A.C. Gaughen's Blog, page 9
February 19, 2012
SCARLET Debut Week is OVER!
So, Scarlet's first week of being alive is over, but you can check out the winners of the contest here and thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped me celebrate!!
Check back here during the week for pictures!
February 17, 2012
Calling All Strong Ladies!
First, check out my Teen Garage Sale guest post over at That Hapa Chick!
Today's SCARLET DEBUT WEEK BONANZA Challenge?
One of my favorite things about Scar is that she's a tough girl, and I LOVE reading tough girls. Give me a book recommendation with your favorite strong girl character!
February 16, 2012
U + SCARLET = LOVE!
First, check out this review of SCARLET on Diary of a Book Addict!
Today's SCARLET DEBUT WEEK BONANZA Challenge?
Take a picture of you holding SCARLET! You can tweet it, tag it on Facebook, or leave a link in the comments.
February 15, 2012
2012 Love!
First, check out my tens list on Books in the Spotlight!
Today's SCARLET DEBUT WEEK BONANZA Challenge?
In the comments, recommend another 2012 debut. If you've read it, share! If you're looking forward to it, tell me why. For inspiration, check out Class of 2k12 and The Apocalypsies!
Don't forget to log your entries on the Rafflecopter here!
February 14, 2012
I HEART SCARLET!!
First, check out Scarlet's character interview at Paper Dreams!
WELCOME TO THE WORLD SCARLET!
Today is Scarlet's official debut day--because on Valentine's Day, who doesn't love an angry, grumpy, angsty thief that can hold her own and wields knives better than the Iron Chef?
Check out Scarlet's page for more about where to buy her, this page to find out more about my upcoming appearances, and this page to play around with music, video and more!
Today's SCARLET DEBUT WEEK BONANZA CHALLENGE?
Pose like Scarlet! You can take a picture imitating the cover, holding some knives, or in pretty much any other pose loosely inspired by the book. Tweet it to me, tag Scarlet in it on Facebook, or leave a link to it in the comments here.
February 13, 2012
SCARLET Debut Week Bonanza
Scarlet officially hits shelves tomorrow! Since this is my first book baby, I really want to celebrate--so I'd like to give some stuff away, have a lot of fun, and have you join in!
First off, the prizes:
1 Amazon Kindle! It's this one.
Please note: this prize is open to US residents ONLY. All other prizes are international!
5 SCARLET "Don't Get On the Wrong Side of a Lady Thief" Tshirts!
1 Signed Copies of SCARLET!
10 SCARLET Stickers!
So, yeah, there's a lot at stake here. Now, here's what you have to do to win:
This is a list of *ALL* the tasks to do this week, so some won't make sense until the accompanying posts go up. However, you can earn an entry every day for tweeting about the giveaway! Also, when the picture challenges come up, you can win TWO entries!
Today's SCARLET DEBUT WEEK BONANZA Challenge?
Tweet about the giveaway, tweet about the book trailer, or "Like" Scarlet on Facebook! Make sure to log your entry with Rafflecopter or it won't be counted!
Have fun!
February 7, 2012
Scarlet Blog Tour and Book Trailer!
This week kicks off the start of SCARLET's two week blog tour, hosted by The {Teen} Book Scene! Check it out:
Yesterday, I was answering interview questions at Diary of a Book Addict with lines from the book!
Today, I'll be the Proud Book Nerd talking about what I do When I'm Not Writing!
Wednesday, I'll be giving my top ten list at Lost for Words!
Thursday, check out a review of SCARLET at That Hapa Chick!
Friday, you can read an interview with Haiku answers (yes, really!) at A Good Addiction!
Saturday, check out a review of SCARLET at Books in the Spotlight!
NOW, drumroll please.......
I would like to at long last......
Introduce.....
THE SCARLET BOOK TRAILER!
With a song written just for SCARLET by the super talented Jenna Paone (www.cityofsquares.com)!!
February 3, 2012
First Chance to Win!
Head over to the Class of 2k12 Blog for your FIRST CHANCE to win SCARLET!! Bonus--you'll also get a shot to win LETHALLY BLONDE!
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
The copy you win will come with my inside scoop and behind the scenes notes on writing the novel!!
January 26, 2012
My Debut Checklist in Progress
(republished from The Class of 2k12)
So, SCARLET has not yet launched. It will do that quite soon (ahem! Valentine's Day! ahem!) but this is a blog of debut authors, so I'm going to go ahead and give you the down and dirty details of what I've done so far–and maybe at the end of the year I can tell you what really paid off and what didn't!
Don't hold me to that.
Join a group. Like…um…this one. I've never had a kid, but I imagine it's kind of like having a baby when NO ONE YOU KNOW HAS EVER HAD A CHILD and trying to figure out how to go from there. Get help. Get friends. It's going to get confusing, exciting, frustrating and thrilling, and you need someone who is going through the same thing.
Pick swag. For me, this was tshirts, postcards, a few stickers and a few hair combs. You DO need something for giveaways. You DON'T need to spend much. Buy something fun (I love my tshirts) so you can say yes when people ask–which they will. Be ready.
Buy Photoshop (and learn how to use it). From swag to stickers to postcard layouts, to website banners, headers, footers and everything in between, I use Photoshop constantly. The cheap one–don't go crazy. I'm not graphically talented, but it saves me a lot of time and effort with a designer. I DO design my own website (on the supremely easy SquareSpace) so this really comes in handy.
Send postcards. I sent postcards to all the indies I could find (and Indiebound lets you find a lot) and could justify the cost of sending to. This has paid off. I sent them to schools; this has NOT paid off. Find English teachers' email addresses and email them–it's much, much more effective. (If you want to know what to do with them, Saundra Mitchell explains it wayy better here)
My swaggy tshirts!
Plan a party and schedule a vacation. Somewhere in all the interviews, contests, reviews and copy edits, you'll have this flicker of a moment where you're just like "wasn't this supposed to be the funnest thing EVER?" because it doesn't feel like it. Which is when you get over that feeling, and schedule yourself some fun time. I'm having a pre-launch family and friends party to take the night off and actually celebrate (because I have NO IDEA how to do that) and…welll…scheduling a vacation is still on my to-do list. But I already recognize how much you need to schedule some down time into the madness. Plus I've been sending my two best buds emergency Mexican-and-Margaritas-night-needed texts.
Say yes to everything physically possible. Interview? YES! Donation? Yes! Giveaway? Of course! Kidney? Ye–wait, what? YES! Right now I have no idea what will pay off, what will get my name out there, what will be that magic ticket to the Willy Wonka factory (which is where we're all trying to go…right?).
Find some way to reinvest your heart. I haven't launched yet, and this is madness. It's such a learning curve, it's such a crazy new process that I have no experience in–and that gives me anxiety! And then add on the squishy feeling of this thing that was once super personal becoming super public (and weirdly unattached to you) and it's easy to get emotionally depleted. So whether it's time with your family, committing to a passion project (cough GLOW!!! cough), taking time off, or even working on something that will never see the light of day, find a way to protect your heart and have it do little heart push-ups. This is an amazing process, this is a growing process, and your heart needs to be Schwarzenegger'ed out to survive with your creativity intact.
January 24, 2012
Winners!
Well, the YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes is OVER, as is my tshirt contest and the one I had the week before that.
The winners, picked at random by a number generator:
Sarah O.
and
Christa Seeley!
Thank you guys for playing and checking out SCARLET!!
