#B2BCyCon Think Tank discussion

SCAVENGER HUNT! How to:

So you want to do a scavenger hunt for the Convention? Here's what you will need to do.

1 - Sign up here. Put your name and website.

2 - Somewhere on your main page add "SCAVENGER HUNT CLUE" with an answer. This will have to stay posted until the end of the Convention.

3 - Select three to five other authors w/web links from this list to add to your scavenger hunt along with their answers.

4 - On the day of the conventions, post to your Fair thread, the list of all the websites they must visit to "collect the clues" and provide to you to enter to win a giveaway.

5 - Ask me if you're still confused. I may not have it explained it right :)

Sample:

Dolor and Shadow Scavenger Hunt Giveaway.
To enter to win,
1 - Report to these three sites below
2 - Locate the "Scavenger hunt clue" on each site.
3 - Come back here and "reply" with all three correct answers.

Winner will be selected on X day of X time. EST

1 Ashley Cape's site
2 CL Schneider's site
3 My site.

I'm in.
Ronesa Aveela
http://www.mysticalemona.com

Nothing set up yet. I will have stuff in a couple weeks. Busy with editing right now. :)

I should put myself down, should't I? :)

I'm in!
Angela B. Chrysler
http://www.angelabchrysler.com

SCAVENGER CLUE: Bergen

I'm definitely in! I have to think about clues and giveaways and everything.

http://www.amcasey.com

Count me in!

Jay Norry
www.jaynorry.com

I'll have clues, and all the other good stuff, in a week or two.

I'm definitely in, to. However I don't have anything set up yet. I'll add the banner and a dedicated page for the conference/scavenger hunt after I receive the banner.
Thanks!

http://timhemlin.com/

I'm up for it. I don't have anything posted yet, but I will soon.
http://www.clschneiderauthor.com/

Just to clarify any confusion that may arise, you really only need one clue per website. Other authors will be providing clues.

Example: I will tell my readers to bring me the clues of my site, C.L. Schneider's site and I.M. Writer's site. The reader will be collecting three clues and bringing me three clues, but I only ever need to provide one.

I'm in, though I'll have to read all the posts to figure out how this will work. Are all the authors getting together on what the "answer" is and therefore what all the clues will be?

www.quoleenasbrocca.com

Angela B. wrote: "Just to clarify any confusion that may arise, you really only need one clue per website. Other authors will be providing clues.

Example: I will tell my readers to bring me the clues of my site, C..."

Another question:
If these readers bring all three clues to all three sites, do they get 1 prize or prizes from all three sites?

Tim wrote: "Angela B. wrote: "Just to clarify any confusion that may arise, you really only need one clue per website. Other authors will be providing clues.

Example: I will tell my readers to bring me the c..."

The Scavenger hunt is a giveaway, which is a creative way to allow readers to enter a "drawing"...

To enter the drawing, readers have to "retrieve" items in a scavenger hunt. These can be Google clues online or info...pictures...links...whatever :)

To encourage visits to my site and others, I am posting a word on my site that has to be retrieved along with a small collection of other things. Whoever replies to the thread and adds the "answers" or clues or requested items, is entered into a drawing for the giveaway.

Again, are the clues collective between authors? Do the word/link/image "clues" that each author posts have anything to do with a grandprize-winning pool? I'm trying to figure out if the scavenger hunt is a standard one, or if each author's participation is unrelated to another, other than directing a participant to 2 or 3 other author websites. It seems I'm totally missing something here, but I know I'm fully awake and cognizant. Regardless, please excuse my denseness!

Quoleena wrote: "Again, are the clues collective between authors? Do the word/link/image "clues" that each author posts have anything to do with a grandprize-winning pool? I'm trying to figure out if the scavenger ..."
Good question... I'm wondering the same thing. Thanks for asking, Quoleena.

Quoleena wrote: "Again, are the clues collective between authors? Do the word/link/image "clues" that each author posts have anything to do with a grandprize-winning pool? I'm trying to figure out if the scavenger ..."

The clues are collective between authors.

The "grand prize winning pool"...

If you mean the lotteries, then the lotteries are completely separate. If you wish to hold a grand prize winning pool among your team or go solo on that for the overall convention, that's fine.

"Is the scavenger hunt a standard one, or is each author's participation is unrelated to another"

Each author's participation is unrelated to another, BUT if you wish to drop name with someone, you will want to check with the author to confirm they have a clue on their site that you can use and what it is.

You can go 100% solo and send readers on a "go to the internet and bring me back links to a cat pic, a baby pic, and a giraffe pic to enter". It depends on how you wish to organize the hunt.

Thanks for the explanation!

Chess, thanks for incorporating me into your scavenger hunt. I'll do the same when I set mine up!

Okay, so I've just decided to have each person have to answer a certain question about my book that they'll be able to find on my website. (I'll need to figure out how to do this while incorporating "Scavenger Hunt Clue" on my main page.) They'll be instructed to post that answer along with the scavenger clues that they collected from:
http://www.www.chessdesalls.com
http://www.timhemlin.com
http://www.www.jaynorry.com

They'll have to post all answers, and the winner will be chosen randomly(?).

Does that sound about right, Angela?

Quoleena wrote: "Okay, so I've just decided to have each person have to answer a certain question about my book that they'll be able to find on my website. (I'll need to figure out how to do this while incorporatin..."

Yes! That's it!

Thank you, Chess!

I updated my author scavenger hunt list:

http://www.www.chessdesalls.com
http://www.timhemlin.com
http://www.www.jaynorry.com
http://www.clschneiderauthor.com/

Thank you everyone for clearing up the Scavenger Hunt details - I've never done one of these before, and was uncertain as to what the clue needed to be about!

I'm in as well. I'll set up a special tab before the hour is up at my website.
http://bit.ly/edireland
Really cool idea by the way :-)

OK...front page has Scavenger Hunt Clue on it linking to a page with a pic and statement answering my question. So, is there a place to go for a team or is it a matter of waiting for enough people or...? First time doing anything like this, but very eager to learn.

Just want to make sure my Scavenger Hunt team are listed correctly in my blog post, with the correct web address. Please, let me know if I missed anyone!

Chess Desalls http://www.www.chessdesalls.com

Tim Hemlin http://www.timhemlin.com

C.L. Schneider http://www.clschneiderauthor.com/

Quoleena Sbrocca http://www.quoleenasbrocca.com

Thanks for posting that, Jay! It made me check my website convention page, and I saw that I spelled Tim's name with an "e" (wha?), and I had two bad links: your's and Chess's. BTW, the link error was an extra "www," and I see you have that in Chess's link, too. You probably copy/pasted it from my post!

Oops! I think I did copy from your post - thanks for pointing out the error, I should have caught that!

I should add a direct link to the blog post I've set up for the scavenger hunt on my site (it's not live yet, but will be on April 10th).

http://wp.me/p5XaFK-9i

I know how it happened: I converted her and your link to a url to match the others in my post, and the extra www popped up after I clicked, "post." I should've hired an editor ;)

Hey, guys. This is Valerie. Tim's wife and full-time marketing publicist...well, mostly full time. Anyway, I'm updating all links today, so thanks for your reminder! I'll get on that as soon as I finish updating his hootsuite, Twitter,...you get my idea. BTW, all your pages look GREAT!

I have a page set up with the clue...I know what the question will be...now what???

I'm willing to participate in a scavenger hunt with a grand prize (will give away all three books to my series) if there are any other fantasy/ epic fantasy authors out there still looking for websites to link with?

I'm in. Will get my clue page set up ASAP. Autumn, my novel is Fantasy and I would be happy to include your site in my hunt. feel free to use mine in yours.

Patrick wrote: "I'm in. Will get my clue page set up ASAP. Autumn, my novel is Fantasy and I would be happy to include your site in my hunt. feel free to use mine in yours."

Will do Patrick! Post your info here when it is up and I'll post mine. :)

Oh yes. here is my site. http://PatrickBran.com. will have a link to the clue on the home page.

Tim wrote: "Hey, guys. This is Valerie. Tim's wife and full-time marketing publicist...well, mostly full time. Anyway, im updating all likns today, so thanks for your reminder! I'll get on that as soon as I fi..."

Was looking at The Wastelands convention page and noticed "Story HOP" Can you tell me what this is all about and is it something I can get involved in?

I believe there are more details on the Story Hop over at the Blog Tours thread.

Patrick wrote: "Tim wrote: "Hey, guys. This is Valerie. Tim's wife and full-time marketing publicist...well, mostly full time. Anyway, im updating all likns today, so thanks for your reminder! I'll get on that as ..."

Hi Patrick,

ABSOLUTELY! I'm posting the information for readers about the Story Hop on the convention thread tomorrow. I saw that Jay directed you to the Admin Blog Tour thread. If you haven't been there yet, pop on over and check it out. The story need not be completed until the Conventiongoes live. I won't post live links until then. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at tdhemlin@gmail.com. If you decide you want to be included, just let me know before or by Thursday night US Central Standard Time soI can get your live link added to the post.

Thanks,

Tim Hemlin

I have my scavenger hunt info set, but still worried I did it wrong. I see others talking about teams and I just selected three of the links listed here to add to my own contest. Is that right? Also wasn't clear if we were supposed to be asking a question that entrants must give the answer to as the clue, or just giving them the keyword clue. I am posting the text from my page here so somebody tell me If I'm doing this right.

_______________
Visit the following sites and locate the scavenger hunt clue on each. Comment on the scavenger hunt thread in my convention booth with the answers, as well as the answer to my own question. Those with all four correct answers will become part of a random selection on April 12, 2015. The winner will receive a signed copy of Charlatan’s Magic.

Gather clues from these sites:

Jay Norry (http://www.jaynorry.com)
Ed Ireland (http://bit.ly/edireland)
Autumn Brit (TBA)

Ready to enter? Visit my booth.

________________

Hi Patrick...The question for my hunt is this:
Who has the Goddess chosen to lead the Six Armies?
The answer is;
The tigress Fire

Thanks Ed. after some clarificarion as to how this works, my stop will include your site, Autmn's and my own. the Answer from my site will be 'Athena'. Autumn, I will include your info once you have it available. let me know

Jay wrote: "Just want to make sure my Scavenger Hunt team are listed correctly in my blog post, with the correct web address. Please, let me know if I missed anyone!

Chess Desalls http://www.www.chessdesalls...."

Chess, can you change my link for the scavenger hunt to this tomorrowhttp://timhemlin.com/the-2015-author-...

And we need to exchange answers for the hunt, too.

Hi guys, this is Dawn, Jay Norry's PA. In checking to insure that all of the links on Jay's scavenger hunt post are correct, I've noticed that the teams don't seem to be consistent on anyone's pages. Tim, you have Jay, Chess Desalls, and Jenny Burke listed. Chess has Tim, Jenny, C.L. Schneider, and Quoleena listed on her page. If anyone can clarify who's on what team, that would be great (Jay is as confused as I am).

Also, Jay's scavenger hunt clue is "brass bell".

Jay wrote: "Hi guys, this is Dawn, Jay Norry's PA. In checking to insure that all of the links on Jay's scavenger hunt post are correct, I've noticed that the teams don't seem to be consistent on anyone's page..."

The way that everyone signed on for this made it sort of work out so every team doesn't have the same group of people.

As for my clue, the answer is "rural Pennsylvania; John"

The way I initially understood this to work was that each author shares their link and their answer. Then everyone can choose whichever ones they want for their own individual hunts. Unless you are planning ro combine your hunt prizes, this seems the simplest way to me.

Patrick wrote: "The way I initially understood this to work was that each author shares their link and their answer. Then everyone can choose whichever ones they want for their own individual hunts. Unless you are..."

That is my understanding as well, Patrick. Each author is individually responsible for their own giveaway and ultimately their own hunt. It will work just fine as long as we each have all the answers to the clues for the author links we post on our own sites.

Simple is always best don't you agree?

Let me add that it also is a better way to cross-pollenate hunts, rather than creating closed circles of a few authors.

Patrick wrote: "Let me add that it also is a better way to cross-pollenate hunts, rather than creating closed circles of a few authors."

There's still plenty of time, too. Let me know if anyone wants to swap clues/links. I'll add you to my list. Right now I have 4.

If it helps anyone, here are the authors, sites and answers that I see already posted here. Perhaps if we all just add to this list and choose our stops from it, it would make things easier. Then if you want to announce who you intend for your list you can. That will help others fudge things a little to ensure that folks are hitting everyones hunt and maximizing the fun.

Patrick Bran (http://PatrickBran.com) "Athena"
Jay Norry (http://www.jaynorry.com) "Brass Bell"
Ed Ireland (http://bit.ly/edireland) "The tigress Fire"
Quoleena Sbrocca http://www.quoleenasbrocca.com) "rural Pennsylvania; John"

Chess wrote: "Jay wrote: "Hi guys, this is Dawn, Jay Norry's PA. In checking to insure that all of the links on Jay's scavenger hunt post are correct, I've noticed that the teams don't seem to be consistent on a..."

I was later asked to add someone who added me to their team that I hadn't known about, so yeah, my list is a bit longer. Sorry for any confusion, but that's how it worked out.

No worries, I just want to make sure I have everyone listed correctly, and that I'm understanding how this works. Thank you all for the clarification, it's very appreciated! I know Jay is looking forward to this, and so am I (can't wait to read what you guys come up with for your Story Hop)!

I'll be having a scavenger hunt with Tim Hemlin, Chess Desalls, and Jay Norri. http://www.jennysburke.com

Should be fun!

Of course, the day before the convention: my website has been down all day for some reason. If it's not up and running for tomorrow, then I'll be SOL. I use Websitebuilder.com, and of course, they have no phone number, and it takes days to get a response from them. Grrr