Friday, February 12, 2010

Before You Unplug

Okay, guys, if you're going to be unplugged next week, listen up! Come by the blog on Monday before you go all hermit-like, okay?

Why?

The contest! The contest! I mean, no one's gonna be Mardi Gras-ing it up like me and Shelli. I mean, NO ONE.

I think Shelli's announcing her festivities today, and I'm having a pretty major contest right here on Monday. I will say that the contest involves literary agents. Five literary agents. So don't unplug till you stop by on Monday.

And that's not all I have planned. You may have noticed that I hit 500 followers this month. So I'm in the middle of organizing another giveaway for next month.

Which brings me to my questions for today. Do you like blog contests? What do you like to win? Explainage would be good, but simply a yes/no and a list of prizes you'd like would suffice.

Man, I sound so professional today. I mean, "suffice"? *snarf*

Oh, and I'm at this amazing writerly thing today with a bunch of kewl writerly peeps. I went yesterday too, so I'll try to catch up on all the bloggy stuff over the weekend, okay?

Okay.

75 comments:

Stina said...

I love blog contests! I never win but I still love them. Since I never win, I'm not fussy about the prizes. :)

Because your blog makes me happy, Elana (actually it makes me laugh most of the time), I've given you the Happy Award.

Have a great weekend!

Melissa Sarno said...

I love blog contests! But I've never won one. I have been trying to win a Kitchen Aid mixer from The Pioneer Woman's blog for about 3 years. So if somebody gave me a Kitchen Aid mixer in a give-away I might die of happiness. Otherwise, I like to win books and query/manuscript critiques cause I need that the most right now! :-)

Faith Pray said...

Blog contests are fun! Winning books is awesome, but crayons can't be beat! (Can you tell I'm giving crayons away in a contest?)
Thank you for your hilarious blog. It's such a mix of great information and funny takes on life.

Anonymous said...

Ummm...seriously, I LOVE blog contests! They are awesome. Any prize is good to me, used books, pens and paper, candy (lol), especially critiques from anyone, not necessarily from an agent or published writer.

Cannot wait to see all the goodness!

I am re-reading your query book AND checked the post you just did breaking the query down. This query is killing me softly, simply because I didn't write it before the story and am revising the heck out of it! Fun!

Christina Lee said...

Blog contests are fun! I am not a fan if they have five hundred requirements for entering though (gotta say)! Besides query help, first page help or first paragraph help would be FAB!! Have a good weekend!

Catherine Denton said...

Contests are fun because there's always that chance...

Books
Gift certificate (to buy books)
Critiques
Chocolate
Coffee
Winged Writer

fairyhedgehog said...

I love blog contests! My favourite prizes are books and chocolate and I've been lucky enough to win both!

BK Mattingly said...

I love blog contests of every variety! I really like the ones that don't have a load of requirements and give away critiques. :) Congrats on your 500th follower!!

Scott said...

Gift Cards to Amazon or ITunes make me very, very happy. I'm just saying . . .

Oh, and thanks for reminding me it's Unplugged Week, because I would have totally forgotten. Oh, crap, contest, stuff mentioned in snazzy newsletter from Elana, must finish up stuff for contest, not enough time . . . somebody pass me a margarita!!

S

Tere Kirkland said...

"The contest! The contest! I mean, no one's gonna be Mardi Gras-ing it up like me and Shelli. I mean, NO ONE."

I beg to differ. ;D

Actually, as a testament to how much y'all rock, I'm going to make it a point to stop Mardi Gras-ing and enter the contest!

Congrats about the followers. That's amazing! And I think it goes without saying that I'm a freaking fiend when it comes to contests! I love free books. Mmm, books.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberly Franklin said...

I LOVE blog contests. Who doesn't love them?

Prize wise... hmmm. Things I would like to win would be: books, gift certificates, and critiques... whatever really. Any prize is a good one! : )

B.J. Anderson said...

I love blog contests! And I love to win anything. And I mean anything! I will certainly wait to unplug. This five agent thing intrigues me. . .

Congrats on 500 followers! That's like, awesome!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Who DOESN'T love a good contest?! And any prize that has the word agent attached to it sounds pretty darn good to me. :-)

Karen Lange said...

I love contests, and prizes like books (writing ones are nice) and even chocolate are fabulous. Will head back here Monday:)
Happy weekend,
Karen

Kayeleen Hamblin said...

Blog contests rock. A lot of the time, I start following a blog because someone says, "Check out the contest on ..."

I think any prizes are great. Critiques, chocolate, gift cards to B&N, books, anything writerly, really.

Jen said...

I've won a couple of contests, both giveaways were books. One can never have enough books :) I have done one giveaway in my short bloggy life. It was handmade paper. Close to a book, right?

Have a great weekend!
Jen

Jennie Englund said...

Okay, stopping by Monday. Then (trying) to unplug.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Any "lovely" plans?

Unknown said...

I love contests even though I've never won a single thing in my entire life. I enter a lot of the ones involving book giveaways and think statistically, I have to win one at some point.

A contest that involves one agent, let alone 5 agents? I'm so there!

Sarah Ahiers said...

I love blog contests.
I especially like blog writing contests.
for prizes, they're all good. Giftcards, books, services. I'm happy with any or all of them

Kara said...

Critiques are my biggest incentives to enter contests!

Stephanie Thornton said...

I love blog contests and have actually won a couple. Critiques are definitely a big incentive!

MG Higgins said...

Okay, I'm going to be like the one contrary voice here, but I am tired, tired, tired of blog contests. Will I enter yours? Probably! As long as it doesn't require me to do lots of posting about it. (I'm a sucker for free stuff especially anything agent-related). But still, IMHO blog contests have gotten a little out of hand. (You won't remember this comment when I have a contest of my own, right)?

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I like them. I've actually won several books that way!

Alli Sinclair said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
December said...

I love to win critiques!! they don't have to be long, even just 4 page synopsis, query letter, or first 1000 word critiques are awesome in my opinion.

Alli Sinclair said...

I love blog contesets - and the ones I love the most are if it is a critique. Any chance for feedback and I'm there! Oh, and books are always good!

Slamdunk said...

I did not like contests at first (I never win anything) until I won a few. Now I am all about them.

Kerri Cuev said...

Who doesn't like a contest! Books and chocolate you just can't go wrong!

Natalie Aguirre said...

I love blog contests.
Critiques are my favorite prizes either of a manuscript or query letter by the author of the blog or an agent.

Unknown said...

Blog contests are fun and I think the best prizes usually have to do with critiques or winning books. :)

What's really exciting though, is seeing other people succeed. It's just awesome! Congrats on the success of your blog! You rock, Elana!

Janet Johnson said...

Ditto to everyone else about blog contests.

And okay, call me clueless . . . what is unplugged week?

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

par-tee har-tee!

what will i wear!?

Sherrie Petersen said...

Blog contests are great! As long as they don't have a bunch of requirements, I love to do them. When they start requiring me to count up points and get extras for twittering or reposting, they somehow lose the sincerity. It's just supposed to be fun people! If it's fun, people will want to twitter about it and tell their friends about it. Just sayin'...

Jennifer Swanson said...

Blog contests are awesome! Especially when they involve writing and agents. Can't wait!

L. T. Host said...

Can't wait :)

I love contests, too, but I have the luck of a... person with very bad luck. So I hardly ever enter. But when I do, I like to win books that I want to read but don't have the cash to buy. Having a choice is nice. Or a "anything under $__" option.

LynnRush said...

I love blog contests. I love to win critiques of the first few pages of a novel, or a query. I love to win books. And I love to win gift cards to Barnes and Noble!

Have a great weekend!!

Jonathon Arntson said...

I too love the idea of contests, but I never win them...so yeah. I have won one thing in my life and that was a $1 scratch off lotto ticket that my uncle bought me from a gas station when I was nine. I won $2. Well, I lied, I did win an ARC of CORNFLAKES WITH JOHN LENNON last year.

As for prizes,
It's all about the books baby!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

I just know your contest is going to be full of awesome. Expect me to be here, jumping up and down and waving.
All prizes are grand, but critiques are bestest of all.

Krispy said...

I love blog contests! Then again, I think free stuff in general is pretty awesome. :) So I guess you can tell I'm not too picky on prizes. Some cool prizes:

Books
Gift certificates
Writerly Goodies (pens, tea, coffee, notebook/journals, bookmarks, etc.)
Critiques

Congrats on your followers!!! Enjoy the long weekend! :D

Marsha Sigman said...

I never win contests! Then I get all depressed and moody...for at least 2 minutes or so.

The best prizes are books and critiques!!!

justJoan said...

Sweet! I enjoy blog contests.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Okay. :)
Me love blog contests. They're so fun!

Kristen Torres-Toro said...

I'm unplugging, but will be around on Monday! See you then!

Cassandra Frear said...

For me, honestly, the rewards of blogging are just getting to know the people and the FUN of creating virtual space. I love my little cafe, even if it isn't a real one.

I won't be unplugging next week, so come by and chat. :-)

Also, give me your snow stats at The Moonboat, if you have any!

Melissa Hurst said...

Yeah, I love entering blog contests. Do it all the time, just haven't won (yet)! It gives me the opportunity to meet new people and I love having a shot at winning something. I'm not picky about the prizes either...books, gift cards, critiques, anything would make me happy.

Kathryn Hupp-Harris said...

When it comes to contests...

Chocolate = good

Critique = better


:-)

Unknown said...

short and sweet: critiques, books and of course Mon-ey!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Thanks to you and your generosity I am having a record number of posts today. You are one popular chick! :-)

Anonymous said...

Contests are totally fun! Gift cards, books, critiques, fun, fun, fun!!!

:)

Jemi Fraser said...

This sounds like so much fun!

I like contests, but don't have much time, so I also like them to be pretty easy for me :)

Crits & books or cert to book stores are my faves!

Elizabeth Mueller said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elizabeth Mueller said...

Wow, I can see how you mean about keeping up with blogs--you have 555 followers! You are so awesome, I am so proud of you!

It was so neat to finally meet you in person today! I hope to see you again soon!

Oh, yes, I do love contests. I need to find a way to keep track of which contests I enter so I don't end up missing out! :D

Ryan S. Kinsgrove said...

I have rotten luck, so contest of any sort are usually not my cup of tee. But, I will admit that I do enjoy watching blog contests. And, one thing I would like to see as a prize for a blog contest is agent representation for my book and a nice six figure advance for it and two of its friends. But that's just me. Lol.

Corey Schwartz said...

Oh, I just came from Shelli's. No way would I unplug next week. This is the contest of the decade :)

I have an agent, but it think agent/edutor critiques are the best prize of all! Usually, the ones I see are for first chapter or query. I, personally, would love to win a PB critique.

VR Barkowski said...

Even if I weren't interested in blog contests (which I am! I am!), after reading your build up I would be. You should consider a sideline in sales, Elana!

555 Followers! CONGRATS!

lisa and laura said...

Um, dude, how is it possible that we weren't officially following your blog? Weird.

Anyways, so many good things are in the air right now!!! Hoorah for contests and good news and 555 followers!!!

Christina Farley said...

Yeah!! I'm working hard on my query. What a fun week it's going to be.

Jackee said...

Yay for Monday! And I love contests (as long as I don't have to run, jump, climb a rope, or any other PE-related evocation).

And if you're talking about LTUE, I'm soo, sooooo, sooooooo jealous.

Steena Holmes said...

I agree with Kat! chocolate first and foremost as prizes ;0) then critiques!

Just bought your book, cause girl you KNOW I need it! LOL

* said...

Blog contests are uber fab. I've won a few which have convinced me that I have some sort of good luck with them. Or something.

Books, chocolate, or any combination of the two would be fine prizes, I think.

Jess of All Trades said...

I'm not really psyched about blog contests and I've never entered one. I might enter if, like the one you're about to offer, it gives a chance at something that money can't buy. (Agent time, critique, etc). Otherwise..books, gift cards, cookies, not really interested.
I read blog cause...I like to Read them :D But I'm glad other people have fun with the contests.

Bish Denham said...

Contests are cool, even if I don't tweet and facebook and don't make all the points others can. That's OKAY because for me its mostly about learning new things and having fun doing it.

Tiffany Neal said...

Oooohhh. Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve on Monday!! :)

sarah darlington said...

I love contests. Who doesn't? And for me personaly anything writing related would be great as a prize. Critiques especially. Thanks for doing this!!! See you monday.

Lillian Robinson said...

I love seeing all the variety of prizes in the contests. Books are my favorite prize, as well as hand-crafted items. Winning anything is a thrill... or so I'm told. I've not been lucky in that department.

Congrats on the 500+ followers!

Rachelle Christensen said...

Love contests! Love the look of your blog. :)
I'd like to win:

a million dollars
a trip to Hawaii--okay, okay, I'll be serious.

I love to win books, gift certificates, anything to do with writing. I'm not picky. Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve.

Southpaw said...

I haven't been around in the blog world long enough to know if I like the contest or not. I suppose it would be like any other contest. It depends on the contest. Helpfully, yes.

Lily Cate said...

Make it simple and offer me a book, and I'm in.
Seriously. Less than 20 in the TBR pile and I start to get anxious

Victoria Dixon said...

Who doesn't love a good contest? I suppose it does depend what you're in need of. If you need reading material, you're happy to receive reading material. If you're in need of feedback, you'll probably want a quality critique. If you're in need of an agent, you'll doubtlessly prefer that critique to be from an agent or an editor. LOL

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Be back tomorrow to check it out...I was just over at Shelli's blog. :) Congrats on the +500 readers! Awesome!!!!

Robyn Campbell said...

Oh Dani reminded me. YAY FOR HER!! And I'll be here, oh I SHALL be here.

And I love blog contests as long as they have a crit by Elana as a prize or something to do with AGENTS!!!! *grin*

See ya in the A.M.. Sleep tight. =)

J.B. Chicoine said...

I like contests, in theory...as soon as I enter one, I'm a nervous wreck and vow I'll never do it again...
...but sometimes I forget and enter anyway...

Sherry Dale Rogers said...

Well yes I love contest and winning anything to do with writing is for me....as long as its freeee.

Sara {Rhapsody and Chaos} said...

awesome contest!! I'll be back when I've blogged about it and can fill out more of the form for points :-)

Abby Stevens said...

Hi Elana!
I'm following you and Shelli's blogs now. I tweeted the contest (thetabbycatt is my username) on Twitter and also posted about it on my blog.

The Tabby Catt - Abby Stevens: Pay It Forward Query Critique Contest courtesy of Elana Johnson

See Elana's recent blog posts

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