(Note: the trailer has sound, so if you're browsing at work and don't want to get caught, turn your volume down ;-).
If for some reason the embed code is acting up, here's a link to the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JeanieneFro
Also, I uploaded a few cool fan-made trailers up on my Favorites page on YouTube, which you can check out here. Aren't they neat?:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JeanieneFro
And in more Christmas-came-early news, I just found out that Germany bought translation rights for FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON, ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS, and Cat & Bones # 5. A lot of good things happened in 2009, but there were some tough knocks, too - though I usually don't blog about those. Everyone has enough of their own stresses without me piling on mine :) So this was a very nice way to close out the year, and of course, it wouldn't have happened without reader support. Once again, thanks so much!
Research Randomizer Results 1 Set of 4 Unique Numbers Per Set |
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I can appreciate your six-page notice informing residents of all the different things they'll need advance permission for in preparation of the holiday season. Yes, some people do like to deck out their townhouses like they're channeling Clark Griswold from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and while I personally like a slew of decorations (even though I'm too lazy to put them up on my own unit), others may consider them an eyesore. I can also appreciate how certain large lawn decorations might interfere with the community sprinkler system and why that would be an issue. But when you put down that residents need to file a written request and wait for association approval before they can put a potted plant on their porch, I think you've gone mad with power. I don't even have plants, potted or otherwise, but if I did and I wanted to put one on my porch, either hung or set on a table, it's ridiculous that I'd have to ask permission from the association in writing first. Most patios in this neighborhood are screened, and all have privacy gates. I shudder to imagine that the money I spend on quarterly fees might be going toward the newly-formed Plant Police, who are tasked with the responsibility of peering through the screens and gates of residents to see if any unapproved plants are loitering on porches.
Seriously, even the Grinch would say you've gone overboard.
Best Regards,
An angry, soon-to-be-plant-owning resident
Without further ado, Randomizer was consulted to find two winners and this is what it said: 26, 90 (tried to copy the graph but LJ is acting up and it kept giving me errors on the entire post, so I gave up).
Those entries turned out to be: Chanelle Loftness and Aimee Saunders. Congrats! Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did :).
To everyone else, sorry you didn't win but I leave you with the consolation prize of my favorite Thanksgiving joke:
A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.
John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.
In desperation, John threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.
For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.
The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued...
"May I ask what the turkey did?"
Have a great holiday!
***ETA: Contest closed, winners drawn. Thanks, everyone, for playing!***
Busy trying to fit five days of work into three because of the shorter holiday week. I don't see a huge chance of success with that, so I expect to be working through the weekend to make up for taking Thursday (Thanksgiving!) and Friday (driving back from relatives!) off. Oh well, deadlines show no mercy, lol.
Enough about me, however. Right now I want to talk about Kelly Meding . If you haven't heard of Kelly, her debut novel THREE DAYS TO DEAD (excerpt of chapter one available at link) releases today.
From the back of the book:
She’s young, deadly, and hunted—with only three days to solve her own murder…
Now she’s a fugitive, piecing together her memory, trying to deal some serious justice – and discovering that she has only three days to solve her own murder before the reincarnation spell wears off. Because in three days, Evy will die again – but this time, there’s no second chance…
I was lucky enough to get an early look at TDTD. To be honest, I was feeling a little burnt on urban fantasy before I started the book, but my attitude quickly did a 180 once I began reading and I was soon reminded of why I'd fallen in love with the UF genre to begin with. My editor and agent can confirm that I am a pain in the ass who hates everything very picky about giving out blurbs, but I loved the book so much I had this to say about it:
"Action-packed, edgy, and thrilling, THREE DAYS TO DEAD is a fabulous debut! Kelly Meding's world and characters will grab you from the first page. You won't want to miss this one."
Other authors like Patricia Briggs, Gena Showalter, and Jackie Kessler also had glowing things to say about TDTD, but hey, why take someone else's word that it's a great book when you can find out for yourself?
With that in mind, I'm holding a contest giving away a copy of THREE DAYS TO DEAD, which Kelly has kindly agreed to sign. If you want to be entered to win, just email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with your name and I'll enter you in the drawing. Contest open to US residents only (sorry, international readers, I'll catch ya next time! Promise).
Because it's a short week and I'm going out of town, contest is only open from now until I roll out of bed and check my computer tomorrow morning (usually around 9am Eastern). Winner will be randomly picked by computer with trusty old Randomizer and one lucky person will have a great book to read this Thanksgiving weekend.
Good luck!
I spent way too much time yesterday clicking back and forth between Dear Author and Smart Bitches, reading up on the comments after the announcement by Harlequin about their new "Harlequin Horizons" line. Even though I swore to myself that I would stop reading and get back to work, as more information came out, I couldn't resist. Clicky-refresh-clickety, repeat.
For those of you who, like me, ended up reading the hundreds of comments on each site...well, you're probably also nursing a headache now and you don't want to read anymore about it. Take some Excedrin and move on - you have all my sympathy. For those of you who haven't heard of the hoopla, thankfully, some people have taken the time to sum it up so you don't have to hurt your eyes/head reading all the comments yourself (though really, if you're an aspiring author who's ever thought about self-publishing or vanity-press publishing, take the time. Read the first 200 or so comments. They contain a goldmine of information (http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/i
For those who want a calm, organized recap of what happened, Jackie Kessler did a very comprehensive recap of the events here: http://www.jackiekessler.com/blog/2009/1
And an updated version from Jackie here: http://www.jackiekessler.com/blog/2009/1
And now, for those of you who want my take on this, which is neither calm nor organized, read on!
IMO, pitching the Harlequin brand to writers through information on the Harlequin Horizons website (and in other places) when in reality, writers under that line won't be getting the Harlequin brand after all is disingenuous. IMO, referring rejected slush pile authors who submitted to traditional publishing lines at Harlequin to Harlequin Horizons is unscrupulous. I don't say this because I think self-publishing or vanity presses don't have a right to exist (as the Harlequin Horizons spokesperson Malle seemed to dismiss all criticisms toward the new imprint), but because it appears to be a classic bait-and-switch. I feel bad for the writers who will take a world-wide publisher like Harlequin at their word that this is a way to become a Harlequin author without enduring the rigors of the slush pile. Despite Malle’s claims that the two brands are clearly separate (Quoting Malle, “Horizons books will not have Harlequin branding. Horizons is a separate brand and will carry the double-H Horizons logo on the spine only, NOT the Harlequin brand.”) it’s easy to see how a writer going to the Harlequin Horizons site wouldn’t know that. First, if the name of the imprint is Harlequin Horizons, there’s a big reason why writers might think that being published under it makes them a Harlequin author. Plus, on the Harlequin Horizons website it says “We know you love Harlequin novels…why not write your own?” (http://www.harlequinhorizons.com/harlequ
To those who ask, why am I (and other authors) upset about this? I can only speak for myself, but it burns my toast because when I started on my path to publication, I had a lot of dreams but not a lot of knowledge about the industry. That combination resulted in me being ripped off when I signed with an agency that required payment for submissions. Took me paying several hundred dollars before I realized I was getting scammed and dropped them. Sites like Writers Beware and the now-defunct Miss Snark ‘s blog were the ones that educated me on the "money flows TOWARD the author" mantra that kept me from getting taken advantage of again. That’s why I have links on my website for writers here , here , and here to try and help those who, like me back then, were looking for information on the publishing process and who were directed to a lot of “pay to play” sites instead. It's lovely to assume that every writer who seeks publication has first educated themselves thoroughly on all the ins and out of the system and knows exactly what they're getting for their money, but then there's reality - and many businesses have turned a healthy profit on the reality of writers not knowing a lot about the system. Example: self-published/vanity press books seem to max out at sales of only 200 copies (source: http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.c
I tried to articulate that more briefly in my comment on Smart Bitches, which was in response to this statement by Malle Vallik from Harlequin on writers and self-publishing. Because I’m too lazy to find where it is and link it, I’m copying it in its entirety here:
Malle - "There are a number of reasons to select self-publishing including as a way to see their work in print – to give copies as gifts, to have a bound copy to help in finding an agent, or simply as a keepsake."
Me - *goggles* I hope all of their potential clients are rich, then. Because otherwise, spending thousands of dollars to self-publish your book just to give it as gifts to family/friends? Or keep it yourself? The same thing can be done for about twenty bucks with a printer and a nice binder folder. Plus, the idea that an author should self-pub so an agent can have a bound copy to read for query consideration makes even less sense, since that agent won't be able to sell a previously-published novel to most publishers. Just my opinion, but if that's Harlequin's take on uses for a self-published novel, THAT should be clearly stated on their website, instead of the bolded "Dare to Dream: Potential Discovery Opportunities" or "Reach the stars and prove dreams do come true."
Also, for Malle and others who scoffed at "brand dilution" being a result of this new imprint, well, it only took a day for that to happen: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/bo
I’m guessing author Carol Mortimer is not amused at having her traditionally-published novel be the poster child for an article called “Harlequin Hacks” about Harlequin Horizon’s vanity pub imprint. See how easily The New Yorker took the "HH" on Carol’s cover (which actually stood for Harlequin Historical) and confused with the new line of Harlequin Horizons that will also, when books eventually release under it, be branded with "HH"? Sure, no confusion resulting in brand dilution there /end sarcasm.
And now, I really am getting back to work :).
**ETA: After several comments from readers, The New Yorker admitted their error in showing a picture of Carol Mortimer's book as an example of the new Harlequin Horizons imprint and took it down.
And, the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) also gave Harlequin a swift kick out of their approved publishers list because of this (excerpted below, but click the link and read their whole statement. It's worth it: "SFWA supports the fundamental principle that writers should be paid for their work, and even those who aspire to professional status and payment ought not to be charged for the privilege of having those aspirations.
Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA."
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/11/sfwa-stateme
In response to this, Harlequin states they'll change their new vanity-press imprint (which they're still calling self-publishing, even though in self-publishing the author keeps ALL the profits in exchange for putting up all the money/taking all the risk, but in vanity publishing, the author keeps only part of the profts, as is the case with Harlequin's imprint) to where the name Harlequin isn't in it. No mention yet of whether they'll change any of the other practices that organizations such as RWA, MWA, and SFWA are calling unethical, misleading, and disreputable, to quote from some of the statements by those organizations.
I was trolling Livejournal and came across links to this GalleyCat post where the question was presented as to whether literary agents would go the way of the Dodo bird in these newer, straight-to-Kindle publishing times. Let me be succinct – I do not agree that agents will become obsolete, but let’s look at the issue as a whole – and here’s where my succinctness ends, lol.
Is it possible to sell a book without an agent? YES. I know more than a few authors who sold their first book(s) while agent-less. So to those who say it’s not necessary to have an agent to get published – you’re right. I find it notable, however, that those authors I knew who sold their first book(s) while agent-less now have agents. Keeping the extra 15% to handle everything themselves wasn't worth it to them, even though they’d been on both sides of the agent fence. Some authors do want to handle everything themselves and will sacrifice a lot of their time to do so. More power to them, I say. The vast majority of authors, though, prefer to have someone else handle all the various different aspects of publishing that have nothing to do with writing (which is what I want to concentrate most of my work day on, personally).
Some of the comments in the GalleyCat post about agents becoming obsolete went like this (paraphrased): "Agents should be obsolete! I have an agent, but she doesn't return my phone calls, emails, or even remember me most of the time!" To that, I say the problem isn't with the agent profession as a whole, but rather between those authors and their individual agents.
Sometimes, writers will be hesitant to express their needs to their agent for fear of coming across as "pushy". This is a mistake. No single agenting style will be compatible for every writer - and just like in relationships, you don't always know what you need until you're in that relationship. Some writers only want their agents to negotiate contracts and that's it. Other writers want their agent to be active in their career far beyond just negotiating new contracts (I’m in that boat). Put together an agent/author with incompatible styles/needs and you end up with a scenario where unhappiness abounds.
In cases where an author is unhappy, a frank discussion about expectations needs to be held ASAP. If an author never expresses their unhappiness, the agent never has a chance to correct it. If, however, an author is clear about their needs/expectations and the agent still fails to meet them...then the author's choices are either to change their expectations to match that agent's style, or to leave. Neither of those choices are easy (or fun), but doing nothing while expecting things to change is a one-way trip to Frustration Land. Bottom line is that an author pays an agent for their services. If the author's miserable with those services and the agent is unwilling to change, then the author who stays anyway is actually paying someone to make them miserable (doesn’t sound very logical, does it? ;).
Granted, if the services an author wants fall more under the BFF category than a professional one, getting a new agent won’t fix that. If, for example, an author is frustrated that her agent isn't calling her back after she left a message telling said agent about the fight she had with her husband, or the cute thing her puppy just did...the issue isn't with the agent. It’s with the author’s misunderstanding of a business relationship. If an author is frequently calling/emailing/texting their agent about things that have nothing to do with his/her writing career, it’s no wonder the agent is perpetually unavailable.
If an author’s needs are business related and yet they’re still not being met, then it’s probably time for a change. It's not unusual for an author to change agents, either. I parted ways with my first agent last year. Now I'm with an agent whose style is compatible with my needs, which means I think she’s worth every cent of her 15% commission. Being unhappy with one agent doesn’t mean the entire industry is flawed. It means not every agent will be a good fit for every author, so it might be time to find an agent who is.
Agent necessity also depends on a writer's goals. If a writer just wants to be published, no preference regarding print or electronic format, distribution, advances, etc, then that writer probably has the same chance of success without an agent. If a writer is seeking to sell their book for a standard print advance (usually around 5K for a first book), or to sell to a publishing house that will distribute their book to stores nationwide, then an agent is frequently necessary. Most of the big, traditional NY publishing houses don't accept unagented manuscript submissions, so no agent = no chance to get published by them.
Yes, the digital world is growing and will open up more chances for writers, but again, goals matter in deciding which route to take. Writing full time was a goal of mine when I started out, so I went with the avenue I felt would best help me meet that goal (nothing is certain, of course, and goals don’t mean guarantees). I turned down an electronic pub offer and a small-press offer on my first novel to slog it out through the Query Trenches looking for an agent instead, all so I could go the traditional, NY-print-publisher route. It took much longer and was much harder, but it turned out I’d guessed correctly about that being the right avenue for me to achieve my full-time writing goal.
I’ll explain: all my books are sold in Kindle and just about every other electronic format, too. But when I get my royalty statements, my electronic sales combined account for only about 6-7% of my writing income (at triple the royalty rate I get for print books, no less!), and that’s only recently. When I was first published and no one had heard of me, my total electronic sales only accounted for about 2-3% of my writing income. I’m also not counting any foreign rights money in these stats, or the percentage of money received from e-book sales compared to money received from US and foreign-right print sales would be even smaller. Based on those percentages, even the highest ones, if I'd skipped the traditional agent/publisher route and went the digital one, I’d still be working a day job instead of writing full time – and even a crappy day writing is better than a good day at my old job :). Plus, if I still had to work full time, I wouldn't be able to write as many books. There are only so many hours in the day, after all.
In summary, I believe agents play a vital role in publishing and will continue to do so, even in this brave new digital era. The fact that the vast majority of published authors are agented - even mega-successful authors who could scribble a book idea on a napkin and still have editors throw money at them for it – seems to illustrate the point that an agent's value lies in more than making a sale or reading contracts.
Getting everything off in the mail from the contests I ran for Halloween. Yes, I'm a little slow, so please forgive me. The total prizes ended up being 45 books and 10 cover flats given away. Thanks so much to everyone who participated! I feel sad when I get emails that say, "I never win in any of your contests!" but there are far more entrants than prizes available, so all I can do is continue to run contests and hope people's luck changes. Speaking of that, I'll have another contest in December for ARC's of FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON, which is Night Huntress World book one. Hey, maybe some of you have been saving up your luck for this one ;-).
And speaking of thankful, I received an email from my editor that really made my day. She wrote to give me an update on reprints for my series. As it stands, HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE is in its 10th printing, ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE is in its 8th printing, AT GRAVE'S END is in its 6th printing, and DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE is in its 4th printing (considering DESTINED has only been out for four months, I'm kinda speechless by that). Initial print runs reflect what a publisher expects to sell combined with what book stores preorder, but to me, reprints are all about reader word-of-mouth, which makes them extra awesome. So thank you SO MUCH, readers! Without you spreading the word about my series, none of these reprints would have happened. Please consider yourselves smooched! :D
Happy Hump Day - and really, what an odd saying that is, right? This week I should get my editor's notes on ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS (Mencheres and Kira's book). Already got her pre-revision revision letter last week and the good news is that revisions will be light. A case of "more detail here, more emotion there, make the ending more explosive" sort of thing. I also have my lovely critt partner's notes to implement at the same time, which, no shock, sound a lot like my editor's notes (they agree so often, it's scary). Then, once I finish implementing those notes, if I go by my normal routine, I'll throw the book at my other critt partner for her comments which I'll implement when I get copyedits. Then once I get galley pages, I'll want to change even more stuff (but can only tweak very minor things at that stage per my editor). If it was up to me, I'd never stop tinkering with a book!
But in the meantime, I'm also writing Cat and Bones #5. I'm at the beginning of the book, and that's always the scariest part for me. I can tell I'm at the more nervous stage of writing because strange things are starting to show up in my dreams. Take my dream the other night. In it, I was at my publisher's and my editor all the sudden told me that my height and weight would be added to all my copyright pages. There was even one of those big doctor's office scales in her office that I had to step on so my editor could record my weight right there. No, I didn't wake up screaming, but it was close ;-). If I were being Freudian, I'd say the dream meant that (a) I ate too much Halloween candy and I need to get back on my diet, and (b) my subconscious is dealing with my inner insecurity at this writing stage by metaphorically showing me another way I'd suffer public embarrassment, lol. Once I'm about a third into writing, I feel comfortable, but beginnings are tough. They usually end up getting replaced most of the time, too. I'm amazed that EKOD's beginning has made the cut. That might be a first for me.
By the end of writing a book, my dreams usually start overlapping with my writing process again, in even odder – and sometimes funnier - ways. When writing the end of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE, for example, I had a dream in which I came up with the perfect way to end the book...by adding dragons. Yes, dragons. That's what my subconscious thought the ending of DFAEG needed. Sometimes, dreams/my subconscious are incredibly helpful when it comes to writing. And sometimes...they need to be ignored (those of you who've read DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE know that, indeed, there are no dragons ;).
November is also NaNo month. No, I'm not officially participating, but it's my goal to write 2K words a day, 5 days a week on Cat and Bones #5 (still untitled, as you can guess). I'm comfortable at that pace. Some writers don't like to churn out that many words that fast, and other writers can blow away that progress while writing a better quality first draft than me. *shrug* Everyone's different. So, for those of you participating in NaNo, best of luck to you! And hey, the more writing you do, hopefully the less you'll get drawn into the stress and drama of the upcoming holidays. That's my goal, anyway ;-).
I'm also going to be updating my playlist for the C&B book. Maybe a little new writing music is what I need to get me past this nervous stage. Last time, you guys were awesome in giving me music recommendations. I ended up writing EKOD while listening to White Lies, Dashboard Confessional, Shinedown, Within Temptation, Breaking Benjamin, Stars Go Dim, Mew, and Kings of Leon – all from your recommendations (I added a little Melissa Etheridge, U2, Collective Soul, Snow Patrol, and Stevie Knicks all on my own ;). So, based on those bands, got any new music recs more me? Who else am I missing? Any recommendations will be much appreciated!
If you want a signed copy of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE shipped to you, no matter where in the world you live, be one of the first FIVE people to reply to this post and it's yours. This is the fourth novel in the Night Huntress series and Cat and Bones have some big changes in store for them.
Good luck!
Well, lots of entries for the giveaway of 10 signed copies of HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE. 200, to be exact. Because I can never bring myself to choose, Randomizer was once again consulted and this is what it said:
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So, those entry numbers turned out to be SusiSunshine, Brenda Hyde, Elizabeth Holland, Erin Lindsay, elaing8, timothy.rowe3, Daj8700, Megan Fuller, Zoe Zygmunt, and van pham. Congrats! I'll send you an email shortly asking for your shipping addresses to send you a signed copy of HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE.
But wait! There's more!
Because it's Halloween and there were so many entries to the contest, I wanted to throw in a "wild card" contest. Out of those 200 names, removing the ten winners above, I consulted Randomizer to pick ten more entries. This is what it picked:
Set #1:
<input ... > 7, 26, 49, 53, 75, 127, 147, 152, 161, 188
And those entries turned out to be J. Anderson, Brenda White, onyxciel HA, AF Stone, michelle rubalcado, Faith Imholt, Bethan West, Dr. Kay Johnson, Cassie H, and Kristen Sanders.
For the "wild card" winners, I will send you a signed copy of AT GRAVE'S END. Can't give more copies of HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE because I don't have any more. Also, AT GRAVE'S END is very Halloween- appropriate, since that novel is probably the most spooked out of my series (contains not just vampires and ghouls, but also black magic! wraiths! ghosts! and zombies!) Of course, if any of you ten "wild card" winners don't want a copy of AT GRAVE'S END, just reply to the email I'll send you with a no thanks and I'll draw another winner.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween! I'm not quite done giving out blog treats. Look for an Instant Winner contest here and on MySpace sometime today :-).
Today marks the two year anniversary of when my debut novel, HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, hit the shelves. It does not seem like two years since then. It feels more like one year, tops. But, calendars don't lie :).
So, to celebrate the second anniversary of my book, I'm giving away ten (10) signed copies of HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, book one in the Night Huntress series. To enter, email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with "HTTG" in the subject line, any time between now and 8am tomorrow (why 8am? Because that's usually when I roll out of bed, check the emails, and announce a winner ;). Yes, I will ship internationally.
If you're new to my blog and want a little more information on HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, you can go here for back cover description, teaser page, and link to the first 20% of the novel available for free reading: http://www.jeanienefrost.com/halfway-to-t
Good luck, everyone! And Night Huntress readers, thanks so much for making these last two years as amazing as they have been! :).
Without further ado, here are the numbers Randomizer chose:
Set #1:
<input ... > 122, 52, 83, 69, 64, 124, 108, 104, 46, 9
Those turned out to be: Sonja Zeiler, Heather Hann, Beatriz Ongaro, Brittany Hyde, Faith Imholt, Kathryn Willadsen, Ala morenson, Lilibeth Ramos, Vicki O. Reggentin, and Morning Glow. I'll send all of you an email shortly notifying you by email as well that you won. Congrats!
To the other 114 people who didn't win...I still have 30 more prizes to give away, and they're all books. Look for at least one more contest today! :)
The cover flat also has the back cover description on the book and a marketing plan listed inside (something only me, my agent, and book sellers probably care about ;). So, if you would like a signed coverflat for FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON, email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com. If I get more than ten emails, winner will be picked by Randomizer. Contest is open from now until 8am tomorrow Eastern time (Oct 30th).
Good luck!
***ETA: Contest closed, winners drawn. Thanks for playing, everyone!****
Check it out:
First posted here: http://www.theoddshots.com/2009/10/happ
As I promised Monday, I'll be hosting contests this week to celebrate Halloween (also because I haven't had any contests in a while and who doesn't love free books, right?). Check out my MySpace page, too (link on sidebar) because contests will be held there also. If you didn't read my post Monday, you need an LJ account to play in the Instant Winner contests, so sign up, it's free and easy. In the interest of fairness, when it's an Instant Winner contest, I'll try to spread them out to encompass as many time zones as possible, lol.
This morning's prize:
Good luck!
A reader emailed me last week and said, "Aren't you going to hold any contests soon? You haven't had any in a while!" Well, good point, I haven't. So, this week in celebration of Halloween - and because I have a bunch of author copies to give away - there will be contests. Some will be Instant Winner, some will be email-in-to-enter. Because anonymous comments are disabled on my blog (thank the internet trolls, people!) here's a head's up to get a Livejournal account if you want to play in the Instant Winner contests. LJ is free and easy to set up, trust me. I set mine up all by myself and I am incompetent when it comes to anything technical. So, head's up: contests coming.
In other rambling, I saw The Vampire's Assistant on Saturday and liked it. It has somewhat of an open ending that's clearly the setup for more movies, but I don't mind that. I like series, be they in movies or books. Also, The Sacramento Bee had a nice mention in their paper today about me and other authors. Yes, I know, they left out Charlaine Harris (among other notables) on their list of top UF authors, but I'm flattered to be included just the same.
That article mentions the popularity of vampires in the current market, which probably comes as news to no one. However, something that amuses me is how lately, some people ask me in interviews, "Did you decide to write about vampires because the market is so hot?" Um, as many people know, the publishing process isn't a speedy one. It either moves at the speed of torturously slow, or drink-yourself-to-death-while-endlessly-w
This is why I strongly urge writers not to try and catch trends. If I'd been trend-trolling back in 2003, I wouldn't have written about my favorite paranormal creature - vampires. I would have written about something else, though I don't even know what was considered "hot" in 2003/2004 because I was too busy writing books about the creature I loved. As you can guess, writing about what I love worked out well for me in more ways than one. Yes, what I loved turned out to be a popular theme in the current market, but even more importantly, it's what I love. If I wanted a job I disliked, I would've stayed at my Day Job, which had health benefits, paid vacation, required less hours, and was far easier on the ego, lol. So, think twice before trend-chasing. Chances are what's hot now won't still be hot when your book finally gets published, and then you'll be stuck writing about something you might not even really like, anyway.
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frost_light- Jeaniene Frost
- Jeaniene Frost
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