A purely hypothetical question
Hi gang,
So here's a long story and a short question for you.
My sister is on a committee for a local charity. The charity is having a fundraiser and I've agreed to be (for lack of a better term) up for auction.
Basically, I'll go to lunch with a group of readers and their parents.
Or maybe I'll make an appearance at a birthday party.
Another option is for people to bid to have me do a school visit at their school of choice.
Really, we' don't know WHAT to do! I'm really up for pretty much anything, but here's the problem: we honestly have no idea...
1. what readers and parents will want
and
2. what people doing the bidding (it's a silent auction) will want to pay the most for.
So here's the question for you: if an author (me) lived near you and was offering a few hours of her time, how would you most want to utilize that time? It could be any of the above or ANYTHING ELSE.
Be creative and comment away!
-Ally
ps...please note that this auction will be limited to the area where I currently live. I'm afraid that due to my busy writing schedule I will not be available to travel to accommodate other events or areas.
So here's a long story and a short question for you.
My sister is on a committee for a local charity. The charity is having a fundraiser and I've agreed to be (for lack of a better term) up for auction.
Basically, I'll go to lunch with a group of readers and their parents.
Or maybe I'll make an appearance at a birthday party.
Another option is for people to bid to have me do a school visit at their school of choice.
Really, we' don't know WHAT to do! I'm really up for pretty much anything, but here's the problem: we honestly have no idea...
1. what readers and parents will want
and
2. what people doing the bidding (it's a silent auction) will want to pay the most for.
So here's the question for you: if an author (me) lived near you and was offering a few hours of her time, how would you most want to utilize that time? It could be any of the above or ANYTHING ELSE.
Be creative and comment away!
-Ally
ps...please note that this auction will be limited to the area where I currently live. I'm afraid that due to my busy writing schedule I will not be available to travel to accommodate other events or areas.
posted by Ally Carter at Friday, September 19, 2008
51 Comments:
I would probably do the dinner thing.
Depends who's doing the bidding. As a parent I would probably want you at a small gathering with my daughter and some of her friends who I hand-picked. If I was a teacher I might want you to speak at a school or to a class. You could have an auction for
A) A small "bookclub" type meeting at someone's home for X girls and parents.
B) Speaking to one class or assembly at one school for X amount of time.
C) Dinner/lunch with parent and child alone.
That way you'll get everyone bidding, not just someone interested in A or B or C.
Good luck. (I'd go for A if it were me) You're very generous with your time to do this, and I'm sure your fans will really appreciate it.
I'd love 'one on one' time with Ally because I think I could learn a lot about writing and getting started. Which is for me the easy part, so I'd also enjoy tips on how to stay with it. And best of all, just being yourself with your readers. (In case you can't tell I just finished "Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy"! GG3 can't come out soon enough for me!)
As a parent, I think that Amy is right on - offer a choice to the winner.
It's very generous of you!
Also,
Another wonderful thing to do is to have a raffel. You have a raffel,(am I spelling that right?) and then whoever wins, gets to have lunch with you to discuss your book. I thought it was pretty cool because this new upcoming author (me) plan to do things like that! But if you want to raise money then invest in something like a dollar for you to sign a book for charity or something!! :) You're the best!
GG
I don't know if you're ready for this but I immediately thought it should be packaged as a pajama party. You can have it at a local hotel, include pizza and room service in the package. Of course, you wouldn't have to spend the night but Pajamas should be mandatory. I think this would be a great birthday gift and I would spend up to $2,500
I would definately want one on one time with you but id also have to agree with amy. her way would be the best way to raise more money.
Yeah I think just talking to you about stuff would be what i would want to do. Like over dinner or something.
I think you should do the school visit of choice thing.
probably a choice between a small meeting with girls or a school assembly.
I agree with brittanyr. I would do the dinner thing, where my mom and I could have dinner with you and like a couple of my friends can too. I would (try to) bid the most-no matter the price- because having dinner with you would be the best day of my life!=D
Definitely the dinner. That would extremely cool.
I agree with Amy. Let the bidder pick. As myself, the thing I would go for would be time to ask questions about writing and GG etc., (with maybe like... 3-4 other kids, plus an adult there supervising) but everybody has their own thing. Now that I (even if I lived somewhere in the general area) would be able to afford anything like that... but I think the best idea would to give maybe 3-4 ideas on the auction sheet and let the winner choose from those.
WS
I think you should give them a choice if they win. What if it is a school principal that wins? They could do the assembly, but if it's a girl and her friends that win you could go to lunch with those girls (or boys) and a parent. I don't really like the idea of one girl and her parent, because if I met you then I would be pretty nervous and wouldnt know what to say. But chances are if you have five or six girls, someone will always have somthing to say.
AW
How is this a hypothetical question?
Wow! That's so nice of you Ally! I would totally want to have the choice of like a book talk group with a couple of my friends. Most of my friends don't like to read so it would be cool to get them to meet you and maybe get them hooked on your books! Hypothetically speaking, of course! Although, having the options on the auction sheet, like what Amy said, would be a really smart move. Well, good luck Ally!
well personally if i auctioned for you, i wouldn't want to share. so if its the actual reader probably hang out or something.
But if the school acually bids, you could do a writing work shop, but i suggest you come up with really exciting matirial beacuase, due to past expierence- they are a SNOOZFEST, im getting sleepy just thinking about them. Hope this helps!!!!!!!
I would want maybe one of your books signed and you to come to my school to answer questions. That would be kool.
Ally, I think that you should do the school choice. Because think about it, there are LOTS of kids at most schools, and that means you could TEACH those kids a lot more.
ps. GOOD LUCK!!! :)
I'd let the bidder pick but some general guidelines might be good.
I think dinner might be lots of fun. That way you have time to talk about whatever . . . your books, writing in general, George Clooney.
It would be AMAZING to have a sort of "sneak peak" of an upcoming book. Maybe a sort scene or chapter or just some info not widely known. ??
One-on-one time would be cool! so would the whole school thing!
P.S. I CAN'T WAIT FOR OCT.1!! (teh title contest for GG3!)
Well, this is actually my first time commenting but I’m glad. I have been keeping up to date for a long time since Love Me Kill Me came out. I’ve been trying to email Ally to show her a project I did for school and I made it about her books. Now I’m creating a Role Playing forum about the series also! It will be interesting, but the books are just so good it would be fun to actually play a character to RP with in 'Spy school' :D.
1-A small group brunch. A group of girls would be present so all could get their questions answered not just one alone. Top Bidders maybe? Or Top Bidder +1,2.
2-Top Bidder's school.
3- Anonymous said...
I don't know if you're ready for this but I immediately thought it should be packaged as a pajama party. You can have it at a local hotel, include pizza and room service in the package. Of course, you wouldn't have to spend the night but Pajamas should be mandatory. I think this would be a great birthday gift and I would spend up to $2,500
9:26 PM
I agree with that person a tiny bit. Maybe not that costly though?Depends on how much you get for the auction.
How about go to like, a starbucks and talk.
thats what i would want.
just to talk about how awesome you are.!
I would just say the dinner thing or the awesome sleepover.
haha!
i think you should do the lunch with a reader and their choice of friends. it gives you more one on one time with your readers and your readers with you
A parent would probably rather have the lunch, a principal or teacher would probably want you to visit the school, and the kids would probably have you come to a birthday party.
If you choose the birthday, the child would have to have a birthday when you have time, so it might not be in your best interest.
If there aren't a lot of schools in your area then it could be worse for an auction, because less people from the school will be there.
Just some food for thought :)
Hale
Hey Ally,
Dang! I wish I lived near you! LOL. anyway...
If I could bid, I would want you to hang out with me and a small group of friends for a day. Like go to the local mall and then go out for lunch! Also, I think you should sign the books of the girls who win. Parents too!
Tell us what you pick! ;-)
Wghoops21
The dinner/lunch thing would be really cool, as well as the school visit.
Amy Nathan (Comment #2) has some really good ideas.
But whatever you do, there definitely should be some signing of books.
--Nadia
Alright, this suggestion is purely based off of my love for all things Disney and the fact that you would dedicate your time for a few hours.
I would take you to Disneyland.
Now, realistically, I would probably opt for the whole dinner thing, because you can do that in a short amount of time and readers can still get to know you and ask any questions that they have about you.
Hope this helped a bit!
*Marina*
i think t is a great idea, but r u really ready to hang out with a bunch of uber excited grlS?! :-) if so, dinner, lunch, that kinda thing, well, I'm not sure how much i would spend, as a teen, my pockets are not deep. But i still think it is a Superb idea.
-Alaina
i say just kind of i don't know sit around and talk about your books and stuff or we could have a day of shopping or again go out to lunch/dinner or we could rent a book store for an hour and just hang out with some friends and talk about ur books and drink coffe or smoothies or something else delicious
i think one on one would be a little awkward, and the girl would have to be constantly asking questions.
it also depends on who's bidding.
if it's mostly parents, then a small-ish group of girls (however many you feel comfortable with, and would be best for the situation) and a parent or two, maybe meeting at a girl's house or going out to lunch or something.
if it is a school auction or a lot of teachers/principals/etc. will be bidding, then maybe a school assembly or an assembly for just a couple of classes; or a smaller group of kids, who could sign up/be picked by a raffle of some sort, or just be picked by the person who bid.
i think it wood b cool if you made an appearance at a bookstore of choice
I think you should do the diner/lunch with a reader, there parent(s) and a friend or two. Oh and i'm confused when will the crossword with the title be out?
One-on-one might not work out because things could get awkward, or the girl might be shy.
So, if you're doing the dinner, then it should be with a bunch of that girl's friends in addition to the one girl.
i would do the dinner thing, because it would provide interesting conversation!
especially if it was you, stephenie meyer, or james patterson.
yep....
I think what Amy said was right on. Also, you could try auctioning off a few autographed books too. Good luck. :)
I would pick the school visit because like you said, teens spread things by word of mouth. My friend and I went to a book store 2 weeks ago and bought your first book LYKY. We are starting a book club together and we wern't supposed to read it yet but I did and I loved it so much I told everyone I know and now they want to read it. It was so good that I went out that afternoon and bought Cross my heart, I LOVED IT!!! So I told everyone I knew and well...you get it....
But really, what better way to spread your books then through others? Good luck!
i would go with going to dinner.-LEC :)
A purely hypothetical answer:
As an author, I think it might be fun to offer to host a lunch for a specified number of readers, where you will chat and have a couple fun creative writing activities. Maybe some autographed copies of your book as a bonus.
Good luck with this,
Donna
i would do the dinner thing b/c people would get to ask you more questions and get to know you better and you in turn would learn more about what the readers think and feel about your writing.
Hey Ally,
I would just want to go hang out with. Do something fun.
-Kate L. M.
i think it would be good for you to go hang out with young aspiring writers, you could have lunch with them and then maybe talk to them about writing or help them look over a story they wrote or something. i would DEFINITLY paay for that.
If i were you..... I would make it totally spy-ish! Like, a limo ride to spy corse training (laser tag) so it would be fun, interactive, and most of all SPY-ISH!!! (then afterwords maybe a little explaination of the book and why you chose that plot-line) :)
Hi Ally,
If I was bidding I would really like to go out to dinner with you and a couple of my friends just to talk about GG and writing in general.
Also this is just a suggestion but if you have a VERY minor character in Kat/Heist or GG3 that only shows up like once or twice you could name that character after the girl (or boy) who wins. I don't know if you feel comfortable with that but I know that I would feel REALLY special to have a character named after me.
I definetely want either one-on-one time with you or invite a few friends. Really, it all depeneds on who wins the auction. You should offer them a choice.
-P.S.- Positively cannot wait until October 1!!!
I can see you offering a set amount of your time which could be used for a one on one meeting for someone who wanted feedback from a real live writer, or with a small group like party or a presentation. This way you can cap the amount of time - but gives the person bidding some options.
I think a meeting with readers would be best, because if there are several intersted people as opposed to one, you would be able to earn more money for the charity. Of course, the pajama party an anonymous person suggested would be so much fun. :D
What about giving an advanced copy of GG3? I'll bid from here... lol just want to get my hands on a copy. As a parent having an author talk to my teen and her friends would be fantastic, but I think you should go with Amys' suggestion of allowing it to be either A,B or C... that way those who want any of those options will push harder in the bidding process. And if you tell them that Zach might make an appearance you'll hear the tanties from the girls trying to persuade their parents to buy your time. *g*
If they are big readers then maybe they would auction for you to be a special guest at their book club. I know I would!
-Devin
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