Stuff/OOPS

Good Morning!

Okay, first things first. My SISTER ROCKS!!! Ahem. See, here's the thing. Cathy and I have decided to do things like contests and such, and since our next book s COLD MOON RISING (note the first word) I thought I'd come up with something WARM to give as the ultimate prize for whatever contest we came up with. So, my sister makes quilts. Really, seriously, functional and beautiful quilts. And after some smooth talking (begging, grovelling, etc.) on my part, she will be making a quilt for the winner. (Actually, she was more than happy to do it, but that just doesn't play as well in the blog, now does it.) It will be in midnight blue and silver, have embroidery in the center, and I will post pictures for everyone everywhere when the time comes.

What I'm thinking, is that we may do what a friend of ours did. Basically, for a contest with prizes above a certain value the Feds require that no purchase be required. Fair enough. So she has had folks send in a digital snapshot (from their cameraphone, one of the cheapy throwaways or whatever) of themselves holding the book. They can be holding a library copy, a copy inside the store that they don't actually buy (but why WOULDN'T you buy it. I mean, REALLY. Unless, of course, you're seriously broke. I've BEEN seriously broke, so I can relate to that. I wouldn't want you to starve to read our books. [Well maybe . . . no. No. I wouldn't. But if you feel inclined to eat lots of cheap mac and cheese and Ramen noodles, I certainly won't stop you. ;)])

On to the next thing. Buying books. (See a trend here? I KNEW you were observant.) A major chain (that shall remain nameless because, honestly, I'm scattered enough this morning that I'm not sure I remember correctly and I don't want to screw it up) is going to ALL FACE OUT. Now this will give you the opportunity to see the cover big and bold, yes. BUT it means that there will be less books on the shelves A LOT less books. So many of your favorite authors may not be available except through preorder. This is going to be hard for folks who aren't really big names (a la, Nora Roberts, Laurell K. Hamilton, etc.), because they won't have things on the shelves for browsers. People may not even know they have books out! If you want the smaller name author's books, you'll need to preorder them at the bookstore and kind of keep track of when things are due out.

Cathy is going to do a big article and post on her blog and stuff that will have more details (and it will probably appear in our newsletter, too). But as an author, PLEASE preorder from your bookstore.

Also, for those of you who got ARCs (or are getting ARCs, I'm working on it, REALLY). If you liked it, PLEASE post a positive review on Amazon. (If you didn't, obviously, don't lie.)Let's see, Saturday is the breakfast serial. Monday we have Shannon Butcher as a Visiting Dignitary.

(Okay, on an aside here. I decided I wanted to do up some kind of nice gift for the folks that guest blog. I swear to you, I am such a dufus. I was fading off to sleep and thought, "Maybe hand-made bookmarks, something nice, but flashy. Maybe with the initials of the program." An image flashed through my mind. Big BOLD metallic letters saying "VD". Umnnn. . . maybe not.)

OY! It took me a while to go back to sleep after that.

Cie