Okay, it's finally time to tally the results of the big Ballad contest! I have to say that this contest goes down as the only one that I have asked my readers to do something (apparently) illegal: take photos in bookstores. For all of you who were run out of stores by feral employees or couldn't find the book in time, I'm profoundly sorry.

For the rest of you who performed illegal acts in the name of sportsmanship and prizes, booyah!! We had over 250 entries, which is a lot of people photographed with Ballad. And we had two (I believe two, let me know if I counted wrong) entries that had over twenty people in a photo, which I said would get a special prize. And then I did a drawing amongst the folks who did entered by the first deadline, and there's a prize for that winner too (they were also all entered in the overall drawing). I numbered every entry and did a random number generator for the top prize first and then down for them.

So. Without further ado, here are the winners:

Winner of the signed audiobook of shiver is arieleishen .

Winner of the stack of books and signed copy of Ballad istracy_d74

Winner of the swank messenger bag with the signed Maggie books in it is jb n becca.

And finally, winner of the first-chapter critique from all three of the Merry Sisters of Fate is melenka !


Now I can hear the groans already, so remember there are three more prizes. First of all, I drew from the folks who made it by the original deadline and got a_hoffman79 , who will get a signed copy of either Ballad or the Shiver audiobook (you pick).

And then there were two folks, lovethebooknook and Amanda Jirka, who got more than twenty people in a single photo, and I said that would be a special prize . . . so I'll do a 5-page critique for each of you guys. Not quite as good as the first chapter critique by all the Merry Sisters, but a little somethin'!

So congrats to everyone who won and thanks to everyone who entered! Winners, e-mail me your info! (Also, folks who are waiting on CDs from the last contest, they're going out this week).

. . . and other cool prizes. I've just gotten back from two days of school/ library visits (hi, Franklin & Smithfield!)

This is just a reminder that the giant Ballad contest deadline is coming up: Halloween, midnight, winners to be announced the next day.

Prizes include a critique of your first chapter by all the Merry Sisters of Fate: me. Brenna Yovanoff, whose book THE REPLACEMENT was sold at auction and comes out next year. Tessa Gratton, whose book BLOOD MAGIC was also sold at auction and ALSO comes out next year.

And tons of book swag. Ah, hell, I'll just copy and paste the prizes and rules here.

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)(everflame ). 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.

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!

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)(everflame ). 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.

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!

All righty. I'm about to run off to Minnesota for six days of book related fun fun fun but before I left, I wanted to put up the rules and prizes for the most exciting Ballad contest yet (writers, listen up).

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)(everflame ). 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 pose next to you. She 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. Want visual examples? Of course you do.

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? Okay, to give you plenty of time to find it in the wild, we're running this baby through October 10th, which is the second Saturday in October. Pleeeeeennnnny of time to find it.

And with that said, here's the playlist for Ballad. I need to preface this by saying that I used a ton of Celtic music like this awesome Kila song, bands like Lunasa and Solas and singers like Iarla O Lionaird whose name is too awesome for me to spell however such music is not available on heathen sites like Imeem or Playlist.com. (their loss). For those who are interested in the finding of Celticky stuff, I will do a post on that when I get back and have loads of time.

Okay. So that behind me, here's the playlist of the rock music I used for Ballad. Those who loved the playlist for Shiver may be somewhat shocked as the Shiver playlist reflects the fact that Sam is the type of boy you could bring home to your parents. And James . . . is not.




See you guys in a week! Happy contesting!

Okay. So we had a total of 84 links/ entries -- which is pretty crazy-awesome. Thank you, guys, for getting the word out! Especially with Ballad, which doesn't haven't the collective might of a zillion ARCs like Shiver did, word of mouth is super important. So thank you.

Okay. The winners (email me with your address!):

1) One signed Shiver audio book goes to froggaritaville.

2) One signed Shiver audio book goes to devon81

3) And the mix CDs of homicidal faerie music and music written for Ballad goes to: missmagic188


Congrats to the winners. And if you didn't win, don't be sad. After I get back from Minnesota, I am having the World's Most Awesome Contest because the prize is THIS COOL.


That's all.

By the way, thanks to the reader who gave me the suggestion to put all the entries into a file as soon as they came in, numbered -- it made life REALLY EASY for the random number generator thing!!!

ETA: Folks, I have NO part in the actual casting choices/ auditioning/ anything having to do with the movie -- that is all in the realm of Unique Features & Warner Bros. The movie option is also the VERY early stages of moviedom, so they're not even looking for actors yet. This is merely a fun post about who I think looks like the characters in my head. In reality, I think a Shiver movie would be best served by plucking some unknown actors out of the woodwork -- folks who can act no matter if they look exactly like my idea of Sam and Grace or not.

**Here ends public service announcement**

Onto the audio book contest. First of all, I clicked on everybody's links and looked at everybody's Sam and Graces. And people. Please! Tom Sturridge is far too edgy to be Sam (although I found the photo of him in a bathtub absolutely hilarious given the circumstances). Sam is an innocent bambi! Anyway. First of all, my picks for Sam and Grace.

For Grace, I'd always thought Dakota Blue Richards, because she'll be the perfect age. But then one of the Very Clever Commentors suggested Rachel Hurd Wood and I thought OH! WAY BETTER GRACE! I like her because she's pretty in a very approachable, plausible, non-Hollywood sort of way, and looks like she could take werewolves in stride.

Dakota Blue Richards (yes, I KNOW she's too young here):
Rachel Hurd Wood:

For Sam, it was harder, because I don't think of him as Hollywood-handsome. In SHIVER, I think I describe him as having a nose a girl couldn't pull off and floppy black hair. And I think I mentioned his heavy lidded eyes. I'm very big on the heavy-lidded eyes for him. Oh, and fuzzy eyebrows. So at first, I was sort of thinking Lee Pace, who is way too old (sorry, Lee, I still think you're very pretty. Just not jailbait age):


then I thought Jim Sturgess from Across the Universe captured Sam's Beatlesesque image, but still too old (again, no offense, Jim, your version of "Girl" still makes me want to remove layers of clothing):

And then I realized that if I made the easy leap from actor to rock star, I was golden. Because I think Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys is terribly Sam-like to me. See?
Example 2:
Example 3:




You're feeling it, right? Alex, call my agent . . . oh yeah, and don't get any older, okay?

ETA 8/29/09:

Okay, I have film on the brain. I just saw Nanny McPhee and I have a new favorite actress for Grace -- Eliza Bennett. You can see it, can't you?

And I know no one will agree with me, but I think Jason Flemyng would be a great Ulrik.

I'm not sure why I needed to edit this post so urgently, at 9 p.m. at night after watching Nanny McPhee. I just did. And now I have.

Anyway. The randomly generated winner of the audio book (only one, there were 48 comments and slightly fewer than that entries) was wandren -- shoot me an email!

Holy smokes I always underestimate how long it takes do tabulate contest entries when you're actually being honest about it. You know what I mean? You have to count the total number of entries from both blogs and then random number generate and then count through and make sure you've gotten the right number assigned to the right person and . . .

yeah, I know. You get it.

Anyway. I have winners, and I'm delighted to announce them!


winner of a finished copy of BALLAD, to be sent when I get them: mela_lyn

winner of another finished copy of BALLAD: persianfire

winner of a frame from the animated video: Sheri Mills Cook (who posted here as anon but left facebook link)

winner of the editor critique from Brian Farrey of Flux: cathschaffstump

and finally, winner of the Ballad ARC:

Jessica Kennedy! (who posted over on blogger)


Congrats folks and MAN thanks for the links love -- the BALLAD video got posted in over 250 places in five days. That's . . . insane. And I appreciate it!!

E-mail me, winners, and give me your mailing addresses!

Okay, and now the second contest. The promised contest for the Shiver audio books!

I've been asked approximately a million times who I was choose to play Sam and Grace if Shiver was made into a movie, and that inspired me to finally post this contest. This one is a lot simpler than the BALLAD contest.

I will give away one audio book for every fifty entries (so fifty entries means that I will randomly pick one winner, seventy five means I will randomly pick two, one hundred ten means I pick three, etc.), and you enter simply by posting a comment here saying who you would cast as Sam and Grace in a hypothetical Shiver movie. With links, pretty please, so that I can see!

On Friday, 9:30 EST, I'll pick winners through some mysterious means, and then I'll post who I would cast. Sound good? Go!


ETA: My crit partner, Tessa, informs me I sound incoherent with my math. I meant that I would give out 1 audio if I got 1-50 responses. Another if I got anything over 50 (50-100), and another in the next bracket of 50 (100-150). Etc. Savvy?

Okay, so today I am kicking off two contests (in two separate posts) that I've been talking about forever. First of all, the contest for the coveted Ballad advanced review copy, of which I have but one.

The nitty gritty on Ballad: it's a companion book/ sequel to Lament, but it stands utterly on its own if you haven't read Lament. It's the story of James, a kick-a$$ bagpiper who's offered an irresistible deal by a dangerous faerie muse. There is nookie, slight gore, and of course homicidal faerie action. Also angst. And a king of the dead. It's good times.

The rules for this contest are the same as the Shiver video contest. There will be four prizes to four people:

1) One advanced review copy of BALLAD, mailed immediately upon end of contest
2) One finished copy of BALLAD, mailed when I get my copies (September)
3) One OTHER finished copy of BALLAD, mailed when I get my copies
4) A frame of the winner's choice from the video

To be eligible for the lovely prizes, you must post the trailer on your blog or Facebook or twitter. Obviously I'm happier if you embed the video (code below) on your blog or FB rather than just link it, but obviously on Twitter you have to just link. Every place you link it to is an additional entry. Places I'll accept as valid entries: Facebook, livejournal blog, blogger blog, wordpress blog, Twitter, Myspace (if anyone still uses the devil's playground that is Myspace). You can post it anywhere else (please do!) but those are the only ones I'm counting.

Please note this contest is also being mirrored on my blogger blog.

So: the video. I animated a storyboard for it with several hundred panels, and then my sister and I headed into the studio to record the jig I'd written for it. The tune will be available for free download on my site closer to the book's release date (October 1st). (The Shiver music is already available there.)

Here's the video:



Shoot! Forgot to say, contest closes this Friday at 9 p.m. EST.

Okay! Phew -- sorry i'm a few minutes late, guys. I started tallying the entries at 8 and didn't expect it to take so long. I put everyone's entries in a document, numbered for each entry (not each person), and when I had them all totaled up, I used a random number generator to pick the prizes in order.

First, some stats.

You guys linked SHIVER's video 297 times, resulting in 1,307 views of it since June 29th. I also drank 9 liters of sweet tea since June 29th. That stat was not entirely necessary, but was entirely true. Anyway, you guys are awesome and I'm incredibly grateful for your support!

And here, without further ado . . . the winners! Winners, please email me with the address you'd like your goodies sent to.

1. CD of music for LAMENT/ SHIVER: anai415
2. CD of music for LAMENT/ SHIVER: veschwab
3. 15 minute live chat with me: inkbabies
4. Finished copy of SHIVER: Mya at Dissecting Perfection
5. Finished copy of SHIVER: alessandra_lee
6. ARC of SHIVER: lin17
7. ARC of SHIVER: MyNameIsEleni


Congrats, winners, and thank you so much to everyone else for entering and passing the word along!

And now for the contest! First of all, the lovely prizes.

1) Two ARCs of SHIVER, mailed out as soon as the contest is finished.
2) Two finished copies of SHIVER, mailed out as soon as I get my author's copies.
3) Two CDs of the music I wrote for SHIVER and LAMENT.
4) 15 minute live-chat with the author (that would be me) to talk about my books, your books, your dog, or whatever!

And the rules:

1) Watch the trailer I made for SHIVER below (it took me dozens of hours to make the hundreds of paper cut outs and then photograph the multiple frames per second)(Yes I am crazy).
2) Post a link to the trailer or embed the trailer online. Every unique place you post it counts as an entry. Sooo that means you can embed it on your LJ, post a link on twitter, post a link on your Facebook, and embed it on Myspace, and it would count as 4 entries.
3) Comment back here telling me where you linked it, numbered like so: 1. LJ, 2. Twitter, 3. Facebook, 4. Blogger, etc., with linkies, so I can spend my time writing more books instead of counting and verifying entries.

ETA: If you tweet it, kindly use the hash tag #shiver!

I will hold a Giant Drawing on Tuesday, July 7th, at 9 p.m., and post the winners here and on my Blogger blog.

Sound good?

Here's the trailer!

First of all, I wanted to thank everybody for a completely unbelievable contest. You guys were incredibly enthusiastic and generous and I appreciate you spreading the word about SHIVER around the cyberspace. All told, SHIVER's cover and info got posted on over one hundred and fifty blogs in a week. Um. That is totally crazy!

Anyway, so thanks to all of you. I wish I could give something cool to all of you. For the runners up, I've decided that i'm sending the team leader a signed copy of LAMENT and doing 5 critiques of 5 pages for any team members the leader chooses.

And of course, for the winning team, the prizes doubled when they hit 50, so it's all the prizes you see on the right:

- 3 ARCs of SHIVER, signed
- 8 signed copies of LAMENT
- a critique of five pages for every team member on the winning team (that would be represented by my smiling mug in that image)

So a huge congratulations to Team Raving Pen, helmed by goadingthepen, ravelda, and annemariewrites! I'll need each of you to send me an address so that I can send an ARC and a few LAMENTs to each of you (team leaders will disseminate these as they see fit).

As to the critiques, please send me an email by Monday letting me know that you will be sending me pages if you don't have the pages ready to send. Put CONTEST CRITIQUE and your story title in the subject line, so I know what it is (I get about 1800 emails a month, so this will make my life about two hundred times easier) and try to avoid using titles like MAKE YOUR MEMBER BIGGER or STOP BEING INTIMIDATED BY THAT MIDGET IN YOUR PANTS because they will go to my spam and be lost Forever.

Send everything to maggiestiefvater Aht gmail doht com. Except run it all together and obviously use @ and . I will tackle crits in the order that I get them.

Also, for critiques, I have three levels of burn. Let me know what's good for you when you send it your 5 pages.

1. I am a delicate lily. Point out my strengths and crit gently, please, so my petals don't fall off.
2. I am a petunia. I can take a lot, but if you step on me, dying is an option.
3. I am a dandelion. Lay it on me. I'll still be here when you're done.

Send the 5 pages either in the body of the email, as a .doc, or as an .rtf.

Phew. And without further ado, here are the members of Team Raving Pen (I think I got everyone, team leaders, let me know if I omitted anyone).

RAVING PEN

1. ravelda
2. goadingthepen
3. jessica_shea
4. britlitfantwin
5. shanasilver
6. music_lover3
7. eshakespear
8. edgyauthor
9. robinellen
10. juliakarr
11. lisa_schroeder
12. authorwithin
13. kbaccellia
14. latteya
15 eclectic_writer
16 carriejones
17 __bac__
18 sruble
19 gag01001
20 cyn2write
21 carrie_boo
22 afraclose
23 azang
24 inkbabies
25 kathys_shadow
26 crzywritermindi
27 veschwab
28 aliensplicer
29 dragonflame_05
30 brian_ohio
31 jeniwrites
32 denisejaden
33 tmthomas
34 coloradowriter
35 mandywriter
36 heatherkb
37 tamarak
38 janel_harrison
39 lillpluta
40 lalam
41 kristydempsey
42 miladyinsanity
43 elissadcruz
44 ecm_sketches
45 sixverstein
46 lux-st-clare.blogspot.com
47 aerinrose
48 pamm
49 lookingforalaskamusic
50 Bonibleaux Designs
51 learningtoread
52 arya_darcy
53 futuredoctor19
54 lindajsingleton
55 astres
56 confusedlook
57 zibeth
58 ebenstone
59 slushy_one
60 sarahlepstein
61 fandoria
62 bleauxleaux
63 sboman
64 bbovenguy
65 suzelle
66 sahm2
67 dawn_metcalf
68 queenofthefae
69 rosemaryinwheat
70 katharinethayer
71 sgchris
72 patesden
73 zhonghua2000
74 saffronlie
75 ladydaydream
76 rebness
77 pandorasblog
78 scrr

Thanks again to everyone for playing!!!!

1. Contest update. A reminder. This thing, which has become legend, ends at 8 p.m. EST tonight. I've decided that the runner up team will get a signed copy of LAMENT and 5 critiques of the first 5 pages of their mss. Right now, Team Raving Pen is at 61 and Team Babytoaster is at 46.

2. Yesterday, my brother helped me change my spark plugs on Loki for the first time. I've never done spark plugs before. The blister on my thumb is because I went for a V8 instead of a V6 - I swear it wasn't there until spark plug #7. You can see greasy evidence of my labors at write. These hands are skilled, baby!

3. I also mowed the lawn before I talked to my editor on the phone, which caused allergic snot. I don't know what I was thinking. Subconsciously, I must just like having a runny nose when I talk to my editors. Security blanket, I guess. Also, why is it that mowing is so much more satisfying than vacuuming? Anyway, so you'll notice that I look bedraggled but still smiley in the photo on the right. That is because I mowed in 80 degree weather, but I am filled with the glow that only 8 new spark plugs can create.

4. I have a book signing from 1-3 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble in Short Pump, VA tomorrow, which is near a giant mall that is near a organic pizza place. Guess which one I'll be hitting up after the signing? If you guessed the place that involves shoes, do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Anyway. Come see me.

5. An LJ'er has told me that some of the entries to the contest seem a little squiffy. As in, they are posted on new LJ's with no other posts or friends, or on LJs that have been dead for a year, or otherwise sketchy circumstances. I'm not sure what to do about this, as I didn't really specify "don't invent LJs for this contest" or "play nicely, my pets" in the contest rules -- I didn't really expect it to accomplish this scale, at the beginning. So for now, I'm just thinking upon it -- I haven't gone back and looked at every single link yet. The suggestion of foul play makes me Displeased, however, and Displeasing the Future Queen of America has never boded well. Bad things happen to small villages and countries with names people can't remember when the FQoA is enraged.

Okay, so there is much craziness going on with the ARC contest! I thought I would post a brief (unofficial) update.

These are rough numbers, if they look wonky to you, and on the last day of the contest, I will be going back through every single comment, tallying again, and checking the entries to make sure they indeed have the cover and a link to the pre-order page.

But I figured I would do a shout out to our three front runners (and the only ones that by my count have so far gotten the five entries needed to qualify):

Steph Su has managed to get 5 friends to post!

babytoaster has 14!

And Team Raving Pen has 24!

So right now Raving Pen is in the lead (and 26 commenters away from doubling the prizes) but as the contest runs until the 15th, it's still anybody's game.

And a weird, weird game it has turned out to be! whoo!

Oh, and for any Blogger fiends out there, I am now mirroring my posts over at http://maggiestiefvater.blogspot.com. Because I know some bloggers prefer it.