Friday Links! Free e-Books and Other Stuff

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm finally sorting through my conference loot--the stuff beyond books, like ebook downloads, business cards, scads and scads of bookmarks. I will have to do a prize pack or something to spread the love.

In the meantime, here are some links to book stuff:

For Readers:

• August is Read-a-Romance-Month: hear from authors why romance matters. Plus, daily and weekly drawings for e-readers and books!

• Ah, New Adult. Here, The Independent attempts to explain the New Adult genre. If you're curious about this category that hovers between YA and well, everything else, you can download a free e-book sampler (excerpts from full novels) from Between the Covers featuring J. Lynn (Jennifer Armentrout), Cora Carmack, Molly McAdams, Sopher Jordan and more. Many of these authors discount their full-length books (I've seen from $1.99- $3.99), which is partly why New Adult has taken off. Keep your eye out for deals.

I met Erin Knigtley--see, she's sweet!

• If you like regency romance, the wonderfully sweet Erin Knightley has a free novella up on Smashwords: Ruined by a Rake. You do not have to register with Smashwords to download, I just tried it. And, she has a giveaway on her site!

• Everybody's on the novella bandwagon, even YA books. Veronica Roth has a short story tied to the Divergent universe, and Lauren Oliver did the same with novellas for Delirium. 

• Deals: If you haven't yet read John Green's hilarious, sad, beautiful YA novel The Fault In Our Stars, it's discounted to $3.99 for Nook and $3.99 Kindle. Those sales don't last long so go get it!

For Writers:

• Pitch Madness is coming, hosted by contest-hostess-extraordinaire Brenda Drake. Pitch to pre-selected literary agents. Check her site for details.
• The Agent's Inbox is another contest going on next week.

• Nathan Bransford comments on predictable movie storytelling (blamed in a Slate article on go-to screenwriting  book Save the Cat! and its very specific pacing strategies), and how this is an opportunity for writers.

• SCBWI recaps their summer conference on their blog.

• My RWA chapter's Four Seasons Contest is open to entries all month.

• And for those in a driveable distance to Chicago area, I have the scoop on Anderson's Books YA Literature Conference on September 28: Gayle Forman (!), Steven Chbosky, Michael Grant, Adam Gidwitz are the featured speakers, and a number of other authors will be there: Rick Yancey, Myra Mcentire, Shannon Messenger, and my agent-mate Christa Desir (who I'd love to meet so hopefully I'm going!). Details are NOT up on Anderson's site, but here's where they will be when posted.

Any news to share? Please do, and say Hi in the comments!