Writing Links, Contests, and Giveaways

I came across so many great links and contests this week and had to share a few.

News: 
I know I'm not the only one who was uber-excited to see this. I would pre-order her book today without knowing anything else about it because I know it will be awesome.

The Buffer Twitter Tips blog had an interesting article about how to double your Twitter followers this year. It's worth a read if you're wanting to boost your online presence.

Contests/Giveaways:
Gretchen McNeil revealed her amazing cover for TEN and you can win an annotated copy of the book over at Me, My Shelf and I. This book is on my must-read list. Seriously, how can you see this cover and not want to read the book?

The Twitterific Lori M. Lee is hosting a 1-year blogiversary giveaway with great prizes including Barnes and Noble gift certificates as well as query critiques. It ends Wed. 2/29 so hurry to enter.


A new Mystery Agent Contest starts this week over at Operation Awesome, and the agent is looking for all kinds of YA (including sci-fi). The winner gets a full manuscript critique so check it out!

The fabulous Angela from The Bookshelf Muse is hosting a huge giveaway to celebrate reaching 3,000 followers. There are so many prizes to win so hop over there to enter before March 12.

If you didn't win a query critique last week, I'm doing the Wednesday Weekly Query Critique over on my blog tomorrow, so polish those queries.

Zombie Contest is Closed

Thank you for all your zombie-licious entries in our Bad Taste in Boys contest. We will pick the winner today and announce it tomorrow (Tues. 8/16) on the blog. Good luck and happy Monday! :)

Contest Monday!

Good morning! I haven't completely disappeared, I'm here! Kristi is enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation with her kids, Valerie is planning her amazing trip to Amsterdam, and I am up to my eyeballs in revisions, and trying to balance it with my family time. Eep!



I am still celebrating my big agent news with a giveaway over at my blog! Closing to entries on Wednesday, July 20th at 11:59pm EST. You can win a book from one of my agency sisters! Either an ARC of Marie Lu's dystopian, LEGEND, or a signed pre-order of Miranda Kenneally's CATCHING JORDAN!

YA author Carrie Harris (BAD TASTE IN BOYS) is still hosting her benefit auction, Night of the Giving Dead! Lot's of fantastic items up for grabs, but if you don't want to bid you can donate too. And all participants are eligible to win one of two grand prizes: a new kindle with a BTIB e-book, or a 6 month writing mentorship with Carrie! The auction is to benefit the Giving Library at the University of Michigan C.S Mott Children's Hospital.

**Updating to let you know about this!***
Over at Lisa and Laura's blog, you can enter to win $1,000, your own author page at TheReadingRoom.com, and a chance to have your work considered for representation by lit agent Catherine Dreyton! Starts today, so go go go!




Hope you're enjoying Summer!
And as always, if you've found a book giveaway or a writing related contest around the web, let us know!

Contest Monday with Agent-Judged First Page Contest

Today is Shelley Watters birthday *insert happy birthday to Shelley song here* and Shelley is celebrating with a contest of awesome. It features your first page and literary agent, Victoria Marini. Get the deets on Shelley's Birthday Blowout First Page Contest and enter by 11:59p June 27th (that's tonight, so hurry).

Got a contest you'd like to promote? Enter it in Mr. Linky below:

Contest Monday with ARCs and a Kindle

Happy Monday! First of all, we wanted to say how impressed we were by all 100+ entries we received for our pitch contest with Sara Megibow. I'm really glad I'm not Sara right now. The winners will be announced in the next day or two. Congrats to everyone who entered--it takes courage to put your work out there! Now, on to some contests.

The lovely Natalie Parker is giving away tons of ARCs in her Bloody Magical Contest (and a copy of Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton which I'm dying to read). Hop over to her blog, Nataliesee's Journal, for the details.Contest ends Wed. May 11th.

Adventures in Children's Publishing is giving away a copy of Calli Be Gold by MG author, Michele Hurwitz. Winner will be announced on Thurs.

This just in...Nathan Bransford is giving away a Kindle in celebration of his book release. Contest ends: Wed. at 7pm Pacific time.

Any good contests out there I missed? If so, fill in the info below:

Contest of Epic Awesome With Agent Sara Megibow!

As promised, we bring you the official contest thread for our first ever agent-judged contest!


UPDATE: Sara just told us she is so impressed with these that she'll read the first 30 pages of THREE winners!!
This contest is now closed to entries. Stay tuned for Sara's top picks!

Meet the awesome agent who's agreed to be our first judge!
Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency!

Sara is the Associate Literary Agent at Nelson Literary Agency. She's actively and enthusiastically acquiring new clients!

Nelson Literary Agency specializes in representing young adult and middle grade, science fiction and fantasy, romance (all genres except category or inspirational), commercial fiction, women's fiction (including chick lit) and high concept literary fiction.

Sara is particularly interested in "contemporary YA and MG novels - stories set in the real world, preferably with a multicultural or historical aspect." And would also "love to work on more science fiction and fantasy books." She loves "fantastical stories - especially when they are unique and beautifully written," and says "My favorite young adult reads in 2010 were ASH by Malinda Lo and THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger."

For those of you that don't write YA, Sara also likes romance books that are "super sexy and intelligent" and commercial fiction that has "a unique story and superior writing."

Some of Sara's clients and their upcoming books include:
Miranda Kenneally - SCORE (Sourcebooks, December 2011)

Allison Rushby - SHOOTING STARS

Jennifer Shaw Wolf - BREAKING BEAUTIFUL


And now for the best part, THE PRIZE. Sara has offered to review the first 30 pages of the THREE manuscripts whose pitches she liked the most!


How it works:
This contest is for COMPLETED POLISHED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY. If you wouldn't want an agent to read it yet, don't enter.

You have 140 characters to pitch your novel. NO ABBREVIATIONS--if the word is "When" please do not give us "whn". You may use numbers (16 instead of sixteen) but no abbreviated words. We have a great post with examples of elevator pitches in the archives, but remember, 140 characters ONLY. This includes punctuation and spaces. If you can not fit it in a tweet (hence the term "twitter pitch"), your entry will be disqualified. It's tough, but you can do it.

We will only accept entries in the genres that Sara Megibow represents. (See her bio above.)

While following our blog and spreading the word about the contest is not required, and won't get you any extra points, we would greatly appreciate it. The more the merrier!

Please put your entries in the comments of this post as follows:

Name:
Title:
Genre:


140 character pitch.


Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm ET Saturday, May 7th 2011. Any entries submitted after that time will be disqualified.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS about the contest, please ask them in the announcement thread from Monday. We would like to keep this post for entries only.

Only one entry per person.

**UPDATE**

It has been brought to our attention that some of you are receiving emails from a third party. We are not affiliated with any third parties, and we apologize if these emails have inconvenienced you in any way. We will not be contacting winners via email, we will simply post here on the blog. If you would like to remove your entry, to delete your email, and submit again, you are welcome to do so before the entry window closes at 11:59pm May 7th.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience.

Sara is thus far very pleased with your entries! Thank you all!

Contest Monday - Updated!

Just added a new contest for writers!

Ebyss Leann is hosting a Pitch & 250 Word Contest on her blog. The judge is agent Gina Panettieri, President of Talcott Notch Literary Service. Check out her site for all the details. Contest ends 4/17.

Author Myra McEntire is having a Past, Present, Future Contest on her blog! You can win signed copies of THE VESPERTINE by Saundra Mitchell, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis, and Myra's own soon to be released book HOURGLASS. Contest ends 4/15.

Squeaky Books is giving away an ARC of DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth. Enter here. Contest ends 4/15.

Adventures in Children's Publishing is giving away copies of ENCLAVE, THE GATHERING, WHAT COMES AFTER, IN THE SHADOW OF THE LAMP, and MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER in their In Stores This Week Giveaway! Contest ends 4/13.

As always, if you have a contest you want to share, post the link in our Mr. Linky below!

Contest Monday

It is definitely Monday.

I couldn't find much in the way of contests to bring you today, mostly because I've been away from the Internet for a while, but here's a couple to check out while you sip your morning coffee/tea/coca cola/pick-your-poison.

Casey from Literary Rambles is giving away a copy of Kim Harrington's book CLARITY that was just released March 1st, along with a great author interview. Ends April 9th, midnight.

At Adventures in Children's Publishing, Martina and Marissa are hosting their weekly giveaway. This week with 13 awesome books!

The iClue contest starts today! 6 authors, 6 mysteries, 6 chances to win an ipod touch! Details here.



Also! Not a contest but a reminder, tonight, 8pm EST April 4th, WriteOnCon is hosting a live event with Roseanne Wells from the Marianne Strong Literary Agency! Don't miss it! Details about the event and Roseanne and what she's looking for here.

If you have any contests or giveaways to share please do!

Contest Monday

I'll start with the shamless self-promo.

Today is the last day to enter my Back From Branson Giveaway Part 1! you have until 11:59pm ET tonight to enter to win one of these three YA books each with signed bookplates!



And today I opened theBack From Branson Giveaway Part 2, where two lucky winners (one GUARNTEED INTERNATIONAL) wins their choice of a pre-order from one of the authors at the retreat! This one ends 3/14.

You get bonus points for following us here at Sisters in Scribe, so be sure to enter!

YA Writer Rachel Alpine is giving away an ARC of DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth! Check out her blog for info. Contest ends 3/6.

Adventures in Children's Publishing is giving away a TON of awesome YA new releases this week! Including LIAR SOCIETY with fun swag, DEMONGLASS, BLOOD & FLOWERS, and 3 copies of THE CHAOS (NUMBERS #2). Find out all the details here.

As always, if you know of any contest happenings around the web, feel free to use our Mr. Linky below!

More Contests!

It was my week to do the contest Monday post and after I posted I discovered a few awesome contests since then that I though should be mentioned. So here they are.

Shelli Johannes of Market My Words is having a Pay It Forward contest! One lucky winner will get a personal recommendation to her awesome agent Alyssa Henkin at Trident Media Group. (Alyssa focuses on children's books and reps many great YA writers.) Seriously, you don't want to miss this!
Contest info is HERE and ends this Friday, February 4th.

The Merry Sisters of Fate are giving away an ARC of BLOOD MAGIC by Tessa Gratton this week! This is the very first ARC of BLOOD MAGIC to be given away! Find out how to enter here. Contest ends February 4th.


Victoria Schwab author of the debut YA urban/green fantasy novel THE NEAR WITCH is giving away a signed ARC of THE NEAR WITCH, as well as a finished copy of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis (with a signed bookplate) and MUCH more! Check it out here. Contest ends February 9th.

Contest Monday

The 2009 Debutantes are giving away 40 sets of author L.K. Madigan's books FLASH BURNOUT and THE MERMAID'S MIRROR as a show of love and support while L.K. battles cancer. For more details on the moving story and how you can win, please check out the contest post. ENDS TONIGHT January 31st.

Dear Editor is hosting an epic contest of awesome. Winner will receive an edit of one YA or MG manuscript! Deadline is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT January 31st.

Good luck!

As always, if you have any contests to share please use our Mr. Linky. He is lonely and wants your link love.

The Subjective Point of View and Narrative Distance

I came across two amazing posts this week that were too good not to share. These are must-reads for the writers out there, and I highly recommend following these women (I mean following their blogs, not following them--that would be creepy) .


Juliette Wade of the Talk To YoUniverse blog wrote an amazing post about expressing a character's judgment using evidential adverbs and modal verbs. When I wrote the first draft of my first YA, I was guilty of using a lot of the "she saw" or "she felt" descriptors. This post breaks in down in a simple and understandable way.

Janice Hardy from The Other Side of the Story discusses narrative distance in your POV, and the pitfalls of using distant and close POV's. I learned a lot of this through trial and error writing my first two novels--one in a much more distant POV  than the other. I think narrative distance is partly a matter of personal preference, but I'm much happier with my new novel which is written in a close POV.   

COOL CONTEST ALERT:
Also, totally unrelated, but too awesome a contest not to mention: the uber-amazing Nathan Bransford is hosting a first paragraph contest of epic proportions. The winner will get a partial critique by his equally amazing agent, Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management AND a signed advance copy of Nathan's book, JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW. (NOTE: There are already approximately one bazillion entries, but someone has to win, so give it a shot!)

Contest Monday featuring HOUSE OF NIGHT

For all you HOUSE OF NIGHT fans out there, a HUGE contest is going on where you can win the entire set of House of Night books by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. Check out the Facebook page here for the deets. Contest ends: Jan. 29.

Also, check out Steph Su Reads where there's info about a chance to win lunch with the HOUSE OF NIGHT authors in honor of the release of AWAKENED, the newest title in the series. The winner gets a 3 day/2 night trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma!

Feel free to post other contests in our Mr. Linky below:

Happy Monday!!!

Contest Monday with Winners!

We have winners! Out of a total of 204 entries from 69 different entrants! You guys rock!



Winner of THE MAZE RUNNER is Fi-Chan!

















Winner of THE DEMON KING is Theresa M!

Winner of WAKE is Dari!

We have your mailing addresses, so you don't need to do anything else. If you didn't win this one, don't worry! We will host many more giveaways in the future! As always, thank you guys for entering! We <3 you!

If you know of any contests for reader or writers, let us know!

Contest Monday

The Sisters and I are taking a short break this week to make time for family (and food), but we're still accepting entries to our December Giveaway! And as always, if you have a contest, or you know of any contests on the web, feel free to share with our Mr. Linky. Whatever you put in the NAME box is what will show up.

Contest Monday

It's Monday--do you have all your holiday gifts wrapped and shipped? I don't. I'm wrapping-challenged, so it takes me forever to do, yet still looks like my children did the wrapping. Therefore, I present this very brief Contest Monday post:
 
Don't forget to enter our holiday contest here at SIS for your chance to win one of 3 signed books by some uber-awesome authors (James Dashner, Cinda Williams Chima and Lisa McMann)! Good luck...and Happy Monday!

Contest Monday With a Holiday Giveaway!

It's December. The very best time to snuggle up by the fire with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. We know this is a busy time of year for most, it's insane for all of us too, but have no fear! We'll be re-posting some of our favorite posts from the past, and in the spirit of giving, we're giving away three signed books to three winners! International, & ends Dec. 31st.

Kristi is giving one winner a signed hard copy of THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner.

THE MAZE RUNNER Trilogy Book #1
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.





Valerie is giving one winner a signed hard copy of THE DEMON KING by Cinda Williams Chima.

THE DEMON KING A Seven Realms novel
Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari.  Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can’t sell.  For as long as Han can remember, he’s worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes.  They’re clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he’s never been able to get them off.  

While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea.   After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against them.  Han soon learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago.  With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.  

Meanwhile, Raisa ana’Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight.  She’s just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father’s family at Demonai camp – riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets.  Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.  

Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has other plans for her--plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for. 

Lacey is giving one winner a signed paperback copy of WAKE by Lisa McMann.

WAKE Wake Series Book 1
Not all dreams are sweet.

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody- notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....

Deadline for entry is midnight Friday, December 31st 2010! Winners will be announced Monday, January 3rd. Contest is international.

To enter, fill out the embedded form below. You must be a blog follower. For +3 extra entries, subscribe by email (box on the left). +2 more if you leave a comment on any one of our posts. And a +1 for every social networking site you use to spread the word (we'll accept Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and your blog sidebar). Spread the word as many times as you like! But you'll only get one entry for each. If you tweet the contest ten times, we will be happy and give you e-hugs, but it won't count for extra entries.

Specify which book you'd like to win most, then your second and third choices. We'll try to get the right book to you. Please include links in the form where you spread the word or commented so that we can verify winners.

Good luck! Thank you all, and happy holidays from all of us!




Other contests and giveaways from around the web include:

Shannon Messenger is giving away one hard copy of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS at her blog! Ends December 10th.

CA Marshall is giving away a full manuscript crit, up to 100k words, at her blog! Ends midnight, Dec. 10th!

And if you know of any contests or giveaways you'd like to share, feel free to use our Mr. Linky and tell us about it!

Contest Monday

I couldn't find much in the way of contests this week, so I'm guessing people are gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday. If you know of a contest that I missed, please add it into the comments below. 


Win one of 5 ARC's of DEMONGLASS (Hex Hall #2) by Rachel Hawkins at Goodreads. Contest ends: Nov. 30th.

Young Adult Books Central is giving away 15 copies of THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney. Fill out the form to enter by Nov. 30th.

Somehow I missed the incredible Kidlit Critterpalooza giveaway and its mission to increase awareness for Saint Jude's Research Hospital for children. Go check it out--the deadline is Nov. 28th. 

Happy Monday!

Contest Monday with Demons

Great book giveaways happening this week:

The lovely Lisa Desrochers is giving away a signed copy of her book Personal Demons AND a signed copy of Matched by Ally Condie. Contest ends: Nov. 26th.

The Story Siren is giving away the entire Immortals Series by Alyson Noel. All 5 books go to one lucky winner so fill out the form today. Contest ends: Nov. 19th.

Happy Monday!

Contest Monday

Ellz Readz is giving away ARC's of some amazing books including MATCHED by Ally Condie (awesome book) and THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney, among others. You only have to comment to enter. Deadline: Nov. 12.

Steph Su at Steph Su Reads is having a cool November giveaway on her blog (I can't believe it's already November!) Enter to win the ARC's of FIXING DELILAH by Sarah Ockler, VIRALS by Kathy Reichs, and FALL FOR ANYTHING by Courtney Summers. Deadline: Nov. 24.

Don't forget to visit us here tomorrow for an amazing interview with Carrie Harris, the amazing author of this:

HAPPY MONDAY!