I posted last night about the awesome bloggers who are hosting me on the Nice and Mean Release-Week Blog Tour.  Now learn how you can win a copy of Nice and Mean in the Nice and Mean Grand Prize Drawing which includes everything you’d win in the other contests (pictured below; described here), plus a personally inscribed copy of Nice and Mean!  You can also win swag from the top photo by winning the Battle of Wits.  More on that in a minute.  First, pretty pictures of the prizes.    

Grand Prize winners get their choice of these!

I think you’re going to like Nice and Mean.  I mean, of course I do; I wrote it–but still.  There’s the heartache of a friend thinking you’re not cool enough for her.  The headache of a friend thinking she’s cooler than she is.  The stomach ache of having to work on a cool project (video!  hello!) with someone who just does not get you and the soul ache (okay, that’s kind of cheesy, but bear with me) of screwing everything up and being abandoned —and trying to put things back together.  I hope you’ll sign on to read it and can’t wait to chat with you about it.  

 For now, though, I want to know, from your votes in the poll to the left,  

Who are your favorite nice and mean characters?  

You’ll hear mine on Wednesday at The Page Flipper, but I have a feeling yours will make me go, “Yeah!”  

And that leads us to the contest.  How do you earn points to win?  By commenting, here there and everywhere, about all things Nice and Mean.   

Earn points when you do the following:  

  -Comment on the blog tour (hosts listed here; one point earned for each comment)  

 -Spread the word about the blog tour on Twitter, FB or your own blog (one point for each nugget of word-spreading) 

 -Vote in the polls (over there, to the left!) for your favorite nice and mean characters, then explain your choice in the comments (one point for each comment, and multiple comments are a-okay)  

The Battle of Wits: If you nominate the character who is voted Nicest Character or Meanest Character, you win the swag in the top photo!  How do you do this?   

-Email me (jess@jessicaleader.com) to include a new character in either poll (Some of the ones you see were my suggestions to get you started.)  The earlier you enter, the more likely people will vote for your guy or gal. Get on it!  That doesn’t earn a point, but you’ll earn if you…  

-Comment on this blog to explain why your character(s) should win  

 - Tweet or post on Facebook about the contest and your supreme entry, (#nice&meanwits#).  Go, team You!  You’ll accumulate points as you try to persuade people, so in theory, you could become the Grand Prize winner, too.  I wonder what I would do then?  Maybe…two copies of Nice and Mean–one to keep, one to share?

** -Stop by this blog by Saturday, June 12^th to report your points.   

I can’t wait to hear who you nominate!  And hey–thanks for stopping by.  So Nice of you!   I Mean it!

Nice and Mean to be released this week!

Ooooh, I am so absolutely excited for the launch week of Nice and Mean and for my blog tour!  I feel so lucky to have landed with these hosts.  They asked fun questions and their blogs are quality, I’m telling you—quality.  So here’s where I’ll be on each day of the week, and I hope you’ll stop by to Win Valuable Prizes (more on that below):

Monday at The Story Siren: My Road to Publication and Other Rocky Tales[Edited to add on Monday morning: Blogger issues are delaying this one, but we hope to be up by lunch.]

Tuesday at Green Bean Teen Queen: My Worst Memory of Being Assigned to Work With Someone…Unpleasant

Wednesday at The Page Flipper: My Top Five Nice and Mean Characters

Thursday at Reading in Color: What was it like to write from the point of view of an Indian-American girl?

Friday at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf: What’s Unique about Nice and Mean and getting The Call

 Now, what are these prizes I speak of? 

Sweet, sparkly, shmancy--YOURS

Amazing books you can have for free!

And what are those objects in the picture, in case I can’t read the fine print or wonder what’s in the snack bag?

You’ll have to stop by the blog tour hosts.  They have their own super-secret winner-picker methods that even I am not privy to.  But let me tell you, if you find a suspicious number of entries from people named, I don’t know, Shmessica Deader, or Princess Shmoopie Freader, it might be because I am trying to win back some of those coconut candies.  I am serious.  The Dr. Pepper lip gloss may be cool and the pens divine, but those coconut candies can make any situation a thousand times better.

In the next post, you’ll see how you can win the Grand High Poo-Bah Prize: all the things pictured here plus a signed copy of Nice and Mean itself!

Thanks for your interest in Nice and Mean.  Let’s get this party started!

Thanks to Reading in Color for featuring Nice and Mean as a WoW (Waiting on Wednesday) pick!  Reading in Color led the campaign against the whitewashing of covers in the publishing industry.  (Whitewashing: when a character of color is shown on the cover as being white so that white folks won’t get alienated and buy a different novel.  Read more about it here.)  Ari, who runs the blog, astounds me for being so widely read in books new and classic, featuring original and vital memes like Male Monday and Throwback Thursday.  It is truly an honor to be included as a WoW pick.  Thank you, Ari!

I might also add that, frankly, I am waiting, too–not On Wednesday, but On June 8, when Nice and Mean will finally be released.  Into the wild!  For readers to read!  It’s been a 17-month-long wait.  Let the lovin’ begin! 

In the meantime, though, it sure is nice to see others are waiting excitedly along with me.  Now, go to Reading in Color and check out some other books you should be reading!

ps That is not me up there in the photo.  It is some marketer in New York.  I actually had to do two searches to find an image with “WOW,” because all the original results featured World of Warcraft!

I’m giving away the milk for free!  Head on over to GoodReads to win yourself a copy of Nice and Mean before the release date!  Contest open to USA’ians, closing June 5th. 

This message was brought to you by the dairy council, and by girls who have trouble deciding who to be.  Which is many of them.  I hope you win!  Yes, you!

Edited to add: GoodReads needs another 48 hour to approve this, so the giveaway hasn’t started yet.  But soon it will be approved and shiny and you can go say hi!

It’s a blast–a summer blog blast tour!  As a fan of America’s Next Top Model (yes, you can judge me now), I can’t help but think of New Cover Girl Lash-Blast Mascara when I hear the words “Summer Blog Blast Tour.”  But I should really put some new association to those words, because on Wed-niz-day, I am going to appear on said tour!  Yep.  That’s right.  Writer nirvana. 

The Summer blog blast tour consists of some of kidlit’s most thoughtful, provocative bloggers interviewing writers.  I’m pasting the line-up below so you can see that I mean what I say: some serious pith will be offered up.  

The cherry on the sundae–the lengthen of the lashes–is that I got to answer interview questions from my much-esteemed grad school friend Gwenda of Shaken and Stirred fame.  (Doesn’t her blog have the best name?  I wish I had a cool last name so I could give this blog something equally rich, but sadly, there’s nothing cool about–oh, wait.  I do have an extremely cool last name.  But all cognates–Leader of the Pack; Follow the Leader–sound obnoxious when applied to myself.) 

I so digress!  My point is, I hope you’ll stop by these blogs and read the interviews throughout the week.  And for goodness’ sake, don’t be a lurker!  Comment to show the love!  And thanks to Gwenda for looping me in on the coolness.  I can feel my eyelashes growing longer and thicker already!  

Monday, May 17 

Kate Milford @ Chasing Ray

Mac Barnett @ Fuse #8/ School Library Journal

Hazardous Players @ Finding Wonderland

Malinda Lo @ Shelf Elf

Barbara Dee @ Little Willow

Tuesday, May 18

Mary Jane Beaufrand at The Ya, Ya, Yas
Rita Williams-Garcia at Fuse Number 8
Jennifer Hubbard at Writing & Ruminating
Charise Mericle Harper at Shelf Elf
Holly Schindler at Little Willow

 Wednesday, May 19

 Michael Trinklein at Chasing Ray
Nick Burd at Fuse Number 8
Sarah Darer Littman at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Tom Siddell at Finding Wonderland
Jessica Leader (that’s me!) at Shaken & Stirred

 Thursday, May 20

 Matthew Reinhart at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Jenny Boylan at Fuse Number 8
Lisa Mantchev at Writing & Ruminating
Tara Kelly at Shaken & Stirred
Donna Freitas at Little Willow

Friday May 21

Julia Hoban at Chasing Ray
Stacy Kramer at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Nancy Bo Flood at Finding Wonderland
Paolo Bacigalupi at Shaken & Stirred
Sarah Kuhn at Little Willow

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the Nice and Mean ARC giveaway contest!  I loved seeing your enthusiasm and getting to know new potential readers through the internets.  I hope you’ll stay tuned to this blog and my Tweets–I will be giving away actual copies of the book when it is released in June!

And now, as they say in Little Miss Sunshine, the winners are…

Courtney and Snazel, who entered in the Marina and Sachi way, respectively.  They have won an ARC of Nice and Mean, a book from the S&S books photo below (please send me your first choice, and I will hope that they are different), and an array of bookmarks.

Alicia!  who has won second pick of the S&S books below (please tell me your top 3 prefs) and an array of bookmarks

Liyana! who has won third pick of the S&S books below (please tell me your top 4 prefs) and, you guessed it, an array of bookmarks

The following people win bookmarks!

Andrea C, Anja, Janflora, Amanda, Ari, Heather, Angie, Joyce (1st 8 to enter)

Kendra, Katie, Megan Chloe and Angel (last 5 to enter)

To receive your prizes, please email your snail-mail address to jess@jessicaleader.com  I will mail these when I am back from vacation on April 20th, so if you don’t get anything for another two weeks, don’t be alarmed.

Speaking of my vacation–I’ve created a line-up of great guest-bloggers to entertain you all when I’m away.  Their topic?  On the Scene with Nice and Mean–their own reminiscences of niceness and meanness.  More on the identity of those bloggers later.

Thanks again!

~ Jess

To reward all the lovely people who have shown enthusiasm for the Nice and Mean ARC giveaway, and to draw in some new ones, I am offering a new twist:

-Last 5 people to enter the contest before 9pm EST automatically get bookmarks

But!  If you have already entered and are thinking, Hey!  Whycome they get rewards for entering late!, fear not.  If you have already entered, I will double your entry points if you Tweet or FB about the last day of the contest.  Just leave a note in the comments or send me a DM on Twitter so I know and reward accordingly.

I seriously feel like I am channeling shyster relatives past.  I had some in real estate.  Maybe this is how they operated.  It feels kind of dirty–but kind of fun!  And mostly, I get to meet new people who are enthusiastic about kid lit, and that is inarguably rewarding.

Good luck!

It’s been a busy week, what with prepping for the honeymoon and eating all those malt balls (yes, they are all gone), so I’m sorry that it’s taken me until now to properly thank and credit the excellent Tenner authors who donated bookmarks to the Nice and Mean giveaway.  I now present ze following bookmarks, with huge apologizes for the uneven image sizes and blind-monkey format.  WordPress, I opted for you over Blogger, but I fear you will be the death of me…  

Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes     

            Everlasting by Angie Frazier   

Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White 

Mistwood by Leah Cypress      The Deathday Letter by Shaun David Hutchinson 

                                                     Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis    

The Mark by Jen Nadol 

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell   

Every time one of these winged its way into my mailbox, I thrilled.  They are quite attractive, durable, and, most importantly, remind me of books I need to read.  Now, if only someone else would have a giveaway, so I can get my mitts them…

You can enter the Nice and Mean ARC giveaway to win these bookmarks, books from Simon and Schuster (see below), and, of course, the advanced copy of my book, until 9pm on Thurs.  At least, I think it’s 9pm.  Whatever I said on my earlier post, that’s what it is…  

Books donated by Simon and Schuster

Call it spring fever, call me an April Fool, but I woke up early this morning seized with the desire to give away a Nice and Mean ARC. 

Yes! I am giving it away!

I also wanted to share a bunch of other things I happen to have lying around!  

Books donated by Simon and Schuster

Bookmarks from debut novelists -- aka Tenners!

First-place winner gets Nice and Mean ARC, 3 Nice and Mean bookmarks, any one of the following books generously donated by Simon and Schuster, and a set of Tenner bookmarks.  

Second-place winner gets second choice of S&S book, 2 Nice and Mean bookmarks and a set of Tenner bookmarks.   

Third-place winner gets third choice of S&S book, 1 Nice and Mean bookmark and a set of Tenner bookmarks.  

The first 8 people to enter automatically get bookmarks, too!  This is not an April Fool.  This is real!  (And kind of insane, no?)   

Deadline: April 8, 2010, 10pm EST; Eligibility: All ages, citizens of US and Canada only

Now, I may be feeling generous, but my protagonists, Marina and Sachi, aren’t feeling the whole giving-it-away-for-free vibe.  They want you to do it their way. But since we are all about hybridity at Nice and Mean, Inc., there will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in both the Marina and Sachi categories.  (That’s 6 winners!  Spring fever has taken hold!) 

 The Marina Way 

Marina is all about people knowing her greatness.  To win an ARC from Marina’s heart, you can prove your love by earning points, like this (read below or skip to this form) 

+1: Connect with @Jessica Leader on Twitter or become a Facebook fan of Nice and Mean (you can get points if we are already connected) 

+2: Publicize the contest on Facebook or Twitter 

+2: Share the Nice and Mean love on GoodReads 

+3  Add Jessica Leader to your blogroll 

 +4: Post Nice and Mean countdown widget on your page (here’s how) 

+5: Spread the word about Nice and Mean on your blog–share the synopsis or kind words; whatever moves you. 

(Marina doesn’t know who Jessica Leader is, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care.  But if doing these things will help people appreciate her supreme power, she’s all for it.)  

The Sachi Way 

Sachi wouldn’t mind being known, but she prefers substance to style.  She’ll be handing out awards to her favorite example of the following: 

-Write in the comments about a time you were especially nice or mean.  (If you are too shy to do this publicly, you can send it in an email to jess@jessicaleader.com) 

-Read the excerpt of Nice and Mean here and write in the comments what your favorite line is, and why.  (She won’t be too offended if you choose a Marina line.  She’s used to it.) 

-Tell her in the comments why you are excited to read the book about her…and Marina 

-Draw a sketch of her and/or Marina, or sketch your own cover for Nice and Mean.  You should probably take a photo and email this to jess@jessicaleader.com  If you really need to mail it, email Jess to get her address.  Winning entries will be posted on blog with your permission 

Marina and Sachi are pretty excited.  Spring vacation and notoriety.  They hope you’ll fill out the form or comment below.  Jess is looking forward to hearing from you, too! 

To add the Nice and Mean countdown widget to your blog, paste this as a text code in the widgets section of your blog. At least, that’s how it works in WordPress.  For other systems, ask the Help Desk.   (Note: I do not have a Help Desk.)

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js”></script><script>if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(’0073821c-2667-45c5-8c76-a2cdb85f3268′);</script><noscript>Get the <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/i/0073821c-2667-45c5-8c76-a2cdb85f3268″>Countdown Creator Pro</a> widget and many other <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/”>great free widgets</a> at <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com”>Widgetbox</a>! Not seeing a widget? (<a href=”http://docs.widgetbox.com/using-widgets/installing-widgets/why-cant-i-see-my-widget/”>More info</a>)</noscript>