Every day, I try to start my day (and yours) with a positive message. I constantly remind myself that good energy is so much more healthy than bad and so it’s even more disheartening to me when I find myself drowning in the murkiness of negativity.

I ended my social media whirlwind at 1 in the morning with tapping in these last words into my cell: “I HATE THIS.”

Instead of writing a novel, I was caught up in the crap that comes along with finding yet another person has a pirated copy of my novel (and a shit ton of others from my peers) up for grabs on her blog site.

Instead of having an “atomous bombus” solution to eradicating the thief from social media, everyone scattered and took sides. Don’t post the link. Out the thief. We are all crazy. Now the wench has more likes on her page. Don’t show how to get my book for free. This site needs to be taken down immediately!

So somebody (but not me) do something!!

I chose a path. Out the THIEF. EDUCATE the public that in fact HERE IS ANOTHER SHINING EXAMPLE OF THIEVERY IN THE BOOK COMMUNITY, while some of my author friends said “why did you do that?”

Okay, how else do we get the thief shut down and off of social media?

How do we let our readers and our awesome bloggers know the full affect of how ebook piracy is a real, tangible thing?

Well – maybe those people who pirate my novels would never have purchased them in the first place. I can just lay down now and give up and let the rats pick at my body and pull my last dollar from my pocket. After all, it was only a years-worth of research, of interviews, of tears, of having your husband tell you to your face that you’re neglecting your family because of writing that book to be up for grabs. No biggie.

I searched the thief’s website and found her picture and profile happily shining at the bottom of the page and so I decided to OUT THE THIEF as well. HERE IS THE FACE OF SOMEONE STEALING DIGITAL CONTENT AND SHARING IT WITH THE WORLD.  IT’S REAL, FOLKS. HERE SHE IS!

Within moments, well-meaning friends sought to protect me. “Aren’t you worried you’ll get into trouble posting her picture as she’s a minor?”

Whoa – She stole from me (and you) and yet I have to be worried about getting into trouble?  The girl is in India. I’ve been to India several times. It’s a long-ass flight. Why, as the victim, should I be worried?

You know, back in the day if you committed a crime you were publicly hung in the town square, and your crime and punishment served as an example and a warning to the rest of the villagers. Didn’t thieves have their fingers or hands cut off?

Nope – now we have to worry. We have to scatter instead of banding together with a viable solution to stop the illegal activity. I’m waiting for someone to call me a bully because I posted the thief’s identity.

So what do we do, folks? Nothing? Something? Scatter and worry? Should we all just say screw it and let book piracy continue because, hey, there’s nothing we can do about it anyway, so let’s just ignore it?

Yeah, let’s ignore it.

Yeah, it’s just a few hundred thousand illegal downloads.

Maybe the pirate site will be corrupt and the people who illegally download books will get the Kindle version of herpes?

Yeah, Kindle herpes with a nasty case of itching. Hopefully some computer whiz will create a virus for this kind of bull instead of embedding their worms into shared email jokes.  Would be nice of their screens froze or if an anti-piracy hammer fell from the sky and smashed their device. 

As for me, I want a PUBLIC LYNCHING.

YOU STEAL, YOU DIE A HUMILIATING DEATH IN THIS COMMUNITY.

YOU PLAGIARIZE, YOU DIE A HUMILIATING DEATH IN AUTHORDOM.

YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, YOU’RE WRONG AND HERE ARE THE HISTORICAL FILES TO SHOW ALL OF THE PUBLIC LYNCHINGS THAT CAME BEFORE YOU.

E-Book prices are the topic of many other wars going on right now between publishers, book sellers, authors, readers.  Most self published titles are under 6 dollars. Traditionally published titles have more overhead and therefore ebook prices are a bit higher.  There are a bazillion titles for free already from authors just wanting you to give their work a chance. There are fellow authors dropping down to the .99 pennies price (which is another topic that draws sides like the splitting of the Red Sea). My point is, there are things I want in life that I can’t afford. Just because I can’t afford them doesn’t mean I have the right to STEAL them.

Come on, world. What the hell are we doing?

If you obtain something that has a price associated to it and you didn’t pay for it, you are STEALING. Unfortunately, there is no punishment for the crime. No hauling her ass away to jail for 500 acts of Internet theft. No fines imposed on those who can be traced to downloading the files. No penalties. Just piles of victims who are not allowed to cry or demand retribution. We have no action or recourse and in turn fear calling attention to it. It makes me sick.

Or is all of this just an opinion I’m not supposed to share or take a stand on?

I want to see someone arrested.

I want to know the NAMES of the criminals.

I want to see authors banding together to educate the community that this stuff happens and IT WON’T BE TOLERATED instead of looking around at everyone, just hoping that someone else will do something about it.

I cannot believe 2013 is almost over. This year has been so magical, so wonderful, and as Thanksgiving has just passed and Christmas and New Year are days away, I can’t help but reminisce and reflect on how truly blessed my year has been.

Not only have my wonderful readers helped me achieve the dream of getting on the New York Times Best Sellers List, you have shown me so much love, I can only hope I deserved it.

I have had the privilege of traveling all around the United States in 2013, from Boston to Seattle, from Florida to Texas, and even all the way to the coast of California, to MEET and HUG and LOVE so many wonderful readers from all around the globe.

I never thought that writing the stories in my head would GIFT me with so many amazing friendships, too. That just blows my mind that such a thing would even be possible, let alone my reality.  And the power of electronic tools allows us to talk every day, to share our loves, our woes, our triumphs, our setbacks. I am so grateful for the community that we’ve built together, and being a part of it every day makes me want to be a better person, a better friend, a better author.

All of this warm and cozy wonderfulness was made possible because we all have a common thread that ties us together – an unwavering love of reading.

Throughout the year, I’ve tried my best to give something back to my readers, and this holiday time is the perfect time to end 2013 on a high note by giving the gift of reading to a few lucky folks. The drawing for winners will take place on December 18, 2013.

But before we go on, there are a FEW RULES to this End of 2013 giveaway.

Yeah, I know. Rules schmooles. Sorry… here goes.

RULE #1

I am giving away 3 Kindle Paperwhites BUT the Paperwhites ARE NOT YOURS TO KEEP.

That’s right – we are going to embrace the TRUE MEANING of selflessness this holiday season.  These devices are not for you, but for YOU TO GIVE THE GIFT OF READING TO SOMEONE ELSE.

THREE WINNERS will be selected to receive a brand new Kindle Paperwhite. I will be giving one of them away.  I have given two of my very special blogger friends, Aestas Book Blog and Autumn Review, Paperwhites to give away too, so make sure you see the links below.

To enter to win, you must post a comment nominating someone else (first name only) who you feel deserves to win and a brief reason why. I want to know why this person is so special to you and why they should get a special present from Reber Santa.

Yes, you can enter all three giveaways below.

Yes, you can enter more than once (one per day though) to nominate a different friend.

Yes, you can enter all three giveaways for the Kindles.

RULE #2

If your entry (for your friend) is selected, the Kindle will be shipped directly from Santa Reber to them, not you, so we will be asking you for THEIR mailing address. In case you missed it, you MUST NOMINATE SOMEONE WHO DESERVES IT to win the Kindles.

If you are a liar, liar pants on fire and intend to keep the gift for yourself, please know that Santa sees when you are naughty. And SHAME on YOU for being dishonest.  Give the chance to someone else who may not be able to afford a new ereader to win it.

RULE #3

You do NOT have to nominate someone to receive the signed books or ebooks. Yep, YOU get a chance to win something for yourself, even if you’ve been naughty all darn year.

RULE #4

This is the one you will grumble about, but you must be a US Resident to enter and to receive the Kindle and the signed books.  The ebooks are coming from Amazon.com, so you have to be able to accept a Kindle version from the good ol’ USA. Sorry, but shipping these items overseas is just simply ridiculous. But see Aestas’ giveaway. She’s got one for the international peeps.

And lastly:

Which is really more of a request than a hard and fast rule, but I’d love to see a PICTURE of the final recipient with their new Kindle and/or signed books.  You can send it to me via email to authortinareber@gmail.com or post it on my author page on Facebook (authortinareber) or tag me on Twitter (TinaReber).

Remember to hold the camera up slightly and shoot downwards as it eliminates the double chin (lesson #1 from those who’ve attended my book signing selfie shot hallway workshops).

Thanks for reading!

From my family to yours, have a blessed holiday season and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

XO,

Tina

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

LINK TO THE GIVEAWAY AT AESTA’S BOOK BLOG – ENTER HERE

LINK TO THE GIVEAWAY AT THE AUTUMN REVIEW – ENTER HERE

Questions?  Send an email to me at authortinareber@gmail.com

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock in your yoga pants while being distracted by shiny things all day like I have been, we need to acknowledge that today – well for the next, um… few measly hours, that it is:

NATIONAL AUTHOR’S DAY!

Yep, I searched it on Google, and Google said that THE OFFICIAL day is November 1 st, so it has to be a fact, right?

So this post is for all of you who get up every day, push the kids out of the house, and attempt to write about the crazy shiz that rolls around in your brain. For those of you who have never attempted to write a novel, most of the time we are like this:

                                                                                 “Why did I think this was a bright idea?” 

At least forty times a week, we want to do this:

“I hate my writing. It all sucks. You must die.”

Sometimes, it leads to this:

Or this:

Our families wonder where the hell we went. The kids resort to texting us while we’re in the same room.

Our husbands eventually get frustrated with a dirty house and sink full of dishes and with any luck they kick in to help.

But while they are doing the dishes, we are imagining this:

And this:

And most definitely this, because that’s in the book too.

While doing this:

Which hopefully leads to this:

And NOT this:

And we thank the heavens for:

Until we get to the ugly parts about being a writer:

On Release Day, we are like this:

Until the reviews that tell us how much we suck start rolling in:

When all we wanted was for you to be this:

And maybe just a bit of this:

So for National Author’s Day, I guess there is only one more thing left to say:

 GO HUG AN AUTHOR TODAY!

Here is a great “cheat sheet” to add to your reference library. Punctuation mistakes are something that blatantly stand out to readers, so here are some great tips to help you punctuate correctly. Click on the 12 Punctuation Tips PDF file link below.

What do grandmas taste like?  Depends.

Now go edit your WIPs!

12 Punctuation Tips PDF File

Please join me as I do a live chat, hosted by the wonderful ladies over at 50 Shades of Gabriel Crossfire Unscripted Destiny Book Club!

Here is their Facebook profile if you want to follow them:  https://www.facebook.com/50GabrielCrossfireUnscriptedDestiny

This will be held Wednesday, October 30th, from 8 to 9 PM Eastern Time Zone (NY Time)

Click on the link here to join the chat!  http://www.chatzy.com/50sogcud

Hope you can join me! Can’t wait to talk with you all!!

xo,

Tina

What an amazing year this has been! I’ve gotten to see so many of my readers on the Love Unscripted/Unrehearsed book tour, hugged a lot of you, praised husbands and boyfriends for carrying your piles of books at the signings, and taught a few out in Seattle the proper way to take “selfies” to make those pesky double-chins go away.  Many of you braved the cold in Boston, endured the heat and  humidity in Orlando, and flew around the globe just to hang out.

Thank you for making the 2013 tour memorable!

I’m so excited to take this opportunity to show you my new website! The amazing team of Rachel and Stephen over at CRE8D-DESIGN.COM hooked me up.  I hope you find it easy to navigate and informative. We are still working on some of the pages and links, but the rest is all live and ready for you to surf.

Oh, and then something else amazing happened last night. As if Christmas came early, I woke to a very sweet present.

This, of course, is totally a good reason for a celebration.  Totally.  13,000 of you like me? I hope you are all huggers, because I feel a massive group hug coming on. Okay, so maybe some of you are not into hugging; that’s cool.  How about a chance to win this instead?

      2 Lucky winners will win one!

If you haven’t seen the new Paperwhite, it’s really cool.  It’s thin and backlit for those late night reading marathons. You know what I’m talking about. Don’t try to tell me you haven’t hid under the covers at least once, trying to get one more chapter in.

Due to overseas shipping costs, this is available to U.S. Residents only.

ONE of you will have a chance to win a set of Love Unscripted/Unrehearsed signed paperbacks.  This is open to INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES, TOO.

TEN of you will have a chance to win one of these – a $10 Gift Card from Amazon!

This is open to INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTS BUT MUST ACCEPT US DOLLAR ONLY. Currency conversions will NOT be made for winners. Please don’t ask.

THIRTEEN of you will have a chance to win a “LOVE IS UNSCRIPTED AND UNREHEARSED” bracelet, along with some signed swag.

THANKS FOR ALL THE LOVE!  GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And the winners of the 10,000 Likes on Facebook celebration giveaway are:

Kindle Fire – AMY ADAMS

Set of signed books – JENNIFER LAVIGUER

Set of signed books – BLAIR ACKERMAN

Custom made LU necklace – CHELSEY SEBUK

$25 Amazon E-Card – ANDREA BRONSON MILLER

$10 Amazon E-Card – NICHOLE CRIPPEN

$10 Amazon E-Card – TIFFANIE JONES

$10 Books-a-Million Gift Card – KATIE PRUITT MILLER

$10 Books-a-Million Gift Card – ROBBIE BAULDREE

Congratulations to all of the winners! Check your emails please as I’ve sent instructions to each of you. Thanks to all who entered!

Hitting 10,000 fans on Facebook is a major milestone, so what better way to celebrate and say “Thank YOU!” with another giveaway!

Prizes include a brand spankin’ new Kindle Fire 7″ 8 GB, a signed set of both Love Unscripted and Love Unrehearsed, a custom “Love Unscripted” necklace made by yours truly, and a bunch of Amazon gift cards.

Here are the rules for entry:

One entry per person. Amazon gift cards will be in ECARD format in US dollars only via Amazon.com. Winners must have a valid Amazon account to enter. Winner of the Kindle Fire must be a US Resident ONLY. Custom necklace, signed books, and gift cards are open to all international entries.

Contest ends this coming Sunday, April 21, 2013.

THANKS FOR ALL THE LOVE, FOLKS!  GOOD LUCK!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

I recently had the displeasure of reading some comments left by a disgruntled person on a fellow author’s blog following a celebratory moment of success.  The comments left were so harsh, I was shocked that such hate could come about from another’s success.

Before we continue, I totally stand behind the freedom of speech, but there is a fine line between expressing your educated opinion and personally attacking someone.

Let’s put this in perspective. 

If a reader posts, “I have no clue why this book is so successful. I found the dialog stilted and the plot lacking substance,” I can presume that the reader did not connect with the material.  Got it.  Everyone has different experiences from reading the same paragraph.  Even now, you as a reader, are forming interpretations of what I’m writing here because that is how adults process new material. We equate and compare new input to past knowledge, experiences, and situations. And no, I’m not just pulling that out of the air; I have read and studied tons of material on how adults learn because I used to be a corporate trainer, training adults, so my statement comes from years of psychological study.  It is why many book reviews refer to and compare to other published material that the reader has read prior.  “This book is a rip-off of Twilight.”  Sound familiar?

Back to point.  If a reader posts, “There is no way this book is worthy of 5 stars. You must have paid for all of those reviews and tricked the publisher into buying this load of crap, you fat bitch.  Your writing sucks. My dog can crap better work,” well, to me, that is way beyond a product review. 

So I’m left wondering – when did we as a population of consumers get so harshly opinionated? Can I presume or assume that the reviewer who felt compelled to “tell us how they really felt” is a disgruntled consumer or can he/she be a frustrated writer whose own work is not as successful? 

I don’t know about the type of home you grew up in, but my mother (and many others) reinforced the principle, “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.”  But then again, I, as a consumer, have the full rights to be vocal and to rate a product any way I choose if it didn’t meet my expectations.

So let’s talk about expectations.  Books, novels, are a work of art.  Like a painting, movie, or a song, they are left to be interpreted by YOU.  Years ago, when I started reading, I never once had the desire or urge to write to an author to tell him how much his/her work sucked or may have offended me.  I often refer back to one of my first experiences reading “adult” material, which was “Flowers in the Attic” by V.C. Andrews.  It was brilliantly written, compelling, but dealt with very controversial topics for the time.  I’m sure she received a ton of flack back when her novel first published, but no matter how much negative press she received, the book took off and was loved by millions.  I couldn’t put the paperback down either (And Fran, if you’re reading this, I still have your paperback. I know it’s been like 30 years since you lent it to me. You can kick my butt for it next time I see you.  The book is on my bookshelf in the loft. I dust it often.)

When you buy a book, you are expected to be entertained for X amount of pages.  Let’s face it; that’s what reading IS.  It is entertainment. As a novelist, it is my job to entertain you.  Some may find me funny, some may find me annoying.  You are entitled to form your own opinion.

But when you reach out and post your opinion in a personal space, like on the artist’s very own blog, you are now directly infringing on the artist’s rights to have a blemish-free marketing tool.  As the owner of the marketing tool, you shouldn’t feel pressured or guilty if you decide to remove the hate-fueled rant left on your platform.

I think out of most of the “artists” out there, authors have made themselves the most accessible and available to interacting with their following.   If you wrote to Channing Tatum to tell him how hot he was in “Magic Mike” would he send you back an “aw, thanks so much! Hugs!” message to you?

Maybe he would.  I haven’t written to Channing so I honestly don’t know.  Would I send a message to Channing Tatum?  Hell no. If you’ve read my novels, you know where I stand on reaching out to movie stars.

Do I respond to everyone who writes to me?  Hell yes.  (Disclaimer – I don’t really answer mail on Goodreads or Twitter. I’m a Facebooker to the core. Hook up with me there and you’re guaranteed to get a reply.)

The point to all of this is this:  If you want to reach out and connect, do so positively.  If you didn’t like a novel, rate the work without resorting to name calling and being offensive.  (No, we as authors don’t have that many well-connected family members, family with tons of Amazon accounts to leave fake reviews, and most of us have been on a diet at least 5 times in our lifetimes so pointing out the size of our asses is truly pointless.)

If you feel so compelled to look up my website and leave me a hate-fueled rant on how much I suck, know that this is my zone and stuff like that has no place in my zone.  I would never come to your house and pee on your carpets so don’t expect me to tolerate if you come to mine and try to squat.

And the final point:  without readers, we, as novelists, are just words on a page.  A story that was in our heads that we had to put into a Word document.  We don’t start our days thinking about how we can effectively piss people off with shoddy writing.

All we did was try to entertain you.

Be kind.  Make the world a kinder place. Be an example to our future generations.

Thanks for listening.  HUGS.

I can’t wait for this!  I’m even going to go a bit fangirl as some of my favorite authors will be there too! 

Here is the link to the BAE event, March 16, 2013 in Boston!

http://bostonauthorevent.blogspot.com/