I'm an author, can I borrow some money?

OMG.

from Gawker:
"Hucksters are calling bookstores, pretending to be authors, and then hitting them up for money, reports the LA Times. For example, someone might impersonate an author that will be reading at the store in a few days, asking for cash to get his car out of the impound lot. Big-hearted bookstore employees have fallen for the scams a few times, but no more: "They draw you in, and later you just feel so foolish."

Wow. Who knew authors had such clout? I've definitely wondered about doing a drive-by (signing, that is) and saying, hey I'm the author, want me to sign your books? Because, of course, anybody could claim to be an author and sign a random book. Like, hey, I'm Margaret Wise Brown, can I sign Good Night Moon for you? But who would want to do that? People who wish they were Margaret Wise Brown? People longing for a little fame?

Just a Spoonful of Sugar...

I'm at a loss with my WIP. I'm about 40-50 pages from the end and I just don't know where this story is going. I'm STUCK, people, STUCK like gum on the pavement. Like bird poo on the hood of my car.

Rather than sit and stare at my computer any longer, I printed the book out last week and brought it on my vacation with me. I assumed the salty beach air would inspire me with all kinds of great ideas. But I didn't even READ it, because I was on vacation. I just left it in my bag.

So now another week has gone by and I need to come up with an incentive for myself to attack this thing. And my "sugar" is going to be a lovely spa pedicure. Pregnant women deserve pedicures, right? And it's a hands-free activity, so I can sit and read and edit and plan and scheme the entire time.

It's going to work! I know it! (And if it doesn't, please send me your ideas for getting unstuck. I am REALLY stuck!)

*caroline hickey

Also

Today is Free Cone Day!

Pet Peeve alert!

Okay, my biggest grammar pet peeve is when people use YOUR and YOU'RE incorrectly. But ITS and IT'S is also bothersome. Apparently it irks other people too. Check this out.

Thanks, Gawker!
Shame on you, Delia's!

Jennifer E. Smith Drops By

We are thrilled to have Jennifer visit and give us some insight about her awesome new book, THE COMEBACK SEASON. As a sports fan I was psyched to read this book the second I heard about it, but as Jennifer explains, it reaches far beyond sports fans.

As soon as people ask what my book is about, the word baseball eventually works its way into the conversation, and I get one of two reactions. The boys raise their eyebrows and look mildly more interested than they’d been just a moment before. And the girls usually wrinkle their noses and become quickly bored by the subject at hand.

I don’t mean to stereotype or generalize here. Of course there are boys who like books where people hold hands (on the cover, no less!), and of course there are girls who like books about sports. But it’s a tricky piece of territory, this middle ground between boy books and girl books, and the seesaw almost always seems to tip one way or the other when I try to explain to people what the book is about. It’s a love story set against the backdrop of Wrigley Field, I’ve found myself telling most girls, while the boys get a slightly different pitch: It‘s about two die-hard Cubs fans who meet on Opening Day.

But the truth is, it’s a little bit of both. It falls somewhere in between, as most things tend to do. In the book, Ryan loves the Cubs the way characters in other stories love writing or horses or painting. It’s something beyond simply being a fan, something beyond the game itself; it’s a way of believing, almost a kind of religion. It’s something everyone can understand, even those who don’t know the difference between a ball and a strike.

There are so many great books out there that come in the most surprising packages; stories of love disguised as adventures, tales of quiet heroism moonlighting as comedies. You don’t have to be a sports fan to like most books about sports. Just as you don’t have to like lawyers to appreciate Atticus Finch, and you don’t have to like witches to love Hermione Granger. Nothing is quite that simple, and most books about sports are usually about something much more; about hope and determination and struggle, about learning how to lose, and then moving forward just the same. And that’s something that everyone, girls and boys, athletes and couch potatoes, fans and hecklers alike can understand.

THE COMEBACK SEASON has been getting rave reviews. You can order a copy of it here or pick it up at your local indie.

**
daphne

Opportunity = Panic

That picture right there is not of my new writing room. (I forgot to take a picture of that.) That right there is a picture of my new living room. Or what will be my new living room in almost exactly two months. When I move. To London.

Just typing that makes my heart race and my lungs feel awfully inadequate to the job of getting oxygen up to my brain. Let me try it again. I'm moving. To London. Okay, now give me a minute while I sit with my head between my knees.

We're moving for my husband's job. I am going over on a spousal visa, so for the first time in my life I won't be under any pressure--internal or external--to find a job. Finding a job would be immensely complicated and require a lot of expensive paperwork.

Wait a minute, I hear you saying. Why the panic? You're going to have a room of your own and nothing to do. Isn't that every writer's dream?

Oh, yeah. Which means it's also the end of the excuses.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that I am the last Longstocking without a book contract. Or agent. I do, finally, have a decent draft, but it's only decent--not near good enough. My good news is that a couple of agents are happy to read revisions. Compared to my friends' prepping for school visits and working feverishly under deadlines for second and third books, that seems like pretty paltry good news.

For the last nine months, however, I've also had a job I love, teaching seventh-grade English and sixth-grade creative writing. It's difficult and frustrating and leaves no time or energy to write, but it's unbelievably rewarding. I can actually see the kids' writing improving and, in a few cases, their love of books growing. The past nine months have been a welcome relief from years of difficult, frustrating work that never seemed to lead to any kind of result.

So you can see why it might be understating things a bit to say that I have mixed feelings about this new development. On the one hand, I have really missed writing this year. I've had a lot of great ideas for fixing the manuscript that's not ready yet, and more than a few ideas for new novels. My students have taught me more than I could have imagined about what makes for a book kids want to read, and I'm really excited to put that into practice. And I am dead certain that, while I will miss the kids and I will miss sharing what I love, I will not miss spending my weekends grading (or feeling guilty about not grading).

But on the other hand. Before I got this job, I spent a lot of time beating myself up. I never knew what to tell people when they asked what I did for a living--most of the time I was a secretary, which of course had nothing to do with anything. I've been getting positive feedback on this manuscript since the first time I turned it in to workshop, way back in 2004, but that encouragement has not yet turned into any kind of professional success. I don't want to go back to feeling so bad about that.

I know, intellectually, that publishing is a tricky business and it just takes forever sometimes. But even though I'm looking forward to getting back to work, I'm scared to death that I'll have everything I could possibly need and it still won't work out. What if I get distracted by museums and gardening and volunteer work, and don't leave myself enough time to write? What if I leave myself so much time to write that I never get around to actually doing it? What if I set up the perfect schedule and the rewrite goes swimmingly, and the book still isn't good enough? And how do I keep from getting so frustrated by the lack of visible progress that I run right out and get another job, expensive paperwork and all, just to have something to talk about at parties?

This is not just borrowing trouble--these are honest questions, based on what I've experienced before. Anyone out there have any good answers, from what you've experienced?

--Kathryne

Addendum--Unknowingly appropriate advice from the "letter to youself at 25" assignment of one of my 7th-graders: I hope I don't forget that although sometimes things can seem so bad and like problems will never be resolved, they will.". How'd a twelve-year-old get to be so wise???

OMG I AM SO JEALOUS OF CYNTHIA LORD

Cynthia Lord just got herself a spiffy new place to write. See a picture on this blog post.

I am green with envy!

Though, I think the writing cottage of my dreams would be a tad more modern. Like maybe, this Airstream trailer from Design Within Reach, filled to the brim with modern accouterments like a Tom Dixon coatrack and a Nelson ball clock. Aaaaand, it's only $49, 066!


What's your dream writing space?


-=siobhan=-

ps. who is currently NOT living the dream, not even close, at her kitchen table.

Deadlines Suck

Forecast outside my apartment:


Forecast inside my apartment:
Cloudy (I have the shades pulled down so I can see my monitor)
Narrative visibility: 0%
Pressure: 100%
Wind(ed dialog chunks): 70 mph from the west
Chance that I'll be able to write three more chapters before I hand in pages to my writing group tonight: pitiful.

It's the perfect day vs. the perfect storm. *sigh*

-=siobhan=-

Reading Outside the Box

I'm a creature of habit in pretty much all aspects of my life, particularly when it comes to books. I tend to enjoy the same kind of book and only seek out that type of book. My ideal book is contemporary, realistic YA or tween (there may be a more professional term for that that I don't know, but you know what I mean). Authors like Sonya Sones, E Lockhart and Sarah Zarr crowd my shelves, alongside old school favorites Beverly Cleary, Paula Danziger and of course, Judy Blume.

But every once in a while I get crazy and read outside my chosen comfort zone. Recently I did this with Mary Pearson's latest, THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX. Boy was I rewarded in that venture! I loved the story and read it in one sitting because I couldn't bear to put it down not knowing how it all turned out and what was really going on. And last year I did it with Cassandra Clare's CITY OF BONES. Once again I was richly rewarded with a super satisfying read. Only this time I was left hanging a little because CITY OF BONES is book one in a triology. And today is the day I finally get to learn more because I just picked up my copy of CITY OF ASHES- yay!

So what do you read when you step out of the box?

**
daphne

What will she do next?

From today's Publishers Marketplace Deal Listing:

"Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus's book about growing up in Tennessee and then Los Angeles, and her parents' role in her success, to Hyperion Children's, for publication in spring 2009 to tie-in with her movie.

All I know is that the kids at my school LOVE Miley/Hannah! They're going to be very excited for this...

xoxo
Lisa GW

Notes from the slush pile: Unfortunate abbreviations

I just got a letter addressed to "Lisa Graff, Ass. Editor."

Go Percy Go!

Ever since Ms. Hunt's unit on Greek mythology in seventh grade, I have been a huge Greek myth girl. Greek myths are romantic and gory and terrible and soooo life and death. I'm a total D'aulaire groupie. Percy Jackson is awesome, maybe even awesomer than Harry Potter. Wait, is that blasphemy?! Okay, Percy and Harry are equally amazing.

So when I was given the opportunity to contribute to a book of essays about Percy Jackson (of Lightning Thief fame) I jumped. It was harder than I thought, but it was such a treat. My essay is called Eeny Meeny Miney Mo(m). If you could pick any Greek god or goddess to be your parent, who would you choose? I wrote up a little guide on how I made my decision. To find out who I picked, you're gonna have to read it! There are a ton of other great essays in the book, called DEMIGODS AND MONSTERS, and Rick Riordan himself edited it! Pretty groovy. You can pick up your very own copy at Borders! And also, duh, but the fourth book in the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth comes out May 6th! Celebrate with some ambrosia.

For more info, check it.

xoxo Jenny

Bad Bad BUSH - Reading IS Fundamental!

I saw this posted on the lovely blog of the even lovelier Adrienne Maria Vrettos.

George W Bush wants to cut funding to RIF, which has been providing underserved kids with books since 1966.

Umm...really? I mean, really truly?

*grumble*

Please help stop him by clicking below - just enter your zip code and easily email the president and your senators and representatives to voice your support of RIF.

http://www.rif.org/get-involved/advocate/what/

-=siobhan=-

Reader Girlz TBD

I wanted to drop my book in a really creative place but I had limited time to do it, so my kids and I dropped it at the high school near our apartment in upper Manhattan. One of our neighbors goes there and said she'd look out for it to be sure it got into someone's hands. It's kind of fun to think of it out in the world now!

Where did you drop yours?

**
daphne

green-eyed monster alert!

Jennifer Weiner, author of Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, is being brought on board to ABC to develop a woman-centered TV show. Here's the scoop from buzzsugar.com:

"ABC already has many shows geared toward females like Grey's Anatomy, Samantha Who? and Desperate Housewives, and I give them kudos for thinking outside the box in their search for the next hit series. Handing over the reins to a known name like Weiner — an author who has built a career creating memorable (and often hysterically funny) characters — seems like a win for them, and for audiences (like me) who love to see a little bit of themselves in the female characters on TV. An ABC representative said of Weiner's fans: "They respond to her wry wit, embrace her smart characters and want to live in the worlds she creates."

I'm so jealous! Talk about my dream come true! I would love to do the same thing, except make it teen-centered. We need more good teen-centered stuff! Rob Thomas, formerly a YA author, managed to pull it off with Veronica Mars--GOOD teen-centered show. We need more of that! Somebody give me a TV show!

Congrats, Jennifer Weiner!

Loving Lois Lowry

I remember falling in love with Lois Lowry when reading her Anastasia Krupnik books in elementary school. Many years and two Newbery Medals later (for The Giver and Number the Stars), I finally got to meet her!!

To promote her new book The Willoughbys, Ms. Lowry did an appearance this morning at my favorite local bookstore, Politics and Prose. Four local schools were in attendance, as well as the random public. Here are few highlights from her talk and reading:

*She's a great reader! You can tell she's done a million readings, because even though she hopped around to a few different passages, and introduced us to the characters beforehand, it was very smooth and fluid and extremely entertaining. She reads with a spirited voice, not the breathy, laden-with-dramatic-pauses voice that some authors employ to make their book sound literary.

*She loves kids! She has four of her own and was genuinely excited to answer the many questions the school kids had for her.

*She's a regular writer like us! Despite having written 35 books, she still seemed to enjoy being a writer. When one kid asked her favorite thing about being an author, she said it was spending time making up stories and getting emails from kids. She also went on to add that her least favorite thing is having to work all alone all the time, and that if anyone doesn't like being alone, they shouldn't become a writer. True that, people. It's a lot of lonely work time.

Did I get a signed copy of her new book? You bet!! And the DC Kidlit Book Club is reading it for our June meeting (if you're in the area and would like to join us, please feel free!).

Long live Lois.

*caroline hickey

Publicity Resources

In June I am going to be on a panel at a conference and we are presenting on publicity for first time authors. This is obviously a huge topic and brings up a lot of interesting issues. Like I read a suggestion from an author who friends teens on MySpace. On the one hand that is what you do on MySpace, friend people, but on the other hand, there's something about an adult friending a teen with a bit of an agenda. Not that encouraging people to buy books is a bad agenda, but there's something about it that feels a little funny to me. That's one I'm not sure about.

But aside from considering ethical issues, we also have some practical concerns. One thing we'd like to offer is a list of books and websites that give good publicity ideas. Anyone have any suggestions?

**
daphne

You all know I love Anne Lamott

Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly. -Anne Lamott


SO TRUE!

Okay, now back to my revision!

xo
Lisa GW

I cannot wait to read this book!

I was so excited to read the following STARRED review in today's PW Children's Bookshelf:

In a novel as tender as his acclaimed Olive's Ocean, Henkes probes the psyches of two boys facing family conflicts. Spending long, lonely days at his grandparents' lakeside home, 12-year-old Mitch Sinclair has plenty of time to brood about his parents' impending divorce and to plot against the family of "intruders" who have moved into his favorite spot, the house next door that he assumed was abandoned. What Mitch can't know is that the newcomers have been shaken by tragedy, the drowning of a child in the lake eight years ago, and their stay is destined to be short-lived. Mitch becomes friends with 10-year-old Spencer Stone, the elder of the surviving children, and as trust builds between them, the boys risk exchanging their family secrets. Tranquil Bird Lake serves as an effective setting for this reflective novel, with Henkes alternating between Mitch's and Spencer's points of view. The most remarkable aspect of the book may be the author's ability to isolate the sources of the boys' shared sense of loss and then to express, via easily recognizable and even ordinary experiences, their growing acceptance of what cannot be changed. Ages 10-14. (May)


I LOVE YOU, Kevin Henkes!

xoxo
Lisa GW

Getting Those Visits

For the last year and eight months, whenever my book came up in a conversation I’d always say something like, “yeah, it’ll be out in June 2008, it’s a really long time.” But when I said it just the other day I realized something: it’s actually not that long. In fact, it’s kind of coming soon! Which is totally thrilling and totally strange. Even though I’ve been getting some rather lovely internet reviews, I still kind of can’t believe that other people are reading this story that lived in my head for so long.

I could sit back and enjoy this moment but that’s not really me- my motto in life seems to be ‘find something to worry about.’ And I can always find a lot, particularly when it comes to this book, which kind of feels like a baby I’m sending off into the world. And like all parents, I want it to succeed and be happy (happiness in this case means lots of copies in the hands of readers). Every day I come up with a new thing to stress about and today’s worry is that I don’t have enough school visits set up (it was partly inspired by Caroline's great post about how to prepare for school visits- I'm glad I have that to refer to on the day that my worry is what to do at a school visit!). I’ve connected with my connections: my old school, schools where friends work, etc. But now I’m wondering how to attempt to set something up at schools where I don’t have connections. So for those of you who’ve done this: what do you do? Send an email to the school librarian? Call up an English teacher? Send out a brochure? Any and all advice appreciated!

**
daphne

Just Listen (and Watch) Sarah Dessen

On the Barnes & Noble Meet the Writers video podcast, Sarah Dessen speaks about her writing insecurities, why she writes for teens, and how being a new mother will likely affect her writing!




Don't you just love her? She's such a nice person, so down-to-earth! Sarah also keeps a great blog that she updates just about every day. If you don't already read it -- where have you been??? -- you can check it out here.

Sarah's new book LOCK AND KEY will be officially released later this month!

:-)

~Coe~

QoD: Preparing for your first big presentation

The Ask-the-Longstockings emailbox received this cry for help from a fellow YA author (name withheld to protect the innocent):

"I'm kind of a chicken and have terrible stage fright...but the junior high in my hometown recently asked me to do an event. I agreed, thinking I'd be talking to a small group in a classroom, but all of a sudden, they now want me to do a presentation in front of THE WHOLE SCHOOL, and they suggested using Power Point...Also, they asked what my fee is, and I have no idea what a ballpark figure would even be. Any advice?

We've all been there. The first presentation is always the hardest (well, the first three or four really), because you don't know what you're doing, how to manage your audience, or how to reinvent yourself as a SPEAKER, not an author. Because authoring and speaker-ing don't automatically go hand in hand. Just because we can write books and discuss them lucidly among good friends doesn't mean we're all excellent presenters! Here are some tips for survival:

1. Definitely use a PowerPoint presentation. Even if you're a great off-the-cuff speaker, the sight of 200 adolescents is intimidating, and they can smell fear. Having an organized, orderly set of slides to take you from the beginning to the end of your presentation will be a lifesaver. Even if you are LOUSY at PowerPoint, and all of your slides just have two bullet points on them, it still provides a visual for your audience, makes you appear polished and prepared, and keeps you from blanking out and staring at the audience.

2. Ask the event planner if there's something specific they want you to discuss. Often times authors are stumped about what the heck to say. ASK THE SCHOOL. They may want you to talk about how you published your first book, what your writing process is, or even do a writing exercise with the students. If you tailor your content to their wishes, it saves you the wondering and makes them feel they're getting their money's worth.

3. Make a timeline for yourself. If you know you have 45 minutes to speak, and you prepare 20 slides which take you 30 minutes to present (you'll know because you'll practice), that leaves you 15 minutes for Q&A. This is a perfect schedule. You can squeeze in a five-minute reading if you shorten your presentation. Don't shorten the Q&A -- I've found that I've run out of time for questions at every single school I've visited.

4. Practice. So obvious. But practice giving your presentation several times before you go. Know how to transition between slides so you don't go ummm and hmmm. And, mostly importantly, practice the very short introductory speech you'll give when you first stand up before you start the slides! This is when you are most nervous and likely to forget to mention your name and your book's title.

5. Hey, they invited you! When you feel really nervous, remember that you didn't force yourself on the audience: the school invited you because you're an author and they're interested in hearing what you have to say. And, most likely, you'll be the person in the room who knows the most about writing a novel and therefore everyone will want to enjoy your talk and learn from you.

6. Lighten up and have fun. Don't forget to enjoy yourself. Once you get comfortable presenting, you'll realize how much fun it is to talk to a group of young readers about your two favorite things: books and writing! It's a wonderful thing to be able to share your passion with others, and remember to try and appreciate the opportunity you have to do it, even through all the nerves.

As for fees, there is no easy answer for that. It really depends on what part of the country you are in, how may books you have published, how much money the school has, etc. I would suggest an amount you feel comfortable with, and be open to negotiating. I will usually accept a lower fee if the school sells the book as well (sending home forms before my visit so I can sign the books when I'm there). However, if a school doesn't sell the book, I'm more likely to stick to my fee. Visits take an enormous amount of energy and preparation, which is time spent away from your writing.

I hope this is helpful!

*caroline hickey

Books by fictional Characters?

What do we think of this?

I wonder if it's really so different than a writer using a pseudonym. Let's discuss.

Love books? Wear 'em!

This is pretty random, but I saw the picture and I'm tempted to make these to wear to school visits, even though there are about 300 steps in the process. (Usually these how-to's are a little easier.) I might even shrink down my CASSIE and ISABELLE cover jpgs and make myself a pair for each book.

Learn how to make your own book earrings!


*caroline hickey

Readergirlz Rock

I think if you’re into YA, you’re a fan of the Readergirlz. No one covers a book quite like the Divas- I mean really, who else gets the scoop on whether an author is a high heels or Uggs girl- and their interactive discussions rock.

But cool as their book coverage is, their efforts to reach out into the community are even cooler. Their latest project is one I’m particularly excited to get behind. If you haven’t heard about it, here’s the scoop:

Teen patients in pediatric hospitals across the United States and Canada will receive 10,000 young adult novels, audiobooks, and graphic novels Thursday as Readergirlz and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) celebrate the second annual Support Teen Lit Day on April 17. Not only are YALSA and readergirlz donating thousands of publisher-donated young-adult books to teen patients across the U.S. and in Canada, they’re also encouraging all teens and YA authors to leave a book in a public place on April 17, in celebration of Support Teen Lit Day. There will be a big celebration later that night at the “TBD Post-Op Party” hosted at the readergirlz MySpace forum (April 17th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Pacific, http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz).

How awesome is that?? I have my ARC ready to drop and I am not the only Longstocking leaving a book in the NYC area. So spread the word, and on April 17 drop a book (yours or one you choose to donate) and then head over to the party!

***
daphne

I'm a Vicky Girl

Kathryne and I love our Madeleine L’Engle, and last week she sent me this awesome review from Jezebel of one of my very favorite L’Engles. The whole review is great but it was this that really caught my attention:

Don't buy into the party of unity: When it's comes to Madeleine L'Engle, you're either a Meg, Polly, or Vicky girl. (NO ONE is Camilla. And whatever, Maggies — you're deliberately being provoking.) For those of you rusty on the trois dames of L'Engle's works, Meg is, OF COURSE, Meg Murray, of A Wrinkle in Time fame, while Polly (Polyhymnia) is her red-headed daughter of the excellent Dragons in the Waters action. Vicky is Vicky Austin, of Meet the Austins, two kinds of awkward, three kinds of innocent, and strangely appealing for a fourteen-year-old given to frequent bouts of vigorous prayer.

I am so totally a Vicky girl and I have been since I first picked up A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT. (Yeah, I unknowingly read the books out of order which is a shame because it kind of spoiled THE MOON BY NIGHT). Not only did I totally identify with Vicky’s day dreamy ways and tendancy to ponder big questions yet also obsess endlessly about guys, I loved her family and most of all, I loved her guy. To this day Adam Eddington makes me swoon. He’s street smart, book smart, and has a heartwrenching past (his story ARM OF THE STARFISH is one of my all time favorite L’Engles). Plus he has those dreamy grey eyes…

So other L’Engle fans out there- what kind of girl are you? And you can check out the rest of the review at Jezebel.

***
daphne

Stephanie Meyer's Rules for the Road

Stephanie Meyer's newest novel, and her first for adults, THE HOST, hits the shelves this May. SM is going on a book tour to promote, and while I'm sure she'll get lots of adult fans, I sorta have to figure that a lot of the crowd will be teen SQUEEers of the Twilight Saga.

It's hard to imagine how life on the road must be for someone as popular as SM. I mean, a girl like me can dream! But, from the event guidelines posted on Stephanie Meyer's website, I kind of got the hint that YA fandom pandemonium wasn't going to be exactly welcomed. Which, while understandable...sort of sucks, too. I mean, who doesn't love a little lit pandemonium? But thems are the breaks when you are a lit goddess.

Here are a few choice selections...

Stephenie will only personalize copies of The Host (personalize means puts your name in the book, i.e. "To Sarah").

Wow. Could you imagine having to lay a precedent like that down on your teen fans? That said, I am sure many would bring all of their Twilight series and that's a TON of "To Sarah"s for any Sharpie marker.

She will only autograph 2 books in the Twilight Saga per customer (except for the Mall of America event where she is only signing The Host).

Same thing here. Some fans will get a little bit of a bone with a John Hancock, but not too much personal attention. And at the biggest, craziest event of them all, nothing but The Host will be signed. I'm imagining SM up at the table with a Secret Service-esque force eyeing the crowd for bloody feathers and delicious apples and whispering into well-disguised ear pieces. Meh. That has to suck for everyone, SM included.

Stephenie will only sign books — no posters, t-shirts, etc.

I get this...but also...if anyone waited for 8 hours to see me, and wanted me to sign their grandmother's forehead, I'd find it hard not to oblige. Then again, that's not even close to happening for me, so who am I to challenge . In fact, I'm so ecstatic about the girlies who come out to my events, I shower them in soooo much squee it's borderline creepy. Seeing, meeting, chatting about random things with fans is one of the coolest perks of being an author, and it's sad that event size sometimes makes it impossible for both author and reader.

You may take pictures during the presentation, but no photos are allowed during the autographing.

This makes definite sense. I bet SM wouldn't be able to see for days with all those crazy flashbulbs...not to mention the dreaded triple flash Red Eye Reduction.

Basically, the point of this post is to shed a little light on the challenges an uber-popular writer like SM faces in the real world.

I can't imagine she's happy about any of these rules and regulations. I'm sure she'd love to spend real quality time with each and every person who has responded to her lovely books. The up-side is that she will surely do another book tour for Breaking Dawn. Fear not, fans! Wounded hearts will be assuaged!

That said, some big deal writers make a huge effort to do whatever for their fans, whatever the audience. Meg Cabot comes to mind. A friend of mine went to see her at a recent event in Minneapolis, and I was told she signed whatever, took pics, and was all around sweet as sugar for about 200 folks - young and old.

What do you think of all this? Would you love or leave the mega fame if it meant abbreviated face-time with your fans? Any fun stories about meeting an idol? And would you sign a grandma's forehead regardless?

-=siobhan=-

**edited to clarify...this post is by no means a critique on SM...or any author! i mean more to highlight all the work and craziness that goes into these events, and to examine how popularity inherently changes your author/reader relationship.

On Blurbs

This may surprise those who've read anything I've ever written-- but I am a pretty big fan of Stephen King. I say that because I have never written horror and probably never will, I don't think I'd be very good at it. But Stephen, well, he's the master. And he's not just good at writing scary stories, he's just good at writing. I haven't written everything the man has written, (he's a pretty prolific guy, after all) but I love Firestarter, and The Stand, and The Shining, It, The Green Mile, Stand by Me. I really really love his book, On Writing, which is on writing. It's part memoir, part toolbox. Anyway, he's a smart guy and he writes a great column for Entertainment Weekly. This week, he talks about blurbs. Ahh, blurbs.

Here is a tidbit:
A fairly cynical writer acquaintance of mine, who has blurbed his fair share of novels both good and bad, says he has a hard-and-fast rule: ''Never blurb a book you've read and never read a book you've blurbed.'' One can hope he was joking, because the blurb has its place. Just not a very honorable one.

He goes on to say,
The downside, even when the praise is honest, is that consumers aren't stupid, and they've grown increasingly cynical about the dubious art of the blurb. After you've been tricked into paying for a couple of really bad movies because of one, you realize the difference between real praise and a plain old con job. Every good blurb of bad work numbs the consumer's confidence and trust.

Blurbing is a tricky thing. As a writer just starting out, it can mean so much-- to the book and to the author, especially. Meg Cabot, along with other amazing writers like Sarah Dessen and Betsy Byars and Gigi Amateau, blurbed my book, and I'll always be grateful for that. It's a really generous, really selfless thing when a successful writer recommends your book-- there's nothing really in it for them, it's just a nice thing, an act of kindness, really. I know some writers who have a no blurbs policy-- partly because they don't want to have to say no if they don't like the book in question, and partly because they don't want to write a lukewarm or fake blurb that pretty much saps away their credibility. As a writer, your word is, literally, worth its weight in gold-- or copper, or nickel, or whatever. You want to feel really passionate about whatever it is you're putting your name on. If I ever got to the position of being asked for all these blurbs, I'm not sure what my policy would be. On the one hand, you totally want to pay it forward and do for others what has been done for you, and on the other hand, you don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, just in case. Which is, of course, why people have a blanket policy-- but with that, there doesn't leave any room for gems, books you fall in love with and want to shout about from the rooftops.

And the other question is, do blurbs really mean anything? Do they help sell books, more so than reviews? I have definitely seen a blurb from a writer I respect and then bought the book. It feels kind of like an old friend saying, Here, check out this book, I think you'll love it. That's how I discovered my most favorite book I Capture the Castle. I was in my college bookstore and I saw this totally plain book with a wallpapery cover, on the Staff Picks shelf. (see? a blurb from a perfect stranger, a bookseller, but still a stranger!) The cover read, "This book has one of the most charismatic characters I've ever met."-- J.K. Rowling. Now that is what I call a damn good blurb! That blurb is gold. How many other books have you seen J.K. Rowling blurb? I haven't seen not a one. I thought to myself, well, I love her and if she says it's good, it must be. And it was. It totally was. Because when a writer, like, touches your soul, you feel like you can trust them. Right? That's how I feel anyway. All I can say is, Dodie Smith is damn lucky. She's also deceased. So, her publisher and her family are damn lucky. I take that back, she's not lucky, she's deserving. That's exactly how I'd like to think of blurbed books: deserving.

XOXO
Jenny