking this concept live.

Wrap-up

So this month was all about pumpkins and prayer.  Considering the Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up in October shortly, that combination of thoughts is very timely.  If you've been wondering what to do for family devotions this year around the table, you may want to follow in one reviewer's footsteps and buy a copy of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" to nicely fill that void.  If you're looking for a lighter pumpkin pie this year that might actually be healthy for someone in your household, you may wish to purchase the ebook, "PumpkIn Pie From the Ground Up! (Well, Almost!)".  

I don't know what October has to offer yet this year, but I do know the wetter weather is playing havoc with my health already.  Fall is a beautiful time of year with leaves changing colours and decorating sidewalks as they fall from the trees.  The temperatures get more livable as we leave the seering Okanagan heat behind.  Cooler temperatures sometimes bring more precipitation in this part of the world as well, which is the bit my body kicks up a fuss over.  Myself, I love the rain!  It is so incredibly peaceful and quieting.  I have yet to convince my lungs of the same thing however.  So pray for me as we enter this Fall season.  Pray for health, for domestic economic sustainability, and for God's continued leading as I move forward.

No book projects are on the horizon at this time, which means it's time to begin thinking about Fall, Christmas or Winter book tours to help get the word out about the books currently on the Songdove Books line-up.  An offline order sheet has been created now, which  you are welcome to download at this link here:   http://songdove.fa-ct.com/stuff/bookorderform.pdf    Feel free to share that with others who may not be comfortable ordering books online.

Past Newsletter:
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/past-newsletters/

THREE MORE DAYS to take advantage of a 99cent book sale on "TribBooks", "Inktera" and "IndieReader" apps (available on Google Play and Apple #App Store).

They reduced the price of all three of my e-books to $.99 for 7 days, just 10 copies each are available for "Dressed for Eternity", "A Year in Prayer With Jesus", and "Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author", while supplies last.

All three books are at this link here: https://www.inktera.com/store/search?q=Marilynn+Dawson Their TribBooks app is here: http://tribbooks.com/ and their Inktera app is here: https://www.inktera.com/store/free_apps

Saturday we began the book launch giveaway.  Sunday we ended the month-long 15% off celebration sale.  Monday we went to visit the blog of a writer of Christian children's books to engage in an interview about myself as an author, and this latest book.  TODAY we have a fun announcement and invitation!

Have you ever sat down with a group of people and all agreed to join a daily initiative where each of you took a different day?  It might have been taking turns sitting at the bedside of a sick friend.  It might have been taking turns watering a special plant a week before someone's big day.  Maybe it was for a fundraising relay and you each signed up for one hour on the clock.  Have you ever put your name on a 24-hour prayer calendar?  Did you ever sign up for a time slot on a 40-day prayer calendar?  Global Day of Prayer likes to encourage prayer groups to do that in the 40 days between Easter and Pentecost every year.  I've heard stories of prayer rooms that are open 24 hours a day in Israel, England, and other places as well.

In a similar fashion, it would be fun to sign up 365 people or prayer groups, each beginning Day One of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" on a different day on the calendar.  The way this book is laid out, you can begin Day One literally any day of the calendar year, so no one has to be concerned with missing part of the year if they don't start on a given date.

One of the prayer points in this book, "Thy Kingdom Come", features prayer prompts for a wide range of missions organizations across various denominations.  It also features nations in or near the 10-40 window, and encourages prayer for various people groups and language groups.  As the author of this book, this particular prayer point was the most difficult to put together.  Every missions organization mentioned had to go through a vetting process to be sure they were teaching Salvation, placing emphasis on the Word of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them.  Language groups and people groups had to be "living" so that I wasn't asking you to pray for groups that had in some manner disappeared off the map.  While these vetting processes helped to narrow down the various lists, I still had far too many entries for the mere 365 days to be covered in a year.  After prayer and puzzling, I finally reduced these lists to those that hopefully represent the widest swaths of humanity on the planet.  Needless to say, this particular prayer prompt feels like a mere drop in the bucket of all the people groups and language groups a person or prayer group could be praying for.  The "Your Thoughts" entry will come in handy for many of you who know of or work with groups not mentioned in the 365 day period.  If you purchase the paperback copy, you can write those in with a pen or pencil.  If you buy an ebook version, you may wish to purchase a matching notebook from my cafepress.com store (http://www.cafepress.com/songdovebooks), so that you have somewhere to write down additional prayer prompts as they come to you.

But imagine. . . You begin Day One on September 3rd.  Your friend begins Day One on September 4th.  Your buddy's prayer group begins Day One on September 5th, and so on.  Each of you would come to the above prayer prompt one day after the other, effectively lifting up those mentioned there every single day for an entire year!

This is exciting to me because I do have a heart for missions!  I know how deeply missionaries appreciate those back home praying for them!  I know how impacting those prayers are on daily life on the missionfield.  I also know how difficult it is to get people praying for these missionaries on a regular basis.  I used to run an online prayer group and we divided up the globe into the same regions as created in the Left Behind Series by Tim Lehaye and Jerry Jenkins.  I still have graphics of those regions on my computer from those days managing this online prayer group.  We had prayer warriors from South Africa, Britain, Australia, Germany, the USA, Canada, Singapore, etcetera.  Whenever possible, each person put their name down to pray on a given day for a given region of the world.  This prayer group went on for several years and we'd meet to pray together once a month online in group chat.

So needless to say, I can't help being excited about the prospect of encouraging people to join with each other across cities, regions and nations to lift up missionaries, nations, people groups and language groups in prayer every single day for an entire year!

Participation requires a copy of this book in some format, whether paperback, PDF, epub or mobi.  Tomorrow, September 3rd, four people will receive free copies of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" in digital format.  Once you have your own copy, you are then encouraged to visit the entry form on my website at:  http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/join-with-others-in-covering-the-world-in-prayer-for-an-entire-year/  Fill in the entire form including where you obtained your copy of the book, as well as what date you began Day One.  If you include a link in the form, be sure to fill out the box asking how you want your calendar entry to appear.  Failure to fill out that final box will result in your full name being shared on the date you choose.  Your entry will be placed on the calendar manually, and your email address entered into my monthly Songdove Books Presents: Newsletter.  You're free to unsubscribe from that newsletter at any time.

I am seriously looking forward to adding names to the calendar on my website!  Are you game?  Check this link for current places where you can get your copy and join the fun!  https://www.facebook.com/notes/marilynn-dawson-author/book-launch-for-a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus-august-30th-sept-5th/700524600040431

We made it!  We're here!  It's August 30th!  It's Book Launch Weekend!!!

The 15% off sale wraps up Sunday night. 

Those coupon codes and URL's again are:

YTUWZNRV 15% https://www.createspace.com/

YPWJ-PROMO 15% http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com

YPWJ-PROMO 15% http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/new-christian-books/

Search for the book title you want and use the coupon on checkout.  Paperback books only.

As for Giveaways in celebration of this book launch, "Dressed for Eternity"'s giveaway wraps up tonight over at Booklikes.com
http://booklikes.com/giveaways/show/862/dressed-for-eternity-marilynn-dawson

BUT!!!

"A Year in Prayer With Jesus" kicks off the weekend celebrations by having it's own 4-DAY giveaway at Booklikes.com today as well!
http://booklikes.com/giveaways/show/849/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus-marilynn-dawson
You'll see this being announced separately later today.

We have a blogger assisting with the book launch by way of an interview on September 1st.

Also in the book launch news, is word of a fun initiative involving prayer warriors and the Songdove Books Calendar.  So you'll want to stay tuned for that in coming days!

• So Saturday - Begin the book launch giveaway itself over at Booklikes.com

• Sunday - Wrap up the 15% off paperback sale and hand out the last of the month-long 3-day giveaways.

• Monday - Visit a blogger as they feature the new book, "A Year in Prayer With Jesus"

• Tuesday - Announce the calendar initiative and reward the 4-day giveaway winners of the new book!

Next up - Where you can buy the paperback, PDF, ePub, or Mobi formats of this book:

In Canada:
http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com
http://www.bookmob.ca/search/keyword/0991683390/details/isbn/0991683390/
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus/

Global:
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4757959
Amazon
CA: Digital: http://www.amazon.ca/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson-ebook/dp/B00MT52KBG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1408337250&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Year+in+Prayer+With+Jesus
US: http://astore.amazon.com/becothebridof-20/detail/0991683390
UK: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/becthebriofch-21/detail/0991683390
FR: http://www.amazon.fr/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson/dp/0991683390/ref=la_B008SXA2QS_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408253733&sr=1-13
DE: http://astore.amazon.de/becthebriof0d-21/detail/0991683390
IT: http://www.amazon.it/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson/dp/0991683390/ref=sr_1_11?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408253966&sr=1-11
ES: http://www.amazon.es/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson/dp/0991683390/ref=sr_1_11?s=foreign-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408253832&sr=1-11

Paperback and Digital:
New Christian Books: http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/new-christian-books/
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus-ms-marilynn-dawson/1120158824?ean=9780991683390
Chapters: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a-year-in-prayer-with/9781928160007-item.html?ikwid=A+Year+in+Prayer+With+Jesus&ikwsec=Books&ikwidx=0

Digital Only:
Italy: http://www.lafeltrinelli.it/ebook/marilynn-dawson/a-year-prayer-with-jesus/9781928160007
Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/l/YPWJ
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/468191
Tomely: http://songdove.tomely.com/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id910036856
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ms_Marilynn_Dawson_A_Year_in_Prayer_With_Jesus?id=RrJMBAAAQBAJ
Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/book/237143715/A-Year-in-Prayer-With-Jesus
Inktera: http://www.inktera.com/store/title/6037271a-1a2d-40b3-bcf8-369c700fc88e

If you wish to take part in the book launch, one way is by leaving reviews of the book, regardless of the format you purchased, at one or more of the following locations.  Please note that "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" may not be available at some of the links below, but if you have recently won any of the other books I've written, leaving a review for them at the following locations will be welcome as well.

Amazon: http://www.smarturl.it/MarilynnDawson
Deeper Shopping: http://www.deepershopping.com/marilynn-l-dawson/homepage.html
Boomerang Books: http://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/author/MS-Marilynn-Dawson
Chapters: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/search/?keywords=ms.+marilynn+dawson
Barnes & Noble: http://my.barnesandnoble.com/songdove-library/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10989028-marilynn-dawson
Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/search/books?Keywords=Marilynn%20Dawson
Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/Songdove/documents
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Ms.%20Marilynn%20Dawson&c=books
My website: http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/
fReado: http://www.freado.com/users/34318/marilynn-dawson
Kobo: http://evocalize.com/consumer/business/520e6ea22f18b/search?term=Ms.+Marilynn+Dawson
https://www.librarything.com/profile/songdove
Authors Den: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/mytitles.asp?AuthorID=183171
Booklikes: http://marilynndawson.booklikes.com/
Riffle: https://read.rifflebooks.com/list/148513

If you find my books at other locations not on this list, where you can leave reviews, send me the link so I can update it for everyone else.

A book launch is all about telling everyone that a book is now live, ready for purchase, where it can be found, and having a little fun along the way.  If you want to take part in this book launch in other ways that you think would be fun, please comment below.

Welcome to all our new subscribers!  It's great to have you with us! Hard to believe that summer is already over for some and almost over for others.  It's been a busy summer around Songdove Books, particularly the month of August!  If you follow me on my author page on Facebook, you'll probably remember all the excited posts about the latest event as it's happened.  I'll try to recapture the action for everyone just in case there are newsletter subscribers who don't follow my social network feeds.  Can't have anyone left out now!


The Big Weekend is Almost Upon Us!

As previously announced in July's newsletter, the official launch date for "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" is the September Labour Day Long Weekend!

"A Year in Prayer With Jesus" is currently hitting online retailer shelves as we speak, and I'll share the list as it exists, in a moment.

To celebrate, the entire month of August has had two events going on.  The first have been ebook giveaways for all 10 current titles under the Songdove Books imprint!  Each giveaway lasts three days and three winners are chosen at the end of each draw.  As of now, there is one giveaway wrapping up tonight, and another occurring from August 28th to August 30th.  When August 30th arrives, A 4 day and a 7 day (hopefully, it's currently "pending") giveaway will commence for "A Year in Prayer With Jesus"!  4 winners and 7 winners will be chosen respectively at two different websites, for a total of 11 recipients of the brand new book.

URL's to these giveaways are up and clickable at:  http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/calendar-3/

The second event going on all month has been a month-long sale taking place at three locations online where paperback versions of my books are sold.  For the entire month of August, buyers have been able to pick up paperback copies of my books for 15% off the usual retail price using the following codes at checkout for the following sites:

YTUWZNRV 15% https://www.createspace.com/
YPWJ-PROMO 15% http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com
YPWJ-PROMO 15% http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/new-christian-books/

This sale only has a few days left, as it ends August 31st.  So if you were hoping to get any deals on my books before September kicks into gear, now's the time to jump!

It is a dream of mine to have 365 people purchase "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" in paperback, PDF, epub, or mobi, and each of these people begin "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" on 365 consequative dates!  For those prayer prompts where people groups, language families, nations and missions organizations are presented, this dream would have them covered by someone every single day for an entire year!  This includes those nations and people groups in current conflict zones as of the time of this announcement.

"A Year in Prayer With Jesus" is available for $25.50 in paperback, and $9.99 in its various ebook formats.  The digital formats are all available on pre-order with delivery taking place August 30th, the beginning of the Long Weekend Launch.  As promised, here is the current list of places where you can buy the Paperback or e-Book version of this book:

Initial list of where to pick up your copy of "A Year in Prayer With Jesus" in either Paperback or e-Book format:

In Canada:

http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com

http://www.bookmob.ca/search/keyword/0991683390/details/isbn/0991683390/

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus/

Global:

Createspace:
https://www.createspace.com/4757959

Amazon
CA: Digital: http://www.amazon.ca/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson-ebook/dp/B00MT52KBG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1408337250&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Year+in+Prayer+With+Jesus
US: http://astore.amazon.com/becothebridof-20/detail/0991683390
UK: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/becthebriofch-21/detail/0991683390
FR: http://www.amazon.fr/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson/dp/0991683390/ref=la_B008SXA2QS_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408253733&sr=1-13
DE: http://astore.amazon.de/becthebriof0d-21/detail/0991683390
IT: http://www.amazon.it/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson/dp/0991683390/ref=sr_1_11?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408253966&sr=1-11
ES: http://www.amazon.es/Year-Prayer-Jesus-Marilynn-Dawson/dp/0991683390/ref=sr_1_11?s=foreign-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408253832&sr=1-11

Paperback and Digital:
New Christian Books:
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/new-christian-books/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus-ms-marilynn-dawson/1120158824?ean=9780991683390

Chapters:
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a-year-in-prayer-with/9781928160007-item.html?ikwid=A+Year+in+Prayer+With+Jesus&ikwsec=Books&ikwidx=0

Digital Only:

Italy:
http://www.lafeltrinelli.it/ebook/marilynn-dawson/a-year-prayer-with-jesus/9781928160007

Gumroad:
https://gumroad.com/l/YPWJ

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/468191

Tomely:
http://songdove.tomely.com/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus

iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id910036856

Kobo:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/a-year-in-prayer-with-jesus

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ms_Marilynn_Dawson_A_Year_in_Prayer_With_Jesus?id=RrJMBAAAQBAJ


e-Course on Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author Now has a Sequel!

Creating Your First E-Book, also just $15, follows on the heels of "Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author" branching into 12 daily sessions assisting the aspiring author in creating their very first e-Book!

More information about the course such as who would benefit from it, how much it costs, and the purchase link can be found at this link http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/creating-your-very-first-e-book/ If you have already taken the first e-course, you can get this new one for $1 off.  Simply reply to this newsletter with the email address you signed up for the first course with, and I'll get you the coupon code to get your discount.

Conversely, if you take this second course and decide you'd like to take the first course, respond to your final daily session's email with your desire to take the first course and I'll give you the $1 off discount code for the first course.

Either way, be sure to add the course's email address to your whitelist so that you don't miss out on any of the daily sessions.

Both courses can be reviewed at this url:
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Wrap-up

Giveaways, Paperback Sale, Book Launch, New E-Course, Wow!

Yes, life certainly has been busy this month!

**************

Life hasn't just been busy on the writing front, but this author who is also a computer technician, was at a tradeshow mid-month, for an entire week!  I've only been to a handful of much smaller events in the Okanagan, so I wasn't really sure what I'd be in for.  It turns out that my experiences setting up and manning my sister's craft table at Christmas craft fairs in years past came in quite handy for this show!  I was assisting a startup, and took the owner shopping for what we'd need for our tiny 6ftx2ft space that we were given as part of Epson's booth at Siggraph Vancouver 2014.  While I'm sure their own display must have cost $1000's to transport, register, set up, and take down, our tiny little bit of floor space only cost us maybe $300 to set up and take down.  But with that small amount of cash outlay, our corner of the Epson booth was literally non-stop for 2.5 days of the 3-day exhibition!  We had breather breaks on the Thursday morning, but then we got just as swamped as if it were earlier in the show.

But what made the entire trip worth it, was the sunset over the ocean that greeted me when we finally got back to our suites Thursday night! The picture above doesn't do it justice, but the sunset that evening was positively gorgeous!  Red/orange gradients over the sun as it set below the ocean's horizon were SO amazing!  The sight was incredibly calming as I stood there occasionally trying unsuccessfully to capture the view on camera.  This author grewup beside the ocean and hasn't seen it in many years!  Such an evening felt like a bittersweet send off, as Friday morning we would be heading home to the Okanagan again.  Truly a bittersweet experience. . . and yet calming and quieting all the same.

We need those quieting moments in our lives.  We need those calming moments.  Vancouver is a large city with crazy traffic and strange bus/metro systems.  Every evening the adventure would start all over again, how to pick the best route home from the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre.  Life can seem chaotic at times, crazy, an adventure just getting from point A to point B.  But in the midst of it all, God calls us away for a moment to be with Him.  He speaks peace into the hectic schedule, and for a moment, all is quiet.  After such a crazy week, that moment standing near the window of my suite overlooking the ocean was just what I needed.  I didn't want it to end.

How has God spoken peace into a hectic moment in your day?

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