September Winners!

By random drawing, the September TRANCE Countdown winners are:

Custom-Engraved Digital Keychain & $50 Amazon Gift Card: Varissa

$50 Amazon Gift Certificate: Spav

Please send your mailing instructions to gerb(@) lindagerber (.) com and we'll get those sent out to you!

Everyone else, join us these next two weeks for our Final Countdown TRANCE celebration and more chances to win!

Special thanks to our friends at CSN for pitching in once again so we can bring you a digital camera grand prize. Check out the CSN online stores for everything from nightstands to pots and pans, and of course, this cool digital camera. Thank you, CSN!

Countdown prizes, participants and rules in the next post. Watch for it!

Freebie Friday with Moi!

September's TRANCE Countdown is all about the numbers.


Days until TRANCE hits the shelves


Days left in September to play


Ways to Enter


Chances to win



ARCS up for grabs

Amazon gift cards on the table




Cool custom engraved digital keychain


Prizes:

This month's grand prize is a $50 Amazon gift certificate and a custom-engraved digital photo keychain.

A second winner will also receive a $50 Amazon gift certificate.

Each Friday, a signed TRANCE ARC, along with TRANCE bookmarks and a signed TRANCE cover flat is up for grabs.

How to enter:

1. Comment on any post on this blog this month. Each comment = 1 entry
2. Send your friends to the blog. Each mention from a visitor that you sent them = 1 entry
3. Tweet about the TRANCE countdown. Each tweet = 1 entry.
4. Post on myspace or facebook about the TRANCE countdown. Each post = 1 entry
5. Blog about the TRANCE countdown. Each blog post = 1 entry
6. Tweet about TRANCE. Each tweet = 1 entry
7. Post on myspace or facebook about TRANCE. Each post = 1 entry
8. Blog about TRANCE. Each blog post = 1 entry
9. Find the TRANCE reviews online (links in the sidebar) and leave a comment. Each review visited = 1 entry. (If you have reviewed TRANCE, thank you! You may count that as your entry.)
10. Change your profile picture on your blog, twitter, myspace or facebook account to the TRANCE cover. Each week this month that TRANCE is your profile picture = 2 entries.

Today's question: What is your favorite song, book, or movie that has a number (or the word "number") in the title? Leave a comment below for your chance to win this week's signed TRANCE ARC and to earn one entry in the month's grand prize drawings. The winner of the ARC will be drawn on Wednesday, September 8.

GCC Bonus with Kristina Springer, and TRANCE Countdown Continues

As promised, promo week continues with a special GCC tour appearance by Kristina Springer. Kristina is the author of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, the forthcoming PUMPKIN PRINCESS (fall 2011), and of course, her newly-released book, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS. You can find Kristina hanging around the web on facebook, on twitter, on her blog, on Author2Author or on her website.


Here's the official blurb about MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS:

Seventh grade was supposed to be fun, but Tori is having major drama with her BFF, Sienna. Sienna changed a lot over the summer—on the first day of school she’s tan, confident, and full of stories about her new dreamy boyfriend. Tori knows that she’s totally making this guy up. So Tori invents her own fake boyfriend, who is better than Sienna’s in every way. Things are going great—unless you count the whole lying-to-your-best-friend thing—until everyone insists Tori and Sienna bring their boyfriends to the back-to-school dance.

The Center for Children's Books calls MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS "cleverly depicted". Kirkus Reviews agrees, and says the "dialog is realistic" and the personalities "refreshing." And School Library Journal calls it a "fun read" and says, "The themes will resonate with any girl who’s ever gone through the hardships of middle school: friendship, boys, popularity, and, most importantly, choosing to do the right, but often more difficult, thing.”

Please join me in a huge congrats for Kristina's release week, and go grab a copy of MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And now, also as promised, the details of September's TRANCE Countdown Contest.

This contest will kick off in a special Freebie Friday edition right here on the blog.

Up for grabs this month:

One custom-engraved digital photo keychain from wholeslekeychain.com

Two $50 Amazon giftcards, and

Four signed TRANCE ARCs, with accompanying bookmarks and signed cover flat.

Want to get a jump on the competition? Leave a comment below that has something to do with numbers. Use your imagination, but keep it clean. Your comment will earn you an extra entry in this month's contest.

UNRAVELED hunt... and Winners!!!

As I promised, this week is full of promotions. Today, I'm part of the Hunt for UNRAVELED, the latest in Gena Showalter's YA series, INTERTWINED. To celebrate this new release, Gena and her author BFFs are hosting a 4-day scavenger hunt on their blogs... including this one!

Three grand prize winners will each win a $100 Visa gift card, plus Gena’s giving away signed copies of UNRAVELED to five lucky runner-ups! All you have to do is find all eight letters, unscramble them and email the word to Contests(AT)KnightAgency.net. What could be easier than that? Today, Marley Gibson and I have our letters up front and center. To get the skinny on where the other letters are hiding in the great internet universe, click here for a contest road map and rules.

Participating UNRAVELED hunt blogs include superstar authors Rachel Caine, PC Cast, Marley Gibson, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Tina Ferraro... and moi. This contest runs from Monday, August 30^th to Thursday, September 2^nd. All entries must be received by Monday, September 6^th at midnight ET. Happy Hunting!

In case you're wondering what UNRAVELED is all about, read on to learn more about Aden:

For once, sixteen-year-old Aden Stone has everything he’s ever wanted:

A home.

Friends.

The girl of his dreams.

Too bad he’s going to die... Since coming to Crossroads, Oklahoma, former outcast Aden Stone has been living the good life. Never mind that one of his best friends is a werewolf, his girlfriend is a vampire princess who hungers for his blood, and he’s supposed to be crowned Vampire King – while still a human! Well, kind of.

With four – oops, three now — human souls living inside his head, Aden has always been “different” himself. These souls can time travel, raise the dead, possess another’s mind, and, his least favorite these days, tell the future.

The forecast for Aden? A knife through the heart.

Because a war is brewing between the creatures of the dark, and Aden is somehow at the center of it all. But he isn’t about to lie down and accept his destiny without a fight. Not when his new friends have his back, not when Victoria has risked her own future to be with him, and not when he has a reason to live for the first time in his life.

And now... here is your super secret letter for unraveling the word:

Meanwhile... are you ready for some winner announcements?

Here we go... the winner of the signed copy of SABOTAGED by Margaret Peterson Haddix is:

AquarianDancer

Congratulations! Please send your mailing instructions to gerb at lindagerber dot com and we'll get that off to you!

And finally... huge thanks to everyone who blogged, tweeted, blurbed, facebooked, posted the countdown widget and spread the TRANCE Countdown Kickoff news with their friends. You are all winners as far as I'm concerned!

But since I can only choose one official winner of the $160 in CSN money...

I'm drawing the name right now...

*Drum roll, please....*

Wow, there are a lot of little slips of paper here. Nearly 500 entries!! Thanks so much. You guys clearly rock.

And the winner is...

Melanie Bleile

Congratulations!!! Please drop me a note at gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and we'll make the arrangements to get that out to you.

Everyone, thank you so much for participating and spreading the word. Just for you, I've got more chances to win in September as the TRANCE Countdown continues...

Come on back tomorrow for a special GCC interview with Kristina Springer for her new book, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS

and

the skinny on the September TRANCE Countdown Contest!

Freebie Friday with Melissa de la Cruz and Ally Carter

First of all... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my sweetheart, Aaron. Mwwwwwaaaaaaa!!!!!

And now, I have to tell you about my geek out moments last week while I was at RWA... So, Wednesday evening, I got to party with the YA Golden Heart finalists before the Literacy Signing. Very cool group of ladies. I had to leave early to go get set up for the signing, so I leave them to their margaritas, and step onto the elevator, and right there in front of me is Melissa de la Cruz! I do the complete geek thing and gush to her about what a fan I am. Yes, I am smooth like that. Anyway, Melissa walks to the signing with me. Such a genuine and nice person.

And then! I've known Tera Lynn Childs online for forever, but never had a chance to meet her in person until this conference. Again, nicest person alive. I love her.

And I got to hang out with Marley Gibson and Wendy Toliver and Rosemary Clement-Moore and meet Tina Ferraro and hold Simone Elkeles's Rita statue, and... it was so cool.

Oh! And I met Meg Cabot!!! She's one of my most favorite authors ever. I am completely in love with Jesse, the hot Spanish ghost in her MEDIATOR series. They gave copies of her new book, INSATIABLE away at the conference and I devoured it in like two days. Anyway, I got my picture taken with Meg Cabot!!! Yes, I am such a geeky fangirl.

But back to Melissa de la Cruz... she and Ally Carter did a workshop about author branding. Afterward, I went up to talk to Melissa, and... she remembered me from Wednesday and greeted me warmly. Can I just say what a thrill that was? As was meeting Ally Carter for the first time. My daughters and I have read every one of the GALLAGHER GIRLS books as well as HEIST SOCIETY and we all just love her.

Both Melissa and Ally were kind enough to sign copies of their books, THE VAN ALEN LEGACY and I'D TELL YOU THAT I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU for our Freebie Friday giveaway, which means... two winners!

To be entered to win, leave a comment below, telling me... have you ever totally geeked out when meeting someone famous? (Or even someone you really liked, or were crushing on?) This drawing will remain open until Wednesday, August 11.

And don't forget this month's TRANCE Countdown Drawing. Up for grabs is $160 in CSN Store money. Be sure to spread the word and enter below. Or click here.

TRANCE Countdown Kickoff

I don't know about you all, but I'm psyched for the TRANCE release in October. This book has been a long time coming and I can't wait to share it.

To get the official Countdown to TRANCE started, fabulous Lauren from Shooting Stars Magazine has arranged with CSN Stores to offer a $80 gift code good toward any merchandise on their site to this month's lucky winner.

I'll match that $80 with another $80, for a total of $160 in CSN money.

Here's how you can enter to win:

+4 Post the countdown widget on your blog, facebook, myspace or livejournal page. (Click on "Get Widget" beneath the countdown Widget on the left sidebar.) Send me the link to be credited.

+3 Spread the word. Talk about TRANCE online. Tweet about it. Blog about it. Wax poetic on Facebook. Let me know where and what you're saying and you get points for each legitimate mention.

+2 Send your friends to the blog to join the countdown celebration. Make sure they tell me who sent them.

+1 If you don't already follow this blog, become a follower. (If do follow, let me know and you get credit.)

The winner will be drawn on August 31.

PLEASE NOTE: I am switching website/email servers this month and will lose all saved emails, so please respond here as a comment to this post so I can be sure to credit you properly.

Let the countdown begin!