We have winners!



So, for this contest I went with the totally scientific method of choosing winners. I put the names in a hat and let my kid pick.

Winners of the book of their choice: Anne, and Judith. Ladies, you can choose any book from the right side of this page. Just tell me your choice and your preferred format and *poof* it shall appear like Christmas magic.

Winners of the $20 Musa Gift Cards: JuneM and Eva's Flowers. Enjoy shopping at Musa Publishing.

I will be emailing the winners. Hope everyone won lots of loot to stuff their stockings. Merry Christmas and God bless us, everyone.

Stuff Your Stocking!

Prizes Galore:

$450+ In Gift Cards to Amazon, B&N, ARe, and Other Publisher Sites

150+ In Ebooks of all heat levels

Jewlery, Gift Baskets, Christmas Ornaments, and all kinds of goodies

Each participating author is going to hold a contest on their blog with so many treats up for grabs it’s enough to make every reader’s Christmas just that much happier! In each contest post the author will link the others participating in the blog hop to help you find each and ever stop to increase your chances to win.

The contest will start Friday, December 16, 2011 and go till midnight Sunday, December 18, 2011.

That's right! It's Christmas and that means time for a blog hop. I will be offering four prizes. Woo and hoo. Okay, everyone who comments will be entered in a drawing. I will draw two names. Each of those people will win one book from my backlist, winners' choice.

Now for those who want even more goodies, just follow me on this blog. Everyone who follows and comments is put in the drawing for two Musa gift certificates. I will give away two $20 gift certificates good for the Musa Publishing store. Let me tell you, that buys a lot of Musa books.  If you get tired of all the shopping, take a few moments to grab some of the free reads at Musa. 13 books. Free. FREE.

So just comment and follow away. Be sure to give me an email address in case you win and tell me if you are a follower. It's really that simply because who has time for hard contests?

To get in on all those other goodies, just click on the Stuff Your Stockings logo at the top of this post or click THIS LINK.  Seriously, there are 193 authors participating, so you ought to be able to win some good stuff. Make sure you check out fellow Musa authors Grace Wen and Dominique Eastwick (numbers 175 and 179 on the list).

Why are you still reading? Get busy! You have some commenting to do.

Holidays are for giving

Musa Publishing wants to give you stuff for the holidays. Cause they're all nice and friendly. So for the next twelve days, they will be offering a brand new story for free download. The stories will stay up for Christmas so between all that shopping and wrapping and baking, how about treating yourself to a yummy read. Free. And who doesn't love free stuff?

Just click the banner above of the snazzy logo below to visit the Musa site and help yourself to some free stories. Did I mention free?

But if you simply must buy things, how about the Marguerite Butler bundle? w00t! I'm a bundle for Christmas. If you buy all three Mad Hatterly books, you get Death by Scandal free. That's right--more free stuff. There are other bundles with free books from Musa. You can see them listed here.

It's all about the giving.

And the free.

Now make with the clickety and enjoy yourself.

For free.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Okay, Here are the results. First I tried putting numbers in a random generator and it picked comments 3 and 10.  Comments 3 and 10 were mine. Fabulous. I won my own books. #authorfail.

So I tried again with names and the winners are:

Michelle wins Civilizing Frances and Lori Z wins Death by Scandal.

Congratulations ladies. Hope you had fun blog hopping and hope you enjoy the books.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I'm going to go lie down now.

Happy Birthday, Aurora!

There are two Aurora's about to celebrate a birthday. One is the adorable granddaughter of my good friend. The other is an imprint of my publisher.  For the first birthday, Aurora is getting stuff: presents, cake.  For the second, Aurora Regency wants to give you stuff.

And so do I!

It's been quite a year. I now have four novels published by Musa/Aurora Regency. Recently my first romantic mystery debuted. Death by Scandal has achieved some fantastic reviews and is a Hera book club choice. On October 14th, my third Mad Hatterly book Civilizing Frances made her bow. 

To celebrate, I'm giving away two books: a copy of Death by Scandal and a copy of Civilizing Frances. How do you win my contest? Simple. You just follow my blog and then leave me a comment below. Make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. I'll leave this post up all week and just update it with news so be sure and check back. More goodies and fun will follow.

But wait! There's more! For just 9.99 you get the...

Sorry. Carried away for a minute. Actually, there is more. I mentioned that Aurora Regency wants to give you stuff. This isn't just me hopping. This is a blog hop. Click the banner at the bottom of the post to go to the next blog which belongs to the fabulous Kimberly Nee. If you missed the previous blogs, just click the banner at the start and it will take you to the Aurora Regency Blog so you can hop on down the bunny trail.

So here are the official rules from Musa:

TOUR RULES:1) TOUR STARTS: Saturday October 15thTHIS TOUR ENDS: October 22nd, at Midnight (PST)Final Celebration August 22th 7pm -11pm (EST) at Two Lips Reviews Chat.

***Individual Winners from Authors contests will be drawn and posted October 23rd on their individual sites***

1) Prizes at individual Blogs are completely at the discretion of the individual authors and are not in association with Musa Publishing and its prize system.  To enter the Contest on any given blog you must follow their contest rules and objectives.

2) By commenting on any blog on the tour the participant is agreeing to these rules and policies.

3) All prize winners will be chosen randomly using Random Line Picker.

Happy hopping!

*CLICK ME*

Frances has arrived!

Compromising Prudence was one of the very first Aurora Regencies, a sneak peek at the new imprint of of traditional regency romances. It was also a sneak peek into a family of gentlemen scientiest and their ladies. To my delight, readers were as smitten with the Mad Hatterlys as I was and for the official launch of Aurora, they were introduced to bad boy Graham Hatterly as he fell in love with a beautiful botanist while Becoming Mr. Brooking.

At long last, the third Mad Hatterly novel is here. It's little sister Frances' turn. Frances Hatterly is thrilled to finally make her London debut. She means to indulge her passion for fashion and frivolity. But before she can even make her curtsey, she finds herself accidentally compromised by the most arrogant man she has ever met. Desperate to avoid being forced into marriage, she resolves to make herself as obnoxious as possible to drive him away.

The Duke of Ainsley knew he should never have agreed to help launch his friend's uncivilized sister Frances into society. After he is found alone with Frances, he must either marry the brat or find someone else to do so. But what sort of man would be willing to take the hoyden off his hands?

Ainsley must civilize Frances quickly, or risk losing more than his bachelorhood--he just might lose his heart.

To celebrate it's one year anniversary, the Aurora authors will have a week long blog hop with prizes all along the way. Be sure and check back saturday for more fun, frivolity and prizes.

Civilizing Frances, debuting Oct. 14th from Musa Publishing

I'm a book club selection

        Pardon me as I jump up and down for a minute. Okay, that's better. Turns out that I will be the first book club selection for Musa publishing. Wait.

Okay, done. I had to jump around again. That's right, Death by Scandal has been released and is doing well. Check me out. I'm on the Bestseller Ticker. Nifty, huh? Add to that the excitement of being a Hera Book Club selection and you get me jumping around my office. If you click the purty purple icon and sign up for the newsletter (of course it's free) you get a discount on my book.

I'll be doing a book club chat on October the 18th. More details to follow. I just needed to stop jumping long enough to catch my breath and share.

More Musa goodness: If mystery and romance isn't your thing, how about some awesome spec. fiction for Halloween? Treat yourself to a copy of Penumbra.I've been reading mine and it's very good. For all you writers, they pay pro rates. 

If you're a Musa author reading this, give me a shout out in the comments. I'm going to highlight the blogs of other Musa authors starting next week.

Okay, so it's back to jumping for me. As you were.

It lives! It lives!

Musa is alive!  To learn more about the company philosophy and the people behind Musa, check out their blog: http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/.

To shop for awesome books and see what's going on there, check out their website and store. http://www.musapublishing.com/.

To shop for my awesome books, go to my page on their website. http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14&sort=20a&filter_id=13

Now I'm exausted after staying up all night at the launch party. So, that's all she wrote.

Shiny!

So I did quite a bit of work retooling the blog. New links to my books which are about to be released and a whole new look. Sounds simple but it took me the better part of an hour. There are times I wish I was more tech savvy. I'm only one step above Luddite. I always tell people that if I can make tech work for me, anyone can do it.

Last week I got a tremendous amount of writing done. I was Super Writing Woman complete with tights and cape. I hid from all the social media stuff that needed doing. This week I was all about the business of writing. Bloggity posts and schedules, guest blogging, author loops, facebook, twitter, google+ etc. But actual words of fiction? Not so awesome. There has to be a happy medium; I just don't seem to have found it yet.

Just a week until pre-release. I'm going to celebrate with some special stuff and give away books and all sorts of fun things. Because I can. :D

MIssing You!

Oh, where to start. So when we last left our heroine, she was riding high: new books about to debut, a website being created, plans for the summer. True, she was missing her roof, but the nice men were putting one on for her and it only cost )@#(*$&#* dollars.

Fast forward through some of the bad parts.  After buying her roof, she bought a new air conditioning unit for the house and fixed the A/C in her car. Then she bought a whole new septic system. None of this was fun, easy or cheap. Sadly, no monies were left for the website and those plans were put on hold.  Her computer died a slow and painful death. She even survived two weeks with out the internets! I know! Scary, right? Thus, she spent more monies and bought a shiny new, wicked-fast computer.

  Even the Texas weather conspired against her with a record number of 100+ days (over 70!) and an epic drought. Top that off with frequent scary wildfires and you get the picture. Our heroine did not have a good summer.

Then stuff went bad with her publisher. Really bad. Not to belabor the point, but if you're interested, check out this thread at Absolute Write, the last few pages should do it. Yes, AMP was circling the drain. In fact, it's pretty much dead, but the owner just hasn't acknowledged the death. Lots of authors are still strapped there. Salvation came in the form of Musa Publishing. They bought the Aurora Regency imprint and that means our intrepid heroine's books. Yay! Much rejoicing. The books will be re-released in October.

I haven't been paid my royalties in months. Boo! Hiss! In fact, I haven't made a blessed penny off Death by Scandal in spite of the fact that it has sold well. More boos! But I'm so relieved to be out of that mess, I don't even care.  I'm resurrecting this blog along with my career. I'll be posting more about Musa and the big launch. Gosh it's nice to have something positive to say.

Hope everyone had a fabulous summer.

I don't think we're in Kansas

So this is just a quick post to say I haven't completely blown away here in Tornado Alley. It's been an interesting Spring for sure. I think it's hailed every day this week--three times today.

It hailed on the roofers when they came out to give us an estimate for the damage (caused by wind, not water). It hailed on me while picking up the kids at school.

Hail, hail, go away!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The winner of a copy of Becoming Mr. Brooking and the $25 Amazon card is...

*insert imaginary drumroll*  

Sartori! Woo hoo!

*cue confetti*

Just email me with your preferred format at margueritewrites@gmail.com.

But wait! Don't think if you commented it means you didn't win anything. From the Aurora Regency Blog:

But because we're feeling particularly spring-like today--my daffodils bloomed overnight--everyone who participated will receive a single free book from Aurora Regency. So if you entered, go and pick out the one book you'd most like to read from Aurora--then email me the title and format.


Some authors are giving away their own prizes--check their blogs to see who won.

Congratulations to everyone and thank you for participating!

*cue balloons*

So if you commented, just do a little shopping at  www.auroraregency.com and let the editor know what book you chose. You can email her at  auroraregency@gmail.com. Let her know the title and format and she'll send it to you. How awesome is that?

Win Some Stuff

So, everyone likes stuff for free, yes?  Oh, me too. I have an announcement and a present for you--yes, YOU.  First the announcement: (can I get a drumroll?)

Death by Scandal does indeed have a home with Aurora Regency. Hooray! As you can tell by the title, this one has a lot more mystery and adventure. Release date is September.

Now on to the celebration part. It's been a good week for me.  News of a new contract for Death by Scandal and then some awesome reviews for Becoming Mr. Brooking.
It's a Night Owl Reviews Top Pick! 4.75 of 5 stars :
"In Becoming Mr. Brooking, Marguerite Butler has created a warm, witty romance featuring the most lovable hero and heroine I have encountered in a long while."
http://www.nightowlromance.com/nor/Reviews/Christy-Carlyle-reviews-Becoming-Mr-Brooking-by-Marguerite-Butler.aspx

And also:

Long and Short Reviews says: "The conflicts, complications, humor, and love make Becoming Mr. Brooking delightful reading." http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/2011/01/becoming-mr-brooking-by-marguerite.html

So how to celebrate? Give stuff away, of course. Go to my publisher's blog. They're running a big contest. Sign up to be a follower and then leave me a comment in this thread.  You have until March 31st to comment. That's all. Just be an Aurora Regency follower and give me a shout out in my comments. What do you win? A copy of Becoming Mr. Brooking and a $25 gift card from Amazon. Please make sure and check back if you enter or leave me a note how to contact you. I'll need an email address to be able to send the winner their book and gift card. (Psst: this card is for Amazon.us not the uk store).

So comment and win. It's just that easy.

Spring has sprung

So, where to begin. How about the happy?  The First Ghost is out now! sublimial message-buy it now right here Awesomesauce, right?  It was a fantastic day. 

But it became very clear by that night that all was not right with my elderly Meggie cat. We went into the vets the next morning and sure enough, the news was grim. I made the decision to put my old girl down. Just like that, thinks went from sweet to sour.

I won't regale you with all the details, but the last two weeks have been a roller coaster. I'll soon have exciting news about my latest novel Death by Scandal. It may have a new name soon and just possibly a new home.

I'm going to stay focused on the good stuff. If I needed any reminders how quickly the good can be swept away, the news from Japan made that clear.  So today is wonderful. My fruit trees are blooming. My chickens are laying. And Panini the goose has completely recovered from January's scary predator attack. This morning she followed me all over the farm demanding hand-outs from the grain buckets and tugging on my pants leg if I neglected to pet her enough.

It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Everything cuteness and light

So, nothing is cuter than a baby goat, right? This little guy is one of the offspring of my new boyfriend. Okay, he's not my boyfriend exactly cause I'm married and that would be wrong. No, he's the new boyfriend my dairy goats. So they can continue making delicious milk and make me cute little babies like this. Let's say it together. Awwwwwwwwwwww!

See, this is what happens when I have no content. I give you cuteness. Not a bad trade off, no? What's that?  You need more cuteness to make it worth your while? How about...

Baby chicks. This little cutie is Iris. She is now big and sassy, but here, she was small and sassy.

Here is the big and sassy picture.

She has the most awesome muff and beard. Not a chicken fan? How about duckies?

Now aren't you just overwhelmed with cuteness? Need more?  Man, you are tough.  Okay, here's something so cute you won't be able to resist. 

I give you...

DONKEY CUTENESS! SQUEE!

Aren't you squeeing? Why aren't you squeeing? 

Content? Pfft. Okay fine. Content and cuteness?  I can do that.  Here goes...

Are you squeeing now? I have a new book out February 21st. yay! As the cover and the title might hint, this is a paranormal mystery.

The dead have no respect for anyone trying to have a life.


Portia Mahaffey always liked that she was the only woman in her family without a psychic 'gift'. But a concussion awakens her latent ability to see ghosts. And one of those ghosts is prepared to haunt her until Portia agrees to convince the police her death was no accident.


With no choice but to help Corinne, Portia reluctantly uses her new gift and some good old-fashioned detection to track down the truth.


Seeing the dead is just the beginning. Portia's world becomes filled with hungry demons, mercenary shadow beings, vengeful poltergeists…and one very alive murderer willing rank her among the dead.

Who knew hanging with the dead could be so hazardous to the living?


See? Content and cuteness all in one package. You're welcome.

I looked it up so you don't have to...

So I haven't posted in forever, but I'm here now and I think you'll agree this was worth waiting for.  Or maybe not.  Anyway, a recent kerfluffle about agency pricing model and Kindle and ebook pricing made me curious about ebook prices.

I read a lot of ebooks. A. Lot. Last year I think I might have read in excess of 150 epublished items. I write for epublishers as well, so the debates on pricing concerns me.  It also makes my mind wander when it should be doing other things like writing or folding laundry. So I started wondering what the most expensive ebook out there was.

The internet makes everything so easy. A few minutes and I had the answer. It took me considerably longer to put my eyes back in my head and close my jaw. The most expensive ebooks were all scientific treatise, and when I say expensive, I mean a gasp-inducing $6,431.20.  Yes, I'm serious. Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems sells for over six grand. Plus the 20 cents. No idea what the small change is about. Six grand isn't enough?  It's actually discounted. The price used to be over $8K.  Hey, it's expensive, but it's part 4 of a series (all similarly priced) and it's #53 in the Kindle Store for ebooks on thermodynamics. At only $4,960, Selected Systems from Al-Fe-V to Al-Ni-Zr is kicking Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems butt in the rankings.  The "customer reviews" are hilarious. "I had to sell my car and take out an equity loan on my house to buy this book, but it was worth every penny." They are worth following the link.

Fiction was a distant cousin. I had to sort through over 1,000 books to find fiction. The most expensive fiction ebook I could find was a self-published novel.  The author priced it at $200 and strangely hasn't sold one yet. Maybe that's because he keeps describing it as "a film" in his back cover copy--which is also rife with errors.  No, I'm not making it up. Go check the link. I'll wait here. I'm not sure what makes it worth $200, but that makes me think twice for griping about a $15 ebook. I still won't pay $15 for an ebook when the mass market paperback is 7.99, but I don't go pick up the paperback either. I just generally don't buy the book.

There is someone offering his resume for the same price. Also a selection of clearly gag offerings are listed. I guess everyone needs a hobby. There is even a listing by someone who doesn't want you to buy his book. No, really. He has some sort of dispute with his publisher, so he raised the price up to $199.99 and begs people not to buy his book.  Sadly, he has a higher Amazon rank than the self-published novel that thinks it's a film, indicating that people have ignored his wishes and purchased the book in spite of the fact that there is no indication of the subject matter.

All of this of course raises the question of just how much to price something.  Fortunately for you, my next ebook is only $5.50. The First Ghost will be released on February 21st and, as you can see, it's a bargain.  You should buy it.