"I don't know where I'm gonna go ... "
circa 1984

Paperback Edition of "So This is Christmas" Available on Amazon

Front and Back Cover layout

The long wait for the paperback version of So This is Christmas is over. You can now order your copy from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can have your copy in your hands in two days with free shipping!



Thanks for your patience and support.


Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!

Another Five Star Review for the Holiday Novel - So This is Christmas

Hi, All!

Another Five star review hit Amazon! Check out Michelle's review at So This is Christmas

Here's an excerpt to get you started:

"... This is a great book to get you in the Christmas spirit any time of year. It brings out the true meaning of Christmas..."

Thanks, Michelle!

So This is Christmas Hits the Virtual Bookshelves

It's finally here! The release of my new Christmas novel, So This is Christmas.

“… Christmas is about love and giving. It’s a time to remember past traditions and make up new ones…”

The Anderson family loves Christmas. You could even call them Christmas junkies. After moving up north, Mark, Carla and their children Cindy and Tony, finally get their postcard Christmas of warm fires and snow.

As the big day approaches, it’s a joyous time for everyone, except for Tony. Adjusting to a new school can be hard on a nine-year old and he’s ruining Christmas for everyone. In this holiday story, the magic of Christmas comes to life in the most unusual of places.

For young and old alike, this magical tale of finding Christmas spirit is sure to become a new tradition for Christmases to come.

This is a family affair, Melissa, my wife, did the original artwork for the cover!

Currently, it is available on Amazon. The paperback edition is still in formatting and will be available soon.

New 5 and 4 Star Reviews of The Card

It's been over two years since I published THE CARD . Even though its been awhile, reviews continue to post on Amazon. Most recently, there has been two five star and one four star review posted to Amazon. Here's a glimpse at what others are saying:

The good news? The sequel to The Card is in the final stages of editing and revisions! The new Van Stone adventure, The Scorecard, is optimistically scheduled for publication just after the first of the year. We'll keep you up to date on the progress as it happens. Thanks for all your support!

The Card featured on Shades of White Matter

Krista Tibbs gives a shout out to The Card over on her blog ... but the Chipmunks? Really?

Check it out here where she asks about what songs describe my work ethic ...



Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!

Hot off the presses (or electrons) First Chapters!

Here's your chance to sample 22 different indie authors. 

First Chapters

Available now on Amazon, just click First Chapters

First Chapters is an introduction to twenty-two cutting edge indie authors. Some of them are award-winning, some are bestselling, and they all, at one time, joined forces at IndiesUnlimited.com: a site dedicated to the indie author movement. This volume includes a wide array of genres and unique voices. We are sure you will find something inside to please every appetite.

This volume includes chapters from authors DV Berkom, Melissa Bowersock, Laurie Boris, K.S. Brooks, Lynne Cantwell, Martin Crosbie, Jim Devitt, A.C. Flory, Yvonne Hertzberger, Stephen Hise, Mark Jacobs, Chris James, LA Lewandowski, TD McKinnon, Rich Meyer, Melissa Pearl, Lin Robinson, Kathy Rowe, Carolyn Steele, Krista Tibbs, Dick Waters, and Carol Wyer.

Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!

School Newspaper Picks Up Story

Here's another bit of media that was a result of my selection as Batboy for the Seattle Mariners. This was published in the Auburn High School Troy Invoice school newspaper. Enjoy!

 

Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!

Life Will Be Better if You Look to The Stars

Star Trail Facing Polaris (North Star) Photo Credit: Jim Devitt at 12 yrs old

Sometimes we need a break. We need to stop watching TV, stop surfing the internet, stop writing, and stop shopping online. Tonight, do that. Go outside and look up at the universe. 

When was the last time you looked up at the night sky?

I've always been fascinated with space exploration and the universe. I grew up surrounded by the space program and have always had my eyes toward the stars. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space and did so before I entered the world. I also missed the first US Astronaut, Alan Shepard, and his fifteen-minute flight into space.

My Home Away From Home - The Kingdome

Kingdome under construction- mid '70's

You've heard of a home away from home? Well, I had one of those. It was the largest freestanding concrete structure in the world at the time—the Kingdome, built in 1976.

My family moved to Seattle from Florida in 1975. There are two things I remember most about arriving in the Pacific Northwest. The first was driving through Snoqualmie Pass and seeing real mountains for the first time. The twin sister volcanoes, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier greeted us as we approached the Cascade Range. This Florida flat-lander was 14 at the time and the mountains served promise of new adventures. 

New reviews for The Card - A Van Stone Novel

I'm pretty psyched about the most most recent reviews on Amazon. In the past few weeks, two 5 star reviews, one 4 star review and one 1 star review have appeared. Hey, I don't pull any punches, if someone doesn't like the book, that's their prerogative. You'll get a kick out of the one star.

Here they are straight from  Amazon - The Card - A Van Stone Novel.

Yahoo Contributor Network Inaugural Post

I recently got hooked up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network and had my first article picked up by Yahoo! Voices.

You can check it out: The Influence of Social Media in Healthcare. It was published today in Yahoo! Voices. 

You can check out my Yahoo! Contributor Network homepage here, where you can find all the articles that get published in the future. 

Stop by and "fan" or subscribe, I'd really appreciate it. Every page view to my articles helps me out! Thanks for your support.
 

An Analysis of Best Practices for Social Media Marketing

My brain on research

I attended a webinar a while back that provided some interesting stats. The data came from one of the leaders in social media marketing, Hubspot. The results provided some surprises, both with what did happen and what didn’t happen.

I think there are some takeaways that we can implement in our own social media marketing.

Recently, Beckers ASC Review - Practical Business, Legal and Clinical Guidance for Ambulatory Surgery Centers published the article Five Steps to Better Billing at ASCs. I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Laura Miller and interviewed for this story. You can find it here.

Becker's ASC Review features general business, legal and clinical guidance on topics including joint-ventures, development and expansion, and regulatory and compliance issues; as well as analysis and insight for specialties including bariatrics, orthopedics/spine, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, pain management, ophthalmology, ENT and anesthesiology. Each of the nine annual issues of the publication reaches a qualified audience of more than 25,000 key business decision-holders, including surgeons, medical directors, directors of surgery, ASC administrators and others involved in the rapidly growing field of outpatient surgery. Further, every ASC in the nation receives Becker's ASC Review.

A Big thank you to Beckers ASC Review for the opportunity to contribute to their publication.

Jim Devitt interviewed by Divsion of American Medical Association

Nice article just came out in American Medical News quoting Devitt Consulting. 

The article focused on ways to handle cash in a physicians office.  You can check out the full article here ... http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2013/01/14/bica0114.htm

Myspace is Back ... Really?

They’re back! 

Yup, the New Myspace has been rebranded and re-launched. What? You didn’t know the old one was gone? Technically, it never was really gone, just forgotten about.

Myspace has rebranded itself as a social entertainment network. It focuses heavily on music and comes off as a cross between Tumblr and Pinterest.

Myspace is currently in “beta” test. There is suppose to be connectivity with Facebook and Twitter, but as of this writing, the functionality was not working.

You can sign up at www.myspace.com.

Devitt Consulting Quoted in Recent Article

Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day! Yeah, I know, you didn't even know it existed. 

Image courtesy Kozzi.com

It's fairly new... like only the second year for it's recognition. According to The Community Manager a community manager is engage in a businesses communication, moderation, guideline writing, day to day online (forums, owned communities, blogs, newsletters) and offline (events, conferences, meetups), strategy, working with the social teams/marketing/support/product/PR/management, surveying, customer service, and a variety of other activities. 

Phew!

Regardless, the cool thing is I was quoted via Devitt Consulting in the recent article published this morning as a social media expert. You can check it out here ...



Don't forget to give your Social or Community Manager a hug today!

I'm Still Writing, How About You?

You’ve heard it all, Amazon is bowing to the Big Six, Barnes and Noble and Amazon are destroying self-publishing and the traditional publishers are taking over the industry while charging $25,000 dollars to get your book out.

Enough!

Dudes, who cares. Has anything really changed? Can you still put your product through the grinder and be making money in twenty-four hours? YES.

Can you upload to Kindle today and see sales by tomorrow? YES.

So what are we doing? We’re spending all our time lamenting about how the industry is disappearing. We won’t be able to sell books. My sales have plummeted in October so it must be because Amazon is not counting my sales!

That’s a pile of crap.

Burnout? But the Year Just Started! Five Steps to Being More Productive

We’re firmly entrenched into the New Year—the stress of the holidays is over, we’ve marketed like crazy to get to all those new device owners and the last thing we want to do is look at another social media tweet, blog, post or anything—especially, if you have to generate the content.

Burnout is serious business. It can kill your motivation and even leave you with a negative attitude toward the things that are an integral part of your overall writing/publishing career. So today, here are a few tips to avoid and even attack social media burnout.

The Card - video book trailer

Here's a little something I've messed around with. Let me know what you think ... consider it a work in progress!