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Blogger of the Week:
Suzanne Young

YA Author Suzanne Young started blogging at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com a little over a year. She didn't have a publishing contract and began blogging, she says, mostly just for fun. "Over the next several months, I tried to find my niche. One of the things that really worked for me was my ongoing story blog, Going Green. It was a YA story that I was writing every few days strictly for my blog. I seemed to gather some readers from it and loved doing it!"

When it was time to send her work to publishers, Suzanne began by submitting her manuscript directly to editors. "It was a scary time for me, but I gathered interest and was feeling great," she says. "Then I got an email from Melissa Sarver with Elizabeth Kaplan Agency. She had been reading my blog and wondered if I was currently represented. After a few weeks of emailing and talking with her, I knew she was perfect and ended up signing with her! Soon after, I sold two books to Razorbill. And my blog played a huge part in finding Melissa, proving that blogs can be important for up-and-coming authors."

Her debut novel Smitten Kittens, featuring Tessa Crimson and her squad of cheerleaders who investigate cheaters (as in cheating boyfriends) will be released from Razorbill in 2010.


Suzanne also participates in a group vlog called Lip Gloss Lit. "This one for me is a blast. I got together with a critique partner of mine, author Amanda K. Morgan and we started a vlogging site where we blogged via video. It's a great way to show our personalities and be able to chat with people on a more personal level. We’re always looking for guest vloggers, so keep us in mind!"

For bloggers just starting out, Suzanne advises "let your personality shine through. Sure, my blog might not always be about writing (like when I talk about my daughter’s desire to trap squirrels in jars) but I try to always make it fun. That’s my style. So let your blog reflect your style and people will get to know and care about your journey!" And indeed her ebullient personality comes across in her blog.

Visit www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com today and wish Suzanne...

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Blog of the Week:
Teen Fiction Cafe...


"The idea for the Teen Fiction Cafe was hatched in March 2007 I was chatting online with fellow RWA member Sara Hantz and we realized our debut teen novels launched within a few months of each other," says founding member Wendy Toliver. "We thought it would be cool to gather up-and-coming as well as multi-published YA authors for a group blog, covering topics their teen readers would find interesting--as well as fellow authors, librarians, teachers, etc."

After this initial discussion, Sara and Wendy emailed a group of international YA authors they knew or wanted to know and every one said they'd love to participate. Kelly Parra volunteered to take care of the technical aspects of starting and maintaining the blog.

Here is the fabulous list of contributors to Teen Fiction Cafe:

• Amanda Ashby
• Lauren Baratz-Logsted
• Teri Brown
• Jessica Burkhart
• Liza Conrad (Erica Orloff)
• Linda Gerber
• Sara Hantz
• Stephanie Kuehnert
• Alyson Noel
• Kelly Parra
• Wendy Toliver
• Melissa Walker
• Sara Zarr

How do they handle so many cooks in one kitchen? "Every week, three or four authors post on a recommended topic. Whenever someone has an idea for a new topic, it's added into the rotation, and Sara Hantz is great at sending reminder emails to everyone." says Wendy. "The authors post any time during that week, with the goal of keeping the blog fresh and fun. Additionally, once a month the blog hosts a 'Promo Week,' where the authors may promote their work, an event, or someone else's work, hold a contest, etc. Teen Fiction Cafe gets approximately 500-1000 hits a week."

Besides blogging together, the TFC authors share industry and personal news, promote each other's book launches, brainstorm, hang out at conferences, arrange group book signings, and otherwise support one another. Says Wendy: "It's been an amazing ride, and only gets more exciting as time goes on."

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Blog of the Week:
Annette Gulati's The Writing Wild Life...

Annette Gulati started blogging (hesitantly, she says) just over a year ago “I kept hearing over and over by editors that even unpublished writers needed to create a web presence. I already had a website, but there was something about the blogging community that lured me in. I was reading other author blogs and I enjoyed following their journeys. I also loved the fact that there were so many friendships out there.”

So Annette created The Wild Writing Life as a way to chronicle her writing journey, what she calls “the trek I’m taking through the sometimes perilous jungle of children’s publishing.” But the purpose of her blog, she says “has sort of grown into finding a place in this community, and having the opportunity to talk about children’s literature with others who are as passionate about it as I am. My blog is really a smattering of things: relating industry news, some book reviews, author interviews, sharing my own successes and failures. I feel sort of like the parrot who sits atop a tree overlooking the jungle and knowing exactly what’s going on, but with the goal of someday being right down there with the others in the thick of it all.”

Annette is well on her way to descending from that tree top. Last year she won the Barbara Karlin grant for picture book writers from SCBWI. “Picture books have always been my first love,” she says. Winning the grant “was a tremendous boost of confidence for me. I have numerous picture books in various stages of development, but I’ve also written several easy readers and chapter books. I also love writing for children’s magazines.”

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