Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Congratulations! You are a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee

The subject line of this post is the subject line of an e-mail I received yesterday. Here is the note that went with it:

logo_nominee
Hi Jo,

Congratulations, your book has been nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award! This is a tremendous achievement as the Goodreads Choice Awards are the only major book awards chosen by readers.

Fifteen books have been nominated in 20 categories, including Fiction, Nonfiction, Mystery, Memoir, Young Adult Fantasy, and many more. Voting is open to all 12 million Goodreads members, and winners will be announced in December.

Three Chances to Vote!
Opening Round: October 30 – November 11
Semifinal Round: November 12 – November 18
Final Round: November 19 – November 27

What You Can Do
• Use the "Goodreads Choice Award Nominee" badge on your Web site and blog, and link it to your category. The badge may also be used in advertising campaigns, both on Goodreads and elsewhere.
• In December, we will provide "Goodreads Choice Award Winner" badges for use on your Web sites and blogs and in advertising campaigns.
• You are welcome to use the Goodreads Choice Award nominee or winner badges on the next printing of the book. Young Adult winner Divergent and Romance finalist Fifty Shades of Grey both highlighted their success in the 2011 Choice Awards on subsequent paperback editions.
• Write a blog post thanking your fans and encouraging them to vote for your book.
• Make a short video to rally your fans to vote.
• Offer special content to thank fans for their support. Paranormal fantasy nominee Ilona Andrews even promised fans a short story upon making it to the 2011 finals.
• Encourage fans on Facebook and Twitter to vote. Hashtag: #GoodreadsChoice
• List a giveaway to fuel increased demand for the book.
• Add an excerpt for new readers visiting the book's Goodreads page.

About the Nominations
Instead of consulting publishing experts or a judging panel, we look to readers to find the best books of the year. We analyze statistics from the 170 million books added, rated, and reviewed on the site in 2012 and nominate based on a book's number of ratings and average rating. So a nomination is truly an honor because it comes straight from the readers!

Visit Nominees for Best Middle Grade & Children's to view all of your fellow 2012 nominees!

Good luck!
Jessica and the Goodreads Team


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I am speechless and overwhelmed and thrilled and a bit lost. I am not a huge fan of asking people to vote for you for anything, unless you are running for public office. Books and reading and reader response are mostly such personal things. I don't want you to rate or review or vote for a book unless you really do love the book! :-)

So, I share this here to bring attention to the contest. I don't want to sound ungrateful. I'm psyched! It's amazing! Holy cow! It is INSANE. I can't believe it!!!!!!! I can't stop smiling!

But...

I feel really uncomfortable asking for your vote, even though that's what authors are supposed to do in these cases.

But...

I would also feel really uncomfortable not sharing the news here because it's a huge honor and Goodreads has asked the authors to help promote the awards (see letter above). And I AM incredibly grateful!!! I mean, seriously! Actually, I'm mostly still shocked.

*conflicted*

What do I really want to do?

Say THANK YOU to all the people who I know and don't know who read See You At Harry's and took the time to go to Goodreads to rate and review it. I want to thank all the booksellers and teachers and librarians and friends and relatives and strangers who recommended it to their friends and kids and students and parents. It's because of you that quiet old Harry's is on the same list of books that Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer, Jeff Kinney and Carl Hiaasen are on. How on earth is that even possible? And why are the children's bestsellers so often men? (Sorry. Totally off topic.)

As you can guess, I really am overwhelmed and thrilled and a bit lost. And very conflicted.

But mostly, just grateful. Really, really grateful, that See You At Harry's is a book at all. That still feels like a miracle itself. :-)

So, if you are a Goodreads user and would like to participate, please visit the page. And if you like to spread the word about such things, that would be lovely too. But please vote for your favorite book. And please keep reading and sharing your favorite books with others. That's what it's really all about.

Thank you!

xo