Hey gang! When I hosted the TAC logo contest, it was back in the summer. Since today is the deadline for the 100-Book Challenge logo contest and there are no entries–and many of you have mentioned that it’s easier to find time to be creative when school’s not in session–I’m going to revisit the 100-Book Challenge logo contest during the summer, if needed.
UPDATE 1/28/10: The 100-Book Challenge has been disbanded due to copyright concerns.
In other news, I’ve been thinking a lot about what kinds of features to include on the blog as I kick off a new year of blogging. And here’s the thing…
I still don’t know what features to include.
So I thought I’d throw it out to you and let you guys tell me what you’re most interested in reading about! Here’s my list of ideas and ongoing series:
SERIES
– Author Caves (sneak peeks into authors’ writing dens)
– Author Spotlights
– Booklovers of the Week – agents, editors & industry pros
– Booklovers of the Week – booksellers
– Booklovers of the Week – book bloggers
– Librarian Spotlights
– Teen Author Challenge mini-series (throughout the year on various writing topics)
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
– Adventures in writing – my writing ups and downs and everything in between
– The sweet life – all things wonderful about sweets and my adventures in baking (note: I am generally regarded as a kitchen disaster, so be prepared for danger here)
– Get inspired – sharing fun stories about people doing super cool things to make a difference (ala Living Your Five)
– What I’m reading – the books I’m reading, what’s up next in my TBR pile, and what I’m excited to buy
– Things I love – no rules here: could be pop culture, food, things I’m addicted to… just general fun stuff that I adore
– Ask Kay – responding to reader questions (I have a few dozen of these now & can do periodic call-outs for more)
So those are the ideas I’ve come up with myself. I still think it’s mildly hilarious that anyone would want to read about any of these things from me, but there you go. If there are other things you’d tune in to read about, let me know those too!
I love getting caught up on things. I’ve been meaning to get the blog all squared away since the holidays but life intruded and… yikes! So many things piled up on the blog!
I was up waaaay too late last night cleaning up the sidebars of the blog, but I’m super excited about how they turned out. See that over on the right? The 10 in ‘10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge logo (designed by the fabulous Jessica of Chick Lit Teens)? (Scroll down a little to see it.) It’s now a permanent fixture on the sidebar along with my constantly-being-updated-because-there-are-way-too-many-awesome-teen-chick-lit-books-to-read widget showing the fab books I’m planning to read for it this year. (I’ll pause while you oooo and ahhh at this stellar list. Go ahead, take your time.)
Beneath that is the latest edition of a challenge I hosted last year. I’m back in 2010 hosting (sound the trumpets!) the 2010 100-Book Challenge on the E-Nation Ning!
The E-Nation Ning is an informal Ning community where many of the Egmont USA authors hang out and chat about books and pop culture and stuff with other fun authors and fab readers. I decided to host a 100-Book Challenge there in 2009 sort of out of the blue, and we had a blast. Jennifer Lynn Barnes dusted us all by reading something like five kajillion books, but it was so much fun seeing everyone’s lists grow and hearing what they thought about their favorite books of the year.
The 100-Book Challenge isn’t a competition though. It’s a fun social place to say “Hey, here’s what I’m reading and OMGyoutotallyhavetoreadthisone!” Though you can use spaces between your words if you want. We’re not picky.
Aaaaanywho… this year, I decided that I want a logo. Something really fun and cute that coordinates with the E-Nation Ning design. And I thought, “You know, I have a ton of online buddies who are ridiculously talented. Why not host another logo contest and see what they come up with?”
The 100-Book Challenge Logo Contest!
And so, here I am, telling you about the 100-Book Challenge logo contest and here you are, reading about it and thinking, “Sounds fun, Kay, but I’m kinda busy.” (Or possibly you’re thinking, “Did I see the next American Idol in the auditions yet?” I’m not really sure. You’re kind of a mystery.) But I hear you on the busy, so how about if I offer up a $25 gift card to the bookstore of your choice?
Here are the quick and easy rules:
1) Create a logo in .png or .jpg format with the following information:
— 2010 100-Book Challenge
— enationbooks.ning.com
2) Logos should complement the E-Nation Ning color scheme and design and be 1200×1200 pixels with a resolution of 300 dpi.
3) Upload the logo to your web site or blog and comment here with a link to where you’ve got it.
4) Final deadline for logos is Thursday, January 21, 2010.
5) Winner will be announced on the You 2.0 blog in late January.
NOTE: All graphics and photos must be owned by the logo creator and entrants agree that if their entry should be selected as the winner, all rights to the logo will become the property of Kay Cassidy, Inc. (Ah, legal mumbo jumbo.)
Let me know in the comments if you’re game for the contest. I can’t wait to see what you come up with! And while you’re checking out the E-Nation Ning design, be sure to join us for the 100-Book Challenge too!
UPDATE 1/28/10: The 100-Book Challenge has been disbanded due to copyright concerns.
At long last, I have sent off the pass pages for The Cinderella Society as it gets ready to go to press. Woohoo!!!
To celebrate, I am FINALLY going to update the blog with all of this month’s winners!
Thank you so much to everyone who posted the Cinderella Society countdown widget on their blogs. It was so fun going out and seeing my cover on all of your sites! Very much a “OMG, this is real” experience for me, so thank you for that extra moment of fun.
The Cinderella Society 100-Day Countdown Widget Contest
The winner of a signed ARC of The Cinderella Society for the 100-day countdown widget contest is…
Emma! (aka Booking Through 365)
I hope you enjoy the book! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know whether you would like the ARC personally signed to keep or generically signed to give away.
And also… ack! Somehow I managed to forget to post the monthly blog winners this month!! And since we’re now in 2010, these are the final monthly winners for the 2009 Monthly Blog Contest. (New contests coming soon in 2010!)
So without further ado, here are the final monthly blog contest winners. Drum roll, please…
Teen Author Challenge Giveaway
The winner of the FINAL Teen Author Challenge monthly giveaway (who will get to select one of the “craft of writing” books from my own personal writing bookshelf) is…
And the winner of asigned ARC of The Cinderella Society(coming April 13, 2010 from Egmont USA!) for the FINAL 2009 monthly blog contest is…
Dani! (aka YA All the Way)
I hope you enjoy the book! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know whether you would like the ARC personally signed to keep or generically signed to give away.
Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks to everyone for all your fun comments throughout the month. They seriously make my day.
Keep commenting all month long for your chance to win in the monthly contests and the impromptu Bundle o’ Bookmarks giveaways. (Note: I received lots of new bookmarks over the holidays, so a new Bundle o’ Bookmarks is coming soon!)
It’s hard to believe that when I first put The Cinderella Society’s countdown widget on the blog, the release date was almost 300 days away. As of today, we are officially 100 days out from release!
To celebrate this fun milestone, I’m giving away a signed ARC of The Cinderella Society to one lucky person who is displaying the TCS countdown widget on their blog!
To participate, simply grab the widget above (click the Share button to copy the code), paste the code into your blog sidebar, and comment below with a link to your blog. The contest is open until this Friday, January 8th, 2010. Good luck!!
I love reading about all the things you’re grateful for! Family, friends, hubbies with positive attitudes, new jobs, new degrees, a warm day… it’s just plain awesome, I tell you.
(By the way, I so remember the days of being in school… first regular school, then undergrad, then grad school… and literally counting the hours until my last final was over. I hear ya on that one!)
As promised, there will be TWO winners of the fun Bundle o’ Bookmarks coming your way today to celebrate the 2-book deals that TWO of my fabulous writing buddies netted last week. (Congrats, Kris Kennedy and Myra McEntire!)
Congratulations go out to:
Holly (aka Writer’s Block Reviews)
~ and ~
Laura Robinson (aka Tattooed Books)
Enjoy! Please contact me here with your mailing address to receive your prize.
And everyone, keep commenting on the blog for your chance to win in the next Bundle o’ Bookmarks giveaway. I’ll be doing lots of impromptu giveaways for recent commenters and you never know when it’ll be! (Plus, new bookmarks coming soon in the bundle!)
In honor of yesterday’s fabulosity–having not one but two dear friends accept multi-book contracts!!–I’m celebrating with not one but two Bundle o’ Bookmarks giveaways!
What is Bundle o’ Bookmarks? It’s a collection of awesome bookmarks from some of your favorite authors! Here’s the current Bundle o’ Bookmarks swag pack:
For your chance to win, comment below with one thing (or many things!) you’re grateful for today. Big or small matters not at all, as long as it’s important to you.
And to make it even more fun for those of you who follow regularly…
At the beginning of each month, I get to do one of the things I love: announce the latest batch of You 2.0 blog winners! I have three separate giveaways just for commenters on the blog… except for this month when I have FOUR!
Teen Author Challenge Giveaway
The winner of the Teen Author Challenge monthly giveaway (who will get to select one of the “craft of writing” books from my own personal writing bookshelf) is…
Taylor Noelle!
Way to go! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know which writing book you would like to choose for your prize. View the list here.
You 2.0 Prize Dive
The winner of the You 2.0 blog prize dive (who will get to select an item from the official You 2.0 prize basket) is…
And this month, I get to announce not one but TWO winners of a signed ARC of The Cinderella Society! One winner is from the normal monthly drawing, and one winner is from the special blog post I did last weekend about why you want to read the book.
So without further ado… the winners of a signed ARC of The Cinderella Society(coming April 13, 2010 from Egmont USA!) are…
Claire! (aka Bookworm Readers)
~ and ~
Andrea! (aka Hers for the Reading)
I hope you enjoy the book! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know whether you would like the ARC personally signed to keep or generically signed to give away.
Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks to everyone for all your fun comments throughout the month. They seriously make my day.
Keep commenting all month long for your chance to win in the monthly contests and the impromptu Bundle o’ Bookmarks giveaways. (Note: The Bundles change periodically, but you can see an example of one here.)
I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! And for those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope it was wonderful and your leftovers are still scrumptious.
If you’ve been reading the blog or chatting with me on Twitter (@KayCassidy), you know that the second book in the Cinderella Society series is due to my editor next week. As I’m nearing the home stretch on book 2, I’ve been pausing to wonder what makes someone pick up a book in the first place. Is it the cover, the title, the genre, the blurb, the topics or issues it covers, the recommendations of others, a book trailer or ad, what you know of the author… or other things entirely?
For me, it’s a combination of those things. And it differs from book to book. I thought it would be interesting to do a giveaway for The Cinderella Society related to the mystery of what makes us want to read the books we’re eyeing.
What is it about The Cinderella Society that makes you want to read it… and, most importantly, why? What is it about that element (or elements) of TCS that gets you excited?
Every comment gets you an entry into the contest. The winner of the ARC will be announced next week. (Be sure to check out the blurb on the TCS page for full details about the book!)
I’m over at Living Your Five talking about gratitude and Thanksgiving traditions. Come help me decide which new Thanksgiving tradition I should choose for my family!
Also, be sure to check out the new THE CINDERELLA SOCIETY giveaway over on Goodreads! You can register to win an ARC of the book – it’s super simple! (And please friend me while you’re there so I know you’re a Goodreader too!)
And finally, as some of you know from my tweets over the last few weeks, I am STILL sick. So if you’re waiting for a package from me, I apologize! I’m waiting until I’m all better so I don’t send my germs along with your prize.
Did you guess the lies for bookseller guests Becky and Cathy and librarian guest Melissa? Be sure to check them out!
As my way of saying thanks for playing, I’m announcing…
Another Bundle o’ Bookmarks winner!
What is Bundle o’ Bookmarks? It’s a collection of awesome bookmarks from some of your favorite authors! Here’s the current Bundle o’ Bookmarks swag pack:
Attention Book Clubs!
Kay is available for free 30-minute book club chats via Skype for book clubs who have read The Cinderella Society. Contact Kay via the online contact form for more information.
Book Signing - 5/1/10
Barnes & Noble
Noblesville, IN
1:00 p.m.
Book Signing - 5/8/10
Barnes & Noble
West Chester, OH
2:00 p.m.
Teen Book Festival - 5/15/10
Nazareth College
Rochester, NY
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Coming soon!
"Girl power, baby! This is the book you want when you want to believe you can do anything!"
~ Becca Fitzpatrick New York Times
bestselling author Hush, Hush
"The Cinderella Society is just as much about empowering yourself as it is about the fun and romance, and the super secret society will appeal to fans of Ally Carter."
“The Cinderella Society is girl power in a great new package! Kay shows a real girl on a real path to finding out who she is who just happens to have a great support team there to help her when she falls! The Cinderella Society is a must read for teen girls! It deals with real issues that we’ve all had and are still facing in regards to how we fit into the world.”
“I loved watching Jess transform – to start to see what was inside of her and how to let that out. The conflict, the fantastic characters, the overall fun this book was to read… chick lit isn’t usually my thing, but this is so much more.”
