Thirteen Great Things About the Cool Yule Giveaway

1. It’s free.

2. It’s easy. All you have to do is attach a comment to any post on this blog—any post!—and provide enough information to allow us to get back in touch with you.

3. It’s completely without obligation. Nobody will be hounding you with newsletters. We’re more scared of those things than you are.

4. There will be twelve winners, one for every day of Christmas—but without all those pesky pooping partridges.

5. You need to pamper yourself…with the Bath & Body Works offered by Kaye Chambers.

6. Dragons, shapeshifters and weres turn you on—especially those penned by Bianca D’Arc, Sharon Cullen, Ember Case and D. McIntire.

7. You love Carolan Ivey’s ghosts and Celtic legends, and have a soft spot for Sela Carson’s cursed selkies.

8. The fairies of Dayna Hart and Jody Wallace are totally your thing—especially when you add Jody’s extra special gift bag to the mix.

9. You long to meet the man of your dreams in your dreams, like the heroine of Meg Allison’s Dream Walk.

10. What rocks your world is Joely Skye’s futuristic m/m.

11. You need more Christmas recipes—and I just added a paper copy of The Write Ingredient cookbook to the download of With Nine You Get Vanyr.

12. You still have time to qualify. Just comment before noon EST, December 21.

13. You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it. Besides, you’ve been good all year. Santa will forgive a little naughty. Heck, he’s an elf. He’ll encourage it. How do you think he got to be so jolly?

Books Are The Best Gifts

It's the giftiest season of the year and you've got a long list of people to treat. Some of them you know well. Some you don't know well at all, but for whatever reason, you have some obligation to purchase them a gift. So what do you do?

Giftcards are small and convenient, yes, but they can be impersonal. Electronics are expensive, household items can send the wrong message (you need to cook more! your house is ugly!), and holiday themed items can only be used once a year. Clothing in general is dicey, and holiday sweaters in particular are best suited for ugly sweater parties. Food items are perishable. Except for fruit cakes, but chances are if you give somebody a fruit cake, you're gonna get it regifted to you next year. In the exact same condition as when you gifted it in the first place.

What about books? They're portable, economically feasible, varied, multipurpose, and there's one to fulfill anyone's interest. Even nonreaders (gasp!) might enjoy certain how-to volumes, magazines or coffee table type photo books. Plus, the purchase of books as gifts keeps the publishing industry, and authors like us, in business.

Just think of it. One trip to one bookstore (or online bookstore), and all your gift shopping could be OVER. Oh, the pleasure!

So what books do you want as gifts this holiday season? What are some great book gifts you've given in the past to people you knew really well or didn't know that well? What are some books you might have been given (or given) that really missed the mark?

Tell us all about your book gifting experiences and wishes in the comments! And don't forget, anyone who comments on this blog until December 21st is entered in our Cool Yule contest to win FREE BOOKS!

Jody W.
http://www.jodywallace.com
A SPELL FOR SUSANNAH--In Paper, Samhain Publishing
LIAM'S GOLD--In Electrons, Samhain Publishing

PS: If you must buy a giftcard, make it a bookstore giftcard!