There are just a few weeks left of 2011, so of course the bloggers at All Things Urban Fantasy are already anxiously awaiting some of the biggest releases of 2012.  Over the next three weeks, we’ll each be listing our Top 12 for 2012 titles as part of a new feature officially launching in 2012 called Paranormal Picks (more about that later).  Abigail’s picks will be posted on Dec 4th, Julia’s on Dec 11th, and Kristina’s on Dec 18th. These 12 titles (and a few honorable mentions that are scant on details but big on expectations) make up our most coveted releases, so it goes without saying that we would LOVE to review them.  Please contact Abigail directly AllThingsUrbanFantasy AT gmail DOT com and we’ll get back to you right away.

 

 

And my Top 12 are…

 

It's that time of year again to start nominating covers for the
2010 Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards
presented by All Things Urban Fantasy

If you are one of the 2519 people who voted in the inaugural 2009 Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards last year, you know how this works:

• Nominations-The nomination process begins today and runs through November 20th. 
  • Who Can Nominate? - Keeping with last year's format, I'm asking Bloggers, Reviewers, Authors, Publishers, Publicists, Editors, and Artists etc. to do the heavy lifting of narrowing down the hundreds of paranormal titles released in 2010 down to the best of the best each category via the nomination form (see below). 
• Voting - On December 1st voting begins (open to everyone) and will run through December 29th.
• Winners - On January 1st the winning covers will be announced including the Cover of the Year.  See the 2009 winners HERE
• Giveaways – Everyone who votes will be entered to win all the giveaways.  More details to come. (*NOTE* If you are an author/publisher etc. and want to offer a giveaway for the voters please contact me.

A few changes are in store for this year's awards including a couple of new categories and the retirement of a few old ones.  Here are the 15 categories for the 2010 awards:

• Best Anthology Cover
• Best Foreign (non US) Cover
• Best Paranormal YA Cover
• *NEW CATEGORY* Best Paranormal Steampunk Cover
• *NEW CATEGORY* Best Object Cover
• Best Male Cover
• Best Female Cover
• Best Duo Cover
• Best Male w/ Animal Cover
• Best Female w/ Animal Cover
• Most Unique Cover
• Best Debut Cover
• Best Covers in a Series
• Best Sneak Peak Cover for 2011
• Cover of the Year 2010

I’ve contacted a number of Bloggers, Reviewers, Authors, Publishers, Publicists, Editors, and Artists already, but if I missed you and you’d like to take part in the nomination process, you must fill out THIS FORM by November 20th. 

A couple of good cover resources to check out are All Things Urban Fantasy's Cover Art posts & Hot Off The Press posts or check out Literary Escapism's comprehensive Facebook photo albums. 

If you have a question, please check out the Awards FAQ from last year or feel free contact me.

Grab the button and spread the word!

 
<a href="http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i982.photobucket.com/albums/ae307/AllthingsUF/2010coverawards-1-1.png" alt="Hoted by All Things Urban Fantasy" width="125" height="125" /></a>

 

Kristi from The Story Siren has her Dear Story Siren posts where she shares her extensive blogging knowledge by answering questions from bloggers.  Rachel from Parajunkee’s View has her Book Blogging 101 posts where she covers all sorts of blogging basics.  Inspired by their efforts, I’m launching my own blogging advice feature called How I Blog. 

Believe it or not, I actually do get the occasional email from bloggers asking how I handle various blog related details.  I basically give out the same advice, recommend the same tools, and explain the same protocols every time.  My way may not always be the best way, but I have discovered a number of useful tips and tricks gleaned from other bloggers and my own experience that I feel compelled to share including (in no particular order):

How I…

• Build my posts
• Handle interviews & guest blogs
• Review
• Acquire ARCs
• Run giveaways
• Manage time
• Use blog design
• Schedule
• Utilize the best plug-ins & tools
• Approach collaborations
• Work with publishers, publicists, and authors

And probably more.  I have no set schedule for these posts, they will pop up whenever I have an opening in the schedule or receive a specific request/question, so feel free to contact me if there is a topic you want me to cover.   The first How I Blog topic was a no-brainer.  It’s my absolute favorite blogging tool.  I use  it for every single post I build including this one:

Windows Live Writer

“Windows Live Writer, developed by Microsoft, is a desktop blog-publishing application that is part of the Windows Live range of products. It features WYSIWYG authoring, photo-publishing and map-publishing functionality, and is currently compatible with Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint blogs, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Wordpress, Telligent Community, PBlogs.gr, JournalHome, the MetaWeblog API, the Movable Type API, Blogengine and all blogs that support RSD (Really Simple Discoverability).” – Wikipedia

Basically, Windows Live Writer is a free downloadable program that bloggers can use to build posts, save drafts, and publish posts.  There are tons of reasons why I love this program:

What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)

• Writer lets to build your posts with a WYSIWYG editor.  If you’re completely HTML challenged, you can use writer just like you would a Word program. If you like to edit HTML, it also lets view and edit the source code.
• You can change font, size, color, bold, italicize, underline, strikethrough
• Easily adjust spacing, and headlines.
• Add numbering, bullets, or block quotes. 
• Insert hyperlinks, pictures, tables, and videos.  If you’ve ever struggled with embedded videos that  were too wide, Writer automatically sizes them for you:

Preview your posts before you publish

Using a feature called theme detection (View>Refresh Theme), Writer can show you a preview of what your post will look like before you post it. This is super helpful when dealing with images and spacing.

Customize Writer with plug-ins

My favorite thing about Writer is the plug-ins. (Tools>Options>Plug-ins)There are over 150+ plug-ins available.  Here are my favorites:

• Template Plugin – (Insert>Template) Best. Plug-in. Ever.  Do you post the same kind of posts each week?  Do you format them the same way each time?  Even if you just set up a Review template like mine below you will save tons of time:  
• Title Link - (Insert>Title Link) You copy a link, for example: http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-review-policy.html and it turns into: All Things Urban Fantasy: My Review Policy. I lived for this plug-in when I did my Win on Wednesday posts and I still use it all the time.
• Amazon Book Linker - (Insert> Amazon Book Linker) This is another time saver.  With one click you can add the picture and info for any book on Amazon. It’s fully customizable with HTML to include whatever details you like, and you can even set it up to automatically use your Amazon Associates ID in the link. Now if only it worked with Book Depository…

Lots More

There many more helpful features in Writer. The longer I use it, the more I discover.  Do yourself a favor and try it.  You can download it HERE

Launched in 2009, All Things Urban Fantasy is the place where para is normal. This blog is devoted to keeping readers up to date on the latest books in the genre including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal YA, Dark Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, and some speculative fiction including Dystopian and Steampunk. We have established this site as one most popular and influential blogs in the paranormal genres.

Stats as of March 2012

2259+ Google Followers
3104+ Email Subscribers
1463+ Twitter Followers
18,000+ Average Unique Visitors per month

Who is Abigail?

I am a book lover with an obsession for all things urban fantasy.  I cut my teeth on the paranormal genre with Buffy and Twilight before discovering Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews. Suffice it to say I’ve never looked back.  I am the co-founder of ARC Swap, and in 2011 I managed the Urban Fantasy portal on both Facebook and Twitter for Tor.com covering ‘everything that goes bump in the night in books, movies, TV, and more.’

Series I Love:

 

Who is Julia?

I’ve been reading Urban Fantasy for so long, I remember when Anita Blake didn’t believe in premarital sex and there was no genre name big enough to contain mysteries, thrillers, and romances that happened to contain werewolves, vampires, and witches.  Some of my favorite authors that have written Urban Fantasy include Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Ilona Andrews, and Nalini Singh. You can also find me on Twitter, Goodreads and LibraryThing.

Series I Love:

Who is Kristina?

I am an avid reader and enjoy a variety of genres from mysteries and thrillers to urban fantasy and historical fiction. My foray into urban fantasy started off with a recommendation that I read some of Kelley Armstrong’s books. After I saw how wonderfully fun and compelling this genre could be I explored more urban fantasy authors and books. Some of my favorite authors in this genre are Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, and Jim Butcher. You can me on Twitter.

Series I Love:

What kind of content can you expect to find?

• Reviews
• Top 10 Lists
• Author posts & interviews
• Giveaways
• News (cover reveals, debut info, series details…)
• Special events