The WILDEFIRE Olympics Day 3: Pay-it-Forward Day

This is me autographing copies of WILDEFIRE at a toddler table in toddler seat at Brookline Booksmith. I felt like I was in Gulliver's Travels.

When it gets to be one season, or one month, or one week, or one day before your book's launch, it's easy to get swept up in the frenzy of full-blown self-promotion mode. You spend two years of your life writing, and rewriting, and revising, and nurturing this 393-page creature, and it's only natural as you're finally releasing it out into the world to do everything you can to ensure that it soars as high as it can.

But sooner or later you have to take a step back and come to terms with a few things:
1) Even with a few thousand twitter followers and facebook friends, even with the amazing continued support and enthusiasm of the book-blogging community, you're only reaching a microcosm of the people who will eventually read your book. And that's great.
2) If you talk about your book or the craft of writing constantly, all you'll end up with is a hoarse, scratchy voice, and that makes it awfully difficult to do book readings.
3) You're not just a reader, but a writer, and you're time is better spent sharing with others the books that you love.

So today, I give you day 3 of the WILDEFIRE Olympics: Pay-it-Forward Day. All you have to do for today's task is to go out and do something nice for a (non-Wildefire) book that you love. You can do anything: Write a nice review for it and post it on GoodReads, Amazon, and B&N. Go like or comment on a handful of thoughtful well-written reviews for it. Surprise a friend by mailing or ordering them a copy of a great novel. Then just post in the comments below what you did and what book you did it for. (Selfishly, my ulterior motive is to hear some summer reading recommendations from you).

My wholehearted recommendation to you today is one of my favorites from 2011: WITCH EYES by Scott Tracey.

If you want a glimpse into what makes WITCH EYES one of the fall's best upcoming paranormal romances, take a gander at this teaser from chapter 2:

There was a moment where time seemed to fracture, a crystalline snapshot of the world where Uncle Jonathan had started raising his arm, his face full of fear and alarm. Where motes of sunlight lay poised above me, and the westerly breeze was tangible and tangled up against my skin. It was as if the world around me had called a time out.

Then the landscape expanded into something larger than four dimensions, the binding boiled itself down to an alphabet of magic, and the visions swallowed me up.

Elegant prose. Explosive magic. A fresh, seductive romance. And hellhounds. What more do you want?

Witch Eyes won't hit bookstores until September, but one lucky reader who participates in Pay-it-Forward Day and posts below will win a signed ARC. And of course you'll be entered to win one of the two 16x20-inch WILDEFIRE canvas prints I'll be drawing on Sunday.

So go do something nice for a great book, then head back here and let me know what you did. As with the other day, you can comment below anytime between now and Sunday July 31st when I draw the winners. To wrap up, as usual, I give you a flashback video from Karsten's Greatest Hits.

The WILDEFIRE Olympics Day 2: Picture Day

WILDEFIRE officially hits bookstores today! ...Even though it's been in most bookstores for a week and most copies via Amazon and B&N have already been shipped.

Today's mission, if you choose to accept it, is to take a picture of yourself with a copy of WILDEFIRE. OR, if it's on your Nook/Kindle/Kobo/Abacus/Speak & Spell, just take a picture of yourself with the cover up on the screen. For example...

...this is a picture from last Halloween when WILDEFIRE and I went trick-or-treating as a cowboy and a gangster.

Once you've taken a picture of yourself with the book, just tweet it with the #Wildefire hashtag or tag the WILDEFIRE fan page on facebook with it. Then post a comment below with your name, email and city/state letting me know you've completed day 2's task.

At the end of the week I'll be tallying the entries and randomly drawing two grand-prize winners of 16x20 canvas prints of the gorgeous WILDEFIRE cover, but anyone who participates in Picture Day will be entered for a bonus prize:

A pre-order of THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by my talented Simon & Schuster-in-law, Michelle Hodkin!

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

Doesn't that sound mindblowingly awesome? And how about that cover?? Well for one lucky winner, you'll have a finished copy waiting in your mailbox when it comes out on September 27th. In the meantime, you should follow Michelle on Twitter and check out her blog.

You can participate in Picture Day at any point between now and Sunday, July 31st when I draw the winners. Lastly, I'll be ending each day of the WILDEFIRE Olympics with a video from Karsten's Greatest Hits. Enjoy.

The WILDEFIRE Olympics

So WILDEFIRE officially comes out tomorrow. This is better than that time the green tiger in the Simon & Schuster offices ate my hand.

I wanted to do something unusual to give back to the people who have supported me since the book deal, as well as new fans and visitors who are just discovering WILDEFIRE now at their local bookstore or library. So to celebrate I'm doing a week of giveaways in what we shall call the WILDEFIRE Olympics.

Each day will have a specific, very easy task. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to participate one day, some days, or all days. For each day that you participate, you get one point. No complicated point systems. Not because I have anything against complicated points systems, but because I'm terrible at math.

WILDEFIRE OLYMPICS
Day 1 (Monday, 7/25): Facebook Day
Like the brand new WILDEFIRE Fan page on Facebook
Day 2 (Tuesday, 7/26): Picture Day
Tweet me or facebook tag a picture of you with a copy of WILDEFIRE (and identify where you're from!)
Day 3 (Wednesday, 7/27): Pay-It-Forward Day
Do something nice for a book that you love.
Day 4 (Thursday, 7/28): Video Day
Tweet or tag the Wildefire facebook page with your favorite of my author videos (see Greatest Hits in the sidebar)
Day 5 (Friday, 7/29): Favorite Line Day
Tweet or tag the Wildefire facebook page with your favorite line from the book.
Day 6 (Saturday, 7/30): Soundtrack Day
Check out my official chapter-by-chapter playlist for Wildefire, and then tweet or tag the Wildefire facebook page with your favorite song.
Day 7: (Sunday, 7/31): The winners revealed!

You can participate in any of these at any time from when the post goes up until noon EST on Sunday, July 31st. On day 7, I'll give you one digital name in the hat for each day you played. What do my TWO grand-prize winners get?

A 16x20 canvas of the gorgeous cover of WILDEFIRE.

I'll be giving away other prizes on specific days, including a signed "Director's Cut" of WILDEFIRE (with margin notes by me) and a pre-order of THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by my lovely, talented editor-sibling, Michelle Hodkin.

So. For day 1, all you have to do is go here and like the Facebook page that I literally just made. Then post a comment on this post with your name, your city/state, and your email address so I can contact you if you win. (And I apologize in advance, but because of shipping rules, the canvases are for U.S. addresses only).

In the mean time, thanks to everyone who has made the 14 months between my book deal (May 17, 2010) and Wildefire's release (July 26, 2011) such a wonderful ride. [Karsten pops champagne][Karsten hits himself in the face with the cork].

I'm Having Irish Twins!

Well, not really. Not in the Arnold Schwarzenneger-in-the-movie-Junior-male-pregnancy-and-I'm-going-to-need-a-C-Section way. I've always thought of myself more as Kindergarten Cop Arnold anyway. "It's not a too-mah!"

So if you've read WILDEFIRE and its horrific, tantalizing, possibly "I hate you Karsten"-inducing cliffhanger at the end, you probably saw this coming but:

Karsten Knight's next two books that continue the dangerous story of a fiery volcano demigoddess, to Courtney Bongiolatti at Simon & Schuster Children's, in a two-book deal, by Mary Kole at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (World).

But that, my friends, is only half the fun of this announcement. Somehow, in the vast tundra of cyberspace after the SEND button was clicked, the titles for WILDEFIRE 2 and 3 got lost off the back of the dogsled and did not make it into this listing. I share them with you now, using tiles from the WILDEFIRE cover:








Embers & Echoes and Afterglow will be released Summers 2012 and 2013 respectively. What do you think? Also, if someone with GoodReads Librarian Status wants to do the honors...

In the meantime, check out Day 3 of the ongoing WILDEFIRE Blog Tour, an interview where I could only answer using only quotes from WILDEFIRE (this was a difficult but fun one to do).

A Behind-the-Book letter I did on WILDEFIRE for Amazon.

And apparently WILDEFIRE is already in stock at Amazon. Huzzah!

What Do You Mean This Post Isn't a Vlog?

Hello dearest friends.

As you know, there are typically three things that I rarely do:
1) Written blog posts
2) Staying on-topic
3) Being serious

But today is an appropriate time to be some smorgasbord of all those things. If not a smorgasbord, at least a cruise-ship buffet. Why? Because there's only one week left until WILDEFIRE's release, and if you look closely at the images below, you'll notice that in some places it's already out.

And in the case of the Framingham Barnes & Noble, there are 50 copies:

The best part is that there's an entire row of them labeled "Tough Stuff." Walking into that bookstore was the first time I ever held a finished copy of my own book in my hands. By the time I got around to signing some of the copies while I was there, my hands were still shaking so much that whoever buys that very first signed copy will probably wonder why there's a seismograph reading on the title page. Or they'll at least wonder, "Who the hell is Kristen Knife?"

I made a promise to myself when this process began not to go too crazy on book-promotion or meditations about writing. That's why, for better or worse, I've opted to film 3-4 minutes of awkward video a few times a month, rambling tangentially about three-toed sloths, velociraptors, and Batman. However, the lovely Cindy over at Books Complete Me convinced me to do a blog tour in preparation for WILDEFIRE's release, and that tour kicks off today:

Monday, July 18th - Character Interview @ A Good Addiction
Tuesday, July 19th - 10 Things That May Surprise You About Wildefire @ Reading Teen
Wednesday, July 20th - Book Interview @ Between the Covers
Thursday, July 21st - Video Interview @ The Story Siren
Friday, July 22nd - Exclusive Wildefire Excerpt @ Mundie Moms
Monday, July 25th - The Knight Life Vlog @ Page Turners
Tuesday, July 26th - How to Summon the God/Goddess In Us All @ Books Complete Me

At each stop, the always incredible Simon & Schuster will be giving away a finished copy of the book. And of course, there will be videos from yours truly.

Next week, I'll be running a "WILDEFIRE OLYMPIC GAMES" here on the blog. The tasks will be easy. On Picture Day, you'll just have to take a picture of yourself doing something goofy with the book. On Pay it Forward Day, you'll just have to do something nice for another book that you really like, whether it's posting a review of it on Amazon or recommending it to a friend. Play one day or all of them, and at the end of the week, you'll have a shot at some lovely prizes, including my grand prize: a canvas print of the gorgeous WILDEFIRE cover. It was originally going to be a canvas of me wearing a fig leaf, but that idea was resoundingly vetoed.

Lastly, if you live in Boston or New York City, I'd love to see you at any of the three launch week events that are listed in the sidebar! Thanks to everyone who has continued to show enthusiasm for this book, and I can't wait to hear what you all think. And for non-serious Karsten, click on any of the links under "The Greatest Hits" column to the left.

Why You Shouldn't Write Your Novel on an Etch-a-Sketch

Wildefire is Wattpad.com's July Featured Contest, so I filmed this Q&A to go along with it.



"One time I found a dead cardinal at my front doorstep. I like nature. I like dolphins. I like birds. I like rocks." ~Karsten Knight, Age 6

WILDEFIRE has one hot booty!

And by "booty" I mean "caboose." And by "caboose" I mean "derriere." And as we all know, "derriere" is French for the sizzling excerpt on the back of Wildefire's jacket.

After the infamous Root Beer Nudists and Hostile Beekepers incident, I can't wait to find out what sort of traffic the use of the terms "hot booty," "derriere," and "caboose" brings to this website. Maybe some French train fetishists? (To be clear, I meant that the trains would be French, not the fetishists. Adjective fail.)