20 authors giving away 25 books on June 20th!

Whew. That's a lot of 20's.

But you read it right ... there's an amazing 20 author / 25 book event on the horizon! 

My dear pal and critique partner, Bethany Crandell, and I will be kicking it off during our live chat with Doodle's Book Reviews on June the 20th. RSVP to the live chat here. 

The giveaway goes live at the close of the chat, but be sure to tune in during the show if you want to UP YOUR ODDS OF WINNING! We'll be giving out answers to two of the questions on the rafflecopter (worth 10 entries!) while we're talking about reading, writing, and critiquing.

As for the books up for grabs in the #BadAssReads giveaway, here's a sneak peek:

The 20 contributing authors include: 

Bethany Hagen, Sara B. Larson, Lori M. Lee, Lynne Matson, Anne Blankman, Lindsay Cummings, Paula Stokes, Jaye Robin Brown, Bethany Crandell, Rebekah Crane, Jennifer Salvato Doktorski, Eric Devine, Angela V. Cook, Marci Lynn Curtis, Jen McConnel, A. Lynden Rolland, Stephanie Diaz, Kristi Helvig, Tonya Kuper, A.G. Howard.

There will be seven prize packs, each containing three or more books. To see all of them, go here.

My personal pack will contain a signed PB of Splintered and Unhinged + an Ensnared audio book, so you can get the whole series. 

And as a bonus, I'll include a signed ‪#‎Untamed‬ postcard that previews the opening lines from the feature story SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS.

Please note: the #BadAssReads 25-book giveaway is domestic only, because the size of the prize packs makes them too expensive to ship to foreign countries. 

BUT, I wanted to do something for the INTL readers, too. So, domestic and INTL readers alike, help us get the word out via twitter/instagram/FB/tumblr, and any other social media venue (be sure to use the #BadAssReads hashtag), and get your name put in a raffle to win one of five Untamed swag packs that will include a signed Untamed postcard like the one above. On June 19th, I'll let random.org pick the 5 winning names.

***PLEASE NOTE: The INTL UNTAMED swag pack giveaway has ended! Below are the five winners. 
(If you're listed, please email me at anita(at)aghoward(dot)com so I can get address specifics for mailing out your prize)***

Amanda Colin
Rina Simm
Haley Mccane
Marco Ornelas
Michelle @ Much Loved Books

Okay, that's all there is to it! Good luck with the giveaways. And domestic participants, hope to see you at the live chat for a chance at an extra 10 entries in the #BadAssReads event! 

Celebrating Wonderland Style...

 

I've been promising a giveaway for a while now and finally have something worth celebrating, so I'm going to share some great news with you + give you the chance to win some awesome prizes.

 

First, the awesome news...

 

1.) I finally finished writing book 3 of the Splintered Series, Ensnared, and am now working on edits. So we're getting ever closer to the shelves! I've also seen the book cover and let me just say... WOW. They've outdone themselves. It's BEAUTIFUL. I hope to share that with you soon.

 

2.) My best pal Bethany Crandell is about to debut with her fabulous contemporary YA novel, Summer on the Short Bus. Her book comes out April 1st, no foolin', and she has an awesome tour going on this week through next, with her own FAB prizes to give away (domestic only). She also donated a signed book to my giveaway, so let's help her get the word out!

 

Here are the prizes up for grabs for my giveaway,

and yes, it's INTL...

 

2 First Place: Signed Splintered Paperbacks

 

 

 

Second Place: Signed Summer on the Short Bus Paperback

 

 

Third Place: Tea Party Teapot Bookmark

 

 

Fourth Place: Alice in Wonderland Bracelet

 

 

 

Fifth Place: Alice in Wonderland Button

 

 1-inch circumference

 

 

Sixth place: Signed Splintered Series Swag Pack

 

 

 

That's seven frabjous prizes for seven fabulous people.

 

Just follow the instructions on the rafflecopter to enter, and thanks for celebrating with me!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal!!!

Guys, I'm SO EXCITED about this. My pal, Bethany Crandell, is debuting her YA contemporary novel, SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS, April 1st of 2014. And today is her cover reveal!

Here's a sneak peek:

Here is the synopsis of AWESOME:

Spoiled, Versace-clad Cricket Montgomery has seventeen years of pampering under her belt. So when her father decides to ship her off to a summer camp for disabled teens to help her learn some accountability, Cricket resigns herself to three weeks of "handicapped hell".

Her sentence takes a bearable turn as she discovers the humor and likeability of the campers and grows close to fellow counselors. Now, if she can just convince a certain Zac Efron look-alike with amazing blue eyes that she finally realizes there's life after Gucci, this summer could turn out to be the best she's ever had.

Summer on the Short Bus is a very non-P.C., contemporary YA with a lot of attitude, tons of laughs, and a little life lesson along the way.

Want to see the full cover and have a chance to #win a signed ARC? Hop over here for the official cover reveal!

Free Books!

Four months and counting till my amazing friend and equally amazing author, Bethany Crandell, will release her debut YA, SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS, through Running Press Kids (a division of the Perseus Book Group).

To celebrate, she’s having a FAB giveaway: FREE books and LOTS of swaggery. Click the link for deets…

http://rookieriter.blogspot.com/2013/12/running-press-introduction-and-huge.html

Query Trackers Making Tracks, #12

Today is installment number twelve of my "first Friday of the month" series on successful authors from QueryTracker. Some of my guests have agents, others have found success in less conventional ways. But one thing they all have in common is the utilization of the QueryTracker website to help make their tracks in the publishing world.

Today’s guest, Miss Bethany Crandell, wears many hats. She's known as: #shakiragoat, @rookieriter, or Rookstar on twitter, and BethanyMC on QT, or just good ol' Bethany over at her Rookie Riter blog. But underneath all those hats is the secret to her witty cynicism and hysterical charm: she has a brain hamster who keeps her creative wheels turning. And he's quite good at his job, considering Bethany has recently signed with agent Rachael Dugas of Talcott Notch Literary Services. Click here for her success story on QT.

This interview is extra-special to my heart because over the course of the past few months, Bethany and I have become very dear friends. It's almost like I'm having her over to the house for the first time, so I'm all nervous and aflutter trying to get the dusting done  and the cobwebs swiped away (ergo the huge award post last week). Now that the big day has finally arrived, I'll push up the special chair for her,

Offer her a margarita, and once she's all comfy-cozy, we'll settle in for the interview.

AGH: Welcome Bethany! Could you give us a quick summary of the book which snagged your agent?
      
BC: SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS: After a botched party attempt at the country club, seventeen-year-old Cricket has been sentenced to work as a counselor at a summer camp in Western Michigan. As if being left for dead in mosquito country with limited cell coverage isn’t bad enough, she learns that Camp I Can isn’t just an ordinary summer camp. It’s a camp for disabled teens. What she learns about herself, and her differently-abled campers, after three weeks of handicapped hell is inspiring, funny and life-changing. 

Side note: I’m the mother of a special needs kiddo, so I’m personally connected to this topic. This isn’t a book with a message. It’s just a story about people being real—P.C. be gone!

AGH: Before you signed with your agent, how many books had you tried to query?
      
BC: One. STALKING PEGGY FLEMMING was my first attempt at a novel. I had no idea what I was doing. It's actually a pretty good story, but it needs some special lovin’ that I am not prepared to give right now.
 
AGH: What were the responses to those queries (stat-wise: fulls, partials, etc.)?
      
BC: Actually, not bad for a first effort. As I recall, I had a handful of partials and six or seven requests for the full. (I think I sent out about 90 queries). Most of the feedback was the same, though. Great concept, strong voice, but they didn’t know how to market it. The protag is 17 but the story is set in the late 1980s. A contemporary YA is usually current—was it YA? Was it women’s fiction? Oh the drama. J 

SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS was around 90 queries, too. I think there were a total of 12 requests for the full over ~6 months of query time.
     
AGH: What genre(s) do you write?
        
BC: Based on my answer to question #3 I’m probably not in any position to answer that. *hee* I write YA, and that’s what I considered the first novel to be, too.

AGH: What inspired your very first book idea?
        
BC: Growing up the youngest daughter to a Christian Reformed minister, I was well aware that the world’s expectations of who I should be didn’t mirror who I was. Thankfully my parents didn’t subscribe to that notion. I was given a ton of freedom to be myself—no matter how contradictory to my dad’s profession that seemed to the outside world. That’s ultimately what led to my first novel—the idea of what it would be like to have your parents wish you were someone else. STALKING PEGGY FLEMMING was about a girl whose mother was so obsessed with a former Olympian that she raised her to be just like her—instead of letting her be who she was.
 
AGH: How do you come up with titles?
        
BC: Usually while under my hair dryer. It’s true. I have a whole lot of hair, and my Revlon Ion Pro Stylist (I’m hoping to get paid for product placement someday) provides the perfect combination of solitude and white noise. I do my best thinking under there.

AGH: What books / authors have most influenced your own style and concepts?
     
BC: The first book I remember falling in love with was LORD OF THE FLIES. We read it freshman year of high school. I remember feeling anxious and uncomfortable while I read that—how chaotic it became when the boys started turning on each other, and then when they dropped the rock on Piggy…Poor Piggy! But as shocking as it was, it was also incredibly liberating. Up until then my reading fixes were through safer books: Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, etc., but that book allowed me entrance into a world that felt a little dangerous, but because it was on paper, I knew it was safe.

AGH: How did you find QueryTracker, and how did it help you in your effort to get inside the publishing doors?
  
BC: I was having a private Google party one day and stumbled upon it. I used QT with my first book, but was too insecure about what I was doing to dare comment and actually “engage” in conversations with other writer’s about my book. (I didn’t even dare call myself a writer at that point.) As the rejections came in, and my skin grew nice and thick, I started revising, going to conferences, working with a writing coach, and then I got some courage to put myself out there. QT was the perfect format for that. When I was ready to query THE SHORT BUS I dove in head first; engaging with other writers, following comments, searching for new agents, looking up stats.

Bottom line: QT was a great place for me to get comfortable being a writer.
 
AGH: Have you recently learned anything about the business side of publishing that you can share with up and coming writers?
 
BC: I’ve learned that agents aren’t evil, manuscript-hating trolls who feast on the dreams of hopeful authors for dinner. They’re actually cool people who want your book to be as successful as you do. (Who knew?!)

AGH: Do you have any current news to announce?
 
BC: We are officially on submission. So far it’s going very well.


                                     **Five for fun**

AGH: In your opinion, what was the best thing before sliced bread?

BC: This is a toss-up. Either the DVR or guacamole.

AGH: Which would you rather do: carry an umbrella or sing in the rain?

BC: I have LARGE hair. (My fro was frisked by airport security—no lie) Venturing out without an umbrella is completely out of the question. I’d be targeted as a terrorist for sure.
 
AGH: What’s your favorite breakfast?

BC: Mmm…maple & brown sugar oats topped with blue & blackberries with a banana on the side.
   
AGH: Are you Team Dog or Team Cat?
 
BC: I have no use for a cat. I have a nine-year-old daughter. If I’m in the mood to be ignored, glared at, or judged for things I’ve yet to do—I will just barge into her bedroom. GO TEAM DOG, WOOF!
 
AGH: Drinking tea … pinky up, or heavy on the Long Island?
    
BC: Neither. Pinkies will be wrapped around the beer bottle right beside the other fingers.

~~~

Thank you for the interview, Bethany! LOL about the airport security frisking your hair. That would actually make a hilarious scene in a book. ;D 

Don’t forget to visit Bethany’s blog and follow her on twitter to stay abreast of news and announcements. Also, please leave her any questions, comments, or kudos below. I know she'll be thrilled to see them!

 
Bethany, I'm so excited your book is on sub, and hope the submission trail is short and lucrative for you! I wish you every success. Everyone else, have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you next week.