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Tuesday, January 23, 2007


A Thrilling Contest

I don't enter many contests. The writing world has many of them and often they have the word "scam" associated with them. Occasionally you find a contest worth entering--and I wanted to tell you about it.

The International Thriller Writers are offering the grand prize of 150 signed thrillers for their contest. The contest runs until February 15th and to enter you have to fill out a short form with your name and email address. Through this contest, you are signing up to receive their newsletter, which is a good newsletter. If you don't want the newsletter, you can unsubscribe. I would love to win this contest. Of course I am lowering my chances of that happening as I tell you about this contest. Everyone has an equal chance so give it a shot and you will get a great newsletter no matter what happens.

Last summer the ITW held their first ThrillerFest in Phoenix and it was a virtual whos-who of thriller writers. I learned a great deal and wrote a short article with tips for thriller writers. This month my article appeared in a writing publication. Page One and Page Two Whether you write thrillers or any other type of fiction, you can gain some valuable tips through this article.

7 Comment:

At 10:52 AM, Blogger Mike Dellosso Left a note...

Hey Terry, thanks for the tip about the ITW contest. Boy, I'd be set with my reading list for quite some time. Also, thanks for the link to your article about writing thrillers. Lots of good stuff in there. And well-written!

Mike

 
At 7:33 PM, Blogger Crystal Laine Left a note...

I've read (and own) a few of the 150 books already, but whoa, I couldn't resist signing up for a chance to get all those thrillers signed. A weakness for thrillers certainly contributed. Great article (on the links) and it amazes me how much you track down to keep us informed.

 
At 11:40 PM, Blogger Bonnie S. Calhoun Left a note...

I read about that over at my friend Sandra Ruttan's Sandrablabber blog. she is one of the thriller writers. But I didn't enter, so your chances are safe with me Terry! LOL! My TBR personal pile has 14 books in it now, not counting the ones I read for the CFBA.

Just what I'd need...more book!

 
At 7:50 AM, Blogger Ronie Kendig Left a note...

Great article, Terry! Right up my alley with spy thrillers. Thanks for posting the links so we could read the article.

 
At 6:28 PM, Blogger Shane S Left a note...

I will sign up. Thanks.

This is a great tactic to list build. Speaking of tactics, Terry, why don't regular book publishers offer such prizes to average book buyers? Here's what I envision.

A publishing company prints 100,000 books. They should know (shouldn't they?) the entire bar code number range for their product. Pre-assign a winner bar code with a lottery type prize. When the winning book is scanned, the purchaser wins a substantial prize. This would be great for increasing readership, or a publisher to get exposure and increased book sales.

What are your thoughts?
Regards

 
At 6:36 PM, Blogger Terry Whalin Left a note...

Shane,

That's probably a great tactic. Whether someone has used it or not--probably--I have no idea.

Terry

 
At 7:08 PM, Blogger Richard L. Mabry, MD Left a note...

Terry,
Well, I've entered the "lottery" by signing up, thus probably enhancing your chances of winning (I absolutely never win anything).

Once more, thanks for pointing out this neat site and the fun contest. I don't know how you ever get any work done, while hunting down all this great stuff and passing it on to us.

 

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