Literary Rambles

Agent Spotlight: Logan Garrison

2012-01-26T07:32:00.001-08:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Logan Garrison of The Gernert Company.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “Logan joined the Gernert Company in 2010 after three years as an English and Musical Theatre teacher at Northern High School in Durham, North Carolina. A native of the South and a graduate of both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, she currently lives in Brooklyn and has a particular interest in fiction for children and young adults.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“The Gernert Company is a literary agency located in Manhattan. Our client list is as broad as the market; we represent equal parts fiction (commercial and literary writers, both well-known and soon-to-be, whether writing for adults or younger readers) and nonfiction (biographers, memoirists, journalists, essayists, bloggers, and writers of trade and scholarly nonfiction in subjects ranging from sports and history to current events and science). We sell domestic, foreign, and subsidiary rights for our clients and partner with subagents in select foreign markets and in the film/TV industry.

“The Gernert Company was founded in 1996 by David Gernert after he left his post as Editor-in-Chief of Doubleday to become an agent. The agency currently represents more than 125 authors and has five full-time agents.” (Link)

Web Presence:

The Gernert Company website.

QueryTracker.

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

Children’s, middle grade and young adult fiction.

What She Isn't Looking For:

Picture books, screenplays (info via e-mail).

Editorial Agent?

She has requested revisions from potential clients, so I imagine she will revise with clients as needed as well.

Clients:

Unknown.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Garrison does not appear to be a member of Publisher’s Marketplace.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes.

Snail-Mail: Yes.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

“Please send a query letter, either by mail or email, describing the work you’d like to submit, along with some information about yourself and a sample chapter if appropriate. Please do not send emails to individual agents, even if their personal email addresses are available elsewhere online. […] Indicate which agent you’re querying.” (Link)

See the Gernert Company website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Response Times:

The agency’s policy is to respond only if interested, usually within four weeks (Link), though Ms. Garrison often takes the time to send rejections.

Her response time on requested material generally ranges one to three weeks.

What's the Buzz?

Logan Garrison joined the Gernert Company in 2010. She is assistant to Sarah Burnes and beginning to build a client list. I could not locate any interviews or articles on her so unfortunately I know nothing about her particular tastes or if she has any clients yet. As she works with such a great agency, I’m sure we’ll see more of her as she builds her list and sees her clients through publication.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

None.

Around the Web:

Check out the agency “News” page for client news and happenings.

The Gernert Company thread on AbsoluteWrite (2007- present).

The Gernert Company on P&E ($, Recommended).

Contact:

Please see The Gernert Company website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 1/26/12.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? N/A.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.

Write Dreams Auction for Donna's Dream House

2012-01-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Just a quick post to help spread the word about a fundraiser going on right now.

Donna's Dream House is a volunteer-run holiday home for terminally ill children and teens in Blackpool, UK. In December, weeks before they were to welcome a number of families for a dream Christmas, arsonists broke into the office and adjacent health center of the house, stole equipment, then lit the furniture on fire. The building was badly damaged and many important documents and mementos were lost. You can find more details here, and here.

Write Dreams is hosting a series of auctions through the next few days to raise money for the charity. Most of the auctions are for books and critiques. Some are UK only but many are US or international. This information is available at the bottom of each post.

Please check out the items still up for auction and consider participating.

Thank you!

Tip Tuesday #114

2012-01-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

Tip Tuesday features writers' tips on writing craft, research, querying, blogging, marketing, inspiration, and more. If you'd like to send in a tip, please e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

This week's tip was sent in by Gaylene Wilson, a long time tip reader but first time submitter. You can find her at her blog, {Unwritten}, and please do visit. I really enjoyed checking out her recent posts as well as her Highlights of 2011. Here's Gaylene's tip!

Find a yahoo group.

Not necessarily a yahoo critique group, but a bunch of random people who talk about writing. It’s even better if it’s not in your genre.

I used to be a newspaper reporter before I had kids. I really enjoyed writing feature stories and humor columns. When I became a stay-at-home mom, I took up writing children’s lit. But I still love humor columns, so I joined a yahoo humor writer’s group. I’ve learned so much from a bunch of strangers.

Because of this group, I realized I needed to add more networking buttons to my blog, like digg and reddit. I learned about a bunch of prestigious contests I’d never heard of before, because they aren’t connected to the children’s lit infosphere. I gleamed an amazing idea to successfully publish an e-book, which I might try someday.

Finding a group is easy. Just google Yahoo writing group, or something more specific, like Yahoo horror writers group, and you can stalk a few lists until you find one you like.

~Gaylene Wilson

ASK THE EXPERT PANEL INTERVIEW AND WILDWOOD GIVEAWAY

2012-01-23T03:00:00.000-08:00

First, I want to say thanks to all of you who've entered our 2000 follower contest for all your kind words and for spreading the word about the contest. We already have almost 150 entries. And if you haven't entered, there's still time. Just enter here.

Next I'm going to announce the winner of LEGEND.

The winner is:

SHANNON O'DONNELL!

Congrats! E-mail me your address and I'll send you your book.

Today I’m exciting to interview some 7th graders from Jill at The O.W.L.’s English class and her daughter. See if you can guess which one is her daughter. If you don’t follow Jill's blog, I recommend you check it out. She reviews books that would interest her students so discusses both middle grade and YA books. I always enjoy her posts. And in March, she'll be spotlighting middle grade books.

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for joining me.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you like to read.
Macie: My name is Macie. I like to draw and one of my favorite hobbies is reading. I am in middle school, 7th grade. My favorite kids of books are fantasty

Tyler R: My name is Tyler and I love to be outdoors. I have a dog named Charlie, a brother in college and a sister in the navy. I like to read action and somewhat futuristic novels.

Abbey: My name is Abbey. I am 12 years old to middle school. I enjoy reading fantasy, and historical fiction books.

Tyler M: My name’s Tyler and I like distopic novels along with historical fiction.

Maggie: I’m a 7th grader. I like to read almost anything.

2. Cool. We all like the same types of books. How do you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

Macie: I have 3 different sources to look around: my school library, the public library and my language arts teacher’s small library. I will usually find out about new books through series or my language teacher will talk about one.

Tyler R: I find new books to read from friends, family and teachers. Or I just see a book and say it looks good. I don’t hear much about new books coming out, but when/if I do I get it from Mrs. F.

Abbey: I find out about books by my sister, my friend or by Mrs. F. I find out about new books by being in Mrs. F’s class.

Tyler M: Mostly just asking around about what’s good. Trailer Tuesday is usually newer books.

Maggie: My mom has a book review blog, so I hear about all the new books from her. I also find out about them all from her.

3. Trailer Tuesdays sounds awesome. And I bet you all get lots of good recommendations from Mrs. F. Does the fact that your teacher blogs influence the books you read and/or do you find out about new releases earlier than you would otherwise?

Macie: No it doesn’t and I could find out about early releases through other sources.

Tyler R: My teacher’s blog does not influence me, much.

Abbey: I would not know about half the books out there if it weren’t for her.

Tyler M: Not really influencing the new releases. But sometimes I’ll look for a book review. It helps me see if I should even read it or not.

Maggie: The fact my mom has a book review blog does influence what I read because I read a lot of the books she gets. But I also read a lot before she did that, so even if she didn’t have one I’d still read a lot. I wouldn’t know about some of the new books. Yes I find out about the new books earlier.

4. I know Mrs. F. will love your answers, especially Abbey's and Maggie's. What are you reading now? What books are you waiting to be released?

Macie: I am currently reading eight books: Inkheart, The Son of Neptune, Inheritance, Sabotage, Plague, The Medusa Plot (39 Clues), The Diamond of Darkhold and Memory Boy. I am waiting for the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series.

Tyler R: I am reading many books now that are very good. Hunger Games trilogy, The 39 Clues series, Alex Rider series and The Wednesday Wars.

Abbey: Right now I am reading “I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You”, and I am not wating for any books to be released.

Tyler M: I’m reading The Maze Runner trilogy. I’m not really waiting on any.

Maggie: I just read May B. I’m waiting for the next Red Pyramid book.

5. I loved Inkheart, Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, though I haven't read the last book of that trilogy yet. Do you buy most of your book or get them at the library? How often do go to a bookstore?
Macie: Most of the time I get them from a library. I will go to the bookstore now and then.

Tyler R: I do not buy books. I just rent them from the library 1-3 times a week.

Abbey: I get most of my books from my sister who owns them, but I also get them from Mrs. F’s library. I don’t go to the bookstores that often but when I do I spend hours there and usually get about 3 books.

Tyler M: I usually check them out of the school library or classroom library. I only buy books like biographies or nonfiction with facts that I can look back too. Novels are a one-read-type book.

Maggie: I get most of them from my mom but we do go to the bookstore and I get them there too. We don’t go to the library too often.

6. I'm a huge fan of the library too. And I bet Mrs. F's library has lots of good choices. Do you read any teen book blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why?
Macie: I don’t read blogs, and I am only a fan of a few book series on Facebook.

Tyler R: Not really because I don’t have internet, but when I do have internet usage at other places I like to read.

Abbey: I do not follow any blogs or websites but on Tuesday in class we watch book trailers.

Tyler M: Not really. I’m not a “hardcore” reader/blogger. I guess I never take the time.

Maggie: No I don’t. I don’t need to because of my mom, but even then I don’t think I would. I’m not sure how to find them.

7. I really love that you watch book trailers. Has your teacher recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you? Which ones?
Macie: Yes she has shared her blog.

Tyler R: She has many times but I can’t remember the sites.

Abbey: I can’t remember them.

Tyler M: None other than her website

Maggie: The 39 Clues one.

8. Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

Macie: Not really because I am not much of an author fan, just a book fan.

Tyler R: Create more adventurous books and personally meet and relate to me.

Abbey: Write more books.

Tyler M: Maybe create a 39 Clues scenario. Where you read a little, then check in on a site for extra stuff or something (I’ve never read that series tho)

Maggie: Maybe having writing tips because I like to write.

9. Great suggestions to make the websites more kid friendly. Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

Macie: Yes a few authors have visited but I don’t remember their names. I would recommend them to show some more of this or her books because if they do that more people could get interested in his or her books.

Tyler R: Yes and author has visited my school but I don’t remember who he was. Have an acting of their books and give out some books and accessories for free. Or have the students interact in some way.

Abbey: Yes the author that wrote Jerk California and he did not do much with the audience

Tyler M: We’ve had a few authors (I can’t remember names though). Maybe read parts of their books to us.

Maggie: Yes we’ve had several but I can’t remember them. I’ve gone to some author signings with my mom. The best are when they have us do stuff. The guy who wrote Origami Yoda did that. It was fun.

I like your ideas like acting out part of the book, giving away stuff, and the origami idea. That would make author visits more fun. Thanks Macie, Tyler R., Abbey, Tyler M., and Maggie for sharing all your great advice.

Today I'm giving away an ARC of Wildwood.

Here’s a blurb from Amazon that had a better descriptionthan Goodreads:

Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her brother is abducted by amurder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a dense, tangled foreston the edge of Portland. No one’sever gone in – or at least returned to tell of it.
So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend, Curtis, deep intothe Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst ofviolent upheaval—a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, andpowerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescuemission becomes something much greater, as the two friends find themselvesentwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wildernessthe locals call Wildwood.
Wildwood is a spellbinding tale full of wonder, danger, and magicthat juxtaposes the thrill of a secret world and modern city life. Original andfresh yet steeped in classic fantasy, this is a novel could have only come fromthe imagination of Colin Meloy, celebrated for his inventive and fantasticstorytelling as the lead singer of the Decemberists. Wildwood is truly anew classic for the twenty-first century.

I enjoyed the setting of Wildwood, a fascinating world in the woods on theoutskirts of Portland. While muchof the story is set in the woods, I liked that the story included a bit aboutPrue’s life in this world. And her search for her baby brother not only leadsher to discover Wildwood but her connection to it.

I liked Prue right away because she loves books and is vegetarian like me. She’storn with guilt when she lets her baby brother be captured by the crows and isdetermined to rescue him. I could so relate to those times as a kid when you dosomething wrong and have to fix it before your parents find out. Shereluctantly lets Curtis, a geekish, somewhat immature school acquaintanceinterested in super heroes, tag along.

Almost immediately they are separated. Prue must journey through the woodsto find some faction of Wildwood’s inhabitants to help her locate and rescueher brother. Curtis is quickly captured by the former leader’s wife who istrying to take over Wildwood. He’s less mature than Prue and it takes himawhile to figure out which side is right and to find his place in the battlefor Wildwood.

One of the things I enjoyed most was watching Prue’s and Curtis’ separatejourneys before they rejoin at the climax of the story and their charactergrowth, especially Curtis’. And I was surprised—not in a bad way—by the choicesthey made at the end of the story. I won’t tell you what they were because Idon’t want to give any spoilers.

I’m giving away my ARC for a giveaway. All you need to do isbe a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leavea comment about our panel discussion by midnight on February 4th.I’ll announce the winner on February 6th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in yourcomment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, orFacebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays was started by ShannonWhitney Messenger to spotlight middle grade authors. Check it out here and you'll also find a link to the other Middle Grade reviewers this week.

And check out these other Marvelous Monday Middle GradeReviewers:

Here's what's coming up next. Next week I'll be doing a blog post. I did say I'd do more of them. The following week I'll be celebrating my first year blogging with a book giveaway of a book I know you'll want. Then on February 13th I'll be interviewing Kristen Simmons and giving away an ARC of ARTICLE 5.

Hope to see you next Monday!

Agent Spotlight: Sarah Burnes

2012-01-19T08:30:00.001-08:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Sarah Burnes of The Gernert Company.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “Sarah began her career on the editorial side of publishing, first at Houghton Mifflin, then in the Knopf Group, and last at Little, Brown. She became an agent in 2001, joining The Gernert Company in 2005. As an editor, she acquired and edited literary fiction and non-fiction, and as an agent has added children's fiction to her list. She is always on the lookout for sharp, original voices. Sarah sits on the board of non-profit progressive publisher the New Press and lives with her husband and three children in Brooklyn.” (Link)

About the Agency:

Web Presence:

The Gernert Company website.

AgentQuery.

QueryTracker.

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

Fiction: Literary fiction, commercial fiction, middle grade, young adult.

Non-Fiction: Adventure / true story.

“She is always on the lookout for sharp, original voices.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Picture books, screenplays. (Info via e-mail)

Editorial Agent?

She requests revisions from her clients as needed.

Clients:

Pseudonymous Bosch, Larry Doyle, Gayle Foreman, Adam Gidwitz, Jonathan Hayes, Nic Kelman, Alice McDermott, Alyssa Sheinmel, Natalie Standiford, Margaret Stohl, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Burnes is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 9 deals in the last 12 months, 5 six-figure+ deals, and 42 overall. Recent deals include 3 middle grade, 1 young adult, 1 debut, 1 general/other, 1 memoir, 1 religion/spirituality, and 1 digital.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes.

Snail-Mail: Yes.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

See the Gernert Company website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Response Times:

The agency only responds if interested, usually within four weeks. (Link)

Ms. Burnes’ response time on requested material ranges from a couple weeks to a couple months.

What's the Buzz?

First an editor for Houghton Miffin, then Knopf, and finally Little, Brown, Sarah Burnes became an agent in 2001, joining The Gernert Company in 2005. She has an amazing client list, and her clients seem really happy with her representation.

There isn’t much information available regarding her particular tastes but a look at her clients (Gayle Foreman, Alyssa Sheinmel, Margaret Stohl, Pseudonymous Bosch, Adam Gidwitz, etc.) suggests an interest in contemporary and fantasy.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

“Your Book Is Your Hook!” Show – YA NY Times Bestseller Gayle Forman & Her Literary Agent, Sarah Burnes (5/2011).

Around the Web:

Check out the agency “News” page for client news and happenings.

The Gernert Company thread on AbsoluteWrite (2007- present).

The Gernert Company on P&E ($, Recommended).

Sarah Burnes on P&E ($).

A Week in Culture: Sarah Burnes, Literary Agent, Part I at the Paris Review (11/2010).

A Week in Culture: Sarah Burnes, Literary Agent, Part II at the Paris Review (11/2010).

Contact:

Please see The Gernert Company website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 1/19/12.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 1/23/12.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

2000 Follower Awesome Giveaway

2012-01-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Today Casey and I are so excited to celebrate our 2000 follower milestone. We want to thank you all so much for following us and spreading the word about our blog. As a new blogger, it has been so fun to get to know you all and to watch our blog grow by over 900 followers in the year I've been blogging. Some days just thinking about how much I'm enjoying blogging and how we're growing makes be so happy.

So Casey and I have planned a special giveaway to celebrate. And to say thanks to you all. There's two parts to the giveaway.

PART I. Here you get to pick your top choice of the books offered and tell us which one you'd like in the comments. We'll pick three lucky winners for this part of the giveaway. I must admit that I had fun picking the books at The Book Depository with Casey because I could pretend I was on a shopping spree. A book buying spree is my favorite.

So here are your choices for PART I:

DON'T BREATH A WORD UNDER THE NEVER SKY CROSSED

DIVERGENT A MILLION SUNS INCARN ATE

CINDER THE PLEDGE LIESL & PO

LEGEND THE GIRL OF FIRE & THORNS TOUCH OF POWER

LOLA AND THE THE FUTURE OF US THE UNWANTEDS

AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR

PART 2. Casey and I picked 5 books from our shelves. Most are in new condition, though a couple show signs of love. There will be 5 winners. By commenting you'll automatically be entered in the contest for Part 2. You can mention the book you'd like in the comments and we'll do our best to match the books to the winners. Here's the choices:

So the choices are:

BREAK ACROSS THE UNIVERSE ANGELFIRE (signed)

THE LIGHTENING THIEF DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE (signed)

So we hope you like it. Again, there will be three winners in Part 1 and five winners in Part 2.

All you need to do is be a follower (just click the followbutton if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on January 28th. Tell us your choice for Part 1 and if you want, your choice from Part 2. I’ll announce the winner on January 30th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment.International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, orFacebook, please let us know in the comments and we’ll give you an extra entry.

And because this is a big milestone, we'd love if you'd mention our contest on your blog if you have one. If you're going to do this, just mention that you will in your comments and we'll give you an extra entry. It's on the honor system.

Here's what's coming up. Tomorrow Casey will be doing another great agent spotlight to help you in your search for agents.

Then on Monday, I'm interviewing a panel of 7th graders whose teacher is a follower for my ASK THE EXPERT series. I'll also be doing another book giveaway.

Hope to see you tomorrow and Monday!

Tip Tuesday #113

2012-01-17T00:05:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Thanks to the great response to my post last week, we'll definitely continue Tip Tuesday. Topics can be anything related to writing craft, research, querying, blogging, marketing, inspiration, and more. If you've got a tip you'd like to share, please e-mail at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

Our first tip of the new year was sent in by Kristin Lenz whose previous tips include #103 and #112. Kristin is a social worker and writer who contributes to the YA Fusion blog. This week she's interviewing Dandy Conway, district sales manager for Random House Children's Books. Go here to learn more about how she supports authors as a liaison between publisher and bookstore.

The New York Times recently featured an article about New Year's resolutions and willpower. The gist of the article was that most people start out with good intentions, but poor strategies, assuming that they'll somehow have the willpower to resist temptations. Yet studies have shown that willpower is depletable - you will very likely run out at some point, and you need to anticipate these limits. One of their recommendations was to enlist outside help and outsource self-control. Read the article for more suggestions, but here's a couple ideas to fuel your writing willpower year-round.

Choose a writing partner and agree on a weekly writing goal, such as 5 pages, or 5000 words, whatever works for you. At the end of every week, you will email your pages to that partner. She's not going to read it. She's simply going to confirm that you completed your goal, and give you a virtual pat on the back. Of course, you might want her to read and critique it, but the point is to just get it done and be held accountable by a friend who understands. Take it a step further and reward yourselves for completing these goals after a month, or 3 months - meet for coffee (or wine!) or a movie.

Another idea was suggested by Darcy Pattison. (If you've never attended one of Darcy's workshops, you need to check out her website now! She discovered 750 Words.com. Inspired by the idea of morning pages in The Artist's Way, 750 Words encourages you to write 3 pages every day. It's online, private, keeps track of your word count, and you earn points for completion. Check it out for yourself here.

Best of luck on your 2012 writing goals!
Kristin Lenz

MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY INTERVIEW OF CAROLINE STARR ROSE AND MAY B. GIVEAWAY

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

First I want to shout out about some exciting news for other Middle Grade Monday bloggers who are also followers.

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin has an AGENT! Isn't that awesome? Go congratulate him on his blog here.

I also want to mention that Jennifer Rumberger who just started blogging this Fall, is six followers short of reaching her 50 follower goal for January. She has a great blog and is a dedicated Middle Grade Monday blogger so I hope you'll go check out her blog and follow her here.

Today I’m excited to interview Caroline Starr Rose whose debut book MAY B. was released on January 10, 2012. Caroline had told me it was a fast read and she wasn’t kidding. I read it in two days and would have finished it in one if I hadn’t started it sooner that night. This was my second book in verse and I found it very easy, enjoyable read. I no longer have any reservations about trying another one. May was such a sympathetic character. And Caroline did an amazing job keeping the plot really moving along.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

I've known it since last night:
It's been too long to expect them to return.
Something's happened.

May is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May's memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she's determined to find her way home again. Caroline Starr Rose's fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love

Hi Caroline. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks for hosting me today!

1. From your biography it sounds like you’ve lived in some interesting places. Tell us a little about yourself, where you’ve lived, and how you became a writer.

I was born in Wisconsin and moved to Saudi Arabia when I was three (my dad was a civil engineer and helped to build an army base there). From Saudi we came back to the US, this time to New Mexico. I remember my mother telling me New Mexico was a desert, but after three years in Saudi, I found this hard to believe; everything in New Mexico seemed green in comparison. I really was an outsider when I entered first grade here in the US. I didn’t really know American culture or slang. My mom spent time quizzing me on American money. I saw a deer crossing sign and thought it was a picture of a goat!

When I was fifteen, I spent a year in Australia as an exchange student. It was a wonderful experience, and I am still very close to my host family. Now that I have children of my own, I am even more impressed by my parents’ trust in me at such an early age.

Though I’m no longer in the classroom, I taught middle school / upper elementary English and social studies for a number of years in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana.

2. You’ve lived in so many places. I’m sure that gives you a lot to draw on as a writer. I read that MAY B. did not start out as a novel in verse. What made you decide to change to this and why do you think your story lends itself to being written in verse?

My first few attempts at writing the story as prose felt distant and lifeless. It wasn’t until I returned to my research (and specifically a book called Read this Only to Yourself: The Private Writings of Midwestern Women, 1880-1910) that I saw the patterns these women’s writings had in common: terse language, stark circumstances, a matter-of-fact tone. It was if the heavens had opened for me, and I was able to climb inside May’s world, using the voices of the women I’d encountered through research.

A confession: I’d read only two verse novels before writing May B. -- Karen Hess’s Out of the Dust and Sharon Creech’s Heartbeat. This both terrified and liberated me. I stayed away from all verse novels while drafting, worried any sort of comparison would paralyze me. On the other hand, I wasn’t bound by patterns or rules. Several readers have said May B.’s pacing reads more like prose (swifter than the typical verse novel), which ultimately serves the story.

3. That’s awesome how you used the writing of your time period to decide to write MAY B. in verse. And I agree with your readers that the pacing is perfect. Your book is set in 1870s Kansas. What research did do you do to keep everything historically accurate? Why did you pick that era and Kansas?

I read. A lot. At first, all I knew was I wanted to write about the frontier but hadn’t honed in on Kansas specifically. My first attempt at writing had been historical fiction, and I learned from that disastrous manuscript that regardless of the history, the story had to belong to the character; I couldn’t beat historical facts into my readers’ heads. I went into May B. trusting that if I kept my protagonist’s perspective and understanding of her world, enough history would organically seep in.

A blizzard plays a key part in May’s story, so I needed her somewhere where weather extremes weren’t uncommon. I also was enamored with sod houses, which also limited in what part of the country May could live.

One special challenge was locating exactly where May’s sod house stood. There’s a reference in May B. to Tom Sawyer, so the book had to take place in 1876 or later. I wanted her in a part of western Kansas that wasn’t very developed and was semi-close to a railroad. It was also necessary to have wolves around. The first place I located May was outside of Dodge City, where she would have been smack dab in the middle of the Chisolm Cattle Trail -- not exactly the solitude I was looking for (I also wasn’t interested in telling the sort of rowdy cowboy story that Dodge City brings to mind). The story couldn’t take place much beyond 1880 because in order to have wolves, buffalo still needed to be prevalent; by 1880 these animals were widely wiped out. Gove County, Kansas became a good location: the railroad (and therefore surrounding communities) was still relatively new but old enough to have been there before 1880; the short-grass country of western Kansas supported sod houses; and wolves, while not spotted everyday, would have still roamed in packs at this time.

4. Wow! You put a lot of thought into the setting and the time period for your story. As a 12-year old left alone in the winter, May had to possess certain qualities to survive. How did her situation influence how you developed her as a character?

Great question! May is a strong, courageous girl. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know this about herself. Because she has a learning disability, she has been told -- directly and indirectly -- that her abilities (and, ultimately, her worth) aren’t good enough. I really wanted May’s difficult circumstances to expose her strength, not just to the reader, but to May herself.

5. Her learning disability was one of her most endearing qualities. I loved how you brought this out. Tell us a little bit about how Michelle Humphrey became your agent and share some tips on the query process.

I found Michelle on the Guide to Literary Agent’s blog and really loved her upbeat attitude. I’m not sure I have wonderful query advice (no special formulas, or anything) other than to keep things concise and personalize, if at all possible.

6. I know after you found a publisher that your road to publication was not without bumps. Can you share your experiences and how you found was the best way to handle them?

May B. was supposed to release September 2011 with Random House Children’s Books imprint, Tricycle Press. Just weeks before my ARCs were to print, Tricycle closed. For roughly six weeks, my book was without a home. Fortunately, another Random House imprint, Schwartz and Wade, picked May up. I started the revision process again from scratch.

Really and truly, my book is better for the insight and careful work of my two editors. As hard as it was at the time, what happened to my book was a good thing.

Each month I have lunch with a group of local children’s authors. I’m by far the greenest in the group. It has been so good for me to hear their stories and keep my own experience in perspective.

7. I was so impressed with how upbeat you stayed during those six difficult weeks. I’m so glad it worked out for you. What are you doing to market your book? Are there any special tools you’re using because of the historical aspects of your story and/or the setting?

I’ve sent somewhere between 1200 and 1400 handwritten postcards to plains state museums, dyslexia schools, Kansas and New Mexico libraries, and Kansas and Albuquerque elementary and middle schools. I’m not sure how much impact these will have (most likely very little), but I’ve had increased hits on my website and at least half a dozen people contact me directly about the book. Maybe not a lot, but I’ll take it! Believe it or not, I’ve really enjoyed doing this.

I’ve also written a study guide (available at my website).

8. Those are great examples of how to tap into the unique aspects of your story to market it. Do you have any tips on marketing and networking with other authors for us aspiring middle grade authors?

I strongly recommend getting involved in some sort of community where writers are at the same stage you are. For me, it was the Class of 2k11 and the Elevensies initially. Now I’m a part of the Class of 2k12 and the Apocalypsies. Beyond the promotional aspects, I’d say the most important thing these groups have given me is support. I’ve made bonds with dozens of authors just starting their careers. We understand the unique process publication is and can voice questions, frustrations, and good news in a safe, closed environment. I’m not sure how others do it alone.

9. Yes, I definitely would not want to be out there all alone as a debut author. All the marketing and networking would feel too overwhelming. What are you working on now?

A picture book about the Louisiana Wetlands, a contemporary mid-grade about a girls’ club, and another historical verse novel.

Thanks Caroline for sharing all your advice. I’m so excited to be a part of your debut. You can find Caroline at her blog and website.

Thank you, Natalie!

Caroline and her publisher have generously offered to giveaway an ARC of MAY B. to one lucky winner. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on January 28th. I’ll announce the winner on January 30th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. Wednesday we’re having our 2000 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY. It’s going to be awesome! I really hope you’ll all come back for this.

Next Monday I’ll be interviewing a panel of 7th graders whose teacher had a fabulous blog and who follows here. I can’t wait to hear their answers. The following week I’ll be doing a regular blog post. I’m going to try to do a few more of those this year.

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays was started by Shannon Messenger. Check her blog here for a listing of all participants this week.Other regular Middle Grade Monday bloggers are:

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Pam Torres

Jennifer Rumberger

Hope to see you on Wednesday! It'll be awesome!

New Group Blog - The Indelibles

2012-01-13T08:02:00.001-08:00

If you're a fan of YA fiction, you've probably heard of the Tenners, the Elevensies, the Apocalypsies, and the Lucky 13s. Now marketing guru Shelli Johannes Wells has teamed up with twenty-four other indie and small press authors to bring you the Indelibles.

Who are the Indelibles?

“We are indie authors who write middle grade and young adult fiction. We are dedicated to leaving a permanent mark on the world with our stories and words. We are The Indelibles.”

Each week, they'll explore fun, fabulous, and fierce topics for today's teens, drawing on pop culture and themes from the books they write. Check them out HERE. They’ll also be having a writer/author chat on January 18th to answer questions about self and indie pubbing. See their blog for details.

Agent Spotlight: Lauren Ruth

2012-01-12T07:56:00.001-08:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Lauren Ruth of BookEnds, LLC.

Status: Open to submissions, actively building her list.

About: “Lauren Ruth started her publishing career as an intern at Simon & Schuster's Touchstone/Fireside imprint while earning her B.A. in English language and literature from Pace University. Shortly thereafter, she completed her second internship at BookEnds, where she fell in love with the literary agency side of the publishing industry. In February 2011, she joined BookEnds as a full-time literary assistant, and very soon after began to build her own client list. She will soon have her master's degree in book publishing. In fiction, Lauren is looking for: romance—all genres; literary fiction; commercial fiction, especially up-market urban fantasy with romantic elements; middle-grade—all subgenres; young adult—all subgenres; mystery, with a strong focus on cozies; women's fiction on the literary side; and smart chick lit, a la The Devil Wears Prada. On the nonfiction side, she's looking for memoir, parenting and family, relationships, food and lifestyle, business, popular science, popular culture, and popular psychology.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“BookEnds Literary Agency first opened its doors in 1999 as a book packaging company. At the time, we were looking to take our own fresh and fun ideas and find just the right people to create the books publishers were looking for. Over time, we missed working on fiction and seeing what could come from an author's imagination as well as an author's platform. So not two years after opening its doors, BookEnds changed its literary status to Agency.

“Despite a change in name, BookEnds continues to operate with the same attitude as when we started: We're about achieving dreams and doing what we love. Representing fiction and nonfiction for a primarily adult market, BookEnds agents continue to live their dreams while helping authors achieve theirs.” (Link)

Web Presence:

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

Fiction: “Romance—all genres, literary fiction, commercial fiction—especially up-market, urban fantasy with romantic elements, middle-grade—all subgenres, young adult—all subgenres, mystery with a strong focus on cozies, women's fiction on the literary side, smart chick lit a la The Devil Wears Prada.”

Non-Fiction: “Parenting, relationships, business, popular science, popular culture, popular psychology, memoirs of highly extraordinary people and experiences.” (Link)

From an Interview (08/2011):

“In my slush pile, I would really like to see more romance heroes with whom I’m head-over-heels in love. I’m getting really sick of the romance hero who is drop-dead gorgeous and super-strong, but otherwise boring as dirt. Also, since I’m listing things I’m really, really tired of seeing, the top of that list for me would be memoirs of authors’ childhoods. Unless your childhood was over-the-top extraordinary (like Jeanette Walls’) then this isn’t very marketable.” (Link)

From an Interview (07/2011):

“Since I'm just starting to build my client list, I'm looking very broadly for submissions. Literary fiction is the love of my life, but I rarely find something that I can sell to an editor and that I enjoy reading myself. I represent and love romance (all subgenres), women's fiction, chick lit, steampunk, historical fiction, mystery, middle-grade, YA, science fiction and fantasy. I have a special affinity for YA, which has been some of the best reading I've enjoyed since breaking into the industry. I also represent nonfiction.

“My favorite kind of book is the kind that is a commercial success but is also literary and beautiful.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Epic fantasy (urban fantasy is acceptable), science-fiction, poetry, short stories, essay collections, biography, thrillers, Westerns, or true-crime. (Link)

Editorial Agent?

“…I send manuscripts back to my clients with suggested revisions all the time. I want their work to be as polished and perfect as we can get it before we send it off to editors. I brainstorm, offer advice, nit-pick (sometimes), chat and champion for my authors. I'm very passionate about my work, and I'm just as passionate about theirs.” (Link)

Clients:

There are agency titles on the website.

Ms. Ruth’s clients include: Stacey Kennedy, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Ruth is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 1 deal in the last 12 months and 1 overall. Recent deals include 1 paranormal.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Send a query in the body of an e-mail with the word “query” in the subject line. Query only one agent at the agency.

See the BookEnds website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Query Tips:

“Many, many agents do not like pasted pages at the end of queries, but I really don't mind them. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I don't. My policy is, I'm not required to read your pages until I've specifically requested them, but I might if you tack them on.” (Link)

“I think the biggest mistakes an author can make in a query have to do with confidence. It’s a turn-off for me when the author is overconfident to the point of cocky (‘If you pass on this, you’ll be passing on the next box-office hit’). But when authors have no confidence at all in their work (‘I’m hoping that there might be potential here for you to maybe like this, but I do admit it needs work and…’) I have trouble mustering confidence in it too.” (Link)

See the FAQ on the BookEnds website for additional agency info and submission tips.

Response Times:

The agency has a stated response time of 4-6 weeks for queries and 12 weeks for requested material. They strive to respond to all submissions. If you haven’t received a response to your query after 8 weeks, they ask that you simply resend the query. If you haven’t received a response to a partial or full after 12 weeks, e-mail the agent requesting a status update. (Link)

Stats on the web show Ms. Ruth responding to queries and requested materials within days to 8 or 9 weeks, usually between 6-8 weeks.

What's the Buzz?

Lauren Ruth joined BookEnds, LLC as a literary assistant in February 2011 and began taking on her own clients mid-year. BookEnds is a well-respected agency with one of the best agency blogs. I recommend following Lauren’s blog SlushPileTales and Twitter @LiteraryLauren.

For information on BookEnds’ self-publishing /e-publishing ventures, see this post, and the agency’s AbsoluteWrite thread.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

Agent Interview with Lauren Ruth at Blackbird in my Window (08/2011).

Interview with an Agent: Lauren Ruth at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) (08/2011).

Interview with Agent Lauren Ruth of BookEnds, LLC at Love Ya (07/2011).

Blog Stuff:

Ms. Ruth critiques one writer’s query each week on her blog, SlushPileTales. The feature is called Query Dice and provides insight into her query preferences.

Outside these critiques she posts anecdotes and advice related to writing and querying. Definitely read through the archives, perhaps back to June 2011 when she officially opened to queries.

Around the Web:

For conferences Ms. Ruth will be attending, see the News/Deals page on the BookEnds website or the Conferences page on her blog.

BookEnds, LLC thread on AbsoluteWrite.

BookEnds, LLC on P&E ($, Recommended).

Contact:

Please see the BookEnds website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 1/12/12.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 1/12/12.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Tip Tuesday?

2012-01-10T00:05:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I hope 2012 is treating you well. Personally, I'm feeling a little gobsmacked by its quick arrival but nonetheless eager to see what will come. There was a real optimistic energy in the comments of my New Year's post. Many of you are looking to gain representation this year, or to see your book published, and I'm thrilled (continually) that we have this community that allows us to journey together. I'll be keeping my eye on each of you for those milestones.

What I'd really like to discuss, however, is Tip Tuesday. It's been some weeks since I received new tips (not unexpected given the holidays) and am curious as to whether you'd like to see it continue. I'm happy to feature tips as long as I receive them, but I fear the series might sputter out this year. If it does (and even if it doesn't), I might be interested in starting a new series of some sort. Any ideas or suggestions? I've pulled back on blogging quite a bit, but I definitely want to keep a presence here at least once or twice a week. So let me know your thoughts!

In the meantime, if you have a writing or research tip you'd like to send in, please do e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com. And if you missed Natalie's interview with Marie Lu from yesterday, click here. It's fantastic and Natalie is giving away her copy of LEGEND, a book we both really enjoyed and recommend.

Happy Tuesday!!

MARIE LU INTERVIEW AND LEGEND GIVEAWAY

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a happy holiday season. I had a great time in Texas visiting with family and a few friends. I was pretty offline for a little over a week while we were there. My in-laws have no Internet so I only had my phone. It felt good to take a break and spend more time with my family. But it’s good to be back.

Here’s hoping everyone has lots of good news to share. We’ve got an awesome couple of months already planned for you.

I want mention a blogger friend, Candace at The Misadventures of Candyland, whois going through a really hard time right now. A number of bloggers are reaching out to help her. It's great how supportive our writing community is. If you want to offer moral or other support, go here.

So I have a lot of winners to announce. Yea! I love giving away books.

The winner of WILDEFIRE is:

KELLY POLARK

The winner of UNTRACEABLE is:

BROOKE FAVERO

The winner of WISHLESS is:

BETH

And finally the winner of RADIANCE is:

READING MIND

Congrats everyone! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your books.

Today I am SO excited to start the New Year by interviewing Marie Lu about her debut book, LEGEND. I’ve heard such great things about LEGEND for a long time so I was super happy when Marie agreed to be interviewed.I loved everything about LEGEND—the writing, the main characters, June and Day, the dystopian world set in Los Angeles that Marie created. It was such a fantastic, never boring read. My only problem was that I had to share reading it with my daughter, so I couldn’t take it to read on my lunch hour. She really enjoyed it too.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias' death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

Welcome Marie. Thanks for joining us. And congrats on having LEGEND named one of the top 100 books by Publishers Weekly.

1. Tell us a little about yourself, especially your early life in China, and how you became a writer.

Thank you so much for having me here, Natalie! Well, I’ve been writing since I was about five years old, which is around the same time I came over to the States from China. I think I started writing as a way to teach myself English, and quickly I learned that I enjoyed it as a hobby as well. I remember stapling together little short stories and booklets when I was a kid.

2. That’s an interesting way to get into writing, but I bet a good way to learn a language. I’ve read that you came up with the idea for LEGEND while watching Les Miserables. How cool! How did you take that idea and develop it into your own unique story?

The initial idea came very suddenly, and it was just a quick: Teenage versions of Valjean and Javert, playing a cat and mouse game with each other. I stewed around with this early idea for a couple of weeks before I stumbled across a map online that simulated what the world would look like if all our freshwater ice melted and the oceans rose 100 meters. That was such a compelling map that I thought it’d be fun to take my seed of an idea and set it in this world.

3. I think it’s a compelling coincidence how the idea for the story and the map happened so soon after each other. Sort of like the book was destined to be written. I loved June and Day and read that Day was an easier character for you to develop Tell us how you developed June and Day and why you chose to create them the way you did. Do you have any tips on creating the voices for two POV characters?

Yeah, Day has been in my head since I was a teenager, so I feel like he’s an old friend whose voice comes pretty naturally to me. I’d always wanted to write about a teen criminal—I just couldn’t find the perfect story for him to be in. It wasn’t until that day when I watched Les Mis on TV that I realized a great foil for him would be an equally clever young detective agent. So that became June. June was initially a boy, too, because I was modeling her and Day off of Javert and Valjean’s relationship in Les Mis. But my boyfriend said to me, “Why don’t you make the detective a girl?” And right away I knew that’d be a better fit, because now the story had a female character who really rounded out the whole cast well.

As far as tips, I’d say the first thing to do is try to find a unique personality trait for each protagonist that can help distinguish their voices. This is still something I’m working on, but I tried to give June a very unique personality (i.e. she’s analytical to a fault, in a Sherlock Holmes way) so that when her POV was talking, you could tell it was her for the most part. Day, meanwhile, is a street boy who uses slang and more casual language than June does.

4. That’s a great tip. And awesome how your boyfriend helped you decide to make the detective June. What research did you do in creating the futurist United States with the Republic and the Colonies and what influences from your own life did you draw on?

When I was five, I lived really close to Tiananmen Square in Beijing. That was 1989, the year the massacre happened, and I can still remember going out to the square with my aunt to see the crowds of student protesters as well as the tanks in the streets. I think that left a permanent impression on me, and definitely influenced how I created the Republic in Legend. I also drew from what I see as real-life examples of dystopia—ancient Sparta, the eugenics movement in the United States during the early 1900s, Nazi Germany, China’s Cultural Revolution, North Korea, etc. I wanted to create a dystopian society that felt like it could really exist. Finally, I also drew from our current state of American politics. The sort of extremism we’ve seen lately on both sides is something that inspired the civil war atmosphere of Legend’s United States.

5. Sad you had to experience Tiananmen Square but I’m sure it helped you, with your research, to develop your amazing world. And that’s interesting how you used the current situation here at home.

Your book has gotten such hype and until I read your journey to publication, I thought your journey was a dream one. Especially since Kristen Nelson is your agent. I’d so love to work with her or Sara Megibow. But you had bumps along the way to getting an agent and a book deal. Can you share your experiences with us?

I love Kristin so much! She’s amazing, as is Sara. But you’re right—I definitely had my share of setbacks…I started submitting my first novel back when I was fifteen, and I think I accumulated over a hundred rejections on my query when I realized I just had to write a better book. I ended up writing three more that went nowhere, although two of them got me agents. I went on submission twice before Legend, and both of those times we would get slow rejections from publishers over the course of years before my agent and I would finally agree to shelve the novel. It was certainly disheartening at times, but I think it made the sale of Legend that much more of a happy moment.

6. Wow! Hearing about your road to publication is even more inspiring because of those difficult times. It really tells the rest of us the importance of continuing to write and of querying. You were interviewed by Tavis Smiley on PBS on November 18th. (Guys, here’s the link.) Tell us how that came about and what it was like being on TV.

Oh my God, I was SO nervous! My Penguin publicist put it together. I still can’t remember a thing of what I said while I was up there. Afterward, when I watched the playback, I was like, “Did I say that?” It was a really cool experience. Getting my makeup done before the show was especially fun!

7. I’d be petrified, even with the makeup. I read that CBS Films is making a movie of LEGEND and it sounds like the process is moving right along. When did you sell the movie rights in relation to your book publication and tell us about the process so far.

CBS Films bought the rights for Legend back in early February of 2011, a few months after Legend’s book sale happened. Right now the director, Jonathan Levine, and producer, Wyck Godfrey, are working with the screenwriters on revisions of the screenplay. The process has been amazing! CBS Films is very forward-thinking and passionate about the project, so they’ve been fabulous about keeping me updated and included in all parts of the process.

8. That’s great how far along it is. And that you’re being updated because some authors don’t seem to be in the loop for much of the movie development. How have you been marketing your book? What advice would you give to us aspiring authors for when we hopefully become debut authors?

Penguin has been doing an unbelievable marketing job for Legend, and I’m so grateful that they’ve let me participate in a great deal of online promotion. Before the book sold, I’d created a little Facebook game for the story, and afterward I became fairly active on Facebook and Twitter to promote the book. Before I became a full-time writer, I was an artist for video games—so occasionally I’ll also draw pictures of how I envision scenes or characters from Legend.

For aspiring authors, I’d say it’s worth it to get familiar with social media as that has turned out to be a powerful promotion tool. Twitter has a fantastic writers’ and readers/bloggers’ community, and Facebook is a great way for people to find you and see what new things are happening with your book. Embracing technology is vital, I think. And it’s pretty fun, too.

9. I read about your background in video games. That’s cool you put your expertise to use. And you’re making me want to get on Twitter. What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on a last round of line edits for Legend 2, and starting on Legend 3. I also have begun working on a new idea that’s been incubating in my head for several months. I’m very excited to dig into this one.

Yea for book 2 in your series. I can’t wait. Thanks so much Marie for all your advice.

Thank you so much again for having me! This has been a blast. Here are a couple of places I can be found:

Twitter: @Marie_Lu
Facebook
Legend’s official Facebook page (run by Penguin)
My personal site
My deviantArt

I’m giving away my copy of LEGEND to one lucky winner. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on January 21st. I’ll announce the winner on January 23rd. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. Next Monday I’m interviewing Caroline Starr Rose and giving away an ARC of May B.

Then the next Wednesday, January 18th, we’re having our 2000 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY. Casey and I are planning it out. It’s going to be awesome! I really hope you’ll all come back for this.

The following week I’ll be interviewing a panel of 7th graders whose teacher had a fabulous blog and who follows here. I can’t wait to hear their answers.

Hope to see you next Monday!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from us here at Literary Rambles. We hope you rang in the day safely and with optimism. Personally, I think 2012 is going to be a year of happenings. Maybe that means finishing the book you spent 2011 writing and revising, finally getting an agent or book deal, seeing your book hits shelves, or something unrelated to writing all together.

Whatever event you're moving toward, may this be your year!

Don't forget to come by for Natalie's interview with Marie Lu and giveaway of LEGEND on Jan 9th, followed by an interview with Caroline Rose and giveaway of MAY B on Jan 16th, and our 2000 Followers Thank You Giveaway January 18th.

Want to discuss dreams and resolutions? What's your hope for 2012?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

Natalie and I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. We hope your day is full of love, thankfulness, (new books) and good cheer.

Relish the day!

Don't forget to come back after the holidays for Natalie's interview with Marie Lu and giveaway of LEGEND on Jan 9th, followed by an interview with Caroline Rose and giveaway of MAY B on Jan 16th, and then our 2000 Followers Thank You Giveaway January 18th.

If you'd like to read an interview with me, hop on over to Route 19 Writers where you'll find part one posted 12/23 and part two posted 12/26.

ASK THE EXPERT INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF RADIANCE

2011-12-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

Today I’m excited to interview Jonah, a 14 year old in 9th grade. His mom is Hillary Homzie. I interviewed her earlier this year when her middle grade book THE HOT LIST came out.

Hi Jonah. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you like to read.

I go to Napa High School, and I am part of the Track and Cross Country teams and the school orchestra. I enjoy reading many different types of books, but my favorite genres are Science Fiction and Fantasy.

2. My favorite genre is definitely fantasy too. How do you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

We have a lot of books lying around the house, so when I want to read something new I often search for a book that looks interesting. Sometimes my mom or my friends will introduce me to a new book or series of books and I will check it out from the library.

3. We have a lot of books too, though I try to give them away on my blog. How has having a mom who is an author influenced the books you read or how you find out about new books?

I think for one thing she makes it a lot easier to find new books. For example, just a few days ago I needed help finding a choice book for a school assignment. I told her what type of books I was interested in reading, and she came back a little while later with a stack of a dozen or so books. I also think I’ve read books I never would have read otherwise, such as a book written for tween girls, to help her with her writing.

4. My daughter finds out about a lot of books from me too. I really enjoy that we often read the same books, though she’s not a fan of fantasy so doesn’t read those. What are you reading now? What books are you waiting to be released?

I am currently finishing up The Book Thief, by Marcus Zuzak, and I’m excited about the release of the last book in the Inheritance Series, by Christopher Paolini. I am also waiting for the release of the next book in the White Cat series by Holly Black.

5. I need to read all those books. Do you buy most of your book or get them at the library? How often do go to a bookstore?

As I said earlier, I mostly get my books from the library or from around the house (my mom buys a lot of books). When I do go to a bookstore, it is usually to buy books for school or just look around.

6. Do you read any teen book blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why?

I don’t regularly read any blogs, but I will occasionally look at one when I’m reading a book and I want to know what other people think of it. While I don’t think I’m a fan of any authors on Facebook, I do have a list of some of my favorite books on my profile.

7. I don’t think you’re alone in not reading blogs. Most kids I interview don’t unless they have their own blog or are an aspiring author. Has your teacher or mom recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you?

Yes. She is actually part of a group blog, From Mixed-up Files of Middle Grade Authors. She has definitely shown me that blog, and I think I it’s awesome for fans of middle grade fiction.

8. Ooh, I really like that blog. Guys, you should check it out. Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

I would like to see them promote their websites or Facebook pages in their books. I think there isn’t enough connection between recent books and the internet, considering all the options the internet opens up. Just a small reference to their website at the back of the book would be great.

9. That’s a great idea to list the Facebook connection in their biography because that might be the place most kids who search would check them out. Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

So far there hasn’t been any author visits at my school, which makes sense in a school of 2600 people. Unless it was part of a class, it would be very hard to organize. If there were an author visit, I would love it if they had an interactive approach to their presentation. It would be a lot of fun to talk and work with the author rather than just hear them talk.

Thanks Jonah for all your advice. We appreciate it with your busy schedule.

Today I’m also giving away a copy of my ARC of RADIANCE. Here’s a description from Goodreads:

Riley has crossed the bridge into the afterlife—a place called Here, where time is always Now. She has picked up life where she left off when she was alive, living with her parents and dog in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. When she’s summoned before The Council, she learns that the afterlife isn’t just an eternity of leisure. She’s been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a possibly cute, seemingly nerdy boy who’s definitely hiding something. They return to earth together for Riley’s first assignment, a Radiant Boy who’s been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But all of that was before he met Riley . . .

I don’t usually read books about the afterlife, but I did enjoy RADIANCE. Even though Riley’s life mostly picks up where she left off, she struggles with longings for her life when she was alive. And her new job and her relationship with Bodhi kept me reading.

I’m giving away my ARC for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment about Jonah's interview by midnight on January 7th. I’ll announce the winner on January 9th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Don't forget to enter the rest of my giveaways listed at the top of our blog.

Here’s what’s coming up. I’m taking a two week break for the holidays until January 9th. We’re going to Dallas to spend the holidays with my husband’s family and I’ll be offline for a week. Casey may post an agent spotlight but will otherwise be off for two weeks too.

On January 9th, I’m super excited to interview debut author Marie Lu and will be giving away a copy of LEGEND. You won’t want to miss that! I LOVED her book.

On January 16th, I'll be interviewing Caroline Starr Rose with a giveaway an ARC of MAY B. Can’t wait to get my ARC!

2000 Followers Giveaway coming in January. Details to follow. It will be awesome!

Have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year! I’m wishing you all a wonderful year with lots of happy news about agents and new book deals.

Hope to see you on January 9th!

Agent Spotlight: Nicole Resciniti

2011-12-15T08:23:00.001-08:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “After a lifetime of battling an addiction to books, Nicole Resciniti admitted she had a problem. The signs had been there all along—tailoring her work schedule to accommodate reading, staying awake at night to finish a novel or sneaking spare moments to skim extra pages. Various jobs (sales, SAT tutoring, high school Marine Biology teacher) couldn’t offset the obsession. But how does one balance a love of books with the practicalities of a successful career?

“Mary Sue Seymour offered the answer: become a literary agent.
And Nicole seized this amazing opportunity.

“Do you have the next book to feed her habit? A smart, tight read she won’t be able to put down? A signature voice she’ll fight to represent?

“HEA’s are a must for romance. Mainstream suspense, thrillers, mysteries, YA and inspirational novels are welcome. A consummate science geek and card-carrying Mensa member, Nicole would love to find the next great science fiction/fantasy novel or action/adventure masterpiece.

“Nicole is a member of AAR, ACFW, RWA, and Mensa. She holds degrees in biology, psychology, and behavioral neuroscience.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“The Seymour Agency strives to offer aspiring and established authors the representation they need to thrive in the publishing world. From foreign rights to film rights and everything in between, we provide emotional, professional, promotional, and editorial counsel to each of our authors.” (Link)

Web Presence:

Seymour Agency website.

Seymour Agency Facebook.

Twitter.

QueryTracker.

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

Christian, inspirational, non-fiction, romance (including category), action/suspense/thriller, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, and YA/children's. (Link)

From Her Bio (above):

From an Interview (02/2011):

“I represent all genres except erotica and poetry. Romance is a huge portion of the market, so I'm always excited to see a romance query in my inbox. And I'm a sucker for HEAs. Sci-fi and fantasy intrigue me.

“In any genre, the voice needs to stand out and the premise must be fresh. Everything--I mean everything--has already been done. What new twist does the author spin on the same tale?”

“I'm always on the lookout for romance with a balance between action and sexual tension. I'd really like to find good historical romance. Thrillers/mysteries that provide more than a police procedural. The YA paranormal market is pretty saturated, so something without wings or fangs. I enjoy mysteries with humor.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

“The Seymour Agency does NOT represent poetry or erotica.” (Link)

Editorial Agent?

“I may work with a client on a manuscript several times before it’s ready for submission. Editing is a big part of the job.” (Link)

Pet-Peeves:

See both interviews linked below.

Clients:

There are lists of published and pre-published clients on the agency website.

Ms. Resciniti’s clients include: Macy Beckett, Amanda Carlson, Marisa Cleveland, Jen J. Danna, Amanda Flower, Jeff Gunning, Lea Nolan, Cecy Robson, Kaitlyn Schulz, Julie Ann Walker, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Resciniti is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 5 deals in the last 12 months and 5 overall. Recent deals include 2 Mystery/Crime, 1 Debut, 1 Women’s Fiction/ Romance, and 1 Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

E-mail a one page query letter with the first five pages of your manuscript pasted below. No attachments.

Note: “Simultaneous submissions are acceptable for queries and partials. However, we only review complete manuscripts on an exclusive basis.” (Link)

See the Seymour Agency website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Query Tips:

“My best advice is to start with a hook and make the rest of the query mirror the back cover of a book--with a really tight blurb and a sprinkling of info about an author's credits/accomplishments.” (Link w/more)

See the “Pre-Published” page on the Seymour Agency website for query tips as well.

Response Times:

“If you do not receive a request for additional materials within three weeks, you should assume that we are not interested in that particular project.” (Link)

Ms. Resciniti usually responds to queries within days to a couple weeks when interested. Her response time on requested material ranges from days to a few months.

What's the Buzz?

Nicole Resciniti is a passionate new agent who is actively building her client list. She’s already sold a handful of projects, and her clients seem more than pleased with her representation. In children’s, I believe she is mainly interested in young adult but also accepts middle grade submissions.

Follow her on Twitter @NicLitAgent for writing tips and more.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

Interview with agent Nicole Resciniti at Rookie Riter (10/2011).

Interview with an Agent: Nicole Resciniti at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) (02/2011).

Around the Web:

The Seymour Agency on P&E ($).

The Seymour Agency thread at AbsoluteWrite.

Make sure you check out the News and Conference Schedule pages on the website for agency happenings.

Client Kaitlyn Schulz’s QueryTracker Success Story (08/2011).

Client Macy Beckett’s QueryTracker Success Story.

“Exposing My Agent,” a praise post by client Marisa Cleveland (06/2011).

Contact:

Please see the Seymour Agency website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 12/15/11.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 12/15/11.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

LOUISE CAIOLA INTERVIEW AND WISHLESS GIVEAWAY

2011-12-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

First I want to give a BIG thanks to everyone who entered the Book Lovers Holiday Giveaway. I had 280 entries and 200 new followers in 4 days. We just went over 2000 followers! Casey and I are so excited and are planning an awesome 2000 followers giveaway for after the holidays. Stay tuned for details.

The winner of the Book Lovers Holiday Giveaway is:

READING MIND who picked A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL

And the winner of WITCH EYES is:

RAVEN IN A BLUE ROOM

Congrats! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your book.

Today I’m excited to interview Louise Caiola. Her debut book WISHLESS was released on August 13, 2011. I loved reading about the developing relationship between Chessie and her newly discovered sister Logan. And I found this to be a quick read.

Here’s a description from Goodread s:

Can strangers become sisters, a long-lost father become a dad, and can love really conquer all? The challenge is extreme-the stakes have never been higher. The fortune cookies tease her: You will lead a long and happy life. Those dumb things are never right.

Chessie Madrid wants to fall in love, she wants to fly airplanes, and most of all she wants to live longer than 6752 days. With a fatal disease camped inside of her wreaking havoc since she turned sixteen, the doctor's predictions are far more sinister. Preparing for death is a total drag.

Instead, Chessie makes a list of her deepest desires, keeping her impending demise a secret, and being pretend-well. When the list suddenly starts to come true, sending Chessie's life and everything in it reeling, it's a case of being careless what you wish for.
With a new sister she's always dreamed of, a father who's a nightmare, and a lesson in love arriving all at once, Chessie makes her last wish the one that will matter most of all-to live or die trying

Hi Louise. Thanks so much for joining us.

Hi, Natalie! Thanks so much for having me here. I’ve been a Rambles follower for quite some time now. It’s a great site!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer.

When I’m not tapping away at the keyboard, knocking out “just one more page,” I’m taking care of two almost-grown kids & Miley, our three-year-old Morkie pup, otherwise known as the “spoiled brat.” From 9 to 5, I’m an Administrative Assistant at a local business where I’ve been known to daydream quite a bit. I call that my mental writing time.
I began to take my love of reading and writing more seriously about five years ago when I enrolled in some college courses and learned to organize my thoughts into cohesive story lines. My first teacher was the one to suggest I consider writing a novel. So I did!

2. It’s inspiring to find another author who can juggle a full-time job, family, and writing. I loved the ideas of the fortune cookies and Chessie’s wishes. Tell us how you developed those themes into the plot.

I firmly believe that in life there are cosmic coincidences – those little occurrences you just can’t seem to explain away to reason. I really enjoy exploiting these things. In WISHLESS I infused the wishes and fortune cookie cosmic coincidences to imply there may be a larger force controlling the outcome of Chessie’s story. I feel it adds an air of mystique to an otherwise earthly contemporary tale.

3. You picked a small Missouri town as your setting. What made you decide to set your story there and what research did you do to make the setting accurate?

Being a country girl at heart, I’m drawn to small town life. In this case I chose a fictional tight-knit community in Missouri. I think Missouri came to me because it’s the Show Me State and Chessie is on a quest for validation in her life. She has a hard time trusting what she’s told. She’s all about seeing is believing. Even though I created the town of Eden’s Pond, I did some reading up on Missouri to authenticate terminology, driving distances, area info, etc. Gotta love Google for that!

4. That’s so interesting how your setting mirrors Chessis’s inner struggle. Chessie has some intense issues to deal with—a serious illness, a newly found sister, and a father who suddenly reappears in her life. Tell us how you developed her as a character and decided on these relationships that drive the story.

Chessie’s life is really as routinely chaotic as anyone else’s these days. Dysfunction knows no bounds – illness included. I’m attracted to exploring the messy minutia of The Family Unit as it exists in the world today. Rarely are the lines neatly drawn. Fathers and daughters, siblings, even our love interests are often our most challenging terrain.

5. I so agree that families are more complicated these days and kids want to read books about family lives that more closely mirror their own. I know you found your publisher before you found your agent Terrie Wolf at AKA Literary Agency. Tell us about your road to publication and finding your agent.

I began shopping WISHLESS to both agents and publishers simultaneously. It just happened that a few interested agents were holding the manuscript for quite a while as I awaited word. In the interim, L & L Dreamspell Publications responded quickly with an offer. At that point I saw fit to accept and sign contract. Terrie and I met a few months after I signed, while I was trying to find a home for Girls like HER, which she made offer on earlier this year. I can only say positive things about L & L and AKA Literary. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to see the publishing business from two very different perspectives.

6. That’s so awesome how that worked out. Chessie is 18 years old. So your story could be marketed as a YA or even adult book. How is it being marketed and why did you and your publisher choose that route.

WISHLESS is being marketed as a Young Adult primarily due to Chessie’s age and her narrative voice. Yet, I’m told that this story is being well-received by an older audience as well, which really puts the crunch in my peanut butter!

7. That’s great that you’ve got both the YA market and adults interested in your book. How have you been marketing your book? What worked and what would you do differently?

Marketing – tirelessly! Sometimes I’m so busy with it I forget to eat.
I’m spreading the word through contests, interviews, blog hops, reviews, book signings, pretty much any way I possibly can. The contests are helping to bring a great deal of interest. People love the chance to win something. It’s fun! I realize now I should have started the whole marketing process much sooner than I did. But, we live and learn, right?

8. I really agree that the book giveaways bring more excitement for a book. What are you working on now?

While the wonderful Terrie Wolf is busy handling Girls like HER, I’m about halfway through the first draft of my third novel, an older YA with an element of mystery that I’m super excited about. Hope someday you’ll get to read them both!

Thanks Louise for all your advice. Good luck with your book. You can find Louise on her website and her blog and on Twitter. You can also like her on Facebook.

Louise generously offered a signed copy of WISHLESS for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on January 7th. I’ll announce the winner on January 9th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up. Monday I’ll be interviewing a high school guy for my ASK THE EXPERT series and doing another giveaway. Then I’ll be taking a two week break after that for the holidays. Casey might be posting an Agent Spotlight but otherwise we'll be taking a break until January 9th.

On January 9th, I’ll be back with an interview with debut author Marie Lu and I’ll be giving away a copy of LEGEND. You won’t want to miss that! I LOVED her book.

On January 16th, I'll be interviewing Caroline Starr Rose and giving away an ARC of MAY B.

2000 Followers Giveaway coming in January. Details to follow. It will be awesome!

I want to mention that Cheryl Klein has an awesome giveaway on her blog. Win a copy of STARCROSSED and LIAR'S MOON by Elizabeth Bunce or Cheryl's book SECOND SIGHT until December 14th here.

Hope to see you on Monday!

SHELLI JOHANNES-WELLS INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF UNTRACEABLE

2011-12-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

First I want to say how excited I am that we just hit over 2000 followers! You all are so awesome. We really appreciate all your support and all the spreading of the word lately. Casey and I will plan something special to celebrate in January after the holidays so be sure to check back.

Today I’m excited to interview Shelli Johannes-Wells about her debut book UNTRACEABLE which was released on November 29th. She’s not only an awesome author but also experienced in marketing. I loved that the story was set in the Smoky Mountains, which is somewhere I’ve visited many times. Shelli really nailed the setting accurately. And it was a page turning mystery with many twists I didn’t see coming.

Here’s a description of her book:

16-year-old Grace was reared in the wilderness. Her first pet was a bear named Simon. Her first potty, an oak tree. And, her first swing, a forest vine. Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her everything he knew about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival.

When Grace's dad goes missing on a routine patrol, unlike everyone in her sleepy mountain town, she refuses to believe he’s dead. After finding a Cheetos bag and stolen government file, Grace is convinced she’s one step closer to proving all the non-believers wrong.

One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from imminent danger by Mo, a hot guy who has an intoxicating accent and a secret. Grace has never felt a connection like this before, certainly not with her ex-boyfriend, the adoring, but decidedly unrugged, Wyn.

After a few run-ins with the town's police chief, her father's partner, and some new evidence, Grace travels deeper into the wilderness that has always been her refuge only to learn that her father's disappearance is not a mere coincidence.

Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to emerge from an epidemic that’s spreading like wild fire, threatening everything and everyone she’s ever loved.

And here’s an awesome author blurb:

"Grace is a spunky, independent, nature girl who doesn't need a boy to save her. With wilderness survival, a juicy love triangle, and more twists and turns than a roller coaster, this fast-paced novel had me holding my breath until the very last page—and still begging for more!" -Kimberly Derting, author of the The Body Finder series (Harper Teen) and The Pledge series (S&S)

I love Kimberly Derting and totally agree with what she says about Shelli’s book.

Hi Shelli. Thanks so much for joining us. 1. Tell us a bit about yourself, your experience in marketing, and how you became an author.

Hm. Well in a nutshell. I got an MBA at Auburn University and started in Corporate America. For 15 years I did marketing, communications and training. In 2004 after I had my daughter I started writing while she was sleeping. I have a 5 months maternity leave and wrote a MG book that will never see the light of day. In 2006, I left a high-level executive job b/c I was having panic attacks at night and I wanted more. At the time, I had my first baby so I started freelancing with past clients, eventually starting my own marketing company.

Man… I sound boring.

2. No, that’s awesome you started your marketing company. And I would have loved to ditch the stress of working and being a parent. I love that you set UNTRACEABLE in the Smoky Mountains. They’re so gorgeous! I know you live in Atlanta. Did you research your setting and into having Grace so knowledgeable in the wilderness or draw from your personal experiences?

My husband loves the wilderness so we take our family to the mountains at least twice a year. I have been to Cherokee NC a couple of times, which is where Tommy lives. I wanted the book to be as authentic as possible.

3. You did a good job with that. I admired how independent Grace is, especially hiking in the woods with bears. I’m terrified of them and couldn’t even sleep in our locked car when we pulled over in the Smokey Mountains one trip. Yet she’s really vulnerable in her refusal to believe her dad could be dead. Tell us about how you developed her character.

I wanted to create a tough girl who was vulnerable and who could be feminine – and I didn’t want her to live in a fantasy world or have magical powers. I also wanted a girl who could take care of herself, yet kind of want others to step up and take care of her. Especially her mom. It was a tough balance having Grace be snarky and tough, still show her emotional and endearing side - enough for a reader to like her. I also think there are a lot of tomboys out there who love the outdoors. I was one and I wanted to reach them.

4. I agree that there are lots of tomboy girls who can relate to Grace. My daughter is one of them. And I liked how Grace had to rely on her own abilities, not magical ones. I see your book as a mystery thriller. There were a lot of clues that got me guessing in the wrong direction. Give us some tips on how to create a mystery and plant clues. How much of it did you plot out before you wrote the story?

My book started out as a book about a foreign terrorist cell living in NC. Yeah – bad right. So no – I did not plan it out from the beginning. Once I rewrote my book, I finished it and then went back and dropped clues against what happened. I think most of writing a thriller of mystery is about not being afraid to go to places that you didn’t want to go. This was not the original ending but I think it is more of a surprise, which makes the book keep its tension. I wanted the unexpected and I think I did it. ;) Mwa-ha-ha-ha

5. That’s so funny how differently the idea started. I know from following your blog that you agonized about leaving your agent and going the independent publishing route. Tell us about how you came to that decision and why you believe the decision was right for you.

Well it was mutual. I don’t know if we would have parted if she had believed more in this book. I adore her and think she’s great. I just was not ready to give up on this book and she did not know how to help me get to the next level.

I don’t think I knew at the time it was right for me. It was sad and I was depressed for a few months. I felt like I failed and had stepped back. I think I felt it was unfair and sucked. It is only now that I look back and see why it all happened. I don’t think we connect the dots in our life until we look back. It’s impossible to see what connects looking ahead.

6. Yes, sometimes it’s hard to know when you’re in the middle of it. You are an expert in marketing. We already know you’re using a blog tour as part of your marketing strategy. What other marketing avenues are you using and how are you reaching out to the teens that would like your book?

Well I don’t like to think about using my blog as part of my strategy. But part of my “strategy” is that I’m honest and open. I didn’t want to just a talk about myself or my book – I mean how boring is that. So I decided to tell my readers everything about the process and be honest. All while giving advice and tips on how to indie publish.

I just realized I hate the word “strategy”. My goal  was to start a grass roots effort. I say yes to everyone who is nice enough to ask and I talk to any blogger I can. That has been more as my “strategy” (ugh that sounds so impersonal!)

I also wanted to produce a solid product – I figure if it can stand on its own – it might grow into something.

7. Do you have any other marketing tips, especially for us aspiring debut authors?

Build a platform. It doesn’t have to be a blog but you need some kind of web presence. A way for people to find out about you. Be genuine and authentic. We blogger scan see through someone who isn’t. (Right?) Know that it takes a long time. It took me 2 years to get where I am now so that’s why you should start now.

8. That’s great advice. And it’s important to remember that building connections takes time. What are you working on now?

Well, I have a special edition of Untraceable coming out in JanFeb that has a completely different ending. Also – I’m working on Book 2 called Uncontrollable that I hope comes out in early summer. I also started a WIP that I hope to get a new agent for someday. I believe in the traditional model – it just doesn’t work for me right now or for this book. I hope to do both someday.

Thanks so much Shelli for all your advice. Good luck with your debut.

You can find Shelli at her blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Shelli generously offered an e-book for a giveaway. You don’t need to have an e-reader to read it. I’ve started reading e-books on my computer and am enjoying it. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on December 17th. I’ll announce the winner on December 19th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up. On Monday, I'm interviewing Louise Caiola and giving away a copy of her debut book WISHLESS. Then the following Monday I’ll be interviewing a high school boy for my ASK THE EXPERT series and doing another book giveaway. After that, I’ll be taking a two week break for the holidays.

Since I know everyone's going to be busy with the holidays and maybe not reading blogs as much, I want to give you a heads up about my first interview in January. On January 9th I'll be interviewing Marie Lu and giving away a copy of LEGEND. I can't wait!

Hope to see you on Monday!

KARSTEN KNIGHT INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF WILDEFIRE

2011-12-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

First I want to say how excited I am about the response to my Book Lover's Holiday Giveaway. Wow! I am SO excited! I've had over 200 entries and about 150 new followers since Friday. Thank you all so much for entering and spreading the word. And welcome to all our new followers. You can still enter the contest until midnight tomorrow, December 6th here.

Next, I’ll announce the winner of ENTICE. The winner is:

MIKI!

Congrats. E-mail me your address so I can send you your book.

Today I’m excited to interview Karsten Knight about his debut book WILDEFIRE that was released in July. I loved the different world mythologies he used in the story and Ash’s unique powers. I read this on vacation and it totally made my lonely airplane rides enjoyable.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

Every flame begins with a spark.
Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

Hi Karsten. Thanks so much for joining us. 1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

To trace my origins as a writer, you’d have to go back twenty years to when I was six. It was the first grade, and I started this picture book series about a zany worm who went on adventures to exotic locations—the Wild West, sunken ghost ships…it was very popular with my classmates. At some point I made the switch to novel-length fiction, but I sort of lost myself as a writer when I graduated college and joined the Real World. After I lost my job as an admissions counselor back in 2009, I turned back to writing and started work on a draft that eventually became Wildefire.

2. I always admire people who knew they wanted to write as a kid. I had no clue as a kid that I’d ever write. Glad you turned back to it. You draw on a lot of different mythologies—Polynesian, Shinto, and Zulu, to name a few. What research did you do and what sources did you use to learn about these different mythologies?

I did a fair amount of research, using databases like Pantheon (fantastic website)…but I didn’t want Wildefire to read like a mythology textbook. In the end, these characters are reincarnations of gods, so some of the major questions they face are: do we come back the same every lifetime? Do we have the opportunity reinvent ourselves, in new environments, or are there innate facets of our personalities that manifest the same way every reincarnation? While I drew from their divine namesakes, I wanted the freedom to let their powers and personalities percolate and evolve naturally in the book itself.

3. Ooh, I’ll have to check out that website. But I agree that it’s fun as a writer to not be totally bound by the mythology in creating your story. Being an adoptive mom, I love that Ash is adopted. What made you decide she should be adopted? And what were the challenges writing from her POV?

All of the reincarnated gods in the book are actually adopted. Part of the eerie mystery of the series is Ashline and the others trying to figure out where they really come from, since they just sort of appear as infants around the world without any visible birth parents. So the adoptive choice was in some ways a practical one. But since as I mentioned before, the story is so focused on the question of how much environment affects our character development, I thought it would be really layered to see how a Polynesian volcano goddess might grow up raised in a mostly monochromatic community where she’s struggling to find a sense of belonging. Actually, the scene between Ash and her adoptive parents in the first chapter didn’t appear in the original draft; I wrote it as part of a revision suggestion from my editor, and it’s now one of my favorite scenes in the novel.

4. I love that scene. And as an adoptive parent, I know many of us struggle with these questions for our kids as we try to give them a sense of belonging and of their racial identity that is not part of our own experience. A major focus of the story is Ash’s stormy relationship with her sister Eve. Tell us how you developed this aspect of the story and what real life experiences, if any, you drew on.

The central focus in so many YA books, especially paranormal, is usually the “mysterious new love interest.” Honestly, while I enjoy romance as much as the next reader, I sometimes grow a bit weary of reading crush-centric YA. While there’s definitely a romantic element to Wildefire (the elusive Colt Halliday) I wanted the series to revolve around the complexities of family instead—particularly sisterhood. The relationship between Ashline and her wild-child sister Eve is basically sibling rivalry magnified and ignited through the lens of two volatile Polynesian goddesses.

5. I like when the romantic element isn’t the major focus too. Ash is Polynesian-American and many of the other characters are also ethnically diverse. Do you have any tips on developing diverse characters and the right balance for showing their ethnicity in regards to their character development?

I love seeing multiculturalism and diversity in YA lit…but I think it’s just as important to make sure it’s not depicted one-dimensionally. By that I mean: it’s great to have a character reflect on their own diversity, even struggle with it, but don’t make that their sole focus every waking moment, and definitely don’t be afraid to let them have some fun outside of that bubble. A Polynesian character doesn’t need to be contemplative of her heritage 24/7. A gay character can have moments where he’s not preoccupied full-time by his sexuality and where it fits into American culture. Let their differences and uniqueness enrich and complicate their lives in both relatable and surprising ways, while not letting it solely define them. Our childhoods are the product of so, so many things, and while we struggle to find our place, don’t forget those moments of joy that shine through when we’re not burdened by the bigger questions. Scott Tracey’s WITCH EYES is a great recent role model for this in YA.

6. That’s such great advice. Funny that you mention Scott Tracey because I just interviewed him last week. Guys, there’s a link at the top of the blog to my interview of Scott and you can enter to win a copy of his book.

Tell us a bit about your road to publication and how you got your agent, Mary Kole.

My road to publication was sort of backwards from the natural progression. I started querying Wildefire back in Spring 2010, just to a very few, select group of agents, including Mary who was one of my first choices from the start. I really wanted to test-drive my query and sample chapter, rather than spamming the entire agent database at once. I was lucky enough to get three bites almost immediately for full manuscripts. At the same time, somewhat unbeknownst to me, a classmate in my Master’s program who worked at Simon & Schuster passed along my book to my future editor there. A few days later I got a call from Courtney Bongiolatti (my editor), saying she’d just finished Wildefire on the train and wanted to make an offer. Mary was just finishing up reading the book as well, loved it, and stepped into handle contract negotiations and all of my future works. Unorthodox, but I was lucky enough to land my dream editor and dream agent in the same day, and they’ve all blossomed into great pairings.

7. I’d call your journey one we’d all love to experience. That’s awesome that Mary was one of your top agent choices. She sounds like such a great agent. I’ve always wondered how authors decide on the blogs to include in a blog tour. I noticed you did a lot of interviews on your own blog tour. Can you tell us how you arranged that and how you decided what blogs to include?

I was lucky enough to have a great blog tour coordinator take care of most of the work for me! Cindy at Books Complete Me was one of Wildefire’s earliest fans, before its release, and offered to take care of scheduling the tour. As much as I enjoy vlogging, I actually usually am not crazy about doing promo—it distracts me from writing, which is what I’m really here to do. So we kept it light, over 7 great YA blogs, and we kept it goofy…so basically in step with my bizarre sense of humor.

8. Thanks for sharing how that worked out. What are you working on now?

Wildefire’s sequel, EMBERS & ECHOES, is now done and in copy-edits—that will come out August 28, 2012. I’m also working on AFTERGLOW, Book 3, as well as a top secret non-Wildefire project that I will choose to remain mysterious on…for now.

Thanks Karsten for sharing all your great advice. Good luck with your books. You can find Karsten at his blog.

I’m giving away my copy of WILDEFIRE for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on January 7th. I’ll announce the winner on January 9th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. On Wednesday, I'll be doing a special blog post so I can interview Shelli Johannes-Wells as part of her blog tour for UNTRACEABLE. I'll be giving away a copy of her book. Then on Monday I'm interviewing Louise Caiola and giving away a copy of her debut book WISHLESS. I’ll do one last post in December the following Monday where I interview a teenage guy who’s mom is a published author for my ASK THE EXPERT series and I’ll be doing a book giveaway as well.

Then since I know everyone's going to be busy with the holidays and maybe not reading blogs as much, I want to give you a heads up about my first interview in January. On January 9th I'll be interviewing Marie Lu and giving away a copy of LEGEND.

Hope to see you Wednesday!

BOOK LOVERS HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY

2011-12-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to participate in the Holiday Giveaway Hop hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and I am a Reader, Not A Writer. This is my way of saying thanks to all of you who follow me and hopefully to meet some new blog friends. The time frame to enter the contest is short-only December 2nd through December 6th.

I have some awesome book choices for you that I either read and loved or am dying to read. You can click on the title to see a description of the book.

THE FAERIE RING and T HE IRON WITCH

XVI and A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL

DIVERGENT and THE IRON KNIGHT

LIESL AND PO and ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS

THE GRAY WOLF THRONE and THE UNWANTEDS

POSSESSION and CROSSED
Here's how the contest works. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment with the book you want to win by midnight on December 6th. One winner will win the book of his/her choice. I’ll announce the winner on December 12th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome as long as you live in a country where The Book Depository offers free shipping.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here's what's coming up the next few weeks. On Monday, I'm interviewing Karsten Knight and giving away a copy of WILDFIRE. Next Wednesday I'll be doing a special blog post so I can interview Shelli Johannes-Wells as part of her blog tour for UNTRACEABLE. I'll be giving away a copy of her book. Then the following Monday I'm interviewing Louise Caiola and giving away a copy of her debut book WISHLESS.

Hope to see you on Monday!

Here's the link for all the other awesome blogs participating in the BOOK LOVERS HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY for you to go visit.

Agent Spotlight: John Rudolph

2011-12-01T08:12:00.001-08:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “John Rudolph joined Dystel & Goderich in 2010 after twelve years as an acquiring children’s book editor. He began his career at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers as an Editorial Assistant and then moved to the G. P. Putnam’s Sons imprint of the Penguin Young Readers Group, where he eventually served as Executive Editor on a wide range of young adult, middle-grade, nonfiction, and picture book titles. He graduated from Amherst College with a double major in Classics and Music.

“John is always eager to discover fresh new voices and highly original stories regardless of category, though he’s probably known as a “boy book” kind of guy. He is particularly interested in thrillers and other commercial men’s fiction. He is also actively looking for narrative nonfiction, especially in music, sports, other performing arts, health/popular science, business, memoir, military history, and humor. And on the children’s side, he is keenly interested in middle-grade and young adult fiction, and would love to find the next great picture book author/illustrator.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“Dystel & Goderich Literary Management was founded in 1994 by Jane Dystel, who has been a respected figure in publishing for over 30 years — first as an editor, then as a publisher, and finally as a savvy and successful agent. The agency is the product of her innovative vision of author representation as a full-service enterprise.

“DGLM was launched with a quickly growing roster of Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, celebrated experts in fields as diverse as parenting, women’s health, and cooking, acclaimed literary and commercial fiction writers, and an eclectic and exciting list of titles. The primary goal of the agency was and is to offer not just financial and contractual advice to its clients, but also editorial guidance and support.

“Being involved in every stage of putting together a non-fiction book proposal, offering substantial editing on fiction manuscripts, and coming up with book ideas for authors looking for their next project is as much a part of our work as selling, negotiating contracts, and collecting monies for our clients. We follow a book from its inception through its sale to a publisher, its publication, and beyond. Our commitment to our writers does not, by any means, end when we have collected our commission. This is one of the many things that makes us unique in a very competitive business.” (Link)

Web Presence:

What He's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

Fiction - Action/Adventure, Children's (author/illustrators), Middle Grade, Young Adult, Commercial Fiction, Literary Fiction.

Non-Fiction - Celebrity, Pop Culture, Narrative, Music, Film & Entertainment, Current Affairs & Politics, Humor & Gift Books, Sports. (Link)

From His Bio (as above):

“John is always eager to discover fresh new voices and highly original stories regardless of category, though he’s probably known as a ‘boy book’ kind of guy. He is particularly interested in thrillers and other commercial men’s fiction. He is also actively looking for narrative nonfiction, especially in music, sports, other performing arts, health/popular science, business, memoir, military history, and humor. And on the children’s side, he is keenly interested in middle-grade and young adult fiction, and would love to find the next great picture book author/illustrator.” (Link)

From His Personal Essay (DGLM website):

“For middle-grade and YA fiction, I’m on the lookout for authentic kids’ voices and rousing, high concept stories—I love a good ‘what-if’ scenario—and at a younger level, I’m eager to find the next great illustrator who can also write. For adults, men’s commercial fiction (thrillers/mysteries) have really gotten me excited lately, as has narrative nonfiction in areas like music, sports, health, business, military history, memoir—basically, if it’s a ‘boy book,’ it’s probably for me!” (Link)

From a Blog Post (04/2011):

“By far, the bulk of the queries I receive are fantasy-based or have paranormal elements, and while that’s all fine and good, I’d LOVE to see more fiction that deals with kids in contemporary, realistic settings. And it’s not that these stories can’t be creative or plot-driven—too often, I feel like authors equate fantasy with action, while realism is reserved for ‘issues.’ There are tons of possibilities for high-concept storylines that don’t involve alternate worlds or werewolves, and I was very glad to see some of them this weekend.” (Link)

From an Interview (11/2010):

“Right now, I’m especially keen on middle-grade adventure fiction, because I think there’s room out there for a great new middle-grade series. I’m also looking for YA across all genres, and while I’m not actively looking for picture book manuscripts, I would love to find some illustrators who can write.” (Link)

What He Isn't Looking For:

Plays, screenplays, poetry. (Link)

“I’m not actively looking for picture book manuscripts unless they’re by author/illustrators.” (Link)

Editorial Agent?

“While I still relish editing and working with authors and illustrators, finding new talent has always been my favorite part of an editor’s job, and so I’m thrilled for this new opportunity to directly encounter fresh, distinct voices and to help authors transform their voices into books.” (Link)

Clients:

A list of Dystel & Goderich clients is available on the website.

Mr. Rudolph’s clients include: Rachele Alpine, Steven Cordero, Ericka Blount Danois, Stephen Duncan, Bryan Gilmer, Paul Gude, Craig Heimbuch, Shandy Lawson, Adam Lazarus, August McLaughlin, Joe Oestreich, Adrienne Sylver, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Mr. Rudolph is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 7 deals in the last 12 months and 7 overall. Recent deals include 2 young adult, 1 picture book, 1 general/other, 1 memoir, 1 pop culture, 1 sports.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (preferred).

Snail-Mail: Yes.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Per the D&GLM website:

"Enclose a cover letter, outline or brief synopsis of the work (with word count if possible), a sample chapter, and a stamped, self-addressed envelope for our response. Please type all of your correspondence and double space everything other than the cover letter. E-mail queries are fine, but keep them brief and make sure your cover letter is in the body of the e-mail. We won't open attachments if they come with a blank e-mail. Please be sure to query only one agent at this agency. We will not review queries sent to more than one of us."

See the agency website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Response Times:

The agency's stated response time for queries is six to eight weeks and eight weeks for requested material. If you do not hear back in that time, feel free to resend. (Link)

Mr. Rudolph’s response times range from hours to a couple months on queries and days to a month or so on requested material.

What's the Buzz?

Former Putnam editor John Rudolph has been with DGLM just over a year now. He’s made a good number of sales out the gate and his clients seem very pleased with his representation. I recommend following his posts on the DGLM blog.

Of note, DGLM began offering self-publishing services to their clients (as needed / desired) in June, 2011. You can read the announcement here and some questions answered here.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

Interview with an Agent: John Rudolph at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) (03/2010).

7 Questions For: Literary Agent John Rudolph at Middle Grade Ninja (11/2010).

New Agent Interview: John Rudolph, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management at SCBWI: The Blog (10/2010).

Blog Stuff:

Mr. Rudolph posts regularly on the DGLM blog. Here’s a link to his label, which should take you to most, if not all, of his posts.

All I Want For Christmas - Children’s Wish List (12/2010).

All I Want For Christmas Part II - Adult Wish List (12/2010).

Around the Web:

Dystel & Goderich Literary Management on P&E ($, Highly Recommended).

Dystel & Goderich Literary Management thread at AbsoluteWrite.

Mr. Rudolph’s personal essay on the DGLM website.

Read all the pages on the website, including a great FAQ and What’s New section.

Subscribe to the DGLM newsletter here.

Contact:

Please see the Dystel & Goderich Literary Management website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 12/01/11.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 12/01/11.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

SCOTT TRACEY INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF WITCH EYES

2011-11-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

First the winner of HUNTED is:

CHAD MORRIS!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book.

Today I’m excited to talk with Scott Tracey about his debut book WITCH EYES. I met Scott at Maggie Stiefvater’s book signing in Novi this summer.

I found the whole idea of witch eyes as the magical system very unique. And Scott did a really good job developing all of Braden’s relationships, not only between Trey and him, but also with the other characters.

Here’s a description from Goodreads:

Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain.

After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden's powers to unlock Belle Dam's secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father--and Trey, the enigmatic guy he's falling for, is Catherine's son.

To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he love

Here’s Scott’s bio on his website which I found interesting.
Scott Tracey lived on a Greyhound for a month, wrote his illustrated autobiography at the age of six, and barely survived Catholic school.
His career highlights include nearly being shot by the police after accidentally setting off a panic button, and sending the health department after his place of business. His gifts can be used for good or evil, but rather than picking a side, he strives for BOTH (in alternating capacity) for his own amusement.

Welcome Scott. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me!

1. Okay, even though I want to know about your whole bio, please tell us about your experiences on the greyhound bus and nearly getting shot by the police. Also, how did you become a writer?

The Greyhound thing is a fun story. Greyhound had (or maybe they still do, I'm not sure) these month long bus packages. You can travel anywhere you want for a month, on any Greyhound line, as many times as you want. Some stuff happened, and I ended up traveling all over the place at random one summer. I went from Ohio to Colorado to Washington to Texas to New York, and basically just saw a bunch of sights and did my thing.

Getting shot. Twice a year at the job I was working at, we had a big inspection. So the night before, we were always there until 4 or 5 in the morning making the place sparkle. Someone scrubbed down the alarm system on the wall, accidentally setting off the panic button. The police showed up, asked the manager to lead us all outside. Only the manager went out last, instead of first, and since we didn't follow the police's directions, one of the officers snapped at me (who was the first out the door), that he'd almost shot me through the window.

I've always wanted to be a writer. When I was four or five, I thought you had to be a reporter, because I didn't understand that you COULD write books. I thought all the books had already been written. But I always hesitated at writing a novel in the past, because I felt like I wasn't ready yet. So I waited, and I waited, and one day about 4 or 5 years ago I finally challenged myself to see if I could write an entire novel. And that's how I got my start. ;)

2. Wow! You’ve definitely had some interesting experiences. The witch eyes and the ideas that the magic comes from Braden’s eyes and that he has to wear sunglasses are very unique. Tell us how you developed that.

I was working a lot of night shifts, at the time I was set to start the book that became WITCH EYES, and every day when I left my apartment building, I'd get blinded by the setting sun. That led me to start thinking about people who were allergic to sunlight, and what their lives were like, and from there, I started wondering: if you were allergic to sunlight, and there was a supernatural cause, what would it be? How would that work? From that, I came to the idea of the witch eyes, and just how powerful and devastating they were in equal measure.

The idea of balance was really important to me, right from the start. I wanted the power of the witch eyes to be as damaging as it was helpful. So it makes Braden more powerful in his magic (which has its own negative side), but it's also killing him. Every time he uses his power, he knows his body's going to suffer.

And then there's the visions themselves. What the witch eyes do is show Braden how the world actually looks, rather than the way most people see it. Everything leaves a record, an impression, or a vibe, and Braden sees all of those things at once. The prose for the visions, which is a kind of stream of consciousness, was something that came naturally. I wanted the visions to stand out, to be something different and not totally understandable and it just kind of struck me that it would almost just be this mashup of words, images and descriptions.

3. That’s so interesting how one experience from your own life resulted in a book and a unique magical power. I loved Braden’s relationship with Trey. But I’ve read that you felt it was important not to have that love story be the primary focus of the story. Tell us a bit about their relationship and why you decided not to focus on that?

I always wanted there to be a romantic element in WITCH EYES, but for me, the real story was always Braden's journey and the intrigue of Belle Dam. Braden and Trey are just one element in a very complicated world. Between Braden's gifts, the feud, the history and secrets of Belle Dam, hellhounds, the fact that there's this connection between the two characters is one of the most normal things about the story. At least, that was my goal.

There's two main things I had to keep in mind. The first was the timeframe. The entire book covers a period of about a week or so. There's not a lot of time for things to develop, and not a lot of time for people to grow significantly. The second was that there's obviously a romantic element to the story, but as it stands in the first book, Braden and Trey don't have this perfect, love will triumph over all relationship. I mean, there's a reason why the book ends the way it does. Both of them have their faults, and just because they have a connection doesn't mean that their relationship will go smoothly.

It was important for me that Braden not be defined by his sexuality, and if the book was all about how important it was for him to find (or keep) a boyfriend, it would lessen the kind of story that I was trying to tell (which was: he's gay, but who cares about that, because there's this feud...)

4. You did a really good job balancing that and focusing on what was important to your story. I really was drawn into Braden’s friendships with Jade and Riley and the whole triangle there with Braden in the middle. Tell us about those dynamics.

I always knew that Braden was going to find a confidante in Trey's sister. Jade was the first character, outside of Braden and the adults, that I really had a solid plan for. But Riley was a surprise to me. I started writing one of the scenes where Braden first comes to school, and suddenly I'm writing about this super excitable, nosy girl who has no tact and wears too much plastic jewelry. It came out of nowhere, and suddenly Riley was a part of the book.

It just came around naturally that Jade and Riley were polar opposites. It made a lot of sense, with this feud that's defining the town, that Braden would continually find himself trapped between both sides. So Riley leaning towards Team Thorpe was kind of perfect.

One of the things that I tried to be really conscious of was how the characters had all related pre-Braden. There's a natural bit of tug-of-war when Braden first gets to town, and a familiarity between Riley and Jade that implies that their history is complicated.

5. You gave some awesome advice on not using stereotypes in LGBT stories that is so useful and that I think applies to a lot of writing, like about minorities for example. Guys, you can listen to the whole vlog here. Can you share some of your tips?

I think all of my advice really boils down to one specific point: treat all your characters like they're three dimensional people. Gay characters are more than just the sum of their sexuality - there are a hundred different types of gay people. Everyone has some complexity to them, just because it isn't apparent at first doesn't mean it's not there. Adding a stereotype character into your manuscript doesn't make it edgy, or make it stand out. The characters who stand out are the ones who are dynamic, and fascinating in some manner.

6. I so agree. And your advice applies to writing about any minority or kids whose families are not formed from traditional avenues, like adopted kids. I read that it took a year and a half to sell WITCH EYES. What was the process like and what decisions did you have to make along the way?

Being on sub off and on for 18 months was hard, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I tried really hard NOT to think about it as much as I could. But you always worry - especially when a rejection comes in. 18 months sounds like a lot, but half of that was broken up into different stages.

We did a few tiny rounds at first, testing the waters as it were, and then a round of revisions before the submissions went wide after 9 months. So there were a lot of stops and starts in the beginning. It's like waiting in line at the grocery store, and then someone cuts in front of you, or the cashier goes on break. Every adjustment to the process stresses you out, even if you don't want it to. ;)

There were a few times where editors came back with suggestions of things to change or adjust. One of those being if I would consider changing Braden into a girl. Or if I'd add a female co-narrator and make it a buddy comedy with a gay guy/straight girl and cut the romance angle. But the book, to me, was always about telling the story that I wanted to tell, the way I wanted to tell it. It wouldn't have been as special to me if I straightwashed the characters and made it into something it wasn't.

7. You have such a good attitude toward the long wait. I love how you describe it like the line at the grocery story. How did Ginger Clark become your agent?

One of my good friends is Gretchen McNeil, who wrote POSSESS and is one of the YA Rebels. Ginger is her agent and Gretchen has ALWAYS sung her praises. So last year when I found myself needing to find a new agent, she was at the top of my list. I think she might even have been the first query I sent out, now that I think about it.

Anyway, Gretchen referred me, I queried like normal, Ginger requested the full of my new project, and a few months later we signed together.

8. I’ve seen tons of interviews that you’ve done around the debut of your book. What marketing did you do and how did you decide what marketing to focus on?

I'm a big advocate for only doing things that you're comfortable with. I like to blog, so I didn't mind doing a lot of guest posts and interviews (a LOT of guest posts and interviews). I'm not AS comfortable with vlogging, so I only did a couple of those (but it's still a nice change of pace). And then there were a few guest chats I ended up doing that turned out to be a lot of fun.

I tried to have fun with it. I did little things like made up a quiz for Facebook that people could take, to see if they were Team Lansing or Team Thorpe. I made a fan page for the Witch Eyes series on Facebook (and later an author page), and updated the book trailer that had been done originally back in 2009. I'm usually pretty talkative on Twitter, so I did some outreach there, too, but I tried to make it fun more than anything. It's hard, because you never want to be that person who ONLY talks about "my book is coming out, my book is coming out, hey have you heard? My book is coming out."

I really just tried to stick to the kinds of things that I was comfortable with. I also tried not to be too overwhelming with anything, so that six months from release I wasn't annoying people daily to buy my book.

9. That’s good advice to do what you’re comfortable with. I have to admit I’ve never done a vlog and would be nervous doing one. Glad I’m not alone. What are you working on now?

Right now, I'm working on the edits for book 2 in the series, DEMON EYES, which comes out next fall. And after that, I have a fun project I've been playing around with that I'd like to finish. It's a bit of new territory for me - writing in present tense for the first time, a female protagonist, a new setting.

Thanks Scott for all your great advice. Good luck with your book.
You can visit Scott at his blog, WITCH EYES Facebook page, and his author Facebook page.

Scott’s publisher generously offered a copy of WITCH EYES for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on December 10th. I’ll announce the winner on December 12th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. On Friday, I’m super excited to be participating in an awesome book lovers holiday giveaway blog hop. I have some fantastic offerings for you to say thanks for all the support you've given me this year. And hop around for other giveaways. Please stop by and enter the contest.

Then next Monday, I'll be interviewing debut author Karsten Knight and giving away a copy of WILDFIRE. On Wednesday next week, I'll be doing a special blog post so I can interview Shelli Johannes-Wells as part of her blog tour for UNTRACEABLE. I'll be giving away a copy of her book. Then the following Monday I'm interviewing Louise Caiola and giving away a copy of her debut book WISHLESS.

Hope to see you Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:10:00.000-08:00

It's Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday.

I have a lot to be thankful for, not the least of which is YOU, my readers and friends, this wonderful community, and Natalie, who gives precious time to this blog and makes it an even more giving place for writers.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, and have a beautiful day!

ASK THE EXPERT INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF ENTICE

2011-11-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

First I'll announce the winner of SECRETS OF THE CROWN. The winner is:

CATHE OLSON!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book.

Today I’m excited to interview Hikari, a follower and a ninth grader who is Kris’ blog partner at Imaginary Reads. They have a fantastic blog where they review books and do some book giveaways. I recommend it.

Hi Hikari. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, where you live, your school, and what you like to read.

I’m a ninth grader (we call it year ten over here) in Hong Kong. I go to an international school and I’m bilingual in Chinese (Cantonese, though I’m fluent in Mandarin) and English. I love writing, blogging, and of course, reading. I’ll read practically anything that has words in it, YA, adult fiction, literature, inch-thick computing books (don’t ask—tech geek here), manga—you name it, I’ll probably read it. I do love YA best though, especially contemporaries and dystopias.

2. Wow! That's awesome that you live in Hong Kong and can speak in Cantonese and Mandarin. My daughter is Chinese and we've tried to learn. It's not easy. Before you started blogging, how did you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

Before I came to know about the book blogging community, all I had was one bookshop, really. It’s pretty far from where I live, about half an hour by public transport (which is far HK-wise). Page One is one of the few book retailers specializing in English books in HK. So every time I went there, I’d buy loads of books. I generally spent over $500 (~US$80) every trip—I didn’t get that many books either, English books are really expensive here. It ate up all my pocket money, this book addiction of mine.

3. That's true dedication to spend so much on books. What made you decide to start blogging? How did your blog partnership with Kris come about and how did you find each other living in two different countries?

Well, I’ve always thought that blogs were really cool. I started stalking publishers at some point, and then somehow, discovered the world of book bloggers. Kris had her exams back then, and she had her own writing blog. She started a reading blog but didn’t have the time too keep it up, what with her exams. The idea of blogging together came up, and bam—that was it.

It’s funny how we met, considering that we’re running a reading blog together, because I met Kris through writing. We were both writing novels at the time, and our friendship started off as critique buddies. Somehow, we evolved into blogging partners, and I’m glad. As Kris said, we’ve gotten a lot closer.

4. That's awesome how you connected. Though Casey and I aren't critique partners, I followed her blog for a long time. When she needed a blog partner, I took the plunge and e-mailed her and am so glad I did. You and Kris seem like a good match too. How has blogging changed what you read, if at all? What books are you waiting to be released?

Blogging has given me the opportunity to find out about new books a lot quicker. Now, I know about books with incredible hype around them and which books are coming out soon. The ratings and heartfelt reviews from fellow bloggers make me want to read books I never dreamed I’d read. Before, I’d have to wait until my once-in-a-while bookstore trip to hunt for books with interesting blurbs and pretty covers. I’m waiting for Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, Isla and the Happily Ever After and a lot more… I’m sure I’d bore everybody to tears if I kept going.

5. We're looking forward to a lot of the same books. Do you buy most of your book, receive ARCS, or get them at the library? How often do you go to a bookstore?

I don’t get a lot of ARCs compared to Kris and other book bloggers. Nobody likes international shipping, especially to some part of China that isn’t really China that you can’t even see on a map—and I don’t either. HK libraries are seriously lacking in the English department and our school library is really slow updating new releases. So I guess, in the end, I’m still buying most of my books. But I’ve been using The Book Depository and buying Kindle ebooks more.

6. That's too bad you can't get ARCs mailed to you. But you gave me some advice on getting ARCS online from book publishers so at least that's a way you can get get them. Thanks for the advice BTW. Do you read any teen book blogs, book blogger review blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why?

Yups! I do all of the above. After you’ve read some of the reviews of a certain blogger, you get a feel for their tastes. If they’re similar to mine, I’d be more inclined to try out some of the books they’ve liked. I read author blogs because most of the time, they’re really interesting. I love how they’ll dish out writing tips sometimes, complain about the weather some other time, and release snippets of information about their books that always leaves me drooling. Publisher websites are just for me to stalk to-be released books though.

As for Facebook… If I like an author, why not show some appreciation? Facebook’s a major meter for everything nowadays, and it’s only one click on my part. As a bonus, I get news about their new books, possible competitions, giveaways, etc. It’s win-win.

7. Do you have any teen or book blogger review blogs you’d recommend we follow and why?

The Story Siren has brief reviews that leave you wanting to read the book anyway. Mundie Moms are looking better in black since 1234 (no, really, they host a lot of interviews and live author chats). Alison Can Read’s reviews are compulsively readable and I love that she’s reviews manga too. There are a lot-lot-lot of others and I could probably go on forever—but I won’t.

8. I love The Story Siren and Mundie Moms too. I find out about a lot of books from them. Have any of your teachers recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you?

My current English teacher is a huge fan of classics. Just a few lessons ago, he recommended works by Zola, Lermontov, Emily Bronte, Tolstoy, Maupassant, Hardy, Eliot and Balzac to me. I’m currently reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, which was recommended by him too. By recommended, I mean “threw at me in the library and went ‘You should read this.’” None of my teachers have recommended blogs or websites though.

9. Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

There are only two things, really. One, write a mind-blowingly amazing book. Two, have a sense of humour. Because if the book is that amazing, I’ll probably stalk the author in hopes of hearing about a sequel or other books by the same author, which will lead me to their site/blog/fb page. And if they have a sense of humour, it’ll probably keep me there.

10. That's great advice. Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

Not a single author has ever tried to cross the Pacific Ocean to reach this little school of mine at the tip of South-East Asia—to my dismay. Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) visited the university my mom works at, but it was during my school time, so I didn’t get to listen to him. The only thing I’d like to say to authors doing presentations is to ask themselves, “What would Steve Jobs do?” Steve Jobs doesn’t have anything to do with books, but he made his presentations magical.

…Okay, maybe that was a bit too geeky of me.

That's a great tribute to Steve Jobs. Thanks Hikari for all your advice.

Today I'm giving away an ARC of ENTICE by Carrie Jones. I won this ARC and quickly read the first two books in the series so I could read it, especially since CAPTIVATE (Book #2) ended with a bang. Talk about a cliffhanger. SPOILER ALERT: DON'T READ THE GOODREADS BLURB IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS! I loved that this is an urban fantasy with pixies as the magical creatures, something you don't read about too much.

Here's a blurb from Goodreads:

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever.
But that's not quite how things have worked out.

For starters, well, Nick is dead.
Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla?

And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't just turned...she's Astley's queen.

I'm giving away my ARC of ENTICE. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you're not a follower) and leave a comment on Hikari's interview by midnight on December 3rd. I'll announce the winner on December 5th.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry.

Here's what's coming up. Next Monday, I'm interviewing debut author Scott Tracey and giving away a copy of WITCH EYES.

Then on Friday December 2nd, I'll be participating in an awesome book lovers holiday giveaway blog hop. I have some fantastic offerings for you to say thanks for all the support you've given me this year. And hop around for other giveaways.

Then on December 5th, I'll be interviewing debut author Karsten Knight and giving away a copy of WILDFIRE.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoy the holiday. And hope to see you next Monday!

Interview with Manager / Producer / Book-to-TV/Film Agent Extraordinaire Brandy Rivers!

2011-11-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

I have a very special guest today! Brandy Rivers is a literary manager and producer who runs the book-to-tv/film department at Magnet Management. If you've seen her name around the web recently, it was probably in connection to Myra McEntire's HOURGLASS, which she recently sold to Fox on behalf of Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency. She's also on Twitter @BrandyRivers8. If you're curious about her clients and various roles in books, tv, and film, here's her muy impressive bio. Then read on to the interview below!

Brandy Rivers is currently a literary manager/producer working in both film and television at Magnet Management. In that capacity, she is responsible for representing authors, screenwriters, and directors as well as developing underlying material including novels, articles, blogs, video games and life rights for production. Among her many clients, she currently represents Dave Lease (THE LEFT TURN set up at Lionsgate Films), Chris McKenna (Co-Executive Producer on COMMUNITY), Craig Titley (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF), Robyn Harding (CHRONICLES OF A MIDLIFE CRISIS in TV development with Gary Fleder/ABC Studios), Angela Nissel (SCRUBS, TIL DEATH, BROKE DIARIES in development at Lionsgate, MIXED previously in development with Halle Barry/HBO), and Myra McEntire (HOURGLASS set to debut in May ‘11 by Egmont). Brandy is also a producer on the upcoming Lifetime pilot DEAR HAILEY based on the book SHATTERED SILENCE. Prior to becoming a manager, Brandy worked in development, most recently at Underground Films, a production/management company whose credits include REMEMBER ME, a film she helped oversee from development through post production. Previously, she worked at Summit Entertainment where she helped develop such projects as the TWILIGHT FRANCHISE, SEX DRIVE, and KNOWING. She began her career at Jerry Bruckheimer Television where she worked on over 430 hours of primetime network television including the CSI FRANCHISE, WITHOUT A TRACE, COLD CASE, E RING, and CLOSE TO HOME among many others. Brandy is a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina where she received a BA in Psychology and played Division 1 Soccer.

Hi Brandy! I'm incredibly excited for this interview. Thank you so much for your time. Please, start us off with a little about yourself and Magnet Management.

Thank you so much for having me! I grew up in a small town and was an avid fan of books, film and television. After graduating from college, I headed straight to Los Angeles to pursue my lifelong dream of getting coffee. I’m just kidding, to a degree. It is true that you have to get a lot of coffee before you can do what I like to call “grown up” work and to this day I can still make a mean latte.

My first job in the business was at Jerry Bruckheimer Television. It was there that I had the opportunity to work with some of the most talented writers in Hollywood on shows such as COLD CASE, WITHOUT A TRACE, and the CSI franchise. After JBTV, I transitioned to Summit Entertainment where I learned the film business. It was during my time at Summit while I really missed working in television, and went in search of a job where I could do both film and television and found: artist representation. Working as a manager has given me the ability to combine my experience in film and television with my desire to find and nurture new talent. In my current capacity, I work with writers across all mediums including film, television and books. It’s important to clarify, though, that I only work with authors to sell their material to film and television and do not sale books to publishing. My passion is giving writers a home where they are heard, and an outlet to accomplish their dreams; whether that dream is to see one of their books on the big screen or move from being an accomplished author to writing original movies or television series.

My company Magnet Management began as one of the first Literary Management Companies, Zide/Perry Entertainment. Zide/Perry was behind such movies as AMERICAN PIE, FINAL DESTINATION, and the CATS AND DOGS series. The principles of that company Warren Zide and Craig Perry decided to shift their focus to producing and dissolved their partnership. The remaining managers formed a new entity called Magnet that focused specifically on client representation and development.

Artist representation seems like a perfect meld of what you love in books, television and film. Was it projects like TWILIGHT at Summit that led you to books to film?

At Bruckheimer we tracked books for television and were constantly on the lookout for great source material. In fact, pouring through books and articles was one of my favorite parts of the job. It was at Summit, however, when I realized for the first time how passionate book fans are about authors and about material. This experience made me much more excited about book to film. Sometimes in the film business, you can put your blood sweat and tears into something and then, when your movie premieres, it’s basically over. In a typical film release pattern, box office drops approximately 50% each weekend. When you work on something with a passionate fan base like TWILIGHT, however, fans talk about and promote the movies online well after the opening weekend and the week to week fall off is much lower.

I love how adaptations create book sales as well. Totally win-win! What's an average day in the office like for you (if such a thing exists)?

Wow, that’s an interesting question. My days are mainly filled with reading books and scripts and talking on the phone about what I read. Sounds crazy right? But it’s the truth. I have to leave a little bit of time for socializing with studio & network executives, as well as producers. So my breakfast, lunch, and evening calendars are pretty full. Hollywood is about who you know so it’s important to see old friends and meet new people.

I see you not only manage talent but produce for major studios. Are you usually involved this way in the projects you sell?

I produce for the major studios occasionally, but most of my job is to sale books to them and let other companies produce. Sometimes it just makes sense to have me produce and sometimes the writers want me to. When your client really trusts that you have their best interest at heart they feel more comfortable knowing that you are going to be in every meeting and fighting for their vision every day. Some writers don’t feel like they need that. So I would say that it’s determined on a case-by-case basis, but my primary business is sales.

You co-agent for a number of literary agencies too, correct? How do you decide which projects to pitch, and what are you looking for when you read a client's work?

Yep, I work with many literary agents as a co-agent. I feel very fortunate because I get to work with some of the best agents in publishing and am meeting wonderful new agents everyday. As to how I decide what projects to pitch, it’s all based on passion. Sometimes it takes a long time to find the right home for a property, and many times, a book is optioned several times before it is produced. I have to wake up in the morning excited about a project and keep fighting for it, sometimes for years. But it’s also important to know that I have material on my list that I can sell. Some is harder than others, and the list of what is hard changes every day.

That passion comes through. Your clients are lucky to have you! Do you also scout? Or accept submission directly from writers?

Yes, I do both. I really enjoy discovering new writers. Earlier this year I was pitched a book idea at a wedding that I thought was interesting. I decided to help the author develop the proposal and then teamed him up with a publishing agent who took it out and sold it. The book is currently on submission to several television production companies for development. Just today, in fact, an exec I submitted it to told me that it was one of the best pieces of material that she had read this year!

It’s fun to discover new writers and even more fun to call them with good news. It’s one of my favorite parts of the job!

How does a book-to-film/tv deal come about? Walk us through a deal.

Book to film/tv deals can come about in a million different ways. Sometimes a studio head, network exec, or big star will fall in love with a piece of material they come across in their day to day lives and make a preemptive offer. Other times, an intern will be combing through the slush pile and find something amazing that works its way up the development chain until it turns into a deal. The traditional way for film is to take the book out to production companies. The goal is to have several producers vying for the property as this raises the profile of the material and generates “heat” around town. The next step is to split up the town, which means that you assign different studios to the producers. The producers then take the property in and fight for the studios to buy it for them. It sounds counterintuitive, but for the most part, production companies do not spend their own money on material. The reason many of them have studio deals is to get the studios to purchase material on behalf of the company.

I find that, generally, this method does not have a high success rate anymore. Today, most studios want to buy something that feels more like a full movie, rather than a piece of development. This means that studios want packages, which is a piece of material with a writer attached and maybe a director and actor as well.

That's so interesting! What's the difference between selling to film versus television?

Film is a director’s medium and television is more the writer’s medium. So, when I’m packaging a book for film, generally I like to approach a director first while in television my first step is to attach a writer or showrunner. Don’t get me wrong, I have sold to television without a writer attached, but it’s certainly not easy. The first question a television executive asks is: “Who is going to write it?” This is particularly important because the exec wants to know that they have someone in place who can helm the series through multiple seasons and potentially hundreds of episodes.

Another big difference between film and television is in the time commitment. When you sell something to television, you generally know pretty quickly (usually within 12 months) whether you are going to series or not. In film, the development process can take years. One famous book, A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, has been in continual development for three decades. While that’s certainly not typical, it’s illustrative of how the filmmaking process can sometimes get off track.

Overall, I would say that most books lend themselves either to film or television. So it’s mostly based on which your project would be best for.

So, how does your role evolve through the process of a book becoming a film?

As a co-agent, my role starts with the sale! Sales can come from heat (meaning a bunch of studios want to option the property) or from putting together a package that generates interest (adding a director or a piece of talent). It’s the most exciting part of the process until the movie premieres. After a sale, my job turns into making a lot of phone calls. I frequently check in and monitor the process to ensure that the ball is still rolling and all parties remain excited! I also have to make sure that my client continues working towards future goals. It’s easy to get distracted by a big feature or tv sale, but I want my clients to keep working on new material.

When I produce a project, I am much more involved in the day-to-day process. I’m in every meeting and am privy to much more information. That process also starts with the sale, but then moves on to putting a writer on it, developing the script, putting a director on, and then casting.

How involved (or not-involved) are authors throughout that same process?

This is a very tough question to answer, because it varies widely. When I work with authors I give them the latitude to determine how involved they want to be. Some authors are highly involved while others want me to just call them when we have a deal! My primary goal is to make sure that what my client wants comes first and foremost.

Once a studio comes on board, it’s hard to say exactly how involved the author will be. In television particularly, it is much more difficult to stay involved because of the tight schedule that the project is on. Once a show goes to series, it’s typical for the author to be a consultant on the project at least for the first year or two. After that, they sometimes stay on the staff and other times don’t.

We've all of heard of books that get optioned but never go into production. What factors are at work here?

Yes, it does happen that way sometimes. I tell authors not to believe that it will be a movie until it’s actually in production. That being said, studios are not purchasing rights to books anymore without making a serious commitment. They have learned that, if they don’t want to make the movie or send the pilot to series, then it is just a waste of money.

The factors at work in the decision making process here are usually auspices. Who is the writer? Did the writer deliver a draft that will draw further talent (actors or a director)? The movie making process is all about getting your project to a place where the studio feels comfortable spending 30 million dollars (sometimes more, sometimes less) on the product. The book and its success in publishing help, but don’t always make the decision a no brainer. Take a film like WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. The book was a huge NY Times best seller but no one saw the movie. But then you have projects like THE HELP that would have never been made without the success of the book that was a smashing success.

Great to hear studios are committing seriously. How is writing books different from writing for film/tv? Do writers ever make that transition, or even write their own adaptations?

The biggest difference is that writing for movies and television is a lot more dialog driven and you have fewer pages to tell your story in. This can be a struggle for novelists initially as most of them enjoy evoking rich detail in their prose and have to learn to be more economical in their use of language.

To answer your second questions, yes, writers do make the transition all the time! And I love it when they do… it’s fun to work with authors on learning the ins and outs of writing for film and television. The process of writing a movie or novel is much the same. You do it at home, by yourself, and can do it in your PJs! Writing for television is more like a job. You go to work and sit in a writer’s room breaking stories as a group. Then, writers on staff are assigned individual episodes which are written over a week or several days, often at home.

With writers who want to make the transition to features, I suggest adapting one of their novels on spec to take out with the book. This proves to the studios and production companies that you can write in screenplay form. With television, breaking in is a bit different. Unless you are a huge bestselling author, most of the time the networks will not buy for an unknown writer. In that case, I usually recommend for a writer to start by writing screenplays. After a sale or two on the feature side, it becomes much easier to sell a pilot.

Great advice, Brandy. What's selling right now?

In television, intricate and interesting characters always are a draw. Anything with the typical lawyer, cop, or doctor such as BONES and RIZZOLI AND ISLES usually works. You can also sell soapy material like GOOD CHRISTIAN BELLES. Most of the premium cable networks like to explore worlds that have never been seen before like WALKING DEAD or GAME OF THRONES. The most important thing to look for in underlying material for television is storylines that can run for 100 episodes.

In features, I feel like it changes every day. YA is tough if the material doesn’t stand apart from the other YA books that are already shooting as movies. For instance, vampires, werewolves, and dystopian futures are really hard to sell right now. That being said, there are situations in which they will sell. Big worlds, contained thrillers, and family adventures are always big hits. But again, anything is possible in features.

The one thing to always remember choosing material is that movies are meant to be seen in group settings on the big screen and are therefore world driven. Television is meant to be watched in your home either alone or with your loved ones, so it’s about bringing the characters into your home for an hour each week.

That's a great way to look at it! Before you get back to your busy day, I'd love to hear about your recent deals and clients. Fire away!

Sure, I work with a lot of great clients every day. I represent Angela Nissel who wrote the books THE BROKE DIARIES which is in development at Lionsgate, and MIXED which she developed at HBO with Halle Barry. She was also a Co-EP on SCRUBS, and Consulted for TIL DEATH. I also work with Craig Titley who adapted PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THEIF for Fox, 20,000 LEAGUES for Sam Raimi and Sony. This season, I set up Robyn Harding’s CHRONICLES OF A MIDLIFE CRISIS to ABC Studios for Gary Fleder to produce.

As a producer, two of my recent deals are Myra McEntire’s HOURGLASS which is set up at 20th Century Fox, with John Davis producing and myself executive producing and SHATTERED SILENCE which is set up at Lifetime and now called DEAR HAILEY. On that project, I am executive producing with Ashton Kutcher.

I'll be watching for these! Thank you, again, for your time, Brandy. It's been such a pleasure, and I've learned so much!

Thank you!! I have really enjoyed our chat and hope that I didn’t talk your ear off!

Not at all! We could discuss this stuff all day, and I'm sure I'd still have more questions.

Isn't she great, everyone? As you read above, Brandy is open to submissions. Just remember, she does NOT represent authors to publishers! She's looking for screenplays and books for adaptation to TV/film. Here are her guidelines:

I am looking for anything except horror, romance, dystopian YA, and any vampires. Otherwise, I am wide open to anything!

Send a query and the first five pages of your material to me via email at brandy(at)magnetmanagement(dot)com. We are a green company, so please no snail mail queries.

Tip: when writing your query letters, please make them fun! The more personality I see in your query letter, the more excited it will make me about you as a writer. Remember that while it is mostly about your material, YOU are still the client.

Hope you enjoyed the interview. Please leave a comment if you have time, and good luck if you query!

Tamson Weston: What About Apps? Five Reasons for Picture Book Authors to Stay the Course

2011-11-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

As promised, I have children's book author and editor Tamson Weston back for another guest post on picture books. Tamson was most recently an editor for Disney Hyperion and now does editorial consultancy through Tamson Weston Books. If you missed her first post, "Top 5 Picture Book Publishing Tips from Successful Agents" you can read it here. And you can find her on Twitter @tamsonbooks.

What About Apps? Five Reasons for Picture Book Authors to Stay the Course.

A few weeks ago I wrote post for this blog about the state of picture books. There is some belief that the world of apps is somehow to blame for this downward turn. It’s tempting to blame things on technology, sometimes. But the picture book market started to dip long before the onset of apps—mostly due to a glut of picture books that came earlier and a lack of space for them at the big chains. The rise of apps for kids, despite the impression we may be getting from the media, has really yet to happen. Sure, some kids have early access to Ipads, but most don’t. As of the middle of this year, just 8% of adults in the US owned tablet computers. And if you’ve tried out kids’ apps, you know they’re really much more difficult to enjoy on a smart phone. This may change, but if you’re a picture book author, what you’re doing should not change. Here’s why:

1. Picture Books are shareable; Ipads make car rides bearable. While Ipads and tablets may help keep kids busy, most parents still enjoy cuddling up with their kid and turning pages. Many want to relive the experience of their childhood via their kids and this means sharing favorite books.

2. You can’t submit a picture book app—or at least not through the traditional means. Agents aren’t acquiring apps writers yet. They’ve told me—and Rick Richter of Ruckus Media has confirmed—that the majority of apps are being created from pre-existing content and most of the remainder of them have been made to order by a writer who was hired specifically for that purpose. In other words, there isn’t really a broad and consistent submission policy yet for apps creators.

3. One man’s app is another man’s picture book: The distinction between a picture book and an app happens in development. It may be that what you had envisioned as a picture book may eventually make a good app, but your focus should be the same regardless—good writing.

4. Picture book lovers are still out there! If you’ve been paying attention over the past month, you’ve noticed that picture book lovers everywhere are renewing their commitment to the format--see here, here and here. People who love picture books want more picture books to read. Don’t you?

5. Writing picture books is fun! If you dig deep enough you can always find a reason NOT to keep writing picture books. But if you like it, why would you want to do that? Just write, for Pete’s sake.

Thanks to Mary Kole, Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Emily Van Beek at Folio, Tracey Adams from Adams Literary, Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary, Rick Richter from Ruckus Media for your insight.

Tamson Weston is a published children's book author and editor with over 15 years experience at several prestigious publishing houses including HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Disney Hyperion. She has edited many acclaimed and award-winning books for children of all ages. Tamson loves to collaborate with people and help authors, illustrators, agents and publishers bring projects to their full potential.

Among the authors Tamson has worked with with are Adam Rex, Mac Barnett, Robert Weinstock, Adam Gopnik, Jane Leslie Conly, Anne Rockwell, Deborah Hopkinson, Jen Violi, Alexander Stadler, Dan Santat, Florence Parry Heide, Dandi Daley Mackall, Brian Biggs, Marilyn Singer, Megan Cash and Mark Newgarden.

Tamson has an MFA in Writing and Literature. You can visit her website at Tamson Weston Books.

Coming up...

2011-11-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

No tip this week, so I thought I'd discuss what's coming up in the next few days.

Tomorrow, children's book author and editor Tamson Weston is back with a new guest post called, "What About Apps? Five Reasons for Picture Book Authors to Stay the Course." Please stop by! If you missed her first post full of great tips, check it out here.

Friday, I'll be posting an interview with Brandy Rivers, a book-to-film agent with Magnet Management. It's super informative and you really don't want to miss it. You can find Brandy on Twitter @BrandyRivers8 in the meantime.

Monday, make sure you stop by for Natalie's new Ask the Expert interview with a teen book blogger. If you haven't been reading the series, you're missing out on some great teen perspective.

Finally, don't forget to enter for a chance to win THE SECRETS OF THE CROWN by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (ends Nov 19th) and HUNTER by DJ DeSmyter (ends Nov 26th).

What are YOU up to this week?

DJ DESMYTER INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF HUNTED

2011-11-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

First I'm going to announce the winner of MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE.

The winner is:

ELIZABETH VARADAN

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book.

Today I’m excited to interview DJ DeSmyter about his debut novel HUNTED, which was released on August 9, 2011. I met DJ at Maggie Stiefvater’s book signing in July and learned he’s a debut author. I found HUNTED to be a fast read and I loved that the focus was on Lily’s and Alex’s developing relationship more than the paranormal aspects of the story. That’s what really sucked me into the story.

Here’s a description from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Lily Atwater has always kept to herself, living a lonely life with her workaholic dad. Not the most thrilling life, but it’s quiet and ordinary, two things she’s come to expect from living in Victor Hills, Michigan.

When kind and mysterious Alex takes refuge in her home, she is suddenly thrown into his world of werewolves, a world he wants to keep her safe from. But while the two of them grow closer, a relentless hunter continues his search, stalking the woods with hopes of catching the wolf that got away…

Hi DJ. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer.

Well, let’s see... I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember and writing was always something I enjoyed, but never took seriously. Actually, when I was a toddler, I had a speech impairment and my parents were told I would never speak or write. So, my parents have always encouraged my passion for reading and when I told them I wanted to be a writer, they gave me their full support.

It wasn’t until after I read Twilight a couple of years ago that I realized writing was something I wanted to pursue. I wanted to create characters and worlds that readers would fall in love with—that I would fall in love with. I just never expected my dream of being published to come true so soon!

2. Wow! You’ve come completely around circle from a toddler who might never write. It’s interesting how many authors get inspired to write after reading a book. Me too. I loved how Alex’s family is a family rather than part of a pack of wolves. How did you decide on this and what else did you do in plotting HUNTED to make it different than the other werewolf stories out there?

Since family has always been important to me, I always knew Alex’s family would be a real family. I also knew I didn’t want my main werewolves to act like wolves. I wanted them to be as human as possible. A lot of other werewolf stories focus on the animal side, so I decided to do the opposite.

3. That was so smart to take a different focus than all the other werewolf stories out there. It makes your story stand out. Lily starts out as a shy, lonely teenager not even very close to her dad, the only member of her family. But she really blossoms through her relationship with Alex. Tell us a bit about her character development. Did you have any challenges writing from her POV?

I actually have a lot of friends who are girls, so writing from her POV was rather easy. The book was originally supposed to be told solely from her view, so I had a firm grasp of who she was early on, so that also helped make the writing process smoother.

4. You did a good job in developing the romance between Lily and Alex. It was one of my favorite parts of the story. Do you have any tips on writing romance in YA novels?

Thank you very much! I’m a romantic at heart, so I’m happy to hear people are enjoying Lily and Alex’s relationship.

My one tip for writing romance would be this: Think about what you would want in a relationship, or the things you love/hate about the relationship you’re in. Take those positives and negatives and use them to help shape your characters’ relationship. (Does that make sense? Haha)

5. Ha! Some of us wouldn’t want to admit the negatives of our relationships in public. But that’s good advice. You wrote HUNTED while in high school and also blog. (DJ, correct this if I’m wrong). How did you juggle the demands of high school, homework, blogging, and writing? What was your writing process?

Hunted was written my senior year and it was completed thanks to a lot of late nights. But, don’t worry, I always completed my homework! I usually worked ahead and finished my assignments early, which gave me more time to read and write during the week.

I started with the prologue and from there I wrote the rest, beginning to end. Compared to my previous efforts, the writing process for Hunted was rather smooth. I usually run into roadblocks with projects because I don’t work from an outline, but I encountered very few issues with the story.

6. Now that my daughter’s in 9th grade, I’m even more amazed you could keep up with homework and write. Let’s move onto the business side of writing. Tell us about your road to publication.

My journey to publication was surprisingly quick. I found out Pendrell Publishing was open to unagented submissions, so I submitted to them on a sort of whim. I almost didn’t end up sending a submission, but my critique partner had done a lot of work on Hunted and I didn’t want their work (nor mine for that matter) to go to waste.

The rest is, as they say, history, but I couldn’t have asked for a better home for Hunted. I have loved every part of the process and the team at Pendrell is amazing.

7. You’re making the rest of us jealous. Just kidding. We’re happy for you. How have you been marketing HUNTED? Do you have any advice for us aspiring authors?

ARCs were sent out to bloggers and other reviewers, and the online community has been instrumental in getting the word out. Our society is practically centered around social networking and we’ve been trying to use that to our advantage. I’ll also be attending BEA and the Romantic Times Convention next year, as well as Epic ConFusion, which is a sci-fi/fantasy convention in Troy, MI.

My advice would be to write, read, and live. Write because you love it, read because you love to, and live because the world has so much to offer.

8. The conferences sound like they’ll be fun. I’ll have to check out the convention in Troy one of these days since it’s in Michigan. What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on a new project, but it’s not a sequel to Hunted. I’m really excited about this new story, though, and I’m trying my hand at writing in present tense. That’s all I’m going to tell you, though.

Thank you very much for having me!

Thanks DJ for all your advice. Good luck with your book.

You can visit DJ at his blog.

I'm giving away a copy of HUNTED. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on November 26th. I’ll announce the winner on November 28th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Next week I'll be interviewing a teenager who’s also a book blogger for my Ask The Expert series and giving away another book. Then on November 28th, I’m interviewing another debut author Scott Tracey and giving away a copy of WITCH EYES. I have a bunch of awesome interviews and giveaways set for early December too.

Hope to see you next Monday!

Regal Literary Book Giveaway!

2011-11-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone. Thank you to all who have served.

Just a quick note that Regal Literary is having an awesome Winter Book Giveaway, including:

Audrey Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry – signed!
Martin Clark’s The Legal Limit – signed!
Alex Heard’s The Eyes of Willie McGee – signed!
Keith Scribner’s The Oregon Experiment – signed!
Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies
Thomas Pletzinger’s Funeral For a Dog
Matt Blackstone’s A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie
Scott Cohen’s Don’t You Just Hate That? 738 Annoying Things
Nancey Flowers and Courtney Park’s He Was My Man First

They're giving away multiples of each, and you can enter through the month of November. The entry form can be found HERE. Good luck!

Agent Spotlight: Liza Pulitzer-Voges

2011-11-10T07:01:00.001-08:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Liza Pulitzer-Voges of Eden Street LLC

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “Liza Pulitzer Voges has been a literary agent for childrens' book authors and illustrators for almost 30 years working with over 40 clients. Highlights of the years include Lois Ehlert's Caldecott Honor for COLOR ZOO; Gloria Whelan's National Book Award for HOMELESS BIRD; and Sucie Stevenson's E.B. White award for HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE GREAT GRANDPAS. The growth of authors such as Dan Gutman, Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams, Shutta Crum, and many others is what makes the job irresistible.

“Picture books are still of interest but I'm also interested in young adult, particularly for boys. A middle grade fantasy would also be fun to see. Check out the Eden Street website for more information.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“Eden Street is proud to represent over 40 authors and author-illustrators of books for young readers from pre-school through young adult. Their books have won numerous awards over the past twenty-five years. At Eden Street, we pride ourselves on tailoring our services to each client's goals, working in tandem with them to achieve literary, critical and commercial success.” (Link)

Web Presence:

Eden Street website.

AAR profile.

SCBWI profile.

QueryTracker, AgentQuery.

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

“Representing authors and author-illustrators of books for young readers from pre-school through young adult.” (Link)

From an Interview (07/2011):

“Picture books are still of interest but I'm also interested in young adult, particularly for boys. A middle grade fantasy would also be fun to see.”

“Unique historical fiction such as REVOLUTION or NORTHERN LIGHT or PRISONER IN THE PALACE and a wonderful middle grade fantasy.” (Link)

From an Interview (08/2010):

“I represent all genres! Well, I haven't done any paranormal, so I guess I'm odd that way, but I don't find the need to jump on any bandwagon.”

“I love mysteries as an adult reader... I'd love a really good mystery series, hope that it will have some fun humor too! And naturally, great writing, strong voice, and setting.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Adult projects.

Editorial Agent?

Unknown.

Pet-Peeves:

“I post my requirements on my website, so I get truly annoyed when I get e-mail submissions! I just delete them! And I don't represent adult, so that too is a pet peeve.” (Link)

Clients:

There is a list of agency clients on the Eden Street website.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Pulitzer-Voges does not appear to report her deals to Publisher’s Marketplace. She is a veteran agent with many confirmed sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: No.

Snail-Mail: Yes (only).

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

“Kindly send via mail (no electronic or fax please), including a SASE, a picture book manuscript or dummy; a synopsis and three chapters of a middle-grade or YA novel; for non-fiction, a proposal and three sample chapters is recommended. We give priority to members of the Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators.”

See the Eden Street website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Response Times:

Ms. Pulitzer-Voges strives to respond to all queries, and her response time ranges from days to several months. There are some instances of no-response. Stats are limited on requested material but suggest a one- two-month wait.

What's the Buzz?

Liza Pulitzer-Voges opened Eden Street Literary in April of 2009 after 25 years with Kirchoff/Wohlberg. She has a successful list of clients who seem very happy with her representation. She remains open to submissions but accepts snail-mail only.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

7 Questions For: Literary Agent Liza Voges at Middle Grade Ninja (07/2011).

Interview with an Agent: Liza Pulitzer-Voges at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) (08/2010).

Around the Web:

Liza Pulitzer-Voges on P&E ($, AAR).

Eden Street LLC on P&E ($).

Contact:

Please see the Eden Street website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 11/10/11.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 11/10/11.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Why I'm MIA + Doxies

2011-11-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

You'll have to forgive the extra radio silence on my end. My husband had surgery late last week so I've been playing nurse and adjusting to having him home. It was a planned surgery, nothing acute, but he'll be home through the holidays and I might be scarce (wish me luck ;).

I don't have a tip this week, so I thought I would answer a request I received a few days ago. Misty Provencher over at Nothing Cannot Happen Today asked if I would post some pictures of my dachshunds for her. I'm all too happy to oblige.

Before I get into the pictures, however, I wanted to mention that Misty lost her agent and is posting her novel on her blog two chapters a week. I've been reading along and am really loving the story. If you'd like to read more about Misty's decision to do this go here. If you'd like to read CORNERSTONE the chapters are all available in tabs at the to p of her blog.

Now, about the doxies. They've always been my favorite breed, but it was never in the cards for me to have one. Finally, this year, I finished school and felt my kids might be old enough to handle a puppy. Or two. And I knew exactly what I wanted - dapples. Sprocket is a black and tan mini dapple and Oslo is a chocolate and tan mini dapple.

Enjoy the adorableness, Misty.

And so they don't feel too left out, here's Trever our 7-year-old coon hound...

And Jasper, a.k.a. Mister Cat, who adopted us shortly after we got the pups.
(Can you guess what that is in the background?)

Hope you're all having a great Tuesday!

ETA: If you want to send in a tip for the upcoming weeks, e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY INTERVIEW WITH ADAM JAY EPSTEIN & ANDREW JACOBSON AND BOOK GIVEAWAY

2011-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

First I'm going to announce the winner of AUDITION. The winner is:

VIVIEN!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book.

Today I’m excited to interview Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson about their second book in THE FAMILIARS series SECRETS OF THE CROWN. Remember how I confessed about a month ago that I don’t really like stories with animals as main characters? Well, SECRETS OF THE CROWN proved me wrong again. I loved Aldwyn (a favorite name of mine), the telekinetic cat, Skylar, a blue jay who can create illusions, and Gilbert, an insecure tree frog that can see visions in water.

Here’s a description from Goodreads:

A curse befalls Vastia, eliminating human magic. Only animals are able to cast spells, and it is up to Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert to save the queendom from the evil threatening it. In addition, Aldwyn discovers the truth about his past, embarking on a journey that brings him closer to the father he never knew.

Hi Adam & Andrew. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became friends. I’m dying to know how you became friends from reading how you met on the book jacket.

Everyone knows how we met... it's written on the back flap of our book... we were both living in the same apartment building and started chatting in the parking lot. What people don't know is that we didn't really become friends until the next year, when we lived in temporary housing up in the Hollywood Hills. We spent our days writing and our nights hanging out at the pool with Hillary Duff, Frankie Muniz, and Megan Fox.

2. I just knew that you met in the parking lot. That is amazing how you connected again and then became friends and writing partners. How did you decide on Aldwyn’s, Skylar’s, and Gilbert’s magical powers and the whole mythology about the creation of Vastia and change of who governed it?

Aldwyn's power of telekinesis was chosen because we needed a power that Aldwyn could fake while he was pretending to be magical...Skyar's power was something incredible that wouldn't be too powerful and make them too easy to succeed. (We always wanted to maintain the idea that our familiars were the underdogs.) As for Gilbert, we needed a character who could tell the future so that the Grey Hair Witch storyline could come to pass.

The world itself was created with a secret history that would later empower the animal heroes of our story. It is revealed that animals first ruled this land before humans took control. This conflict plays out through the whole series.

3. So interesting how the plot dictated their magical abilities. Tell us a bit about Aldwyn and Skylar’s secret longing about their families that drives some of their character development throughout SECRETS OF THE CROWN. How did you plot this out?

We're always striving to have strong emotional arcs in our books and there's no better way to conjure that than with family. We really made sure that Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert had familial journeys that played out in the first two books. It continues through book three and will through every Familiars book that we write.

4. I could never figure out which one of you wrote what parts of the story. Tell us about your writing process and how you make the story seem like it is told by only one author.

(Andrew's) mom wonders the same thing. She always wants to know which lines (Andrew) writes. And he tells her the same thing we're going to tell you. We don't know. That's because we sit in a room from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm across from each other and write every paragraph, sentence, and word together. Because of our process, the singularity of voice remains constant.

5. Ha! That's so mom-like to want to know. You must be incredibly good friends to be able to sit in a room with each other everyday. I hadn’t read the first book in your series but I could totally understand what was going on by the bits of backstory you fed us throughout the book. What are your tips for creating a series and figuring out how much backstory to share in the second book of the series?

We were really figuring this out ourselves, and continue to figure it out in subsequent books. It's a very fine balance. The bits of backstory we put in are more like reminders for people who read the first book than trying to acclimate a reader to the series mid-stream.

6. I’ve read that you also write for television and film together. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how that’s helped in your writing a novel?

Writing for film has definitely helped us be visual storytellers... using language to show action. There are very few scenes of characters just sitting around talking without something else going on to keep the scene exciting and a reader engaged. Pacing is another tool from our screenwriting kit that we're able to bring to our novels.

7. Yes, it's so easy to make the mistake of having characters just sit around and talk in a book. But you're right, it's better to weave it in with action. Tell us about how you got your agent at Regal Literary and your road to publication.

Our road was not a typical one for most authors. For eight years prior to writing our book, we had a literary agent for film and television. When we decided to write a book, we contacted an agent at our agency in Los Angeles who specialized in selling books to film companies. He helped guide us through writing our initial proposal for The Familiars. Then he passed it along to Joe Regal and Markus Hoffman at Regal Literary in New York, and we were fortunate enough for them to sign us off that proposal. From that point we worked with Markus for nine months before completing a revised proposal. It was then sent out to the major publishing houses and we were lucky enough to have Barbara Lalicki at HarperChildrens read the material and get very excited about it. A book deal was made for a trilogy and then a few weeks later we sold the film rights to Sony Animation!

8. Awesome. We all wish we had those type of connections. I read that THE FAMILIARS is going to be produced for film and that Sam Raimi is the producer. I love his work. How exciting! Tell us how that came about and what your role is in the movie. When is it coming out?

We sold the film rights to Sony Animation and Sam Raimi came aboard as producer. We adapted the book into a screenplay and worked on about a half dozen drafts. We received incredible input from Sam and it was certainly a career highlight for us to collaborate with. Because the film is going to be a 3D animated movie, it is not slated for release until 2014.

9. Can't wait to see it. Most authors don't have the experience like you do to write the screenplay. What are you working on now?

We are finishing up book three of The Familiars, Circle of Heroes. We are working on a screenplay at Paramount with the producer of The Transformers called Lions, Tigers, and Bears. And we are excited to begin a brand new book series (STARBOUNDERS) for the spring of 2013. It is a middle grade sci fi fantasy about regular kids who go to space camp and find out that it is not an ordinary space camp, but one that trains them to save the galaxy.

Good luck with your book and movie. Thanks Adam and Andrew for sharing your advice with us.

You can find Adam and Andrew at their website. Like them on Facebook too.

Adam and Andrew's agent generously offered a copy of SECRETS OF THE CROWN for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on November 19th. I’ll announce the winner on November 21st. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays was started by Shannon Whitney Messenger to spotlight middle grade authors. Check it out here.

And check out these other Marvelous Monday Middle Grade Reviewers:

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Pam Torres

Jennifer Rumberger

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. Next Monday I’m interviewing a debut author DJ DeSmyter and giving away a copy of his awesome book HUNTED. The next week I'll be interviewing another teenager who’s also a book blogger for my Ask The Expert series and giving away another book. Then on November 28th, I’m interviewing debut author Scott Tracey and giving away a copy of WITCH EYES.

Hope to see you next Monday!

Tip Tuesday #112

2011-11-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

Tip Tuesday is a recurring feature where writers send in tips for fellow writers. If you'd like to send in a tip, please e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

I hope all of you who partook in Halloween festivities yesterday had a wonderful, safe evening. Kristin Lenz sent in today's tip, which I love, along with a note about a couple interview-giveaways she has up in the blogosphere this week. If you'd like to learn more about author Lara Zeilin and enter for a chance to win The Imposion of Aggie Winchester make sure you stop by YA Fusion and YA Stands to read Kristin's interviews. But before you go, here's her tip!

Donna Jo Napoli spoke at the SCBWI-MI fall conference last month. She described an awful thing we do to ourselves. As children, we draw pictures, and our parents display our work. Visitors ooh and aah and praise our talent. We get an A on a spelling test, it goes on the refrigerator. We write a story, it gets passed around, and our creative genius is applauded. Then we grow up, and the criticism begins. It chips away at our confidence, doubt creeps in. We censor ourselves. A great critique group can provide support and encouragement, a nurturing environment to grow our skills, and some butt-kicking to challenge ourselves. But here’s an additional idea:

My SCBWI-MI friend, Leslie Schneider, has a critique group AND a writing group. Her writing group gathers to write and share and give positive critiques. No negativity, no criticism, no sandwich method… only positive words.

They begin with a prompt – an object, a photograph, a line from a book. Sometimes, they use writing workbooks that provide prompts/exercises. Everyone writes for 5, 10, 15 minutes; they’re not formal about it. Some prompts result in more material. They take turns reading their work aloud, and the others tell what they liked. That’s it. It’s free-flowing expression, crappy-first-draft type of writing; it doesn’t need to be critiqued. But it gets you writing. It gets you through those stuck moments. It helps you turn off that internal censor that’s questioning/correcting/revising as you write. It’s a cure for writer’s block, as well as a new story generator. Like journaling or morning pages, you might never return to the material, but more likely it’ll seep into your psyche and morph into a character, a setting, a conflict, a plot.

I’m ready to give it a try. How about you?

-Kristin Lenz

MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY INTERVIEW WITH ANNA STANISZEWSKI AND BOOK GIVEAWAY

2011-10-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

First I have some winners to announce.

The winner of DARKFALL is:

BARBARA WATSON!

And the winner of CROSSED is:

MIRANDA!

Congrats! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your books.

Today I’m excited to interview Anna Staniszewski about her debut book MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE. One of the things I loved about this book was that it was not only a fantasy, which you know I love, but it was also funny. You get the sense it’s going to make you laugh right away from the cover.

Here’s a description from Goodreads:

"You know all those stories that claim fairies cry sparkle tears and elves travel by rainbow? They're lies. All lies."—Twelve-year-old Jenny has spent the last two years as an adventurer helping magical kingdoms around the universe. But it's a thankless job, leaving her no time for school or friends. She'd almost rather take a math test than rescue yet another magical creature! When Jenny is sent on yet another mission, she has a tough choice to make: quit and have her normal life back, or fulfill her promise and go into a battle she doesn't think she can win.

Hi Anna. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you became a writer.

I was born in Poland and raised in the US, so I grew up loving stories in both Polish and English (especially fairy tales). After studying theater at Sarah Lawrence College, I worked at the Eric Carle Museum of Picturebook Art where I realized my true calling: children’s books. I went on to study writing for children at Simmons College and left the program determined to become a “real writer.” Being chosen as the 2006-2007 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a 2009 winner of the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award gave me the courage to keep pursuing my writing dreams. All that work finally paid off when I signed with my agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, in 2009 and sold my debut novel to Sourcebooks a year later. Currently, I teach at Simmons College and live outside of Boston with my husband and our adorably insane black Labrador, Emma.

2. Wow! You’ve had an interesting life that I’m sure you must draw on in your writing. You’ve chosen to use humor and clichés, both magical and ones that pops out of Jenny’s mouth on occasion in your story. Why did you decide on these and what challenges did you find in making them fit your story? And are you funny in real life?

As I was working on My Very UnFairy Tale Life, I wanted to play with the role of the traditional fantasy hero who’s whisked off to another land to save the day. I liked the idea of a hero who’s been saving the day for years now, and is sick and tired of it. What better weapon to give her in a stereotypical quest than the power of cheesy sayings?

I did find that it was difficult to come up with clichés for Jenny to say in various situations; I didn’t want to force them into scenes, so I had to try out different ones to find ones that fit. I never thought I’d be Googling “cheesy sayings” but you never know where book research will take you!

Am I funny in real life? Well, I’m a total goofball and love making people laugh. I’m also a huge lover of puns, as is my husband; in fact, the mutual friend who introduced us told me: “You both like puns, so I think you’ll get along.” He was right.

3. Well, you’d never guess from reading your book that you had any trouble coming up with the humor. I’m no good at it so it’d be torture for me. That’s awesome you share your love of puns with your husband.

Besides questioning being a superhero, Jenny has to face some pretty hard challenges in her real world. Tell us a bit about how you developed Jenny’s internal struggles.

When I started to learn more about Jenny, I realized she was very isolated. Her parents disappeared when she was young, so she lives with a guardian who doesn’t understand her. Her friends have long since abandoned her, so all Jenny has is her adventures which don’t make her happy anymore. Not only is Jenny lonely but she’s also unsure of her identity and place in the world. I realized there was much more depth to her than her sly humor and cheesy sayings.

4. I loved that Jenny’s enemy is a crazy clown sorcerer and that his evil fortress is circus tent. That’s so original. Where’d you get the idea for him?

To be honest, I’m not really sure. When I was first writing the scene in which Jenny meets the bad guy, I hadn’t quite figured out his identity. But when Jenny saw him unmasked for the first time, I guess one of my subconscious fears came out because suddenly she was faced with a super creepy clown.

5. Interesting how it just sort of came to you. Your agent is Ammi-Joan Paquette. Tell us about your journey to find an agent and to publication.

When I first started querying agents, I had no clue what I was doing. I also had a manuscript that was not ready. I finally did my research and learned the right way to write a query letter, and I also kept working on new manuscripts until I had one that was strong enough to catch an agent’s attention. In the midst of the querying process, I was lucky enough to meet Joan at a PEN New England reception, and I saw right away what a great person she was. When she was as excited about my manuscript as I was (a book that, sadly, never sold) I knew we were a good fit. She’s been an amazing mentor and cheerleader ever since.

6. That’s awesome that you got to meet Joan at a conference before you picked her as your agent. What was the revision process like with your editor? Do you have any tips on tackling revisions suggested by your editor?

When I revised the manuscript with my agent, I spent a lot of time cutting out unnecessary subplots and characters. By the time the book got to my editor, it was almost too slim. That meant much of the revision process involved fleshing scenes out. I also rewrote the ending after my editor pointed out that the ending didn’t feel “big” enough. She was absolutely right. I went back and completely rewrote the last few chapters to try to make the ending bigger and more satisfying. One tip I took away from that revision is that the ending should never be too easy for your character; we as readers need to feel like there’s a real possibility the character won’t succeed.

7. So interesting that your book was too short. Most of us struggle with the opposite problem of having too many words. That’s a great tip about endings. How are you marketing your book? Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Much of my marketing has been online. I’ve been blogging, Facebookin, and Twittering for a while, so I’ve met some wonderful and supportive people that way. I’m also involved in online communities such as The Enchanted Inkpot, The Elevensies, and The Blueboards.

Everyone I’ve met along the way has been amazing in helping me spread the word about the book. When I asked a few of my real-life and online friends to take part in an informal ARC tour, I was so grateful at how eager they were to help. Marketing-savvy people always talk about the importance of making personal connections, and I’ve found that to be absolutely true. If people know you on some level, they’re much more likely to help spread the word about your book. And, of course, you have to be willing to return the favor.

8. Yes, you’re right. It’s so important to pay it forward and help other authors. What are you working on now?

I have a few different things in the works: a light middle grade fantasy, a somewhat bizarre picture book, and a dark, fairy-tale-inspired YA novel.

Thanks Anna for all your great advice. Good luck with your debut. You can find Anna at her blog and website.

Anna’s publisher generously offered an ARC for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on November 12th. I’ll announce the winner on November 14th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays was started by Shannon Whitney Messenger to spotlight middle grade authors. Check it out here.

And check out these other Marvelous Monday Middle Grade Reviewers:

Shannon O’Donnell
Joanne Fritz
Sherrie Petersen
Brooke Favero
Myrna Foster
Anita Laydon Miller
Barbara Watson
Just Deb
Kit Lit Frenzy
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin
Pam Torres
Jennifer Rumberger

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. Next Monday I’m interviewing Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson and giving away a copy of THE FAMILIARS SECRETS OF THE CROWN. On November 14th, I’ll be interviewing debut author DJ DeSmyter and giving away a copy of HUNTED. Then on November 21st, I’m interviewing a teenager from Asia who blogs for my Ask the Expert series and doing another book giveaway.

Hope to see you next week!

Fiona Page on BETTINA THE BOLD

2011-10-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have a very special guest today. Fiona Page is an award-winning children's author and motivational speaker celebrating the release of her picture book Bettina the Bold: A Blind Butterfly Discovers How to Make Friends in conjunction with Blindness Awareness Month (October!). Please visit her at her website and blog when you're done reading her lovely guest post about Bettina the Bold and the creation of her story.

Being a professional storyteller I am always looking for a creative way to explain to elementary children what it is like to be blind. This concept is difficult for children to understand, especially since I don’t look blind or weird. However, having lived the first forty-four years of my life sighted, I remember how different I truly felt when I was newly blind. Reflecting on what happened to me, I decided to write about my thoughts, my feelings, and my fears.

I couldn't sleep as I bandied about the idea of a forest creature being blind and not knowing she was blind. How frustrated she would be, sometimes angry. That wouldn't help her to "fit in,” to belong, amongst the creatures of the woods. My Bettina was bold, but she needed to learn how to be nice to attract friends. She had to accept her situation and overcome her challenges in order to belong amongst the woodsy creatures.

I used my talking computer to put this story to paper. A screen reading software program for visually impaired people called JAWS helped me keep track of my words. I thought about my reader as I typed out Bettina’s story. What happens when the book is read to a blind child? Disagreeing with the notion that illustrations alone will do the describing for you in a picture book, I decided it was necessary to also illustrate with words. It was important to me that Bettina the Bold be enjoyed by all readers—sighted or blind.

After I finished writing the story, I trusted my illustrator and graphic artist friend to make Bettina come alive on paper. She has done a precious job of illustrating the story and bringing Bettina to life. Children love the characters.

Next, I gave the manuscript to an editor who was visually impaired. I didn't know how much she could see of the pictures, but I trusted her instincts and experience with children would help her match the illustrations to the words and correct my grammatical errors.

Finally, I asked a fellow master storyteller friend to use her many voices to create a recorded version that would enhance the understanding for visually impaired children as well as those of us who like to listen to a beautifully told story. Ken Medema, the composer and singer of the song which accompanies this audio book, is a genius with his music ministry. His theme song for Bettina the Bold paints a picture in a musical way.

My talented team loves children and strongly believes in Bettina’s message. It is important to us that all children learn how to connect with others.

Agent Spotlight: Karen Grencik

2011-10-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “California native KAREN GRENCIK makes her home in Shell Beach, midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A court reporter by training, Karen initially launched her own literary agency in 1999 to champion writers and manuscripts she discovered on the Central Coast of California.

“The opening chapter of The Karen Grencik Literary Agency was an astounding success, propelled largely by Karen’s major sale of the middle grade memoir Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan by Lu Chi Fa with Becky White. Karen quickly found herself on the New York publishing circuit and in regular contact with editors and publishers, while also finding time to be a favorite presenter at several West Coast writers’ conferences.

“Karen signed new clients and sold award-winning titles. Among the awards garnered by her authors are the Parents' Choice Gold Award for Best Nonfiction, the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Best Picture Book, and the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best New Fiction.

“Karen regularly consults with Emma D. Dryden, former children’s book publisher and founder of the children’s editorial consultancy company, drydenbks. Karen’s mentor, San Francisco agent Linda Allen, will partner on special projects with Red Fox Literary as needed.

“Karen’s philosophy is simple: ‘When you choose to write children’s books, it’s just that—it’s a choice. You do it because you love it. You do it because it fills you with passion. You do it because it brings you joy. You are among the lucky ones who live life with purpose. But you also must do everything you can possibly think of to achieve your goals.

“And you must be nice.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“The story of Red Fox Literary began nine years ago when a young, novice editor named Abigail Samoun acquired her very first picture book from a talented agent named Karen Grencik. That book, author Sarah Wilson’s George Hogglesberry, Grade School Alien, went on to win the coveted SCBWI Golden Kite Award. Not bad for a first collaboration.

“In 2006, Karen left agenting to pursue adventures in the tropical forests of Costa Rica. Abigail and Karen’s paths didn’t cross again until the Los Angeles 2010 SCBWI National Conference, where Abigail was delighted to discover that Karen had returned to the States and was plunging back into the world of children’s books. Karen and Abigail decided in March 2011 to form Red Fox Literary, a boutique agency specializing in picture books, middle-grade, and young-adult titles.” (Link)

Web Presence:

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

“Our agency represents children’s book illustrators and authors whose work is aimed at picture book, middle-grade, and young-adult readers.” (Link)

From an Interview (06/2011):

“I want to see beautifully written books that will make me grow as a human being and increase my understanding of the world in which I live. Dystopia, paranormal, high fantasy and science fiction aren’t for me. I prefer reality-based stories that will show me a world I would not otherwise have the opportunity to know or a picture book that will literally take my breath away or make me laugh out loud.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Adult Projects, Mass Market Board or Novelty Books, Activity Books/Workbooks
Self-Help, Science Fiction, High Fantasy, Dystopia, Memoir. (Link)

Editorial Agent?

A few clients have mentioned revision notes, so I believe so.

Clients:

There are lists of authors and illustrators on the Red Fox website.

Ms. Grencik’s clients include: Lana Bloch and Tanya Bloch, Sandra Brug, Heather Ayris Burnell, Amy Dixon, Lu Chi Fa, Julie Musil, Michele Shaw, Mary McKenna Siddals, Sarah Wilson, Natasha Yim, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Grencik is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 1 deal in the last 12 months and 1 overall. Recent deals include 1 picture book.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

“Due to the volume of queries I’ve been receiving, submissions will only be accepted from the 1st through the 7th of each month.”

PICTURE BOOKS: Submit a query letter with the full manuscript.

FICTION: Submit a query letter, synopsis, and the first ten pages.

NON-FICTION: Submit a query letter, proposal, and one sample chapter.

Send your query and sample pages in the body of an e-mail. No attachments. Put QUERY in the subject line.

For complete, up-to-date submission guidelines see the Red Fox Literary submissions page.

Response Times:

The agency’s stated response time is six weeks, and Ms. Grencik strives to respond to all submissions that follow her guidelines.

Stats on the web show query and submission response times ranging from hours to several weeks with an average around one week.

What's the Buzz?

I hadn’t heard of Ms. Grencik until the opening of Red Fox Literary earlier this year but everything I’ve read since has been very positive. The agency is already listed as “Recommended” by P&E and her clients seem enthusiastic about her representation.

Before querying, take note of her unique submission policy (being only open to queries the first through the seventh of each month) and proclivity toward reality-based projects.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

Interview with Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary Agency at Becky Levine’s blog (06/2011).

Around the Web:

Red Fox Literary thread at AbsoluteWrite.

Red Fox Literary Agency at P&E ($, Recommended).

Karen Grencik at P&E ($, Recommended).

The agency has a “Highlights” page for client news and happenings.

Client Heather Ayris Burnell’s “I Have an Agent” post (07/2011).

Client Julie Musil’s “I Have an Agent” post (06/2011).

Contact:

Please see the Red Fox Literary website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 10/27/11.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 10/27/11.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Tip Tuesday #111

2011-10-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Tip Tuesday is a recurring feature where writers send in tips for fellow writers. If you'd like to send in a tip, please e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

On this fine fall Tuesday I have some magical tips from Laura Lascarso. Laura authored tips #66, #69, #83, #94, #102, and a guest post for us, so she's no stranger to the blog. I think you'll be just as excited as me to learn that she now has a cover for her 2012 debut COUNTING BACKWARDS. Isn't it lovely and intriguing? I can't wait to get my hands on it. In the meantime, we'll have to content ourselves with her fantastic guest posts, and I've got her latest right here...

Bippity Boppity Boo! Using Big Magic in Writing
By Laura Lascarso

I recently read ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine as a guide for the story I’m writing for my daughter. It’s my first foray into fairyland and I’m nervous. To prepare myself, I’ve been pondering the use of magic in storytelling and how to make the make-believe believable. Here are some guidelines that I’ve come across:

1. Introduce magic early on. In the first chapter, there should be a hint of the supernatural. It’s not cool to get halfway through a book and discover that your main character is really a mummy without several big hints along the way. It works against a reader’s suspended disbelief. In EE, Ella is cursed by a fairy as an infant and it’s introduced in the very first paragraph. Straight away, the reader knows what kind of story this is going to be and can adjust their expectations accordingly.

2. Don’t give your character a superpower and not have them use it. Reading minds, flying, starting fires, talking to animals. If your character has special abilities, the reader wants to see them. They’re special. Even better, is if the ability is both a curse and a blessing. Give the character a little struggle and internal conflict—perhaps they lose something each time they use their magic or perhaps they have to make a trade/self-sacrifice for it. High stakes=good tension.

3. Lay out the rules for magic and then stick to them. In EE, Ella is cursed with obedience. The rule is, she has to follow a direct order. The book maintains that rule throughout the book—every time Ella is given a direct order, no matter how ridiculous or dangerous, she must follow it. If the rule were to change halfway through the story (without explanation), the reader would balk. Like in playing a game, you can’t change the rules in the middle.

4. Give your magic a purpose. Use it to propel the plot forward, add tension, and conflict. Make it cool and different. Make it necessary to the story.

5. Rinse and repeat for magical creatures. Make them believable, give them a set of rules and make them integral to the story.

6. Don’t overwhelm your story with magic. Don’t get so caught up in your fantasy world that you let it take over your plot. For instance, big action movies that seemed designed around special effects. Your magic should serve the story, not eat it alive.

There’s my recipe for Big Magic soup. Got any ingredients you’d like to add?

STASIA WARD KEHOE INTERVIEW AND BOOK GIVEAWAY

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

First I want to give a big shout out to my friend, Shannon O'Donnell. CONGRATS! SHE HAS AN AGENT! She just signed with Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary LLC. She queried Terrie after seeing Casey's spotlight of Terrie. I'm so excited for Shannon! Go congratulate her here.

Today I’m so excited to be a part of Stasia Ward Kehoe’s blog tour for her debut YA book AUDITION that was released on October 13, 2011. I’m going to confess something. I’ve never read a book in verse before and I was a little scared about whether I’d be able to read and enjoy one. I was so surprised at how fast a read Stasia’s book was and I loved entering the world of ballet. I could relate to a lot of the sacrifices Sara made for her dream as I watch my own daughter competitively swim. I think a lot of kids will relate to this too.

Here’s a description of AUDITION from Goodreads:

When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she's deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem's muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she's chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.

Hi Stasia. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. I’ve read that you danced as a kid, in college, and had a job at the Kennedy Center. Wow! How did your own dancing experiences influence the plot of AUDITION and Sara’s self-doubts about her path?

While the performing arts have always been a part of my life, I think I was usually a much happier, more strong-willed dancer than Sara. Still, from experience I know that dance offers great things, like the glory of the discipline, the joy of collaborating with other artists, and the thrill of performance. There are also tough things, including a livelihood dependent on your physical abilities and, like high-level musicians and athletes, the fact that you must forgo other opportunities to reach your goals. I certainly wanted to show both positives and negatives of Sara’s experience. Also, I struggled with shin splints, which are a kind of constant reminder of how vulnerable your body can be. I gave those to Sara, too!

2. I think a lot of kids who aren’t dancers can relate to some of this, like the giving up of opportunities to play a sport in high school and the injuries associated with it. Sara’s relationship with Rem is different than many YA romances that are love at first hot sight. Tell us a bit about their relationship and how you decided to plot it the way you did.

Because she is a country girl coming to the high-level city ballet scene a bit late, Sara is trapped between the younger students with whom she is technically on par, and the older dancers who are her chronological peers. I wanted to establish this before introducing Remington because I think he is very much a part of her uncertainty about wanting to grow up at all and how that is tied to her ballet dreams. Being attached to Rem also means being attached to a kind of dance success which Sara deeply wants.

3. You did a good job showing her as the country girl often with the younger students. As I read AUDITION, I was struck how you made every word count. What are some of the challenges in writing in verse?

With each poem, I asked myself, “Does this have to be written this way?” “Do the metaphors work?” “What would happen if I wrote this in prose?” For me, the verse form is a process of repeated questioning, lots of revision, and having the courage to scrap pages and try again.

4. You worked at Random House Children’s Publishing and Simon & Shuster Children’s Publishing. Tell us about these experiences and how they’re influencing your marketing decisions, if at all.

Like the performing art of dance, the literary art of publishing is very subjective and whimsical. Coming to the author side of it after years supporting other writers, that I know I’ve got to have a thick skin. More importantly, I have truly come to believe that the best thing you can do for your own book and the entire industry is to encourage and support other writers.

5. I bet those connections are invaluable. And yes, it is so important that we support each other. That’s one of the things I enjoy most about blogging. You were part of an awesome vlog about collective book promotion and marketing at WriteOnCon this year. (You can listen to the vlog here. ). Tell us about Stages and Pages and share some of your tips on collective book promotion and marketing.

Stages on Pages is an opportunity not just to talk about my own book but to explore and celebrate novels about the arts in a broader way. The tour consists of twelve authors. Appearing together is less scary and it gives us opportunities to create presentations that are more conversational and, hopefully, fun for audiences. The biggest tip I’d give to others about collective promotion is to make sure you have an organizing principle that excites everyone involved.

Thanks Stasia for all your advice. Good luck with your book. You can visit Stasia on her website and her blog.

Stasia’s publisher generously offered an ARC for a giveaway. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on November 5th. I’ll announce the winner on November 7th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

And don't forget to enter my giveaways to win a copy of DARKFALL by Janice Hardy and CROSSED by Ally Condie. Links are at the top of the blog.

Here’s what’s coming up. Next Monday, I’m interviewing another debut author Anna Staniszewski and giving away a copy of MY VERY UN FAIRY TAIL LIFE. And on November 7th, I’m interviewing Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson and giving away a copy of THE FAMILIARS SECRETS OF THE CROWN. I’ll let you know about the rest of November later.

Hope to see you next Monday!

Guest Blogger Gerry Renert on Picture Book Apps

2011-10-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday, everyone! Please welcome guest blogger Gerry Renert, a three-time Emmy nominated children's TV writer and author, who's here to talk about the gray area where picture books and apps merge. His first digital book, BRAVE ROONEY, came out recently to good reviews (Kirkus, SLJ) and is a great example of an interactive story book if you've yet to play with one. I downloaded it for my daughter and we've had a blast with Rooney's story. It's been a bigger hit with her than others we've tried.

If you'd like a chance to win the app, Gerry is honoring the search and rescue dogs of 9/11 on his Facebook page by asking parents and kids to share stories of brave and/or courageous dogs they've known or owned. If you have a story to share, or are just a dog lover, please stop by.

Finally, I think Gerry's post opens things up for a potentially great conversation and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Enjoy!

Picture Book Apps, Striking the Perfect Balance
By Gerry Renert

Like so many other children’s book writers, I’ve seen the picture book world going digital at light speed and how quickly publishers are seeing the light. Digital developer technology seems to be improving every day, making the newest digital books increasingly more interactive and increasingly more engaging.

I just had my first children’s book/app, BRAVE ROONEY, published and initially expected to end up with a book that had some interactive page turns, an animated door opening, maybe a dog bark or two. What I ended up with, though, was a vibrant hands-on experience I never envisioned. Characters flew when you touched them. A dentist office poster of a huge tooth, ‘brushed’ itself when pressed. Child constructed paper planes effortlessly flew through and around an elementary school auditorium, much as they did when I attended elementary school. To me, the animation was as dynamic as many of the flash animated webisodes currently out there or even some of the simpler animated TV series for younger children.

It got me thinking. Are we witnessing not only the slow diminishing of the printed storybook, but also the phasing in of a new kind of media – part picture book and part animated TV show? I speak from some experience in the TV animation area, as I have both co-created and produced animated children’s TV series, one of which was EMMY nominated three times for “Outstanding Animated Children’s Program.” The interactive appeal of this new book platform was driven home to me when I played a beta version of BRAVE ROONEY to an elementary school class and how quickly the kids picked up on all the interactive features (much quicker than I did, I might add.) Many of the children looked at the iPad as if it was their own portable TV screen they could control and play with. When they found an interaction they liked and one that made them laugh, they played it over and over and over – much in the same way they loved seeing Spongebob escape from an underwater cage – over and over. As the quality of digital development software and technology continues to improve, my opinion is the next generation of digital books will go further to engage the reader/viewer than current TV producers could ever imagine, meaning producers and broadcasters will have to adapt accordingly, perhaps further emphasizing their “multi-platform” strategy.

A lot of questions remain unanswered, however: Will all this interactivity make the reading experience richer and more engaging, or will the various features pose mere distractions to the story and characters? My belief is that digital developers will have to strike the perfect balance between story and animated features to be successful. Whether naive or not, I continue to believe the key determinants will come down to strong, relatable characters and a unique, likable storyline that conveys an important message in a slightly different light. A larger question regards the future role of animated TV series. As iPhone, iPads, Android devices, etc. continue to proliferate, worldwide, will children choose to get their main content from these devices, which they can interact with whenever they choose to, or will they still see TV as the primary deliverer of their content? Perhaps it will remain some combination of both. Either way, the delivery of children’s content will continue to advance at light speed, and those remaining in the dark will remain behind.

Agent Spotlight: Roseanne Wells

2011-10-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “Roseanne Wells is an agent at Marianne Strong Literary Agency. An avid reader, she discovered her passion for book publishing during her internship at W.W. Norton and hasn’t looked back. She is also an arts reviewer for PlayShakespeare.com and a volunteer for Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Soho, NYC. Wells is interested in narrative nonfiction, science (popular or trade, not academic), history, true crime, religion, travel, humor, food/cooking, and similar subjects. She is also actively expanding the agency’s fiction list and looks for strong literary fiction, YA, sci-fi, fantasy, and smart detective novels (more Sherlock Holmes than cozy mysteries).” (Link)

About the Agency:

“At the Strong Agency, we pride ourselves in giving new authors a first chance, and giving published authors a chance to try something new. Browse our website for more information about the books we have represented or for instructions regarding query submission.

“Though the agency has historically focused on non-fiction work--successfully publishing works in politics, business, memoir, real estate, self-help, sports, true crime, and medicine--our current staff is busy building our contacts in the world of fiction, and is actively seeking quality historical fiction, young adult novels, contemporary thrillers, mystery and crime novels, and the ever-elusive piece of quality literary fiction.” (Link)

Web Presence:

Strong Literary Website.

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

“My nonfiction interests include narrative nonfiction, science (popular or trade, not academic), humor, history, true crime, religion, travel, food/cooking, and similar subjects. I am also actively expanding the agency's fiction list and looking out for strong literary fiction, YA, sci-fi (most subgenres included), fantasy, and mysteries (more Sherlock Holmes than cozy mysteries).” (Link)

From an Interview (12/2010):

“The first thing I look for is a good story, and then if it’s nonfiction, platform. It is essential because nonfiction is about authority (why should I listen to this person about their advice or their story?) and audience (who is going to buy the book?). Platform is easier to build these days with social media and digital networking, but it doesn’t mean that you have enough to write a book.”

“I only represent young adult, as I am drawn to the personal journey and transformation of the protagonist that helps define YA as its own genre. Middle grade is a different kind of book with distinct elements and market, and I am drawn more to the YA market. It can be tricky, as there are points where the two can overlap—just look at how the Harry Potter series morphs from a middle grade to a crossover young adult book that is really for all ages. I do mistakenly get middle grade queries, or queries for YA projects that are actually MG, but most curiously, I also get a lot of submissions for other children’s books (picture books, early reader, chapter books, etc).”

“I’m hungry for singular YA clients, contemporary or fantasy, that will grab me by the lapels and never let go. I’m also scouring market stalls and fine dining establishments for new food and cookbook ideas.”

(Link with more on mystery, sci-fi, & religion interests)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Children’s, picture books through middle grade.

Editorial Agent?

Unknown.

Clients:

Jane Lebak, Phil Edwards and Matt Kraft, David Wallace, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Wells is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 0 deals in the last 12 months and 2 overall.

There is a sample of agency deals on Marianne Strong’s PM page.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Send a one page query letter addressed to Ms. Wells to the group agency address. Writers may include some pages or part of a proposal in the body of the e-mail. No attachments.

See the Marianne Strong Agency PM page for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines. Ms. Wells mentions the sample pages in this interview.

Query Tips:

“Don't use quotes or rhetorical questions in queries--all questions end with no.” (Link)

For more query tips and preferences read through the two live events (linked below) Ms. Wells did with WriteOnCon.

Response Times:

Stats on the web show query and submission response times ranging from days to several months with occasional instances of no-response.

What's the Buzz?

Roseanne Wells became an agent in July of 2009 and is actively building her client list. I haven’t seen mention of other clients or sales than those listed above, but she frequently attends conferences and is looking for new YA clients in particular.

There’s been some ongoing concern regarding the agency and its dealings and, while some of it has been addressed, it’s not clear if all has been resolved to industry standards.

I’ve seen no complaints associated with Ms. Wells (or the agency for the last year) and my experience with her through WriteOnCon has been great.

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

Agent Advice Interview with Roseanne Wells at Guide to Literary Agents (12/2010).

Around the Web:

Marianne Strong Literary Agency on P&E ($).

Marianne Strong Literary Agency thread on AbsoluteWrite (2006-present).

Live Query Event with Roseanne Wells at WriteOnCon in the forums. The submission thread can be found here, Ms. Wells comments here (08/2011).

Live Query Event (transcript) with Literary Agent Roseanne Wells at WriteOnCon (04/2011).

Successful Queries: Agent Roseanne Wells and DUMBEMPLOYED at Guide to Literary Agents (06/2011).

Writing Tips from 2011 AWW Faculty -- Roseanne Wells at Antioch Writers’ Workshop (05/2011).

Guest blogger: Agent Roseanne Wells talks kitchen sink plots, or "Adding a dragon won't help" at The Swivet (05/2010).

Contact:

Please see the Marianne Strong Literary Agency website or PM page for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 10/20/11.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? N/A.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Ryan Graudin: 5 Things I've Learned

2011-10-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

Please welcome guest blogger Ryan Graudin. Ryan found her agent on Literary Rambles some time ago and recently sold her book. I'm incredibly excited for her and already dying to get my hands on Luminance Hour. I'll have Ryan back closer to the release of her debut, but for now she's here to talk about the agent submission process. Enjoy!

5 Things I've Learned Through the Agent Hunt/Submission Process
By Ryan Graudin

1. Depend on other people. So often I see the statement that writing is a solitary occupation, which is why introverts like me are so drawn to typing out stories on a computer screen. In some sense this is quite true. When I’m writing a novel, I’m buried in my own world, opting for testing the limits of my characters over actual human interaction. But one’s writing cannot survive or thrive without the involvement of others. Critique partners, beta readers and online forums were essential parts of getting my novel to where it needed to be in order to catch the attention of my agent and publisher. Fresh eyes are indispensable for the growth and development of a manuscript. Critique partners and beta readers are generally unbiased (unless they’re your mother, then they’ll love it). They will find weaknesses and flaws in your story that you as the author gloss over. If you follow their advice, you will end up taking your novel from something good to something superb. I also advise finding fresh eyes to critique your query letters.

2. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Especially when you’re sending out your query letters. The first time I queried agents, I sent out all of my letters at once. This ended badly for me. Although you may be excited about your pitch and impatient to hear back, try your hardest to space out your queries. Send five at a time and wait for responses before you exhaust your list of agents. If you get all negative responses, rewrite your query with outside help. I will tell you, firsthand, that this is hard. It takes self-control. But in the end, it will pay off.

3. Keep writing. It’s easy, when you’re querying, to get sucked into keeping track of statistics, researching agents and obsessively refreshing of your inbox. While these things are good in moderation, they can also take away from your ultimate goal: writing. The best way to distract yourself from the agony of waiting is to keep writing. This is also a good backup plan in the event that your first manuscript doesn’t get picked up by an agent. If your first manuscript does find an agent to love and care for it, then you’ll also be able to show them what else you’re working on (and therefore earn brownie points).

4. Take risks. One of my writing professors in college had a favorite piece of advice he would ram into us over and over again: write what you know. I did not follow this advice. First of all, I wrote stories that, in all likelihood, could not happen. They are tinged (and many times fully submerged) in the fantastical. During school I was forced to write “literary” stories that took place in the real world. I always had trouble with these stories because I didn’t find them exciting or driving.

In no way did I feel qualified to write the story of LUMINANCE HOUR. The plot focuses on Faery Godmothers and British royalty, so much of it takes place in the Buckingham Palace and other sites in London. Although I’d been to London and even toured Buckingham Palace, I still felt wildly out of my comfort zone. I had to put aside my fears and write the story anyway. I had no idea it would turn out. I was taking a big risk.

As a result I got my agent and my publisher. Don’t write what you know. Write what you love.

5. Don’t forget your first love (writing). My husband will be the first to tell you that I shed a lot of tears on my journey to find an agent and get my publisher. It was hard. Really hard. I watched other writers pick up agents in mere days and weeks, while my queries seemed to produce only rejections. When the requests did come in, my hopes would only be crushed by the agent’s kind, but firm pass. Throughout the discouragement, I remembered something yet another writing professor told me in college: “Don’t write for the end goal of publication. Write for the writing itself.”

If my only concern had been getting published, I probably would have given up a long time ago. I didn’t give up because I honestly couldn’t. I was unable stop writing.

The day I graduated, my professor let me part with these words, “Don’t give up. Don’t get a big head. Keep writing.” This motto, along with a healthy dose of luck, is one of the reasons I’m where I’m at today. And it’s something I cannot afford to forget.

When she’s not writing and drifting around the globe, Ryan Graudin enjoys hunting through thrift stores and taking pictures of her native Charleston, SC. Her novel LUMINANCE HOUR, the story of a Faery Godmother who falls in love with the prince she’s forced to guard, is due out with HarperTeen in 2013. You can learn about all of these things and more at http://ryangraudin.blogspot.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @ryangraudin

Tip Tuesday #110

2011-10-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

Tip Tuesday is a recurring feature where writers send in tips for fellow writers. If you'd like to send in a tip, please e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

Bring Your Research and Characters to Life

This past Sunday my family and I traveled to the small town I'm using as inspiration for a town in one of my YA novels. Walking the local hangouts, taking in the quirky details of the buildings, and imagining my characters there was really inspiring.

You might not be able to travel to the place your novel is set, especially if it's entirely fictional, but you can bring smaller elements to life. Even acts as simple as eating, wearing, or doing what your main character would can bring realism and detail to something that before only existed in your pages.

I consider it a very casual approach to "method writing" and find it more inspiring than anything else. Every time I put myself in my character's shoes (sometimes literally) and approach something with that mindset, new ideas and details open up to me, and I find myself very eager to try them out on the page.

~Casey

ASK THE EXPERT INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY OF CROSSED

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

First, I'll announce the winner of THE WHITE ASSASSIN and THE VISION.

The winner of THE WHITE ASSASSIN is:

BETH!

And the winner of THE VISION is:

BRANDILEIGH2003!

Congrats! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your book.

Today I’m so excited to interview Wendy, a 9th grader who follows our blog and an aspiring author for my ASK THE EXPERT series.

Welcome Wendy. Thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you like to read.

Hi, I'm Wendy. I live and go to school in Australia, and I love reading and writing. I mostly read fantasy, dystopian and realistic fiction. My favourite authors are Markus Zusak, Glenda Millard, Janice Hardy, Patrick Ness, Eva Ibbotson and J.K. Rowling.

2. I love how we’re able to meet each other from across the world through blogging. And I love Janice Hardy and J.K. Rowling too. I know you’re an aspiring author. Tell us a little bit about what you’re working on.

I'm in the middle of revising a middle-grade fantasy novel at the moment. Basically, it's set in a world where there are dangerous magical beings who can take the souls of people. When one takes a girl's friend's soul, she approaches them, and discovers she has powers and a connection with the beings, which she'll need to help her friend and prevent a war.

3. Ooh, your story sounds awesome. As you probably know, I’m a huge fan of fantasies. And yea for another middle grade author! Before you started writing, how did you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

My school library has lists of books — for casual reading and on specific topics — that the librarians put together and I'd often find out about new books to read from there. I'd also look up books I'd heard a lot about from other people. I don't think I really paid attention to new books coming out before I started writing (well, except for Harry Potter).

4. That’s so interesting that you didn’t pay attention to new books before starting to write. How has writing changed what you read, if at all? What books are you waiting to be released?

I don't think it's really changed what kinds of books I read because I liked the same genres before I started writing, but now I read more books from different authors. Before, I mostly stuck with my favourite writers.
I'm waiting for Bridge of Clay from Markus Zusak, Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen from Garth Nix and Darkfall by Janice Hardy to be released.

5. I’m looking forward to THE LOST ABHORSEN too. There’s still a chance you could DARKFALL in my contest. (For everyone, the link to the contest is at the top of the blog.) Do you buy most of your books or get them at the library? How often do you go to a bookstore?

I mostly get books from the library. I only go to the bookstore once every few months, because the nearest one is over an hour away, so it's a bit inconvenient. I usually go to the library when I'm after a specific book, and I go to the bookstore when I just want to browse.

6. That’s too bad there’s no bookstore nearer. Do you read any teen book blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why? Has this changed at all since you started writing?

Yup, I read Janice Hardy's and Steph Bowe's blogs. I don't have Facebook but I follow a lot of authors on Twitter. I sometimes go to author websites, when I've just read a book by them and search them up. I don't really look at teen book blogs or publisher websites.
I didn't have Twitter or subscribe to any blogs until I started writing, so that's changed quite a lot. I follow Steph Bowe's blog because I like reading her thoughts on things, and Janice Hardy's blog because the writing info there is really helpful.

7. I so agree about Janice’s website. Have any of your teachers recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you?

Not that I can remember.

8. Are there things your favourite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

Well, I love J.K. Rowling's website because there's extra information on the books and characters, she answers questions directly, it looks great and it's interactive. I'd definitely visit an author's website if it was something like that. For blogs, it would be nice if they were updated regularly; a lot of authors only update them with book news once every few months. I'm not really sure about Facebook or Twitter … maybe if they put a link on their website? I'm not too fussed about how active the people I follow are on there.

9. That’s a great point about blogs. I notice sometimes that bloggers just disappear for periods of time. It helps when they at least tell us in a blog post that they’ll be gone. And I really think disappearing hurts readership of a blog. Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

Yes, my school held a literary festival last year and a lot of authors visited. I got to listen to John Larkin, James Roy and J.C. Burke. I really like humour and anecdotes in presentations, usually that makes it more interesting. And this might sound a bit strange, but I like it better when the author moves around and looks at the audience more (if possible, of course); it was what James Roy and John Larkin did. When they're just standing still I kind of feel like I'm being 'lectured' to, but if they move around it somehow feels friendlier. Hope that makes sense.

Oh my gosh, I would so love if my daughter’s school would have a literary festival. That’s such a great way to get kids excited about books. Thanks so much Wendy for sharing your advice. And good luck with your book.

Today I’m giving away my ARC of CROSSED. See isn’t it a book you’re dying to read?

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

The hotly awaited second book in the dystopian Matched trilogy

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

This is an awesome sequel to MATCHED told from Cassia and Ky’s POV. I loved learning about the Outer Provinces as Cassia searches for Ky. And we get to meet new characters like Cassia’s travelling partner Indie who have their own hidden pasts and goals that drive them to face the dangers in the Outer Provinces. Both Cassia and Ky must confront hard inner decisions that raise the stakes and that I didn’t see coming. And of course we learn more about Xander.

So I’m giving away my ARC of CROSSED. All you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment on Wendy’s interview by midnight on October 29th. I’ll announce the winner on October 31st. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here’s what’s coming up the next few weeks. On Wednesday, there's going to be a guest post by someone who found her agent through Literary Rambles and has a book deal. She'll be sharing tips on agent hunting and the submission process. I don't want to miss it. Hope you'll come too.

Next Monday I’m interviewing debut author Stasia Ward Kehoe and giving away a copy of AUDITION. Then on October 31st, I’m interviewing another debut author Anna Staniszewski and giving away a copy of MY VERY UN FAIRY TAIL LIFE. On November 7th, I’ll be interviewing Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson and giving away a copy of THE FAMILIARS SECRETS OF THE CROWN.

Hope to see you next Monday!

PAY IT FORWARD BLOGFEST

2011-10-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

Today I’m participating in the PAY IT FORWARD BLOGFEST, organized by one of our followers, Matthew MacNish, at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment and Alex Cavanaugh They both have awesome blogs I recommend you follow. The point of the blogfest is to spotlight three blogs that you might not know about.

Here’s the blogs I love that you may not know about:

1. The Other Side of the Story. This is a fabulous blog about the craft of writing. Janice Hardy is the author of THE SHIFTER, BLUE FIRE, and DARKFALL. I just interviewed her on Monday and there’s a link at the top of the blog to read the interview and enter my contest to win an ARC of DARKFALL.

Janice blogs about the craft of writing. She analyzes every issue you could imagine about the craft and gives you detailed examples of pitfalls and how to fix them. I read her blog almost daily. Anyone I know who reads it loves it.

2. The O.W.L. Jill at The O.W.L. is one of our followers and is a 7th grade English teacher. She spotlights books for 9-12 year olds mainly through book reviews and author interviews. Sometimes these include giveaways. While she talks about some YA books, I love that she focuses on middle grade and she gets input from her students about which are good ones. I follow her blog regularly.

3. Book Dreaming. Shannon O’Donnell is a high school English teacher and middle grade author. On Mondays she talks about a middle grade book for the Marvelous Middle Grade series. Other days she’ll share an inspiring quote to keep us motivated, talk about books, or share about the craft of writing. Shannon is such a sweet person. I love her blog.

I could go on and on but will stop here. So I hope you’ll check out these blogs and please let us know in the comments about your own blog or someone else’s you really enjoy.

On Monday I’m interviewing another teenager who’s also an aspiring author for for my ASK THE EXPERT series and giving away an ARC I know you’ll want. And on October 24th, I’ll be interviewing debut author Stasia Ward Kehoe and giving away a copy of AUDITION. Then on October 31st, I’m interviewing another debut author Anna Staniszewski and giving away a copy of MY VERY UN FAIRY TAIL LIFE.

Here's the link to everyone else participating in the blogfest. I hope you'll visit some of them.

Hope to see you on Monday! Have a great weekend.

Agent Spotlight: Jessica Sinsheimer

2011-10-13T13:49:00.001-07:00

This week's Agent Spotlight features Jessica Sinsheimer of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “Jessica Sinsheimer has been reading and campaigning for her favorite queries since 2004. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she went east for Sarah Lawrence College and stayed for the opportunity to read soon-to-be books for a living.

“Now an Associate Agent at the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, she’s developed a reputation for fighting office members to see incoming manuscripts first—and for drinking far too much tea. Her most recent sale is RIPPER, a paranormal/historical YA novel, about a Victorian girl who takes down Jack the Ripper–and its sequel.

“Always on the lookout for new writers, she is most excited about finding literary, women’s, and Young Adult fiction, and—on the nonfiction side—psychology, parenting, self-help, cookbooks, memoirs, and works that speak to life in the twenty-first century.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“Sarah Jane Freymann has been a literary agent since the 1970s and is the founder and president of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, LLC.
The agency team includes associates Steven Schwartz, Katharine Sands, and Jessica Sinsheimer.

“The Agency has a strong commitment to serious self-help and spiritual books, with titles that have sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.S. and throughout Europe and Asia.

“At least five of the agency’s cookbook authors have won the prestigious Julia Child Award.

“The agency also has a strong affinity for narrative nonfiction, and represents world-renowned naturalists, award-winning journalists, and memoirists. We also represent books on lifestyle, illustration and design, many of which have become classics.

“In addition, we represent a growing number of literary, commercial and young adult-fiction titles.” (Link)

Web Presence:

Sarah Jane Freymann Agency website.

Twitter.

QueryTracker, AgentQuery.

What She's Looking For:

Genres/Specialties:

Literary, women’s, and young adult fiction, Non-fiction interests include psychology, parenting, self-help, cookbooks, memoirs, and “works that speak to life in the twenty-first century.” (Link)

From a Q&A (08/2011):

“Current wishlist: Thrillers (preferably with female protagonists). Historical fiction (especially with thriller/romance/paranormal elements). FOOD MEMOIRS. I always ask for them and never get them! In fact, anything with food as a central focus. Cookbooks. Pop psychology. Just read a book called The Price of Privilege. It's old, but I love it. It's got at least as much of my attention as the trashy fiction I'm reading for book club. Women's fiction--preferably (but not necessarily) upmarket. Popular fiction, Literary fiction.” (Link)

“I do rep middle grade! SEND ME YOUR MIDDLE GRADE.” (Link)

From an Interview (08/2009):

“I’ve loved literary fiction since a very young age, and I love when manuscripts come across my desk that make me sit up after a brilliant sentence and pause to savor the image—to think, Yes, this is why I love books.” (Link)

“I’m happy to see YA works of any subgenre. Young Adult can be more tender -more emotionally raw, and messy, and thus truer to life than works for adults.
That said, my personal preference is for YA that would be of interest to young women. We’re primarily looking for YA crossover—works that are multilayered so that they are interesting to adult readers as well. My favorite manuscripts include but also deal with larger concepts than shopping/romance/school issues: they examine the emotional nuances of this life stage, with writing that is beautiful but accessible to young adults.” (Link)

“I’d especially love to see women’s fiction, literary fiction, food memoirs, travel memoirs, Parenting, Psychology, and cookbooks. Naturally, many works are some combination of the above. I also have a lot of respect for writing of the Aimee Bender/Amy Hempel variety, but know this is hard to find in full-length form. If the writing was extraordinary, I’d consider anything—though violent works about alien wars would, admittedly, have an uphill battle.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Not actively looking for picture books. No screenplays.

Editorial Agent?

“I am VERY editorial. I love it! I love watching a book take shape. That said, would I turn down something because it was already perfect? No. As always, it's a balance of ‘how much work is this?’ vs. ‘how much do I love this?’” (Link)

Clients:

There are lists of agency clients and titles on the website.

Ms. Sinsheimer’s clients include: Jonathan Chesner, Melissa Goldstein, Gwen Hayes, Ariel Kaplan, Amy Carol Reeves, Rob Williams, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Sinsheimer is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 1 deal in the last 12 months and 3 overall. Recent deals include 1 young adult.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (preferred).

Snail-Mail: Yes.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Send a query letter including a summary of your work, bio, and contact information addressed to Ms. Sinsheimer to the agency e-mail address.

See the Sarah Jane Freymann Agency website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Query Tips:

“I love seeing the first 10 pages in the body of the email, just after the query.” (Link)

Response Times:

The agency’s stated response time is a few weeks. Stats on the web show Ms. Sinsheimer responding to queries usually within hours to a week and requested material within days to a few weeks with occasional outliers and no-responses.

What's the Buzz?

Sarah Jane Freymann Literary is a well respected agency. Jessica Sinsheimer has been with them since 2009, I believe, and has made a few sales since her promotion from assistant to associate agent. She’s very sweet and personable and her clients seem to love her.

I recommend following her on Twitter @jsinsheim. For tons of great info on her agenting style and interests, I recommend reading through this Q&A in the WriteOnCon forum (registration is easy and free).

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

WriteOnCon Q&A with Jessica Sinsheimer in the forum (08/2011).

Talk show recording featuring Jessica Sinsheimer at BlogTalkRadio (01/2011).

Agent Advice Interview with Jessica Sinsheimer at Guide to Literary Agents (08/2009).

Around the Web:

Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency thread on AbsoluteWrite.

Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency on P&E ($, Recommended).

Live Query Event transcript with Jessica Sinsheimer at WriteOnCon (08/2011).

Agent Appreciation Day post by client Gwen Hayes (12/2009).

Contact:

Please see the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 10/13/11.

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 10/13/11.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Tip Tuesday #109

2011-10-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Tip Tuesday is a weekly feature where writers send in tips for fellow writers. If you'd like to send in a tip, please e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

Today's super useful tip was sent in by a new blog reader, Elizabeth Pettie, who writes MG and YA. She blogs at Remember, A Writer Writes and tweets at @ElizabethPettie. Please give her a warm welcome by visiting and following!

Say no to Facebook

I was listening to an NPR podcast about willpower. According to the podcast, we've got a limited supply of willpower so it's better to avoid temptation. Don't fill your pantry with cookies if you don't want to eat them.

Writing on the computer tests my willpower. It's hard not to check e-mail, Facebook, or the news (well maybe just the gossip news). That's why I hired my nanny. The nanny is a google chrome extension that blocks sites during specified hours. (For firefox you can use leech block.) If I try to click on facebook between the hours of nine to five, my nanny sends me a message that says, "shouldn't you be working." And the Nanny's right. I should be working.

~Elizabeth Pettie