"ReLaunch Across The Galaxy" Blog Hop

In January 2011 I published Across The Galaxy.

January 22nd to be exact - (Happy Birthday Lisa! <--- my sister)

13 months later Across The Galaxy has sold hundreds of copies and has allowed me to become part of the BEST online community of writers and bloggers I can imagine exists.

I am so grateful to this story in my head and the One who gave me the passion to get it out onto paper (or comp screen). I'm also grateful to my mentor and sensei: Warren Murphy. (Author of The Forever King, one of my top 5 fav books ever!) Without him, I would've never heard of JA Konrath or the e-publishing revolution that was already underway when I came into the picture.

And mostly - thanks to everyone who has bought and read this book. I wouldn't be here without readers. Its still sort of surreal to get 'fan mail' and letters from people who just want to thank me for writing and providing them with a way to escape their every day 'stuff'. Surreal but awesome!

Now, even though this reads like a sappy acknowledgement page in a book, I'm not usually the mushy type so let's move on...

Marking a year as a self-published author is pretty exciting when not only has that much time passed already, but I'm now making the kind of money writing that I would've made off an advance from NY for these titles. Woot Woot!! And I am sooo happy doing it myself because that means I can do something fun and crazy like change a cover anytime I want.

And since I can, I did. Here's the background on that decision.

Across the Galaxy's original cover was made by a professional photographer. He used a stock background and snapped a really cool pose of my cousin Krystle (Twitter name: @KrystylePole if you want to tell her how awesome she looks!) - who, by the way, is in Vegas this weekend competing in a Pole fitness competition. Go Krystle!!!!

Okay, back to the point. Anyway so my love for ths cover is deep and completely biased because of the story behind the cover. That being said, the marketer in me knew this cover needed... something. The cover competition out there is hard, and even though I love this one, its not necessarily competing to get your attention like so many other YA fantasy covers.

Enter Char Adlesberger. College student from Colorado and GENIUS cover artist! She took my book description and my request for something "edgy" and gave me this!!!

A-MA-zing!!!!!!!!!

So, now that I've caught your eye, on to the details of the HOP. Because I can't do something as cool as a new cover and NOT give stuff away!!!

The schedule is listed below. Each blogger will feature the book and brand new synopsis along with a giveaway of an e-book version of the book. Some will also host a review, interview, or fun facts about yours truly. On the last day, head over to Accendo Press' site (my publishing group) to enter to win a Kindle cover with signed bookmarks!!

2/26/12 - Cambria Hebert, A Diary of a Book Addict

2/27/12 - Nightly Reading

2/28/12 - AwesomeSauce Books

2/29/12- Magnet 4 Books

3/1/12- Fiktshun

3/2/12- Taking It One Book At A Time, Bookish Babes

3/3/12- The Readiacs

3/4/12- Sassy Book Lovers

3/5/12- Talk Supe, A Book Vacation

3/6/12 - Accendo Press  - giveaway of a Kindle cover and e-book of your choice!

And now for the BEST part of this post - You can enter here to win a prize pack from me that includes signed bookmark swag for Dirty Blood (pictured above) and Descended By Blood by Angeline Kace - and a signed paperback of Across The Galaxy with the brand new cover!!

check it:

Here's how to enter:
Leave a comment with your email address below. For an extra entry you can 1- become a follower of the blog and 2- tweet about the giveaway and new cover. Mention me: @HeatherHildenbr in the tweet so I can track your entries.

The contest ends 3/12 and the winner will be announced 3/13. Good luck!