Happy to announce a new book!

Here's the announcement from Publisher's Marketplace.

I've been working on this book for a long time, revising and revising some more, trying to get it right. I'm doing another revision now, for my editor, due mid-March. I'm really excited about this one though and can't wait for readers to meet Nora and travel along with her to Paris!

I need to give my friend and author extraordinaire, Daisy Whitney, a shout-out here. She read an early version and her encouragement and helpful insight really kept me going!

photo credit: morguefile.com

Merci for reading!

Have a great weekend!!

Thinking about what sells a book

Six+ years ago, in January, 2008, my first novel came out.

There was no twitter.

Facebook may have been around, I'm not sure, but most people I knew weren't on it yet.

MySpace was going strong, and I did have a page there and tried to connect with people. I know Lisa McMann was incredibly successful in connecting with teens there and getting them excited about her WAKE trilogy when it came out.

Book blogging was really starting to be a thing. I did connect with some book bloggers, but I'm 99% sure my first YA novel didn't have an official "tour" or anything.

Blogging was popular at the time. I had a blog over at livejournal (which still exists because so many comments from my friend Lisa, who passed away three years ago, are there, and I love them. I can't delete them. I just can't. It's like a part of her still exists there. Though I should probably delete it because holy crap, talk about over-sharing.) ANYWAY, a bunch of us who were writers followed each other and had a lot of fun within our tight-knit community. Most of us started our blogs before we were published. So our posts were about personal things or about our writing struggles or about the bumpy road to publication. I loved it. There was no promotion. Just bad news or good news and all the stuff in between. Until things changed. Until everyone started getting book deals.

Here are some things I remember regarding the YA market leading up to my first YA novel coming out.

* I clearly remember the buzz around TWILIGHT before and after it hit the shelves in 2005.

* I remember the buzz around Melissa Marr's WICKED LOVELY series, which sold in 2006, I believe (it came out in 2008).

* I remember reading LOOKING FOR ALASKA while on vacation at Sunriver in 2005. I loved it and I was so excited when it won the Printz in January, 2006. It didn't have a lot of buzz. I only knew about it because his editor was Julie Strauss-Gabel, and she was an editor I admired and kind of kept my eye on.

* I remember it was around the release of the second book of TWILIGHT that bookstores started making a space just for YA novels and moved them out of the children's section. Wow.

* I remember not having a clue as to what to do to promote my book (this is still mostly true, by the way). I joined the class of 2K8. I got a web site going. I kept blogging. And that was about it.

When I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME came out, I remember checking Amazon at one point and I was *shocked* the Amazon ranking was below 10,000. I could not believe it. Even though we don't really know what the numbers actually mean in terms of how many copies sold, I think most people know what's good, great, fantastic, bestseller territory, etc. Anything below 10,000 is good, especially for a debut author.

I'm not sure any of my other books, except for maybe one of my middle-grade novels, dropped down that low.

My editor came back from vacation toward the end of January, and when we talked on the phone, he said, "All I've heard since I've been back is how well I HEART YOU is selling."

I did very little promotion of the book. I didn't have any big name blurb. It got a couple of okay reviews, but nothing spectacular. But here are a couple of things that I believe helped it to sell:

1) The title and the concept combined with the amazing cover. You never know for sure what's going

image credit: morguefile.com

to work and it all just worked.

2) It was the kind of book people read and talked about. What is that kind of book, exactly? No one really knows. If we did, we'd all be writing it. I've said it before and I'll say it again - word of mouth is the BEST kind of marketing there is. If you love an author, talking about his/her books is the number one thing you can do to support that author. And for all of the people who have talked about my books over the years - thank you!!

Okay, one more thing helped it to sell.
3) Luck. Right place, right time, simple as that. I think sometimes we underestimate this element.

So, what other things help to sell books? Support from the publisher and bookstores, of course. Lead titles are at a huge advantage because of the push they get from the publisher. Nothing can beat that, really.

I've been thinking about all of this in regards to twitter and how it really varies as to how much authors tweet about their books. Some tweet very little. Others tweet all the time.

A year or two ago I asked on twitter if people got excited about a book release when an author was excited about a book release. A lot of people said yes. It made them excited when the author was excited. There were a few of us who kind of went - uh oh. Because for many of us, a book release is mostly anxiety producing, and it's hard to be excited when we sort of just want to crawl inside a hole. I've decided when there is something to be excited about, I need to not hold back. Be excited and let others see that, because people DO like to see genuine happiness/excitement.

But can there be too much, is the question I've been pondering? I tend to think yes.

Personally, I think the 80/20 rule is a good one to follow. That is - only about 20% of tweets or posts on facebook or instagram or wherever should be book/promotion-related. More than that, and you run the risk of being annoying. You also may look desperate. Those two things do not sell books.

The biggest change from the year 2008 to the year 2014 is not where people talk about books or how we connect with each other or any of that. No, the biggest change is how many more YA novels simply exist now. A LOT!!! It is much harder to get noticed in today's market. Of course, we also have a gazillion more books to choose from to read, which is pretty sweet, right?

Here's what's new

Thursday through Monday, I was housebound due to a big snow storm that is rare for our neck of the woods. It was very pretty. And quiet. I'm always amazed how much quieter everything is during and after a lot of snow falling.

It's like a the world is snuggled under a giant quilt, sleeping.

The kids loved having a couple of snow days. But I am glad the temperature is back to normal (way above normal, actually, as we're sitting at 50!! degrees today) and I can take the dog for a walk and not worry about falling and breaking my neck.

I know the south and the east are about to get slammed with another big storm, and I am so, so sorry! Winter sucks. That's all there is to it. Hang in there.

The good news is that since I was stuck at home, and my husband had to work, I wrote a LOT. In fact, I finished a draft of a new book. It's always such an exciting thing - to get to the end of something I started a few months ago, not knowing for sure if I'd get to the end or not. Never gets old, let me tell you. I'm working on revisions now so I can send it to my agent soon and see what she thinks. I don't want to say a lot, but I will say this. It's kind of a strange book, but I am *really* excited about it, because strange isn't always a bad thing. There's a fine line, I know, but when done right, the unique and the odd can create a great read. Here's hoping...

Along with getting this new thing ready for my agent to read, I have first pass pages to go through on one of the CHARMED LIFE books. And I have edits coming soon on another book I sold recently but haven't announced yet. When all of that's done, I plan on taking a couple of months off from writing.

Honest. Really! I am!!

I'll still be working, since I have Skype visits and other appearances coming up, but it's time to fill the well on the writing end of things. I'm sure it won't be long before I'll be itching to get back to it. But for now, I'm looking forward to some time off to do other things.

Read!
Go to my son's track meets!
Spring clean! (Okay, looking forward to that is reaching, but still. Needs to be done.)

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Only 35 days until spring! See?

Spring Countdown

The time before

coming May 27th

It's always a strange time, the time before.
The time before what, you ask?
The time before a new book (or new books, as the case may be) enters the world.

I'm not sure how to describe it, exactly.

Like the calm before the storm?
The hibernation before the spring?
The rest before the race?

coming July 29th

It's like you're trying to enjoy the quiet, taking advantage of the time and writing a lot (hopefully) and enjoying the (mostly) stress-free time. But every once in a while your brain kind of wakes up and says - hey, remember those books coming out soon? The ones you worked hard on last year? The ones some of your readers are saying they're excited to read? The ones that will be reviewed by professional reviewers soon? Remember those? What do you think is going to happen? Huh? What do you think is going to HAPPEN? Will things go well or will things go...not so well?

Only time will tell, of course. There's nothing that can be done now. The books are finished. You've done all you can do. And you just kind of want to forget about them for as long as you can, except that silly brain loves to send reminders every once in a while.

Silly brain. So annoying sometimes!

photo credit: morguefile.com

I have a busy spring. Lots of Skype visits, a few appearances, and one trip (to Texas in April, for the Texas Library Association conference). So I'm going to do my best to enjoy this time. I'll write. I'll talk to kids. I'll talk to librarians. I'll try to be excited, even though I am often more terrified of failing than anything else.

See, every author wants his/her books to do well. To sell well. To find readers and to make those readers happy, which in turn makes the publisher happy. But the truth is, it doesn't always happen. I try to keep my expectations low. I try to tell myself that I've done my job, the rest is out of my hands, and what will be, will be. It simply doesn't do any good to worry about it. Easier said than done, of course.

I've done this book thing many times now. It seems like it should get easier, but that doesn't seem to be the case. At least in my experiences.

Yes, right now is the time before. No one knows what's going to happen. I like the time before (as long as my brain doesn't annoy me too often). You know why? Maybe because anything is still possible. Or maybe because, I haven't failed yet.

And therein lies what is SO hard for most authors - to believe that a book which is published and will be read by some (whether a few or a million) is a success no matter what. Because what an amazing thing - a book now exists where there wasn't one before. Something was created from nothing. My silly, annoying brain managed to write a novel. That is no small thing.

Let's try to remember that, brain, in the weeks and months ahead. What do you say??

Diary of a writer 1/22/14

Sometimes when you're in the middle of the draft, the hardest part is just opening the document and diving in. There is so much fear when you're drafting. I've learned over the years it's part of the process, and you just have to push through it or past it or whatever.

Click photo to enlarge

In case you can't read my handwriting:

There is always
     fear.

Fear that it's not good enough.
Fear that you're not good enough.
Fear that it will all be for nothing.
Fear that no one will like it.
Fear that it's all wrong.

You have to push the fear away
    with all your might.

Open the document
and tell yourself
    I can do this.

Because you CAN!
Because you are BRAVE!

Scheduling Skype visits for World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud day is March 5, 2014 and Kate Messner has put together a list of authors who are willing to Skype for free that day, in twenty-minute increments, and I am one of those authors!!

You can check out the complete list HERE.

I have two visits scheduled so far, and have room for probably four or five more, so if you are a teacher or librarian and are interested in having me Skype with your school that day to celebrate World Read Aloud Day, please get in touch via e-mail at lisaschroederbooks(at)gmail(dot)com.

What do you need to Skype, you ask? A computer, the Skype software, which you can download for free, and usually a projector, so everyone in the room can see the author on the big screen!

It's easy and it's fun, I promise. I've literally Skyped with probably a hundred schools by now, and have participated in at least two WRADs, maybe three. I had to skip last year because of my writing schedule, so I'm happy to be participating again this year.

Here's basically how the visit will go - I talk for a few minutes and introduce myself, making sure to encourage kids to read for fun because as a writer, I believe there is nothing that will help your writing more than READING. I choose one of my books that is age-appropriate for the group I'm speaking with and read aloud for a few minutes, and then I open it up to questions.

If World Read Aloud Day doesn't work for your schedule, but you are interested in learning more about Skyping with me, please see my page over at the Skype an Author Network.

Have a great week!

Diary of a writer - 1/17/14

Click on photo to enlarge

In case my handwriting is too hard to read:

The thing is
it all comes down
to this:

Do the best you can.
Every day.

And it will be good enough.
Not perfect.
Never perfect.

But it will be your best.
Expecting more than that?
Wanting more than that?
It will only lead to disappointment
   and frustration.

Your best is enough.