OK, picking up where I left off. The author panel was fantastic. These guys were informative and funny. The principal of Marcos De Niza High School acted as the moderator, and he spread the questions throughout the panel.
After the discussion it was time for the raffle and auction. You could buy raffle tickets that would get you anything from a signed New Moon to an ARC(Advanced Readers Copy) of an author’s latest novel. They probably pulled about 10 raffle winners or so.
Next it was time for the auction. Now truth be told I pretty much knew I was going to go down to Kara, but I figured I could keep it going awhile. What I didn’t anticipate was that each item auctioned would go for as much money as it did. I mean I guessed that the signed manuscripts and ARCS would be in the area of $300-$500 because that’s what I’ve seen them go for on ebay…boy was I wrong. Here’s the rundown of what each item went for courtesy of Shannon Hale’s blog(that also has a really cool write up):
Twilight ARC – $1500
The Host skateboard deck – $1200
Marked early ms of The Host and Eclispe went for about $4,500 each
Forever Dawn epilogue – $5100
Lunch with Stephenie (not at Taco Time) – $6500 (two winners each paying $6500)
So, midway through this auction my phone goes crazy. Seriously, it’s like I’m being hit with a cattle prod. It’s Kara texting me going, “Ouch are we in trouble.” Yes ouch, my malfuntioning phone was tasering my read end! However, we were dedicated to giving a good show and I was prepared to bid up to about $3,200 or so on a dress I was really sure I would fit into with almost no alterations necessary.
So the bidding starts and Kara and I go back and forth for a second and then the guy behind us leaps the price by thousands. You can see what happened in the video. I offered to flip Kara some extra money ( you can’t really hear that in the video) thinking we could share the dress since we live nearby, but this guy was seriously going to bankroll over us. In the end the winner was Allison of Twifans who was with the guy holding the bidding card. Both Kara and I were really happy knowing that a fan got the dress and not someone who was just going to flip it on Ebay!
I love that the auction raised so much money! I read Shannon Hale’s blog about the event and laughed at her forgetting to introduce Stephenie Meyer. I would have LOVED to have attended this but unfortunately couldn’t get away. I enjoyed Shannon Hale’s Austenland very much in between my Twilight readings
And I would have enjoyed hearing from the other authors too.
So how much did the dress go for?
Aw!! I’m bummed you didn’t get the dress, you sounded like you realllly wanted it.
But you’re right, at least it went to a fan and we all know it has a good home.
It went to someone who is much more than a fan.
Just thought you might like to know that, the great guy with the deep pockets was the husband of our very own Alison at Twifans.com . He knew after one point that if he pushed a little further, he could get this for his wife. And because he makes it a point to always do special things for her and give her what she wants, he took the leap and achieved his goal. From what I understand it was a great bidding war. Thanks for playing along.
Small correction: The moderator for the panel was actually Dr. James Blasingame, a professor of English at Arizona State University. (I only know this because I’ve taken classes from him, lol. He’s a huge advocate of Young Adult literature and an awesome guy.) He gave Stephenie a gift from the principal of the high school at the beginning of the panel, but he’s not actually the principal himself.
It’s a small detail, but Dr. Blasingame is a great professor, so I just wanted to put that out there.
I think they put him in charge because he’s the editor for two YA literature publications and does a ton of interviews with YA authors.
By the way, the auction was amazing! I’m so glad they raised so much money (and that Stephenie agreed to do two lunches, which was very generous of her). I was prepared to bid a few thousand for the Eclipse manuscript and the lunch, but as I thought, they went for quite a bit more than I could afford…
I can’t really say I was surprised, though. Those were some awesome items!
WOW thats insane! The winners must be rich because I wouldn’t have the guts to spend that much money on one small item. Its amazing though that they made a lot of money out of it and it just shows how dedicated the fans are.