Why? What? When?

So, I have a few announcements for everyone today...

The first is that at some point this week, you all should expect to start seeing reviews of The Other Fish in the Sea popping up. This is extremely exciting for me, but I'm also a little petrified. Knowing my work is being read and will subsequently be reviewed, sometimes freaks me the fuck out and I chain smoke and become an unbathed basket case. Truly. It isn't pretty. However, even with that being the case, I would like to beg everyone and their mother's fourteenth cousin twice removed to please write and leave a review for Shark Bait on Amazon and even Barnes & Noble if you can, and then when you finish reading TOFitS, please do the same. Why? Because reviews are what power the book industry in all manner of ways. Even if you don't particularly care for a book, leaving a review whether negative or positive helps the reading world to know whether a certain book might be to their liking or if it's something they probably shouldn't spend their hard earned money on. Additionally, the more reviews left for a book on buy sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the more exposure a book will receive. Reviews also drive best seller ranking—again, regardless of whether the review is positive or negative. So, if you're one of the people out there who feel like traditional publishers should be banging down my door so you can see and even purchase my titles in brick and mortar bookstores, or if you would get a giggle out of seeing Shark Bait or any of my other books on Amazon's Top 100 in overall books or even *whispers out of ultimate respect* the NYT Best Sellers List, you HAVE to leave a review on Amazon first and foremost. I'm an un-agented Indie author with inadequate funds to do a lot of pimping, book signings and appearances at big book events, and uber-cool giveaways, not that any of you need to hear about my financial standing, but my point is, there's only so much book bloggers and I can do to bring word of my creative genius to the rest of the world. (<—Digging deep for this godawful showing of egotism this morning, aren't I? Ugh.) And not only should you leave a review, but you should encourage everyone you know who has read the books to do the same. And this goes without saying of course, but I would be grateful if you were to encourage everyone you know and even perfect strangers to buy and read the books if they haven't yet.

This brings me to announcement number two... In the coming week, I believe, everyone who wants to become a tried and true Grab Your Pole pimp will have the opportunity to do so while also having the opportunity to win fun and unique GYP paraphernalia by joining what? Well, the GYP Street Team of course! Members of my Street Team will earn what I like to call "pimp points" for completing certain tasks and then those points will accrue over a designated time frame where at the end of that time, people with points will be entered to win something. There will be more info about this in the next week or so as well as when you can begin signing up, however, I wanted to give you all a heads up about this now because one of the things you'll be able to earn points by doing will be submitting proof of purchase to the GYP Street Team officials via either a forwarded email receipt or an original screen shot of your receipt for your purchase of The Other Fish in the Sea. And guess what? You'll get double points for purchasing TOFitS on release day! So, even if you don't have a chance to sign up to be a member of the GYP Street Team the day it launches, screen cap your purchase or save your email receipt so that when you do join, you can maximize your points earned, but be sure to sign up quickly as the first giveaway is set for one month after The Other Fish in the Sea releases, I believe. 

Yeah, I know, you're all thinking that none of this information is all that helpful to you right now because you don't even know when in the fuck the damned book is coming out, right? Well, despite still having quite a bit of work to do and knowing I'm going to be a raging bitch monster to those closest to me, have zombie-like bags under my eyes, and I'll have to be a horrific wife and mother to make it happen, here's announcement number three:

NEXT TUESDAY

APRIL 23 in the year of our lord 2013

That will conclude the announcements as well as this blogpost. Let the universal celebration and widespread chatter about the date of release for #TOFitS commence.

The Cover Art Boogie-Man: Slain

*SIGH* My nightmare has ended and the boogie man's ass has been kicked well and good. In my humble opinion anyway. And now, I can finally share with all of you my dream that's become reality despite me not having any artistic talent, vision, ability to make decisions, or even the most minimal knowledge of HTML, RGB, or CMYK. I was rescued and I was rescued in a HUGE way by someone I'm blessed to be able to call friend as well as my hero.

♥

And to the bitch responsible (YOU know who you are...), truly, there are no words to express my gratitude for what you've done, so I'll just tell you I love your face like fuckin' crazy and we'll leave it at that. :-*

♥

So, without further ado, I give you the new cover for Shark Bait in addition to the soon to be released 2nd book in the Grab Your Pole series, The Other Fish in the Sea.

Previously homeschooled Camie Ramsey is being shoved into the shark-infested waters of public high school, where even helium filled, penguin bespeckled arm floaties likely won’t help keep her inexperienced, fifteen-year old head above water in that rip current of hormones and emotions.
Camie’s worldly wisdom might be severely lacking (i.e., the closest she’s come to being kissed was sitting too close to the TV whilst Jake Ryan leaned in to give Samantha that fateful 16th birthday kiss), but she does understand her only hope for survival is if she’s thrown some kind of “social” life preserver before she sinks like a freaking rock. However, what will her fate be when she endeavors to flag down the only lifeguard on duty, the enormously popular and ridiculously beautiful Tristan Daniels? The most sought after and virtually most unattainable guy in school who not only makes Camie’s heart flatline on a recurring basis, he’s also the one guy who seemingly doesn’t know she exists.

Feeling like an inept piece of chum that could ultimately be swallowed by Jaws, can Camie get Tristan to rescue her from floundering in the treacherous deep, or is she destined to be Shark Bait?
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Author's Note:
While the tales themselves are fictional, some of the events and characters are very loosely based in reality and on my experiences—but don’t worry, the names of the characters, most of their unfortunate fashion sense and/or questionable taste in music has been changed to protect the not-so innocent.
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Due to language and some adult content, this book may not be suitable for readers under the age of 16.

♥

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♥

Camie and Tristan are back and so are their friends! Dive deeper into the lives of the GYP gang with The Other Fish in the Sea, the second installment in the Grab Your Pole Series by Jenn Cooksey.

Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from

The Other Fish in the Sea!

♥

The Other Fish in the Sea. Copyright © 2013 by Jenn Cooksey All rights reserved.

Prologue

I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s totally awesome when your parents truly like your boyfriend.

Especially when you’re about two weeks away from being sixteen years old and your boyfriend is about a month and a half shy of being eighteen.

But, just how are you supposed to react when your father actually asks your almost adult boyfriend—who is hotter than the flames of hell by the way—to move in with you while he and your mom are going to be gone for a week? Oh, and gives his permission for you to have a party or two in their absence?

Really. I’m at a loss…

I’m also getting way ahead of myself. Let’s back up a couple months, because there was what you might call a substantial quantity of drama that occurred before my father made his request of Tristan, the aforementioned hotter than the flames of hell boyfriend, to stay with my little sister and me in January. I like to call the short period of downtime in my life between when Tristan and I signed what is known as our “contract” on Halloween and shortly before Thanksgiving, the eye of the storm. And if you’re unfamiliar with what our contract is, well, we basically committed ourselves to each other exclusively and agreed on some physical boundaries in the form of a Sharpie tattoo.

Oh and in case you’ve forgotten, my name is Camie, I’m a sophomore in high school, I adore the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I have this quirk of playing various songs and scenes from movies and TV in my head. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either amusing or annoying. Most of the time I find it kind of cool unless the song sucks. Anyhow, Tristan, my drop-dead gorgeous soul mate, is a junior but should be a senior. However, there was this whole thing with chicken pox, his best friend, Jeff, and repeating third grade. But I digress… I’ll be sixteen on January fifteenth and exactly one month later, Tristan will turn the big One-Eight. Yeah, California State might take issue with it, but we’re good because our parents are cool with the age difference. And that’s an especially big relief because Tristan and I are also proud parents. Yep, that’s right! I’m a mom even though I’m still a virgin. He and I adopted two kittens on our first date and now for all intents and purposes, Phineas and Ferb are our babies. They’re girls but shhh, don’t tell them they have boy names. Tristan is certain that’ll result in an identity crisis of some kind.

Moving on…

My little sister’s name is Jillian…or the spy, or the criminal, or the evil genius. Take your pick. She goes by many names—kind of like God and Satan do. Jilly is turning thirteen on January thirteenth, which happens to be a Friday this year. She couldn’t be more thrilled with that. In fact, I’m pretty sure she wants to celebrate herself with a horror themed birthday party with all the bells (ax murderers) and whistles (zombies). I also wouldn’t be all that surprised if she figures out a way to literally raise the dead just so the party is authentic. It kind of goes back to that genius thing she’s got goin’ on. Point in fact, Jill’s in eighth grade when she should actually be in seventh based on her age. Truth is though, my sister is smart enough to be in freaking college. But again, I digress.

So, back to November…

The Other Fish in the Sea. Copyright © 2013 by Jenn Cooksey All rights reserved.