C U @ 8 Giveaway on Goodreads

Goodreads Book Giveaway

C U @ 8

by Cindy Vine

Giveaway ends April 07, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Best-selling Author Eldon Taylor

Eldon Taylor is an award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of more than 300 books, audio, and video programs. He’s the inventor of the patented InnerTalk technology and the founder and president of Progressive Awareness Research. He has been called a “master of the mind” and has appeared as an expert witness on both hypnosis and subliminal communication.

Eldon was a practicing criminalist conducting investigations and lie-detection examinations for many years. He is listed in more than a dozen Who’s Who publications, including Who’s Who of Intellectuals and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. He is a fellow in the American Psychotherapy Association and an internationally sought-after speaker. His books and audio-video materials have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have sold millions worldwide.  Eldon is the host of the popular radio show Provocative Enlightenment. He has interviewed some of the most interesting people on the planet. His shows are thought-provoking and always fresh in both their perspective and the exchange.

Announcing I Believe, the latest release

by New York Times best selling author,

Eldon Taylor.

Join the launch party for I Believe: When What You Believe Matters!

Hundreds of bonus gifts will be given away to everyone who participates. Plus, enter to win grand prizes worth over $5K from personalities such as Lindsay Wagner (Bionic Woman), James Van Praagh, Bob Doyle, Hay House, InnerTalk, Norman Shealy and Caroline Sutherland. For more information, visit http://progressiveawarenesspromotions.com/it/12c/indexB.html

 Q. Why did you write I Believe?

I have spent over thirty years investigating why people self-sabotage or limit themselves, thus experiencing so much less than their highest best!  What I have found is the reason rests solely in their beliefs—not their spiritual belief so much as their life beliefs.  I found this to be true when I was conducting lie detection tests and discovering criminality, and equally true when I worked with elite athletes, business executives, professionals and lay people alike.  The bottom line is this: What you believe always matters!  It’s like a web that fastens itself to belief-anchors, causing disheartening mediocrity in place of the glorious success we all seek.

I Believe spells out the power of belief and how it influences everything from our health and longevity to our success with relationships and life.  Astounding as it may seem, belief can (and has) defied our so-called laws of science and it has done so over and over again. As ordinary and trite as it may seem, belief nevertheless makes all the difference in success in all walks of life.  Knowing how we acquire our beliefs, and which beliefs serve us while others sabotage us, is critical to maximizing our individual potential.  I Believe: When What You Believe Matters! was written  to empower you with the roadmap to decipher and re-write the programming governing your life.

 Excerpt

Codependence

Among many people, there’s a certain attitude of codependence. This is often expressed in terms of a bargain, a contract, or a sort of quid pro quo. That is, we think, You should do this for me because I do this for you. If you loved me, you’d do x, y, and z. The notion implies a duty. For example, parents often assume codependent roles and expect their children to nearly kneel and worship them because of parental sacrifices. Building relationships on such patterns will almost always lead to resentment and disappointment.

Examining our motives is important. Where our closest, most intimate bonds are concerned, maintaining a realistic outlook is key. There will be many changes during a long-term personal relationship. The initial romance will wear off, the hormones will cool down, and the Cinderella nature of perfect love will curl up in a mature bonding, provided the connection isn’t built on false assumptions and immature, unrealistic notions taken from movies and television shows.

It’s estimated that approximately half the marriages in America will end in divorce. Further, this figure applies to first marriages versus later unions, since “67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce, according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology.”⁵

There are many reasons for the high divorce rate, including disappointment, selfishness, demanding too much, economic differences, pettiness, blaming, laziness, and differences in values or faith. Inherent in all of these factors are the underlying beliefs each partner brings to the marriage. Surprising to many is that the lowest proportion of divorce belongs to atheists and agnostics. Perhaps that is because the initial expectation is simply more pragmatic. For the atheist, the connection is all about here and now; for the religious person, there are both explicit and implicit assumptions about unions made in heaven.

The actual reasons for divorce are not my point here, however. This book is all about the role of belief in our lives. It’s easy to see that an unreasonable expectation will lead to a failed relationship. It’s equally obvious that our expectations are built upon our beliefs, and if we’re to enjoy our lives to the fullest, choosing what we believe and how and who we share those beliefs with is pivotal.

If you’re having difficulties with someone, take a look at your assumptions and then consciously choose your course of action. That said, never be afraid to let someone go if that’s what he or she wants. There’s an old saying that goes like this: “If you love someone, let them go. If they come back, they were always yours; and if they don’t, then they never were.”

Reflection

What do you see in your relationships? Are your expectations blinding you to the real attributes of the other person? Are you denying yourself in your attempt to be what someone else would like you to be? These questions are really two sides of the same coin, but they’re vital components to creating the kind of connection you want.

For information on the book launch, please visit http://progressiveawarenesspromotions.com/it/12c/indexB.html

Enter the Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Defective

by Cindy Vine

Giveaway ends April 05, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Bookbuzzr offers great technology for authors

If you are an author and looking for ways to market your books, you have to go to Bookbuzzr.com.  In a few minutes you can set up a QuickQuiz which will market your book to potential readers.

Or you can get a book widget which you can embed on your blog or website, which will enable potential readers to read excerpts from your book.

You can also put your cover in their Book Cover Match Game, or advertise your book through their Hangman Game.  Bookbuzzr is definitely something to include in your marketing plan.
http://www.amazon.com/C-U-8-ebook/dp/B007N60QAI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332831982&sr=1-1

The best laid plans...

This is the first school holiday in almost three years that we are staying home.  And I feel like a kid in a candy store!  Usually holidays are spent traveling, sight-seeing, shopping, exploring, visiting family.  One huge rush to do as much as is humanly possible in a relatively small amount of time.  What a relief to wake up knowing I don’t have to do anything or go anywhere.  I can devote my holiday to working on my new book and do some marketing of my others.

During term time I only get to work on my writing over weekends.  During the week I am just too exhausted by the time I get home, so that also means for the past couple of years marketing has been on the back-burner and a bit of an afterthought.  But this holiday, as I am not going anywhere, I can spend almost three weeks marketing and writing to my heart’s content.  Herein lies the problem.  Remember the kid in the candy store?  What should I work on first?  Decisions, decisions.  And of course I do want to slot in an exercise program as well.  Gosh this is getting hard.  Maybe I should have gone away for the holiday after all!

The holiday did get off to a poor start with a terrible head cold knocking me sideways for the first three days.  However, today I am motivated, working on character sketches for my next novel, Hush Baby, as well as thinking about this Guide to living with Dementia I want to write as well.  About seven years ago I worked nights and weekends at a Dementia Care Unit.  It was one of the saddest experiences of my life.  Intelligent, previously active people, who had regressed to diapers and baby-talk.  Very few family members ever came to visit them, I guess it was just too hard to see their loved ones like that.  The patients or clients at the unit seemed to spend their waking moments waiting.  Waiting for meals, to be dressed, for their medication, for the TV to be switched on, or just generally waiting for something, anything to happen.  My Dementia Guide is going to be called Waiting for the Angels.

C U @ 8 was released recently and is now available on Amazon as a Kindle edition and as a paperback.  Sigh, I guess I’d better start marketing.  This is the problem us Indie authors face.  Your writing time is limited, and you have to use some of it for marketing.  Very frustrating.  But hey, I have an almost three week holiday to get some of it done!  What should I start with first?  Maybe I need to make a plan…
http://www.amazon.com/C-U-8-ebook/dp/B007N60QAI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332756700&sr=1-1

Learning from reviews

Reviews are important to an author.  A good review boosts your self-esteem and makes you think you did something right.  A bad review can knock you back and demotivate you.  What you have to do as an author is take the good and the bad, and realise that it is okay that not everyone will like your work.  We are not all the same, have different likes and dislikes.  That's just the way it is.
M.C.V. Egan is a new author who shares her thoughts on reviews on my blog.

The Bridge of Deaths has received editorial, blogger and personal reviews from a wide variety of sources. Every single review has been an amazing surprise and learning experience, some very uplifting and one in particular a bit heartbreaking. I feel very honored and humbled by all my reviews, by some more honored and by others more humbled. In the next few paragraphs I’d like to share a little taste of what I have learned.

My first review came out of the paranormal realm from a psychic up North whom I have never met but have recently started following her radio show The Psychic Switch with Beckah Boyd. I was so surprised by words that have since been repeated by numerous reviews; “M.C.V. Egan twists truth and fiction making it difficult to distinguish one from the other”.  Well imagine my surprise that I who included 200+ footnotes to point out sources and truth felt reading that.  The fact is I found that fascinating and as it has been echoed by many a reviewer I realized that I am pretty good at twisting fact and fiction in an entertaining and legible manner. In that review as well I got a “spot on” for all the paranormal, which was indeed a nice feeling as I wanted to be as fair to the use of psychics as I was to the use of archives.

My worst review which earned me a sad lonely one star stated something to the fact that the book had potential but was a bore. I learned that would be reviewers needed to be aware that TBOD was primarily historical and a thinking book.  I thought I had prepared myself to be criticized and I must admit it hurt. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion and I put myself out there to complete unknowns so I can only guess that it will not be the ‘only’ bad review I get, nor do I expect it to get any easier.

As the reviews started flowing I discovered that I had written a cross-genre piece and that I had the elements of Historical, Paranormal, Mystery and Romance. Amazing you might think an author who was un-aware what her book’s genre was. I honestly thought it was Historical Fiction, but the reviews kept on pouring in about how clever it was to combine all these elements.

I also discovered that my words have touched readers in a very wide variety of ways; I get comments about how they either relate to a character or know someone who reminds them of a character. I get feedback on curiosity about hypnosis and past-life regressions.  I had one reviewer call the book cozy.

I read my reviews several times, and I try to learn for future writing and maybe even if I decided to work on a different, simplified version of TBOD.

The most important thing that I have learned from my reviews is that everyone has a voice and that all voices are important. I feel that so many of my reviewers have beautiful prose and are such good writer’s themselves, that it is truly an honor to be reviewed by them.

M.C.V. Egan was born in Mexico City, moved to the USA at the age of 12, and then to Sweden when she got married.  She has always been interested in paranormal mysteries and past life regression.  She has used these interests to write her first Historical/Paranormal/Romance/Mystery.  As you can see, her book has it all!  The Bridge of Deaths can be purchased from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Are book covers important?

As a reader it is the cover that initially grabs my attention, then the back blurb.  If they don't grab me and pull me in, then I might very easily miss out on a great book, as there is only a very slight chance that I will read them.  Janet McNulty has written a guest post on my blog about the importance of having a good book cover.  Janet is the author of the paranormal mystery thriller, Sugar and Spice and Not so Nice.

"As an author the only thing I really think about when it comes to books is writing them, or reading them.  I never bothered to think about a cover.  But after I finished a few books and decided to publish them, that is when I was forced to consider an appropriate cover for them.  I had to ask myself if a cover was really necessary.  The answer is, yes. 

When I browse a bookstore, or even look for eBooks to download on my Nook, I tend to pay very close attention to the cover image.  It isn’t just a title that captures my attention, but the cover art does too.  Often, I pick up a book because I find the cover interesting.  That is when I read the description on the back and decide if I wish to purchase it. 

Since I tend to be attracted to a book by its cover, I figured the same would hold true for any who wished to read my book.  But, there is a problem.  I cannot draw.  The most I’ve been able to produce in the world of art is stick figures.  So illustrating a cover myself was out of the question, though that did not stop me from trying.

When I published my first novel I decided to be cheap and forgo having a professional cover made.  The result was disastrous.  The cover was basic and lacked character.  Character is something your book needs on the outside as well as within the pages.   People are very visual and tend to judge things by their appearance first. 

After the abysmal first attempt at a cover illustration, I hired a freelancer to do a professional one.  He included one for the paperback version of my novel as well as images I could use to promote the eBook version of my book.  This worked out quite well.  Not only did I get a cover illustration to make my book look more professional, but it would also attract a person’s attention from a distance.

Some believe that in the age of eBooks covers are becoming outdated.  It is true that eBooks do not use a typical book cover.  Mostly, they just have a cover image that only shows up in black and white unless you happen to have a tablet.  But I disagree with the notion that book covers are no longer needed.  Many people still like having the traditional book.  Some prefer to have both the hard copy as well as the digital copy.  Here is one thing to keep in mind: when searching for eBooks on a website many people look at the image associated with the title.

Book covers do two things for your book.  1) They give it a professional look that is still needed for promotion.  2) They give your book character and serve as a way to let potential readers know what you book is about.  Covers serve as an attention getter.

A professional look is always important when publishing.  Not only does the interior of your work need to look polished, but so does the exterior.  Slapping a title and author’s name on the cover does little to pique a reader’s interest.  Most people will not touch a book that looks shoddy.  Having a cover gives your novel that “I know my craft” look.  You want your audience to know that you are an expert in your job as a writer.

As mentioned before, a cover gives your book character.  It makes it come alive.  This is important in promotions.  People judge books by their covers.  If your cover illustration is boring, most will walk right past your book.  But if you have a cover that snatches a person’s attention, they will at least pick it up.  Most people spend seconds deciding if they will look at a book.  An excellent cover can achieve that instant “I want to look it”.

Even if you publish your work as eBooks, you will still want a cover image for the product sales page and for advertising.  This is especially important for self-published authors.  Most self-published authors, especially new ones, have difficulty selling themselves as professionals.  A book cover helps them achieve that.  Cover illustrations demonstrate that the author takes pride in their work by showcasing the book.

But how do you get a book cover if you cannot draw?  Hire a freelancer.  When I needed a cover for my first novel, I went to Guru.com.  There I was able to find an accomplished artist who was willing to do a cover for my novel in all formats and he has done every book of mine since.  Most freelancers will do a cover for you for about $200-$300 dollars and you can always negotiate.  If you have a specific look in mind for your book, tell your illustrator.  Just make certain that they are ok with giving up any copywrite claim to their artwork, but list them as the illustrator on your book. 

So, are book covers needed?  Yes.  Even in our digital age.  They are easy to come by and you do not need to go to some fancy company.  Besides, nothing beats holding your first book for the first time.  So, doesn’t it make sense to give it the proper look?"  Janet McNulty

Janet McNulty currently resides in West Virginia where she moved after receiving her B.A. in History. She lives with her three cats who keep her on task.

Ms. McNulty has also recently published a novel, Legends Lost: Amborese, under the pen name Nova Rose. She is currently working on the second novel in the series called Legends Lost Tesnayr, but also has another nonfiction book in the works, that is untitled at this point.

Money makes the world go round

One of the worst things about growing up and becoming an adult is having to deal with money.  Sorting and controlling finances is stressful.  How do you make sure you are living and not just existing?  Many of us just exist.  We stumble our way through life from payday to payday, never experiencing life to its fullest.  I'm always amazed at people who have never traveled or gone away for annual holidays, and count myself lucky to be in a job that allows me to do both.  The world should be your playground.  Unfortunately, it costs money to play.
With the global credit crisis over the past few years, things have got tight for many of us.  People have lost jobs, lost their houses, accumulated debt.  Nicholas Maze has a Business Administration degree, and he has managed to combine his knowledge of the world of finance with his love of writing, to produce an excellent little book called 'Exit: How to Leave Debt Forever.'

One thing our 12+ years at school never did, was prepare us for managing and controlling our finances and living a life free from debt.
People across the globe are crying for relief that will never come. In EXIT, we learn that financial strain is planned and orchestrated. The more America suffers financially, the
more successful certain individuals become. How do we eliminate a problem that has been in place for almost 100 years? We first learn how to exit, escape.

Nichola Maze has given us insights and a plan how to manage our finances.  Read an excerpt from his book.

Mental Restraint by Nicholas L. Maze

As I was driving down the street one day, I became conscious of the world’s condition. Contrary to what you would think, it wasn’t the abandon houses I drove by; it wasn’t the cracked
pavement, or homeless people that seem to be in unison. It was the children. GOD gave me the understanding that a child is nothing but an adult that is trapped. In their minds, they live in an orchestrated fantasy world. Their world is
orchestrated by other children that have aged over time and learned to be adults. The older children (adults) determine what the younger children wear, eat, and drink. And for the most part, a child is okay with the control. For most children,
it is all they know. They live in a mental fantasy world, because their knowledge is limited.

Limited knowledge brings forth the purpose of school. A school should strengthen a child’s mind, because one day that child will have control of other children and he/she should be mentally prepared and able to take on that task.

This is what separates a child from an adult, knowledge. And, this is also what hinders are society…knowledge. Knowledge is the key ingredient in this book. My main goal is to educate many and erase the “get rich quick” mentality. The term get rich quick was created for those that lacked knowledge, because they knew that without intelligence, an individual
would fall for anything. Getting rich quick is a scheme. And, if I sell you a book that is nothing but a scheme, I have not only cheated you out your money, but I have also helped you go deeper in debt.

A lot of us have aged in features. Some of us, our hair is graying, while others have gone completely white. Even with physical changes, mentally we could still be trapped. Our lack of knowledge can keep us at the same mental stage we were at as 8 and 9 year olds. This observation exposed to me the purpose of this literature. Our lack of knowledge is constantly putting this world deeper in financial strife. So many people do not understand the financial system and remain limited and under someone else’s control.

This book was written to strengthen your knowledge.

Regardless of your age, you can be freed from this mental bondage. This one book is not the answer to all your problems, but it has been composed to be the “push” that so many of us need during these trying times. As you begin to read and take in this information, pray. Pray for understanding. Pray for mental strength. Pray and ask that the bondage be removed. After you pray, remember that prayer is not the only requirement. You have to take action, move forward. This book is your push to help you make that move. Take in the knowledge from this book and put it to work!

As I think back on that day, I noticed the children were on the playground at their school. I could hear laughter and see children playing with one another. Although the community was dying and the living conditions were getting worse, they found joy. They found joy with one another. They found joy,

because mentally they were limited. They couldn’t understand the dying community, the abandon homes, and the increasing murder rate. Mentally, they were trapped.

They were happy with having someone control their life and made the best of what they were given. Not knowing that someday their bodies will age, that strength would weaken, that hair would gray, and that their minds will remain trapped. They will inherit debt that they have no knowledge of. And although they may live to be one-hundred, mentally they will be that same child I observed on that day. Never being properly taught and forever being controlled.

A Slice of Life

Every now and then you read a great little book you just want to share with the world.  Something Blue by Jean Christopher Spaugh is just that book.  It was one of those books that come up on Amazon when you buy another book.  You know, 'Customers who bought this book also bought...'  It was cheap and I thought it looked interesting, so I added it onto my Kindle.  I'm so pleased I did.
Something Blue by Jean Christopher Spaugh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The imagery in Something Blue was fantastic! Reading the novel, I could see pictures in my head while I read. Many will identify with the main character, Judy Duncan, who has so many things on the boil. Trying to juggle family, a wayward husband, work, her ambitions within an ever-changing family dynamic. Judy Duncan is the classic rescuer, trying to fix everything. However, in the relationship triangle the rescuer always ends up as the victim for a period, before making their way back to being a rescuer. I felt that the author perfectly removed a slice out of a life and placed it under a microscope for us to study every detail, every emotion. This was a great read and I recommend it highly.

View all my reviews

Time flies when you're having fun!

There is that old adage that goes 'Time flies when you're having fun.'  Time does seem to be going faster and faster, but maybe it's because I seem to be getting busier and busier that I just stop noticing time.  Time only drags when we have nothing to do and spend our time staring at the clock willing the seconds to tick by.  Some days I wish I had the time to stare at the clock.  I'm not always sure that I'm having fun, but I am definitely filling up my time.

One person that seems to be spending his time wisely and having fun is YA author J.A. Beard. 

J.A. Beard is a restless soul who is luckily married to an equally restless soul. His two children are too young yet to discuss whether or not they are restless souls. When he hasn’t been writing, studying history, or making excuses for not writing, he’s tried his hand at several careers including intelligence analysis, programming, and research science. Though he likes to declare himself the Pie Master, he’s yet to prove his worth in the brutal baking show-downs of Celebration, Florida.  J.A. Beard has taken The Wizard of Oz and had a lot of fun with it, turning it into contemporary YA fantasy. 

In this loose re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz, Kansas teen Gail Dorjee has tried to escape from the pain of her parents' death by retreating into a hard shell of anger and sarcasm.
When her aunt and uncle ship her off to an elite Seattle boarding school, Osland Academy, she spends her first day making enemies, including the school's most powerful clique, the Winged, and their leader, the ruthless Diana.
Social war and the school's uptight teachers are only mild annoyances. Mysterious phone outages, bizarre behavioral blocks, and strange incidents suggest Osland is focused on something much more sinister than education.
Now Gail has to survive at Osland with a pretty pathetic assortment of potential allies: her airhead roommate, a cowardly victim of the Winged, and Diana's cold but handsome boyfriend, Nick.

We are very privileged to have J.A. Beard contribute to my blog.  He's written a great post titled 'Speaking With Them Not At Them.'

                The question of how “young adult fiction” is defined is often asked during discussions of YA works. Many people who don’t read a lot of YA work tend to assume that any story with a non-adult protagonist is young adult (or, if the protagonist is young enough, middle grade fiction). It’s a seductively easy way to try and label such work, but it’s also somewhat misguided.

                Obviously character age is important, but it’s not the whole picture. Is it more about subject matter? Despite the eternal “What’s acceptable for YA?” debate, a review of critically acclaimed and commercially successful YA fiction tends to suggest that, when treated well, no particular subject is off-limits. Perhaps none should be. YA readers are on the cusp of full adulthood and trying to keep important and difficult themes and subjects out of their fiction is a denial of their expanding maturity and responsibility.

                So if it’s not purely age nor is it subject matter, then what defines young adult fiction? For me, it’s perspective and voice. People at different stages of their life have different perspectives, difference biases, and different ways of thinking. The relative popularity of first person in YA in reflects an attempt to more strongly present the perspective and voice of the non-adult characters. Even for books written in third person, that difference in how it is written is so important in helping the book connect with YA readers. There are so many ways to do this: word choice, emphasis, and general style.

Now some might ask if it’s even all that important to have stories told with the perspective and voice of young adult characters. Plenty of stories include non-adult characters but don’t bother to orient the main style of the narrative around them. Teen readers are more than capable of reading books not explicitly targeting them.

                Sure, teen readers are, but in an age where books are competing for time against so many distractions, do we really want to reduce the chance of any reader connecting with a book?

              Also, the whole idea is a bit unfair. Although people read a wide variety of books and genres (as well they should to expand their horizons) there’s also a certain appeal in connecting with stories you find relatable.  It’s a validation of a reader as a person and an acknowledgement that their perspective has validity.

              I’ll even take this a step farther. I’ve often heard people complain about not understanding teens. If that’s the case, then it would seem some non-teens need to dive into popular (and therefore resonating with readers) YA fiction written from the perspective of teens. Maybe it’ll help expand their “adult” perspective.  J.A. Beard

J.A. Beard blogs at riftwatcher.blogspot.com and is on Twitter as @jabeard_rf.

His current release, a young adult urban fantasy, THE EMERALD CITY, details the transition of a Kansas teen to a sinister Seattle boarding school. It’s available for sale at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Emerald-City-ebook/dp/B00761LCTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330061232&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-emerald-city-ja-beard/1108613536?ean=2940014100717&itm=1&usri=the+emerald+city+beard

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Emerald-City/book-QKfF05Zk3kuwJvUYHp0tWg/page1.html

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/130023

IRS Tax Tips

Like many on earth I hate paying taxes.  When I get my paycheck each month, and see the $1400 tax deduction I want to scream and shout and rip something up.  Most likely my tax return.  Unfortunately, the only thing in life we are certain of besides death, is that sometime in our life we are going to be required to pay taxes.  Cora Parks has written a handy guide on how to prepare your tax returns so that you get a refund.  Yeah, you heard me right, a refund.  That is when you get the IRS to pay you for a change.  As part of her book promotion, Cora has written a great post for my blog to help all of you in the US who have a close relationship with the IRS.

Tax Preparer Ills and Solutions

If you are a tax payer, like many of us in the US, you want to make sure that your return is complete and correct.  As you know, before you sign any legal document, a tax return being a very important one, make sure that you examine it from top to bottom today, so you want get a nasty letter from the IRS tomorrow. 

Ill number 1: This situation is applicable to individuals who are eligible to claim Earned Income Credit, dependents and whose income fall within low income thresholds:  A common scheme is for tax preparers to redo the tax return incorporation phony Schedule C self employment income. This will increase your income, your tax, and Earned Income Credit such that it more than fully offsets the increase in tax, resulting in income to both parties. The tax preparer is paid by skimming money from the refund off the top before you are issued the check. The individual usually becomes wise to the scheme when the refund is not issued as expected, and the Internal Revenue Service is contacted. By then, you find that the refund that was issued was much higher, with the tax preparer pocketing the difference.

Remedy: Before allowing the preparer to send or transmit the return to the IRS, look at each entry carefully and check It against the documents you gave to the preparer.  At bare minimum, you should make sure that your name, address, and social security number are correct.  Check the names and social security numbers for your dependents and spouse as well.  Don’t forget to check your routing and account number if you are expecting a refund.  If you see an entry that you don’t understand, do not be afraid to ask the preparer for clarification.  After all, this is your tax return where you will be held responsible for any later discrepancy found on it. 

Ill number 2: Tax preparers that fail to provide copies of the completed tax return to their clients. This opens the door for potential problems in the future, especially if the preparer "inflated" figures to maximize the client's refund. If an Internal Revenue Service examination or audit took place, the customer is hard pressed　to dispute anything on the return they never received a copy of. The assumption is that the customer saw it, checked it, and finding no fault, signed off on the information submitted.

Remedy: Before you commence tax return preparation, ask and confirm that you will receive a copy of your return before you leave.  If after preparation, the preparer does not offer a copy, remind him or her that you would like to get a copy of your return now, since the work is done.  Unless you know the preparer and trust him that you will be able to get a copy later, it is not a good idea to leave without obtaining a copy of your return.  The return has information on it that will prove to be beneficial in the future, or even more so, may lack information or have incorrect information that you may not know about until it is too late.

Ill number 3: Tax preparers that advise their clients repeatedly that their federal tax returns have been prepared and transmitted electronically or mailed when in fact, when they contact the Internal Revenue Service, no such record of the tax return being filed exists, either electronically or via mail.

Remedy: Unless your tax preparer produces a printout or sends an email message to you that lets you know that your return has been filed, and contacts you later to regarding your filing status, you can generally contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 between the hours of 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday to request confirmation of filing within 48 hours of your filing.   This way, should the IRS find no record of your return, you may confront the preparer with your findings.

Ill number 4: Tax statements such as W-2 forms that are given to the tax preparer by the customer that are not returned, as though they are being held in lieu of payment.   In some cases, customers possess 3 or 4 copies of their W2 forms and give all of the copies to the preparer, leaving themselves without a copy.

Remedy: Do not give the tax preparer all of your copies of your W2 or 1099 forms. They only need one to get the job done. 　 In addition, never give your only copy of any tax related document that you possess.  Make a copy first, then give them the copy while you keep the original.

Ill number 5: There are some preparers that urge customers to sign documents without reading them. In some instances, this can extend to signing a blank income tax return.

Remedy: Do not sign a blank return, period.  For a completed return, read it over and ask questions before you sign anything, especially when someone tells you that you do not have to read it.　 In addition, unless you understand the document that the preparer places in front of you requesting your signature, do not sign other preparer paperwork.  

Ill number 6:  There are preparers that charge excessive fees and lie about them, often employing bait and switch tactics to get unsuspecting clients. 

Remedy: Have the preparer look over your documents and get an estimate of what it will cost to do your tax return up front.  This way, you don’t waste your time or the preparer’s time.  In addition, you decrease the incidence of identity theft and other adverse actions from giving your personal information and that of others unnecessarily to unknown individuals.   

Finally, make sure that you use someone that you can trust with your personal information and that of your loved ones.  Remember, even if you use them for one year, this person possesses your information for year s to come.  You may change banks, but you will not change your social security number.  Keep this is mind if you are searching for a preparer.