The Road to Publication: Part Fourteen

[This is part 14 of a summary of Spookygirl’s journey toward publication. Use the Progress tag to access all related entries.]

Here it is! The big one. On Thursday, this happened:

 
There it was, shelved in Books-A-Million! I held it overhead like it was a boombox and I was John Cusack. I also got reports from all over of other Spookygirl sightings -- other parts of Florida, Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey, and more. My assistant editor found it at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in NYC.

I spent the day stalking bookstores with my family before a celebration dinner. I also insisted on stopping at Office Depot for a supply of purple pens (since Violet would never stand for her writer signing books in plain ol' black ink).

Sadly, in one store I was nearly as excited to find a stuffed TARDIS as I was to find my own book. The wee TARDIS came home with me. (Come on -- it lights up and goes VWORP VWORP VWORP. I needed it in my life!)

I don't know how to express what it felt like to see my work in a bookstore. As a writer, I should be able to, but it transcends words. It's awesome, but also strangely humbling -- a reminder of how much support and encouragement I was gifted with while I fought to get to this point. I'm so very thankful for all of it.

I'll conclude the "Road to Publication" series with a list of five things you might not know about pub day:

1. If you've ever been a nail biter, you'll relapse. ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

2. Have your phone charger with you; all that tweeting and Facebooking and photo-taking (and obsessively peeking at your ever-changing Amazon sales ranking) will kill your battery.

3. Unless you've written a pretty major release, don't expect every store to have your book in stock yet. My agent tipped me off on this one, confirming what I'd already suspected. Sure enough, several branches of Books-A-Million had it in stock, but Barnes & Noble did not, although it's on the way.

4. There is such a thing as Post-Publication Hangover, and it had nothing to do with that lemon drop martini I had at dinner. I was exhausted yesterday!

5. You'll be reminded of just how many people are rooting for you, and that will feel amazing. Okay, so I already kind of said that above. Hey, it's worth repeating.

Spookygirl Giveaway Winners!

Greetings from the Georgia woods, where the trees are green, the spiders are plentiful, the fire spinners get rained out (noooo), and the Internet is slow. I apologize for being a few days late with this.

Congrats to Jolene and Heather for winning ARCs of SPOOKYGIRL: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR! Check your direct messages on Twitter if you haven't already.

Thanks again to everyone who entered! Believe me, I wish I had enough copies for all of you.

And now we'll see if this entry will post without timing out . . .

Giveaway Update!

August 1 is winding down (here in the Eastern time zone, anyway), which means the chance to win a Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator ARC is winding down as well. Thank you so much to everyone who entered and helped spread the word!

I've collected all the entries in my trusty little cauldron. If anyone else squeaks in before midnight, I'll add their names to the pot.

My plan is to post the winners early tomorrow morning. I apologize ahead of time if that doesn't happen -- I have an eleven-hour drive ahead of me tomorrow, so I may not have any blogging time before I get on the road. If that happens, I promise I'll make the announcement as soon as I can.

I have the ARCs in my luggage, so they'll ship directly from where I'll be staying in Georgia. The swag will be shipped separately when I'm home -- I had hoped to include everything together, but a few of my print orders haven't come in yet.

Thanks again, everyone!

Giveaway! Win a Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator ARC

It's contest time! Spookygirl's Violet wants to know what spooks you.

Two winners will be chosen at random. The first will receive one of the Spookygirl ARCs sent to me by Penguin/Dutton. The second will receive that Spookygirl ARC I bought on eBay. Both copies will be autographed; I'll be happy to personalize the autographs if the winners request it. I'll also send both winners some of the spooky swag I'm currently designing. (Swag will ship separately because some of it is still being printed.)

There are four ways to enter. Each task counts as one entry, so if you do all four, you'll be entered four times. (You can only win once, though!) I'll ship the ARCs anywhere in the world, so international entries are more than welcome!

Here are the ways to enter:

-Reply to this post and mention something that spooks you. Scary novel, horror movie, phobia -- anything goes! (My personal Big Crazy Fear is clowns. CLOWNS, MAN.)

-Mention the contest on your own blog with a link back to this post. Then leave a comment here with a link to your post so I can keep track of who's done this.

-Like Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator on Facebook and share the status update about the contest on your own wall.

-Follow me on Twitter and retweet my tweet about the contest (or link to this post in one of your own tweets and include the hashtag #Spookygirl).

That's it! The contest will run through August 1, and I'll announce the winners on August 2.

I'm on the eBay!

So you guys . . . I kind of bought myself on eBay.

A few weeks ago I noticed someone had auctioned an ARC of Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator for close to $27. A search brought me to a current auction for another copy of Spookygirl with a Buy It Now price of just over $5, but that auction listed the book as a hardcover.

Huh? Even I didn't have a hardcover in hand at the time. Curious (and egged on by several friends), I BINed the listing.

Instead of a mysteriously premature hardcover, I received what I expected -- an ARC. This is awesome news, because it means I have a spare copy. I've been planning to have a giveaway for an ARC anyway, and now I can have two winners instead of one.

I'll be announcing the details of the giveaway here, on Spookygirl's Facebook page, and on my Twitter really soon, and there'll be several ways to enter, so keep an eye out!

I have to admit -- it was pretty amusing to search for my last name on eBay and actually get a result. And no, I don't think the seller noticed his buyer was also the book's author.