Nov 25, 2012

ARCycling Secret Santa Update!

Hey, everyone! Just wanted to tell you that Friday is when the ARCycling Secret Santa Donation form is closing. If you still want to participate, now's the time to do so! Enter here.

Those who agree to participate should expect an e-mail around December 14th with where to send their books and should be prepared to get them out ASAP so that they can arrive in time for the holidays. I also want to point something out: those of you who donate older books, you are most likely getting older books in return. Those who donate ARCs, you are most likely getting ARCs in return. We're trying to go for equality with this.

Remember, ARCycling is closed during the Sundays that span over Christmas and New Years. This is the replacement of ARCycling those 2 weeks. All time out's are temporarily frozen that week. If you are put on time out during the last ARCycling session before the holidays (December 16) you are not off of time out until January 20th since your time out spans the 6th and the 13th.

Don't be afraid to ask any other questions for both Santa and the temporary ARCycling shut down for the holidays!

Nov 23, 2012

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology.

*Oh my gods, none of you even get that reference do you?

So, you've all seen my Hunger Games post, right? If not, here. You're welcome. Who doesn't love an adapted internet meme? Anyway, that would happen WEEKLY. And it was madness. Seriously, if it hadn't been a security breach, I would have screenshot that inbox and you guys could SEE the 45 emails in 15 seconds. No kidding. And all for the same book that went to fastest Tribute in .02 seconds.

Now let me set the scene for how Jennifer came up with a new idea. (It's kinda funny.)
I was going in for a medical procedure (nothing major) and I needed to be put under anesthesia, which means no food for 8 hours, but I did 12 hours. And I had just woken up and I was very, very hungry and there was no coffee in my hands, which a bad deal always. And I was talking to my dad (who was driving me) about ARCycling. Yes. To my dad. About ARCycling. Y'all are in my life more than I care to admit.

Anyway, moving on, I was saying something about it (I don't even remember what!), but I said the word 'form'. And then I had one of those staring-off-into-the-distance epiphanies, but really I was staring at a stoplight and my words entirely trailed off and I had a dumb look on my face as I tried to think 'Would that work? Could I make that work?'

It was followed by a short 'yes' as my brain supplied supplement rules, etc.
Then followed by a 'JENNIFER. WHY HAVE YOU NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?!??!?!?! FAIL.'

Then I madly tweeted Lili, hoping that all of the medical stuff wouldn't somehow leak this absolutely vital idea from my scattered brain. (I'm a writer, this happens far too much - so I record ideas when they happen.)

Anyway, once I was coherent enough, I spelled this idea out. Here's what is in, in my favorite bullet point format.
  • NO MORE EMAILS FOR REQUESTS.
  • Emails, tweets, messenger pigeons and Iris messages will not accepted. If you got the last reference, let's be friends.
  • Form now!
  • Still first come, first served. 
  • But now with by-the-second timestamps. This helps YOU. BELIEVE ME.
  • You can request up to your TOP 5 books from the List.
  • Unfortunately, past that, you're gonna be a little SOL. Sorry. But we don't want any copy and pasting of the List because that's just ridiculous, guys.
  • You will ONLY get an email, if you get the book. Therefore, no email confirmation = no book.
  • I really hated writing the "sorry, you've requested like, 8 books and didn't get a single one" emails, so this eliminates that.
  • Email confirmations will still happen as soon as you get the book. Or a minute after. You know, they do take a few seconds to write.
  • They will be short and sweet. Probably titled something like "ARCycling confirmation" and will be coming from the ARCycling email.
  • If 15-20 minutes goes by and you don't get an confirmation email, you probably didn't get anything you requested. *sadface*
  • And because I know you guys like to prep your emails and speed type the titles, the form will go up before the List does by about 15 minutes.
  • AND TO MAKE IT EVEN EASIER, the form submission will be on the same page as the List. Below it, most likely. So just ONE PAGE for all of you.
Just a little note on how the top 5 requests will work. Let's give you an example! You request the following: Every Day, Future of Us, The Innocents, Rockoholic, and Fever.
But by the time you submitted, Every Day, Future of Us were gone.
So you'd get The Innocents and Rockoholic.
*This is an example of someone not on Two Week Time Out or only having the option of getting one book.

And for poops and giggles, this is a sample of what the form will look like. If you can read it. Don't try to fill this out. It's an image, it won't go anywhere.


 The form will be remade every week and have a new theme. Honestly, I expect to use every single one of Google Docs form themes because they are ridiculous and so am I.
Anyway, so who's excited?! I am!! I am a lot! Mainly because I don't have to go OH MAH GODS, EMAILS every week now!

So a few happy dance gifs to end this horridly long post? I think so.


 

And here's just a confusing one for you...


So, thoughts on this?!
Now before you go all 'BAH. NEW SYSTEM?!' on me, let me reiterate how much easier this will be on us. It will. It takes HOURS (no, really) to go through the emails and this will all but eliminate that. This will make us happy. Which is something you want. You want books and for us to be happy. *nods*

Nov 17, 2012

ARCycling Secret Santa!

So, Jennifer and I were originally planning to close ARCycling over the Sundays the evolved around the holiday break because, face it, it’s the holidays. But I wanted to be able to celebrate the holidays with our lovely followers somehow, so we came up with ARCycling Secret Santa! Essentially, all you have to do is this... fill out the form below with your address, the books you’re contributing, and your preferred genres. For every book you donate, you’ll get a book in the mail as a gift. Say you donate 4 books, you’ll get 4 back!

By filling out the form below, you are agreeing to

  • Ship the book(s) wherever your Secret Santa lives within the US
  • Ship the book(s) ASAP within receiving your destination so that the books can arrive around Christmas

Unfortunately, we have to keep this open to US only. Please be aware that this does not count as an ARCycling week and this is there simply to ensure that everyone can get a book for the holidays! So no one will go on Two Week Time Out for this! If you’re already on time out while this occurs, these do not count as part of your time out and your time out will resume once we are back from the break. Also, know that we’ll do our best to get you a book that we think fits your description of genres. We really want you to enjoy what you get. You can link me to your review archive or Goodreads in the genres question if you want a better chance at getting a book on your TBR shelf.

ARCycling will be closed December 23rd and December 30th. These dates do not count towards time outs. All destination e-mails will be sent out December 14th and 15th so that the books can arrive before or around Christmas. Individuals who commit to this and do not follow through with their commitment will not be looked upon favorably during future ARCycling sessions.

Do you want to participate in Secret Santa? ;)

Also, keep in mind that we are still looking for regular donations for ARCycling weekly as well. These do not count towards our weekly sessions that are still open for the first half of December and will pick back up again in January.



Nov 13, 2012

An Index to the Giant Giveaway

Yes, I realize this giveaway is like, SO TREMENDOUSLY GIANT that it's hard to even comprehend it all. So I'm making it easy.

Here are the links to ALL of the giveaways.
And I realized I *COULD* have put in all the books that are in each giveaway, but... eh. Laziness. But yeah, your one stop shopathon for all the giveaways.

AND don't forget to check out the SIGNED, INTERNATIONAL Dear Teen Me giveaway below!!

Nov 12, 2012

Dear Teen Me giveaway!!

Once upon a time, a long, long, long, LONG time ago Jennifer worked at Borders. It was a time before book blogging and before she knew so many people she knows now. One day, a new, strange girl name Stephanie came all the way from Mississippi and arrived in Borderlandia. And while she called her shopping carts, shopping "buggys", she and Jennifer bonded over the early, early days of YA.

Okay, if I keep this kind of storytelling up, this is going to be a FOREVER LONG post. So, here's what you need to know. Just released is an AWESOME anthology out that stemmed from an AWESOME blog where YA authors write letters to their teen selves. Some are light-hearted notes about how acid-washed jeans aren't really cool (really, they aren't) and some are heart-breakingly heavy. Seriously, you want to make your life seem easy? Check out Saundra Mitchell's. At least, her life makes mine feel easy.

And guess what. Stephanie is in this awesome anthology! And there was a launch party! And there were lots of authors! And there were prom dresses! And jean jackets that had pockets made to perfectly fit two cassette tapes! (Here's looking at you, Nancy from GirlsintheStacks.com!) And there was laughing! And there were dogs! And lots of other awesome things deserving of lots of exclamation marks!

So here's what's up for this giveaway. A SIGNED paperback of Dear Teen Me and a SIGNED ARC of Dear Teen Me. These books feature the signatures of: E. Kristin Anderson (editor), Jessica Lee Anderson, Mary Lindsey, Nikki Loftin, Jenny Moss, Stephanie Pellegrin and Cynthia Leitich Smith.

And I'll make this easy.
Requirements: follow the ARCycling blog.
Options for more entries: follow @ARCycling on The Twitter, comment on this post with what your favorite letter on Dear Teen Me is (the blog has LOADS of these!), follow @DearTeenMe on The Twitter, 'Like' Dear Teen Me on Facebook and finally, for a lot of bonus points, comment on one of the blog posts on the Dear Teen Me blog! Include the link, por favor!

Must be 13+ to enter.
This giveaway is open internationally and to EVERYONE!
One entry per household. a Rafflecopter giveaway

More info on Dear Teen Me:
Website: DearTeenMe.com
Twitter: @DearTeenMe
Facebook: Dear Teen Me page

Nov 4, 2012

A little heads up.

To say my life is chaotic, is a bit of an understatement. I won't go into all of the wrong turns that let to it being like this, so let's cut to the chase.
Starting this week I am going to re-enter the retail book world has a holiday hire. YAY for books! Less yay for the retail part of it.

I'm sure you're thinking, okay, what does this have to do with me?
Well, if you've ever worked retail or know someone who has, then you know the term "nights and weekends".
Uh, yeah. So this means we are all going to have to be a little flexible with Jennifer!
Some days Lili might be doing it all by her lonesome.
Some days it might a bit later in the evening (sorry EST folks!)
Some days it might be in the morning (sorry PST folks!)
Some days it might not be Sunday. This will only work if we cannot move heaven and Earth so easily like the phrase suggests.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS watch The Twitter. I will LET YOU KNOW as soon as I DO! Promise.

So let's all be happy for Jennifer that she's going to be earning money and (HOPEFULLY) will not be spending them on books...
 

And not be all... because after all, it will be TEMPORARY.
 


And maybe at the end of this there can be a chocolate giveaway or something, yeah?
Always end bad news with a cute cat gif.