Oops!

So, I was going to post a contest today, but I decided (at the last minute, of course) to do something COMPLETELY different.

I know, I know. We all love books, so it would have been just fine, but I think I can do better, so I'm going to try.  :D

Of course, I'll be giving away books, too.  So stay tuned!  Hopefully, I'll have more of an idea of what's being offered by the end of this week. 

In the meantime, enjoy the cute kitty pic.  :D

How I got my editor.

Interested in reading about how I got my publishing deal?  Go here!  I'm all for answering questions, so please leave a comment here or there and I'll do a blog post with the answers. :D

Silence of the blog

So…do you guys remember a week or so ago, when I apologized for being so busy that I couldn’t post on my blog?  And remember I said I had a good reason why and that I would tell you why as soon as I could?  Well, that day is today! 

Some of you may have already seen why, since Publisher’s Marketplace was a tiny bit excited by my news and decided to let everyone know on Saturday instead of today.  ; )  So, I won’t make this all long and drawn out like I wanted to.  :P 

I SOLD MY DEBUT BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

(*Pauses for applause, bows, blows kisses, wipes the tears from my eyes*)  

Yeppers, THAT’S the reason. Pretty good reason, huh?  :)  I’ve been so busy with getting it ready for submission, the BEING on submission, then keeping my mouth shut AFTER I had an offer that I didn’t blog.  Although, to be fair, the keeping my mouth shut after the offer didn’t really keep me too busy to blog.  I was just terrified that I’d someone let something slip, I just kept my fingers busy with other things, namely plotting the next book in the series, because it’s a THREE BOOK DEAL!!!!!!!! 

See what I did there?  Hehe!

And now onto the actual announcement from Publisher’s Marketplace so you can have all the details.

Jessica Souders's RENEGADE, about a female assassin in an underwater Utopia who realizes her memories have been altered and her mind and body aren't under her own control, to Melissa Frain at Tor, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Natalie Fischer at Bradford Literary Agency (World English). Translation: 
taryn.fagerness@gmail.com

I'm still in a state of shock.   The last few weeks I've been pinching myself almost contstantly to see if I'm dreaming.  I think the bruises speak for themselves. :D

I’m so excited to be able to work with such an awesome editor and a fantastic publishing house.  Heck, I practically GREW UP reading books from Tor (my family is a huge fan of Science Fiction—not all that surprising, huh?)

And, one last thing, I wouldn’t have been able to do this without my awesome crit partners (Liz Czukas, Larissa Hardesty, JaclynDolamore, Leah Crichton, and Anne Sheridan), my numerous beta readers, my family (specifically my husband), and last but certainly not least my fantabolous agent, Natalie Fischer (you are SO getting a hug when I see you in NJ). So, I want to say a heart felt thank you to all of you, it doesn’t even come close to how grateful I am for each one of you (Ha! Since I did a small acknowledgement here, just wait to see what I put in the book’s acknowledgement page!  Bwahahaha!)

Well, I could go on forever, but I’ll just wrap this up with a huge…

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~J

Easter Hop Giveaway: Winners announced

Sorry about how late this is all. I can't believe how busy I've been lately (you'll find out why in a few weeks).

But, anyway, the news you've all been waiting for: the winner of the easter hop Giveaway.

The winner is:  Louisa!  Congrats Louisa!  Please email me at j.souders (at) jasouders (dot) com to give me your address so I can mail it out.

Winners of other hops, your books are going out tomorrow.  There was a small glitch with one of the books and I had to have it replaced.  I apologize for the inconvenience!

Thankful Thursday: Book series

Wow! It's been a LONG time since I posted!  I apologize for that.  It's been crazy and unfortunately I don't think it's going to get better for awhile, so my posting is probably going to be a bit sporadic, but I'll try to be better.  For those that are looking for the winner of the Hoppy Easter Giveaway Hop, I'll post that on Monday, so make sure to stop on back.  

But, in the meantime, I'm participating in the Oasis for YAs Thankful Thursday Meme.

Topic this week: What book series are you most thankful for and why?

When I saw this prompt, I was like, “Oh boy! How do I choose?!”  There wasn’t a way, so I used the ol’ stand-by…eenie, meenie, Minie, Mo. :D  Of course, that didn’t work either. LOL. So, I picked two.  Yes, I’m cheating. Kinda.  ; ) The first is posted at the Oasis blog.

The second one I’m grateful for is the Twilight series.  I know a lot of writer’s opinions on this series, but, honestly, it’s the reason I started writing seriously again.  I wanted to do what she did.  Not necessarily the movies, and the best-seller status(not that I WOULDN’T take all that. LOL.) but how she was able to create something new and fresh and make it her own. And not only do that, but making so many people--young and old alike—to fall in love with the story and the characters.  Almost everywhere you turned people were reading or re-reading this story.  I still don’t really know what it was about this story that made me want to keep reading, but there’s only been a few books since then that has inspired me that much. 

Almost immediately I started writing an awful book about fairies.  LOL. But Twilight gave me the courage to start writing again.  And for that, I’m grateful.

Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hoppy Easter Eggstravganza Blog Hop!

 

On this hop, I'm giving away a book from the House of Night series--Tempted.  I couldn't help it. Every time I see a bunny, I think Bunnicula, so I HAD to give away a vampire book and I just simply LOVE this series.  

Open Internationally.

So…you’d think after banishing an immortal being and a fallen High Priestess, saving Stark’s life, biting Heath, getting a headache from Erik, and almost dying, Zoey Redbird would catch a break. Sadly, a break is not in the House of Night school forecast for the High Priestess in training and her gang. Juggling three guys is anything but a stress reliever, especially when one of them is a sexy Warrior who is so into protecting Zoey that he can sense her emotions. Speaking of stress, the dark force lurking in the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot is spreading, and Zoey is beginning to believe Stevie Rae could be responsible for a lot more than a group of misfit red fledglings. Aphrodite’s visions warn Zoey to stay away from Kalona and his dark allure, but they also show that it is Zoey who has the power to stop the evil immortal. Soon it becomes obvious that Zoey has no choice: if she doesn’t go to Kalona he will exact a fiery vengeance on those closest to her. Will Zoey have the courage to chance losing her life, her heart, and her soul? Find out in the next spectacular installment in the House of Night series, TEMPTED.

Giveaway Details:

To enter giveaway you must follow this blog, then fill out the form below.

Last Day to Enter is April 25th

Optional Extra Entries:

+1 Like me on facebook

+1 Follow on Twitter

To Enter Giveaway Please Fill Out This Form:






And don't forget to go here to check out all the other blogs participating in this hop or see below for the linky. 

Winner's Lucky Leprachaun Hop

Sorry for the delay in announcing, peeps.  Last week was a bad week for me. I had to put my dog to sleep.  It was obviously a hard decision and I miss her very much.

But onto the news you REALLY want. The winner of the Lucky Leprachaun Hop is:

Valerie!  

Congratulations, Valerie, I've sent you an email with the details.  Just give me a few days to have them mailed out. If you're international, give me a bit longer since I have to go to the post office. 


Thanks to all who participated, I hope you'll join me for the next hop (the Easter one) and for my 500 follower giveaway when I get there.  (Please pass the word, because the sooner I get to 500, the sooner I can hold that contest.)

Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop

This contest is now closed!  Thanks to all who participated and made it a success!  You all rock!  I will draw a random winner and announce by the end of the week!

Since I love giveaways and I TOTALLY forgot to participate in the last hop I signed up for, I figured I'd giveaway TWO prizes to the winner of this hop.

I'm giving away the Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins.  That includes the only available books as of this posting, Hex Hall (book #1) and Demonglass (book #2).


To win, all you have to do follow me and then tell me why you want to win these books in the comments.  Easy peasy, rice and cheesy, right?

It is open internationally.

Make sure to look below at the linky for a chance to win even more great prizes.  Also, if you can't see the comment form, please click the title so it brings you to the actual blog post.  You should see the comment form then.

250 blog contest winners announcement.

1st place:  Alexia Chamberlynn

2nd Place:  Kulsuma

3rd place:  Heather McCorkle

Congratulations to all of you!  Give me a few days to mail these out. I hope you enjoy them!

Fantastic Friday: A request

We all have books we don't want, right?  We bought them thinking they'd be great and they weren't.  Or we got duplicates as a gift.  Or even you've switched your entire library to an electronic one and have only ebooks now.  What do you do with all those books you're not reading? 

Well, I have one suggestion. A good friend of mine, Ebyss Writer, is asking for donated books to help with her students.  She can explain it better than I can, so please read below.

I work with lower income and special students who want to expand their knowledge through a college education, but they are struggling with reading and/or mathematical concepts.

I would like to start a book drive. This way these students can improve their reading scores through practicing what we all love to do----read. As we know, the more you read, then the better you get. Plus, I hope to ignite in them a passion for exploring other worlds and other people through the written word.

I am asking for you to help me by donating books for this cause. Any MG or YA books would be greatly appreciated.

New or used--doesn’t matter. Fiction or non-fiction—doesn’t matter. The only thing I would like to do is keep the reading lvl at MG and YA.

What I plan to do when I get with these students is let them choose a book for them to keep. A lot of these students don’t read—at least by choice—and I’m hoping to expose them to great novels.

If you would like to help, please leave a comment, message me on twitter or leave me a message on facebook. Also, if you could plz retweet this or like on facebook with a link to spread the word would be appreciated.

Thanks so much.

Thanks everyone who can help or pass along the word.  If you leave a comment on here for her, I will pass it along.  I'm already going through my books to see what I can give her.