D-Day Minus One

So, we're down to the one-day countdown, and the Great Blog Campaign is under way! If you sent me interview questions or guest blog topics and you don't have something from me, it means I either didn't get the e-mail or I somehow lost it because I think I've done everything that was sent to me.

Now, and here's the important part if you want to be considered for prizes: When you post your entry, whether it's something you wrote or created or something you got me to do, you need to either e-mail me or post the link in comments so I'll know it's out there. I'll then put links in blog entries so everyone can go see it. If you don't see your info in my blog (unless you were one of the people who contacted me about doing things like newspaper columns or book groups), then you aren't entered to win advance copies of book 4. I know some of the questions I've had were fun and will give you a different perspective on the books and characters, so you'll want to do a little web touring and check them out.

Next, here are a few hints for when you go to buy the book starting tomorrow. If you don't find the book in the store -- and this is very important -- Ask. The. Bookseller. About. It (politely, of course). That's the only way they'll know that people want this book. You never know, it could be in boxes in the back of the store and they haven't got around to putting it on the shelf yet, so you could be what spurs them to action. It may have sold out already (bookstores didn't seem to order too many copies, so this is a possibility) and they need to know there's still demand so it's worth re-ordering. Or they may not have ordered it at all, and they need to know what a silly idea that was. Telling me you can't find it doesn't do much good because all I can do is tell my editor, and then she'll just tell me that the publisher can't force bookstores to stock the book, while thinking what an insecure, whiny diva I am. The only person who can make sure books are stocked in a bookstore is the person running the store. Even in a chain, people at the store level can communicate upward that they're getting a lot of requests for a particular book.

One thing I would like to hear about: I sent a letter and packets of bookmarks to a lot of the Borders stores (it was an experiment). If you see one of my bookmarks (it's sort of a pale purple and has my bookcovers on the front) in a Borders store, I'd like to know about it to see if it did any good. I'd really love to know about it if you have some kind of interaction with a bookseller that indicates the bookseller had already heard of the book -- like maybe recommending it before you even ask for it or commenting when you purchase it.

In other news, I'm also doing the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit tour this week (busy, busy week for me!). Today you can find me at the blog of Karin Gillespie.

Finally, a gentle reminder that no decision about book five has been made yet, and making a big splash this week with this book (and maybe boosting sales of the other books) could help make sure that happens, so go get 'em! Yay, team! (Yes, I was once a cheerleader -- for a peewee football team in fifth grade. Our football team lost every single game, and our cheerleaders were the girls none of the other squads wanted. But man, we had fun! And really cute uniforms that weren't the cookie-cutter standard cheerleader uniforms of the time.)