Did you know there are free books to win everyday on Goodreads?
If you didn’t know, Goodreads is a great site that lets you connect with other readers, see what books they’re into, and read reviews. It also runs some awesome giveaways. There are books from both the Big Six traditional publishers and books from Indie authors … and they’re all paperback or hardback copies for you to keep. Some are even signed. What’s not to like?
Here are a selection of children’s titles that you could win in time for Christmas.
Christmas Book 1. Christmas at Come-alive Cottage
The Blurb: A fun chapter book for young children.
Aunt Kitty is a witch and sometimes-cat. Kellie never knows what might happen when her aunt is around!
“Christmas at Come-alive Cottage is a book of madcap adventures, spells gone crazy, lovable witches, laughs, fun. “
“Christmas at Come-alive Cottage” is the 4th book in the series by Wendy Unsworth. There are 4 autographed copies on offer to readers in several countries including the US, Canada and Europe. You can enter here.
Christmas Book 2: The Christmas Spirit is Born
The Blurb:The city of Clausville is hidden away in the mountains of the North Pole, where elves, reindeer, and happy children play all day. Here also live Big Papa Claus and his son, Little Santa. There is so much for Little Santa to learn- from teaching reindeer how to fly to rescuing elven friends! This is the story of how the Christmas spirit was born, and with it, who we now know the wold over as Santa Claus!
Enter here to win “The Christmas Spirit is Born” by Perry Johnson. There are 15 copies available. 🙂
Christmas Book 3: Sally Steamy the Christmas Engine
The Blurb: Sally Steamy is an engine who doesn’t seem to like Christmas at all.
Sally wants to keep herself busy and believe Christmas is just another day. Can Little Titch and a magical Christmas adventure somehow change her mind..?
Only one copy of “Sally Steamy the Christmas Engine” by Ian Shimwell on offer here but it’s signed by the author and it’s a lovely glossy hardback. Available to readers in the UK, US and Canada.
Christmas Book 4: The Night Before Christmas 
The Blurb: ‘Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s late night visit has a man and his curious kitty investigating. Did you know that Santa can play the guitar? Well, he can! Each page is filled with thoughtful details, luscious color, and a joyful whimsy.
Four and a half years were spent illustrating the mosaics for the book, which were made by hand cutting thousands of pieces of stained glass and fitting them together to form the images.
This giveaway is for a signed copy of “The Night before Christmas” by Clement C. Moore and illustrated by Christine Brallier. It’s available to readers in just about any country you can think of. Try your luck here.
Christmas Book 5: 24 + 1 Christmas Tales: Butterfly Adventures in Santa’s Secret City
The Blurb: 24 + 1 Christmas Tales tell of the fabulous adventures of butterflies Martha, Darfo, Sonya and Johnny at Santa’s Secret City. They are accompanied by their friends the three electric blue fireflies and the fearful phoenix. Whether it be helping to check wish lists, granting a white Christmas or manufacturing magical Christmas presents, the butterflies can be found everywhere: their mission is to make Christmas bigger, better and more perfect.
Enter here to win “24 + 1 Christmas Tales: Butterfly Adventures in Santa’s Secret City” by Alexander Ruth. Open to readers in lots of countries, there are 5 copies up for grabs.
Christmas Book 6: Santa’s Search for the Perfect Child
The Blurb: Santa finds a special gift that he had put up because he could not find the child who deserved it. His head elf Percy notices that Santa is a little down in the dumps and ask what the problem is. When Santa tells him, Percy offers to go out into the world and see if he can help Santa find this Perfect Child before Christmas, so that Santa can finally give be happy again. So Percy goes out to look for this child and is about to give up until he meets someone he thinks might be the one.
My last book on giveaway on Goodreads Is “Santa’s Search for the Perfect Child” by Donna Faulkner Schulte. There are 10 copies for readers in US, CA, GB, and AU.
So there are six Christmas Books that could be yours for the click of a mouse. If you’re not already a member of Goodreads, it’s easy and free to create a Goodreads profile.
Good luck.
Suzie xx
Win an autographed paperback copy of “Things Evie Eats” on Goodreads
My giveaway on Goodreads for you to win an autographed copy of “Things Evie Eats” ends today, 23rd August.
Entry is free and open to people all over the world. Although you do have to be a member of Goodreads, signing up costs nothing and it’s easy too.
Find out more about “Things Evie Eats” here but this is what people are saying.
Adorable, charming, laugh out loud book for children and parents. Murboyd
Its a perfect combo of old and new styles with a delightful and funny storyline. P. Edwards
The winner will be chosen by Goodreads when the competition closes at midnight. So don’t hang about, click on the form underneath and a shiny new paperback could be winging it’s way to you very soon.
Good luck.
Suzie xx
Goodreads Book Giveaway
This is not strictly a bookish writing post. Sorry. Normal service will resume next week … whatever normal is … but this is something writers may still be interested in.
I recently signed up to Crowdfire. Crowdfire is an app with a host of handy features that help you monitor your Twitter account. And it’s insanely useful.
You can turn off your Twitter email notifications so you don’t get a message when you get a new follower. Suddenly your inbox is so much clearer.
All you do is log in from time to time to check out who followed you, and decide whether you want to follow them back. And following them is as easy as clicking a button.
Awesome, right? 🙂
2. It also has a handy feature for finding accounts you might like to follow by searching similar accounts or even keywords which is great for building an online presence.
So cool 🙂
3. You can also monitor who unfollowed you and how many accounts you follow who don’t follow you back.
I never really thought about this before. In my naive little way, I assumed I’d done something to offend anyone who unfollowed me? That my tweets were not up to their high standards? They hated me tweeting about my books? And this is where I started to make some interesting discoveries.
- There are a lot of accounts out there trying to sell twitter followers. If I didn’t follow them, they struck me off their list.
This is fair enough. They weren’t reading my tweets anyhow.
2. There are folks without profile pictures and twitter handles they appear to have chosen by dropping their mouse on the keyboard. For example, @kiubydkgf. (Is this a language from Earth or a different galaxy?) These people haven’t posted one single tweet and yet they have thousands of followers.
Why is anyone following these peeps? Why?
I’m not sure what they are achieving with this strategy but they will not get a follow back.
3. And then there are the people who have a legitimate sounding profile, have made lots of tweets and have an epic amount of followers but who follow no-one. That’s right, no-one. And I’m not talking about some faceless corporation or some mega-famous person. I’m looking at you, author-I-never-heard-of.
It appears their game plan is: follow someone, wait until they follow back, then unfollow them immediately. Now maybe in the platform-building world this is a great strategy for … something???
There are a surprising amount of people using this method. But seriously, if you don’t want to read my tweets, I’m damned sure I’m not going to read yours.
Consider yourself unfollowed, weirdo.
To conclude, Crowdfire is a great app (and no, I wasn’t paid for this post) but it has thrown up some unexpected mysteries. If you can explain any of the strange behaviours I’ve described, please tell me in the comments below because I’m dying to know.
Suzie xx
P.S. Don’t forget my giveaway on Goodreads for Things Evie Eats is still open for entries until the 23rd August.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Goodreads Giveaway for Things Evie Eats
I’ve holding a Goodreads Giveaway for Things Evie Eats and it starts today, 26th July. You can win a brand new paperback copy of the book simply by entering on the form below and to make it even better I’ll autograph the book to you or your child.
You do have to be a member of Goodreads but joining is free and easy and you could enter lots of other giveaways too. Bonus 🙂
The winner is chosen by the Goodreads team on the 23rd of August and I’ll be posting it straight to the lucky person.
Fingers crossed for you to win.
Suzie x
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Did you know there are free books to win everyday on Goodreads?
If you didn’t know, Goodreads is a great site that lets you connect with other readers, see what books they’re into, and read reviews. There are books from both the Big Six traditional publishers and books from Indie authors … and they’re all paperback or hardback copies for you to keep. What’s not to like?
My giveaway for Better Buckle Up finished today but there are lots of great books to inspire readers both young and old still to be won: 3341 titles in the children’s section alone. Here are 10 books to give you a taste of what’s on offer.
1. The Big Biscuit Bake Off: Flying Fergus
The Blurb: Fergus and his friends are still glowing with pride at being runners’ up in the Great Cycle Challenge and practicing hard for the next round of the cycling competition – the District Championships. But without fancy bikes and with only the local common to train on, can the team really go all the way?
Then disaster strikes the team when local biscuit company, Bruce’s Biscuits announce plans to build their new factory on the common. They have offered the council a lot of money for the land and there’s no hope for Fergus and the team to raise enough to match it. Fergus hopes that if he can find Dad in Nevermore he might have a bright idea to help them. But when Fergus spins the pedals backwards on his bike three times, he gets more than he bargained for!
The third in Sir Chris Hoy’s adventure series (which, as he’s a cycling champion, have to be about bikes). There are 3 copies available to UK readers and the draw takes place on 30th June. Enter here.
2. The Crooked Sixpence (The Uncommoners book 1)
The Blurb: When Ivy Sparrow’s grandmother Sylvie is rushed to hospital, Ivy and her annoying big brother Seb cannot imagine what lies in store for them. Returning to Sylvie’s house, they find it has been ransacked by unknown intruders – then a mysterious feather scratches an ominous message onto the kitchen wall, and a very strange policeman is determined to apprehend them . . . with a toilet brush. Ivy and Seb make their escape – only to find themselves in a completely uncommon world.
The forces of evil are closing in fast, and if Ivy and Seb are ever to see their parents again, they must get to the bottom of a family secret as shameful as it is incredible . . . before it’s too late.
This book by Jennifer Bell was the Waterstones Book of the Month. There are 10 copies available to readers in the UK and the draw is due on the 24th June. Enter here. (I love that cover, don’t you?)
3. The Magic Forest Alphabet: Introducing Consonant Blends
The Blurb: Evan the elf has lost his favorite red truck. Join him as he looks for his toy in a book featuring high frequency consonant blends and short vowels. Enhance your child’s reading with this amazingly fun adventure!
This book follows on from The Magic Forest Alphabet: Introducing Letter Sounds
by Audrey Walsh (which is also on offer on Goodreads 🙂 ). There are 5 copies available but randomly only people from the UK, France and Australia can enter. The competition closes on 29th June.
4. Heck! Here’s the Heron!
The Blurb: HECK! A Heron has come to disturb the peace in Grandma’s Garden. The animals hatch various plans to survive his visits – but will they work?
A book for younger readers by Lucy Sands, this giveaway ends on the 30th June and is available to readers in the US, Canada, GB, and Australia. Find it here.
5. Umi’s Quills.
The Blurb: Umi’s Quills is a story featuring Umi, a little fox who just wants to fly. But foxes do not fly. How can Umi be happy? This story features poetic text and whimsical illustrations by Terra Mar, and can be enjoyed by both children and adults.
This giveaway is for an autographed copy of the book (I love those) and finishes on 26th June. It’s open to members from the US, Canada, and GB. Enter here.
6. The Lost Property Office
The Blurb: Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things. Not just a missing glove or the other sock, but things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace.
But Jack’s father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries—and membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack’s inheritance.
Now the only way Jack will ever see his father again is if he finds what the nefarious Clockmaker is after: the Ember, which holds a secret that has been kept since the Great Fire of London. Will Jack be able to find the Ember and save his father, or will his talent for finding things fall short?
This adventure from James R Hannibal is especially exciting as it’s an ARC and autographed too. And doesn’t it have a fantastic cover? It’s open to readers in the US, Canada and GB and finishes on the 30th June. Try your luck here.
7. Numbers Coloring Book: A Counting and Coloring Book (The Adventures of Midge and Moo)
The Blurb: Learning numbers is more fun when you color with Midge and Moo. Moo stands on his head, kicks up his legs, and celebrates each number he counts. If you and your little one like sea horses, jelly beans, and cupcakes, then you will love the Midge and Moo Numbers Coloring Book!
Written and illustrated by Kerry McQuade, entries are open to readers from the US, Canad, GB, and Australia by clicking here. Do it before 1st July.
8. The Adventures of Gracie and Monkeybear.
The Blurb: A rare friendship between a precocious girl and her dog turns into an incredible adventure every Saturday morning. From their backyard in Brooklyn, they find portals that open to new worlds. With each new doorway comes the opportunity to help those in need and create lasting friendships along the way. From digging out a trapped dinosaur, meeting an alien after he crash-lands in their fig tree, to rescuing a young whale, Gracie and MonkeyBear are tested at every turn… But can they make it home in time for dinner?
A giveaway from C.S O’Kelly for folks in the US, Canada and GB which ends on 1st July. Enter here.
9. Sleep baby, sleep.
The Blurb: Sleep Baby Sleep is a classic lullaby paired with enchanting images of families from around the world. Painted Washi paper collage illustrations and soothing words lead little ones into dreamland. With every page turn, the moon goes through its phases and moves across the sky.
Readers in the US, Canada and GB can win a signed copy of this book if they enter by 2nd July.
And finally, 10: A Nutty World: on the Edge of the Rain Forest.
The Blurb: In South America, Brazil nut trees grow on the edge of rain forests. Some Brazil nut trees are more than 1,000 years old. This book is a short non-fiction that tells the nutty story of how a Brazil nut tree depends on the rain forest of South America to produce a crop of yummy nuts. It follows the nut trees’ life cycle of connections, letting readers learn and understand its origin and survival. With its beautiful illustrations and informative content, A Nutty World: On the Edge of the Rain Forest is an enjoyable read for both children and adults.
My final choice is a book by Rita Lossett which has 10 copies available for winners in the US, Canada and GB and you have until the 9th of July to enter.
So there you have it, 10 books that could be yours for the click of a mouse. If you’re not already a member, it’s easy and free to create a Goodreads profile.
Good luck.
Suzie xx
Giveaway Ends Today!
Today is your last chance to win an autographed copy of Better Buckle Up in the Giveaway over on Goodreads.
Entry is free and open to people all over the world. Although you do have to be a member of Goodreads, signing up is free and easy too.
Better Buckle Up is a children’s picture book that aims to make car safety fun. You can find out more here but this is what people are saying.
The colourful illustrations are delightful and add a level of humour for the parent to enjoy, while reading the story with their young family. Callie Carling
A delight for parents and children. Murboyd
This book does an excellent job reinforcing the importance of buckling up … in a manner that empowers the child to choose and cooperate. L. Favreau
A very clear and positive message, in a captivating story. P. Edwards
The winner will be chosen by Goodreads when the competition closes at midnight on 21st June.
So click on the form underneath for your chance to win.
Good luck.
Suzie xx
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Giveaway on Goodreads: Better Buckle Up
Starting today, there’s a chance for you to win a shiny, new, paperback copy of Better Buckle Up in the giveaway over on Goodreads autographed especially for you or your child.
Entry is easy.
Click on the link below.
(You do have to be a member of Goodreads, but it’s free and there are lots of other interesting books for you to try for as well)
Better Buckle Up aims to make car safety fun. You can find out more here but this is what people are saying.
The colourful illustrations are delightful and add a level of humour for the parent to enjoy, while reading the story with their young family. Callie Carling
A delight for parents and children. Murboyd
This book does an excellent job reinforcing the importance of buckling up … in a manner that empowers the child to choose and cooperate. L. Favreau
A very clear and positive message, in a captivating story. P. Edwards
The winner will be decided by the Goodreads team on 21st of June.
So, don’t delay. You have to be in to win.
Good luck.
Suzie x
Goodreads Book Giveaway