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Happy New Year! Can you believe PubCrawl is four years old this year? How time does fly! This little blog will be toddling off to grade school before we know it, sniff.

Anyway, to start off another awesome year with us, we thought we’d let y’all know what we PubCrawlers (current and alumni) are publishing this year!

E.C. Myers

Against All Silence

Available May 23, 2016!

After being a key figure in the exposing of government corruption, Max Stein has spent a quiet semester abroad in Paris, studying, staying off the Internet, and looking for his long-lost mother. But just as he is about to fly back to the United States for the holidays, trouble manages to find him once again.

Max receives a call from Penny, his on-again-off-again girlfriend who is part of the expert hacking duo DoubleThink. She wants him to meet with Ada Kiesler, a high-profile whistleblower hiding out at a foreign embassy in Berlin. Max has no interest in getting drawn into another corporate conspiracy. But when airport security suddenly detains him on suspicion of cyber-terrorism, he has little choice but to get involved. Soon Max and Penny are tangling with a new group of shadowy figures who are determined to control how the world shares its information. And some figures from Max s past resurface, including his own mother, whose life has mirrored his own in more ways than he d realized.

In this action-packed follow up to The Silence of Six, Max and his hacker friends must fight to expose a corrupt corporation that has been systematically taking control of the Internet.

E.C. MYERS was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and the public library in Yonkers, New York. He is the author of the Andre Norton Award–winning young adult novel Fair Coin and Quantum Coin, as well as numerous short stories. His latest novel, The Silence of Six, is a thriller about teenage hackers and government conspiracies. You can find traces of him all over the internet, but especially at ecmyers.net and on Twitter @ecmyers.

Stacey Lee

Outrun the Moon

Available May 24, 2016!

From the author of the critically acclaimed Under a Painted Sky, an unforgettable story of determination set against a backdrop of devastating tragedy. Perfect for fans of Code Name Verity.

San Francisco, 1906: Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty in Chinatown, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and a little bribery, only to discover that getting in was the easiest part. Not to be undone by a bunch of spoiled heiresses, Mercy stands strong—until disaster strikes.

On April 18, an historic earthquake rocks San Francisco, destroying Mercy’s home and school. With martial law in effect, she is forced to wait with her classmates for their families in a temporary park encampment. Mercy can’t sit by while they wait for the Army to bring help. Fires might rage, and the city may be in shambles, yet Mercy still has the ‘bossy’ cheeks that mark her as someone who gets things done. But what can one teenaged girl do to heal so many suffering in her broken city?

Breakout author Stacey Lee masterfully crafts another remarkable novel set against a unique historical backdrop. Strong-willed Mercy Wong leads a cast of diverse characters in this extraordinary tale of survival.

Stacey has two books coming out in 2016!

Catch a Falling Heart

Pub date not yet available

A 16-year-old aromateur with an extraordinary nose, the last in a long line of love witches, scrambles to reverse the effects of a love elixir after giving it to the wrong target—all while trying not to fall for the woman’s attractive son. Publication is set for fall 2016.

STACEY LEE is a fourth generation Chinese-American whose people came to California during the heydays of the cowboys. She believes she still has a bit of cowboy dust in her soul. A native of southern California, she graduated from UCLA then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. After practicing law in the Silicon Valley for several years, she finally took up the pen because she wanted the perks of being able to nap during the day, and it was easier than moving to Spain. She plays classical piano, wrangles children, and writes YA fiction.

Jodi Meadows

The Mirror King

Available April 5, 2016!

Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.

HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right.

HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith—destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.

HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.

In this stunning conclusion to THE ORPHAN QUEEN, Jodi Meadows follows Wilhelmina’s breathtaking and brave journey from orphaned criminal on the streets to magic-wielding queen.

Jodi also has two books coming out in 2016, plus an e-novella!

My Lady Jane

Available June 7, 2016!

For fans of The Princess Bride comes the comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey.

Lady Jane Grey, sixteen, is about to be married to a total stranger—and caught up in an insidious plot to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But that’s the least of Jane’s problems. She’s about to become Queen of England. Like that could go wrong.

JODI MEADOWS lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the Incarnate Trilogy and The Orphan Queen Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen).

*A Kippy is a cat.

Julie Eshbaugh

Ivory and Bone

Available June 14, 2016!

The only life seventeen-year-old Kol knows is hunting at the foot of the Great Ice with his brothers. But food is becoming scarce, and without another clan to align with, Kol, his family, and their entire group are facing an uncertain future.

Traveling from the south, Mya and her family arrive at Kol’s camp with a trail of hurt and loss behind them, and hope for a new beginning. When Kol meets Mya, her strength, independence, and beauty instantly captivate him, igniting a desire for much more than survival.

Then on a hunt, Kol makes a grave mistake that jeopardizes the relationship that he and Mya have only just started to build. Mya was guarded to begin with—and for good reason—but no apology or gesture is enough for her to forgive him. Soon after, another clan arrives on their shores. And when Mya spots Lo, a daughter of this new clan, her anger intensifies, adding to the already simmering tension between families. After befriending Lo, Kol learns of a dark history between Lo and Mya that is rooted in the tangle of their pasts.

When violence erupts, Kol is forced to choose between fighting alongside Mya or trusting Lo’s claims. And when things quickly turn deadly, it becomes clear that this was a war that one of them had been planning all along.

JULIE ESHBAUGH writes young adult fiction. She is the author of the upcoming Ivory and Bone (HarperCollins, 2016.) You can visit Julie’s website, add her on Goodreads and follow her on Pinterest and Twitter @JulieEshbaugh.

S. Jae-Jones

Wintersong

Available September 13, 2016!

Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell.

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.

S. JAE-JONES (called JJ) is an artist, an adrenaline junkie, and the author of Wintersong (Thomas Dunne, 2016). Before moving to grits country, she was a YA fiction editor in New York City. A southern California native, she now lives in North Carolina, and many other places on the internet, including Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and her blog.

Stephanie Garber

Caraval

Available September 20, 2016!

An original world. A legendary competition. A mesmerizing romance. An unbreakable bond between two sisters.

Welcome to Caraval—the spell-casting first book in a fantasy series that’s perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series and The Night Circus.

Before you enter the world of Caraval, you must remember that it’s all a game . . .

Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their ruthless father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the legendary, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

Then, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation to Caraval finally arrives. So, Tella enlists a mysterious sailor’s help to whisk Scarlett away to this year’s show. But as soon as the trio arrives, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nonetheless soon becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with her sister, with Legend, and with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

STEPHANIE GARBER loves Disneyland because it’s the one place on earth where she feels as if the fantastical stories she loves to write about could actually come to life. When she’s not writing young adult fantasy, she teaches creative writing a private college in northern California. Her debut novel, Caraval, will be published by Flatiron Books/Macmillan (US) and Hodder & Stoughton (UK) in fall 2016.

And of course we couldn’t let the publication of our dear PubCrawl alumni pass without a mention! Here are some forthcoming books from PubCrawl members past!

Alexandra Bracken

Available now!

Susan Dennard

Available now!

Sarah J. Maas

Available May 3, 2016!

Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass #5 (no pub date available)

Marie Lu

The Young Elites #3 (no pub date available)

Amie Kaufman

Gemina (Illuminae #2) (no pub date available)

(with Jay Kristoff)

Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) (September 27, 2016)

What a year 2016 is shaping up to be! Go us!

Our hand-picked list from the Best Selling Young Adult list from The New York Times includes a revisit of Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard.

Our hand-picked list from the Best Selling Young Adult list from The New York Times remains the same this month. The best selling young adult titles include books by super-talents Rainbow Rowell and Marie Lu.

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending Oct. 25, 2015–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Fiction) Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham: “Sebastian Rudd is not your typical street lawyer. He works out of a customized bulletproof van, complete with Wi-Fi, a bar, a small fridge, fine leather chairs, a hidden gun compartment, and a heavily armed driver. He has no firm, no partners, no associates, and only one employee, his driver, who’s also his bodyguard, law clerk, confidant, and golf caddy.” (Oct. 2015)

(Debuted at #3 in Hardcover Fiction) Career of Evil by J.K.Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith: “When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible–and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.” (Oct. 2015)

(Debuted at #15 in Young Adult) Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: “This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.” (Oct. 2015)

Illuminae

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra–who are barely even talking to each other–are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents–including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Happiest of book birthdays to Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff! You guys, there are NO WORDS for how awesome this book is. Literally. No words. A collection of digital ephemera in book form? House of Leaves meets Battlestar Galactica? WE CAN’T DO THIS BOOK JUSTICE. Trust us; this is a book that must be experienced, not just read.

But don’t take our word for it! Here’s what others had to say about Illuminae!

★ Ambitious, heartbreaking, and out-of-this-world awesome.

—Kirkus Reviews starred review

★ Hints of romance and references to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey interweave with the text, itself an arresting visual experience that weds form with expression and content. . . . Kaufman and Kristoff have created a fast-paced, quasi-political sci-fi thriller that is completely unique.

—Booklist starred review

★ …a stylistically mesmerizing tale, where story and art are interchangeable, and words act as pictures.

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

The characters are immediately real and with harrowing accounts, unexpected twists, and gut-wrenching selflessness, they become even more endearing over the course of the book. While reminiscent of the works of Isaac Asimov and Orson Scott Card, this work is a distinct piece that stands alone.

—School Library Journal

Alternately humorous, charming, horrifying and electrifying, Illuminae is unforgettable and a game-changer for its genre.

—Shelf Awareness

You’ll cheer, you’ll gasp, you’ll hang on for all 600 pages.

—Romantic Times Book Reviews, Top Pick Gold

Alternately humorous, charming, horrifying and electrifying, Illuminae is unforgettable and a game-changer for its genre.

—VOYA

Prepare yourselves for Illuminae.

—EW.com

One look at a hard copy of Illuminae and you know you’re not in for an ordinary novel experience. . . . Illuminae is a wholly ambitious work that never sacrifices emotion or story for its unique form.

—Bustle.com

A truly interactive experience for the reader. . . . A fantastically fun ride.

—MTV.com

Brace yourself. You’re about to be immersed in a mindscape that you’ll never want to leave.

—Marie Lu, bestselling author of the Legend trilogy

Nervy chicks, cute fighter pilots, lots of heart, lots of heartbreak, a mentally unstable battleship, and even pink hair! This book is ****ing awesome.

—Laini Taylor, bestselling author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone

An edge of your seat thrill ride that left me breathless. Genre: Undefinable. Novel: Unforgettable.

—Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures & author of Unbreakable

Not only is Illuminae a twisting, heart-pounding story moving at the speed of light, but it is a truly beautiful novel that redefines the form. I have never read anything like it. And it certainly filled the Battlestar Galactica shaped hole in my heart.

—Victoria Aveyard, bestselling author of Red Queen

An exuberant mix of space opera, romance, zombies, hackers, and political thrills, told with eccentric aplomb. Illuminae is both the weirdest and most heartfelt thing you’ll read this year.

—Scott Westerfeld, bestselling author of Uglies and Zeroes

Stunningly creative. Smart, funny, and romantic. This is the book I’ve been waiting for.

—Veronica Rossi, bestselling author of Under the Never Sky

You guys. YOU GUYS. Just…go grab yourself a copy. We promise your minds will be BLOWN.

Buy a copy here today! And to celebrate, we are giving away ONE HARDCOVER COPY OF ILLUMINAE TO ONE LUCKY WINNER! (Sorry, US only!)

Comment, tweet, add to your Goodreads page! Giveaway ends October 28, 2015.

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Since I recently reviewed These Broken Stars in all its incredible starry glory, I feel like we need a follow-up review of the sequel: This Shattered World! Because these books are EXCELLENT. And the third book (Their Fractured Light) comes out in December! SO SOON. I am anticipating it greatly by flailing and also planning […]

I had no idea what to expect when I read These Broken Stars (co-authored by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner) because I don’t read a lot of sci-fi. But WOW OH WOW. It was just incredible. It was exciting and sassy and flawless. I constantly hear it pitched as “The Titanic In Space” and basically […]

Hello, readers! Once again, we’ve brought out the Upcoming Titles feature. This month we’re focusing a bit on spooky reads as October is HALLOWEEN MONTH! (Or at least that’s what all the stores tell us.) As always, this is by no means a comprehensive list of forthcoming releases, just a compilation of titles we think our readers (and our contributors!) would enjoy.

Without further ado:

October 6th

• Through the Dark (A Darkest Minds novella compilation) by Alexandra Bracken**
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
• Happy! by Pharrell Williams
• The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
• Against a Brightening Sky by Jaime Lee Moyer
• Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
• The White Rose by Amy Ewing
• We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean
• A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis
• A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston

October 13th

• The Rose Society by Marie Lu**
• First & Then by Emma Mills

October 20th

• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman** and Jay Kristoff
• Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith¹

October 27th

• Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke
• What We Left Behind by Robin Talley

** Distinguished PubCrawl alumni

Hot New Releases & Popular Kids Stories We think our list of the best new kids books for October is sensational! It highlights some amazing books from many different genres: non-fiction, reality fiction, and fantasy. Take a gander and let us know which titles and covers catch your eye ... Read the rest of this post

The cover has been unveiled for the third and final installment of the Starbound series, Their Fractured Light. We’ve embedded the full image for the jacket design above—what do you think?

Authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner collaborated on this young adult trilogy together. Disney Hyperion has set the publication date for December 1st. (via The Hyperion Teens Tumblr Page)

First up: As you read this, I’m heading out on tour in the US! If you’re in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Miami, New York, DC or Asheville, I’d love to meet you! If you’d like a signed book but can’t make a stop, the stores can arrange one for you. This is the only time I’ll be in the US in 2015, so come say hi, and make sure you tell me you’re a Pub Crawler! Now, on to today’s post…

It’s that time of year, and most of us jump in every January with a pile of new resolutions. Then, in December, most of us remember them with a guilty start, and wish we’d done better. It’s okay to admit it — you’re in a judgement free zone!

So, how do we do better? How do we make sure the resolutions we make in January actually impact our lives in 2015? At the bottom of this post I’m going to invite you to share yours, and I’d love to hear at the end of the year how you went!

To get us started, here are some of my writing-related resolutions for 2015:

1. Read 52 books — one for every week.

2. Complete drafts of two novels.

3. Yoga at least 5 days a week.

4. Do better at taking evenings off from writing.

5. Average 10,000 steps per day.

If you’re pondering what sort of resolutions to make, I recommend Marissa Meyer’s post on Business Plans for Writers, which I use every year to get myself thinking about my goals.

Goals and Aspirations

The main thing is to remember that there’s a difference between a goal and an aspiration. One you control, the other you don’t. Goals should be measurable, and they should be things you can personally do.

For example:

Goal: I’m going to be ready to query by March, and send out my first ten queries that month.

Aspiration: I’m going to sign with an agent in 2015.

Goal: I’m going to finish polishing my draft and send it to my agent by May.

Aspiration: I’m going to sell a novel this year.

See the difference? And the great thing about the goals is that they’re easily broken down into steps.

Mini-Goals

If you want to send out ten queries in March, you can set up mini-goals for January and February around researching agents, and finishing polishing up your query and your manuscript. Those mini-goals can make all the difference. Rather than getting to March and realising you’ve got a bazillion things to do if you want to make it (and really, either not making it, or not doing it as well as you could), you can make sure you’re on track by breaking down your goal and putting it in your diary.

For Example…

Let’s take my goals. How will I achieve them?

1. Read 52 books — one for every week. I’ll achieve this by keeping a spreadsheet and tracking whether I’m up to date. I’ll have a goal of five books for each month, which gives me a little wriggle room. I’ll have a ready-to-go queue of books sitting on my mantlepiece so I can easily grab the next one, and I’ll make a folder on my e-reader of books I’m planning on reading next.

2. Complete drafts of two novels. I’d better do this one, since they’re both due to publishers this year! In consultation with my co-authors, I’ll set up mini-goals for where we want to be each month of the year, so we know we’re tracking on time.

3. Yoga at least 5 days a week. I’ll achieve this by pairing up with an accountability buddy (an accountabilibuddy, vital to resolutions!) and scheduling a class every week with her. I’ve got an app that has my favourite routines on it, and I’ll make sure I check in with my buddy to report on whether I’m doing it the rest of the time. I’ve also enlisted my husband to work out with me a couple of times a week. (By the way, if this doesn’t sound like a writing-related goal, just eavesdrop on a group of authors… the subject of back pain will come up soon enough!)

4. Do better at taking evenings off from writing. One of the disadvantages of loving your job to pieces is that you’re not always very good at stopping! I’m going to be achieving this one by setting a hard stop time each evening, and I’ve put notes in my diary to check in with myself on whether I’m achieving it. I’ve also enlisted a couple of friends to check regularly with me.

5. Average 10,000 steps per day. My biggest ally on this one will be my beloved treaddesk, but of course it takes more than that! I’ll be using my Fitbit to make sure I’m averaging 70,000 steps each week, and I’ve added a bunch of buddies on there who have promised to taunt me if I fall behind!

So, time to share! What are your goals, and how are you planning on breaking them down and achieving them this year? I’d love to hear!

—

Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS and THIS SHATTERED WORLD, out now from  from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). You can also grab a free short story set in the Starbound universe! Her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or Facebook, or sign up to her mailing list for exclusive sneak-peeks and giveaways. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

featuring

Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

—

I’m sure we have a lot of fans of These Broken Stars reading Pub Crawl, and you must all be as excited as I (Kat) am that This Shattered World releases today! Amie and Meagan have written a book that’s somehow even more exciting and romantic than the first. I can’t wait to see the fan work start pouring in for these characters, because Jubilee and Flynn are awesome.

Plus, just look at that cover!

The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet’s rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn’s blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

HUGE congrats to Meagan and Amie for the release of the second Starbound book. I, for one, am already dying for Book #3 In the mean time, I’ll just go read This Shattered World again…

–

To celebrate the release, we’ll be giving away one copy of This Shattered World (contest open internationally). It won’t reach you by Christmas, but hey, we’ll all need some reading material after the holidays

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It’s that time of year when we’re all buying books as gifts for the ones we love (at least I assume you guys all do that too), so today I want to introduce you to a book I read in one sitting! It’s a delicious behind-the-scenes peek onto the set of a Race Around The World style reality TV show — if you’re looking for a holiday gift for the reader or reality TV fan in your life, this is it! And today, I’ve dragged in author Alison Cherry to answer some questions for all you lovely readers! But first, let’s hear a little about For Real!

No parents. No limits. No clue what they’re in for.

Shy, cautious Claire has always been in her confident older sister’s shadow. While Miranda’s life is jam-packed with exciting people and whirlwind adventures, Claire gets her thrills vicariously by watching people live large on reality TV.

When Miranda discovers her boyfriend, Samir, cheating on her just before her college graduation, it’s Claire who comes up with the perfect plan. They’ll outshine Miranda’s fame-obsessed ex while having an amazing summer by competing on Around the World, a race around the globe for a million bucks. Revenge + sisterly bonding = awesome.

But the show has a twist, and Claire is stunned to find herself in the middle of a reality-show romance that may or may not be just for the cameras. This summer could end up being the highlight of her life… or an epic fail forever captured on film. In a world where drama is currency and manipulation is standard, how can you tell what’s for real?

Hot New Releases & Popular Kids Stories This month is all about middle grade mania; plus a bonus young adult novel! Here are our picks for five kids books that we feel represent some of the best new kids stories releasing this month.

by Amy K. Nichols

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Amie says: Some months back, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Now That You’re Here, Amy K. Nichols’s debut novel. I loved it. I mean, I LOVED it. So much, that this is the blurb I gave it:

“The perfect blend of sci-fi and swoons, Now That You’re Here is like no other book I’ve read. Riveting, romantic and utterly original, it kept me up late!”

And in a starred review, here’s what Publisher’s Weekly said:

“These geeks own their intelligence like a badge of honor, using science to help a friend and explore strange new worlds.”

If you want a fantastic holiday gift for yourself (you deserve it!) or the science-fiction lover in your life, pre-order yourself a copy — it’s out on December 9th!

I loved the science in Now That You’re Here so much that I asked Amy to tell us how she approached the task of incorporating it into her story. Here’s what she had to say!

Growing up, I wasn’t a very enthusiastic science student. Perhaps it was a lack of awareness of science’s relevance to my self-absorbed teenage existence, but the last science class I remember actually enjoying was in seventh grade when we dissected frogs, learned about the hazards of smoking, and my teacher told us how hot dogs were made. (I haven’t eaten one since.) So I find it somewhat ironic that I’m now a science fiction author.

We’re big fans of These Broken Stars here at The Midnight Garden, so when we were asked to host the tour for the second Starbound novel This Shattered World, how could we possibly resist? Last year’s tour was tons of fun, and I’m excited to be working with Amie and Meagan again. These authors are such a dream to work with, as they’re both super creative, responsive, and funny–and their guest posts and interviews are always entertaining and informative, both for their avid fans and for new readers. Tour Details We’re finalizing details of the tour, but here are the basics of what you can expect. As with all TMG tours, these are a labor of love for us, so you know you’re in for a good time when you see one! Tour Dates:      December 8 – 19th, 2014 Featuring:        Exclusive guest posts, interviews, character interviews, excerpts, and review stops... Read more »

The post This Shattered World: blog tour sign-up appeared first on The Midnight Garden.

Today, we’re going to talk about the wonders of the treaddesk! Any writer will tell you that your back and shoulders suffer terribly if you spend too much time hunching over your desk. Especially when writing, we get lost in our work, and next thing, you’re shaped like a question mark.

Studies show that spending too much time sitting can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and a slew of other health problems. Your upper legs and your butt represent the biggest muscles in your body, and sitting still for hours on end effectively switches them off, which powers down your metabolism and circulation.

The answer? A treaddesk! Behold! (You can click for a much larger image.)

Woah! What is it?

A treaddesk is a small desk attached to your treadmill. You can rest your laptop on it and type while you walk. Basically, a treaddesk is a way to keep you moving while you work, and the World Health Organisation and every official recommendation out there says you’ll feel healthier and live longer for it!

Looks expensive, my friend…

Doesn’t have to be! I’m sure there are folks out there who’ll build you a super expensive treaddesk, but it’s genuinely easy to DIY. I got hold of a second hand treadmill for $100, and my husband built the desk section out of some bits of wood we had lying around. It’s as good as anything I could have bought!

How did you build it?

I’ll start by saying that if you have any questions about this at all, please do ask them in the comments, and I’ll have my husband answer. But here are the basics:

1. Check the right height–stand on the treadmill with your arms out at the height you’d like your laptop to be, and make a note of it.
2. Construct your frame–in the simplest terms, you’re talking about a piece of L-shaped wood, pictured below.
3. You can fasten the frame to the treadmill handles with black zip-ties. You can see one of them sticking out, just to the right of my mug. Again, click for a much larger image.
4. That’s it! The ties stop it sliding off the frame, and we found putting a gap between the planks meant my laptop had good air circulation. We put it on, plugged in the laptop, and I was ready to go!

Hooray for you, Amie, but I’m pretty sure I’m too uncoordinated — I’ll fall straight off the back!

You really won’t! Trust me, I once fell off the back of a treadmill in front of a whole football team, because my sister said something outrageous and I forgot to keep running. Not my most dignified moment! So I was definitely nervous I’d be too uncoordinated to walk and type at the same time. The key is to start out a little slower, and work your way up from there. I spend my first few days walking at a very slow 2kph, which is about 1.2mph. Now I spend 2 – 4 hours a day walking at 4kph, which is 2.5kph. That’s about regular walking pace, and I find it’s about the right speed to make sure I don’t move up and down too much to interfere with my typing. What’s most interesting to me is that I completely tune out while I’m doing it — after a couple of minutes, I forget I’m even on the treadmill, and an hour later I’m surprised to realise how long it’s been.

Okay. Maaaaaybe you’re onto something. Any special user tips?

Honestly, I was amazed by how easy I found it to adjust to using the treaddesk, but here’s what I came up with by way of beginner tips:

1. Wear decent shoes, preferably sneakers.
2. Start out slow, and work up from there.
3. Check if you need to stretch afterwards–if you haven’t walked a lot, then your hips might get a little tight. Some gentle lunges will sort that out.
4. If you’re not used to exercising, work your way up slowly, starting with half an hour or so.
5. Make sure the treadmill comes to a complete stop before you dismount! (No seriously.)

Any questions about using the treaddesk, or building your own? Leave them in the comments!

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Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming on December 23rd, and in the meantime, you can grab a free short story set in the Starbound universe! Her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

My friends, I am in COUNTDOWN MODE. Beth Revis’s new novel The Body Electric is nearly with us, and it’s so close I can taste it! October 6th, you are so close! From the NYT bestselling author who catapulted us into space with Across The Universe, this is a new story that answers the question: what happened on earth while the Godspeed was making her way to a new world? Bring. It. On. I’ve already ordered my limited-edition copy! And today, I’ve got Beth here with us to answer all our burning questions!

But first, a little about The Body Electric…

Ella Shepherd has dedicated her life to using her unique gift—the ability to enter people’s dreams and memories using technology developed by her mother—to help others relive their happy memories.

But not all is at it seems.

Ella starts seeing impossible things—images of her dead father, warnings of who she cannot trust. Her government recruits her to spy on a rebel group, using her ability to experience—and influence—the memories of traitors. But the leader of the rebels claims they used to be in love—even though Ella’s never met him before in her life. Which can only mean one thing…

Someone’s altered her memory.

Ella’s gift is enough to overthrow a corrupt government or crush a growing rebel group. She is the key to stopping a war she didn’t even know was happening. But if someone else has been inside Ella’s head, she cannot trust her own memories, thoughts, or feelings.

So who can she trust?

Beth, welcome! In Across The Universe and its sequels, you took us into space, trapped us on claustrophobic ships and landed us on incredible new planets. Tell us about your inspiration for The Body Electric! Where did this story start? A dream? A musical clip? Plain, old-fashioned brainstorming?

I first started getting the idea for The Body Electric while writing Shades of Earth, the last AtU novel. Amy and Elder have a little interaction with Earth, and it’s not positive. It made me start thinking: what was happening on Earth while Amy and Elder were in space? How did Earth change to become the kind of place where the events that happened in Shades of Earth happened?

Of course, I was also influenced by a lifetime of reading and SF movies–especially the works of Philip K. Dick. There are hints of Total Recall and Blade Runner in this book.

That’s insanely cool, and I think it’s a question more than one reader has wondered about– I certainly did! So, if you were transported into your book, which scene would you most want to reenact?

NONE OF THEM OMG EVERYONE IS ALWAYS ABOUT A CHAPTER AWAY FROM DEATH IN MY BOOKS. I want to stay right here, pants-less and on my couch, thank you very much.

That is a point very well made. On to other things! Your decision to self-publish The Body Electric has given you a lot of freedom to release and promote the book exactly the way you want, from getting hands-on in cover design to the choice to include amazing swag with your limited-edition paperback. Can you tell us a bit about that decision and your journey?

I did not come to self-publishing lightly, although now it seems like the clear, obvious choice. My agent helped me a TON in making this decision and in realizing the potential I had with doing this book exactly the right way for my readers. A big part of my motivation to self publish came from wanting to thank the people who made my career what it is: my readers and indie bookstores. So I made the Limited Edition–it has 30 pages of extra content, full color art cards, a coupon for an ebook copy, swag, and more. And I was able to choose the price, and keep it at $14.99. And the Limited Edition is only available from my local indie bookstore, but the Special Edition–with all the same content, minus the art cards and my signature–is available from any bookstore in America.

Of course, the book is available in lots of other formats: a cheaper paperback available through Amazon, e-book editions, etc.

The freedom of this has been amazing. I love having such a voice in every aspect, from the cover design, to the price, to literally everything. It’s been so freeing.

Seriousness aside: Pub Brawl!!!!! What weapon are you wielding?

My weapon is Jayne from Firefly. I win.

Yes, yes you do. I have nothing to add on that count. What are you reading right now?

I’ve just started reading The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin. I’m so jealous I didn’t write this book. It’s been brilliant–an engaging plot, crafted masterfully. [Amie: On Beth's recommendation I've just picked up a copy, can't wait to get stuck in!]

Beth, thank you so much for visiting! We can’t WAIT for The Body Electric!

Beth Revis is the NY Times bestselling author of the Across the Universe series. The complete trilogy is now available in more than 20 languages. A native of North Carolina, Beth’s new science fiction novel for teens, The Body Electric, will release October 6, 2014. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram.

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Amie Kaufman

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I want you to imagine something for me. Let’s say that last year I stepped through a magical door and went missing for a month. Let’s say I was in a fantasy world, where I became embroiled in a fight for justice, only to find myself yanked back to reality without the chance to find out how the battle ended. Let’s say I’m desperate to get back there to the cause that’s become my own, and the friends I left behind. (What’s that? Of course I made this up, hush….)

Since I returned, I’ve taken up archery, in case I can get back. I’ve learned to use a compass, worked on my first aid, and taken up as many practical skills as I can. School’s not as important to me anymore, though I used to be a dedicated student. Now, I just need to get back to the people and places I grew to love.

Now, let’s say I’m the main character in a novel. And let’s say my best friend is a secondary character.

From her point of view, I vanished for a month, and refuse to talk about why. I don’t care about school, I’ve dropped my friends and hobbies. I’m not the same girl who’s been friends with her for years. She’s worried, she’s frustrated and she’s hurt.

An author tackling our relationship has a range of choices. If she doesn’t think about things from my best friend’s point of view, she risks making her a pushover — no difficult questions, no challenges. Just a couple of token protests. Boring!

If she thinks about my best friend’s point of view carefully and makes her the heroine of her own story, she’ll be in a position to weave a more complex and satisfying storyline. Conflict with my best friend brings in new plot threads and challenges to overcome, will tug at my conflicting loyalties, and show me in a different light to the reader.

To make sure your story has that depth, consider sitting down and writing a paragraph — or a page — summarising the plot from your secondary characters’ points of view. Ask what they’d think, feel and want, then check they’re acting in accordance with those needs. Your story will be richer for it!

Do you have any advice to share, or a favourite secondary character in a book you love?

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Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming soon, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

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Amie Kaufman

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I know I promised you Part 2 of my productivity series this month, but I couldn’t resist stopping to recommend this fantastic book to you–you guys know how that feels, right? I’ll be back to work for you soon enough, but today I want to talk about a book I loved. It’s an Australian book that’s a brilliant nod to an old story, as well as a super smart mystery with a complex tapestry of diverse characters in a very special setting. This is a teenaged Holmes and Watson in Melbourne, Australia. Climb on board, my friends, you’re going to love it.

What if Sherlock Holmes was the boy next door?

When James Mycroft drags Rachel Watts off on a night mission to the Melbourne Zoo, the last thing she expects to find is the mutilated body of Homeless Dave, one of Mycroft’s numerous eccentric friends. But Mycroft’s passion for forensics leads him to realize that something about the scene isn’t right–and he wants Watts to help him investigate the murder. 

While Watts battles her attraction to bad-boy Mycroft, he’s busy getting himself expelled and clashing with the police, becoming murder suspect number one. When Watts and Mycroft unknowingly reveal too much to the cold-blooded killer, they find themselves in the lion’s den–literally. A trip to the zoo will never have quite the same meaning to Rachel Watts again…

I KNOW RIGHT? Let’s break it down.

THE SETTING

Every Breath is set in my home town of Melbourne, Australia, and let me tell you, Ellie Marney gets it right. From the turnstiles of Melbourne Zoo to the arguments about which way to go to avoid a traffic jam, she knows this city. If you want a book that will transport you to a place you’ve never been (though really, why haven’t you come to visit us?) and bring you up close and personal with the grittier side of an Australian city, this is it. Step outside the settings you’re used to and try something completely different–you’ll love it.

THE CHARACTERS

The cast of characters in Every Breath is something to behold. Our narrator is Rachel Watts, a country girl whose family has been forced into the city when their farm goes bankrupt. She’s desperately homesick, and as her family struggle to adjust, life keeps piling one thing after another on top of her. Rachel has every reason to be bitter, and she could easily have been that sort of narrator–finding fault with everything. Frankly, she has the right to complain. She could have been suspicious of the cast of characters she meets in this book, some of whom are unlike the people she knew at home. Instead, we encounter characters who are ethnically and sexually diverse, who suffer mental illness and are unique in many ways, and meet each of them through Rachel’s unique–and nonjudgemental–perspective. We sit down and have a chat with the sort of homeless guy most people carefully walk past. We learn to question first impressions. Rachel’s perspective forces the reader to slow down and take a much closer look at everyone around them.

THE MYSTERY

I’m the first to admit I’m no Miss Marple, but gosh, the mystery was well done. Marney resisted the urge to make Mycroft some sort of super freak, taking short-cuts and effortlessly deducing anything that stands still for a moment. Instead, he has to think, sweat, rely on Watts, and take public transport to follow up on leads — these two are teenagers, after all. He’s a dark, troubled teen who isn’t coping with the death of his parents, as confused and self-destructive as he is cuttingly intelligent. And behind this book’s murder mystery — which is, don’t worry, resolved by the end — there’s the promise of a much larger, even darker mystery that will span the series.

THE HISTORY

Sometimes when an old story is retold, the author or filmmaker sticks too closely to the original source material–decisions that originally made sense don’t now, but are stuck in there anyway. Character traits that don’t work in a new place or time hang about, and they jar. Ellie Marney dodges this deftly. She clearly draws her inspiration for Mycroft and Watts from the original Sherlock and Watson, but she makes the story her own, and it’s all the richer for it.

Every Breath is out now in Australia, and the sequel, Every Word, has just launched. For readers in North America, Every Breath will be out later this year–go add it on Goodreads so you don’t forget, or better yet, pre-order it from your favourite bookseller. (As per this  post from Claire Legrand, pre-orders are like unicorns, a fantastic way to show support for your favourite authors!)

What’s a book you love set in a place you know? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

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Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming soon, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

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Amie Kaufman

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Productivity. How much you do, when you do it, how you measure it. Put a bunch of writers together, and you can guarantee it’ll come up at some point. We had a great post about the Productivity Pyramid here on Pub Crawl by our own Sooz Dennard.

Do you write in the morning? Are you more productive at night? Do you have a daily word count? Do you count pages when you’re editing? How do you balance the demands of email, social media, writing and (hopefully) the rest of your life?

A couple of weeks ago, author Nova Ren Suma asked this:

Fellow writers & freelancers: How do you keep yourself organized and make the best of your hours and juggle a dozen things at once? Tips?

— Nova Ren Suma (@novaren) April 16, 2014

She got a slew of answers, and author R. J. Anderson provided an epic reply, storified here – I recommend reading it.

I started writing my response, but it got so enormous that I’m going to break it up over three posts. Today, I’m going to talk about time management. Specifically, to-do lists and the Pomodoro Technique. This may not sound sexy, but trust me, it can be a game-changer. The second post will talk about task types, social media and your working day. The third will talk about attitudes and approaches to work.

I find productivity advice a really interesting area, because a lot of it is for people who work in offices, with jobs where you actually know when you’ve completed a task. That’s not always the case for writers. So the advice below is specifically for writers (and other creatives), and is  based on years at a not-for-profit running a highly productive team, as well as my own experience studying, working full time, and writing two trilogies at once.

LISTS

I’m not just talking about a regular to-do list here. Putting everything on one giant list is a guaranteed way to look at it, get overwhelmed, then voluntarily throw yourself down a Lizzie Bennet Diaries rabbit hole rather than doing any work. It’s too big a chunk of information to be absorbed at once and it looks like more than you can ever do. But a good to-do list can change your life, seriously. It can help ensure nothing is forgotten, avoid last-minute rushes and actually reduce your stress. Promise!

There are lots of different techniques, and you should pick one that works for you, but I’m going to show you what mine looks like. The keys are:

• Clearly outline each task
• Allocate an achievable amount to each day
• Leave room for the unexpected
• Plan ahead

I keep my list in a draft email, so I can access it from my phone or laptop anytime to add an item. When I acquire a new to-do task, I don’t jump on it that day unless it’s urgent. I assign it to a future day and forget about it until it’s time to do it.  I cannot say enough how much this reduces stress.

I list each day of the coming week and allocate tasks under it. I then have a heading for ‘Coming Dates’, a heading for ‘Next Week’ and a heading for ‘Future Actions’. And then each day I hand write a list of what I’m going to get done, and put the rest of the list away. That way I only have to look at my bite-sized tasks, not the road stretching out ahead. My rule: if I can’t fit my daily list on a post-it, there’s too much on it to do it all.

Here’s what goes under each each heading I use:

Daily heading: Only the tasks I will achieve that day. These should be clearly outlined, and there shouldn’t be too many.

Coming dates: Appointments or commitments that I can’t forget, that I’ll want to enter into next week’s list.

Next week: A list of things to do next week, but not yet sorted by day — I won’t do this until I know how the week’s shaping up, with any requests from my editors or personal commitments.

Future actions: Stuff that’s happening a while away, that I don’t want to forget.

And here’s an extract from my recent to-do lists. I’ve just listed two individual days for the week, since this is already turning into an epically long blog post.

MONDAY [These items will take up most of a day, but I've left an hour or two free in case of the unexpected. If I get ahead, I'll probably write.]

• Write Pub Crawl blog post
• Send email to (author friend)
• Fill out author questionnaire [for Aussie publisher]
• Crit read (CP’s novel) – 100 pages
• Crit Meg’s chapter [of our WIP]
• Email Jay [to make a time next week to catch up and plot for our WIP]

TUESDAY [This day is going to see me write at least 3,000 words, so I'm not counting on myself to have brain to do too much else -- I've allocated myself easy tasks aside from drafting.]

• Write chapter [of WIP with Meg]
• Post office
• Yoga
• Send invoice [for a guest speaking gig at a local university]
• Email agent [re a foreign rights offer]
• Email editor [with a question about a timeframe]
• Email (friend) [this person is a doctor and checking a few medical aspects of my WIP]

COMING DATES

• 13th May – This Shattered World cover reveal
• 15 May – brainstorming with Jay
• 31 May – 1 June – Emerging Writers Festival (panel on Sunday)

NEXT WEEK

• Tweet for release of (book that’s coming out)
• Email (name), (name) and (name)
• Finish crit read for (author)
• Provide bio/headshot/interview answers to (conference name)
• Email accountant [this one is there eeevery week, finances are confusing, yo]

FUTURE ACTIONS

• [Note here about a story seed I want to work on.]
• [Note here about a place I want to visit for research when I have time]
• [Note here to buy and read some books in a particular genre that focuses on a skill I'd like to improve]

And that’s how my to-do list works! Though it looks complex, it takes about sixty seconds to set up. For me, its main strengths are that it’s easily accessible, easy to maintain, allows me to allocate a task to when I need to do it and then forget it, and means that each day I wake up knowing what I need to get done that day! Whether you decide to go with this format, an app or a more technical system, having a way to track all the balls you have in the air is vital. Your system should be flexible while still making sure you know what to do each day, and allow you to focus on a day at a time as well as seeing the big picture.

POMODORO

When it comes time to tackle the list above, I swear by the Pomodoro Technique. There are variations in the way different people use it, but I’m going to give you a brief description of mine — I’ve shared this with other writers, many of whom have reported it really helps them as well. You can grab a free Pomodoro app for your phone, or do this with a regular kitchen timer.

The technique requires that you work for 25 minutes, followed by a five minute break. You do this four times in a row, then take a half hour break. The key for me is that I start my working time with a list of things to do, whether that’s writing or admin or marketing. I jump on the first one, work until it’s done, then pick up the second one. Under NO circumstances while I’m in my 25 minute period do I do aaaaaaanything other than the tasks I’ve set. Absolutely no social media, making cups of tea, daydreaming, etc. What I find is that the 25 minutes never seems insurmountable, so I jump on in, and the ban on other activities means I skate past that danger time five minutes in, when my fingers start to creep toward opening a new tab for Twitter. By pushing past that ‘distraction point’, I get a heap done.

Equally key is taking the five minute breaks — the idea here is to rest up before you get tired, so you’re ready to keep going for your next 25 minute run. In my five minute breaks I usually stretch, grab a drink, make a bathroom run or throw a three minute dance party with the dog, which has the added benefit of loosening up my back before I get sore from too long at the keyboard. When I hit my 30 minute break, I usually go for a walk — it’s important to leave the keyboard during that break.

I get a heap done when I use this approach — if you’re interested, try it!

What tools and techniques do you recommend for improving productivity? I’ll be back next month to talk about task types, social media and your working day. I’d love to hear your suggestions (and I’m happy to answer any questions) in the comments.

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Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming in November 2014, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

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Amie Kaufman

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One of the things we like to do here at Pub Crawl is give you a peek behind the curtain at parts of publishing you might not otherwise see. If you follow any authors on social media, the odds are very high you’ve seen them mention their copy edits more than once. So what exactly are they?

Copy edits come later in the editorial process—almost the last thing authors will do before it’s too late to change the text! (And believe us, most authors aren’t nearly ready to stop tweaking words, even when it’s time!)

The copy editor is many things. Grammar guru, continuity expert, repetition police, dictionary, the works. Here’s how some of it works:

Grammar guru: The copy editor will mark up all the spots the story’s grammar isn’t quite right, indicating what the correct usage would be. It’s then up to the author to either accept the chance, or write ‘stet’ (which is Latin for ‘let it stand’, we’re a quaint bunch in publishing) if they want to leave it the way it is. The author might want to leave something the way it is (technically incorrect) for any number of reasons. The character’s voice—a teenager mightn’t say ‘whom’, even if it’s correct. Their own personal style—they might really like using far too many em-dashes, like I do. Impact—they might want a sentence fragment or something all mixed up to create a sense of confusion, or chaos, or to shine a light on particular words. (Fun fact: ask any group of authors what they stet the most, and they’ll almost always tell you it’s the places the copy editor points out you should, technically speaking, have a semicolon.)

Continuity expert: The copy editor is the one who points out that when your character says ‘I can’t believe it’s only been three days’, they really shouldn’t believe it. Because it’s been five. (Whoops. Yes, that is a personal example.) They check all kinds of things, from eye color to that one mention of a character who got erased in an earlier draft, and technically shouldn’t exist at all. The copy editor is the one who points all this out after you’ve read the manuscript dozens of times, and would cheerfully swear it’s completely clean.

Repetition Police: After checking the manuscript completely, the author is usually completely sure there are no word repeated too close together. They usually find they’re wrong. (See what I did there?) The copy editor catches repeats and confusing language, anywhere it’s not quite clear what a sentence means.

Dictionary: During copy edits on These Broken Stars, Meg and I learned that you can rifle through a box hunting for something, but you riffle through papers. Two Fs. When you’ve got an Aussie on the team, the copy editor sometimes also points out things that might be correct in Australia or the UK, but are completely confusing if you’re an American.

Suffice it to say we love our copy editors, who make us look smart! For more entertaining tales of saves copy editors have made for other authors, check out this hilarious post by author, literary agent and Pub Crawl/LTWF alumnus Mandy Hubbard.

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This post is adapted from an article that originally appeared in my monthly newsletter — if you liked it, you can sign up here.

Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming in November 2014, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

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Amie Kaufman

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True fact: when I finished this book, I sat down and promptly wrote a fan letter to Sherry Thomas. I’m absolutely WILD about it! I originally grabbed a copy because a bunch of other authors told me I couldn’t miss it — and they were absolutely right! 

It’s got everything–heart-stopping action, sly humour, razor sharp wit, boarding schools, magic, disguises, love, sacrifice, life-and-death stakes and a cast of characters I completely fell for. I’ve bought several copies for friends already, and if you’re looking for your next read, The Burning Sky should be it!

Just before the start of Summer Half, in April 1883, a very minor event took place at Eton College, that venerable and illustrious English public school for boys. A sixteen-year-old pupil named Archer Fairfax returned from a three-month absence, caused by a fractured femur, to resume his education.

Almost every word in the preceding sentence is false. Archer Fairfax had not suffered a broken limb. He had never before set foot in Eton. His name was not Archer Fairfax. And he was not, in fact, even a he.

This is the story of a girl who fooled a thousand boys, a boy who fooled an entire country, a partnership that would change the fate of realms, and a power to challenge the greatest tyrant the world had ever known.

Expect magic.

I mean, don’t you just read that and get a shiver straight down your spine? Expect magic. But I could rave all day, so let’s go into some detail:

The World: The worlds you’ll visit in The Burning Sky are gorgeous, vivid and original. From cricket games at Eton, to magic worlds just next door to our own, to the Crucible, the most extraordinary magical training ground you’ve ever seen, Sherry Thomas does an incredible job.

The Characters: I don’t even know where to begin. I love Iolanthe, so strong and stubborn and so very human. She swaggers through Eton in the most fantastic impression of a teenaged boy, and her journey in this book is so rich and layered. And then there’s Titus. Oh, Titus. His absolute dedication to his goal, the sacrifices he makes — and the absolute humanity you sense in him, the things you know he’d want so badly if only he’d let himself. I get shivers just thinking about it! And his dark, dark sense of humour — I am utterly in love.

The Adventure: Though I could sit around and swoon at the characters and the setting all day, this book keeps you moving at a hundred miles an hour, and it’s amazing! What would you do if you were told you were the only one who could defeat a tyrant and save your realm… but you knew the attempt would probably kill you? What would you do if it was your job to train and guide the girl who had that task? And what would you do if you fell in love with her?

The Romance: Speaking of which, THE SWOONS, PEOPLE. Sherry Thomas is also an acclaimed romance author, and let me tell you, it shows. Enough said.

The Laughs: Anyone who’s read my writing knows that I’m a firm believer in bringing the laughs — just because a situation is deathly tense, doesn’t mean you can’t slip in some dark humour. I laughed out loud reading this book, and I loved it all the more for that.

The Supporting Cast: Kashkari. Wintervale. Master Haywood. Trust me when I say that the secondary characters in this book could carry a  novel all on their own. Thomas does an amazing job of giving them depth and hinting at whole backstories, without straying form the path of Iolanthe and Titus’s story. Friendships, trust and sacrifice all come to the fore in this book, and the rich cast of secondary characters are standouts in their own right.

The Bottom Line: I picked up this book because word-of-mouth told me it was fantastic, and I’m passing that word along to you. It truly was a fantastic read that left me with a lasting book hangover, and quite simply, you should grab a copy for yourself. Book two, The Perilous Sea, is out on September 16th, and you can bet your boots I’ve got that thing pre-ordered! (As per this  post from Claire Legrand, pre-orders are like unicorns, a fantastic way to show support for your favourite authors!)

What have you read recently that you’ve loved? We Pub Crawlers are always looking for our next great read, so we’d love to hear from you!

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Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming in November 2014, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

by

Jordan Hamessley London

and the Pub(lishing) Crawl Gang!

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About three months ago, I had a life change. I left my job at Grosset & Dunlap at Penguin to become an Editor at Egmont USA. It was a very exciting move for me, if a bit scary. Grosset had been my first publishing job and my first “real job” out of college. I had a ton of memories there and it felt like my second home.

When I arrived at Egmont in December, I was thrilled to begin working on a new list and with a new team, but I realized something was missing. Now, this may sound crazy, but hear me out.

My desk at Grosset had been very lived over the course of my five years there, I had acquired numerous action figures, plush toys, photos, and trinkets from my authors. When I got home from my first day at Egmont, I knew I needed to bring in the little things that would make my desk feel like “home” again. What are those things?

Well, my Benjamin Linus bobblehead, of course.

And my paper machete, inspired by an amazing typo written by one of authors (attempting to spell papier mâché) and what I use on particularly intense edits!

At last, my workspace was complete!

My journey to complete my new workspace made me wonder where all of the other Pub(lishing) Crawl members do their work. Here’s a sneak peek at where they write/agent/and sell their books!

Erin Bowman’s amazing workspace

Susan Dennard’s desk

Julie Eshbaugh’s writing space

JJ’s workspace

Amie Kaufman – I usually work in my study, but I love to move around as well — this is the view of my writing spot at one of my favourite bars in Melbourne, where I can sit right on the river and watch the world go by!

Biljana Likic’s workspace

Jodi Meadows – You might think there’s a lot of yarn on this desk. You’d be right. You’re probably also overlooking some. There’s more than you think. No, another one besides those.

E.C. Myers – Basically, I write 95% of the time on my netbook, even when I’m at home, and I mostly use my larger laptop and keyboard for other work — graphics, video editing, e-mail — and blogging. I work best outside of my apartment.

Adam Silvera’s desk at work

Adam Silvera’s workspace for writing

Joanna Volpe’s desk

Joanna Volpe’s bookshelf

Kat Zhang – Here’s where I’m writing right now (local B&N). Only add in half a dozen toddlers running around.

 The Pub(lishing) Crawl team is a great example of how everyone has a different place where they work. What makes your workspace unique and special to you? 

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Jordan Hamessley London is an Editor at Egmont USA, where she edits middle grade and YA. Her current titles include Isla J. Bick’s new series, The Dark Passages (#1 White Space), Bree DeSpain’s new series Into the Dark (#1 The Shadow Prince), and more. Prior to Egmont, Jordan worked at  Grosset and Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers where she edited Adam-Troy Castro’s middle grade horror series Gustav Gloom, Ben H. Winters and Adam F. Watkin’s series of horror poetry Literally Disturbed, Michelle Schusterman’s I Heart Band series, Adam F. Watkins’s alphabet picture book R is for Robot and more. When not editing, Jordan can be found on twitter talking about books, scary movies, and musical theater.