The Apocalypsies

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-05-25T08:55:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, time for another good news update!

New releases:
THE DOWNSIDE OF BEING CHARLIE by Jenny Torres Sanchez

New deals:
Read about Gina Damico's third book in the CROAK series and enter the celebratory giveaway
Barry Wolverton's THE VANISHING ISLAND trilogy, to Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins, for publication beginning Winter 2014

Audio rights:
Barry Wolverton's NEVERSINK - Random House Listening Library

Contests:
Gina Rosati's AURACLE giveaway on Goodreads
Stalk Gretchen McNeil at BEA and you could win a signed copy of TEN or a custom ringtone
Shannon Messenger's KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES giveaway
Visit Diana Renn's blog to see the TOKYO HEIST Art Gallery and enter the giveaway
Enter to win an ARC of THROUGH TO YOU, wristbands, and bookmarks in Emily Hainsworth's Massive May Giveaway
Read about Sarah Wylie's ALL THESE LIVES prize pack, which includes a signed copy of ALL THESE LIVES, bookmarks, and any three Apocalypsies books

Other awesomeness:
J. Anderson Coats will be a Stellar Debuts panelist for School Library Journal's Day of Dialog
Read about the new YouTube channel for Chloe of Shelley Coriell's WELCOME, CALLER, THIS IS CHLOE
INSIGNIA by S.J. Kincaid, THE WICKED AND THE JUST by J. Anderson Coats, BOY + BOT by Ame Dyckman, PUSHING THE LIMITS by Katie McGarry, SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo, TOKYO HEIST by Diana Renn, UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris, and WELCOME, CALLER, THIS IS CHLOE by Shelley Coriell are among the books on the Summer 2012 Indie Next List

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-05-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Helloooooo and happy Friday! Here's our latest good news:

New releases:
GILT by Katherine Longshore
THE ROCK OF IVANORE by Laurisa White Reyes
KISS THE MORNING STAR by Elissa Janine Hoole
THE OTHER LIFE by Susanne Winnacker (U.S. release)

Cover reveals:
German cover for J.A. Souders' RENEGADE
Cover reveal 10-ARC giveaway for Jay Kristoff's STORMDANCER

New sites:
Marissa Meyers' website with launch quiz and Scarlet giveaway

Foreign sales:
Lissa Price's STARTERS - Indonesia

Audio rights:
W.H. Beck's MALCOM AT MIDNIGHT - Recorded Books, available in October
Kassy Tayler's ASHES OF TWILIGHT - AudioGo

Contests:
Win a signed, annotated ARC of DEFIANCE in C.J. Redwine's Celebrate May Giveaway
Katherine Longshore's online GILT launch party
Hilary Graham's REUNITED Giveaway Extravaganza
There's a little time left to enter Susanne Winnacker's THE OTHER LIFE giveaway

FIND YOUR MAGIC: TRANSFORMING FAILURE INTO SUCCESS

2012-05-15T00:01:00.015-05:00

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that,

you can make anything happen.”

– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The day has finally arrived. My novel is on bookshelves everywhere. People ask me if I'm excited. I answer with a tentative yes. Of course I'm excited. I've waited my whole life for this. What I don't tell them is that this journey to publication has been such a long, challenging road that the initial excitement wore off a long time ago. How I feel now is more akin to relief and satisfaction. Whew! I made it. I've survived.

When I was an adolescent, I believed I wasn't good at anything. I struggled with my grades. I was shy and had trouble making friends. But I also had dreams. Big ones. Even then, I longed to see my name on the cover of a book. I would buy pretty pens and spend hours scrawling my name over and over to get my 'L' just right. In bookstores, I'd run my fingers across the shelves and wonder where my book would go someday. I even wrote in my journal that I wanted to publish my first novel before I was thirty years old.

But life often takes us on journeys that are unforeseen and unplanned. There is failure along the way, pitfalls and stumbling blocks, deep gorges and towering mountain peaks. I missed my goal by thirteen years because I spent way too long convinced I could never actually write a novel. And then when I finally did write one, things didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped.

It is easy to look at others and compare their greatest successes to our worst failures. Of course, that's an unfair comparison to make. Take Michael Jordan for instance. The NBA calls him "the greatest basketball player of all time." During his career he averaged 30 points per game, scored 32,000 points overall, played in 13 All Star games, won 2 Olympic gold medals, and set many world records. But did you know that he was also the biggest failure in basketball history? And he's the first one to say so. He missed over 9,000 shots, lost more than 300 games, and missed 26 game winning shots. He says "I have failed over and over in my life - and that's why I succeed." (You can watch his TV spot about this below.)

A few of my rejection letters.

There are some whose road to success is quick and painless, but for most of us, success requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. After two years of submissions and forty-five rejections, I seriously considered giving up on my dream of being an author. I saw my failures as a sign that I was a bad writer. But then I met Jay Asher, author of the New York Times bestseller 13 Reasons Why. He had just published that book and had no idea how drastically his life was about to change. But what inspired me was that it took him about ten years to find a publisher. He never gave up.

I went home with renewed determination, and a few months later I sold my manuscript.

"I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something.

But I can't accept not trying."

- Michael Jordan

In my book, The Rock of Ivanore, Marcus believes he can't do magic. Every time he casts a spell, it backfires. He thinks he's a failure. It's only through the challenges he faces and overcomes that he develops the courage and ability to succeed in his quest. This is what I call FINDING YOUR MAGIC. Everyone has some goal they'd like to achieve or obstacle to overcome. Some want to write. Others want to play basketball. Some just want to pass their next math test, while others want to climb Mount Everest. The key to success is the same for everyone: DON'T GIVE UP.

One of my favorite stories is about Thomas Edison and his quest to invent the light bulb. He succeeded after a thousand attempts. I often wonder what would have happened had he given up after number 999?

“I have not failed 1,000 times.

I have not failed once.

I have succeeded in proving

that those 1,000 ways will not work.”

- Thomas Edison

What is success? For most of us, it is the destination we reach after a traveling a long, hard road. Sometimes success is a single event or accomplishment. Other times it is an ongoing process. No matter what our individual definitions of success may be, it is always accompanied by a sense of satisfaction, of knowing we earned the right to be there.

So next time you are faced with a challenge, or you meet with failure, remember to just keep going and find your magic.

- Written by Laurisa White Reyes

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-05-11T00:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the YAmazing Race With MGnificent Prizes, and congratulations to all the winners! Special thanks to Gina Damico for putting it all together.

And now, on to what else we've been up to:

New releases:
WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND by Tracy Bilen
THE VICIOUS DEEP by Zoraida Cordova
WELCOME, CALLER, THIS IS CHLOE by Shelley Coriell
THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY by Lucy Jones
STRUCK by Jennifer Bosworth
CHAINED by Lynne Kelly
HEMLOCK by Kathleen Peacock
ONE FOR THE MURPHYS by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Cover reveals:
K.M. Walton's next YA novel, EMPTY
Jodi Meadows' ASUNDER, the sequel to INCARNATE

New sales:
Tiffany Schmidt's next YA novel, BRIGHT BEFORE SUNRISE, to Walker-Bloomsbury

Foreign sales:
Jay Kristoff's STORMDANCER trilogy - Spain

Reviews:
Diana Renn's TOKYO HEIST received positive reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly
THE WICKED AND THE JUST by J. Anderson Coats received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Shelf Awareness

Contests:
Zoraida Cordova is having a month-long contest to celebrate the release of THE VICIOUS DEEP

Other awesomeness:
Kiera Cass' THE SELECTION has made the New York Times bestseller list
Congratulations to all our members who are included on the Summer Indie Next List
Lissa Price's STARTERS is now an international bestseller, and has spent several weeks in the top ten on the SoCal Indie Next Bestseller list and the Pacific Northwest Indie Bestseller list
Katherine Longshore's GILT is an Editor's Pick for Best Teen Books of May on Amazon

Book trailer:
Tracy Bilen's WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND

YAmazing Race Winners

2012-05-09T09:20:00.000-05:00

First of all, thank you SO much to all who participated! If we could throw every one of you up on one of those winner pedestal thingies, we totally would. We got a truly fantastic turnout - over 250 entries in each leg - and many of you even got every answer correct! So without further ado, congratulations to the winners of the MGnificent prize packs, chosen at random from the 100% correct entries in each leg:

Giant Space Squid - Carina Olsen
Flying Grizzly Bears - Amber/aLmYbNeNr
Land Sharks - Gabrielle Carolina
Killer Penguins - Petra
Exploding Flamingos - Amanda Galliton
Laser-Eyed Iguanas - Jessica Silverstein

Winners, you have been contacted by email - be sure to respond if you haven't already, or we can't send you the loot!

We hope you had a great time on the race, got to know us Apocalypsies, and hopefully added a whole new pile of books to your reading mountain. (And if you'd like to leave any feedback about the race, please click HERE - we'd really appreciate it!) While you're here, check out the other authors in our group, and keep your eyes out for more YAmazing Races in the future - we promise there will be more. And be sure to follow us at @apocalypsies, like us on Facebook, or follow our blog for updates on what we're all up to. Happy reading!

Let's Chat! Historical Settings in YA Fiction

2012-05-08T16:16:00.003-05:00

Interested in hearing about some great upcoming YA Historical Titles?

Are you writing a book with a strong historical element?

Want to win some prizes?

Come join the Apocalypsies in our monthly twitter chat onSaturday, May 12^th at 9PM EST. We’ll be chatting under the hashtag #2102debuts

We’ll be featuring J. Anderson Coats and Katherine Longshore, authors of THE WICKED AND THE JUST and GILT, respectively, with guest appearances by Jessica Spotswood, author of BORN WICKED, Jay Kristoff, author of the upcoming STORMDANCER, Genn Albin, author of CREWEL, and more! Veronica Rossi, author of UNDER THE NEVER SKY, will be moderating the chat.

Prizes will include signed copies of GILT and UNDER THE NEVER SKY, a query critique by Jessica Spotswood, a CREWEL button, plus lots of other great swag!

Don't miss out!

YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes!

2012-05-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

NOTE: The YAmazing Race is officially over! Winners will be announced tomorrow, right here on the Apocalypsies blog. Thank you to all who participated!

Welcome to the starting line of the YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes, presented by the Apocalypsies! Over the course of the race, you'll be introduced to over 50 debut YA and MG authors and their fabulous books. Are you up to the challenge?

Here's how it works:

-At the bottom of this post, there are six wildly implausible but totally possible doomsday scenarios (we are the Apocalypsies, after all). Choose whichever one strikes your fancy and click on it to start one of the six Legs of the race. You will be taken to an author's website, where you will find a synopsis of their book. Read it, remember it, drool over the pretty cover. When you're done, click on the link provided and jump to the next author.
-After ten or so stops, you'll be taken to a quiz with questions about the books you just met. And accuracy counts - the winners will be whoever gets the most questions correct!
-Once you complete a quiz, you will be given the links for the starts of the other Legs. There are six Legs in all. You are welcome to run the race all at once, or do a couple of Legs and come back for the rest - pace yourself however you'd like! Speed does not matter.

Rules of the Road:
-To be eligible to win, you must complete one or more of the quizzes, and must provide your name and email address on each quiz.
-The race will run from 12:00pm EST on Wednesday, May 2nd to 12:00pm EST on Tuesday, May 8th. Any quizzes submitted before or after these times will not count.
-Winners will be posted here on the Apocalypsies blog on Wednesday, May 9th, and will also be notified by email.
-As stated above, speed doesn't matter; accuracy does. Take as much time as you need to complete the quizzes - go back and look for the answers if you need to. The winners, one from each quiz, will be whoever gets the most number correct in each quiz. If there is a tie, the winners will be chosen at random from those who got the most correct.
-Please do not submit more than one entry per quiz.
-This contest is open internationally.
-If you run into any problems during the race, have any questions about the race, or need a medic, please click HERE to contact a race official.
-If you'd like to leave some feedback when you are finished racing, please click HERE. We'd really appreciate it!

Prizes:
There will be six prize packs - one per quiz, and featuring prizes from that quiz's authors. Each prize pack will be a mix of books, gift certificates, and more. The prizes generously donated by the participating Apocalpysies authors are:
-ARCs, finished copies, or preorders of: RENEGADE, SEND ME A SIGN, WELCOME CALLER THIS IS CHLOE, IF I LIE, CROAK, TOUCHING THE SURFACE, THE ROCK OF IVANORE, INNOCENT DARKNESS, THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST, PUSHING THE LIMITS, THE CABINET OF EARTHS, WAY TO GO, BUTTER, STORMDANCER, KISS THE MORNING STAR, WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND, SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE, THE OTHER LIFE, CINDER, REMARKABLE, STORYBOUND, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, SLIDE, PRETTY CROOKED, SILVER, STARTERS, FAIR COIN, GLITCH, FRACTURE, VENOM, ZIP, THE WICKED AND THE JUST, OLDSOUL, SHADOWS CAST BY STARS, THE BOY RECESSION, BORN WICKED, TIME BETWEEN US, UNRAVELING, ONE FOR THE MURPHYS
-Gift certificates to: Barnes and Noble and Amazon
-And: T-shirts, critiques, jewelry, notebooks, signed bookplates, CDs, bookmarks, tattoos, postcards, stickers, buttons and more! Your mail carrier will HATE you, with all the stuff they're going to be delivering!

But wait! Bonus prizes!
Make sure to fully read each author's post, because there are plenty of bonus giveaways along the way, with chances to win even more prizes - more books, more swag, more everything! We've got more loot than ~~Captain Morgan~~ a nonalcoholic pirate mascot!

Okay. Are you ready to start? All carbo-loaded, stretched out your hammies?

Click on your favorite Apocalyptic doomsday scenario and go go go!

Geniuses at Work

2012-04-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love seeing pictures of writers' work spaces. They give another glimpse into the creative process behind the books we read, a place where we can imagine the author toiling behind a computer screen, filling blank pages. It's easy for readers to attribute some special significance to the desk where your favorite novel was written, and in fact, some authors themselves are very particular about where they work. The writing space is another tool, just like a computer or legal pad, a special pen or a cherished figurine that helps the words flow. But what fascinates me most is the way a space can reflect the personality of the author, and how it may (or may not) affect way she works. Cluttered, neat, surrounded by books, or buried under Post-its, every writing space is unique.

I thought it would be fun to peek into the personal spaces of some of the Apocalypsies, to see where their debut books came to life.

A.C. Gaughen, the author of Scarlet (Walker Books for Young Readers) uses this super Macbook to change the course of mighty sentences and bend words with her bare hands. I heartily approve.

Laurisa White Reyes, author of The Rock of Ivanore (May 21, Tanglewood Press), says, "(M)y particular work space is a bit unconventional. I live in a 1600 square-foot house with ten other people: my husband, my five kids, and all four grandparents. Space is very limited (as is 'quiet' time.) My 'office' (if you can call it that) is a cheap Walmart desk in the corner of my bedroom wedged between my bed and the wall. I sit on my chair (which NO ONE else is allowed to sit on because it is the one square-foot of space I can call my own) and put my feet on my bed. Then I put my laptop on a wooden lap desk and write. I've written seven manuscripts this way in the past four years. My first four manuscripts (including The Rock of Ivanore, coming out in May) were written on my sofa in the living room with a laptop on my knees.

I like seeing other authors' desks because they always look so neat and tidy. My desk is never neat and tidy. It is a mess, piled high with papers and all sorts of stuff thumb tacked to the wall above it. I think I cleaned it a bit for the pic, but my normal writing environment is messy and I like it that way.

Oh, about computers--in the six years I've been writing novels I've been through five computers. I burned out two Toshibas, wore down two netbooks (an Acer and a Compaq) and finally just bought a Dell, which I am told should hold up a little better than the others. I sure hope so."

Rachel Grinti, co-author of Claws (September 1, 2012 U.S., May 24, 2012 UK, Scholastic) shares a picture of her working on her 11" Macbook Air: "It's nicknamed the Goblin King because I stuck a Jareth decal on the back (and because my writing folders and files are such a jumble they might as well be in a labyrinth.) I love writing on my tiny laptop! It fits in my purse, it's super light, and it's so comfortable to use on my lap. (I often curl up on the couch to write, but I also like to leave the house to work if I'm getting too distracted at home.) Goblin King is not the same computer I wrote my debut on--that would be the bigger, heavier laptop on the desk beside me in the photo. It's not very portable for me due to the weight, so I treated myself to a new writing machine after Mike and I sold CLAWS. And I'm finally learning to use Scrivener! Last but not least, my canine writing helper (or rather, one of the distractions of writing at home) is pictured as well: my Boston Terrier, Miles."

Like many of us, Tiffany Schmidt, author of Send Me a Sign (October 2, 2012, Walker-Bloomsbury) has multiple work spaces:

"Where I'm SUPPOSED to write--the writing nook we designed when we put on the addition. It's got whiteboard walls, a sign that says 'And They All Lived Happily Ever After,' a sparkly chair, and it's flanked by built-in bookshelves. Number of times I've written there--zero. (It's on the third floor & I get lonely.)"

"The treadmill desk--I do use this! And sometimes for writing not running. I love to walk and plot--but only during drafting. Once I hit revision, I have to be stationary."

"The desk I've tucked in the corner of our dining room (aka The Eyesore)--This is where most of my writing gets done. I'm an arms reach from the Schmidtlets' highchairs and occasionally have to fend off the flying food item, but it's at the center of our house so I can creep away to dash down books... a few words at a time."

Lisa Jenn Bigelow, author of Starting from Here (August 2012, Marshall Cavendish), tell us where her book started from: "I have an 'office,' but it's really just some space carved out from my kitchen, where my bookshelves, desk, and filing cabinets reside. I prefer to write with a dog beside me. My dog Carly was my constant companion while I wrote STARTING FROM HERE, and she was a great inspiration when it came to Mo, my novel's canine character. After she passed away, my dog Saffy (pictured here) saw me through the final rounds of editing. I'm a lifelong Mac user and draft my books in Scrivener before importing them to Microsoft Word. My MacBook Pro (pictured here), is named Grumblecakes, after a product in a Homestar Runner cartoon: 'Only liars and thieves eat Grumblecakes! And those people go to prison.' (Yes, it's random. So what?) STARTING FROM HERE was drafted on an older generation Mac laptop."

Jessica Spotswood, author of Born Wicked (Putnam), shows us where she writes: "I have a very nice little desk in my office, overlooking the thundercloud plum tree in our backyard. But I never work there. I sit on this flowered loveseat instead, hunched over my Macbook Air with incredibly poor posture. I write in Word--Scrivener has been helpful to organize my story bible for the Cahill Witch Chronicles, and to outline in, but I like having the entire story in one document. Before I begin writing for the day, I often go back and reread and edit the previous day's work. As a somewhat fanatical list-maker, I adore the Stickies feature--mine currently contain: Books to Read, 2012 Travel, Garden/Home Decor Research, BW Sales, Star Cursed Notes, and a running To Do list. My other favorite apps are: Google Chrome, Tweetdeck, Adobe Digital Editions, Write or Die, and Freedom. I also have the BW cover, my author photo, the latest draft of Star Cursed, and the Star Cursed outline on the desktop for easy access. Next to my loveseat, not pictured, is a fantastic little ottoman with a tray (this one, but in a lime green) with all the necessary things: a pot of tea, a mug the size of my head, packets of sweetener, a candle, a lighter, and reward stickers (I sticker my calendar for every 1000 words I write, or every event I do)."

Lynne Kelly, author of Chained (May 8, 2012, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux/Margaret Ferguson Books) likes to unchain herself from the internet, and sometimes her computer, to get work done:

"My MacBook, with the MacFreedom window up--when it's writing time, I have to lock myself out of the Internet so I'll stay away from temptations like Pinterest and Twitter and all those friends who live in my computer."

"I love writing in blank notebooks, especially Moleskines. I use the laptop when I'm revising or writing scenes I've already worked on, but when I'm drafting or trying to figure something out, I do better with pen and paper."

"Some of the elephants on the writing desk who keep me company while I'm working. Oh, and look, a copy of CHAINED has joined them!"

"The Sleep Machine app on the iPhone, set to 'Intense Focus.' I play that along with thunderstorm sounds while I'm working."

As for me, many years ago I wrote my debut novel, Fair Coin (Pyr), on a heavy old Dell laptop named Schmendrick, since retired. But I last revised the book on the large Acer laptop pictured here, which I've named Ace Rimmer, a character on the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf. (AceR, get it?)

When I work at my desk, I like to plug in an old IBM Model-M keyboard, because it's easier for me to type on and I really like the loud sound of the keys--the noise makes me feel more like I'm doing something as I type! I don't actually do much writing there these days, but I often use it for other projects: the large screen is essential for graphics editing and I need the powerful hardware for video editing, and this is the computer I prefer for killing zombies with friends or participating in online chats and meetings with my writing group in NYC via Skype. I'll also sit at the desk when I'm line-editing a manuscript, which I still prefer to do on paper.

I don't write at my desk much because I get far too distracted at home, and I don't have an ideal work area; my "office" is on the other side of the bedroom, which is divided by a large bookcase, and the other half of the desk is where my wife studies for school. I generally write on the smaller Acer Aspire One netbook on the left, named Penny (for the girl with the computer book on Inspector Gadget), in a coffee shop before work, at lunch, and on weekends. The netbook is small and light enough that I can carry it around everywhere, every day, and I often write my blog posts on it while sitting on the couch... Like I'm doing now! As much as I would like to have one perfect place to write, I've gotten used to writing whenever and wherever I can, including on long bus rides and while waiting in train stations. I've been experimenting with using Scrivener and Dropbox to sync files between my netbook and my laptop, so I can work from either as the mood strikes.

So that's where eight Apocalypsies like to write. Hopefully we'll feature more work spaces from the group in the future. How about you? Do you have an ideal work space? Where do you get the most work done?

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-04-27T06:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday, readers! Here's what we've been up to:

Events:
Our next YAmazing Race With MGnificent Prizes starts next Wednesday! Check it out to learn more about some of this year's debuts and enter to win prizes.

New releases:
THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass
OLDSOUL by Dan Haring
UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris
THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST by Sarvenaz Tash
BREAKING BEAUTIFUL by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
STORM by Brigid Kemmerer

Cover reveals:
K.M. Walton's EMPTY

Contests:
Enter to win THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY by L.A. Jones at Smack Dab in the Middle
Stop by Elizabeth Richards' blog for her BLACK CITY ARC and swag giveaway
Read Gretchen McNeil's exciting blurb news for her next novel, TEN, and enter the giveaway
There's a little time left to enter Kat Zhang's birthday giveaway to win an ARC of WHAT'S LEFT OF ME

Book trailers:
Jennifer Bosworth's STRUCK on RT Book Reviews

Reviews:
Ame Dyckman's BOY + BOT was reviewed in The New York Times

Other awesomeness:
Elizabeth Richards and Fiona Paul have been selected to participate in Penguin's Fall Breathless Reads Tour
Listen to an excerpt from Anne Greenwood Brown's LIES BENEATH

Coming Soon: The YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes...

2012-04-25T09:04:00.001-05:00

Mark your calendars: starting next Wednesday, May 2nd at 12:00pm Eastern, the Apocalypsies will be hosting the second ever YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes - a week-long blog race featuring over 50 debut authors! Come back to this site any time between May 2-8 to join the race and learn more about the hottest new books debuting in 2012 - AND earn a chance to win one of several prize packs made up of signed ARCs and finished copies, gift certificates, bookmarks, jewelry, swag, and more! See you at the starting line - and spread the word!

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-04-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, and time for a good news wrap-up!

Events:
Meet more than twenty Apocalypsies at BEA!

New sales:
Erin Jade Lange's next young adult novel, BILLY D. AND THE BULLY, to Bloomsbury
McCormick Templeman's young adult novel THE GLASS CASKET, to Bloomsbury
Megan Miranda's VENGEANCE, a companion novel to FRACTURE, TO Bloomsbury

Foreign sales:
Tamara Ireland Stone's TIME BETWEEN US - Russia and Hungary
Emily Hainsworth's THROUGH TO YOU - Taiwan
Gretchen McNeil's TEN - Spain

Reviews:
E.M. Kokie's PERSONAL EFFECTS was reviewed by Richie's Picks (minor spoiler warning!)

Contests:
Enter to win THE ROCK OF IVANORE by Laurisa White Reyes in the Goodreads giveaway and on Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
Win an ARC of Suzanne Lazear's INNOCENT DARKNESS and other steampunk-themed prizes in the Steamed Gadget Contest

Other awesomeness:
A.C. Gaughen's SCARLET and Marissa Meyer's CINDER have been nominated for YALSA's Teens Top Ten list
INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows is the first pick in the Epic Reads Book Club
MAY B. by Caroline Starr Rose, CINDER by Marissa Meyer, SHADOW & BONE by Leigh Bardugo, BREAKING BEAUTIFUL by Jennifer Shaw Wolf, and SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL by Trish Doller were selected as 2012 Spring New Voices titles by the American Booksellers Association.

Book trailers:
Elizabeth Norris' UNRAVELING on EW Shelf Life
Zoraida Cordova's THE VICIOUS DEEP

Jennifer Shaw Wolf's BREAKING BEAUTIFUL

The Road to Publication: A Timeline

2012-04-18T05:00:00.000-05:00

The story of how I got my book deal and agent is a total anomaly. But I thought I'd share it (in timeline fashion) below. –Hilary

Timeline of REUNITED’s Publication Process

by Hilary Weisman Graham

1. Sept 2008: My editor at Simon & Schuster (who was not my editor yet) has an idea (as in two-sentence concept) for a book about a group of friends who reunite to see a band they once loved.

2. She sends it to my agent (who was not yet my agent ).

3. Who sends it to my manager (I'm also a screenwriter).

4. Who sends it to me.

5. I'm inspired by the idea & over the weekend quickly write a two-page outline.

6. My manager loves it, the agent loves it, the editor loves it. Yay!

7. Oct 2008: On the editor’s request, I write a more detailed outline (20 pages).

8. My manager loves it, the agent loves it, the editor loves it.

9. Editor asks: Can you write fiction?

10. I ask myself: Can I write fiction?

11. Oct 2008 – Jan 2009: I write the first three chapters of REUNITED.

12. Jan 2009: My manager loves it, the agent loves it, the editor has notes.

13. Feb 2009: I revise accordingly. The editor has more notes.

14. March 2009: I revise accordingly. The editor has more notes.

15. March 2009: The editor loves it!

16. June 2009: The editor brings REUNITED to an acquisition meeting. I drink heavily with friends while waiting for the news.

17. August 2009: The agent officially becomes my agent and makes the deal with S&S.

18. August 2009: Contract negotiations begin.

19. August 2009 - March 2010: I write the rest of REUNITED.

20. March 2010: REUNITED is delivered to S&S.

21. June 2010: After nearly a year of contract negotiation, I finally sign a contract and get my advance.

22. Phew.

23. No seriously, phew.

24. January 2011: My editor gives me my first revision letter.

25. March 2011: I submit my revised manuscript.

26. June 2011: My editor has minimal changes to manuscript. I make a few tweaks and the final manuscript delivered to S&S.

27. July 2011: Copyedits.

28. September 2011: I see my book cover for the first time!

29. October 2011: First pass pages. (I have only a week to do them! But it’s easy.)

30. October 2011 (2 weeks later): ARCS arrive! Yippee! Then I notice that they’ve been printed without the first-pass page corrections (which is typical, but a bummer).

31. October 2011- present: Anxious waiting & tons of self-marketing stuff.

32. June 12, 2012: REUNITED’s publication day! Woo hoo!

To learn more about Hilary or REUNITED visit:

Website: http://www.hilarygraham.com

Blog: http://hilarywgraham.wordpress.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HilaryWeismanGraham

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12988064-reunited

Twitter: @HilaryGraham

Or check out the Official REUNITED Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=cTuA9xbhE9I&context=C4c50a60ADvjVQa1PpcFPbab6XSAMjivdrQyLM0sJ5_dvcF8pDRo

REUNITED is available for pre-order here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reunited-hilary-weisman-graham/1101900403?ean=9781442439849

http://www.amazon.com/Reunited-Hilary-Weisman-Graham/dp/144243984X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321630047&sr=8-1

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781442439849

REUNITED – Synopsis (Coming from Simon & Schuster - June 12, 2012)

1 Concert. 2,000 Miles. 3 Ex-Best Friends.

Alice, Summer, and Tiernan are ex-best friends. Back in middle school, the three girls were inseparable. They were also the number one fans of the rock band Level3. But when the band broke up, so did their friendship. Summer ran with the popular crowd, Tiernan was a rebellious wild-child, and Alice spent high school with her nose buried in books. Now, just as the girls are about to graduate, Level3 announces a one-time-only reunion show. Even though the concert’s 2000 miles away, Alice buys three tickets on impulse. And as it turns out, Summer and Tiernan have their own reasons for wanting to get out of town. But on the long drive cross-country, the girls hit more than a few bumps in the road. Will their friendship get an encore or is the show really over?

ISBN-10: 144243984X ISBN-13: 978-1442439849

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-04-13T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hello there, Apoca-readers! Here's our news of the week:

New releases:
BOY + BOT by Ame Dyckman
YOU CAN'T HAVE MY PLANET, BUT TAKE MY BROTHER, PLEASE by James Mihaley
REMARKABLE by Lizzie K. Foley
PUZZLED BY PINK by Sarah Frances Hardy

Cover reveals:
SPLINTERED by A.G. Howard

Foreign sales:
Jessica Spotswoods' THE CAHILL WITCH CHRONICLES - Russia

Reviews:
Lizzie K. Foley's REMARKABLE was reviewed in The New York Times
Jessica Spotswood's BORN WICKED received a starred review from VOYA, who called the book "enchanting and addicting" and "a must-have for any library."

Contests:
Author Daisy Whitney's giveaway of BUTTER by Erin Jade Lange
Goodreads giveaway for Lynne Kelly's CHAINED
Goodreads giveaway for THE WICKED AND THE JUST by J. Anderson Coats

Other awesomeness:
Books mentioned in The Huffington Post's "What's Next After The Hunger Games" include GLITCH by Heather Anastasiu, WHAT'S LEFT OF ME by Kat Zhang, GRAVITY by Melissa West, and ASHES OF TWILIGHT by Kassy Taylor
The first chapter of Lynne Kelly's CHAINED is online at Macmillan's website
The blog tour for Katherine Longshore's GILT kicked off this week with "Tudor Tuesdays." See the Glass of Wine blog for details
Amazon named BOY + BOT by Ame Dyckman and Dan Yaccarino one of the best picture books of April

Book trailers:
BOY + BOT by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-04-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! Here's our latest good news:

Events:
Meet eight of our members at the B&N Educator Appreciation Day in Exton, PA
Four Apocalypsies are among the fabulous group of authors appearing at Houston's Teen Book Con this month

New releases:
WAY TO GO by Tom Ryan
ABOVE by Leah Bobet
KISS THE MORNING STAR by Elissa Janine Hoole
STORYBOUND by Marissa Burt

Cover reveals:
Joanne Levy's SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE
UK cover for Tamara Ireland Stone's TIME BETWEEN US
L.B. Schulman's LEAGUE OF STRAYS

Foreign sales:
Marissa Burt's STORYBOUND - Italy
Lissa Price's STARTERS - Iceland

Contests:
Enter to win an advance copy of Cat Knutsson's SHADOWS CAST BY STARS
See the Goodreads giveaway where you can win one of ten copies of Sarvenaz Tash's THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST
Tell The Class of 2k12 who your favorite author is to enter to win marked-up copies of Lynne Kelly's CHAINED and J. Anderson Coats' THE WICKED AND THE JUST

Other awesomeness:
All this month you can read Marissa Burt's STORYBOUND free on the HarperCollins website
Lissa Price's STARTERS was mentioned in This Week magazine's "The Book List," and in the April/May issue of Justine magazine, along with Veronica Rossi's UNDER THE NEVER SKY. See images of both articles here. Lissa also just completed a five-city STARTERS tour

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-03-30T11:59:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday, everyone! Here's a wrap-up of all the good news our members are celebrating this week:

New releases:
SLIDE by Jill Hathaway
A BREATH OF EYRE by Eve Marie Mont
NEVERSINK by Barry Wolverton

Cover reveals and giveaways:
UK cover for Jay Kristoff's STORMDANCER
Colleen Clayton's WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Foreign sales:
Marissa Meyer's CINDER - Taiwan, The Netherlands, Hungary

New sites:
Kat Zhang's Hybrid Chronicles website and Facebook page

Other awesomeness:
W.H. Beck's MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT will be part of Middle Grade Buzz panel at this year's Book Expo America. The Young Adult Buzz panel at BEA will include Donna Cooner's SKINNY, Gennifer Albin's CREWEL, and Kat Zhang's WHAT'S LEFT OF ME
The book trailer for STARTERS by Lissa Price played at select theaters before showings of The Hunger Games
Kami Kinard's poem "Tick-Tock Tick" is included in the anthology NASTY BUGS (Dial), edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins
See Marissa Burt's series of videos about STORYBOUND on the HarperKids YouTube channel

Book trailer:
Dan Haring's OLDSOUL

Road to Publication: ABOVE

2012-03-29T12:00:00.001-05:00

Five years ago next week, I started a book.

Wasn't news, really: I've started probably a dozen books. Some of them were finished and I hated them at the end. Some of them were finished and sent looking for an agent, and they weren't good enough to get one (and that got obvious fast). Some of them just fizzled out and were put away in the back of my hard drive. I don't know how much mileage one can get out of taking umbrage with a 1980s TV show and one obsessive-making song, I said, in the blog post where I noted I'd started a book, but...we'll see if we can get it past 35k.

Totally famous last words, right?

of course, but not in the way you'd think. By June the book had fizzled: I was pushing through my last year of university on way too big a courseload, and working part-time to pay for that, and couldn't stick together setting and characters and themes and come out with plot. I got frustrated. I put the book away. It sat.

Thing is, in January, I picked it back up.

And put it down in February.

And picked it back up.

--

There are lots of stories about how writers get agents, how the agents send books to publishers, how the publishers reject or accept those books and they eventually find their way into print. They're all different, mostly because every book and writer is different.

My "road to publication", though? Here's my road to publication:

I graduated from university and binge-wrote 40,000 words in the three weeks afterwards, when I had nothing to do but look for work. I got a Toronto Arts Council grant to do the first and second revisions of Above, and it kept a roof over my head for a month while I did job interviews. I got a full-time job, and revised and picked and queried agents around working hours. My sister got married, and I took notes during dress fittings. I signed with an agent. I got a lot of novel rejections, decided maybe this wasn't going to happen after all, mourned the idea of being a professional novelist, and started putting my energy into urban agriculture and politics.

The book sold, and I had to rebalance all that energy and figure out an entirely new life where both of those things fit.

I moved from the neighbourhood I'd lived in for seven years into a different one that fit me much better, and gained a roommate who's one of my best friends. I went to Arizona and Boston and Vancouver and Seattle and San Diego. My grandmother died, and it broke my heart, and two hours before the funeral my editor called to tell me they were flying me to the sales conference in New York, just as I was typing out the last line of the eulogy. I wrote on coffeeshop patios, in bars, at home on the couch, in hotel rooms, at my desk, in noodle shops on Spadina Avenue. I started--and stopped--dating about five guys (not at once; it was all very orderly, I swear), each of whom got a varying version of the "You're a writer?" talk. I saw a lot of live music. I stayed up all night at a city council meeting and drank bleary six a.m. coffee with strangers. I broke my glasses in a public pillow fight and dyed my hair blue and started singing again. I spent a year filling out funding applications and building freelance work and arranging things so I could afford, for a little bit, to write full-time. Starting tomorrow.

In other words? Life happened.

Thing is, I just kept picking that book back up, no matter where I was.

--

I'm a different person than I was when I started that book, five years ago. If I think about it too long it's kind of scary and staggering just how different I am. But Above was always there; I was always either writing it or revising it, on my own or for my agent or editor, or talking about cover copy and launch activities. Checking its Goodreads reviews every night before bed.

(I am typing this on my lunch, at work. A co-worker just brought up a copy and asked me to sign it for her grandson. I brushed my finger over the embossing on the cover when I gave it back to her. This is not a thing I ever thought would be my life. This is not an idea of normal I am used to.)

And that's my road to publication. It's just...life, and the way this book is entwined with it. It's everything else I was doing along the way. And how I kept pausing, anyways, to go do that. And now it's coming out and will be, in a sense, gone. And life moves on.

--

I'm working on another book. I've been picking at it since last summer. It keeps stalling and fizzling, and I keep putting it back down.

Thing is, I keep picking it back up.

PEACEWEAVER by Rebecca Barnhouse

2012-03-28T00:00:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! Colleen Clayton, here! Today we are featuring Middle Grade and Young Adult author Rebecca Barnhouse (THE BOOK OF THE MAIDSERVANT and THE COMING OF THE DRAGON). Her new book PEACEWEAVER released this past Tuesday.

Amazon synopsis of PEACEWEAVER:

Historical fantasy at its finest. Sixteen-year-old Hild has always been a favorite of her uncle, king of the Shylfings. So when she protects her cousin the crown prince from a murderous traitor, she expects the king to be grateful. Instead, she is unjustly accused of treachery herself.

As punishment, her uncle sends Hild far away to the heir of the enemy king, Beowulf, to try to weave peace between the two kingdoms. She must leave her home and everyone she loves. On the long and perilous journey, Hild soon discovers that fatigue and rough terrain are the least of her worries. Something is following her and her small band of guards—some kind of foul creature that tales say lurks in the fens. Will Hild have to face the monster? Or does it offer her the perfect chance to escape the destiny she never chose?

CC: Hi, Rebecca! PEACEWEAVER is a companion novel to your previous Beowful-inspired novel THE COMING OF THE DRAGON and is set in sixth century Scandinavia. The main character is a young woman named Hild who wants to become a mead server and wants to use that privileged position to "weave peace." Can you explain what a mead server does and what "weaving peace" means and then also a little bit about the character of Hild and her day-to-day life?

RB: Like DRAGON, this novel is inspired by Beowulf, although in a less direct way. In the poem, high ranking women have quite a bit of indirect power. One way they wield influence is through the serving of mead. Queen Wealhtheow, for example, brings the mead cup around to the warriors, exacting promises from them. As they accept the mead from her, and drink it, they are implicitly agreeing to her demands. She also reinforces the social hierarchy in her choice of whom to serve, and in which order.

Another role women of high rank play is that of the peaceweaver, who is married to an enemy tribe in the often vain hope of bringing about peace. As Beowulf himself says, however, the spear seldom rests, no matter how worthy the bride. Although women may have some influence in the hall, they rarely get much choice about who they will marry, an unhappy fact that Hild discovers.

As the niece of a king, Hild lives a privileged life, with fine food, a comfortable bed, and slaves to care for her. Nevertheless, she has work to do: textile work, whether it’s making thread or weaving cloth, is a task women of all ranks shared for much of the Middle Ages. Hild is proud of her skill at the loom, and she enjoys weaving as much as she does riding her horse or spending time with her best friend. All of that is taken away from her when she (oops!) kills a man.

CC: This is your third historical fantasy novel, you've also written THE BOOK OF THE MAIDSERVANT and THE COMING OF THE DRAGON. Did PEACEWEAVER present any writing challenges that were different from the first two books?

RB: The biggest challenges with PEACEWEAVER came from the fact that it’s a companion book. It wasn’t until after I’d finished THE COMING OF THE DRAGON that I came up with the idea of writing another book about some of the same characters. And it wasn’t until DRAGON was in copyediting that Hild’s story really started to take shape. I was able to change a few things during the copyedits of DRAGON that I knew would be important for the new novel, but after that, I was constrained by what I’d already written. For the most part, this wasn’t a problem. But when the two storylines merged, the challenges presented themselves in ways I hadn’t anticipated. Yet the fact that I was writing a companion book also led me to connections between the two novels that were pleasant surprises.

CC: Is there a particular scene in PEACEWEAVER or a line of prose that you are particularly proud of as a writer?

RB: I don’t know if there’s a scene that I’m particularly proud of, but the one that was the most fun to write takes place later in the novel when the grizzled warriors Hild travels with are embarrassed to have to tell her how bad she smells. No matter what time period you live in, telling someone else they need to bathe isn’t easy!

CC: Thanks for sharing your book with The Apocalypsies and our followers, Rebecca!

About the author:

REBECCA BARNHOUSE lives in Ohio, where she is a professor of English at Youngstown State University. Visit her website at www.rebeccabarnhouse.com.

Pick up PEACEWEAVER today at your local bookseller or at AMAZON

An Inside Look at the Bologna Children's Book Fair

2012-03-26T01:31:00.013-05:00

Every year, publishers, agents, authors, and illustrators from around the world gather in Bologna, Italy, to sell rights, talk shop, and celebrate their mutual love for children's literature. I was lucky to be invited to attend this year as a guest of my agent, and am delighted to be able to share an inside look at the fair with Apocalypsies readers.

Unlike some book fairs that host many author signings and encourage the public to come peruse the newest titles, Bologna is a trade/business fair at heart. Agents and publishers attend with the intention of garnering interest for their books in foreign markets, and publishers are on the hunt for new titles to add to their lists. There are even property buyers for film and graphic novels present.

Though there are publisher booths of every size and style, some publishers go all out, creating elaborate structures that showcase their lead titles and hold plenty of tables and chairs for conducting business.

Random House's Booth

Macmillan's Booth

Illustrators are well-represented at the fair, from aspiring to renowned. Fair-goers are greeted at the entrance by a massive wall housing a mish-mash of art works in all styles and genres. Illustrators use this space to display their best work in hopes that an agent or publisher might take notice. Some booths also host illustrator "face-off" competitions, and many award-winning and spotlighted picture books are on display throughout the fair.

The Illustrator Wall

The fair after-hours are equally lively, when the city's cafes and trattorias fill up with publishing folk to have more laid-back meetings, or talk about anything other than business for a change. Some publishers are even known for their annual cocktail parties.

Last but certainly not least, here are some Apocalypsie covers that I spotted as I meandered the fair's halls:

Crewel by Gennifer Albin (U.K. edition)

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Auracle by Gina Rosati

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood (with apologies for the horrible picture quality - the Penguin booth was always cram-packed and this was the closest I could get!)

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Marissa Meyer (me) with Cinder (Italian edition)

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-03-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday, everyone! Here's our good news of the week:

New releases:
CROAK by Gina Damico
SEEING CINDERELLA by Jenny Lundquist

Cover reveals:
Genn Albin's CREWEL
Stephanie Blake's THE MARBLE QUEEN

Book trailers:
See Leigh Bardugo's SHADOW AND BONE trailer on Seventeen.com and Veronica Rossi's UNDER THE NEVER SKY trailer on MTV's Hollywood Crush

Excerpts posted:
Read excerpts of Zoraida Cordova's THE VICIOUS DEEP and Tom Ryan's WAY TO GO

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-03-16T05:18:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone! Here's our good news of the week:

New releases:

PRETTY CROOKED by Elisa Ludwig
STARTERS by Lissa Price

Cover reveals: (Check for contests!)
Daniels Marks' VELVETEEN, with contests here, here, and here
Tiffany Schmidt's SEND ME A SIGN
Janci Patterson's CHASING THE SKIP

Film rights:
Miranda Kenneally's CATCHING JORDAN

Foreign sales:
Jessica Spotswood's BORN WICKED - Sweden
Jill Hathaway's SLIDE - Turkey

Reviews:
Lissa Price's STARTERS was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times

New sites:
Katherine Longshore's website (Check the blog for the GILT giveaway!)

Contests:
Enter to win Kristen-Paige Madonia's FINGERPRINTS OF YOU and read chapter one of the book on The Story Siren's giveaway
Lauren Morrill's MEANT TO BE

New titles:
The sequel to Jessica Spotswood's BORN WICKED is STAR CURSED, out February 2013

Other awesomeness:
Read an excerpt of THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST by Sarvenaz Tash

Book trailer:
CHAINED by Lynne Kelly

Starters by Lissa Price out TODAY!

2012-03-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I'm so psyched to be here today to tell you about Starters, one of our great Apocalypsies debuts by Lissa Price (with whom I share the uber-fabulous Wendy Loggia, Random House editor extraordinaire!). When Lissa told me she was express-mailing me an ARC of Starters, I was beside myself. The premise sounded awesome, and I had just had my wisdom teeth out that morning, so I needed something un-put-downable to read while icing my face and drinking milkshakes on the couch.

And let me tell you, Starters did NOT disappoint.

Set in an unnamed future where germ warfare has wiped out everyone between the ages of 20-60 (yeah, when the CDC says they're only vaccinating children and the elderly? Uh, this is the consequence. Yikes.) Children, aka Starters, or "unclaimed minors" without elderly relatives, are on the run. Thanks to laws keeping them from work, they're forced to hide out all over the city, hoping not to be picked up by the Marshals. But now there's a new game in town, Prime Destinations, looking to make the Starters rich by paying them to rent out their bodies to Enders, or the elderly who want to have some fun in a bangin' young bod.

Enter Callie, who has lost her parents and is forced to keep her young brother alive with only her wits. Oh, and she has wits. Callie is smart and resourceful, but with Tyler getting sick and the marshals closing in, she decides maybe it's time to cash in at Prime Destinations. Only this isn't your standard rental. Something has gone wrong. Very wrong.

Starters is a unique dystopian set in a world I can totally see coming to pass (and that scares the hell out of me). There are some definite technological upgrades, but for the most part it mirrors the society we have now, with people in power clinging to it at all costs and everyone else just struggling to survive. And the premise? It's totally unique, completely creep-tastic, and so thrilling you won't be able to put it down. You'll burn through it until you reach the last terrifying, cliff-hanging chapter, and when you close the book you'll immediately mark your calendar for the sequel, Enders, out at the end of the year.

If you're looking for a totally thrilling sci-fi/dystopian that you can burn through in a single sitting, Starters is it. Hey, I don't even usually like sci-fi, and I was ignoring my husband and skipping the painkillers just to get to the end.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Indiebound

----

Lauren Morrill lives in Cambridge, MA, where she writes YA novels, plays roller derby, and tries not to freeze to death in the winter. Her debut YA novel, Meant to Be, releases on November 13, 2012 from Delacorte.

When It Feels Real

2012-03-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

Today, Pretty Crooked is finally published. I am a bona fide author. It finally feels real. Well, kinda.

In the year leading up to publication there are so many firsts, so many little milestones. There’s the cover reveal, the day your ARCs arrive. The first blurb (yay!). The first negative review (boo!). With each new event you feel yourself changing, and you understand the process in new ways. And yet, the concept that a word-processing file you typed up is going to be a thing, a product other people can actually buy and read and discuss and yes, maybe even smack-talk on Goodreads, doesn’t always feel real. Maybe this is because it’s always been a dream, something you aspire to but don’t necessarily expect to happen.

For me, there were a few key (and seemingly random) moments on the timeline that brought it home, bit by bit.

July, 2011: Doing my first interview. When Jen Bigheart asked me for an interview after my cover reveal I was surprised and elated and all of a sudden aware that Pretty Crooked was now something some people (granted, at that point, only a few savvy bloggers) might actually be anticipating.

August, 2011. Attending SCBWI-LA. This was my first national conference and my first one as an Apocalypsie. Meeting some of my fellow Apocs plus other authors and librarians gave me a true sense of belonging. It was moving, and very exciting. Also, I started to pass out cards with the title of the book, literally making it my calling card. (Six months later, a librarian I happened to be sitting next to during a session blogged about the book. Magic!)

August, 2011: Attending the PAYA Festival in West Chester, PA. For the first time, someone casually introduced me as “author of Pretty Crooked.” A wave of dizziness, a flash of surprise (OMG, that's me!) and a huge first.

January, 2012. Standing in front of a shelf in Barnes & Noble and seeing six fellow Apocs’ books displayed. Realizing that each of these people had gone through the debut year and here was the fruit of their labor, suddenly touchable, in Technicolor. Awesome and tear-jerking.

February, 2012. Buying Sharpies. (Actually, standing in Staples and obsessing over the various colors and nib widths and variety packs available. Could they make it any more confusing?) A small moment, to be sure, but a new feeling of ownership. My book would be here in a month and people were going to ask me to sign it. I was going to need these things.

And now, today. There will be lots of Tweeting and Facebooking and celebration, I’m sure. There will also plenty of other firsts over the next few months to look forward to. And I guess whether or not it “feels” real is kind of beside the point now—because it most definitely is. Whoa.

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-03-09T08:44:00.000-06:00

Let's see what those Apocalypsies have been up to this week!

New releases:
FAIR COIN by E.C. Myers
KATANA by Cole Gibsen

Cover reveals:
Sara Walsh's THE DARK LIGHT
Ellie Rollins' ZIP
Fiona Paul's VENOM

Foreign sales:
Anne Greenwood Brown's LIES BENEATH and its sequel, DEEP BETRAYAL - France
Erin Jade Lange's BUTTER - The U.K. and Germany
J.A. Souders' RENEGADE - Turkey
Kami Kinard's THE BOY PROJECT - Greece

New sites:
Kristen-Paige Madonia's website
Ingrid Paulson's VALKYRIE RISING Facebook page

Contests:
Enter to win Elisa Ludwig's PRETTY CROOKED and an American Express gift card in HarperTeen's Pretty Crooked Contest
Check out The Story Siren's post about Gina Damico's CROAK trailer and prize pack

Reviews:
Jill Hathaway's SLIDE received a Publishers Weekly starred review
Lynne Kelly's CHAINED received a positive review from Kirkus

Other awesomeness:
Lissa Price's STARTERS was chosen by the L.A. Times Spring Previews as the "Next, best" in teen dystopian, and is a Barnes & Noble Best Pick for Teens. Look for the STARTERS app game on Facebook

Book trailers:
Elizabeth Norris' UNRAVELING trailer (plus iPad 2 giveaway!) on EW's Shelf Life

Gina Damico's CROAK:

The End (of the week) Is Nigh!

2012-03-01T23:52:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a great week! Here's the good news we've been celebrating:

New releases:
WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED by Cat Hellisen
A VOICE FOR KANZAS by Debra McArthur

Cover reveals: (look for giveaways!)
Elizabeth Richards' BLACK CITY
E.M. Kokie's PERSONAL EFFECTS
Melissa West's GRAVITY
W.H. Beck's MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT
Claire Legrand's THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
C.J. Redwine's DEFIANCE

New sales:
Claire Legrand's first young adult novel, WINTERSPELL, sold to Simon & Schuster

Reviews:
Eve Marie Mont's A BREATH OF EYRE received a starred review from Kirkus

Contests:
Unagented, unpublished novelists can enter Liz Norris' Pay It Forward Writing Contest to win registration at the Backspace conference, $300 towards travel to New York, a three night hotel stay, and lunch with Liz's agent, Janet Reid.

Other awesomeness:
See Emily Danforth's Huffington Post article, "Growing Up Gay In the 1990s"

Book trailer:
THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST by Sarvenaz Tash

Cover Stories: ABOVE

2012-02-29T10:01:00.001-06:00

There are things you learn about publishing when you work in a bookstore for four years. One of them that gets beaten into your head, over and over again: the author has no input on the cover. That's what publishers have art departments and designers to do. Y'know: professionals.

Good covers – or bad ones! – aren't the author's decision.

But I still couldn't help, at the end of my first phone call with Cheryl Klein, who would become my editor two weeks later, asking: So, what would you do with it? Editorially. And with the cover.

What she described was understated, and beautiful, and more like the beautiful matte black winged cover for Holly Black's TITHE than what I'd seen in my head. And the idea caught at me a little, and I got to liking it. So a whole year later, in March 2011, when an e-mail titled Above Jacket landed in my inbox? That's what I was expecting.

What I got literally took my breath away.

The first thing I saw was light. And the second was wings. And the third was the CN Tower – the sorta-skyline of my hometown, my city which I love – rising up into the distance.

And…here's the funny thing about that tower on the cover.

The artist who created ABOVE's cover is Nathalia Suellen, who's in her early twenties and based out of Brazil. And when I gushed about that CN Tower, Cheryl said, I don't think the designer told her you live in Toronto. Which means I'm pretty sure she came up with that tower all on her own. Cosmic, no?

For all the coincidences to happen on your very first novel cover? Cosmic is about right.

And I admit: Every time I see that thing, it still strikes me breathless.

Incidentally, Nathalia's portfolio has an early-draft version of the cover posted; it's almost younger, rounder, and more middle-grade. A fun look into the creative process on the other side of the desk!