Q&A with New York Times Best Seller Susan Mallery - Part Four

The recent Buzz has been that you have your own team of Cheerleaders for the release of Only Mine and the books to follow.  How did the idea come about?  What is their purpose?  How did you choose the squad?

Often, I hear from excited fans who discovered me because someone put one of my books in their hands and said, "You have to read this!" It moves me. And this year, it inspired me to create the Fool's Gold Varsity Cheerleading Squad. I decided to form a team of avid readers to share with the world their love of Fool's Gold, the Land of Happy Endings. (Fool's Gold is the setting of my ongoing series of romance novels. It's a quirky small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Fool's Gold is dealing with a man shortage. This year's stories center around the Hendrix triplets. They are ONLY MINE, ONLY YOURS, and ONLY HIS.) The cheerleaders will earn lots of prizes along the way for doing what they love - talking about books - and I will dedicate a book next year to the grand prize winner. 

I invited my fans to "try out" for the team by sharing three creative ideas for spreading the word about Fool's Gold. I was overwhelmed by the response! More than 500 fans tried out in the first few days, with some pretty amazing ideas. As I read through their applications, their enthusiasm brought a lump to my throat. I wish I could have accepted every one of them and had a cheerleading battalion that could take over the country. Unfortunately, I
only had 25 advanced copies of ONLY MINE to give away. Selecting the final 25 was a daunting task. I wanted to get a good mixture of people who emphasized online ideas and those who emphasized in-person ideas, such as standing in front of a bookstore on release day, wearing a sandwich board, ringing a bell like the Salvation Army. (Yes, she got picked. Hi, Stacey!) I also wanted cheerleaders from all across the U.S., so geography played a
role. 

I don't know if it was pure luck or my discerning genius, but I am thrilled with the cheerleaders who made the team! They've handed out bookmarks, talked to people at the bookstore, called long distance friends. And now they're doing a blog tour to tell the world how much they love Fool's Gold! 

Where can readers meet the squad?
 The cheerleaders are pictured on my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/SusanMallery?closeTheater=1.  You can also join my Goodreads fan page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8716.Susan_Mallery and my Goodreads group to discover other readers who love my books! (Including the cheerleaders!) at 

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/49998.We_love_Susan_Mallery_