Kim Harrison's Blog, page 81

Last day to register your vote to “MAKE KIM COME TO MY CITY”

Mid Michigan is getting snuffed by fog this morning, ruining Guy’s plans on getting out for one last bike ride as we hit almost 60 today. I so believe we’ll get that warm. Most of the homes on my street have their lights up already. It’s early, but I know it’s because of the warm weather we’ve been having. Sure, it’s 60 today, but tomorrow it could be 20 with a wind chill of zero, so get the lights up NOW! -grin-

I’ve been splurging to get some of those solar lights, a few sets every year since they don’t last long on the shelf despite the ouch price tag. After 20 years fighting cords and plugs and timers, they’re worth the extra effort for me. I’ve had one set that lasted two years of continual use until I accidentally cut the end off while vigorously weeding, but the sets that are only out for a few months of the year still look brand new.

Also, today is the last day to register your city in the “I WANT KIM TO COME TO MY CITY” contest. We’re going to tabulate the numbers tomorrow, narrowing the field to a couple of places and start a final round of voting. If you’ve missed this, here’s the link to the post that explains it, HERE, but the short and sweet of it is one person, one vote. Enter your city/store you want me to visit at the survey. And please feel free to share this with your reading group and other friends.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/kimharrisonevent

tongue-in-cheek PSA

I know I’ve been sparse lately on the posting, and I promise I will try to return to my usual schedule next week with a fresh outlook that this weekend will hopefully provide.

Honest truth? I will admit that I’m having a hard time emotionally with this last rough draft. I’ve been through this before, but never this hard simply because Rachel and crew mean so much to me. It’s better if I keep a low profile until I get through the worst of it. People being massively creative become irrational and their actions a little off-kilter when they’re struggling with the imagined world they’re shaping and the real one demanding its own share of their attention–and every serious writer out there knows exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve got four more weeks of this, and I hope you stick with me until I can be nice again.

Guy is taking the brunt of it even as I recognize what’s going on and try to minimize it, so if you want to send him a sympathy card, it’s at the same address as the SASE. -laugh-

EVER AFTER Tour: Announcing the “mystery city” Contest

By now, if you’ve been reading along the Drama Box, you know that Harper Voyager just wrapped up planning my 2013 tour for EVER AFTER. (Cincinnati finally said yes, and Lansing shifted a day to accommodate.) And even though it’s quite large, I’ve gotten messages from so many fans asking me to come to their home towns.

My publicist is usually pretty no-nonsense when I forward these emails to her (Her typical response is “We’ll consider that for next year,” which is publicity-speak for “no.”). But this time, she got all excited when I sent in the reader requests, and said, “Want to do something fun this year? How about asking your readers to vote on one more tour market?”

I’m not dumb. These opportunities don’t come along often, so I said YES in a burning bunnies red-hot second! So here’s how it works: it’s a two-part reader-driven contest.

First, click the link at the end of this post. You’ll fill in your name, email address, the city you’d like me to visit and your favorite bookstore or library. (US markets only, please)

For this part of the contest, a city needs 100 unique votes to move to the finals (one entry per person/will be tracked via IP address, so please only vote once).  And please, don’t force your friends and family to vote, unless they are Hollows insiders, too!  Entries are open from November 27 through December 3, so act fast!

By December 4, 2012, if a city reaches 100 unique votes, it will be entered into the final bracket of the contest, hosted by Togather.com, a new website that helps connect readers with authors.   Then, more voting!

The second round of voting will start on December 4, and we want to announce the winning event by December 27.

Once we’ve narrowed down the cities to a few finalists, we’ll set up event pages on Togather with a bookstore in each location. To register interest for the event, you can place a pre-order for my book through the site. Each book purchase serves as your ticket for the event, and you’ll automatically get added to the guestlist. The first city to buy 150 books WINS, and will be added on as the final stop on my EVER AFTER tour. (Note: Orders  are only placed if the bookstore in your hometown wins the Mystery City contest. If not, then no money is exchanged.)  If your store/city wins, the book will be sent to you on on-sale day from the hosting bookstore, and you have to bring it to the event for me to personalize. This is why I asked for you not to force your family and friends to vote–I want this to be really fair.

The city that reaches 150 votes first in the final round of voting WINS, and will be added on as the final stop of my EVER AFTER tour.

Now isn’t that cool?  If you can’t get to one of the confirmed tour cities listed at my event page (updated 11/27), now is your chance to get me to visit your area. Vote now!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/kimharrisonevent

Cyber Monday deals-Hotter than a burning bunny

I’m still trying to find my keyboard under my fingers after four days off (mostly), but Guy’s salesman’s blood is boiling, and he tells me that in deference to it being cyber Monday, anyone who orders a tour T shirt between now and tomorrow morning, 9:00 am EST will get a burning bunny pin for free. Yes, you heard it here first. -laugh- Free Burning Bunny pins if you place your order today. If you are going to snail mail your payment in, email Guy today to tell him it’s coming and to set aside a pin for you to take advantage of the deal.

The link on how to order yours is here, and if you have no idea what a burning bunny is, just follow the link and scroll down a bit. Guy’s cyber Monday free burning bunny pin deal.

You can also just buy the pin if you’re looking for a stocking stuffer, (Purchase a Burning Bunny Pin)  or if you want something really inexpensive, the freebie this year is the coat check tag from Carew Tower.  (How to send Kim a SASE to get the 2013 tour freebie)

And since we’re talking deals, I found out that TantorAudio is having a 50% off sale, of which the first five titles in the Hollows Series is a part of. TantorAudio sale If you like listening to the Hollows, this is a great way to get the back titles you might have missed, or if you know someone you’re trying to get hooked on the Hollows, this might do it.

If you’re still looking for something special for your Hollows person on your list, Nicola’s is a good source for signed books. They’ve been keeping better stock of the signed stuff lately, but if you want it for Christmas, you should order fairly soon. It takes time to get them, get me in there, and then ship out. It’s not a simple process, but then again, if it was easy, everyone would have a signed book. How to order a signed book from Nicola’s I’ve just got these six for example. They can get anything, even the Madison and Dawn Cook books.

If you know of any more deals out there, post and tell me! And feel free to share this!

I’m thankful for the quiet heros

Happy Thanksgiving, where we here in the U.S.  begin a glut of holiday shopping with a glut at the table. Holy cow, I love this place and the exuberance we meet everything with.  There’s truly a lot to be thankful for this year as I’ve been reminded of what’s important and the fragility of it all if you sit and do nothing.  I’ve seen a lot of quiet heros lately, and my hat is off to you.  Now pass me some of that green bean casserole, please!

I will not be going out early Friday, but I might venture downtown to shop locally because we’ve got a lot of cool stores–maybe stop in for a sweet coffee before walking home. I truly enjoy living this close to the shops, and I am always amazed at what I find at my local hardware store. (Seriously!) If the mall overwhelms, give your local merchants a try and count the smiles. Like me, they do what they do because they are pursuing a dream, and it shows.

Harper Voyager’s slew of “How to write” e-books on sale

Harper Voyager has an e-book sale going on now in celebration of NaNoWriMo, which is, for those not in the know, National Novel Writing Month, where professional, intermediate, and just-picked-up-the-pen writers rub shoulders in a month-long event to reach 50,000 words in 30 days. This is the second year that I’ve officially joined in, signed up, and tracked my progress at their website, but I’ve known about NaNo for a lot longer.  You can find me here at NaNo, and it’s really helped this year as I push through the rough draft of book thirteen.

But I mentioned e-books! Yes, Harper Voyager has ten books on writing on sale for a limited time at a reduced price of under two dollars. If you write, you might want to check it out. I’ve long held that even though you can go to school to learn the craft of writing, it still remains one of the few careers that you don’t have to and still be a success if you put the time in and learn what you can from where you can get it. Harper Voyager e-book sale

A Perfect Blood is a Finalist at Goodreads choice awards

Thanks to you, the readers, A Perfect Blood has made it through the first two preliminary rounds and is a finalist in the paranormal fantasy category of Goodreads annual reader choice awards!  Thank you, everyone who has been active in voting for their favorites in all twenty categories over the past couple of weeks. This is your last chance to pick your favorite and vote one last time before the winners are announced November 27th. The link takes you to the front page with all the categories. A Perfect Blood is in the paranormal fantasy genre, but do check out all the rest.

Also, I’m headed into Nicola’s tomorrow to sign the orders that have come in. If you’re looking for a signed book for gift giving this year, now would be a good time to do it. Nicola’s page at Kim’s website

They will ship international, and they ask that you email them at nicolasbooks@tds.net for a shipping quote before ordering.

EVER AFTER tour venues pretty much set

There will likely be tweaking yet, but this feels pretty solid to me. But as always, please check the website a day or two before the event to make sure there are no changes in time or whatnot.  This is especially important to find out what “rules” the store has imposed-if any-since I sometimes don’t find out until a few weeks before the event. Hope to see some of you out there! Event’s page for up-to-date info-bookmark it!

Ann Arbor: January 22, Tuesday, 7:00 PM

Nicola’s Books

2513 Jackson Rd

734-662-0600

Nicola’s would like to ticket this event. Tickets are free and you don’t have to buy the book there (but why not since they are the kick-off store) but the sooner you call, the closer to the top of the line you will be.

Seattle: January 23, Wednesday, 7:00 PM

University Bookstore

4326 University Way

206-633-6443

Portland/Beaverton: January 24, Thursday, 7:00 PM

Powell’s Books

Cedar Hills Crossing

Beaverton, OR

503-228-4651 X 5855

San Diego: January 25, Friday, 7:00 PM

Mysterious Galaxy

7051 Clairmont Mesa Blvd

858-268-4747

Please call the store to reserve your copy and your place in line.

Phoenix: January 27, Sunday, 2:00 PM

Barnes and Noble

Desert Ridge Marketplace

21001 N Tatum Blvd

480-538-8520

Denver: January 28, Monday, 7:30 PM

Tattered Cover Book Store

9315 Dorchester ST

Highlands Ranch, CO

303-322-1965

Houston: January 29, Tuesday, 6:30

Murder By the Book

2342 Bissonnett St

713-524-8597

From MBTB’s website: Ever After goes on sale January 22. Line Numbers for the event will be available starting that day. If you preorder a copy of the book, we’ll pull a line number for you on January 22.

The talk is free to attend, but a copy of Ever After must be purchased from MBTB in order to obtain a line number and get anything signed. Event info

Austin: January 30, Wednesday, 7:00 PM

Bookpeople

603 N. Lamar

512-472-4288 x 411

Dallas: January 31, Thursday, 7:00 PM

Barnes and Noble

Lincoln Park

7700 W Northwest Hwy

214-739-4101

Raleigh NC: February 2, Saturday, 3:00 PM

Quail Ridge Books

3522 Wade Ave

1-800 672-6789

Asheville NC: February 4, Monday, 7:00 PM

Malaprops Bookstore

55 Haywood St

828-254-6734

1-800-441-9829

Lansing MI: February 7, Thursday 7:00 PM

Schuler Books

Eastwood

2820 Towne Center Blvd

517-316-7495

March 16, Saturday: Southwest Florida Reading Festival

March 22, Friday: Virginia Festival of the Book

A Perfect Blood a semifinalist in Goodreads reader choice awards

We have moved to the semi finalist round in Goodreads reader choice awards, and now is your chance to vote for all your favorites in twenty categories. You’ll find A Perfect Blood in the paranormal fantasy section, but do check out the others. Goodread Reader Choice Awards This particular voting period runs from November 12th to the 18th, and from it, five from each category will move on to the next round.

Yesterday was a tough slog at the keyboard, but I’m looking forward to a better day at the desk today. I’m just about at the halfway point for the rough draft, and it’s starting to become tangled. Someone made a big mistake, and Rachel is ready to walk away and let them deal with it themselves.

 

RT Career Achievement Award nominee

I found out late Friday that I’m again up for the RT’s career achievement award in the urban fantasy category.  Yay! And as before, I’m standing with some heavy hitters. You could close your eyes and point and not be disappointed since Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs, and Elleen Wilks have been nominated as well. I’m honored to have been nominated, and it does my little writer soul to see my name with such talented writers.

From what I’ve heard, if you’re up for the career achievement award, your books are excluded from participating in the other categories, but I could be wrong there.  (Just did a little checking, and yes, you can apparently have books in other categories when up for a career achievement award.) I also believe that it is RT’s 50+ reviewers who do both the nominating and the voting for the winners, and so I am not hopeful and wish all the other ladies good luck. My reviews at RT have not been inspiring since killing Kisten. Rule number one if you are writing for the romance reader, eh? Don’t kill your main love interest even if you have a new one in mind. But I’ve never claimed to write romance, so . . . there it is.

I’ve always maintained that romance readers are the most adventuresome readers out there, dipping outside their usual reading preferences if you can give them a protagonist who strong, (not bitchy) someone they can identify with and cheer for who is searching for love. I know those early romance readers are part of the reason I moved forward so fast in book sales in those early years, and I will always appreciate that.

Good luck, ladies!

As for me, I’m trying to settle down and write after a fab weekend of putting the last of Halloween away and tidying the yard for winter. The weather was outstanding, but I think we’re going to pay for it as the forecast looks nasty. That might suit me well, though, since NaNoWriMo is just about half over. (find me here) I’m working hard to get my pages in and nice weather outside my window is a great distraction. So far, so good. I’m doing better than last year. -laugh- I’m actually working on book 13, and from there, I’m on to Peri, I think, but I might do something with Spider Silk as a stand alone, or Grace just for the hell of it.

But first, I have to give Rachel her happy ever after, and that should take me right up to the EVER AFTER tour.