Winner and Tough News

The winner of RIVAL is:

Katie

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

A lot happening this week, but I'm mostly consumed with the Borders bankruptcy and the earthquake in New Zealand. Mostly feeling helpless about both. We are losing two Borders stores here in the Columbus area. I had just stopped into the Dublin store a few weeks ago to sign stock and the employees there could not have been nicer. What a blow. One of the ladies from the store told me this week that most of them found out about the closings the same time as everyone else - and on the news. She has worked for Borders for fifteen years, but with the restructuring, she won't receive any severance. The employees are reeling. Authors are reeling. Long time customers are reeling. This is not a happy time.

Meanwhile, my New Zealand friends are all accounted for, but the same can't be said of hundreds of people still missing in Christchurch. Most of us are too far away to be able to physically help the people devastated by this earthquake, but here is a list of avenues to donate: tvnz donations list.

And with that, I'm signing off for a week or so. I need to focus on getting this next manuscript in shape and off to my editor, so no Freebie Friday this week.

Wish me luck getting it done!

WINNERS! and Lots More

The winner of GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD is:

Vivien

And the winners of THE DEATH BY BIKINI MYSTERIES:

Orchid
Miss Kallie
JB

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

Everyone, please join us again this Friday for another GCC interview and freebie with Laurie Stolarz!

Meanwhile, lots to tell you about this week:

DEAR BULLY is in this month's Glamour!

<Megan Kelly Hall and Carrie Jones, who made it all happen.

I'm honored to be included in this anthology. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to an anti-bullying organization. Meanwhile, you can join the campaign to stop bullying. If you haven't already, please join the Young Adult Authors Against Bullying page on Facebook for book updates, stories, strategies for dealing with bullies and strength in numbers.

When Friends Aren't (TFC) (Somewhat related.) How do you know if your friends aren't really your friends?

Life Imitates Art? (carlabuckley.com) If you were intrigued by the mysterious bird and fish mass deaths recently, you really should check out Carla Buckley's THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE. You can't get any more current and ripped-from-the-headlines than this story of a family trying to stick together in the midst of an avian flu pandemic. I read it last summer and it still haunts me (especially after seeing the pictures of all those dead birds in Arkansas.)

ALA Report by Mary Kole (Kidlit.com) Scroll about halfway down for a peek at Holly Thompson's upcoming book, ORCHARDS! Woo! (Holly was in SCBWI with me in Tokyo, author of ASH and WAKAME GATHERERS, and is simply brilliant.)

ALA Winners (SCBWI Blog) (Yay for Printz Honor winner AS King! If you haven't read PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ yet, what are you waiting for?)

ALA 2011 Best Books (ALA) PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ also made this list, along with a whole stack of my TBR pile!

Edited to add: ALA 2011 Popular Paperbacks (ALA) Woot! I just realized that DEATH BY BIKINI was named a 2011 Popular Paperback! Yay!!!

RIP Borders? (DetNews) All signs point to the end for Borders - including Simon and Schuster canceling their author events at all Borders stores...

Digital sales have reached a 'tipping point" (Bookseller.com) Is this the kiss of death for bookstores? (PBP) And what about e-book lending? (PublishingPerspectives)

Other publishing trends for 2011? (TrendSpotting) What would you like to see?

Happy release week to: Danette Vigilante, THE TROUBLE WITH HALF A MOON, Julia Karr
XVI, Keri Mikulski HEAD GAMES, Cate Tiernan BALEFIRE bindup, Me (rah, rah) THE DEATH BY BIKINI MYSTERIES bindup, Cat Clarke ENTANGLED, Beth Revis ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
ALL JUST GLASS, Tim Tharp BADD, Dori Jones Yang DAUGHTER OF XANADU, Lorraine Zago Rosenthal OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE, Kristen Tracy THE REINVENTION OF BESSICA LEFTER, Wendelin Van Draanen
THE RUNNING DREAM, Alexandra Monir TIMELESS, and Maurissa Guibord WARPED.

And finally, for this week's video link - Daniel Radcliff lightens things up:

I Am Harry Potter from Daniel Radcliffe

Winner and What's Up

And the winner of a signed copy of TRANCE and some yummy buckeyes to enjoy it with is...

Shauna

Please send your mailing instructions to gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and we'll get that sent out to you. Everyone, thanks for your goal-setting advice. You'll be happy to know I'm pushing forward, with lists in hand and deadlines set, and renewed determination to accomplish everything I've set out to do. Rah! Rah!

What's up this week?

Nathan Bransford moves on. (galleycat) One of my favorite blogging agents will no longer be agenting. He's leaving Curtis Brown to join CNET, but assures his faithful followers that the blog and forums will continue. Wishing you the best of success, Nathan!

E-books are gaining ground. (mediabistro) (mediabistro) Sales for both paperbacks and hardcovers are down from this time last year. Panic! But wait, e-book sales are up. Way up. Up so much that the New York Times is now including a category on the bestsellers listing to include e-books. Maybe it's time I broke down and got an e-reader... Recommendations?

Crescendo rules!! (PW) Yay, Becca! Check it out - Crescendo is #2 on the best-seller list.
Woot! Woot!

Happy release week to: Elizabeth Chandler - THE BACK DOOR OF MIDNIGHT: DARK SECRETS,
David-Matthew Barnes - MESMERIZED, Alyson Noel - NIGHT STAR: THE IMMORTALS, Jessica Burkhart -
SCANDALS, RUMORS, LIES: CANTERWOOD CREST, Robin Palmer - SEALED WITH A KISS: YOURS TRULY, LUCY B. PARKER, and Ann Rinaldi THE LAST FULL MEASURE.

This week's video link for those of you racing through NaNoWriMo:

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!

Winner!

The winner of the ONLY YOU movie gift pack is:

trina

Please send your mailing instructions to gerb @ lindagerber . com and we'll get that sent out to you. Be sure to put "winner" in the subject heading.

Everyone else, please come on back on Friday for a freebie featuring debut teen author, Riley Carney and her brand spanking new release, The Fire Stone.

What else is up?

Censorship is nasty and we won't put up with it. Ellen Hopkins was recently uninvited from a Texas book festival due to a complaint from a middle school librarian. I respect the librarian's right to decide she doesn't care to read Ellen Hopkins's edgy books. I respect her right to not listen to the presentation. But the minute any person or group denies the right for other people to decide what's best for them, that's censorship, and it's wrong. The only silver lining in this mess is the solidarity of the other YA authors who had been invited, who politely refuse to condone censorship by taking part in the festival.

THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD is making a comeback! So cool. I met Lynn Reid Banks a few years ago when she came to speak to our SCBWI group in Tokyo and she's a lovely, fascinating lady. Loved hearing from her how this book/series came about, and I'm excited to introduce it to another generation of readers.

Scholastic is looking for kid reporters. Do you know any 10-14 year old who would make a good reporter?

This week's video linkie for those of us who can't wait for CRESCENDO (coming October 19). Best Book Marketing Campaign Ever.

Winner!!!

Writing from RWA Nationals in Orlando. Sorry the post is so late - the Internet here at the hotel is so s-l-o-w. I tried to log onto Blogger this afternoon and after ten minutes of timing out and trying to log back in, I gave up. Had a great time at the Literacy Signing... I sat next to Marley Gibson, which is always fun, and then dinner with a bunch of the Golden Heart finalists. Now it's just past midnight and everyone is either in bed (or at the bars) so there's not so much demand on the wireless. This should post. I hope.

The winner of this week's freebie is:

Donnell.

Please send your book preference and mailing instructions to gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and I'll get it sent out to you after I return from Florida.

My apologies, but anticipating the same bad Internet connection (and the plethora of workshops here at the conference), we're going to have to skip Freebie Friday this week, but we'll be back next week with another author and giveaway.

Meanwhile, there's a Not Going To Conference Conference over at the Romance Divas forum. I'm on the Young Adult Panel, along with Carrie Ryan, Laurie Zeilan, Saundra Mitchell, Brenna Yovanoff, Shannon Delany, Beth Fantasky, and Rhonda Stapleton.

You can check out the YA panel and the other panels over at the Romance Divas NGTCC. (Registration required.) There are some great writing discussions going on - and prizes to be won!

Have a great weekend. See you next week!

Winner Day!

OK, today's the big day! I'm going to be drawing the winners for all the fabulous author giveaways AND the Grand Prize Deadly Denim gift bag, including all three DEATH BY... books, French and Italian treats, gift cards and more.

But first, I'm out the door to Blendon MS for an author visit. That gives you a few extra hours to leave comments, bring a friend and spread the word before the drawing.

See you this afternoon!!!

Winner and Stuff

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you all had a great weekend and took good care of your moms for mothers' day! Sounds like there were some fabulous plans in the making.

The winner of the $15 B&N gift certificate is:

WindyCindy

I can send this one online, Cindy, so just email me at gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com, so I have your correct email addy.

Meanwhile, check out the awesome cover for the Uglies Series anthology, MIND-RAIN coming out next month! (I'm a huge Westerfield fan and contributed an essay about conformity.) More on that one later.

Meanwhile, don't forget to join us back here on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to celebrate the release of DEATH BY DENIM! Less than two days to go! Woot! See you then!

Late Post: WINNERS

hey guys... u dont really know me, but this is Haley<3 - i'm Linda Gerber's daughter... its take ur child 2 work day 2day, n her eyes r like screwd up n she cant really like sit in front of the screen 4 long w/o like flippin out, so i gotta do this stuff 4 her- woohoo!! Lol, n i cant really say much... but i will tell that im gonna b her 'secret consultant' on one of her upcoming "projects", lol- hows that 4 a teaser?? But anyway, my mama says that if she owes u an email, then she sry... n she'll have me get back 2 u soon.

and now- the moment u guys actually care about; THE WINNERS!!! **claps n cheers from the audience** lol, kk, so the winner of the Jennifer O'Connel books r : Judy Bloome= Marjolein, Rich Boyz= robin_titan, n Local Girlz= bridget3420!!!!! WOO WOO!!!! nice goin peeps... :-D n then the winner 4 the freebie friday bonus thing is Mitzy...

Winner!

Happy Tuesday!

The winner of a signed copy of Amanda Ashby's ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH is:

Dahlia

Please shoot me a note with your mailing info to gerb(@)lindagerber(.) com and we'll get that sent out to you.

And check out this contest Amanda is running right now:
(I lifted this from her blog...)

Don't forget about my competition to win an adorable (and completely essential) Zombie Survival Kit along with either a copy of Zombie or a copy of my debut book You Had Me at Halo. Sounds good right?

All you need to do is follow me out and about on the road as I do my blog tours and leave a comment. Then just send me an email to amanda@amandaashby.com with the link and in the header but Zombie Survival Kit Comp and I'll make sure I enter you in the draw. Oh and you can enter as many times as you want, so every time you comment, make sure you let me know about it! Too easy!!!

For anyone who commented on Amanda's FREEBIE FRIDAY post, her interview was technically part of the GCC tour, so be sure to send her in the link to your comment so you can be entered to win! You can check out other tour stop locations on her blog.

Have a great week! Please join me back here on Friday for a walk through a window with my dear friend, YA author KC Dyer, this week's FREEBIE FRIDAY guest! See you then!

LOVE FEST WINNERS

How's your Valentine's Day going so far? Here's a little extra sweetness... the winners of this week's LOVE FEST drawings thus far.... (Remember, you still have time to enter to win a signed copy of Wendy Toliver's MISS MATCH and the heart cell phone charm!)


*Signed copy of DEATH BY LATTE - Epic Rat
*Signed ARC of DEATH BY DENIM - GreenBeanTeenQueen
*SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr - Paradox
*Choice of signed TINA FERRARO book - Kelsey
*Signed copy of PERFECT CHEMISTRY - Bookworm
*Anthony Thomas chocolates - Emma
*Lip Gloss - Liviania
*KEEPING THE MOON by Sarah Dessen - Korianne
*Signed copy of VIDALIA IN PARIS - Carol(ina)

If you have won, please drop an email to gerb @ lindagerber .com with your mailing info so we can get them sent off to you.

Everyone else, don't forget to leave a comment on Wendy Toliver's post to be entered to win, and be sure to join us this Friday with another Freebie with tween author Jessica Burkhart and on the 27th with the fabulous Lisa McMann!

Thanks again to our YA LOVE FEST contributors, Simone Elkeles, Tina Ferraro, Melissa Walker, Sasha Watson and Wendy Toliver! And thanks to you for joining us!

Winners and Inauguration Day!

Happy Inauguration Day, everyone! How many of you watched the proceedings at school, work or home? I moved my workspace into the TV room and watched the pomp and circumstance all day. (In case you are wondering, no, this is not help me to be productive. But I wouldn't have missed it!) No matter what side of the political divide you sit on, this was an impressive inauguration. Loved the musical numbers (and Aretha's hat. Ha!) and President Obama's speech was direct and powerful. And check out the White House's updated website! Cool stuff. And speaking of cool stuff...

I enjoyed reading through your family/friend writing project ideas. Thanks for all your responses! The winners of this week's Freebie Friday by random drawing are:

ANNIE'S ADVENTURES: Cecilia
SOMETHING HAPPENED: Erika Lynn

Please send me an email with your mailing info at gerb @ lindagerber . com (eliminate the spaces) and we'll get them sent out to you.

Meanwhile, stay tuned to the blog this week for an interview with Teri Brown and a Freebie Friday you won't want to miss.

Winner!

Happy Tuesday!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am just now getting to the computer today. Which means I am way behind on everything, including announcing our Freebie Friday winner. So without further ado - the winner of the Pure Essentials gift set is:

Gabrielle

Congratulations! Please send me an email at gerb at lindagerber dot com with your mailing address and I'll get that sent off.

The rest of you, you'll want to stick around. Coming up this week on the blog-

Wednesday: Resolutions and the Best 8 of '08
Thursday: Surprise New Year's Announcement
Friday: Freebie Friday AND interview with YA author Carrie Jones, about her newly-released book, NEED.

See you then!

Merry Winner!

No matter how you celebrate, have the happiest holiday ever! I'm going to be taking tomorrow off to spend Christmas with my family, but before I go... here's our Freebie Friday winner:

Lauren from Shooting Stars Magazine

Congratulations, Lauren! Please shoot me an email at ger at lindagerber dot com with your mailing information and I'll get the books sent off to you. Everyone else, thanks for your creative entries! It's been... entertaining reading them this week! Be sure to check back Friday for another freebie and an interview with Laurie Stolarz, author of DEADLY LITTLE SECRET.

See you then!

Winners and Quirks

Happy Tuesday! Only three more days until Twilight!

Now, before I announce the winner of the DEATH BY DENIM ARC, it appears that I have been tagged by Donna... so without further ado, 6 strange/quirky things about me...

1. I don't drink coffee in the morning. I drink Diet Coke.

2. I can't write when someone is sitting next to me. Even if they aren't looking at the computer screen. Edit, yes. Write, no.

3. Much to my kids' dismay, I can find a song for every occasion. If the lyrics don't really fit the moment, I'll make up new ones.

4. I think I'm dyslexic with numbers. I often transpose numbers when trying to remember a phone number or a time - which is how I ended up once checking into a 3:51 flight only to find that it was actually scheduled to leave at 3:15 and the gate was closing...

5. I love mint M&M's, but I am picky enough to prefer the kind they used to make. Now they are rounder and feel different in the mouth.

6. I am a terrible procrastinator so it's a good thing I work well under pressure...

MEANWHILE, the winner of the first ever DEATH BY DENIM ARC is:

Liviania

Please send me an email with the subject line 'winner' to gerb at lindagerber dot com and give me your mailing address.

Everyone else, I'll see you back here on Friday for another chance to win!

Winner!

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend!

This week's Freebie Friday winner is:

Aimee

Please shoot me a message with your mailing address at gerb at lindagerber dot com and I'll get the Borders card sent out to you!

Everyone else, this week I'll be doing Freebie Friday a little differently - I'll be blogging over at the Penguin Books blog all week (three posts.) On Friday, I'll post this week's Freebie Friday giveaway on this blog. To be entered to win, leave comments on the Penguin blog throughout the week and/or on Friday's blog post here. Each comment will get you one entry. Have a great week and I'll see you over at Penguin!

Winner!

Happy Election Day, all you US Readers! If you are voting age, GET OUT AND VOTE!

I'll be heading to the polls in about an hour and a half, when the last of the sleepover kids go home. (In our community, the schools are used for polling places, so the kids are off today.)

Meanwhile, the winner of the pen and notepad set is:
TINA

Please send me your mailing address at gerb at lindagerber dot com so I can send it out to you!

I'll be a little scarce the rest of the week. I've taken on the NaNoWriMo challenge this month and I'm already finding that it's going to be, well, a challenge. When I'm on deadline, I think nothing of shutting myself away in a room and attaching myself to a computer, but to crank it out like this on a continual basis... gaah! You can follow the struggle - er, progress - on my crit group's blog if you're interested.

You can also find me on BookWormBookLover's blog this week.

See you right here on Friday for another freebie AND the long-awaited GCC Tour interview with Kelly Parra!

See you then! Now, go vote!!!

Winners! October is for Reading!

Happy October! Book things to celebrate this month:

This week is Banned Books Week. Celebrate your freedom to read and take a stand against book banning!

Teen Read Week is also coming up in a couple of weeks! (October is a great month for reading!!!) A great way to celebrate:

Check out Kelly Parra's Secret Fates Extravaganza! A whole month of authors and giveaways to celebrate the release of INVISIBLE TOUCH! (And I'll be joining the party to give away books!)

If you love thrillers, you won't want to miss Karen Dionne's launch party for her new book, FREEZING POINT. (Not YA, but I am a huge thriller fan, plus I had a chance to read an ARC over the summer and I can tell you, FREEZING POINT = awesomeness.)

Watch for Melissa Walker's ongoing Cover Stories posts on her blog each Monday. (The story behind the DEATH BY series covers is up this week!)

Don't forget for your chance to win books and prizes all month right here on the blog!*

Speaking of... I need to announce last week's winners!!!

MS. ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK winner: Julian from Whytecliff

Starbucks Chocolate winner: Susan Adrian

Congrats! Please send me your mailing address at gerb at lindagerber dot com.

Have a great month of reading, everyone!!!

* Thanks to those of you who have pointed out that my RSS feed reader isn't working. I am trying to resolve the issue. Seems I get it ironed out and then it's not working again. I appreciate your patience!!!

WINNER!!!

Hi, everyone! Thanks for your patience... I know the contest was supposed to run through yesterday, but here are some of the reasons why I'm late posting the winners:












This, if you can believe it, is the remnants of Hurricane Ike - all the way in Ohio. Everything's fine, very few injuries, but the clean up will take a while and a good portion of the state is still without power.

It's amazing how much we depend on electricity. And Internet! I'm so grateful to have both back on in my house! Especially since the time has come to announce the winner of this weeks DEATH BY LATTE drawing and because the CYBER PARTY STARTS TOMORROW!!! Yeah!

So, without further ado, the winner of this week's quiz game drawing is:
Laura Koenig

Please send your mailing address to gerb at lindagerber dot com and I'll get it sent off to you!

Thanks, everyone, for playing. We had another record response this week. I hope to see you all starting tomorrow for the launch party! You rock!!!

Ciao!