*Saturday Spotlight ~ Meet Jessica*

Yes, I DO realize it's now SUNDAY! Sorry, I wasn't feeling well yesterday and didn't get around to posting this weeks "Saturday...err Sunday Spotlight" (name change only pertains to this week)... Anyway, I have a NEW Book Blogger for you this week and her name is JESSICA!

Let's find out a *Little Bit* more about Jessica and her book blog!

What's your Name (the one on your birth certificate)? Jessica

And your Alias (aka) ? Jess

Jess...what's your blog's name? Cover to Cover: One Twenty-Something’s Journey to Writing (and finishing) a Novel

*Cute Name...What's the URL for people that want to visit both you and your blog? http://jessicalawlor.blogspot.com/

Can you give us a quick bio about yourself? I’m Jess and I’m a twenty-one public relations student in Philadelphia. I’ve loved to read and write for as long as I can remember, and it’s always been my goal to publish a novel. In my free time, I love to read, write, attempt to cook, blog, and hang out with my friends. I absolutely love traveling and studied abroad in Rome this past summer.

Rome? How awesome! This Princess would love to leave the Castle... *sigh* But, there's just too much to do here!!

Why did you start your blog? I started my blog for 2 main reasons. *And those would be*?

1. I love to read, and am always looking for book suggestions. I did a few searches and found this whole world of book review blogs that I never knew existed. I decided I wanted an outlet to discuss the books I love.

2. It’s always been my goal to write a novel, but I can’t seem to make myself sit down and write. I figured creating a blog where I could discuss the process and converse with other bloggers would give me the inspiration I needed to get started.

What is your favorite genre and/or genres? I love chick lit. and young adult fiction.

Who is your favorite author? My favorite author is a toss-up between Sophie Kinsella and Jennifer Weiner. I love them both.

What's your favorite book of all time? My favorite book of all time is definitely Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. It’s the perfect story of a broken girl who finds her way to independence and happiness.

Would you Please name & describe your blog features: Book reviews, writing tips, my writing journey, author interviews (hopefully soon!), book news, etc.

How about your review system: The system is on a scale from 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best.

How is your blog unique from other blogs? My blog is unique because along with reviewing books, I’m going to be discussing my own journey to writing a novel. It’s the best of both worlds.

How do you market your blog? My blog is fairly new, but so far I’ve joined Shelfari, and I’ve been commenting on other book review blogs.

Can you give us 3 tips about content? I think posting at least once a day is key. Find your own voice that makes you, you. Don’t just post reviews every day, mix it up with book news and author interviews.

Can you give us 3 tips about blog promotion? Comment, comment, comment…honestly, it’s the best way to find new readers. Bloggers appreciate when others read and enjoy their content, so let those bloggers know and hopefully they will check you out!

*Hopefully, they will!!* Thanks for being here Jessica and introducing yourself to the book blogging community!!

If YOU Would Like YOUR Blog Here In the Spotlight...

All you have to do is "Contact ME" and I'll Get Right Back To You

And Let You Know How!!

Kisses - XXX

And The Winners Are...

I'm not here to take up much of your LONG weekend/holiday weekend time! I just want to announce the THREE WINNERS who each will have a copy of "113 Things to do by 13" mailed to them directly from Terri MacLeod of Access Hollywood!

AND THE THREE WINNERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

MATT

FROGGY

CHRISTY JAN

CONGRATULATIONS LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!! : ) (That's just ONE MAN...not a type-O) *Sorry, I have NO idea what's wrong wih me today* I think it's LACK of SLEEP!

I'll be making an announcement soon and listing some PIGGY PAINT and a little "Making Babies"! So Stop back!

Thank you for participating!!

xOxx ~ Kisses

Sautday Spotlight! (And Giveaway)!

Today I'm trying out something new to me called "Saturday Spotlight". I'm pretty excited about it to be quite honest! The idea actually started with my guest blogger today. She's very kind and when I contacted her to see if she would mind if I did something similar, she wrote back immediately with a super-friendly email and a positive answer! So, how long with this run? Good Question! Each week, I'd like to host a different Blogger and depending just how many people I have interested, will depend on how long it runs!

If YOU would like to be featured in Saturday Spotlight, just hit the "contact" button and I will be more than happy to host you here, at Park-Avenue Princess!

Today's Blogger in "Saturday Spotlight" is Sophie from Mrs. Magoo Reads!

Name? Sophie

Your Blogger Alias? Mrs. Magoo

Name of Your Blog? Mrs. Magoo Reads

What's Your Blog URL? http://www.mrsmagooreads.com/

Can you give us a quick bio about yourself? I am a thirteen year old girl who has been blogging for almost two years (my blogoversary is on August 16!). I have loved to read for as long as I can remember, and now love blogging about it. Last year I was featured on TV for my blog.
Why did you start your blog? As the buzz about blogging got louder and louder around me, one day I thought it would just be cool to start a blog. After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to make my blog about something I love: books. Little did I know there was such a huge YA book blogging community!

What is your favorite genre and/or genres? I'm really not that picky about genres. I do, however, prefer realistic fiction over fantasy.

Who is your favorite author? Oh, I don't know if I can pick just one! JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer (so sue me), and Scott Westerfeld.

What's your favorite book of all time? I think this pretty much corresponds with my favorite writers: Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Uglies.

Name and describe different features on your blog: Other than my reviews, I have Saturday's Scribe, where an author is either interviewed or writes a guest blog every Saturday. I also jumped onto Reviewer X's Retrospective meme, which comes every Sunday, where I link to every other post I made during the post. My most popular feature is Movie Monday. Every Monday I make a review video of a book I've reviewed, and it comes along with a contest to win that book! Last but not least, I profile other bloggers, and these often come with contests as well.

Do you use your own Review System? How is it Different? I start by listing the title and author, give it a grade, and name its "ideal audience", according to age and gender. Then I provide my own summary of the book, followed by my thoughts. I finish the review by providing links to buy the book through Amazon and/or IndieBound.

How is your blog unique from other blogs? I'd say Movie Monday is the most unique thing about my blog-- not a whole lot of other bloggers make review videos.

How do you market your blog? First, I make sure to have good content. I also do link exchanges and interview other bloggers (the links back actually generate a surprising amount of visitors!). My contests are also very popular and are a form of marketing themselves! :)

Can you give us 3 tips about content?

• 1. Make sure your reviews are the right length. I'm not going to read a very long review, but an extremely short one will lose my respect.


• 2. Add at least one unique element to your blog-- I want a reason to come back to yours rather than somebody else's.


• 3. Don't use chat speak on your blog!

Can you give us 3 tips about blog promotion?

• 1. Leave comments on other blogs. This is really hypocritical of me, as I hardly ever leave comments, but if anybody has any tips on fixing this bad habit, they'd be very welcome!


• 2. Be friendly to other bloggers.


• 3. Be patient. Nothing comes immediately.

Thanks so much for having me, Amy!!

You're More than Welcome Sophie! Come back anytime!

OK...I'm going to ask that you visit sophie and leave her a comment and you may also commet here!

THE GIVEAWAY!

Sophie has offered to do a free personalized "Header" for ONE Winner's blog. In order to win this, you must be a follower of both blogs! Want an 10 Extra Entries? Follow me on Twitter and Follow Sophie there as well (that's FIVE points for each follow) Just note it in the comments section! (Sophie wants me to note that she's not a PROFESSIONAL Graphics Designer...but does some pretty cool work and will help you to get the look you want)! Again, this is Sophie's contest. But, you MUST enter here and I will pick the Winner.

All enteries MUST be in by September 19th and WINNER drawn on Septmber 20th! *Note that I also have a contest to win a $20.00 Gift Card to the Bookstore of your choice on Mrs. Magoo Reads! Hurry, I think it ends on the 27th!

KISSES ~ XXX

ROYAL GIVEAWAY (*not to be missed*)

So, I've been meeting a LOT of new people and been on SO many new blogs lately that it's hard for me to keep count! I LOVE my book bloggers and can't wait to show them a little appreciation.

OK...here's the deal so far. And this is just a sneak peek...the post will go up before the end of the weekend with ALL the details. Park-Avenue Princess would like to have some more "FOLLOWERS" following publicly on her BLOG and on TWITTER...both buttons are on the side along with a "subscribe" button for email! If you do all three you will get more entries to this contest and if you pass along the word by blogging or tweeting that is going to be two more entries (Plus THREE for each blog post and tweet) also, if someone new comes in and says that YOU sent them that is going to be a (Plus as well) I'm going to add this up for you and make it easier. The winner will be posted on the last Friday of the month. Which is the last day in July!

So, basically, all you have to do is follow...

What do you win?? That's going to be determined by the number of "followers" that I get. And the winner will be drawn randomly (But your name can be put in countless times). This may be a little confusing right now, but I will make it MUCH easier (PROMISE)in my next post about this....

The winner will get a bracelet like the one pictured below made out of genuine vintage typewriter keys. I own two of these and I've bought one as a gift as well. They are gorgeous and very well made! Lizzy Bleu is a very talented girl! You'll love her etsy shop! Actually, I think I am going to do something with Lizzy Bleu like this monthly as well she has an absolutely adorable etsy shop! If you get a free moment you should check it out...very cool! Anyway, these bracelets and things usually cost about $35.00) Now, if I reach 200 followers, I will also add a gift certificate from your favorite book store to buy what you'd like...I don't know how much that certificate will be yet, but I'll let you know. The amount will go up as I get followers...(every 50 after that) so at 250 the certificate goes up and then at 300 the certificate goes up and then 350 followers (I'm sure you get the point) I'm thinking it could go up to as much as a One Hundred Dollar Gift Certificate (that I will purchase myself...depending on the followers) But, I have to start it off lower...make sense? (God, I hope so...lol) and that is PLUS Lizzy Bleu's Bracelet and then a special gift from her shop for the winner as well if a LARGE number of followers is reached. I am even thinking about having a runner-up unless YOU all think there should be just ONE winner that takes ALL!

Here's a sample of the bracelet:



I'm looking for your voice in this one ladies and gentlemen (Speaking of the guys...you don't have to take a bracelet...she has very cute cuff links as well...or whatever else may catch your eye)!

So let me know what you think! OH and if you are already a follower and you comment on the post where I tell you too...you get PLUS 10 just for already being here! OK? So, if you get in BEFORE the post that's PLUS 10...(so, what are you waiting for??)

***ONE LAST THING...I NEED SOMEONES HELP WITH A "STICKY POST" ? How do I do it? I need to keep the contest on top until the end of the month once it's fully decided and posted! (And we all know I am SO NOT COMPUTER SAVVY! : )

That's all for now! Happy Reading!!

KISSES ~ XXX

THE PRINCESS