Happy 10th Anniversary, Goddess Fish Promotions! Meet Marianne and Judy!

I've been reviewing books on my blog for about nine years now. When I stumbled upon the concept of book blog tour companies, Goddess Fish was one of the first few that I found for whom I started doing posts. I've enjoyed with them for all of these years and am happy to introduce you to the women behind the scenes, in honor of their 10th anniversary. So meet Marianne and Judy. And as usual, follow their tour around their various bloggers, leave comments and questions, and enter the giveaways for both authors and readers along the way!

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Where did you grow up? Tell us a little about yourself.

Judy: I moved to my hometown when I was 5 and lived in the same house until I graduated high school. I spent several years away from home, but moved back 16 years ago and still love it. It's growing, but there's still a bit of a small town feel to it. 

Marianne: Where didn’t I grow up? We moved more than a dozen times (and we weren’t military—mom just had itchy feet). Okay, so we stayed in Northern California, but even so I laugh when I get questions like “What was your bedroom like as a child?” because … which one?

What’s the best joke (keep it clean) that you’ve ever heard?

Judy: The best one is too long, but do you know why the blonde was fired from the M&M factory? She kept throwing away all the W's. (Hey, I'm a blonde.. I can tell blonde jokes). 

Marianne: Descartes walked into a bar and the bartender asked him, "Would you like a drink?" Descartes responded, "I think not," and *poof!* he vanished.

What’s the worst job you’ve had?

Judy: I've been very fortunate in my choice of jobs – I can't think of any that I didn't enjoy. Life is too short to stay in a job where you are unhappy. 

Marianne: Honestly, I’ve really loved all my jobs. My favorite one had to be bartending (closely followed by waitressing) which is odd considering I’m actually really an introvert, lol.

What are some of your favorite bands/singers?

Judy: I'll date myself with these answers. Love The Monkees, Herman's Hermits, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Carpenters, BeeGees. More current, I absolutely adore Home Free. 

Marianne: Depends on the day and my mood. My Spotify lists have everything from Panic and the Disco to Rascal Flatts to Disturbed, but I also have the Andrews Sisters, Jim Croce, Olivia Newton-John and Rita Coolidge. I’m a big fan of show tunes, too … so there are plenty of those on there as well.

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Goddess Fish Promotions Tenth Anniversary

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Welcome to the Goddess Fish Promotions Tenth Anniversary Month Long Celebration!

Who is Goddess Fish Promotions? And what do we do? We're glad you asked!

We didn't want your visit here to be dry and boring, so we decided to have a poetry competition and put what we do into verse. Here are the initial entries:

Marianne:

Roses are Red.
Violets are Blue.
I'm awful at poetry.
Coffee.

Judy:

We can edit your book
find things you didn't see
It will be fun to look
at the changes from me.

Yeah, for some reason, Judy won!

Even better, her poem is correct. We DO offer editing as one of our options. Here are a couple of testimonials from clients:

I worked with Marianne on a complete edit and was very happy with the results. Her feedback was clear, easy to follow, and she probed on things I hadn’t thought of. She was also responsive whenever I had questions and helped me work through a few issues. Her feedback and guidance improved the quality of my manuscript, all at a very fair price. I’m working on my next book and plan to use their services again.-J B Glazer, author, In Search of Mr. Anonymous

Choosing the right editor for a project is incredibly important to an author. Let’s face it, we want the best for our books. When I was considering editors for my first indie-published book, Regenerate, I naturally thought of Goddess Fish Promotions–and I’m so glad I did. 

Marianne Arkins and Judy Thomas are incredibly attentive and professional during the entire editing process. Their input was invaluable and the story is much stronger because they cared enough to help unsnarl plot points and find order in the chaos. 

I can’t wait to work with them again. Truly, a top-notch editorial team!

– Sarita Leone, award-winning author of Regenerate

We also offer Virtual Book Tours, Graphic Design, Social Media Promotion and more. You can see more testimonials here.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know us a little (more information is below) and we'd like to do the same. We'd LOVE to see a little poem that tells us a bit about you in the comments. We'll be awarding random book giveaways and $5 Amazon GCs to some of the best poetry we find. It might not be at every stop, but when something really makes us smile, we'll reward it! Come on, be daring...

And now, more about us:

About Goddess Fish Promotions

Goddess Fish Promotions was established October 14, 2008. Why? Well, when Marianne became a published author and got her the first taste of trying to promote a book on a budget, there was only one other virtual book tour company in place at the time, and their fees were simply too high for a small press author. After coordinating and running her own tour, she knew other authors could use the same service for a reasonable price. Thus, Goddess Fish Promotions was born.

Because both Judy and Marianne were authors and editors prior to running Goddess Fish Promotions, they approach the business with a unique point of view, and treat their clients how they would expect to be treated.

The People Behind the Fish:

Judy Thomas

Judy has a college degree in English and she’s worked in retail, education, at her local library as well as an editor for a small press and for the now defunct ShadowKeep Ezine. She’s also a published author so can see things from both sides of the fence. In 2013, she “retired” and now spends her days helping authors make their dream come true—as well as working as much as she can with her local theater group.

Marianne Arkins

Grammar freak and coffee lover, Marianne wrote her first novel at ten years old, built her first commercial website in 2000, and published for the first time in 2006. She worked as a professional editor for just over a year, and knows what it’s like to write, edit and promote a book on a budget.

http://www.goddessfish.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoddessFishPromotionsTwitter: https://twitter.com/GoddessFish
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/goddessfish/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariannejudy/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Goddessfish

For Everyone: One $50 Amazon/BN GC, two $25 Amazon/BN GCs, Two $10 Amazon/BN GCs 

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

 For Authors: 2 $10 GC for any Goddess Fish Promotions service, Winner’s choice of either a free blurb blitz (2 wk) or book blast (5 day), 50% off any tour (excludes Review tour or Full Service Tour), 4 free 25 page complete book edit, 2 Winner’s choice of teaser or social media cover graphic design 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

One of the most important things that parents can do for their children is to establish a love for reading from the very beginning. Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read by Diane W. Frankenstein is a great foundational point for this.

In the introduction to this book, Diane outlines ways for parents to help their children find appropriate books to read, to turn them on to reading. Many times, the child's lack of desire to read simply stems from an inability to find anything that really turns them on and encourages them to keep on reading. She encourages rereading stories, focusing on the plotlines instead of only vocabulary, and performing conversational reading.

Conversational reading is the art of reading a book together and talking about it. Start by asking concrete questions about what happened within the story. Then, find ways to apply the book to the child's personal circumstances, so that he can really put himself into it. Encourage the child to think about other perspectives of the story. The possibilities are endless!

The first part of the book consists of 101 different books that parents and teachers can share with children. Within this part are three different sections. One is for picture books, one for grades 2-5, and those for grades 4-6+. Each book has a short story synopsis, key words, and sample questions that can be used to elicit conversation with the child. Then, there are recommended follow-up titles, if this one was of particular interest to the child.

Part two gets into subject questions, which are even more ways adults can deepen the conversation with the child. Instead of focusing on a particular book, these parts focus on general topics, such as popularity, bullies, manners, choices, and challenges.

Finally, Diane provides even more recommendations for books. Trying to choose only 101 when there are so many good books out there is a daunting task, indeed!

Purchase Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

I received a copy of this book from the author for the purposes of reviewing it.