giveaway proofs

Happy Twenties! Let’s hope they’re cheerier than the Tens or Noughties.

As I run up to the release of the first volume of the Second Edition of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, I have a stack of proofs to giveaway. They sat by my stove for a while, but I couldn’t bring myself to burn or recycle them, and a friend suggested I give them away. They are from different phases of the proofing process, and one or two may be covered in corrections. These unique if flawed versions of the new text might be fun to own.

We need to work out who gets them. A competition of some kind has been suggested, and so I am asking you to please write any ideas you may have for one, below . . .

(only people on my mailing list are eligible for this giveaway)

Posted by Ricardo

writer and blogger

50 Replies to “giveaway proofs”

  1. peeps, thanks for all the great feedback. I’ve decided that the easiest and fairest thing is to put the names in my mailing list into a hat and to send one of the ten or so proofs to whoever appears πŸ™‚

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  2. Biggest Hippy? I win πŸ™‚

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    1. in what way are you the biggest hippy??!

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  3. Lots of ideas and discussion here! I’ve not read theblot but my idea would be to sign them, putting some interesting into about the state of the proof and a fun message to whoever gets it, then five them to Oxfam Books, who can sell them online.

    I picked up a hardback first edition from Oxfam Books. It was signed, but obviously the message was a dedication to someone I’d never met…

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    1. another nice idea! But, having announced that I’m giving them away to the lovely people on my mailing list, it would be a tad rum to snatch them away and to give them away to charity *wry grin*

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  4. I agree with an earlier comment , put all your fans email addresses in a hat , fairest by far !
    Happy new decade to you as well ricardo.

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  5. Ask ppl for their best depiction of “The Stone Dance of the Chameleon” made by any means or with CC0 images (free rights) to be featured on the 3rd edition of the book

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  6. I think you should just pick email names out of a hat, that way everyone has the same chance and it’s only people on your mailing list (who are fans) who can win.
    Cheers
    Dave

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    1. that’s a good idea… simple… though it might deprive us all of some fun…

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  7. So how will it be? ?

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    1. I want to wait for everyone to have their say (people in the States, for example)… but there’s already more than enough ideas… I’m so glad I thought to ask you peeps πŸ™‚

      What might be fun is to hold a different competition for each proof, leaving one to be given away in a random draw…

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      1. I will go to villainous ends to get one. Muahaha

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        1. I see.

          (why am I having to manually approve every comment you make? Once you’ve been approved, you’re supposed to be able to just post with gay abandon)

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          1. I’m being left out of the gay abandon ?

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            1. you? That’s unlikely, methinks…

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              1. I heard gay abandon, how do I get in on this.

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  8. wouldn’t it be nice if people contribute fan art? drawings, poems, songs etc related to your writings? i don’t think i’m talented enough to win, but surely it would be fun for all! πŸ™‚

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    1. great idea! But isn’t that asking a lot of people? I suppose I had thought to have this completed before publication on the 31st Jan, but I suppose there’s no hurry, right?

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  9. Wait wait, so this is competition to decide the competition to give away the books?

    What happens if you win the first competition but not the second.

    Most of these seem to involve sharing on FB / Twitter to help spread the word about the upcoming release no? Ie, share a specific post on one of those two and randomly allocate the proofs among those? Makes it harder to restrict it to blog readers of course.

    lol at hair length, let’s go for beard length instead.

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    1. ‘competition to decide the competition’ *guffaw*

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    2. “most of these”… most of what?

      though, if I understand you right, you may be onto something… How about: whoever gets most likes anywhere on social media by sharing something from my site??

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      1. By which I mean that usually in these giveaways there is a not so hidden agenda that is of at least some benefit to the author which results in a little more publicity for the book that is being given away.

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      2. Exactly.

        Although making it about *most* likes seems a little loaded towards most followers. But as you have a stack of books you could allocate one each to most from Twitter and Facebook, and randomly draw the rest between anyone who shared or some such.

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        1. damn, you’ve seen through my cunning scheme to advertise my work!

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      3. That’s a shite idea Ricardo. I only have 8 friends on my FB & that’s the only social media I do. ?? ??

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        1. πŸ˜€ perhaps you should see this as gentle encouragement to go out and acquire some more friends…

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          1. And thus the competition is decided:

            Whoever makes most friends in real life promoting the new The Stone Dance of the Chameleon in the next six weeks, six days and six hours shall win the prize!

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            1. πŸ˜€ … hold on! *suspicious look* Why 666?

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              1. ;-), ok, whatever, the 31st of January then.

                For lack of a better number, always use 666.

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                1. funnily enough, so do I!

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    3. PS if we go by ‘thickest eyebrows’… I’ll end up winning all the proofs myself!!

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      1. i will give you a run for your brows
        badum tsx

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  10. How about pictures of your readers and their favourite works by your good self, the more interesting the better, for example: reading in an unusual location.

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    1. given how little I’ve published… they would be pictures of the same books! *wide grin*β€”though I’d like to see what my readers look like!

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  11. The person with most pens & pencils in their house should surely get one. ?

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    1. *I know that I’m going to hate the answer but* why?

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      1. I want to say because they probably write most, but the truth is I have lots. I raid our daughters bin every now and then and rescue tge ones she discards due to being out of fashion.

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        1. hmmm… I’m not sure that you’ve got the hang of this. This is not about people coming up with bizarre and torturous conditions that will mean that they’re the only one to win a proof! πŸ™‚

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          1. Oh I’ve got the hang of it alright, just trying to cheat my way into owning one. You get it?

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            1. of course I did! Was just trying to give you an elegant escape route from your public villainy…

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              1. Well looks I am now down to 7 friends. And as for you, your down to 774. Don’t you dare run to me when it starts hurting.

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                1. πŸ™‚ unlike your estimable self, I need to put myself out there…

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    1. That would definitely disqualify the author…

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      1. All the better ?

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    2. Sounds good to me! ?

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      1. are you suggesting that the competition should be ‘who is the biggest Hippy’??

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