In honor of my upcoming debut novel EVER, releasing October 1, 2012 via Curiosity Quills Press, I'd like to welcome you to the ...
GHOSTS (and the girls who love them!)
BLOG-HOP AND GIVEAWAY
Please read all notes and rules carefully, and PLEASE ask me any questions you may have in the comments section below.
A couple quick FAQs:
WHAT IS A BLOG HOP?
A blog hop is a fun little activity that brings many different bloggers together, to move from one blog to another reading entries and leaving comments. By including the link list in each participating blog, your name and blog will be reaching many people you may have never reached before.
WHAT IS FLASH FICTION?
In my eyes, flash fiction is a short story, done in a flash. Easy enough, right? Well, for a more detailed answer, please go check out this post on 365 TOMORROWS. I could never explain it better than they did.
Now let's get flashing and hopping, shall we!?
SCHEDULE:
- August 31st-September15th: SIGN UPS via Mr. Linky Tool below. (Yes, I know the button says September 1st, but I started a day early. Sorry for any confusion.)
- September 15th-30th: Post your flash fiction ghost story entries on your blog. ***Notice I changed this back to the 15th-30th. I want people to have plenty of time to enter. HOWEVER. The longer your post is up, the more likely you are to have traffic and votes, so I really want to STRESS the importance of getting your post up on the 15th or very shortly thereafter.
- Tell everyone you know about the contest! Go around and check out everyone else's posts and vote for your favorites by commenting. *This is when you want to get your friends to vote for your entry too. :-) You can vote for as many as you'd like, but only ONE VOTE PER ENTRY. The finalists will be chosen by the amount of peer votes they receive on their blog post. (I suggest removing any captchas you may have on your blog during this time. You want to make it quick and easy for people to comment.)
- October 1st-15th: After I tally all the comments on each entry, I will announce the FIVE finalists on my blog. The judges will read each finalist's entry and privately tell me who their favorite is. Judge voting will not be public, but the judges may comment on any entries at any time, if they so choose. Please remember that comments from judges are NO INDICATION of who the winner will be.
- WEEK OF October 16th: WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!
THE NITTY GRITTY (aka THE RULES):
- SIGN UPS: Sign-up linky tool will open (see below) as soon as this post is live, and the linky tool will remain open until September 30th, 2012. Which means that you can join the blog hop at ANY TIME, even the very last day! (YAY!) You must sign up with your name and email address (email address will not be public), and link to YOUR BLOG or WEBSITE.
- FLASH: Write a flash fiction piece, no less than 300 words, and no more than 1000 words, inspired by EVER's main theme: GHOSTLY PARANORMAL ROMANCE. It can be sweet, scary, sexy, young adult, middle grade, adult, etc. My only requirement aside from sticking with the theme of ghosts is NO PORN. A little erotica is fine, but nothing crazy, please. Keep it classy. ;-)
- POST: Your story must be posted on YOUR blog or website, BY OCTOBER 1st. Any posts that go live AFTER 10/1 will be disqualified from the contest.
- VOTING: All positive comments are allowed, so feel free to tell your fellow contestants how much you love their flash pieces. BUT. As far as voting goes, ONLY comments with the actual word "VOTE" will count as votes towards the five finalists. So if your crazy Aunt Gertie comes along and leaves a comment asking you to come over later and let her chickens out, that WILL NOT count as a vote. Only comments from an actual person (NO ANONYMOUS VOTES) with the singular word VOTE will count as votes. Any questions? Please leave them in the comment section below.
- LINK: Do not forget to add the linky tool below at the bottom of your post. (It says "Get the code here. Click on that and add it in the HTML of your blog post.)
FLASH FICTION REQUIREMENTS:
- Entry MUST be a GHOST story
- Must be between 300-1000 words
*Story Request: Love between a human and a ghost would be an awesome inclusion in your flash fiction entry, but is not a requirement. (Make it a love triangle like EVER's, and I'll love you forever.)
JUDGES PANEL:
- Jessa Russo (ME!) - Contest Host and Author of EVER, debuting 10/1/12
- Krystal Wade, Author of the Darkness Falls Series
- Liz Norris, Author of UNRAVELING
- Julia A. Weber, Literary Agent at JA Weber Literary Agency
- Nicole Wolverton, Writer and Creator of the ever-popular #5MinuteFiction series!
- Laura Hughes, aka Mittens Morgul , Writer and all around awesome person.
- Tamara Mataya, aka Feaky Snucker, Writer and BEST CRIT PARTNER EVER.
GIVEAWAY PRIZE:
- NO PARTICIPATION NECESSARY! Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to be entered to win an e-book copy of my debut novel EVER! You don't even have to participate in the flash fiction blog hop to be entered! SWEET, RIGHT?
PARTICIPATION PRIZE:
- Each person who participates in the flash contest (and follows all the rules) will be entered to win a signed print copy of EVER. :-) I will RANDOMLY choose ONE winner for this prize, and all you have to do is participate! YAY!
GRAND PRIZE:
- ONE finalist will be chosen by the panel of judges to be the GRAND PRIZE WINNER, winning a prize pack of awesomeness (aka the following items) ... are you ready for this, you guys????
And now for the BOOKS!!!
One (1) signed print copy of EVER by Jessa Russo (That's ME! Yay!)
One (1) signed print copy of UNRAVELING by Liz Norris
One (1) Kindle e-book copy of WILDE'S FIRE by Krystal Wade, and a matching, SIGNED POSTER!
One e-book copy of ONE GHOST PER SERVING by Nina Post
TWO (2) e-books from Micheal Shean!
One (1) e-book copy of FAMILY CURSEMAS by Rod Kierkegaard
One (1) e-book copy of SKUNK-APE SEMESTER by Mike Robinson
One (1) e-book copy of RETURN OF THE CROWN by Millie Burns
FOUR (4) e-books from Vicki Keire! FOUR!
From The Angels' Edge Series: GIFTS OF THE BLOOD and DARKNESS IN THE BLOOD
From Chronicles of Nowhere Series: WORLDS BURN THROUGH and SHADOWED GROUND
From The Angels' Edge Series: GIFTS OF THE BLOOD and DARKNESS IN THE BLOOD
From Chronicles of Nowhere Series: WORLDS BURN THROUGH and SHADOWED GROUND
TO ENTER THE FLASH FICTION BLOG-HOP:
TO ENTER THE *NO PARTICIPATION* GIVEAWAY:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
GRAB THE BUTTON!
So, do I have to have my story up on my blog before I enter with the linky tool?
ReplyDeleteNo, you can enter via the Linky tool any time, then post your story on the 15th. :-)
DeleteThat's an amazing prize package!
ReplyDeleteExcellent giveaway, and hopefully I'll have time to enter the flashfiction contest.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your book release. :D
Oh, and in answer to the question in the rafflecoptor giveaway, my favorite paranormal romance is the Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White
DeleteOoh! I haven't read that yet! I'll have to add it to my TBR. ;-)
DeleteYou will love Paranormalcy, Jessa! I did anyway, but only really the first in the series.xx
DeleteIs the linky suposed to be for the website or the actual post?
ReplyDeleteHi Gloria! Just link up to the website or blog where you will be posting your flash fiction contest entry on September 15th. :-)
DeleteUm. What happened to the Linky?
ReplyDeleteAaaaah!!! I forgot that the free trial was expiring soon! I just paid, so it should be working again any minute. So sorry! What a way to start the contest.
DeleteHmmm, I think I would have to go with all BDB books by JR Ward ;) lol
ReplyDeleteI have those on my TBR! Now I am even more interested in reading them!
DeleteI don't think I've ever read a paranormal romance but all the above mentioned are going on my to read list.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I've been adding all of the recs to my TBR as well!
DeleteOK. OK. You've convinced me. I'll try something I've never tried before. Ummm... Guess I should find a "Ghostly Paranormal Romance" tale or two to read before I try writing one? Maybe?
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're entering! I hope you enjoy trying something new!
DeleteBlood Magic by Tessa Gratton
ReplyDeleteTaste by Kate Evangelista
Read those two recently and loved them both. :D
Awesome! Adding them both to my list!
DeleteHi Jessa!
ReplyDeleteYou already know my answer to the Rafflecopter entry is Vampire Academy... though while we are on the topic of ghost lovin', I love Meg Cabot's Mediator Series just as much! :O <3 Jesse <3
I don't have a favorite paranormal romance book, odd as that may seem
ReplyDeleteHmmm ... in that case, maybe EVER can be your new favorite. lol ;-)
DeleteI don't know if it counts are paranormal romance per se, but I LOVE the Sookie Stackhouse books. She makes out with vampires quite a lot...
ReplyDeleteI just hope my story is "ghost" enough...I went a slightly more traditional route.
I'm excited to read it, Kel! Thanks for entering!
DeleteSounds like a great blog hop, can't wait to start writing my entry! Should be a lot of fun :)
ReplyDeleteGreat! Can't wait to read it!
Deletewow! this sounds awesome! thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Thanks for participating!
DeleteWill the bloghop linky only go live on the 15th? I'm trying to schedule my post because I only have mobile internet at home.
ReplyDeleteHey Brandi - the linky should be live now, and will remain live until October. That way, any latecomers can still enter. I would advise scheduling your post for early September 15th, so that people who are planning to hop around on that day will see your contest entry.
DeleteOnce the 15th hits, I will continue to remind people throughout September to go around and read the entries and vote for their favorites.
I'm all signed up, but when I try to add the link for the hop to my post, Blogger tells me it's broken. I think it may just not like me.
DeleteOkay, let me see if I'm understanding. ;-) When you click on "Get the code" it takes you to the linky site and you see the box with the html code in it, correct? You copy and paste that into your blogger post, but its not working?
DeleteAre you entering the code into the HTML side of composing a post, not the "Compose" side? (In the upper left corner, where you're title is, it says "COMPOSE" and "HTML" ... make sure you're in the HTML side.
Let me know if it still doesn't work.
Haha, that was it! Much obliged!
DeleteHey Jessa! I have a friend who doesn't have a blog (OTHER than Rebekah - what's up with that?) who is going to write one. If I put hers up on my blog will I be able to make another linky link to that blog post, or will it just go to my blog in general? That might be confusing. Do you know? What would you like me to do? :)
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. I think I can set up a link to my own blog for her post. Can you just leave me her name here, please?
DeleteBritton Crites
DeleteOh. And random - my favorite paranormal romance would probably be The Dark Divine series by Bree Despain. :) Just fyi.
ReplyDeleteAdding to my TBR list! :-)
DeleteMy fav paranormal romance is "dead until dark" by charlaine Harris. My fav book of all time is "the book thief". Highly recommended!
ReplyDeleteHope I win a copy of Ever, Jessa! Can't wait to read it:)
I really like "My Dead Boyfriend" by Barbara Rose. (I don't have an absolute favorite though.)
ReplyDelete