The Day of Gimmicky Promotional Giveaways
September 21, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
It’s Thursday, my brain functionality’s starting to recede down the back of my neck, and I’m staring at a stack of Infoquakes wondering what I can do to promote the book. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing some kind of gimmicky promotional giveaway here on my blog before. But I’ve always decided to put this off, because I don’t like to do things half-assed and I have no idea how effective this will be.
So instead of coming up with one gimmicky promotional giveaway, how about five? I’m gonna give away five signed copies of Infoquake to five lucky people between now and next Friday, September 29. (Presuming, of course, I get at least five people to respond.)
The signed copies of Infoquake will go to:
1. The poet. The person who submits the best limerick that begins “There once was a young man named Natch.” (In case you haven’t followed any of the zillion and a half links on this blog to the Infoquake website, Natch is the book’s protagonist.)
2. The detail-oriented reader. One person who can submit the correct answer to this question: what city is the seat of the centralized government in Infoquake? (The answer is freely available by reading the excerpt and/or background articles on the website.)
3. The fan of quality literature. One person who has recently bought any other book released by my publisher Pyr. (Might I suggest Sean Williams’ The Crooked Letter, Ian McDonald’s River of Gods, or Justina Robson’s Mappa Mundi?). Prove it by submitting to me the first line on page 95 of that book. (If there is no first line on page 95, then go to the next page that there is one and submit that instead.)
4. The lecher. The person with the most interesting true story about a sexual encounter you’ve had at a science fiction convention. Hilariously failed attempts at sexual encounters or mind-boggling encounters you’ve witnessed from afar might possibly count, if they’re good enough stories.
5. The kiss-ass. The person who submits the best answer to this question: “David Louis Edelman deserves the Hugo, Campbell, Nebula, Emmy and Tony Awards this year because…” (Please, no tying this in with #4.)
Send your entry (or entries) to me via e-mail at dedelman@gmail.com. You’ve got from now until Friday, September 29, at which point I’ll announce winners and publish the best entries.
Submit to as many of these gimmicky promotional giveaways as you want, but you can only win one of them. In case of multiple correct entries for #2 and #3, Yours Truly will pick winners at random. All judging will be done by Yours Truly. All interpretation of the rules will be done by Yours Truly. Winners restricted to the continental United States in order to save Yours Truly money in postage. Yours Truly reserves the right to amend, abridge, avert, abrogate, or annihilate the rules as he sees fit. Contest will be strictly audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Arthur Andersen, Anderson Cooper, Deloitte Touche, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Allen Ginsberg, and God Almighty. You don’t want to piss those people off by cheating, do you?
(No, these giveaways aren’t associated with Amazon in any way. Nor are they associated with Pyr, or anybody else but me. So direct your snarky legal ire at me, not them.)
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Go buy the book, m’kay?
Updated: C’mon, guys, it’s not that hard, is it? Send me entries over e-mail, don’t post them here in the comments. I’ve x’d out the two entries below. (But don’t worry, I’ll still consider you guys eligible.)
Update 9/26: So I’ve gotten plenty of limericks (#1) and plenty of lines from page 95 of Pyr books (#3). But only one correct entry for #2 and one submission each for #4 and #5. You could still win this thing! (I’ll even guarantee anonymity for #4.)
Update 9/29: The contest is now closed, and winners have been posted.
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Comments
I’m gonna cheat, and do the easy one. I have a copy of Fiona Avery’s ‘The Crown Rose’ and the first line is…
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Yar, I took the easy way out.
Or I can be a moron, not finish reading, and then do stupid things like comment insted of E-Mail. ANyway, E-mail sent, but I can’t figure out how to delete the Comment.
Bad Brandon! Bad bad bad! Now anyone that purchased The Crown Rose will be, effectively, SOL. Way to go!
And that’s not the easy one. The easy one is number two, especially since he said where to find the answer.
Oh yeah. And who’s the picture of, Dave? That CAN’T be you, can it?
“David Louis Edelman deserves the Hugo, Campbell, Nebula, Emmy and Tony Awards this year because now that we are in the year 4042 and the most recent infoquake destroyed all living things except for the loose knit remains of David’s final mental download, there is simply no one left to win any awards. Oh, and Infoquake was a good read.”
No worries, Brandon. We’re each allowed a few mistakes in life. If you win, I’ll make sure to send you the edition of Infoquake with all the three- and four-syllable words removed.
How about this… anyone whose only Pyr book is The Crown Rose can e-mail me the first line at the top of page 100. That wasn’t so hard, was it?
Oh yeah, Thom, and the pic was just some random pic of a used-car salesman I found on the web. Five minutes in Photoshop, and I can do anything.
God bless fair use…or something.
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Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick, p. 95
Wonderful promotion, David. I’ll spread the word.
I wish I could do #4. Sigh.
So, where are you going to be in the coming months? I’ll be at Capclave (Oct.), Philcon (Nov.) and SMOFcon (Dec.).
I have Justina Robson’s Silver Screen, Mike Resnick’s Starship Mutiny and Charles Coleman Finlay’s The Prodigal Troll. Maybe I’ll email you. Maybe I won’t.
I’m so not competative.
If #4 is too embarrassing, I could make the winner of that one anonymous. Though I suppose it would be fun to see who’s brazen enough to want their story plastered here for all to read. (So far, no takers on #4.)
I will definitely be at Capclave, I am planning to be at Philcon, and I’m hoping to be at World Fantasy. So guess I’ll see you at a couple of these events, Starlady.
>> I wish I could do #4. Sigh.
> If #4 is too embarrassing, I could make the winner of that one anonymous.
Oh, boy, did I leave my comment open to misinterpretation. I simply meant that my husband is a non-traveling mundane. There hasn’t been any fun at cons for me. Sigh. However, I do write erotica and I could make up a juicy story for you! Oh, no, wait, there is that pesky “the most interesting true story” rule.
Are you aware of the fancy dress party at Capclave? (Saturday night at 9 PM.) Maybe I could get a picture with you . . . in a tux?
And, are you planning to be at the SFWA NY Publishers Reception on Monday, Nov 20th in Manhattan? (Right after Philcon.) Oh, gawd, I sound like a stalker. I’ll stop now.
Diane
Nerds in tuxes! I need to get my registration taken care of, stat.
HI–Please read the email sent from Queensberg re: St. John’s DLIS
Gratefully
BLG
Has anyone (aside from myself) tried no. 1?
Starlady: Fancy dress party at Capclave? First I’ve heard of it. Does sound like fun though. If I do attend, you’re certainly welcome to get a picture with me in atux suit.
And being that I’m not a member of SFWA, this is the first I’ve heard of the reception in Manhattan. I have a real hard time planning ahead of time…
Thom: I have, in fact, received several #1 and #3 submissions, and a smattering of others. But only one #4 submission so far… you could still win!
Info on fancy dress reception at Capclave:
http://sfwa.org/news/2006/capclave.htm
Looking forward to a possible picture with you!
FAQs “Why should I join SFWA?”
http://sfwa.org/faq/why_join.htm
Of course, the best reason to join, imo, is the yearly NY Publishers Reception, if you’re close enough to travel to NYC. It is an extraordinary networking event with most of the top agents, editors and publishers in the field (~250 people). Only SFWA members can reap the benefits of this night, though.
You realize, don’t you, that now I have to buy and read Infoquake? You’ve managed to intrigue me.
Buy and read the book? Damn, I had no idea anybody would think to do that.
Thanks for the info, Starlady.
Hey David, this promotion is a great idea! I also think it would be worthwhile to send a copy of Infoquake to a couple production companies as well as videogame makers… I’ll think about who I know out here… Obviously Hollywood is way behind the times as we are still making P.K. Dick movies, but the videogame angle may be a good one…
While I’m a gamer, and I loved the book, and am fond now of the author, I would say I would probably NOT buy an Infoquake game. Let’s wait until the Jump Trilogy is completed before we make that leap, neh? The movie I’d be all over that. Game, no.
[...] had a lot of fun with this Infoquake Gimmicky Promotional Giveaway thing. (See this entry for a recap of the rules.) I received a lot more limericks than I had anticipated, and a lot fewer [...]