Book Giveaway Poll

Since all of you have been such loyal followers, I’m going to let you choose the book to be given away this week! Results will be tallied by the end of the day, and the new book giveaway will be posted tomorrow. Here are the five books: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, Wither by Laruen DeStefano, 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones, and The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. Here are the descriptions for each book:

A Great and Terrible Beauty: It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is
shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school
in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have
an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one.
To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a
man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her
entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the
spiritual world—lead to?
Wither:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years–leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement; her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next; and Rhine has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.

Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

13 Reasons Why: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on
it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by
Hannah Baker – his classmate and crush – who committed suicide two weeks
earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she
decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.
Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He
becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and learns the truth about
himself-a truth he never wanted to face.
Charmed Life:  A bewitching comic fantasy by a master of the supernatural

Cat doesn’t mind living in the shadow of his sister, Gwendolen, the most promising young witch ever seen on Coven Street. But trouble starts brewing the moment the two orphans are summoned to live in Chrestomanci Castle. Frustrated that the witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, Gwendolen conjures up a scheme that could throw whole worlds out of whack.

The Looking Glass Wars: The Myth: Alice was an ordinary girl who stepped through the looking glass and entered a fairy-tale world invented by Lewis Carroll in his famous storybook. The Truth: Wonderland is real. Alyss Heart is the heir to the throne, until her murderous aunt Redd steals the crown and kills Alyss? parents. To escape Redd, Alyss and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must flee to our world through the Pool of Tears. But in the pool Alyss and Hatter are separated. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Yet he gets the story all wrong. Hatter Madigan knows the truth only too well, and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.

All descriptions come from Amazon.

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I Am Giving Away Two Books!

Come on over and enter to win two books, one by Neil Gaiman and the other by Shannon Thompson! I am giving away The Graveyard Book and Minutes Before Sunset. The drawing will go until this Saturday 9 PM. You must be following me and must leave a comment in the original entry to be considered.

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• I Am Giving Away Two Books! (amberskyeforbes.wordpress.com)

I Am Giving Away Two Books!

I am giving away Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard book and Shannon Thompson’s Minutes Before Sunset! This drawing will be held at 9 PM this Saturday. There are only two stipulations: You must be following me and must leave a comment in the original entry. This is my way to thank all of my followers.

You read right! This week will be a double book giveaway, so instead of the winner winning one book, the winner will win two! Each book I choose is either reminiscent of the current book I’m working on, Stolentime, or the one that has been accepted for publication, When Stars Die. The Graveyard Book is reminiscent of Stolentime. When Stars Die isn’t reminiscent of a whole lot because the witches in my book are unlike any you have read about, but anyone who enjoys paranormal romance, or romance, or anything dark will enjoy it as well as Shannon Thompson’s Minutes Before Sunset.

Here is a description from Amazon of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book:

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who…

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Writerly Insecurities Never Fade

Licensed for CC use

Many writers dream for years about the elusive book contract. They think, ‘If I had a book contract, everything would be so much better. I could breathe easy because I’d have a contract, an assurance of publication.’ But it doesn’t work that way at all, especially when you realize the work doesn’t end when your book is bound and put in digital stores or bookstores.

The insecurities have just begun.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to breathe easy, even with a contract. It’s still a dream come true, and I’m still so super happy. But now I know my book needs to sell well, and I don’t want it to sell well just for the money. I want it to sell well because I poured every part of myself into this book, and by gosh darn it I am going to strive to make sure a lot of people read it. My new dream is to now become a bestseller, someone known for writing emotional stories with inspiring characters. I will keep writing to achieve that dream, and I will keep writing after.

Yet I have my insecurities. No matter how much pre-sale marketing I do, there is still a chance my book may not sell well. The market is so fickle, so unpredictable. For example, my job is a marketing trainee. Currently we’re giving away a Fiat 500. We use these giveaways to lure in potential homeowners who may be interested in our products. I try to set appointments with them, and if they demo, I get six dollars. If they sell, I get .5% (which is a good amount considering the price of our products). Some days I can get 5 appointments because people are just really interested in signing up for the Fiat. Some days I make 0 because people have such a nasty attitude toward this tiny car. Not even constant persistence can change a 0 to a 1. See how fickle the market can be?

I know the best way to sell your book is to make sure it’s the best darn book possible, but even with that, there is still a chance it may not sell well, and this does scare me to a certain degree. I want to sell well. I want my book to be remembered. I don’t want it to disappear into oblivion in the digitalverse. I also know the best thing I can do is to keep writing, but then there are some writers who have book after book published and they still can’t crack below a 500,000 Amazon ranking. I don’t want to be that. Not by a long shot.

So just because you have that contract and your book is on its way to being published doesn’t mean you can relax. You have to get that book selling and you have to keep writing. I also sometimes think, “What if this is the only book I can do right? What if all my other books fail? I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder.” Even so, I press beyond the insecurities with the attitude that I am going to make something happen because I am me, The Dancing Writer, and I never give up. Giving up is not how I got to where I am today.

In other news, don’t forget the double book giveaway I am doing on my blog! You must be following me and you must comment on the blog post to be entered. You can find the post here.

I Am Giving Away Two Books!

You read right! This week will be a double book giveaway, so instead of the winner winning one book, the winner will win two! Each book I choose is either reminiscent of the current book I’m working on, Stolentime, or the one that has been accepted for publication, When Stars Die. The Graveyard Book is reminiscent of Stolentime. When Stars Die isn’t reminiscent of a whole lot because the witches in my book are unlike any you have read about, but anyone who enjoys paranormal romance, or romance, or anything dark will enjoy it as well as Shannon Thompson’s Minutes Before Sunset.

Here is a description from Amazon of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book:

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .

Next up, a description of Shannon Thompson’s Minutes Before Sunset:

Eric has a life-or-death confrontation planned and waiting for him on his 18th birthday.
Jessica just wants to find out who, or what, her parents were.
Neither of them is ready for the answers they’ll find.

Minutes Before Sunset is Book 1 of the Timely Death series.

“She was undoubtedly a shade, but I didn’t know her.”

Eric Welborn isn’t completely human, but he isn’t the only shade in the small Midwest town of Hayworth. With one year left before his eighteenth birthday, Eric is destined to win a long-raging war for his kind. But then she happens. In the middle of the night, Eric meets a nameless shade, and she’s powerful—too powerful—and his beliefs are altered. The Dark has lied to him, and he’s determined to figure out exactly what lies were told, even if the secrets protect his survival.

…

“He had gotten so close to me—and I couldn’t move—I couldn’t get away.”

Jessica Taylor moves to Hayworth, and her only goal is to find more information on her deceased biological family. Her adoptive parents agree to help on one condition: perfect grades. And Jessica is distraught when she’s assigned as Eric’s class partner. He won’t help, let alone talk to her, but she’s determined to change him—even if it means revealing everything he’s strived to hide.

The stipulations are as follows: You must be following this blog. Merely liking this post will not get you into the contest. You must comment to be entered.

The drawing will be held on Saturday at 9 PM!

Winner of Coraline by Neil Gaimain

Congratulations to Kate Sparkes for winning Coraline by Neil Gaiman! I had a good amount of entrants for this book, and I was very pleased with the turnout. Because the turnout was so good, as you all should know by now, I’m going to do one book giveaway each week. You must be a follower of me to get considered, and there will be different stipulations with each book.

Tomorrow I will reveal what the next book will be, along with its stipulations.

Again, congrats to Kate Sparkes for winning! You can find her at disregard the prologue.

200th Follower Giveaway Fest

Last day to enter!

Weekly Book Giveaways

How does a weekly book giveaway sound to all of you? Good, right, because that’s exactly what I’m doing. Each week I will be giving away a young adult novel along the veins of When Stars Die and Stolentime. All of you might as well start following my blog now because that is going to be a consistent stipulation to get into these drawings. You might as well share this post too with others. Since I pick up about 10-13 followers per day, I figure it’s just best to do a weekly one where I draw every Sunday instead of waiting for me to hit a certain number of followers.

The books I’m giving away I’ve already read, so I’m not depriving myself of reading material. And my demo money (extra money I make at my job) will pretty much be going toward buying a book a week, so, no, this will not be squeezing me dry. I’m more than happy to do this especially because, hey, free book. Fun. Fun. Fun.

I will be drawing for Coraline this Sunday and will reveal the next book prize then.

Also, I really want to start doing more guest posts and would love for you guys to e-mail me any of your ideas at thedancingwriter@gmail.com. It can be about whatever you want, so long as it is helpful or relatable (I know these terms are vague, but use them to your discretion). If I have enough, I’d love to do a guest post a day, along with my regularly scheduled blog posts. You can also e-mail me if you want to collaborate on a book giveaway.

Enjoy!

200th Follower Giveaway Fest

Coraline Book Giveaway!

200th Follower Giveaway Fest

Come join the contest!

As promised in a previous post, I am going to start doing giveaways now! So here is the first giveaway prize that I will gift:

I chose this book because the current novel I’m working on, Stolentime, has a similar eerie, quirky, bizarre atmosphere, and so I figured Coraline would make an excellent first book giveaway.

Here is the description from Amazon:

The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring….

In Coraline’s family’s new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only it’s different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter…

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