Girl Against the Universe: Seven Days Seven Giveaways Winners

Hi :) Before I get to the winners, just a quick update on my do-it-yourself MFA program. I am still working through the course of study I designed for myself, but I started a new nursing job and a new volunteer job in April/May, and I'm also trying to promote four books (2 paperbacks, 2 new hardcovers) that are releasing in June-July-August while revising one book for 2018, drafting a hopeful 2019, and working through the self-publishing process for a book that's releasing this fall.

So, long story short, I absolutely plan to meet my overall reading, writing, education, and community goals for the DIYMFA program, but I've had to cut back for May so I'm going to wait and do an official update in June or July, once things slow down for me a little bit :)

Now for the winners! Names below. All books have been ordered or mailed.


Day 1: Winner of the #MentalHealthBooks Instagram challenge is Marie

Day 2: Winner of the #InspirationalQuotes Twitter/IG contest is Kaitlyn

Day 3: Winner of the Twitter #Haiku contest is Maria M

Day 4: Winner of the Twitter/IG #Happy book contest is Irma J.

Day 5: Winner of the fears and strategies contest is Sarah R

Day 6: Winner of the Twitter/IG #LuckyCharms contest is Khae

Day 7: Winner of the GATU promo Rafflecopter is Adik

Day 7: Winner of the bonus Rafflecopter is Khayzelle


Other recent winners: 

Winner of The Art of Lainey is Sandra

Winner of any book (via the Liars, Inc. RT contest) is Denise


I just want to say a huge thank you to my amazing blog hosts and to all of the people who entered the contests. The winners were chosen randomly via Rafflecopter or random.org, but I had a lot of fun going through all the posts :)

If you didn't win and you're sad about that, I highly recommend joining my newsletter :) I only send out 8-10 issues a year so it's not overly spammy, and almost every issue has an exclusive international contest. Another perk of newsletter subscription is that if you win one of my books that you already have or don't want in a newsletter giveaway, I will let you substitute in a different one of my books that you'd prefer. Newsletters also contain writing/editing tips and book recommendations. And subscribers get first crack at participating in blog tours, book blasts, and other ways you can earn awesome swag.

Speaking of awesome swag, if you're planning to order Girl Against the Universe, This is How it Happened, Vicarious, or Ferocious in the next couple of months, I'll be running a pre-order signed swag giveaway for all of those books, with a larger prize that anyone who pre-orders two books will be eligible to enter to win. Here's the first incentive, for people who buy the Girl Against the Universe paperback. Stay tuned for more!

Random kitty pic: Happiness is a fresh haircut and a big bed ;)

The Great GATU Create a Book Boyfriend WINNER!

Hi :)

First of all, thanks for your patience. I just turned in an 85,000-word  #SeekritBook to Harper for 2017 publication (I hope) that I wrote in six weeks, so that's part of why I needed more time.

Judging your entries involved the following:

• printing them out so I could read them without knowing who each boy belonged to
• going through each category and highlighting the things that resonated with me in different color pens
• adding up the points, looking at the top three with respect to the books I'll be pitching to HarperTeen and Tor Teen later this year (Mostly Harper, since two of the Tor pitches take place abroad, with stories that limit the major characters somewhat)
• deciding which boy felt like he would fit in one of the books I'll hopefully be writing
• deciding which boy felt like a boy I could competently write without having to make major changes to him

Please note how subjective those criteria are. If your book boyfriend didn't win, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with him, or you. I appreciate how many of you took the time to do this, despite it being a subjective contest. I hope those of you who are writers used this as an exercise and were encouraged to think more deeply about all of your characters.

So, after a lot of waffling, I have picked a winner and a runner-up:

Don't get the wrong idea. I know nothing about Pokemon ;)

Winner is Alice L and her book boyfriend Aaron Jenkins!! Alice wins a signed ARC of GATU and her choice of any book from Book Depository. I am also going to try to incorporate Alice's book boyfriend in a 2018 or 2019 novel.

Aaron Jenkins is half Italian, half Japanese, with dark brown hair and dark eyes. He's 5'11" and has an athletic body type. He is an atheist. He has a little crook in his nose from when broke his nose by accidentally walking into a glass door. He has a dimple on his right cheek, a scar on his chin (from when he went skateboarding and fell), and slightly chapped lips.

Aaron stole my teen girl heart with his chapped lips, his "swishy" hair (it's one of his best features) and his personal ad:

Hi, my name is Aaron, and I love animals (but not in a weird way), puns, and the Oxford comma. I can cook sometimes and I'm really good at kissing (and maybe a little more, wink wink).

I love me some Oxford commas ;) I also really like Aaron's deepest regret "teasing that girl in elementary school relentlessly" and his words to live by "Why bother with a cunning plan when a simple one will do?" I was not familiar with this quote. Google tells me it is credited to Terry Pratchett. Mostly, Aaron feels very real to me, and he also feels like a boy I could incorporate seamlessly into a future romantic contemporary book.

Runner-up is Sarah M and her book-boyfriend Parker Lewis!! Because it was so hard for me to choose, I'm giving Sarah her choice of a signed copy of The Art of Lainey, Liars, Inc., or a signed GATU ARC. Sarah, please email me your choice to pstokesbooks [at] gmail [dot] com

Parker Lewis is half white/half black, bisexual, 5'11, 175 lbs, brown hair, hazel eyes. Has a scar on his forehead after falling out of his treehouse when he was eight, has a particularly dark freckle under his right eye, and when he gets nervous, his stutter comes back.

In addition to being a diverse guy, Parker has really diverse hobbies like rock-climbing and origami. I love that his deepest hope is "to travel the world" and his words to live by are "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all." (Ambrose Redmoon.)

Overall, there were colored pen marks on every single entry meaning that every one of you wrote things that made me stop and go "Ooh, nice." Your personal ads were particularly fun. I will resist the urge to excerpt from them so this blog post doesn't get excessively long, but thank you all for the enjoyable time I spent hanging out with your book boyfriends :) 

And again, there are no losers here, all right? Similar to the same way an agent will read a submission, my decisions were based on gut instinct and personal preference as much as anything else.

Congrats to Alice and Sarah, and thanks again to everyone who entered. And if I can sell more books *fingers crossed* hopefully you'll see Aaron Jenkins in a Paula Stokes book someday :)

In the meantime, are you in the mood for another fabulously fun contest?? Check back next week for the Great GATU Sticker Design Contest. Prizes to be decided :)

#TeamLainey Winners!

What feels like forever ago I made the grand decision to give my little contemporary book, THE ART OF LAINEY, the best chance possible of succeeding by assembling a street team. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that bloggers like prizes so I came up with a list of things I could give away that wouldn't cost me too much money--signed books, swag, manuscript critiques, gift cards (that I sometimes get free from my credit card. What's in your wallet?) And of course, the piece de resistance--a role in a future book!

My street teamers performed like champs, tweeting, posting, sharing, voting, and changing their twitter icons to the LAINEY cover at a rate that had some people complaining that my book was too hyped. *side eyes* Whut? I guess if you live on twitter. Oh wait, that's most people.

Anyway, today I am announcing my winners!

Winner of the GRAND PRIZE EXTRAVAGANZA, which includes so many prizes I'm not even going to list them all so no one is too sad when I don't offer quite so many freebies next time (an annotated book? Whose idea was that? *gives Nikki Wang the evil eye*) is Sara from Forever 17 books. I think I got to know Sara back when she played Where in the World is VENOM?? She's been a fantastic supporter ever since and it's always an honor to be featured on her blog. Also, I <3 that tiger.

Winner of my 2nd prize, which includes a signed copy of THE ART OF LAINEY, a B&N gift card, and a partial manuscript critique, Is Jessica from Read My Breath Away. I also "met" Jess when she won a copy of Venom (or was it Belladonna?) Jess organized my Canada blog tour, accumulated more street team points than any other teamer, and recently helped get LAINEY into the Ottawa library system! 

And finally, my 3rd prize, a signed copy of THE ART OF LAINEY, goes to Lili from Lili's Reflections! I first got to know Lili when she emailed me back in 2012 asking for a book donation for a literacy program she was heading up in her town. I loved this idea so much I sent her ALL of the books I had lying around that I had gotten free as a reviewer but knew I would never read. We've stayed in contact ever since and I'm so grateful to have her on my team.

Every year the publishing industry hatches 200+ new debut authors and I've heard there are even non-debut authors writing epic books too (*waves hand in the air*). The fact that these ladies have supported me for four straight books is really amazing and I am so grateful that I know them. I'm glad I could give a little something extra back to all three of you in the form of street team prizes. Thanks again for all of your hard work!

If you would like to be part of the LIARS, INC. street team and have the chance to win the first ARCs of LIARS, INC. (and possibly VICARIOUS, depending on its release date), as well as get monthly emails from me with writing excerpts, exclusive news, and occasional groveling for tweets or author-favors (who? me?) check the street team tab after September 1, 2014 for more information.

Until then, keep an eye out for the LIARS, INC. cover reveal this week (allegedly...I am still awaiting the final file *taps foot*). And don't forget about the Mighty Mississippi Book Blast if you live in the middle of the US and the  <333 MICAH <333 novella INFINITE REPEAT that releases on August 5, 2014.