Yesterday was my first book signing and it was so much fun. When I got home after celebrating with Sushi and a fellow author, Arlene Radasky and the cover artist Amie Perry-Reavis and My husband, I got a message from Emerain Rich and she ask if she could interview me about the book signing. So instead of writing a blog about it I thought I would share a snippet from the interview that will air in full at a later date on Horror Addicts.

It was so cool to have the staff put the sticker on my book as the Staff Pick! They also talked about doing another signing and a book club event. Very exciting to be able to be involved at a community books store. Many thanks to McCabes & Company Booksellers of Crestline, CA.

Thank you to everyone to turned out and purchased the book, came to meet me and support me. You are the reason this author will do another event like this.My self, the cover artist and the banner out side of McCabes and Co Booksellers in Crestline in Southern California.

Amie Perry-Reavis is a dear friend and an wonderful artist. You can see more of her work and buy product with her signature artistic style on her website www.goddessprints.com. She has a fabulous series of greeting cards, reproductions and original works for sale and many forms.

Arlene Radasky the author of The Fox and my partner in BTR-Authors Read came out to show her support and I was so grateful to have her there, but what was really cool was the bookstore picked up some of her books and she sold one and I got to see her sign it.

I Can’t thank everyone enough especially McCabes for supporting this local author and asking for me to come back and do it again! Must of done something right.

 
Keep writing I know I will.

Well Done!

We had a really good time creating this trailer for the author Arlene Radasky’s The Fox. Great thanks to Arlene for asking us to help. Gary and Ruth from www.thecelticmythpodshow.com delivered stellar performances in the voice over for this project.  Mark from www.lonewolfsageco.com is learning with every trailer how to make them better and more fine tuned to each authors needs and vision. Please grab the embedded code from this trailer and post it to your blog or link to it on Twitter or face book. Help spread the word and turn someone on to this Celtic novel.

Please Enjoy!

This is a huge week for my dear friend Arlene Radasky. First the trailer release and then a contest! Arlene is looking for book club questions. Email her a book club question and your name will go into the hat for a free autographed copy of The Fox. Contest ends August 1. No time to lose send in your book club question today.

____________________________________________________________
 

Now for What is Happening with Me

This week I booked my first book signing for The Mark of a Druid. I will be appearing at McCabe & Company Bookstore in Crestline, Ca on August 29th from 12:00 to 2:00. There will be a prize awarded for those in attendance and a reading too. More details as the date approaches.

I also invite you to jump over to www.themarkofadruid.com and hear the astounding and emotionally moving pretrial that the 21st century bards from www.thecelticmythpodshow.com so graciously did for my book in there latest special episode number 12-Midsummer 2009 You can hear the full episode (well worth the time to listen, I love their show) to go to their site and listen to this episode, it completely rocks. I will be posting just the section they did of my book at www.themarkofaduid.com today. You are free to listen there as wellas in the player below.
I can not thank Gary and Ruthie enough and if you want to read my gushing thanks while you’re listening to how they brought my story to life, as I saw it when I was writing it pop over to the book site later today.

Contest Update

Have you kidnapped the trailer yet? The Mark of a Druid has released its first book trailer too. Put the link or embedded code on your site, Twitter it, Facebook it, Plurk it or come up with another way to promote The Mark of a Druid using the trailer and then go to Contest 9 and participate you will be registered to win a hug canvas bag full of goodies!

Writing is going better than I expected and I look forward to shooting you all glimpse of the new book in this series in the coming weeks.

Keep Writing, You Know I will!
Rhonda R Carpenter

This has been a astounding week of good news and I got tons accomplished. First off let me thank you all for your continued support of my writing and other projects. The Parsec Nomination Submission is complete. It made it to them on Monday. Here you go.

While Podioracket is on a short break we are still turning out blogs and having BTR-PR Interviews. July is totally booked and August is almost full! I can’t believe how successful this endeavor has become and in such a short period of time. We went live in mid March and at the end of June we are hearing nothing but praise from everyone who is listening to the show. Please feel free to take 2 minutes and leave a comment or review on the site or on Itunes. It will help us receive more notice and Heather Roulo and I completely appreciate it. Oh there is also a voice recorder on the site so please leave us a voice message.

Tomorrow on the BTR-PR Show I will be interviewing Jason M. Kays author of Virtual Vice at 2:30 pm PST. Here is a link so you can join us live on the show.

The call in Number is (347) 996-3319

During the interview I will be playing Jason’s kindly sent reading and his promo. We will talk about what inspired this story and how a lawyer turns novelist!

The Mark of a Druid is about to hit 60,000 downloads

When I first decided to release The Mark of a Druid as a free serialized podcast I had no idea what I was doing. But I grabbed the boot straps and called the many me’s together and jumped in with both feet. I have learned so much since starting the publishing and podcasting of this project. There have been highs and lows but over all I think I am not doing too bad. It hit Amazon officially in February as the podcast simotaniously completed. I never thought in a million years I would have 60,000 downloads.
So what does 60,000 downloads mean??? I asked myself the same thing. Lets look at it in simple mathematical terms. There are 34 Episodes in the book. 60,000 divided by 34 is 1764 listeners. But if you look at the more in depth numbers provided by the host for the podiobooks.com version Episdoe 1 has been downloaded 3861 times. I see that as 3861 potential people who could like what I am doing, leave a comments, rate and review the book. But more importantly that is almost 4000 listeners who could tell their friends! Not bad for a first time novelist. Even if I do say so myself. And I owe that success to all you listeners spreading the word, buying books and downloading. I am not a rich person, but I do want to give back to the listeners and readers. The best way I can think of to do that at this point is to have contests and keep releasing more content as soon as available. If you haven’t Kidnapped the Trailer what are you waiting for. This is the biggest prize yet int he 2009 Contest series. Click here to find out how easy it is to play and win.

The Mark of a Druid is now also available on www.tailcast.com.  I am so pleased that they got the audio upload function working on their site. It is a wonderful place for writers and artist to show off their work and make friends.

Last thing: I huge thank you to Cyrus A. Webb for the glowing 5 star amazon review on the book. It means the world to me. Cyrus is an advocate for literacy and the creator of the new Television show “The Write Stuff” Which begins airing June 27! He is also a long time radio host of Conversations Live and has asked to interview me about the book. This interview is Scheduled for 7-23-09 at 5:00pm Pst and will last 30 minutes. When it gets closer I will post it here. Find out the about the show at www.thewritestufftv.com.

Here is what he said:

THE MARK OF A DRUID is the Best of Both Worlds for the Reader, June 27, 2009

By	C. A. Webb “Conversations Book Club” (Jackson, MS) – See all my reviews

Rhonda Carpenter gives hungry readers exactly what they expect from a tightly woven storyline: a book you can not only lose yourself in but find a part of yourself after you are finished. Why do we believe the way we do? Who truly influences the way we evaluate our lives and those of others past? Just because we can’t wrap our minds around something does that make it any less real?

These are all discussions that any book club or group of friends will have fun dissecting and debating as they maneuver from chapter to chapter.

Carpenter has truly left her “Mark” with this one, and the literary world is a better place because of it.

On to another busy week Stay tuned for more.

Keep Writing, I know I will,

Rhonda R Carpenter

Welcome Readers!

Contest #8 closed last night at 12:01 Am PST!

The Winner is Cyndi30107! Your Prize will be shipped on June 1, 2009. Congrats you will be receiving a singed copy of The Mark of a Druid!

I so enjoyed answering the questions for the Meet the Characters Contest and we will be doing this one again in the next few months. As always if you want to ask a question of the characters please just go the meet the characters section of www.themarkofadruid.com and click on any character and ask your question. The next time we run a meet the characters contest you will be automatically entered to win if you shoot me an email and tell me that you asked a question. Send those emails to infor@themarkofadruid.com.

I am so thankful for my listener-ship I truly want to give back and have been tossing around some ideas for extra Mark of a Druid material that I can proved while you are so patiently waiting for the next book, When Eithers Descend. If you have ideas about what would hold you over and keep you interested just let me know and I will see what I can do. Email me at info@themarkofadruid.com.

The next contest will be announced in just a little while and it is all about ratings! I hope you will join in the fun and enter this contest!

Announcement

Heather Roulo and I will be interviewed tonight on Behind the Mike with Joel M http://www.blogtalkradio.com/BehindTheMike/2009/06/01/Relay-For-LikePodioracket  Go there now or listen in archive!

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Welcome Readers,

We already have one winner in the Meet the Characters Contest #8 and there is still a week to go. On May 31, this contest will end and on June 1, 2009 the Winners will be announced.

The section Meet the Characters will still be under development. Don’t be surprised even after the contest ends if your name is selected for a bonus prize because you talked to the characters. This will be a random

I have received several new reviews and comments on the book. So I would like to thank those on Itunes because there is no way to reply to them.

Thank you for Reviewing and rating The Mark of a Druid! It means the world to me

Tracey Tay, Cassiopia, Jedanatc, Finisp, Artnerd, Obedientfollower, DannyCat, PollyP, Geoggrrr…4, Jacksongril1998, Suuu. You all rock! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review and rate the book. Please feel free to post the review on Amazon too and help spread the word.

Coming soon will be a new trailer for the book. I am currently knocking out about 1000 word ever two days on the sequel, When Either Descend. At the same time I am working on, Truth Slithers.

The next contest will start on June 1, 2009.

Huge thank you to all the new subscribers to the new book site. www.themarkofadruid.com. If you haven’t subscribed it is really easy and quick. I hope you will join now. Until next time, take care.

Keep Writing, I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

This week like many of the recent weeks has been really busy. Podioracket is taking off and we are releasing an episode a week in May on top of last weeks mini episode for Nina Kimberley the Merciless by Christiana Ellis I have been swamped. But having a lot of fun helping Christiana with her push to sell her novel at its release. This unfortuanaily has run into a snag. So please keep checking back get it as soon as you can and until then it is also available as a FREE, COMPLETE pdf version, which you can download here: Nina Kimberly the Merciless PDF. Tell a Freind! Oh heck, Tell two friends. 

www.podioracket.com

Get your news up dates at www.podioracket.com!

This week is also busy. Join me for a special http://www.blogtalkradio.com/PodioRacket show about Podiobooks.com 2.0 up coming changes fetureing Chris Miller the guy behind the sceens at www.podiobooks.com. 

Then Emerian Rich the author of Night’s Knights and  Sweet Dreams, Mistress of the dark and founder of  HorrorAddicts.net  is going to join me to close the show. She is a fascinating author and is about to publish Night’s Knight in print. The show will start at 8:00 pm PST May 18, 2009. Call-in Number: (347) 996-3319 call in and ask Emerian questions about her work.

 Wednesday we release a new episode in which I interview Mark Eller author of Traitor, Book 1 of The Turner Chronicles and James D. Priest author of the Family friendly release on Podiobooks.com of Kirins The Spell of No’an. Make sure to get the new release at www.podioracket.com.

The rest of the week I will be getting some word on pages for When Eithers Descend and booking some more interviews for both podioracket and blogtalk episodes.

Remember that there are a couple of weeks left in the May contest on www.Themarkofadruid.com  Go on over and Meet the Characters and click participate on contest number 8.

Talk next week!

Rhonda R Carpenter

Welcome Readers,

I was shocked when I looked at the stats this week. Pleasantly shocked! Overall downloads had hit 50,000. I never thought when I put the book out in this manner that I would ever have so many downloads. Thank You, to all the Readers for downloading, commenting and Rating and Reviewing. Please keep telling your friends and spreading the word.

This has been a super busy week with Podioracket.com. Have you heard that one of the characters from my book was nominated for the position of Champion for Podioracket against the Nina Kimberley and her barbarian horde?

What is this all about?

Christiana Ellis the Author of Nina Kimberley the Merciless  is about to go to print with Dragon Moon Press and her character, Nina Kimberly the Merciless has decided that all in the pod-o-sphere shall surrender to her. Podioracket among others are now in the resistance and is seeking a champion. Vote for King Brian Boru! Take the survey and declare your loyalty!

Website update! The new site is growing like crazy. Thank you to all the new members and I will be announcing the winners of the sing up contest # 7 very soon.

When Ethers Descend: the second book of The Mark of a Druid series is coming along.

Got Insight Blog over at Lifefirst.com Will be posting a new free session. It is It is completely free for download. Gain Self Esteem, Increase Focus and receive the gift of answers from your infinite wisdom!

Until next time, take care!

Keep Writing, I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

I have been swamped with editing for www.podioracket.com. Episode 3 just went live and there was a great interview with Michael McGee author of The Theater of the Midnight Sun! Love his sense of humor and I had a wonderful time interviewing him. There is also an article on Public Domain from David Grizzly Smith and a tip from E.G. Talbot author of New World Orders and Intercast Season One. The podcast has been approved by Itunes and you can subscribe there or rss it on the site. We want your feedback so please leave a review, comment rate the show and tell your friends.

Hey all you podiobooks.com authors out there we need to unit against Nina Kimberly the Merciless. Talk to your characters. We need a champion for our opposing force unless that is you plan on surrendering your fans and freedom on the Internet to the adolescent barbarian horde and allow to pledge your feelty to Nina Kimberly. We at PodioRacket are preparing to meet with her Scribe Christiana Ellis and will be updating you on the pending invasion. Join the cause @podioracket on Twitter. Or send us a confidential communication at contact@podioracket.com.

I have also been working on the new book website www.themarkofadruid.com. It is coming along and while it is not all up yet it is growing daily. I invite you all to go over and register for the new site. There will be a new contest announced on the 13th.

If that is not enough to keep me busy I am preparing for the HorrorAddicts.net next season Wicked Women Writers contest. More on that later as it goes live in Season 3!

Now off to work on the site for a while thanks for keeping up!

Rhonda R Carpenter

Welcome Readers!

Mathew Wayne Selznick, the author of Brave Men Run, has been tracking Podiobook.com authors for the last couple of months. If you would like to read his blog post check his site at http://www.mattselznick.com/blog/scribtotum/2009/02/17/the-top-podiobooks-at-amazoncom/ I enjoy Mathew’s perspective on social networking and dig that he is so inventive, not only as a writer but as a podcaster, musician and DIY media guru. I actually attended a house concert he held on http://www.ustream.tv a short few weeks ago! It was so much fun.

The book made the number 17 slot for the Top 20 Podiobooks on Amazon.com And my dear friend Arlene Radasky author of The Fox Made the 19 slot! Among the other top podiobook authors I feel sure the only reason we made the list is because of the timing of the study, but I don’t care it is really cool to see my name right up there with the big folks of podcasting. Like Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty, Jalal al-Din Rumi, Matthew Wayne Selznick, Bill DeSmedt, Tee Morris, Philippa Ballantine, Seth Harwood, Leslie Ann Moore, Mark Jeffrey, Joe Cottonwood. Congratulations to everyone who made this top twenty list.

This week will be the last posting of The Mark of Druid podcast so look for it to hit late in the week. The audio book is out there in full so please go listen and leave a comment and rate the book where ever you listen.

This blog is changing scheduled and will now come out every other week. So write to you all in two weeks!

Remember to enter The Mark of a Druid 2009 Contest in the 2009 Contest Series at. This Contest winners will be announced On March 5, 2009 the weekly blog on the book site www.themarkofadruid.com blog to enter and win the next round! The new website should be up in the next 4 weeks! It is all about Twitter follow me at @rhondacarpenter. And a huge thank you to Trucker Rich for his fabulous interview! See it at His Blog!

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter