Countdown to TLS Contest winners

Hey all-

I'm packing and trying to get ready for my trip to L.A. for the SCBWI Summer Conference this weekend, but today is the 28th so that means I need to post the winners for the Countdown to THE LOST SAINT Contest:

1st place (winner of 3 books)- WulfLuva

2nd place (winner of 2 books)- Erika from Moonlight Book Reviews

3rd place (winner of 1 book)- Haunted Wonderland

Winners, please check out this list of books and email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com and tell me your top 3 book choices. 1st place winner gets 1st preference, then 2nd, then 3rd, if there's an overlap in your book selections.

Everyone else, be sure to come back here on the 28th of each month for a new contest leading up to the release of THE LOST SAINT on December 28th, 2010.

Announcements:

1. I will be attending the SCBWI Summer Conference this weekend. If you're going to be there, be sure to say hello if you see me.

2. I will be participating in the 3rd annual Writing for Charity event in Sandy, Utah on August 21st. (Last year it was held in Ogden.) This is a great opportunity to meet many authors and get your 1st page critiqued by a published author. There will even be an evening event with food and entertainment and a smaller panel of authors including me, James Dashner, Brandon Mull, Jessica Day George, and Ally Condie. For more info, CLICK HERE.

3. On August 10th, 11th, and 13th, I will be participating in a series of online chats hosted by the ladies at Eve's Fan Garden called A Midsummer's Night Chat. Several authors will be participating, and everyone is welcome to come chat and ask questions. For more info about the event and the discussion topics, CLICK HERE.

4. On October 9th, I will be speaking a panel at the Utah chapter of RWA's Heart of the West Conference. This looks like a conference that is a rollicking good time. For more info, see HERE.

5. On October 15th, I will be speaking at the Salt Lake City public library. More info coming soon.

6. On October 23rd, I will be speaking at the Saint George Book Festival. More info coming soon.

7. On October 30th, I will be a featured author at the Provo Teen Book Festival along with SCOTT WESTERFELD!!! More info coming soon.

Wow, October is looking busy . . . but also like a lot of fun!

THE LOST SAINT Official Cover and Countdown to TLS Contest

7/20/2010

So I finally have permission to show the world the official cover for THE LOST SAINT. Yay! I've been sitting on this one since like April while they made a few tweaks . . . and I am terrible at keeping secrets.

But first off, I have to show one of the . . . um . . . failed cover designs for TLS made by my fabulous editor, Greg Ferguson. He tried to enter it in the fan-made cover contest, but being an Egmont employee, and because of it sheer . . . um . . . fawesomeness, we had to disqualify him.

(Note: This is NOT the real TLS cover.)

Love ya, Greg. But, um, NO.

(In actuality, this was originally a gag cover made by Greg for the 1st TDD book after I think he'd been awake for about 48 hours straight trying to find just the right image for the real cover. . . so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on his sanity.)

Anyway, on to the real THE LOST SAINT cover.

Drumroll . . .

Drumroll . . .

Drumroll . . .

Taduh!

Eep, isn't it just gorgeous? I am in love. (Although, I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I need to replace all the purple in my author wardrobe with blue.)

And yes, there will be TLS nail polish. Just you wait!

And yes, there is a contest to celebrate the cover.

I'm hosting the first the Countdown to THE LOST SAINT Contest. As many of you know, TLS debuts on the 28th of this December. That's barely a few days more than 5 months away! Therefore, I will host a contest on the 28th of each month up until the book debut . . . but I'm starting this months contest a few days early in honor of the cover going live.

So here's what you have to do to enter:

Share your love for the THE LOST SAINT cover . . . or just share the cover. Post it on your blog/facebook/twitter/website. Or simply refer people to this post so they can see the cover. Leave a comment in this post, telling me what you've done (and leave a link). Followers always get an extra point. You can enter the contest up until 11:59 pm on July 27th, and the winners will be announced on July 28th.

I will pick 3 winners.

Winner #1 will get first dibs at picking 3 books from THIS LIST.

Winner #2 will have second dibs at picking 2 books from the list.

Winner #3 will have third dibs at picking 1 book from the list.

Oh, and one last thing:

Have you heard about the Writing For Charity event? This is a really great conference that supports a really great cause: an attempt to put a book in the hands of every needy child. The conference was started by Shannon Hale three years ago, and will be bigger and better this years than ever before. I'm one of the participating authors, along with many, many others. Please check out the event and come support kids in need if you can.

Books available to choose from in the Countdown to THE LOST SAINT Contest

Raised by Wolves by Jenn Lynne Barnes (Hardcover)

Siren by Tricia Rayburn (Hardcover)**

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (ARC) (Note: Apparently my younger sister borrowed this book off my bookshelf the last time she came to visit so the cover is a little hammered--but it's still plenty readable.)

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (Hardcover)

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (Hardcover)

Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler (Hardcopy)**

The Princess and The Snowbird by Mette Ivie Harrison (Hardcopy)**

Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams (Hardcopy)**

Princess For Hire by Lindsey Leavitt (Hardcopy)**

Jungle Crossing by Sydney Salter (Hardcopy)**

Plain Kate by Erin Bow (ARC)**

The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff (Hardcopy)**

Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen (Paperback)**

The Indigo King by James A. Owen (Hardcopy)**

The Darkness Under The Water by Beth Kanell (Hardcopy)**

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy (Hardcopy)

The Invisible Order by Paul Crilley (ARC)

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff (ARC)

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland (ARC)

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Okler (Paperback)

Beastly by Alex Flinn (Paperback)

Things I Know About Love by Kate Le Vann (Hardcover)

The Boy Who Could Fly by James Norcliffe (Hardcopy)

The Only Alien On The Planet by Kristen D. Randle (Paperback)

** Signed copy!!

Bree's Book-Bag Blowout Contest Winner and other updates

Hey all!

I turned in copyedits for TLS at about 2:45 a.m. this morning, and the manuscript is getting type-set right now for ARCs. I can't wait to see it in book form!

Here are a few things you should be aware of . . . and the winner of the big book-bag blowout contest.

1. Have you voted yet in the fan-made TLS cover contest yet? Voting goes until July 18th, so be sure to pop over to Page Turner's blog and cast your vote for your favorite fan-made cover. The winner will be announced on July 19th. Click HERE to see all the fabulous fan-art and vote for your favorite.

2. Did you hear that the real cover for THE LOST SAINT will be revealed right here on my blog on July 20th? And I'm sure I will have some sort of contest to celebrate.

3. On to the the blowout winner...

Yowza, guys! Between comments here on my blog and entries sent by email, there were over 1100 entries in the Book-Bag Blowout Contest. We counted each entry and then used Random.org to choose our winner. As I write this post, the TDD trailer stands at 4,433 views. That's pretty darn close to 4,500, so I'm going to let the winner choose 9 books to go in the book-bag.

And the winner is: Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic!!

Jessica, please choose 9 books from this list (from Groups A & B) and email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com with your choices and mailing address.

Thank you everyone for entering the contest! I am so so happy with how well everyone spread the word about the TDD trailer. We've been rockin' the internets for the last couple of weeks. We didn't quite get enough views to add THE LOST SAINT to the bag, so I will have to come up with another fun way to give that ARC away in the future. Any suggestions?

That's all for now.

Be sure to come back here on the 20th for the TLS cover reveal. I so can't wait to show it to you all.

Contest Updates

7/12/2010

Hey all, just a few quick updates about the contests:

1. Voting for THE LOST SAINT Fan-made Cover Contest has begun over on Page Turner's Blog. There were 22 wonderful entries and we need your help to pick the winner. Whoever gets the most votes will win a TDD t-shirt and an advanced reader's copy of THE LOST SAINT. Be sure to check out all the covers HERE and vote--they're absolutely fabulous. I will also select another winner whose entry is closest to the real cover. Winners will be announced on July 19th.

2. The real cover for THE LOST SAINT will be revealed here on my blog on July 20th. I'm sure I'll have something to give away to celebrate, so be sure to come back then.

3. The Book-Bag Blowout Contest in celebration of the TDD trailer is going strong. We're closing in on 4,000 views, which means there will soon be 8 books in the book-bag I'm giving away. For details on the contest go HERE. (It's an awesome contest, so if you haven't entered, go do it now!)

4. Since everyone has been so awesome about spreading the word about the TDD trailer & contest, I've decided to lower the number of views to 5000 instead of 5500 for when I add an ARC of THE LOST SAINT to the book bag. So at 5000 views, there will be 10 books in the prize bag and a copy of TLS. Still haven't entered the contest--seriously, go do it now!

5. If the TDD trailer gets 50,000 views by 11:59 pm on the July 14th, I'll put an iPad in the prize bag. Probable? No. Possible? Sure.

6. Commented on the contest and it hasn't shown up? Leave a comment on this post then, or email your entry to me directly at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com.

7. There have been so many entries into the Book-Bag Blowout, I'm going to need an extra day to sort out all the entries and pick a winner. So the winner of the contest will be announced on July 16th instead of the 15th. Sorry for the delay, but I want to make sure that every entry gets counted.

Thanks so much for spreading the word!!