Welcome to the inaugural edition of Ask Liz & Lisa!
Want some blogging advice? In a twit over a tweet? Have some mama drama you need to hug out? We're here for you, girlfrin'! Just send us an email and ask us anything! And because we know y'all love to win things, if we feature your Q, we'll send you a book! So what are you waiting for? Email asklizandlisa@chicklitisnotdead.com. Operators are standing by. No, not really. But Liz keeps glancing down at her Blackberry. So please put her out-oh-her misery and send an email already!
We've already received some fab Qs from you guys-so thank you! Our first is from Shannon and we selected it because it's one of the questions we're most frequently asked when we meet new people. And because we chose Shannon's Q, she'll be receiving Skipping a Beat
And leave a comment today and we'll enter you to win a book too! How about another copy of Cindy Jones' My Jane Austen Summer:A Season in Mansfield Park? We'll choose the winners Wednesday April 13th after 6pm PST.
Dear Liz & Lisa,
I want to know how you come up with all these great authors for the blogs? Ask and they volunteer or how does it work? There are just so many great authors and books and I have no idea how any of it works- just love to read the blog!!!
Thanks,
Shannon
*blushes* Thanks so much, Shannon!
There are a few ways we book authors for the site.
1. The publicist or author pitches us via email. We receive pitches daily from authors and/or publicists requesting to be interviewed for the site. We request the books that pique our interest and put them into our (freakishly huge) TBR pile. After we read them, we discuss each one and request interviews and giveaways from the ones we think you'll love! We usually agree-although everyone once in a while we'll have a girlfight lively discussion about which ones to feature. But we really try to bring you books and authors we think you'll love as much as we do.
2. We stalk contact authors via email and Facebook. We're always looking for the next great author for the site so we are constantly searching online and in bookstores to find that gem that we may have missed. Or maybe it's someone that we'd pretty much do anything (well, almost anything- we draw the line at anything involving a stripper pole!) to get our hot little hands on her (or his) 5 Do's and a Do-Over. (Judy Blume-we're talking to you!) Facebook is a great way to connect with our favorite authors and we've booked many of them this way!
3. Crystal Patriarche, publicist extraordinaire and the entire BookSparksPR team. We're incredibly lucky to work with Crystal and she books many of our authors- like the fabulous Lauren Weisberger, Jen Lancaster and Emily Giffin, as well as celebrity-turned-authors like Tori Spelling and Jessica Seinfeld. She's also incredibly creative and helps us brainstorm our new features and huge giveaways as well as provides PR for the site. We would NOT be where we are without her!
That pretty much sums it up. And we're appreciative that y'all keep coming to the site to read about authors, books, bucket lists, 5 things you didn't know lists, 5 Do's and a Do-over lists and more! Thanks for continuing to support us with your comments and majuh Facebook page love. YOU make our job fun!
xoxo, L&L