Crazy Cozy Countdown

SIX DAYS!!!

Hear that? In six days I will be a PUBLISHED AUTHOR! I am so excited. And there is a TON of exciting build up stuff happening.

My Barnes & Noble spy has given me the number of MY books in HER warehouse and if I do a little math, that is MEGA lotta books out there! Holy CRAP! (I adore having a spy, by the way... it makes me feel powerful, and honestly, life is a little hard right now—hubby's health, plus an aunt with some trouble—so it is SO NICE to have a positive!)

Yesterday I posted on Facebook that I had a week and asked people to like my page, and people responded in DROVES! (35 new likes, I think?  Seemed big for one request, at least compared to the past, but I think it is because it is LOOMING!!! I felt so warm and fuzzy! So I thought I'd bring it in here...

My PLEAS for how you might help me out: (because you know... can't hurt to ask, ne?)

Like me on Facebook: Alyse Carlson
Add me on Goodreads (to read)
Like my BOOK on Amazon: The Azalea Assault (hint: you can like both the paperback and Kindle versions *shifty* though there is also a book there that isn't mine... but you can like that, too, if you like...)

I have a confession. I've already started checking my Amazon ranking. I make up elaborate tales for why it sometimes drops then goes back up (dropping is good, as #1 is best). I know it's calculated daily and I THINK ties are broken by previous sales (obviously these are all pre-order) but my lowest number has been about 50,000 (though I've been #25 in Cozy Mystery, so I have that going for me)

I've ALSO has a couple shout outs in Blogs and on Facebook and the comments of strangers are SO NICE—I love seeing that people are excited to read!

And look at this!  Elizabeth just alerted me to this video featuring June's cozy mysteries:  http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2012/05/june-mysteries-from-penguins-berkley.html


And here is the biggie, but I think I should clarify a bit.

Crazy Cozy Blogfest:  June 5th

We would LOVE it if you could participate in our release date event.  I think we've given the impression this is harder than it is. We are NOT asking you to write a Cozy mystery. We are asking you to pitch an IDEA FOR a cozy mystery: an elevator pitch with a few details.

This should be SUPER fun—zany silliness in ideas shared—just some good laughs all around, and a chance to win BOTH Elizabeth's and my book (2 winners win both)


Include:
1)  Sleuth (age, occupation, maybe a little family info)
2)  Sidekick (either friend or foil, but someone who always seems to be around)
3)  Setting (town, city, or other sort of place)
4)  Theme (go nuts)
5)  Twist (be as creative as you like)

Write it up in 150-250 words (so short)--for the blogfest portion anyway—we want people to be able to read a bunch of these without too much burden. Keep the traditions in mind, but we are judging on entertainment value--which we enjoy most, not how realistic it is to make a best seller. We want people to laugh.  WE want to laugh. (so consider those rules more like guidelines, really)

And then we ask you either include a little info about our books, or a link to this page so people can find it for themselves: http://waterytart23.blogspot.com/2012/04/crazy-cozy-blogfest.html