Writer's Grove
The Tour Sweepstakes
So this idea was a new one to me. I think it’s kind of a new one for everybody, to be honest. We’re trying A Very Different Thing here, and since it sounded like it couldn’t hurt and in fact some of my readers would score a good time, I said let’s do it.
The basic deal is this: Enter the #StakedTourSweepstakes on Twitter and you can win a free night at Country Inns at one of the cities & dates listed below on the STAKED tour.
They’re picking nine winners on November 13, and if you’re one of them, you get to choose which city you go to. You have to get yourself there, mind, but the room’s on Country Inns. Entering is easy and you can do it once a day until the 13th. You just compose a tweet or retweet one that includes both @countryinns and #StakedTourSweepstakes. I took a couple of screenshots from Twitter to show you the sort of thing that would count:
If you win, Country Inns will notify you via Twitter Direct Message and ask for an email address to send you the rest of the details and arrange your stay. This does mean that you’ll need to follow @CountryInns for a couple o’ months. That’s the short version: the long, legal version of the sweepstakes, chock full o’ rules, can be found right here. It’s super official looking.
So how did this happen? Basically my publisher called me up one day and asked if I’d like to do this. I had questions, they answered them, and here we are. It’s unusual and I don’t think Country Inns or Del Rey has any clue if it will “work” in terms of selling more stuff. Will Country Inns sell more nights in their beds? Will I sell a few extra copies? We truly have no idea. This is experimental all around. But I liked it because my readers would win stuff for sure. Full disclosure:
- Country Inns isn’t paying me, but they are comping me (or rather, my publisher) a few hotel rooms on my tour. (Some nights I’ll be in other hotels.) I will tweet that I’m staying in them. Nothing like, “OMG they gave me a UNICORN in my JACUZZI!”—they’re not that kind of chain. (I always forget the name of the chain that does that.) Nah, I’ll just be tweeting stuff like “I’m at the @countryinns in Scottsdale and the room is nice” with a pic of my room. Nothing untrue. No hyperbole. Pretty simple. Thing is, whenever I go out on the road I have to lay my wee brain down to rest somewhere anyway, and I usually wind up tweeting some scenery wherever I am. Often there’s a drink involved and I don’t think that’s going to change.
- Country Inns is supposed to have little libraries in their hotels. (I haven’t seen them yet, but that sounds cool.) Anyway, they said they’d have HOUNDED in all their libraries for the fall. So that’s what they’re doing for me in terms of attracting new readers. There’s no way for me to know if I’ll get a single new reader as a result of it but that’s fine: I’m in this because of number 3.
- The sweepstakes means that nine readers (and their significant homies) who might not have been able to come see me on tour can do so if they wanna. Since I can’t make it everywhere and sometimes people drive (or even fly) an awful long way to say hello, how cool would it be if they got a free night’s hotel stay for taking the trouble? My readers are going to win regardless of whether Country Inns or I make a cent. That’s good.
I was surprised at first that they’re running this contest on Twitter only, but then I thought it was pretty smart. While the sweepstakes is open to everyone, you’re probably not going to hear about it unless you’re already a fan of my books. That also means your odds of winning are going to be pretty decent. And I like that they won’t ask for any of your information (like your name and address and stuff) unless you actually win.
So please tweet or retweet away—best of luck!—and I hope to see you somewhere on the tour if you can make it! If you can’t make it, you can always give any one of the bookstores listed a call in advance and they’ll have me sign a copy and ship it to you!
Peace, tacos & beer—and thank you for reading!
Kevin
