Welcome to Silent Screaming, the Annette Gisby newsletter.

In this issue:
News
Book Reviews
Feature Article
Qoute of the Month
Bad Joke of the Month
Contests/Offers


MY NEWS
My next novel Drowning Rapunzel, will be published by, Global
Authors Publications, a new authors co-operative, so look for some
more exciting books coming from them soon. You can read the first
review of my book below.

I am still waiting on my royalty statement to see how well Shadows of
the Rose is doing, and to see whether my promotions are working. :-)

I have a new xfiles story called "Dream Godess", you can read it
at :
adults only please. ;-)

Silent Screams is doing well on amazon.com, its rating has now gone
down below 900,000 (which is good, I think!) I am still offering free
shipping on signed copies ordered from my website, so don't forget
to pop over.

I have had a poem accepted for Twilight Times ezine:
http://www.twilighttimes.com/jan03/a_Gisbyp19.html

I have an interview up at sffworld.com:
http://www.sffworld.com/authors/g/gisby_annette/interviews/200212.html

and I have opened an online bookstore (an amazon associate store)
which you can visit here:
http://associatesshop.filzhut.net/shop/index.php?ID=fe4c04f4b9a0209908026e9dc1bc4ff5

You can also set up a free one of your own at www.associateshop.com
if you have an amazon associates id, you will get commission on sales.

From next month I will be adding a featured book section, so authors,
if you would like your book featured, send me a short description, 2-3
sentences, and where prospective purchasers can buy it and I will add
it in next month's newsletter.

My how-to book, Writing the Dream is now available in print and CD-ROO
format from Lulu Press:
http://www.lulu.com/annettegisby



BOOK REVIEWS:

No Lady and Her Tramp
by Kristie Leigh Maguire & Mark Haeuser

Beth Ann Dixon's life in Grapevine, Kentucky, doesn't look too bad
from the outside. She's married to (and still in love with) her high
school sweetheart, Billy Ray. She owns her own business, the Kut-n-Kurl
beauty shop. But while the love hasn't gone out of her marriage, the
physical magic certainly has; and the President Trailer Park is not
where she wants to spend the rest of her days. Beth Ann has had enough
of living at such close quarters with the likes of crazy Troy
Finkmyer-his battered wife, Mary Jo-and nosey old Janet Higgins. She's
also had more than enough of reading about the Park residents' antics
in local gossip columnist Shirley Snodgrass's sensationalized weekly
offerings.

So now Beth Ann is going to get out! She's got a new computer (bought
with church bingo winnings), and she's writing the steamiest, sexist
novel she can dream up. That book's the ticket to elsewhere for Beth
Ann and her Billy Ray.

Writing it most certainly will change Beth Ann's life. Not to mention
Billy Ray's, and-before all is over-the lives of everyone else in
President Trailer Park. Or should I say the lives of everyone else in
Grapevine, Kentucky?

This is one of the few books I've read in recent years that has
literally made me laugh out loud. It also made me think that my own
10-year stint as a mobile home park resident was positively boring,
compared to the adventures of Beth Ann and Billy Ray. Yet this comic
novel has its serious moments, too; and many of them are quite
touching.

The authors have done something I love in humorous fiction. They've
taken familiar (even hackneyed) stereotypes, and then deftly fleshed
those stereotypes out into genuine, believable individuals. The result
is characters about whom readers can't help caring. Even while also
laughing their heads off!

Don't miss this one. It is priceless.

Review by Nina M. Osier, author of Starship Castaways, Mistworld and
more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katherine
by Anya Seton

One April morning of 1366, a young girl rides to join her sister at
court in Windsor. The young girl was Katherine. There, a boorish
knight, Sir Hugh falls madly in love with her, but Katherine isn't
interested. She is persuaded to marry him for her own security, but
she has no love for him, nor even any affection.

Katherine has also caught the eye of the King's third son, John of
Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. Something in the handsome duke's kiss
on her wedding day, arouses in Katherine feelings she had never known
and she seeks out the duke at every opportunity.

In the laws of God and man, their love is forbidden, but the seed of
passion has been sown which will change the course of English
history...

This was a brilliant book, difficult to put down. All the history is
there, but told through the eyes of the characters, making it that
much more real. There's even a cameo appeareance by Goeffrey Chaucer!
(Who wrote the Canterbury Tales.)

One to re-read again.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams and Shadows of
the Rose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Feminine Viewpoint


Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of "This is
the Place" and "Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered"

For centuries poetry was primarily the purview of men. There were
exceptions, of course, but even then the poetry almost always
confirmed its heritage subtly, like tiny, silver pox scars that are
barely evident years after the fever has faded. Amy Meckler's poetry
is not like that. It vibrates with who she is and who she is "woman."
Who she is is also definitely "poet."

The poetry in "What All the Sleeping is For" is introspective,
personal. It examines birth and death and their connection and gentle,
caring love. It would be almost impossible to open this book to a
poem that does not affect at the core. One of my favorite love poems
is called "The Center." Like a little flash fiction story, it tells of
a rain soaked mattress and how it could easily have divided lovers-skin
from skin-but didn't.

A reader need go no further than the first poem, though, to know the
strength of this book. It is called "To Thomas Hardy." It was first
published in the Atlanta Review. "You were born dead, no heartbeat,
no breath," Meckler says. She is speaking to Hardy himself and we
want to learn more. Yearn to learn more...


Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, "This is the Place," has won
eight awards. Her newly released "Harkening: A Collection of Stories
Remember" has won two. Her work in progress is a book of poetry called
"Skyscapes: A Woman's View."
Learn more at: http://www.TLT.com/authors/carolynhowardjohnson.htm




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Shadowy Horses
Susanna Kearsley

I love ghost stories, the old-fashioned kind where the ghost helps a
mystery to be solved, and this book sure has that.

The book is very descriptive, drawing you into the small Scottish town
on the coast, with a wealth of vivid characters that you feel you know
by the end of the book. You can hear the wind howling, feel the rain
on your skin, the writing is just so good.

The romance between Verity and David doesn't happen overnight, but as
the book progresses and the mystery progesses, so does their feelings
for each other.

It's a wonderful book.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams and Shadows of
the Rose.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drowning Rapunzel
Annette Gisby

Beth Gregory's "gift," silent since her release from a mental hospital,
comes back to life after she accepts the job of live-in assistant to an
independently wealthy painter. Having future events take place before
her eyes, reflected in mirrors or watery surfaces, is a psychic talent
that Beth can neither control nor appreciate. After all, it was this
"gift" that caused her physician brother to have her committed in the
first place - and one of her two great fears, now, is that Andrew will
send her back there.

Her other fear is that the visions disrupting her new life (and her
first real independence from her family) will come true. Which they do.
Repeatedly.

I should know better than to begin an Annette Gisby book toward the
end of the evening. As usual, I wound up sitting right where I was and
reading it straight through. I am not a fan of the thriller genre, but
"Drowning Rapunzel" is not a conventional thriller. This author doesn't
rely on blood and gore to shock her readers into an appropriately
unnerved state. Instead she writes about ordinary people doing ordinary
things, lulling us right along with her heroine.until she drops the
tale's next bombshell.

Like Beth Gregory, we soon find ourselves reaching out - with
heightened senses and ever growing dread - to probe the motives and
analyze the actions of the story's other characters. We know as well
as she does that the killer of long-haired women, whose handiwork
she keeps seeing (always before the crime takes place), has her on his
list. Also like Beth, we won't know until the last minute who that
killer will turn out to be. Her talented but eccentric employer? Her
overprotective, temperamental brother? A staff member from the mental
hospital? Or is it someone else entirely?

I figured it out exactly one paragraph before Beth did. Let's see if
you can do any better!

Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's
Longest Battle" for more information please visit
http://www.geocities.com/nina_osier/).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


MikWright...family style
By Tim, Phyllis and Bob
Andrews McMeel Publishing
2001
Format: Paperback Giftbook
ISBN: 9780740718779
Giftbook, irreverent
Explicit (Language)


Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, columnist and reviewer for MyShelf.
Com and author of "This is the Place" and "Harkening: A Collection of
Stories Remembered"


"Did we really look like that?"

When family gathers around old snapshots it's a comment you're sure to
hear. Here we have a fat little paperback (pages unnumbered) chock
full of old photos that look much like the ones from your own album.
Each has an explanation or a memory from the author's families so it's
sort of a memoir gone mad.

In the acknowledgment the reader is assured that these anecdotes in
"MikWright...family style" contain "flagrant exaggerations and
distorted facts" as a trio of humorists, identified only as Tim,
Phyllis and Bob, share their family secrets. And, though lampooned,
the reader is aware that this zany family is also loved and perhaps a
whole lot less dysfunctional than many.

In addition to the little yarns explaining each picture, there is
often a sassy blurb in the tradition of your decades-old high school
yearbook with a little more spice that would have been..er..ahem...
appropriate in the 50s.

This book will make a great gift for someone who needs to loosen up a
bit, laugh more, get on with it, for gawd's sake. Wait! Don't give
it away yet! Read it first! I'm sure this trio of nuts will have no
objections at all to their book doing double duty.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, "This is the Place," has won
eight awards. Her newly released "Harkening: A Collection of Stories
Remember" has won two. She is also a columnist for The Pasadena Star
News and Home Decor Buyer.
Learn more at: http://www.TLT.com/authors/carolynhowardjohnson.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FEATURE ARTICLE

We have a guest writer for the article this month, but don't
worry, I will be writing some more soon. ;-)


Top THREE Reasons for 'why your product is not selling'
(c) Radhika Venkata 2003.


Huh? You are selling a product? I didn't know
that! Why didn't you say so...
So Top *ONE* Reason: You don't advertise.

Oh...this product? They are giving it away free. Why
should I pay for it if I am getting it for free...
So Top *TWO* Reason: You are trying to sell a freely
available product or service.

You have any other product? I don't have much use
for this. So Top *THREE* Reason: No demand product.

Getting the grip? We will see how true they are.


***Top ONE Reason:***
----------------------

The people and the world should know about your
product or service. They have to visit your website
to see your product. Then why are you waiting for?
Tell them that you have this great product that they
can be benefited from.

Go for pay per click engines. Bid for the keywords.
See how your website is getting hits. People think
that PPCs are expensive. But no. If we bid reasonably
with out getting in to a bidding war, pay per click
engines are very reliable source for getting targeted
traffic to your site.
http://www.goto.com/
https://adwords.google.com/select/

Submit your website to Search engines. Optimize with
good keywords and title tag before submitting. Buy a
submitting software. You can't submit by going to every
search engine site and filling the form. You have to
learn how to automate your business. Otherwise you will
end up wasting lot of your time. Choose the software that
updates it's search engine databse on regular basis.
http://cyberspacehq.com/products/AddWeb/home.shtm
http://www.webposition-gold.com/
http://www.promotion-expert.com/submitter/ds2.htm

Write ezine articles. Submit them to articles accepting
web sites and publishers to reproduce them in their ezines.
Ezine articles are a great way of getting traffic with
out spending a penny.
Go to http://www.ezinelocater.com and search for the ezine
publishers that accepts articles. Select your target ezines
and send the publishers your articles. Remember the golden
rule - Don't flood them with articles. They might refuse
your articles once for all. Nobody likes flooding of their
inboxes with mail.

Start your own optin list. Anything like an ezine of your
own or a free course that people might interested in. You
can send promotional emails to your subscribers, a great
way to promote your business.

Other methods of advertisings are:
==Ad swaps
==Free and paid ads in ezines
==link exchanges
==Classified ad submissions
==Banner advertising
==Participate in discussion forums,message boards
==Offline methods

Really there is no end to this list. What ever you follow
free or paid advertising methods, ALWAYS spend 70% of
your time on advertising.


***Top TWO Reason:***
----------------------

You are trying to sell a freely available service or
product. When people are getting it free, why they bother
to buy the same for money?

Before start selling a product, look around you. For
example, people are getting web site templates freely
on the internet. If you keep website templates in a
box and try to sell them, it won't be much profit for
you.

You can question me. Quality! Paid templates are always
little bit more of quality products. I will answer that
Anybody can improve the free templates to their needs.

How do you know that the product that you are going to sell
is freely available on the net? Simple. Add the word
'free' to your product and search the term in search
engines. Sites offering similar product freely will
show up. For example, take above example. You can
search for 'free website templates'.

OK...Still want to sell a freely available product?
Then give it a Unique Selling position. Add some unique
property to your product. Add bonuses. Offer free
upgrades that they won't get with free products.
Hope you can survive with these tips.


***Top THREE Reason:***
------------------------

No demand product. Right now information products are
number one selling products on the internet.

People are seeking information. Information about
making money online, building a website fast, selling
their product, how to cook and serve, how to repair
electronics with out paying lot for repair services...

There is no end to the above list and there is no limit
to the information seeking areas. All you have to do
is just find out the hot market.

Here comes the affiliate programs. Great way of having
your product within few seconds. Having your own
product is always better. But people making lot of
money with affiliate programs too.

Select a good affiliate program that gives you 50% of
commission. If you join in an affiliate program and if
you see your affiliate ID at some thousand number, don't
be scared. So many people selling the same product and
how come you are gonna make money with competing so many
people? Most of the times people join in affiliate
programs and forget about them. May be only few people
work sincerely and stick to one or few programs. So
don't bother if your affiliate id is some 18746.

So sell a product that has demand. It does not matter
whether it is your own or affiliate product.

---------------------------------------------------------
Radhika Venkata
http://www.ebooks-world.com/
Subscribe to 'EbookBiz Magazine' which is completely
focused on ebook business and Internet Marketing.
Recieve FREE Ebooks with Resale rights everymonth.
http://www.ebooks-world.com/freetosell.shtml
---------------------------------------------------------





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QU0TE OF THE MONTH:


"After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to
write for Posterity." - George Ade.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BAD JOKE OF THE MONTH:
Duffy was looking forward to an evening out with his friends
and the whole evening he keeps repeating, "Vampire, vampire,
vampire," over and over again. His friends are getting a little
fed up, so he laughs and says, "Don't you get it?"

They shake their heads.

"I'm Duffy the Vampire Sayer!"

Thanks to John for that one!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONTESTS/OFFERS:

The Boston Review 2003 Poetry Contest

Sixth Annual Poetry Contest
Deadline: June 1, 2003
First Prize: $1,000
Judge: Richard Howard

More details on website, including entry details etc. Poems must
be unpublished previously.

http://bostonreview.mit.edu



Another poetry contest, this one you can submit and pay online
to enter, they allow as many poems as you would like to enter,
reduced entry fees if you submit in batches of three or five.

http://www.firstwriter.com/competitions/poetry_competition.shtml



Twenty Third annual science-fiction and fantasy story contest:
http://www.flash.net/~sfwoe/ more details on website.



Yarrow Brook Literary Review Announces First Contest: Best Book
Excerpts 2002-2003.

Judges: Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Vicki M. Taylor, Don Mankowski.

Goal: Recognize and promote excellence.

Eligibility: Fiction and nonfiction, any genre, published either
electronically or in print during 2002-03. Self-published and subsidy
published books are welcomed. We will also consider excerpts from
unpublished manuscripts. We don’t care how the book was published; we
are only interested in locating and recognizing excellence. Excerpts should be 500 words to 1500 words in length, or 5 poems from books of poetry.

Deadline: June 1, 2003.
Full details on website:
http://wordthunder.com/ybcontest.htm


Two free romance books available from eharlequin at
http://www.free-romance-books.com/ (US only I think.)


Not strictly a special offer, but at www.bookbyyou.com you can order
a personalised romance novel to give to the woman (or man) of your
dreams. They have three novels to choose from, a medieval romance, a
romance where the two of you are contestants on a gameshow similar to
"Survivor" and a contemporary romance. They are also looking for
writers and editors.

You can get lots of free ebooks at
www.free-ebooks.net various subjects.

More free ebooks available at
www.gratis-ebooks.com

and
www.ebookdirectory.com

~~~~~~~~~~~

Well that's all for now, take care until next time!

Annette

www.annettegisby.n3.net