Friday, June 4, 2010

Link-a-Palooza: Contests and Questions and Book Releases, Oh My!


Back for another installment of LINK-A-PALOOZA, in which I give you the lowdown on some great places to go instead of working.

First I bring you Writing Out The Angst, joint blog of Amanda Bonilla and Suzy Haze (who are totally follow-worthy, by the way). To celebrate their new venture, Amanda and Suzy are hosting a CONTEST.

All you have to do is follow their blog(s) and leave a comment. When they reach 100 followers, they're going to offer up Query Critiques to ten lucky followers. Easy right? Go for it.

The same two lovely ladies have a new feature at their blog. Ask an Agent. You can leave one question for an agent (the first is Julia Kenny at Markson Toma Literary Agency) in the comments of the introductory post, then Amanda and Suzy will compile the questions into an interview and post the answers straight from Ms. Kenny's mouth. This could be invaluable, people, so start thinking about your #1 question.


Next up, we have an announcement. MJ Heiser, who kindly let me interview her right at this very blog, is available for pre-order! That's right, CORONA, previously only available in e-b00k format is now rarin' to go in Hardcover. Get yours now!


I just finished listening to Stephen King's Under the Dome and I have to say it did nothing to relieve my literary crush on The King. Whether you love him or hate him, you gotta give the man he's prolific. And I adore him (for many reasons) because he continues to innovate. He's using his clout in the publishing industry to push the envelope. Graphic novels, small publishing houses, audio-only, serial format--the man has done it all. Personally, I loved the book and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Particularly in the audio format. This is an undertaking, people. Forty hours, I think it was, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed the reader, and he did a masterful job of creating unique voices for the whole cast of characters.


I downloaded it from Audible.com, and if you like audiobooks at all, I can't recommend this place highly enough. We have a subscription, which earns us 12 credits a year. A credit gets you a book (sometimes longer ones cost 2 credits), and the subscription gets you a discount on all books, even if you don't use your credits. Best of all, you can download it right to your iPod or several other formats.


And I think that's about all you need to hear from me today.

Have an awesome link to share? Hit me in the comments.

- Liz

6 comments:

Kristan said...

"I adore him (for many reasons) because he continues to innovate."

I agree completely! I'm not necessarily into too much horror or thriller, but what I've read of Stephen King, I've liked. And his career? WOWZA. I'll take one of those, please.

Thanks for the great links!

Natalie said...

Some great links!

I haven't read a whole lot of Stephen King (I'm not a big horror reader) but the few things I've read have been amazing. The man is a great writer.

I just read a post that was pretty fascinating about frustrations AFTER a book comes out and about how self promotion may not help as much as we hope it will. It was kind of heartbreaking actually, but worth a read.

http://authortarakelly.livejournal.com/14848.html

Liz Czukas said...

Thanks Natalie! I'm headed over to check it out.

- Liz

Jill Kemerer said...

Audible.com sounds intriguing. Do they offer children's books too, I wonder? I'll have to check it out!

Jessie Harrell said...

I've got a link for you, Liz. It's to your very own blog award since I like your blog so much!
http://jessie-harrell.blogspot.com

Julie Musil said...

Wow, great links. Thanks!