Two New Giveaways at Linda Weaver Clarke's Blog

If you haven't noticed by now, my friend, Lina Weaver Clarke always has great giveaways going on at her blog. I don't know how she does it all with her busy schedule.

Here is what Linda has for you this week!

The first is a book from J. Steve Miller that is timely and helpful. Enjoy Your Money!: How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It has garnered numerous 5-star reviews. These are just a couple that I found on Steve's website:

“Had I read this book in my 20’s, I’d be financially independent today. It’s a remarkable blend of fabulous research with clear and lively writing. You’d pay an expert quite a sum for this caliber of counsel. That’s why I say that the best investment you make this year just might be this book. Your second best investment will be the copies you buy for your children.” (Dr. Dwight “Ike” Reighard, Former Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer of HomeBanc)

“As a practicing CPA and financial counselor for the past 35 years, I’ve read scores of books and periodicals on personal finance. Just when you think you’ve heard it all, something like this comes along. It’s rare and refreshing to find a book so enjoyable, so accurate, and so life changing. I’m purchasing 200 copies to give away to graduating seniors.” (Larry Winter, Winter & Scoggins, CPA’s, Certified Valuation Analyst, Certified Fraud Examiner, Personal Financial Planning Specialist)

J. Steve Miller – educator, investor, entrepreneur, and speaker – has taught audiences from Atlanta to Moscow. He’s known for drawing practical wisdom from serious research and communicating it in accessible, unforgettable ways.


Steve is the founder and president of Legacy Educational Resources, providing global resources for teachers of life skills in public schools, churches, and service organizations at http://www.character-education.info/. A self-styled “wisdom broker,” he collects wisdom from many fields and packages it for teachers and writers via his published books and the Web. His wife, Cherie, and their seven sons continually remind him what works and what doesn’t. Connect with him at http://www.jstevemiller.com/.

The giveaway for Steve's book is running from December 27th - January 7th. This one is restricted to the U.S. and Canada, but there is also a Kindle version of this book available for you international readers who would like to pick up a copy.

The second great giveaway, which starts today and ends on January 6th, is for a copy of Freemen and Dreamers Vol. 4 Oh, Say Can You See? by L.C. Lewis.

During her interview with Linda, the author had this to say about the book:

"This volume takes readers right in the middle of the incredible events that surrounded the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner...Our beloved Willows characters are in the thick of the action, so we get a tender, intimate view of how Britain’s campaign of terror affected families as well as the nation."

As a lover of historical fiction, especially anything set during Colonial America or the Civil War era, I know I want to own a copy of this one.

Laurie (L.C.) Lewis was born and raised in rural Maryland, which is also where she and her husband Tom raised their four children. She is also the proud grandma of five. In addition to the her Free Men and Dreamers series, which includes the books Dark Sky At Dawn, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Dawn's Early Light, and Oh, Say Can You See, Laurie is also the author of Awakening Avery and Unspoken.

You can visit Laurie online at www.laurielclewis.com/. If you wander out there, and I suggest you do, you have to click on Laurie's bio page. The picture there is so much more fun than this professional shot.

The giveaway for this book is also restricted to the U.S. and Canada.

Visit Linda Weaver Clarke's blog at http://lindaweaverclarke.blogspot.com/ to find out how you can enter to win.

Author Spotlight: Tom Graneau and Renters Win, Home Owners Lose

Tom Graneau, a financial management coach, pinpoints owning a home as the black hole for the American dollar. This timely masterpiece exposes the biggest shakedown in consumer spending—home ownership.

Driven by the American dream of grandeur and prosperity, buyers purchase their homes as “smart investments” when in actuality, the best they can hope to get is zero percent return. More commonly, owners lose an enormous amount of money on the deal, driving themselves even deeper into debt as they pour their hard-earned income in mortgage payments and maintenance costs.

In Renters Win, Home Owners Lose, author Tom Graneau prudently shows readers how to avoid getting trapped in the biggest scam in the country, endorsed by national and local governments and the housing and mortgage industries. Tables, graphs, and various statistics are prominently laced throughout the book to expound the obvious, tangible advantages that renters have over anyone preparing to buy a home.

For those already owning a home—fear not. Graneau concludes by outlining winning strategies and solutions to make their experience a little more agreeable.

Renters Win, Home Owners Lose is a perfect eye-opener for renters, first-time home buyers, and those who plan to upgrade to a second or third home!

Read the Reviews!

“A real game changer, eye-opener, and timely. MUST read before buying!

This book may upset your way of thinking, but that’s often a good thing.

We always felt that home ownership was good for us over the years; I’m pretty sure it generally was good at the time, but not so good as we thought. Glad I got out when I did (now a happy renter). The equity we build up is fragile (now very obvious). The tax deductions are not as beneficial/large as we like to think. The extra costs of owning can be really large. And anytime you re-finance to take out equity, your new lender is doing very well on the deal.

We were all propagandized by the government, the lenders, the realtors, etc. This book will help you to take a fresh look at the process. You cannot afford to overlook this book before buying, not any more. And it is very clear and well-written.

If you are presently underwater or upside-down in a mortgage, I am sincerely sorry. You may stay underwater for a very long time. Talk to your lawyer (first!) about the possibility of walking; stop paying right now, save money, live for free, pay off the credit cards instead. It will be (probably) many months before your lender takes any action at all. The book does NOT discuss this for you, and so perhaps I should not either. But the book will help open up your thinking.”

T. Erwin



Tom Graneau was born in Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean with a population of roughly 70,000 people. When Tom was seventeen years old, he and his mother immigrated to the United States. After two years in the U.S., he became acutely aware of his need for an education and aggressively began finding a way to be in school.

During his fourteen years of service in the Navy, he became increasingly concerned about his financial situation. Things became worse when he left the service. His house went into foreclosure. With added pressure from credit card companies, he ultimately filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Eventually, he found work as a Financial Management Consultant. In his last employment, Tom spent roughly ten years working as a financial management coach and educator. During that time, he conducted numerous workshops, presentations, and private consultation with members of the military, government employees, and others in the community.

Tom enjoyed working with his clients, but they caused him to wonder about the financial condition of Americans, as a whole. His research proved that money problems extend well beyond what most people are willing to admit or see.

In short, most Americans are broke. Various surveys have shown that roughly 90 percent of working Americans live from paycheck to paycheck, no matter how much money they make. In most cases, the problem is directly related to financial misconceptions, poor training, and lack of knowledge. Home ownership is one of the biggest financial misconceptions in personal finance. Hence the book, Renters Win, Home Owners Lose: Revealing the Biggest Scam in America.

You can visit Tom’s website at www.renters-win.com.

Two-Minute Book-Signing Pitch for The Flow of Time and Money by Lloyd Watts

Joining us today is businessman and author, Lloyd Watts. LLoyd's personal/business finance book, The Flow of Time and Money: How to create a full and prosperous life, is a groundbreaking new book that will help you master the relationship between your time and money. Using simple, proven techniques and easy-to-understand diagrams, Dr. Lloyd Watts shows you how to take control of your income, expenses and time commitments in order to achieve wealth and personal fulfillment.

You can find out more about Lloyd and The Flow of Time and Money by visiting www.flowoftimeandmoney.com.

I posed this question to Lloyd: I meet you at a book-signing and I give you maximum 2 minutes to sell me his book. What do you say?

Lloyd's Turn:

If you look at the problems in most people’s lives, you will see that they center around money, or more specifically, a lack of money. People work at jobs they don’t enjoy, making less money than they feel they are worth, without feeling fulfilled or creating a great future for themselves. And these financial problems often have direct effects in other parts of their lives – lack of confidence, staying in bad relationships because they can’t afford to split up, etc. For many people, these financial problems have been magnified with the current downturn in the economy.

The Flow of Time and Money shows you how to solve these problems, and create a life of wealth and fulfillment. It shows you how Time and Money really work – how we use them, spend them, waste them, and invest them. It shows you how to stop wasting your time and money, and how to invest your time and your money into things that grow and create real value. It gives you a roadmap to financial independence, with four stages (Youth/Education, Accumulating Capital, Small Deals, and Big Deals) so you know where you are on the path and what you can be doing now to advance safely to the next stage. And it shows you how to avoid the most common traps (Save and Spend, and Borrow and Spend) that can lead anyone into trouble.

The Flow of Time and Money is a quick read, with helpful diagrams to make it easy to understand how time and money really work, and how to build the life of your dreams. Buy this book, and put it into practice – and create the life of wealth and fulfillment you always wanted.


* * *

Lloyd Watts is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Audience, Inc., an award-winning technology business that he founded in 2000. Lloyd’s book, The Flow of Time and Money: How to create a full and prosperous life, is available at Amazon.com and at www.flowoftimeandmoney.com .

Why T.E. Scott Believes Wall Street is The Losing Game

We start off the month of April with a thought-provoking book by T.E. Scott. In The Losing Game: Why You Can't Beat Wall Street, Scott exposes the stock market and commodity markets for what he believes they really are --- brilliantly marketed rip-offs. He says, "Wall Street is fleecing millions of Americans every day with brokerage houses, Congress and the media as willing accomplices. With their help, the American public is fooled into thinking that investing is safe and convinced that, if they’re smart and listen to the right people, they can accumulate wealth quickly. And when we fail, our tax money bails them out."

For today's guest article, I asked the author the follwing question: I am an investor who has seen both profits and losses while investing in Wall Street, but who still believes in the system. What will I find in your book that will change my mind?

Here is what Scott had to say:

What you will find in The Losing Game is that you are looking at Wall Street with what we refer to as an “Eagle’s Eye” view of the markets. You are focused on your specific outcome in the market, and that prevents you (and others) from looking at the system as a whole. This is part of the overall marketing plan of Wall Street, to distract you from the real functions of their business plan.

The Losing Game makes a strong correlation between investing in Wall Street and gambling. If you look at Wall Street as a casino, and your friend won money at a slot machine, would you logically pour all of your money in that same machine expecting the same results? Ultimately, when you are involved in the market, you are trying to predict an unpredictable. If you think you can predict a non-predictable, our advice is to go to Vegas, you’ll have more fun.

The Losing Game points out that the negative cash flow of investors’ money is far greater than the positive cash flow of investors’ money. Investors as a whole are losing billions of dollars a day, and this was before the financial crisis started. No matter how you look at it, the losers in the market support the winners on Wall Street. If you make any money, it comes from one or more investors, which makes it a zero-sum game. And when you add in expenses and fees, it becomes a minus-sum game.

Our question to readers of The Losing Game is this: How can you trust a system that has no real accountability or transparency? The book lays out the argument that the regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission are not designed to protect the investor from Wall Street, they are designed to protect Wall Street from the investors. That’s why Bernie Madoff was investigated eight times in 16 years by the SEC with no action taken. As long as Madoff was paying his investors, there was no reason for the SEC to intervene, even if they had reports that Madoff was running a ponzi scheme.

You have to have blind-faith to believe in the system, because Congress or the SEC does not require financial reports tracking investor money. Seriously. If you were to ask your broker or financial advisor for a report detailing how many of his clients have made money, and how many have lost money, and how much, he would tell you that this information is not kept, and not required to report.

That’s why you have to be extremely skeptical about any statistics. Experts will tell you that the market has grown 10% a year over the past 50 years, but what they don't tell you is that those are "listed" companies on the NYSE. If you were to factor the companies that have gone out of business and have been delisted, that number would be lower, and possibly a negative number. It's all part of the marketing plan.

Remember this, Wall Street does not care whether you make money or lose money in the market, only that you keep your money in circulation in the market. That way, the brokers and exchanges make their cut with every transaction.

Visit http://thelosinggame.com/ for more information about The Losing Game and to read an excerpt.

WIN PRIZES!!!

THE LOSING GAME VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on April 1 and end on April 30. You can visit the authors' blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in April to find out more about these talented authora!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

T.E. Scott Uncovers Why Wall Street is The Losing Game

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Join author T.E. Scott as he travels the blogosphere in April 2009 with Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations on his first virtual book tour to discuss his business/personal finance book, The Losing Game: Why You Can’t Beat Wall Street.

T.E. Scott exposes the stock market and commodity markets for what they really are --- brilliantly marketed rip-offs. The Losing Game simplifies a very complex system that Wall Street has designed to separate the masses from their money without accountability or prosecution. As a result of this design, they have tricked us into believing that the stock market and commodity markets are something they are not.

Wall Street is fleecing millions of Americans every day with brokerage houses, Congress and the media as willing accomplices. With their help, the American public is fooled into thinking that investing is safe and convinced that, if they’re smart and listen to the right people, they can accumulate wealth quickly. And when we fail, our tax money bails them out.

Praise for The Losing Game…

Easy, yet informative read, and combines a little bit of humor with some eye opening data and ideas. I would recommend this book for those with any bit of interest in the stock market. — The Wild Investor.com

T.E. Scott founded and spent twenty-five years as CEO of Scott Pet Products,(scottpet.com) building the enterprise into a multimillion-dollar company in Rockville, Indiana. Before starting that business, Scott spent thirty-two years working as a baggage handler for Eastern Airlines. When he lost most of his pension after the company went bankrupt in the 1980s, Scott started on the road to exposing the true nature of Wall Street. Scott is retired and resides in Veedersburg, Indiana.

You can visit the author online at www.thelosinggame.com

“T.E. Scott has written a timely and thought-provoking book,” says Cheryl Malandrinos, Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations. “I can see many water cooler discussions over The Losing Game.”

If you would like to follow T.E. Scott on his virtual book tour, visit the official Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour site at http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

T.E. Scott’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours, a virtual book tour agency for authors who want quality service for an affordable price. More information can be found on their website at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com.

Let Lloyd Watts Help You Master The Flow of Time and Money

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Join author Lloyd Watts as he travels the blogosphere in April 2009 with Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations on his first virtual book tour to discuss the simple, proven techniques found in his self-help/personal finance book, The Flow of Time and Money.

The Flow of Time and Money is a groundbreaking new book that will help you master the relationship between your time and money. Using simple, proven techniques and easy-to-understand diagrams, Dr. Lloyd Watts shows you how to take control of your income, expenses and time commitments in order to achieve wealth and personal fulfillment.

Praise for The Flow of Time and Money…

Lloyd Watts will help you make a plan to achieve financial independence and have a fulfilling life… this is a must read if you are interested in beating the rat race and want to have a fuller and more prosperous life. — Sidarta Tanu

Practical, concrete advice on taking control of your financial future. Don't miss out on this one! — Susan Minahan

Lloyd Watts was born in London, England. He earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, studying with Silicon Valley pioneer Carver Mead. In 2000, he founded Audience, Inc., a venture-capital funded startup that builds advanced noise reduction chips for cell-phones. Dr. Watts is the author of 5 patents and many technical papers. He is an accomplished photographer, painter, musician, former hang glider pilot, and proud father of two lovely daughters. He lives in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

You can find Dr. Watts online at http://flowoftimeandmoney.com/.

“Dr. Watts has written a timely book,” says Cheryl Malandrinos, Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations. “I can see his book being helpful to many people.”

If you would like to follow Dr. Watts on his virtual book tour, visit the official Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour site at http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

Dr. Watts’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours, a virtual book tour agency for authors who want quality service for an affordable price. More information can be found on their website at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com.

THE FLOW OF TIME AND MONEY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '09

The Flow of Time and Money is a groundbreaking new book that will help you master the relationship between your time and money. Using simple, proven techniques and easy-to-understand diagrams, Dr. Lloyd Watts shows you how to take control of your income, expenses and time commitments in order to achieve wealth and personal fulfillment.

AUTHOR'S BIO:

Lloyd Watts was born in London, England, on October 2, 1961. He earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1992 at the California Institute of Technology, studying with Silicon Valley pioneer Carver Mead. In 2000, he founded Audience, Inc., a venture-capital funded startup that builds advanced noise reduction chips for cell-phones.

Dr. Watts is the author of 5 patents and many technical papers. He is an accomplished photographer, painter, musician, former hang glider pilot, and proud father of two lovely daughters. He lives in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

You can visit Lloyd online at www.flowoftimeandmoney.com.

TO SEE WHERE LLOYD STOPS NEXT, VISIT http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

THE LOSING GAME VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '09

T.E. Scott exposes the stock market and commodity markets for what they really are --- brilliantly marketed rip-offs. The Losing Game simplifies a very complex system that Wall Street has designed to separate the masses from their money without accountability or prosecution. As a result of this design, they have tricked us into believing that the stock market and commodity markets are something they are not.

Wall Street is fleecing millions of Americans every day with brokerage houses, Congress and the media as willing accomplices. With their help, the American public is fooled into thinking that investing is safe and convinced that, if they’re smart and listen to the right people, they can accumulate wealth quickly. And when we fail, our tax money bails them out.

AUTHORS' BIOS:

T.E. Scott founded and spent twenty-five years as CEO of Scott Pet Products,(scottpet.com) building the enterprise into a multimillion-dollar company in Rockville, Indiana. Before starting that business, Scott spent thirty-two years working as a baggage handler for Eastern Airlines. When he lost most of his pension when the company went bankrupt in the 1980s, Scott started on the road to exposing the true nature of Wall Street. Scott is retired and resides in Veedersburg, Indiana.

Stephen Edds is a native of Owensboro, Kentucky and is a graduate of Hanover (Indiana) College. Edds spent fifteen years in corporate marketing communications before striking out on his own as a freelance writer and joining Scott as consumer watchdogs with a focus on exposing Wall Street. Edds moved to Indianapolis in 1996, where he still resides with his wife, Erin, and son Levi.

You can visit the authors online at http://thelosinggame.com.

TO SEE WHERE T.E. SCOTT AND STEPHEN EDDS ARE STOPPING NEXT, VISIT http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.