Free stuff

BIRTHDAY BASH GIVEAWAY 2018!

Usually, May does not sneak up on me. But this year, I just don’t understand how it’s already my favorite month of the year. Wasn’t it January and snowing only yesterday?

Anyway, May is the best. It’s warm and sunny and it also includes my birthday (today!!) which means there will be lots of cake (and I really, really love cake). It also brings my annual tradition of throwing a little party here on ye olde blog to celebrate. 🙂 And what’s a party without your friends? And gifts?

This year I’m giving away two duologies!

1) Mindy McGinnis’s amazing YA fantasy duology, GIVEN TO THE SEA and GIVEN TO THE EARTH.

2) My own MG fantasy duology, SHADOW WEAVER and an ARC of COMET RISING (cover reveal coming soon!).

The giveaway will run from today through midnight EST Tuesday May 22, 2018 and is open internationally. One winner will be selected for each duology. So, grab a slice of cake, put on a party hat, and enter to win. Good luck! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Please note: The COMET RISING ARC will be mailed to the winner once I’ve received them. It may be a few weeks, but it will get there, I promise!

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RAVENOUS Annotated ARC Giveaway

I cannot believe that 2015 is almost over! It’s been a wonderful whirlwind of a year with Monstrous finally out, and I’m so very grateful for all the lovely people who’ve read and supported my debut book.

Since I happen to have one lonely ARC of the companion novel, Ravenous, left, I thought I’d give away an annotated ARC to say THANK YOU! The ARC will have notes from me throughout with fun facts about the story and process. Sounds fun, yes? 🙂

Everyone gets one free entry, plus several other ways to increase your odds of winning. This giveaway is for US/Canada only and will run from today (12/3/15) through midnight 12/9/15. Again, THANK YOU for being so awesome, excited, and supportive of Monstrous and Ravenous. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Monstrous Pre-Order Party!

In case you are not aware, pre-ordering is one of the nicest things you can do for an author, especially a debut.  Early sales are SO important to show a publisher that there is demand for a book and this in turn can help increase support for the book both in bookstores (where those lovely pre-orders are taking place) and on the marketing side. It can also factor into the support the author’s next book in the pipeline receives and whether additional books are purchased.

In a very tiny nutshell, people who pre-order books RULE.

Many of you have told me you’ve already ordered Monstrous which makes me so absurdly happy that I decided I needed a way to say THANK YOU. That’s why I’m throwing a little pre-order swag party!

ELIGIBILITY:

Have you pre-ordered Monstrous? Then 1) you ROCK and 2) I’d love to send you a Swag Pack!

THE SWAG PACK INCLUDES:

• 1 Bookmark
• 1 Signed Bookplate
• 1 Monster Flash Card (info & fun facts about the monsters featured in the book!)
• My undying love and gratitude (priceless, right?).

HOW TO REQUEST A SWAG PACK:

Simply fill out this form after you have placed an order for Monstrous (We’re operating on the honor system so you do not need to provide proof of purchase.). Limited to one swag pack per pre-ordered copy of Monstrous. Offer open internationally until midnight 2/9/2015.

WHERE TO PRE-ORDER

“But wait! What do I do if I want to pre-order and I haven’t yet?”

I’m so glad you asked. You can pre-order from just about any retailer. You can also pre-order a signed copy directly from my fabulous local indie bookstore, Porter Square Books. Simply put “signed copy” and the name to make it out to in the order comments and I’ll sign your book before it’s shipped to you!

Monstrous is also available for pre-order through any of these retailers:

Again THANK YOU to everyone who’s pre-ordered Monstrous! You are the best! 😀

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A MONSTROUS Announcement (Plus a Giveaway!)

Yes, this is THAT post. The one where I finally get to scream from the rooftops that this happened (though there was already an awful lot of screaming about it on Twitter yesterday :P):

I know. I KNOW. I can hardly believe it either. My fabulous agent Suzie Townsend* got the first offer on MONSTROUS in all of eight days back in September, but I haven’t been able to talk about it until now. I’ve been wandering around, shaking my head and muttering under my breath, “Eight days. Eight. Freaking. Days.”  And given the otherwise horrendous fall I’ve had (long story, but in short, lots of family members in the hospital and other random unpleasantness), it has been an incredible blessing I had this happy, shining thing to cling to.

I’ll tell a more complete story about it later on, but for now, if you’ve seen the Kristen Bell Autotuned Sloth Meltdown video, that’s pretty much how the call about the offer went down for me. Just replace “sloth” with “book deal” and there you go.

Needless to say, I’ve been dying to tell the world!

You’ve all been so supportive, and said so many kind things about my weird little book, that I just can’t wait to share it with you. And yes, you read that right in the deal announcement – MONSTROUS is going to be upper Middle Grade. It’s a big change, but after talking to my wonderful new editor at HarperCollins, I know it’s the best thing for my book and the story.  Not to mention that I get to work with the fantastically talented folks there to do it. This is a TOTAL DREAM COME TRUE.

Which means, of course, that we must celebrate. And that means a giveaway 🙂

I’m giving away one HarperCollins MG or YA Fall 2012 new release (or pre-order if it’s not out yet)! Use the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post by Sunday to enter. One winner** will be selected and can choose one of the books below as the prize:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*That Suzie Townsend is a ROCK STAR, isn’t she? 😀

**Open internationally, however, if the winner is located outside the US and there are snags with shipping overseas, a $25 gift card to a book retailer of the winner’s choice may be substituted.

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Free Stuff Friday: QueryTracker.net

In a Nutshell: QueryTracker.net is a vetted database of agents and publishers which allows writers to track and organize their submissions to said agents and publishers. Also provides interesting statistics on response times, etc., and a community forum.

Useful for:

• Writers

Why I like it: Querying agents is stressful enough, so having a tool that does some of the thinking for you is hugely useful. Also, since the people running it do a fantastic job of both vetting and updating the agent profiles, it’s a safe bet that the information is accurate. The comments section and statistics are a great reality check, too, when one is wondering why it may take one agent weeks (or months) to respond while another may respond within minutes.

Pros:

• The agent information is comprehensive, providing links to their websites, interviews, Publishers Marketplace pages, and social media.
• The free statistics offer info on response times and how the agent in question responded to different genres. For example, you can see how much fantasy they’re requesting and then how long it takes them to consider it.
• You can browse the site and add agents to your query list. The searchable interface is simple and easy to navigate which is always a plus.

Cons:

• The Free membership has limitations. To get ALL the bells & whistles, you have to pay a $25 membership fee. Only the flipside, it’s only a $25 membership fee – all things considered, not so bad. Personally, I found it worth to shell out the extra money, but you can still track one project and agents on the free version and get all the info you really need.
• It’s online. So if you can’t get internet access, you can’t get on the site and get your information.
• It can be easy to forget to update the responses to queries, also due to being online and not a desktop-run program.

Conclusion: If you’re a writer, you MUST check this out. It will probably become one of your most valuable resources!

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