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Friday, June 4, 2010

Interview and Giveaway with Author Sydney Salter!


Today, I'm excited to host an interview and signed book giveaway with Sydney Salter, the fabulous author of My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, Jungle Crossing, and (most recently) Swoon At Your Own Risk.Sydney and I share the same publishing house, and she was the first fellow author I contacted upon signing my publishing contract. Not only is she nice, funny and incredibly talented, her books are an absolute delight to read! Do you want to know the best part? One lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Sydney's fabulously fun new book, Swoon At Your Own Risk! The entry details will follow this interview:

How would you sum up Swoon at Your Own Risk in one sentence?

After a junior year of dating disasters, Polly Martin has sworn off boys; now she’s just trying to survive her summer job at Wild Waves Water park (under the supervision of ex number three, Sawyer Holmes) and focus on herself for once.

If you could be any character from your book for a day, which one would you be and why?

I’d be Xander Cooper, mostly because I’ve always wanted to know how to skateboard, but my first attempt resulted in elbow scars, so I haven’t tried again. Plus, as a writer, I’d love to truly see things from a male perspective for a day.

What inspired you to give Polly, the main character of Swoon at Your Own Risk, a job at a water park?

Every summer I take my daughters to our local water park; I love watching the teen employees, all the crazy kids, and the distracted parents…and I suppose I’m one of those with all my people watching! I’ve always thought it would make a great setting/summer job for a story.

If you could ask Miss Swoon a question, what would it be and how do you think she'd answer?

Dear Miss Swoon,
I used to think that becoming a published author would make me feel so confident and secure. But now I’m worried about so much more: will my book get good reviews? How many copies will it sell? Will people like my next story, too? It’s so much more complicated than I expected. How do I cope?
–Obsessing Author

Dear Author,
Just write! Ignore all the stuff you can’t control and focus on writing the next story. Isn’t that why you started doing this in the first place?
–Miss Swoon

Polly has a bunch of ex-boyfriends in this novel. Do you have a funny or interesting breakup story of your own to share?

I married my first boyfriend! I haven’t experienced an official boyfriend breakup, but I’ve been hurt by crushes gone wrong, lost friendships, and the end of professional relationships. I tapped into those emotions while writing Swoon At Your Own Risk.

What's your best advice for writers wanting to get published?

Write the next novel, and the next one after that—you never know which one will sell first, and each new story will teach you something that you can apply to earlier manuscripts. (BTW, I sold my fourth manuscript first, my seventh manuscript second, and first manuscript third.)

Thanks so much for the enjoyable interview, Sydney! For more information about Sydney and her books, be sure to check out her AUTHOR WEBSITE and BLOG.



**********************************************************

SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK Signed Book Giveaway Entry Details:
1) You must be a follower of my blog for a chance to win.
2) You will be entered once by reading and commenting on this post.
3) You will receive an extra entry by adding what (or who) makes you SWOON in your comment.
4) You will also receive an extra entry for each online shout-out you give about this giveaway (tweet on twitter and/or blog about it). Be sure to leave links to your shout-out(s) in the comment section of this post.

***That means you have the chance to be entered up to four times in the random drawing, increasing your odds of winning. The lucky winner will be chosen at random from all the entries I receive and will be announced next Friday (June 11th). Good luck!***

This contest is open to international entrants.

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16 Comments:

Blogger Etana said...

Great interview!

I am a follower. The summer heat makes me swoon both literally and figuratively.

eflegen(at)gmail(dot)com

June 4, 2010 at 2:57 PM  
Blogger Tory said...

Great interview, Amy! I have this book on my MUST PURCHASE list and can't wait to read it. Thanks for sharing the info with us. It's always great to learn more about the authors.

Have a great day! Tory

June 4, 2010 at 3:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This book looks so fun!

<3 Alisha

June 4, 2010 at 8:20 PM  
Blogger mo said...

Yay! I love interviews. :P

I've actually worked at a water park for a little while; it was fun, but very hot. Heat makes me swoon. So do really good books. Also, this boy in my homeroom. :P

I'd love to be entered!

http://mobile.twitter.com/maggiesmoment/status/15461318478

June 4, 2010 at 11:09 PM  
Blogger Claire Dawn said...

Nice interview. The book sounds interesting, and it had totally not been on my radar before. Although, being on so money writer's blogs is going ot put some dents in my pocket. Especially since I'm in Japan. Shipping books out isn;t the cheapest endeavour.

Which reminds me, thanks for making this open to international entrants.

http://aclairedawn.blogspot.com/2010/06/fave-first-lines.html

I blogged.

What makes me swoon? Gossip Girls (Although I'm really too old for it), anime, JOHNNY DEPP, ORLANDO BLOOM!!!

SO, 3 entries.

PS, I've been missing you. I hope it's because the publishing world is keeping you busy :)

June 5, 2010 at 11:30 AM  
Anonymous Sherry C said...

Great giveaway.
I'm a follower & my boyfriend makes me swoon :) along with my celebrity crush who i secretly wish my boyfriend is sometimes, Josh Duhamel :)

2 entries.

June 6, 2010 at 7:09 PM  
Anonymous Steph said...

Great interview.

I'm a follower. :) My wonderful boyfriend makes me swoon, as does fabulous writing!

I'll post a shoutout on my website at www.readinasinglesitting.com.

June 6, 2010 at 8:50 PM  
Blogger Julie Musil said...

Amy, thanks for the great interview! It's interesting to see how published authors still have doubts and worries too, maybe just different versions. Makes us newbies not seem so alone. I also found it interesting that her first novel sold third. Amazing.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Love your twitter background, btw.

June 6, 2010 at 9:32 PM  
Blogger Patty Blount said...

I'm now following your blog; what a great giveaway! Swoon sounds like a wonderful story.

Two things make me swoon: chocolate and Gilles Marini. For anyone who doesn't know Gilles, he played the Naked Shower Guy in the first Sex and the City movie. He then almost won Dancing with the Stars. But that's now why he makes me swoon.

In 2007, I finished my third novel, "Border Lines", a story about a local doctor whose free clinic is about to go bankrupt, unless she can convince a big shot international journalist to give it some positive press. The character I thought I created IS Gilles Marini - in the flesh.

Every time I see him, I think of my "Thomas" and swoon.

June 6, 2010 at 9:43 PM  
Blogger Emma Kate "Coops" @ Whats Cracking Coops said...

Whooo, what a great interview! I loved that she married her first boyfriend, how sweet! :D

Hmm...what makes me swoon? And endnless supply of adorable boys in fiction! Seriously! Hush, Hush or The Iron King or Perfect Chemistry or The Dark Divine...I will have any of those leading men, please! :D :P

I follow! :)

I also added to my sidebar at http://www.whatscrackingcoops.blogspot.com

Cheers! :)

June 7, 2010 at 1:37 AM  
Blogger angie said...

Thanks for the interview! I love that Sydney ended up marrying her first boyfriend:)
I am a follower
I tweeted http://twitter.com/bangersis/status/15813600860
Thanks!
bangersis(at)msn(dot)com

June 9, 2010 at 8:48 PM  
Blogger Angela Ackerman said...

Nice interview. Now the tough part is thinking about one person who makes me swoon other than my hubby.

Hmmm. Okay, Orlando Bloom. Much swoonage there. And Viggo Mortenson (as Aragorn only, not the character he played in The Road).

*thinks* Nope, I better stop there. A few of my picks might make me sound like a dirty old woman, lol.

Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

June 10, 2010 at 3:47 PM  
Blogger Blueicegal ♥ said...

a follower

tweeted and retweeted
http://twitter.com/blueicefiesta

i would pick vin diesel becuase he is my hero and i adore him, Damon Salvatore becuase he makes me melt and jace Wayland becuase he makes me want to be bad :D they are so swoon worthy thank you for this contest!!!

fantasy4eva@hotmail.com

June 10, 2010 at 4:09 PM  
Blogger Sherry said...

Thanks for the great interview!

Let's see, my boyfriend is the obvious one. And all the awesome boys in YA books! Most of them make me swoon!

:)

I am a follower!

Thanks so much!

Sherry
ssalach88(at)gmail(dot)com

June 10, 2010 at 4:09 PM  
Blogger Darlyn said...

Thanks for the review and also the interview.I enjoyed and swoon reading it ;p And I would love to enter!

+1 a follower
+1 comment
+1 twitted
+1 link http://twitter.com/darlyn5/status/15901620388

thanks!

darlyn225 AT gmail DOT com

June 10, 2010 at 11:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to have missed this contest.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for this book. I am a Salter fan.

June 11, 2010 at 3:54 PM  

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