Bookmark and Bookplate giveaway!

ALL WE HAVE IS NOW comes out in just a little over a month. I can't believe it!

It was featured in the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE recently - that's exciting!

Anyway, I've ordered a bunch of bookmarks and I would love to send you a couple - one for you to keep and one for you to pass on to a friend.

I also have some plain bookplates that I can personalize and sign if you have pre-ordered ALL WE HAVE IS NOW or plan to buy it when the book comes out. The bookplate goes on the title page, and is a way for me to sign your book without me actually being there to sign it. I mean, I wish I could travel around and individually sign every book that is sold. Go out for cupcakes with you. Chat about the best books we've read recently. Wouldn't that be fun? Since that's not really possible, this is the next best thing.

If you want some goodies mailed to you, please send a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope with a note that tells me what you'd like me to send to you. (Bookmarks, a sticker and/or a bookplate - please note this novel is appropriate for ages 12 and up). I can only send ONE bookplate for this specific book. If you're not planning on buying this book, please do not request a bookplate. Here's where you send me your envelope and note:

Lisa Schroeder
17675 SW Farmington Rd., PMB #420
Aloha, OR 97007

I'm sorry, I will not be able to send anything if there is not an envelope with a stamp inside - it just gets too expensive for me to send stuff on my own dime. Hopefully you understand. And please, address the envelope for me with YOUR address.

Thanks for all of your support and wanting to read the new book - it means more than I can say!!

Spring Has Sprung Giveaway

Sunshine! Blue Skies!! Daffodils!

If you still have snow where you are, I am so, so sorry. Really and truly.

Anyway, I was thinking about Caitlin, the girl on the cover of the first CHARMED LIFE book, because she loves flowers and dreams of working in a flower shop someday. And then I remembered I have a few Advanced Review Copies that are just sitting here, waiting for a new home.

And I thought, I haven't done a giveaway in a long, long time. So how about I do one now!? Okay? Okay! We'll have THREE lucky winners!!

Winner #1 will get:

IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES, personalized/signed
SPRINKLES AND SECRETS, personalized/signed
FROSTING AND FRIENDSHIP, personalized/signed
Advanced Review Copy of CHARMED LIFE #1, Caitlin's Lucky Charm, personalized/signed

Winner #2 will get:

Advanced Review Copy of CHARMED LIFE #1, Caitlin's Lucky Charm, personalized/signed
Advanced Review Copy of the middle grade novel UNDER THE EGG by Laura Marx Fitzgerald (I've read this book and it's so good!)

Winner #3 will get:

Your choice of CUPCAKES, SPRINKLES or FROSTING, personalized/signed
Advanced Review Copy of CHARMED LIFE #1, Caitlin's Lucky Charm, personalized/signed.

But wait, there's more!! Anyone and everyone can win some signed bookmarks, featuring the new CHARMED LIFE series. Aren't they pretty?

So what is the CHARMED LIFE series about, you ask? It's about four sixth grade girls who meet at summer camp and think they've found a lucky bracelet.

In book #1, you'll get to know Caitlin, who lives in Connecticut
In book #2, you'll get to know Mia who lives in Southern California
In book #3, you'll get to know Libby who lives in a town outside of London, England
And in book #4, you'll get to know Hannah, who lives in Tennessee

Like my "sweet treat" books, these books are mostly about friendship, with some other fun things thrown in too. Books 1 and 2 will be released May 27, 2014 and can be pre-ordered at your favorite bookstore or on-line.

To get some bookmarks and to enter the giveaway, simply fill out the form below. Deadline to enter: Monday, March 17, 2014 at midnight. Please note: Kids under 13 are not allowed to enter the contest. Due to privacy laws, if you are under 13, you must have your parent enter for you.

Thanks for being awesome and GOOD LUCK!

Sorry, giveaway is over.

Two things every middle grade author should do

It can be hard to figure out where your money is best spent when it comes to promotional activities.

I did a checklist and timeline a year or two ago to help authors organize those activities. You can find that HERE.

But two things I've discovered over the past year I wanted to share here, in regards to middle grade novels.

First - a reading/discussion guide is one of the BEST things you can do for your book. I paid to have one done for It's Raining Cupcakes, because I wasn't sure what went into one and I wanted to make sure it was done well. For Sprinkles and Secrets, I decided to try and do one on my own. As I got into it, I found it wasn't really that hard, and I'm happy with how it turned out. Check with your publisher too - they may be willing to do one for you!

Because I'm using a web site that doesn't allow for documents to be uploaded, I state in a couple of different places on my site to drop me an e-mail and I'll send the document along that way.

I'm actually glad now that I did it this way, and here's why. When a teacher or parent or book club member e-mails me, I can reply with the document she's requested for AND ask if she'd like some signed bookmarks to give out at the meeting or event. They seem to really love that I do this.

(By the way, I get a lot of mother-daughter book clubs requesting my discussion guide. Do you know how happy this makes me? VERY happy!)

Which leads me to the second thing I think you should do if you're publishing a middle grade novel. Have bookmarks made! I can't find a digital copy of the ones I had done with both covers on the front, but here are the ones I had made before It's Raining Cupcakes came out.

Anytime someone e-mails you about the book, offer to send some. Especially if you've written a series - as soon as you have the cover for the second book, get bookmarks made with both books and send them to everyone you can. This way, they have a visual that lets them know there's a second book coming. (Make sure to list the release date of that second book too).

As far as where to get bookmarks made? I LOVE www.iconix.biz. Ask for Kelly - she's great!

Bookmarks, get your bookmarks!

Over the past six months, I've sent a lot of signed bookmarks out to fans of IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES. The bookmarks are really fun, with pictures of both of the covers on them.

As we get closer to the release of SPRINKLES AND SECRETS (September 20th!!), I'd love to send you some if you are a teacher, librarian, blogger who reviews MG fiction, or parent, and you may pass them on to whomever you'd like. I've sent quite a few to mother/daughter book clubs, so if you're in one of those, consider getting some for a future meeting!

All you have to do is drop me an e-mail at lisaschroederbooks(at)gmail.com (with the @ sign in place of (at)), let me know how many you'd like, and I'll sign some and put them in the mail to you.

Stay tuned for some fun things planned as we get closer to September 20th. I can't wait to share SPRINKLES AND SECRETS with you next month!!

I heart bookmarks

I know authors have varying opinions about bookmarks - whether they're a worthwhile investment or not. Personally, I LOVE them.

Here are just a few of the ways I've used them in the past:

A librarian was going to a conference and planned to book talk my book. She asked if I might send her 50 bookmarks to hand out to the attendees of the session. I was happy to do so.

An acquaintance of mine wrote to me and told me how a student in her daughter's English class mentioned my book as a favorite of hers. I asked her if I could send some signed bookmarks for her daughter to pass out to kids in the class. Apparently, they were a big hit.

Anytime I mail a book for a prize, I stick a few bookmarks in the envelope. Many bloggers love collecting swag to include in their prize packs, and I'm happy to send some along to them as well.

If a kid e-mails me, excited about an upcoming book, I'll ask her to get permission from a parent to give me her address, then I mail signed bookmarks for her and her friends.

I always get the bookmarks as soon as I have the cover, so I have a whole lot of months to be passing them out. Yesterday, my order arrived for my next YA novel, THE DAY BEFORE.

I think the designer did a great job. I recommend her and the company she works for ALL the time. She doesn't charge for putting the design together. All I have to do is send her what I want on the front as far as text goes, what I want on the back, and attach a high resolution jpg of the cover. She does the rest.

Their prices are pretty reasonable, I think. (You can go to the web site and see a chart of prices, depending on what you want on the front and on the back). Yes, it's cheapest if you design the bookmark yourself and send it out to be printed, but I don't know how to do that and frankly, don't want to spend the time. So it's worth it to me to just have Kelley do it for me!

The company I use is www.iconix.biz - kelley's e-mail address is kelley(at)iconix(dot)biz.

What about you - are you a fan of bookmarks?