Monday, March 23, 2015

Liars, Inc. Twitter Party


Hi guys! Most authors do an in-person launch of their books. Back when I released my first work-for-hire book in 2012, I was kind of uncomfortable with the idea. I didn't have a lot of relatives or bookish friends who lived nearby, didn't know many other authors, and hated the idea of getting up in front of even a few people and talking about myself and my book.

No disrespect for people who do this, as it's the norm and I know I'm the weird one. But thinking about a launch brought me nothing but stress. It made me SAD, and sad is not what you're supposed to be for your book release.

So yeah, instead of in-person launch, I threw a #VenomReleaseParty on Twitter. It was a huge success and had the added bonus of allowing readers from all over the globe to join in the fun. And I didn't have to worry about who showed up or what to wear. It was the best time ever and I've been doing it ever since.

The LIARS, INC. Twitter release party will be under the hashtag #LiarsIncBook, on Tuesday 3/24, from 6pm to 7:30 pm US/Pacific. That's a start time of 7pm Mountain, 8pm Central, 9pm Eastern. If you're thinking of joining in from abroad (all contests are international!), here's a time zone converter to help you out. You'll want to choose US/Pacific 6pm for the pre-conversion time. 

The party will be hosted by the fabulous Ensconced In Lit (@CAhnBooks) who you might remember as the #MysteryTwitterTheater victim ;-)

Wait, did someone say contests? Does that mean prizes?

The prizes:

PRE-PARTY PRIZE: I'll do a search of #LiarsIncBook sometime during the day on 3/24. One person who has tweeted about the party (using the party hashtag) and is using the book's cover for a Twitter avatar will be randomly selected to win a signed finished copy.

CONTEST #1: Answer a question. Random winner wins LIARS signed swag

CONTEST #2: Answer a question. Random winner wins LIARS signed swag

CONTEST #3: First to answer a trivia question wins Max's adjustable-fit shark's tooth necklace:






CONTEST #4: Caption a pic to win CATALYST (or CONTROL) by Lydia Kang. Winner is best caption or else a random selection from our top 3-5 choices if we can't decide.




CONTEST #5: Ensconced and I will be asking you to "get creative" to win a copy of THE CEMETERY BOYS by Heather Brewer. Winner is best entry or else a random selection from our top 3-5 choices if we can't decide. More info at party. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have an idea of what I mean by "get creative."




CONTEST #6: Scavenger hunt for a LIARS, INC. Senior Investigator Prize Pack, which includes a signed hardcover, a T-shirt (to wear while investigating), a notebook (for writing down your clues), and a mini-flashlight (for exploring those dark and creepy places). Winner is person with most objects turned in the quickest. More info at party. Ensconced in Lit and I will be judging these and our decision is final.



If you've never attended a Twitter party before, it can be a bit confusing to keep up with the nonstop tweets. Here are some tips, many of which I lifted straight from an old post of Ensconced's :-)

Tips for the party:

1. You should have a twitter account.

2. You should be following both @CAhnBooks and @pstokesbooks to ensure that we see your tweets and that we can contact you with prize information. 

3. After each comment, you should end it with #LiarsIncBook or else we won't see it. (Capitalization doesn't matter.)

4. If you want to ask me a specific question, you can @pstokesbooks, but put a period before your @ sign so that way everyone at the party will see your question. That cuts down on me trying to answer ten different people who all ask "Where did you get the idea for the book?" and similar.

5. I will miss a lot of your questions during the party--I can only tweet so fast--but if you do ask me a question with an @ sign, I promise I will answer you by the next day. (And if I don't, re-ask, because it means somehow your tweet got eaten.)

6. If you win a prize, we'll be sending you a google document to fill out. Ensconced will confirm your prizes after the party!

7. The EASIEST way to follow a twitter party is to hook up your account to a chat program. I use http://twubs.com All you have to do is put #LiarsIncBook at the top of the page where it says "Enter hashtags." It should prompt you to link up your twitter account. Say yes. Then you should be good to go! The other nice thing about this is that you don't have to type the hashtag after each comment, the program automatically does it for you. And you don't have to search for the hashtag, it automatically just follows the convo.

8. To those poor souls who don't have a twitter account. It's totally EASY. Get a twitter account! I finally got one for my blog, and it took literally seconds to set up. I'm so sorry, but if you don't have a twitter account, you won't be eligible for the prizes.

Questions? Put them in the comments :-)

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for such a great party, totally worth staying up until 4AM for!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you thought so. Sorry you didn't win anything :/ Sometimes I feel like the same people win over and over!

    ReplyDelete

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