If it weren’t enough that reading is so much fun and teaches me and makes me happy and so on and so forth, it gives back.

There are a billion authors out there that give back. J.K. Rowling fell on the list of Forbes richest because of the amazing amount of money that she spends on charities. Meg Cabot donates all proceeds from her book Ransom my Heart (written as her fictional character Mia Thermopolis) to Greenpeace. John Green has openly donated to plenty of projects. Authors are fantastic.

And here’s just one more reason to remember how amazing authors are.

It’s called YA For NJ.

And its simple: its a bunch of young adult authors (mostly those east coast ones) teaming up together to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief. Many of the authors doing this live on the east coast and experienced Hurricane Sandy personally and want to give back to their own backyards.

So there is an eBay page set up (click it right here)

You can bid on several different things in order to raise money for the relief fund: autographed books, autographed arcs (books that aren’t published yet), autographed collection of books, school visits, panel events, manuscript and query letter critiques, dedications in future books, your name in future books, and so on.

And there are a TON of authors doing it. Libba Bray (a signed copy of the Diviners and autographed copies of her Gemma Doyle trilogy). Jen Calonita. Sarah Dessen. Jerry Spinelli. James Patterson. Elizabeth Scott. Melissa da la Cruz. Holly Black. Carol Snow. Kieran Scott. Lauren Oliver.

The list goes on and on and on. A ton of really great authors.

So its amazing opportunity. You can have a chance to own an autographed copy of an author you love or you could get to have a skype chat with them, or have your writing critiqued.

And all of the money earned goes to help people in need. Its wonderful.

So go out there and bid on stuff. I have my eye out on that Gemma Doyle trilogy…I worship Libba Bray…and help out, you know? Our biggest weapon is our brain…and some of the best weapons in the world are books (thank you, doctor who) and lets use them, in any way we can to help out.

I urge you to check out the ebay page and make some bids, or check out their faecbook page for more information.

And may I say…young adult literature, just another reason it rocks :)

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