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On Contest Winners and Technology Gremlins

So………..

Last summer I decided to try a book trailer contest for SPEAK and TWISTED. The plan was to offer it to summer reading groups at libraries. But I didn’t get much response from summer reading groups and I had a lot of email from teachers who wanted to offer the contest to their students.

So……….

I extended the deadline. The contest rules were spread far and wide. Note: I used my writerlady.com email account for all correspondence for this contest. And then I went on book tour. Whilst on tour, gremlins attacked the server that hosted the writerlady email account. It was a nasty vicious ebomb and the company who owns that server had to totally shut down my account. Permanently.

Meanwhile, I was traipsing across the country, merrily handing out my business car with the email address on it. And the Incompetent and/or Lazy Server Company did not contact me to let me know that the Writerlady Email account had been, in effect, blown up. I didn’t find out what had happened until after Thanksgiving. A million gazillion apologies to anyone who tried to contact me from the middle of October to the middle of December. The email is up and running now, so please try again.

(Yes, the Evil Server Company could have contacted me. They have my private email, my phone numbers, and my house address. They managed to get my bills to me on time. Yes, I am beyond annoyed about this. Know any good lawyers?)

So………

Earnest readers and film makers did, in fact, enter the contest. I am sure they were all alarmed when the email they sent to me was bounced back, but the beauty of the contest structure allowed me to find all the entries on YouTube, so everyone was considered.

So…….drum roll

reaches for the envelope

The winners of the 2008 TWISTED book trailer contest are Suki and CJ from Atlanta!!!

The winner of the 2008 SPEAK book trailer contest is Sharpieinkwarpaint from Canada!

And an honorable mention goes to Parmandiriel (I think she’s from Montana), for her SPEAK trailer!

Many thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about the contest and to everyone who entered!!! (And a thousand curses on the heads of the Evil Server Company for messing up my mail!)

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Book Trailer Contest Revision

Thank you to everyone who commented and emailed me about the book trailer contest deadline yesterday. You confirmed my hunch.

I have two announcements.

1. To everyone who has submitted a book trailer as of today. Please email your mailing address to Officemouse AT writerlady DOT com as soon as possible. Your trailer is still entered in the contest, but since I am changing the rules in the middle of it, I figure I owe you something. I want to send you one of my books. In your email, let me know if you want SPEAK, CATALYST, PROM, TWISTED, or FEVER 1793. If you are in the mood to be patient, you can request my new historical novel, CHAINS, which comes out on October 21, or my next YA, WINTERGIRLS, which will be published in May, 2009.

2. To the rest of the world: the new deadline for the book trailer contest is midnight (Eastern Standard Time in the US), October 31st, 2008.

NEW OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER CONTEST RULES

1. Create a book trailer for SPEAK or TWISTED. You may not use clips or images from the SPEAK movie (it is copyrighted, that’s why). Your trailer must qualify for a PG rating. Try to keep it under two minutes long: four minutes is the absolute maximum length allowed.

2. Post the trailer on YouTube. Include the phrase “TWISTED trailer contest” or “SPEAK trailer contest” in the title. Submissions must be posted by midnight (Eastern Standard Time in the US), October 31st, 2008.

3. Once the trailer is posted, notify us by emailing the Office Mouse: officemouse AT writerlady DOT com . When you notify us, please provide a link to your trailer and a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Please include the name of your school librarian or English teacher and her (or his) email address. If you are home-schooled, include the name of your public librarian.

4. Watch and wait. Winner will be chosen by Laurie Halse Anderson (aka me).

5. NOTE! Contest is only open to people who will be 21 years old or younger on October 31, 2008.

6. Contest is open to anyone on the Planet Earth. Teens working aboard the space station are welcome too. Entries from other planets and galaxies will be considered, as long as they can be watched on Earth-created technologies.

7. If your trailer is chosen as the winning entry and you are not 18 yet, your parents will have to sign a release form granting me all rights to use your trailer. If you are over 18, you get to sign for yourself. You will be credited as the producer of the trailer, but the only payment you will receive is the prize described below. If you win, be sure to include this on your college or film school application.

8. If you win, your school or public library, or your English teacher, will receive 5 signed copies of my books.

9. There will be two grand prizes awarded; one for the best SPEAK trailer, one for the best TWISTED trailer.

10. The creator of the winning trailer will be awarded an 8GB iPod Touch. Winner agrees to be responsible for setting up and paying for Internet connection and any warranty protection plan for the device.

11. If the winners do not live in a region where the iPod Touch is supported, a substitute prize of equal value will be awarded.

12. Winners will be announced on this blog at some point in November and will be notified by email.

I think that’s everything. Please feel free to post this announcement to listservs and on your blog. If you have any more questions about the contest, please post them in the Comments section.

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need help with a muddle

So…. that giant book trailer contest I am having? It turns out that summer is a bad time to do these things.

I have had many more requests from teachers and librarians to extend the deadline into the fall than I have had entries.

Do you think I should extend the deadline? Is the middle of October long enough, or should it go longer?

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Restating Book Trailer Contest Rules

There have been a couple of questions about my Hot Summer Twisted/Speak Book Trailer Contest, so I thought I would restate the rules and clarify a few points.

Here goes:

1. Create a book trailer for SPEAK or TWISTED. You may not use clips or images from the SPEAK movie (it is copyrighted, that’s why). Your trailer must qualify for a PG rating. Try to keep it under two minutes long: four minutes is the absolute maximum length allowed.

2. Post the trailer on YouTube. Include the phrase “TWISTED trailer contest” or “SPEAK trailer contest” in the title. Submissions must be posted by 12:00pm, EST, August 31, 2008.

3. Once the trailer is posted, notify us by emailing the Office Mouse: officemouse AT writerlady DOT com . When you notify us, please provide a link to your trailer and a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. If you are in a Summer Reading group, include the name of your librarian and her (or his) email address.

4. Watch and wait. Winner will be chosen by Laurie Halse Anderson (aka me).

5. NOTE! Contest is only open to people who will be 21 years old or younger on August 31, 2008.

6. Contest is open to anyone on the Planet Earth. Teens working aboard the space station are welcome too. Entries from other planets and galaxies will be considered, as long as they can be watched on Earth-created technologies.

7. If your trailer is chosen as the winning entry and you are not 18 yet, your parents will have to sign a release form granting me all rights to use your trailer. If you are over 18, you get to sign for yourself. You will be credited as the producer of the trailer, but the only payment you will receive is the prize described below. If you win, be sure to include this on your college or film school application.

8. If you are in a library summer reading group, your library will receive 5 signed copies of my books. The librarian in charge of the group gets to decide which books to receive.

9. There will be two prizes awarded; one for the best SPEAK trailer, one for the best TWISTED trailer.

10. The creator of the winning trailer will be awarded an 8GB iPod Touch. Winner agrees to be responsible for setting up and paying for Internet connection and any warranty protection plan for the device.

11. If the winners do not live in a region where the iPod Touch is supported, a substitute prize of equal value will be awarded.

12. Winners will be announced on this blog, Sunday, September 7th, and will be notified by email.

I think that’s everything. Please feel free to post this announcement to library and academic listservs. If you have any more questions about the contest, please post them in the Comments section.

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Want to Hang Out With Me Tonight?

Tomorrow I will write about The Very Nearly Perfect Thing That Is Happening Today.

But fear not! I have a number of Totally Excellent things to write about today, including information on hanging out with me at 9 PM (EST) tonight.

Totally Excellent Thing #1: The School Library Journal has a wonderful online teen newsletter that you can subscribe to. The current issue has (ETA) a link to my Hot Summer Twisted/Speak Summer Book Trailer Contest, blog entry with the updated contest rules, as well as other cool things.

Totally Excellent Thing #2: Speaking of SLJ, you’ll want to read their article featuring Sherman Alexie again, in light of the fact that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for fiction yesterday.

The Biggest and Baddest Totally Most Excellent Thing!
The reading divas and readergirlz at Readergirlz have been talking about my book PROM all month. TONIGHT I will be live-chatting on the Readergirlz Forum from 9-10pm (EST). Here is your chance to ask me everything you’ve been dying to ask, but have felt awkward bringing up here on the blog. Though the focus will be PROM, we’ll be discussing all of my books, and possibly sundry things such as marathon training, neurotic dogs, and how to grow astounding broccoli.

When my classmates at Fayetteville-Manlius High School were dancing at our senior prom in 1979, I was working on pig farm in Denmark, doing the kinds of things you don’t normally do in a prom dress. But I did make it to my Junior Prom in 1978…

Image and video hosting by TinyPic … and I had a blast.

Tell me your best and worst prom memories, please.

See you tonight! Bring your dancing shoes and money for a pancake house breakfast at 4am!

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