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When asked for a list of key contacts who will support their upcoming book, many debut authors panic. “I don’t really know anyone,” they will say. But the truth is that most authors already have a large network of people at their disposal who will gladly assist in promoting their upcoming book: their friends and family. While these people probably can’t purchase a whole print run alone, a book can benefit from their support in some essential ways. Knowing the best ways to approach this group and maximize their impact is the key.
The most important thing to remember is that friends and family want to be supportive. This bears repeating as many authors, particularly introverts, can feel a little skittish about self-promotion, even–or especially–to the people with whom they are closest. The key is to approach things in a professional and organized way, so that friends and family feel empowered to take small steps that will help support your career. Here are some concrete ways that you can leverage your community to promote your book:
Start building your contact list early. Create a list of email and snail mail addresses for your friends, family, and professional contacts–anyone who you think would be interested in the release of your book. Beginning your list early allows you to spend time making it as comprehensive and accurate as possible, so you don’t have to scramble to put it together when your book is released. It’s also helpful to let your publisher know that you have this list ready and how large it is, since it may impact whether they order promotional materials like postcards for your book launch.
Give people an opt-out. Once your contact list is ready to go, send an email to everyone a month or more before your book is released. In the email, let people know that you are excited about the release of your upcoming book, and you will be sending periodic email updates. End by saying that if anyone does not wish to receive your updates, they can email you to be taken off the list at any time and you won’t be offended.
Create a separate Facebook page for your Author account. Many authors worry about spamming Facebook contacts with news of their book. The best way to address this is to create a separate Facebook “Fan Page” for your author account. Once you have created the page, invite all of your Facebook friends to like it–and then invite them a few more times, for anyone who missed it. This way, you can share news of your book freely with a group that you know is interested. Even so, you should periodically share author news with your personal feed for anyone who may not have carried over.
Send more than one email. Many authors will send an email to friends and family when a book is released, but won’t follow it up with anything else. This isn’t enough, since one single email can easily get lost or forgotten. Mark in your calendar to send a follow up email 2-3 months after your book is released. This is a great time to remind people it’s available, and to ask those who have already purchased the book to write reviews. You can also send an email if your book wins a major award, goes into paperback, or receives a big publicity hit. Don’t overemail, but remember that your friends and family want to know when great things are happening!
Encourage contacts to leave reviews. One of the biggest things that friends and family can do to support your career, besides purchasing your book, is to leave reviews of the book on major book review and purchase sites like Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble. Building up reviews on these sites can go a long way in improving the visibility of your book. Tell your contacts that if they loved your book, you would appreciate it if they could take a few moments to write a review on one or more of the sites above. Most people will be happy to do so, they just need to be asked.
Mine your contacts for their contacts. Don’t be afraid to ask family and friends for help connecting with the right people, especially if you are new to publishing. Want to connect with a journalist at your local paper? See if you know anyone who might have a contact. Interested in doing local school visits to build up your experience? Let your friends with children know you are willing to visit local schools, and ask them to pass the word on. You’d be surprised at the people your friends and family may be able to connect you to, if you ask them.
Remember that knowing a published author is exciting, and your network of family and friends will want to help get the word out about your book. By asking for their help in small, organized ways, you can maximize their impact without putting them in an uncomfortable position or making them feel burdened. And that way, everyone wins.
Today we have a very special guest! Emily Henry, author of THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD is here to talk to us about her journey to publication.
Guys, I'm reading this book right now, and it is SO GOOD! The way Emily writes is just incredibly gorgeous and compelling. I'm loving it and can't wait to see how the rest of the story unfolds. I already know it's going to be a favorite for the year.
0 Comments on My Journey To Publication by Emily Henry, Author of THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD as of 1/19/2016 1:07:00 AM
From Becca's Shelves...
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.
This week's topic is Top Ten 2016 Debuts I'm Looking Forward To...which was oodles and oodles of fun, because more than half of these I basically discovered tonight! SO YAY NEW BOOKS TO LOOK FORWARD TO! YIPPEE! WOOT! However, to make this a little more fun (and because I'm lazy/still hungover on turkey leftovers)
0 Comments on Top Ten 2016 Debuts I'm Looking Forward To... as of 1/1/1900
In The Story I’ll Tell a young child asks where he came from. His mother tells him fantastical tales with a kernel of truth that piece together his journey across a wide ocean to his new family. The Story I’ll Tell was released this month and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly which called it “an unabashed love letter. . . [that] many families will treasure.” In this guest post, author Nancy Tupper Ling discusses where the idea for The Story I’ll Tell came from.
I have binders that are two or three inches thick for many of my stories. They are picture book manuscripts, under 1000 words, and yet the binders are full of revision after revision of those few words. And then there are those rare stories that come to me like a gift. My poem, White Birch, was like that, and it became the winner of the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize out of 18,000 entries. Published this month by Lee & Low, The Story I’ll Tell had a similar beginning. It was a gift.
The story idea came to me in the form of a question as I was driving down the highway one day. If a baby landed on someone’s doorstep in the hills of Appalachia, what kind of story would the parents tell their child about how he/she came into their lives? The story sounded like a poem to me, as I wrote a number of far-fetched scenarios in my head. Still, there was one line that pivoted the story, and that’s my favorite line in the book today: “. . .there are times when I think I will tell you the truth, for the truth is a beautiful story too.”
With that line I came to a realization. There would be a nugget of truth in each of the fantastical stories that the parent would tell her child, and this patchwork of truths would be stitched together to reveal the most beautiful story in the end.
Somewhere along the way I began to think of The Story I’ll Tell as an adoption story. I am not an adoptive parent, but I am a parent who waited years for her first child. I know the ache and the longing that many parents experience while waiting for a child to enter their lives. My husband and I had filled out all the paperwork in order to adopt a child from Korea when we learned that I was pregnant with our first daughter, and this experience certainly influenced my story.
a spread from The Story I’ll Tell, illustrated by Jessica Lanan
That said, I have several friends who had a tremendous influence on my story as well. One couple has ten children who came into their lives through domestic and international adoption. Another friend adopted her daughter through the foster care system. As The Story I’ll Tell was coming together I thought of their stories, all of which were unique, and how the parents would reveal them to their children in due time.
Certainly adoption stories include heartache as well. It was important for me to touch upon this sentiment, without making it overwhelming. One of the last lines in the story is “When we brought you home in dawn’s early light, you cried for things lost and new.” One mother’s loss is another mother’s gain. The child feels this, too. An adoption story has both longing and love. Hopefully this leads to a forever home where the child is treasured beyond compare.
In the end, it was Lee & Low who asked me to focus on a certain country of origin for the character, and since my husband is Chinese-American, I gravitated toward that heritage. As Eurasians, my own children know the push and pull of looking like one culture, and blending in as Americans. Jessica Lanan brought all these threads together with her gorgeous illustrations, so that the reader, like the child, feels the warmth of a new home and the reminder that she, too, has a story to tell.
Nancy Tupper Ling is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize and the Pat Parnell Poetry Award, and is the founder of Fine Line Poets, a website for poets who live in New England. She was inspired to write The Story I’ll Tell by the multicultural background of her own family and the experiences of friends who have adopted children from all over the world. Ling resides in Walpole, Massachusetts, with her husband and their two young daughters.
0 Comments on Celebrating National Adoption Month With a New Picture Book as of 11/12/2015 1:40:00 PM
A surge of debut novels by talented Australians for children and young adults may be on the way. Deryn Mansell’s Tiger Stone (Black Dog Books), an original, intricate mystery set in fourteenth century Java for upper primary and junior secondary readers and Caro Was Here by Elizabeth Farrelly (Walker Books) are some forerunners. Caro Was […]
Today’s Wednesday Writing Workout on how to turn an idea into a satisfying story was cooked up by Chicago debut novelist Kate Hannigan.The timing is perfect: Kate’s CUPCAKE COUSINS(Disney-Hyperion) releases this Friday, May 9, with an official 2:30 pm cupcakes-included launch at 57th Street Books in Hyde Park in Chicago, if anyone’s in the area (1301 E. 57th St.) J
Kate also blogs at Author Of, interviewing fellow authors of books for young readers of all ages.
Illustrated by Brooke Boynton Hughes, CUPCAKE COUSINS tells the story of almost-10-year-old cousins Willow and Delia who have been asked to be flower girls and wear bright pink dresses for their aunt’s upcoming wedding.But the cousins would much rather don white aprons and be flour girls, whipping up some culinary magic to share with their entire family.Scrumptious recipes for whoopee pies, peach pancakes and other tasty treats are included.
Kate’s next release is in April 2015: THE DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), an historical fiction middle grade novel.
Kate also co-authored with Karen Duncan the community service book THE GOOD FUN! BOOK(Blue Marlin) which offers 12 months of parties kids can throw to help their communities and the world.
Thanks to Kate, for sharing her writer’s recipe for story-building with our TeachingAuthors readers. Her tips are write-on!
Finally I can say, what I knew I'd say some day,
having had the honor of working with Kate on earlier manuscripts:
Hurrah! Hooray!
Kate's on her way!
Esther Hershenhorn
. . . . . . . . . . .
Kate Hannigan’s WWW
A hot mess.
Whenever I’m just starting out with an idea, but it’s got no shape or clear direction, I call it a hot mess. It’s a bubbling stew of characters and plot twists and good intentions. But it’s definitely not a story yet.
So how do we take a hot mess of a book idea and turn it into an actual manuscript?
Lots of writers have ideas and techniques that work: You can find sites that offer up tools for outliningorworksheetsor evenfancy methods with clever names. But you also might benefit from a simpler, broad-based sketch. You’ll know what works best for you as you try them out.
I have a few exercises that help me move from brain hiccups to first drafts, and I’ll share them here. They involve distilling ideas to their essence, literally sketching out the story arcs with little arrows and rainbow curves, and old-school outlining.
When I came up with the idea for Cupcake Cousins, I was driving on the highway between Chicago and Western Michigan, where the book is set, and letting my mind wander. But it wasn’t until I had quiet time to put pencil to paper that I could begin to see an actual story take shape.
You’ll hear plenty of naysayers who distrust the notion of outlining. “It’s too confining,” they complain. “I like to let my characters take me wherever they’re going,” they declare. Sure, but remember that those are the kind of people who run with scissors, who leave the house without a hat and eat high-cholesterol dinners.
Let ’em partake in such risky behavior. Because as they’re enjoying the wind-in-the-hair rush of chasing their unruly characters, you’ll be too busy getting yours lovelies from Point A to Point Z to pay them any notice. And before long, you’ll have a solid first draft of a manuscript while they’re still lost on a literary back road.
I’m a Type A person trapped in a Type B body, so you won’t hear me advocating for a rigid outlining regimen. But I will say that distilling, sketching, and outlining saved me and my stories. And I won’t begin a project without first coming up with the wire hanger on which to hang my story.
Here’s a simple three-part exercise I do when I want to get my middle-grade story started, moving from hot mess of an idea to tangible first draft in hand.
1. Start with one sentence. Distill your book into one simple sentence. Two cousins are tired of being treated like babies, so they try to prove themselves through amazing feats of baking. This helps you focus in on the essence of your book. And simple language can be repeated: imagine your potential book editor walking down the hall to another cubicle and pitching your one-sentence summary to her neighbor.
2. Sketch out your story arcs. Seriously, grab a paper and pencil and start drawing curvy arcs. What does your main character learn over the long journey of your book? She starts out at Point A as what kind of person? And where is she at the story’s end? What about sub-characters? What do they want? How are they changed?
If you’re a visual learner like me, you might benefit from seeing the way these story arcs rise and fall. And if you are setting up a lot of story threads, these sketches can help you make sure when and where you’re going to tie them off.
3. Flesh out your idea with an outline. Going from one-sentence summary to 30,000-word novel is an overwhelming notion. If you’re like me, you might get completely flummoxed at this point and bail on your project entirely. Don’t. Instead, create a simple outline of the book.
And start by giving yourself some parameters, like word count. Early middle-grade books tend to hit about the same length. Let’s say you’re shooting for 28,000 words. Divide that total over 10 chapters, and you’re looking at writing 2, 800 words for each chapter. That’s a manageable target, right? Now you have a daily writing goal.
But what do you want to say? Before you begin doing the writing, you have to do some heavy lifting – think of it as arranging the furniture. What are the 10 touch points you want to hit on in your book? Build your outline by writing down a quick one- or two-sentence summary of what needs to happen in each chapter as you move from the story’s beginning to end.
Chapter 1: Willow stares at the ugly flower girl dress and determines she won’t wear it for the wedding. She and Delia can’t wait to get into the kitchen so they can cook their way out of these dreadful gowns.
Chapter 2: Cat the new caterer appears in the kitchen, and she’s intimidating. But Willow and Delia aren’t convinced Cat knows how to make things as good as they do, so they “fix” her lemonade. The results are disastrous.
And so on.
Be flexible. Say you decide your chapters are too long for the pace you’re setting. So instead of 10 chapters of roughly 2,800 words each, you’re going to write about 20 chapters with 1,400 words per chapter and zip right along.
Go back to your original outline and divide each chapter idea in half:
Chapter 1: Willow stares at hideous pink dress and determines she won’t wear it for the wedding. Family heads off for vacation in Michigan with Willow feeling frustrated.
Chapter 2: Willow and Delia meet up, extended family too. Aunt Rosie is crazy for the pink dresses while Willow and Delia are plotting NOT to wear them. They race off to the kitchen together, where they believe their true talents can flourish.
Chapter 3: Inside the kitchen. The girls hear the screen door open, and they meet the new caterer, Cat. She poses a threat to their plan for cooking their way out of the ugly dresses.
Chapter 4: The cousins tinker with Cat’s lemonade to disastrous results, getting them off on the wrong foot with her and ousted from her kitchen.
And so on.
Outline as roadmap. Creating a reliable, functional outline doesn’t have to lock you in. There is still the freedom to let your creative voice take you places. But it does help you stay focused on your destination. While we might enjoy a Sunday drive in the country, we eventually need to get to where we’re going, right? Let the outline serve as your roadmap.
Flesh out your ideas even more with each pass. As you refine your outline, flesh out the ideas for each chapter in greater and greater detail, making sure to pace out the tension and conflict as you go. With each pass, your outline details should grow from just a few sentences into a few longer paragraphs.
Almost writing itself. When it comes time to sit down and begin writing your manuscript, you’ll might be surprised how clearly focused your story is. The book could almost right itself! Okay, that’s not true, but you are in good shape because of your outline. You can see where your action peaks and where you provide the reader a rest. You can see where you’ve laid in turning points and tension, and where you’ve set up and then resolved the conflict.
Outline into manuscript. As you keep refining your outline and begin the writing process that makes the chapters hang together, you’ll see your great idea transform into a real story. And that story will soon take the shape of a solid, working draft.
And from there, you can just imagine the book it will soon become. You’re off and running! But not with scissors; you’re too smart for that.
0 Comments on Kate Hannigan's Story-Building Recipe: Today's Wednesday Writing Workout as of 5/7/2014 8:06:00 AM
In 2009 I had just finished this little verse novel of mine and was finding my way around the children's literature community on-line. I came across a post about a new author named Bridget Zinn. In the course of one week, she'd signed with agent Michael Stearns, gotten married, and been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.
Last month, I learned her novel POISON, was finally ready to release. I'm happy to join in the celebration, honoring a person who, though I never met personally, has been a light in my writing life these last four years.
Here's to you, Bridget! So glad this day has come.
Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.
But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.
Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?
Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.
I'm so excited to share my critique partner and dear friend's debut young adult novel, WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS, has sold to Flux.
Congratulations, Kate!
Kate Bassett's WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS, about a talented young writer who, one year after her beloved uncle's death, discovers the shocking truth about him, her family, and the importance of finding new words, a new love story, for her own life, to Brian Farrey-Latz at Flux, for publication in Summer 2014, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA). Foreign: [email protected]
2 Comments on Kate Bassett's WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS sells to Flux!, last added: 2/27/2013
FYI, Caroline, I put May B in my Best Winter Books for Kids list: http://www.pragmaticmom.com/2013/02/winter-books-kids/ It was a nice fit and I loved your book! Sorry it took me so long to review. Mia of Pragmatic Mom
I had an overwhelming response from my posts about the public, private, and writing life of a debut. Many people shared via Twitter* or joined the discussion here on my blog. A number of people talked of the value of these ideas beyond a debut year, that they could be applied to any aspect of life.
Both Lisa Schroeder and Sonia Gensler encouraged me to pull together some sort of poster that condensed these posts, something that could be a visual reminder of why we do what we do and what, in the end, really nourishes, has worth.
The posters are the size of a standard flyer and were designed by Jeff Fielder. I've got forty I'm happy to give away. All you need to do is email me directly with your mailing address. Feel free to spread the word!
*I don't have an account, but many of you shared your tweets with me -- thank you.
0 Comments on Navigating a Debut Year Posters...For Free! as of 1/1/1900
Category: Young Adult Paranormal Fiction Keywords: Slovakia, folklore, prejudice, bullying Format: Hardcover Source: Sent for review by Lee & Low
Synopsis:
When Tomas was six, someone — something — tried to drown him. And burn him to a crisp. Tomas survived, but whatever was trying to kill him freaked out his parents enough to convince them to move from Slovakia to the United States.
Now sixteen-year-old Tomas and his family are back in Slovakia, and that something still lurks somewhere. Nearby. It wants to drown him again and put his soul in a teacup. And that’s not all. There’s also the fire víla, the water ghost, pitchfork-happy city folk, and Death herself who are after him.
If Tomas wants to survive, he'll have to embrace the meaning behind the Slovak proverb, So smrťou ešte nik zmluvu neurobil. With Death, nobody makes a pact.
Alethea's review:
I will admit, I was a little sidetracked by the cover when I first received this book. There's just something too unreal about Tomas's face and the cutesy reaper logo on his shirt. He's a little too smirky. When I finally started the book, there were all these references to movies and American culture that I felt were a bit gratuitous and designed to draw in the reluctant reader. I put the book down for a while.
When I started it a second time (months later), I couldn't put it down! I could understand the culture shock that Tomas was going through, having gone back to my homeland to live (permanently, or so I thought at the time) after spending a few years in America. I found myself trying to sound out the Slovak as I went along. Vodník definitely gets points for originality--this is pretty uncommon territory for mainstream young adult novels.
I really enjoyed the storytelling and characterization in this novel. After a few chapters it became apparent to me that this was much more than an attempt to be different--Moore really engages the reader not just with geek references and creepy folktales, but also with family dynamics. The way Tomas interacts with his parents, his cousin Katka, and Uncle Lubos grounds this fantastic story and made him relatable despite the far-out mythology surrounding him.
2 Comments on Vodnik - Review, last added: 7/15/2012
I'm friends with amazon people like you--who are grounded and thoughtful and everything I want for myself. There were lovely important posts--than you for sharing them. <3
I made the mistake of getting into the mindset of "how can I make this story more edgy and therefore more commercial?" with my most recent book. It's been a long process of rediscovering the right tone and content for that part of the story, but I think I'm getting there. Thank you for this, Caroline!
These are words to read and remember every single time we start a new project. Doubt, fear, feelings of being overwhelmed, *this sucks* (ha, ha!) are always whispering in our ears.
And see -- you with the ideas flowing always strike me as fearless with new drafts. :) So glad we're friends. Are you going to Carolyn's signing today?
Err on the side of love. I feel like tacking that to as many walls as I can find in my life. I love what you say: There is room for all of us. How easy it is to think the opposite. These posts are so wonderfully insightful. Thank you.
I agree with Melissa. Your first point seems like a foundation for all the rest. We can keep our expectations and envy in check a bit more when we err on the side of love.
Caroline, I swear we are soul-sisters. I will share this post with Mama. She will be touched and honored that her words (which she got from HER mama) have been a gift to others as well. Thanks you for sharing.
I would like to add that we have a right to all of our feelings. It's the way we live our lives that matters. Which means okay, have the feelings and gently move through them, upward and onward, allowing them to be the fleeting things they are meant to be.
I love that you'll share this with your mother. Her words (and your grandmother's words) are gold.
You are so right: "we have a right to all of our feelings. It's the way we live our lives that matters." I want to choose to move past the things that damage and move toward the things that give life. xo
I'm loving this series Caroline. Perfect to hear right now for me. I'm two months out from publication and struggling to keep perspective so this whole process doesn't make me go nutz!
So glad to hear it! I need to hear all of this again and again...that's why I wrote it all down. These next two months will fly. Here's to a wonderful journey for you and GLITCH.
I freely confess that last "I won't" has been a sore point for me. I never thought my debut year would so often involve despair, but it did. I gave a talk on "turning points" at an SCBWI schmooze recently, and my "future" turning point was to be able to celebrate my successes, no matter how modest, without comparison to others. There will always be books that are prettier, smarter, better reviewed, better selling, etc., but I am only in competition with myself. As long as I am growing and improving, I should be proud of myself, right? :)
YES! You can be very proud of what you've done so far and will do in the future. We each have our own paths. It's unfair to ourselves and others to compare. So happy we got to meet in person last month.
It's been five months since May B. hit the shelves. In that time (and in the months preceding), I've had some time to think about the ways I want to live my life as an author. Thinking through these ideas has led to the three posts you�
44 Comments on Navigating a Debut Year: Public Life, last added: 6/13/2012
Yes, Caroline. I SO agree with all of this. It is important, still, to have opinions. It is very important to know how to express them. I think you are a phenomenal ambassador for books.
Yes, yes, and yes! These are all things I would like to strive for as well, particularly the things about how we speak of and interact with other writers. I went to a conference a couple of years ago and I was very disappointed at how many of the authors bashed on other authors' work— in public! It came off as very unprofessional, and it did not entice me to read their books, nor did it endear me to the author. I can see how easy a hole that would be to fall into, thinking that it will make you sound intelligent, but really it comes off as catty, unprofessional, and immature. I truly hope to avoid that pitfall!
Thanks for sharing this Caroline. You're such a great example!
Caroline, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us. Some of your points seems so obvious, and yet they're terribly important and must be said, again and again. I hope to live up to your standards!
Love this post Caroline. Particularly this line: "While I can't control what others think of me..., I can choose to present myself in a way I'm proud of."
One of the biggest surprises to me as a debut author has been the wide, wide variety of "takes" on my story. Learning how to "let go" and let the story be whatever it will be in the eye of different readers has been a challenging but overall exciting experience.
And I agree with and admire your committment to supporting "your people." We're all in this together!
I know what you mean. Even though at one point I could pick out plot mistakes with a critical eye when reading, I now find the opposite true too. I read books with an eye for what the author was trying to accomplish, not how I would've done it differently. If I see a formatting error or typo, it doesn't bother me because I know how hard it is to get everything right. I appreciate that we all write our stories and put them out there but we all still have so much more to learn. And yay for just supporting each other.
You are brilliant and lovely and very, very smart, Caroline. As well as gracious and generous and a good friend. Thank you for this beautiful and perfect post.
Hi Caroline, Wow, so much of this resonates with me! I was going to write out a lengthy reply, but really, anything I want to say can be summed up in two words: YES! THIS!
I love this. Kindness, fairness, and generosity are so often overlooked but they are the qualities I respect most in others. I look forward to the rest of the series and learning more from you. :)
Alissa and Melissa -- much of this I've had to figure out while stumbling around making mistakes. Thankfully there have been some lovely friends I've been able to watch and learn from. Thanks for stopping by!
YES! My first novel will be released in September, and I'm trying to conduct myself in just the way you've laid out so beautifully. Thanks for stating it all so well. :)
Great reflections! I so resonate with your last point as well. I've become less "choosy" in a way about my reading, because I've learned the intense amount of imagination, effort, and sweat that goes into every book. And I've also learned how subjective my own reading taste is - haha!
It's funny how our lives are never the same once our book goes out into the world. I think it's very important to stop and think about what we hope our public lives to be, because we are part of the public now. Thank you for your thoughts!
As some wise body recently said, "not everybody likes chocolate. Some prefer caramel" or something like that. We all need to keep this in mind. Our books may not appeal to every single reader, and that's okay. A very thoughtful post.
I am inspired! You have written the way I feel now as an unpublished children's book writer. If/WHEN I am published, I would like to think I can put these things into action. Come to think of it, why wait?! I am making a copy to post on my inspitation board!
Thanks for this, Caroline. I needed to read all this today. Especially the book snob part. I think I understand where you're coming from when you said a weird "reverse" happened. I became much more picky after I started writing, but now that I'm further along in the process, I do appreciate everyone more, even writing I don't connect with. You're right, every book has its audience.
Have you read these books? One lucky commenter will win a packet of Apocalypsies and Class of 2k12 bookmarks. Let's get a discussion going!
The Wicked and the Just - J. Anderson Coats
Cecily’s father moves her to Wales where she must put up with her brazen servant, Gwinny, where every interaction between the girls is loaded with more meaning than Cecily initially understands, where heartache on both sides forges a shaky unity, and where the unflinching storyline cannot leave the reader unchanged.
Love & Leftovers - Sarah Tregay
Yanked from home by her mother when her parents’ marriage crumbles and longing to understand love, Marcie embarks on an exploration of boys, friendship, affection, passion, and understanding in this smartly written verse novel.
Scarlet - A. C. Gaughen
Robin Hood’s right-hand man, Will Scarlet, is recast as a delightfully complex girl, who’s feisty and fierce and secretly loves Rob -- rollicking fun!
Chained - Lynne Kelly
I couldn’t resist letting CHAINED speak for itself:
"This must be what Ne Min meant about being brave. Never in my life have I been so afraid, but here I stand."
Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi
A sweeping glimpse of a dystopian world that is equally strong in story and style, Rossi’s characters force readers to examine the difference between living life and merely existing.
A Voice for Kanzas - Debra MacArthur
6 Comments on One Sentence Debut Reviews: Spring 2012, last added: 5/29/2012
i, too, have a strange fascination with jack the ripper and other stories like this. i really want to read this one because it sounds really creepy. :)
Not really a Jack the Ripper fan, so don't think this book is for me. Great review though, and liked that you explained the part that didn't appeal to you!
Great review. I was going to read this last week but then I got sort of behind in my review books so I had to scrap it (NG books are the first to go when I need to) so I'm glad it wasn't like mind blowing. Oh well. I'll give it a try eventually.Maybe. Haha.
Carver Young dreams of becoming a detective, despite growing up in an orphanage with only crime novels to encourage him. But when he is adopted by Detective Hawking of the world famous Pinkerton Agency, Carver is given not only the chance to find his biological father, he finds himself smack in the middle of a real life investigation: tracking down a vicious serial killer who has thrown New York City into utter panic. When the case begins to unfold, however, it’s worse than he could have ever imagined, and his loyalty to Mr. Hawking and the Pinkertons comes into question. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes dire, Carver must decide where his true loyalty lies.
Full of whip-smart dialogue, kid-friendly gadgets, and featuring a then New York City Police Commisioner Teddy Roosevelt, Ripper challenges everything you thought you knew about the world’s most famous serial killer.
We also want to highlight the debut of our friend Kate's new blog, Now That's Filmworthy (www.thatsfilmworthy.com)! Kate has been guest-blogging at Kid Lit Frenzy for the past couple of months and is now ready to strike out on her own. This gives you even more chances to enter to win a copy of Ripper!
Rules:
1. You must be 13 years or older, or have the permission of a parent or guardian to enter the contest since it involves sharing personal information. This contest is open internationally.
2. Use the Rafflecopter widget below--commenting is appreciated but unless you have clicked the Rafflecopter, your entries won't be counted! Sorry!
3. Please don't leave any personal info, like your email address, in the comments section. It will be deleted.
4. The contest runs until 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, March 25, 2012. Winner will be chosen randomly by the Rafflecopter widget.
Mandatory first entry: To start, go to www.thatsfilmworthy.com and click on Join this Site in the Followers widget on the right-hand side (Google Friend Connect) -- the widget will also be there, so you don't have
2 Comments on Ripper - Giveaway (INTL) Ends 3/25/2012, last added: 3/11/2012
Five years ago I founded the Class of 2k7 after realizing that signing my first book contract wasn't the finish line I'd always thought it would be, but instead the start of a new process with a steep learning curve and a whole new set of skills. My idea was that a group of debut authors would be able to accomplish things together better than any of us would be able to do on our own, while sharing knowledge and resources along the way. We had a great year and attracted a lot of attention to our books while gaining confidence in the whole process of bringing a book to market. There have been 2k Class groups each year after that and a growing number of other collective groups inspired by us as well.
The focus of the 2k Classes is marketing to Booksellers, Librarians, and Teachers--the BLTs who have the power to put our books in front of readers. We use a variety of tools including a class website, brochure, blog, social networking, group signings, press releases, etc. Members are required to pay dues into the Class budget and provide a fair share of the work necessary to make the group a success. Each 2k Class so far has included members with a wide range of amazing talents and useful experience.
3 Comments on The Class of 2k13, last added: 3/7/2012
I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.
August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?
R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.
Kimberly's Review:
August Pullman was born with a facial deformity. His life so far has been his family, a couple of friends, and homeschool. But all that's going to change. Auggie is going to his first day of fifth grade at a new school. And no one, not even Auggie, knows what to expect.
Beautifully written, Wonder took my breath away. August is a kid who is physic
4 Comments on Wonder - Review, last added: 3/1/2012
CHALLENGE OBJECTIVE
To read and review a minimum of twelve young adult or middle grade debut novels between the dates of January 1, 2012 - January 31, 2013.*
*The 2013 extension is so that December Debuts can be read and count toward the challenge.
RULES AND GUIDELINES
You must have a blog to post your reviews or be a member of Goodreads.
Your blog must be written in English.
Deadline to join is May 31, 2012.
BOOK GUIDELINES
Must be a young adult or middle grade title.
Must be the author’s YA or MG debut, released in 2012.
If an author has a previous novel published for adults or children, they can still qualify for the challenge.
If an author has a previous YA or MG title, they do not qualify for the challenge.
As many of you know, I've run monthly One Sentence Debut Reviews, covering three books each month (technically, I've only done 10/12 months, but you get the idea). Next year, for sanity purposes, I will lump my debut reads into three posts for spring, summer, and fall releases. I will continue to give away bookmarks/swag for books debuting in 2012.
Anyone else participating this year?
3 Comments on 2012 Debut Author Challenge, last added: 11/16/2011
Terry and Tere (fun to see your names together), so glad you're signing up. I ended up reading many more than the required twelve. Looking forward to seeing what you read!
In HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY, 13-year-old Lamar is the maddest, baddest, most spectacular bowler at Striker’s Bowling Paradise but he seems to keep striking out with the ladies. When an older kid talks Lamar into hustling at the bowling alley, he thinks it just may be his chance to get ahead. Finding himself in trouble, Lamar realizes that sometimes the long way to success is better than the short cut.
In its starred review, Publishers Weekly said that “from the first sentence Lamar will have readers hooked.”
I have to admit that I have blatantly borrowed laugh-out-loud lines from Lamar. My favorite? “If I ever find the drama fairy who sprinkled all this drama dust in my life, I’ll personally pluck her wings.” This debut novel is full of such gems and I dog-eared my galley every place where I snorted with laughter (hint: my copy was pretty heavily marked).
Speaking of gems, debut novelist Crystal Allen is one of them herself. She recently joined us at the Texas Library Association conference, and we all adored her. She is laugh-out-loud funny (much like Lamar) and her enthusiasm is contagious. Want to know more about her? Check out her website where you can get added to her mailing list and read fun trivia about her. You can also friend Crystal on Facebook and read this great interview with Crystal at The Brown Bookshelf.
Let’s welcome Crystal to the school and library community!
A promise that we would be together on my fifteenth birthday...
Instead, Nora is on a desperate journey far away from home. When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora stays behind. She fights to make sense of her loss while living in poverty—waiting for her father's return and a better day.
When the letters and money stop coming, Nora decides that she and her mother must look for him in Texas. After a frightening experience crossing the border, the two are all alone in a strange place. Now, Nora must find the strength to survive while aching for small comforts: friends, a new school, and her precious quinceañera.
4 Comments on Illegal - Review, last added: 3/19/2011
It's neat that you had a personal connection with the book! Illegal sounds really interesting--it's awesome that despite its small page count it still packs a punch! Thanks for the review! :)
Sounds like a lovely story. It is loosely reminiscent to me of...oh, what was it called?...Into the Beautiful North. The immigration issue is such a complex issue.
Working in the booth at conferences, we often get questions about the latest GLBTQ books. I am thrilled to recommend PINK by Lili Wilkinson to them. And the first thing I tell people in the booth is that I hesitate to attach the GLBTQ label to PINK because it’s a book about identity and figuring out who you are – not only as it relates to sexual orientation but also as it concerns coming-of-age. It’s about exploration and experimentation in a safe home environment. And it’s about friendship, belonging, and first love. So throw out that GLBTQ label – this is a story for most teens. (Can you tell I’m a fan?)
Lili Wilkinson is an Aussie writer who hasn’t quite broken out stateside yet but, I assure you, that’s going to change with PINK. Get to know Lili better at her website, her blog, and her Twitter (@twitofalili).
Want to know what your fellow librarians and teachers are saying? Here are some awesome reviews:
Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.
Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in.
But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?
How I found out about this book: Grabbed the galley online thanks to Simon & Schuster and Publisher's Weekly
My review: I'm lucky my husband is a heavy sleeper. Choker had me twisting and turning in terror, cringing every few chapters, occasionally having to burrow into his side because the chills running up my spine were actually causing me to feel like my blood was literally running cold--despite 2 blankets, flannel jammies, and a snuggie. Shhh--What's that whimpering noise? (Oh wait, that's me.)
Fans of old-school teen horror like R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and Caroline B. Cooney will either delight in this new addition to the young adult thriller genre, or totally see the end coming. I hope it's the former--not being able to guess the ending, or thinking that I hadn't, gave me the freedom to enjoy the book. So if you want to enjoy it, believe me when I say that whatever you think the answer to the mystery is--you're wrong!
brrr!
Choker
1 Comments on Choker - Review, last added: 1/13/2011
First Books Lowdown: My Unscientific Findings on New-Author-Friendly Publishers...
Every year since I've been blogging, I've put out a call for debut authors for my First Book feature and every year I post about which publishers are publishing the debut authors who contacted me. Here's the scoop for this year (all of which are in random order because I don't like to alphabetize)...
Publishers who are publishing one of the debut books in my pool:
Flux
Carolrhoda
Flashlight Press
Scholastic
Houghton Mifflin
Albert Whitman
Dutton
Blooming Tree
Holiday House
Pelican
HIP Books
Clarion
Bloomsbury
Feiwel & Friends
Candlewick
Raven Tree Press
Delacorte
Capstone
Publishers who are publishing two or more of the debut books in my pool:
HarperCollins
Walker
Putnam
Random House
Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Simon & Schuster
Sterling
This year Putnam ties previous two-time winner HarperCollins at five a piece, so they each get a Friendly-to-New-Authors Gold Star!
Only a handful of the debut authors who contacted me said they have agents--I'm sure more do and didn't mention it--and some of those agented writers didn't get their agents until after the first book deal. I heard from plenty of unagented writers.
About half of the authors who contacted me are YA writers, the other half picture books, MG and chapter books, with PBs as the majority.
If you're among the YA authors (or even if you're not) check out Publishers Weekly's report, What Do Teens Want?, a survey of teen über readers. Lots of statistics and charts! (I tweeted a link to this yesterday and was retweeted like crazy.)
Now back to the tough/fun job of deciding who to interview.
I noticed that Carolrhoda isn't on the list. It does welcome new authors--and unagented submissions (although the submission period is not year 'round). I think great things are happening at Carolrhoda.
Thanks... just knowing this is what you do out there gives me focus as I work on my own material. Thank you for posting here. It gives inspiration for those of us who are persevering in STARTING a career at any age.
My debut novel for middle grade readers Dead Frog on the Porch was published by a newer publisher Gumboot Books out of Vancouver. Check out their submission guidelines.
Interesting and helpful. Although they mentioned 53% didn't like podcasted INTERVIEWS, it didn't say anything about podcasted NOVELS. I'd be interested to know what teens think about that.
When asked for a list of key contacts who will support their upcoming book, many debut authors panic. “I don’t really know anyone,” they will say. But the truth is that most authors already have a large network of people at their disposal who will gladly assist in promoting their upcoming book: their friends and family. While these people probably can’t purchase a whole print run alone, a book can benefit from their support in some essential ways. Knowing the best ways to approach this group and maximize their impact is the key..jpg?picon=3847)
Nancy Tupper Ling is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize and the Pat Parnell Poetry Award, and is the founder of Fine Line Poets, a website for poets who live in New England. She was inspired to write 
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8 Comments on Navigating a Debut Year: Writing Life, last added: 6/16/2012
6 Comments on One Sentence Debut Reviews: Spring 2012, last added: 5/29/2012
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Great post and tribute!
It's lovely what you and the other bloggers are doing to honor Bridget and her book.