Did anyone notice during the holiday season this year, just how inundated one’s Inbox was with the push for online sales?  Every day one had to slog their way through excess emails to find one’s personal gems that were only to be found after deleting the ads.  If it wasn’t Black Friday, it was Cyber Monday. If it wasn’t the countdown to Christmas, it was pre-Boxing Day Sales and of course, followed up with post Boxing Day Sales.  With three devices, the amount of time deleting unwanted ads became time consuming, to say nothing of the distraction …

The question is:  Did we all simply delete them and continue to shop conventionally in stores? Evidently, not everyone disregarded the stream of email ads. In fact, cyber sales were much higher this year and enticed reluctant physical shoppers to let their fingers do the shopping.

One such person (an experienced Shopping Channel shopper) had a humorous twist to her cyber shopping!  Knowing that I’m the author of the Frenchie series, she thought she’d surprise her French bulldog crazy sister-in-law with an outside doorstep figurine of a Frenchie.  On Christmas Eve, the UPS delivery man finally arrived at her door at the last hour. She had hysterics!  Instead of the large box she expected to quickly wrap and stash under the tree, she was handed a tiny plastic bubble envelope! Ripping open the envelope uncovered a minute plastic figurine of a French bulldog. Her shocked laughter echoed throughout the neighborhood! The unsuspecting UPS delivery guy was totally baffled over what had set her off.  Of course, when she finally caught her breath, she explained. Obviously she misjudged the size of the figurine from her computer screen.    (Perhaps some things are better shopped for in the conventional way.)

As an author with a recently published third book in the Frenchie series, I found myself feeling smaller and smaller and more insignificant by the hour as I deleted all those enticing email ads. When one saw what was being promoted in a constant stream over social media, one had to question how anyone would find my lonely Middle Grade treasure.  A conscious decision was made to NOT promote my novels during the festive season.  Rather, let the holiday season pass and then offer some fabulous contests to get my readers interested in this entertaining and hilarious Middle Grade book.  Many librarians, teachers, parents, grandparents and tweens received eBook readers or iPads, etc. for Christmas and they will be seeking good books that aren’t too costly.  January is the perfect time to introduce Frenchie Diva- Follow the Blog to all those potential eReaders.

The contest is open to anyone in North America.  You can access my kindle version by searching in the http://www.amazon.ca or http://www.amazon.com Kindle eBooks: Frenchie Diva-Follow the Blog by Mary L. Laudien. Read this madcap Middle Grade book and then offer a comment/short review about the novel.  This can be done on the Amazon site where you purchased the eBook or my blog site (http://twocandobooks.wordpress.com).

The contest ends on Jan. 23rd at midnight (PST).  The names left with your comments on my blog site or amazon pages, will be entered in the draw.  Be sure to leave your email address so that the winner can be notified. As soon as I have confirmation of the winner’s mailing address, the prize will be mailed out.

Would you like to have a sneak peak of what the prize is?  (It’s something to remind you of my Frenchie series, every time you pull out your eReader or iPad.) Good Luck!

I love to hear from my readers, so if you have personally had some crazy and amusing cyber shopping experiences you’d like to share, please leave a comment.