The Story is About   +  TIME

Welcome to the first month of the 2010 Debut Author Challenge!

Every month I will do a post similar to this. These posts will be used as the place for you to view the monthly prize pack and to enter your review links.

Prize pack information: (prize packs are subject to change... anything added after the original post date will be highlighted in red!)

This months prize pack includes:

ARCs:

• Scones & Sensibility by Lindsay Eland (09 release)
• Of All the Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz (09 release)
• The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard (signed)
• 8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (signed)
• The Good Girls Guide to Getting Kidnapped by Yxta Maya Murray

• Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham (signed)
• Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (signed)
• Island Sting by Bonnie J. Doerr
• Freaksville by Kitty Keswick
• Wish by Alexandra Bullen (signed) in a sparkly gift bag!

• 8th Grade Superzero
• The Mark (signed)
• Shadow Hills (signed)
• The Iron King (signed)
• The Secret Year
• Princess for Hire (signed)
• Scones & Sensibility
• The Naughty List
• The Rise of Renegade X
• Dirty Little Secrets (signed)
• The Body Finder (signed)
• Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham
• Forget-Her-Nots (signed)
• Island Sting (singed)
• A Match Made in High School (signed)

• A Most Improper Magik
• The Naughty List
• The Stillburrow Crush
• Three Rivers Rising (signed)
• The Secret Year
• Forget-Her-Nots
• A Match Made in High School
• Faithful

• A mini replica of Julia's journal from The Secret Year
• Language of Flowers by Kate Greenway used by Laurel in Forget-Her-Nots
• Handkerchief from Scones and Sensibility
• Two The Naughty List stickers
• Two Shadow Hills buttons and One Shadow Hills magnet
• Everything’s Better with Highwaymen! button from A Most Improper Magik
• The Cinderella Society goodie bag
• Change of Heart soccer ball
• Two The Body Finder stickers
• The Body Finder poster (signed)
• your own journal with special note from Kristina McBride author of The Tension of Opposites

Bookmarks featuring:

• Scones & Sensibility
• Princess for Hire (signed)
• The Iron King (signed)
• Shadow Hills (signed)
• The Mark (signed)
• The Rise of Renegade X
• The Body Finder (signed)
• Forget-Her-Nots (signed)

• The Stillburrow Crush

• prize packs are only for those participating in the 2010 Debut Author Challenge. if you are not participating in the challenge, please do not enter. Please make sure your blog is signed up on this post. If your blog is not listed here, then it's not on my spread sheet, and you are not an official participant! Make sure to follow the directions on the sign up post... you must have a direct link to your challenge post!
• prize packs are open to everyone, that includes international readers!
• you can gain an entry for the prize packs by adding review links to the Mister Linky (more information about that below), additionally there will be more chances to gain entries by commenting/filling out forms on debut author interviews, and debut author reviews here at The Story, more info on that to come.

• post your review links (for those reviews posted in January and/or for those 2010 debut novels you read and reviewed in 2009, this is the only month that will be allowed) into the Mister Linky. Please put the direct URL to your review post, not your blog url! Any 2010 debut novels read in 2009 can not count toward your challenge total, but they will be accepted as an entry for the January prize pack
• for non bloggers... (more information for non-bloggers below)
• For every review you post you will gain one entry for the monthly prize packs.
• please be sure to make sure your book qualifies as a 2010 debut novel, otherwise the review link will be deleted and it will not count as an entry. I realize different countries have different release dates, I will keep that that in mind!

One of the big reasons I decided to continue the debut author challenge, is because I think it's important to share the love of books, especially those written by new authors. Posting reviews is a big part of spreading the word!

As a non blogger, I encourage you to write reviews for the debut novels you've read! There are several places where you can post your reivews:

• Amazon.com (I do believe you need to set up an account to post reviews, and possibly even need to order at least one book from the site.)
• Barnes and Noble.com (I do believe you will need to se up an account for this one as well.)
• Goodreads.com (This is a great online community for book lovers, if you aren't a member already, I suggest you sign up! You will love it! Keep track of the books you've read, the ones you want to read, and it's a great place to post your reviews!)
• Shelfari.com (This is very similar to Goodreads, but the set up is just a little different. Another great place to post your reviews.)

OR...

If you do become a member of Goodreads you can add a direct link from your Goodreads review into the Mister Linky! (your reviews do not have to be a certain length, write what you are comfortable with, nor do reviews have to be positive, I am looking for honest reviews.)

It is simple to get a direct link to a Goodreads review:

1.) Click on the "My Books" link this should take you to the list of your "bookshelves"
2.) Click the "bookshelf" where the book is shelved.
3.) Once the list of books on the shelf is visable, go the left. You will see an "x" "edit" and "view"
4.) Click on view and this will take you to your review!
5.) Copy the URL that is in the address bar and paste it into the Mister Linky!
6.) TA-DA!

As for signing the Mister Linky, lets do, debut title with the blog name in parentheses.

So it would look like: The Secret Year (The Story)

Lots of questions about what books count and what ones don't... here's the dealio:

I will count the following reviews toward entries for the monthly prize pack (this month only):

• The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
• Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey
• Magic Under Glass by Jacyln Dolamore
• Of All the Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz
• Scones & Sensibility by Lindsay Eland
• The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Please be aware that there are people participating in this challenge that are not from the US. In addition there maybe variations within release dates. If you are in the US, I ask that you use US release dates! Just because some one has a title on the Mister Linky, doesn't mean that, that title will count for you! I have given those not living in the US, the option to choose debut novels from their countries, as well as any US titles they can acquire. This means for you US blogger's Beautiful Creatures is not a 2010 debut novel. However it is a debut novel for those living in the UK as it isn't released there until February!

Thanks so much!

To qualify for the challenge books must have a release date of 2010!
(except for the 6 books listed above. I will only count those titles for this month!)