I’d like to introduce you to the fabulous Shelly Crane, author of the Significance Series. Defiance,  Book 3 in the Significance Series just released.  Here’s the pretty cover and the scoop:

In the third installment of the Significance series, we begin with Maggie and Caleb in the clutches of a new enemy; the Virtuoso council. Not only do they have to deal with the consequences of taking the lives of the Watsons and the Council attempting to take Maggie away to keep their precious Visionary safe, but they must deal with Marla as well. All are determined to undermine, control and use Caleb and Maggie’s rare gifts for their own uses, some wish to destroy them entirely. Then Maggie’s father and Bish are threatened but the council forbids the presence of humans. Peter and the family fight and stand beside them every step of the way to save Maggie’s father, to keep Caleb and Maggie together when the corrupted council is so set on keeping them apart and to stop Marla and whatever she has up her sleeve. Then Maggie has the shock of her life when she discovers something about her real father. It may change everything for everyone. Stay tuned as the story continues.

1. How did you come up with the story line behind your books?
Dreams, random things people say, basically anything. My mind doesn’t really stop running, day or night. I have a bazillion book ideas in my notebook right now.

2. Are you planning to keep going and going, going?
Absolutely!! I feel incredibly blessed to be able to do what I’m doing.

3. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A police officer…..go figure that one out.

4. Who’s your favorite author and\or favorite book and why?
I LOVE Rachel Higginson…. M. Leighton…. Richelle Mead…. & Kelly Armstrong. Those are just some of my favorites. The list for fantastic authors that I’ve read could go on for miles!

5. Do you have a cast in mind if your book were ever to become a movie?
I kind of do… And there is a huge cast list on my Facebook page from fans.

6. What is something you wished you’d done differently when publishing your first book?
Well, I wish I’d done more research on the whole process. And editing.

7. What is something awesome that we can look forward to in future books?
This year I’m rounding out and finishing all the series I’ve started, so next year will be completely all new series. I can’t wait!

8. Any lessons learned or advice to new authors?
Edit, edit, edit. And then edit again And always remember that your fans are awesome and deserve your time and effort to answer them. Also, it’s a job and you can’t just sit back and think that your book is going to sell itself.

9. What’s your absolute favorite thing about be an author?
I get to write what I want to read! That’s the very reason I began to write my very first book.

10. List 5 random things about yourself.
- Don’t watch much TV except Vampire Diaries, Secret Circle and Switched at Birth. The rest of the time, I’m writing.
– I have a strange love for fried squash and fried green tomatoes.
– I think Ryan Reynolds is…fantastical and delish.
– My favorite book boy crush is without a doubt Callum from Fisher Amelie’s – Callum & Harper.
– I’ve been stung by a jellyfish, stabbed by a catfish, pinched by a crab, stepped on a 4 prong hook, hooked in the belly by my brother, sliced by a clam shell, and chased by dolphins (Who I thought were sharks) all before the age of 7. The ocean is not my friend.

How cool is that?

Check out Shelly’s other books, too:

Devour

Collide

Saving Grace

You can Visit Her at:  http://shellycrane.blogspot.com/

And for fun, she interviewed me with the same questions, too!

Check it out at:

http://shellycrane.blogspot.com/2012/03/little-chat-with-kailin-gow.html

http://ebookstore.co/tag/amanda-hocking-vampire-ebooks

Another successful writer, Darcie Chan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204770404577082303350815824.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

November 9th – Greg Fishbone

November 16th – Jane Sutton

November 23rd – Thanksgiving Vacation – no interviews that week

November 30th – Carol Ekster

Lily & Co Publishing is proud to have THE STORY EMPORIUM bookstore / author & illustrator studio as part of our family. Any inquiries about THE STORY EMPORIUM should be directed to lilyandco@aol.com.

Our Grand Opening will be Saturday November 5th from 10-2!

Lily

Image via CrunchBase

Lily & Co. Publishing is proud to announce the opening of a working studio where children’s author and illustrator Erin T.Whalen will work on her latest book and illustrations. The hours of operation and description of studio can be viewed here

Every Wednesday The Story Emporium will interview a published author and/or illustrator which will be filmed and put on local television (times to be announced) as well as You Tube (station to be announced) and the website http://www.TheStoryEmporium.org (that has yet to launch).

The studio is still under construction but we have an expected opening date of September 28th!

Schools, parents, children and passer bys are all welcome to come in and watch the interviews, purchase children’s illustration and signed children’s books or just watch a book being illustrated in real time!

Beautiful Beings releases on Kindle on July 18

Releases in Paperback on July 25

Official Trailer:

Here’s the Description:

An ethereal exclusive boarding school with unearthly beautiful students…

Lux, a rebel girl, who has been seeing demons and angels since she was two…

Asher, the bad boy on a motorcycle who sketches angels…

Brax Kingsley who instantly captures Lux’s eyes when she moves into the neighborhood…

And the Hatchett twins whose parents were murdered, leaving them a ridiculous fortune…

All brought together…all part of the puzzle behind the Beautiful Beings.

Contest!

Sign Up and Like the Facebook Page of Beautiful Beings at:

http://www.facebook.com/BeautifulBeingsSeries

At 6:30 pm PST, Monday, there will be a drawing from the fans on that page to win one of these prizes and a surprise prize. The announcement will be made on that Page, but the contest will be hosted on Twitter – @kailingow:

A Crystal Angel Wing Necklace

Or A Signed ARC of Beautiful Beings

I’m really excited to bring you Summer Wishes (Desire #1.5) as a DESIRE novella this summer.  If you like Dystopian and YA, you will like Summer Wishes. Where DESIRE tells the story of the perfect utopian society in the year 3010 through Kama Johnson’s eyes, Summer Wishes shows you the cracks in this society in one of the most shocking ways.

On JUNE 30th, Summer Wishes will be released

as an exclusive ebook on Amazon Kindle.

Get this, for the first 3 days, Summer Wishes will be FREE on Amazon, so get it and get it quick before you forget.

It’s my GIFT to you for the Summer for being well, you, my loyal readers and friends.  If you have any doubts how much I love my readers, know that I will not charge an ebook above $9.99 no matter how much marketing dollars and how much time and effort I put into writing the book.  At the same time, because there is significant marketing and because I have to pay a staff who help me with graphics, editing, production, etc., these books will be priced a little over .99 which would be reasonable.  Anyways, read… 5 REASONS WHY to find out how I am committed to this.  So…this will be a blog for another day.

I want to pass along a statement from theEDGEbooks.com about KIRKUS REVIEWS.  I’m proud to be one of the first authors to be reviewed by an actual independent Kirkus reviewer in their KIRKUS REVIEWS Indie program, which provides the fastest professional review service for publishers and authors.

Here is what my publisher, theEDGEbooks.com have to say about KIRKUS REVIEWS Indie:  http://www.theEDGEbooks.com

Reprinted here:

TheEDGEbooks is proud to obtain a review from KIRKUS REVIEWS of DESIRE through their new KIRKUS INDIE Reviews program. Rather than having to wait to receive a review from Kirkus, through this program, a review from Kirkus can be possible within weeks. It is a program theEDGEbooks is proud to be an early adopter of and feels KIRKUS Reviews is providing a valuable service to Indie authors, publishers, and those otherwise would not have a chance to be reviewed prompty by this publication.  TheEDGEbooks.com strides itself on being at the forefront of new publishing services and change.  In this service, any publisher and author can elect to publish or not publish the review on Kirkus and can use their reviews in any way to market their books.  Due to branding decisions, theEDGEbooks.com chose to not have Kirkus publish this review in their indie section, hence it will not be found on Kirkus. However, an actual Kirkus reviewer wrote that DESIRE is:

“The first book in a fantasy romance series featuring a heroine who must choose between two very different men and two very different destinies.”

The rest contains a bit of a spoiler in a book full of surprising twists and turns so pick up DESIRE to learn for yourself what it’s about.  And then Summer Wishes (Desire #1.5) will really put the “D” in Dystopian for you.

Summer Wishes releases June 30, 2011.

Green goes on to emphasize the significant role school, children’s, and young adult librarians play, and will continue to play, in the selection of materials for library collections. He states, “I believe that school and children’s librarians will have a great deal of say in the shape of that change—more say, in fact, than anyone else: your choices will guide us as publishers stumble, as bookstores struggle, as the reading public becomes too bewildered to know what they want, and as authors—like always—do whatever you tell us to do.” The choices made in selecting library materials will reflect the future of reading and the survival of reading materials in an expanded definition of reading and evolution of self-published authors. Green highlights, ”[h]ow you choose to build your collection, whom you buy from, and how you discover the works you want to share with your patrons will shape what [children and young adults]—whether or not they ever visit libraries—will read and how they will read it.” Thus, librarians share a united responsibility to represent a wide array of reading possibilities for young readers. These collection building choices should not reflect one narrow material selection from a publishing house, genre, or format.

Green profoundly states, “[c]hildren’s and school libraries serve, in the best sense of the word, as gatekeepers. You don’t collect only the books your kids already like; you also try to bring them to the best books.” As gatekeepers of reading resources and materials, librarians strive to produce an array of reading possibilities for their young audience. Green creates in my mind an image of SUPER children’s librarian, ready to deliver an assortment of reading choices to the neighbourhood children (kind of like a Santa Claus of book land) everyday of the year.  I especially enjoy Green’s analogy of librarians as bakers and library books as doughnuts. He notably suggests, ”[a]dult librarians are like lazy bakers: their patrons want a jelly doughnut, so they give them a jelly doughnut. Children’s librarians are ambitious bakers: You like the jelly doughnut? I’ll get you a jelly doughnut. But you should try my cruller, too. My cruller is gonna blow your mind, kid.” This humorous analogy speaks to me. Children’s librarians can create a palette of reading choices for emergent and young readers to choose from to develop their reading tastes. Because young readers want a variety of reading options it is in the best interest of the library collection to build off the analogy of jelly doughnuts and crullers–and offer boston cream, old fashion dip, and apple fritters, too–to reach out to all readers and maintain a strong library readership because not all readers are initially attracted to the jelly doughnut.

We should always keep in mind a commitment to an expanded definition of reading. As Stephen Abram claims in his article “P-Books vs. E-Books,” ”[f]or the first time in my professional life [...] I see an excitement at the nexus between learning and libraries too. [...] It’s a great time to be a librarian participating in the creation of new plateaus for reading, books, education, culture, entertainment, enjoyment, and more. And it’s going to get more exciting, not less, in the coming years.” If all of this is true, why do we need to decide P-Book vs. E-Book? We need both formats available in our collections to satisfy a growing library readership.

Green underscores that it is a librarian’s “job [...] to find the best way, in a world of rapidly shifting formats and distribution, to get the best word sequences in front of kids.” In my opinion, in order to do this, librarians must select a variety of  titles subject matters, genres, and formats from both leading authors and publishers to self-published first-time authors, from graphic novellas to early readers, and from paperback to eBooks circulation, in order to create a unique palette that serves to develop emergent reading tastes.

Abram, Stephen. 2010. “P-Book vs. E-Books: Are There Education Issues?” Multimedia & Internet@Schools 17(6): 13-16. Available online via Western Libraries from EBSCOhost.

Green, John. 2010. “The Future of Reading.” School Library Journal 56(1): 24. Available online via Western Libraries from EBSCOhost.

Lily

Image via Wikipedia

Ok, big news here. My Mom came to visit me yesterday and gave me some news that nearly knocked my slippers off! She bought an e-reader. The woman who doesn’t venture close to technology did the unthinkable. She is reading a tablet! This is a sure sign to me that e-books are officially here to stay so publishers, lets get comfortable with them and take advantage of their inexpensive publishing venues. We, as publishers, should look at these little digital books as gifts because the cost to us is so low to produce. Sure we make less but the books are virtual so there is no product to make too much of! How great is that?

I still haven’t purchased one myself but I won’t lie, I am hoping Santa brings me a nook or sony ebook reader this year.

Erin

Related Articles

• E-Book Invasion to Eliminate Brick and Mortar Bookstores? (blogcritics.org)
• Are paper-book-lovers in denial? (teleread.com)
• How eBooks change the author business (globalneighbourhoods.net)
• The future of publishing is writable (cubicgarden.com)

Excellent Marketing Book - A MUST have!

I had a little bit of time to myself yesterday and decided to visit my local bookstore. While browsing I found this title and took a comfy seat to peek through it. I was absolutely delighted to find a plethora of resources for marketing with little to no money and lots of creativity. This book is a MUST have for all small publishers and every author out there!

a steampunk carnivalesque' clown rises from the local town dump ...

a steampunk carnivalesque' clown rises from the local town dump ... the new middle grade novel that evolved from the picture book series Charlie's Head

Here is the new illustrations for the upcoming Charlie’s Head Middle-Grade Novel that is set to be released in 2011! I had a much different vision than the picture-book series and look forward to bringing all my readers on a wild ride next spring! Publication date is set for March 2011. Take a peek at my sketchblog to see how things are flowing from my art studio. Like what you see? Go on over to my etsy store and purchase the ORIGINAL painting of the macabre clown that Charlie must endure in his new fantasy novel.

Remember when….

You wrote your story to publisher guidelines and submitted it by mail?

Gone are those days – time to rethink how we are supposed to do things.

Harper Collins has taken the publishing industry one step further. They have set up a website www.authonomy.com where authors submit their manuscripts to be read by others weather it be peers, editors, or even total strangers. The people in the ‘authonomy’ community rate your work and if enough of them like it, your status gets raised up out of the slush pile. The most popular manuscripts rise to the top and make it to the editors desk at Harper Collins. I think this is a BRILLIANT move! The publisher knows what the public wants before they publish it! Now they have some security knowing that you will be popular with the masses. It’s free to join and a great place to meet other writers.

So yes, times are changing and perhaps for the better. Should you still go and get your copy of Children’s Writers and Illustrators Marketplace 2010? Sure – but be sure to use all the other advantages you have at your fingertips as well.

Just thought I would share that nostalgic and not-so-nostalgic thought with you.

~Lily~

To me, its a no-brainer. Of course we won’t lose them. Every reader I know is ritualistic with their books. Most of them smell the inside right after they buy them. You know what I’m talking about so don’t even pretend you don’t

Every reader I know loves to be sitting amongst thousands of books no matter if its new books in a bookstore or old books in a library. Both old ones and new ones have their own distinct smell and feel we love.

Now I ask you, how is this possible? Are we all going to start sniffing our kindles? Or will the next invention be a scented kindle. Yeah that’s it, you can buy a cartridge for your kindle that smells like old books or one that smells like new books and when you press a button, voila’, a fresh burst of scented books comes out at you!

I, just like all of the other authors and publishers out there, am shaking in my slippers. (I would say boots but what writer hangs out in those?) Of course we are all nervous, because lets face it, although we won’t lose our physical books totally, things are changing at a pace we can’t comprehend. There is uncertainty around us and where there is uncertainty, there is fear.

When I speak to other authors or publishers, that is what I see and that is what I hear. FEAR of the unknown.

Support your local bookstore to keep it alive but don’t run from the digital book. Be sure that when you publish a book, you go both avenues. Give your readers a choice. Give them the option and see what they choose, I am willing to bet they will opt to feel the paper in their hands. (I’d like to see how a digital book signing compares at your local Barnes and Noble bookstore)

Lets give our readers a choice and see what they choose. I will be putting my new novel out in paperback as well as digital. I will let you know what my readers prefer when the time comes for them to choose.

~Lily~

I find it amusing though that in order to garner attention for literature, we need to use a ‘commercial’ of sorts. Do you find this amusing as well? Posts your thoughts on book trailers, I am interested in what others think of this new marketing technique.

If you haven’t learned about book trailers yet, go to this wiki spot to start.

-Lily

Weekly posts will be as follows:

Monday – “Latest news” in world of Publishing to start your week off so you are ready and informed.

Wednesday – “Marketing” for the Independent Publisher

Friday – “Distribution” for the Independent Publisher

Sunday – “Remember when” posting: This is more of a nostalgiac posting looking back on the days of publishing history. How far we’ve come and what we had to go through before technology advanced.

It at any time, during any posting, you see mis-information please comment to let me know I’ve made a mistake because after all, I am human and researching to learn more about the publishing world myself.

Till’ Wednesday… Lily

Featuring modern new covers by noted illustrator and artist Ruben Toledo (and designed to coincide with New York Fashion Week) Penguin’s intention was to attract new readers to classics in a vein similar to that employed by Quirk Books that has made new readers give Jane Austen a second glance with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the newly released Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (which I am reading right now – it is great!).

According to Toledo, Penguin gave him free rein to redesign the covers as he saw fit with the only instruction to, “…make art that would make [young adults] want to read — to introduce these stories to a new public no matter what age” (for the full text of Toledo’s interview with WWD Lifestyle click here).

In spite of owning previous copies of all three of these titles, I just purchased the Toledo-illustrated version of Wuthering Heights…and I think I might buy the other editions too.

Shelf Discovery includes esays from Skurnick’s Jezebel column, “Fine Lines” and some new additions as well. Essays and titles include, ‘Flowers in the Attic: He ain’t Sexy. He’s my Brother,’ and ‘Summer of My German Soldier: Springtime with Hitler Part I.’ Not to be missed.

Teen Reads has a review and featured preview of the book here.

After the runaway success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Quirk books just announced last night a new title in its collection – Sense and Sensbility and Sea Monsters to be released this coming September.

According to an interview with EW.com, book co-author Ben H. Winters promises, “a giant rampaging mutant lobster. Octopi with glittering tentacles. And pirates — I couldn’t resist pirates.” Compared to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, there will be a higher ratio of good monster action in this book — and more swordfights…and even submarines..?

I can’t wait.

And be sure to check out its fantastic book trailer.

Everything seems normal and like a typical A&E or BBC classic adaptation of Jane Austen until 0:55 into the trailer when we hear a telltale splash in the lake behind Marianne Dashwood and Mr. Willoughby.

Followed at 1:33 by an approaching tentacle — and then – suddenly! – a scream worthy of any good horror film and Willoughby is gone!, dragged into the lake by a sea monster!

Traditional Jane Austen it is not, but who has not wanted to see Willoughby (like Wickham in Pride and Prejudice) finally get his? A great and exciting new way to read ‘the classics’ that is sure to circulate well on many YA shelves.

So apparently, I have a controversial blog. People think I’ve been venting, putting my cart before my horse whatever that means, and bad-mouthing an agent. Well, I did not. I merely stated the facts. I was a signed author, represented, happy and hopeful of publication. It’s something to be proud of– in fact, I was happier to be signed than I was when I won a Seventeen Annual fiction contest, albeit third place. Different things bring joy to different people– to me, my biggest dream is to see people on the train, reading my books. Then to see my story-lines on the silver screen. Of course it starts with publication. In this world, it’s like winning the lottery to become as famous and successful as James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Stephenie Meyer, etc… That’s not what I want– I want to have a small loyal fan-base of people who would always read my books, who would always wait for my books. Sorta like how my Net-fans show appreciation (http://www.fictionpress.com/r/2359644/).

I thought my dreams were going to come true last winter, 2008. I signed a contract. Whenever I felt down, I looked at the contract, rubbed it in my hands, and put it in the safest corner of my bedroom. I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. My family thought I was crazy– why were two little pieces of paper making me so freaking happy? Now I just laugh when I look at the broken contract. Just two pieces of paper. Then again, money’s paper too, and see how much money controls our lives.

When I told my writer mentor, a published writer, he was surprised– how did I get signed so easily? And with such a prestigious agency too. I was surprised too. I was thinking, dude, I hit the jackpot. I worked hard and here I am. In the back of my mind, I thought, man I hope I’m not one of those writers who have awesome agents who get fired, really sick, or even die while representing them.

Unfortunately, that was the case. That was what I was told. I’m sure it was nicer than saying, I’m just not that into your project any more and I really don’t think it can sell, since you needed to edit your manuscript so badly. I really blame myself. Sometimes, I get so stoked, I don’t think, I do half-assed job, I get crazy, I wrote 30,000 new words in two weeks, I changed my entire manuscript. Well, now I’ll know better to take my time, to write and rewrite until I have near perfection, to not get my hopes too high, and not think I’ve conquered the publishing world after signing a contract. I mean I was pretty lucky, I only had 10 rejections before I got my first contract. I don’t know how much longer it’ll take now. I mean I’ve taken a long break. I’ve become impotent– not cock blocked, writer’s blocked. But now, I know I shouldn’t vent anymore, or care if people don’t sympathize, because I have to start believing myself again. Dreams make life so much more beautiful. I can’t lose my dreams now and won’t waste another moment. It’s time again to query, query, query. Even if it takes a dozen, hundred, thousand rejections later, I won’t give up.

I wish the best of luck to all my other fellow unpublished writers out there (well, I’m a published writer, but not in the novel sense) and in the words of my mentor:

“You may go through a lot of agents, you’ll fail time and time again, but when you do succeed, it’s better than the best f*cking sex in the world.” amen to that

It started with a literary agent’s rejection and then acceptance– this all happened in the span from I think last summer to February 2009:

1: “Thanks so much for sending me ___. Although I think your writing is excellent and this manuscript has a great deal of charm, ultimately I felt it was a little long and unwieldy and too focused on the love story. I wanted some more subplots. If you ever have another version or another book you’d like representation for, I’d love to be able to consider it. But I do wish you the best of luck in your search for representation for this one.” Not so much heart break here, I mean I’ve been rejected before.

2:
“I read ___ yesterday. I love your sparkling wit and imagination. I would like to represent this manuscript but with the caveat that I think it needs MAJOR changes. These have to do with strengthening characterization. I think right now your plot is junked up with too many soap opeartic twists. … So I love the over the top elements of the book at times, but I do think it needs to be reined in too.

Given all the changes I’ve seen you make in the manuscript before and your email to me, it seems like you are willing to make these kinds of changes. Would you like to talk on Monday?”

3: “I should have emailed this to you earlier. It’s our form Author’s Agreement. I’ll explain more over the phone.” (contract signed by both parties here, agent says if I make edits, she/he may be able to sell my manuscript. I asked how much I can make, she/he says possibly 15-50 K for first novels)

4: “I’m really looking forward to reading this. I had jury duty today and have had a big illness for a little while—but I’ll be reading this this weekend.”

blah blah blah, contract signed, a few drafts and a few months later, a few email correspondences and I’m hit with this email:

This is a hard email for me to write. I’m sorry to say I’ve had to cut
back on my workload, and I no longer think I can represent ___.
I haven’t been able to get back to you as quickly as I want to; and at
this point, I just feel the only solution is to cut some clients as I
haven’t been able to give them the service they deserve. You need an
agent in optimal condition to give your work the service it deserves. I
believe in your talent and the viability of ____. I hope you
feel the manuscript has at least become stronger through our work on it
together.

I recommend you try Caren Johnson at Caren Johnson Literary Agency
Becca Stumpf at Prospect Agency
Diana Fox at Fox Literary

Please don’t give up on your writing dreams because of this! This
business is tough but if you are persistent, you will get published.
I’m just sorry that I’m not the one who can make it happen at this time.
I can’t stress enough that this is not a verdict on your writing but
rather on my overstretching myself. I really wish you the best.”

Basically a followup after I pleaded, she/he says, I’m too ill, I need time for myself, it’s not you, it’s me.

Case closed. You decide if I’m bullcrapping or not. Someone said I put my cart before my horse and crap like that, meanwhile, my agent has been telling me stuff like, whatever you write, I’d like to work on it, etc etc… I’d like to choose to believe he/she is really sick and not that I’m not good enough– so I think it was kind of him/her to tell me these things– it’s like a guy rejecting me, but i guess in the end,

my literary agent was just not that into me.

oh well, it’s back to square one. I wouldn’t have published this if I hadn’t been called a liar etc… but again, I’m not naming names, so you can think it’s whomever you wish to think he/she is. She/he has a good track record, so I guess it’s just that I got bad luck this time. I’m thinking about never writing again– I can’t get out of my writer’s block, all I can write right now is trashy erotica haha. I mean, why was I given so much hope? Why did I have to think my dreams could finally come true? My suggestion to agents is DON’T Be NICE. it’s better to reject a writer completely than give them false hope. Make them do all these edits to please you, only to throw them out the window. That’s just not kosher.

Being a worrier, I wondered, what if this or that happens: what if my agent gets fired? What if she dies? What if she gets really sick? I’ll have to start from scratch again. Literary agents get hundred to thousands of requests annually, and reading so many emails and snail mail can be tedious and burning– just to get an agent to ask for a partial or complete manuscript is like winning the lottery. Then I thought, why should I be such a worrier? Your book– the manuscript you’ve written and rewritten over the past two years, will finally be published, as long as you work hard in editing it.

Lo and behold, my worries came true. My agent sent me a heartbreaking email: I’m very sick, I can no longer represent you.

The selfish part of me wants to just rant about how irresponsible my agent is, giving me false hope, and just destroying all my dreams for my manuscript– also especially after I told everyone my book will finally be published soon. I begin to wonder if my agent’s lying– is it because my manuscript is hopeless and she regrets signing me in the first place, and this is just an excuse to pull herself out of a book that can’t sell?

Well, after some thinking, whatever the reason is, I just wish her the best of luck and that the illness will resolve. Life afterall is too short– so one’s health is of utmost importance.

I’m back to square one and contemplating self-publishing. Afterall, I am an emarketer, with a background in web design, web publication, ebook design, and have a graphic design, plus a fan base online of over 2000 teens. So I can get everything started myself. But I’m just so disappointed. Query after query has bounced back– every agent wants something like Gossip Girl, Twilight, the Hunger Games.

So if you are too on the search for an agent, I wish you the best of luck. I’m back to square one– hope the search won’t be a long and difficult one. I guess with each hit, it only makes you stronger, and when you do get published, the success tastes even sweeter.

She notes that even though most YA books are peppered with references to pop culture, popular music and fashion, notable YA books themselves are rarely mentioned.

Instead most YA protagonists are reading ‘classics’ like The Catcher in the Rye or The Outsiders — not popular YA or even current award winning YA. Why is this? Is YA not worth mentioning within YA?

This clip also features an interview with Canadian author, Lesley Livingstone, whose first book, Wondrous Strange, is drawing Twilight comparisons.