The Great Rafflecopter Try Out Giveaway

Parajunkee's View is testing out a few things this month...this new Blogger interface, the Google + stuff...and then to top it off this handy dandy program called Rafflecopter. The Rafflecopter is a program that helps bloggers with their giveaways. You might have seen it around...I'm just now getting into it. Here is the deal: Rafflecopter tracks all those pesky entries, the ones that are VERY hard to keep track of and they also pick winners for you. Makes giveaway giving quite easy.

What does this have to do with you? It comes down to a choice. The last time I gave away design the winner seemed, well uninterested. (Can you believe it!?? WTFE! ;) So I'm trying again. But, just in case...I'm pitting it up against, what else? Some HOT ARCs.

Here are the details. The winners (yes two) of this contest will have the choice between a new blog design by me or an ARC from the stack that I picked up at ALA 2011. I might cry when ya'll go for books...but I wanted to make this interesting. The ARCs listed are the initial choices...more will be added as the contest goes on. The more entries, the more books. This is a follower contest, but I'm not trying to gain followers, just reward...so more entries, more books. We get to 100 comments another book will be added -- 200 comments another book and another winner will be added. Sound Fun???

  TWO WINNERS! (With More Added as We Increase)

UPDATE -- 100 comments reached...

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater added...

 

Winner #1 Will have the choice between the IN THE BOX ($100 value) design - custom made for your blog (see details at parajunkeedesign.com)

 or ARC of DARK PARTIES by Sara Grant

 or ARC of THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern

 or ARC of FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater

 

 

Winner #2 - If Winner #1 does not choose the design package you can choose that, or a remaining ARC in the list.

Complete the RaffleCopter to win. Goodluck! This is a FOLLOWER REWARD giveaway so you must be a follower of the blog to win. I haven't done this in a really long time - but I wanted to see how this copter thing worked with mandatory follows.

For rules and regulations please see my GIVEAWAY regulations page. Any questions just email me.

Also, for the Rafflecopter...just follow the directions, it is pretty straight forward. If you are unsure, there is a CLICK FOR DIRECTIONS and it tells you want to do. Leave a comment if it is too confusing. This is trying it out, if you guys have a problem with I will not use it again in the future.

Book Blogging 101 - How can I get a hold of an ARC?

Spawned from the Big Sis, Little Blog program, Book Blogging 101 was born. Do you have a question? Leave it in the comments section or email me parajunkee at gmail dot com

I'm trying to download the forums from a Ning site started for the Little Blog program. So I will be posting these frequently.

 Q. How do I get my hands on an ARC?

The desperate pursuit of ARCs, the veritable pot of gold for some book bloggers, seems to be a big question for start-up bloggers.  Even if you don't really care about an ARC to hear some bloggers hype them up, almost gets you excited and in desperate need of one.

For some books, there are a ton of ARCs floating around, for others there are just a few coveted versions. Doling out those ARCs is usually up to the publisher, PR person/Media agency or author. Some publishers seem to do a lot of ARCs, some hardly any.  It is really up in the air.

A good way to win/receive ARCs is through Goodreads.com & Library Thing. I like Goodreads because you just press a button and it enters you into the contest.

Another way is to contact authors and/or publishers and request a review copy of an upcoming book. Always be professional and courteous. The author or publisher does not owe you anything, so remember that when you are requesting the book.  Also make sure it is a book you are truly interested in, and just not chasing it because of hype.

One time a WOW helped me receive and ARC. (Waiting on Wednesday). The author must have been google searching their book and thanked me for my interest and offered me a copy. Very cool. A good way to get your WOWs out there are to publish the link to your post on twitter and facebook. Make sure you use hashtags and maybe even direct the post to the author's name.

Do your research on books, check if the author is on Twitter. Send the tweet out with the Book Name & the author's twitter name, i.e.:

Waiting on Wednesday @Parajunkee. Vampires & Starbucks: A Love Story by @TSuckie - I so wanna read this book! http://tinyurl.182930129.com

Just remember, ARCs are hard to come by, so don't be disappointed when you don't get your hands on one. My first ARC was won from another book blogger, second one from Goodreads. Most of them are from NetGalley.com (see Iron Daughter review also today)

More Questions & Chime Ins from the Big Sis, Little Blog program Ning Site:

Chime In (thanks Emily):

I want to recommend netgalley.com as a way to get ARCs as well, for free! They are all digital copies of the books so there is that as a drawback if you don't like reading on screen, but if you put your reviews on the netgalley site once they're finished, publishers actually do read them. I submitted a review for a book I really didn't care for at all and, because I was one of the first 25 people to submit a review or whatever, Harlequin sent me a prize pack with some pretty cool books in it. Sign up is free and I just use my blog information as my company information.

Q (from DaisyChainBooks)

I was lucky enough to get some ARC's through a waiting on Wednesday I did a while back. The author and publisher contacted me about it, so I haven't actually gone about contacting anybody myself yet. One thing I am wondering though, is this : are your statistics -number of visitors etc very important in getting ARC's? I ask because I came across a blog which is pretty new (maybe less than a month, and with not many followers) and yet, they are always talking about the ARC's they receive! This is just a general enquiry from me. They are obviously putting themselves out there and contacting authors and publishers, but up until I came across this blog, I thought that only the more established blogs with lots of followers would get ARC's. 

A.  I have only gotten a few ARCs from publishers/publicist - all of which contacted me directly. I believe that it is mostly because of the amount of followers that I have now, because it just started happening recently. I think you might have some better luck with direct contact.

I think a lot of ARC "getting" happens through contests, ARC tours, Library Things, etc., especially for smaller blogs. And who knows, they may be on Netgalley.com and they are digital galleys.