A Bookish Escape Giveaway!

A Bookish Escape is giving away a bunch of awesome signed books (The Archived, Divergent, Starters, etc.) - if you want to try your luck, enter here:

A Bookish Escape Giveaway

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Showers of Books Giveaway Hop!

There's a great giveaway going on right now -- lots of good books up for grabs!

Follow along with me by starting here: http://www.literaryrambles.com/2013/04/shower-of-books-blog-hop-giveaway.html

Good luck!

(I'm hoping for a chance to win Cinder or Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, Under the Never Sky or Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi, or Shadow & Bone or Siege & Storm by Leigh Bardugo!)

How to Host a Great Giveaway

I've been entering giveaways since last year when I discovered the YAmazing Race (an uber-trek through the blogosphere for the primary purpose of sharing YA stories), and I've thought about doing my own giveaway (or participating in a blog hop), but haven't worked myself up to it yet (lack of money/time issue, primarily).

I have, however, given a lot of thought to running a giveaway smoothly and what not to do if you want people to enjoy your giveaway and come back for more.

I offer this sage advice (from one weary blog-hopper to the next) and hope it gives you a headstart when you decide to join the ranks of The Blogs That Give Awesome Stuff Away.

General guidelines:

1. Give something away that you'd like to win -- please, please don't offer up a worn-out copy of a vacuum cleaner manual.  No one wants that.  Also, don't offer up your own writing  unless it comes with swag and signatures.  It looks desperate.  (This also protects you from feeling sad when only a few people enter your contest)  If you can't think of something to give away, look through the hot titles list at your local library or on Amazon and Goodreads.  Or ask your readers with an easy, one-question poll.

2.  State rules and prize clearly (preferably at the beginning of the post).

3.  Hold yourself to deadlines -- post the giveaway when you promised, end it and choose the winner in a timely fashion, alert the winner, keep in contact as necessary, and ship as soon as possible.  You want people to keep visiting your blog.  Be professional.

4.  If you are using images in your giveaway, make sure the photo quality or image quality is high.  Label them (with the title or series title) and link to their Goodreads or Amazon page.

5.  If you are using Rafflecopter, there are a few suggestions I have after entering more than a dozen giveaways and bemoaning the complicated entry possibilities.  Either assign all the options 1 point, or assign them points based on the time involved for each activity and how much exposure you'd potentially get.  Also take into consideration what you'd like more of -- Twitter followers?  Blog followers?  Goodreads friends?

I'd set up a Rafflecopter as follows:

• Follow via e-mail or RSS
• Follow in one of these ways: Networked Blogs, Linky, BlogLuvin', GFC, etc.
• Follow on Twitter
• Friend/follow on Goodreads
• Follow on Pinterest
• Like Facebook page (or share contest)
• Comment -- ask them a question they can answer in the comment section

The reason I've only put one Twitter option on there is because some people don't have smartphones and therefore don't have a Twitter account (can you imagine Twitter on the computer?  Maddening).  I also think you should group similar things in one option - would you really follow someone three different ways via your own blog?  Also -- it's nice to get comments, but if I have to go through your reviews and post a thoughtful comment, I probably won't do it.  For ease and a sure entry, ask them a pertinent question (tie in the theme of the giveaway!  Ask for recommendations!).  Another thing I've seen is only allowing one option to show until completed.  What if you only let people who have a Twitter handle enter?  You've just lost part of your audience.

If the point of a giveaway is to enlarge your readership, do yourself a favor and make the giveaway fun and easy.  People will appreciate it and might even tell their friends to enter your next giveaway.

Let me know in the comments if you can think of anything else to add, or if you agree/disagree with my giveaway rules.  Those of you who have hosted giveaways -- what was your experience like?

Clockwork Princess Giveaway

Hi everyone!

Just thought you should know that another great book blog, Book Flame, is giving away two copies of The Clockwork Princess (last book in the Infernal Devices trilogy)!

I've been wanting to read these books for ages so I'm entering the giveaway hoping for a win...

Try your luck here.

Kick Butt Characters Giveaway Hop!

Hi friends!

Yes, I am spending my Saturday morning going through giveaways in hopes of winning more books.  Ah, the exciting life of a poor, penniless bookworm.  ;)

If you want to join me, start here: Kick Butt Characters Giveaway Hop

Good luck!

EDIT: I won!  I won!  Le' Grande Codex announced that I've won an ebook -- I got to choose from a list.  I will be receiving my very own ebook of Insurgent by Veronica Roth!  I am scrambling to get a copy of Divergent from the library so I can read it before Insurgent (book 2) arrives.

Woohoo!

100+ Book GIveaway Month

Ok, so you know my crazy addiction to entering book giveaways?  It has reached ridiculous proportions.  I've entered three in the last three weeks.

And...there are some awesome peeps giving away over one hundred free books this month on ONE SITE.  You should go check it out.

For serious.  This is awesome.  And they have excellent prizes!!

Enter here: 100+ Book Giveaway Month

YA Giveaway Blog Hop

I'm blog hopping again today in hopes of winning more great books!

Last year I won:

Two signed Eli Monpress books (one was the Omnibus so I have 4 of the 5 books in the series!)
An audio book of Burn for Burn (which I am hoping to listen to ASAP)
A signed copy (with bookmarks!) of Hallowed by Cynthia Hand (which I am currently reading and intrigued by!)

So...here's hoping I win a few more good things this year.

Join me, if you like, by starting here: YA Giveaway Blog Hop

See you tomorrow for Write Wednesday!

Write Wednesday: Donald Maass, Jim Butcher & Me

Welcome back to Write Wednesday!

Today I'm going to be talking about the "Breakout Novel" (some great advice from Donald Maass), the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, and my own current WIP (my NaNoWRiMo novel), specifically focusing on SUBPLOT(s).

The subplot(s) in a novel should either support or parallel the main plotline, says Donald Maass.  Although subplots are not entirely necessary, if you have one or more that complicate, bear upon, mirror or reverse the main plot, this adds value to the overall story.

Oftentimes, a romantic subplot is included in a story (when it's not romance.  If you're writing romance, it better be the main plotline!) to complicate things.  Books like the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander and A Series of Unfortunate Events contain romantic subplots. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events has one of my most favorite romantic moments (in book 10, I believe -- The Slippery Slope) that adds a layer of emotion to the story.  In one moment it turns from a sibling adventure/survival story to a growing up story and complicates things that way.

Another common subplot is for a secondary character to have their own story arc (think Professor Severus Snape or Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series), heroic, antiheroic or villainous as the case may be.

Great examples of both of these types of subplots are The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  I've read the first three books (can't wait to dive into four and five!) and am always amazed at the quality of writing.  The effort put into the books to carry storylines through the series (instead of standalone plotlines) with a myriad of characters astounds me. 

The romantic subplot carries through the first three books, becoming stronger as the story continues (And I've heard a little spoiler that it comes back in a later book -- poor Dresden).  The character involved in the romantic entanglement complicates things because of her job and her personality (both of which intertwine nicely).  This combination serves to heighten the stakes and add a touch of romance in Dresden's world.

Side characters are introduced as well and although I haven't spotted huge character arcs for them (yet), Jim Butcher doesn't really leave anything to chance and always seems to bring a semi-forgotten idea, character or item to the forefront just when it is needed.

It's encouraging to read these books and realize that I am in fact growing as a writer -- I intentionally wove in a romantic subplot (combining a friend/love interest of the MC) and I have discovered a rather violent, social commentary subplot in a seemingly throwaway character.  I'm not saying I'm handling it well (I'm still stumbling around my first draft) but to see how my writing has changed over the last few years (partially due to all the fantastic books I get to read) is, well, encouraging.

If you're writing (or taking part in NaNoWriMo as a super fun Fall activity), what are your thoughts on subplots?  If you're not writing, are there certain stories' subplots you love?  (How about in TV shows?)

And don't forget, you can enter Rachel Aaron's awesome giveaway of the last Eli Monpress book, Spirit's End, HERE.

Come back tomorrow for a post WITH PICTURES! :D