Can you believe this? We are almost at 400! As soon as we cross the threshold, I’ll start putting together my ever-popular 400 followers-only (not my newsletter subscribers list) “thank you” giveaway:
- FOUR winners
- FOUR prizes each
It boggles the mind (and stretches my wallet) to see such a fun giveaway for loyal Andi fans. Here’s where you come in. Give me ideas (that don’t turn me into a pauper, of course) for four fun things each winner could receive. I don’t promise to use every suggestion, but it will get my mind working on what will be fun for you. This is a big deal. 400 followers are a good number of Andi fans for a blog that is just over two years old.
Note: I’m looking on my blog posting calendar and so far for December I’m counting a look-a-like contest, the What Am I? contest, and a Merry Christmas freebie on the schedule. So, even if we get 400 followers by this weekend, I believe I’ll hold this big contest off until January of the new year. That is starting the year with a bang!

Maybe you could do notebooks and/or pens?
This is awesome, thanks for posting!
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Thanks so much for doing this, Mrs. M!!
Hmm… A good idea might be key-chains, stickers, and pens?
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That’s awesome Mrs M! I’m glad your blog is getting popular! I sure like it, thanks for posting such fun things all the time! 😀 Maybe for a prize a mini calendar thing? But it might be too much $ which I get.
Keep galloping Andi blog! 😀
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Maybe bookmarks, a keychain, a pen, and cards.
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Wow! Congratulations!! 😀
Prize Ideas:
A big prize section:
The choice of one of your ‘Fan Fun Extras’
Medium section:
A choice between a hat, calendar, or playing cards
Another medium section:
A choice between one of the mugs
Small Section:
A choice of one of the little horses, or a horse keychain, or a book keychain.
Thanks!
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Your ideas would be just right if I were still at home in WA. However, I did not bring enough for all four to get the same thing, especially cards, hats, etc. I didn’t even bring ANY horse keychains for the winter. Since I’m not selling them, I figured I didn’t need to haul them to CA and then to TX. Same with the book keychains. Would have been perfect, but they are not with me. *sigh* I have managed to come up with things that I do have, although, it pretty much cleared me out! You’ll have to wait until next week to see what they are when I launch the giveaway.
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That makes sense!
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How about the choice of a book from your collection? 🙂
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How about any book, a mug\travel tumbler, a calender, hat, or playing cards, and a keychain of choice?
Also, are you still planning on doing a winter seasonal writing contest, Mrs. M?
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Probably winter but not until way after the New Year
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Your over 400!
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Yee haw! I will have the voting next week!
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Congrats, Mrs. M.!
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Congratulations, Mrs. Marlow! That’s awesome!
~ McKenzie C.
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407 followers! Congrats!
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I finally subscribed after one year of following this blog! I like getting notifications when Mrs. Marlow posts!!🤗
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Ops sorry my name is Abigail Hadley😜
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Off topic…
Is it hard to get copyrights? Where do I go to get them?
TIA!
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You do not need to buy a copyright for anything you write. It is automatically “copyrighted.” If a publisher takes your work, they will do a copyright in your name. If you self publish, you don’t need one. Once it’s down on paper, it’s yours. If you do want to spend the money and have it officially copyrighted, Google U.S. copyrights and I’m sure you’ll find how to do it. Years ago, I copyrighted a writing book I was creating. Dumbest thing I ever did. There was no need, and I’ve never paid to copyright anything else in my writing career. It cost about $25 back then. I’m sure it’s more expensive now and a waste of your money. Just my humble opinion.
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Thank you very much!
On lulu it says I need a copyright to publish my book if I want to sell it on the lulu bookstore, amazon, and those places.
Do you know of any other places to self publish other then KDP and lulu.com?
Any advice you can pass along about self publishing?
TIA!
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I recommend KDP/Amazon over Lulu. Who goes to the Lulu bookstore to buy books? Everybody goes to Amazon.
I’ve published all of my study guides, writing books, and lapbooks (plus the new Circle C Christmas Collection) on Amazon. You don’t need any official copyright stuff. I just write on page 2 of the interior pages Copyright 2023 by Susan K. Marlow
The end. LOL
You do need bank and IRS information so they can direct deposit your money when people buy your books.
KDP is my number one “go to” place to publish my books. Go to this link and learn how to format and upload (the example shows Lulu but it’s just as easy on KDP).
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That makes sense. I will look into more KDP.
I have tried the covers on amazon but I can not upload my own cover. It says it’s too large for some reason though I made the cover the size it is. The pre made covers (just changing the words and photo) just don’t work out for me.
Any recommendations on how to fix that? How did you do your covers on KDP?
Really appreciate your help! Thank you again!
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That is never a problem. You must download the Cover Template from KDP for the cover FLAT and create it on Canva or PhotoShop. The KDP cover templates are BORING, LOL Yes, you should create your own.
I create my covers on PhotoShop after downloading the correct template size for the number of pages I have in my book. You can do the same thing on Canva (even on the free version). Once you know the dimensions, you can create the cover flat (allowing for the spined) and then SAVE as a PDF file. ONLY PDF files can upload to Amazon. Did you watch the second video? That explains how to make a cover flat on Canva.
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I figured this out, really appreciate your advice Mrs Marlow! 🙂
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