Contest Roundup!

Before the contest roundup, here's a reminder about some recent releases and books coming out tomorrow (but are likely in your bookstore already): The Vacant Throne in paperback by me, Joshua Palmatier; The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines (jimhines); and Queen Ferris in paperback by S.C. Butler (scbutler). All great books. I'll be posting an interview or Author Introduction of Jim Hines in the next few days. I've already posted an interview a few days ago with S.C. Butler.

Now for the contests:

Win Four Free Books!

Want to win four free books from some of SF/F's hottest writers?

Joshua Palmatier (jpsorrow), Diana Pharaoh Francis (difrancis), Elizabeth Bear (matociquala), and Jim C. Hines (jimhines) are teaming up to give away copies of their latest releases! One lucky winner will receive autographed copies of Whiskey and Water, The Vacant Throne, The Stepsister Scheme, and The Black Ship.

All you have to do is answer the following questions. Send your answers to jpalmatier@sff.net.

The deadline is January 25. We'll take everyone who got the answers right, toss their names in a (virtual) hat, and draw a winner.

Answers can be found on the authors' web sites:

http://www.joshuapalmatier.com
http://www.elizabethbear.com
http://www.sff.net/people/di-francis/
http://www.jimchines.com

Good luck!

1: What is the title of the first book of the German release of Joshua Palmatier's THRONE OF AMENKOR series?

2: What is the name of the five-year-old daughter who was killed by the Chorl in the excerpt of THE VACANT THRONE provided on the website?

3: What quote from Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great Part 1 serves as the epigraph to Elizabeth Bear's INK AND STEEL?

4: What's the first sentence of Elizabeth Bear's ALL THE WINDWRACKED STARS?

5: Who attacks Princess Danielle in the first chapter of Jim C. Hines' THE STEPSISTER SCHEME?

6: Who is Jim Hines' favorite muppet?

7: CURSED BY SYLVETH was the original title of which of Diana Pharaoh Francis' books?

8: What are some of Di's favorite things, as mentioned in her website?

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Released to the Wild Contest

The first five people to spot the book in the wild, take a picture of it in the wild, and then send me the pic at jpalmatier@sff.net, will win. The prize is a The Vacant Throne magnet (not a small magnet, more like postcard size). So, check those bookstores often for Vacant Throne over the next few weeks, since they often put the books on the shelf before the actual release date. Go! Hunt! Win! This contest obviously ends once I've received the first five pictures, and at this point I've only gotten 3 out of the 5, so there are 2 magnets (signed!) still waiting for a home. The pictures must be clear enough that it's obviously Vacant Throne in paperback. A picture of you buying the book at the register might be nice. *grin*

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Photo Contest

Send me the best, funniest, most dramatic or amusing picture of you or your guinea pig or whatever or whoever reading any or all of my books in the Throne of Amenkor trilogy. Perferrably Vacant Throne, but Skewed Throne or Cracked Throne will work as well. Be creative! Have fun! But most of all make it work safe! Send the pics to jpalmatier@sff.net by January 20th, 2009. I'll narrow the pics down to a set of finalists and post them on my LJ for you all to vote on. Winners will receive . . . a Vacant Throne magnet (signed!) and a really cool "dagger" pen--basically a pen that's in the shape of a dagger/sword. I don't have many entries in this contest yet, so I've extended the deadline for the pics.

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Icon Contest

This one starts tomorrow. All you have to do is change your icon here on LJ, or your main pic on MySpace or Facebook, etc. to one showing a picture of some sort containing my book, The Vacant Throne, in either hardcover or paperback. The book must be clear and visible, but otherwise the picture can be of whatever you want (that's legal to post on those pages of course). If you want to just post the cover art of the book, that's fine. A picture of you reading the book would be better and more fun. If you want to play around with the book cover and make your own personalized icon, with some witty remark, spectacular! You need to use this icon or avatar as your main pic between January 6th, 2009 and January 20th, 2009. Or longer if you prefer. To enter the contest, simply send me a link to your LJ, MySpace, Facebook, or whatever where you're using the icon or picture as your main pic during that time frame sometime. The winner will be chosen at random from all of the entries received. The prize will be a Vacant Throne magnet (signed!) and a cool "dagger" pen--again, a pen in the shape of a dagger or sword.

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And those are the contests currently running from my LJ. Don't forget you can also win a free DAW paperback over at the dawbooks community simply by commenting on any of the posts. This is a monthly contest, so keep commenting! Also, I've recently posted a discussion thread on John Zakour's most recent book, The Flaxen Femme Fatale.

Titles

So today I managed to keep from obsessing about the imminent release date by working on the new project. I'd written half the plot synopsis (conveniently titled Part I) Friday, so dove into the last half (not surprisingly called Part II) today and got it finished and sent off to beta readers.

The problem is . . . the book doesn't have a title. This is unusual for me. I have the titles of the two sequels to Well of Sorrows already chosen with the help of you guys, and I know the titles of the three books that come in between the Throne series and the Well of Sorrows series (Sorrow, Eventide, and Dawn-Spring). But for some reason, even after writing 4 chapters worth of material and the plot synopsis, I have no title for the current book.

I made one up off the cuff for the purposes of the plot synopsis. I'll more than likely ask you guys here at LJ land what you think of some potential titles, your reactions, thoughts, etc, once I hear back from the beta group. Right now I'm calling it Shattering the Ley.

Tomorrow, during release day, I intend to revise and polish up the first four chapters, with at least one major revision in chapter 3. The rest will likely be minor revisions. And then the package will be ready to send out to potential agents and I can begin making some progress on at least one of my New Year's resolutions. *grin*

So, how do you writers out there pick your titles? Do they just come to you as you write, or do you hack at them until something usable appears? And for the readers, what is it about a title that catches your interest? What makes that title leap off the book and grab you?