I want to try something. 

I want to gauge the power of social media.

And I'm going to give you something in return for helping.

But before I get to the experiment, allow me to take care of this bit of house-keeping.

*SKIP OVER THIS BORING PART IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT BOOK PLATES OR FOOTNOTES*

First, book plates!  If for any reason you did not receive your book plate after you filled out the pre-order form, please email your address to [email protected] and she will personally make sure you receive it.  I'm so sorry that this turned into a chore for a few of you and I can't apologize enough.  If we do the pre-order book plate bonus next year, we'll have a better system in place so there's no frustration on anyone's part.  (Particularly mine.)

Next, footnotes.

Please note that I did not put any profanity in front of the word footnote. 

But believe me, I'm thinking it. 

What started off as a cute gimmick because I couldn't stop overwriting eventually became my trademark. Then ereaders went mainstream and they became the bane of my existence.  Currently ereader technology does not allow for stack-overflow, which would place the footnotes at the bottom of the page like God intended.  To make up for this, we've revised all the electronic copies to have the footnotes placed in the regular text, like so:

See the part the pen points to in brackets and italics?  That's the footnote.  No muss, no fuss, no numbers.  If you buy a new electronic copy of Jeneration X (or any of the other books) I've been assured that the footnotes are all displayed this way.  And that there should be a reader's note at the beginning explaining this. 

If that is not the case, I'm going to kick someone until they are dead, likely myself.

If you bought an ebook before we updated all the files, simply contact your ebook customer service people for an updated copy.  However, I'm told that all the retailers emailed their customers to tell them the new version was available for free.  (But as most people delete what looks like spam, perhaps you didn't get the memo?)

Again, I understand how frustrating this is.  No one wants to have to get instructions on how to read a damn book.  Seriously, ARGH, HULK SMASH.  And I am sorry.  I'm looking into new ways to do the footnotes for the Tao of Martha and I don't use them at all in the novel Here I Go Again because they weren't appropriate.  In that book, Lissy Ryder is a prototypical mean girl and chatty asides didn't mesh with her character.

Anyway, let us never speak of #%$^@ing footnotes again.

*BORING PART OVER, HERE COMES THE FREE BIT*

For the next week, I'm asking you to please do me a favor and talk about my writing on a social media platform.  I'm making this request because as authors we're told that social media mentions are tantamount to success. 

And I believe this. 

But I'm curious to see exactly what extent. 

I mean, what if we've all been fooled and social media is a tempest in a teapot? 

What if it all boils down to bookstore placement and print ads?

So... please talk about me for the next week.  Not All Jen, All the Time certainly because that's creepy on all our parts.  But a mention, if you will.  A share here or there.  For example, if there's a line you loved in Jen X, please tweet it.  Have you been working on your own reluctant adulthood?  Let your network know.  Have you found yourself Flashdance-undressing in a parking lot, too?  Share it with the class.

This experiment doesn't just pertain to Jeneration X.  Can't stop quoting Bitter?  Then do it online. 

Or, if you agree that, say, Skinny Cow should spell their ads correctly, Facebook it. 

Like photos of my roses or dogs?  Pin 'em. 

Tumblr your reviews on my books, or tell Amazon, BN.com, or Goodreads. 

Microblog. 

Vlog.

Digg it, Stumble Upon it, or Chime In.  Yammer, Chatter, or Google .

Youtube that shit.

Discuss in a community forum.

I'm not even asking you to be nice.  Being human, that's my preference, of course, but it's not a hard and fast rule.  (Plus, it's not my business to tell you how you feel, even if I don't agree.)  (Unless you do it on my fan page and I have to block you to keep everyone from dog-piling for your own good because Jenizens will cut you.)

Cool?

Then, once you tweet, Facebook, post your review, etc., simply email me a link to whatever you did at:

[email protected]

and you will immediately receive a free short story that I wrote that's never before been posted!

Boom.  Just like that.  Free story, bro. 

The Girl Most Likely is a YA piece that I absolutely adored writing.  It was supposed to be in an anthology but ultimately I pulled it because I didn't think it would fit with the rest of the book.  Yet I love it and I've been looking for the best way to share it, so here we go.

The week starts... now.  Next Tuesday, I'm pulling down the link, so if you're interested, here we go!

Thanks and I'll definitely let you know what I discover!