Monday 3 May 2010

Girl Aloud Giveaway!




One of the most wonderful things about getting published has been meeting lots of YA and children's authors.
If you're embarking on a new career you couldn't pick a more welcoming bunch of people. They are - collectively - warm, funny, friendly, encouraging, knowledgable, entertaining and big-hearted.
Some have become friends to meet for coffee or lunch, ask for advice and discuss how best we can promote our books. It turned out that I knew one of them already - Kaye Umansky, creator of Pongwiffy the witch - lives three doors away from me. Others live many miles away but feel like neighbours, they're Twitter pals or Facebook friends or both - available for chats and banter all hours of day and night.
To celebrate the general wonderfulness of the YA and children's writing world I'm going to have the occasional signed book giveaway on the blog. To enter you need to be a follower of the blog - just leave a comment under this post if you'd like to win and I'll pull a winner from a hat in a few weeks.
The first giveaway is Girl Aloud by Emily Gale. This is an incredibly rare item in the Northern hemisphere - it'll probably be worth a fortune one day - because Emily lives in Melbourne, which makes her a Twitter/Facebooky friend. She's written an all-English book though, the story of Kass whose dad is desperate for her to shine and enters her for X Factor although she can't sing for toffee and has no interest at all in being famous. I loved the way the characters slowly reveal themselves to us, and the plot refuses to conform to stereotypes.
Girl Aloud came out in the UK in September but has only recently been published in Australia. At Emily's launch party she gave away a pile of signed YA books by Australian and British authors. When I was packing up a copy of When I Was Joe to send halfway around the world I had the idea for this blog feature. I'm hoping it will become a regular thing so spread the word!

21 comments:

  1. Awesme Giveaway! Book sounds AWESOME!!

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  2. Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for the giveaway ! :O) @Chaoskay on Twitter

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  3. thanks, would love a chance to read this :)
    @raeh70 on twitter

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  4. Sounds like a good book! I would love to be entered:)
    I am already a follower
    bangersis at msn dot com

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  5. Please enter me into this fabulous giveaway.

    @jadlgw on twitter

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  6. I really like the sound of this, please can I enter? I've re-tweeted for you. Cheers!

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  7. Thanks everyone...remember to sign up as a follower of the blog too. I intend to have quite a few more great giveaways coming up, so it'll be worth it! (and that's apart from the general fascinating content)

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  8. Hi Keren, I love the sound of this one :o) I'm already a follower & my email address is sarahsreivews at ymail dot com

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  9. This sounds erally interesting. Count me in, please.

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  10. thats great book my daughter would love it.. :)
    @gettogirl09 on twitter

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  11. i'd love to be the winner of this.

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  12. enter me! :D thank you!

    feeyonachan at gmail.com

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  13. I wonder...
    If I ever reach publication will I be hobknobbing on Facebook with the likes of Steven King, James Herbert and Clive Barker?
    Actually, it would be more realistic to wonder if I'll ever see publication...

    Please enter my name Keren, I'm trying to encourage my kids to read English so it'd be a great boost to my cause if my name came out of the hat, lol.
    Though, to be honest, I'm cycling uphill on this one, with a headwind that's blasting me bald.

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  14. I'd love to put my name in the hat, there are girls in my school that'd love that book in the Library!

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  15. aweosme giveaway, Keren :) This books sounds gorgeously gorgeous :) x

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  16. It's so true about childrens' writers and illustrators - am more supportive and encouraging bunch of people you couldn't hope to meet - I often think if one of my books never makes it to print, I've been privileged to know all these wonderful, gifted, amazing people and that in itself makes the journey worthwhile.

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  17. Oh, I can't wait to read this, it sounds great! I've added myself as a follower (wish I'd known months ago I could do it through Twitter) under HJ and tweeted as @new2writinggirl

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  18. I would love my daughter to read this the theme is so close to her heart, thanks for the opportunity.

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  19. Brilliant idea!

    Totally agree on the loveliness of publicists, writers and reviewers. Definitely a fun industry to work in.

    (I don't want to enter for this book)

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  20. This book looks fab. Please can I enter giveaway? I'm now following your blog.
    @justforcomps on Twitter

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  21. WOW I'd love to enter please!!!
    My twitter is MileLongBookS :O)

    Amber

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