Big Ballads Blitz!

Ballads of Suburbia, by Stephanie Kuehnert, is due to be released on July 21.  Here's a Ballads blurb:  

Kara hasn't been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad-boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park....Amid the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.  

This is Stephanie's 2nd YA release, and the one that she hopes will reach and help alot of people, especially teens.  Well, the only way to reach those people, is to get it in the hands of people.  How do we do that?  How can we help Stephanie and let others know about this book at the same time?  We buy it, of course, and encourage others to buy it as well.  It's said that pre-sales and 1st week sales of a book are EXTREMELY important!  So, together with some wonderful bloggers, I offer you the:

BALLADS BLITZ!!

What exactly is the Ballads Blitz?  Well, it's a sales blitz.  We need to make Stephanie's publisher, bookstores, and others take notice of this wonderful new book, and in order to do that, we need to pre-order it like crazy!  Order it for yourself, for a friend, a teen in your life, and get others to do the same.  What's in it for you?  For one, the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped an author because, come on, this is her job and without us buying books, she wouldn't have one.  Second, there are PRIZES!  When you pre-order the book, email me your receipt and you are entered...it's that easy.

Prize pack includes:

• a year's subscription to Library Thing - donated by Kelly from Stacked 
• $20 online bookstore giftcard - donated by Karin from Karin's Book Nook 
• $10 online bookstore giftcard for every 20 books ordered - donated by yours truly
• Paperback book of choice from Amazon - donated by Shesten from I Heart Monster
• ARC - Dani Noir by Nova Ren Suma - donated by Sharon from Sharon Loves Books and Cats 
• ARC - Prism by Faye Kellerman - donated by Sharon from Sharon Loves Books and Cats 
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan - donated by Diane from The Book Resort 
• The Center of the Universe (Yep, That'd Be Me) by Anita Liberty - donated by Tirzah from The Compulsive Reader  
• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly - donated by Gwendolyn from A Sea of Books  
• Book (title to be determined) - donated by Mitali from Alley of Books  
• Pride, Prejudice and Zombies w/zombie extras - donated by Nancy from Tales of a Ravenous Reader
• autographed author swag from Stephanie Kuehnert
• autographed author swag from Jessica Verday
• added 7/2 - How to Say Goodbye in Robot - donated by Harmony from Harmony Book Reviews
• added 7/2 - CD of songs that remind me of Ballads or Joey Ramone - donated by Harmony from Harmony Book Reviews
  
• more to be added as the month goes on... 

So, here it is again; all you have to do is...

1. Pre-order Stephanie's book from any bookstore: Amazon, Powell's, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound.
2. Email me a copy of your receipt - shelcows AT gmail DOT com
3. Spread the word about this contest by tweeting, posting it on your blog, etc. In order for this to work, we, the blogging community, need to get the word out not only to other bloggers, but other book lovers as well 

This blitz begins today and will continue until the end of the month, at which time, a winner will be chosen at random to receive the prize pack.  Should we get more donations, there will be more than one winner (stay tuned for updates).  Anyone wanting to donate a prize, please contact me as we will add prizes throughout the contest.  Open to US residents only.

Oh, and Stephanie is totally unaware that we are doing this, so shhhhh!  Although I'm sure word will get out...