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Shutter Love Top Ten Photos

What a fun category! We love sports in this house so it was awesome to see
all your great entries!!! Thanks for playing along!

This weeks #1 "SPORTS" photo goes to...
Ashley Jean Golf



#2 Gingersnap Tennis


#3 Summer Olympic Hopefuls


#4 My swimmer girl


#5 Dog Days of Summer


#6 365 days of Everything Georgia


#7 Colorado State Champs


#8 Crazy about my baybah


#9 DOH! Jennifer Leigh Photography


#10 A Little Volleyball


This weeks "Viewer's Favorite"
Congrats Ashley Jean!!


A few more of Tara & Jamie's Favorites that didn't make the Top 10
We just had to share these great "Sports" shots in no particular order
















Thanks again to everyone who entered their photos this week!
Please come back Tuesday for our next theme "WEDDINGS"
Remember to share this {Party} with friends so more can join in.
If you are a winner, go pick up your {Prize Button}
{Favorites, you get a button too}


Tara's Signature

Blonde comme moi. (spéciale cass-dédi.)















Models : Angélique Brochery & Salomé Jartoux
Make Up / Styling / Photos : Adeline Rapon








Cheese Nip Chicken

I've been actually cooking dinner this past week.
I feel like I haven't made a "REAL" meal in months.
I do a lot of those boxed Complete Meals and frozen bag dinners,
which are yummy but not a "real" meal...
I guess I'll blame it on the baby bump.

Watching Food Network with Naomi makes me want to be able to cook.
And not only be ABLE to, but to actually do it.
(we watch it so often that now when she plays "kitchen"
like most kids,
she calls it playing "Food Network")

But seriously, who has those ingredients on hand?
Where's the cooking show...FROM THE PANTRY.
Where they only cook meals with things that typical, everyday,
American families would have in their pantry.

Anyway, if I were on that show,
I'd make Cheese Nip or Cheez-It chicken.
Super easy, super yummy and you probably already have everything
in your pantry that you need to make it.

What you need:
A pan
An oven
Butter
Boneless skinless chicken
Sour Cream
Cheese crackers of some sort
So here is this easy yummy recipe!

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1-2 cups crushed cheese nips (or cheez-its, or whatever)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter
Coat chicken with sour cream. Cover in crushed crackers. Melt butter and place in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place coated chicken on top and place in 350 oven for 40-45 minutes. When chicken is tender and juices run clear it is finished.
I used white cheddar cheez-its and it tasted awesome. You could use goldfish crackers or sour cream and onion potato chips...the possibilities are endless. The sour cream keeps the chicken moist and the flavor wasn't too powerful or anything. I didn't use a whole cup of sour cream but you may if you make more than 4 chicken breasts. I didn't measure my crackers but just added more once I ran out.
Enjoy!

Ebook Predictions Redux

Eight months ago, I made some predictions about the future of ebooks. Let's see how I'm doing.

1. Ebook readers will be available in stores for less than $99.
Probably. We're on track for this. Kindle just went down to $139. By the holidays, I'm still confident we'll hit $99. I also said that they'll be available in retail stores, and I was correct. Best Buy and Target are selling ereaders, and others will no doubt follow suit.

2. Amazon will adopt Epub standard format.
Maybe. Hasn't happened yet. But I am trying to talk them into releasing SHAKEN as an epub. They've already decided to release it without DRM, which is a huge milestone.

3. Ebook readers will improve.
Yes. The new Kindles boast 50% better contrast, and Nooks have a color touch screen bar. But one trend also seems to be the opposite of my prediction--many ereaders are devolving, losing 3G capability, in order to cut the cost.

4. Ebooks will go multimedia.

Yes. Besides the Vook, a reader just pointed me HERE.

5. A third party etailer will rise to prominence.

Probably. The industry is still dominated by the big three, Amazon, B&N, and Sony. But Kobo and Borders are now in the game, and Smashwords is growing. In fact, I just got my second quarter report from Smashwords, and learned I've sold over 2000 ebooks (1500 of these on the Nook.) And this hasn't even begun to hit its stride yet. I predict earning an extra $20,000 a year from these new platforms.

6. Estributors will become common.

Yes. Andrew Wylie, anyone?

7. Print publishers will get savvy.
Maybe. Haven't seen any real evidence of this yet, though. However, I recently sold the audio rights to many of my self-pubbed ebooks, so certainly the audio publishers are getting savvy.

8. Ebook bestsellers will emerge.

Yes. Lots of indie authors, me included, hit the bestseller lists.

9. Print books will be packaged with an ebook version.
Maybe. Hasn't happened yet, but might. I have released one on my ebooks, THE LIST, in print. We'll see how it does.

10. Exclusivity.

Yes. I've done it. Wylie's authors have done it.

11. I'll continue to pay my mortgage with ebook sales.

Yes. But my prediction was too weak. I'm paying all of my bills with ebook sales. In fact, in the last six weeks, I earned $21,000 on Kindle.

That's not a typo. That's $3500 a week. At that rate, it's $182,000. Add the $20,000 from other platforms, and we can call it an even $200k.

As for my predictions, I was right on 6 of 11, and I'm sure the $99 price point will hit. That puts me at about 63%. Not perfect, but better than anything the print industry has predicted. Plus, there are still five months left in the year, so perhaps my percentage will go up.

Armed with information garnered during the last eight months, I'm ready to make some new predictions.

1. A bestselling author will self-publish an original ebook novel.
This probably won't happen in 2010, but it will happen eventually. Someone is bound to give it a shot.

2. Bankruptcy.
Some major print publishers and booksellers will go out of business. This is sad, but it will happen.

3. The media will catch up.
Kindle and iPad have been media darlings for a while, and the news wire is buzzing about an ebook future, but there really hasn't been much talk about ebook authors. The only real acknowledgment by the publishing industry--who should be paying attention to what I'm doing--was a poorly researched article by Publisher's Weekly structured as an attack piece.

That's slowly changing. In the past few weeks, ebook authors (including yours truly) have been written about in the Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and most recently, Newsweek.

4. Print Publishers Won't Get Savvy.
I admit, my prediction that they would get savvy was more of a hope than an actual feeling. But these last eight months haven't shown publishers improving their game. In fact, they seem to be making more mistakes than before. The agency model was an epic fail. High prices are an epic fail. Trying to grab ebook rights not specified in contracts is a big box of fail.

Recently, the publisher for my Jack Daniels novels told me they were going to package them as an omnibus edition, all six in one ebook. I got excited about this, thinking they were finally getting with the program, telling them that six novels for $9.99, or better yet, $7.99, would really spike my sales.

Then they told me the ebook omnibus is going to retail at $34.99.

(Head slap, then sigh) Isn't any of the Big Six reading my damn blog?

5. E-pubbed authors will jump to self-pubbed print.
Both Lee Goldberg and I are using Amazon's CreateSpace to release some of our ebook bestsellers in print, and by Fall all of my ebooks will be available in dead tree versions, priced at $12 for a trade paperback. While I don't see this as being a huge cash cow (I'll still earn more from a $2.99 ebook sale than a $11.99 paperback sale), I find it interesting that the stigma of self-publishing is fading fast.

In the recent past, I've consistently come out against self-pubbers, because POD usually resulted in an expensive, inferior, non-returnable product, and once an ISBN gets attached, those low numbers follow you via Bookscan, making it even harder to land a big book deal with a major publisher, or get your book into brick and mortar stores.

These days, I don't care about landing a big book deal with a major publisher, and am fine with low print numbers. Print has become a subsidiary right.

How will I do on these new predictions? Check back in eight months, and we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm working on several new super-secret ebook projects, including a horror novel with three other bigshot authors, an eighth Jack Daniels book, and a spy novel, among other things.

I've never been busier as a writer. And for the very first time in my career, I'm able to make a decent living at it.

Life is good.

BONEANDFEATHER


Tony.



J'ai ouvert un Tumblr, trouvant assez dommage de laisser moisir mes photos prises avec mon iPhone sur Facebook :

I started a Tumblr, cause it would be sad to let all the photos I took with my iPhone rot on Facebook :




Bean Street Market Review & Giveaway ~ CLOSED


At Bean Street Market, you'll find handmade bath and body products, freshly made with love and care.  Handcrafted bath and skincare-
everything you need to pamper yourself and the ones you love. 

I received some great products from Bean Street Market for review. The day I got them in the mail my girlfriend was here. We opened up the box and were surprised to find my favorite scent. Pomegranate! When we saw the sprayable lotion and put it on we were thrilled. It is so NICE and even has ALOE VERA in it! I love that is sprays on because I hate having the slippery feel of lotion on my hands. Plus it makes it so much easier putting it on my girls. They love it too! I had to share. LOL The scent lasts for a long time too and is so refreshing. A definite for someone who loves pomegranate and a hint of roses too. It reminds me a little of roses so thats why I mentioned a hint of roses. The other item I got for review was the Pomegranate Soap. It smells perfect, cleans great and is pretty too. With 2 beautiful swirls in the middle of the soap bar, this would make a nice accent to your bathroom counter as well. I was almost afraid to use it because it was so pretty and I just wanted to show it off. Speaking of showing it off, when another girlfriend stopped by I showed her the Lotion Spray. She just said WOW, where can I get this. So I think this would make a great gift idea for someone. With Bean Street Markets great prices, they would be perfect to use all the time for gifts and personal use as well. I definitely recommend stopping by Bean Street Market for your next Body Products Purchase!

~Some more Great Products that Bean Street Market Offers~

Lemon Sugar Scrub Cubes... 6 ounce "single serving" sugar cube scrubs that exfoliate and soften your skin, made with lemon and orange essenial oils. Only $9.95  ~  Other Sugar Scrubs include.... Moroccan Mint, Pomegranate and Bonsai.
Passionfruit Rosebud Goat's Milk Soap... 4.5 ounce soap, made with goat's milk, scented with passionfruit and just a hint of rose, topped with rose petals. Only $5.95 each  ~  Other Soap scents include... Lavender Bud Goat's Milk, Carrot Cake, Oatmeal Milk & Honey, Mint Lavender, and more. Plus you can even order a 6 soap sampler.

Gift Sets... get a variety of your favorite scent in a gift basket. Sets include... Oatmeal Gift basket, Pamper Me Pomegranate, Fresh Lemon Kitchen, Mint, Bonsai and of course the Soap Sampler. Prices for these vary, please visit the link to learn more. But I think they are great prices for gift giving.




    Bean Street Market is generously offering to ONE winner... 1 Sprayable Lohttp://www.beanstreetmarket.blogspot.com/tion and 1 Bar of Soap



    GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED - WINNER T.B.A.




      You will have until  August 12th @ 9:00 p.m. Pacific Standard time to enter this giveaway. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here. If the winner has provided an email address I will contact you. If you don't provide your email, you will want to check back here and see if you are the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to those living in US, CANADA & AUSTRALIA. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Thanks for entering at Trendy Treehouse. Good Luck and Have Fun!!
      The featured product {s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. By entering this giveaway you agree to Trendy Treehouse Disclaimer/Terms of use.

      ♥ Shutter Love Tuesday ♥

      This weeks theme is "SPORTS"
      Be sure to check the sidebar for up coming themes!
      AND don't forget to vote for your favorite photo too! 
      Shutter Love Tuesdays Button
      Tara & Jamie will be picking the Top Ten as well as some of our FAVORITES too!
      Have Fun!

      To see all rules for this party & our other link parties, please visit HERE! You can grab the Shutter Love Tuesdays button HERE
      To allow more time to view all the entries, we will be posting the winners on Saturdays at 3 p.m.

      Tara's "SPORTS" Photo
      Jamie's "SPORTS" Photo

      Don't forget to grab the blog hop so others can enter their photos too!

      Make sure you vote for your favorite photo in the comment section!

      ♥ Shutter Love Top Ten Photos ♥

      Oh my goodness. How hard was this weeks judging. So many adorable entries. I love this theme. Thanks for all the wonderful entries.

      This Weeks #1 "FACES" Photo goes to...


      Heartstrings & Hobbies
      Who wouldn't love this face. And loved the chubby cheek story too!

      #2 - Gingersnap Sass
      What a cute capture. Lovin those eyes

      #3 - Sweet Sophia
      Gorgeous photo! The eyes sparkle and love the ringlets too!




      #4 - Hoodie Baby
      Lovely shot and crop is perfect in this one!

      #5 - Bridgetown Baby Momma
      Beautiful shot!


      #6 - Don't Worry Be Happy
      That Krinkle nose just captures your heart.  Just too adorable.



      #7 - Ramblings & Photos
      This was a fun entry. So different. Love it!




      #8 - Life & Times of Baby DLish
      She looks like she is really thinking. What a great pic!




      #9 - Sweet Baby Paige
      Love your story. Congrats Mobley Family. What a precious gift!

      #10 - Serious
      My goodness those eyes are gorgeous!





      This weeks "Viewers Favorite" is...
      Gingersnap Sass - Congrats!

      A few more of Tara & Jamie's Favorites that didn't make the Top 10
      We just had to share these great "Faces" in no particular order






      {Just Because} We had to Share This One!
      A unique take on this weeks theme. 
      What a wonderful Photo. Thank so much for sharing your lil miracle Marlessa!








      Thanks again to everyone who entered their photos this week!
      Please come back Tuesday for our next theme "SPORTS"
      Remember to share this {Party} with friends so more can join in.
      If you are a winner, go pick up your {Prize Button}
      {Favorites, you get a button too}



      Followers