My Book and the "Spread The Word" Contest

Hi everyone,

I'm excited and nervous to announce that I have officially published my first collection, The Wild Grass and Other Stories, available on Amazon.

My excitement comes from the fact that this book contains my favorite and most personal short stories from my last ten years of writing. My nervousness comes mostly from my fear of the unknown. I'm not sure if anybody will care about this book. I'm not sure if anyone will want to read it. But I feel ready to do this. The time has come.

Here's the cover:



Here's a list of some things in the book that I hope you will find cool:

1. a Buddhist exorcism
2. a ghost chase
3. phallocrypts
4. first, second, and third person POV
5. the line "The days passed, one by one, like the repeated washing of a shirt."
6. pink dolphins
7. a stomach stapling brochure
8. characters with names like Kalaya and Subscription
9. a Brazilian gold mine
10. my secrets

I hope you will give my book a chance by buying and reading it. I am very grateful for anyone who does.

Thank you!

___________________________________________

As a self-publisher, my biggest worry is that the people who might be interested in this book might not know it exists. With that in mind, I'm holding a contest to get you to help me spread the word. You don't need to buy anything to help me. All you have to do is tell people about the book.

Davin's "Spread The Word" Contest

To enter the contest, tell a friend about my book and ask them to e-mail me at dmalasarn (at) gmail (dot) com with the following message pasted in the body of the e-mail:

Dear Davin Malasarn,

I heard about your collection The Wild Grass and Other Stories from (have them write YOUR name here) on sale at Amazon ( http://amzn.to/kwfpap ). I understand that this collection includes your most emotional work and will take readers to exotic locations all around the world.

Signed,
(have them write THEIR name here)

~~~~~~~~~

Your friends should insert your name in the first slot above and their name in the second slot.

Simple enough?

I'm giving away three prizes:

Top Prize is a rigorous full manuscript critique (up to ~70,000 words) by me, including two additional critiques of your first ten pages by my epic and talented co-bloggers, Scott G.F. Bailey and Michelle Davidson Argyle. This prize will be given to the person who is responsible for getting the most people to send me entries, counted by the number of times your name appears in the first name slot. You can exchange this for a $100 gift card to any location of your choice if you prefer.

Second Prize is a 50-page manuscript critique by me or a $30 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. This winner will be selected at random from among all of the people whose names appear in the first name slot.

Third Prize is a $50 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. This winner will be selected at random from among the people who e-mail me (the second name slot in the message).

The contest will run until midnight on June 30, 2011. Both people who spread the word and people who e-mail me are eligible to win prizes. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the past and who supports me now. I also want to thank Scott, Michelle, F.P. Adriani, Marie Shield, and Troy Nethercott in general for being there for me. It means so much to me.