Support Great Authors and Great Books! (plus G!ve@way)

If you're looking at this blog, chances are that you're a reader and that you love books just as much as I do. Chances are also that you want to support great authors and great books (right? right?). Today I have a special giveaway of sorts for my readers. The Story Plant, a small publisher, has come out with the "Spread the Word" initiative where you can help get the word out about some great books and authors. I have Allison from The Story Plant here on ABA to tell you a little more about The Story Plant and the "Spread the Word" initiative.

The Spread the Word Initiative allows bloggers, reviewers, and faithful readers to gain early access to new releases by authors published by The Story Plant. The Story Plant was started in 2008 by two industry professionals who have over 60 years of experience between them. Lou Aronica, Publisher, spent twenty years at big publishing houses, serving as Deputy Publisher at Bantam before becoming Publisher at Berkley and Avon. During this time, he edited and published numerous New York Times bestsellers. A New York Times bestselling author himself, Aronica has written three novels, including the national bestseller Blue, and coauthored nine works of nonfiction. Peter Miller has been managing writers in books and film for more than three decades, representing more than a dozen New York Times bestsellers and Executive Producing more than a dozen movies. His current film projects include a ten-part miniseries based on Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi for HBO with Tom Hanks' production company Playtone, and a film from Oscar-winning director Brad Bird, based on 1906 by James Dallesandro. The goal of the company is to turn commercial novelists into best- selling authors.

With Spread the Word, we offer you the chance to read a novel by one of our authors and all we ask in exchange is that you talk about it in some way, whether it be on your blog, with your book club, or to your family and friends. We just want you to spread the word about the book – hence the name of the initiative.

We have two books coming out in August that are sure to be hits. Twelve Months by Steve Manchester, The Story Plant's newest author, tells the story of a man who is given twelve months to live and the decisions he makes in that time. Sweat, the second novel by Mark Gilleo is a suspense fiction story about a young man who gets caught up in a political scandal that could cost him his life. In addition to these books, we have eight books coming out this fall from our authors. For more information about the books we currently have published, please visit our website, www.thestoryplant.com.

As someone who loves to read, I can express enough how great of an opportunity this is. You get to read books before they are available to the general public, putting you in an elite book category. At The Story Plant, we love our supporters and everything thatwe offer and we hope that we can count some of you among our numbers!

If you want to show your support for the authors and the company, follow us on Twitter (@thestoryplant) or Like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thestoryplant)!

Thanks so much for your time reading this!

Allison, Editorial & Marketing Assistant, The Story Plant

Interested? Leave a comment on this post (please include your email address) and I will choose five readers to be able to participate in the 'Spread the Word' initiative. Good luck! (must leave a comment before July 12 to be considered)