Follow @AnnietheNorm for all the DIRT on the Cresties and Norms!

Can't get enough of ALLY, JAKE and all their friends (and foes) from SHE'S SO DEAD TO US and HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT? Then just follow Annie Johnston this summer on twitter @AnnietheNorm and you'll get even more inside dish on the goings on in Orchard Hill, and down at LBI!

Following the same day-to-day time line as HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT, Annie will be tweeting behind the scenes info about what's going on in Orchard Hill while Ally's down the shore this summer. Want to know who David Drake is hooking up with? Annie's got the dirt. Curious how Shannen's passing her time sans Crestie friends? She'll fill you in. She even has the detes on Jake's random ways to survive his grounding (hint: he works out--without a shirt--a LOT).

So click on over to twitter and follow Orchard Hills' most accomplished spy and gossip. You'll be glad you did!

@AnnietheNorm

Having trouble finding HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT?

I've been getting a lot of tweets and emails from frustrated readers over the past two days. Why? Because yesterday morning ya'll ran out to your nearest bookstore, after months of patient waiting, to buy HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT on its release date, and some of you COULDN'T FIND IT! I can't tell you how annoyed this makes me, and I'm here to explain why it's happening.

First of all, there's the easy explanation: some of you might have gotten to your store before they had a chance to shelve all the new books. Books always come out on Tuesdays, so sometimes there's a lot of new stock to put out and it can take a while.

But there is another, more annoying (to me anyway) reason you might not have found the book you were looking for. Here, a slight peek into the book business.

Because SHE'S SO DEAD TO US wasn't a huge bestseller right out of the gate, a lot of bookstores only ordered a few meager copies of HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT. Their logic? They didn't sell a lot of the first book, so clearly they're not going to sell a lot of the second. Why stock them? Of course, you and I know why. Because over the last year, SHE'S SO DEAD TO US has built up a serious following through people who have borrowed the book from libraries or friends and now all of you want to see what happens next. But you're out of luck, because they ordered the sequel based on the numbers the first book sold.

Which means that A) Your store might have sold their one, two or three copies before you got there or B) They might not have stocked any at all.

Sigh.

Here's my suggestion on how to deal with this situation when it arises, whether its in the case of HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT or any other book you might not be able to find:

TRACK DOWN SOMEONE WHO WORKS THERE AND ASK THEM TO HELP YOU!

If they don't have the book in stock, they'll order it for you because they want your sale. This will also let them know that they're not stocking books that people want, and they might order more copies for the store, so you'll be doing your friends a favor. Also, they'll know to stock more copies of THIS IS SO NOT HAPPENING next summer so this won't happen to you again.

I know sales people can be intimidating, for some reason. I'm still intimidated by certain stores. But don't be! Remember, the CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! They're there to help you and they want your business. Letting them know there's something they don't have that people want only helps everyone.

There. I've said my piece. And now, I'm off my soap box.

And if you REALLY can't find the book, there's always bn.com, amazon.com, etc. etc. and your local library. Just get your hands on it! Cuz I think you're gonna like it. :)