Friday Findings – Blogfests & Tours Galore!
Welcome to my second installment of Friday Findings! I promise, I won’t give a count every week, just while it’s still new :).
We’ve got a lot on the plate today, with something fun at the end, so hang tight everyone!
So the last few weeks, I’ve been keeping my eye out for any blog fests, tours, and campaigns that catch my eye. I’ve got a few new ones I’m doing, and boy do I have a lot on my plate for the next few months!
So let’s get started . . .
First up is the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. I first found this group on Facebook right before NaNoWriMo started last year, and so I put off joining them until this year. I’m so glad I did, I just got my first ARC (Advance Reader Copy, fyi) for this, and I can’t wait to get started on it!
The purpose of the CSFF Blog Tour is:
While the speculative genres have been popular in the general market for some time, Christian publishing houses, notable those belonging to the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association, have been slow to put out significant numbers of science fiction or fantasy titles. The CSFF Blog Tour is a grassroots movement among writers and fans of the genre intent on drawing attention to the works that are available. We have three primary goals:
1) to highlight the Christian science fiction and fantasy genres
2) to inform readers about the books and webzines available
3) to increase traffic to our own blogs
So, if any of that sounds like something that interests you, please go to CSFF and sign up! It might be a while before you hear a response, but you will get one!
Next up is the 2012 Debut Author Challenge. I found this one through Jessica Therrien at Imagination to Publication. Her brand-new, first-ever book is one of the books for this challenge.
The point of this challenge is to read and review books by new YA authors. I’ve got three I’m going to be reading soon – Jessica’s book, Oppression, Halflings by Heather Burch, and A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont.
You can join the 2012 DAC up through May of this year, I believe. There is also a Traveling ARC Tour to help those (like me) who can’t afford to buy that many books. That’s how I’m getting Halflings and A Breath of Eyre. You have to be participating in the DAC to take advantage of the ARC Tour, though.
Can’t forget the Fourth Writer’s Platform Building Campaign, either! I’m not going to go all-out on this one, though, since I already did that in Monday’s post.
The final stop on our blog-tour-tour is the 2012 A to Z April Challenge. The goal is to create a blog post almost every day of April that corresponds with a letter of the alphabet, in order, from A to Z.
We’ll see if I survive this one.
Now to the fun stuff!
Okay, that other stuff was fun too, but this is stuff you don’t have to sign up for . . .
First, read an awesome article today.
Courtesy of Terrible Minds, here is 25 Reasons that Writers are Bug-F*** Nuts. Yes, I censored the title. There is a bit of language in this, so if that bothers you, don’t read. If you can overlook it, though, the article is well worth it.
Especially for reasons 1, 2, 3, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, and 23. 😀
And last, but not least, I have another freebie for you this week!
I met Tamara Hart Heiner last October at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference. She is a super-sweet lady, and was thrilled that I and my four other gals were all there, because she was the ONLY person in our age group at the conference in 2010.
Well from today until February 14th, her YA thriller, Perilous, is free on Kindle.
Enjoy!
EDIT: Last minute addition:
Farsighted by Emyln Chand, a YA Paranormal novel, is free for Kindle today. Here is where you can read a review of the book by my friend, the Chipper Muse.
Thanks for the abundance of info.
You’re welcome! I really enjoy digging it all up!
My Nano novels from the past two years would be classified as Christian Science Fiction. Thanks for sharing, I’ll have to check out the CSFF.
It seems really awesome so far, I just haven’t yet had time to go around to everyone else’s blogs and look them over. Boo RL commitments . . .
A to Z is the place to be in April. We’re gonna have a great time!
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
It’s going to be fun! I just need to start pre-writing posts NOW. 😀
Hi Rebekah, just found you through the campaign tag on twitter. Such a brilliant post and great info! Will be RT’ing this. Nice to meet you 🙂
Thanks so much, Patricia, glad you found it helpful!
You are quite the busy person! But you’re doing an amazing job. Can’t wait to keep following all of your challenges, tours, giveaways, and well, all that you do. =)
Thanks, Lissa . . . just expect that you might be scraping me up off the pavement at some point.
No worries. You know I’m here to do that if need be. Of course I hope I don’t have to because I don’t want you to go that crazy, but I’m armed and ready if you do. hehehe
I think all the contests are great. Thanks for all the great information and I went and picked up the book!
Awesome, free books are never something to be taken for granted 😀
Thanks for all the great leads, and good luck in April. I found your site through the A-Z sign up list
Hi Ron, thanks for coming by! Eventually I’ll have time to go check out everyone for the A-Z Challenge . . . 😀
Hello! I’m in the Writer Campaign Fantasy group with you. 🙂 Heading over to read the 25 Reasons right now.
Hi Misha! I loved the 25 reasons, hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
What fun! I think I’m going to try the A-Z challenge, that sounds like it could be very interesting… I need to brain storm ideas first!
You have all the awesome info. Thanks for keeping us in the loop!
You’re welcome, it’d be awesome to have you in the A-Z challenge too! I’m sure you can think of some awesome topics!
Hi there! I’m in the same Group3 with you over at the WriteCampaign. Just wanted to pop in and say hello! Good luck and have fun with the campaign challenges. 🙂
Hi Alynza, thanks for coming by! Good luck to you also, and I’ll see you around!
I joined the Writer’s Platform-Building Campaign! I’ll be sure to check and see if we’re in the same group. 🙂
aww, we’re both in YA, just different sections of it. It’s okay, I hijack you . . .
Sounds good to me! 🙂
Thanks for all the fun links and the shout-out to the A to Z Challenge April 2012!
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
Thanks for sharing all this! Looks like we’re in the same campaign group and we’re both doing the Debut Author Challenge. I’m about halfway done two of my books. One I’m reading and the other is an audiobook. 😀 I will see you around for both!
Great links! I am probably skipping the Campaign this time around; just too much going on right now. Thanks for the A-to-Z mention!
Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z
Thanks for the info lady. I think I will join you for the A to Z challenge. Good looking out!