Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Mega Contest Update AND Some Other Good Stuff To Be Happy About!





Hello Everyone!  I want to make somewhat of an announcement re: the contest results.  First, I want to thank all of you for being patient with us, and those of you who have sent us supporting emails or posted supporting comments.  There is nothing I want to do more than to have this completed, and believe me, i'm working on it!  I could easily close my eyes, go down the list, and point and have my winners, but I am dedicated to doing this the way I started it, fairly and with random.org.  I have been hard at work trying to select our winners.  So far I have had some success.  Progress has been made.  So you have a better idea of what I have been doing, every time I find someone who is not a "follower", I have to go find all of their posts, exclude them, and then go back and re-count the entries.  I have made it far enough in the list to select appx. 8 winners so far.  It would not be fair to announce them yet, so I will hold off.  I am making my way down the list (printed, which was smart!) and diligently going one by one.  As this would have been so much easier had everyone followed the directions, not everything works out the way we always want it to. For this reason, I am again sorry to those of you who did follow directions.  The reason I wanted to make an announcement tonight was to manage your expectations.  Although I am working on this, many of you know, I do have a full time job, which basically leaves this to be done at night, which I have been doing.  With the holiday coming up, I want to make you all aware that there is a high probability that I will not have this complete until the end of the weekend.  I truly am sorry, but there is not much more I can do at this time, except keep doing what I am doing.  I am off Thursday like many of you are, however, I do have to work a full day on Friday. Regardless, if I do not sleep, this will be done this weekend.  


For future contests, I can not think of any easier way to do this.  I will continue to stress throughout contests that you must be a follower of the site to be eligible.  Hopefully, it will sink in, and things will get easier as time goes on. 


ON A BRIGHTER NOTE, a while back, I did a review on "Adventurer's Wanted: Slathbog's Gold" by M.L. Forman.  A Fantastic book, I have arranged something special.  I will be re-introducing the review along with a not-before-published interview with breakout author M.L. Forman.  As always, to make things interesting around here, there will be a CONTEST attached... I like these new "triple-threat" posts.  Review, Interview, and Contest all in one.  Hey, I just thought of something....As many sites have had this before, I don't think I've ever heard it called a "triple-threat" posting!  I am officially coining the phrase "Triple Threat" in the book blogging community, and one will include.... a review, interview, and contest.  Sorry, had to pat myself on the back for that one. Anyway, in this Triple Threat, M.L. Forman will be offering up 1 signed copy of Adventurer's Wanted, as well as a copy of the CD recording of Adventurer's Wanted.  We will have 2 winners, 1 for each.  I will post the Triple Threat probably in the next few days.  This, as well as our current Triple Threat for "Candor", will be our 2 active contests for now.  I don't think I am up to anything more currently.  Im already overextended, so for now, you guys will hopefully be ok with the 2 new contests.  We are working on a special "different" kind of contest that we will also publish soon.  I do not think I have seen one around yet either.  As you know, the Gang is fairly creative, and we are always thinking of new ways to get you guys excited and make our contests more appealing to you.


Once again, I TERRIBLY apologize for the delay.  Please continue to have patience for me.  It was a first for us to hold a MEGA contest, and although it was a success, it was our first time on such a large scale.  This is not discouraging, as it helps us to improve upon our process.  Smaller contests are a piece of cake, it's the big one with a ton of winners that needs some work.  If any of you have any suggestions that can help us, we are definitely open to advice.  Keep in mind, that as we expand our following, (and the only real requirement we always include is that you must be a follower" we are able to get access to more authors, publishers, sponsors, etc. and in return provide you with better and bigger prizes.  This is why we ask to have everyone follow.  Many of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, that is why it is a requirement.  So again, if anyone has any suggestions for BIG contests going forward (not as far as prizes, but as far as a process) as long as you keep the "follower" rule in mind, feel free to share.  You are free to post your suggestions, however, I'd really appreciate it if you could email them to me at tlgbrs@gmail.com instead.


FINALLY, to re-mention this (and hopefully cause some excitement buzz), we will be starting a "sister" site to TLGBRS.  The purpose is as follows-  as our site has grown in size, we have been approached by many companies, marketing agencies, etc. and asked to review "products" and such, as well as offer giveaways and contests for cool stuff (we have seen some of the stuff and CAN'T wait to get our hands on them as well as yours!).  We have thought long and hard about incorporating this into the site.  We have built a strong, ever growing following for our site based upon the hard work and effort we put in revolving around the book blogging community.  We have made the decision NOT to incorporate the "products" part with the "book" part.  We love our site here and do not want to compromise it whatsoever.  Therefore, it is not completed yet (almost done!), but soon we will be launching our second site, "The Lateiner Gang Review Spot", where it will be open to anything and everything as far as reviews, GIVEAWAYS, and CONTESTS!  I will provide the site's address in a special unveiling post once we are up and running, which should be soon.  We are trying to make it look very similar to our "book" review site, as we kind of like the way this looks and want to keep the "purple" thing going for now.  There might be some minor changes, but for the most part, it will look very much like this site here.  We will ask all of you that follow our site to please go over and become a follower of the new site in an effort to maintain our level of interest from these advertisers, companies, and other avenues that will provide us with treats for you guys!  Of course, we will have to incorporate a BIG opening contest for the site.... We are working on that as well.  Keep your eyes open for drips and drabs of info regarding the new site and when it will be live.  Although it will be soon, we do not want to rush it, and we want to make sure we are good to go when we do unveil it.  So, as of now, no definite date.


We will continue to work this Mega Contest situation, and will have a definite list of the winners by the end of the weekend for sure. Again, I am prepared to not sleep until it is done!  Thanks again for your understanding, support, and patience.  IN THE MEAN TIME, GO SIGN UP TO WIN YOUR SIGNED COPY OF "CANDOR" & LOOK FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN "ADVENTURER'S WANTED: SLATHBOG'S GOLD" by M.L. Forman.  I am going to tell you guys to google that book, or look for it however you look for books, and get a feel for it.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! (my FAVORITE part was the "magic bag" which is by far the COOLEST accessory/tool/prop I have ever read about!)  You are welcome to go check out the review I have posted earlier in (Sept-Oct.) but I will re post it in the next few days.


Well, I think that is about it for now.  See all you crazy cats soon!


DAVE

14 comments:

  1. Dave - Get some sleep! Don't stress over the Mega Contest. I am sure it will all get done.

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  2. Sorry you've had so much trouble getting through all the entries. Looks like a bit more work than it should have been :)

    Good luck, and no worries on the time.

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  3. Sorry you had so much trouble.

    fantasysink.blogspot.com

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  4. It's great that the contest was so popular, but it's no fun when people don't follow the rules! Hope everyone has a stress-free week

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  5. Dave, you should really get some sleep! The contest can wait. I'm sure everyone can manage to hold off on finding out the winners until you're able to get to it. I'm amazed at how many people entered the contest, so it makes sense that it could take quite a while to pick winners.

    Enjoy the holiday!!

    :D Nikki

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  6. Well, thanks for working your butt off for the winners--I'm sure it'll be appreciated!

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  7. Thanks for updating us, Dave. But I agree with everyone else: Don't stress too much about revealing the list of winners. You're only human, and we know sleep will do you good. We'll be duly excited when you do tell us who won the mega contest, though... ^_~

    I'm kind of interested in the Adventure's Wanted contest. I read the 10 preview chapters on it's website, you know... nice stuff.

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  8. So sad that it seems like so many people didn't follow the rules. And it's so easy to follow, too!
    HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
    And Dave, you really should sleep - I'm sure none of us mind waiting a little longer for the winners to be announced.

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  9. You can try GoogleDocs. I think you can create a form for people to fill out, then Google will put it all into a spreadsheet for you.

    Having entries in a spreadsheet will cut out you having to count. And every time you find someone that doesn't qualify, you simply delete the entry.

    http://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=t6onHKpf0KMIs2fsyOgWD0A&hl=en#

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  10. Slathbog's Gold is on my list of books to read. Sounds fabulous!

    Hope you have turkey and pie in your near future.

    Happy Thanksgiving Lateiner Gang!!!

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  11. I agree with everyone else, Dave. You shouldn't stress or push yourself about this contest. There’s no need to try so hard to please us followers, after all, you guys went through the trouble of holding a HUGE awesome contest with spectacular prizes. Most (most, because sadly the world isn’t made of fairies and bubble gum, as I once believed when I was a child) of us followers understand and wait for you to sort out the entries. I mean, its THANKSGIVING tomorrow! Step away from the computer and enjoy yourself!! Slack, eat, sleep, party, ect. !!!!

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  12. Ah stressful weeks are no fun! Well get some sleep and don't worry about it. :) We can all wait.

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  13. I think from the comments above...most of us are patient enough to wait until you are ready to post the winners. :) Don't stress about it!

    Emily has a good point about the googleDocs. I've seen a couple of websites use this and it seems pretty cool. I've also seen other blogs just delete all posts that weren't qualified entries at the time they are posted. It saves the trouble of doing ALL of it later!

    Shadowofwonder47~ lol....fairies and bubblegum! Wouldn't that be nice!

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  14. Yes I agree with everyone!! Get some rest we are in no hurry. It should be fun not stressful!!

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