(Another) America's Next Best Celler Semifinals Afterparty Post!

I confess that by throwing up this post, I'm usurping our dear Shannon's blog post day, so before you start partying down, please go read her amazing thoughts on contests and waiting beneath this post. You'll be glad you did. Leave her a comment, too, because our Shannon, she's the real deal. We're grateful to have her here.

Now, fire up the grill and mix up a vat of margaritas, cuz it's official. The top twenty in Dorchester Publishing's Next Best Celler contest @ textnovel have been posted. And that gives us another excuse to party down here at the Textnovel Divas blog!

We did it!

Come join us as we cut up, share funny stories, tell how our stories began...whatever ribaldry happens to hit the comments thread. Got questions about the contest? About what it's like to write a textnovel? Want to know our dirty secrets? Go ahead, ask them.

We might even be up for a spot of textnovel-ish truth or dare if you ply us with enough margaritas! :)

With that said. Party on, dude-ettes!

Waiting IS the Hardest Part: Welcome to Publishing ;-)

So, although I didn't compete in the Dorchester contest through Textnovel.com I can relate to waiting for results. I have to say (sorry) it seems to be a major part of being in the publishing business. But there's hope. There's always hope. ;-)

We wait to know how we've done in contests (anywhere from a week to a couple months), we wait to hear back from agents (sometimes for up to eight months), we wait to hear from editors and their publishing houses (can be another month or two there) and then we wait on lawyers about contracts (usually at least once, but they're often the quickest part in the process).

Then we wait for revision notes (I've been lucky here--not long, but some take a few months), release date (totally hinges on the publisher's meeting schedule), copyedits (also, not long for me, but it depends), cover art, galleys (about a month and a half to two months from when copyedits get back to the editor--at least in my publishing house) and then--finally--we wait to see the book on the shelves (in my case, almost six months after galleys).

By the time our book lands on shelves it's often been a year and a half to two years since we signed a contract. It can really wear on you--the waiting.

But.

The good news is, every step in that very drawn out process feels like an amazing victory. Seriously. Every step forward helps build your author's momentum back up (and there are TONS of things you have to do personally between each of those steps--so it's not like you're twiddling your thumbs).

You'll also get bits of good and great news throughout the process--interview requests you didn't expect, interest from Hollywood producers and (just yesterday for us) news you've sold translation rights to the Hungarians (eh, maybe you'll get a different country to start the ball rolling--me? Hungary :-). Stuff like that makes it feel like the time's flying!

So, the waiting may be the hardest part, but as an author, just keep pushing forward. Build that momentum so your dreams snowball into something huge and great.

Hugs to the Divas--you're all winners from where I sit!

~Shannon (<--the chick whose publishers just sold translation rights for 13 TO LIFE to the Hungarians and whose brother says she should use that $ to have the Hungarian version re-translated back into English. "It'll be like a totally different book," he says. *snort*)

Kindle Winner

So, is this not one of the coolest prizes yet at Diva-Palooza? It's the grande finale and we're wrapping this up with a bang. (You know, it's so hard to leave that one alone.)

First of all, I'd like to say that we couldn't have gotten there without all of you. I'm so thrilled that we were able to thank our readers and supporters with such an awesome giveaway.

I hope you guys plan to hang around long after the confetti is swept away. (You do know that confetti is really more like lice than a party, right?)

Oh, are you ready for the announcement? Should I monologue for a few more paragraphs? Nah, I said everything I needed to. All but congratulations to...

Jenn Hart

Contact Liane for your Kindle or gift card! Enjoy your prize in good health, doll!

The Day After

Please, make the waiting stop. I can't take anymore!

From the Day After

I wanna see the remnants you you all! e-mail me your day after photo & I'll post it for you. Let's see who has been hit the hardest!

After Party Post 1 - How Low did YOU go?

Wow.

It's the morning after.

Finally.

No more pimping for votes.

No more refusing to pay the pizza dude until he agrees that I am, indeed, America's Next Best Celler.
Oh. Did I just put that in print?

Why, yes. I guess I did.

So with that particular skeleton out of the closet, it's fess up time here at Texting Between the Sheets.

Just how big of a vote tart are you?

The commenter with the best confession wins a e-copy of my (ultra steamy)Christmas novella from Red Sage Publishing, Believe.

The only rule to play is you must have participated in Dorchester Publishing's Next Best Celler contest at Textnovel.

For readers, we'll have a contest later on today!

OK, girls. Spill it. How low did you go?

Yeah,baby, it's the diva version of the limbo!

Leave your most shameful vote tarting moment in comments.

Our brand new textnovel divas, Valorie Dorr and Courtney Sheets will pick the winners tomorrow because...I said so!

To ALL of you who participated in the Next Best Celler Contest, major congrats are in order. This is your party, too. You put your hearts and souls and stories out there and did your level best to build a readership.

And we all did just that.

In my mind, all that heart goes a long way toward making each of us next best sellers.

Oh, so how low did I really go? Well, for one, I refused to let my daughter's boyfriend take her to a movie until he found me a voter.

OK. Three voters.

Yeah, I know. ::hangs head:: I chalk it up to CVTS - Compulsive Vote Tarting Syndrome.