Category: Contests

Judging and Social Networks

Just a bit of ‘net etiquette when it comes to judging unpublished manuscripts or published books in contests…

If you agree to judge a writing contest, please hold off on announcing which manuscript or book you’ve judged via a review or rating or comment at any of the tons of sites and social networks out there until AFTER the finalists have been announced. Judging packets usually include an indication of when the finalists will be notified and many judging packets (indeed most of the packets for contests I’ve judged) explicitly state not to discuss scores in the preliminary rounds. This is certainly a huge stipulation in the RITAs, RWA’s annual contest for published novels. And it’s the case in pretty much every RWA chapter contest in which I’ve participated as a judge.

Please note that I don’t have an issue with reviews, and I don’t have an issue with ratings. When it comes to published books, I don’t even have an issue with reviews or ratings that are posted before contest finalists are announced. After all, in order for the author to enter a contest for published novels, the novel has to have been published already, and whoever has read it certainly has the right to make their opinions about the book known.

However, when a judge points out that they judged the book in a particular contest and that contest is still on-going…it kind of takes the fun and anticipation out of the contest for the author.

Okay, so we don’t really enter writing contests for fun. We enter them to get judged—and hopefully make the finals. Judging occurs during the contest, and it can certainly occur on a public forum in the form of a review or rating. Just please make sure not to say where and why you read the book if contest finalists have not been announced.

And that’s my PSA for today!

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Lovely RITA

I finally received my RITA packet of books to judge today. For those not in the know, the RITA is RWA’s annual contest for published books, and it’s judged by your peers. That’s what I am, I guess. A peer. Because I’m judging.

I’m looking forward to digging in to the books. In fact, I think I’ll start reading the first one as soon as I post this minuscule update.

This Friday will mark 6 weeks since I had my eye surgery. Will do an Eye Report then.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to share what they’ve been up to, I’m all ears. Just not eyes. The eyes, they still need TLC.

Oh! I registered for the RWA conference in Anaheim this July. It’s in my time zone, so I couldn’t pass it up. If you’re a member, are you going?

Release Day SNAFU Give-Away

My release day glitch for WHERE SHE BELONGS is turning out to be a bigger SNAFU than I realized. I’ve learned from other Five Star authors with the same release date that some readers who have pre-ordered December 16th “release date” books from Amazon and Barnes and Noble have received notices that the books aren’t available and do they wish to cancel their pre-order?

Well, the books ARE available, but not until the “On Sale” date of January 6, 2012. Now, I always knew that the books were considered to be shipping on December 16th and would not be available in libraries or for sale in bookstores (that have ordered them) until the January “On Sale” date. But I did not realize that Amazon and Barnes and Noble would show them releasing on December 16th (ie. available for shipping on that date) and then turn around and switch to the “On Sale” date of January 6th. Mea Scratchy Laser-Surgery-Recovery-Mode Eyeballs! What a SNAFU.

Somehow, my brain thought that “On Sale” date applied to brick and mortar establishments. Turns out—heh heh—it applies to on-line venues, as well. No matter what those on-line venues were saying a week ago.

So…if you’ve pre-ordered my book and received one of these emails asking if you want to cancel your order, please know that supposedly the books will magically appear available again on January 6th. Do what works for you. Cancel your pre-order, or keep it going, cancel and re-order when the books appear on-line, or cancel and don’t re-order because Cindy is an airhead and who wants to read an airhead’s books?

How about if you win a free book?

My hardcover author copies of WHERE SHE BELONGS are all already spoken for, however, I still have trade paperback ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) that Five Star/Tekno supplied me with for garnering reviews, etc. These trades paperbacks feature the same cover and the insides are the same except for a handful of typos that I found at the proofing stage (the ARCs were also used for proofing).

To make up for my release day SNAFU, I’m giving away one of my remaining WHERE SHE BELONGS ARCs. Autographed! And, while I’m at it, you can choose one of either HEAD OVER HEELS or BORROWING ALEX (trade paperback) to go along with the ARC of WHERE SHE BELONGS.

If you’ve read both HEAD OVER HEELS and BORROWING ALEX, I will mail you two copies of WHERE SHE BELONGS in ARC form and you can give one to a friend. They aren’t perfect—some minor edge wear. But they’re totally readable and enjoyable!

To enter to win an ARC of WHERE SHE BELONGS along with your choice of either HEAD OVER HEELS or BORROWING ALEX, please leave a comment at the end of this post. I will choose the winner’s name December 24th and email you at the email address provided for your snail-mailing info. The books will go in the mail around December 27th (post offices aren’t open on December 26th in Canada).

The winner must live in North America.

Meanwhile, the excerpts I had planned to share this week will wait until I know for sure this time that the books are available to order.

Happy Holidays, and good luck!

Note: If you are reading this post at a feed at Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, etc., please note that you must leave a comment at Muse Interrupted to enter.

Beth Kery Silken Rapture Contest

Author Beth Kery is hosting a 2-week multi-author book give-away to celebrate the release of SILKEN RAPTURE, her November 22nd release from Samhain Publishing. The contest actually started November 4th, but it’s not too late to start entering. Each day a guest blogger visits Beth’s blog and will give away a download of one of her books. Samhain author Kate St. James, who appeared on my blog two days ago, is today giving away a free download of A LITTLE WILD over at Beth Kery’s blog. You have to post THERE to enter, not here. Once there, make sure to scroll down to Kate’s blog entry to enter to win the download of A LITTLE WILD.

All the information about Beth’s contest can be found at this link. Authors scheduled to blog and give away books from now until November 22nd are:

Kate St. James – November 10th

Kelly Jamieson – November 11th

Natasha Moore – November 14th

Vivian Arend – November 15th

Vanessa Jaye – November 16th

Missy Jane – November 17th

Jodi Redford – November 18th

Lilli Feisty – November 21st

Beth Kery – November 22nd

If you’ve read this far, the super cool news is that Beth is giving away a Kindle Touch 3-G on November 23rd. To win the Kindle Touch 3-G, Beth says,

A winner will be randomly chosen from a pool of entrants on November 23. The winner must claim their prize, so it is important to come back and check the announcement!

So don’t forget that part.

Happy entering!

Ring, Ring!

Guess what I’m not doing today? Sitting by the phone (or doing my best to pretend I’m not sitting by the phone) waiting to hear if I finaled in this year’s Romance Writers of America RITA contest for published books.

Neither I nor Penny had a new release in 2010, which meant I couldn’t enter the RITA. And it’s kind of a relief. Because today I get to write instead!

By now, I should have been brainstorming a short story series to write as Cindy, but Penny is still glomming all my time. She received a critique back on her short story (an erotica, not an erotic romance, gulp) and is keeping me busy implementing revisions. Well, and dealing with the business fire is also occupying my time and thoughts.

For all the RWA members who are sitting by the phone waiting to hear if you finaled in Golden Heart or RITA, good luck!! To my 2007 Golden Heart sisters who have entered either contest, crossing fingers double-time for you.

I’ll see you all in New York. I’ll be the one not sweating to hear if I won.

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Categorized as Contests