Safety—and Good Books—First

Judith Arnold

’Tis the season! Like all book-lovers, I hope to find some books waiting for me under the tree on Christmas morning. And I hope at least a few of the books waiting under trees all across the country will be novels by the authors who participate in our Girlfriends Book Club blog. I am honored to be a part of the Girlfriends Book Club, sharing my thoughts about books, writing, and life in the company of these amazingly talented novelists.

Novels can do so many things: entertain, inform, carry us off to new worlds, and help us make sense of the world we live in. They can also do something else: they can keep us safe.

One of the greatest hazards on the roads these days is texting while driving. According to a 2011 Harris Poll, nearly half of all drivers under the age of 35 have texted while behind the wheel. Even if you don’t text while you drive, a lot of the folks you’re sharing the roads with do.

In light of this troubling situation, the Incredible Indie Authors, a group of ten bestselling mystery, suspense, and romance novelists, realized that one way to keep people from texting while they drive is to encourage them to listen to audiobooks instead.

The Incredible Indie Authors came up with a “Don’t Text and Drive” campaign, complete with a contest to give away free copies of our audiobooks. Every time you help to disseminate our “Don’t Text and Drive” message, you increase your chances of winning a free audiobook by one of us.

How can you help? “Like” and “share” our Incredible IndieAuthors Facebook page, and visit our contest page. The contest ends Saturday, December 7^th, so hurry! (Unlike driving, speeding on the Internet is not hazardous. )

I know plenty of people who listen to audiobooks while they power-walk, jog, and work out in the gym. Some of my friends listen to audiobooks when they’re cleaning the house or folding the laundry. Others enjoy audiobooks on long drives and during their commutes to work. Audiobooks are a great way to occupy your mind when your eyes have to focus on something other than printed words—not just words on a page or an e-reader screen, but also words in a smart-phone text.

So help us make the roads safer. Remind everyone you know not to text and drive. Stock up on audiobooks. And enter our contest . Maybe you’ll win a free audiobook, our holiday gift to you and our way of thanking you for spreading the word.

Have a safe, happy holiday season. Don’t text while driving. Listen to an audiobook instead.

USA Today bestselling author Judith Arnold’s most recent indie-published release, Best Friends, is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes and Smashwords. 

Her award-winning Father Found, the first book in the Daddy School series, is currently available for free. Links to all the retailers can be found here. Her audiobook Safe Harbor is currently priced at Audible for only $1.99—10% of the usual retail price! 

To learn more about these and her other books, please visit her web site  and sign up for her newsletter.