Author Heather McCorkle

Every now and then something fabulous happens to someone who truly deserves it. Now is one of those times. My dear friend Carolina Valdez Miller just signed with agent Vickie Motter! Two of my favorite people are joining forces and I couldn't be happier! The fact that agents are still looking, still falling in love with books, and still signing clients means the industry is still going strong. That's something we all need to celebrate because you never who could be next, it could be you! As soon as I heard the news I knew it called for a party, so party we shall! And wow, this is one mega party. Carolina wants to give back and pay it forward~because she is fabulous like that~and I wanted to help her. That means some great giveaways for you! Here are the prizes you can enter to win: *From Heather's Odyssey winner's choice of   Writers Digest Guide To Query Letters  or The Fire In Fiction  by Donald Maass. *From Critique Sisters Corner winner's choice of 2011 G...

Brenda Drake, writer, blogger, tweeter and all around amazing lady, is hosting the Dark And Stormy Blogfest Contest . A blogfest and contest, sounds interesting you say? Well yes, yes it is, especially since it includes the fabulous agent Weronika Janczuk . Check out Brenda's blog to see how it works and what the outstanding prizes are. Without further ado, here is my entry: Name: Heather McCorkle Title: The First Dragonwatcher Genre: YA Fantasy Chemier loved it when people ran, it made the hunt that much sweeter.

Today I want to highlight two excellent contests, one is for writers and the other is for readers. Writer Bethany, over at A Writing Journal , is running a contest in which she'll critique your entire manuscript and you can win a $25 gift certificate from Amazon! An extra set of eyes on that manuscript can't hurt and you never know, you might find yourself a critique partner out of it. I'll wait while you check out the link and enter. Literary intern, Amanda Johnson , is doing a fabulous book giveaway. If you love adult books she's giving away Soulless by Gail Carriger and Stray by Rachel Vincent. But if you're like me and you love YA she's giving away three of the best YA books out there right now, Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready, Paranormalcy by Kiersten White, and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Don't miss these! Best of luck.

Congratulations to Molly (Olleymae) of the fabulous blog MBW Creates ! You've been selected through Random.org Lists  and have won a copy of The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman. After it arrives and you get a chance to read it I hope you'll stop by and tell us what you thought of it. Thanks to everyone who became a follower and entered, and thanks to all my pre-existing followers as well. I love and appreciate each and every one of you and really enjoy sharing the world of writing with you. As my journey toward publication continues I hope to bring you many more great posts that will help you navigate the publishing world. If your writing is in need of a boost or you're in a rut I hope you'll check out this book even if you don't win. It changed my writing in a very good way. For those on the reading side of the spectrum don't worry, I'll be giving away my favorite book of the first half of 2010 soon so stay logged in!

To do blog contests or not to do them really isn't the question you should be asking yourself as a blogger. Why you want to do them is. Most bloggers want to increase followers and that's okay but that should not be your sole reason for doing a contest. If that is one of your main reasons then you have to ask yourself why you want to increase your followers. It is because you want your blog to be more popular which in turn makes you more popular? Do you just want to increase readers to make your writer platform look better? If the answer to either of those questions is yes then you shouldn't do it. Don't throw stones yet, here me out. The best reason to do blog contests is for your readers , not yourself. We all want to increase our readership and popularity and that's all right, it just shouldn't be the only reason. The goal should be reachable within a few months at the most (example, trying to increase by so many followers) and the prize should be tailored ...