Your Browser is not Supported.

We recommend the latest version of Safari, Firefox, Chrome, or Microsoft Edge.

Update your browser

The Con-a-Sutra Sweepstakes Official Rules

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE THE CHANCES OF WINNING. INTERNET ACCESS AND VALID E-MAIL ADDRESS REQUIRED.

1. Eligibility: This Sweepstakes is open only to persons who are 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry. The Sweepstakes is only open to legal residents of the United States, and is void outside the United States and where prohibited by law. Employees of BenBella Books, Inc., their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and prize suppliers (collectively the “Employees”), and immediate family members (defined as parent, child, sibling, spouse) and/or those living in the same household of Employees are not eligible to participate in the Sweepstakes or win the prize. The Sweepstakes is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.

2. Agreement to Rules: By participating, the Contestant (“You”) agree to be fully unconditionally bound by these Official Rules, and You represent and warrant that You meet the eligibility requirements. IF YOU DO NOT INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT TO THESE OFFICIAL RULES AS SET FORTH BELOW, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ENTER THE SWEEPSTAKES. In addition, You agree to accept the decisions of BenBella Books, Inc., as final and binding in all respects with regard to this Sweepstakes.

3. Sweepstakes Period: Entries will be accepted online starting on June 4, 2021 at or after 9:00 a.m. Central Time (CT) and ending June 30, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. CT. All entries must be received by June 30, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. CT. BenBella Books, Inc.’s computer is the official clock for the Sweepstakes.

4. How to Enter: There are three ways to enter the Sweepstakes:

  • The Sweepstakes may be entered by submitting an entry using the online form provided at http://smartpopbooks.com/the-con-a-sutra-sweepstakes, the Sweepstakes Website (“base entry”).
  • If you have pre-ordered THE CON-A-SUTRA, email your name and a copy of your receipt to heather@benbellabooks.com.
  • You can also enter by going to Twitter and tweeting your best cosplay idea at @smartpopbooks with the hashtag #ConASutraSweepstakes.

There is a limit of one (1) base entry per person per day (12:00 a.m. CT – 11:59 p.m. CT; except for June 4, 2021 which begins at or after 9:00 a.m. CT). Use of any means to violate this entry limit will result in acceptance of only the initial entry, with all other entries being declared void. However, BenBella Books, Inc. reserves the right to disqualify an individual from the Sweepstakes altogether, with all of his/her entries being declared void, if BenBella Books, Inc. determines in its sole discretion that an individual has engaged in egregious, blatant or repeated violations of the entry limit.

In addition, after he/she has received a base entry, a person may receive additional entries by posting content (either provided by BenBella Books, Inc. or original content which is NOT provided by BenBella Books, Inc.; see Rule 8 for additional restrictions as to original content) regarding The Con-a-Sutra on his/her public Twitter account, along with the tags @SmartPopBooks and #ConASutraSweepstakes. CAUTION: IF EITHER TAG IS OMITTED OR INCORRECT, NO ADDITIONAL ENTRY WILL BE FURNISHED IN CONJUNCTION WITH POSTING  CONTENT ON INSTAGRAM AND/OR TWITTER. (No additional entry will be received if content provided by BenBella Books, Inc. has been modified in any way [other than inclusion of the prescribed tags] or if original content violates the content requirements set forth in Rule 8 below or the policies of Twitter, as applicable. As per Rule 7 below, the prize winner will be selected via random drawing and, accordingly, the quality of original content will not be taken into consideration in determining the prize winner.)   Proof of transmission of completed online form does not constitute proof of receipt of same or proof of base entry; proof of posting of provided or original content on Twitter does not constitute proof of receipt of same or proof of additional entry. Use of automated, programmed or like means of participation is prohibited and will result in disqualification of such individual, with his/her entry/entries being declared void. In the event of a dispute over the identity of an entrant, base entry will be deemed submitted by the Authorized Account Holder of the e-mail account from which the online form is submitted as of date of entry and additional entry will be deemed submitted by the Authorized Account Holder of the e-mail account associated with the Twitter account used to post the provided or original content in question. Authorized Account Holder means the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, on-line service provider, or other organization that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.   Standard message and data rates and/or wireless Internet access charges may apply if you choose to participate in the Sweepstakes via mobile device, including but not limited to obtaining additional entries via posting of content on Twitter.  You may be charged by your wireless carrier in conjunction with using your mobile device to enter the Sweepstakes. Be sure to check your wireless carrier’s pricing plan before participating in the Sweepstakes with your mobile device. Wireless Internet access may not be available in all areas and is not available on all mobile devices. Receipt of entries may be acknowledged by BenBella Books, Inc., but such acknowledgment does not constitute any representation as to Sweepstakes eligibility or notification of selection as the potential winner nor is it otherwise binding upon BenBella Books, Inc. in any respect. The preceding includes but is not limited to BenBella Books, Inc. perhaps commenting upon content posted by persons on Twitter (and thereby receiving additional entries).

5. Prizes: The Winner of the Sweepstakes (the “Winner”) will receive the original piece of art titled Animal Xing by J.K. Woodward. Approximate Retail Value: $625.00. Actual Value of prize may differ at time of prize award; and, if Actual Value of prize is less than the Approximate Retail Value, winner will NOT receive the difference in value. The specifics of the prize shall be determined by BenBella Books, Inc. in its sole discretion. No cash or other prize substitution shall be permitted except at BenBella Books, Inc.’s sole discretion. The prize is nontransferable; the prize is not redeemable or exchangeable for cash. Any and all unspecified expenses in conjunction with acceptance and use of prize shall be the sole responsibility of Winner.  All federal, state, and/or local taxes, shall be the sole responsibility of Winner, who will be issued an IRS 1099 Tax Form reflecting the fair market value of the prize; and, Winner agrees to fully cooperate with BenBella Books, Inc. in conjunction with the Company’s compliance with all Internal Revenue Service and other reporting requirements relative to awarding of the prize to Winner.

Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for BenBella Books, Inc. and its designees, to use Winner’s name, likeness, image, photo, voice, city/state, and other indicia of persona for purposes of advertising, publicity and trade purposes without notice/approval of any kind and without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

6. Odds: The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries (i.e., base entries and additional entries) received.

7. Winner Selection and Notification: Winner will be selected by random drawing under the supervision of BenBella Books, Inc. The random drawing will take place on or about July 2, 2021. Potential winner will be notified by e-mail or direct message on Instagram or Twitter approximately five (5) days following selection of Winner. Potential winner must complete, sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release and a Publicity Release (where lawful) within five (5) days of notification. BenBella Books, Inc. shall have no liability for Winner’s failure to timely receive (or receive altogether) notification e-mail due to spam, junk e-mail or other security settings or for Winner’s provision of incorrect or otherwise non-functioning contact information. If Winner cannot be contacted for any reason, is ineligible, fails to timely return a completed and executed Affidavit/Release, or is otherwise in violation of these Official Rules, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate Winner selected from among all remaining eligible entries received for the random drawing. Receipt by Winner of the prize offered in this Sweepstakes is conditioned upon compliance with any and all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. ANY VIOLATION OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES BY WINNER (AS DETERMINED IN BENBELLA BOOKS, INC.’S SOLE DISCRETION) WILL RESULT IN WINNER’S DISQUALIFICATION, AND ALL PRIVILEGES AS WINNER WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED (AND, BENBELLA BOOKS, INC. SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY OR OBLIGATION TO SUCH INDIVIDUAL UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY.)

8. Additional Entries/Original Content: If participating in the Sweepstakes by posting original content NOT provided by BenBella Books, Inc. on Twitter, You represent and warrant that such content is an original work of authorship, and does not violate any third party’s proprietary or intellectual property rights. If your purportedly original content infringes upon the intellectual property right of another, You will not receive an additional entry for posting such content and such action may result in disqualification from Sweepstakes. If such purportedly original content is claimed to constitute infringement of any proprietary or intellectual proprietary rights of any third party, You shall, at your sole expense, defend or settle against such claims. You shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless BenBella Books, Inc., from and against any suit, proceeding, claims, liability, loss, damage, costs or expense, which BenBella Books, Inc., may incur, suffer, or be required to pay arising out of such infringement or suspected infringement of any third party’s right. In addition, You understand and agree that any original content will not (a) be inappropriate, obscene, pornographic; (b) be demeaning or derogatory of any person based on religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, disability or other classification of any kind; (c) advocate alcohol or drug use, or any illegal conduct of any kind; and/or (d) disparage or adversely affect the goodwill and business reputation of BenBella Books, Inc., The Con-a-Sutra (or other titles issued by BenBella Books, Inc.) or J.K. Woodward. You further understand and agree that such posted content must be relevant to the Sweepstakes theme – The Con-a-Sutra. SHOULD BENBELLA BOOKS, INC. DETERMINE IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION THAT YOUR ORIGINAL CONTENT IS IN VIOLATION OF THIS RULE, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL ENTRY AND YOU MAY BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE SWEEPSTAKES. (SUCH ACTIONS ARE IN ADDITION TO ANY RIGHTS THAT BENBELLA BOOKS, INC. MAY HAVE WITH REGARD TO INFRINGEMENT/SUSPECTED INFRINGEMENT, AS SET FORTH ABOVE.)

GRANT OF RIGHTS IN CONTENT:  Should You post original content, You grant to BenBella Books, Inc. and its designees the nonexclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable right and license to use, perform, exhibit and reproduce and/or otherwise exploit such content in any manner and in any and all distribution channels, venues or media now known or hereafter developed, without further notice or any compensation to You.  This grant of rights is subject to any rights retained by Twitter in their respective social media platform (as applicable).  You further waive any “Moral Rights of Authors” or similar natural rights of ownership that You may have in such content and agree, upon the request of BenBella Books, Inc. and without compensation of any kind, to execute any additional documentation so as to effect, record or perfect such grant of rights. You further understand and agree that BenBella Books, Inc. has wide access to ideas, stories and other literary or artistic materials submitted to BenBella Books, Inc. by outside sources or being develop by its own employees and that such ideas/stories/literary/artistic materials may be similar or even identical to the content You posted for the Sweepstakes and BenBella Books, Inc. shall not have any liability to You or any third party in conjunction with same.  You also understand and agree that BenBella Books, Inc. does not have any duty of confidentiality or other fiduciary duty to You relative to such posted content.

ANY ORIGINAL CONTENT WHICH IS POSTED TO PROSPECTIVE ENTRANTS IN THE SWEEPSTAKES REPRESENTS SOLELY THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF SUCH PROSPECTIVE ENTRANTS AND NOT THOSE OF BENBELLA BOOKS, INC. AS SUCH, BENBELLA BOOKS, INC. DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY IN CONJUNCTION WITH SUCH POSTED CONTENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LIABILITY FOR MODERATING, MONITORING, REVIEWING OR FILTERING CONTENT POSTED BY PROSPECTIVE ENTRANTS.  BENBELLA BOOKS, INC. WILL NOT EDIT OR MODIFY CONTENT POSTED BY PROSPECTIVE ENTRANTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SWEEPSTAKES.

9. Terms & Conditions: BenBella Books, Inc., reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Sweepstakes should virus, bug, non-authorized human intervention, fraud, or other cause beyond BenBella Books, Inc.’s control (i.e., a natural disaster, riot, civil commotion or other force majeure event) corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, or proper conduct of the Sweepstakes. In such case, BenBella Books, Inc., will select the Winner from all eligible entries (base entries and additional entries) received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by BenBella Books, Inc. or in another manner determined by BenBella Books, Inc. in its sole discretion to be fair, appropriate and consistent with these Official Rules (found on the Sweepstakes Website).

BenBella Books, Inc., reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify (if applicable) and/or seek legal sanctions against any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process, the Sweepstakes Website or the operation of the Sweepstakes. BenBella Books, Inc., has the right, in its sole discretion, to take appropriate actions so as to maintain the integrity of the Sweepstakes, including (by way of example only) addressing the following: multiple entries from the same user from different IP addresses; multiple entries from the same computer/mobile device; or the use of bots, macros, scripts, or other technical means for entering. Any violation of these Official Rules, as determined by BenBella Books, Inc. in its sole discretion, may result in disqualification from the Sweepstakes. However, the failure of BenBella Books, Inc. to enforce any provision of these Official Rules in a given circumstance shall not constitute the waiver of such provision.

10. Limitation of Liability: By entering, You agree to release and hold harmless BenBella Books, Inc., their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and prize suppliers; the employees, officers, directors, shareholders, representatives, partners, agents, successors and assigns of any of the foregoing; J.K Woodward personally; as well as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from any and all liability, illness, injury, death, loss, litigation, claim, or damage that may occur, directly or indirectly, whether caused by negligence or not, from: (i) Your participation in the Sweepstakes and/or receipt, acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of the prize or any portion thereof; (ii) technological, programming, electronic failures of any kind, including but not limited to the malfunction of any computer, cable, network, hardware, or software, or other equipment; (iii) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions, telephone, or Internet service, including due to filtering by or other operation of the functionality of Twitter; (iv) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Sweepstakes; (v) electronic or human error in the administration of the Sweepstakes or the processing of entries; (vi) any damage to entrant’s or any third party’s computer or mobile device or any data stored thereon caused in whole or in part by participation or attempted participation in the Sweepstakes. Without in any way limiting the foregoing, BenBella Books, Inc. assumes no responsibility for late, lost, illegible/garbled, incomplete, damaged, inaccessible, corrupted or jumbled e-mail transmissions or entries regardless of cause; and, all such entries are void.

11. Disputes: THIS SWEEPSTAKES IS GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS, WITHOUT RESPECT TO CONFLICT OF LAW/CHOICE OF LAW DOCTRINES (OF TEXAS OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHICH WOULD RESULT IN THE APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF ANY JURISDICTION OTHER THAN TEXAS). As a condition of participating in this Sweepstakes, participant agrees (to the fullest extent permitted by law) that any and all disputes that cannot be resolved between the parties, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Sweepstakes, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively before a U.S. Federal or Texas State court located in Dallas County, Texas; participant further agrees to the personal jurisdiction of such courts and waives any right of change of venue, forum non conveniens or the like. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances shall participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages or other relief, including reasonable attorney’s fees, other than participant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses, if any (i.e. costs associated with entering this Sweepstakes). Participant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

12. Privacy Policy: Information submitted when entering the Sweepstakes is subject to the Privacy Policy stated on the BenBella Books, Inc. website. To read the Privacy Policy, click here.

13. Sponsor: The Sponsor of the Sweepstakes is BenBella Books, Inc., 10440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75231.

14. Facebook/Instagram/Twitter: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

15. Winner’s List: For the name of the winner (first name, last initial; city/state), send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: “Con-a-Sutra Sweepstakes” c/o BenBella Books, Inc. at the address listed in Rule 13 above. Requests must be received by July 16, 2021 and winner’s list will be available after August 10, 2021.