She MEANS Library

I'm posting more than a day early so you should be able to tell that this is good.

A few of you may have heard of a little book called ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis. Apparently Ms. Revis is the generous sort because she is giving away, in her words, a library: fifty signed books to one lucky winner.

That's right. Fifty. 50. Twice twenty five and half of one hundred.

I can't believe it either. So go enter now because even if a million people enter, you could still win and wouldn't it be a great one. Powerball's ads say "Where else can you buy a dream for a dollar?" and I say no where, but you can get one for free by entering the giveaway.



YA has always been more of an audience than a simple genre. Not only open and honest, it describes the awkward, often painful experience of being in between child and adult. Some times it's focused through a different lens--dystopian, paranormal, contemporary--but the core is the same: growing beyond boundaries. Maybe into a hero. Maybe into a villain. Maybe a lover. Maybe a friend. With YA, the possibilities are endless. I'm thankful to be able to work with such a rich fabric.

Later, gators! If I don't win, I hope it's you!

Awesome Alert

We now interrupt your programming already in progress to inform you that Sparkling Reviews is hosting a freaking sweet 2000 Followers Giveaway. Mary's giving away:

• 73in Flat Screen TV
• Sony Home Theater System
• $1000 Visa Card
• $1000 Amazon Card

And I my jaw's dropping just reading that. I'm glad to inform you so I can get more entries you can join the fun. You also receive a hundred bonus entries by buying any item in this post.

You may now resume regular programming.

WINNING!!!

Now, the post that you've all been waiting for. As I've been hyping a lot for the past week, I have been holding a giveaway in celebration of my first blogiversary. Or bolgoversary or however you want to spell it. I had quite a few entries this time

The winner of DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver and ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis is, by way of Random.org...

You know, it's really a beautiful day out.

!!!

Ha ha. Just being mean : P. The winner is Rebecca Enzor!!!


And now, the winner of the $25 Giftcard is...


Myne Whitman!!!

Yay! Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who entered and spread the word. You're the real winners here.

Even I found that to be a bit much. Anyway, I'll email the winners ASAP. Hugs to all!

Already?

Yes, it’s already my first Blogiversary. Just one year ago today I was babbling on about how reducing books to ambiguities such as “Man vs. Man” and “Man vs. Nature” is disingenuous to the work and misses its point entirely. Or something.

Forgive me. I had no idea what I was doing back then.

That was the hardest part about starting up a blog. I jumped into it without much thought. I didn’t realize blogs should have—what’s it called?—focus. I’m not sure why, but I figured it was easier and more entertaining to post whatever popped into my head. It wasn’t until I started restricting myself (which, I admit, came months after the inception of the blog) that it evolved to something I think people like to read. Maybe? Please? I hope?

Has my blog improved in a year? Definitely. Is it at its best? Not yet. I’ll keep working on it.

But enough of that boring stuff. Here’s what you really want. A giveaway! Enter, be a follower and leave a comment below and you’ll be eligible to win either a twenty-five dollar Mastercard Gift Card or copies of both ACROSS THE UNIVERSEby Beth Revis and DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver! Woot!

Unfortunately, this means it’s US only. I’m sorry about that : ( because there are some awesome non-US people I wish I could include. Again, sorry.

Please enter today! It ends next Thursday Monday (the 26th) at midnight. Don’t worry—I’ll be reminding you until then.

Usual rules apply. Comment so I know you entered and fill out the form at the bottom of the page. +2 entries for old followers, +2 if you Tweet about it (mention me, @jefishere, so I know) and +5 if you blog it.

And The Winner Is…

Drumroll, please.

First, the winner of Amanda Downum’S THE DROWNING CITY is…

Su Wilcox! (jeesh; we keep winning each others’ contests; it’s going to start looking like a plot)

Second, the winner of one $25 gift card is…

Raquel Byrnes! (Random.org actually picked the very first entrant; it pays to be first!)

Join me in congratulating them! Thanks to everyone who participated. Don’t worry. There will always be another time to win!

Winners, I'll get in contact with you from the information on the form. Thanks everyone for entering!

THIS IS SPARTA!!!

I couldn’t resist the 300 reference for my 300 follower giveaway. Could not.

What are the prizes? Oh, nothing big. Just a $25 gift card for one lucky winner and a copy of THE DROWNING CITY by Amanda Downum for another.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a gift card that could be used outside the US. Bummer. Entrants for that part of the contest will have to be from here, but I am willing to ship the book internationally. So, followers and friends, enter!

Rules are simple. First of all, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Not a requirement, however, just a request so I know when a new entry has come in. Second, fill out the form at the bottom of the blog. Bonus points for being a follower and tweeting and/or blogging about it. You may enter once per day.

Please, spread the word! If I manage to get up to 350 followers, you know there will be a bonus book. Come one, come all, followers old and new! Contest ends Friday, April 29th at midnight and the winners will be announced the next day. Go now!

Edit: I should have explained this earlier. To link to a tweet: go to the main Twitter site, select "my tweets" and find the tweet you want to link to. Click on the little time stamp below it and it takes you to the tweet's page. In the address bar is the address of the tweet! Also, if you put my twitter name in the tweet (@jefishere) it will show up on my tweet page and I can just count you that way. If you haven't done this, it's okay. I trust your word : ).

Oh, Right

Sitting down at my computer today, I remembered I was planning on cleaning up my blog a little. I have gotten zero done on that. Whoops! But it's the perfect project when taking a break from my main WIP.

Also, I'd like to remind everyone I'm still planning on doing a giveaway soon. I'm hoping next week, but lately, everything I plan has been derailed by something. March has been "one of those" months, and I can only keep my fingers crossed that April will be different. I still have the little votey to the left for you to pick what genre of novel I'll give away. So far, fantasy has given a pretty strong showing so if you want something different, you better hurry up and click.

Have you ever wondered what I do when I run out of things to blog about? Answer: this.

Have a great week, all!

PS: Ha! Check out the signs you need to take a break from the internet: Social Media Detox Infographic.

Contests for Writers

A slight twist on my usual websites for writers posts. This is about the contests going on as you read this. There are quite a few! And you don’t have to be a writer for them. So I guess this is more “Contests for everyone.”

First of all, there’s Constance over at The Precocious Scribe hosting a 200 follower giveaway. The prize is a $10 Amazon voucher.

Then there’s CA Marshall, a very nice freelance editor who is giving away a free edit on her new website. As someone who won one, I can vouch for its helpfulness. Just fill out the form!

And the Empress of all Cheekyness, Su is holding a giveaway of her own! Her prizes are some good books. So…yes. Totally.

Theresa is also doing a giveaway with some truly mad-awesome prizes. These include a copy of Elana Johnson’s POSSESSION—signed—and a $25 Amazon gift card! Wow!

Carolina Valdez Miller just signed with an agent! To celebrate, she’s giving away (brace yourselves): A first page critique from her agent, a Kindle, a signed copy of ESCAPING INTO THE OPEN; THE ART OF WRITING TRUE by Elizabeth Berg, and a signed copy of SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready, a signed copy of PASSING STRANGE by Daniel Waters. She sure knows how to share the good fortune. But wait, there’s more. Others are joining in the giveaway with even more prizes! Follow their blogs and fill out the form! Do it!

The people over at YAtopia are holding a YA/MG Agent Pitch contest, where you enter a two sentence pitch and opening sentence of your novel. Act fast because they're closing up at 150 and they're already at 90.

So many prizes…feeling a bit overloaded…Did I miss anyone? I hope not.

It’s About Time

Not literally time. But the contest is starting…now! Forgive any blunders; I’m not very good with computer interfacing. To enter, all you have to do is leave your name in the form at the bottom of the page (scroll way down or click the blog background and hit END)! You can enter once per day until Sunday at midnight! For bonus entries (again, one per type per day), post about this contest, either on Twitter or your blog and fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Of course, if you took my advice and already became a follower, you get 5 bonus entries! Even if you aren’t, you can become one for two bonus entries.

Now for the Twitter and blog posts, you have to link directly to the post. So if you blog this, link to the post, not the blog. To link directly to a tweet, on the main page, select your tweets. Find the tweet and click on the time stamp right under it. That’s the tweet’s personal link. As for Facebook, sorry, it’s not included in this contest. I’m not on Facebook myself and I can’t check the posts. And honestly, everything about the site irks me. 

To reiterate: the contest ends Sunday, December 19^th, at MIDNIGHT, Eastern Standard time. I will post the winner, selected by a random number from Random.org, at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard time. The winner will have 48 hours from the announcement to contact me with their information. I’ll try to email them myself, but I know some people don’t check their Google messages, so be on the lookout. 

Finally, I’m sad to say this isn’t an international contest. US residents only. I’m sorry to my friends out of the country, but I can’t afford the international shipping fees. Again, I’m sorry and I hope I can make the next one international. 

But I’m not sorry about the lack of Facebook thing. I will never be sorry about that. 

Contest fever

Sorry, nothing interesting to blog about today. I'm pushing through to finish revisions so I can get my book out to beta readers, revise some more, and then get it out. Speaking (or writing) of which, if anyone actually does read this and wants to read my YA/Dystopian, leave a comment. I'm sure I'll have more luck with twitter (well, I hope so).

There is, however, another contest going on. Elizabeth Briggs (Lizwrites on twitter) is giving away a bunch of books from San Diego Comic Con. Anyone interested, enter here. Super cool of you, Liz!