This is a chance to win a free autographed copy of Seven in a Jeep. This book is a memoir of Ed Gaydos’s time in Vietnam. The giveaway started today, Monday April 28th, and will end at midnight on Friday, May 2nd.

Ed Gaydos was not a hero. Shipped off to Vietnam in 1970, he did not capture a single enemy soldier. or single-handedly dismantle the Ho Chi Minh trail. He sat on a remote patch of sand behind barbed wire with a bunch of teenagers, dodging incoming mortars, battling insects,  and holding back an avalanche of paperwork.

This hilarious intelligent memoir of the regular soldiers of the Vietnam War will leave readers of all types hungry for the next story. With an unflinching eye for detail that spares no one, even himself, Ed Gaydos reveals his personal struggles to make sense of the war. He somehow manages to exit laughing in Seven in a Jeep.

You can enter to win here: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/90293-seven-in-a-jeep

Thank you and good luck to everyone!

Get all of the details about the contest here.

Columbus Creative Cooperative (www.ColumbusCoop.org) is a fantastic group to support.  They provide lots of resources to writers of all skill levels, and frequently run fun contests to stimulate your creativity.

The top winner of this contest wins an Amazon Kindle!  Check it out.

We’re giving away a handful of autographed, limited edition Advance Review Copies (copies that are given to reviewers ahead of time, and may still contain some proofing errors).

The giveaway is taking place through Seven in a Jeep‘s Goodreads page, which you can access here. The giveaway ends in less than three days, so if you want a chance to get on it, check it out right away.

If you can’t wait for the giveaway, you can always find Seven in a Jeep in both hardcopy and digital edition on Amazon.

Speaking of giveaways, have you taken a photo yet for our $20 Amazon gift card contest? You can find all the details about the contest here, but the short version is this: snap of photo of yourself (or a friend) reading Seven in a Jeep in a creative or interesting location.

Post it to social media with the #seveninajeep hash tag, and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card, along with a signed copy of Surplus: The Long Arm of Vietnam.

Pretty easy, right? We thought so.

Between new contests, special holiday sales and public speaking engagements, Ed’s going to have his hands full for the next several weeks. And that’s the way we like it.

Just to give you a rundown of what we have coming up in the month of July, here are a few highlights:

• Our Independence Day Sale is underway, and will continue for the rest of the week. To honor the holiday, the Amazon Kindle edition of Seven in a Jeep is available for only 99 cents.
• The latest book contest is well underway. For a chance at a $20 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of Surplus, all you need to do is photograph yourself reading Seven in a Jeep in an interesting setting. You can check out the details here.
• Ed will be speaking at several spots around central Ohio this month. Kicking things off next week will be a presentation at the Upper Arlington Senior Center with its Current Events Discussion Group on July 9, followed by a book signing at The Book Loft in Columbus on July 11. Feel free to come out and join the discussion!

To keep the ball rolling, we’re kicking off a new month-long contest to reward you faithful followers, and to hopefully spread the word about Ed Gaydos’s writing a little farther. So, here’s the rundown:

Snap a photo of yourself (or have a friend do it) reading Seven in a Jeep in an interesting location. The setting can be whatever cool place you can come up with (Niagara Falls, on top of an elephant at the Columbus Zoo, Hitler’s secret bunker –  you get the idea). The more creative the better – have your own vintage Army Jeep? You’re golden.

Here’s an example to show you what we mean, modeled by our friend Andy, next to a classy mural down the street from his co-working space, the Salt Mines.

After you’ve photographed something similarly awesome, upload it to Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook… whatever your favorite flavor of social networking might be. Make sure you include the hashtag #SevenInAJeep with your photo. We’ll be using that to keep track of your entries.

After about a month, the team at Columbus Press will select a handful of finalists, which we’ll post on our Seven in a Jeep Facebook fan page. You’ll then have a chance to vote on your favorites.

The grand prize winner will receive a $20 Amazon gift card, along with a signed copy of Surplus: The Long Arm of Vietnam. Due to be released August 1, Surplus is Ed Gaydos’s new companion piece to Seven in a Jeep, which includes new chapters that didn’t make it into the original manuscript, dealing with how his experience in Vietnam shaped his view of leadership and his career as a business executive.

Second place in the contest will also get a signed copy of Surplus.

That’s basically it for the contest instructions. Get creative, and it’s okay if you use a “digital” copy of Seven in a Jeep for your photo (although it would be handy if we can see the cover on your screen). Extra consideration will be given for those who post across multiple platforms. And the more likes and shares your photo gets, the more likely it is to get our attention.

If you still need to pick up a copy of the book, you can find Seven in a Jeep for nearly any platform here on our site.

So – get to it! (Also, climbing an elephant at the zoo would probably be a bad idea. We don’t endorse it.)