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06 October 2009 @ 09:54 am
BALLAD Contest extended to Halloween  
Okay, first of all, why did everyone let me get away with posting a Five Things on a Friday post on a Monday? Why did I even think it was Friday yesterday? I am counting on you guys to REMIND ME WHAT YEAR IT IS.

Second of all, remember the Ballad contest? The awesome one with huge prizes including a crit from all of the Merry Sisters of Fate, so long as you just take a pic of yourself with Ballad in a store? Well, the deadline for it is supposed to be the 10th, but a lot of folks are having problems finding it in stores. It's gone to reprint to fill demand so it'll be easier to find very shortly, but I wanted to give everyone a chance to actually, you know, ENTER. (and never fear those who have already entered, I will be drawing an extra prize out for all entries that come in before the 10th).

So the new deadline is Halloween. And here are the prizes and rules for entry. Capiche? Capiche.


Okay, first of all, the prizes.

The absolute grand prize about which I am enormously excited is

A 1 chapter (or 15 double-spaced pages, whichever comes first) critique by all three of the Merry Sisters of Fate:
me, Brenna Yovanoff (author of forthcoming FE in '10)(brennayovanoff ) and Tessa Gratton (possessor of secret news I wish I could share)(tessagratton ). These are my two critique partners, who read every manuscript I write before it makes it to my editors. They rip and tear my manuscripts apart and put them back together like nobody's business. I would not be who I was without them and I'm thrilled that they've agreed to do this.


The first prize is this swank messenger bag. Not just a swank messenger bag, but a swank messenger bag stuffed with a signed Ballad, a signed Lament, a signed Shiver, and a signed Shiver audio book.




And the second prize is stack of books all involving the paranormal and teens and death and good stuff:

a signed copy of BALLAD
NEED by Carrie Jones
GRACELING by Kristin Cashore
IMPOSSIBLE by Nancy Werlin
THIRSTY by M. T. Anderson

And the third prize is

a signed audiobook of Shiver (what? I have a lot of them)


And here are the rules:

To enter, you must find a copy of Ballad in the wild -- that is, in a bookstore of any ilk. You do not have to buy said copy of Ballad. All you have to do is whip out your camera or your cell phone and have someone take a picture of you holding it. That's one entry. That's it. You want another chance to win? Have your sister (or any person) pose next to you. Said person doesn't have to buy the book either. Or even hold a copy. She does need to be looking at the camera though. Want another chance to win? Have that random woman browsing the Sarah Dessen books stand next to your sister. Again, she doesn't have to hold the book. Or even know you. Just be willing to smile into the camera in proximity to someone holding the book. Each person in the photo represents an entry. So more people = more chances to win. Want visual examples? Of course you do.

This is ONE ENTRY. Notice James is holding the book and looking at the camera.
TWO ENTRIES. Dee is not holding a book, but she is eyeballing the camera. Vaguely.

THREE ENTRIES. Nuala is not holding a book either, but she's looking at the camera.

FOUR ENTRIES. None of them know the king of the dead, but he's looking at the camera (I think. His eyes are shadowed.) He doesn't have to hold that book, but he is anyway because he's so darn thrilled to be in it.

Then what I need you to do is take the photos and post them somewhere online -- I don't care if it's your facebook, livejournal, photobucket, mom's website, whatever, that's not important. The only thing that's important is that you link them here. You can embed them directly in the comment if you have the voodoo to do that. Or you can just send me a link. Make sure it's someplace I can see it and do a headcount. Bonus prize to someone who gets more than 20 people in a photo. ;) I'll think of something good . . .

Got the idea?

Go!


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( Read 67 commentsLeave a comment )
(Anonymous) on October 12th, 2009 07:53 pm (UTC)
Re: Entry 1 and 2
I am so in love with Wicked too! Have you read the book? Part of me wants to so I can relive it again, but another part of me has heard that it is different than the play and is a little weird.
(Anonymous) on October 13th, 2009 02:17 am (UTC)
Re: Entry 1 and 2
Wicked the musical and Wicked the book are WAY different. Like, WAAAAAAAAY different. I don't want to say anything that'll spoil the plot of the book for you and/or spoil the plot of the musical for anyone else, but basically, most of the fun/cute things you liked about the musical are NOT THERE in the book. They are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

This isn't to say that the book is worse/bad/ect. I'm slightly biased because I'm not a fan of Gregory M.'s writing style (I've read 3 of his books, including "Wicked"), but I will say that G.M. does some fantastic stuff with the fairy tales you think you know. However, it's darker, it's raunchier, it's more politcal/religous, and it's not happy. G.M. doesn't do "cute". He does twisted. And he does it very well.

-- Amanda, always-the-bookseller
(Anonymous) on October 13th, 2009 02:25 am (UTC)
Re: Entry 1 and 2
Also, if you're looking to relive the musical, check out:

"Wicked : The Grimmerie, A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical" (by David Cote) (this is really fantastic, helps explain some of the book/musical differences, the songs, the sets, everything)
or
"Wicked : The Musical: A Pop-up Compendium" (by Jami Attenberg) (this is new for halloween, and I haven't read it. But it is a POP UP!!!!)

-- Amanda, *still*-the-bookseller