Oct 31, 2012

Jennifer has too many books...

And sometimes she refers to herself in the 3rd person.

But back to the point, I have too many books and as the very wise Stacy from Girls in the Stacks once told me in all earnest, you aren't going to read all them, why have them? Good, smart point. And as I've said before, my book excess is one of the main factors that led me to starting ARCycling.

Then I decided to move. *screechy record stop*
So whatever excess book I have for decoration just becomes more burden-esque. And mailing out every single book would not only take forever, but it would cost hundreds. No. Really. Hundreds. I did the rough math. Hundreds. NOT counting all the gas to get to the PO. 

So, I came up with a much more better solution! (Yes, I really love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and will endlessly quote them.)
And it involves a few of these:
Or, to be more clear, THE BIGGEST BATCH GIVEAWAY EVER!!*


With tremendous help from Lili, we have organized a giveaway of OVER 100 books. A plethora of ARCs, hardbacks and paperbacks, all ranging from MG to adult. Some signed (and some personalized to Jennifer - the absolutely perfect gift for that all-too-commonly-named friend in your life!). In total there will be 13 boxes; 3 filled with series bundle packs and 10 filled with 8 to 15 books each.
Yes, that means 13 winners.

I imagine you guys to all be like this.

 What? You thought you could get a giveaway post this big without a single gif? Hah. Think again.

And guess what? Lili has her own six-month blogoversary so we joined forces to basically make it the biggest party on the book block.

Now, for the deets on this marvelously marvelous thing in bullet point form.
  • It starts TOMORROW, NOVEMBER 1ST and will run all month.
  • ALL giveaway posts and Rafflecopter widgets will be on Lili's blog, Lili's Reflections. NOT HERE. We're doing this on her blog to get word out about ARCycling!
  • While the giveaway stuff is on Lili's Reflections, there will be entries involving ARCycling. Like following us here on the blog. There will also be lots of fun optional entries. Including donating a book to ARCycling!
  • Below is the schedule with each date the packs go up. Full book list of each pack will be released on the day of.
  • This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! Bloggers, non-bloggers, teachers, librarians, writers and general book enthusiasts! But sadly, still US only except for the packs specifically for Canadians.
  • Canada, WE LOVE YOU, and because we do, we have small series bundles that are for Canadians ONLY.  Check out November 3rd.

SCHEDULE:
November 1: Things That Go Bump In The Night Prize Pack
November 2: Middle-Grade Prize Pack
November 3: Series Bundles Prize Pack - CANADA ONLY with 3 winners
November 4: Chick Lit Prize Pack
November 5: Big Subjects Prize Pack
November 6: Fairies Prize Pack
November 7: Luminosity Blog Tour with a Giveaway (not affiliated with ARCycling)
November 8: 18+ Prize Pack
November 9: Male Prize Pack - male authors and MC’s
November 10: Greta & the Goblin King Blog Tour w/ a Giveaway (not affiliated with ARCycling)
November 11: Contemporary Prize Pack
November 12: Paranormal Prize Pack
November 13: Randomized ARC Prize Pack
*Claim not actually based on fact.

Oct 29, 2012

ARCycling: Hunger Games style

So, someone The Twitter said "[ARCycling] is a Hunger Games online." O_O YES. Tonight, I'm not even exaggerating when I said I had 17 books go in 20 minutes. And probably about 30-40 emails though I wasn't counting.
I am the Cornucopia and you all are the Tributes. Muwhaha!!
And I think you all know what's coming now...

Lots of gifs.
HUNGER GAMES STYLE.




When I get an AWESOME donation in.


How I feel when I come on to Twitter Sunday afternoon.


But how I am on the inside.


What I should be saying before I open every week...


How you countdown the minutes... and seconds...


You lot waiting for those minutes and seconds...



How *I* feel in those minutes and seconds...


You guys when you refresh the page and you SEE THOSE GOODIES.


How you guys are when I get an email within 10 seconds of opening.


How *I* am when I get 20 emails within 10 seconds of opening.


What some of you guys would do to your fellow ARCyclers if this was in real life.


How you feel when you get that desirable book.


How others feel when you brag about said book on Twitter.
Okay, I don't really think this happens... but ya know there was no Gale... so...


How I feel when you keep requesting books that are already gone.


Me, when you guys send emails in the format and follow the rules.
(This isn't really an issue, but how can I NOT post this one?!)


You guys going to Time Out?
Sorry if you are cuss word sensitive. It was too good of a gif...


The after party.


When I mess up.


How I feel when I did a session and DIDN'T mess up. In a crunk way...


How you guys probably feel about me. Especially after this...
Yeah, this is a bit of a stretch for the HG theme...


And now few for laughs, of course...





And lastly, if you aren't crying laughing at this... then I don't even know...




Can I just say it is FREAKING HARD to find Hunger Games gifs for a memeish thing like this? It IS.
Now, let's on a sweet note, eh?


Oh, and we just hit 200 followers. Woot! We're gonna have to do this again. Hmm for 300 mayhaps?

Oct 25, 2012

Tease.

I haven't posted in a while because, well, there's nothing much to post about! Things is goin' smooth potatoes! Which is good, if a bit boring... so, I've decided to be mean!

So, coming to straight from my closet...
In the utmost secrecy...
I give you...
A tease-y picture...
Please ignore the bad taping...

But... but what is IN THEM?!
Well, in order to find THAT out, you'll have to check back here October 31st.
Tee hee hee hee hee hee...

Oct 8, 2012

Oh, Canada.

Well, I must say that was an interesting survey. Lots of varied responses. However despite some of the comments, the actual tally was surprisingly positive.

Now because when we created the survey we didn't have everything as thought out as we do now, so let me address some reoccurring concerns I saw in the responses. And let's use bullet points for them.
  1. I would NEVER EVER require anyone to ship to Canada. I did state in the form that it would not be a requirement, but perhaps grey doesn't stand out against blue and no one saw that. Guys, if I don't require you to donate or even review the books you get (the thing that matters to me most), how can I require you to spend more money? See, I can't.
  2. With the option being, well, an OPTION, not sending a book to a Requester once it has been requested is like the worst thing ever. Even if you are in Montreal and the Requester is in Alberta, you cannot say "Oh, JK, I just want to ship to Montrealians only." NO. You will feel my glare all the way from Texas, I promise you that. If you agree to US/CA, then you will ship either to Georgia or British Columbia.
  3. I am aware it costs more to ship in Canada. Canadians, MEDIA MAIL DOES NOT EXIST FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. Seriously. Please know that. Americans, if you pre-purchase padded envelopes at Wal-Mart, it's cheaper. Also, when you go to mail, you can legit go to the counter and say "Hey, this is going to Quebec, and it needs to go the cheapest way possible." Unless your post office is ridiculously maniacal, they will give you the cheapest way, which should be about $12. About the price of mailing two media mail packages in the US.
  4. A number of you suggested Canadians help paying for shipping. While it's a valid point, it gets horribly, horribly complicated. Paypal, fees, then the whole web of me acting as a platform, while my Donators are actually shipping. It gets really confusing, really fast, so unfortunately, we're gonna have to keep it the way it is, as an act of charity. 
  5. Lastly, there needs to a certain kind of balance. There were a few suggestions like, "Oh, Americans should ship to Canadians, but we shouldn't have to ship back" and the basic principle of fairness is being neglected here. If we don't have willing Donators or Requesters, that's one thing, but to shut off the option entirely? No. Money aside, that doesn't make sense.
That being said, I'm going to refine some of these ideas. These are not the official rules YET, but here's something what they would be like:
  1. For American Donators, you can donate books to be American only or US/ CA. This means if a book is US/CA it can either go to an American or a Canadian.
  2. There will be a Canada to Canada ONLY option. Since Americans get US to US only, it's only fair you guys get a CA to CA only, yeah? Right now it's not really possible for us to keep track of shipping and receiving province because, guys, OMGs, my spreadsheets can only do so much. I still have to interpret them and provinces is a bit too much at this stage.
  3. Someone suggested a limit on books being shipped to Canada, while you Canadians might not like this, I think I agree. Right now, I'm thinking one book per Canadian per two week period.
Now,  I'm going to ask for your opinions one more time. This survey is, as Jack Sparrow says, much more better than the last. A lot more specific and clear. Guys, surveys are hard to make! If responses continue to be positive, we do a TRIAL. Which means I will put some books up to be US/CA and see how it goes. Then we'll move on from there. Whew, no one ever said international relations were easy...

Oct 4, 2012

Canada, what's going on, eh?

I have to say, I've been feeling bad about all of you non-American shafted bloggers with this program. I don't want you thinking I'm sitting on my elitist American throne of books manically laughing as I smite you. Uh, no.

However, there are A LOT of problems with opening this program to internationals. Briefly summarized, it's these: time zones, no USPS Media Mail option (thus much more $ or £ or € or ¥ or ₡, etc), no tracking (if Donators are so inclined to use this) and if anything should get lost, holy mackerel, it is gone, gone, gone.

But I don't want to be that elitist American on my throne of books! So, Lili gave me an obvious answer. Let's test the waters with Canada! Our neighbors to the North! Makers of delightful syrup and lovers of hockey!

But before we completely overwhelm ourselves with wrapping our brains around how to include you lovely clad-in-plaid people, we wanted to make sure there was enough interest in this! Not just Requesters, but Donators too! All of you! AND we also want to see what our American Donators think of this too. So we've created a survey in which to log (no pun intended, Canadians!) any and all thoughts about this!

Survey closed.

*Please do not think I actually believe in Canadian stereotypes. I'm Texan for crying out loud. I was once legitimately asked if I rode a horse to school. Uh, no, I don't even own cowboy boots. And I was once given the sage advice that if I should ever be asked if I was an American in a foreign country, I was to say "Je suis Canadien".